🍂 Scarborough Pack Lore Thread 🍂

Unsorted

🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂
Bloodlines (WIP! Not finished!)
🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂
Year 1 - Featuring Riko and Hawthorn Berry

Packfather Riko talks about heritage with the recently rescued adolescent Hawthorn Berry. He's horrified with what he learns, and seeks to help the young wolf understand his relationship to his lineage in a new light.

---

"Hold up a sec. Let me get a good look at you."

Riko saw how young Hawthorn froze mid-step. The adolescent turned slowly to the Packfather, and looked up at him with a note of apprehension. At his expression, Riko wondered with a pang of guilt how much the young wolf had been told about his initial apprehensions taking on the siblings. Still, like his half-brother before him - rest in peace, Wrenzer - he put on a warm smile for the young rescue. "I recognize those markings," he said thoughtfully, as though he'd not seen Hawthorn's wary expression. "Coalchaser's line, right?"

To his surprise, the red-backed wolf responded by flattening his ears and averting his gaze. "Yeah..." The note of shame in his voice was unmistakable, and confused Riko. It must have been written on his face, because young Hawthorn quickly clarified, "... some of the wolves in the Froschlands said that you can't walk three steps without tripping over some of his bloodline. A plague, was the wording he used-"

Riko could feel his heart break at that. They'd told Hawthorn his line was a plague? The young wolf seemed genuinely upset at his heritage, not for the shame of anything his father had done, but for his line being prosperous. The older wolf felt his paws flex, and his claws dug into the loamy soil. Hawthorn must have noticed Riko's expression, because he paused. Half-Brother to Wrenzer he may have been, but he was never as good at hiding his feelings. Approaching the rescue now, Packfather Riko swallowed the rage that had begun to boil inside him. and instead placed a paw on Hawthorn's shoulder, looking him in the eyes. "Coalchaser is a capable wolf, and you should feel no shame for being of his kin. Who were your parents?"

"... don't remember. I'd been in the Froschlands since the earliest I can remember..."

Riko sighed and glanced to the side. The way that Hawthorn had expressed hurt - genuine hurt in his voice - had stuck into his heart like a boar's tusk. The poor kid knew nothing of who'd come before him, slipping through the cracks, winding up in a plague colony. Nobody had taught him a damn thing about the great families, and now he was here. He exhaled slowly through his nose, and then turned back to face Hawthorn.

"Coalchaser is the alpha and packfather of the Mystic Falls pack, at the other end of the deciduous forest," he said calmly, and put on a reassuring smile once more. "A number of packs have sought him to help diversify their bloodlines, and now his children have been having children." He pauses, then gives a weak smile. "There are some who worry that pups like you will be more loyal to their grandpappy than to their own packs, and so they- they can say mean things." He flattened his ears sympathetically. "But there's no reason you can't both be proud of where you came from, and do the best you can to live the best life you can now."

Hawthorn sat up a bit taller, his blue eyes furrowed a bit. "I don't see why it matters," he says. "Blood or no blood, I don't have any relation to this man. What's some stranger to me? He's not the one who dragged Holly whimpering from hear deathbed into the den of a healer wolf! He's not the one who charged across treacherous lands to get exotic healing herbs to cure my sisters and me."

That gave Riko a moment of pause, but he nodded slowly. "... and that's why such fears are unfounded," Riko said. "Because you've made for yourself a home in Scarborough. These wolves looked out for you, and... I see in your eyes, you're very eager to return the favor. Perhaps too eager. That wound you got in the gulch yesterday-" Hawthorn chuffed in amusement and rolled his eyes. Riko smiled, and continued, "... but ashamed? Hawthorn, there's a proud legacy there to live up to, if you are willing to embrace it." His eyes glanced to the side. "Personally I'm proud to be Miriko's son, and I should love to do her memory honor. She's not quite the wolf you might expect, but she was..." he paused, and then closed his eyes, smiling. "She was a capable wolf, Hawthorn. And so is that grandfather of yours. If you'd like... I could tell you about him."