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Description
Tokota Featured: Bubblegum Heart 56624
Nickname(s): Marina
Bonuses: +10 depicted Soul Animal , +10 correct setting Tartok Foothills , +10 500 word story

PotA Prompt: #24 - All alphas, no matter how experienced, know fear. An evil spirit has thrown your Tokota into a maze of their own mind and the only escape is to defeat their greatest fear. Depict your Tokota finding a way to face their greatest fear and whether they triumph or fail.

Word Count: 580

If asked, Marina claimed her worst fear was fire. That had been the answer Marina had given since she was a pup. Her packmates liked to make a game out of asking questions, and Rune had asked that very question on several occasions after Marina had expressed her desire to earn the rank of Alpha. When their packmates asked, it was to be nosey friends and siblings. Invasive, sure, but ever innocently curious to know each other better. When Rune had asked, it was with the understanding that Marina wasn’t answering as honestly as she could be.

“An Alpha must know themselves better than anyone else,” Rune had explained sagely, “The passage rites will make you have these answers, and more that you never thought about. It will make you come to terms with things you never wanted to face. It will make you see the parts of yourself you never wanted to look upon. It will make you endure your fears until you know them like you know how your heart beats.”

“To be an alpha, you must know your own limits. To do that, you must know yourself. More than that, if you do not know how to face yourself, and all that encompasses both pleasant and unpleasant, how can you truly claim yourself an effective leader? How can you claim that you will lead your packmates to the better versions of themselves, if you cannot lead yourself to such?”

Marina had not been thrilled that Rune had a point. The less Marina had to think about that particular reoccurring nightmare of hers, the better in her opinion. And yet, Rune had wound up quite correct. Not but a few weeks after Marina had temporarily left the rest of the pack to thus traverse her Passage on her own, she runs into a grouchy dark spirit. Not that all dark spirits were entities of sunshine and joy to be around, but Marina just happened to find one that seemed to be in a particularly foul mood. As evidenced by the fact she barely got three paw-steps backwards in her retreat before she blinked and found herself in an entirely different, but unfortunately entirely familiar setting.

The first thing she registered was the foothills in front of Tartok. The pack preferred to make the foothills their home while any pups they had were still young. Astral’s two and Marina’s own adoptive youngest had only just gotten a feel for their paws. The sky is orange with the dawn, Marina notes as her heart pounds in her chest, just as she always does. It was the most peaceful time of day. The pack was slowly waking up at this time, and still far too cozy to properly get up, resulting in a languid pile of half-snoozing fur, stretching limbs, and sleepy smiles.

The crackling, hissing, and spitting of a wildfire burning out of control drug Marina away from the pleasantness and towards how this became a true nightmare. Ever so slowly the pink dire turned, dread and grief already in her heart, to find what she knew she would. Just like always, the strength left her legs as despair took her by the throat. All she could do was sit and stare, howling the agony of her heart.

Marina did not fear fire. She detested flames after so many times of witnessing this scene, but it was not fire itself that she feared.

Marina feared what was in the fire.

Description
Tokota Featured: Bubblegum Heart 56624
Nickname(s): Marina
Bonuses: +10 depicted Soul Animal , +10 correct setting Tartok Foothills , +10 500 word story

PotA Prompt: #24 - All alphas, no matter how experienced, know fear. An evil spirit has thrown your Tokota into a maze of their own mind and the only escape is to defeat their greatest fear. Depict your Tokota finding a way to face their greatest fear and whether they triumph or fail.

Word Count: 580

If asked, Marina claimed her worst fear was fire. That had been the answer Marina had given since she was a pup. Her packmates liked to make a game out of asking questions, and Rune had asked that very question on several occasions after Marina had expressed her desire to earn the rank of Alpha. When their packmates asked, it was to be nosey friends and siblings. Invasive, sure, but ever innocently curious to know each other better. When Rune had asked, it was with the understanding that Marina wasn’t answering as honestly as she could be.

“An Alpha must know themselves better than anyone else,” Rune had explained sagely, “The passage rites will make you have these answers, and more that you never thought about. It will make you come to terms with things you never wanted to face. It will make you see the parts of yourself you never wanted to look upon. It will make you endure your fears until you know them like you know how your heart beats.”

“To be an alpha, you must know your own limits. To do that, you must know yourself. More than that, if you do not know how to face yourself, and all that encompasses both pleasant and unpleasant, how can you truly claim yourself an effective leader? How can you claim that you will lead your packmates to the better versions of themselves, if you cannot lead yourself to such?”

Marina had not been thrilled that Rune had a point. The less Marina had to think about that particular reoccurring nightmare of hers, the better in her opinion. And yet, Rune had wound up quite correct. Not but a few weeks after Marina had temporarily left the rest of the pack to thus traverse her Passage on her own, she runs into a grouchy dark spirit. Not that all dark spirits were entities of sunshine and joy to be around, but Marina just happened to find one that seemed to be in a particularly foul mood. As evidenced by the fact she barely got three paw-steps backwards in her retreat before she blinked and found herself in an entirely different, but unfortunately entirely familiar setting.

The first thing she registered was the foothills in front of Tartok. The pack preferred to make the foothills their home while any pups they had were still young. Astral’s two and Marina’s own adoptive youngest had only just gotten a feel for their paws. The sky is orange with the dawn, Marina notes as her heart pounds in her chest, just as she always does. It was the most peaceful time of day. The pack was slowly waking up at this time, and still far too cozy to properly get up, resulting in a languid pile of half-snoozing fur, stretching limbs, and sleepy smiles.

The crackling, hissing, and spitting of a wildfire burning out of control drug Marina away from the pleasantness and towards how this became a true nightmare. Ever so slowly the pink dire turned, dread and grief already in her heart, to find what she knew she would. Just like always, the strength left her legs as despair took her by the throat. All she could do was sit and stare, howling the agony of her heart.

Marina did not fear fire. She detested flames after so many times of witnessing this scene, but it was not fire itself that she feared.

Marina feared what was in the fire.