Kill It With Fire [Descai]

[Vorilye]

This was very unlike his beta.  Vorilye had not seen hide or hair of Shayde in close to two weeks. Normally he would not worry, as members of Descai had a knack for disappearing for the stupidest of reasons and resurfacing not much later, but this was different. Shayde was his dependable one, and the pups were starting to ask questions. He could not bear to look Zirena in the fave and tell her that he had no idea where her mother had gone. The sweet little female was bound to be the death of him, but he would not let his daughter down. To make matters worse, Kyra had vanished right about the same time. It was terrifying to not be able to find his oldest daughter. Kyra had seemed so happy to return to Descai to live with him and her brother and half siblings. Had something changed? Did she decide to leave him once more? 

There were so many questions that the alpha could not answer. If he had one more pack member ask about the  whereabouts, he would go insane. And it was because of this that Vorilye was searching Descai's borders from top to bottom. He needed to find Shayde and bring her back to her children. If not for his own sanity, he was doing this for his children. At this point, they were all that he had that he depend on. They were never waivering in their loyalty. They each took after him in one way or another, and it amazed him as they grew larger each day. The only thing that concerned him was Ryker and Valeria. The two most dominant of their litters, it was likely that when he made the decision to step down that there would be an impressive fight for the title. Ryker had the strength and years behind him, but Val had inherited her mother's craftiness. They were such an interesting pair that it made him laugh each time they were near one another. 

After a thorough search of Kamari, the alpha discerned that Shayde was nowhere to be found within his borders. However, he was disturbed by what he found. Fresh scent trails wound all throughout his eastern lands. The male's nostrils flar flared in anger. When he found who was trespassing and if they had taken his beta, there would be hell to pay. One did not mess with Vor's family and walk away unscathed. 

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Count | 410 words
Muse | Good but length is difficult on a phone
Tags | None
Notes | This is open to anyone with a character in Descai. 

[Zirena]

Zirena had been awake for almost 24 hours now, searching for her mother. It wasn't like her to just....not show up. She was always around albeit not always at the dens but even her scent was getting thin. Where had she gone? Her Mom was her best friend. Yes her brothers were there for her but she couldn't talk to them about girl stuff and Daddy wouldn't understand her issues the way that Mommy did. Had she just left? Did she not want to be with them anymore? Zirena wouldn't let that thought linger. Mommy loved her and her brothers and Daddy too even though she probably would never admit to him. She had to believe that her parents loved each other because that was how it was supposed to be. If she could only find her mother, everything would be fine. That was what she kept telling herself. She had already looked all over Acerbus for her and couldn't find her so she had traveled into Kamari. It was a place that she rarely went to so the area was pretty unfamiliar even though she still called it her home. If she didn't find her mother here, she would ask Daddy if she could look for her mother outside of the territory and if he refused, she'd probably go anyway but at least he would know where she went.

Her eyes burned and were bloodshot and her body ached from exhaustion. It seemed to take all of her energy just to lift her feet. She wanted to lay down and sleep but she couldn't sleep not knowing where Mom was. Unfamiliar smells entered her nose but she was too tired to care. She hadn't been paying much attention to anything and her head was spinning. Her eyes were on the ground watching her black paws. She had become more aware of herself in the past few months. She was realizing that she was different looking from the rest of the pups. Before she hadn't noticed it but now it bothered her that she had black legs and Zeph didn't. His fur was colored just like Mom's except it was brighter like hers and Syph was all black basically. She was self-conscious of her body as well as her personally. Did all the other pups think she was a bitch? It had been a while since Rurik had said that ugly word but it still bothered her to this day.

In her aimless walking, she ran into her father. Surprised, she looked up at him and rubbed her face into him. He was much larger than herself but Daddy's were supposed to be big and strong. Hi Daddy, she said as she sat next to him, too exhausted to stand anymore.

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Vorilye
Notes: N/A
Muse: alright for just getting back into her  

[Vorilye]

As his littlest daughter approached, Vorilye could not help but cast a small smile in her direction. He always had a soft spot for his tiny daughter, though currently he did not know how to address any questions she might have. How did one explain to a young female that her mother was nowhere to be found. As she flopped her rear down next to him, he smiled broadly. "Hi there, princess," he purred at his little girl. He was always happy to see her, but how come the circumstances had to be so poor right now? He needed to find Atriell and see if she could help locate Shayde. He could not tolerate the thought of his beta being gone. How was he supposed to maintain control of his pack without his second in command? "What are you doing all the way out here, sweetheart?" he asked curiously. As a general rule, he wanted Zirena to stay with one of her older brothers or Valeria. She simply was not large enough to defend herself yet. Sure, her mother was a fiery one, but Zirena had too much of a sweet spirit to see the evils of the world. He was here to keep her safe, but he could not do that easily if she would not allow him that right.

"Zirena, are any of your brothers or sisters around here? I don't really want any of you wandering out here alone," he fretted like a worried mother, though he was a lot less concerned about Sypher and Zephyros than he was about Zirena. Even Valeria towered over her, and Zofia was not all that small either. Essentially, she was forever the runt, even if she did not want to admit it. "I'm going to need to dig up Ryker here soon, too... Have you seen Atriell or Rovan around either?" he asked as an errant thought. He needed some of his best and most dependable pack members to aid him in his search. He did not want to unnecessarily worry the rest of the pack, but he was getting more worried by the days. The unfamiliar trails worried him exponentially, as he knew Shayde would never leave of her own will. She loved the pack and had been there with him from the very beginning. Even if she was rough around the edges, he knew the red female well enough to know that something was not right with this situation.

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Count | 411 words
Muse | Bad.
Tags | @zirena
Notes | Sorry, this one wasn't very good at all.

[Zirena]

Zirena's small and tired face smiled sleepily back at her father as he greeted her in return. His soft purring voice was a comfort to her ears. At least she had one parent to sit by her. What she wanted more than anything right now though was to find her mom and go back to the dens and sleep. She was considering just staying in Kamari and sleeping in the den site here so she wouldn't have to walk all the way back to Acerbus. It was a long, long trek with short legs. Her brothers had outgrown her by leaps and bounds and she was obviously the smallest of Vorilye's children. She remembered a few months ago when she would dream of being big and strong but now she knew that wouldn't happen. She hadn't grown much, if at all recently.

The pack was getting more and more scarce recently too. She hadn't seen Atriell around too much. The pretty fae made Zirena upset every time she saw her so the young pup wasn't missing her too much. Zirena didn't have too many nice things to say about the strange female. She spoke funny and was way too pretty for her own good. Why couldn't she look like that? It was so unfair. She saw the way that other males looked at her in the pack and wanted that same attention for herself in a way. Of course, she had grown up with or was related to all the males in the pack that were her age so she didn't necessarily want that kind of attention from them but from others it would be nice. She was nearing the age of sexual maturity at a little over a year old, in her mind anyway. Her body had already physically matured in terms of height and length and weight but everything else was still coming. Regardless, she wasn't a fan of atriell's or Val's sister who had the same coloring. But the story was different for the golden and white pup. She was at least somewhat normal....kind of. Zofia at least spoke normally and didn't annoy the shit out of her on a normal basis. They both looked like angels though and that was probably why Zirena had an issue with them. They looked so perfect and appealing on the outside and she wanted to be that way too but she looked like some weird mixture between a jackal and a wolf. Not the most attractive thing in the world. She felt as if she were the least attractive one out of all the pups, other than Rurik for he took the gold in that category.

"I was looking for Mommy......you haven't found her yet have you?" She looked up at him with hopeful eyes. Maybe he had found her and she was waiting at the dens for her. She also was hoping that he wouldn't care too much that she was out here by herself. She hadn't told either of her brothers or Valeria that she was going on the expedition. She didn't want them to try and stop her. She had her mind set on finding her mother and no one was going to stop her. She could defend herself if she needed to. Her mother had been a huge role model for the young princess and she tried to imitate her. However when her dad brought up her brothers and sisters, her eyes went to her pitch black paws. "No," she said like a child who knew they were in trouble, "they're probably back home." She used the word "home" meaning Acerbus. Zirena was hardly out here ever, let alone by herself so even though this too was her home technically, she felt that Acerbus was truly her home and Kamari was just a place to escape to when the adults or her siblings were getting on her nerves.

"I think Ryker's in the dens. He's sad.... I think... Or sick." Zirena had been there to visit her eldest brother but he hadn't been in the playing mood. All he does is lay there and stare at the wall. It was really weird behavior for him, Zirena thought. She had never seen him that way before so it worried her but maybe Daddy knew what was going on. Maybe it wasn't a big deal. Maybe it was one of those "boy" things her mom would tell her about and say she'd learn about them when she's older.

At the mention of Atriell however, Zirena's mood changed. "No, I haven't seen her," she said shortly and without looking at her father. She felt like all she heard about was Atriell and how amazing she is. She was sick of hearing about the "amazing Atriell." She wanted her to just disappear. "I haven't seen Rovan either." She said a little less shortly. She hadn't met him but briefly so there wasn't much she could hold against him.

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Vorilye
Notes: Apparently Zirena has a grudge or something against atriell o.0
Muse: ehh....  

[Vorilye]

Of course she was out here looking for her mother. If there was one thing Vorilye could say about Zirena, it is that her heart was always in the right place. Right now it did not really matter that he had asked her to stay with the others. She was doing what she thought was the right thing, and he was not about to get angry with her over that. "No, sweetheart. I haven't found her yet, but I did find a scent trail. I think she may be out of the pack's territory," he admitted to his young daughter. She had grown so much, but he still felt the need to soften the blow. Shayde was not one to just vanish without a trace. He had a sinking suspicion that the worst had happened, and not only were they going to be down a beta, but his children were going to be without a mother. Sure, Sarin was still around for his youngest litter, but Shayde was also a mother figure for Ryker. His eldest son had already lost so much... Would this be the final nail in the coffin?

Everything pointed to depression in his son. Unfortunately, Vorilye did not know any way to bring him back to earth. He was so consumed by the negative aspects of his life. Perhaps it was time to have a talk with Ryker. Perhaps he could make his son see that even in the darkest of days, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Vorilye was a prime example of this. He never spoke of his last family, but maybe it was time to find some closure in explaining it to Ryker. He did not know if it would help at all, but the least he could do is try. He knew how much potential the adolescent male had in him. Every day he grew more confident and more experienced. Vorilye could not be more proud of his son, yet Zirena told him he was sulking. Truthfully, he could be sick, but Vorilye sincerely doubted that. He was likely sick with worry, much like his father. Shayde was the closest thing to a friend the alpha male had apart from Atriell. Even so, the white femme was still a bit mysterious to the alpha. He could not quite figure her out, though he hoped that in time she would open up more. She was the only one in the pack whose intelligence seemed to rival his that was not blood related to him.

"Rovan's not around either?" The news struck the male as odd. For all that he had gone through to return to his father's lands, it was bizarre for him to take off as well. Vorilye had had high hopes for the older male. He could see potentially that rivaled Ryker's in the brute. It seemed as if his best fighters and strongest in the pack were being picked off one by one. Of course, he could not seem to get rid of Angel and her bastard pups. The ones that he did not exactly want around were exactly the ones that clung to the pack like a leech.

"I need to find Atriell. She's going to be the one I would expect most capable of finding your mother, sweetheart," he explained. Atriell was crafty and cunning. She thought things through in a different way than the rest of the pack, including himself. If anyone could decipher this mystery, she would be the one. Now he just needed to find her. Most likely she was wandering around Acerbus. Hopefully the injury to her leg would not hinder her in any way, and she could help him to the best of her capabilities. "Zirena, we need to head back," he implored softly, hopeful that his daughter would abide by his words and not try to stay searching for her mother alone. She needed to be with her siblings, not out here wandering with her father. They would all get through this eventually...

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Count | 675 words
Muse | Okay-ish. Not great.
Tags | @zirena
Notes | I'm sorry this took so long. I've been having a heck of a time getting any muse at all.

[Zirena]

A puzzled look found itself on the young princess' face. "You mean you think she..left?" Zirena didn't know if she believed that. Mommy wouldn't just leave without telling anyone, especially her. She and her mother had a special bond. They told each other everything. She dismissed the thought. She knew her mother had to be around somewhere. Maybe she was just taking a break and hiding somewhere for a few more days and would return soon? She hoped so. She planned to howl to her mother tonight and then she would know that she missed her and would come home. Maybe she felt unappreciated and just needed the reassurance and Zirena loved her.

Zirena needed her mother to return not only for her own sake but for her oldest half brother as well. He was so sad and Zirena felt as if she needed to find her for him so he would be happy again. It was awful to see her sibling laying in the dens and hardly moving. Sometimes he gets so still that she thinks he's dead. Although Zirena didn't feel responsible for his sadness or her mother's disappearance, she had taken it upon herself to find her. Her mother had taught her so many tracking techniques since they started training. Maybe that's what this was? Maybe Shayde was testing her abilities to track and find? That would make sense. Mommy had always talked about the importance of the skill and the importance of determination. Zirena was determined. She wouldn't stop until Shayde was found.

Zirena shook her head when her father asked, more to himself than her, if Rovan had been around. She hadn't seen the older male in a while but maybe he was around and Zirena just hadn't seen him. Zirena felt like many of the pack members were going away. Except for herself and her siblings and Angel and her bastards and Sarin's litter of course. But the rest of the adults seemed to be leaving them. It was a stupid choice, really. Descai was the best pack there ever was and ever would be. They were the strongest and the biggest as far as she knew. Although there were days that she thought about what it might be like outside of her home....

"Yeah I guess..." Zirena said when her father told her that Atriell would find her mother. She didn't think that Atriell would be able to find her any more easily than she could.

She nodded when her father said they needed to go back. She wanted to go home and rest for a little while. She would resume the search later but for now, she needed food and sleep. She arose from her sitting position and started heading for the dens back in Acerbus.

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Vorilye
Notes: n/a
Muse: not that great..