and when you smile...
the whole world stops and stares for awhile..
Kellin hadn't noticed the raised hackles and curled lip, otherwise he might had stopped short or run the other way entirelly. His ears did catch the whine, but he's too immersed in needing his mother close just now. Needing to know she still cared about him, because without that he had nothing here. He did not want to be alone; he was not good with the idea of alone. Maybe he was too old for any of this, but he'd never been allowed to go on hunts or stray far from the cruel little group of vagabonds.

This kept him from growing up properly, and it probably showed by how thin he was, and how terrible he was at hunting for himself. He'd gotten enough to survive on the way here, and he'd shunned the company of the tall wolf who had followed at a distance behind him, so now this was how he looked. Only a quarter of his hunts were successful, and usually it had to be of something small. That did not leave him with a lot of nurishment, but he'd hung on this long, and he would continue to do so the best he could. Besides, practice would help him get better. That, or he'd starve to death. There weren't many options.

Now he just wanted to know his mother still cared about him, still missed him as much as he missed her. Yet that wasn't possible. A part of him knew that just by seeing the other pups, the distractions that Kellin never had the choice to have. He had felt the distance and the ache for so long, and his mother had moved on. Except she did act like she missed him, and he'd almost forgotten his real name until she had screamed it. It was enough, the steps she took to show him she still cared, and that was enough. Kelling was happy with that; beyond happy. He did not think he would ever have the comfort of his mother's embrace again.

Yet here she was, nosing his furs, licking his ears. The flopping around of his tail on the ground only sped up, and he could feel her quivering against the shaking of his own body and when her words came he did feel safe. There was soft whining sounds as he stopped wiggling so much, and when his mother rose up and nudged his chin, he lifted himself on wobbly long legs to let her have a look, trying to shift the fringe from over his one eye so she could see his face unhindered. There was something in mother's expression that made his tail curl under him, his body hunch a little in shame. She wasn't happy anymore? Did he look wrong?

The words of one of the little ones reached his ears but Kellin made no move to speak up in response. He waited instead, noting the silence, and then the presence of someone else there. There were words, and Kellin lowered himself back to the ground and curled up, still attentive to what was going on around him and what was being said. Peering from under his fringe at the others, hearing the other names of the younger ones, and then his own name being spoken. At the sight of her smile and the motion she gave him, Kellin's tail thumped on the ground a little and he got up to settle quietly at her side as requested.

He was glad for being motioned over, still uncertain how displeased he had made his mother by his appearance. He knew he hadn't groomed himself all that well today, so there was that. He was a terrible hunter, and he was sure that showed but the jutting of his bones in places; so maybe she was disappointed with that, too. He'd have to work harder. The scars couldn't be helped, though someday they'd grow fur over them again. For now the closed wounds were too fresh for that, and they stuck out via missing lines of fur. Weird little dark spots, but Kellin couldn't fix that at all. It made him worried, the other pups had unbroken fur..

It was strange to hear that mother and.. Sen -- the name seemed familiar, as did the smell and look of the male, though Kellin was wary, so very wary right now -- had not yet joined the pack they rested on. But they were looking to join, and when his name came up at the joining thing, his head shuffled rapidly in a series of nods. If he could stay with mother, then that would be a welcomed thing. The eye not covered by the fringe of softer, longer fur went from one to the other among the three older wolves, and he waited to be spoken to again or acknowledged at all by any of them, keeping quiet and waiting for whatever was next.
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KELLiN!
male | one | imprintless | mateless | childless | packless | tarquin & makism x hush