Wayne
Pack Werewolf
Cole's Pack: Fighter
They say nobody panic, help is on its way. We're already on it, you've got to be brave.
Posts: 35
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Post by Wayne on Dec 28, 2007 22:13:17 GMT
Wayne had absolutely no doubt that the already tangible sense of excitement would only continue to intensify over the next few months, and honestly, the thought was nothing short of reassuring, only affirming their closeness and family ties to one another. While very few of them were connected by blood, they were all tied together in their own ways, memories and incidents in the past that had brought them together and bonded them, all for their own reasons but each as meaningful as the next. Glancing across the table, he saw Rowena’s smile and returned it with one of his own, only able to try and imagine how she must have been feeling, with her position. It wasn’t everyday that you met a werewolf midwife, after all, and he had no doubt that below her excitement there was trepidation. Honestly, who could blame her?
The fighter had always seen Cole and Dia as parents even before now; even with their youthful appearance, which at times was amusing, they were the parents of the group, the father and mother, and the ones everyone looked up to without question. They were the guides and protectors of the pack, and what was more parental than that? Wayne had absolutely no doubt that they would handle this new responsibility with the same confidence and professionalism, but he knew this was different if only because it was their child, their baby, and nothing was more daunting to a first time parent than what could and might happen. He certainly didn’t envy them the rush of concerns and worries that would come and go over the next few months, and beyond that, during the child’s early life. Everything was going to change, there was no doubt about that.
“They really are,” he agreed softly, with another smile, relaxing into his own seat a little, propping one elbow on the arm of his seat in order to set his loose fist under his jaw, supporting his head calmly.
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Rowena
Pack Werewolf
Cole's Pack: Midwife
Come with me; for alone I fear the tide.
Posts: 22
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Post by Rowena on Jan 4, 2008 0:17:07 GMT
Perhaps because she had been a human before being a wolf she found it a little harder, despite her years with the pack to view Cole and Dia as parents. It was complicated. The redhead recognised them as such, respected them flat out, no arguments and was endlessly grateful to them for accepting her in the pack, for all the silent, subtle work that had gone into making her feel like part of a family again, as she knew was the same with so many other pack members, but her human parents would always be... her parents. Everyone, of course, wolf or human or whatever had parents, so maybe she was just overcomplicating things to begin with. The transition from human to wolf had been hard for Rowena, confusing and painful and she still had trouble with the instinctual side of it on occasion despite her years.
Maybe with the birth of the child her perceptions would shift, change and she'd be able to accept that a bit better. In any case the trepidation was certainly there, tempered by excitement and that in turn was tempered by experience in midwifery and the fact that she knew she was more than qualified for this, she had made sure she'd kept up with the constantly shifting medical world, subscribed to journals, looked up the latest text books and taken classes. There were several pack members who she had delivered herself during her time with the pack. It was like no other feeling in the world, helping to bring a life into the world.
"So what are your plans for the evening?" she asked after a moment of quiet, comfortable contemplation, "If you have any?"
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Wayne
Pack Werewolf
Cole's Pack: Fighter
They say nobody panic, help is on its way. We're already on it, you've got to be brave.
Posts: 35
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Post by Wayne on Jan 17, 2008 21:49:09 GMT
Arguably it was easier for those who had been born as wolves to view their Alphas as parental figures, as strange as it was sometimes depending on the degree of youthfulness in their leaders’ appearance, and with Cole and Dia in particular, not many would look at the pack and point them out as the elders. They did, for all intents and purposes, look young, younger than so many of their pack, but especially in the world of the supernatural, appearances could, and were, deceiving. It was harder for those coming into the life, after being human before, to see it as born wolves did. Or at least that was what Wayne supposed. He wasn’t the best judge of ‘born versus bitten’, and honestly, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be. To him, they were all wolves, they were all pack, and some had just had more complications than others. Such was life.
Still, the approaching reality of the matter was bound to change a lot of things in the pack; Cole and Dia would not only be parents in the figurative sense, but literally as well. Wayne had to wonder how much it would change them as individuals, how much it would shift their personalities and habits and tendencies. They were already so protective and compassionate, as well as being fiercely devoted, but a baby, as was usually the case, changed everything. He supposed, just like everyone else would have to, he would have to wait and see.
“Plans?” he repeated, taking his loose fist from his chin and draping it with a casual air over the arm of the chair on which he had perched himself, his slouch slight but comfortable all the same. “I don’t think I really had any.” His smile was gentle, as was his trademark, and his chuckle was light. “I would ask you the same question, but I think the books and notes give you away.” His smile grew. “Have you eaten?” The question, admittedly, was a little spontaneous, but the scent of cooking meat from the adjacent kitchen was starting to register and the thought had simply fired through his brain, perhaps without him realising it.
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Rowena
Pack Werewolf
Cole's Pack: Midwife
Come with me; for alone I fear the tide.
Posts: 22
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Post by Rowena on Feb 25, 2008 0:47:55 GMT
"Ahh," Rowena looked down at the spread of books over the table surface and then up again, her glasses sliding just a touch down her nose with the movement, "No, oddly enough it slipped my mind," she gave a semi-laugh and gestured to the pad of paper she had been jotting notes down on. Like several other pack members that she knew, the redhead had a tendency to let things slip when she was concentrating on something like this, thoughts of food had just gone out of her head when she'd been thinking weeks ahead into the future; when she would need to talk to Nate about booking the ultra sound at the Hospital, because she wanted to be sure that everything was alright, the baby was in the right position and had a strong little heartbeat. After all she hadn't taken those modern midwife courses, learning how to use all the new technology that had come into being, she was subscribed to several medical journals, and all that collected knowledge was more or less erroneous in the day to day tread of the pack, now that she could put it to good use she was going to and she wasn't going to take any chances.
Normal pills and vitamin supplements just wouldn't cut it for a werewolf, they would be metabolised too quickly for the minerals to do any good or have any lasting effect, so she was thinking about what foods she should advise Dia to eat more of instead... Of course now that Wayne had mentioned it, and she was thinking about it, she realised that she was actually hungry, the smell wafting into the dining room from the kitchen was hardly helping to curb the feeling either. Not that she wanted to ignore the desire now that she was aware of it, or that she wanted too, one thing about werewolves that she was amused by was the appetite, the modern media machine seemed to have gotten at least that fact right.
"How about you?" she inquired, closing her journal in a finalistic way, she was done for now; actually she kind of thought it was a good time to stop anyway, her mind felt sort of saturated with information and not much was going in and staying in anymore.
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Wayne
Pack Werewolf
Cole's Pack: Fighter
They say nobody panic, help is on its way. We're already on it, you've got to be brave.
Posts: 35
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Post by Wayne on Apr 2, 2008 22:16:17 GMT
Wayne was always the type of male wolf who could be, or at least appear comfortable in conversation, no matter the topic; save for drastic circumstances, he was usually calm and approachable, destined to be underestimated, no doubt, which actually suited him just fine. If he was underestimated, not taken for a threat, then he could come through in a fight and take his enemies by surprise, catch them off-guard, and therefore help to turn the tables. Or that was usually what he hoped for, anyway. More often than not, his bad luck shone through to some degree; Wayne knew he ought to, on some level, feel ashamed that it was rare for him to return from a mission or fight of some sort without some kind of wound or injury, no matter the severity. It was his place, his ‘destiny’ even, he could call it, and if that was how it was meant to be, then Wayne was not the type of wolf to complain. It just wasn’t his style.
Following Rowena’s gesture to her notebooks and texts, he smiled understandingly and nodded, his hair gently shifting with the motion. He couldn’t blame Rowena for burying herself in her work, as irregular as births in the pack had become in recent times. There were those among them who had been born into this group, he knew, those like Kennedy, Irina and Joshua, but those had all been some time ago. Whatever had caused werewolf pregnancies to drop was unknown, and while he wouldn’t ever expect the redhead opposite him of being in any way ‘rusty’, he could understand completely why she was digging through her records and files, brushing up, as it were. This wasn’t just any birth after all; it was the Alphas’ child she was destined to deliver, and that counted for a lot.
“I haven’t,” he replied with his characteristic mildness, subtle smile in place. “I was on my way to find something when I stopped in here.” Taking her closing of the book to mean that she intended to take a break, he shifted his position slightly, as if bracing himself to stand. “Would you care to join me?”
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Grant
Pack Werewolf
Cole's Pack
Posts: 5
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Post by Grant on Oct 12, 2010 15:18:27 GMT
POST TIMESKIP Sitting in the dining room, his feet propped up, a bowlful of slightly melty (almost perfect) vanilla ice cream sitting next to his laptop and Annetta’s cat Dorian purring contently in his lap, Grant watched the online auction he had been monitoring. He liked to watch the auctions he set up and, with nothing better to be doing, he had thought he might as well. He could have found something else to do if he really wanted to since, in a pack the size of the one Cole and Dia had put together, there was almost always something going on if one knew where to look and who to ask. For the time being, though, Grant had decided that he’d do his own thing and watch the auction, eat some ice cream and listen to some of the music he had on his laptop. He hadn’t actually been expecting anyone to join him, not even one of the pets some of the others kept, but when Dorian had come sauntering in, apparently taking a rare vacation from Annetta and Puck, he had been happy to let the cat stretch out and keep him company.
Checking on the state of his ice cream, Grant decided that it was close enough to perfect and picked up the bowl, getting a narrow eyed, “Do it again and I’ll rip your face off without thinking twice” look from Dorian. “Sorry, sorry. Won’t happen again.” He didn’t trust the cat not to go through with the threat he thought he saw in those eyes. It was perfectly possible that he was reading more into the look than he should have been but who really knew with cats? He figured it was best to apologize now and be more careful in the future than take any sort of unnecessary risks.
Dorian seemed to settle back in as Grant took a bite of ice cream and returned his attention to the computer. Once the auction ended, he’d go be sociable if Dorian deemed it all right. Cats, he had learned, didn’t take it well when they were forced to get up when they didn’t want to.
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Grant
Pack Werewolf
Cole's Pack
Posts: 5
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Post by Grant on Dec 6, 2010 23:37:03 GMT
The auction was almost over and, unless someone made a last minute, show stopping bid, it seemed as if there was a clear winner. It didn’t matter to him who won in the end, so long as the item sold and he got his cut of the profits. It wasn’t a big cut, so it wasn’t like he was gouging anybody, but he did expect to be paid for setting up the auction for the guy selling the ugly old vase that was going for way more than Grant himself would have been willing to pay for such a thing. Part of what he made would go into the pack’s funds, just like they always did, but the rest would be put to some use for himself. He didn’t know what it’d be, but he knew that he’d end up finding something and be glad he had the cash. It had happened before and it was bound to happen again. Not to mention that it came in useful when he found some random something that he thought someone in the pack might like. He was known to occasionally come back with something or other that had been found while he was out with a group wandering around the shops and usually kept his eyes open for anything unique and attention grabbing.
Taking a bite of his ice cream, Grant looked to the cat in his lap and noticed that Dorian seemed to be on the verge of going to sleep, which made it look as if he wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon. It could, he figured, always be worse. He had a baggie full of an assortment of candy he could work on once his ice cream was gone and there was more than enough music on his laptop to keep him entertained for hours. Along with the fact he could always surf the net and had thought to bring along a glass of strawberry milk just in case he ended up being there longer than he was originally expecting, he thought he was pretty well set for a while.
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Mara
Rogue Werewolf
Departed
Posts: 260
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Post by Mara on Mar 19, 2011 8:57:46 GMT
Continued from The Kitchen with Kyle:
Mara swept ahead of Kyle, the smell of the pasta filling her senses. She let the emotions flow through her easily - it was a smell of home, of her family - her stomach growled gently, and her mouth watered a little as she moved into the dining room, pausing briefly seeing Grant sitting at one end of the table with a very contented feline on his lap.
She looked back at Kyle once, and continued into the room - unsure where to sit so as not to disturb the other wolf. He had his music on quietly and was absorbed in whatever it was he was doing - she paused, then walked in. "Hi Grant." The cat on his lap didn't even bat an ear, they were obviously beneath notice compared to a nap.
She put her bowl down infront of another chair a reasonable distance from the other wolf, just in case he wanted some privacy, and glanced at the cupboard containing piles of board games, as well as a chess set and cards. She wasn't sure if Kyle would be interested in anything else, but when her stomach gave an audible growl, she simply sat and began to twirl the noodles around her fork.
Looking up at Kyle, she asked, "I was thinking... would you be willing to do some sparring with my bo staff? I'd like to try defense versus tonfa - " What she really wanted to ask was if she'd eventually be able to spar in her wolf form without fighting it, but she felt shy with Grant within earshot - she was still one of the babies of the pack after all - though not the youngest anymore. And should she tell Owen about her empathy.... and Flynn... she shook her head and stuffed the forkful in her mouth, the strands down her chin, not caring at the mess. She was hungry and it was easier than continuing to try to think.
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Grant
Pack Werewolf
Cole's Pack
Posts: 5
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Post by Grant on Mar 21, 2011 17:50:42 GMT
He looked up from his laptop’s screen when the other two wolves entered. “Hey, Mara. Ky- Ow!” Dorian, it seemed, wasn’t especially impressed with chatter and had dug his claws in, clearly not caring that it was Grant’s knee that his claws met. Cats were finicky critters, always wanting everything their way and demanding that things get changed when they weren’t going to their liking. He couldn’t really complain, though. Not whole-heartedly. He did, after all, keep his room littered with cat toys and his door was typically opened a crack, just in case any of the resident felines decided to grace him with their presence. He had a fondness for cats, even if they could be stuck up little snobs in fur coats.
Glancing at his computer screen again as Mara went to sit down, Grant picked up his headphones from where he had put them on the table, just in case anyone else came into the room. Since Mara and Kyle seemed to be involved in a conversation, he hooked in the headphones and put them on. It was not only his way of making sure the music didn’t disturb them, but also a way of saying ‘Feel free to continue talking freely. Don’t worry about me listening in, because I won’t.’ He was a sociable wolf, but it seemed polite to give them whatever privacy he could so they could continue with their conversation without having to leave the place he had staked out for himself.
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Kyle
Pack Werewolf
Cole's Pack: Fighter
Will they open their eyes and realise we are one?
Posts: 63
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Post by Kyle on Mar 22, 2011 0:26:04 GMT
Kyle's gaze lifted towards Grant when his greeting was interrupted by a brief cry of pain, no matter how fleeting the sensation might have been. His response was a dip of his head, something characteristically simple and stoic and never giving much away. He claimed a seat opposite Mara so that they might talk without having to twist in their seats while they ate and he considered his response carefully as was his way while he chewed a mouthful of pasta. "I have wooden tonfa that I train with," he told Mara finally. "It would be good practise when it comes to your reflexes and control." Kyle knew Mara would take no offence to that, she rarely took offence to the things he said no matter how bluntly or directly they were put forward.
Mara had been a fighter before she had become a wolf, a woman proficient in martial arts, but with the animal inside thrown into the mix even the simplest of things was complicated and it was something she would have to deal with for the rest of her life. If anything her empathy made her wolf side even more unpredictable but Kyle believed she could use her ability to benefit her in combat in the future. It was just a matter of balance and restraint, finding that point where she could have her shields dropped without letting the rush of emotions from other characters influence her and ruin her concentration.
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Mara
Rogue Werewolf
Departed
Posts: 260
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Post by Mara on Apr 9, 2011 10:49:01 GMT
Mara twirled a large forkful of noodles and nodded at his words - what she'd expected, really -and put the mouthful in her mouth, sucking the trailing noodles in with a quiet slurp. A quick check to make sure she hadn't made a huge pig of herself with a quick hand to her face and a dash to the kitchen for a napkin..She handed Kyle one too - though he was immaculate.
He was so good about training with her, and his bluntness when it came to her work was welcome. Her ex... she began to chew more slowly, the food suddenly feeling slimy in her mouth, rather than savoury and textured. She lowered her eyes, breathing in through her mouth as she tried to continue to eat. She didn't often think of her life before coming to the Hyperion, but Greg kept popping into her thoughts periodically. It had been a broken life sure, but her heart had also been broken... and a few of the pack had gently pointed that out to her. She snuck a glance at Kyle and hid a smile. Of all the members of the pack she'd become friends with, he was the one she felt most comfortable with thanks to his nature, but she still guarded what she said.
Time. Always time. She managed to swallow, and played with her bowl for a moment, knowing she needed to eat, but the joy of the food becoming less as her mind wandered to Greg again and again.
"You know, I was going for my next dan grading in a month." It was out of her mouth before she realized she was going to confide it. "When it happened."
She forced another bite. "I was supposed to meet one of the greats of the arts. And grade for him. I was supposed to do the bo kata I'd created - and spar for 10 minutes without stopping... 5 opponents - 10 minutes each. I was training for months." She chewed again, swallowed. "I haven't worn my belt since."
She didn't know why she'd shared it. She was just sure it needed to be said.. and that he might have something to say that would help.
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Kyle
Pack Werewolf
Cole's Pack: Fighter
Will they open their eyes and realise we are one?
Posts: 63
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Post by Kyle on Apr 16, 2011 18:55:45 GMT
Kyle's pale eyes turned subtly towards Grant even though he knew the other wolf was in his own world and wouldn't listen in to their conversation despite the fact that he had been in the room first and they had, for all intents and purposes, intruded. That was one thing Kyle had learned about this pack, so many of the members were so courteous towards one another, they took the feelings of others into account and that was one of the things he admired most about them as a unit. A family, he supposed he should call it; that was how Cole himself saw it so Kyle should respect that and address it similarly.
"You should wear it," he told her after another forkful of food which he managed to keep tidy in place on his utensil so there was no dangling or spattering while he ate. His eyes came up to hers and that was where they stayed. "You shouldn't let negative experiences cancel out positive associations," he went on, his words measured and steady as he said them as though each one had been placed meticulously in order in his mind. "If wearing the belt makes you feel good then you should wear the belt, even if only for a little while." He made it sound so simple, he knew, but in his mind that was what it was. Simple. That didn't make it any less difficult for Mara though, he knew, and so he made sure not to sound too direct when he said the words.
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Grant
Pack Werewolf
Cole's Pack
Posts: 5
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Post by Grant on Aug 4, 2011 17:06:35 GMT
He didn’t have a clue as to what Kyle and Mara were discussing as he closed out the auction site, the winning bid having been made and finished off his ice cream. The bowl got put off to the side, ready to be taken into the kitchen when Dorian, who had officially drifted into kitty dreamland, decided that he was allowed to get up. Until then, he supposed that he could either surf the net, looking up random things as they popped into his mind, or he could play the new game he had put on his computer the night before and had yet to start. The package had promised a “puzzle filled adventure” and, really, who was he to pass up such a promise? There had been a couple of screenshots of a couple of the puzzles that were supposed to be in the game and, just from those, there had been no way to figure out what he would have to do in order to get past them.
Deciding that he would go with the game for the time being, he started it up, shutting off its audio so he could continue to listen to music uninterrupted. If it turned out that the game’s audio might actually be important, he would turn the music off and turn up the game so he could listen to it through the headphones. For now, though, he was content to sit there, listening to music and playing the game, working his way through his little bag of candy and glass of strawberry flavored milk while acting as a cat bed.
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Mara
Rogue Werewolf
Departed
Posts: 260
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Post by Mara on Jul 29, 2012 7:58:41 GMT
Mara listened to Kyle's sensible words, and knew it was the truth. How was it that truth could be so simple, so blunt - and yet the hardest to actually accomplish. Her appetite was waning, and she knew she needed to be eating - but she played with the noodles with her fork rather than using it for the correct purpose.
She stole a glance at Grant, and hid a smile at Dorian's snoozing form on the other wolf's lap as he concentrated on his game. He'd be stuck there for a while, it appeared the feline was feeling extremely comfortable.
She returned to her bowl and scowled at it, pushing the food around. She needed to train more. She needed to push herself to the edge more, and frustration built enough that she felt her heartrate speed up. She realized she was holding her breath and let it out softly, trying to keep herself relaxed looking. Her scowl deepened as she glared at her bowl, the food still sitting there, and the desire to eat gone nearly completely, even though her body needed the fuel. Her knee began to bounce under the table, and she focused her eyes on the middle of the table for a moment, trying to get her thinking back into control... and an even more ridiculous notion that she could perhaps keep her discomfort from Kyle.
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Kyle
Pack Werewolf
Cole's Pack: Fighter
Will they open their eyes and realise we are one?
Posts: 63
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Post by Kyle on Aug 4, 2012 14:12:36 GMT
Kyle had found himself discreetly watching the other male wolf as he partook in whatever form of entertainment was currently running on his computer, but it wasn't long before his attention was back on his own space at the table, on the meal before him and the she-wolf sat to his side. Kyle very rarely needed to look at Mara to have a sense of what was going on; it was like a sense in and of itself, an awareness of her body language and energy without even turning his eyes on her. Now was no exception, and when he turned his head to regard her where she sat, he saw his suspicions had been correct. Something was bothering her.
His expression just as unreadable as always, level but verging on what some might call stony, he glanced from Mara's face in profile to the way she pushed the food around her bowl. "Tell me about it," he said at last, his attention turning and dropping to his own food, which he went on to eat a forkful of as if there was nothing at all peculiar about the request he had just made. If there was something on Mara's mind, the best thing to do would be to air it, get it off her chest and out into the open. Kyle had taken her under his wing in a way, intentionally or otherwise, and if he could help her then he would do so. First though, Mara needed to tell him what was bothering her.
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