White Wolf Mountain - The Way We're Meant to Be

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Lupis
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The Way We're Meant to Be
« Thread Started on Jun 25, 2009, 11:50am »

In a valley north of the White Wolf Mountain range, there were two packs. One was large and prosperous; no lone wolf dared cross its borders without a friendly message. Its name was Grand Mesa. To the east of this pack was another territory, belonging to the Rolling Basin pack. It was a strong pack in its own right, but it could not stand up to Grand Mesa. The two packs co-existed with a peaceful treaty of sorts. They did not cross each others' borders and fraternize with each others' members. They lived that way for many years.

Eventually, however, unrest began to grow within the Rolling Basin pack. They were growing larger, and they needed extra land. The Betas of Rolling Basin wanted to invade the Grand Mesa territory, but the Alphas would not break their treaty. At first, the civil war was fought passive aggressively, but after awhile blood began to boil. The Betas established a gathering of loyal followers and split from the pack, taking up half the territory and showing hostility to any "outsiders". They called themselves the Clouded Basin pack. The original Alphas, wanting nothing to do with the traitors, renamed their pack Rolling Thunder, and were gripped with extreme paranoia. Anyone who did not wholeheartedly agree with them were shunned from the pack due to fear of another uprising.

Among the followers of the Clouded Basin Alphas was a single wolf, a male who gained favor with them and soon became their Beta. He had given up more than most to join this new pack; he and his only pup, a son, had left his mate, who wanted to keep her home among the Rolling Thunder wolves. He was sorry to leave her, but he had no way of knowing her fate. Afraid that she was a spy, the Rolling Thunder's Beta male had pulled her aside and slaughtered her shortly after the division. It would not be the last of such acts.

Now that the packs were divided, there was no hope of taking Grand Mesa. Not alone. But as time passed, the packs realized that a war against the prosperous pack would be the only way to ensure their own survival. Separate from each other, they were growing at advanced rates, and soon the half-territory that they each held would not be enough to support them. Grudgingly, the Alphas of each pack met, and came up with a plan. They would join forces again, for a time, so they could take out Grand Mesa. Then they would fight each other. The winner would take the new territory, while the loser would return to their old, smaller territory, to suffer or prosper alone.

However, the battle of the packs was still in the future, as a lone pup sat in his father's den. Tears streamed down his muzzle and he shook beneath his grey-blue coat. Hearing a noise at the opening, he shuddered, and hid his face behind his paws. However, it was only his father, rain-soaked and returning from yet another urgent pack meeting.

"Daddy," the pup cried, "I wanna go home. Where's mommy?"

"Shh," his father said, sinking down to the den floor and nuzzling his son. "Your mother couldn't stay with us, Papa. We had to leave her behind. This is your home now."

The pup whimpered again, peering out into the rain with mismatched green and brown eyes. Water was leaking into the den, turning the soil he sat upon into mud as raindrops drummed steadily overhead. There was a flash of lightning, and Papa hid in his father's dampened fur, not caring about the wet wolf scent that filled his nostrils. "I don't like it," he whispered.

« Last Edit: Jun 26, 2009, 7:52pm by Lupis »

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Re: The Way We're Meant to Be
« Reply #1 on Jun 26, 2009, 8:17pm »

The rain fell heavily on the pup's heart as she waited for her parents in their new home--a larger, more spacious den than the one they had before. Their old one would have leaked and gotten her wet on a day like this, but this one kept the rain at bay...something that she did not prefer, for some reason. It was grander, this den, to reflect her parents' grander positions in the new pack, but it was not the home that their old den had been. It was lonely, sitting there alone, and it smelled like strangers. The strange betas that had left and split the pack apart, and living there now felt like she was being haunted by their ghosts, though they were living.

Finally, a familiar scent reached her nose. Ears perking, she nearly tripped over her own paws going to greet her loving parents. Squinting her eyes at their distant silhouettes, for a moment she thought they looked different than before. They smelled different too. Even through the murky rain she could detect the smell the blood of a stranger all over her father's body. She saw it too, as he came closer. Dripping from his muzzle, it was unmistakable. Her mother was a little ways behind. She must not have seen the blood or the look on Father's face, because she was beaming. "Rangi, dear." Her mother's voice was the same, but different, "It's official, Rangi, your father and I are the new betas of Rolling Thunder! Aren't you excited? We have so much status now!"

Rangi blinked as she looked between her mother and her father, who had laid down at the rear wall of the den with his back to his family, not having spoken a word. She wanted to reach out to him, to have him turn around and smile at him the way he always would and tell her how pretty she was and how she was his little girl. He didn't stir. She looked to her mother, confused. She glanced down at Rangi and frowned. "Don't slouch like that, Rangi. A beta's daughter does not slouch. Can you imagine if someone saw you with that sort of posture? I'd be so embarrassed!" she took a paw and hastily shoved her daughter into a sitting position, "Shoulders back. Eyes forward. I let you act silly before, but that needs to change. You have to be perfect from now on...you're a beta's daughter." her smile returned to her face, she could think of nothing else but that which made her so very happy, "A beta's daughter is perfection."

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Lupis
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Re: The Way We're Meant to Be
« Reply #2 on Jun 30, 2009, 1:34pm »

Years passed, and the pups grew. Papa became bigger a stronger, muscles building on muscle as he trained within the pack. He was the son of the beta, after all, and being thus he had to make sure he earned his status. He did not grow to be a tall wolf, but was rather stout and stocky, weighing nearly two hundred pounds. Speed was not his asset, but in brute strength he was blessed, and it took three or four wolves just to resist him. The perfect heavy-weight warrior for a pack going to war.

The talks of war were endless. Ever since the division, his pack had prepared--quietly, of course--for the day when they could take on Grand Mesa and claim its land for themselves. However, their growth was hindered. Their territory was small, since it was shared with the Rolling Thunder pack, and it yielded little prey and less pups. The army that the alphas had spent their career training was not growing as it ought. At this rate, they would starve themselves before producing enough wolves to take on Grand Mesa.

"Something must be done about it," their beta, Papa's father, said. The alphas agreed. Accompanied by the beta and two gammas, they petitioned for an audience with the Rolling Thunder pack.

"My father told me of a possible alliance," Papa said to one of his packmates as they traveled outside their borders on a training mission. "We'll have to work with them if we want a territory of our own. He says it's the only way, but personally, I don't like it. If they hadn't been so cowardly in the first place, we'd have that land by now, and none of this would have to happen."

Sitting down by a stream to break, the two trainees basked in the sun as if they were pups exploring the land, instead of warriors working on their combat training. Papa hadn't needed to explain who they were. The meaning of the pronoun was well understood within the pack.

"Maybe it won't come to that," his mate said hopefully. Having their rest, the two stood and set off again, keeping their eyes peeled for dangerous beasts that might be encountered and brought down.

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Re: The Way We're Meant to Be
« Reply #3 on Jun 30, 2009, 3:42pm »

The tension had been growing between the packs for years now, but Rangi no longer gave it any thought. When she was a pup it had scared and bothered her, but as she grew she was changed in a way that put the whole world outside her family out of her mind. She had grown into a fine young wolf; tall, elegant, beautiful...the males would watch her from afar as she daintily took a drink of water from a pond or cleaned her fur. Most any male would give a limb to be her mate, they could not find a single flaw in either appearance nor actions. That's what she had become. Or rather, what she had been forced to become.

Her father did not speak a word for many days and nights after he had returned to her with blood covering his paws, and for as long as she was with him he would never speak very much again. He never told her what had happened that night, but she had found out from the others and it gave her a great pain in her heart to hear what he had done, although that pain was nothing like that which came from seeing him so changed.

Her mother didn't even notice. Before, she could tell that something was wrong with her mate in an instant. If he was tired or angry she would know. If he was sick, she could tell even before he showed any signs of it. Then she became the beta, and that's all she would ever see again, apart from Rangi. She still saw Rangi, and on that night decided she didn't like what she saw. The silly smiles, the adventures, the stories...perfectly fine for a normal pup, but not a beta's daughter. It embarrassed her. And so, Rangi was changed. She was not poised or quiet or elegant on her own, she had been made that way; and each day it hurt her heart more.

____________________

The tension could no longer be ignored. Rangi saw her father return from the meeting between the two packs and she knew at that moment that the tension could not be ignored any longer. It was hard to tell his mood, normally, now that he seemed to be in one constant state of despair, but an especially dark cloud hovered over him that day. She approached him,

"Father." she stopped a ways away from him and dipped her head in respect. She would no longer bound up and pounce on him, and never again would he yell 'I'm hit!' and tumble to the ground as they both laughed. "Did the meeting go well?"

Her father sighed deeply and shook his head.
"No." his voice was gruff and tired, "It didn't. We will be fighting." he said no more and retreated to the back of the den, which had long been rid of the strangers' smells but still felt no more friendly to Rangi, who looked around for her mother so that she might get an explanation. "Mother," she called as she spied her, cresting a hill and chatting noisily with the gamma female, laughing loudly as though she had not even seen her mate just now.
"What is it Rangi, dear, can't you see I'm talking? A beta's daughter waits and speaks when she is spoken to." Rangi bowed her head,
"Forgive me. Father said that there will be fighting, what does he mean?"

"Oh!" as if her mother had just now remembered that she had just been to a meeting, "Wonderful news dear! We will be claiming the Grand Mesa's territory! Just think, so much room, we may even get the old alphas' den! We're too small in numbers to take them on alone though, so we will be temporarily joining forces with Clouded Basin." she spat the name out like it was something foul. "You will need to fight for the cause too, young lady. A beta's daughter does not sit idly by while her family is fighting. I tried to get you a better position, but those Clouded Basin savages insisted you be put on border patrol with one of their worthless no-names."

Rangi blinked, this was far too much information at once. Grand Mesa? A fight? Joining forces? Her? With a Clouded Basin wolf? She tried to protest, but could think of nothing to stay, she could only stammer, "B-but..our home...leave...we c-can't..."

"Stop that!" her mother glared at her, "Think of what you want to say, then say it fluidly and coherently. A beta's daughter does not fall over her own words like that. Shame on you, Rangi! Ugh. Just prepare yourself, they are assigning patrol squads tomorrow" she turned to her gamma friend as the two walked away together, "I try and I try, but she's just so stuck in her ways. Some wolves never change I guess."

Rangi could only stand frozen in her place as the clouds opened up and rain poured down on her world.

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Lupis
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Re: The Way We're Meant to Be
« Reply #4 on Jun 30, 2009, 4:20pm »

"What? Border patrol? Father, you must be joking!"

The Clouded Basin hierarchy had returned from their meeting, just as Papa was entering into the borders. He and his mate had taken down a young black bear, large enough to pose a threat to two adolescent wolves but small enough that they had managed to win. But the afternoon's victory didn't matter now. All he could think about was the injustice of having been assigned a lowly sentry position.

"I'm sorry," his father replied calmly as the pair walked back to their den together. "Of course, we wanted you on the frontlines, but that scum from Rolling Thunder didn't trust you, being my son and all."

Papa sighed. They were going to war, and he might not even get a chance to fight! He snarled, looking around for something to cuff with his massive paw. However, he harnessed his temper before the opportunity could arise and turned back to his father. "What will my duties be, then? Surely I'll get to see some form of action."

"You'll be assigned to a position and a partner tomorrow morning, so I suggest arriving early for when they hand out the best spots."

"What do you think the odds will be of me getting paired up with one of my training buddies?" Papa asked, his hopes rising. "I mean, providing we both get there early enough."

Papa's father sighed. He knew this next piece of information would be difficult for his son to take. "Actually," he began, "as a precaution, we had to make a deal with the Rolling Thunder wolves. Each of you will have a partner, but it will be a wolf from the other pack."

"What!?" Papa just about lost it. The whites of his eyes showed and his hackles stood on-end. "Father, you can't expect me to work with one of them?"

"Shh!" his father scolded. "Papa, be quiet, and I'll tell you what to do. You sentries are going to line the perimeter a howl's distance away from the next post. But these Rolling Thunder loves, they haven't trained for combat a day in their lives. Whoever you are paired with will be no match for you."

"You mean...?" They were nearing their den now, and Papa's ears swiveled to pick up all of what his father was saying. His voice was lowered, not wanting anyone to overhear, but there was a deadly glint in his eyes.

"Yes," his father said, looking around to make sure they were out of earshot of all other wolves. "We're going to fight them after we defeat Grand Mesa anyway, so I don't see any point in getting some of the killing over with now. If you think you can get away with it--only if you think you can get away with it--then you have my permission to take out your partner. You'll satisfy your own bloodlust, and then you can join the advancing warriors. Later, if anyone inquires, just tell them that Grand Mesa spies broke through your point on the border. Say that you fought back, but there were too many and they overwhelmed your partner. Then you chased them back into their territory before they could breach the border any farther."

Papa smiled a cruel, wicked smile. Already he could feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins, allowing him to go above and beyond anything he might have done before. "Thank you, Father," he said, eyes glinting dangerously. Tomorrow he'd meet the poor sap doomed to be his sentry partner. He couldn't wait.

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Re: The Way We're Meant to Be
« Reply #5 on Jun 30, 2009, 4:56pm »

The morning of the pairing was bright and sunny, seeming out of place to Rangi as she stepped out of her den, closing her yellow eyes tightly against the light. When she opened them again she found that her father was standing next to her. "I don't like being there. Amongst them. You must go alone." her ears flattened at his words. Alone? She didn't want to be alone. Her mother couldn't come, of course, she was off making conversation with her friends. 'What if I died?' Rangi thought, 'What if I died out on patrol and no one had ever even seen me off?' She almost felt as though tears were going to well up, but nothing came. She had long run out of tears to cry.

"I understand. Goodbye, Father. May the Rolling Thunder be victorious."

It was a long walk to the meeting place, which was past the borders of both territories. Rangi looked at the passing scenery as she walked, reflecting silently on her life thus far. The young males who had always watched her from afar were now warriors, and they approached her now as if they were finally deserving of being near her. "Hello, Miss Rangi." one called out, speeding up a bit so he was walking by her side, "Are you excited for today? I hear you are going to fight as well."

She turned at him and smiled politely, "Hello." her voice was smooth and gentle, but instead of putting the male at ease he seemed to become nervous, "I am not fighting. My duty is to patrol the border between the Grand Mesa and 'Rolling Basin' territories. I am being assigned to the Clouded Basin side." the male let out a low whistle,

"Unlucky. The warriors are getting put in mixed squads too, but at least we have some of our own with us. But just one wolf--and a Clouded Basin one? That's terrible..." his lips pulled back in a nervous smile, "I, uh...I feel bad that such a beautiful wolf would have to take that kind of position." This sort of line used to confuse Rangi and make her angry, but now she just nodded and smiled,

"It is unfortunate, yes. Let us hope that this is over with quickly. We seem to be nearing the meeting point for Border Patrol partner assignment, so I must bid farewell here. Best of luck to you." with that she simply let her long legs carry her away to where she needed to be, tail swishing once in goodbye to the male, who picked up pace to reach his own assignment point.

_____________

The air was thick at the meeting place, the atmosphere heavy with many emotions, not the least of which being dread. There were few other females there, on both sides, and Rangi had a passing thought that maybe there wouldn't be enough wolves to pair with the same gender. It was soon out of her mind, however, and she turned away to keep from laying eyes on the Clouded Basin side for too long. Rangi found her assigned spot and sat quietly. She saw a few females from her pack that she was acquainted with, but did not converse with them. She had no one in her life that she could really call a friend, though if she did she'd still not want to be the one to break the silence. Instead, it was broken by another.

"Listen up." two black wolves entered the area, one of them Rangi immediately recognized as Rolling Thunder's head scout, a wise and strong wolf. The other she did not know, thus he was from Clouded Basin and she averted her eyes from him, focusing on her own packmate instead.

"As you all know," the Rolling Thunder scout began, "The Rolling Thunder and Clouded Basin packs are temporarily joining forces in order to overtake Grand Mesa and claim their territory. In addition to fighting, we must patrol the borders and make sure that no Grand Mesa spies sneak through and discover our plans." The Clouded Basin wolf spoke next, and Rangi listened to his words while looking to the ground,

"This is the reason you are gathered here today. You will be split into pairs and placed between the Clouded Basin and Grand Mesa borders. So that one pack will not betray the other--" he paused for a second to cast a dirty glance over at his own assigned partner, "The pairs will consist of one Rolling Thunder wolf and one Clouded Basin wolf each." the patrollers were silent as they anticipated what was coming next, one could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

"We will now begin assigning pairs." the Rolling Thunder scout motioned to a crude map that had been drawn in the dirt, "When your names are called, come up here to be assigned your location for the patrol. Anyone who complains about their arrangement will be dealt with swiftly and mercilessly. Now, let's begin."

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Lupis
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Re: The Way We're Meant to Be
« Reply #6 on Jun 30, 2009, 10:16pm »

"Papa, of the Clouded Basin pack."

Papa's ears perked forward as his packmate called his name. First? His position as the beta's son must have held more weight than he thought. Breaking out of the crowd and approaching the assignment map, he hoped he would get to choose a spot of his liking and not just have it handed out at random. At the same time, he quickly glanced at the Rolling Thunder mob, hoping to spot out his partner as soon as possible. Experience had taught Papa to size up and opponent before taking him on, not just rush into a fight. But of course, he would have plenty of time for that.

"Alright, Papa," the Clouded Basin scout said, "you will be stationed on the northernmost point of Wither Peak, and your partner will be..."

"...Rangi, of the Rolling Thunder pack."

Not my first choice, Papa thought. Still, a good enough location to hold a surprise attack. However, he didn't have much time to think. Once his partner's name was called, his head whipped around, reading the eyes of the strange wolves for recognize. Who was this Rangi character, and was he any match for Papa? However, the wolf who stirred first was not anything like Papa had expected. Despite the audience, he found himself smiling. A she-wolf. This was going to be too easy.

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