Pride and Future of the Pack {Tagged and Open}

[Rykett]

((The puppies are now old enough to roam the territory! Yay! @ender Meds @shiver @pittypat Fierfly))

Once the pups had grown old enough, Skia had moved the litter to a more favorable, protected position. A certain bend in the river had become a more central place. It was slightly deeper in the territory than the rest of the river and provided a clean source of water. Though the den in the sandmoor had offered privacy during the newborns’ first weeks, Skia preferred to raise her whelps in view of her pack. Her children were the pride and future of Midnight Silence. Perhaps the alphaship would even pass to one of them someday. Skia planned on it, in fact, and she trained them all for it, unsure of which pup would rise to the position.

Skia vigilantly watched them as they played outside the den. Umbra was the eldest pup and liked to play leader. He would do well in a future leadership position if he didn’t have that cleft paw and interacted with other pups more. Then there was Fia. In many ways, Fia reminded Skia of herself beyond just her fur coloring and name. Fia was ambitious and powerful. She’d be a force to be reckoned with once she reached adulthood. Tuhota, the pink pup, was the largest pup of the bunch. He was emotional but loyal. If only Skia could stop being haunted by his pelt color… Zodi worried Skia. He followed order well enough, but he acted nothing like an evil wolf. Instead, he was insufferably cheerful. Only time would tell if Zodi would be allowed to remain in Midnight Silence. Katana had grown in her name wonderfully. She was a weapon Skia was sure Fjord would be proud of, though a snarl tooth marred her face. The last pup was Insolence. Skia hated that pup’s attitude. He never listened or followed any of her rules. How would she ever teach him to be an Alpha if he disregarded her every word?

Though a couple were currently falling short, Skia was sure she was raising a litter of pups that Fjord could be proud of. Speaking of Fjord, Skia needed to speak with her fellow alpha. Word had recently reached Skia that one of their members, Nyx, had obtained level 3 with her power. Perhaps Skia should be congratulating the female and be glad that she had Nyx in her pack, but Skia just felt threatened being only Level 1. She didn’t like feeling less powerful than one of her own subordinates. Skia and Fjord should be the strongest! Skia let out a calling howl to Fjord, wishing to discuss the matter of Powers. She could still watch the pups as she spoke with him.

---

Zodi loved playtime. Playtime was the very best time. It was even better than training time or eating time or sleeping time, though those were all good too. Zodi usual smile was a giant grin, today, as he raced around his siblings. ”Who can catch me?! I betcha ya can’t. I betcha you can’t ever catch me! Catch me! Catch me! Catch me!” he yipped the challenge. His voice was excited and high-pitched.

If the ‘Catch me’ challenge alone didn’t completely capture their attention, Zodi dove for a rock at Fia’s feet. He picked it up in his jaws and raced away. Between his teeth, he exclaimed, ”I got your rock! I got it! You’ve gotta catch me to get it back! Come on, catch me! Catch me! Catch me!” Zodi’s siblings were awesome. In fact, his whole family was awesome. Zodi was convinced that he had the most awesomest family in the world valley. Mother was always there looking after them. She was so cool that she could levitate rocks. Zodi didn’t see Father as much. Mother said he was busy being Alpha. How amazing was that?! Father was an alpha and not just any alpha, Father was the alpha of the strongest pack in the whole valley, Midnight Silence! Mother was also an alpha, but she was too busy with the pups to help Father much. Zodi liked it like that. If Mother started doing her alphess duties, she wouldn’t have nearly enough time to spend with Zodi and his siblings.

Zodi’s siblings were another thing that made Zodi’s life awesome. They were all really good at wrestling. Zodi usually lost, but he didn’t mind. He was always trying his best and that’s what counted. Still, Zodi preferred Catch Me.

[Fierfly]

Insolence:

One black-capped ear flicked and a lazy red eye peeped from under a velvet purple lid at Zodi's bratty noise, yelling for someone to catch him. Hm...did that count as a command? Insolence - aptly named, make no mistake about that! - despised being told what to do - he didn't want to play Catch Me with Zodi, but nor did he necessarily feel like sleeping. Hm...what to do about this? He sat up and yawned lazily "Hey Zodi, Zodi come closer - did you say Catch Me? You want to play Catch Me?" he glanced over at Ma as she let up a howl for "the old wolf" (his name for their father) and returned to scowling at her brood. The lazy smirk slid back onto his lips and his eyes went half-lidded again. Maybe that's what the Old Wolf saw in her - she was always so ornery and scowling all the time. How could she and Zodi be even remotely related? He'd never seen the Old Lady smile - not once. He didn't think Zodi had frowned once in his life. Now Katana and Fia - they knew when to smirk, they had a dark-humored smirk like him, they knew when to take a joke: Umbra and Tuhota though...they were solemn-faced too. Not as grouchy as the Old Lady, but solemn, and quiet they were no fun, and he was a rangy, puny little runt (Thank you Ma, for that lovely nickname), if Tuhota got tired of him he was big enough to bat him away. Umbra though...Umbra he could tease.

"Hey Peg-leg!" he called to his oldest brother. "Did you hear that? Zodi wants to play Chase Me. Whaddya say Umbra? Girls? Tuho, who wants to chase down Zodi and his rock?" he slowly shifted his baby-fat weight onto his toes and his devilishly grinning red eyes turned lazily to his brother. He rose up on his haunches and the fur on the back of his neck prickled in anticipation for the chase. "C'mon gang, are we really gonna let him get away with one of the O- I mean, one of Mother's rocks?"

[Meds]

Fia;

Fia sat next to her mother, surveying quietly as her siblings—mostly younger and one older—romped around their new home. Zodi had started yammering again, as he always did, about some sort of game or other. He then grabbed a rock at Fia's feet that Mother had moved there, but Fia didn't even blink. She watched him take it and run off, and though she didn't move, she felt an urge to get it back. Zodi was always so chipper—but that was what made him Zodi, she supposed. He always wanted to play. Sometimes Fia joined in, feeling a little bit more loyal to him than the other siblings often were, but at the same time—he could be pretty annoying. Besides, 'chase' was a little bit beneath her, if she was being honest, but then when Insolence started up and asked the others to join in, Fia set aside her pride and leapt lightly away from Skia's legs. She landed softly beside her younger brother, her red fur mingling perfectly with his purple, and crouched down into a position better to launch at Zodi from. She knew the others would be mean to him, and though she wouldn't be nice, for it was a game they were playing after all, she wouldn't try to hurt him. Fia wasn't a protector, not by a long shot, but there was something important about family, and even when Zodi was being annoying, he was still her brother.
She ignored it when Insolence almost slipped up and used one of his names for Mother. Fia hated those names. She almost wished he had slipped up and used the term, if only to see what Mother would do to him—but there were other things that held the bulk of her attention in that moment.

"Oh come on Zodi, you know we're going to win," She said, her white tail thrashing behind her and her shoulders bunching above her long legs. Her bulky torso made her a solid tackler, and she had practiced on him many times before. "You always do this." Her honey-eyes flicked to the side as she continued speaking, gauging what her siblings were about to do, and eciding when and how she should make her own attack.

[Deleted]

A howl. An unmistakable voice rising over the wind. All business. The voice of his mate Skia. Ever since the pups were born he had distanced himself from the family...his family. The philosophy he believed in was that if he refused the notion he had feelings and removed himself from an emotional situation, he would have successfully stifled those emotions, those...feelings that made him vulnerable and weak. The great Alpha of Midnight Silence, Fjord the Terrible had no room for weakness. And yet...
And yet he found himself longing to be pressed against Skia’s warm fur, longing to lie in the sparse grass and let his pups clamber over him and tug at his ears. His heart ached and lurched at the sound of her voice carried over the wind, his eyes suddenly coming alive with feeling long forced to lie dormant behind his icy power mark. With a grin that no one around to see, Fjord spun on a dime and loped towards her call. He weaved between tall brush and small sedge, the ground hard and reliable under his sure paws. As he neared his family he was unable to completely wipe the cheeky, naive grin off of his lips, settling for an impish, crooked smirk. ”Skia,” He breathed out. She was a sight for sore eyes, her crimson fur shimmering like the softest velvet, her eyes a cold brown. She was elegant, but impressive, an obvious Alphess. As he spoke her name for the first time in days his voice betrayed him, coming across as relieved and perhaps even slightly jovial; even in such an intimate whisper as he had uttered.

His pups were preoccupied currently, seemingly invested in a game of chase, each one an amazing work of art and nature. And yet...he had to be cold and push them to their limits in order to prepare them for a life of leading ruthlessly.

~~~

Tuhota was sprawled out on the gritty ground, his muted raspberry belly bared, soaking in the opulent summer sun. He absorbed the glorious warmth with a blank expression. He had been blocking out the incessant chirping and growling of his siblings as he basked, but he supposed the sun would warm him if he played or lazed. Zodi, the optimist and the complete opposite of Tuhota was begging for a merry Chase. Insolence replies to his yammering and pounding with a snide quip of his own. Insolence was always searching for venomous ways to make life miserable for the cheerful pup. That’s just who insolence was. Tuhota rolled into his feet as Indolence began to goad Umbra. He raised a brow but said nothing. Fia, rather passive aggressively dryly addresses Zodi, telling him he was bound to lose. That was true. Zodi always lost ‘catch me’ eventually. And then the game would transition to a mosh pit as the siblings wrestled and tried each others strength.

Shaking the dust from his pelt, Tuhota padded towards his other siblings as they prepared to launch after Zodi. ”Lence, Stop goading and actually participate for once,” He yawned dryly before bunching his hocks and thrusting himself towards the pebble stealer.