PrecociousUgh. Why oh why did the world have to thaw right when she wanted to cross this stream!? Aoede imagined that the world has somehow specifically targeted her and caused her to be right in this place and time when the river mud would begin to soften and so stick and grab at her lower legs. Up to her knees in mud, the precious princess of the Glen Abhainn pack looked more like a ragged omega. Her exclamations of disgust, however, singled her out as being someone who was not exactly used to having to deal with the gloopy mess.
"Ack…ewww…gross!" the mud popped and sucked as she withdrew a foot, making odd sounds. She was getting caked in the stuff and tries her best to quickly cross the slippery morass not realising that her speed was throwing globules of the stuff up onto her sides and back. She wasn't really one to think things through so much as react to them - especially when she found something distasteful. The silver in her fur had been liberally coated by the time she struggled onto bare rock and she looked more like her mother - plain browns all over.
Objective achieved. Or at least one of them. She'd been sent out to see if she could find any tracks of Persephone as had a few of the others. It was a menial chore and she was not best pleased at having been asked to do it. Persephone was a grown up, why did they need to look for her? Would they keep such a close eye on Aoede when she was fully grown? She hoped not… it was bad enough as it was just now when they had the excuse that she was young. If they didn't quite being so watchful she'd… Well she didn't know what she'd do but she would do something!
Anyway, back to searching. The mud-splattered adolescent looked around herself disinterestedly. She hadn't really applied herself to learning tracking yet, after all she envisioned herself not having to do that kind of menial work when she was grown up and an alpha. Mother and father so wasted their position - they were weak leaders, Aoede thought in her great wisdom - for not getting others to do everything for them. If she was in charge she would.
Her mind had drifted again and she wandered along distractedly, not really searching at all. If it hadn't been for the fact she might have bumped into the others she wouldn't even have bothered coming this far at all.
At the end of the day, even if she didn’t know it nor would she admit to it, Aoede was still just a precocious adolescent with no idea of how the world really worked. It would get her in trouble, one of these days.
Helios harrumphed grumpily as he walked through the forest. At least the snow was gone, but now the rain and melt had left the ground sodden. It was whilst treading through this morass that he spied the young female. He was at once slightly wary – not of any physical threat, but any young wolf in this area was likely to be one of the Glen pack and he didn’t want her running off to tell Mummy and Daddy he was about, whoever they may be. She didn’t look as though she’d seen him… She was not exactly the most attractive of young females with all that mud on her and such dark fur wasn’t totally to Helios’ taste. He preferred pale furred females, preferably white, though he wasn’t truly fussy if he was given the chance. She was a bit young for his taste too – with nothing he could get from her except trouble he decided it would be best if he could manage to stay out of her sight for now. Perhaps Persephone had already reached home and they were all out looking for him. He wasn’t truly concentrating as he thought all of this through and almost cursed as a bright, happy young voice called to him. “Heeeeey!”
Aoede had caught the scent of the older male and it hadn’t been hard to see his bright yellow-blonde pelt in the dull forest. He was so handsome! She trotted over to him, not even noticing the slightly annoyed look on his face. “I’m looking for a female wolf, white, kinda skinny?” she said, smiling as sweetly as she could and practically batting her eyes at him.
Helios almost jerked back as she asked. So, they were out looking for Persephone? This could work in his favour, though. If they were looking for her she wasn’t back and they weren’t aware yet of his presence. He tried to bring a smile to his face. Young females, even those not to his taste, were often the easiest to manipulate. “Well hello my dear” he smiled as dashingly as he knew how. “I can’t say I have seen her, no, but then with you here in the forest who could notice any other female?” an old line but often effective. He didn’t quite expect the returning swooning smile so soon. Hmph. She was too easy for his tastes too, then. No challenge at all. He found himself being slightly put off by Aoede. If she was one of the pack young, though, it’d be a real coup d’état to get her on his side. Could even provide a handy hostage if things went badly…
Aoede almost gasped as the handsome male complimented her. Even with her mud spattered fur! Of course she believed she was the prettiest of all the female wolves in the pack but no one else had ever told her so.
oO-------------~oO+Oo~-------------Oo
Helios had sent Erin out to scout about after Persephone had left him, telling her to make sure she wasn’t seen. He wouldn’t come and get her if they caught a hold of her. He himself had decided to take a jaunt. Normally hard to stir into doing any sort of work the golden pelted male had begun to be enthusiastic about his idea for overrunning Zagreus’ pack. He needed a base, a place from which he could practically stroll into Zagreus’ territory or at least where he could access a lot of information about it. So when the eager young female had so easily told him of a place she knew which would fit the bill he was almost happy enough not to be irritated with her.
When Helios had asked her if she knew of a secluded place neat the packlands her heart had leapt. Perhaps he wanted to spend some time alone, away from the world with her. She really could be a little dense at times but her immediate crush on the older wolf had left her startlingly lacking in brain cells. She had showed him the place where she came sometimes when she wanted to sneak away from chores or just to be by herself. It was a deep cave behind the waterfall which marked one end of their territory. With a sheer cliff and bare rock all around most of the pack didn’t bother to come this far north despite the den being barely a twenty minute walk away. The entrance was hidden from view by the mist of the slim, tall falls which cascaded down from rock to rock from the top of the cliff face.
She was somewhat annoyed that he seemed more interested in the cave now though than her. Eventually he turned to look at her, a look of sorrow on his face. “Aoede.. There’s a story I must tell you..”
Helios had to find a way to keep her bound to him – so as not to reveal where he was and so as to make sure she’d stay put. Something more than just the obvious adoration she seemed to have. He began to tell her about how he had known her father and his friend – how the pair had destroyed his pack and left him with his scarred eye (which she seemed to admire as he spoke of it). She looked undecided when he finished, as if not sure what to believe. He could tell family instinct was warring with her wish to believe in him and eventually teenage hormones won out. “I can’t believe they did all that! They can be really strict and tell us what to do..” she said, obviously equating these things with the crimes Helios had described. “But… why are you here?” she eventually asked, wondering what this big male intended to do by way of revenge. “I want to take over the pack.” He said bluntly, smiling dashingly. “I want to be a fairer leader and stop them from doing to this pack what they did to the last….”
It was what Aoede had always dreamed - taking over the pack, her being the leader. Well, co-leader. She grinned, delighted and making all the wrong sorts of assumptions. “How can I help?!” …
