W a r r i o r D o g s || SkyPack

[Meowmocha]

❄ Frostfall ❄

Male Husky mix ∞ 24 moons ∞ SkyPack Warrior
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As Dappleheart darted towards the turkeys, they fled, which quickly turned to chaos as they saw another predator on the opposite side. They began to scatter, giving frightened cries and bumping into each other in their panic. Frostfall lunged at one of the birds, bringing it down in a whirlwind of feathers. As it struggled to escape the dog pinning it to the ground, the warrior delivered the killing bite, giving its limp neck a savage shake to ensure it was dead.
He looked up at Dappleheart, who had also brought down a bird. "This should feed plenty of the pack." he said. Two turkeys, plus the squirrel they caught and buried earlier, was a fair amount of meat. Looking down at the dead fowl at his feet, he suddenly craved a good meal of turkey. He reflected that he should have eaten a larger breakfast before leaving. But it did no good to dwell on food when they might not return to camp for a while.

❄❄❄

[qerrat]

Quickleap

♂| Aussiedoodle | 25 Moons | Apprentice: None | Crush: Open! | Location: West of Camp | Tags: Flaming, Darkness, Mossbrook, Azurepaw, Foxpaw;

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Quickleap entered camp, a slight feeling of foreboding in his mind. Nightfire is going to kill me, I swear... But first things first, putting the poor Bernadoodle in the medicine den. He knew she might protest, but he thought, or hoped, that she wouldn't attack Blackrose or the rest. He turned to face her, crouching down so they could see eye-to-eye. "I need to talk to our leader about you three, but you," he nodded at her paws, "need medical help, quickly, before you're maimed for life." He straightened up, and taking a deep breath, shouted, "AZUREPAW! BLACKROSE! ...Foxpaw! Get out here!" He had paused after Blackrose, but then had remembered the little medicine dog apprentice, and thought that, if his guess was correct, the two probably knew each other. Now to find Blizzardstar and/or Nightfire... preferably Blizzardstar.

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[SilentMelody]

Azurepaw
male ★ 11m ★ pan ★ sky. med. app. ★ greyhound/husky mix
crush: open ★ tags: foxpaw, quickleap & patrol

He was distracted by Quickleap's voice, frantic and loud. "It seems like both of us are needed again," Azurepaw murmured softly with a small laugh and moved out of the way for Quickleap. His tail couldn't help but wag frantically again, and he was excited to treat another dog. However, he didn't know the dog that Quickleap was helping, and they had a different scent. "Who is this? She isn't from Skypack," Azurepaw stated the obvious out loud and sniffed her back leg. More thorns. Of course I have to deal with more thorn, he huffed with amusement and shook his head.

[RogueRunner]

(( Just going to have Nightfire do something while I figure out what's going on with Blizzardstar... ))

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N I G H T F I R E
( ♀ ) - ( Border Collie/Siberian Husky mix ) - ( Beta ) - ( SkyPack ) - ( 30 moons old ) - ( Apprentice: Lupinpaw ) - ( Asexual ) - ( No romance ) - ( Tags: Foxpaw, Lupinpaw, Quickleap's patrol )
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Nightfire's mood only plummeted further as she made her final leap down from her vantage point in the tree, landing in the scratchy, dead grass that lined some select areas of SkyPack's land. She hadn't been able to spot her leader even from there. This unexpected inconvenience put a severe dent in the beta's schedule; she needed Blizzardstar's opinion to proceed with the decision of Foxpaw's status, and, without settling that matter first, Nightfire didn't feel it would be wise to go hunting with her apprentice, nor attempt to get her vital few hours of sleep to prepare her for an extra evening patrol. She had to decide a new course of action, fast. She didn't want to be doing nothing for any measure of time and -

More outsiders. Wind blew gently into her muzzle, carrying news of not one, not two...maybe three or four different fools, all standing on SkyPack land. Her jaw clenched. Quickleap's scent was mingled among them, but there was also no strong blood scent. He was unharmed, which meant he was more than likely willingly bringing intruders in. Despite her frustration, Nightfire knew she needed to act quickly. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that at least one of those trespassers was a friend of their captive's. A flash of red fur caught her attention. "Hey." Nightfire called loudly, surprisingly monotone considering the volume. Instantly, Foxpaw stopped, cringing down in the dirt. Azurepaw, ever enthusiastic, was already off, oblivious to Nightfire's beckoning. That was just as well. Nightfire padded up to Foxpaw, eyes narrowing. The pup's breaths were coming out in hurried huffs, expressing her fright. Sighing, Nightfire eased her posture just a bit, so she didn't look so huge and terrifying. It wasn't for the pup's benefit - not at all! Simply, she wouldn't talk if she was too stressed. Nightfire snapped, "What are you doing outside?" The pup began stammering about helping out an outsider, making Nightfire's breath catch in her throat. She had to raise a paw to get Foxpaw to stop rambling. "I get it. Spare me the extra details. Regardless, Azurepaw is fully capable of handling one injured dog. Your contribution would be minimal here." The pup's jaws started to part, like she wanted to interject before she lost her nerve again, but Nightfire had already started in the direction opposite to where she knew Foxpaw's packmate was. "I appreciate your keenness to make yourself useful. Follow me." Before she could get too far, her eyes were drawn to the apprentice den. Lupinpaw. Her apprentice was stomping into the den, clearly annoyed about something. It didn't matter; she only needed to keep Foxpaw out of camp for just a bit. She trotted up to him, knowing Foxpaw wouldn't dare disrespect her by not tailing her, and barked, "Lupinpaw, perfect timing. In the interest of keeping things productive, I want our captive out to search for adequate herbs. You are to escort her - bring Doepaw as well, if it still suits you. Stay within that region -" she pointed her muzzle in the direction she'd intended to take Foxpaw, to avoid Quickleap's patrol, "because Azurepaw is covering the other." Knowing Lupinpaw well enough to know he wouldn't be jazzed about being forced to play puppysitter, she quickly added an incentive: "You have my permission to hunt. Just keep the prisoner close, and don't stray too far; if the border is within viewing range, you have exceeded my limits." In case it still wasn't enough to ease his discomfort, she murmured loudly enough that Foxpaw could hear, "You're in charge. Within reason, anything you tell that pup to do is law." She turned to leave, hoping to outrun his smart mouth, but paused. "Stay safe. Be back before dusk," she said quietly to him, before she dashed off to meet the newer intruders.

Her eyes rolled over the three outsiders, all of which seemed unscathed and seemingly granted Quickleap's permission to be present in the territory. As she'd suspected, one reeked of RiverPack. Nightfire felt her fangs clench as she eyed Quickleap in a menacing silence, demanding an explanation without any words of her own.

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F O X P A W
( ♀ ) - ( Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever ) - ( Medicine Dog Apprentice ) - ( RiverPack ) - ( 8 moons old ) - ( Mentor: Inkfeather ) - ( Demisexual ) - ( No Romance ) - ( Tags: Azurepaw, Lupinpaw, Nightfire )
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Her pulse quickened. Azurepaw's smile was all too genuine. He's not starting to like me, is he? Why couldn't this Pack just be bloodthirsty? This is almost worse... A large part of her still believed that his Pack was trying to trick her, exploit what she knew or appeal to their leader that mauling her was the best course of action, but another part feared that Azurepaw was just...a kind dog. It made her feel guilty about wanting to leave the first chance she got, seeing as he was clearly excited to spend time doing medicine dog things with her. What if he was just like Foxpaw herself, starved of any meaningful interaction with dogs within a similar age range with similar interests? Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Azurepaw offering to go with her. Oh gosh, he's on to me! I knew he couldn't be trusted! She rushed to find an excuse again, any reason for him to leave her unattended. "O-oh, u-um, n-no, that's okay! I'll be f-fine! I'm pretty adjusted to s-scouting by myself, s-so...it's -" A summoning bark both cut off her fragmented sentence, thinking, and made her jump a foot or two into the air. As startling as the sudden noise was, there was a certain hope in it. She'd heard a word of interest. She glanced at Azurepaw nervously, as if to confirm. Had she heard her name be called, too? Although her disbelief still clung to her like ticks, sucking the hope from her body, Azurepaw only reaffirmed it: Foxpaw was needed, too. Her bushy tail wagged the slightest bit, though she couldn't imagine why this news should please her as much as it did.

Azurepaw was a remarkably fast dog. Too fast. Foxpaw was trying to keep pace with him, but, by the time she'd managed to haul herself from the depths of the medicine den, he was already out of sight. A twinge of anxiety shot through her as she realized that she was alone, not just because she was isolated in a strange camp, but because she had no reason to not flee. However, just as her paws brought her just a bit closer to where Azurepaw had bounded off, a sharp voice sliced into her ears. "Hey." Foxpaw immediately lowered herself, recognizing the voice. It's that savage blue-eyed dog! she thought frantically to herself, trying to steal a glance at Nightfire to ensure it was her without angering her. StarPack, help me... Despite the frightening nature of this she-dog, it wasn't strictly fear Foxpaw was feeling. In her head, she was continuously revisiting the idea that she'd get a good medical experience out of this. She'd been asked for specifically, after all. Knowing that almost brought a smile to her anxious face. At least, it would have if Nightfire hadn't smothered her studiousness with her accusing coldness. Foxpaw, fearful of the potential Nightfire getting the wrong idea presented, stammered hurriedly, "U-uh, w-well, I've actually been in the medicine dog for - u-um...I meant medicine dog den - f-for like, most of the day, u-um... I only left a few seconds a-ago. I-I know I'm not supposed to b-be out - I think - b-b-but one of the dogs came back crying out for assistance. U-um, they asked for me, and Azurepaw offered m-me the chance to help, s-so I just thought that -" A silent, authoritative paw raised, instantly drying Foxpaw's mouth and stealing the words from off her rigid tongue. Nightfire replied, "Regardless, Azurepaw is fully capable of handling one injured dog." Her fear was wrapped around her throat like a constricting snake, but Foxpaw still found herself parting her jaws, like there was something more to her arguement. But there wasn't. The fact of the matter was that Foxpaw had no rebuttal to Nightfire's logic and, much more importantly, the red apprentice was a prisoner before anything else; being excited about anything would only fuel her captor's use for her. Defeated, she followed after Nightfire per her order, potent disappointment weighing down each step.

Foxpaw had anticipated being brought out to the forest, but, instead, Nightfire had brought her to an apprentice. A fuming apprentice. Foxpaw thought that she might've glimpsed him earlier, but they had never really got acquainted - like, at all. Still, when she looked at him, a strangely familiar sensation washed over her, like an old memory resurfacing for the briefest of moments. Transfixed by this strange feeling, she didn't even hear what Nightfire said - something along the lines of being under this other pup's tyranny for the afternoon? - nor could she be concerned by the very real fear that the apprentice himself could take offense to her blatant staring. She could only focus on rummaging through the memories in her cluttered brain.

[qerrat]

Quickleap

♂| Aussiedoodle | 25 Moons | Apprentice: None | Crush: Open! | Location: West of Camp | Tags: Flaming, Darkness, Mossbrook, Azurepaw, Nightfire;

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Quickleap blanched, feeling tiny daggers digging into the back of his skull. He knew who it was before he even turned around. Nightfire, I'm sorry! he thought tiredly. I need to get her alone... "Excuse me for just a second," he said, wincing at the sight of Nightfire's fury. "Azurepaw, this dog here needs treatment for her paws. You can escort her to the medicine den." He quickly turned to the one that smelled of Riverpack. "We mean you no harm. Azurepaw is our medicine dog apprentice, he'll take good care of you." At last, he turned to the two rogues, Flaming and Darkness. "You two, stay here. I need to have a word with my deputy here." Quickleap marched off, but veered slightly away from Nightfire, indicating that he wanted this conversation private.

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[qerrat]

Lupinpaw
Australian Cattle Dog | Male | Apprentice | Skypack | 10 moons | Mentor: Nightfire| Heterosexual | Mate/crush: open | Tags: Doepaw, Frostfall, Dappleheart
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Lupinpaw glanced up, and felt his anger vanish into thin air, to be replaced by excitement. Yes, I knew it! We're gonna go hunting! She didn't forge- "Wait, what?" .... Unexpected. Lupinpaw wasn't entirely sure if he should whine about having to babysit or to jump around like a pup because Nightfire just told him that he and Doepaw could leave camp unsupervised. She thinks I'm capable, at least, that's for sure! "Doepaw! We get to go hunting! On our own!" He paused however, noticing for the first time that Foxpaw was apparently trying to burn holes in the back of his skull. "Um... do you need something? I'm not too bossy," he joked awkwardly. "You can gather herbs while we hunt. Just don't um, try to escape." Inwardly, the battle between irritation and happiness had ended, and happiness triumphed. He was going hunting alone (not counting the outpacker and Doepaw), AND he was the boss. Nightfire trusts me after all, he thought proudly.

[RogueRunner]

🕯
N I G H T F I R E
( ♀ ) - ( Border Collie/Siberian Husky mix ) - ( Beta ) - ( SkyPack ) - ( 30 moons old ) - ( Apprentice: Lupinpaw ) - ( Asexual ) - ( No romance ) - ( Tags: Quickleap )
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Although Quickleap was clearly trying to remain composed, he was obviously nervous. So you should be. You know better. Annoyingly, he was also trying to take control of the situation, directing the other dogs. Irritated with his insolence in bringing so many intruders in and having the audacity to command other packmates to make condolences for them, she stepped into his path and growled quietly, "Your deputy, Quickleap? I was under the impression that you are my underling. Furthermore, this situation -" she pointed with her sharp muzzle towards the group of unfamiliar dogs, calmly, regardless of her frustration, "falls under my jurisdiction, and so do you. Therefor, I request a talk with you, and if you're so concerned with keeping such a discussion private, for whatever reason, I dare say you should've considered the connotation of bringing three strangers into our camp beforehand." Her voice quieted even further at the mention of the strangers, a frighteningly soft suggestion of incompetence. Tilting her head slightly, she sat before him and said, "By all means, explain yourself, Quickleap, but I've been given no logical explanation as to why these two outsiders can't be present for it, given that you apparently trusted them enough to bring them into our territory with no hesitation."

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F O X P A W
( ♀ ) - ( Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever ) - ( Medicine Dog Apprentice ) - ( RiverPack ) - ( 8 moons old ) - ( Mentor: Inkfeather ) - ( Demisexual ) - ( No Romance ) - ( Tags: Lupinpaw )
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There it was again. A flicker of a memory, or a dream, perhaps, or...something. It was the strangest sensation, looking at the apprentice. However, the longer Foxpaw studied him, the more she felt compelled to do it, like he was a code to be cracked. Suddenly, he was speaking - towards her! She snapped out of her daze. "O-oh, s-sorry..." she replied meekly, quickly correcting herself by averting her gaze. Her anxiety skyrocketed with the words "hunt" - which indicated they were going somewhere, probably a place she hadn't been before - and "escape" - what she knew she needed to do but didn't know how to accomplish. Plus, once they got moving, it wouldn't make sense to bring up the puzzling sensation she'd felt. The window of that conversation would close; it would be awkward to bring it up afterwards, which was the last thing the nervous she-dog needed. Unable to help herself, she asked, quiet and shakily with apprehension, "H-have we seen one another before, b-by any chance?"

[SilentMelody]

Azurepaw
male ★ 11m ★ pan ★ sky. med. app. ★ greyhound/husky mix
crush: open ★ tags: quickleap, mossbrook, flaming & darkness

Where did Foxpaw go? he finally wondered, suddenly not smelling the odd smell of the Riverpack apprentice. A part of Azurepaw wanted to turn back and find her, but he heard a demeaning voice outside snapping at her. It sent a shiver through him hearing Nightfire being so hard on Foxpaw, but he didn't know much about the Riverpack and how she truly came here. What if she did something wrong? Something against the code? Azurepaw thought.

He brushed away his thoughts and turned his head away from the entrance. "Thank you for bringing her to me, Quickleap. I'll see you later," Azurepaw replied quickly before the warrior left. "Now, what's your name? Can you tell me what happened?" he asked the Riverpack dog and sniffed at her paws. Briefly, he glanced over at the two dogs and inspected them. They both didn't seem to be hurt, so Azurepaw smiled at them and turned back to the Riverpack female.

[qerrat]

Quickleap

♂| Aussiedoodle | 25 Moons | Apprentice: None | Crush: Open! | Location: West of Camp | Tags: Flaming, Darkness, Mossbrook, Azurepaw, Nightfire;

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Quickleap sighed inwardly, and winced outwardly. He knew Nightfire had the same, resourceful point of view as his did, but there was one critical difference. She hated outpackers. Sometimes Quickleap thought that she might want to impale her eyeballs with thorns rather than accept and trust new dogs. He also had not seen Foxpaw, which was curious. She had seemed like the type of dog that would cry for joy if anyone implied that they needed her. Finally, he decided to say exactly what he was thinking and why he brought three outpackers into camp. "Nightfire, the two dogs over there are siblings by the name of Flaming and Darkness. They want to join the pack." He paused momentarily, trying to decide how to word his next statement. Given Nightfire's sense of pride, saying it in front of three outpackers might get him kicked to Shadowpack, but it was somewhat the reason he had wanted the conversation private. So maybe he would say it.
"I believe that they would be of great help to the pack. I don't think it's any secret that Skypack is fading. We were already weak before Velvetstar pushed us out, and now I wonder how we've managed to last this long. Prey is depleting, and our enemies are getting stronger everyday. Those two out there are strong; they've been outpackers their whole life, they can hunt. They'd be beneficial if anything." He took a deep breath. Well, Quickleap, you've done it now, he thought to himself irritably. You'll be lucky to see the sun set tonight.

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[Hush]

Dappleheart- ♀
14 moons - Australia Shepherd / Corgi
Skypack - Warrior
Apprentice - Doepaw
Romance: open - Location: Forest
Tags: Frostfall

The short legged female wagged her stumpy tail quickly as she carried the bird back to where the squirrel was buried. “We can get more... it’s been a while since the pack last ate a good meal. I’m not tired yet and I could eat one of these by myself. I don’t want anyone to have to hold back tonight.” She said with a determined look, wanting to prove herself despite still being hurt.

Mossbrook- ♀
14 moons - Bernadoodle
RiverPack - Warrior
Romance: open - Location: Pack
Tags: group

As they stopped moving, Mossbrooks legs began to shake again until she could no longer stay on her painful paws and had to lay down. The thick mud on her coat masking most of the scent of her pack. She was too young to know much about the other packs, so she watched them quietly, observing Quickleap’s interactions with the presumed deputy. She just hoped this pack would be more caring towards its members or she’d be out of a pack entirely. She knew her pack would never take her back after disobeying a direct order, but she couldn’t survive on her own. Being lost in her thoughts, she had begun staring off. The apprentices voice pulled her from her thoughts and she looked up at him before entering the medicine den, looking around curiously as her legs shook as soon as she stood. “My name is Mossbrook, does your pack have a leader? I’ve never met other pack dogs before. I’ve only ever heard stories from the elder Sunfur, who spoke mostly of Shadowpack. Is this Shadowpack?” She asked curiosity getting the better of her. As she spoke she sat, staying a little on guard as her paws shook from the pain though she tried to stay sitting as long as she could. “As for what happened to me, I swam across a river 5 times. Two of which I got pulled under a bit and cut my paws on ragged rocks. I then ran for a full day on muddy ground and wet paws. There were more sharp rocks as well. It’s embarrassing to have water be the fault of my injury as a Riverpack- former.... Riverpack warrior.” She said before looking off with a distressed look. “Is it true that Foxpaw is here? I’ve come to return her to Riverpack. A warrior and an apprentice got seriously injured looking for her and the leader presumed all of them dead. I was too stubborn to accept that and came here on my own despite his orders, so I’d like to return her home. She had friends there that will be destroyed thinking she’s died. Plus she’s a medicine dog, Riverpack needs her.”