What is it That You Want? (Alphas, Betas, others)

[Alkiera]

The trees groaned awkwardly as the wind whistled bitterly throughout the Listern Packlands. It had been a few decent weeks (or perhaps a month?) since Alkiera had unknowingly came upon these packlands as confused a bemuddled as an old she-hound. Sundak was about to shove her off back into the unknown with a younger Varg bitterly arguing that Alkiera, too deserved to reside here being crippled momentarilly. At the very moment, blessed as Zostar may be, Fiory, the Alphess of the pack decided to drop in and take Alkiera under their wing due to her being crippled.Crippled the word sounded insanely weak as though both her movement and her attitude was crippled in weakness. Sure, for the first two days or so her mind was still reeling in pain from the blow she received while stupidly crashing her head into a tree, but she was not crippled in her spirit. She still possessed the same firey attitude the three-year Varg always had for her entire life.

Now she walked with a small limp. At least she could walk now without the worry of a spasm clamping up her legs making her unable to move. A limp: That was fine, at least she could survive. The head trauma was nearly gone, however there still was a faint, maddening buzz, but she knew it would soon go away. As she walked, she shook her head in an irritated fashion, but continued on.

Hopefully she would run into Fiory, or another Varg of List who she could speak to without a snap or a snarl as the Beta Cub, Sora, had done to her when she found Alkiera lying underneath the dying oak that supplied her with shelter, and food. Though she was not sickly frail, the mice that scurried beneath the bark still did not supply her with enough, and she was still lean with a biting hunger. She would be leaving now, until she found out the debt she needed to pay for this pack for being able to reside in their lands. Who would take in a Varg such as she without wanting something? Especially in a time like this, she knew there was something wanted from her...

((Woah, the suckiness...))

[Gryffin]

A shadow slipped through the vegetation, and surely the thaw would be appraoching soon? Gryffin snarled. Yet the changing of the warm to cold transitions had made the forest snow even icier.

Gryffin growled and swiped at the icicles that hung from the low hanging branches. Her tail lashed as her crimson tipped ears prickled with frustration. Gryffin ambled through the ice forest making her way back toward her den. When her black nose twitched as she stopped. She growled and she slinked toward the new found scent.

Gryffin paused, her emerald orbs of ice scanned the terrain as she spotted the dark form of Alkiera. Gryffin gave a small grin and then she lept from her stand and stalked toward the she varg. "Alkiera" Gryffin said with a hushed whisper as she padded toward her as swift as a midnight phantom. Her shoulder blades rising up and down as they coordinated with every step she took. Her tail lashed to the side as her emerald eyes observed the lean femme. So was she all better now? as the black femme was roaming away from the litte roost she had called hoem forr the past few moons.

Gryffin gazed at the femme, "Where you off too?" Gryffin asked as she paused, her tail quivering high as her head was poised. She looked around, There was no one else around.
Gryffin yawned and slumped to her haunches. Her emerald eyes focused on the ebon form.

(bad post, but i have to go)

[Sora]

//Ahh! it sucks, but I'm not in the mood to write but didn't want to hold back the thread. I hope you don't mind that I had sora tag along with ya Griff.//

With each sun and with every passing moon Gryffin and Sudak’s creation bloomed. Winter was no mother; it was emotionless and therefore merciless. It froze water, buried the ground, and turned the wind bitter. The sky became so cold it shed white flakes and bundled dark gray clouds around it. The sun drifted farther and farther away so that night slowly became longer and longer, more and more bitter. Only the moon waned and waxed diligently as half the earth succumbed to a white cloak. It was in the great forest where craggy mountains spread their peeks into swirling storms and where the brunt of this season hit hard that life had somehow slipped among all the death caused by starvation and harsh ways. Three cubs were born to a she-wolfs side, and even though they had as much chance of survival as a gnat, they had a pack. An old pack that was slowly beginning to forget the past, that was unconsciously stalking into a revolution. Up in these ageless mountains where the evergreens grew a group of wolves from a dwindling time had set up boundaries. They hadn’t thought that nothing lasted forever, especially not when they were strong, padding through the forest, hunting across rocky brows, raising there young by a crimson pool, howling to the stars to voice their freedom. It did end, and in some cases not with a bang, but with a prolonged sigh. Disease, battles, age picked them off one by one and sent them on their way, never to scent a young does fear or race across the heather. For them there was no more winter to endure, and no spring to enjoy. However, it was too soon to say that the mountains lived longer, for some survived, and they welcomed the new generation, but as it has always been, the sun could only rotate on the same lives so many times, and who is to say it was filled with bitter regret to know it would be the last to die?

So far the cubs were surviving, for the small litter had been born strong. If not, they couldn’t have survived this long in the most deadly season. They had never felt springs warm touch, they only knew of blizzards and hunger. None of them thought how unlikely it would be to survive past puppy hood. Arias was large and strong, Sora long and awkward, Aiyu a mix of the two, and all slightly underfed.

Sora followed behind her mother until they came across Alkiera. Immediately her chest rumbled and she crouched down low, her eyes filled with a wild light. She was safe beside Gryffin, and thoughts of Renn were flashing through her mind. “Yes,” she snarled, picking up her courage. “Come to make fun of my father again? Why don’t I find Renn for you?” She was challenging the Kerl who wouldn’t want to hurt her or say anything to cruel to her in front of Gryffin.

[Alkiera]

Ah...so here came two bloody pack members. The she-Varg sighs, knowing that her venture ot of these lands would be interrupted by even more members of this pack. She reconized both, one as the Beta female, Gryffin, and the second as her damn child, Sora. Growling, she turns her head towards Gryffin, ignoring the blundering child who peeved her to no end.

"I'm leaving these pack lands. I am better, and that was the deal. I could stay until I bettered, and thus...I leave." She looks down at Sora, orange eyes glinting with an agitated fury.

"And I'm sure you're pleased about that, aren't you child?" she growls cruelly. "Now the only Varg left to bully around here is Renn. But if you do...I will know. And trust me, you do not want me to know." For Renn was the only Varg who truly accepted Alkiera from residing in the pack, the only Varg who she could consider a 'friend.' Gryffin was not well-aquainted, and Sora was just a little gnat, annoying her to no end. She saw naught of the Alpha female, nor the Alpha for the matter, and Sundak would be glad to here that this bitch was leaving these lands once and for all.

And yes, she had threatened the child right in front of the mother, who in fact was obviously the Beta...and of course Alkiera knew. But did she care?

No.

All should have known that by now. She was a hotheaded Varg who spoke the words that dwindled on her tongue, and failed to flinch at the fact that she may put great danger to herself. She burns with an inquenchable fire within her belly, and says things in a blunt, sarcastic manner.

Snuffing hot air from her maw in the cubs face in a well-seen agitated manner, she looks up at Gryffin once again. "I may be leaving, but I still feel as though I owe this pack something. Nobody would host a Kerl (no matter how uncontrolled some cubs are) in such a manner without wanting something from it. You're the Beta, so do you have any idea as to what I could do so I won't owe this debt for a long running time."

((Bad. Bad. BAD! And Sora, your post does not suck at ALL! It's better than what I could come up with...))

[Renn]

As she hears the conversation, Renn nearly utters a growl. She is standing a short distance behind Sora and Gryffin, her orbs flashing with unreadebale emotion. After realising that there were only two cubs in the Den, the golden-pelted faemme had taken it upon herself to track Sora, for though she dislikes the annoying little pest, Renn cannot denie that Sora is the future and the future must be protected. Plus, the cub had Gryffin's blood in her, and that would eventually show through to the outer world. Now she watches the cubs rump bob up and down as she takes a step forward and snarls at Alkiera. Ignoring the little bitch, Renn steps forward to Gryffin's side, her tail swishing from side to side in friendship to the ebony faemme. "I am not sure if I can say the same for List-" Braking off, the golden youth casts an uneasy glance at Gryffin before returning her emerald oculars to the spitfire. "But I shall miss you, Alkiera, and I shall cherish your friendship for a long time," Her eyes dance with humour as she reflects that the spitfire is in denial about their friendship.

((Sorry its short and crappy, but I don't have much inspiration at the moment.))

[Gryffin]

(gryffin? oh yah that would be me sorry guys!)

Gryffin raised a brow at the spitfire varg. Gryffin could become just as nasty. Her tail lashed to theside as she took a step forward. Her hackles prickling as her emerald eyes glittered with mystery. Gryffin looked up, her crimson ears flicking, "Oh no Alkiera. My daughter you will not bully" she said with a whicked smirk. "and if you do i will know." Gryffin purred. "oh..and trust my femme, you don't want me too know" she said her pink tongue running across her black lips as she watched the black bitch.

Her tail wavered high her emerald orbs studied Alkiera, watching her ever blink. Perhaps you would think that Gryffin was a bad mother, not teaching her own offspring the appropriate manners. Perhaps this was the affect of growing up, learning from her father's balkar ways and her mother, which was no different. Gryffin scoffed, her emerald eyes flashing with a sly look. "hmmm so you are leaving then" she said, "Well I suppose you know enough of proper manner to know that you are in debt of List" she said with a wave of her tail. "What can you do...what can you do?" Gryffin said obviously thinking out loud. "Well, alkiera that is not up to me to decide now is it?" She said and grinned, "It's up to Fiory to decide."

Gryffin barked and sat down on her haunches. Her head then turned to see Renn trotting towards them. Gryffin nodded a greeting to her. Her crimson ears flicking.

Gryffin grinned. Perhaps it would have been possibly for the daughter of the balkar and the spitfire femme to have become friends. Both had the some what the same personality and the attitude. But aquintances they would only be, for during most of the time Alkiera was here, Gryffin was stuck in the den nursing her pups.

(kay abrupt ending... i didnt know what else to write)

[Sudak]

Sudak let out a long and growing groan as he pressed his chest further and further towards the ground, stretching one of his front legs to it's limit. The other leg which was seriously injured in the last hunt was still a fresh wound and the bone and flesh would take some time to heal. Much movement of the injured form would bring such pain to the varg that he had not known since the battles with Koran. Rising up from his elongated posture Sudak spotted the fleeting forms of Sora then soon after, Renn, trotting in a way that you could see the frustration she held within her. The ivory Beta gave out short burst of air from his maw in a short laugh. The two were at it again. Sudak gave chase to soon find himself upon the beings of his mate, the two he had been seeking, and that varg that was undeservingly accepted within the pack's boundaries. Sudak's eye's narrowed and he approached his mate's side eyes not leaving Alkiera. He had heard Gryffin's reply to Alkiera's threat and Sudak was quick witted to answer aswell.

"When she's done with you then i will finally have my way. We can finish off what we started those moons ago. The way it should have been to begin with."

Sudak had never trusted nor accepted the fae. Why his drappa had accepted her he would never know but he was glad to hear that she would now be leaving his sight. Hopefully for good, for if he ever had her alone there would be little left for others to know whose spirit once occupied the ebony pelted body of Alkiera. Her stubborness ticked him to no end and he made sure everybody knew it.

[ ok it'll have to do for now. I've been really busy but I needed to post. Don't want to hold you all up. Glad to have you back Gryffie!!! ]

[Alkiera]

((Don't worry List Vargies! I shall post sooner or later! I'm in a bit of a shlump at the moment...>.<))

[Fiory]

[glow=purple,2,300]

((Seems I'm a little late for the party...Sorry bout that))

The day, for the most part at least had seemed calm and tranquil. The leaves above the ebon shadow in the summer breezes brushed against one another in their maple gentleness...The sky was clearing and the temperature was slowly rising. Curled comfortably at the base of said maple trunk, in the long grasses lay a stargazer, marked clearly as one. Caught in the breezes from above, the long strands would waft their way across the Drappa's muzzle every so often, until those shadowed lids flickered awake.

Dreams were hard to come by these days, always filled with the nightmares of the past winter...She could almost feel the snow and the ice trapping her again, beneath the emmense weight of the dieing herla. Sometimes she could even feel her breath being pulled from her lungs as if squeezed out forceably. However, this time a memory long forgotten had come to haunt her unconscious mind..It was a memory of her beginnings, as a young cub with her mother and father of their proud pack. Reciting ancient lines past down from one varg to the next who would come of age.

To The West the Setting Sun
To the East, the Rising Moon.
Inbetween lies Fiory,
Keeper of the Stars

"I suppose this is more true then ever now..." The ebon dame said aloud in thought glancing at her spine and it's unusually forced markings. Where her body had been cut upon the rocks on that wintery grave that should have been hers, dark grey and blue hairs had begun to emerge, a few white now into the shape of a shooting star. The star itself and it's prongs were positioned between her withers, dappled hairs around it giving the mark a slight twinkling effect, while three streams raced down her spine, ending at the base of her tail. If she wasn't a stargazer before, she was now.

A tremendous yawn escaped her muzzle as she stood upon still fairly stiff legs, moving to make her rounds around her territory. It had been ages since Bristol's scent had been cast in, and though Fiory's heart wished his return, she knew that he had probably gone on to find a more beautiful femme or had died, possibly never to return to her golden hues again. It bothered her, thinking of such things, so these thoughts were quickly silenced. Sore pains rocketed through her aching body, still recouping from the nasty spill or maybe just because she slept wrong.

We can finish this off like we should have done moons ago...The way it should have been to begin with.

That was Sudak's angry growl, Fiory thought quietly, redirecting her path to come and collide with that of her Beta's. Their scents invaded her welcoming nostrils, and the tension in the air was thick enough to slice with a human's knife. The brush around her gently swayed as if to get out of the Drappa's wake, her ebon paws stepping into the anger filled area neatly and calmly.

"Such tension and anger here...Has everyone's manners gone astray?" She growled quietly, looking at the forms of her Betas and their young but very enthusiastic daughter Sora. Next those auburn gold ears flicked to Renn and then finally to Alkiera. Ah, she remembered this spitfire femora, who could forget?

"Alkiera...it is good to see that you are well, I am glad...Though, as I am sure Gryffin or Sudak may have mentioned, I do not ask a Debt of you...As far as I am concerned, there is no debt to be paid.." Her voice was calm, sincere and quite direct. No, she did not see Alkiera as a threat to her pack, but mostly only to her young neice and her siblings. That was something she could not tolerate. Those sharp golden hues glanced momentarily over the young form of Renn, noting how pretty she was, growing up and all, and reminding herself of a prior engagment that she would have to speak with the young femme about...Mostly concerning both her, Silent, and the young stud of the List family, Drathlic...But that would come later.

"As far as you staying here is concerned, there are no ropes that bind you here Alkiera....So you may leave whenever you wish...However, if you do decide to stay or come for a visit, then that can be arranged....and if such visits were to occur, I would suggest a certain detail of caution be played on your part....It is unwise for one such as yourself to threaten a cub of a pack....You should keep in mind that pups say what they wish and are not to be taken...too...seriously..." As she said this, her cranium turned to look at Sora those peircing gold eyes staring her down with a gentle sternness. "Though it should also be noted that such pups I speak of, should begin to learn when it is appropriate to speak, and when it is appropriate to, speak their minds..." Was there a hint of a smile upon Fiory's maw when she directed her talk to the young Sora? Perhaps, but perhaps not, it was incredibly hard to tell.

"If you care to leave List Alkiera, then I hope you find better pastures wherever you go." It was short and to the point, wishing the femora well wherever she may be going. As of late, while recovering from the incident that winter, Alkiera was not the only one with a slight limp. Fiory's was getting better each day, but it still hurt to walk sometimes, and when she stood, her right front paw was lifted only to barely touch the ground with her claws, instead of her paw pads. Her body wished her to lie down again, for lieing down relaxed her sore muscles and felt good to the Drappa, so for now, she'd obey her body's wishes and began to tred silently a few paces away, to lie beneath the shade of a nearby tree. Her body rocked in a fluidly jagged way with her gentle limp, but other then that and the marks upon her back there was nothing else that could hint at her being ill or 'less then perfectly healthy'. Her tail long and feathered black, swung behind her as she moved her body downward, the front first, and the back steadily following like a fawn would, before that tail wrapped about her legs comfortably and she continued to watch the goings on...perhaps even to be a referee incase things were to get out of paw....

[/glow]

[Sora]

Sora leaned away from Alkiera, her hackles bristling and her eyes burning. A rumbling growl was coming from her chest, but as furious as she was the young cub was also fearful of the obsidian she-wolf. However she was screaming inside with rebellion and longing to avenge herself for that slight. No one threatens me, she thought fiercely, safely protected by her mother’s gangling leg. Hot breath buffeted her face and she cringed into submission, though her teeth snapped silently. She wanted to bite Alkiera’s nose off, and maybe if she had been bigger she would have.

A snarl of contempt came from her audibly as Renn entered the scene, and she glared hatefully at the golden femur. She wouldn’t mind taking a chunk out of her either; the wolf who had insulted her father. Sora’s boiling feelings were shouting at her to confront her, and someday she would: no one got away with anything if she had something to do with it. As Gryffin spoke she felt a surge of gratitude; that would show Renn at least. Renn who so worshipped her mother. Sora didn’t even try not to be smug that she was the daughter of Gryffin and not that other femme. She was much more worthy, she was bold and proud and ferocious.

Fiory came and Sora looked up at her with actual respect and awe. The Drappa was so mysterious and wise, the young vengeful cub couldn’t help but feel slightly awkward when that smiling gaze turned on her, stern yet somehow confiding. The agile body always seemed to be relaxed, but Sora was sure she caught a whiff of immense inner strength and confidence. Fiory heralded the words of many tales, and she had been told by her mother that she was the “Keeper of the Stars.” Sora wasn’t sure whether Gryffin had been serious when she told her late one night before vanishing off on a hunt to satisfy her infinite curiosity, but the marking lacing her bodice left her dumbstruck. The she-cub searched for the golden gaze of her Drappa and as she met those smiling eyes she had to look down. Her soft voice gave no command, but none beneath the conifers seemed as if they would ever dream of defying it. Enthusiastic Sora felt herself subdued and began to wish she had stayed in her den. As Fiory mentioned Sora she bowed her head even lower, but than gave a furtive glance upwards; she could have sworn she saw the shadow of a smile on her maw. She was now calm and submissive as she knelt in her mothers shadow.