☼ Winnie ☼

Parents: Áleifr & Esper
Mate: Whistle

Date of Birth: ?
Place of Birth: Divine Cosmos
Join Date: ?

—

    The little blue-tinged pup slunk through the compact briar tunnel on his belly, clawing his way forward while keeping his head and rump low to avoid being pricked. Anahera and Nirra would never find him in here, he was thinking when a bright orange face came nose-to-nose with him on its own crawl the opposite way down the tunnel.
    "Ahhhhh!" The pair howled in unison, each thinking it was the dreaded enemy.
    Nikau was the first to calm himself. "I thought you were my sister! She's out there on a rampage looking to give us a thrashing! Go, go go!"
    Winnie just stared a moment longer, gave a long blink and then shook his head vigorously. "She's out there somewhere! We have to go back your way!"
    "And go backwards?! Not a chance, cousin!"
    "I know a secret way not far down the tunnel, you'll only have to go backwards a little ways, stop being such a squirrel!"
    "I am not a squirrel! Watch me, see? I can go backwards all day and there's nothing anyone can do to stop me!"
    Winnie grinned and followed his crowing cousin a little ways down the tunnel until they arrived at a larger area where they could stand up. Then the little blue-tinged pup nudged his young cousin out of the way and pushed aside some hanging brambles to reveal his secret way. Nikau's eyes widened in a grin and Winnie ushered him in, letting the brambles fall back into place after them. Technically this tunnel was a part of the sick den, but it had been forgotten and left unnoticed and unconnected to the rest of the main tunnels by the den's builders.
    Once the two pups reached the end of the tunnel they spent some time exploring— or re-exploring in Winnie's case— the generous sized den which Winnie generally used as a hideout from his havoc-wreaking cousin and her snooty best friend. He flopped down after a while in the comfy moss-and-feather nest he had set up for himself and watched his little cousin take it all in. For as long as they would fit down the secret tunnels this would be their domain, their kingdom, and their mind palace all at once. They spent much of their puphood escaping lessons, playing pretend and hiding from the she-pups in that den.

—

    "You'll be made a hunter soon, I just know it! Aren't you just thrilled?" Whistle was saying from her nest across the den.
    "Yeah! Then it'll be no time until you take over your father's job! He's so cool and important," a little orange pup added enthusiastically.
    Winnie covered his face with his paws down on the den floor with a groan, "don't remind me! More likely they'll make me a pupsitter. Ataahua wants strong wolves doing the important bits, plus I've heard her saying I'm not fit to take over my father's job. Anyway, it sounds like a lot of work and—"
    A paw was all but shoved into Winnie's mouth as Whistle came nose-to-nose with him, an angry look on her face. "Who gives a squirrel's tail what Ataahua says?"
    "I have to, she's my mum," Nikau piped up.
    "Uh, yeah she's the alpha, Whistle," from Winnie, except it sounded like, "ewhh rwhh whphh!" through his mouthful of paw.
    "What I mean is," began Whistle, interpreting her best friend's mumbling without skipping a beat, "you can't quit before you've started! Give them a chance to give you the right job on their own, and then whe- if they don't you've got to teach them where they went wrong! We can fight them together!"
    Winnie gave the she-pup a dubious look which was made even more so by the paw still jammed in his mouth. The she-pup sighed, removed her paw which she promptly shook off, and sat down with a thud. Winnie wasn't sure why on earth she believed in him so ardently, but he figured he shouldn't waste that. Also, he figured he probably shouldn't give her any reason to try and fight their alpha because she absolutely would. That pup had a steadfast sense of duty to be sure, but not to her pack or leader. It made he and Nikau proud to have such a friend, but they also knew it would get her into trouble if they weren't careful.
    "Alright," Winnie conceded, "I'll give 'em a chance. Just don't fight anyone important without us, okay?"

—

    Winnie dropped his hard-won catch into the small pile that had cropped up in the center of the hollow, spitting feathers out of his mouth as he looked around sleepily. Being a hunter was proving much more difficult than he had imagined when he was a pup. What's more, his father had decided that he would retire most of the experienced hunters. This meant that the younger, newer ones got more experience themselves, but also that they had to work much, much harder. Particularly Winnie's own team.
    Their leader was Thorn, since she was the daughter of the lead hunters— who were now retired, so were they really lead hunters anymore?— and had grown up, naturally, learning all there was to know about leading a hunt. That was where their experience ended. The rest of the team was comprised of Raea, Zinnia, Rasp and himself, all of them new hunters and relatively new adults. It was a bit of a strange group, and overall very inexperienced, so their escapades were always interesting to say the least. That day, for instance, they had gone up against a wild boar who turned out to be a very angry and very protective momma boar, hence why Winnie had come home with only a grouse.
    Winnie shook these thoughts out of his head and trotted off toward his favored sunning rock to have a lie-down. Whistle was waiting for him there, and upon seeing him she gave a wide, bright grin.
    "Winnie! My pups just moved up in the pack, so I'm free until I get new ones! What are we gonna do today?"
    "I know I'm going to sleep for the rest of the day. Most of it, anyway," Winnie climbed laboriously up onto the rock and sprawled out dramatically.
    Whistle just sat back down on the rock beside him and smiled, pawing him gently in the face, "I suppose that's fine for today. One of these days you're gonna have to get used to this hunting business so we can have some fun on our own time, too, though!"
    The she-wolf gave him a quick lick on the nose and Winnie grinned up at her, resolving to get better at his job so he could spend more time causing shenanigans with her.

—

    Winnie and Nikau padded along the riverbank, frolicking and tussling as if they were still pups with no worries or cares in the world. The two young wolves punctuated their stroll by digging up interesting rocks and shells, stomping in puddles and chasing bugs around, usually falling in a heap of laughter when they collided trying to catch them at the same time. They had each become hunters and were bonafide providers for the pack now, but they still shamelessly took any chance they were given to muck about as if that was their job instead.
    Winnie shook himself off after one such romp and was beginning to tease Nikau about something when he noticed a stranger on the far bank. "Hey, this is our river, right Nik?" He whispered to his cousin without taking his eyes off of the stranger.
    Nikau followed his gaze, catching sight of the stranger as well and replying in a terribly loud non-whisper, "technically I think only half of it is ours. What say we go and say hello? D'you think he bites?"
    "You're ridiculous," Winnie shook his head and made his way as non-threateningly as possible toward the stranger on the far bank. This non-threatening walk ended up as more of an awkward sideways crab movement, so Nikau naturally opted for the less stupid looking regular walk and reached the opposite bank to the stranger's first. Winnie huffed and straightened up to walk normally but somewhat bashfully now to join his cousin.
    "Ho, there! Stranger! I know we're difficult to spot since we're ever so stealthy," Nikau paused his hailing to bump Winnie playfully with his shoulder, "but here we are announcing ourselves now!"
    The stranger just looked at them, puzzled, with brow furrowed and head cocked to one side. "Uh... ho, there? Strangers? Is this a common greeting in your pack?"
    Nikau called out in the same too-loud, expository tone simply, "no!"
    Winnie couldn't help it. He let out a loud guffaw of laughter which set Nikau off and the pair leaped into the river, swimming deftly across to the stranger's side to get a better look. The stranger— Kyne of Gotham, they learned— was apprehensive at first, but clearly he liked making new friends. The trio were walking along again, unearthing shells, stomping in puddles and collapsing in heaps of laughter in no time flat and made a point to come back and do so regularly and often.

—

    Winnie couldn't believe the day he was having. First his father had approached him saying that he was going off to battle the strange creature that had been haunting their woods with no more than a pupsitter, an herbalist and an elder, then he had stolen away after Aleifr while Coorah wasn't looking, and now he was contemplating his life as he swung by his jaws from an absolutely enormous shadowy monster wolf who was trying very hard to shake him off. The young wolf furrowed his brow and thought, 'sounds about right.'
    As he held on for dear life he kept all four of his paws working, slashing and clawing at the huge thing for all he was worth. A fall from that height didn't excite him, and he decided to keep his jaws locked and just focus on attacking while Orynne tried to keep it away from the alphas who would hopefully be coming up with a plan.
    That was why he had ended up in this position in the first place. Orynne had taken it upon herself— the oldest wolf in the pack— to protect the alphas when Nicht had gone down, and Winnie wasn't about to let her get squished or eaten or whatever this great hulking thing would've done to her had he not rushed in to help. As he finished the thought, Winnie heard his father's howl rip through the night and the dozens of fighting wolves the other packs had been smart enough to bring rushed to he and Orynne's aid. His father must've noticed him, thought Winnie as he glanced down at the throng of wolves below. They swarmed the great beast, climbing on giant paws, grabbing on and tearing the thing up for all they were worth. Orynne continued to guard the alphas, batting away strange shadowy vines that snaked out from the creature, Winnie presumed to get to the rune chunks the alphas had carried with them.
    Winnie could no longer pay attention to what the alphas, Orynne, or anyone else was doing, however, as his jaws began to burn and weaken, and his grip began to fail. He looked around for anything to land on that wasn't the cold, hard ground and found nothing. He swallowed down his fear, though, and did the only thing he could think to do: aim himself at the throng of wolves attacking one of the beast's paws and throw himself in their direction. As he flew through the air he thought of how stupid this was, and how he definitely could've just torn down the monster's shadowy pelt by his claws, but none of that mattered anymore as he careened into a half a dozen wolves clustered onto the thing's front left paw. A knot of wolves were flung to the ground, and Winnie felt the breath knocked out of his lungs as one of them fell on top of him.
    He was about to scramble to his feet and go for round two with the great creature, but before he could a blinding light flared up from the circle of alphas surrounding the rune chunks. He blinked and then all was quiet. The sky was once again filled with stars, the shadow creature, cave, fog and unnatural darkness were all gone. The green-tinged wolf looked around at his fellow fighters with a shocked but giddy expression that was mirrored in all of their faces. He could see not one wolf had been lost.
    Suddenly he felt eyes on him and looked up to see his father's gaze upon him. He lowered his head sheepishly and chuckled, attempting to hide behind the wolf beside him, but Aleifr only nodded and smiled. Winnie was puzzled, but he stood taller, nodding back to his father and then turning back to celebrate with his fellows— and get his ears cuffed for landing on them as well.

—

    Winnie shook himself as he got up for the morning's hunt. He smiled over at Raea and Rasp who had risen only moments before he had and the blue-furred she-wolf shot him a grin in return. She had to smack her mate with a paw to get him to return the greeting as well. Winnie grinned and shook his head with a chuckle. Those two were an unlikely pair, but they were pretty good together. They balanced each other well without one having to lean too heavily on the other.
    As the two other hunters moved off toward the rendezvous with the rest of their party Winnie turned his attention to finding his own new mate. Whistle always got up at the crack of dawn to herd puppies. She had used to be able to sleep in a bit, but ever since the mischievous duo, Song and Fiadh, had dug that tunnel that led out of the hollow from the young ones' den she'd had to get a head start on her duties lest the little monsters escape. Usually she just met them at the tunnel exit and watched as they went for an early morning swim. As he crested the rise above the young ones' den he saw the colorful pupsitter and her charges right where he expected to.
    "Morning all!" Winnie shouted down at the pups and his mate, getting lots of howls and splashes in return.
    "They almost duped me this morning. Went out the front while I was busy guarding the back. They'll outsmart me one of these days and then Áleifr and Alastor will have my hide, I'm sure of it," Whistle laughed as she trotted up to greet her mate.
    Winnie chuckled and shook his head, "I truly doubt that. You're smarter than all of them combined."

—

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