It's home to me and I walk alone [Joining]

[Plume of the Eagle]

The Keiyou’s wings were throbbing, and his head was pounding, and his heart was hammering, but hell to all that stood in his way just then. The caramel-and-brown patterned underside of his wings flashed, the sun making their opacity somewhat greater, the beauty of every feather distinctly outlined and almost like stained-glass without a shadow.

His eyes were closed, his flight halted, as one of the paralyzing black-outs hit, the re-living of his family’s death in real-time, not fast and over in an instant. His wings strained to keep him up, the updraft was no longer aiding and his weight was beginning to drag him down without the aid of his wings movements.

Plume let out a very bird-like shriek, coming to his senses as the ground began to spiral at an unhealthy rate, zooming up to meet with his face. Plume strained, this time, flapping his wings so fast that they appeared almost invisible, one of the rare times flight was a problem for him. Again, he coasted, the black-out fading away as he began to fly normally again.

The snow-pocked terrain flashed beneath him, the fear of death receding from his mind as it began to check his flight, slowing and banking and then stopping, finally he let himself down onto the earth, tired and achy. It was not much work to curl up and sleep, but he’d be hungrier than ever if he did not eat something now, and then sleep; so Plume’s mind transitioned from flight-mode to hunt-mode, his nose lifting automatically to scent the air. There was a small family of synesinger’s not far off, pecking at the now partially un-frozen grass for buried nuts.

The largest, something like ten pounds, was trilling away, perhaps to attract a female.

Plume sprang up, his wings silent as he used them to carry him the next feet, and then he was upon them. The largest, the male, his skull was crushed as Plume landed; and one of the medium sized females dropped next to it in three seconds flat. The survivors stood for a moment, than the youngest began to call out in alarm, fleeing, whilst the more mature ones began to chirp and use their synesthesia to remove themselves from the picture or confuse him. However, the noises were too jumbled and the fantasies too different, that they cancelled themselves out, and he growled at them as they fled, his vision hazy but otherwise normal. He could’ve gone after them, but decided it wasn’t smart and returned to his meal. Foolishly, he plucked their bright feathers, and laid them aside, gentle with the tail feathers as they were laid side-by-side. Plume devoured the smaller bird easily, but took a moment on the bigger synesinger, its fatty delicious and savory. It wasn’t until he’d finished and buried the bones that, he smelled the air’s change.

What in the world? He wondered, then recognized it—a scent he’d avoided until now. He was lying in a wolf-scented land, a territory indefinitely. But oddly, he smelled no females, only males. Shaking his head, he mused perhaps the females were used for other things than defending the territory. Ignoring this fact, he grasped the feathers and began to weave them into the feathers on his wings, the skill easy after much practice. If you took care of them and they were properly tied, you could keep the feathers in for months, if not a year or two. Strands of grass inconspicuous as they were used to tie in the faux feathers.
Laying back his ears and circling, Plume curled up in a ball, falling into a light sleep to rest, hoping—but counter-hoping—that wolves wouldn’t find him.

[Ahote]

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[atrb=background,http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/lilDiablo_/ahotemid.jpg] As it was, one of the wolves was going to find the male keiyou, and probably not the best of wolves to find him. Ahote was out and about along the territory, now granted he did not have nearly the amount of duties he had had before members began to pour in from every corner of the plane of existence, but now with most every wolf settled and accounted for he had very little to concern himself with. His pack was strong, skilled, and complete with a lovely set of females who knew their place and for the most part were content. There was always a healthy string of pups being born and they had filled in some of the ranks. With a few more hunters he could even out the ranks and begin promotions, and his other secret goal would come to fruition. The large, truly massive Yagi moved along his territory without much of an issue, the snow that covered the ground cushioning his paw prints, and his dark green, the color of the forest around him, pelt helped him to move without being seen right off the bat. Ahote preferred to move at night, knowing he more than other members could defend their lands especially at night. But here he was, a kick of dirt there, a scratch of horns against the trees here, and he knew his borders were well taken care of. It was also a great tactic to only have males do the scent marking because it made traces of the females scarce. If they seemed scarce there were less invasions or fights because most wolves did not want to challenge a whole host of males for land, they would simply lose. Not to mention Ahote had the Children as a very powerful ally, and of course he had his Rhia too. Although the thought of the smaller myou female to whom he loved so much brought pain to his heart. He missed her, more than he had ever missed a female before, and he wished he could dare take a chance and leave his lands to find her and speak with her, possibly even convince her to bring her pups to see his youth. He had so much to tell her, and he knew she would be his confidant. With a snort of defiance his shook his head and tried to clear the image of her away as he continued on. His horns were high and thick on his skull as the smell of blood, and panic and fear fell into his nose. His yellow and green eyes glittered dangerously as his legs fell into a higher pace than before to get him to wherever there had been a hunt. The closer he got the more scents he was able to pick up and quickly his mind filed away those who smelled like him or his Home Tree but sure enough the most overwhelming scent was that of a stranger. His eyes were seeing red as he entered the scene between two trees and glared at the wolf who was not only brave enough to kill something on his territory AND take food from his family and children but then the little trespasser had the nerve to curl up and sleep there? A fierce snarl rose from the belly of his very being, and came out from between two vicious looking fangs that fell lower than his lips as his mouth opened and the sound became louder and harsher. “Get up! You lazy trespassing, worthless pile of feathers, GET UP.” He saw the pile of what seemed to be his meal, the only remains were un-edible things that maybe he pups would play with but here was proof this mangy keiyou had had no qualms about stealing food from his pack, and essentially from him. Stealing food during any time but especially during the winter was right up there with trying to spy or kidnap his members. It would all result in death as far as he was concerned. His eyes blazed as he glared at the wolf in question. He was trying to think of as many reason as possible not to kill him out rightly for breaking his rules, the rule of nature entirely. Logic and reason were trying to prevail but it was a battle indeed. His claws kneaded into the snow and ground below, his body posture telling the other wolf from the start who he was, someone to be feared. Finally logic did win out and although his muscles did not relax any per say he was able to stand without feeling the need to pierce the other with his horns. “You have the next few moments to search your sleepy brain for a reason as to why you have invaded my territory, decided to kill and eat MY pack’s food, and a reason as to why I shouldn’t kill you right here and leave your decaying remains as a warning to others as to what happens to trespassers.” Ahote was sure he was frightening at this point, but he was not only the generous and compassionate family oriented wolf that his pack members saw. There had to be a vicious and mean side to him to protect them from threats. Members had to know right away that he was not an alpha to be toyed with and the consequences for breaking the rules were and would always be severe. The only ones who might have gotten away with it, were pups and that was due to their sheer innocence. His eyes glared at the colorful flying wolf as he awaited an answer, hoping it would be a good one.

[Plume of the Eagle]

It wasn’t a surprise for the Keiyou to be woken in such a rude manner—he’d be sleeping on perfectly neutral territory one minute, the next having a shrieking-match with some idiot male who believed the land to be his. It did very irritating, in his opinion. But of course, you couldn’t just go a say that. You had to… be subtle about your distaste or discomfort, because if you were forthright, they deemed you an ‘upstart’ or just a plain ‘dumb fool.’ So, instead of playing the part of the hungry, irritated loner that he normally acted out, Plume changed his tactic. After all, this place seemed to be full of males, and since he had no specific hormonal urges to spread his genes and plunge into the gene-pool, he quite liked the idea just then.

The male Yagi had something in the air about him that flipped the switch of respect ‘on’ in Plume, and instead of leaping up all teeth and claws and flapping wings, he calmly opened his eyes and blinked. The Yagi’s masculine scent wreathed around him, the aura of the other male awe inspiring—he, this Yagi, knew his position. It was high, it was powerful, and he knew that others noticed it. Respected it, even.

Not something you found a lot, nowadays.

“You have the next few moments to search your sleepy brain for a reason as to why you have invaded my territory, decided to kill and eat MY pack’s food, and a reason as to why I shouldn’t kill you right here and leave your decaying remains as a warning to others as to what happens to trespassers.”

This was something that—though it ticked off the wolf-side of Plume—made his mind think frantically for a response, something that would save his head. Instead of leaping up, though, shrieking and apologizing and flying away, he took a second look at the wolf. Through his intangible air, Plume noticed overconfidence. Though it was only slight, he picked it up with a twitch of his nose. Something told Plume not to cower, but to act like a man.

Sliding up into a sitting position slowly, keeping his body lower than the Yagi (though this wasn’t very difficult), Plume replied cautiously, his tone somber and persuasive. He unclamped his wings, the sun shining through their vague opacity and igniting the synesinger feathers weaved into the drab brown, like yellow and red leaves in a sea of light and brown mud, the many purples and greens vibrant and eye-catching. “I note that isn’t a simple question, and I assume you want an answer,” He said slowly, waving his whip-like tail in a sinuous motion.

“My response isn’t simple, either. I note you are a strong pack, and you say ‘my.’ Therefore, this leads me to believe one simple fact—you are the Alpha. I am sorry to have eaten your packs food, but frankly it was sitting right there, and what is a hungry loner to do, to keep it from going to foxes, hmm.” It wasn’t a question, none of what he said was. It was all factual statements, spoken in a slow and concise manner that allowed no argument.

“I ask you to forgive my ‘stealing’ of you and your packs food. However, I ask of you one thing—is this a strong pack, full of healthy and fit male fighters, intent on living their lives; and if so, would you accept a scraggly wolf, who would fight or hunt or defend, at your pleasure and as you wish, into your ranks or send him away?” Speaking in the third person was easy and avoided much conflict, as the wolves sort of knew he meant no harm and was only doing that so he wouldn’t implicate himself.

Plume of the Eagle wasn't one for a pack lifestyle, not normally with the wimps that thought they lead decent packs, though in reality they hardly could be called a pair of fighters, but he was determined to try one last time before leaving for life on the wing for good.

[Ahote]

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[atrb=background,http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/lilDiablo_/ahotemid.jpg] Ahote had learned since he had joined Rhiannon’s pack so very long ago that patience was indeed a virtue. He had had to deal with fiery, and up starting lyxxus who believed they ruled the world, he had had to deal with more than cruelty, loneliness and death when he was growing up and not much had changed since he had become an adult. His own mate, the only female he had considered taking as his mate had abandoned her pack, his pups, and essentially him, it would seem that there was no end to the trials that would test the patience of his very soul. Even within his own pack there had been one female, again a lyxxus who had pushed him to the very brink of his patience as he had been forced to punish her. It would seem that being the alpha of your own pack was just asking for continuing situations that would persist in test his level of patience. It was not an entirely good day to begin with, and Ahote’s eyes glared as the male slowly opened his eyes and arose from his comfy nap after stuffing his face. He sat stone faced beyond the irritation shining through his eyes as he watched the male arise into a sitting position, but he also noted the way the male attempting to keep his body lower, and in a respectful stance. He even kept good condition of his wings to keep them in a non-aggressive way, which he was impressed with. Some keiyou did not realize that how they kept their wings during a conversation could be considered a challenge. His eyes watched the male, and memorized his markings, the colors in his wings, while impressive he knew it was not the male’s natural colorings. He had smartly harvested the feathers from other beings and put them with his own, very….inventive. His brain reminded him that he indeed had a task to complete here, whether it was to discipline, or drive this male off his land he couldn’t be admiring the male’s inventive nature or considering his respective stance. The situation in front of them was very serious and his eyes turned to find the male’s as he spoke, saying that he wanted an answer, instead of dignifying the remarkably unintelligent comment with an answer, he simply waited. He noted the male’s twitching tail with tense muscles, while the rest of him may have been being respectful any motion could lead to a fight at any moment. Although he felt that if such were to happen Ahote could easily take the male down, he was what all loners were, ragged, tired, and starving, especially during the winter months. Winter was a hard time, especially in the north, even in the mountains where some wolves found shelter there was simply not enough food to go around to help sustain and keep all the wolves in the area looking pristine. Ahote and his pack were lucky, a lot of the migrations and herds remained near his area because it wasn’t as brutally cold as the Tundra, or as hard to climb and explore as the mountains. Luck would have it that his pack did not suffer nearly as much as other northern packs. His claws stretched into the snow as the other wolf began to speak, and hopefully offer up some explanation but what he said only furthered to irritate the male in front of him. “Regardless of whether it was right there or not, you have no right to it. As a loner you are no better than a fox.” To him they were both scavengers and it was not his job to feed them. He had said he was sorry, and at that point Ahote was ready to chase him from the Taiga lands but once again the wolf began to talk once more, and Ahote was going to give him another chance to hopefully make what he had done better or at least more acceptable. The male was asking indeed for forgiveness which Ahote might have been inclined to give if he would completely leave his lands, and he was about to say so when he heard the rest of his comment. Now he was asking to join? Ahote had to wonder if he was asking to join simply to avoid being killed or chased off or if he genuinely felt the need to join seeing as who their leader was. Hard yellow-green eyes stared down at the wolf in question and he sighed inwardly, the male had stood up and spoken bravely, if not stupidly, and he had petitioned him to be a part of something bigger and stronger than himself, could he truly turn him away? “You are right, the pack within these lands belongs to me, I am Ahote, Drott of the Aurelian Enclave. Your apology for taking the food is well received, but it will not be forgotten until you impress upon me that you are better than a fox. Our pack is full of strong males fighters, and hunters who live their lives within our territory yes. We have females as well but they are not allowed to hunt large game, or fight in any capacity. We fight for our lands, and our females, and our allies. But if you wish to join, you will join and be given the rank of Thegn or hunter. For taking the food, and showing just how adept you are at hunting, you will be providing for the females first, then the males of the pack, and finally yourself, like every other hunter. No male is above hunting, even the soldiers of my pack the Hauld are not to special that they do not have to provide for the young and the females of this pack. If you can abide by what I just told you then you may follow me to shelter, if not I suggest you turn tail and leave my lands, and I will never see you again, for if I do, I’ll kill you myself, are we clear?”

[Plume of the Eagle]

It was obvious his words did not impress the Yagi, which was not surprising, considering how many knew of loners as low-lives, in most cases. But unlike most loners, Plume wasn’t a fool who wanted to get food to eat and place to sleep before moving on, a nomad forever. Plume watched the Yagi male intently, he seemed…odd. Well, beggars couldn’t be choosers, and at least they had an Alpha with a head on his shoulders.

In response to the Alpha’s fox and loner comment, Plume’s eyes narrowed in distaste. Once again, it was true that some male loners were Casanova’s, but this was not Plume’s style. His brown eyes calculated whether the distance between backing up and taking flight was better or worse than taking on the Yagi, but then Ahote continued…

“You are right, the pack within these lands belongs to me, I am Ahote, Drott of the Aurelian Enclave. Your apology for taking the food is well received, but it will not be forgotten until you impress upon me that you are better than a fox. Our pack is full of strong males fighters, and hunters who live their lives within our territory yes. We have females as well but they are not allowed to hunt large game, or fight in any capacity. We fight for our lands, and our females, and our allies. But if you wish to join, you will join and be given the rank of Thegn or hunter. For taking the food, and showing just how adept you are at hunting, you will be providing for the females first, then the males of the pack, and finally yourself, like every other hunter. No male is above hunting, even the soldiers of my pack the Hauld are not to special that they do not have to provide for the young and the females of this pack. If you can abide by what I just told you then you may follow me to shelter, if not I suggest you turn tail and leave my lands, and I will never see you again, for if I do, I’ll kill you myself, are we clear?”

The sun warmed Plume’s dark back and his white underbelly was bright as the grass reflected gentle light from the sun. For a loner, Plume’s pelt was remarkably well cared-for, sleek and shining, as were his wings—glossy and well-kempt, glistening silkily in the afternoon light.

“I wish to do this, for I know I’m ‘better then a fox,’ and wish to show you this… I will take the rank of Thegn, if you so wish to give it to me; and the females and males will be well fed, I promise you. I will gladly follow you to shelter, sir, and thank you greatly. I promise to show my worth before you know it,” Plume responded with his head bowed and wings whipping out to stretch before gently pulling back in.

“I am Plume of the Eagle, by the way, sir; I apologize for forgetting my manners before,” Plume continued, remembering just in time to state his name, it would’ve been extremely embarrassing had he forgotten to mention it, and resulted in him getting kicked out before he even joined… Besides, these wolves were interesting with their strength, and virtually all-male pack; and females made him curious—did they resent this treatment, or did they welcome it? How were their pups raised? Was this a monogamous sort of pack, or not? Questions plagued Plume, but he kept silent out of respect and curiousity.

[Ahote]

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[atrb=background,http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/lilDiablo_/ahotemid.jpg] Ahote realized in this moment just how many faces an alpha had to have. Not only was a leader of the pack but he was the father of the pack as well, he was a protector to the females and young, and a symbol for other males to aspire to. At times he would need to be gentle and caring and concerned, and at other times he would need to be ferocious and vicious. There was very little time for the large male Yagi to be by himself, and even if he were, he was not sure which mask would settle over his face if he were alone much. It was as if in the time he had come to these lands and reformed things until recently something had been lost, or perhaps so much gained he did not quite realize how much he had gained and it had put more weight on his shoulders than ever before. Feeling as though there was a physical weight on top of him, he rolled his shoulders a few times, trying to remove himself of the irritation he had felt and making it look like a smooth rolling motion all the same. He could look at the male and almost hear the gears turning in his head, in most cases where a direct threat was offered like this it would not be unusual for the wolf in question to run, fly, or swim away as best they could. When a threat related to ending your life was issued it might as well have seemed a better option than to sit around and wait for it to happen at a later point. Ahote watched as the male came to a decision on his own right before his eyes. It would be important that all the members he did bring in to the pack where strong enough not only to care for themselves but to be able to find themselves capable of caring for others. He may have ruled with strict rules for his females, but the responsibilities for males were no laughing matter either. It seemed for both sexes it would be a challenge to live by the rules but what they had to gain was a comfortable life surrounded by those who cared for each other. The fact that the male in front of him was very well groomed and taken care of let Ahote know that if he could join their ranks he would be an asset not only to himself, but he was sure the females would find him entrancing. He had to smile with the sheer number of keiyou his pack seemed to attract, but he could not help but be pleased. With his current number of alliances, he needed someone with wings whom he could send to Rhia should he need her or to the Children if he had a message. They were good to have, although he would have liked more Yagi for sheer brute force and more Lupus but it seemed as though he collected beautiful things. Rava, and Alucio, Citrine, and now this male, they were all well colored and beautiful. They also had a number of Sennyo, and other delicate beauties which he was content to have under his rule. His speech was very well said and Ahote gave him the briefest of smiles and nod of his head to let him know it had been well received. He stood and shook himself out, not that he had collected a lot of dirt or debris, it was simply something he did to ease the tension that may have mounted between the two males in the past few moments of communication. “Plume, it is good to meet you, and I am content to have you as a Thegn within the Aurelian Enclave, I look forward to having an adept hunter to help with the responsibilities of feeding our members and helping them through these harsh seasons in the north.” With that he turned and began to head back to where Plume could not consider home. “We have two separate living arrangements, the females live in one “Home Tree” and the males in another. No male is to sleep in the tree with another female, it may be temporarily allowed when a female has a male’s pups but there will be no long term male staying in the female tree.” “As a hunter you will be expected to spend most of your day refreshing the kill cache pile for both females, and pups first, and then males. Although most males in this pack catch their own food it never hurts to keep a piece or two in their pile. Females are free to mate with whom they want, and we encourage sparring and other acts to impress a female and make he want to mate with you because you are superior. No forcing of any kind will be tolerated and is punishable by death. Permanent mates are not encouraged but I won’t stand in the way of two wolves who wish to be together, and any female who joins, just like any male is informed of the rules ahead of time, if they don’t feel as though they can follow the rules and be a contented member of the pack then they are free to go on their way and remove themselves from my territory. I am quite blunt, and straight forward. What I expect from my pack members is established right away and I always make sure everyone understands. Do you have any more questions?” He spoke while they walked and they were soon coming up to the two biggest trees in the forest, their openings carved open through time, and Ahote turned back to Plume his eyes full of pride as he was presented with his new home.