[ ooc: White Love, you’ve basically crossed your limits with these wolves. They’ve warned you several times and we’re going to run you out if you rebel one more time. if you want to try and redeem yourself go ahead but it’s not looking good at the moment. ]

There are two categories of wolves in Valiant’s mind. The worthy, and the unworthy. The strong, and the weak. Those who may have some potential, and those who wouldn’t do well as washrags. But now, standing in the midst of these idiots, he’s contemplating adding another section – the imbeciles. Those who let their good energy and promising personalities go to waste, send those vital things into acting more useless than a deer with its throat ripped out. Valiant watches, a hint of malicious amusement in his brilliant gaze as the previously apologetic, soft-seeming Frost Fawn rises to the occasion and snaps at her daughter before slinking away from Valiant. The white and red boy has indeed smelled the heat-scent on the girl but he has no interest in her. After years of controlling himself, it’s not hard to resist the musty sweetness that signifies the readiness of a female. Frost Fawn is weak in his eyes and besides, he already has a brood in the ready.

The thought of the new generation sends a simpering smile to Valiant’s lips. Half Demonican and half Satanican, they’d be good. Somewhere along the line there might be some inbreeding due to the fact that the two lines both mingle at some point, but that’s no matter for it’s too far back to really make a difference in the progeny. Valiant watches as a rugged, off-white female, older seeming, strolls in and greets Seline with both a sort of apology and words of connection. If there is one thing that children are lacking, he decides, it is respect. Even Seline’s carefully honed Quirino and Cade might stand up to their adults, out of line, sometimes.

Liquid, Saladin’s brother and the siblings’ uncle, is next. The stunningly marked older male acts similarly to Valiant – ignoring the others and coming right up to the pair. Valiant returns his careful nuzzle by leaning into his relative and dipping his head at his rumbling baritone words. The boy scoffs. ‘We’ve got some audacious sons of bitches,’ he murmurs back quietly, words aimed only for his uncle and sister and most likely inaudible to others. ‘Fun, yes, indeed.’ Valiant trails his gaze once more over their mismatched little group, landing on the copper colored girl who’s just made her way in. She is a slim, curvy creature and proud by the looks of it. He leaves Seline to deal with the girl, then shifting his golden eyes away from her.

His closest blood, then. Saladin has always been rather doting upon Seline and she is a daddy’s girl, no doubt about it. In some ways Saladin’s lack of affection – open affection, anyway – has benefitted him. Valiant no longer needs kindness to be sustained. It still stings a little when his father chooses only to notice his younger sister and then turns to Liquid. He is Valiant’s father after all. But the male knows better than to do anything about it – he is far, far stronger in emotion than that. Vali allows a small, bitter smile to curl his lips, one that may or may not go unnoticed, and then pauses in any movement as Seline begins to speak.

No hunt. That is good, for only just before Seline had cast her first challenge Valiant and his father had brought down a good sized doe. Vali is nourished for now and has no desire to hunt, and besides that is such a common way of going about pack business. He rolls his eyes slightly at the last words she says – the words about how they will all be family. Those are futile, for he can already see several wolves who will be exiled from this ‘family’ of theirs. ‘You are wavering, my love,’ he says softly under his breath at his tiring sister. ‘I will go to the border but perhaps it would be wise to tend to those wounds soon.’ These words are so low that at their distance, no one in the pack save for Seline might be able to hear them. Valiant smiles slightly when Calix suggests the same thing he has – points for the charcoal wolf.

Valiant watches, vaguely amused, as White Love bristles at Calix. The alabaster male has no doubt that Calix would be able to overpower the girl, but still he wonders how the other boy would handle himself. That information would be stored away for later purposes, of course. The concealed female tears away from her bushes and introduces herself, to which Valiant cocks his head with a smirk playing on his angular features. ‘No need to apologize for hiding, my dear. It simply tells us what sort of wolf you are.’ A rather frightful one, he adds in his mind. He is surprised, though, when she does not turn tail.

A brown-eyed girl who is growling to herself enters, rather losing any sense of punctuality. She does not introduce herself nor does she make any move to. Valiant’s ears swivel. ‘Who are you?’ He asks roughly, angling his sharp eyes towards the girl in question.

Valiant grins in response to Liquid’s words, a quick thing which flits across his face softly, hinting at promises of a wolf who is not all blood and gore. ‘Chores are not meant to be fun, uncle,’ he chuckles lightly. That grin melts away and is replaced with a dangerous snarl lifted at shadowy lips when the girl turns the words around. A mirthless laugh escapes his throat as he, too, steps forward, aligning himself with his uncle. They are nearly equal heights although Valiant is a little taller due to being leaner than Liquid as his mother’s blood makes him so. ‘Third time you’ve spat on our names, bitch. You are truly a slow learner, aren’t you?’ He growls slowly.

Fury. White hot anger boils through his blood as Kodiack, that wolf who’d previously been thought to have some tact. Valiant will let Seline rip the bastard apart but for now, the ivory and red male turns, his hackles risen and eyes burning like ice-fire. ‘He is our Uncle, and he is your elder, and whether or not he is related to Seline he is to be respected. Your lips do not even deserve to speak his name,’ Valiant growls, voice cruel and harsh. ‘And you still dare to call us your family.’ Valiant shakes his head. ‘You may have a cage for your demon, coyote, but ours have no restraints. Remember this.’

Valiant turns away and flicks his tail, tossing a last glance at Seline as a silent message that he is leaving, before turning into the forest and loping away to greet the newcomer.