She could cry from the way her siblings seemed to not realize how frustrating it was to be blind. To be held like a captive in your own body and be told to stay where you knew instead of adventuring the world. Regardless. Dad started the meeting and she turned her attention to her dad. She could smell mom and held in the chuckle. Mom was going to skin him. He wasn't supposed to be up yet. That shoulder was never going to heal if he didn't listen.

He asked about their defenses and she held in the scoff. These were easy. She heard them all lay out the defenses. Didn't take a genius to give him the best one. "Your stomach is a vulnerable point, Keeping balance is a good way to avoid larger foes getting it, but if your fighting someone shorter like Gav here you gotta know how to keep your hind end from them. But best thing you can do is to just mind your mouth, us healers can heal a lot but mouth wounds suck. Or you could just you know not get into fights, saves us all time and stuff." She was being a smart ass at the end and sent a grin in the direction of her dad. Mom who spent almost all day with her would know the smart ass comment was aimed at him.

"Speech!"
Art & Code by Rex 2023

The boy’s white gaze watches his father as he introduces himself and a warm smile stays on his lips as he sits with his siblings. Pinning Ikuchi’s tail underneath his paw so that his brother cannot escape, he darts a glance to the boy and shakes his head, signaling that he should not leave yet. Bae-Syl gives them question and they must voice what they believe are their most important defenses.

Jericho shifts his attention to each wolf that speaks, taking in their answers and mulling over his own ideas while they speak. Finally, as his sister’s voice falls silent, the frustration she feels at being blind not going unnoticed by him, and he silently vows to take her on a trip outside of pack lands soon. With that, the boy turns his attention back to his dad and says, “Skin folds.”

It seems like a simple enough idea but Jericho is quick to follow up with, “We have areas with extra skin like around our necks and, like Dag suggested, bunching the skin there will help protect the vital areas. Raising our hackles is important too because it does something similar and causes the skin to bunch together while our fur raises.”

Giving a small nod as if in agreement to his own words, Jericho then lapses into silence while offering his father a warm smile. That was a good one… right?


"Jericho Agatsuma-Kedieo"