muhly

personality

pessimistic: when you've been abandoned once, nobody can be trusted. his parents wanted a pretty child, one that was quiet and calm and lovely; Muhly was just the failure to be discarded. now he can never believe the most beautiful of lies - because that's all it will be, in the end. just another lie.

observant: even before he could talk, he watched, intent and purposeful. like he was trying to see how much he could get away with. truthfully, he feared that if he failed to fit in with the mortal wolves, he would be thrown away once more. the habit lingers as he grows. he watches, mimics, buries scraps of information deep in his mind to dig up again when they're useful.

amiable: despite himself, he likes the company of others. he won't dare to approach them, but when they come close, sometimes he can't bring himself to push them away. they wouldn't call him a friend if they knew what he was really like, he's sure… but he likes the pretense, short-lived as it's certain to be. for those scant moments, he can almost believe that he's just like them.

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history

when Juniper's daughter was nothing but a snuffling bundle of fur, she was stolen. when the fae child wasn't old enough to walk, he was left behind. in the darkness of the nursing-den, the differences went unnoticed - but once a moon had passed, and he was shuffling around, it was clear there was something unusual afoot.

Juniper, of course, loved him regardless. her first assumption was sickness of some kind, and indeed the pup was often in the herbalist's den, burning with fever or chill to the touch or unable to keep down his food - though every time it was put before him, he ate like he had been starved from birth. as time continued, he grew stranger still. his eyes were blue when they opened, as all pups' are, but when they changed it was to a deep and flowery purple. then his pupils changed, turning to slits and lightening until they glowed. and he was old enough, by this time, to know he was not one of them.

he is a strange creature of the hidden wilds. it was not in his nature to love, or to be loved by mortals. now, the truth of him is revealing itself, and he knows that each day he lingers is another chance to be driven out - or worse. yet he has nowhere else to go, and - and Juniper says that he is hers. that she loves him, and that she would let him love her. he can't believe it. but he can't give it up, either. not until he must.

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relationships

Juniper: mother. she says that she loves him, but he can never quite bring himself to believe her. he thought his first parents loved him. if that had been true, Juniper would be nothing to him at all. she's kind enough, but he doubts that it will last - she'll tire of him, eventually, and then he'll have nothing left to keep him here. for now… she lost one child to the faelcu. Muhly won't take another from her, not until she's ready for him to go.

Lenboulah: they were denmates from youth, but met properly when Muhly joined the Howling Hunt - Lenboulah still ran with them as a trainee, though her true ambitions lay in scouting. not because she wanted to meet other wolves, but because she distrusted them, and she wanted to make sure that the Pines' friendlier wolves remembered that not everyone was kind. Muhly liked her immediately.

Henigril: an outlier among her own family. when Muhly was dismissed from the team who had mentored him, in favour of a stronger contender, Henigril approached him and asked that he join hers instead. her Howling Hunt took him under their wing, when he was left stranded and uncertain of his future; for that, he'll always owe them, and Henigril especially so.

Pampas: older brother. a bold and vivid personality, he glides through life like fish through water, making friends wherever he goes - the perfect subject for Muhly's study, when he wants to play at being a normal wolf. Pampas is easy to envy; no matter how much Muhly tries, he can never quite get it right the way that Pampas always seems to.

Nestru'sasarouh: the ghost in the woods. sometimes he glimpses her between the trees, watching. as a pup, he plays with her like a denmate - the denminders, if they dare speak of him when they think he isn't listening, call her his imaginary friend. Juniper calls her his sister.

Scutch: younger sister. he found himself oddly protective of the tiny pup, especially when Juniper seemed so fraught and frayed at every cough. their mother had lost so much, and he would not see this fragile life snuffed out, if he could help it. when Juniper asked him to make runs to the herbalist's den, he did; when she asked for food or toys, he brought them. that transferred onto Scutch herself, once she was old enough to make her own requests.

Moosewood: aunt. he's always been a little afraid that she would see through him, force him out of the pack with her word to protect her sister. she hasn't, yet. in fact, she's defended him more than once to uncertain advisors. sometimes she's suggested to Muhly that he becomes a scout, like herself and his older brother - keep it in the family, to use her words. he doesn't know if it's a kindness or a challenge.

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To Muhly's surprise, Fallow found him quite quickly today. Muhly was reminded to mind his tail while hiding, because energetic wagging can be easily heard and seen.

Muhly pounced on the birds after he successfully lured them to come closer. Catching them was more important than chasing when it came to birds, and it was the best reward for such a long wait.