All Together (Jenn & Roar)

(Alright, so I'm just going to try and combine all our threads into this post....Hopefully.... from: https://incendio.rpg-board.net/t60p30-charming-stranger-open#828
and
https://incendio.rpg-board.net/t58p180-combinations#830)
and
Tessa from https://incendio.rpg-board.net/t64p15-frozen-acceptance#827 ))

Blitz smiled as Laek pranced away in excitement. He was glad that she was happy with her new position and her new family. He was glad to have her as a part of it. When Fallon spoke, asking about Loners and the patrol, he laughed, since she had finally realized what he had said several minutes before. "Yes, Fallon, there are a few lone males wandering around the borders. Inferno thought it best that we bulk up our patrols a bit until we're sure the borders are secure. And honestly, I think it's a good idea." He said, nudging the female as he stood and headed towards Leak and Chaos. "However, now that we have this new female here and she's still sick, I'm afraid we'll need to leave someone behind." He said, glancing back at his den, where he had left Tessa sleeping. She needed rest and care, and he needed to join Inferno and the rest of the pack on patrol. But he wasn't sure who to leave behind. Maybe he could move Tessa over to Molly's den. But that would leave Coven to care for two sick females, and he didn't want to put that burden on the black male. He needed to focus on getting Molly better. Another female would just hinder that. The night before, Coven had come into the den asking what he could do, and he had just sent him back to be with Molly. The food that the male had brought to the den was greatly appreciated, but Blitz was much too concerned with their healer, and he, Fallon, and Chaos had things under control. Now he needed either Laek or Fallon to stay behind and care for Tessa in his den, since Molly needed to focus on getting better and Tessa's injuries weren't life-threatening. They would likely just heal up on their own anyways, as long as they were kept clean and dry.

Chaos rolled her eyes in response to the newest member's excitement. Great, another female to drive her nuts. She sighed softly, laying down and resting her head on her paws as she waited while Blitz talked to Fallon. She knew they all wouldn't be going, since he would leave someone to care for Tessa, but she knew he wouldn't leave her. So it was either Fallon or Laek, and she wasn't quite sure which female she would rather have left behind. Well, no, that was a lie. She'd much rather this new female come along, Fallon annoyed her far too much.

Tessa slept peacefully in Blitz's den, even though the alpha had already left to gather the rest of the females for a hunt. It was surprising how many females they had in this pack, and how few males. From what she had noticed before, there were at least two males, and three females. But she had caught the scent of another male and another female around here as well. Such a large pack, why hadn't they been aggressive towards her? Or at least protective? It puzzled her, but she was grateful that they had helped her. If it hadn't been for that copper-colored male, she would have died in that river. But she didn't even know his name. He had left early that morning, even before the alpha male had woken. She had been woken up as he had left, but she knew it would be foolish to follow. The warmth and sleep had been all that he needed to heal up quickly. But she had wounds and was much smaller and sicker than he had been. She needed much more rest than just a night. So she had gone back to sleep, and was now still resting as the alpha prepared the females to join the beta on patrol.

"Blitz," began Fallon earnestly, her eyes wide with pleading, "I am much more familiar with the boarders than Laek is, and I can find my way around. Laek is also still recovering a little, and..." Fallon was desperately grasping at ways to convince Blitz to take her with the patrol. If Chaos hadn't been head warrior, the red female probably would have tried to convince the alpha to make her stay, since she'd done so well last night with the newcomer. Fallon hated that Chaos was coming, but she was so curious about possible new wolves (the possibility of meeting even more new wolves outweighed her curiosity toward the ones that were already in the pack, at least for now). Fallon knew Blitz wasn't an idiot, and that this patrol could be a good opportunity for Laek to learn the pack boundaries, but she didn't mention that anyway, hoping he had by some improbable feat decided that didn't matter. And if Chaos wasn't going to protest Fallon's coming along, then no way was the red wolfess mentioning that, either.

Coven awoke and yawned, stretching and rolling away from the sleeping white wolfess so he could get up. With a shake of his disheveled coat, the black wolf walked out of the den and headed for the storage den to grab some breakfast for himself and Molly. With a look of interest, he watched Fallon animatedly babble to Blitz. Catching the end of her sentence, her babbling turned out to be some kind of begging. He had to laugh. That female was always doing something funny like that.

He made his way into the storage den and tore off a chunk of meat from one of the buck's the hunting party had brought back a few days before. Before going back to the healer's den, since Molly was still asleep as far as he knew, Coven headed up to Blitz, hanging back a few feet to wait for his and Fallon's conversation to end so he could catch up on what the plan was for the day. Even though he would not really be involved - and it was really starting to kill him - he felt it was important to know.

Laek sat, looking out over the snow layer at the thin forests around them. She had quickly calmed down from her excitement as she stayed there and relaxed. Her ears began to turn in the direction of the alpha and Fallon, just as Fallon tried to persuade Blitz to let her go. Laek thought Fallon wanted to go out very badly, so she rose and walked over to the pair. "I'll be happy to stay if Fallon really wants to go, Blitz." She really was okay with the idea, seeing as there had been a new female found while she was gone. It'd be good to make friends with the pack, or any others they encountered. It was good to know other wolves. Speaking of other wolves, another had walked up beside them all and waited with a chuck of meat in his muzzle. Laek didn't recall properly meeting him.

Fallon's head whipped around to look at Laek, and her worried face broke into a bright beam of a smile at the other female's words. She looked up with that hopeful smile at Blitz, though nothing was certain just yet. She just didn't want to be stuck here at the dens, even if it was just for one day, when there were places to go and new wolves to meet.

Coven had put down the meat and now tilted his head with a small, smile at Laek's agreeable and sweet attitude. He had to admit, no pack he'd ever been in had been this nice, and he never thought he'd appreciate it as much as he did. It was good to see that Laek had recovered pretty well. The black wolf hadn't actually met her properly, but he knew her name from talking with Blitz, and he had seen her around a bit. He didn't even know Fallon that well yet, so to him, either one sticking around could be a good opportunity to get to know some more pack members better.

Blitz frowned as Fallon begged him to leave Laek behind. The new female needed to learn the pack borders as well as what to do when they encountered a lone wolf. But when Laek approached and volunteered to stay, he really couldn't disagree. "Alright, but next time, Fallon, I would appreciate it if you were more helpful instead of trying to brush off a job to someone else." He said sternly, wanting to let Fallon know that if it weren't for Laek, she'd be stuck at the dens indefinitely. He hated it when others pushed off jobs that they didn't want to do to someone else. But he was over it soon, and he nodded to Laek. "Thank you Laek." He said, nudging her shoulder and smiling. "Alright Fallon and Chaos, let's go." He said, heading off to the borders to meet up with Inferno, although unknowing that Inferno and the new male were heading right for them. Then he noticed Coven and paused, looking back and smiling. "Good morning Coven. How is Molly doing?" He asked, turning around to speak to the black male.

[color=darkred]Chaos growled in annoyance at Fallon as she begged to go. How pathetic. But when Laek agreed to stay, she snorted in even greater annoyance. Great, the obnoxious huntress was coming along. She got to her feet as Blitz spoke of leaving, and then stood beside him silently, making sure that Fallon was on his opposite side.color]

Fallon smiled even broader in happiness but sobered up quick at Blitz's chiding. She did feel sort of sorry to make Laek stay behind, but the other female seemed so happy about it...so perhaps it wasn't so bad after all? That thought soothed Fallon a bit, though she did decide that if this happened again, she'd suck it up and take the shift. More subdued but obviously relived and overjoyed to be going, the female pranced in place at the white male's side, eager to get going.

"'Morning," replied the male with a nod. "Molly's doing much better. It looks like she'll eventually be ok, thankfully." He continued, piping in his original question before heading back to Molly, "Will you need Molly to look at the new wolf today and give instructions to Laek at all? If you need her to, I think she's strong enough now to just do that really quick. And is there anything else you need happening over here today?" Coven didn't really expect there to be anything other than watch Molly, but he wanted to make sure, and there was always the slight chance there he'd get the chance to move about more now that Molly was getting better.

Laek nodded in agreement, "You're welcome." She added as they walked off, only to see Blitz turn to look and speak to Coven. She stood there for a moment, but decided to check on the sick wolf that had arrived. She assumed that the other wolf was in the Alpha's den, seeing as everyone had come out of there. She stuck her head in and saw the red wolf sleeping peacefully. Laek stepped in further to check on the damage, but it seemed like the female was scratched up everywhere, dozing underneath a blanket of fur. The fur was almost off of the female, so Laek leaned down and picked it up, dragging it across the wolfess' body. After making sure it was on enough, she stepped outside again and sat, waiting and watching as the other wolves chatted about the still sick Molly.

Blitz listened to Coven silently, smiling as he said that Molly was getting better. He was very grateful to Coven for caring for her so well. "If Molly is up to it, you could take her over to my den to see the new female, but I'm afraid we don't even know her name yet, she hasn't been awake since Inferno brought her back here. Be careful and slow with her, she's obviously frightened and really only responds to Inferno. I'm assuming that it's because she knows he saved her. But she seems scared, or at least suspicious, of everyone else." He warned, glancing back at his den where Laek was now emerging. "Just howl if you need any help. We'll just be along the borders, well within earshot." He said, smiling at Coven. "I think it would be a good idea to try and get Molly walking around a bit more often. If she's laying around all the time, she won't be strong enough to walk or run once she gets better fully." He said, looking over at the healers den where he figured Molly was still sleeping. Plus, he knew that Coven was having difficulties not being able to move around a lot.

Chaos stood there, waiting once again for the patrol to start. Now Blitz was talking to Coven. Great. She sat down, sighing softly as she let her eyes follow Laek's movements into and then back out of the alpha's den. Fallon seemed eager to be going, too. But obviously, Blitz had no problem taking his time. As usual.

Tessa was cold, and she shivered in her sleep silently. But then she was suddenly warm, although she didn't know it was because her current care-taker had replaced the fur that had fallen off of her sleeping body. She curled up beneath it, sighing softly in her sleep and resting peacefully.

Coven smiled, glad at the new job of getting Molly moving a little because that meant he'd get to be outside more and that, if Molly responded well, the female really was getting better. With a nod, the wolf responded to all that Blitz had told him and then picked up the meat and padded back to the healer's den.

Once Coven had turned away, Fallon started moving toward the trees, bounding forward and then looking back at Blitz until he came. She could easily have followed Inferno's scent trail herself, but it felt right, especially after Blitz had reprimanded her earlier, to make sure to follow him and not blaze ahead herself.

Laek heard a slight sigh behind her, turning around to see the female still sleeping, enjoying the warmth of fur. Almost as good as the real thing. Laek looked back to the conversation; Coven leaving as he was given a new task, Chaos and Fallon seemed about ready to go, eager really, and Blitz was just taking his time. Laek's tail flicked back and forth as she waited , she figured today would be a relaxation day. She was just caring for another, and so she reminisced about the puppies back in the old pack. There were no pup carers, everyone watched the pups in turn. Laek lay down, half in the snow, half in the den, and put her head on her paws, smiling at the memory.

((Coven/Laek continued: https://incendio.rpg-board.net/t66-recovering-and-exploring#842 ))

As Coven left to care for Molly, and Laek focused on caring for Tessa, Blitz turned and headed towards the borders with Fallon and Chaos. The pace was relaxed and fairly slow, showing that he wasn't too concerned about a breach of the borders. Plus, Inferno was already there, if there were any problems, he would take care of them before they even got there. He knew his pace would probably annoy Fallon, but he also knew that Fallon's annoyance would amuse Chaos. Either way, he moved as fast as he thought necessary.

Chaos followed Blitz slowly, her black tail swaying behind her, showing just how relaxed she was. She was the second highest ranking wolf here, which she wasn't used to. Actually, the fact that she was even going on this trip with Blitz and Fallon was something that she wasn't used to. She silently hoped that there would be some sort of fight, if not, this was going to be incredibly boring.

Fallon could not allow herself to be frustrated at the pace when she knew it was a miracle that she was even allowed to go. Happily, the female followed behind Chaos and entertained herself on the slow trek by humming a little tune to herself, eventually morphing into a peppy, yet soft, song that named the trees they passed and described how pretty the snow was. As she got into the joy of the snow, the female began hopping off the trail and burying herself up to her ears in the snow before jumping back on the trail, jogging quickly to catch up with Blitz and Chaos - though they really weren't moving fast enough to get far ahead at all. Fallon was getting more energetic, forgetting that she was supposed to be feeling penitent, and sprinted a few times back up to Blitz and Chaos. On one of these sprints, she hit a patch of ice as she tried to slow down. With a surprised "Ack!" the female rammed her shoulder into the back end of Chaos. Quickly, Fallon jumped back and pounced into the snow, as if to hide.

Blitz smiled in amusement at Fallon's crazy energetic behavior. She leaped around, buried herself in snow, hummed and sang, and finally, hit a patch of ice and slid into Chaos. His ears flattened as he stopped his walking, ready to use his large paw to swat Chaos to the side the moment she tried to attack Fallon, which he knew she would. And well, he didn't entirely blame her for being angry, but he wouldn't allow her to hurt the overly-energetic hunter.

Chaos's ears pinned back as Fallon hummed, played, and sang. She couldn't help but growl softly at the pup-like behavior from the seemingly full grown wolf. If she didn't know the other female, she would have assumed that she was just barely a full grown wolf, still a pup. But she knew Fallon, no matter how unfortunate that was in her opinion. But when the foolish female slid into her, hitting her rear and causing her to fall over, she spun and snarled, her ears pinned back and her teeth barred as Fallon leaped ahead and hid from her. But she could tell that Blitz was poised to strike her if she attacked, so she snapped at the air in front of her face, leaving the hunter alone. "Watch it, pup." She growled, and being older than the other female, it wasn't too bold to call her a pup. Either way, she would have considered Fallon a foolish youth anyways.

Fallon flattened her ears at Chaos and pouted stubbornly, but silently, in defiance. She had jumped into the snow reflexively to hide, and it looked like she was scared of Chaos, and the idea that Chaos might think that almost made Fallon snarl. For some reason, it had been Blitz she was trying to avoid, too quickly to stop herself. She respected his opinion enough to fear rebuking twice.

Climbing out of the snow-drift with her ears pinned back and eyes glaring at Chaos, Fallon fumed to herself at how completely irrational and irritable Chaos was. Fallon shouldn't have had to worry about an attack just because of a little mistake. She wouldn't have had to fear it from anyone else in the pack, from Blitz and Inferno to the newcomer Laek. "Don't call me 'pup', Chaos," she couldn't help snapping. If they were getting names based on how they acted, Fallon could come up with a few good ones to call Chaos that neither she nor Blitz would like very much.

It was Blitz, now, that growled softly at Fallon when she spoke. He turned to face Fallon, his tail high in domiance as he looked down at her. "Don't cause more problems, Fallon." He said, obviously getting tired of the squabbling between her and Chaos. Chaos did not avoid his annoyance either. As she tried to move away from him, he turned to swat a paw at her, hitting her leg and knocking her over. "That means you, too, Chaos." He growled, turning to head towards the borders at a faster pace. Yes, he was a patient wolf, but his patience had limits.

Chaos knew, even as Blitz scolded Fallon, that his anger would be turned towards her as well. So she tried to get out of range, but not fast enough, and she hit the soft snow with a thud. His growl had her nodding silently and getting up to follow him, glaring at Fallon for her words that had caused this. If she hadn't been running around like a stupid pup, none of this would have happened.

Fallon bowed her head and flattened her ears as Blitz yet again chastised her, as she knew he would. All thanks to that badger, Chaos. Once the alpha had turned around again and continued moving, the wolfess' fur on her back and neck bristled and she glowered at Chaos as the black wolf got up and moving.
Silently with her head down, sulking and sneering at Chaos's back, Fallon loped obediently along the trail, hoping a pile of snow would plop right down on Chaos' ugly black head.

Still annoyed with the lack of control of the females behind him, Blitz moved faster towards the borders. Inferno's scent was getting stronger, meaning that they were getting closer to the beta, which made him pick up the pace to a trot as he tried to get there faster. He did his best to quiet his anger as he moved, listening to the females behind him to ensure that they didn't start fighting again.

Chaos ignored Fallon's bristling and glaring, picking up the pace as Blitz sped up, finding that there was another growing scent that she was unfamiliar with. She figured it was one of the lone males that Blitz had been talking about. Either way, she could tell they were getting closer, which meant that Fallon would have some sort of entertainment and she could be left alone.

Fallon lifted her head as they trotted quickly closer to the borders. She caught the scent of Inferno strong, but there was another interesting one. The female shook her head and smiled just slightly; the other scent had a trace of fear, one distinct from the fear of wandering too far. Now at least there was some thing else she could look forward to: seeing the face of this newcomer as this nicely sized patrol came up to meet him.

Meanwhile, the wolfess continued to think about her actions, and Chaos, as they swifted through the trees toward the ridge. She was sorry for making Blitz mad, but not for making Chaos mad. If she ever were to apologize to Blitz, which she wanted to do someday, it would have to be later when she could honestly say she'd try not to do it again.

Blitz lifted his head to sniff the air as a new scent made it's way to his nose. Ah, the lone male, or at least one of them. Inferno had found him, and seemed to be bringing him their way. He slowed the pace, glancing back at the females behind him, who seemed to be behaving, for now.

Chaos slowed her pace as Blitz did, ignoring the female on his other side. Her black form soon fell into step beside the alpha, who's form towered over her's. She glanced up at him, taking note of how he looked back in annoyance to make sure that they were behaving. She wished he had left the pup back at the dens, but Laek had made it so that she could come. She'd have to thank the other hunter later. Not.

Fallon stayed behind as Chaos moved up beside Blitz. When the alpha glanced back, she caught his eye with an almost apologetic (as much as she could muster) look and flattened her ears to her skull.
Now slowed down and closer, the female could really take in the scent of the other male. Nope, she didn't know him. So the other male, Casanova was still out there, too. Fallon halted for a moment, lifting her head and staring into nothing as she tried to remember: had she told Blitz about that? No...they had gone straight into the hunt when she'd arrived; there'd been no time to talk then or since, with everything going on.
"Blitz," she said urgently, though in a small voice, "there's at least one more male out there that we haven't found."