Rune || Female || Subordinate || Starry Bane || Mentions: Open

Sitting down in one of the dens was one of the Starry Bane subordinates, cleaning herself from the earlier sacrifice. No, she didn't get anything on her that she could see, but it is always good to make sure. It was late moonhigh, and she was already wide awake. She groomed herself well, her coat clean, a sleak shine to it. Standing up slowly, Rune yawned, shaking herself, walking out of the den, inhaling the cool air.

Walking out, she looked around, her eyes looking for every possible red flag. Just earlier they were conducting a sacrifice, who knows who could be watching? What if an Okami had the guts to come and visit their pack, only to witness the event? What if that one Okami wolf reported back to their higher ups, and end up bringing the entire pack to Bane's densite, and kill them? If Okami were to attack them, it would be an ambush, no one is prepared for a battle, they were sitting ducks. If they were sitting ducks, it was only a matter of time until each one of them were wiped out, one by one, forced to watch their fellow pack mates die brutal and barbaric deaths. What if- her mind was on a roll, thinking of possible and tragic scenarios that were bound to happen after a trickle of small events. Oh lord.. what if I can't see them? Are they hiding behind the trees? She took a few more steps forward, and flinched when she heard a bird squawk and the following sound of a snap of a twig.

Looking down, Rune could see that she was the one who snapped the twig, and she picked her paw up slowly, examining the snapped twig. "Oh," she mumbled quietly. Rising her head, she looked about the pack, finally realizing she had nothing to worry about at the moment, she shook her coat once more, and began trudging forward. She shuffled towards the middle of the clearing, looking around, observing each and every tree, listening to every movement that could be heard, and concentrated on her sense of smell, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing seemed to be out of placed eventually, and she muttered something under her breath, and lifted her head a bit higher, her head rotating, searching for one of her fellow packmates, Fenrir. He would probably pop out somewhere, and end up scaring her and tease her about her paranoia. Sometimes she wondered if her paranoia was something funny towards Fenrir. She would probably find out eventually.

Fenrir // Male // Subordinate (Apothecary) // Starry Bane // Mentions: Indeevar, Khepri (ind), Rune (ind), Hoarfrost (ind)

They had just had another ritual. For as far back as Fenrir could recall, they had been sacrificing a Nameless to the gods. When he was younger he had tried to dip his paw in the blood and his mother had whisked him away. “That’s for the gods only,” she had told him. “Not for pesky pups.” Then she’d given him a lick on his ears and told him to be quiet. Fenrir knew of only two good reasons that a wolf could be killed by another wolf. The first, of course, was in self-defense. And the second was for religious purposes. And so long as he hadn’t killed the wolf himself, he could act as though he’d had nothing to die with the act, which of course depended on how you looked at things. There goes another star, Fenrir had said to himself as the Nameless’s life was taken, glancing up at the sky. There wasn’t a star in the sky. It seemed as if they’d all gone out at that moment. That probably, however, had to do with the fact that it was still daytime. Fenrir, knowing the Indeevar was none too fond of the lake - which, uh, might have mostly been his fault - had kept close to him as the Nameless’s body was cast in. Over time, Fenrir had told Indeevar more than enough conflicting stories about the lake to have Indeevar completely terrified. Sometimes when he thought he’d gone too far he’d told Indeevar he was kidding, but it was probably too late for that now. All he could do was stick close and assure Indeevar that if he fell in, Fenrir would fight off all the starless shadows of little children to get him back. That also might not have been the best choice of words.

Fenrir walked back with Indeevar. He couldn’t always be near him, since he was, after all, expected to hunt and gather herbs and the like. Sometimes when nobody was looking he let Indeevar come with him, but Indeevar was really Khepri’s to train, and he knew that. Shame he couldn’t be trained as an apothecary. But then, maybe he was headed for better things. “Out to collect herbs,” Fenrir told Indeevar as soon as they got back. He glanced around. The others were settling, and though chances were one of them would notice Indeevar missing pretty quickly, Fenrir figured he was willing to take the punishment. “Want to come with?” he asked in a mischievous tone, like a dad sneaking their kid extra cookies behind the mom’s back. It wasn’t too much fun collecting herbs, but that was why Fenrir wanted Indeevar with him. He has the energy and curious nature of, well, a pup, and Fenrir didn’t have that many herbs to collect. Could it hurt to spend some time with Indeevar while everyone thought he was collecting herbs? It honestly didn’t matter too much what he did - his pack was going to be irritated by him no matter what, he was going to find them amusing no matter what, and if he got punished that would only be about the hundredth time. Hoarfrost wasn’t in a great mood anyway, so if it wasn’t something like whisking Indeevar it would probably be something small like tarnishing the pack’s perfect reputation by uttering such blasphemous words as “damn.”

Fenrir looked back over his pack again. They were a group of over-achieving, crotchety, easily-annoyed wolves, and they made him smile. The only one who seemed to find him anything but irksome was Roxanne, who was one of Fenrir’s favorite wolves to go hunting with. Indeevar, of course, was too young and immature to stop finding Fenrir amusing yet, though Fenrir was sure that time would come. After all, all pups went through that. He’d gone through it when he was younger and his mother was the bane of his existence. His father was lucky not to be there for that. Fenrir snorted to himself, looking up at the sky at the stars, wondering as always which one was his. It was chillier than usual, but Fenrir’s fur was thick enough that the cold didn’t bother him much - in fact, most of the pack couldn’t have cared less about the cold. Looking around, Fenrir saw that Rune wasn’t there. If he was lucky, she was still close to camp and he and Indeevar could give her a good jump-scare. And if they did that enough, maybe Rune would start expecting it and stop losing her mind with paranoia. Or anyway, that was Fenrir’s general plan.

Eagla | Male | Omnicron | Okami | Mentions: Omega

Bright amber eyes scan the camp to make sure everything is in order - judging eyes observing each one. A soft sigh left the male with the backend fur, and slowly the male laid down on the ground. Head going to rest on his front paws, as for his tail, it was resting on his hindquarters. Boredom in his eyes, black nose twitching as he takes in the scent of his packmates. For a higher rank, he doesn't appear deeming, let alone sinister, unlike the others. That may be the case, yet he has his uses. Someone has to be the voice of reason in this crazy pack, and I guess it should be him. Violence, the preferred thing this pack lingers on. However, that's something he doesn't rely on, let alone not bothered to do. Fighting takes up a lot of energy, a lot of strength too, and even your life. A yawn left the wolf, but he didn't dare sleep at this hour, not wanting to anger the Lady. Rising from his spot, he shakes himself off, "Guess I can check to see how the cleaning is going." He stretches, his muscles releasing the pent-up tension, and his bones pop during his stretch. Eagla trots in the direction of the pits, scanning the camp for anything suspicious going on, and the main thing going in his mind is the disappearance of his brother: Bláth. Don't tell me we have a traitor in the pack, and that traitor is his brother. Theories and deep questioning stir in his mind. No, it can't be Bláth - he's too naive and innocent to do such things. Eagla sighs, "A naive little brother." Shaking his head, still not believing that thing is his blood-relative.

Arriving at the pits, Eagla sits down on the side, and his watchful eyes linger on the omega. He tilts his head, staring up at the sky that was slowly turning from pitch back to dark blue. "Lowlight is coming, and everyone should be awake by then." Sniffing the air, trying to catch a whiff of Bláth, and his tail taps on the ground in a steady rhythm. Smelling no trace of the male, "Now, I have to hunt him down." He stops when he remembers something about his brother. A small memory he has in his brain: his brother enjoys rolling around in flowers. No wonder he can't find his scent. It's a possibility that his scent is covered in all sorts of flowery fragrances. His intuition died down, shaking his head. "As stated before, he's too naive to even think of betrayal." Eagla nods to the omega before departing back to camp, tail swaying lazily behind him.

Clover whined softly, she was tired and everything felt heavy. Carefully stretching her frost legs out in front of her, the canine stretched her back with a quick wave of her fluffy tail. Clovers eyes blinked a couple times as she glanced around in the dim of coming lowlight. It was nice, being able to sleep in the densite, even if she had done some less desirable things the previous year. Clovers ears flicked when she heard that an Omega was to clean up the remains- to which she realized so far no one was going to do it.

Clover took a slow step forward so her eyes could fully adjust to the light. The canine didnt quite like doing this, but oh well. It was her fault she was an Omega anyways. Inhaling a quick breath she began to trot towards the pit. This always made Clover feel ill.. thinking of how many died such a brutal death. At least she wasnt dead- that was the good part in her mind. Snapping back into reality the canine bent down to begin cleaning up whatever was left from the attack with a paw, whether it be blood or teeth- anything.

The last thing Clover needed was to be yelled at; or worse.

Luckily it was mostly just dust and rock there, so the dried patches of blood could be easily brushed away. One thing Clover had learned is that moss works great for absorbing blood that hasn't dried. With that, she stood up, sniffing around for the earthy moss.

Aha!

There it was, some green balls of moss around what looked to have been a dead shrub. Clover carefully grabbed some in her teeth before pacing back to where she had been working. It would have been nice to have help, but she doubted anyone would do so.

Indeevar || Male || Tinyfang || Starry Bane || Mentions: NPCs, Fenrir

The pup shivered, his mind flashing back to ritual. Indeevar never much cared for the sacrificing, not to mention that it always seemed to be late when they conducted the ritual. He remembered the first ritual he witnessed; he was only three months old. One of the Nameless wolves was a pretty silver female. He still remembered her cries and pleading as the Subordinates dragged her to the stone. He had closed his eyes as they lunged for her throat, but the image of her lifeless body still clung to his mind.

Indeevar pressed himself closer to Fenrir's side as the Subordinates dragged the corpse towards the lake, its tail trailing limply behind. He watched with a sort of sad expression, before shaking his head. He couldn't be sad; it was for the Gods! He harrumphed loudly before putting on his "tough face", scrunching up his nose, frowning deeply, and narrowing his eyes.

However, when Fenrir stood quietly, his expression dropped back to be more sullen. His stubby tail drooped and his head was lowered, and he walked instead of bounding ahead like he usually did.

Feeling numb, as he always did after the ritual, he was led back to the Densite by Fenrir. They walked in silence together, Indeevar every so often tripping forward on his paws. As he usually did, of course. As soon as they arrived, Fenrir looked down, and said, "Out to collect herbs," he said, and just like that, Indeevar's entire body lit up like Middle Sun. He grinned and wagged his tail excitedly.

"Want to come with?" Fenrir asked, a goofy smile playing on his lips. Indeevar couldn't help but yip happily. "Do I EVER?!" he said, jumping up and placing his paws on Fenrir's shoulder, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. All thoughts of what happened earlier were already forgotten, as Indeevar's short attention span took over.

"Can we also please, please, PLEASE try and hunt that rabbit again? I was so close last time, I swear, I had the tail fluff in my mouth!"

He didn't. He wasn't even close, but whatever.

Bláth | Male | Subordinate/Vanguard | Okami | Mentions: Open

Who knew sneaking out of camp would be this thrilling? The excitement in the young male's eyes glistens, and his nose twitches as he tries to find the scent of that lavender flower he saw the other day. His nose to the air, and his tail wagging fast behind him. "Where is it? I hope no one crushed it, cause if they did," his eyes grew dark, "I'm going to skin them alive and wear their damn fur." Bláth calms down, clearing his throat, trying to smother the anger boiling inside him. He takes deep breathes, calms himself down, and shakes his head. "Be calm, Bláth. I can't show them my true face. I have to be calm." Shaking his head, allowing his paws to carry him while his eyes move around. "Lavender? Where are you? Come on out." He stops when seeing that beautiful purple flower, and his tail starts wagging excitedly. Prancing towards the floret, collapsing on his side beside the flower, and gently pokes the plant with his paw. "Beautiful," his tail thumping against the ground, bringing his nose over to sniff it. "The only good-looking thing I ever laid eyes on within this entire territory." He leans forward, gently biting at the stem to easily pluck the flower. With the plant between his teeth, he takes a quick look around before Bláth placing the flower on his front paws, then proceeds to rub his cheeks against the flower. Wanting to mask his scent by using the lavender, an extra precaution in case someone was following him.

Martuska

The Overlady | Barabaric Okami | Mentions: NPCs , Fury , Eagla , Zethus

The fall-colored canid had been observing her pack from the shadows. Her pale yellow eyes washing over them - taking in all the information. She was quite pleased to see most of her pack up so early, and it let her know she was doing a good job. A routine in being up early and not wasting the sunlight, and she had already ordered the High Watchers to their posts : Svala and Cascade were to venture to the part of Ern Lake that they owned to make sure no one was there and Enzo and Ash were to transverse the Rumbar Forest and bring back reports. She hummed to heself - all of this was pleasing . Except for one tiny flaw - the traitors.

Ah, yes the two wretched curs that decided to feed information to the Starry Bane pack. And it seemed that had been within hers for a couple weeks. She had to surpress a laugh - amateurs, her own spy had been inbedded within the Starry Bane Pack for nearly a year and the monthly meetings went unnoticed. She noted that lowlight was fast approaching, she needed to make sure someone was there to recieve the monthly espionage report. But who to send?

That's when a wicked grin spread across her face. Ah, she knew exactly who to send. She rose from her spot within the shadows, and made here way through the camp, she noted as Mavhu and Isako at the sight of her bowed - and she gave a short nod of approval. Impeccable manners and form ladies she inwardly critiqued. And she noted they did not release themselves from the bow until she had fully passed them, and then they went back to their conversation. My, how my pack has such good manners. She felt good , good as a leader - knowing that her pack had both a healthy fear and respect for her. And her eyes spotted her Omnicron, Eagla - quite a respectable fellow. And she made her way towards him with a regal look on her visage.

"Minor Lord Eagla," she said respecting the title of her subordinate, and she flicked her tail as if signaling him to walk with her and once he did she spoke, " I would like for you to wait for me at my den. We will be discussing possible promotion of members to the Combatant Rank - along with a replacement for Thornton, though he was a cripple he was an invaluable asset to the Pack, such a pity with what happened. I also would like to assess your Combatants myself at around Fading Sun. That is all, dismissed.

After excusing herslef from the male she began looking for the form of another, Zethus - her Second Charge. Oh, he was in trouble. Why was he not up and ready - ready to execute orders from her? She needed him to dispatch a hunting part. Pah, the insolence and nerve - oh, she would have a word with him later. But for now she had to find her little - agent.

She knew he'd probably be out looking at flowers again, and she trekked not too far from camp and found who she was looking for : Bláth . This young male was one of her spies and she was quite pleased with him. He was the last wolf you'd expect to spy on you.

"Bláth, deary." she said in a singsongy manner, "I have a task for you. Go meet Aislin in the Myvatn Salt Flats, and recieve word of our foes and you know exactly what to do if you even think she has turned against us." and she gave the young male a knowing glance before letting her words sink in, and then she satisfied with her order crept back into the camp.

She noted Fury harshly waking up two Omegas. She didn't care for the female - but the male was different, he only wanted to show kindness to another but that was forbidden. She didn't say anything and kept on moving.

She was looking for her personal Omega - Clover, where the hell was she? She hadn't given Clover any orders yet. As a matter of fact she was going to instruct Clover to tell Reno to get his sorry ass of the ground and clean up.

"Clover, come here this instant." she said in a commanding tone, quite agitated her Omega was off somewhere, unknown to her.

Khepri

The Beta | Starry Bane Pack | Mentions : Artemis , Larkspur

The russet colored female had managed to keep a straight face during the carnage of the the Sacrifice to Mir. Got up and began walking around, not a lot of wolves were up and it was quite early : this was unacceptable. She gave a slight growl of irritation before padding throughout the camp. Any wolf sleeping was giving a nip on their haunches, and it was one that meant buisness.

"Larkspur, Artemis, Dorji, and Kito. You four are coming with me on a hunt. Leimomi and Maanikya have already scouted for me, and they will also be joining us, we will be hunting a herd of elk on the South side of Milik Lake."

She was satisfied with these orders, and she would leave the Head Lady and Delta to order the others around, she had done her job for now. And she followed as her two Thralls led the way to the Milik Stream, and the bubbling of the water could be heard. She then careful crossed the shallow end of the river , and followed as they went up a small incline. Then she noted as the two Thralls lowered themselves, and fixed their eyes on the herd before them.

"Good job you two." the Beta praised and turning to the Hunters she assembled she said, "which elk do you think we should go for. I think since we have larger numbers we should go for either a healthy cow or a maybe if we have Mir's help a bull."

Conrad // Male // None // Packless (Thisam) // Mentions: Keena (ind), Deyanira (ind), Open

Con, when he had had his pack, had been used to taking down deer and elk with days of tireless following, patient waiting, and a sudden burst of energy that required every single wolf to work together. What he wasn’t used to was hunting alone, with no wolf to back him up. He could often get Keena and Deyanira to hunt with him, though, and so for the most part he was fine. He had been trying rather unsuccessfully since middle sun to bring something back on his own, and though he’d caught a vole or two, it was hardly what he’d call a good haul. He was too small and lean to even dream of taking down large prey by himself, and besides, he didn’t want to stray too close to where the good prey was in case one of the packs assumed he was trespassing. Of course, he had turned in as soon as half-light had started turning into nightfall, ever obedient to the rules of a pack he was no longer a part of. It wasn’t night that pushed him to make his way home, but rather the lingering idea of punishment which, despite no longer having any merit, was always at the back of his mind. He figured that Keena and Deyanira might either be out hunting or they had just stepped away for a moment and would be back soon, but either way they weren’t in their little camp when he returned. He dropped the voles and hesitated before digging into one himself. He had to admit, he sometimes thought of Keena as his leader, and even if she wasn’t really he sometimes let her eat first just out of habit.

Con wasn’t going to go to sleep, of course. He would wait up for Keena and Deyanira, as he usually did when they were out later. He had plenty to do here, anyway. He was always clearing out branches, wiping out pawprints, trying to camouflage the place so it hardly looked like there were any wolves there at all. He tucked the vole away near a patch of lavender so that no wolves would be attracted by the scent of a fresh kill. He was lucky enough that his pelt fit in perfectly with the dark, mottled dirt, so that he would be hard to spot moving about in the darkness. He was quiet, taken up with his own thoughts, as he started to get to work. He’d never done anything like this in his pack, of course, but it seemed like second nature now and he’d gotten quite good at it. Or so he liked to think. Of course, the risk of being discovered was always there, but at worst it would be an aggressive lone or packless wolf, who Conrad was sure he, Keena, and Deyanira would be able to handle together. Even if he wasn’t much of a fighter, three against one was sure to go their way unless this lone wolf had some ungodly strength.

Con was halfway through tidying when he heard a rustling. It sounded as though it were coming his way, and it was light enough to be a wolf practiced at hunting but heavy enough that they didn’t seem to be trying to sneak up on anything. Con moved towards it, wondering if it could be some sort of prey - but that seemed unlikely, since the scent of wolf so strong in this area would likely drive it away. Perhaps it was a curious loner who had scented Con. Conrad was better at stealth than he was at brute strength, and he slipped through the bushes to see what it was. He caught a glimpse of another wolf, but he was quite sure the wolf must have noticed him as well. Deciding it would be better not to have them stumble upon the camp, he moved away, maintaining eye contact. Either they’d be frightened of him and run, or they’d be aggressive or curious and go after him. Either way worked just fine with Con.