Allowing New Beginnings [Lycaon]

[Maegan]

Maegan hadn't been back in the dome a week before the news came crashing down on her. Skye was dead. Her best friend in this place was gone. She'd spent the majority of her time in this dome with the woman. Skye had been with her through everything--through her transformation. She had been given a home in the ring when no one else would take her. Now everything was gone. She loved the Fallen, they were her family, but there were those among the ring that didn't really enjoy her company. There were those who still hated the anthros. Her main ally was gone now and that was a lot to process. She had made her way to the park from Fallen territory--her get just walking with no sense of direction and she followed.

Maegan took a seat on the swing set getting her mind back in gear for a moment to think about Fulsi patrol and was quickly satisfied that she would be safe enough. There was little chance of being discovered by the Fulsi at that particular time of the day. Even if she were, she knew she had the trust of their former Alpha and he would back her, especially knowing why she was there and what she had just found out. Maegan wondered if he knew yet, though. There was no reason for the Fulsi to speak of a former Fallen alpha. She also knew that the two of them had a child together, and that her death had occurred while both of them had been locked away with the keepers. She took a moment to think of Legend and wished him well.

The lemur anthro pushed herself back and forth lightly on the swing, letting the tears wet the light fur that covered her body. She needed her moment to let everything be felt. Pain demands to be felt and she knew that well, probably more than most. And while this wasn't physical pain, it was still a sort of pain and it needed its moment. The world would keep moving and she would make it through this, even though this dome had claimed the two people who she cared for the most in this place. Skye and Zephyr. Both close friends, and wonderful leaders.



Ooc.. Sorry it's very short and also late late late. But yay Maegan plots!

[Lycaon]

The park smelled a little bit like the city pack, but mostly it just smelled green, especially in the early morning, and for that reason alone he loved it. He disliked being surrounded by smooth, unnaturally slick stone, metal, and bone dry wood. The mountains and the pine forests that cloaked their bases were his favorite, but they were far from the packlands, and he didn’t like to go so far from home. The overgrown park was an acceptable alternative, although the limited size frequently made his coat itch.

It didn’t take him long to circle the green area, even with detours to poke his nose into the gaps of tree roots and roll in piles of dew-damp foliage. He was on a second circuit, looping around to the south, when a fresh scent caught his attention. Slowing, he turned off his projected path, muzzle lifting as his ears flicked back. The scent was.... strange. Mixed, for one, both familiar and of the desert, but also unusual.

Following the trail led him to the clearing of the park, an open area where some metal structures stood. Keeping to the cool shadows of the brush and trees, he dropped to his haunches, forepaw coming to rest on the ground as he observed, head tilted and ears pricking forward to catch any sounds. A creature sat on one of the structures, a stuck-between, like himself. His nose told him she was young and female, but he couldn’t place the animal scent. It was not wolf, like himself, or dog or cat or bird. Lips pulled back slightly in distress - he didn’t like not knowing if it was predator or prey, and the scent was confusing.

In addition, she smelled of the desert pack, but also of his pack. Because she was a stuck-between, he decided. He hadn’t heard of one of his own living in the other packs. Maybe she was lost? Rising, he slunk out of the greenery, body posture held somewhat wary, interested but nonaggressive. “You smell like pack, but you are not pack,” he informed the creature. “Why? The desert pack is for those who can switch.”


ooc: I don't think you have to worry about being the late one. XD

[Maegan]

Maegan was startled when she noticed the anthro coming toward her. She hadn't been aware of her surroundings and subconsciously kicked herself for that. That was something that could get her killed in any of the environments she had been in. The anthro seemed a bit uneasy and when he spoke it be and clear why. She was not quite right to someone who had likely only seen this place as an anthro and never as a shifter. She gave a half smile through the sorrow. "I was once here as one who could 'switch' before everything that happened. I belonged to that desert pack before. When I was changed I joined a different pack of those like me, but there was a war and many of them died. We were not a pack anymore. I rejoined my old pack. We call them rings, the desert pack is the Fallen Ring." She explained as if she were speaking to a child, trying to use his own terminology so that he would understand.

Maegan's tail flicked behind her as she studied the anthro. It was nice to be around others like herself again. The Bestia had felt like home to her in this place, that even Skye could not replace that feeling. She belonged with those who had been changed like her. She belonged with them so she could help them overcome as she had so long ago. Many of them only had their hands to fight and with everything here pointed against them, they would need to at some point, and that was where she could help. It was where she longed to help.

With all of the explanation, Maegan hadn't caught the fact he meant that he was in a pack. She was clueless to everything and it felt weakening to think about. Thus, she kept these thoughts tucked as far back as she could. "The Fallen is welcoming to those like us. It would do well for you to join them, much safer than trying to go at it alone. People here are not forgiving to our kind." Maegan offered gently. She did not want to see another unfortunate test subject stringed up by the Carna who had zero sympathy for those like them.

[Lycaon]

Head tilted as the other creature offered an explanation, one ear flicking dismissively at the correction of terms. He knew what the various groups of the dome called themselves, but the names were mostly nonsensical and thus disregarded. The ‘war’ had been described to him, at least, so he understood what she was referring to. She was lost, though not as he had originally suspected - she had been among the scattered after the conflict, and hadn’t heard that the pack had reformed.

Apparently, she also didn’t realize that he was pack. If nothing else, he knew her nose wasn’t very good. At the suggestion to join the desert group, he straightened, chin lifting, tail flagging proudly. “I have a pack, a good pack. I hunt for the, the Nakoma.” The word wasn’t easy to pronounce, the shapes struggling to form on his tongue, and for the same reason he rarely said, ‘Carna’ or ‘Fulsi.’ If he went around trying to use proper nouns all the time, he’d never have time to say anything else. Simply introducing himself was a job in and of itself. ‘Fallen’ translated into Shiftertongue, but it was about the only one that did so.

He inched closer, nose questing forward again. “I can tell that you are from the desert pack, but what is - was - your shift? It’s strange, I don’t recognize it.” Since entering the dome, the had met a variety of animals he hadn’t even known existed, but they were usually easy to classify. Hunter, bird, scaly-thing, insect, or prey. Her mutations almost looked like his alpha’s, with her white ears and stripped tail. But she didn’t smell feline, let alone specifically snow leopard, and the conformation of the tail was different, from what he could see.

[Maegan]

Maegan watched the anthro as he puffed up proudly before speaking. Nakoma. The word stuck in her mind like an arrow, sharply. She didn't know that name. She wondered if it was a small group of rogues who had given themselves a name? No, that wasn't something that happened here. Rogues did not often form groups. "Nakoma?" She spoke up, but it was too late, she was cut short by him speaking again. She couldn't help but grin a little and her tail swished behind her. She flicked it around and held it for a moment in her hands, stroking the fur at the tip.

"It's not surprising. My shift was a lemur. We are small primates that live only on a small island called Madagascar off the south eastern coast of Africa. Almost like little monkeys, if that helps. Most people now have not heard or seen a lemur before." she smiled toward him, but that little sting of a name stuck in her mind. She looked at him, perhaps a little harshly, she didn't mean anything by it, she was only trying to think about the name.

"I'm sorry, I just haven't heard that name before. What is the Nakoma if you don't mind my asking?" She watched him carefully, trying to get any sense of what this Nakoma was. There were so many things she didn't know anymore. Skye was dead, there was apparently a new group hanging around, next thing she knew Zephyr would still be alive. If only. Her ears dropped a little at the thought. That was not possible and she knew it. She had been there and had failed to protect her friend during the war. There was no chance she was still around. She shouldn't have even thought about joking about it.

[Lycaon]

He doubted ‘Madagascar’ would ever be a word he could get his mouth around, but he filed the information away anyway. “Lemur,” he tried. “Lemur.” Satisfied, his tail wagged faintly in appreciation. Lemurs, he decided, were like rodents in the sense that they were small and probably catchable, but not really something he would hunt. Experience had taught him not to share this conclusion, especially with his fellow anthros, so he kept his mouth shut. At least it wasn’t surprising that he’d never encountered a lemur, if they lived so far south of the Taiga. Liz had once shown him a map of the continents, and while such large distances were hard to comprehend, he understood the scale.

When she asked about the Nakoma, his ears angled back and slightly to the side in hesitation, unsure what she was asking. “It’s my pack, my family. Others like us, stuck between. We live in the northeast corner of the dome.” His nose lifted in that direction. “My alpha calls it a tribe, not a pack. She also calls herself a chief, instead of an alpha.” A flick of his ears and a shrug indicated that he didn’t see any point in nitpicking over interchangeable terms. “We used to be called the Bestia,” he said the word carefully, “before the war. That’s your old pack, right?”

He looked at her expectantly - this part, she should know, if she had been present during that time. The Nakoma were already established when he was dropped into the dome, but he had heard the history, and newcomers joined them every day, prompting the tale to be repeated.

[Maegan]

Maegan smiled as he tried out saying lemur and his happy tail wagging when he got it right. She allowed herself a little laugh at it all. She was glad he was at least happy about that. Then her question was approached with a bit of hesitation. She listened intently at his words. A tribe. Her ears twitched forward. That was such a familiar term. She wondered who had reformed the group. Clearly someone who had been around the first time around, calling it a tribe. She nodded at his question. "Yes, the Bestia is my old pack." She answered, her voice a bit distant.

She. Who could that be? Who from the old tribe would have cared enough now to reform another? Most of them had been killed, and the rest had stayed with the Fallen or gone into hiding as rogues, thinking it safer. Most of them had not lasted very long. Maegan looked back at the anthro very concentrated. "Who is the leader of your pack?" She asked, still trying to go through her mind of everyone that still survived who had been there in the original tribe, in the early days. No one came to mind specifically so she looked back to him less intensely, ears perked forward waiting for his response. Suddenly a thought came to mind.

"Oh! I feel so rude, my name is Maegan. What is yours if I may ask?" She sat up a little straighter, almost in an apologetic way. She had forgotten her manners, and even in her time of grief, she didn't need to be rude to a fellow anthro--they got that enough from everyone else.

[Lycaon]

He shrugged off her exclamation - he hardly ever used his name. It wasn’t something he thought of very much. “You can call me Lycaon.” It wasn’t a word he felt particularly associated with, but it was as good as any, and it was becoming habit to respond to it. ‘Rössel’ was the girl-pup’s name for him - he didn’t share that one. When he had arrived in the dome and people started hounding him about a name, he offered the one the Keepers had given him. He hoped that most people didn’t think not asking for names was rude, because he never bothered.

“My alpha is Zephyr. You look a bit like her, with your tail,” he added. There were a few other high ranking pack members - if there was anything a wolf was particular about, it was hierarchy - but that was all relative. “Did you know her, before?” If they had both been part of the original Bestia, they would have been pack members. He wondered if Zephyr knew one of her’s had rejoined the Fallen, and if not, how she would take the realization.

“Are there others from the Bestia in the desert pack?”

[Maegan]

Maegan smiled and nodded at the mention of his name. Lycaon. She tucked it into the back of her head. Names were something she was very good at, and one thing she took great pride and being good at. She could recall the name of any person she had ever fought with on the streets of New York, and many of those from her tribe in Madagascar. It was something she felt particularly strong about, that connections with people, no matter the type, were the reason people were even around. It was her meaning to life, and she took in each moment with every person and kept it in her mind for as long as she could.

There wasn't long to dwell on his name, however, because what he said next shook her to the core. Zephyr. Her eyes widened and just stared at him in disbelief. Maegan had watched her fall at the hands of Crash in the great battle. She had seen it with her own eyes. They had a grave for the woman that Maegan frequented. There was a long moment where she could do nothing but stare at Lycaon, not even blinking. Once she snapped back to reality, her eyes darted this way and that way trying to think through how this could be possible. Had someone else had the name? No, it would be highly improbable for someone else to have such a unique name. Had someone adopted the name in her honor? Her brain settled on that for a moment until she remembered Lycaon had said something about them looking similar because of their tails. Her brain scanned through again, could the Keepers give life? Had she been wrong about their leader being dead?

Her mouth hung open for a moment still, until she realized just how strange she must appear to this anthro. A moment later she realized he had asked two more questions and her brain scrambled back to try and remember. Had she known Zephyr? Maegan, at the thought of that gave half a nervous laugh. "Zephyr and I were very close." She rubbed the back of her neck a moment. So much, today, had changed for her. Were there others. "Yes, at least there used to be. The Fallen was the only place who would accept our kind after the Bestia fell." Her answered were kept short because her mind was still trying to process. She had a slight tone of disbelief to all her words.

Zephyr is a feline anthro, yes? A Snow Leopard?" Maegan questioned. She had to know. Her good friend may be alive and she hadn't known, she needed to be sure before she let herself believe it fully. "I'm sorry, this must be very strange to watch, it's just I fought alongside her in the great battle and I watched her get killed by the Carna Beta. It is hard for me to believe that she is still alive."