Emperor's New Clothes [Pack Meeting]

Gryphon paused at the sound of his brother's call for the pack. His first reaction was to groan, the sound muffled by the feathered neck dangling from his jaws. Not because it was a meeting, or even because it was being held in the castle, but because he had just managed to kill this truly magnificent peacock. Not that he didn't want to share his kill - he would share it, and he had in fact been hunting constantly for the pack despite his demotion. But he didn't want to share it until AFTER he had already brought the bird back to his shallow scrape of a den and plucked it. Gryphon had happened to glance into a smooth pool of water as he'd returned with his burden, and he'd been so taken with the way the peacock's brilliant iridescent green feathers made such an amazing contrast with his brown-and-black pelt and the darker green of his eyes that he'd decided immediately that those feathers qualified as a Treasure, and he didn't like to share his treasures with anyone else. At this point he had so many little caches of treasures around the pack's lands - some in the borders, some outside - that he certainly didn't need to keep the feathers to himself... but he wanted to. Now he'd either have to bury the bird to hide it, risking ruining the feathers with dirt and mishandling, leave it at his den and hope no scavengers found it before the end of the meeting, or bring it with him and have everyone see it and covet those feathers.

He stopped to think for a long moment and concluded with a scowl that the only logical course would be to squash his - probably rather illogical - feelings of possessiveness, and just carry it with him to the meeting. If he acted casually about it surely no one would think anything of it.

With the bird's long neck in his jaws and the heavy body - and that glorious tail - draped over his back to keep it from dragging on the ground, Gryphon made his way through the skin-crawlingly claustrophobic halls of the castle to where his brother's freshest scent led. His green eyes scanned over the few wolves who'd already gathered, noting with a faint grimness and concern the wounds of those who'd gone to the raid. He hadn't interacted with the rest of the pack since the raiders had returned, so he didn't know how it had turned out or who'd been injured how - he'd simply made sure to keep everyone supplied with food so no one who didn't feel up to it would have to hunt, but had not done more than leave the kills outside various dens and in the cairns he built for just that use.

After that single brief scan he set himself down without fanfare as close to the exit and as far from the others as he could, then busied himself with pretending not to fuss over the peacock he had settled next to him.