Times Are Changing {Celes Pack Meeting}

[::Fox::]

Darkness hung heavily over Harthorn. Everything felt smothered and muffled, an unnatural still holding fast to everything, or, almost everything. A single grey and white husky dodged his way through Harthorn's narrow alleys, ducking across streets and constantly on the move. The dog paid no heed to the cold of the concrete under his paws or the buzz of his worrisome thoughts. Or at least he tried not to pay them any heed. It was difficult considering his thoughts were troubling indeed, not only for him but for the whole pack he lived with. Never in his life had Storm struggled with such difficult thoughts. A dull ache gnawed at his heart, a sickening burning in his belly. There was no physical ailment to cure for him however, only emotional. He felt exhausted and yet energized, feeling the need to move and yet longing for rest. There were things to be done but they were things Storm had never wanted to do. What? Well, the alphas of the Celes were...gone. One had fallen to death's cold grip and the other abandoning what she had believed in for the sake of her grief. The pack beta had been missing for some time, abandoning his pack for no one knew what. Everything was crumbling and Storm had known it was coming but had done nothing against it, afraid to make things worse. Now the first sentinel of the Celes Pack, made the cumbersome journey to the Underground to bear bad news to his pack.

Reaching the Underground entrance, the blind husky counted his steps carefully. One wrong count and he could fall headlong into the concrete platform. Thankfully no rains had come to dampen the way but, it was little comfort. As he reached the abandoned train station, Storm breathed in deeply, trying to find comfort in his home. Here, there was no blind and sight. Darkness made even the keenest of dogs blind, something Storm had come to appreciate in this place. It offered him the solace of equality.

The damp scents of the Underground drifted to the blind husky. No auras flared his vision telling him he was alone, or at least within his range. It was nighttime so the normal dogs of the pack would be asleep deep in the tunnels while some of the daemons went out to patrol. Storm hoped since dawn was near, there would be most of the pack present in the tunnels. They wouldn't like what he had to tell them but they needed to hear it. They needed to know Romeo had died, that Mercy had left them and Feuer was nowhere to be seen. A new alpha would need to be chosen. Storm knew that if he had his way, he would set up the pack in a way to honor its first alphas since the original Pack Wars, with one daemon leader and one normal leader to forever keep the Celes balanced in its favor of daemons and normal dogs, a beta to each leader. It would be to honor Romeo's bravery in his self-sacrifice and Mercy's vision of an equal Celes, a place for daemons and norms.

Shaking his head, Storm pushed the idle thoughts away. Though Mercy had trusted him as one of her more personal companions, he doubted the pack would choose him for a leader even though according to the ranks he was next in line. Trusted he may have been by the ruling family, Storm knew he was still only a blind daemon with aura sight and visions. The pack would want Feuer, demand he be found to offer them solace and stability and the power of his pyrokenetic powers. Nothing against Feuer but, Storm didn't trust the beta's powers. They were young, unexplored since Storm had last seen him. Perhaps someone else, Angel or Ariel, someone blood related to Mercy to take over. Perhaps the pack would take comfort in that blood relation? Loosing both alphas was a heavy blow, no doubt the pack would take comfort wherever they could find a connection to their former alphas. Without Rave, Storm knew Ariel, Angel and Akoni were the last blood relatives to Mercy or Romeo. Storm had had a vision of Rave's death but would not tell the pack nor go for the body, knowing it would be gone to the labs by now, reported by a panicking hunter terrified at finding a winged dog. Storm would tell them Rave had left and he expected they would believe it. She had been a roving spirit, constantly escaping as a pup and looking to the horizon. There would be no doubt to his little white lie.

Sitting back on his haunches, Storm drew in another deep breath to steel himself against the difficult pack meeting that was to come. As ready as he ever was going to be, Storm let out a howl. His howl was firm, beckoning the pack to rise from their slumbers or patrols and find him. A grim no echoed in his call, foreshadowing his bleak news.

Posting Order:

Fox

[nightmare]

"Ain't no rest for the wicked"

She was not tired at all. Cound not sleep, what so ever. She usually did the night shifts with the daemon dogs, because of her insomnia. Casino never slept at night, yet she loved the sun during the day. What a fail she was. She shook her head thinking of how silly she was being. Pacing up and down the long stretch of abandon subway tracks in the underground she called her home. The tracks were the best place to pace when she needed it. The part she was in now, was just after the entrance, and a tiny bit of light was shining down from the upper floor. She hummed to herself, and tried to think of ways to fall asleep. But came up blank.

A pace and a half later a noise caught her ears. They perked up and she stood, stalk still. If she listened careful, she might be able to tell who it was, by the sound of how they walked. She could do that, it didn't take special hearing, it took good observing. And she loved to observe her whole pack, picking up on how each of them sounded as they walked the dark halls. It was so much easier than trying to use her eyes. She could smell them to of course, but not from this far. The soft padding of a larger dog walked down the stairs, a steady flow, they knew it well, and it seemed almost to well. It must be Storm, she guessed, betting herself. She walked up to the platform, hopping up in one fluid movement, silent as a mouse. She knew if in fact it was Storm, he would know she was here, with his aura seances and stuff.

She sniffed, once, twice, Bingo, it was Storm. Her tail rose, and wagged happily at herself. She was always so bored. her pack mates were boring, and didn't do much, She wasn't allowed off territory. That sucked. She wanted to be a scout, but the pack already had one. Vegas, the first dog she had ever met here. He was dreamy, sure, but he was taken. Stupid Angel. Casino didn't really even know the girl, but she knew Angel had ruined her chances with Vegas. She shook of the thoughts, and approached Storm, right after he howled to call the pack forth.

"Hey Stormy, whats up?" she asked, coming to sit near him. The white husky was kind in some ways, she hadn't really talked to him, but she had seen him around with Romeo and Mercy, who, by the way she had not seen in a while. Maybe this was about that. Confused she asked him "Whats the problem?" and and all happiness washed from her features. There was something about the way Storm howled and randomly sat her that seemed like not good news. Casino was a little worried now.

[Majora]

The Moutain laid in a big black, furry heap. She was distance away from most of the pack as the were sleeping some awake. She hates that she has a tendency to not be very outgoing or one who really wants to be involved with big groups, espiecally when it comes to sleeping. She just wants to rest peacefully without feeling a dog next to her squirm from a dream. She shuddered as thoughts of her old best friend past through her dreams. So many things have change, Majora even started to wonder if he was even alive, let alone a normal brute still. But one could still just hope for the occansional glimpse of an old friend. But seeing them in nightmares where other things.

Almost black eyes snapped open at the sound of a howl. Of course she couldn't really see anythings but the sillohettes of dogs along the area. She pushed up, and shook her long hair. Standing tall, for she was a tall breed but not the tallest. She manuevered carefully and sniffed along the way to make sure she didn't hit any dogs. Which she did, earning her a few growls and nips at the feet. Majora finally made it out of the area and continued to listen or even smell her way to the source of the howl. A scent tickled her nose from a recent dog walking through and she followed it.

Majora soon found herself facing two dogs. She didn't really know them well enough, but knew that the one with green eyes was Casino, and the white husky was Storm. She was curious about what was going on and sat across from them. "Is there a problem?" She asked, still wondering why she didn't find the Alphess sitting there for a quick meeting about an upcoming war. But the howl had sounded grim, as if the one howling had bad news, or announcing a death of a loved dog in the pack. Or possibly a disappearence of someone very important. Majora sat patiently, for they appeared to be waiting for others of the pack to come.