Chase your dreams but always know the road

Addison · 09-10-2010, 01:06 AM

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Private for Jefferson, please!

Character Name: Addison D'Angelo-Soul
Character Birthdate (including year): December 1, 2008
Whether s/he is a regular wolf or a Luperci: Luperci
Species: She is mixed, different types of wolf.
Gender: Female
A secondary form of contact: AIM: Jamezorrz
Currently played characters: Ember Phoenix, Gideon Stormbringer

Rain had kept her from traveling for a few days, but the skies looked as if they were beginning to clear now. Addison had stayed with her mother for a few months after finding her, intent on seeing Dierdre through her newest pregnancy (how many litters did that wolf think she needed?!), but was now on her way back to the place that she had first come to when she had found 'Souls; Phoenix Valley. Her two feet trod lightly over the fallen leaves as she went, blue and gold eyes glancing this way and that. Things were beginning to look familiar.

Much had happened to the nearly two-year-old since her departure from 'Souls. After setting off on her trip she had immediately turned Southwest, searching for her mother, and had found her without too much trouble. She'd been not even three days' journey away, a surprise to the young adult. Addi had listened to Dierdre talk about what she'd been like as a pup, had met her father Cerulean and half-brother Sirius. She'd liked that well enough, meeting the family.

The newest member of the family stretched her paws out in front of her and yawned in Addison's arms, small blue eyes opening to gaze up at the older female's face. "Hungee" The pup managed. Addison had gotten smart when she'd left; Dierdre had kept a few jars of her milk to the side that day for Addi to feed the whelp (Dierdre had chosen to go for a run and go hunting without informing her beforehand), and she'd taken those with her when she'd taken off. "I know, we're about there. We'll get you something good once we get there, okay? Go back to sleep."

This wasn't pupnapping. At least, she didn't consider it so. Dierdre had proven to her time and time again that she was an unfit mother, and at Sirius' urging Addison had taken the one live pup of the litter with her that day. She had been planning on leaving that day...she just hadn't known whether she was taking Grace with her or not until the moment that it happened. The young adults had tried to speak to Dierdre about her actions, hoping that their mother would listen, but it hadn't worked. Dierdre had all but ignored little Grace a majority of the day, only coming in to feed her once or twice throughout the daylight hours. It wasn't enough for the little one; she was very light for her age, something that Addison could sense wasn't a good thing. Whenever the siblings had brought it up, Dierdre had become very angry and had even lashed out physically at Addison the night before her departure.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise to her that Dierdre wasn't doing well with Grace; Addi had heard how her mother had abandoned Sirius and her other brother Apollo in the fires that had destroyed the last packlands...and her mother hadn't even tried to find her when she had disappeared those months ago. She should have known. So Addi had done what she thought was best; she had taken the girl away to somewhere better, safer, and the one place that she knew Dierdre wouldn't go.

Somewhere inside, she felt that she was doing the right thing. If everything was still as it had once been...even remotely so...if Jefferson still led Phoenix Valley, then she felt that they just might have a place to live. They could get milk from the animals to feed Grace, and the pup would be able to grow up and be given the same opportunities that Addi had been given. Phoenix Valley had been a great place to grow up. She had been caring for Grace for weeks along with Sirius and occasionally Cerulean...it wouldn't be that much of a change.

She stopped when she reached the border. Oh yes, Jefferson was still here. She gently patted the copper pup in her arms as she waited, unsure of whether she ought to howl. Addison didn't look the same as when she had last seen 'Souls...would he recognize her? Her hair was longer, curlier, and she'd grown just a tad bit taller. But he would remember, even if it had been a very long time since they'd seen each other. The adult swallowed a few times and cleared her throat, raising her muzzle toward the sky.

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Jefferson Soul · 09-10-2010, 12:20 PM

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He knew that sound. How could he not? The brute's ears perked, the idiot snapped from his sleep instantaneously. The walls of the ranch argued against him, muffling that all-too-familiar sound, but Jefferson knew better. The idiot jumped from the bed, tripped heartily on the blankets on his exit—and stumbled through the open doorway into the wall opposite in the hallway. He threw aside the front door, and in a full-on sprint faster than he had run in far too long, the Patriarch—no, the father—hastened for the source of that howl.

The clouds above threatened rain; the grass beneath his feet slushed from earlier showers as he ran, making the task a slippery trial. When Addison broke away from Phoenix Valley he had been terribly discouraged; when she lived in the hellhole that was Dahlia de Mai in the midst of a war, he was mortified. Never before had the brute been forced to feel such extreme emotions, but the panic that had mentally enveloped him in recent months was dispersed with the sound of her voice. She'd returned!

And within minutes—though it felt like forever for he—he reached her. No sound, no greeting from his lips; the brute instead dodged his way around the child he vaguely noticed in her arms and enveloped his daughter in a great, relieved embrace. Instantly his shoulders lightened as if a thousand weights were lifted away; she was safe, alive, still breathing. Slowly he released her, stepped back and smiled. "Where the hell have you been?" was all he could manage amidst panting breaths. His green eye lit up; she'd gotten taller! Her hair had grown out, too, and—what was with the kid? His features hardened and he said nothing, but started perplexedly at the pup instead.

Addison · 09-10-2010, 01:02 PM

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He came out of the brush quickly and quite suddenly, and she barely had time to react before he was hugging her. Grace wasn't squished, as she'd been off to the side, and Addi held onto her with one arm as she hugged Jefferson back with the other. When they left their embrace the pup squirmed in her arms, flailing her legs, a sign that she wanted to be put down, and Addison reached to place the copper whelp down in the grass. Grace had been too small to really keep up on the trip over, though she'd put her down every once in a while to run around when the pup had gotten restless.

"I didn't feel like fighting..I went off to find my biological parents" She said, crouching down by her sister and offering her a hand to rough around with. The whelp didn't seem to notice anything different about Jefferson at all; this was, after all, how her mother had looked. Scarred up and disfigured. It was just another wolf that had owchies on its face. Grace gave a small growl and bit on Addison's fingers playfully as her sibling rolled her around on the ground.

"Hungeeeeee" The pup said after a few moments of roughhousing, reminding Addison of the fact. She stood up again and looked back to her father. "She's really hungry; she hasn't gotten to eat for a few hours. I took some milk with me to feed her at the time..but it's run out now. This is Grace D'Angelo--my younger sister. Dierdre wasn't taking good care of her...and my brother Sirius convinced me that I ought to just take Grace with me. I bet he took off after I did, to avoid talking to Dierdre. But..I don't think Grace will be missed. She really wasn't taking good care of her, I wouldn't kid around..she barely ever fed her or anything. I thought we would both be better off here, where I know it's safe and where I know there's support."

She had grown up a little, it seemed. Maybe it was the added responsibility of a child that had made her so; Grace would always come first. She looked back at Jefferson hopefully, picking the child back up. "That is, if you would let us stay. I know that I left before, but I've grown since then..I don't plan on leaving any time soon." She patted Grace lightly, the pup looking at Jefferson as well, her small tail wagging slightly.

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Jefferson Soul · 09-11-2010, 03:52 PM

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He smiled sympathetically at her admission, though discouraged. He was her father, her caretaker; was it too much to ask that she inform him of her intentions? Jefferson could not have stopped her, though the brute knew himself well enough to predict he would have put up quite a fuss. California was a long trek from 'Souls territory; he himself had never made such a journey and trying to wrap his mind around the sheer longevity of it brought a sting to his temples. He liked to think of himself a caring father, if not just a little overprotective. Phoenix Valley was like his child he protected to no end; Addison, flesh and blood, took an even higher priority. "I understand," he sighed, a sad smile at his lips. It was too late to argue now, clearly.

The muscles of his shoulders immediately relaxed at the word "sister"—Jefferson was hardly ready to be a grandfather, finding the concept mildly terrifying. Green eye watched the flailing little blob of an animal on the ground, always mildly estranged by the little furballs. Fat and round and helpless, all of them, and yet the little girl that he still saw in the same way was now caring for one of her own. His brows furrowed, bothered. She mentioned several names that meant nothing to him but were stored nonetheless in the back of his mind, imprisoned in a cage he hoped never needed accessing. "Then I'm glad you brought her back," he said, though he was not entirely sure if he was glad at all. His daughter, caring for a pup? She was hardly aged from one herself. Why did it bother him so? "We'll find her food, Addi. Of course you can stay, as long as you work for it like everyone else." He shrugged. He was a man of fairness.

He cleared his throat next, then scratched uncomfortably at his head. "You can move back into the ranch... and Grace can stay with Pripyat, I think. Geneva wouldn't mind." The idiot looked sheepishly at the ground. "While you were gone, Geneva... uh, well, you have a little brother, I guess. He's maybe a month or two older than this one. Gives her someone to play with."

Addison · 09-11-2010, 04:18 PM

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She had wanted to try and make her own way, she supposed, but that hadn't gone over too well. Addison had seen a problem and had taken care of it the best way she knew; she hadn't known when she would return to Phoenix Valley, but had needed to sooner because of Grace. She had always figured she would go back eventually, when she was a bit older...so this was a little premature. Addison had thought to try and go out to explore the world a little more...but Grace was worth more than that to her.

"I'm glad it's alright..that I brought her back. I didn't know what you would say. Made me pretty nervous, Pops" She said. They had been all out of food for the pup...she didn't know what she would have done. "She's a good pup...whiny, cries all the time, but other than that she's pretty cool."

Jefferson mentioned a name that she'd never heard before, Pripyat, and her ears perked up. She had another brother? Siblings were popping up everywhere, it seemed. "That's great news! You're a father again! I'm not sure where Grace fits into this...but...she's my sister, so maybe you're a dad again...again" She chuckled, messing up the fur on top of Grace's head.

"I really appreciate it...you saying we can stay." She knew that she would have to work on things within the pack to remain in it. It would be a new level of responsibility for her, a change from her loner ways. But this seemed to be what was best for both her and her sister, so she would do whatever it was that he asked. Addison had enjoyed living in the valley in the past..and felt that this was definitely the right place for her now.

"How has everyone here been?" She asked. "How's Geneva? Anyone left that I know any more other than you old farts? Any good-lookin' guys?" She took a few steps farther into the territory, raising her eyebrows in question and moving her head in the direction of the packlands. "Should we go in?"

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Jefferson Soul · 09-15-2010, 07:08 PM

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Whiny, cries all the time. "Runs in the family," he said, shrugging. Children were all the same; he had played a role in raising only a few—Ty, Addison, and Pripyat—but though the three children were entirely unrelated by blood, their cores had been the same. Pups were needy, that didn't need explaining. Ty had been a good apprentice for he, by far the most submissive child the leader had ever seen. Jefferson had not yet even been the boy's father's superior at the time, yet Ty had listened to his every word. The cyclops had been rougher back then, like stone. Unyielding, unloving. He was lucky to have been softened by Iskata's accident and demise by the time he came to replace her at head of the pack.

He was indeed a father 'again,' though the brute frowned. Had he stopped being one? Addison had left Phoenix Valley for Dahlia on her own accord; the cyclops had argued some but his word was ultimately powerless in controlling her. Had his fatherhood stopped then, when she left? The girl had barely come to visit he who was struggling back home, and for some time she disappeared altogether. In finding her real parents, did she abandon him as the adoptive father who had tried so hard to raise her well? He smiled weakly at her words, appreciative for her understanding, and yet regretted it had been brought up at all.

"You're still my daughter, even if you don't think so," the brute said, nodding to acknowledge her appreciation to stay. "I always said you were welcome here. It's your home. We've had a lot come and go, but Pendzez and Xeris are still here. Geneva is... fine, but we have plenty to talk about on that note." She asked him of 'good-looking guys,' at which Jefferson simply scowled and stared. He did, however, motion at the open territory behind him, the place she had grown within. The sun broke from the clouds, beaming light upon the territory's changing season.

"Sure," he smiled. "Welcome back."

Addison · 09-16-2010, 03:26 PM

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She wasn't sure why he would think that she didn't consider him a father, mind whirling and head tilting to the side as he spoke. Her brow knit; she'd meant that he would be adopting another child, be a father to another one. If he would consider her sister to be his family as well. Addison had left home as many young adults would, but he was her father and she had never denied that. "I do think so. I think you took my meanin' wrong...It was my backward way of asking if you'd consider Grace a part of the family too." She said sheepishly.

He mentioned that they would have a lot to talk about in regards to Geneva, and she looked at him quizzically once more. "She's fine? That's good, then. It's also good to hear that some of the old packmembers are still here...I'll have to go pay them a visit." They stepped into the territory and she looked forward toward the heart of the lands. She really was home.

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