Welcome to Gaia! ::

((And that is why I gave you permission to RP Tsume Tahja.... damn... couldn't have done it better wink ))

Tsume watched as the other members of the pack started to collect over their kill. Their soon to be alpha female seemed to reign tightly over who got first pick, not that he cared. If the pups didn't eat they'd slow down or become sickly. Not something he was looking forward too.

Instead of joining however he found a place a little at a distance from the main group and watched them all. The pups of course where still playfull and while they all had their own quircks, their personality would grow yet. He was more interested in seeing more about the other adults. And that two-legged one.

His ears were perked and his eyes hardly ever strayed off the scene before him. He found it hard to admit but the group started to grow on him already. It had been a long time since he had been in company of other wolves, but he felt himself drawn to this group. Which was quite the opposite of which he had expected.

((Gaia... ate... my post... gonk ))

Thayne nudged Tati's little spotted self toward the carcass gently. "G' 'head an' eat, lil' 'un," he told her. "Y'll need th' stren'th later on." He smiled at her reassuringly and motioned toward the carcass with his muzzle. He looked over at Hige, coming back to him and Loki with Winter playfully close on his heels. He sat back on his haunches and nuzzled Loki's shoulder. Like Hige, Thayne remembered how sick Loki had gotten before. He didn't want that to happen again, either. Loki was as close to an older sister as he had. He nudged her shoulder gently, then nipped her ear affectionately. "Y' should eat too, y'know."



[[ ATTN: I'll be gone from noon today until sometime Saturday evening to sell my class horse at auction. crying Tahj, Stormy, I give you permission to autoRP Thayne until I get back. ]]

Roleplay:
Dustfeather ( Shilah )
Artsywolven ( Winter )

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Dustfeather:

As cold as it could get, Shilah's thick coat protects him so well against the elements that he soon grew too warm curled up next to Kaya and her elk skin, and woke in the dark.

Unlike a human child, the dark is not a place of fear for a wolf child. He has other senses that a human child does not - smell, for instance, now aids Shilah as he sniffs, inhaling the familiar smells of his packmates. The storm still rages outside, but he pays it little heed. He has the humanlike care for his pack and family - and yet he is inhuman enough to not worry about the duration of the storm. Time will take care of itself.

The striped puppy stretches, rolling onto his belly as he does so, and offers a cursory lick to Kaya's elkskin, then trots off towards a sloped area of the cavern and sets to exploring, snuffling around for anything interesting.

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Artsywolven:

Winter, meanwhile forgetting momentarilly of the others located within the cave other than herself and Hige, had been chasing around his tail without care, bouncing around with the same, common youthful joy as so many had. The child had been giggling without care while doing so, sprinting about with glee.

Eyes followed the tail mounted upon the adults rear with close precision.. never taking her gaze from it.. though.. for a moment they strayed, suddenly distracted to a point by the striped pup moving about in the shadows. In an instant, the she-cub had forgotten about that tail and began sprinting towards the other pup, quietly following after as he strayed off even further. "Hey!" She called loudly, hoping to snag the attention of the male. "Wait up!" Winter giggled, padding up alongside.

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Dustfeather:

The puppy raises his head in surprise at the giggle, turning his head around and tipping it slightly to the side. Already his nose has recognized the scent and categorized it as 'not enemy,' but he can't really place the individual, until he spots the ivory-pelted puppy nearby. Oh, yes, Hige introduced them....

The puppy, never very good where names were concerned, flops onto his bottom and scritches behind his ear with a hindpaw, taking a moment to compose himself, but he offers the other a friendly wag of greeting, his muzzle lolling out into the good-natured grin of the wolf. "Hi," He offers. "You're Winter, right? I'm Shilah, Kaya's brother." After all, she might have already met his sister, he's not quite certain yet.

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Artsywolven:

"Yep! I'm Winter!" The cub grinned, stopping for a moment as she reached Shilah's side. "We met a little bit ago by Hige, I think..?" She nodded, arching a brow as she bounced forward, snapping lightly at his ear, obviously not one for long aquaintences, and often treated even complete strangers as friends within a few moments upon their meeting. Her tail wagged lightly back and forth with pleasure. "Yep.. soo.. whatcha doing?" She questioned, after letting go of his ear before speaking, as she'd finally managed to catch it lightly within her grasp. "Hunting..? Exploring..?" Winter asked, arching a brow in curiousity as she continued forward a few paces, however stopped, glancing back towards Shilah while waiting.

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Dustfeather:

The puppy nods decisively. "Yup." He lets out growl as she grabs his ear, but it's only a mock one; if she had been in earnst, it probably wouldn't have been that gentle.

"Just looking about," He says, seriously. "Exploring. It's good to know your home top to bottom, always." You never know when a little knowledge might come in handy. "Besides," He says, with a wistful whisk of his tail, "It's not like we can do much exploring outside right now." Again a puppy-grin. "Unless you enjoy getting wet," He says, and leaps towards the ivory puppy to tackle her when she pauses, trying to take advantage of the momentary lapse in step.

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Artsywolven:

"Eeew.. water's good.. but not when it's snowing.. Ick." Winter said, shaking her head quickly while sticking out her tongue, adding only more to her explaination. However a grin continued to portray across her facial features, despite the mood of her comment. She stared absentmindedly towards Shilah for a few moments, and, in which time she found herself suddenly flung backwards with an audible 'thud' to the cold, rocky floor. A quiet yelp was emitted at partially being tackled and partially being suprised. Up to this point he seemed more serious than anything, rather than the playing type. Never-the-less this pleased her.. as Winter was always up for a good game of wrestle, chase, tag, or hide and seek. Now against the floor, her forepaws were placed instantaniously against Shilahs underside, quickly trying to either flip the positions, roll, or push him off.

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Dustfeather:

The half-striped puppy's tail wags cheerfully - even a bit arrogantly - as he 'wins' the round. As Winter's forepaws are thrown against his chest, he immediately rolls off, doing a full roll before coming nimbly to all fours again, tongue lolled out in laughter, eyes bright. This is good fun! And he's a bit more evenly matched. With his sibling, it's nor always a fair fight - he's much quicker on his feet than she is, and he also has strong teeth and claws, while she only has a thin layer of skin to protect her. Still, he reflected as he barks at Winter, egging her on, Kaya had been getting better over the past week or so. Her skin was tougher, probably a result from their bouts and the scar tissue that is now building up across her arms and legs, and she had been getting quicker and more agile.

Loki murred and considered eating. She really wanted the pups to get their fill first, but Thayne was right, she too needed to keep herself healthy. She sure as hell didn't want another episode like the one she had endured back at Selia and Devvyl's packlands.

She stood as Balan ran past, out the mouth of the cave without so much as a wuff. She looked to Hige, wondering why Balan kept running off, and mulled a bit... maybe he didn't really want to be in this pack. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind, she would go over it with Hige later after everyone had eaten. Finally obliging Thayne (*snicker* worried little brother, awh), she bent her head down and tore off a piece of meat before going to sit by Tatti to eat.

((La de da de dee da... *rubs hands* >3 *types descriptions*))

There was a slight pause from the time the words reached Hige's ears, to the time that he responded. During that pause his jaw was clutched shut with thought.

"Everyone has a place with our pack, Balan. Everyone of you is important. A pack is a family, so if one of you leaves there's gonna be a hole there..."

He hated to come right out and say "useful", it made him feel like they were just using the others for bigger number or protection.

"The pups need role models, and protection, and the pack does need you around... Think about Shilah and Kaya, and Tatiana, too... You were the one that introduced Tatti to us, you're familiar to Shilah and Kaya..."

What exactly did Hige mean to say? He couldn't really find a way to word it.

~With Devvyl and Selia's pack, we were all more or less just strangers banded together. Most of us were friends of the two, or related in some way...~

"Besides... didn't we all meet each other because of our old pack? We're all packmates twice over, just... with a few additions."

~We're a little larger than we intended to be, but the pups will grow up into our pack, and the most of us are already friends.~

Hige looked at Balan levely again. He didn't want to force the wolf to stay, but he'd meant it when saying that they would miss him should he go. If that's what he felt he needed to do though, then Hige couldn't do anything less than grant him the same freedom that his parents had.

"Do what you feel you have to do to be happy, Balan, no matter what."