Ska and Compo were the most skilled at slipping though the other pack territories to the Night Market to pawn off each treasure, earning them a fair amount of coin and any shortfalls were pilfered and raided easily enough to keep the pack living comfortably, even in squalor. Their nest was never lacking for indulgences, even if it did mean six different omegas having to bicker over how things should be arranged and smell and the weeks leading up to heats where a contestant passive aggressive fight on the arrangements.
Usually the whole pack would sleep there, but as internal clocks clicked down, Killer would be the first to find himself unwanted - leaving a stink to everywhere he settled - and then Kidd next, whose pup smell just negated anything they set up. Ska and Hop where kicked next - their noses not as refined, and there for 'unhelpful'. The four would watch from Kidd's pup den by his workshop, or from Killer's den in the lighthouse tower, until the Heat started to ramp up, and the betas
The number of omegas in their pack overrode any hunger for an alpha, the ferociously and desperation of heats reduced to lazy orgies, and having a pup around kept heats short and mellow. Even if he wasn't /their/ pup, his child scent was so strong in their collective nest, having him there dulled the desire to breed into non-existence, leading to a lot of snuggling of omega and older beta alike. And when he eventually got bored of basking in their adoration, and wandered off, there were plenty of others to help scratch the itch.
Twice a year, at the height of fall and spring, pack Eustass hunkered down at its most vulnerable. Ska and Hop on the inside, keeping them safe and fed, hydrated and tended to. Killer, and Kidd by the last few days, on the outside, body or two of trespassers caught sniffing around piled for disposal once the week was said and done.
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paroled the nest each time, taking the safety of their crew far more seriously than most of their age should, but that's why he was leader after all.
he'd be overtly tactile with them as they wandered out
scenting and rubbing cheeks before either UK or Bubblegum would roll their eyes and - being the most tactile of the group - would haul their tiny teenage boss up and aggressively rub their heads together, leaving Killer's already messy greasy hair up in an absurd cowlick
UK didn't seem to mind if he ended up wearing Killer's sour smell for a few hours, and Bubblegum as a bonded omega already had a warp scent of the world and was very vocal in arguing Killer had a lovely mint smell to him that was most likely just bubblegum's own alpha he was smelling as some weird scent projecting
kidd would take their rubbing much more gracefully, short red hair already spiked up from a lifetime of treatment of Killer doing much the same on a daily basis
even letting Ska prop him up in what might of been a hug, studying the young man's face and frowning at whatever he found there. The two had the most uneasy relationship, Ska still forever regarded with a protective suspicious air when it came to Kidd
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They thrived on the coast in a way very few pack before them did, easily driving away interlopers and other upstart packs from the north. Sea protected them from the south and the west, leaving only the outer city to the east as a threat. But the land was narrow and Pack Punk was ruthless, and a turf war between them was going to happen long before Hearth let some outsider trespass for a shot at his rivals.
Even their rivalry was toned down as of late. Last winter, Hearth and Wire themselves had walked right up to the lighthouse, wanting to negotiate a cease-fire. Something had the other pack leaders on edge, and while neither seemed keen on sharing anytime soon, something in Hearth's demeanor had Killer's full attention.
When asked later, Killer would shrugged and just said, he smells like he needs help. It was said so nonchalantly, that UK had placed a hand on his forehead, checking for fever, and only slightly meaning the gesture as a jest. Killer had scowled, but leaned into the touch regardless, even giving him a sarcastic irritated growl and head butt when UK grinned and pulled his hand away.
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Killer'd been picking more fights with the local Alphas,
The first hint should have been the angry muttering of the alpha's that Killer ran off; they seemed to be even more put off by Killer's smell than any of the omegas. At first it seemed nobody liked his smell - but there was something else - something they should have noticed.
Pup's did. Pup's besides Kidd. Pup's from other packs. They would crowd him in town. They would follow him around until Kidd eventually ran them off. He was the pied piper of children, a duckling line of them following him everywhere though the markets.
Distressed omegas too. His crew was more than aware that he was good at finding them, but they'd forgotten how good he'd smelled to them too in the beginning; His angry prepubescent growling almost soothing, a deep chest rumble that chased away nightmares in the late evening hours. Only Bubblegum seemed to remember; he still swore up and down that the rest of them where crazy - Killer smelt divine. He'd rub himself all over Killer to prove his point, just making the sour smell worse for the rest of them.
They'd dismissed him - his prior bonding must have messed with his nose.
Tea tree and mint, Bubblegum had called it. Burning rubber and rotting leaves was more like it.
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Kidd had turned fourteen over the summer, Killer was 18 now, and bets had started to be made on when and if their pup would end up presenting. Quincy also had a betting pool going on how long it would take Killer to have his first rut - her having long started to suspected the smell of pup having effected him just as much as the rest of them. After all, the two of them had been sleeping in a pile together longer than the rest of them had been part of their gang. She was sure Killer was all pent up and grumbly and sour smelling because he'd been cockblocked since puberty.
She was closer than anyone had realized, yet so, so wrong.
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{day 3 of eustass pack heat}
kidd feels itchy and leaves to go find killer
- this is both the normal time he leaves and the normal place he goes
- but the itch is new
- the tower smells weird
- he feels warm and lightheaded
- he wants killer, feeling far more clingy that usual
- it just... itches... so .. bad.
- its hard to focus. its hard to think
- he needs killer to fix it
- its hard to focus. its hard to think
- it just... itches... so .. bad.
- he wants killer, feeling far more clingy that usual
- he feels warm and lightheaded
- the tower smells weird
- but the itch is new
