Bramblepoint I think you pissed off my sandwich.

Still grappling with her horror at the recent assimilation of several outsiders, Towhee found herself fleeing the caldera. She wouldn't run away like Titmouse or abandon it like so many others before her; she just needed to get away for a few hours, collect her thoughts and sort through her feelings without the possibility of running into one of them. Naturally, she loped in the direction of Bramblepoint, half-hoping to bump into @Hydra (despite her own status as a dreaded outsider), though the youngster could honestly do with a few hours of total solitude.

She found tranquility in a small clearing, where she flopped to the ground with a loud sigh she couldn't hear. She was tired but couldn't sleep, so instead she stared off into the woods, thinking. When there was a sudden eruption of noise about a hundred yards to her rear, Towhee did not react. She only turned when a scent wafted her way on a breeze soughing through the forest. She peered over her shoulder, then jumped to her feet when she saw a flash of movement between the trees, moving closer.

Her jaw dropped when something—no, two somethings—burst into the glade. It took Towhee a moment to puzzle out what she was seeing: two stags, their antlers interlocked, evidently stuck together. Round and round they spun, grunting and bleating and making a racket she couldn't hear. But she could feel their hooves beating the ground and see the wild rolling of their eyes as she jumped clear, just in time to watch them collide with the trunk of an oak on the edge of the clearing. One of the two bucks buckled, dragging his opponent down with him. They struggled mightily but evidently they couldn't quite get back on their feet.

She ascertained this development for only a moment before howling (or she hoped—she had never had real reason to try it before and couldn't be sure of the sound coming out of her throat) for @Phox to come seize this amazing hunting opportunity.

Attracted by the echoing clamor of prey in distress, Kavos made his own path straight for the ruckus; plowing straight through what he could, and catching many burrs and thorns in his sleek white pelt as he went. He didn't notice either that something sharp had embedded itself into his foot, and sprung a slow leak from the tender skin between his pawpads. Always nicking himself on something or other, he almost constantly had the scent of his own blood caught up his nose, so he ignored it now, as he had learned to over the months.

The scene he came across gave him pause as he tried to discern all of that he was seeing. Two bucks, with antlers locked, had collapsed in a struggle that had seemed to have been going on for ages now— judging by their lathery exhaustion. He didn't yet notice the other wolf, because his molten eyes had become entranced by the sight of helplessly exposed necks. The jugulars beckoned him, sending him streaking into a sea of flailing, batting limbs in feral readiness to take on the two-headed, eight-legged quarry.

Nearly full-size, he had the potential to do a lot of damage; but inexperience plagued him, causing him to be beaten back with almost comical ease. He was fortunate enough to avoid any serious blows— even though he wouldn't have felt them anyway— but having been shoved like a ragdoll, he hesitated to dive in again as the headlocked bucks struggled with the renewed vigor of blind fear in their chests. Prowling around them with feline casualty, he hunted for another opening, having squandered his first chance at a clean strike. If Kavos was lucky, they'd break their necks in the panic.

Another wolf leaped into view, seemingly out of nowhere, causing Towhee to startle badly. She watched as he made an attempt to seize one of the stags' throats, only to be beaten back. She felt a mixture of feelings at this sight; she was defensive of her discovery but also intrigued by her impromptu hunting partner. She had no way of knowing if Phox had heard or responded to her call and it would be a total waste not to take advantage of this serendipitous event. She licked her jowls, deliberating on how to proceed. She had teamed up with an outsider before, to their mutual benefit, and even struck up something of a loose friendship with Hydra. Maybe lightning could strike twice?

"How can I help?" Towhee called out to the stranger, raising her voice just in case the dueling bucks were making a lot of noise. Because of the circumstances and the urgency of the situation, she did something she rarely did and informed him outright, "I'm deaf, so look at me when you talk to me so I can read your lips."

Having mistaken her "howl" for a strangled cry from one of the bucks, Kavos— seized tightly by this odd hunt— was completely unaware of his company until a loud and warped voice called out to him. He twisted sharply, and had to do a double-take to see the young wolf there he hadn't noticed before. He had to fight his body to look at her, every fiber of his being willing him towards the kill. His face contorted in confusion, ill-tempered defensiveness glinting hotly on his fangs as his ears pressed forward aggressively... only to catch the word help.

The hungry boy swallowed, stunned at first as he tried to recall the last time he'd had someone hunt beside him. The last time he'd had support. As much as he hated his mother, she had unfortunately been his last friend— and that seemed like eons ago. He focused finally as the girl thought to speak again. He trained his senses on her as best he could over the commotion behind him, but he still found himself at a lost. Having not heard many voices in his life, it was a shame that she sounded normal to him by his standards, but he couldn't understand her regardless.

He didn't know anything about deafness, or lip-reading, or socializing, really.

But what he did know was body language and instinct, and she looked as ready to jump into the fray as he felt, which was more than enough reason for him to want her around. He looked back at the bucks thoughtfully. There were two of them now, so he didn't just need to dive in as many times as it took to get a good strike. He could make one, if they were quick about it. Looking back over his shoulder, he met the eye of his ally and nodded once: watch me.

He turned and dove very obviously at one of the bucks, snarling and aiming at its face. Frightened, the buck reared his head back suddenly, the reflex powerful enough to blatantly expose the neck of his trapped opponent, who was temporarily powerless to guard himself properly. It could work the other way  too, though it made the most sense to fake-out the stronger herbivore and go for the throat of whoever seemed the most exhausted. Kavos darted back, nearer to the girl this time, and faced her excitedly; chest heaving, mouth red, and tail flagging.

Can you do that?! his gleaming eyes almost boasted.

For a moment, she didn't think he'd heard her. Towhee gathered her breath in her chest, prepared to repeat herself and really bellow this time, when he glanced in her direction. Something about his expression lent her the belief he had heard but simply hadn't understood her. This was the part she hated most about interacting with outsiders; some of them just couldn't comprehend her strange manner of speech. It put a bad taste in her mouth and Towhee almost reconsidered her abortive attempts to collude with this total stranger. She should go fetch Phox instead, bring him back here and fend off their competition to take the spoils for themselves. They could even eat and talk at the same time; such was the strength of communicating in ptero!

But the pale male distracted her by making another leap and snap at the pair of interlocked deer. It didn't land this time, either, though when he bounded backward, he put himself much closer to Towhee. The Xi's ears splayed and she thought about moving away, though his expression gave her pause. There was an eagerness to his features. Everything about his body language invited her to help him conquer this strange prey, particularly that waving tail. It stumped her for a moment, then she decided to shrug inwardly and get down to business.

"Show me what to do," she tried to convey in the most basic and feral of locutions: body language. She was pretty good at combat but she wasn't a hunter, so she would have to play a supportive role.

She needed more guidance, and Kavos was an easy sell when food was involved.

His tail whipped back and forth, and he turned to repeat his exact move from before. The same stag startled and jerked back again, making his opponent temporarily helpless while Kavos dodged back. He trained his body towards the weak point, but did not go for it, waiting again for another opportunity to repeat the move— make sure she knew his intent. The second time he created the opening, Kavos dared to dive back in immediately, tearing forward like he had hell on his heels, mouth wide and hungry as he tried to take advantage himself— but he was a beat behind the horned beast's recovery, and Kavos became temporarily entangled in its legs as the two struggled to be free of the one another.

Kavos had learned the hard way, on his own, what it meant to hunt deer. And though he recalled no pain from the worst of his experiences, he only knew that he didn't like the fact he hadn't been able to see straight for a day or so after being clipped in the head by one of their harsh feet.

He broke free of their legs and gave them a wide girth so that he might watch them again. The two bucks were hopelessly tired, limbs quaking and knees buckling under the weight of each other's exhaustion. Kavos was just getting lively. His tongue lolled and he stood on his toes, ears as tall as they could stand as he waited for the deer to become more vulnerable again. He couldn't feel much, but he could feel his heart pumping when he hunted, and it was the only feeling he clung to these days. The only thing that assured him that he lived.

The weaker buck bowed again, and Kavos snapped his head towards the girl, his golden eyes fired up. Would she know to do as he'd done before, and to stay out of the way of their legs? Would he need to repeat it again?— not that he minded. They more they did it, the more they would tire out the deer. But he was eager to end one of them as fast as he could, perhaps now just wanting to show off what he thought he could achieve... with a little help. He didn't know he was grinning when he turned away from her, crouching as he readied himself to dart forward again, with or without her teeth to assist.

She watched, a little fascinated, as he made another few attempts to throttle the weaker of the two bucks. He was unsuccessful, though Towhee could tell that his efforts were further tiring the already exhausted beast. Would he eventually collapse and permit the wolf to swoop in and finish him? What would happen to his trapped foe then? Curious about how this was all going to unfold, she didn't quite realize that he was doing a demonstration that she was meant to mimic.

Her breath caught in her throat and she held it there when he became tangled in the stag's legs. Luckily, he managed to extract himself with minimal damage. Towhee gave him a once-over, then turned her speculative gaze upon their weakening prey again. His narrow escape had given her an idea. He was focused on the jugular, which would of course be a fatal blow. But she now had another target in mind.

While he readied himself for another strike, Towhee acted in the hopes of easing his way by distracting the downed deer. She moved forward, snapping her teeth at one of the smaller buck's flailing hind legs. She took a glancing blow to the cheek but quickly managed to seize the hoof in her jaws. She immediately applied crushing pressure, which caused the buck to begin writhing and bleating (not that she could hear). Towhee refused to let go, at least until his other hind limb—the one closer to the ground—clipped her in the fetlock, knocking it out from beneath her and causing her to face plant right into the ungulate's heaving rump.

Although he had been presenting to her a method he thought matched his madness, Kavos watched— first in frustration, then in fascination— as the speckled halfling executed a different, more effective tactic to meet his distraction needs. She went for the legs, effectively pulling the buck's attention into opposite ends as it tried to focus both on the grinding pain in his leg and the powerlessness of his ensnared skull. Seeing that his target seemed to be (almost literally) torn between two directions, Kavos was quick to take advantage of the opening, latching onto the deer's neck with teeth that seemed imbued with a homing device for weakness.

Blood sprayed, but before he could give a good shake of his head and tear further into flesh, he was forced back by the misplaced flailing of the other deer as the scent of blood permeated the scene. Kavos fell back, scrabbling to his feet just in time to see the head of his aide become smashed into the bouncing rump of their dying prey. Unfortunately, the buck was now kicking with renewed energy— a final surge of fate— which spurred Kavos to risk a firm kicking in order to help shove his hunting partner off the flailing beast that was now trying to find its footing despite its grave wound.

The other buck, weak and terrified, was simply trying to extract itself from the area; though soon he would be carrying nothing but a few hundred pounds of dead weight if he could not free his head.

What if they chewed through his neck so the other one escapes with his enemy's decapitated head stuck to him? :P

Before Towhee could right herself, she felt something shove into her side. She inhaled sharply, turning to snap her teeth at her assailant, but it was only her hunting partner pushing her out of harm's way. Her lips fell back over her teeth as the she-wolf resumed her feet with a bodily shake for good measure. Making sure she was clear of the stag's flailing legs, she glanced at his neck and smiled grimly when she saw the bloody wound. They had executed their plan beautifully, without really having planned much of anything.

But what of the other buck? He was fatigued and weak, so should they take advantage of that and attempt to put him down as well? He was currently an obstacle standing between them and their soon to be meal. Something would have to be done about him one way or the other, so Towhee figured the risk was probably worth the reward. While they waited for the first deer to bite the dust, she panted and glanced at her comrade, raising her eyebrows as if to ask, "What do you think?"

The tall wolf panted heavily, unable to feel how hard his heart and lungs were working to propel him on; and had he been an older wolf, he wouldn't have been able to keep up this momentum for much longer without collapsing. As things were, he could maintain this for at least another half hour if he had to, but this strange event seemed to be winding down— and with no way of knowing he'd likely never see an opportunity like this again, Kavos began to coil his excitement back into its box.

From the corner of his eye he saw her muzzle shift just slightly in his direction, and he turned his head fully to look at her, knowing that she was deferring to him for their next move, without her having to say it. His tail wagged, and his body beckoned her as he began to circle around to keep the best vantage he could of the herbivore's wounded neck. His long stride changed when he began to aim, his body becoming more feline as he prowled forward, and sought to end the tortured creature's life by sinking his teeth into its throat again.

His aim was true, and easy this time, his sharp mouth finding quick purchase on tender-red flesh, creating a faster spill and an immediate weakening of the dead-eyed ungulate, who collapsed. Kavos kept hold, suddenly realizing that he was in some sort of pseudo "tug of war" with the still living, still trapped buck. He had no fight left in him except the will to flee, but he could not escape with a dead brethren and a large wolf still clinging to his antlers when he was already beyond spent. Something had to give— but would it be antlers or neck... and would it be his oppenent's, or his?

Omg your idea is suddenly very likely! It's almost like--!

Towhee couldn't hear the stag's last breath, yet she saw it: that powerful body suddenly flattened and went limp, save for the slight juddering back and forth by his surviving rival. The Xi licked her chops, wishing she could fall upon the kill but aware that she could be gored by the dead buck's opponent. Then again, his antlers were locked in place, so as long as she steered clear of his legs, she shouldn't need to worry.

With this in mind, she exchanged a glance with the pale stranger, then trotted around their felled prey. There were no flailing limbs to strike her here. Towhee lowered her muzzle to sniff at the carcass, squinting as the body jerked slightly. She hovered warily for a few moments until she could no longer resist the siren song of fresh blood and meat. Her jaws yawned open and she sank her teeth into the back of the buck's neck, tearing off a sizable chunk. She barely chewed before swallowing it.

She proceeded to feed, momentarily ignorant to her companion. Was he eating too? Or was he assessing the remaining deer in preparation to finish him off? Towhee cared about nothing else but filling her belly at the moment.

With two wolves adding to the weight of the corpse, and the neck half rent-through on either side, the remaining ungulate used the last reserves of its strength to rear backwards in an effort to free himself. The deer fell away, crashing to the ground in a motion that was awkward and loud enough to grab Kavos' attention. His head bolted upright, mouth bloodied and full as he watched the stag scramble back to its feet, something large and cumbersome flailing from his confused-looking head—

Somewhat to the young wolf's astonishment (perhaps delight), he saw that the spared herbivore had unwillingly taken the head of his enemy, and was fleeing with it dangling in front of his face. It bounded away awkwardly, now challenged with his peripherals falling victim to swings of dangling sinew that whipped about from his former opponent's neck— now having to work twice as hard in order to be sure of where it was going. Kavos felt like laughing, but because it was such an odd feeling, he swallowed it back down, licked his chops, and then burrowed into the felled deer's belly with a ferocity that implied it had been a while since his last decent meal.

Suddenly the corpse shuddered much harder than before and Towhee found her meal being ripped from between her teeth. She growled savagely (and automatically) in response, bracing herself to pull it back. The torn flesh gave then and she watched, similarly astonished, as the second and surviving buck took wearily to his feet with the decapitated head of his rival swinging from his rack. One ear turned entirely backward at this macabre sight and a strange phrase slipped from her lips: "Holy butts."

But then the motions of her comrade in arms feeding drew her attention back to the feast. Before she plunged her bloodied muzzle back into the repast, Towhee glanced up at the sky, wondering why Phox had never shown. He had missed quite the hunting opportunity. Would he even believe her when she went back and told him about it? Smirking faintly to herself, the Xi once more lowered her snout toward the now bloody stump of a neck and began bolting down mouthful after mouthful of fresh, delicious venison.

Though it didn't register to him as something painful, Kavos began to notice after a while of gorging that his stomach felt... some type of way. He'd never be able to describe the feeling, but whatever he felt, it made him stop eating. Kavos fell back onto his haunches, not yet wise enough to avoid stuffing himself in case of emergency. He'd usually eat himself into a food coma, which fortunately didn't happen now— though this probably had something to do with the hiccuping that just started.

His diaphragm spasmed as he sat there, burping up small noises of discomfort as his body struggled to keep everything down. He gave one large, loud burp which seemed to stop the hiccups for a time, before they started right back up again. Kavos, continuing to jerk every twenty seconds or so, turned his head towards his accomplice, wondering if she had this problem too.

She didn't notice his affliction, too busy still gorging herself. When her stomach finally couldn't take anymore, she backed away from the proverbial supper table, licking the blood from her chops. She finally glanced at her fellow wolf, head canting when she noticed his slight, intermittent shaking. Towhee couldn't hear any of the noises he was making, though it eventually dawned on her that he must have the hiccups.

"Those are the worst," she observed aloud, the phrasing perhaps sympathetic but her voice as tonelessly distorted as usual and her face wearing an expression to match. "You ate too much. Or too fast. Or both." Her tail switched as the Xi slowly picked her way back to the anterior side of the kill, maintaining a distance of a few feet now that they had hunted and fed.

"Thanks for the help." She almost asked if he had a name or a pack. But what did she care, really? "I'll probably tell my pack mates the location of the kill. Just a heads up that you'll have company if you come back here." Towhee's orange eyes rested steadily on his face for a moment before she added, "Well, I'm heading home." It might have been proper to wish him well or say goodbye but Towhee's lips pressed together wordlessly as she turned toward the caldera in the distance.

When she finally showed him any attention, it was to school the older wolf on what had caused the hiccups, without giving a name to them herself. He supposed he should have realized that this only happened when he ate or drank, but it was good to keep in the back of his head from now on, that he needed to pace himself if he didn't want it to happen again. His ears twitched, watching her movements closely as she then mentioned her pack. He knew what that was, and he was interested— but didn't think fast enough to get a word in edgewise about it. Not that she would have heard him anyway with her back swiveling into view now instead of her face. He watched her go while he sat there and hiccuped, looking a little dumbfounded. Feeling that way too.

When he finally did go, his hiccups had stopped and his stomach had stopped feeling... weird. He loped off to find a place to nap, heeding the girl's warning that others might be heading this way soon, so he made sure to make his rest-stop a good ways off from the kill.