Walk | Talk | Think

Though she had been given permission by Glacier to call the pack together for a hunt, Anais had been putting it off. While she knew his family had allowed her into their familial pack, the golden brown hunter still found herself intimidated by them. They were a central part of Glacier's life, a part of his history and an integral piece of what made him him that she would never be able to touch, and her lack of proper interaction with the lot of them had left her uncertain of their feelings toward her. Sure, they let her stay, allowed her to occupy their brother's time, but still she worried.

Only the time for worrying was passed. With the realization of her pregnancy, the PraeVilendis - Ha! Got it right that time - knew she could no longer afford to keep to herself. If she was going to give birth to children that were not only hers but Glacier's, then she needed to make herself a part of his family, make a better impression on those that she had decided to join and claim as an extension of her own relations. They had a right as much as anyone to know that she carried more of their family within her, especially if those new family members somehow ended up preventing her from properly doing her job later on.

As she paced along the edge of the Algoma Prairie, trying to keep her mind on the herd she had been tracking minutes prior, she swallowed nervously and continued to peer over the border in the direction of the beach. Would they come? Would they heed the authority their brother had bestowed upon her, accept her as one of their own? Her mind fretted, but within her stomach she felt a flutter. Was that nerves, or..? Uncertain, taking confidence from the knowledge that it was no longer simply about her anymore, Anais tilted her head back and sang forth a howl for the wolves of Donostrea, calling them to her so that she could begin her first proper hunt as their lead hunter.

OOC: Anais is calling together a pack hunt! Anyone interested in joining - and hearing about the impending babies! - should respond by December 16th.

The girl stood on the cliff edge staring out at the sea. Her fur was completely dry, for once, and the faded blue fur ruffled in the winter wind. Luckily they were so far south that the worst of the winter winds didn't hit the beach, especially in the cove with the cliff acting as a buffer. The girl stood above the caves that most of the family slept in, apart from a few, and faced the wind. This way, when Anais called for a hunt, Locha heard it immediately. Head turning immediately in the direction of the call. It seems that they were to have a hunt. A faint smile tugged at Locha's lips as the girl began moving at a swift pace towards Anais. It took her only a minute or two to arrive, seeing as the girl had already been near the the PraeVilendis anyway and soon she neared. Her footsteps turned light and she approached the woman with a tentative smile. Guiltily, Locha had hardly spoken with the woman that had been part of the pack and family for quite a time now. In a friendly but low voice, Locha greeted Anais, Hello, Anais. I'm guessing we're going to hunt?" she said whilst taking a seat. Locha was far from well skilled at hunting at the land, but she'd be happy to support everyone who was taking part. "Speech"

Anais's song run out across the territory, leaving Glacier smiling at the sound of it. It wasn't a mandatory call, but nor would he expect her to sing out the tune of one. Well, not yet anyway. As it was, he was wonderfully proud of her for calling the pack hunt. So far she had done a tremendous amount of hunting herself, feeding the majority of the pack alone was no easy feat. This was good, it would get the pack a nice hearty meal before Anais was put out of commission... from her pregnancy. It was difficult not to smile like a mad man as he changed his course and padded in the direction of her call. He wouldn't be the first to arrive, and he gave a cheeky smile to their little water nymph. “Locha, how have you been?” he asked warmly as he made his way to Anais's side. Standing beside the love of his life, he would reach of and pluck a soft kiss against her cheek. Leaving his affections to just that small, loving gesture so not to embrace her in front of his sister. He leaned back on his hunches then, and waited for more of his family to arrive. "Speech"

  

Solaris's charcoal tipped ears perked at the sound of a howl calling out for all of them. He had just gotten back into the territory moments before from yet another trip through the surrounding territories. He briefly considered sitting this one out, already fairly tired from his early morning venture... but the last thing he wanted to do night now was go and sulk alone in the dens right now. That decided it for him and he made his way toward Anais' call. When he arrived he saw Glacier next to Anais as well as Locha. He tried his best to keep his smile under control when he saw Glacier and Anais together. Of course he already knew about their children to be since Glacier had come to speak to him out just a couple nights before, but he wasn't sure how far the news had spread just yet. It wasn't his news to tell. He gave the group of them a friendly nod and settled down on his haunches to await any other wolves joining them and further instructions. Talk You Think

Walk | Talk | Think Returning from a successful mission, Gale had allowed herself a couple days to recoup. Not that her travels had been incredibly stressful or trying on her, but it did feel nice to be back home, to see the familiar faces of her siblings, and be able to dictate how she spent her time now. Border patrols had been taken up again, though were ran through quickly just to allow her more free time, time that she had begun to spend lazily. Only a day or two, the petite grey wolf warned herself, and then right back to the usual schedule. That was all she needed, right? She was in the middle of one of her speedy patrols on the far side of the beach when she heard the howl. It startled her enough to make her stop in her tracks and pause to listen, and immediately she was indecisive. Oh, but she was almost done with her patrol. Once she finished it, she would be able to go nap in the den and then bother one of her sisters so she could recount her adventures to someone that was not Glacier. But it was Anais... Her brother's little ray of Sunshine had always struck her as reserved and a little shy. It was not often that she called out to them, for any reason. He'll want us to go, Gale reasoned, and sighed to herself. Free time would have to wait. Giving in, she turned away from the far border and raced for the line between the pack's two territories, the location she had heard the call originate from. As she approached the gathering, she realized she was not the first to arrive. Locha and Solaris were there, as was Glacier. Go figure. Despite her preference to be elsewhere, Gale donned her typical carefree smile and wagged her wispy tail in greeting to her family and acquaintance. "Hope I'm not late," she remarked, making her way amid the group and stopping beside her blue-tinted sister. Was she the last to arrive? Jeez, she hoped she was not interrupting. "Whatcha called us together for, Sunshine?"

Walk | Talk | Think

Those first few moments while she waited to see whether anyone would answer her were the most stressful she had ever experienced. It was by nothing but sheer will alone that she did not shrink in upon herself, fold her ears to her head, and succumb to her own negative thoughts, trying her best to deny her insecurities since this mattered too much. She was a part of this pack - an integral part of it - and she had just as much right as anyone to call together such meetings. Even Glacier and pressed for it. It's time you did this, Anais told herself, bolstering her will against the worries that still harassed her, they need to know about their new family.

She was so surprised to see Locha approaching that she did not react right away at first, merely stared almost as if she expected the blue-marked wolf to continue walking past her rather than to join her. But she did stop, and even offered a hesitant smile that Anais quickly returned with an excited wag of her tail. "We are," she answered, nodding her head as she spoke through her smile, "though I wanted to talk to everyone first." She gave no hint of what she wished to speak of, wondered briefly if anyone else was familiar enough with her condition to recognize it already, but continued to hold firm to her resolve. You need to do this.

It should have been no surprise to her that Glacier would arrive too, but the sight of him walking their way still made her heart jump inside of her chest and her smile to brighten as only he could make it. He addressed his sister before he approached her, and she stood with her tail wagging as he reached for her and placed a chaste kiss against her cheek. Anais felt her cheeks warm slightly beneath her fur, unused to any gesture like that before an audience, but still managed to look at Locha properly before her eyes averted shyly. She leaned just slightly toward Glacier, allowing her shoulder to touch his and take comfort from his presence. Hopefully he was alright with her telling them.

Glacier's brother Solaris appeared next, offering them a kind smile that Anais returned with growing nervousness. He said nothing as he joined them, but there seemed to be something almost knowing about his smile as he looked toward her and Glacier. Did he--? Gale appeared next, smiling like her siblings had before her and offering a question similar to the one Locha had asked when she arrived. This is it, Anais thought as she glanced up at her mate and then back toward his family. I shouldn't keep them waiting.

"I was hoping we could all have a hunt, together," she stated, answering Gale's question and hopefully clearing up what it was that she had called them all together for in case they were still wondering. She fidgeted where she stood, an obvious display of her nerves, but she continued to speak. "But I wanted to talk to you, all of you who showed up. I know I haven't been the...PraeVilendis," - she said the title slowly to ensure she did not say it wrong before them all - "very long, and I hope I've been keeping the food cache stocked enough on my own. But I'm going to be needing to take a break from it soon. Just for a little while," she reassured them. "I may need some help keeping it stocked the next couple of months. I..." She paused, turned her face to smile at Glacier once more. "We," she corrected, "are expecting puppies."

Hoping the news would be taken well, she hastily added, "I thought we could use a pack hunt to celebrate, while I can still hunt. I've found some bison trying to graze in the area and thought we could single one out." Would they agree? Would it be too daunting? They had never hunted together, or at least not her with them. Entirely unsure where they considered their skills or her own, Anais leaned a little more firmly against Glacier's shoulder, hoping she was doing all of this right.

Walk | Talk | Think Her crooked smile curving the left edge of her lips, Gale seated herself in the spot she had claimed beside Locha, watching her brother's girlfriend cast a quick glance his way before she addressed the group. Poor thing, still looking for reassurance. Just as quickly as the thought went through her mind, an accompanying sense of guilt trailed after. Sunshine had been there for a while, and it was obvious Glacier was completely smitten with her. If she was going to stay with them, it made sense that the Elementas clan try to include her in their bunch so she had no need to feel out of sorts around them, or in need of reassurance. Which, Gale realized in that moment, she had personally not been doing much of. That, she figured, would possibly need to change. Trying to stifle down the guilt, the lavender-marked wolf quietly listened, only smirking a little more noticeably when their PraeVilendis carefully pronounced her title and furrowing her brow when Anais suggested she may need time off. She could see nothing outwardly wrong with her that would require time off, but her grey-green eyes traveled quickly over to Glacier, as if to see if the big blue mountain would give anything away. He smiled, though that hardly said much, and as Anais proceeded to explain, with a candid smile given Glacier's way, Gale finally understood. Puppies?? Her jaw went slack, her eyes wide and round, as she looked between Sunshine and Tiny, trying to gauge from their smiling expressions whether they were mirthfully sharing an inside joke or if they were simply radiating joy. No, it had to be the latter. There was no pulling off a joke like that without completely losing it. They were having puppies? Gale was stunned, floored. What did this mean for their family, that another of their elder brothers, their leaders, was getting himself a family? That the last one to try had gotten so wrapped up in his - and its losses - that they all but lost him too even though he remained among them? She could not ruin their happy moment with her own worries, her own selfish, personal fears, so she mustered her expression into another astonished smile with a disbelieving laugh. "I can't believe it," she answered with completely honesty, "congratulations." They deserved that, she knew. It was a happy occasion, something to be celebrated - as Anais said, with a feast. "That's as good an excuse for a pack hunt as any." Gale laughed again, still not quite sure she had wrapped her mind around what she had just been told, but glad that the hunt would take soon promptly after. It gave her a distraction for now, and offered more time to think afterward.

OOC: Posting again - because I can! - to do away with posting order. I want to keep this moving now that holidays are slowing down a bit, and hopefully we can claim points for it if they're applicable. c: