[Iron]

Iron carried a lot of responsibility within Gemini, which was something he accepted somewhat begrudgingly. He didn't object to it too strongly simply because the idea of almost anyone else in this pack having any amount of responsibility was terrifying to him - if it weren't for him they would all be long dead already. Or so he told himself as he carried out one of his many duties. Hawthorne had gifted Iron his very own forest as a gesture of kindness, but Iron viewed it more as a job that must be taken very seriously. He enjoyed the quiet of his private woods, but having something under his name meant he had to maintain it. Care for it. Keep it safe.

And right now he suspected it was not safe.

He'd been noticing signs of an intruder over the past few days. Strange scratches upon the ground, a foreign scent in the ear that was decidedly not-wolf. Normally Iron didn't care too much about other species, but this mysterious creature was something he'd never encountered before - and it seemed to be large enough to pose a threat, judging by the tracks it left behind. So he'd decided to take a day off from babysitting Serrate's fury and spent the day staking out one of the small clearings where he'd seen the largest concentration of tracks. Iron had been waiting quietly, laying down among some bushes that only half-hid him (he wasn't trying to hide from this creature anyway) for several hours now, quite unbothered by the lack of activity. Iron always appreciated peace and quiet, and he knew that in Gemini it was important to take it where he could get it. It was almost with some reluctance then, that he turned his head to acknowledge a strange noise. Perhaps he would meet his intruder now - he wondered what it would look like. Was it a carnivore? Was it a threat? How many legs did it have?

When the beast finally shuffled into view, Iron reflexively rose to his paws in, red eyes squinting incredulously. The creature was the strangest thing he'd ever seen, including the horse he'd met once long ago. It was covered in something that looked like spiky hair, sticking out far from its body (he could barely even see its body) like the longest whiskers he'd ever seen. It spiked tail dragged along behind it, and it seemed to take no notice of him whatsoever, which was almost more surprising as anything else. The large wolf stepped forward immediately, putting himself in the path of the intruder. The animal simply moved to walk around him. With a huff, Iron sidestepped to block it again. He wasn't sure if it could even understand speech, since it obviously didn't understand body language, but it seemed only fair to try, "Stop." No response. The animal tried to move around him again, and again Iron blocked it. He was beginning to get frustrated now, and he lowered his head so that he could stare directly into the face of the offending creature. This was one of many mistakes (the first being approaching the thing at all).

The creature turned around as if to walk away and Iron edged closer, as if he were attempting to push it along. That was when the spiked tail swung out without warning and raked Iron along the side of his muzzle. The wolf yelped in a most undignified way, shaking his head about wildly. It was not enough to dislodge the three large quills that were now embedded along the side of his muzzle. Iron snarled in anger, but it was quickly cut off by the fact that the gesture caused the pain in his muzzle to flare up even worse. It was burning now, his eyes were watering uncontrollably, but it seemed as though his noises had finally gotten through to the prickly creature. It had rolled up into a ball, sitting completely motionless a few feet away from him. Ignoring the pain and the logical voice in his head that said he should visit a medic, Iron laid back down where he stood, staring defiantly at the porcupine. So it was just going to stay there, all curled up? He could wait. This thing was not welcome in his forest, and a few little quills (disregarding the fact that his entire face was currently pulsing with pain and his eyes were still watering) were not going to stop him from disposing of it.

[Sybella]

Sybella thought she earned some personal time to unknot after all of the socializing she'd been doing. Quickly, she was learning that being apart of a pack could be.. exhausting? Or maybe, it was just the experience of being new to a pack. All of the cordial introductions and how do you do's, learning who is who; while it was mostly repetitive, she felt there was much to keep track of, and that is enough to be worthy of a mental day. Deciding that she'd already frequented the faerie pools too often, she explored a new route. It was less of a trek, and it delivered a more woodsier setting. Once it deemed to be up to her standards (which was just quiet and vacated), and taking a quick survey of the area, she set in to explore deeper.

These parts certainly weren't as intriguing as the faerie pools, she promptly regretted to discover. Just a lot of trees and brush. Trees and brush. When she finally spotted a hollowed, rotting log that was asking to be lounged within, her gait quickened. Until she was ordered to "Stop." Her breath tightened and she held her next exhale between two pursed lips, immediately digging her heels into the dirt. Not making another sound. She waited to be given permission to continue, or any sort of order. But after further review... she understood the demand wasn't meant for her. At this she released her breath and set forth to see who was accompanying her in these supposedly empty woods. As she was on her pursuit, she decided that she wouldn't accept any sort of sentry job since she clearly couldn't sniff out whether or not there were others close by.

In just moments she uncovered the most pitiful situation: a large male, clearly in some sort of pain as there were spikes angled out of his face, and a small, cowering spiky baby. "What'n bloody hell did'ye do?!" She gasped, hurrying closer to examine his face. It looked to be swelling quickly, and she had no education in herbal remedies. She looked back at the spiky baby and frowned, "Did that lil ankle biter do this to ye, mate?" She circled the porcupine, causing it to twitch and in turn causing Sybella to twitch, jumping back and looking up to Iron again. "What is it? Is'at a baby? Is ye face okay? Want me ta pull'em out?" She was asking too many questions now, she knew it, but there was a lot of information that she needed in order to process what had to be done next.