Silly Little Girl

At the base of the Northern Ridge mountain, a single female wolf lay amongst the small bits of sharp gravel and rock that littered the area. She was busied with the task of licking the blood off of her battered paws, a sign that she had spent too long and had too many near death incidents on the mountainside. Sicily's imagination had gotten the best of her, and among her fun and games she had failed to see the seriousness of her situation. Although she had stumbled, slid, and had her feet crumble underneath her many times, anything of a worse condition would had resulted in a fall to her death. However, like the childish wolf that she was, the thought never exactly came to mind and so her ignorance aided in her bravery to conquer the sharp rocky slope. You could say she was quite a lucky wolf, having escaped the dangers (like so many times before) with just a few cuts and bruises to tell the tale of her success.

As she cleaned away at the cost of such an adventure, soft whimpers from her slightly parted muzzle started to fill the air. She was quite tired from the whole endeavor, as she had spent all day going up and down, tripping and stumbling, in hopes of finding some kind of way to get from ledge to ledge. Eventually the pain of her torn pads forced her to come down and now that she was resting (on uncomfortable sharp pebbles), she was feeling the extent of her spent energy. Sicily began to move as much clutter from where she was laying as she could, wincing anytime she was required to use her two front paws, and letting her mouth do the rest. When she seemed more relaxed and less in pain, she finally fell over on her side and laid down to nap.

It was no surprise that Sicily had failed to catch an important aspect about the vicinity. As usual her ability to pay attention to detail had failed, and she had not a clue that the ground she lay on was actually part of claimed territory.

((Continued - time lapsed overnight - from here: https://incendio.rpg-board.net/t98p135-stubborn-jenn#1863 ))

Pravin was on a normal walk around the territory, as he did even though he knew the land, noticing new things every day. It was a simple day. He decided to climb up onto the Northern Ridge, just to see how views could change up there. Jumping up, near effortlessly even with a limp, onto a ledge, he immediately caught wind of a new smell. Giving a small growl under instinct, he looked around. Bounding away towards the scent, he found a wolf snoozing on an uncomfortable part of the ridges. Tilting his head in question, he debated waking her up.

Eventually, he walked over and tried to nudge her awake. She was unfamiliar and not part of the pack, he'd have to encounter her anyway. He backed up a step as she would wake up, it wouldn't do well to intimidate her. Looking up the ridge, he wondered how she got in through there. Silverlight was well-protected with these land borders, he knew.

At first it wouldn't have seemed that the female was awakening, as his nudge only earned a twitch of her body, paws jerking slightly as she mumbled in her sleep. "No, you can't eat me," then a short moment before it happened again, "...Trix are for kids(xD)." Although she wasn't quite ready to wake up just yet, the feeling of someone's close presence slowly made her force herself to come to, and she opened her eyes with a groggy look on her face. She blinked a view times, waiting for that just-awaken blur to disappear from her eyes and watched as the form of a male wolf came into view.

There was precisely a three second delay before Cici jumped up (quite high for the average wolf), turning her body midair so that she landed beside the stranger looking in the same direction as he was. "Wh-what happened? What's going on? Where is it? Bring it, Bring it!" She was prancing on her paws in place ready to throw down with whatever it was that was endangering the both of them, it got to the point where any wolf watching from a distance would have assumed this male and herself were acquaintances.

Finally, after noticing that there was indeed nothing there to contend with she glanced over at the stranger and gave him a questioning look as if asking him what he had woken her up for if there was no immediate danger. Her small furry ears swiveled around as she quieted her movement and then pinned against her head as sympathy filled her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I am.." she said. Sicily's gaze fell to the earth at her feet as she looked all around her as if the rock and pebble would tell her that she indeed was on claimed territory. "Oh..." she said softly her voice fading out like the thoughts on the matter did in her head. It wasn't much concern to her, not because she wanted to intentionally be disrespectful, but because she didn't see why they couldn't share their fun landmarks with everyone, including loners. However none of that really mattered when the strange male decided to introduce himself. Sicily peacefully sat down; tail thumping against the ground in excitement at the possibility of a new friend. The soft thudding sound became a rhythmic beat that started to match the the steady increase in her pulse. "Hi, I'm Sicily..." she had to stop for a moment trying to think of a good title that would best suit her for such a formal introduction. "...Well known conqueror of adventure throughout all the land, or Cici for short. Nice to meet you Pravin". She laughed softly then offered a warm grin, he didn't look much like a warrior to her, but then again she wasn't exactly sure of what a warrior should look like anyways. She wondered if he had any sort of special abilities.

Cici tilted her head at the question and laughed softly "What gave me away?" she questioned playfully; tail still thumping against the ground in excitement. Although he wouldn't have been able to tell based off the aura she was putting out the question did spark a tinge of pain somewhere deep inside her. A flashback of her mother's image popped into her head and she felt saddened by the memory, she missed her mother dearly. It was the one wolf, along with her siblings, that Cici had ever grown attached to, so being without them definitely made her feel alone, but only when she stopped to think about them.

"It's not so bad, you still get to meet others from all over, and if you keep yourself busy and exploit the freedom it actually becomes fun. Although probably not as fun as your warrior status, I bet you get to fight a whole bunch of battles, huh?". Cici could believe it, the male wolf definitely towered over her like no tomorrow, and he wasn't the skinniest of the wolves she had been around as a loner. His size alone would definitely make her stop to reevaluate the situation before getting him mad.

She found herself scanning his form, and wondering what exactly he fought against, did he plan out wars against enemy packs, or busy himself saving the damsel in distress? There were so many possibilities, and he was kinda cute, she wouldn't mind getting saved by him if ever in trouble.

Bears? Cici quietly thought to herself a concerned expression starting to form on her face as she looked down to the ground. She had encountered a few bears before, but they weren't really harmful if you left them alone. She looked back up to Pravin still concerned about his answer. " Bears aren't a threat to wolves as long as you leave them alone and don't come across a mom and cub. If Silverlight isn't dangerous then why is there a need for a warrior? I mean bears shouldn't be an enemy, and if there is nothing else threatening Silverlight...it doesn't sound very meaningful."

She didn't mean to be rude or anything, she just alway thought that life should be fufilled to it's highest extent which meant having fun with it and having some sort of purpose. Anything else was just considered settling, which was unnacceptable in her eyes. Life was all about challenges and pushing one's self, Pravin seemed to be settling for an easy job that didn't require much effort on his part. "So, what do you do when you're not being a warrior?"

There was so much going on around the pack lately, Blitz decided that he needed to leave and clear his head for a bit. So he decided to go out on patrol. He knew that Pravin had been wandering off occasionally to do so as well, and although Chaos had been gratious enough to take her position back from Pravin, Blitz had been meaning to talk to the large, aloof male. So when he picked up his scent, the alpha changed his direction to follow it. Soon he came upon Pravin and a female, one whom he had not met. It was obvious that Pravin had found her at the borders on a patrol, and now Blitz approached, coming to a stop and nodding at Pravin. "Hello." He said, his posture calm and curious, as well as dominant, but not at all threatening.

Cici looked to Pravin with slight interest in his question, but only because she didn't want to seem like a hypocrite. She believed that she wasn't meant for pack life, seeing as the one she was born into had banished her themselves for no apparent reason at all. But, to say the least joining a pack would be one of those challenges that would push her ability and strength to it's limits. For so long she had been alone, that she didn't realize that she had no knowledge on how to be part of a team, family, whatever others liked to claim a pack was.

She was just about to address Pravin's inquiry when another strange male approached them. A large white wolf, who was just as handsome and strongly built as Pravin himself. As he greeted Pravin, and was introduced to her, Cici stood, tail wagging side to side in yet another burst of excitement. "...conqueror of adventure" she added on, when Pravn failed to mention her title, which she felt she rightly deserved. "You can just call me Cici though".

Blitz couldn't help but smile at the female's sudden excitement and her announcement of her self-proclaimed title. He nodded slightly to her as an attachment of his original greeting, tilting his head to the side slightly. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Cici." He said, his voice deep and incredibly relaxed, considering the recent happenings in the pack. "I see you have met Pravin, one of our warriors, and although I trust his judgement, I must ask your purpose in Silverlight." He said, not exactly rushing her, but simply searching for a reason for her appearance in pack lands. He wasn't sure what had occured between her and Pravin, but he trusted the male enough to be relaxed around this female and trust that her motives weren't sinister.

Cici, who was watching Blitz, slowly followed and imitated his head movement as he tilted to the side. She giggled, realizing what she had done and corrected herself before perking her ears to his question. "Oh, I didn't even know I was here, no sir. I was sleeping right here and before that I was up there..." she gestured to the sharp rocky slope behind them. "When I made it to the top I guess I was done, then I had to come down. I had these cuts and stuff all over my paws so I had to clean up and I didn't get very far." she paused wondering if all of that made sense then lifted her right forepaw to show both of them her trophy. Black paws stained red with deep cuts on the sides and center and smaller scratches everywhere else. Deep inside Cici felt proud, another mark to prove her success, another story to tell her friends some day.

Finally she put her leg down, flinching slightly at the sharp pain, then offering a smile and another tail wag to the large white male.

Blitz frowned as she spoke of her paws and showed them on the the bottom of her paws. He took note of her flinch as she placed her paw back on the ground. He glanced over at Pravin as he thought over the female's words, then turned to look back at her. "I assume Pravin has already questioned your reasoning for being in pack lands. Has he asked your position on joining the pack?" He questioned, wondering if their conversation had gotten that far in his absence. This female needed Molly's attention, but he knew it would be a bad idea to bring a loner into the pack lands at a time like this.

Cici nodded solemnly, her ears flattening against her head as she avoided eye contact with this Blitz character. "My old pack banished me. They said my head was sick, and I wouldn't last long. My head feels fine though..." She tilted her head while staring at the ground trying to figure out what her pack saw that she couldn't feel. She had never had a headache a day in her life. "If you see it too then you might not want me around like my family". Because she was sick her brothers and mom had to take turns watching over her, and even fully grown she was always too adventurous for her own good. Eventually her brothers got tired of the burden, and her mom as well, but she had never asked for a baby sitter so all of the hassle could have been avoided if they had just asked Cici what she had wanted. They were whack anyways, never letting her do what she wanted and always slowing her down when she was allowed to do something, it was a constant battle trying to prove to them she was perfectly fine.

Blitz frowned as the female spoke. When she mentioned that he might think her head was sick too, he shook his head. "So far, Miss Cici, I see nothing wrong with you...or your head." He said softly, looking over at Pravin for confirmation on that fact. He saw nothing wrong with this female, and it upset him that her family had abandoned her the way they had. "Well, Cici, what would you say to joining our family?" He asked, keeping an eye on Pravin's expression to see if he was thinking the same thing. He found that he now truly valued the other male's opinion, and since he had spent more time with Cici before he had even showed up, he wanted to make sure he wasn't making a mistake.

Cici caught on to the alpha males shifting glances and finally looked over to Pravin expectantly. While staring at him she remembered what he had said about his job in Silverlight and frowned slightly. The challenge was enticing and, the specific wording Blitz used to describe the pack was even better. A family, something she really never got to experience so far. She wondered if it was even possible for her to be accepted by other wolves like herself, but figured if worst came to worst she could always leave, right?

Cici returned her gaze to Blitzen tail swaying even more ferociously than before. "Yesss!" she replied with a grin then paused and looked at him in a child like way that pronounced she was very serious about what she was about to say next. "As long as I don't have to be a warrior, they have the boring job." She nodded in agreement with herself then stood up and pranced forward before he could even answer. She was making her way to smoother ground as if Blitzen had already agreed to her acceptance. Cici even went as far as to seem like she knew where she was going. It was quite amusing, had it not been for the severe limp in her movement that switched different sides every couple of steps.

Blitz couldn't help but chuckle at her excited acceptance. When she said warriors had a boring job, he tilted his head back and laughed. He hadn't done so in quite a while, and he couldn't help but throw Pravin a teasing look and shake his head. "Well, the other options open to you are healer, hunter, or pup-sitter." He said, grinning in amusement as she pretended she knew where she was going. "But first, I think we need to get you to Molly, our head healer, so she can take a look at those paws." He said, trotting forward to catch up to her and step in close enough to help support her should she fall. It didn't seem likely, but he didn't want her collapsing on their way back to the dens.

Her tail was still wagging when Blitz pulled up beside her and she could feel it thumping against him as she smiled at the help. "Look at me, does it look like I love to run after faster animals?" she snorted at the very thought. She could hardly hunt for herself, let alone a whole pack. Which made her wonder how many wolves were part of this big family anyways. "Healer sounds cool, I'll be able to help everyone, even you!" she beamed but still shook her head at the thought. "I like the little ones though, they're fun, almost as fun as me....but not quite." She almost tripped from getting so excited but Blitzen's larger frame was more than enough support to keep her on her feet.

"Yeah, lets go see Molly. Come on Pravin! We're gonna go see molly!" she called back to the male who had yet to leave his spot then lowered her head and whispered to her new alpha. "Are you sure he should be a warrior? He's slower than I am..."

Blitz smiled at her rambling and listened the best he could. She would fit in well as a pup sitter, plus, now that Tessa had given birth, and Laek would do the same soon, they needed one in the pack. "Pup sitter would be perfect." He said, laughing at her comment about Pravin. "Actually, he's one of the best." He said, unable to avoid nipping her ear as he spoke. Sure, she was rather adorable, and she made him laugh, but he wanted to make sure Pravin recieved the respect he deserved as well. He glanced back at Pravin as they headed for the dens, nodding to the male and smiling before leading Cici to the dens slowly, not wanting to rush her.

((Continued here: https://incendio.rpg-board.net/t110-altogether-now#1867 ))