Settled atop a knoll, the brute gazed out across his domain. A breeze wafted to him and his chin lifted, nose twitching as he scented the air. Weighing heavily on the wind was the smell of the future. Too strong to ignore, the scent of two members stood out to him: Cascade who was pregnant (with his children - a fact he still haven't quite wrapped his mind around) and Dione who was somewhere in the stages of motherhood. The later he was a bit annoyed with. She'd been scarce for quite some time and while didn't sit well with him, what he liked even less was that she hadn't informed him of her pregnancy. He may not have seen her, but he had no trouble smelling her. Unwilling to intrude on her personal space, Valen had simply let her do her thing. Perhaps her pregnancy had shocked her as Cascade's had shocked him. He understood the need to process. Sitting up, Valentine eyed the distance. Soon enough he was going to have to start scoping out neighboring lands. An explosion in population might push their needs beyond what the land was capable of providing. With all of the new mouths to feed they were bound to reach capacity soon. Stress was beginning to build, the needs of the pack weighing heavily on his shoulders. The brute growled to himself in frustration. He would survive the burden of authority, thrive even. Not one iota of his being believed otherwise. Until then he could only wait for the change, the adaption, that let him do just that. His ears flicked, picking up the nearing sounds of movement. Perhaps a respite from the the hustle and bustle of alphaship would do him some good. The brute woofed, softly summoning whoever was slinking through the underbrush. "Speaking" "Thinking"

She didn't ever disobey mommy, ever. Today though somehow Dione had left the den without specifically saying that they could not leave, so Ganja had come up with a particularly fantastic plan. She would go and gather some of mommy's medicine for her. Of course as she'd left the den she didn't think about the fact that she had no idea how to get to it. The tiny nugg would skip joyfully away from the den, quite determined to find her momma's green plants. Ganja had not a clue where she might be going though, and her itty bitty little paws would only serve to get her lost. She wouldn't know this for a while and before she knew it an stranger's bark would call out to her. Freezing she would peer out behind the dead grass, her vivid ruby gaze finding the giant form of the cobalt man easily. what if he told mommy that she had left the den? For a moment she would stay there, scared of what might happen. He seemed nice, even if he was gigantic, and the small girl would take a chance and squeeze from behind the brush, revealing herself to him. ""

ooc;; lawls. You can't escape me!

The green demon had left in the early morning before her children had arose, assuming that Mr.Red would be taking care of them as he always did. It was nice having a motherly mate, a man who was content to stay home with the kids rather then run around and do pack things like she wanted to. But it seemed that the presence of Nova in the den would pull her into a false sense of security. She would pause in her travel around the perimeter when a gust of wind brought her the scent of Ganja, her precious little bud. Dione had made sure to keep their dent near the boarder in a less traveled section of the pack lands so she could raise her children in seclusion. She shouldn't be able to smell her children especially not here. Nova and her had agreed to only take the children out on occasional times but if he had taken them out then she should be scenting him and her siblings with her... But instead she just got the strong scent of Ganja and... Valen.

Immediatly her heart would flutter in her chest before horned beast would launch herself off her well worn path around the boarder and into the deeper snow. By the time she got closer to Ganja's scent her smell was dangerously mingled with Valentine's on the breeze. Oh no... She had been trying to keep her kids as hidden as possible for as long as possible. Apparently that was not happening. A coil of rage began to bubble in her belly as she found a brush covered area and began rooting through. She spotted Ganja just as the girl poked through the brushes and into Valen's sight. Shit... Well no going back now... Dione would push though the bushes behind him, coming to positions herself with his daughter sequestered away between her forelimbs. "Valen... Been a while..." She would say respectfully, head dipping in greeting. She hadn't seen Valen since the conception of her children, she hadn't told him of their existence or of their birth... She had hoped he would never know though little did she know Mercy had ratted her out.

He sat silently in the den, asking no questions and knew that there was really a drill around here; Stay put unless mother says so. There had been no consequences, yet. He didn't notice as Ganja escaped until later. Until the smell of Dione had came to his nose. He carefully left the den, looking the corner as he came out not paying any attention to Toxin or even if father was around. His gait moved rather swiftly after that, ear flicking in all directions as he sniffed for the two women of his family. His first tracking adventure! Of course he was cautious not t run into danger, if there was even any danger to run into. But soon his eyes led him to the group of three rather than his nose. A real actually wolf. He thought in amazement. Had Dione told them of the others that lived here? Either way, she thought the world knew nothing of her spawn.  Tiny legs struggled their way next to mother, standing beside her hind leg. Red rubies looked at the man before his family, but looked to Dione with question but without emotion. He continued to look at her if she turned to him or not. He was interested in this man. Walk "Talk" Think

Ganja was breaking mother's rules. Tox smirked, one eye opened while the other feigned sleep, as he watched her slip away. He could feel the excitement bubbling up inside, a nervous tension that told him he'd end today with a beating, but he hardly minded. The cyan pup waited until his sister was out of sight before rising with all the stealth his near-infancy provided. He thought that if he followed her, spied on her for mother, he would be able to make her proud. He hardly considered that getting caught outside the den would put him in the same position as Ganja. Toxin followed from a ways back. His untrained nose had a hard time keeping up, but it was easy enough to pick her bright pelt out among the drab winter foliage when he risked a look at her. Eventually, having lost scent and sight of his quarry, Toxin began to panic. Oh, if he lost her, he'd only prove to mother that he was no better than the others and that was just not true. He picked up his pace, almost running, ignoring everything else around him including a few new scents that came to him on the air. To his utmost surprise he crashed onto a terrifying scene. There was Ganja, Necrosis, a giant, and Mother. He gulped, skidding to a stop, ears pinned. "Uhm," he squeaked. "Mother! I was, uh, Ganja..." The words died in his throat when he flashed his gaze aside and noticed for the first time how truly large the dark stranger was. Whoa... "Talk" "You" Think

A rustling preceded the presentation of a tiny form. Green and black with red eyes. Gee, who could possibly be the mother? Speak of the devil. Dione burst forth and moved to stand over her little one. She stated the obvious with a simple, "Valen...been awhile..." And in response he quirked a brow, silently agreeing with her. No shit, Sherlock. Did she really think he wouldn't know? Every inch of her being screamed her state while she was pregnant and she shed the scent everywhere she went. He'd known of her children long before their birth. He sunk to his belly in the hopes of appearing less intimidating. Resting his chin squarely on top of his forepaws, he gazed up at the small child. Speaking softly, he said, "Hello, my name is Valentine. What's yours?" She was so small, so delicate looking, that he was almost afraid of breathing on her. Would his children be this small, this fragile looking? Movement at Dione's side reluctantly drew his attention from the girl. At her side was yet another child. He was blue and so obviously Novaro's that there was no need to bother questioning his parentage. Before he had a chance to respond a third pup rushed forward, this one also blue. Good Lord were they cute. "And how about you guys? What are your names?" "Speaking" "Thinking"

Impossibly bright red eyes would watch in wonder as the giant looked at her, but a bit of fear would race through her as her mother came up and stood above her. The tiny nug would cower slightly, knowing very well that she had done wrong. Her ears would fall to her head as the short interaction took place between the alpha and her mother, worried that he too would want to punish her. "I'm sorry ma.." She would whisper over and over before Valentine's voice would startle her focus on him. Ruby eyes would watch him as her toxic green ears tips swiveled to gather his voice better. Almost afraid to speak she would only barely squeak her name as she heard her brothers arrive. "Ganja," as her voice trailed off the dark man would look to her brothers and she would sink into Dione's fur. Afraid of what trouble she had gotten herself into. ""

Ganja would immediately sink and cower, apologizing over and over but Dione would simply look down at the child impassively, reigning in her anger solely due to Valentine's presence. Dione didn't have time to note Valentine's look that he shot her at her words as another errant wayward child would totter his way to press himself to her back leg, staring wide eyed at the massive bear king before him. The tiny green demon would sigh, slowly closing eyes as she tried to let the anger go. Where the fuck was Novaro? Wasn't he supposed to be playing the role of mr.mom? Necrosis would not speak, would simply stare at Valentine so where did the other voice come from? She heard him slam on the breaks before gulping in fear and stammering out a quick accusation towards his sister. She would reach back, touching her nose to her blue son's head to ease his worries. "Always watch out for eachother..." She would murmur to them, looking at each pointedly. It was better that they were together as a horde rather then just Ganja by herself really... Valentine would drop to his belly before asking each their names. Ganja would give her's, snapping out of the repetitive apology Dione just realized she had been stuck on, and the new mother would look to the two boys, motioning for them to come forward if they liked and give theirs. Valentine was no monster for them to worry about, she wanted them to know that.

Toxin would not follow Necrosis in too long after. His words were a bit jumbled as he looked up at the monstrous wolf in front of them, but surprisingly, it wasn't what frightened the young boy. He wasn't as scared as he normally was, he was actually pretty normal, acting like a shy little pup.  The man would tell Ganja and the rest of them his name; Valentine. Dione would look to the three of them and speak her wonderful words of wisdom and Ganja introduced herself. Necro would move closer to his mother afraid to speak to the stranger, but could at least give him his wish. "Necro-Necrosis." He stuttered before looking up to Dione for more than her approval of the man. Maybe he just wanted to be sure he was safe... Or maybe it was just to have her accept that the three of them ran out and all gathered around this man. Weird how they all ended up in the same place... Walk "Talk" Think

Well this had gotten wildly out of control. Toxin regretted ever leaving the den and he pinned his ears in anger. It was this big guy's fault for being there, if he'd just been able to follow Ganja for a bit and get back to mother it would have been okay. And even better, he was gonna get in trouble. Mother would be hard on him, perhaps father too. Did that mean the big one, this 'Valentine' would be hard on him as well? He had all the reason in the world to believe it was just a thing old wolves did to young ones, after all. Man, that was gonna suck! But as Valentine addressed him, Tox began to wonder. He was being... kind, and... almost gentle. Toxin took a half step backwards, confusion evident on his small face. "'M Toxin," he mumbled, before turning and skittering a few more paces back. Mother seemed at odds with the big man, or perhaps just that irate with him and his siblings, and Toxin wondered if perhaps he'd run in the wrong direction. "Talk" "You" Think

They were so...tiny? Had he said that already? TINY. It was looking down at a dwarf species. Their timid little voices brought a gentle smile to his lips. "Well, Ganja," he dipped his head in her direction, making eye contact as he did so, before turning and doing the same to her brothers, "Necrosis and Toxin. It's very nice to meet you. " His tone genuine, he said, "I'm glad I could finally meet you guys." Valentine couldn't get his mind off of his own kids. He had so many questions, so many fears. Had Novaro felt like this? Had he been faced with fatherhood and felt this...fear? How about after their birth, had his fears calmed? Had he looked at his children and felt a wave of joy come over him? Worrying about the future wouldn't do him any good. Instead he needed to prepare for them. He knew nothing about kids. Sure, he'd been one once, but the ways he'd spent his days as a child were hazy at best. It was time he started learning again. "Do you guys like to play games?" "Speaking" "Thinking"