Sigil

Open wounds
Blood anew
Carries way
To you.

Sigil is a pumice-furred wolf with a red-ticked coat and yellow eyes. He is the son of Phoenix Tribe's First Head Scout, Mercy, and Cedar. He is the littermate of Crumbs and Aloe and younger sibling of Fern and Willow.

He has a scar on his left hind leg from fending off a coyote raid on camp. He also has a scar on his x from a hunt in the riparian woodland (12/10)

Then this fucker fell down a cliff! (12/17) and cut his eye open. And then he did it again! And scarred he FOOT (12/17)
Puphood
Spoiler
For his first month of life, Sigil was surrounded by family. His mother Cedar, who was also his pupsitter, spent every moment with him and his littermates. His father Mercy, at Mom's request, would bring feathers from his exploration to fluff their nest. Dad spent his nights curled around the pups and his mate, making sure no one wandered too far from the burrow.

Sigil, Crumb, and Aloe proved to be adventurous pups, with Sigil the mastermind behind their explorations. He'd beg Hayden and Cedar to take them outside the camp to roll in the dirt and get up to pup shenanigans. He even pushed for exploring when Crumb and Aloe themselves didn't want to play! Dad always seemed to be up for another game, though. The feathers he gathered were fun for Sigil to pounce on, and he loved how much he learned under Dad's guidance.

After the litter was weaned, they went for trips down to the river with Kala, an older adolescent who seemed to care a lot about water. Sigil listened as best he could about the fil-whatever thingies she built, but after a few minutes he wanted to play!

The pups saw their first fish when Sigil managed to catch one! He thought about calling to their mom or Hayden and D'arc, who lounged by a nearby tree, but Crumb interrupted his thoughts. He said how slimey it was when he poked it, and how weird the little red bumps were. Aloe openly complaining about how wolves even manage to eat smelly stuff like that. Sigil noticed how weirdly empty its bulging, unfocused red eyes were, but that must be how all animals with small brains are...

Crumb shot Aloe a snarky grin and dared her to eat it. She refused, scoffing and complaining about this and that, but ultimately shot Sigil a look. Would i really be cool if I ate this? Her eyes seemed to say. On the one paw, it was kinda freaky looking, he wouldn't wanna eat it. On the other, didnt the grown ups say fish was good for them? And Crumb seemed to be excited by this, he felt excited too! It'd be funny to watch her dislike it. So he egged her on, and Aloe ate the whole thing. It was super funny! Him and Crumb were cracking up. So worth it, he thought at the time.

Aloe's health declined greatly, Sigil became sad and lethargic. But things werent as they seemed. He noticed Aloe wasn't just dying - she was changing. He was the first to communicate with Gnath and the first to figure out what it truly was, which he kept from the pack for days.

Once he becomes an underpaw, he seems to harden emotionally, distancing himself from his guilt. He admires Zircon and pays the wolf visits, preferring to train with Rumbling thunder when he can. Zircon teaches him about duty, while his mother tries to teach him about heart. Rusty still tells him stories and gives good practical advice for exploring - moreso than Lupo, who explains things oddly and all over the place - and even his father will take him out on his patrols, but none of it interests Sigil as much. He wants to make things right with his sister. Spends his free time either training or visiting Aloe to speak with her, gets close to Twig as well. Knows his place as an apprentice with the Swift Claws but dislikes them because of their attitude towards Aloe. Sleeps in the Metal Beast witb Rusty, Rinty, Cedar, and Mercy, unlike Crumb who chooses to sleep in Moss Rock still.

Rinty treats the pups like a yearling older brother, Sigil finds him a little hyper and submissive for his tastes. Much prefers Zircon's respectable company, finds Vision and Apricot hanging around him after their lessons. Apricot is well spoken and seems charming while his littermate Vision is a little out there, but seems competent enough to earn Sigil's respect.

Sigil is the first wolf Gnath revealed itself to. Mid conversation in the bitter den, Aloe had gone quiet and stared at Sigil with vacant, unfocused eyes. It wasn't her usual state of lowered consciousness, it was attentive but... creepy. He asked what was going on, if she was okay, did he need to call Twig, feeling anxious that he had done something to worsen her condition. Aloe blinked, then stood and said "You ask questions. Let's go to the forest?" A little freaked out, Sigil asked if she was okay again, which was answered with a curt "yes." A little curious, admittedly, Sigil played along, noticing she had no idea where she was going. Weird again. They took the same route they always did out of camp and walked around.

The two swapped questions, and Sigil learned that Aloe is "Gnath-ablahblahblah", some kind of...parasite? So not Aloe at all? And she learned how to control Aloe's body, but can't access her memories and has never talked to her. He also learned she had no idea what anything was - he explained a lot of simple things that they learned as pups, answering admittedly humerous questions. Gnath seemed infinitely curious about the world around it.

Originally, Sigil feared Gnath and was planning on finding a way to get rid of her. However, as he got to know Gnath, she was less a shockingly charming and intellectual creature. He learned to tell the difference between Aloe and Gnath, even as Gnath absorbed advanced social skills at breakneck speed and the gap in functioning between the two shortened.

He told Crumb, Aloe, Cedar, and Mercy about Gnath at the same time, having gathered them together in their first winter before becoming yearlings. Aloe herself was most distressed, with Mercy scolding his pup for not telling Aloe first before everyone else. They all had more questions than answers, and Aloe of course had no means of communicating with Gnath despite Crumb asking if she could talk to it.

Sigil doubled down on his attention to Aloe after that, much like his parents. He looked down on Crumb for getting more distant when the family needed each other the most. He spent more time with Zircon as a way to keep an eye on Aloe more.


Adulthood
Spoiler
As a yearling, Sigil took over for Rusty as Nightshade's Shadow's finisher. He hunted with his mother, who was more than happy to spend time and bond with her son. He also got to know Sister, an older but friendly wolf who seemed excited to mentor (and tease) him. He was the most serious of the group barring Cel, who he was familiar with from his many hours in the tribe's hoard. He fumbled and failed a lot at first, but threw himself into his work as best he could, and learned as quick as possible. He took mentor lessons from Rusty when he was in camp to try and get better at finishing, as well as asking Zircon for tips.

His oversight on Aloe herself diminished, which ended up transferring to the wolves in his hunting party. As he couldn't keep an eye on her as often, his instinct to watch over wolves bled out into everyone else he cared about. He kept tabs on his mother and Zircon in particular, throwing in a couple weird comments about knowing where they are at all times. He was a bit of an overly cautious nutball, but it was cute because he still bore the signs of his youth.

As he grew with experience, he became a reliable and precise killer, with a highly successful hunting track record. He became well respected by Nightshade at a young age, which inflated his ego a bit - he got into taking great care grooming and flaunting his coat, eating diets that were rumored by lux and ember to keep it silky and glossy. He did, however, tend to avoid delicate meat and eating fish in general - it just brought him bad memories.

He spent a good amount of time with his father and mother, and also visited Rusty often in the Elder's Alders. It is typically the adolescent's job to take care of elders, but Sigil was happy to do it. He owed the old man a lot!

Raven, a paw from the vile litter, started spending a lot of time at Rusty's den near the end of her underpawship. Sigil had always thought the pup was a little bit of a loner, and had felt bad for her sickness as a pup that his littermate Aloe caused. He trusted and respected Gnath, knowing it would never have intentionally harmed the pups and went to extreme lengths not to infect anyone in camp. He tried to lecture Raven when she badmouthed otherwise, since the paw always had something to say about Aloe and seemed to hate her guts.

Aloe or Gnath would wear their guilt in their eyes during family dinners whenever the vile litter came up. Sigil wished there was anything he could do, really, besides butting his head in to stop Raven from talking ill of his littermate. The paws were mentored in his hunting party and were shaping up to be capable chasers - especially that Ant, he seemed the most friendly and agreeable by far.

In all the chaos with Aloe, Sigil and Crumb had grown quite distant. The two barely even talked. He just left Crumb to do his thing, really, unsure what else to do and having too little time to solve whatever issue was going on between them and the family. He hoped his mother or father could figure that out...


Pup Goals
Spoiler
hoping that his grandchild can have bloodhound eyes and mel carrier/mel