Pack Rivalry 1x1 [Ranger 9, Scoinwolf, ThousandSounds]

[ThousandSounds]

Dark Forest

----𝓜eillas, happily lay down and take in the peaceful moments that were currently happening around them. Smiling at the girls, under the warm sun, thinking about how good their life will be if they get a change of alpha to lead them. Especially how good their life's might be if Liannah was to be in charge. He gaze drifted to Renn and Aspen and she softened even more as she thought about how great they look together, and how sorry she felt that they had to keep their relationship a secret. It made her wonder what it would be like if they took whatever was left of their pack, rallying them up, and... walked away.

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----𝓠iu, trotted happily along side her sister. Tail swinging, and hips swaying in her peppy step, she beamed looking over at Wren. "So, I hear your trainings goin' welll~" She sang, pressing into her side, albeit gently. "Come ooon..." Qiu whined playfully "Tel me about iit!"

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----𝓛iannah giggled, giving him one final look over her shoulder, fond eyes gazing after his disappearing form. Confidently stepping into Storm's den. With a small pep in her step she greeted her fellow pack member with a grin. "Hi Stormy!" Moving to make herself comfortable as she sat down. "I was out hunting today and I got kicked by one of the bucks-" She showed him the hoof mark "Has been a pain to limp with.."


Red Skies

"Already?" He asked a little surprised, his furry brows furrowing just ever so lightly. "But we just got here not long ago." He 'whined', wondering if there was something that made her so eager to return. Crawling out of the water himself, hauling his heavy fur, shaking it diligently. "Y'know. You're not a bad swimmer yourself. Who's to say the fish don't see you as their Mer-Queen." he chuckled with a sly smirk to his lips. Her coat did look silky smooth in the light, and he had to fight back a dumb grin when he thought about how beautiful he found her. 'Oh, don't be an idiot Kapro. Why would she ever like you back like that.' he mentally told himself.
----He had to admit he wondered if she was perhaps nervous, given how quick she was to go form resting to standing, was she worried maybe? He couldn't help but ask himself one-sidedly. Why didn't he just ask her, it's not like they're in a rush, they've been good friends for a good time now so perhaps she'll feel comfortable telling him. Stepping up beside her he softened. "Are you okay? You seem... Well, not agitated, but somewhere along the nervous line."

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----𝓚arper wanted to chuckle at the way both huntresses messed with Scout, but before he could do that his attention was caught by the male. "Oh. I believe we were just catching up. " He hummed sheepishly. "Would you look at that, if I had any requests from you both - then it completely slipped my mind, how odd." Heeding Scouts request he looked at the two gal pals as if to ask if there was anything else for the group to discuss of "Sure, Umm.. Girls?" He inquired in that tone that made it clear that they were free to go if they wished to. They could always catch up again just before heading out if he missed anything right? Wait, did he miss anything? He began to silently ponder it over. Oh please don't let it be something important. "Umm.. I think we're briefed everything for the day.." He sounded a little unsure but looked up at the male anyway, spacing out as he slowly watched them turn to take their leave, rapid thoughts coming and ground through his mind. What was it he was supposed to do again...
And then it hit him.
----Realization striking him like a freight train, he leapt to his feet and shouted after them "Scout! Wait-!" trotting place himself by their sides. "Actually.. There is something." He made sure to make eye contact with only slightly shorter wolf. "Would you... have a moment?" he titled his head invitingly.

[Scoinwolf]

Dark Forest

Thordane left Liannah at the healers den and walked by himself in no particular direction for a little bit while he thought about what they had discussed.. and what more they had to speak of that night. It was not going to be a fun conversation, but a necessary one, and Thordane could only hope that he had everything calculated correctly. That being said, there was nothing he could do about tonight until tonight and the only thing he could do is move forwards now with it all.
He decided his first stop would be to check in with Pebble. Meillas was out of commission for the rest of the day, that much was certain, and Pebble ought to know. He felt bad for his cousin's son, Pebble had chosen Dark Forest despite his brother choosing to follow Chase during the pack split, and how was the youngster rewarded? With back breaking, non stop work. Pebble hardly having a chance to rest let alone recover from each day's excursions, having to constantly step it up and cover for Meillas every single time Krux decided to pay her special attention. It wasn't sustainable.
Indeed here he lay now, curled up in a ball, sound asleep in his den. Thordane approached with ease, making enough noise and yet Pebble did not rouse. The pup was exhausted. Thorn felt his heart clench. This wasn't fair.
He knew in the back of his mind that it wasn't fair to himself either, to cover the work of Beta, lead fighter, and now scout - all separate roles filled by separate wolves for a reason. But he'd rather shoulder the burden than make the others work harder than they all already were. Thank the stars he had Liannah to delegate at least some of the management to. Qiu, his Beta counterpart, was capable, but Thorn thought she spent far too much time focusing on Krux's needs over the pack's needs. He understood, of course, the devotion to their Alpha. But the pack was more than just Krux, their needs more than just his.
He was grateful, in a way, that Qiu doted over Krux however. It meant that he didn't have to split his time worrying about the pack and worrying about their Alpha.
Ah, but he'd spent too long now, standing by Pebble's sleeping form, lost in thought. With all the guilt of his position, Thordane nudged Pebble awake with his paw.

"Ah!" Pebble woke with a start, flailing about in his bedding of moss before his heart calmed and he could make out the imposing figure of their Beta standing above him. "Oh, Thorn.." He let out a shaky breath. "You startled me."
The Beta sighed and Pebble felt bad, his father's cousin looked as exhausted as he himself felt in that moment. "I apologize, Pebble, you've been out late and need your rest. But it's my duty to inform you that Meillas has been injured yet again and cannot go out tonight."
Pebble felt his stomach sink as a wave of despair threatened to overcome him. "A-Again? But I just, I just covered her shift not too many nights ago now!" He started to shake a little. "Thorn, I-I can't k-keep doing this.. I'm so tired. I'm so tired all of the time." Why did Krux keep doing this? Pebble was under no illusions, he knew that if Meillas was hurt it was directly because of their Alpha himself. It must have been from another one of Krux's stupid training sessions. What was he even training her for?
Thordane stepped in closer to him and allowed Pebble to press against his chest, to bury his face in his father's cousin's fur as he shook through the anxiety attack. It was a rare display of affection that Pebble knew Thorn granted to no one else, and would never do in public. "It's alright, pup, you don't have to go out tonight. I'm going to cover her patrol and you're going to rest."
"But what about you?" Pebble pulled enough away to demand. "When will you rest?" He was equally upset at the prospect of Thordane going out. "You were also up all last night. When is it your turn to lay your head and rest your paws."
"Someone has to do it."Thordane shut down the questions. "I woke you to let you know, and to tell you the huntresses have brought back their catch. They felled a deer, it will be more than enough to feed the pack tonight. You should get something from yesterday's leftovers,rest tonight and get your strength back. I don't know when Meillas will recover but I suggest you check in with her too."
Pebble sighed. "Alright.. Whatever you say, Thordane."


“It’s going fiiiine.” Wren rolled her eyes, dodging her sister with ease. She picked up her step, jumping forwards a few paces to draw out into the lead and then spun around, walking backwards while she swiped lazily at her sister’s face. “Thordane’s a great mentor! He knows a lot and he’s really patient with me.” She was quite proud of the fact that the lead fighter/beta was her mentor. “I wish he wasn’t so busy all the time, but I guess that’s a bit selfish of me.” She shrugged. “He’s important to the pack, I can’t expect him to be able to spend all day with me. I’m still really lucky to have gotten him as my trainer.” She got it, really, that Thordane was a busy guy. Sometimes she thought he was more busy than he ought to be, a tired smile or a distant cast to his eyes when they were training together exposing how exhausted he must be. He deserved a break, but the pack needed him. Especially after their original pack had split in two, unable to decide who was to be the new alpha.
“I’m glad you and I can spend this time together though!” And she was, it had been really nice to go out on this scouting endeavor with her big sister. Wren couldn’t remember the last time it had been just the two of them like this.

Red Skies

Ember and Timber stood by as Karper stammered over dismissing them, giggling a bit and shaking their heads as he asked them if they needed anything else. "We know our task." They assured him, already mapping out who was in camp at the moment that they could let know about the situation and the new buddy system that was being implemented.
"C'mon, Scout, lets go find you Bracken." Timber, bumped his shoulder as she turned. They'd only made it a few paces when Karper came rushing over again, calling out to Scout. Amused, the girls looked at their friend.
"Go on, clearly he needs you for something." Ember rolled her eyes at Scout, who looked confused.
"Me?" He asked Karper, wondering why the lead hunter would need counsel with a scout. "Uhm, yeah, of course. I'll catch up with you two later?" He addressed towards the girls, who had already abandoned him with a 'bye Scout!' tossed over their shoulders.

[Ranger 9]

Dark Forest

indent"Mhm?" Storm Runner looked up from where he was preparing the bed for tonight, a stray bit of moss decorating his nose. The healer shook it off with a small huff, getting up and moving over to the section he considered his examination area. "Liannah! I've been expecting you, come, let me get a good look at that." He shuffled over to make room for her, indicating where he wanted her to lay.
indentOnce the lead huntress had gotten settled, Storm gently probed the area she'd indicated, humming softly to himself as he diagnosed it. He wasn't too surprised by it, it was a rather common hunting injury and he'd treated many of the girls for the sort of thing many times. "You've got a rather nasty bruise there, but it'll heal just fine. I'll make you something to relieve the pain and relax the muscle but expect it to be sore for a couple of days. I'd ask you to stay off it as much as you can, but I know you and I know you won't, so just take it a bit easier please, Liannah? Send Renn or Aspen out in your stead and focus on organizing the patrols for the next day or so until you can walk without a limp. It's not bad now but I don't want you making it worse running around." He gave her a hard stare, knowing he could do little to stop the workaholic if she was determined to keep going at the pace she was. Liannah was a hard worker and did a lot when it came to running the pack, so he wouldn't be surprised if Krux didn't let her recover as she should. Wouldn't be surprised if she didn't let herself recover as she should.
indentWhich reminded him...
indent"Lia." His voice softened as he faced away, preparing the poultice for her leg. "Uhm. Meillas came in to see me today. Again." He emphasized the word. "I don't know what Krux wants from her but he's being far too rough. I can't keep treating her for these injuries. She can't keep receiving them. It's draining my supplies that might be needed for actual emergencies, unplanned ones, the ones I thought I'd be treating as a healer. If he keeps intentionally hurting her it hurts the whole pack. I - I don't know if there's anything you could do? But the issue needs to be brought up to him. He doesn't listen to me, I've already tried."
indentHe applied the paste to the hoofmark, packing it on securely. "Please, just.. if there's anything you can do.."

Red Skies

indent"Hm? Me? Oh, no, I'm fine, I just.." She shook out her pelt, feeling like it was too itchy all of a sudden. "I feel like I need to get back to camp. Like we do. I don't know, it just feels important." She was rushing the words, a lack of the elegance she normally spoke in. Her paws ached to run and she shifted them in place, anxious now to get going. The moment they had been sharing was lost. Oh, she was such a fool. He was definitely just being polite.
indentThistle felt guilty for the look of concern on his face, but there was no way she could tell him her thoughts. She forced a smile. "Come, lets race? I need to run, I must not have gotten all my energy out in our earlier one."
indentIt might have started in the sudden awkwardness of the moment but Thistle felt something now in the change of the wind, something off. She couldn't quite place it, if it had been a smell, or a sound, but something was wrong and her earlier nerves solidified into something that was very much real. "We need to go." She urged, dancing a few steps in the direction of camp, very certain they needed to leave this area immediately.
indentIf she were alone she would have been gone by now. But she couldn't leave Kapro.