Cyre || 16 || Female || Elder || M : Takara, Others (Ind)

Cyre continued to watch the pack. While few words were spoken, especially since Leviathan was on the premises, she received her clues from the body language of others. The demoted betas were obviously angry, no matter how much they tried to hide the more... visible... signs, and their children were reflecting that curt hostility towards one another. Ah, well, she could whup their behinds later.

The old wolf's eyes warmed and her tail thumped softly against the dirt, sending up short bursts of loose dust as Takara approached her. She touched her muzzle to the younger female's in greeting and replied, "Oh, I wouldn't be as good as I could be if I wasn't as good as I am."

A spark of mischief and satisfied pride crossed her face at her riddle before she clarified, in case Takara had not quite understood the gibberish, "I am well, thank you. And how are you, love?"

Her deep voice had a rattle to it that slurred her words slightly, but Cyre did her best to keep her phrases clear and concise. Her eyes found Vilho's frame in the direction the young, dark female had arrived from and she released a sigh. "He never did learn how to be a parent, did he? It always seems to happen to the higher ranks. I am sorry."

She could remember when Takara, Eira, and the others were all pups. She'd been retired from her sentry duties the previous year, so most of her days had been spent with the new puppies. When beta duties had called Maeve and Vilho away, Cyre had often sidled into the caretaker position. It had given her a certain ease, being able to still protect something important.

Larkspur || 5 || Female || Pack Member || M: Lev, Enigma, Takara (Ind)

"Thank you," she told Leviathan, dipping her head before turning to go. Enigma's blunt observation did not bother her. The black wolf was right, after all. Larkspur shrugged and replied in an equally quiet tone, "I find joy in a hunt with my packmates, that's all. And yes, I'm fine. Just a sibling on my nerves."

She offered Enigma a smile before trotting off to one of the sunnier areas as Takara and Akousa and a few others approached Leviathan's rock. Goodness, it had gotten busy quite suddenly. She caved in her back and stretched her front paws out as far as she could, maw parting in a massive yawn. Her haunches quivered in the air for a moment before she relaxed her muscles and eased down into a comfortable position.

She turned her head to the entrance of the camp and inhaled deeply. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she released the breath. No, no prey close to the pack. Of course, that would have to be one stupid creature to come near a gathering of wolves. Larkspur would have to wait till the hunt to sink her fangs into something.

It was always more fun with a group anyways, so there was nothing bad about waiting. Precious few prey would be out in the heat of the day when the forest was lightest anyhow; most of the animals worth hunting either climbed trees or were diurnal. Rabbits, elk, deer,... all animals that slept from dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn. Ungodly hours.

Chocktaw || 5 || Male || Sentry || M: Cadmus, [Ind:] Kyomi, Maeve, Vilho, Larkspur, Eira

He had begun to become bored enough to actually daydream -- daydream, like a lovesick puppy -- when Cadmus's voice interrupted his musings. Chocktaw straightened and muttered teasingly, "Oh, thank the ancestors. I was about to die."

He listened with a cocked head as his friend related the encounter with Eira. Chocktaw nodded and inserted a "really?" and "wow" every now and then to make sure Cadmus knew he was paying attention, and, when the darker wolf finished with Leviathan's hunting plans, Chocktaw couldn't help but grumble, "I'm sure Larkspur jumped on that proposition."

His sister was the better hunter of the two, definitely, but she'd been trained specifically for that. Chocktaw had received... other schooling. Oh, as yearlings, Larkspur had been so jealous when he had been chosen to be a sentry, but now she seemed content with hunting all day, every day, seven days a week. Chocktaw could nev-

"Kyomi?" he interjected, eyes widening slightly despite himself. His voice squeaked slightly at the end and he released a gruff cough to lower his pitch again. "I mean- uh- well- how is she?"

Chocktaw cleared his throat again and shuffled his paws, looking down at them and then over at his partner. "You want me to go... to camp and talk to Kyomi? Alone? By myself?"

The fearsome wolf was considerably less intimidating when it came to a certain female. He could barely look at her without feeling the urge to turn tail and flee. Sure, he was good at hiding his feelings in front of other wolves (minus Cadmus, of course), but if he were alone in a one-on-one situation with the beautiful female...

"Oh stars, can't you come with me? What if Maeve and Vilho see me slip? What if someone finds out? I'm a sentry."

Females were scarier than any opponent. If he made one wrong move, Eira would rip him apart and the demoted betas would probably help. They loved tradition; he didn't want to disappoint them, or lose Kyomi. Not that he even had her, really.

Cadmus shifted his weight, leaning moreso on his left side so that he may watch both the meadow and Chocktaw at the same time. A frown rested upon his face (well, an expression similar to it), as he muttered under his breath. Something about Eira, and Takara, and how they both irked him to his very core.

"Huh?" He mumbled, blinking when he heard Chocktaw speak. "Wha?" Snapping out of his own little thoughts, his attention immediately shifted onto his partner as a grin formed, one a mixture between amusement and something wicked. "I suppose I could tell you how Kyomi is, but why bother? You're going to ask her yourself later today." Cadmus watched his friend make a fool of himself, his own eyes practically rolling. "Snap out of it," he said, having half a mind to smack Chocktaw across the muzzle. Pausing, his mind began to turn.

"Get it together and listen to me. We've been posted out here for how long? Three days with a few trips back here and there? I say we both deserve a small trip back, just for a little while." He eyed Chocktaw, hoping he'd catch a hint. "Nothing too long. An hour or two at most. Enough for a conversation. Maybe a small stroll." He continued eyeing Chocktaw, waiting for him to catch on. "We'll both go. I'll deal with my stubborn sister, which leaves you room to speak to Kyomi." Nobody would notice, besides, sentries were allowed to return for a small while.

Being a sentry was difficult in some ways. It meant no mate and no families, something that he believed Chocktaw wanted. Dare he even say that he himself wanted that, but this wasn't about him. Maybe he could persuade the pack to allow Chocktaw a mate. He could speak with his parents? No, they were keen on keeping tradition, but Leviathan wasn't. Cadmus would even speak to that male if it would help Chocktaw. He doubted his words would work. Being a sentry meant sharp rules. Maybe once Chocktaw had gained Eira's favour, that she-devil would help as well.

"Don't worry about that part for now. As far as anyone's concerned, you're simply saying hello and being nice. There's nothing wrong with that. Now, how about we leave in a little while? We'd be back before dark."

The white-coated dame had stood up, refusing to sit down while her mother spoke. Something about it made Eira feel weaker. Instead, she eyed her mother, as if staring her down before breaking away. Her mother scared her, that part was true. She didn't intimidate, but the way she acted caused chills to course through Eira's veins. Her tone, how it was full of fakeness yet came off so real scared her. How she acted kind, when in reality she couldn't care less, scared her. How she presented herself scared her. Everything about her mother scared Eira.

She always felt like prey in her presence.

Regardless, Eira refused to let her mother think that she was afraid, but her mother was a smart individual. If she didn't know, she would figure it out. She had stared at her mother, a cool, collected stare, as teeth were bared. She had once looked up to her mother as a pup. She respected her and how she carried herself, but that was a long time ago. They were foolish thoughts from a foolish pup. Nothing more than a facade.

Eira blinked, her mother's words causing her to flinch slightly. She didn't even have a response. She always had a response. Her mother always knew exactly what to say to trigger Eira into silence, something that was hardly done. It didn't matter. She didn't care being spoken poorly to, but when her mother's gaze shifted to Kyomi, that was when Eira moved. Stepping to block her mother's view, she shook her head. "I quite enjoy the company I keep. If company is what causes individuals to.. act out, what's the excuse for your behaviour? Last I recall, you don't have friends." At least Eira sounded confident. Once upon a time, her voice would have cracked when replying. Opening her mouth to respond once more, Eira was silenced by her mother's next sentences, and before she knew it, she was gone.

"I wasn't even done speaking," she muttered, only then shuddering. "Oh, how I dislike her. How is that the same female who birthed me. Honestly, Kyomi, do you think that it's possible that I was switched at birth?" One would think that Eira was joking, but she wasn't. How the two were related was beyond her.

"I need some repellent specifically for my mother. Maybe a siren that goes off when she's in the same vicinity as me so I have time to run. Oh, Takara would love to hear about this." Where was that sister of hers? Motioning Kyomi, Eira had espied her sister among a small group, and had automatically begun to head towards her. "I still feel her eyes on me," she mumbled to Kyomi, despite her mother leaving minutes ago.

Pausing in front of the group, Eira huffed. "Good grief, there's a lot of you around," she spoke before nudging past anybody crowding around so that Kyomi had room to pass as well. She glanced around, walking as she spoke: "Hello Enigma. Akousa." Alright, so she acted a bit chilly towards that male, who could blame her? She wasn't fond of him. "How do you do, Leviathan?" She continued walking before taking a few steps back, remembering to show respect by dipping her head to the three (two, since Akousa didn't count), in greeting before ultimately halting in front of her sister dramatically. "Takara, if there's no sight of me tomorrow, just know that I have been brutally murdered by our mother during the night." Pausing, she turned to Cyre, remembering her manners. "Hello, Cyre. How are you?"

Eira adored Cyre. She was such a gentle individual, and had remembered being near her back when she was a pup. Pah, she was closer to Cyre than she was her own two parents. Plus, the female was a delight to speak to.

"Now, what is everybody crowding around here for?"

Chocktaw || 5 || Male || Sentry || M : Cadmus, Kyomi (Ind)

Slowly, the rhythm of his heart slowed to a normal pace again, though his fur still felt uncomfortably warm. His partner was watching him with an odd expression as he talked. Something something stroll, something something together, something something-

"I see where you're going with this," he finally said, understanding dawning on his face. It quickly turned into a weak attempt at looking unconcerned. "Okay. Okay, I can do that. Just a normal, unbiased conversation while you catch up with your family."

Chocktaw's mind switched gears to formulate a battle plan. He faced the meadow and murmured, half to himself, "We enter the camp and I will start off by speaking with Larkspur. That way will be less suspicious... than going straight to Kyomi. While I talk with my sister, you can talk with yours, and then I'll transition over... act normal.

"So... I can start by asking how her day is going, how is she feeling, the weather?... No, no, weather is too cliche. Just the first two... By heaven, Cadmus, why is it so hard for me to be level headed in normal situations?"

A frustrated growl rose in his throat and he refrained from pacing along the border. He was not about to let some infatuation of his give away his position and endanger the whole pack. Instead, he raked the ground and continued, "We were trained in fighting styles, positions, drills. We can take down a bear if we want to. But I still don't know how to be a normal wolf."

If there was one part of his sister's life that he was jealous of, it was her social skills. She actually had them. Chocktaw was alone in the woods with Cadmus most of the time. Not that Cadmus was bad company -- goodness, no -- but they knew each other back and front. There was hardly a need to talk; their minds had become one.

Unfortunately, staring intensely at a pretty wolf was more likely to disturb her than woo her.

Times like now, when he was preparing to go back into civilization, were the few times where Chocktaw would actually speak his thoughts aloud. That got his voice warmed up so he wouldn't sound like a dying frog when he opened his mouth once inside.

The obsidian pelted dame had been awoke for a while just watching the unfolding scenes of drama in the camp. She lay down in wait for her partner while swiveling her ears catching bits and pieces of conversation. She really didn't have an opinion on the Betas being demoted, and she really didn't care that Leviathan was the Alpha. As long though he is somehow related to the previous leaders even if it is illegitimate, he still was worthy of being the leader. Her olive green optics looked over the camp with a bored expression even if some exciting things were happening. She just hoped her partner woke soon so they could get to their post. She could feel a sort breeze, and curled her maw in annoyance.

While she personally loved winter and the snow her coat wasn't her friend during that time. If only it were lighter, but at least there are a lot of shadowy areas to hide in even if it's not a lot. She sat curled on top of a tree root growth where she could get a good view of the camp. And from her perch she saw her partner walk into camp and she sighed relieved.

"About time." she grumbled, and carefully she hopped down. It was a silent landing as she shifted her weight to cushion her paw pads from making much noise. It was innate habit for her as a Sentry, and she moved with graceful strides.

She made her way through the crowd of wolves. She heard the mentions of hunting and what seemed to be a mini-dispute but she ignored it. She was supposed to be guarding a border and not hunting. Breskta was in a bit of a more irritated mood this afternoon, and the way she looked at Adriam and quickly, yet politely brushed the other pack members off as well told of her mood as well. She was ready to go to the border, because she was sure that the news about the pack's state of chaos would spread, and loners and other packs would try to take advantage of the situation. So it would be best to be safer than sorry at the border and to make sure they didn't get in trouble with the new 'boss'.

"You're a bit late." Was what she grumbled to her partner with a little bit of sass and displeasure in her tone of voice, "let's get to our posts. If something happens, I'm blaming it on you sleeping in." And she circled him for a second observing him and then tilted her head saying, "Oh, good afternoon as well."

She looked with an almost exhausted expression as Choctaw tried talking to Kyomi. Oh, he's so obvious about his crush, just confess already! But oblivious to his possible competition....I ship him more with Kyomi, but she's a strong she-wolf who doesn't need a male. And she turned to see Akousa and her face changed a bit, he is a demonic. He really doesn't deserve Takara, but it isn't my place to say anything.

Getfing out of her thoughts she turned her focus back on her partner and gave him a rare playful nudge saying, " Are you ready to go Sleeping Beauty?"