Announcement:
Due to a drop in activity and interest, we have officially closed the roleplay.
Those that are/were members of the roleplay still keep in contact via Skype, but as far as fh goes, it's done.
Thankyou to those that read along with the goings-on of the pack and roleplaying along with us.
What's happening [in the role-play] - top post is most recent activity
Timelapse.
A few months, and a lot of rp has happened since I have updated this page. I'm sorry for that, so what I'm going to do is give a sort of time-lapse to get you up to date.
In the last months since Shrike enforced his will upon Sili, there had been hostilities between Welio, Aodh, and Shrike. The three of them never really having gotten along, but at the same time, that was nothing new. Shrike never allowed many near him, as he stayed away from the pack in a near-loner state. He is becoming more and more antagonistic towards the other members of the pack. This comes to a head when, Karlie approaches him after Sili leaves him after standing up for herself with his behavior towards her. Shrike is at the point where he is very angry with himself, the pack, and with Karlie for being an absentee mother. Even though it was mostly through no fault of her own. In the end, Karlie dies at Shrikes paw, falling off of the cliff into a fire caused by a severe thunderstorm that raked through the area that night. She leaves her mark on his face during the incident. Seth and Aodh come just after Karlie's fall, drawn to the light of the fire, only to see Shrike trapped on the stone outcropping by the flames. Seth tries, but Aodh succeeds in rescuing the wolf.
It takes a few days for it to come out, what had happened. First through the gifts that Welio's friend, Elvira has. She can see the last moments of a dead wolf through that wolf's eyes. Unable to see who, but able to feel the emotions of the wolf that died, she knew it was no accident and that it had been done by one close to her, and forwarded the information to Sey.
Sey decides to banish Shrike from the pack and their territory, and he leaves, but before he is entirely out of their territory, Aodh and Budha track his scent, and confront the wolf about the murder on their own. Kokoa tracks _those two_ down, and despite the Shades' influences upon them, tries to talk Aodh out of killing the brute right then. It is a long and drawn out conversation as Aodh has Shrike pinned and easily able to out-muscle the smaller, injured wolf. In the end, Aodh makes the final blow, putting Shrike out of his misery, though he felt some pity towards the wolf and ended it quickly.
Shrike and Armins' soul were separated by Huo after his death. Armin now is a shade, after tainting his own sons' decisions, and wasting his second chance. Shrike, because he truly was remorseful for what he had done and everything that had transpired in his short life, was brought to become a Guardian with the rest of the pack who had passed on. The only ones who know of Shrike's death are Aodh, Welio, Budha, and Kokoa. It is agreed upon by the males' that this become a secret.
Meanwhile, after being injured severely in a lone hunt, while distracted and tired, he limps home with a large bull elk to feed the pack. After treating him and telling him to see her for periodic treatments, she leaves again, this time for days. Eventually Seth approaches Sey about this when she comes back and they talk it out, eventually coalescing in him asking her to be his mate; she accepts. A day or so later, Kokoa approaches Sey, and Seth by proximity, about Shrikes death, and remembering what had happened last time he'd lied to an Alpha. He chose to tell Sey and Seth, who decide that it will still remain quiet among the group that knows, but Faline has to be told, since Shrike was her brother.
Over the next day or so, Sey has become more agitated and worried by the goings' on of the pack since she took the role of Alpha. She is worried that these grounds are in a way, cursed, and decides she wants the pack to move. Away from the territory that felt almost cursed. She howls to collect the members of the pack to the dens and announces her intentions and asks for opinions. Aodh and Welio have questions concerning moving all the wolves at once, but the decision is made. All ten wolves will move as one, and not in two groups. Welio is not happy with this decision, whether it is because he sees Seth as controlling Sey since he answered the question (she had already gone inside her den when he asked), or simply because he sees no sense in it as being the primary factor, has yet to be seen. She has given the pack members the evening to prepare to leave these lands, and say goodbye to whatever spirits they wish to before they go in the morning.
New Characters; Old Problems.
We've got a few more members added to the pack, and with new members sometimes comes personality conflicts. In this case, Shrike and new member Budha get into a fight, while Seyvex and Sili try to break it up. Coming back from one of his patrols, Aodh sees what's going on and puts an end to it. The stubborn Shrike fighting until he he physically couldn't deal with Aodh's larger size. Both members have a few scrapes and cuts, but no maiming was done to any of the wolves involved.
Seth, meanwhile has been out on a relatively unsuccessful hunting trip all day. By the evening, dragging the carcass of another bull elk, he re-enters the pack dens to drop off the hard-earned prize, get a drink and go to sleep. He only vaguely notices the scent of wolf-blood in the territory, but guesses that Sey, as an Alpha has it all under control. He is too tired to be worried about what happened for the moment.
After the incident, Shrike talks Sili into showing him the dens where she had her encounter with the Shade. After a bit of an argument, Sili tried to stick up for herself only to have her muzzle damaged by Shrike in his irritation. Meanwhile, Faline and Aodh go on a hunt for some time out after the fight.
More Problems for the pack.
As Sey and Seth are exploring their relationship, and Seth remains uncertain of himself, he goes off on a run one morning to blow off some steam. As he's running he finds out some interesting things. He comes across a pair of scents. One he knows, and one he doesn't. The one he knows is Wellio, Sey's son; the one he doesn't, is another loner, a female he'd not encountered or seen until catching her scent just then. After tracking the pair of scents from one edge of the territory to another, he assumes that Welio walked her across their territory, as the two scents separate at the edge of the territory once again.
The second thing he comes across is a dilapidated den, just north of their territory border. The scent and the feel of this den is different. Darker, more sinister. His instincts tell him to leave that den, and convinces him to tell Sey about both occurences. He's unsure whether they are linked, however, and that possibility is what decides him.
Later on, Sili, Sey and Seth take a walk together, Sey's idea of a bonding excersize for Seth. He complies, and as they walk along the river, he decides to try to teach them how to fish, at which point Sili takes off on her own, uncomfortable with the mood of the conversation between Sey and Seth. As she wanders, following a butterfly she'd been intent on catching for her mother, she came across the dark dens, and was promptly 'attacked' by a Shade. A ghostly figure that chased her out of the dens, and her fear took her back towards the river, hiding in one of the dens that sat along the banks.
When Sili explains what happened, they return to the home dens, and contemplate what to do about it. It is decided to keep the dark dens a secret until Seth can show Sey, alone, where they are, and whether they are actually dangerous for the pack. The dens remain on Seth's mind after Sili's encounter; he's curious, and wants to check out the place once again. He is, however followed on this third outing, by Aodh, who isn't discovered until Seth pauses at the border of the darker woods that surround the den. Once Seth recognizes that Aodh is following him, he pauses his plans and returns to the dens with Aodh in tow, where he explains that it is Alpha's orders that he not know what Seth was doing, or where he was going. The two eventually race back to the dens, where Seth wins.
Aodh walks off and decides to strike up a conversation with Karlie, who teaches him to fish in the shallows of the river. Karlie talks of Akita and the fact that she looked to Akita as a mother-figure, calling her 'mom', which would make Aodh her 'brother'. Confusing Aodh by the statement, she explains that Akita was somewhat of an adoptive mother, not blood related. She shared a bit more about her own history with the younger wolf, before returning to the dens, where Aodh got it in his head to challenge Kokoa to a spar.
Begrudingly, Kokoa accepted the spar challenge, knowing, and explaining that he wasn't great at sparring, he was a hunter. Mid-spar is where we leave this role-play session.
A new Alpha.
Hearing the last howl of Gray, Aodh returned the call and went to find his father again. Sey returns a howl as well, though she stays at the den, and watches over her own pups. Virmin, the fox, hears the howling pack and goes to investigate. Aodh howls to let the pack know what had happened, that the pair are now both gone, and is consoled by Virmin, while he sits otherwise alone in his mourning.
The pair are carried by Seth and Aodh, to the Memorial Ridge and buried there. Seth has a small flash-back and sees the pups he had buried, and leaves the pack to go back to the spirit dens to grieve his own loss. Something he hadn't done in the year and a half since it had happened. Sey goes back with the pack to their dens. Aodh takes off on his own, to a small den on the river north of the pack dens. The rest of the pack is quiet and somber for these few days following the the Alpha's death.
Akita and Gray, now spirits along side those already at the spirit-den, decide that Sey should be the wolf to secede them as Alpha. Deciding that it should be Akita that crosses the veil to tell her this. She lures Sey away from the dens before revealing herself to the medic. The two have a short conversation, allowing Sey to say her last words to the late alphess and move forward. Seth, out on a hunt, comes across her and they talk more, eventually Seth deciding to stay with the pack, and Sey telling him that she was to be the next alpha.
The two make their way back to the dens and Sey makes the announcement to the pack, who accepts her as alpha. Aodh and Shrike are the only ones unhappy by this turn of event, Aodh, because he's still mourning their losses, and Shrike, because his demeanor towards the medic in general had been getting worse.
Sili, Seys' daughter, and Shrike, have also been seeing a lot of each other. Elle is almost completely out of the picture, as the relationship between Sili and Shrike, while not a healthy relationship, becomes stronger. They both begin to use each other, Shrike using his words, and Sili using her body, to manipulate one another; the two have become lovers while the new alpha has been distracted with the loner, Seth.
Changes.
After a short time-skip, allowing the pups to age to approximately 14-16mos; which would in-turn age the rest of the characters as well. Akita and Gray are already eight and a half years old, Karlie is close behind them, and Kokoa and Hayleigh are somewhere around four or five themselves. We also have a couple new wolves. Zephyr, and Ryuuji, that are new members to the pack, and a couple loners have been introduced as well.
A few peaceful months have gone by, as the pack has settled into Terra. The pups are much more capable and confident of themselves. Though, after Gray and then Akita are warned of a loner by both Shevian, in a dream, and Csil on the Memorial Ridge, they tighten up security for the pack. No one is to go outside the dens without someone else, and an adult is to go with the pups. At the same time, a new lone wolf appears in the territory. Seth, an unstable wolf who has come across the spirit-dens, and claimed them for himself.
After a few days, he makes his home in the dens, and the spirits there make an impact on his personality. He is no longer the overly aggressive wolf he was when he first came across the space, but a wolf that simply doesn't trust himself after events that happened in his old pack. Sey and Akita, one day go on a patrol together along the territory borders. At some point, they'd come across Shrike out and about by himself, but far enough away from the two that Sey had been the one to approach after Akita acknowledged that Shrike would only run from her. Sey tries to make conversation, since they hadn't spoken much since the storm that nearly took both their lives. Akita had decided to continue to mark the territory and work her way back to the dens while Sey and Shrike caught up, though it was an awkward and not entirely friendly conversation.
Shrike eventually wandered back to the dens without Sey, leaving her to try to find Akita on her own. Seth meanwhile, had been belatedly trailing the scents of the three wolves he'd seen in his dens earlier in the day. Akita, Gray and Seyvex. He'd had an unfriendly first meeting with both Akita and Seyvex, though he was slightly disarmed by Sey, having seen her speak to the spirit of her mother just previous to Gray and Akita catching up with her. He'd noticed her wandering alone as he watched from Memorial Ridge. Thinking it was a prey animal he veered off his original course and tried to predict where the lone animal was going and head it off. Seth came upon Sey as she searched for Akita, thinking she might still be out marking the territory. After conversing for a while, Sey and Seth part ways after agreeing to meet up again at the Spirit-dens as Seth doesn't think he can be in a pack the way he is. It was a much friendlier meeting than when Akita was there, threatening and demanding his compliance
Meanwhile Zephyr and another lone-wolf, Karma become acquainted. She was caught attempting to steal food from the pack's pile, and clearly being a non-threat, malnourished and weak, she was allowed to stay until she became healthy again, unless she chose to become a member of the pack.
The next afternoon, Sey meets up with Seth, though she brings Akita with, due to pack rules; though Akita stays far enough to give them their privacy. The two converse a while, Sey reinvites him to the pack, and he explains to her why, by telling her his story, and why it is he feels he shouldn't be part of a pack. Eventually, Akita approaches the two, deciding that his behavior warranted a closer look, and an official introduction. After being yet again invited into the pack by Akita, Seth tells Sey to share his story, unwilling to speak it again, because of how painful it is to relive. He walks over to the river to both avoid hearing the story and the reaction of the Alpha, who he fears will avoid him after learning he'd killed his mate. Akita is in agreement with Sey, that the death was deserved, and Seth is surprised to find himself still invited to the pack. He refuses for the time being, unable to trust himself. He accepted the offer to at least visit the dens, and the group travels back together, though Akita gives a discreet lead so Sey and Seth can still have private conversation.
Seth is introduced to Gray, and from what Sey told him, he was extremely uncertain as to how the wolf would react to his presence, and remained submissive and silent for the introduction. Not long after Gray tells Sey to let him stay in her den, mostly for Seth's comfort, Shrike and Elle manage to evade Gray in an effort to get some time alone away from the pack. He falls asleep while watching the two on their outing, and the pups disappear. Once Gray breaks the news to Akita, he stops in to let Seyvex know they're going out. they both go out looking for the pair of pups. Akita manages to distract Gray overnight and they stay in a den away from the pack as the weather turns a bit nastier in the early spring. The two are convinced that the pups are old enough to take care of themselves, even if they don't like the idea. The next morning, they wake and resume the hunt for the pups, and decide to go hunting for some breakfast in a rarely patrolled area of the territory.
During their hunt, a lone bow-hunter strikes down Akita, as she saves Gray from death. He attacks and kills the human that took his mate from him, they share some heart-breaking last words, and then she is gone. Gray, unable to function without his mate, goes somewhat feral, and loses touch with reality. The two are eventually found by a wandering Seth, who was hunting, and followed the scent of fresh blood, and is saddened at what he sees and what it means for the pack. Aodh follows Seth, though it isn't noticed until the pup speaks. Gray, having lost himself in his grief, protects her body from being approached or moved by any means necessary, and eventually attacks Ryuuji for getting too close and not heeding his snarled unspoken warnings, not hearing of anything the wolf had to say beyond his own devastation. After Ryuuji leaves him, he returns to Akita, to stand watch overnight. The next day, after staying awake all night, he is considerably weaker, both from anguish and his age catching up to him. He howls to try to relieve the stress, only to realize he would never hear her voice return his call. His heart, and body no longer able to take the stress, he collapses to the ground, and dies soon thereafter.
An Unexpected Visit.
Shrike had run off, coming back to himself after the confrontation between Gray, Akita and himself. Suddenly feeling as if he doesn't know who he is, and feels as if he is a danger to the others. In his escape he is suddenly overwhelmed by the pack past, as well as his own. The spirit form of his grandmother, Faline, had come to try and calm him, and try to convince him to not give up on himself, before fading out, herself. Seyvex, unbeknownst to him, along with Elle, had gone to chase him down, worried about the pup. Eventually catching up, Elle and Sey' tried to get Shrike to come back, but Shrike refused, his confusion of his identity hitting him hard, feeling the need to be alone. Feeling rejected, Elle leaves Shrike to Sey' in her own effort to be alone in her moment of anguish.
Sey continued to try to convince Shrike to come back to the dens, as the weather took a turn for the worse. The snow began falling harder as she continued to try and convince him, caring for him as if he was her own son. Shrike's agitation level grew as Sey' refused to leave him to his own devices, and began to threaten her into leaving.
Meanwhile Gray has meandered aimlessly, his heart left behind, finding himself climbing a steep grade only to be blow by a harsh wind into a small crevice in the stone that he'd climbed in his unthinking state. Akita found shelter in a nearby den, hoping Gray would change his mind, which of course, would be impossible in the storm.
Elle finally finds a spot to keep to herself, questioning why she'd left Shrike so easily, and second guessing her actions. Meanwhile Aodh and Faline had taken shelter in a small den of their own away from the home dens, and were to last out the night there.
As Sey is still trying to convince Shrike to come back to himself, pleading with him to do so, Elle makes up her mind, to try and make it back to where Shrike is circling Sey in a menacing way, trying to force her to leave. The wind and snowfall in the blizzard are making it hard on everyone, and Elle eventually collapses in her attempt to climb the hill where Shrike and Sey were also fighting the elements. Shrike finally starts to break down, feeling miserable about himself once again, and the wind was beating his smaller body into submission. He soon gave-out and let the wind blow him over. Sey tried, but couldn't see well in the worsening blizzard, eventually even her body gave in to the cold, and she passed out where she stood.
Three wolves lay in the snow, becoming quickly buried as the storm raged on. Huo, in the other realm, had been watching over her pack as she often did. Still feeling bound to the pack even in death. She grew more and more concerned as she realized no-one was going to know the three wolves were even missing until it was too late. She took matters into her own paws then, deciding to go against the rules and enter the living realm as a spirit.
She rushed to Akita first, making her leave the den she was hidden in, and find the scent trail she'd left, before going to Gray and getting him to help too, first leading him down the steep terrain he'd absently climbed in his misery. Once she'd led the Alpha pair to where the pups and the medic were buried, she left them to recover the wolves, and waited for the minutes that it took them to find the three wolves, unable to help further, knowing how much trouble she was already in.
Gray was still rather upset at Akita and did his best to ignore her presence, and kept focused on why he was there. The pups, and his medic. Using his own body, he cradled Shrike while Akita warmed and cleaned Elle. The two of them on either side of the medic warmed her back up too. It was then that Huo made her presence known once more, answering the questions she could before leaving back beyond the veil.
Trouble.
After a few weeks of settling in, the group agreed a time-skip would help move things along. So, we are now 8 months later, and the pups are now 10 months old, just shy of maturity. Gray and Akita are at the ripe old age of eight, and Sey, Kokoa and Hayleigh and Ceph are somewhere between 3 and 5 years old. It is now late winter, just warming up.
After a hunt and a night away from the pack, Gray and Akita return to the dens to find that Sey' has done well to control and take care of the pack in their unplanned absence. Akita has become worried about her growing pups, especially her daughter Elle, who seems quite taken by Shrike. She's worried her daughter might follow her own mistakes in life when it came to love and mates. A fight had nearly broken out between the two pups, Aodh and Elle, when Elle accused Aodh of being afraid of girls, and Aodh accused Elle of quite the opposite. Luckily Sey had been nearby and able to diffuse the fight before it exploded.
Not long after that, Gray and Akita returned to the dens, and are visited by Elle soon thereafter, while Aodh's off wandering with Faline. When Akita badly worded her warning, telling Elle that she liked all the males her age, it upset Elle, who left the den. Akita hadn't meant the words, but they'd already escaped. Shrike who'd caught the tail-end of the conversation between the two females grew irritated, and for a few moments debated on confronting the Alphess for her harsh words to his friend. When he'd finally got up the courage to do so, he had been somewhat overtaken by the spirit that he shared. Armin. Akita picked up on the nuances of the words the pup used, suspecting she was talking to Armin himself, and spoke to him as if she were still mated to him.
The two sentences she uttered in a suggestive manner, tore Gray in half. His ire toward the one she spoke that way to, who he challenged in a stare-down, and his heart feeling as if it would burst because of the tone she'd never used with anyone but him as far as he knew. As soon as Akita heard Armins' words through the detached vocals of the pup, she took off, and brought Elle with her under the guise of her first hunt. Unable to face her former mate, now that she'd brought him out. The pup evaded death only by collapsing under the stress the event caused him, dropping eye contact, and Gray left, before he did something he would regret.
A few hours later, Akita and Elle had brought down an Elk, and Gray had another sadistic hunt, slowly killing a boar over the course of hours to vent the pain and rage he felt over what he felt was not just a betrayal of himself as her mate, but the fact he'd almost just killed a pup over something he couldn't control, and left him alone to deal with it on his own. Eventually though, he realised the dead boar couldn't relieve his pain, and he gave in, collapsing into a heap of blood-encrusted fur and wept.
Akita found him not long after he collapsed. Uncertain, and heartbroken at what she saw when she did find him. It took her time to figure out what to say to the brute, and when she didn't see fit to actually answer any of his questions, he turned and walked away from her, after telling her to go home just as a blizzard began to roll in.
What was old, is new again.
With freshly broken ribs, and newly functioning hind legs, Gray was made to again carry Cepheus and a pup across the land-bridge that only shown on a full moon night, separating Redemption from Terra. Exhausted from their journey and the heightened stress levels, the pack fell asleep in a single den along the coast of what would be their new home.
Kokoa and Hayleigh have been continuing to be close, Hayleigh more put-off by the move back than she's willing to admit. Kokoa angry at Akita for always teasing him about Hayleigh. The fox has appeared again, seeming to have been grazed by a humans' bullet. She, while wary of the wolf pack she'd followed south, she knew she'd needed help with the wound. Kokoa was the first to scent out the fox, rather irately and early in the morning, catching Akita's attention. She'd gone to find out what the noise was all about, and told Kokoa to stop being so aggressive. After cutting off Kokoa's behavior she spoke with the fox, and found it to be asking shelter with the wolves while it healed. She led the fox to a safer den she'd known when the pack territory had been Terra before the fires, and told her she'd have to talk to her mate, before deciding the fox's fate.
Kokoa, meanwhile is getting only more agitated as he sees Gray and Akita together in their usual close manner. As Gray had been informed of the fox, Akita had decided he needed to meet her. Gray left Kokoa in charge of the pack while he was out, hoping the wolf would feel better, being viewed as someone who Gray and Akita trusted to care for the pack while they were gone for a few hours.
Unfortunately, Elle, gets bored rather quickly, and convinces Kokoa to bring them hunting. At 4 months old, they've only been hunting and playing amongst themselves. Elle had shown a keen interest in hunting, so Kokoa gave in when Elle said her parents would think it fine. Aodh trails along after them, both curious and not wanting to be left out, as Kokoa gives them a hunting lesson with some small game. Hares.
Unfortunately for Kokoa, and everyone involved, Elles deception leads to a confrontation between the still-injured Gray, Akita, and Kokoa, as they come across the trio out of the den-site, where the pups are not allowed. After said confrontation, where Kokoa mistakenly tries to lie his way out of the situation, when Gray drops the dead hare they'd hunted at his paws, before going to get the story from the pups. Having caught Kokoa in the lie, Akita tells him her feelings and turns away from him and back toward the den where her pups and mate are. Gray tries to get the pups to tell the story of what happened, and a very guilty-feeling Elle tells what happened. Meanwhile an irate (at himself, mostly) Kokoa, takes off and damages anything he can get his paws on. Including a thornbush, where he manages to get one stuck in his paw-pad.
As Akita enters the den, he tells her his thoughts; that everyone has some fault in the fiasco. The Alpha pair for not setting ground rules for the pups, the pups for lying to Kokoa, and Kokoa for believing the pups' story and bringing them out. Gray hunts down Kokoa and tells him as much, before returning back to the dens some time later.
An old enemy; a new threat.
It's been about 4 months since the pups' birth. After a long peaceful summer, they were into fall once again. The pups healthy and happy, at least for a while. There has been some serious developments at Redemption Isle. Humans, it seems had made their way to the Island, and were hunting the Elk herds. The moment Gray and Akita heard their gunshots, they were preparing for the worst. In order to preserve the pack, they went underground. The cavern Beyond the Falls, the trip is a treacherous journey up a steep and slippery slope. Especially when you have the weight of a pup in your maw. Each adult carried a pup, and Gray, was unlucky enough to have to carry Cepheus on his back as well. They remained there for much of the night, as Akita an Gray decided whether or not they should move to another den. Hayleigh, meanwhile is acting more roguish than usual, and has gone against Gray's edict several times since they'd encapsulated themselves in the den. In the end, she'd snuck out of the falls, avoiding detection from the Alpha's as they had a private conversation regarding her attitude and undermining his authority.
Gray, not being fond of closed in spaces, had a bit of a panic attack, and fell out of the opening to the cavern, despite his efforts to stop before being pushed down by the heavy current. Almost nobody was there to see the fall. Akita assumed he had only gone outside in a rush, not thinking about what could happen. Kokoa had been long since asleep with the pups at the time, and was well out of the way for Gray's barely controlled sprint towards the exit. Hayleigh had only just climbed to the top of the falls before seeing Gray appear at the bottom of them. Upon landing on the solid stone beneath the falls, he broke a pair of ribs quite badly. At least that's all he'd realized until later. Hayleigh had gone to get help, which of course alerted the rest of the pack to the problem.
Akita came down, and ordered the rest back up into the den, so she could talk to her mate alone. It was then that he'd noticed his back legs weren't doing as he wished, and instead remained lifeless against the stone. He made the difficult choice of telling his mate to go back inside. He'd done it for her own protection, knowing he wouldn't be able to make it up the steep slope with only his front legs to carry him. He'd only convinced her by telling her he'd needed to be outside because he hated the closed spaces, which she knew to be true, and that he'd be in soon. After warning him she'd be back soon, she went back inside, to check in with the pups and the rest of the pack for a while, if only to distract herself from what she'd really suspected of Gray's insistence that she go back into the cavern.
It wasn't much later, that she came back out, only to find Gray had moved himself further from the den in the time she'd been gone. He'd positioned himself as if he were fine, trying to aphease his mate, and hoped to convince her to stay gone. The conversation turned dire, and he eventually admitted he couldn't go back to the cavern. The two stayed together for what they thought was their last night alive together, with the threat of humans looming over them, it was a tear-filled evening. Until the nerves in Gray's back began to function again, apparently stunned in the fall. It was a painful recovery, but he could move, and so, they celebrated amongst themselves, and went back up to the cavern to decide the fate of the pack. They knew the pack couldn't live in the caverns for long. During the conversation, Hayleigh had managed to sneak back out of the cavern back to the dens. Her heart in the right place, but not realizing the danger she put herself and the pack in, when she repeatedly left and came back to their hiding spot to bring food in. Gray was losing patience quickly with the insubordinate female but the announcement had to be made. That announcement, was to change the pack history, and in some ways repeat it. They were going to the home-territory of the Scarlet Letter pack, Terra d'Sylvester. The humans posed too much a threat to wait them out.
An Icy Return.
It's been a couple months since our last check-in with the pack. It is now late spring, and a freak snow/ice storm hit, bringing more than just sleet, ice and the pups' first snow, albeit a bit early. Cepheus makes his return, in a beaten, battered, and nearly-dead state, thanks to humans taking him when he was still a teen. He is currently staying in the den he stumbled into during the storm. The Alpha den with Akita, Gray and their two pups. Gray is not so sure about this newcomer, he see's Ceph as a potential danger to his pups, and likes to keep himself between them. Akita is still trying to convince Gray that Ceph is relatively harmless, which is proving difficult. She harbors a bit of guilt over not doing a better job searching for him. He feels that due to all the stress that the wolf had gone through, he's liable to snap at the pups. Intentional or not, he see's Ceph as a potential threat.
Gray and Ceph have a small conversation about humans, and why they do what they do, and about Grays' introduction to them, though in Gray's mind, it doesn't much warm him to the male. He does feel bad for him and what went on, but his protective instincts when in regards to his pups and his mate are still on full-alert. If he didn't trust Akita, he wouldn't have allowed the pups to stay in the same den as the strange male.
Karlie and Kaz have been caring for their own broods' in different dens. Karlie and Hayleigh have just come to learn, on the second day after the storm, that Ceph is back. Hayliegh currently doesn't know what to think about it. Karlie is excited to see her old friend back home, but is worried about his many injuries. The lead medic, Seyvex, is back from her trip herb collecting in the south and will be looking over Ceph to see if anything further is wrong with the male than what Akita could deal with.
In other happenings, the pups are learning now to eat meat, and enjoyed their first snow. Gray brought back an elk calf that had died due to the storm, and it is found out that Kokoa is missing. The two Alpha's expected Hayleigh to know where he was, since they were seemingly attached at the hip. With her return to the den, alone, it sparks worries about the male and what could've happened.
Reincarnation.
Karlie has finally given birth to her two pups. Gray was left behind with the newborn pups as Akita went to go help her daughter through the process, as there was no medic available to help. Huo tries to help Armin adjust to his afterlife, trying to bring him out of the depressed state he was in when he left his mortal body behind those many months ago. After becoming frustrated with Armin's lack of reaction, she picked him up and brought him to Karlie as she was about to give birth to his pups. She stayed beyond the veil but watched as they became parents together. Afterwards, as Armin faded back beyond the veil, Huo was able to inform him that he would get his second chance, just before he faded back through the veil allowing his spirit to become one with one of the pups, Shrike.
Alidar meanwhile has not been seen for weeks, and it is guessed that he may have wandered off as an old wolf typically does toward the end of their life span. He was a 9 year old wolf, and well beyond the typical wild wolfs span is, and his solid and statue-like presence as Lead Guardian will be missed. He is now with the spirits, with the rest of the pack.
In other news; we are still looking for one pup to finish out Kaz's litter of two; bringing our total count to six. Gray and Akita have their two little ones, Vaier and Elle; Karlie has Shrike and Faline; and Kaz has Welio and Sili. Allidar's user will be coming back as another character, it is still undecided how or who that will be.
New life; old friends.
Kaz has turned up pregnant after being assaulted by a former lover. Her personality has changed a bit since then, becoming more volatile and depressed, and afraid of close contact. She told Seyvex what happened, and the two are closer than ever otherwise. Karlie has resurfaced again, heavy with the three pups she has yet to give birth to. She and her adoptive mom, Akita decided to go back to Terra deSylvester to remember those lost in the fire. They spend the night in one of the dens there, the two reconnecting again for the first time after Armins' death. Meanwhile Gray finally decides to track the two pregnant females down, eventually finding the old territory, which still bore signs of the fire from two years ago. When he finally catches up to the two, Kaz has tracked them down too, and they all end up meeting at one of the dens there.
Kaz's personality change has started to become aggressive, as she starts a fight with Akita and saying hateful things to her about her former home and other things she didn't really mean. If the three pregnant females weren't pregnant, there would've likely been a fight. Gray tried to diffuse the situation, but Kaz only started mouthing off to him instead. He hadn't taken it personally though, and went to comfort the stricken Akita as she'd walked off after hearing some harsh words from Kaz, who took off back to her cavern under the falls after failing to instigate a fight with Karlie.
Gray is 'introduced' to Csil, and he calms Akita down a bit, explaining what he thinks is the problem with Kaz, though neither of them know what happened to get her pregnant in the first place. After formally being introduced to Karlie, his second step-daughter (from Neu), they decide to go to their home camp to see what remains there. After a bit of mourning for their past, and the many lives cut short by the flames of the fire, something interesting happens.
The apparition of Huo shows up, sitting in her old place atop one of the dens, healed and happy, followed by her mate, Shevian, and a few others including Armin, Faline, Ceph and the original Alpha pair. It allowed words to be said that were unable to be said at the time of their demise, and closure was able to be had for both Karlie and Akita. Gray was simply a silent witness to it, having no bonds or even introductions to the many spirits he saw. Shevian and Armin offered a warning about Kaz just before crossing the veil that separates the living from the dead.
Karlie decides to go back to the den-site, having no specific attachment to Kaz, while Gray and Akita go after her to make sure she's okay. The warning had sounded ominous and they were worried about the younger wolf. As it turns out, due to the stress of the fighting and the traveling, Kaz has started giving birth to her first litter early. Gray is instructed by Akita to grab some herbs from the den and bring them to her for Kaz. The fight forgotten for the time being, as they struggle to bring the first new life into the pack. Gray, having no idea what herbs are what, grabs a sample of just about everything in the den and carries it back. As he was being careful not to get the herbs wet, he slipped (dropping the herbs in a dry spot, luckily) and scraped up the inside of his leg and bruised the bone in his knee.
Gray retreats from the birthing scene, as his old pack never let the males near, and despite Akita reprimanding him for it, he stays where he is until Kaz has finished giving birth to her two pups. The family enjoys their time with the two balls of fluff before Gray feels the need to leave, due to his claustrophobia and waits by the entrance to the caverns after Kaz decides she finally wants into the pack, knowing what safety it offers her pups, not to mention her mate being one of the medics.
Not long afterward, Gray gets his knee looked at by the nervous medic, Solomon, but just before finishing said treatment, Akita goes into labor too, giving birth to two healthy pups too. Elle and Viaer are the newest members of the Alpha family, and that is where the roleplay session ends. Karlie is due to give birth to hers soon, so keep an eye out for her triplets.
After a short hiatus (the Log-in page is a bit of a pain for some people), we're back again. We have six new pups (three that still need recruiting for). Over the last few weeks, some roleplay has been done on the Skype chat in lieu of the game. This post was to catch people up on what has happened there.
Down the water-hole.
For these last couple weeks, Gray and Akita have been more home-bodies due to her pregnancy, staying around the home-den. Hayleigh and Kokoa, however have been off doing some of their own discovery. As the snow melted the hidden falls began to run freely again. Hayleigh had discovered the falls on her own during winter, and as you know, showed Kokoa them. A few weeks later Hayleigh actually slipped and fell through the falls, and into the entrance to the caverns, twisting her ankle. The two of them have been exploring in there since. Kaz has been missing for a week or so, and we hope to find her soon too.
Spring is on the way, new life begins.
A little over a week has gone by since Armins death. The grass is beginning to grow and the hunting is becoming easier once more. The lakes have thawed along their edges and the ice no longer thick enough to hold a wolf. The trees are once again starting to become greener and the weather warmer than it had been in weeks.
In that time, Akita and Gray have kept themselves isolated in an effort to rebuild their relationship. While they're on their own, a new loner comes to visit, one that is a medicinal specialist that Gray doesn't particularly like the attitude of, but acknowledges that the pack needs a more experienced medic; but before they can offer the lone wolf a rank within the pack, he takes off, and hasn't been seen since. Akita has been feeling off for the last couple days, and eventually comes to realize she's pregnant. By whom, at least IC, it is yet to be known. Meanwhile, Karlie is also pregnant, with the late Armin's pups.
While that is all going on, Kokoa and Hayleigh have been left alone for the most part, and have forged a stronger friendship in the absence of their Alpha pair. Eventually Gray and Akita come back to the dens, a day after Gray finds out he's to be a father and tracks down a rare meal for the two; a boar, for breakfast. Something Akita is quite hesitant to eat at first, having never seen one, when her stomach decides otherwise and she eats it quite ravenously. Kokoa and Hayleigh have found a hidden waterfall off the coast near the dens, and have been frequenting the location. Gray is on his own for a while as Akita gets some much needed sleep, and decides to go on a quick hunt that turns out to be a longer hunt, but ends up with four hares to show for it by the time the moon is high and he drops off most of his kill at the pile. Saving one for his mate, he brings it into the den before getting a drink after the hunt and then going to sleep himself.
Meanwhile, Kokoa and Hayleigh silently argue over Hayleighs refusal to eat, though her stomach clearly is requesting the meal, when they finally return from the falls. Eventually he gets frustrated and puts the hare on Hayleigh's head. Gray witnessed this as he returned from his drink before turning in for the evening, letting whatever was potentially developing between the two do just that and keeping the amusement to himself. Eventually Kokoa gives in and eats the hare before turning in for the night, when Hayleigh decides to do the same. The session ends as everyone falls asleep for the night.
A rough few days, and redemption.
As the winter nears its end, the snow thinning. Akita gets injured in an elk hunt, badly bruising ribs as she tries to take down an elk on her own. Gray, who'd already been hunting finishes off his own kill just before rescuing Akita from being trampled by a vengeful elk. After he scares it away, he helps her treat the injury as Akita tells him how to do so; but afterwards, as Gray goes to grab food for the two of them, Akita catches the scent of Armin nearby. She follows the scent, leaving the den mere minutes after receiving treatment of her wounds, tracking Armin to the western coast near the pack den. He had been so distraught over losing everything he deemed important in his life, (Huo, Karlie, and Akita, namely), he had stopped caring for himself. He stopped eating, and eventually stopped moving. Akita finds him as skin and bones, and unconscious and nearly dead, partially submerged in the frozen water of the coast. The birds had already begun to feed, bits and pieces of his pelt pulled off and missing.
Gray returns to the den only to find a missing Akita. Worried for her, he tracks her down to where she is trying to frantically revive Armin. Despite his distrust of the brute, Gray begrudgingly helps, offering his body-heat to warm Armin up by laying beside him. Armin regains consciousness and comes back to himself, and is once again the Armin they all knew before the fire that wiped out much of the pack, the one who earned his former rank as Beta, and became Huo's second in command before falling from grace. Gray goes to bring the two of them a leg from the recently downed elk. Eventually Gray's irrational jealousy gets the better of him, and he decides to walk it off. He thinks that Akita still may harbor feelings for Armin only judging by her frantic reaction to him, which he heard just before arriving on the scene.
After Grays departure, Akita goes back to tend to Armin, where he admits his feelings for her hadn't changed, and touches his nose to hers, an act that crosses the line of friendship. After a short discussion between the two, they go their separate ways. Armin to a lone den, and after telling Armin to stop by their medic to get looked over, Akita goes back to the pack dens, where she runs into Hayleigh and Karlie. Gray had been trying to sleep in a den nearby, but their discussion kept him from fully being able to do so. Eventually he decided to walk out to the entrance of the den, taking in the night air, unable to not hear the conversation. The discussion was about Armin, and that Akita had been confused about how she felt about him. Gray overheard the discussion, and also overheard about Armin making a move on his mate. At first he acts like he didn't overhear any of it, but later Akita admits to it, but swears there's no threat, and that she loves Gray, and would be loyal to Gray.
The next day, Karlie goes off on Akita after a visit with Armin, after unveiling to him a truth she'd been hiding. She was pregnant with his pups during the fire that consumed the majority of the pack, and eventually took her pups. Blaming Akita for everything that had gone wrong (the fact that Akita lost track of Karlie in the fire, among other things) in her life, Akita breaks down as a result of the verbal assault while Gray is away on a hunt. After she tried unsuccessfully to hunt down Gray, she sought out Armin. Armin and her shared time together while Gray hunted nearby, unknowingly close to Armins' den. Armin at some point had fallen asleep, and Akita had left him to sleep, only to find Gray across the small frozen pond at which he was drinking. She is still quite upset and begs him to distract her, which he does. Afterwards, she decides to check on Armin again before going back to the pack dens. Akita and Armin fall prey to their former passions while Gray heads back to the pack den and converses with Sey, and asks her advice on Akitas injury before gathering the herbs necessary to treat Akita when she returns to the den.
The next morning when she does return, after attempting to clean her fur of Armins scent in the mostly frozen lake, Gray notices the distinct scent of mating, and Armins scent all over her, as he greets her in his usual manner, delving his nose into her pelt. The realisation of the betrayal inevitably shatters him emotionally and he bolts up towards the north without much more than a distressed whine as he left. He searched out an empty den in the northern range that didn't remind him of her, where he allows himself to break completely. Eventually Akita finds Armin again, and begins to blame him for what had happened. Somewhere in that, she begins to lose herself, and begins to recognize that she'd not entirely herself when she's like that. Armin convinces Akita to try and talk to Gray, but he's not ready to talk by the time she catches up with him. He is emotionally numb, giving toneless answers, and she eventually leaves him alone.
On her way back across the valley, a cougar stalks Akita, who froze at the sight of the feline. It's about to attack when Armin comes at a run, attacking the cougar himself, before Akita could be harmed. Gray is well away from this and has no idea what is transpiring. Armin is fatally wounded during the fight, and though Akita eventually makes the kill, Armin is already badly injured. Akita and Armin share his last moments as he bleeds out, dying in her paws. Huo greets him as an old and dear friend, she leads him to where his pups and his friends before him have gone, and guides him into the afterlife. Akita goes back to Gray, and asks him to help bury the male that took everything from him. He does it for her, wordlessly, numb, his loyalty the driving force behind his actions. The fact that Armin saved Akita's life played a small part. She asks that he's buried by Huo, and so he is. Gray stares blankly out into nothing as she mourns his loss, allowing her to take solace in him even if it killed him emotionally to do so. She eventually leaves him sitting there, staring and lost in his own thoughts and questions when eventually he makes a decision to be a better wolf.
He gets it in his head that he'd done something wrong, to drive her to Armin that night. He goes to her, and somewhere between Gray's stoicness and Armin's death, Akita loses herself. She begins having conversations with herself, arguing with something she calls the shade, who tries to convince her leaving Gray is better than staying with him. He hears the tail-end of an argument, as he approaches the den she's staying in. Their den, or at least was their den. He and Akita have a long conversation about what had happened and what their future held after her transgression. Eventually they decide to try to work out the problem, and Akita admits her psychological issue to Gray, pleading for his help to stop it.
Shortly after their arrival to the dens, Akita scents Karlie is in the dens, and goes to search her out, to break the news of Armin. Karlie breaks down with Akita trying to support her however she can, but Karlies anger takes hold again, and she seeks out a hunt to excise the raging energy. Gray feels much the same way, and the two set off on a hunt. Gray is feeling malevolent and violent in his rage, and doesn't fall to his usual hunting style. He is sadistic. He chooses the bull of the herd, separating it from the others, and picks at it, biting, scratching, intentionally not doing enough damage to kill. A sadistic tease, causing it as much pain as he could inflict before the elk finally gave up and collapsed for lack of blood and energy. The snow along with his fur is littered in blood and gore as he finally chokes and puts the bull out of its misery. Karlie had gone after smaller prey, a female, her hunting a surgical strike that was over quickly. She had gone back, sating her rage, well before Gray had been done.
Akita, worried for the amount of time it had taken, and after being able to clear her mind again. Somehow banishing the shade, she tracks Gray down only to find him just after taking that final bite, his rage quenched for the moment. She sees the blood all over him and is immediately concerned it is his own blood, but Grays anger isn't finished, and he speaks harshly, and as the rage boils again, he attacks the already dead bull. Akita makes a sarcastic comment about him attacking the dead beast which triggers him to unleash his anger on her. He challenges her verbally, asking if she'd rather he attack the corpse of her dead friend, eventually telling her everything she'd made him feel, in the end collapsing under the weight of all that he felt, now that the rage was gone, there was nothing but desolate pain. They lay in the snow together as they finally lay out their true feelings on what had happened, their hearts connect again. The snow begins to fall again, and after eating their fill of the carcass, Akita suggests they go to his den, and suggests they take time to mend what was broken, a few days to themselves. Gray agrees and to not waste the remains of the bull, he drags it to the den along with them.
They discuss their history together, mutually agreeing that the blizzard that brought them together under the tree had been the best storm to ever happen to them. They discuss the good times together, joking with one another and eventually realize that the good outweighed the one bad choice, and the rp session closes on a passionate night together between Gray and Akita.
A Quiet Few Days.
The storms have lessened, and about a week has gone by since the fight that separated Armin from the pack. Since then, Karlie and he have also had a falling out, and she comes back to the pack, and he is left alone yet again. She comes back only to confront the Alphess and question Gray, though after Akita turns her back on the situation under the guise of going in search of Kaz, who'd gone hunting. In the intervening week, Sey' and Kaz have become quite familiar with one another. Speaking of Sey', she's taken the position of medic within the pack and soon gets her first wolf to treat, an apparently ignored stress-fracture of Karlie's leg. As Karlie is being treated, Gray goes in search of his mate, having a feeling of her true intentions, and upon tracking her down a few hours later his thoughts proving true. After comforting her and another night of forgetting, they find their way back to their dens, where Akita's curiosity about Kokoa's relationship hits its peak and she questions him about it. He denies they're anything more than friends, however, and the subject is quickly dropped as Kokoa decides to go on a hunt on his own, the hunt Gray and he had planned would wait until later.
The snow and ice are beginning to melt in the few days without a storm, is it the first signs of spring? Perhaps; perhaps not. We end the session with Gray and Akita discussing Kokoa and Hayleigh over a meal from the pile.
Another Week, Another Storm.. Another pack?
Because he had dreamed of a beautiful future, Gray faces his fears and asks Akita to be his mate, and she agrees, though it's unclear what rank he wants at first. Meanwhile he is introduced to Akita's daughter, Kaz, along with Neu, Kaz's father, it is an unfriendly meeting, ending with a threat by the strange wolf. Akita and Gray go hunting again while Kaz goes back to the dens for a few nights, seeing a loner on the side. While on his way back to the den from checking in on Armin, he comes across a somewhat distraught pup around the same age as Kaz. She's stand-offish around the adults, Akita and Gray, so the two of them go back north as Akita decides that's the best time to show him something, a favorite den she holds close. Kaz and the new-comer, Seyvex, seem to be getting along quite well, while the adults are away, sharing a meal and flirting back and forth.
Winter seems to kick into high-gear, another night Kokoa gets himself stuck with Hayleigh, a little less eventful than the last one. He'd been spending time with her while she was on loner-status, though she wants to make her return the weather isn't helping much, and she's found she dislikes winter very much. Gray has another dream, and again decides to act on the dream, and asks Akita about becoming her Alpha male, to which she enthusiastically agrees, because she believed him to not want any part of the pack. Something he'd been adamant about for their entire courtship. His dreams made him realize that he really wanted to be there to protect her and who she protected as Alpha, and the best way he could do that is stand at her side as Alpha male.
Some time later, she decides to check on the girls back at camp while Gray decides to check on Armin after the storm, who finally notices Gray and they have a conversation that turns into an altercation between the two when Gray lets it be known that he's Akita's mate, and Gray decides to try to provoke him into a fight to knock him out of his depression surrounding Huo. Whereas nothing more than words occurs in this first altercation, Armin flees as his guilt catches up to him. Gray chases him, to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, as he was charged with watching over him. After chasing him what seemed like all over the island, he stops chasing the wolf, calling him a coward as he stops his chase. Akita had chased after Gray some time later, tracking his scent, and eventually caught up to him at the lake-side, where Gray learns to walk on ice, as they cross to track Kokoa, to see what he's been up to the last week or so, and to see if Akita can make amends with Hayleigh.
During the conversation between Kokoa, Gray and Akita a few hours later, things between Armin and Gray come to a head as Armin becomes aggressive once again, stalking the group. Twisting their words in his own mind. When Gray finally notices his presence, he only becomes more agressive. Akita decides she doesn't want to waste her time on him, but Gray stands his ground, Kokoa nearly getting caught in the crossfire as words become a brawl. Gray being the larger and more powerful wolf handily defeats Armin, leaving him nearly unconscious on the snow, laying in a bit of his own blood from the bites sustained, leaving him the parting words "Y'r no long'r welc'me 'n th's territory. Y' have no pack." He and Kokoa then turn and go back to the packs' den site.
Gray doesn't escape the fight injury-free, however. A decent cut to his neck where Armins tooth caught him in the beginning of the fight, and a more severe one to the stomach from Armins claws, leaving a small blood-trail from the combined injuries leading from the sight of the brawl to the dens. Meanwhile, Armin lays in the snow with what is probably a pretty nasty gash on the scruff of his neck, and some puncture wounds to his throat, though none are deadly, they are not pleasant.The fight and Armin's ejection from the pack initiates the second pack we will be bringing into the RP, as Armin eventually starts his own.
On the trek back, Gray and Kokoa discuss Armin, along with potential plans to hunt together the next day, should Gray's injuries, and Akita's fury allow him to so. We leave the RP session with Gray laying on his side in his den suffering the effects left by the adrenaline rush fading and noticing the blood trail in the snow, and wondering where Akita is as he falls asleep while Kokoa is dozing before realizing that through all the excitement, he'd forgotten about Hayleigh still up in the woods somewhere by the den they'd stayed in, but knowing he can't make the trip again until the next day between the cold night and exhaustion.
A few weeks and another storm later..
Akita and Gray have been seeing a lot of each other while the pack does its own thing. Akita decides to finally introduce Gray to the pack, where they find a fight in progress. Armin versus Hayleigh as she tries to find out what really happened to Huo, believing Armin was the literal cause of her demise. Both need to be knocked out to stop the fight and a while later, while Akita questions Hayleigh about what happened, Armin takes off while Gray gives chase, having been given the task of watching over him. He follows the distraught wolf to the grave of Huojin, their former Alpha. While Gray watches over Armin, deciding to give him space while he's at the burial site, Akita dismisses Hayleigh from the pack temporarily, accusing her of being unable to trust her Alpha. Eventually Akita notices Armin and Gray gone and goes in search of them after leaving Kokoa in charge temporarily; meanwhile while Hayleigh goes off on her own up into the forest to find a den away from the pack, somewhat distraught at being kicked from her pack. Eventually Kokoa takes it upon himself to go in search of Akita after a few hours of her missing from camp along with almost everyone else. Mistaking one scent for another, while searching for Akita, he ends up running into Hayleigh.
Another night comes and so does another storm. A quiet night at least for one pair of wolves, though the morning brings some amusing antics. The new snowfall creates a bit of a problem for Hayleigh, as Kokoa sleeps on the other end of the den. She finds her front half burried in snow, unable to back out, leaving for an amusing sight for Kokoa when he wakes up. She isn't quite so amused as they both try to free her from the awkward position. Gray and Akita end up in a similar situation when Gray decides to show off and ends up getting himself stuck quite badly. Akita is immediately amused by this and takes advantage of his encapsulated position to mess his exposed feet, while he can't do anything. It soon goes south for Akita and especially Gray when he starts to panic. He was never one for tight spaces and soon finds himself reliving the process in which he got his scars. Akita desperately tries to get him out without harming him in the process and eventually succeeds, though Gray is still very shaken. Over at the other den, Hayleigh is finally free and decides upon a little revenge for Kokoas laughter, splattering Kokoa with some of the fallen snow.
Gray finally calms enough to exit the den, where they hunt an injured elk and enjoy the meal together, arguing over who is to eat first, the Alpha or the rogue, as Gray is not yet part of the pack. He insists, but she wins in the end, but he still leaves her the best bits.
After the Storm.
A few new faces have been added to the pack; some getting along better than others with the newly crowned Alpha. After a few more hours of separation from Gray, Akita found herself in his company again. Quite literally dropping in on him in his new den while she was out on a hunt trying to clear her mind. She ended up finding him in much the same way as he found his den. As they talked and generally became even more well acquainted since the previous evening, Karlie decided she wanted to have a word with their new Alpha after making it home with Armin. Tracking the Alphess down to his den, Gray didn't exactly respond well to the sudden intrusion of another unfamiliar wolf, but because of the trust building between himself and Akita, he withheld his attack on the unknown wolf. A brief conversation surrounding a promotion to Lead Warrior and the fact that Akita had been hanging around the lone male so much as of late. After Karlie again made her leave of the Alphess and her new friend, Gray and Akita were left alone to converse for most of the day. A growing bond between them the more time they spent together. Despite him being a lone-wolf situating himself in her territory and her being the Alpha of the only pack in the area. Eventually the two simply fall asleep together as day turns into night once again.
Snowstorm.
A few days have passed since Huo's death. Her passing has weighed heavily on Armin, blaming himself for her death. He's quite depressed over this and headed north, away from everyone. Meanwhile Akita is getting herself acquainted with Gray, the lone wolf on their island, showing him a few dens he might be able to stay at. In the mean time, back at the packs' den, Hayleigh has noticed Huo's disappearance, and decided to trail after Akita for answers on where Huo'd disappeared to. She did end up catching up to Akita as she walked along with Gray, but that introduction was delayed by a bear that had meandered into their path. Gray, being unfamiliar with bears, decided to take it upon himself to direct the bears attention towards himself and use his speed to his advantage, losing the bear in a long chase. He eventually found his way back to where the two females had been, by which time Hayleigh had already left back towards the den and a storm was closing in quickly. Though they wouldn't notice it until it was nearly too late.
Karlie is also on the hunt, for Armin, having wandered off on his own a few days ago and had not been seen by the pack since. Being as she was close to him, she took it upon herself to find him. Caught off-guard by the quickly moving storm, Gray and Akita were forced to dig out a den under a large tree to shelter themselves from the storm. During the night he and Akita became more familiar with eachother, and by morning were far more comfortable in eachothers' presence at the least. Karlie had injured herself at some point and was dragging with a heavy limp, and had nearly exhausted herself when she finally found Armin, nearly frozen to death of his own will. Sitting in the whipping ice-strewn winds of the north.
Meanwhile, back on his own, Gray has found himself a better home (marked on the map). By accident. He fell into it as he was plowing his way through the snow a short while after Akita took her leave and went back to attend to her pack, though little did she know, not much of the pack would be there when she arrived.
The Next Generation.
Akita has taken over as Alpha, as Huo's leadership had been lacking in recent weeks, being all but consumed by her fear and of her own packmates and mourning the loss of her only friends (Akita and Armin). After being approached by her former friend, Akita, she allowed her to take over as pack Alpha. With a brief conversation, she left quietly. She later passed away that night, in the first snow of the season, unable to find reason to move from where she was, she slept in the open, only to slowly freeze to death as she slept. She'd lived a long seven years, and went (somewhat) naturally in her sleep. Armin's guilt over initiating the Akita-as-Alpha idea, peaks as they find the deceased former Alpha. A new Alpha is crowned, and the old one passes into the next realm.
Meanwhile, there is a lone wolf prowling the territory, not much is known about him, but his name is Gray. Last time he was seen, he was staying in one of the dens on the island in the middle of the lake(marked on the map on the downloads page).
Onward with the Drama.
In the last couple weeks we have had some interesting things happen in the RP. Firstly, there's the relationship between Akita and Armin taking off, which unfortunately led to some not so great things. Akita leaving her young pups alone for days at a time without feeding, and later, is the attack on Huojin by Akita who'd been told to do so by her then-bonded wolf, Armin. Huo was able to hold her own against Akita pretty effortlessly, when Armin joined the fight attacking Akita. It needs to be added that Huo had been attacked by Armin twice after the fires by Armin directly, and had then waved them off as his mourning process, before the pack moved to Redemption, and well before he became Delta.
Huo couldn't think of a reason that Akita, her former best-friend had been able to so effortlessly attack her, except with some sort of other reasoning, and attacked Armin as he was about to attack Akita during the fight. There was a moment of tension when Akita attacked again, while Huo had Armin down in submission by the throat as he did not fight Huo back. She still has no idea what is going on, and spent an in-game week irate at the two and unsure what to do about the problem. She has since decided to demote them both. Akita loses her Lead hunter status, and Armin will go back to Guardian, losing his status as Delta. It will be a long process for both of them to regain her trust.
While all this is happening, Kokoa rejoins the pack, to an agitated but un-injured Huo. Armin took off, and Akita is acting like nothing happened, much to the dismay of Huo. Prada also returned back in June, though was inactive for a while thereafter, she's picked up Medic. The relationship between Armin and Akita has also quickly dissolved after Armin betrayed Akita during the fight that changed, well, everything. Huo is now less trusting with any wolf after being betrayed by her closest wolves.
Our latest rejoin after many months, is Karlie, who has had internet issues for months and is finally back. Huo is unaware of Karlie's rejoining, however Armin was the one to find her.
A few months, and a lot of rp has happened since I have updated this page. I'm sorry for that, so what I'm going to do is give a sort of time-lapse to get you up to date.
In the last months since Shrike enforced his will upon Sili, there had been hostilities between Welio, Aodh, and Shrike. The three of them never really having gotten along, but at the same time, that was nothing new. Shrike never allowed many near him, as he stayed away from the pack in a near-loner state. He is becoming more and more antagonistic towards the other members of the pack. This comes to a head when, Karlie approaches him after Sili leaves him after standing up for herself with his behavior towards her. Shrike is at the point where he is very angry with himself, the pack, and with Karlie for being an absentee mother. Even though it was mostly through no fault of her own. In the end, Karlie dies at Shrikes paw, falling off of the cliff into a fire caused by a severe thunderstorm that raked through the area that night. She leaves her mark on his face during the incident. Seth and Aodh come just after Karlie's fall, drawn to the light of the fire, only to see Shrike trapped on the stone outcropping by the flames. Seth tries, but Aodh succeeds in rescuing the wolf.
It takes a few days for it to come out, what had happened. First through the gifts that Welio's friend, Elvira has. She can see the last moments of a dead wolf through that wolf's eyes. Unable to see who, but able to feel the emotions of the wolf that died, she knew it was no accident and that it had been done by one close to her, and forwarded the information to Sey.
Sey decides to banish Shrike from the pack and their territory, and he leaves, but before he is entirely out of their territory, Aodh and Budha track his scent, and confront the wolf about the murder on their own. Kokoa tracks _those two_ down, and despite the Shades' influences upon them, tries to talk Aodh out of killing the brute right then. It is a long and drawn out conversation as Aodh has Shrike pinned and easily able to out-muscle the smaller, injured wolf. In the end, Aodh makes the final blow, putting Shrike out of his misery, though he felt some pity towards the wolf and ended it quickly.
Shrike and Armins' soul were separated by Huo after his death. Armin now is a shade, after tainting his own sons' decisions, and wasting his second chance. Shrike, because he truly was remorseful for what he had done and everything that had transpired in his short life, was brought to become a Guardian with the rest of the pack who had passed on. The only ones who know of Shrike's death are Aodh, Welio, Budha, and Kokoa. It is agreed upon by the males' that this become a secret.
Meanwhile, after being injured severely in a lone hunt, while distracted and tired, he limps home with a large bull elk to feed the pack. After treating him and telling him to see her for periodic treatments, she leaves again, this time for days. Eventually Seth approaches Sey about this when she comes back and they talk it out, eventually coalescing in him asking her to be his mate; she accepts. A day or so later, Kokoa approaches Sey, and Seth by proximity, about Shrikes death, and remembering what had happened last time he'd lied to an Alpha. He chose to tell Sey and Seth, who decide that it will still remain quiet among the group that knows, but Faline has to be told, since Shrike was her brother.
Over the next day or so, Sey has become more agitated and worried by the goings' on of the pack since she took the role of Alpha. She is worried that these grounds are in a way, cursed, and decides she wants the pack to move. Away from the territory that felt almost cursed. She howls to collect the members of the pack to the dens and announces her intentions and asks for opinions. Aodh and Welio have questions concerning moving all the wolves at once, but the decision is made. All ten wolves will move as one, and not in two groups. Welio is not happy with this decision, whether it is because he sees Seth as controlling Sey since he answered the question (she had already gone inside her den when he asked), or simply because he sees no sense in it as being the primary factor, has yet to be seen. She has given the pack members the evening to prepare to leave these lands, and say goodbye to whatever spirits they wish to before they go in the morning.
New Characters; Old Problems.
We've got a few more members added to the pack, and with new members sometimes comes personality conflicts. In this case, Shrike and new member Budha get into a fight, while Seyvex and Sili try to break it up. Coming back from one of his patrols, Aodh sees what's going on and puts an end to it. The stubborn Shrike fighting until he he physically couldn't deal with Aodh's larger size. Both members have a few scrapes and cuts, but no maiming was done to any of the wolves involved.
Seth, meanwhile has been out on a relatively unsuccessful hunting trip all day. By the evening, dragging the carcass of another bull elk, he re-enters the pack dens to drop off the hard-earned prize, get a drink and go to sleep. He only vaguely notices the scent of wolf-blood in the territory, but guesses that Sey, as an Alpha has it all under control. He is too tired to be worried about what happened for the moment.
After the incident, Shrike talks Sili into showing him the dens where she had her encounter with the Shade. After a bit of an argument, Sili tried to stick up for herself only to have her muzzle damaged by Shrike in his irritation. Meanwhile, Faline and Aodh go on a hunt for some time out after the fight.
More Problems for the pack.
As Sey and Seth are exploring their relationship, and Seth remains uncertain of himself, he goes off on a run one morning to blow off some steam. As he's running he finds out some interesting things. He comes across a pair of scents. One he knows, and one he doesn't. The one he knows is Wellio, Sey's son; the one he doesn't, is another loner, a female he'd not encountered or seen until catching her scent just then. After tracking the pair of scents from one edge of the territory to another, he assumes that Welio walked her across their territory, as the two scents separate at the edge of the territory once again.
The second thing he comes across is a dilapidated den, just north of their territory border. The scent and the feel of this den is different. Darker, more sinister. His instincts tell him to leave that den, and convinces him to tell Sey about both occurences. He's unsure whether they are linked, however, and that possibility is what decides him.
Later on, Sili, Sey and Seth take a walk together, Sey's idea of a bonding excersize for Seth. He complies, and as they walk along the river, he decides to try to teach them how to fish, at which point Sili takes off on her own, uncomfortable with the mood of the conversation between Sey and Seth. As she wanders, following a butterfly she'd been intent on catching for her mother, she came across the dark dens, and was promptly 'attacked' by a Shade. A ghostly figure that chased her out of the dens, and her fear took her back towards the river, hiding in one of the dens that sat along the banks.
When Sili explains what happened, they return to the home dens, and contemplate what to do about it. It is decided to keep the dark dens a secret until Seth can show Sey, alone, where they are, and whether they are actually dangerous for the pack. The dens remain on Seth's mind after Sili's encounter; he's curious, and wants to check out the place once again. He is, however followed on this third outing, by Aodh, who isn't discovered until Seth pauses at the border of the darker woods that surround the den. Once Seth recognizes that Aodh is following him, he pauses his plans and returns to the dens with Aodh in tow, where he explains that it is Alpha's orders that he not know what Seth was doing, or where he was going. The two eventually race back to the dens, where Seth wins.
Aodh walks off and decides to strike up a conversation with Karlie, who teaches him to fish in the shallows of the river. Karlie talks of Akita and the fact that she looked to Akita as a mother-figure, calling her 'mom', which would make Aodh her 'brother'. Confusing Aodh by the statement, she explains that Akita was somewhat of an adoptive mother, not blood related. She shared a bit more about her own history with the younger wolf, before returning to the dens, where Aodh got it in his head to challenge Kokoa to a spar.
Begrudingly, Kokoa accepted the spar challenge, knowing, and explaining that he wasn't great at sparring, he was a hunter. Mid-spar is where we leave this role-play session.
A new Alpha.
Hearing the last howl of Gray, Aodh returned the call and went to find his father again. Sey returns a howl as well, though she stays at the den, and watches over her own pups. Virmin, the fox, hears the howling pack and goes to investigate. Aodh howls to let the pack know what had happened, that the pair are now both gone, and is consoled by Virmin, while he sits otherwise alone in his mourning.
The pair are carried by Seth and Aodh, to the Memorial Ridge and buried there. Seth has a small flash-back and sees the pups he had buried, and leaves the pack to go back to the spirit dens to grieve his own loss. Something he hadn't done in the year and a half since it had happened. Sey goes back with the pack to their dens. Aodh takes off on his own, to a small den on the river north of the pack dens. The rest of the pack is quiet and somber for these few days following the the Alpha's death.
Akita and Gray, now spirits along side those already at the spirit-den, decide that Sey should be the wolf to secede them as Alpha. Deciding that it should be Akita that crosses the veil to tell her this. She lures Sey away from the dens before revealing herself to the medic. The two have a short conversation, allowing Sey to say her last words to the late alphess and move forward. Seth, out on a hunt, comes across her and they talk more, eventually Seth deciding to stay with the pack, and Sey telling him that she was to be the next alpha.
The two make their way back to the dens and Sey makes the announcement to the pack, who accepts her as alpha. Aodh and Shrike are the only ones unhappy by this turn of event, Aodh, because he's still mourning their losses, and Shrike, because his demeanor towards the medic in general had been getting worse.
Sili, Seys' daughter, and Shrike, have also been seeing a lot of each other. Elle is almost completely out of the picture, as the relationship between Sili and Shrike, while not a healthy relationship, becomes stronger. They both begin to use each other, Shrike using his words, and Sili using her body, to manipulate one another; the two have become lovers while the new alpha has been distracted with the loner, Seth.
Changes.
After a short time-skip, allowing the pups to age to approximately 14-16mos; which would in-turn age the rest of the characters as well. Akita and Gray are already eight and a half years old, Karlie is close behind them, and Kokoa and Hayleigh are somewhere around four or five themselves. We also have a couple new wolves. Zephyr, and Ryuuji, that are new members to the pack, and a couple loners have been introduced as well.
A few peaceful months have gone by, as the pack has settled into Terra. The pups are much more capable and confident of themselves. Though, after Gray and then Akita are warned of a loner by both Shevian, in a dream, and Csil on the Memorial Ridge, they tighten up security for the pack. No one is to go outside the dens without someone else, and an adult is to go with the pups. At the same time, a new lone wolf appears in the territory. Seth, an unstable wolf who has come across the spirit-dens, and claimed them for himself.
After a few days, he makes his home in the dens, and the spirits there make an impact on his personality. He is no longer the overly aggressive wolf he was when he first came across the space, but a wolf that simply doesn't trust himself after events that happened in his old pack. Sey and Akita, one day go on a patrol together along the territory borders. At some point, they'd come across Shrike out and about by himself, but far enough away from the two that Sey had been the one to approach after Akita acknowledged that Shrike would only run from her. Sey tries to make conversation, since they hadn't spoken much since the storm that nearly took both their lives. Akita had decided to continue to mark the territory and work her way back to the dens while Sey and Shrike caught up, though it was an awkward and not entirely friendly conversation.
Shrike eventually wandered back to the dens without Sey, leaving her to try to find Akita on her own. Seth meanwhile, had been belatedly trailing the scents of the three wolves he'd seen in his dens earlier in the day. Akita, Gray and Seyvex. He'd had an unfriendly first meeting with both Akita and Seyvex, though he was slightly disarmed by Sey, having seen her speak to the spirit of her mother just previous to Gray and Akita catching up with her. He'd noticed her wandering alone as he watched from Memorial Ridge. Thinking it was a prey animal he veered off his original course and tried to predict where the lone animal was going and head it off. Seth came upon Sey as she searched for Akita, thinking she might still be out marking the territory. After conversing for a while, Sey and Seth part ways after agreeing to meet up again at the Spirit-dens as Seth doesn't think he can be in a pack the way he is. It was a much friendlier meeting than when Akita was there, threatening and demanding his compliance
Meanwhile Zephyr and another lone-wolf, Karma become acquainted. She was caught attempting to steal food from the pack's pile, and clearly being a non-threat, malnourished and weak, she was allowed to stay until she became healthy again, unless she chose to become a member of the pack.
The next afternoon, Sey meets up with Seth, though she brings Akita with, due to pack rules; though Akita stays far enough to give them their privacy. The two converse a while, Sey reinvites him to the pack, and he explains to her why, by telling her his story, and why it is he feels he shouldn't be part of a pack. Eventually, Akita approaches the two, deciding that his behavior warranted a closer look, and an official introduction. After being yet again invited into the pack by Akita, Seth tells Sey to share his story, unwilling to speak it again, because of how painful it is to relive. He walks over to the river to both avoid hearing the story and the reaction of the Alpha, who he fears will avoid him after learning he'd killed his mate. Akita is in agreement with Sey, that the death was deserved, and Seth is surprised to find himself still invited to the pack. He refuses for the time being, unable to trust himself. He accepted the offer to at least visit the dens, and the group travels back together, though Akita gives a discreet lead so Sey and Seth can still have private conversation.
Seth is introduced to Gray, and from what Sey told him, he was extremely uncertain as to how the wolf would react to his presence, and remained submissive and silent for the introduction. Not long after Gray tells Sey to let him stay in her den, mostly for Seth's comfort, Shrike and Elle manage to evade Gray in an effort to get some time alone away from the pack. He falls asleep while watching the two on their outing, and the pups disappear. Once Gray breaks the news to Akita, he stops in to let Seyvex know they're going out. they both go out looking for the pair of pups. Akita manages to distract Gray overnight and they stay in a den away from the pack as the weather turns a bit nastier in the early spring. The two are convinced that the pups are old enough to take care of themselves, even if they don't like the idea. The next morning, they wake and resume the hunt for the pups, and decide to go hunting for some breakfast in a rarely patrolled area of the territory.
During their hunt, a lone bow-hunter strikes down Akita, as she saves Gray from death. He attacks and kills the human that took his mate from him, they share some heart-breaking last words, and then she is gone. Gray, unable to function without his mate, goes somewhat feral, and loses touch with reality. The two are eventually found by a wandering Seth, who was hunting, and followed the scent of fresh blood, and is saddened at what he sees and what it means for the pack. Aodh follows Seth, though it isn't noticed until the pup speaks. Gray, having lost himself in his grief, protects her body from being approached or moved by any means necessary, and eventually attacks Ryuuji for getting too close and not heeding his snarled unspoken warnings, not hearing of anything the wolf had to say beyond his own devastation. After Ryuuji leaves him, he returns to Akita, to stand watch overnight. The next day, after staying awake all night, he is considerably weaker, both from anguish and his age catching up to him. He howls to try to relieve the stress, only to realize he would never hear her voice return his call. His heart, and body no longer able to take the stress, he collapses to the ground, and dies soon thereafter.
An Unexpected Visit.
Shrike had run off, coming back to himself after the confrontation between Gray, Akita and himself. Suddenly feeling as if he doesn't know who he is, and feels as if he is a danger to the others. In his escape he is suddenly overwhelmed by the pack past, as well as his own. The spirit form of his grandmother, Faline, had come to try and calm him, and try to convince him to not give up on himself, before fading out, herself. Seyvex, unbeknownst to him, along with Elle, had gone to chase him down, worried about the pup. Eventually catching up, Elle and Sey' tried to get Shrike to come back, but Shrike refused, his confusion of his identity hitting him hard, feeling the need to be alone. Feeling rejected, Elle leaves Shrike to Sey' in her own effort to be alone in her moment of anguish.
Sey continued to try to convince Shrike to come back to the dens, as the weather took a turn for the worse. The snow began falling harder as she continued to try and convince him, caring for him as if he was her own son. Shrike's agitation level grew as Sey' refused to leave him to his own devices, and began to threaten her into leaving.
Meanwhile Gray has meandered aimlessly, his heart left behind, finding himself climbing a steep grade only to be blow by a harsh wind into a small crevice in the stone that he'd climbed in his unthinking state. Akita found shelter in a nearby den, hoping Gray would change his mind, which of course, would be impossible in the storm.
Elle finally finds a spot to keep to herself, questioning why she'd left Shrike so easily, and second guessing her actions. Meanwhile Aodh and Faline had taken shelter in a small den of their own away from the home dens, and were to last out the night there.
As Sey is still trying to convince Shrike to come back to himself, pleading with him to do so, Elle makes up her mind, to try and make it back to where Shrike is circling Sey in a menacing way, trying to force her to leave. The wind and snowfall in the blizzard are making it hard on everyone, and Elle eventually collapses in her attempt to climb the hill where Shrike and Sey were also fighting the elements. Shrike finally starts to break down, feeling miserable about himself once again, and the wind was beating his smaller body into submission. He soon gave-out and let the wind blow him over. Sey tried, but couldn't see well in the worsening blizzard, eventually even her body gave in to the cold, and she passed out where she stood.
Three wolves lay in the snow, becoming quickly buried as the storm raged on. Huo, in the other realm, had been watching over her pack as she often did. Still feeling bound to the pack even in death. She grew more and more concerned as she realized no-one was going to know the three wolves were even missing until it was too late. She took matters into her own paws then, deciding to go against the rules and enter the living realm as a spirit.
She rushed to Akita first, making her leave the den she was hidden in, and find the scent trail she'd left, before going to Gray and getting him to help too, first leading him down the steep terrain he'd absently climbed in his misery. Once she'd led the Alpha pair to where the pups and the medic were buried, she left them to recover the wolves, and waited for the minutes that it took them to find the three wolves, unable to help further, knowing how much trouble she was already in.
Gray was still rather upset at Akita and did his best to ignore her presence, and kept focused on why he was there. The pups, and his medic. Using his own body, he cradled Shrike while Akita warmed and cleaned Elle. The two of them on either side of the medic warmed her back up too. It was then that Huo made her presence known once more, answering the questions she could before leaving back beyond the veil.
Trouble.
After a few weeks of settling in, the group agreed a time-skip would help move things along. So, we are now 8 months later, and the pups are now 10 months old, just shy of maturity. Gray and Akita are at the ripe old age of eight, and Sey, Kokoa and Hayleigh and Ceph are somewhere between 3 and 5 years old. It is now late winter, just warming up.
After a hunt and a night away from the pack, Gray and Akita return to the dens to find that Sey' has done well to control and take care of the pack in their unplanned absence. Akita has become worried about her growing pups, especially her daughter Elle, who seems quite taken by Shrike. She's worried her daughter might follow her own mistakes in life when it came to love and mates. A fight had nearly broken out between the two pups, Aodh and Elle, when Elle accused Aodh of being afraid of girls, and Aodh accused Elle of quite the opposite. Luckily Sey had been nearby and able to diffuse the fight before it exploded.
Not long after that, Gray and Akita returned to the dens, and are visited by Elle soon thereafter, while Aodh's off wandering with Faline. When Akita badly worded her warning, telling Elle that she liked all the males her age, it upset Elle, who left the den. Akita hadn't meant the words, but they'd already escaped. Shrike who'd caught the tail-end of the conversation between the two females grew irritated, and for a few moments debated on confronting the Alphess for her harsh words to his friend. When he'd finally got up the courage to do so, he had been somewhat overtaken by the spirit that he shared. Armin. Akita picked up on the nuances of the words the pup used, suspecting she was talking to Armin himself, and spoke to him as if she were still mated to him.
The two sentences she uttered in a suggestive manner, tore Gray in half. His ire toward the one she spoke that way to, who he challenged in a stare-down, and his heart feeling as if it would burst because of the tone she'd never used with anyone but him as far as he knew. As soon as Akita heard Armins' words through the detached vocals of the pup, she took off, and brought Elle with her under the guise of her first hunt. Unable to face her former mate, now that she'd brought him out. The pup evaded death only by collapsing under the stress the event caused him, dropping eye contact, and Gray left, before he did something he would regret.
A few hours later, Akita and Elle had brought down an Elk, and Gray had another sadistic hunt, slowly killing a boar over the course of hours to vent the pain and rage he felt over what he felt was not just a betrayal of himself as her mate, but the fact he'd almost just killed a pup over something he couldn't control, and left him alone to deal with it on his own. Eventually though, he realised the dead boar couldn't relieve his pain, and he gave in, collapsing into a heap of blood-encrusted fur and wept.
Akita found him not long after he collapsed. Uncertain, and heartbroken at what she saw when she did find him. It took her time to figure out what to say to the brute, and when she didn't see fit to actually answer any of his questions, he turned and walked away from her, after telling her to go home just as a blizzard began to roll in.
What was old, is new again.
With freshly broken ribs, and newly functioning hind legs, Gray was made to again carry Cepheus and a pup across the land-bridge that only shown on a full moon night, separating Redemption from Terra. Exhausted from their journey and the heightened stress levels, the pack fell asleep in a single den along the coast of what would be their new home.
Kokoa and Hayleigh have been continuing to be close, Hayleigh more put-off by the move back than she's willing to admit. Kokoa angry at Akita for always teasing him about Hayleigh. The fox has appeared again, seeming to have been grazed by a humans' bullet. She, while wary of the wolf pack she'd followed south, she knew she'd needed help with the wound. Kokoa was the first to scent out the fox, rather irately and early in the morning, catching Akita's attention. She'd gone to find out what the noise was all about, and told Kokoa to stop being so aggressive. After cutting off Kokoa's behavior she spoke with the fox, and found it to be asking shelter with the wolves while it healed. She led the fox to a safer den she'd known when the pack territory had been Terra before the fires, and told her she'd have to talk to her mate, before deciding the fox's fate.
Kokoa, meanwhile is getting only more agitated as he sees Gray and Akita together in their usual close manner. As Gray had been informed of the fox, Akita had decided he needed to meet her. Gray left Kokoa in charge of the pack while he was out, hoping the wolf would feel better, being viewed as someone who Gray and Akita trusted to care for the pack while they were gone for a few hours.
Unfortunately, Elle, gets bored rather quickly, and convinces Kokoa to bring them hunting. At 4 months old, they've only been hunting and playing amongst themselves. Elle had shown a keen interest in hunting, so Kokoa gave in when Elle said her parents would think it fine. Aodh trails along after them, both curious and not wanting to be left out, as Kokoa gives them a hunting lesson with some small game. Hares.
Unfortunately for Kokoa, and everyone involved, Elles deception leads to a confrontation between the still-injured Gray, Akita, and Kokoa, as they come across the trio out of the den-site, where the pups are not allowed. After said confrontation, where Kokoa mistakenly tries to lie his way out of the situation, when Gray drops the dead hare they'd hunted at his paws, before going to get the story from the pups. Having caught Kokoa in the lie, Akita tells him her feelings and turns away from him and back toward the den where her pups and mate are. Gray tries to get the pups to tell the story of what happened, and a very guilty-feeling Elle tells what happened. Meanwhile an irate (at himself, mostly) Kokoa, takes off and damages anything he can get his paws on. Including a thornbush, where he manages to get one stuck in his paw-pad.
As Akita enters the den, he tells her his thoughts; that everyone has some fault in the fiasco. The Alpha pair for not setting ground rules for the pups, the pups for lying to Kokoa, and Kokoa for believing the pups' story and bringing them out. Gray hunts down Kokoa and tells him as much, before returning back to the dens some time later.
An old enemy; a new threat.
It's been about 4 months since the pups' birth. After a long peaceful summer, they were into fall once again. The pups healthy and happy, at least for a while. There has been some serious developments at Redemption Isle. Humans, it seems had made their way to the Island, and were hunting the Elk herds. The moment Gray and Akita heard their gunshots, they were preparing for the worst. In order to preserve the pack, they went underground. The cavern Beyond the Falls, the trip is a treacherous journey up a steep and slippery slope. Especially when you have the weight of a pup in your maw. Each adult carried a pup, and Gray, was unlucky enough to have to carry Cepheus on his back as well. They remained there for much of the night, as Akita an Gray decided whether or not they should move to another den. Hayleigh, meanwhile is acting more roguish than usual, and has gone against Gray's edict several times since they'd encapsulated themselves in the den. In the end, she'd snuck out of the falls, avoiding detection from the Alpha's as they had a private conversation regarding her attitude and undermining his authority.
Gray, not being fond of closed in spaces, had a bit of a panic attack, and fell out of the opening to the cavern, despite his efforts to stop before being pushed down by the heavy current. Almost nobody was there to see the fall. Akita assumed he had only gone outside in a rush, not thinking about what could happen. Kokoa had been long since asleep with the pups at the time, and was well out of the way for Gray's barely controlled sprint towards the exit. Hayleigh had only just climbed to the top of the falls before seeing Gray appear at the bottom of them. Upon landing on the solid stone beneath the falls, he broke a pair of ribs quite badly. At least that's all he'd realized until later. Hayleigh had gone to get help, which of course alerted the rest of the pack to the problem.
Akita came down, and ordered the rest back up into the den, so she could talk to her mate alone. It was then that he'd noticed his back legs weren't doing as he wished, and instead remained lifeless against the stone. He made the difficult choice of telling his mate to go back inside. He'd done it for her own protection, knowing he wouldn't be able to make it up the steep slope with only his front legs to carry him. He'd only convinced her by telling her he'd needed to be outside because he hated the closed spaces, which she knew to be true, and that he'd be in soon. After warning him she'd be back soon, she went back inside, to check in with the pups and the rest of the pack for a while, if only to distract herself from what she'd really suspected of Gray's insistence that she go back into the cavern.
It wasn't much later, that she came back out, only to find Gray had moved himself further from the den in the time she'd been gone. He'd positioned himself as if he were fine, trying to aphease his mate, and hoped to convince her to stay gone. The conversation turned dire, and he eventually admitted he couldn't go back to the cavern. The two stayed together for what they thought was their last night alive together, with the threat of humans looming over them, it was a tear-filled evening. Until the nerves in Gray's back began to function again, apparently stunned in the fall. It was a painful recovery, but he could move, and so, they celebrated amongst themselves, and went back up to the cavern to decide the fate of the pack. They knew the pack couldn't live in the caverns for long. During the conversation, Hayleigh had managed to sneak back out of the cavern back to the dens. Her heart in the right place, but not realizing the danger she put herself and the pack in, when she repeatedly left and came back to their hiding spot to bring food in. Gray was losing patience quickly with the insubordinate female but the announcement had to be made. That announcement, was to change the pack history, and in some ways repeat it. They were going to the home-territory of the Scarlet Letter pack, Terra d'Sylvester. The humans posed too much a threat to wait them out.
An Icy Return.
It's been a couple months since our last check-in with the pack. It is now late spring, and a freak snow/ice storm hit, bringing more than just sleet, ice and the pups' first snow, albeit a bit early. Cepheus makes his return, in a beaten, battered, and nearly-dead state, thanks to humans taking him when he was still a teen. He is currently staying in the den he stumbled into during the storm. The Alpha den with Akita, Gray and their two pups. Gray is not so sure about this newcomer, he see's Ceph as a potential danger to his pups, and likes to keep himself between them. Akita is still trying to convince Gray that Ceph is relatively harmless, which is proving difficult. She harbors a bit of guilt over not doing a better job searching for him. He feels that due to all the stress that the wolf had gone through, he's liable to snap at the pups. Intentional or not, he see's Ceph as a potential threat.
Gray and Ceph have a small conversation about humans, and why they do what they do, and about Grays' introduction to them, though in Gray's mind, it doesn't much warm him to the male. He does feel bad for him and what went on, but his protective instincts when in regards to his pups and his mate are still on full-alert. If he didn't trust Akita, he wouldn't have allowed the pups to stay in the same den as the strange male.
Karlie and Kaz have been caring for their own broods' in different dens. Karlie and Hayleigh have just come to learn, on the second day after the storm, that Ceph is back. Hayliegh currently doesn't know what to think about it. Karlie is excited to see her old friend back home, but is worried about his many injuries. The lead medic, Seyvex, is back from her trip herb collecting in the south and will be looking over Ceph to see if anything further is wrong with the male than what Akita could deal with.
In other happenings, the pups are learning now to eat meat, and enjoyed their first snow. Gray brought back an elk calf that had died due to the storm, and it is found out that Kokoa is missing. The two Alpha's expected Hayleigh to know where he was, since they were seemingly attached at the hip. With her return to the den, alone, it sparks worries about the male and what could've happened.
Reincarnation.
Karlie has finally given birth to her two pups. Gray was left behind with the newborn pups as Akita went to go help her daughter through the process, as there was no medic available to help. Huo tries to help Armin adjust to his afterlife, trying to bring him out of the depressed state he was in when he left his mortal body behind those many months ago. After becoming frustrated with Armin's lack of reaction, she picked him up and brought him to Karlie as she was about to give birth to his pups. She stayed beyond the veil but watched as they became parents together. Afterwards, as Armin faded back beyond the veil, Huo was able to inform him that he would get his second chance, just before he faded back through the veil allowing his spirit to become one with one of the pups, Shrike.
Alidar meanwhile has not been seen for weeks, and it is guessed that he may have wandered off as an old wolf typically does toward the end of their life span. He was a 9 year old wolf, and well beyond the typical wild wolfs span is, and his solid and statue-like presence as Lead Guardian will be missed. He is now with the spirits, with the rest of the pack.
In other news; we are still looking for one pup to finish out Kaz's litter of two; bringing our total count to six. Gray and Akita have their two little ones, Vaier and Elle; Karlie has Shrike and Faline; and Kaz has Welio and Sili. Allidar's user will be coming back as another character, it is still undecided how or who that will be.
New life; old friends.
Kaz has turned up pregnant after being assaulted by a former lover. Her personality has changed a bit since then, becoming more volatile and depressed, and afraid of close contact. She told Seyvex what happened, and the two are closer than ever otherwise. Karlie has resurfaced again, heavy with the three pups she has yet to give birth to. She and her adoptive mom, Akita decided to go back to Terra deSylvester to remember those lost in the fire. They spend the night in one of the dens there, the two reconnecting again for the first time after Armins' death. Meanwhile Gray finally decides to track the two pregnant females down, eventually finding the old territory, which still bore signs of the fire from two years ago. When he finally catches up to the two, Kaz has tracked them down too, and they all end up meeting at one of the dens there.
Kaz's personality change has started to become aggressive, as she starts a fight with Akita and saying hateful things to her about her former home and other things she didn't really mean. If the three pregnant females weren't pregnant, there would've likely been a fight. Gray tried to diffuse the situation, but Kaz only started mouthing off to him instead. He hadn't taken it personally though, and went to comfort the stricken Akita as she'd walked off after hearing some harsh words from Kaz, who took off back to her cavern under the falls after failing to instigate a fight with Karlie.
Gray is 'introduced' to Csil, and he calms Akita down a bit, explaining what he thinks is the problem with Kaz, though neither of them know what happened to get her pregnant in the first place. After formally being introduced to Karlie, his second step-daughter (from Neu), they decide to go to their home camp to see what remains there. After a bit of mourning for their past, and the many lives cut short by the flames of the fire, something interesting happens.
The apparition of Huo shows up, sitting in her old place atop one of the dens, healed and happy, followed by her mate, Shevian, and a few others including Armin, Faline, Ceph and the original Alpha pair. It allowed words to be said that were unable to be said at the time of their demise, and closure was able to be had for both Karlie and Akita. Gray was simply a silent witness to it, having no bonds or even introductions to the many spirits he saw. Shevian and Armin offered a warning about Kaz just before crossing the veil that separates the living from the dead.
Karlie decides to go back to the den-site, having no specific attachment to Kaz, while Gray and Akita go after her to make sure she's okay. The warning had sounded ominous and they were worried about the younger wolf. As it turns out, due to the stress of the fighting and the traveling, Kaz has started giving birth to her first litter early. Gray is instructed by Akita to grab some herbs from the den and bring them to her for Kaz. The fight forgotten for the time being, as they struggle to bring the first new life into the pack. Gray, having no idea what herbs are what, grabs a sample of just about everything in the den and carries it back. As he was being careful not to get the herbs wet, he slipped (dropping the herbs in a dry spot, luckily) and scraped up the inside of his leg and bruised the bone in his knee.
Gray retreats from the birthing scene, as his old pack never let the males near, and despite Akita reprimanding him for it, he stays where he is until Kaz has finished giving birth to her two pups. The family enjoys their time with the two balls of fluff before Gray feels the need to leave, due to his claustrophobia and waits by the entrance to the caverns after Kaz decides she finally wants into the pack, knowing what safety it offers her pups, not to mention her mate being one of the medics.
Not long afterward, Gray gets his knee looked at by the nervous medic, Solomon, but just before finishing said treatment, Akita goes into labor too, giving birth to two healthy pups too. Elle and Viaer are the newest members of the Alpha family, and that is where the roleplay session ends. Karlie is due to give birth to hers soon, so keep an eye out for her triplets.
After a short hiatus (the Log-in page is a bit of a pain for some people), we're back again. We have six new pups (three that still need recruiting for). Over the last few weeks, some roleplay has been done on the Skype chat in lieu of the game. This post was to catch people up on what has happened there.
Down the water-hole.
For these last couple weeks, Gray and Akita have been more home-bodies due to her pregnancy, staying around the home-den. Hayleigh and Kokoa, however have been off doing some of their own discovery. As the snow melted the hidden falls began to run freely again. Hayleigh had discovered the falls on her own during winter, and as you know, showed Kokoa them. A few weeks later Hayleigh actually slipped and fell through the falls, and into the entrance to the caverns, twisting her ankle. The two of them have been exploring in there since. Kaz has been missing for a week or so, and we hope to find her soon too.
Spring is on the way, new life begins.
A little over a week has gone by since Armins death. The grass is beginning to grow and the hunting is becoming easier once more. The lakes have thawed along their edges and the ice no longer thick enough to hold a wolf. The trees are once again starting to become greener and the weather warmer than it had been in weeks.
In that time, Akita and Gray have kept themselves isolated in an effort to rebuild their relationship. While they're on their own, a new loner comes to visit, one that is a medicinal specialist that Gray doesn't particularly like the attitude of, but acknowledges that the pack needs a more experienced medic; but before they can offer the lone wolf a rank within the pack, he takes off, and hasn't been seen since. Akita has been feeling off for the last couple days, and eventually comes to realize she's pregnant. By whom, at least IC, it is yet to be known. Meanwhile, Karlie is also pregnant, with the late Armin's pups.
While that is all going on, Kokoa and Hayleigh have been left alone for the most part, and have forged a stronger friendship in the absence of their Alpha pair. Eventually Gray and Akita come back to the dens, a day after Gray finds out he's to be a father and tracks down a rare meal for the two; a boar, for breakfast. Something Akita is quite hesitant to eat at first, having never seen one, when her stomach decides otherwise and she eats it quite ravenously. Kokoa and Hayleigh have found a hidden waterfall off the coast near the dens, and have been frequenting the location. Gray is on his own for a while as Akita gets some much needed sleep, and decides to go on a quick hunt that turns out to be a longer hunt, but ends up with four hares to show for it by the time the moon is high and he drops off most of his kill at the pile. Saving one for his mate, he brings it into the den before getting a drink after the hunt and then going to sleep himself.
Meanwhile, Kokoa and Hayleigh silently argue over Hayleighs refusal to eat, though her stomach clearly is requesting the meal, when they finally return from the falls. Eventually he gets frustrated and puts the hare on Hayleigh's head. Gray witnessed this as he returned from his drink before turning in for the evening, letting whatever was potentially developing between the two do just that and keeping the amusement to himself. Eventually Kokoa gives in and eats the hare before turning in for the night, when Hayleigh decides to do the same. The session ends as everyone falls asleep for the night.
A rough few days, and redemption.
As the winter nears its end, the snow thinning. Akita gets injured in an elk hunt, badly bruising ribs as she tries to take down an elk on her own. Gray, who'd already been hunting finishes off his own kill just before rescuing Akita from being trampled by a vengeful elk. After he scares it away, he helps her treat the injury as Akita tells him how to do so; but afterwards, as Gray goes to grab food for the two of them, Akita catches the scent of Armin nearby. She follows the scent, leaving the den mere minutes after receiving treatment of her wounds, tracking Armin to the western coast near the pack den. He had been so distraught over losing everything he deemed important in his life, (Huo, Karlie, and Akita, namely), he had stopped caring for himself. He stopped eating, and eventually stopped moving. Akita finds him as skin and bones, and unconscious and nearly dead, partially submerged in the frozen water of the coast. The birds had already begun to feed, bits and pieces of his pelt pulled off and missing.
Gray returns to the den only to find a missing Akita. Worried for her, he tracks her down to where she is trying to frantically revive Armin. Despite his distrust of the brute, Gray begrudgingly helps, offering his body-heat to warm Armin up by laying beside him. Armin regains consciousness and comes back to himself, and is once again the Armin they all knew before the fire that wiped out much of the pack, the one who earned his former rank as Beta, and became Huo's second in command before falling from grace. Gray goes to bring the two of them a leg from the recently downed elk. Eventually Gray's irrational jealousy gets the better of him, and he decides to walk it off. He thinks that Akita still may harbor feelings for Armin only judging by her frantic reaction to him, which he heard just before arriving on the scene.
After Grays departure, Akita goes back to tend to Armin, where he admits his feelings for her hadn't changed, and touches his nose to hers, an act that crosses the line of friendship. After a short discussion between the two, they go their separate ways. Armin to a lone den, and after telling Armin to stop by their medic to get looked over, Akita goes back to the pack dens, where she runs into Hayleigh and Karlie. Gray had been trying to sleep in a den nearby, but their discussion kept him from fully being able to do so. Eventually he decided to walk out to the entrance of the den, taking in the night air, unable to not hear the conversation. The discussion was about Armin, and that Akita had been confused about how she felt about him. Gray overheard the discussion, and also overheard about Armin making a move on his mate. At first he acts like he didn't overhear any of it, but later Akita admits to it, but swears there's no threat, and that she loves Gray, and would be loyal to Gray.
The next day, Karlie goes off on Akita after a visit with Armin, after unveiling to him a truth she'd been hiding. She was pregnant with his pups during the fire that consumed the majority of the pack, and eventually took her pups. Blaming Akita for everything that had gone wrong (the fact that Akita lost track of Karlie in the fire, among other things) in her life, Akita breaks down as a result of the verbal assault while Gray is away on a hunt. After she tried unsuccessfully to hunt down Gray, she sought out Armin. Armin and her shared time together while Gray hunted nearby, unknowingly close to Armins' den. Armin at some point had fallen asleep, and Akita had left him to sleep, only to find Gray across the small frozen pond at which he was drinking. She is still quite upset and begs him to distract her, which he does. Afterwards, she decides to check on Armin again before going back to the pack dens. Akita and Armin fall prey to their former passions while Gray heads back to the pack den and converses with Sey, and asks her advice on Akitas injury before gathering the herbs necessary to treat Akita when she returns to the den.
The next morning when she does return, after attempting to clean her fur of Armins scent in the mostly frozen lake, Gray notices the distinct scent of mating, and Armins scent all over her, as he greets her in his usual manner, delving his nose into her pelt. The realisation of the betrayal inevitably shatters him emotionally and he bolts up towards the north without much more than a distressed whine as he left. He searched out an empty den in the northern range that didn't remind him of her, where he allows himself to break completely. Eventually Akita finds Armin again, and begins to blame him for what had happened. Somewhere in that, she begins to lose herself, and begins to recognize that she'd not entirely herself when she's like that. Armin convinces Akita to try and talk to Gray, but he's not ready to talk by the time she catches up with him. He is emotionally numb, giving toneless answers, and she eventually leaves him alone.
On her way back across the valley, a cougar stalks Akita, who froze at the sight of the feline. It's about to attack when Armin comes at a run, attacking the cougar himself, before Akita could be harmed. Gray is well away from this and has no idea what is transpiring. Armin is fatally wounded during the fight, and though Akita eventually makes the kill, Armin is already badly injured. Akita and Armin share his last moments as he bleeds out, dying in her paws. Huo greets him as an old and dear friend, she leads him to where his pups and his friends before him have gone, and guides him into the afterlife. Akita goes back to Gray, and asks him to help bury the male that took everything from him. He does it for her, wordlessly, numb, his loyalty the driving force behind his actions. The fact that Armin saved Akita's life played a small part. She asks that he's buried by Huo, and so he is. Gray stares blankly out into nothing as she mourns his loss, allowing her to take solace in him even if it killed him emotionally to do so. She eventually leaves him sitting there, staring and lost in his own thoughts and questions when eventually he makes a decision to be a better wolf.
He gets it in his head that he'd done something wrong, to drive her to Armin that night. He goes to her, and somewhere between Gray's stoicness and Armin's death, Akita loses herself. She begins having conversations with herself, arguing with something she calls the shade, who tries to convince her leaving Gray is better than staying with him. He hears the tail-end of an argument, as he approaches the den she's staying in. Their den, or at least was their den. He and Akita have a long conversation about what had happened and what their future held after her transgression. Eventually they decide to try to work out the problem, and Akita admits her psychological issue to Gray, pleading for his help to stop it.
Shortly after their arrival to the dens, Akita scents Karlie is in the dens, and goes to search her out, to break the news of Armin. Karlie breaks down with Akita trying to support her however she can, but Karlies anger takes hold again, and she seeks out a hunt to excise the raging energy. Gray feels much the same way, and the two set off on a hunt. Gray is feeling malevolent and violent in his rage, and doesn't fall to his usual hunting style. He is sadistic. He chooses the bull of the herd, separating it from the others, and picks at it, biting, scratching, intentionally not doing enough damage to kill. A sadistic tease, causing it as much pain as he could inflict before the elk finally gave up and collapsed for lack of blood and energy. The snow along with his fur is littered in blood and gore as he finally chokes and puts the bull out of its misery. Karlie had gone after smaller prey, a female, her hunting a surgical strike that was over quickly. She had gone back, sating her rage, well before Gray had been done.
Akita, worried for the amount of time it had taken, and after being able to clear her mind again. Somehow banishing the shade, she tracks Gray down only to find him just after taking that final bite, his rage quenched for the moment. She sees the blood all over him and is immediately concerned it is his own blood, but Grays anger isn't finished, and he speaks harshly, and as the rage boils again, he attacks the already dead bull. Akita makes a sarcastic comment about him attacking the dead beast which triggers him to unleash his anger on her. He challenges her verbally, asking if she'd rather he attack the corpse of her dead friend, eventually telling her everything she'd made him feel, in the end collapsing under the weight of all that he felt, now that the rage was gone, there was nothing but desolate pain. They lay in the snow together as they finally lay out their true feelings on what had happened, their hearts connect again. The snow begins to fall again, and after eating their fill of the carcass, Akita suggests they go to his den, and suggests they take time to mend what was broken, a few days to themselves. Gray agrees and to not waste the remains of the bull, he drags it to the den along with them.
They discuss their history together, mutually agreeing that the blizzard that brought them together under the tree had been the best storm to ever happen to them. They discuss the good times together, joking with one another and eventually realize that the good outweighed the one bad choice, and the rp session closes on a passionate night together between Gray and Akita.
A Quiet Few Days.
The storms have lessened, and about a week has gone by since the fight that separated Armin from the pack. Since then, Karlie and he have also had a falling out, and she comes back to the pack, and he is left alone yet again. She comes back only to confront the Alphess and question Gray, though after Akita turns her back on the situation under the guise of going in search of Kaz, who'd gone hunting. In the intervening week, Sey' and Kaz have become quite familiar with one another. Speaking of Sey', she's taken the position of medic within the pack and soon gets her first wolf to treat, an apparently ignored stress-fracture of Karlie's leg. As Karlie is being treated, Gray goes in search of his mate, having a feeling of her true intentions, and upon tracking her down a few hours later his thoughts proving true. After comforting her and another night of forgetting, they find their way back to their dens, where Akita's curiosity about Kokoa's relationship hits its peak and she questions him about it. He denies they're anything more than friends, however, and the subject is quickly dropped as Kokoa decides to go on a hunt on his own, the hunt Gray and he had planned would wait until later.
The snow and ice are beginning to melt in the few days without a storm, is it the first signs of spring? Perhaps; perhaps not. We end the session with Gray and Akita discussing Kokoa and Hayleigh over a meal from the pile.
Another Week, Another Storm.. Another pack?
Because he had dreamed of a beautiful future, Gray faces his fears and asks Akita to be his mate, and she agrees, though it's unclear what rank he wants at first. Meanwhile he is introduced to Akita's daughter, Kaz, along with Neu, Kaz's father, it is an unfriendly meeting, ending with a threat by the strange wolf. Akita and Gray go hunting again while Kaz goes back to the dens for a few nights, seeing a loner on the side. While on his way back to the den from checking in on Armin, he comes across a somewhat distraught pup around the same age as Kaz. She's stand-offish around the adults, Akita and Gray, so the two of them go back north as Akita decides that's the best time to show him something, a favorite den she holds close. Kaz and the new-comer, Seyvex, seem to be getting along quite well, while the adults are away, sharing a meal and flirting back and forth.
Winter seems to kick into high-gear, another night Kokoa gets himself stuck with Hayleigh, a little less eventful than the last one. He'd been spending time with her while she was on loner-status, though she wants to make her return the weather isn't helping much, and she's found she dislikes winter very much. Gray has another dream, and again decides to act on the dream, and asks Akita about becoming her Alpha male, to which she enthusiastically agrees, because she believed him to not want any part of the pack. Something he'd been adamant about for their entire courtship. His dreams made him realize that he really wanted to be there to protect her and who she protected as Alpha, and the best way he could do that is stand at her side as Alpha male.
Some time later, she decides to check on the girls back at camp while Gray decides to check on Armin after the storm, who finally notices Gray and they have a conversation that turns into an altercation between the two when Gray lets it be known that he's Akita's mate, and Gray decides to try to provoke him into a fight to knock him out of his depression surrounding Huo. Whereas nothing more than words occurs in this first altercation, Armin flees as his guilt catches up to him. Gray chases him, to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, as he was charged with watching over him. After chasing him what seemed like all over the island, he stops chasing the wolf, calling him a coward as he stops his chase. Akita had chased after Gray some time later, tracking his scent, and eventually caught up to him at the lake-side, where Gray learns to walk on ice, as they cross to track Kokoa, to see what he's been up to the last week or so, and to see if Akita can make amends with Hayleigh.
During the conversation between Kokoa, Gray and Akita a few hours later, things between Armin and Gray come to a head as Armin becomes aggressive once again, stalking the group. Twisting their words in his own mind. When Gray finally notices his presence, he only becomes more agressive. Akita decides she doesn't want to waste her time on him, but Gray stands his ground, Kokoa nearly getting caught in the crossfire as words become a brawl. Gray being the larger and more powerful wolf handily defeats Armin, leaving him nearly unconscious on the snow, laying in a bit of his own blood from the bites sustained, leaving him the parting words "Y'r no long'r welc'me 'n th's territory. Y' have no pack." He and Kokoa then turn and go back to the packs' den site.
Gray doesn't escape the fight injury-free, however. A decent cut to his neck where Armins tooth caught him in the beginning of the fight, and a more severe one to the stomach from Armins claws, leaving a small blood-trail from the combined injuries leading from the sight of the brawl to the dens. Meanwhile, Armin lays in the snow with what is probably a pretty nasty gash on the scruff of his neck, and some puncture wounds to his throat, though none are deadly, they are not pleasant.The fight and Armin's ejection from the pack initiates the second pack we will be bringing into the RP, as Armin eventually starts his own.
On the trek back, Gray and Kokoa discuss Armin, along with potential plans to hunt together the next day, should Gray's injuries, and Akita's fury allow him to so. We leave the RP session with Gray laying on his side in his den suffering the effects left by the adrenaline rush fading and noticing the blood trail in the snow, and wondering where Akita is as he falls asleep while Kokoa is dozing before realizing that through all the excitement, he'd forgotten about Hayleigh still up in the woods somewhere by the den they'd stayed in, but knowing he can't make the trip again until the next day between the cold night and exhaustion.
A few weeks and another storm later..
Akita and Gray have been seeing a lot of each other while the pack does its own thing. Akita decides to finally introduce Gray to the pack, where they find a fight in progress. Armin versus Hayleigh as she tries to find out what really happened to Huo, believing Armin was the literal cause of her demise. Both need to be knocked out to stop the fight and a while later, while Akita questions Hayleigh about what happened, Armin takes off while Gray gives chase, having been given the task of watching over him. He follows the distraught wolf to the grave of Huojin, their former Alpha. While Gray watches over Armin, deciding to give him space while he's at the burial site, Akita dismisses Hayleigh from the pack temporarily, accusing her of being unable to trust her Alpha. Eventually Akita notices Armin and Gray gone and goes in search of them after leaving Kokoa in charge temporarily; meanwhile while Hayleigh goes off on her own up into the forest to find a den away from the pack, somewhat distraught at being kicked from her pack. Eventually Kokoa takes it upon himself to go in search of Akita after a few hours of her missing from camp along with almost everyone else. Mistaking one scent for another, while searching for Akita, he ends up running into Hayleigh.
Another night comes and so does another storm. A quiet night at least for one pair of wolves, though the morning brings some amusing antics. The new snowfall creates a bit of a problem for Hayleigh, as Kokoa sleeps on the other end of the den. She finds her front half burried in snow, unable to back out, leaving for an amusing sight for Kokoa when he wakes up. She isn't quite so amused as they both try to free her from the awkward position. Gray and Akita end up in a similar situation when Gray decides to show off and ends up getting himself stuck quite badly. Akita is immediately amused by this and takes advantage of his encapsulated position to mess his exposed feet, while he can't do anything. It soon goes south for Akita and especially Gray when he starts to panic. He was never one for tight spaces and soon finds himself reliving the process in which he got his scars. Akita desperately tries to get him out without harming him in the process and eventually succeeds, though Gray is still very shaken. Over at the other den, Hayleigh is finally free and decides upon a little revenge for Kokoas laughter, splattering Kokoa with some of the fallen snow.
Gray finally calms enough to exit the den, where they hunt an injured elk and enjoy the meal together, arguing over who is to eat first, the Alpha or the rogue, as Gray is not yet part of the pack. He insists, but she wins in the end, but he still leaves her the best bits.
After the Storm.
A few new faces have been added to the pack; some getting along better than others with the newly crowned Alpha. After a few more hours of separation from Gray, Akita found herself in his company again. Quite literally dropping in on him in his new den while she was out on a hunt trying to clear her mind. She ended up finding him in much the same way as he found his den. As they talked and generally became even more well acquainted since the previous evening, Karlie decided she wanted to have a word with their new Alpha after making it home with Armin. Tracking the Alphess down to his den, Gray didn't exactly respond well to the sudden intrusion of another unfamiliar wolf, but because of the trust building between himself and Akita, he withheld his attack on the unknown wolf. A brief conversation surrounding a promotion to Lead Warrior and the fact that Akita had been hanging around the lone male so much as of late. After Karlie again made her leave of the Alphess and her new friend, Gray and Akita were left alone to converse for most of the day. A growing bond between them the more time they spent together. Despite him being a lone-wolf situating himself in her territory and her being the Alpha of the only pack in the area. Eventually the two simply fall asleep together as day turns into night once again.
Snowstorm.
A few days have passed since Huo's death. Her passing has weighed heavily on Armin, blaming himself for her death. He's quite depressed over this and headed north, away from everyone. Meanwhile Akita is getting herself acquainted with Gray, the lone wolf on their island, showing him a few dens he might be able to stay at. In the mean time, back at the packs' den, Hayleigh has noticed Huo's disappearance, and decided to trail after Akita for answers on where Huo'd disappeared to. She did end up catching up to Akita as she walked along with Gray, but that introduction was delayed by a bear that had meandered into their path. Gray, being unfamiliar with bears, decided to take it upon himself to direct the bears attention towards himself and use his speed to his advantage, losing the bear in a long chase. He eventually found his way back to where the two females had been, by which time Hayleigh had already left back towards the den and a storm was closing in quickly. Though they wouldn't notice it until it was nearly too late.
Karlie is also on the hunt, for Armin, having wandered off on his own a few days ago and had not been seen by the pack since. Being as she was close to him, she took it upon herself to find him. Caught off-guard by the quickly moving storm, Gray and Akita were forced to dig out a den under a large tree to shelter themselves from the storm. During the night he and Akita became more familiar with eachother, and by morning were far more comfortable in eachothers' presence at the least. Karlie had injured herself at some point and was dragging with a heavy limp, and had nearly exhausted herself when she finally found Armin, nearly frozen to death of his own will. Sitting in the whipping ice-strewn winds of the north.
Meanwhile, back on his own, Gray has found himself a better home (marked on the map). By accident. He fell into it as he was plowing his way through the snow a short while after Akita took her leave and went back to attend to her pack, though little did she know, not much of the pack would be there when she arrived.
The Next Generation.
Akita has taken over as Alpha, as Huo's leadership had been lacking in recent weeks, being all but consumed by her fear and of her own packmates and mourning the loss of her only friends (Akita and Armin). After being approached by her former friend, Akita, she allowed her to take over as pack Alpha. With a brief conversation, she left quietly. She later passed away that night, in the first snow of the season, unable to find reason to move from where she was, she slept in the open, only to slowly freeze to death as she slept. She'd lived a long seven years, and went (somewhat) naturally in her sleep. Armin's guilt over initiating the Akita-as-Alpha idea, peaks as they find the deceased former Alpha. A new Alpha is crowned, and the old one passes into the next realm.
Meanwhile, there is a lone wolf prowling the territory, not much is known about him, but his name is Gray. Last time he was seen, he was staying in one of the dens on the island in the middle of the lake(marked on the map on the downloads page).
Onward with the Drama.
In the last couple weeks we have had some interesting things happen in the RP. Firstly, there's the relationship between Akita and Armin taking off, which unfortunately led to some not so great things. Akita leaving her young pups alone for days at a time without feeding, and later, is the attack on Huojin by Akita who'd been told to do so by her then-bonded wolf, Armin. Huo was able to hold her own against Akita pretty effortlessly, when Armin joined the fight attacking Akita. It needs to be added that Huo had been attacked by Armin twice after the fires by Armin directly, and had then waved them off as his mourning process, before the pack moved to Redemption, and well before he became Delta.
Huo couldn't think of a reason that Akita, her former best-friend had been able to so effortlessly attack her, except with some sort of other reasoning, and attacked Armin as he was about to attack Akita during the fight. There was a moment of tension when Akita attacked again, while Huo had Armin down in submission by the throat as he did not fight Huo back. She still has no idea what is going on, and spent an in-game week irate at the two and unsure what to do about the problem. She has since decided to demote them both. Akita loses her Lead hunter status, and Armin will go back to Guardian, losing his status as Delta. It will be a long process for both of them to regain her trust.
While all this is happening, Kokoa rejoins the pack, to an agitated but un-injured Huo. Armin took off, and Akita is acting like nothing happened, much to the dismay of Huo. Prada also returned back in June, though was inactive for a while thereafter, she's picked up Medic. The relationship between Armin and Akita has also quickly dissolved after Armin betrayed Akita during the fight that changed, well, everything. Huo is now less trusting with any wolf after being betrayed by her closest wolves.
Our latest rejoin after many months, is Karlie, who has had internet issues for months and is finally back. Huo is unaware of Karlie's rejoining, however Armin was the one to find her.
We start again.
Things have been underway in the background for some time now and we're starting fresh with a few of the 'original' pack.
Due to inactivity, we cleared out most of our original pack, deciding to start from scratch. To 'kill off' the members and not disrupt role-play, we decided that a massive fire would be the easiest way to do so, and it would also introduce the characters to their new map, Redemption Isle. A few months later is where we catch up with our few members. Huojin, Akita, Armin and Makinti, with a few lone-wolves along the way. Huojin, a former Guard was left at the helm as Alpha, as nearly the entire Alpha family was destroyed in the fire, leaving one pup, Cepheus. Anyway, As I said, we're a few months into the new Den and Huo has granted Lead Hunter to Akita, who is in a pupping den with her new pups. Their father is Neu, one of the lone-wolves. Armin was also given a Delta role, as he'd been doing well as a Lead Guard for the months he had to. Huo saw that he took his job seriously, and did it well, despite mourning for Karlie, a young female that may have eventually become his mate. It is unknown if she will return or if she is dead, though she is presumed dead. Outside of that, we may have some old members come back, surviving the fires. That is unknown, and dependent on interest of the users that played them.
Things have been underway in the background for some time now and we're starting fresh with a few of the 'original' pack.
Due to inactivity, we cleared out most of our original pack, deciding to start from scratch. To 'kill off' the members and not disrupt role-play, we decided that a massive fire would be the easiest way to do so, and it would also introduce the characters to their new map, Redemption Isle. A few months later is where we catch up with our few members. Huojin, Akita, Armin and Makinti, with a few lone-wolves along the way. Huojin, a former Guard was left at the helm as Alpha, as nearly the entire Alpha family was destroyed in the fire, leaving one pup, Cepheus. Anyway, As I said, we're a few months into the new Den and Huo has granted Lead Hunter to Akita, who is in a pupping den with her new pups. Their father is Neu, one of the lone-wolves. Armin was also given a Delta role, as he'd been doing well as a Lead Guard for the months he had to. Huo saw that he took his job seriously, and did it well, despite mourning for Karlie, a young female that may have eventually become his mate. It is unknown if she will return or if she is dead, though she is presumed dead. Outside of that, we may have some old members come back, surviving the fires. That is unknown, and dependent on interest of the users that played them.