<style>
.naniko .ooc {font-style:italic; }
.naniko p {padding:2px 0px; margin:0px; text-indent:35px;}
.naniko b {color:#FFFFFF; letter-spacing:-.2px; text-shadow:#000000 2px 2px 2px; }
.naniko {background-color:#1e252b; background-image:url(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/K ... naniko.png); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:2px solid #FFFFFF; font-family:georgia, serif; font-size:11px; line-height:12px; color:#141b21; width:375px; text-align:justify; }
.naniko-border {width:379px; border:1px solid #000000; margin:0 auto;}
.naniko .inner {margin:10px 10px 190px 10px; padding:10px; background-image:url(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/K ... nikobg.png); border:1px solid #000000; border-radius:20px;-moz-border-radius:20px; -webkit-border-radius:20px;}
</style>
WC: 1,619 TL;DR: Naniko comes out with the pups, but they run off before she reaches Soran at the borders 
The boy had a good life here. He had meat every day, a nice place to sleep, and a family that loved him. He had never been to another place, but knew that this pack had to be one of the best. It was run very efficiently. Severus noticed more and more of these little details as he grew – his mother ran Anathema like a well-oiled machine, each canine having their own rank and place in the hierarchy. He’d spent a lot of time with the pup-sitter Pontiac and with other canines in the pack because his mother was the leader and did not have as much time as she wanted to hang around with her children…but he did not fault her for this. Severus could understand how important his mother’s role was to the way that the pack worked. He’d met many pack members and had an appreciation for each one, even the Zepars despite their low ranks.
He often wondered about what rank would suit him once he was of age. The boy had many ideas about things that he’d like to do, and was trying to learn a bit about each one as he grew. He didn’t want to be a diplomat, as he was already no good at talking to other canines nor very sneaky…He could become a warrior, but he was pretty small and didn’t know how large he was going to become later in life. Maybe it would be best for him to go into one of the fluff ranks, like puppysitter or cave explorer. Those canines didn’t get to see much action, and could rise up fairly easily as long as there were still pups to be sat and caves to be explored. He wanted to move up in tier as quickly as he could once he became an adult…he had to prove to his mother that he was better than Judas and Octavius, who were just around to cause him grief and get him into trouble, it seemed.
He gave an indignant yap as the bone was pulled from his jaws. Severus looked to the left, where he was greeted with the sight of his brother’s fat rear end waddling away from him. He scrambled up to his feet, growling loudly and following the more darkly colored male as he disappeared into their mother’s den. Hopefully she would be inside and he could ask her to yell at Judas for him. He knew that his brother wouldn’t listen to a word that he would say, and hoped that even just the sight of Naniko would make his cruel sibling drop the bone where he stood. It just wasn’t fair for Judas to think he could take everything he wanted…Severus was still slightly smaller than his brother, and there was no way that he could out-muscle him to get his bone back. Someday, he wished, he would grow bigger and stronger than Judas. Then he would teach his sneaky brother a lesson!
No luck. He looked this way and that, silver eyes flashing with anger, but their mother was nowhere to be found. Severus wasn’t a tiny, helpless little pup any more and he knew that he ought to be trying to take care of himself a more than what he was…but he couldn’t help this! Judas was the biggest bully he knew! It seemed like Octavius took his side more of the time than he ever did Severus’ and the boy was tired of it. Maybe he would move out of the den sometime soon so that he could get away from his growing brother’s mean tricks and pranks. The boy looked about at the various objects in their den, trying to find something that he could use against Judas to get the other pup to release his favorite bone. Severus could not shift but he could still use an object if he could get his mouth around it.
His eyes fell upon a long stick, the sort that would be perfect for bashing unruly brothers over the head. He picked it up, padding up behind Judas and turning his head quickly so that he could give his brother a good whacking with it. Judas rushed to his feet, growling around the bone. He was about to have a go at Severus when a shadow fell over the pair; Naniko. ”Stop fighting. It’s too damn early in the morning for that nonsense.” She commanded. The pups began to sulk, heads and ears held low as they glared back at one another. ”And Judas, you drop that bone.” She continued. If they were going to be allowed to come out of the den and go on adventures with her, they’d have to start behaving more. Naniko was growing tired of the boy’s constant fighting and trickery – one minute they would be by her and the next they’d be gone.
Her feelings mostly stemmed out of worry for them. She knew the kind of antics that pups could get into…she’d been on herself, all those years ago. And she had fallen off of a cliff! The idea that one of her rebellious children would suffer the same fate scared her, so she tried to keep them as close to her as she could most of the time. The boys had been becoming more and more rambunctious and energized the more time that they spent inside the den, though, which was increasing in frequency as winter bore on. Severus sometimes became too cold while playing outside and had to come back in, and Judas was too lazy to go out and do anything that required him to spend a lot of energy unless directly ordered to most times. She signed at the two puppies, reaching out a hand to knock each one lightly over the head.
Naniko was surprised to hear a familiar voice ringing through the territory, and she looked to the two pups that sat before her. Each one’s attention had turned toward her rather than being on one another now, staring eagerly at her with silver and red eyes. Running would keep Severus warm, and as long as he had his brother around for entertainment then Judas would likely come with her as well. It was early in the morning and still quite chilly out…but as long as they kept up a steady pace the three would be able to keep warm enough. She had been meaning to find a coat or some kind of wrap for the boys so that they would be warmer, but hadn’t been able to find anything that looked like it could fit a luperci in lupus form. Most clothing out there was designed for human use, not animal.
”Well, let’s go then. But you boys must behave.” Especially in front of Soran. The dark mother was an exceptional parent and always had been, in Naniko’s eyes…she didn’t want to show the female what little monsters her disobedient children had become. She didn’t connect her pot use with any sort of bad parenting – she only used it away from the children and had only smoked occasionally while pregnant. It wasn’t something she ever planned on stopping, no matter what other canines had to say about it. Smoking helped take the stress out of a long, hard day and had helped her after the break-up she had experienced with Ravesque when he’d left. One day he had been there, the other he was gone and she had been the one to have to explain that to his remaining children. Dad had just up and abandoned them all.
The three wolves started out into the brisk morning air, jogging lightly toward the source of the howl. Each canine looked very different; Naniko’s pelt was a pristine white coloration, making her blend into the snow that they padded through, and each one of the boys was of a darker hue. Judas blended into the surroundings like a log, Severus like a boulder. She was lucky that the boys had been born with such fortunate coloration…white was a difficult pelt color to have ¾ of the time. She looked back at them as they went, wanting to be sure that both were still following. Naniko knew not to go too quickly, lest the pups tire out too early…but she also wanted to get to the borders as fast as she could to greet Soran. She felt certain that Soran was the one who had called…the older luperci had a voice that she would recognize better than anyone elses’. A voice from her childhood.
They were nearly to the border by the time the mother looked back behind her to check on the pups once more. They were gone. She had been humming to herself as she walked, charting the area in her head to add onto the map that she was working on in her den, and hadn’t been paying as much attention to the pups as she should have. They should have known better than to wander off again…but she couldn’t be too upset with them. They would be adults soon and if they wanted to go off and get into trouble then there wasn’t much she could do about it now. Confining them to the cave like she had been just wasn’t really working. Pups could only be grounded for so long before they would fight it; whether it was cold outside or not didn’t matter to a pup who wanted their freedom. Naniko would deal with them later. She neared the female and gave a small bark to let her know that she’d been spotted, sending snow spraying off to both sides as she gleefully approached. ”Soran!”