Dirge

The ever-steadfast Watcher of the Clan of Death, Dirge is a quiet and polite individual who is often forgotten due to his quiet personality. While he might not always be noticed, he's always busy or up to something, be it with planning way on repaying others for their kindness, or simply planning what to hunt for dinner the next night. At the young age of 7 (though he appears to be 14 years old physically), Dirge is still a child, though one who was forced to grow up much faster than he would've liked. Despite his rather lonely background and current status, he never complains, and simply continues to do what he feels is right.

When he was 6 months old, Dirge lost both his parents and immediate family to poachers that had laid down bear traps within their domain. Barely escaping with little more than a lost finger, Dirge was accepted and adopted by Valdis, who had been close friends with his parents. At first, he never spoke out or really asked much of anything, simply watching and observing the other cubs. When he was shown kindness and love from both Valdis and Sorose, he began to warm up to them and became a little more talkative. Within the Clan, he was known as a gentle giant, since he dwarfed many of the younger cubs and pups in size, but acted to protect and guide them rather than to bully them. He became fast friends with Mikilira when she joined the Clan, since she would often sit with him and just observe others as he did, sometimes engaging in light, easy conversations with him. The two got along stunningly when it came time to hunt for food, as they would both work with the advantage the other laid down (such as redirecting small game towards each other for a precise and quick kill). When Rikiya was born, Dirge became quite protective over the frail cub, to the point that he would often spend many mornings calming the little one whenever he felt upset or became sick (which was often). When the Clan began to change due to the beginning of Valdis' possession, he became withdrawn once again, and would only watch over Rikiya and Mikilira from there on. After the Clan was decimated, once he found Mikilira, he protected her with his life. Until he and Rikiya were both captured by poachers, he kept her safe within the cave the cubs had been born in. After he and Rikiya were freed, and the latter was adopted into the acres, Dirge returned to Mikilira's side to quite the surprise: the supposedly-dead Valdis had watched over her in his absence. Even more surprising was the fact that she was expecting another pup herself (that being Neoma, of course). Until the day the possessed Valdis was freed of her mortal coil once again, Dirge stayed in the cave with the maddened child and his once-kind-turned-cruel mother.

After Mikilira and Rikiya were freed from their Rose Rot via the purifying flames, Dirge and Lira came to live at the acres. While he's happy to see that his siblings are within a kind and loving family, if one ever peeks in at an opportune moment, it's clear he misses the way things used to be. Still, he seems hopeful for them all, especially for Rikiya with his upcoming Leadership trials...

After witnessing Mikilira's hatred and cruelty in that she would involve innocent people in order to get revenge on Rikiya, Dirge led Mikilira to her death in order to protect his brother, netting himself some injuries and broken teeth for it. Even as it pains him to say goodbye to her, he does not regret sparring his brother of that fate by any means.

More recently, Dirge has come to live with Rose, and has agreed to switching between hers and Black-bell's households every other month (meaning he would stay with them for a month or two at a time before going to live with the other parent). He seems very happy to care for his younger siblings and to help his parents out, and seems to be feeling far more at home more recently.

Once Nekomiya found a sweet little fluffy demon he later named Amani, he became very close to her and strives to make her as happy as he possibly can, wanting her to lead a pleasant life and having fallen for her sweet and affectionate personality. He never feels lonely or unloved when he’s around her, and hopes she’ll always feel loved with him in return.