Apologize

Gryphon trotted along through the long grasses with his nose first low, then high, as he sampled and sorted scents both new and old that crisscrossed his territory. While much of his attention was on his work as a hunter, part of his mind still turned in the background with worries. That was what he really did best, wasn't it, worrying about... well, everything. His family, the pack, how the prey was running, how to best conserve the balance of species while still making sure the pack was fed. Mostly his family. In his opinion they needed worrying about more than anything else, with all they got up to. He hadn't seen Lykos in forever - though with him having remained mostly within pack lands since his confrontation with Dragon it wasn't as though he'd had much opportunity to go looking for the wayward brother - Kharnage seemed to be completely losing his mind - was there some gene for bloodthirstiness and rage that Kharnage alone had managed to inherit from their virtually unknown father? - Avalon seemed to be slipping into depression again and distancing herself from them all. And he still didn't know what to do about Vereux's children. Dragon's new mystical thing he had going was actually less of a concern, though Gryphon personally thought it was illogical and irrational to believe in spirits. Maybe it would give his brother a much-needed anchor from being pulled completely into Kharnage's madness and make him think before he rushed the pack into more danger.

But he had a fresher worry on his mind than his crazy family. Dragon had promoted him - which since he'd been an omega wouldn't have been a bad thing at all by itself, but he'd promoted him past his former hunter rank into the ranks of the elite hunters. Which, since he was the only one in that rank, effectively put him in charge of all of the pack's hunting. And with the disappearance of Esarosa, Steel, and their family, it also left him the only hunter, period. Sure, most of the pack could hunt small game for themselves, but without a coordinated group of dedicated hunters to take down large game to provide the bulk of the pack's meat, they could very well find themselves running out of small game in short order.

He raised his head sharply as the wind changed abruptly to bring his brother's scent to him, and he slowed just in time as the long grass in front of him parted to reveal Dragon. The wind had been blowing crossways of their opposing paths, so if it hadn't shifted he could very well have slammed right into him before realizing he was there. As it was he emerged from the grass a lot closer to his brother than was comfortable for personal boundaries, nearly chest-to-chest and nose-to-nose with him, and he had to sidestep rather abruptly to give himself space to even focus his eyes properly. "Ah... good morning, Dragon," he said politely, shaking his coat to rid it of some of the grass seeds he'd picked up while pushing his way through them.