The Chance for A New Beginning

[Vladimir]

Vladimir padded through a thick copse of deciduous trees, dry leaves crunching satisfyingly under his heavy paws. It was autumn, his favorite time of year. The leaves on the trees began to change color and descend onto the ground, and the air filled with the chattering of small woodland creatures as they prepared for the upcoming winter. The air also held many scents this time of year; a crisp coolness that warned of the coming frosts, a spicy-dry scent of leaves decaying as they left their parent trees, and best of all, the warm, rusty-salt scent of rushing blood beneath hard-working muscles. Vladimir’s mouth watered at the thought. He continued on his way through the forest, stopping at intervals to recheck scents. He knew that a pack had claimed this part of this forest already. He wasn’t sure he wanted to join up with this pack, for he knew literally nothing about them, but he was resolved to give them a try. An enticing scent stopped his easy trot through the forest. He turned in his path, and followed the scent, mouth watering as he envisioned his fangs tearing through warm flesh.

Vladimir came upon the source of the delectable scent: a dead fawn being gorged on by a young grizzly bear. The bear was probably only a couple of years old, being only about five feet tall. Vladimir easily towered over the grizzly, being nine feet tall himself. He leapt forward, growling at the grizzly. It turned and when it spotted him, it immediately turned tail and ran the other way. Vladimir huffed, a bit disappointed that it had been so easy. It looked like the solves here had shown the bear who exactly was boss. Vladimir sniffed at the carcass for scents, not wanting to eat another wolf’s kill, lest they come back to the kill site and find him devouring their hunt. But there was no scent on the fawn but that of the bear, so Vladimir dug in, wolfing down the meat, his hungry belly soon to be sated.

When he finished his meal, he sat up, licking his chops. There was never anything more delicious than the taste of freshly-killed fawn, in his opinion. Vladimir stood up, ready to continue his journey. He headed for a gap in the trees, and continued on his way. He soon came to a tree with a very distinct wolf scent on it. He stopped at the tree and he sat down, content to wait at the border for an alpha or alphess to come along, so that he might inquire about their pack.

[Alphess Teimhnin]

The Alphess had been relaxing on the poolside deck, lazily enjoying the rays of the sun that had no effect on her. Large sunglasses were slid to cover her eyes while she relaxed. The waves of the water would nip at her toes, though she just lay there and sipped her glass of lemonade. It had been a long day for her, nothing but organizing new design ideas and arguments with illogical customers. She had been doing well so far, though her concentrations were on her pack as well. There had been some newcomers, but she had only met one at the borders so far. Some of the newer members were some that she was ecstatic to meet. Others didn’t bring so much excitement. Teimhnin stood and walked back into the castle when she was finished with all the relaxation. She went up to her spacious room and put on a simple t-shirt/shorts combo a pair of tennis shoes that were rather comfortable for a hike. Border patrols were a thing she took deadly serious, but she wanted to separate herself from the lower ranks in her pack. She straighter her back and carried herself in dominance, If she was going to be looking for new members, why not be professional in playing the part?

The scent came to her nose after she had gotten a good fifteen minutes into her patrolling. It was very faint, but it had been there. Teimhnin walked a little faster and pushed through the brush until she both smelled and saw who she was looking for. And, of course, they were not of a human form. Shifting, she burst from the brush and waled towards him with her tail held high. Her eyes glanced over him as she gazed for a moment, then spoke. “Welcome to the Venantium borders. I’m Alphess Teimhnin, and who might you be?”

[Vladimir]

Vladimir did not know how long he sat there waiting, but he knew he had been waiting a while, for he had had to shift positions several times, growing tired of sitting in the same place. Eventually, though, he noticed a smell in the air, just barely warning him before a large, snow-white wolf with silver eyes burst out of the brush across the border. He raised himself to his feet, tail lowered and looking away slightly from the other in passive submission. He was not a wolf to grovel to others unless it was absolutely necessary, and the more human side of him slightly worried that the Alphess would take offense at his lack of active submission. The wolf greeted him neutrally, introducing herself and asking after his own name.

He kept his head lowered, only flicking his eyes up occasionally to check to see how his words were being received by the Alphess. "I am Vladimir, Alphess. Vladimir Luther. I have traveled far to find a pack willing to take me in. I am hoping that yours might accept me as one of their own. I can hunt and fight," he offered up, keeping his voice level and free from the emotions swirling through him. Would he be immediately rejected? Would they take him in only to use him and toss him out again? Or maybe she would be offended by something he said and attack him! Calm down, it's just a pack. That was his human side. He almost growled aloud at the interruption. His human half would never understand the need to have a pack. Humans didn't need companionship like wolves did. Besides, his human half was still fighting him at almost every turn anyway... But he knew that even his human half missed company, or he would be making this meeting a lot harder for him. Vladmir chanced a glance up at the Alphess again, waiting patiently for her response.

[Alphess Teimhnin]

Vladimir is officially accepted! Welcome to the pack!

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