Blacktail Deer Plateau survival 101

Forwarded a bit to after this thread. :)

Nature had served her first lesson: stick to your own kind. Or so the misplaced female came to believe as she considered her next move. Unsure of herself, her surroundings, and just about everything at this time, she opted to follow the wolves. She kept her distance and she kept quiet. She followed them until they disappeared into a birch and pine forest, past a scent line she knew she could not cross, and then her nerves failed her. What she was supposed to do next she did not know; or, well, she knew but could not bring herself to do it. So she retreated, only to return to the borders the next morning.

"Okay," she inhaled deeply. "I can do this. I can live out here. I can live with the wolves." She pursed her lips as her stomach rumbled again. She had a slim figure in health, but her belly had already sunken noticeably following a week or so without a proper meal. It was not just that she could do this. She had to. The air turned colder by the day, and she was destined to die miserably if she did not adapt to her new circumstances.

Behati was in a stropy and hormonal mood after her string of explosive rows with Casmir, and every creature in her path would be made to acknowledge this fact. She had snapped at her pack-mates all morning, including frosty exchanges with @Lasher and @Pearl. She regretted the snark as soon as it left her mouth, but there was little to be done about it but mumble an apology and stalk off in the direction of the borders.

Casmir was nowhere to be seen - but there was a lost-looking somebody skulking around the forest border, looking as out of place in the wild as can of Coca-Cola. Unfortuantely for Kit, she wasn't neither a hideous old bag nor a strapping gentleman, and was thus ill equipped to temper her greeter's hostility.

But greeted she would be. Behati strode out of the woods like a tiny, desset-coloured train, snapping a cold "Hello," at the visiting wolf. "Are you here with a message or what?" No way was this .. this girl going to stroll in and outshine Behati with her cute eyes and her boo-hoo-I'm-so-shy exterior.

Lasher / Pearl - just tagged you so you are aware of Behati's behaviour! ;) Just a fun prompt.

She saw the wolf coming, and her heart started to thrum in her chest. These were wild beasts and there was no telling what they were capable of. She swallowed, stealing herself, going through a mental checklist of the steps she made up for herself based on limited experience and misguided information. She placed her front paws neatly beside one another, relaxed her ears and lifted her tail, curling its tip. She forced herself to smile despite the unwelcomingly cold snap the other offered.

"Hi! Um, no..." she faltered.

behati had become a cold and priggish beast since her return, and lasher worried that her shift in behavior had something to do with his son. casmir had done little else but skulk about the edges of the plateau and answer parental inquiries in a monotone.

the sound of the girl's angered voice at the borders turned the beta toward the commotion -- he came upon the pair there, behati with her defenses risen toward the shrinking creature at the borders, some oddly coloured female that was not quite wolf.

"why have you come?" he asked in a gentler tone, casting behati a warning glance before his attentions returned to the beast. her eyes were soft in a delicate face, and he sensed her lineage was mingled, though with the winter coming, he would not turn aside a mongrel if contribution could be had.

Just a speedy one - post without me and assume Behati's skulking in the background!

Lasher and his magical cape of mystery swanned onto the scene within moments of Behati's utterance, silencing the insolent girl with a look. She followed his silent command without question, shooting the stranger a sour look before retreating to stand some distance behind and to the left of Lasher. It would not do to leave him alone with this tramp; who knew what kind of ill will and dirty diseases she was carrying.

Before their conversation could move past her stumble and sheer inability to figure out what to say in this response, another wolf came; she recognized this one as one of the first to show up at the moose carcass. He asked her a point blank question, and she blinked dumbly for a moment. Clearing her throat she found a bit of confidence and tried to answer with said confidence, but instead ended up deepening her voice into a comical pitch to go oh-so-greatly with her choice of phrases. "I come in peace. I have come to live with the wolves. Errr, ah—" she stammered. "You! ...I have come to live with you." She gave her head a firm nod, her brows wrinkling and lips pursing as she tried to make a serious expression.

Suddenly remembering proper customs, she stepped forward. Her tail was still lifted behind her, its tip still curled, as she leaned forward, extending her muzzle to touch her nose to his in a proper greeting. Or so she thought.

behati heeded him and moved aside so that he might invest his attentions upon the odd beast. she spoke, and her words were strange. his brow furrowed, but before he could respond, she stepped toward him, tail flung high and muzzle questing. the lack of decorum, coupled with her complete misplacement, set the beta on edge -- no malice filled him, and yet his hackles raised and his own plume lifted.

though not commonly an aggressive sort, taltos swung his own muzzle, seeking to strike her with the side of his bared fangs. "down," came his snarled order, and he would bear her to the earth if need be.

lmao

She missed how his hackles bristled, her champagne eyes flicking to his tail as it lifted. She felt relieved for all of a moment, thinking he was returning her friendly greeting, but before she could move he struck at her, his teeth bluntly connecting against her muzzle. She  hissed, arching her back and fluffing her tail as she sprung backwards, her eyes wide and her ears splayed to the side of her skull. It took a few seconds for his command to sink in. She was completely caught off guard, and hurt and insulted that he should react to her like this when all she tried to do was greet him with friendliness. Perhaps this was what she could expect of wild beasts. Well, the thought soured her even more to whole idea of this new life that was thrust so cruelly upon her.

But with no other option, she lowered herself, crouching into a ball. Her tail curled about her, the tip twitching, and her were paws drawn and folded to her chest. Her head was tucked back into her shoulders as much as it could be. She was as small as she could conceivably be, her whale-eyes staring up at him with so much confusion and fear.

aww poor kitten lol

she recoiled, but did as he bid, curling herself into a frightened heap of soft pelt and wide eyes at his feet. lasher lowered his muzzle to take her scent -- he had been mistaken in his assumption that she was not pure. her actions merely did not match those of her plateau-dwelling counterparts. "i am lasher, and this is blacktail deer plateau. i am prepared to accept newcomers, but you must tell me what skills you possess, and what it is you are able to bring my pack."

his voice was carefully modulated as he spoke -- he did not wish to frighten her further, but that she did not know the basic motions of hierarchy was worrisome.

He stiffened as he drew near, but she forced herself not to rumble in protest, and stayed her paw from striking at him. Fortunately, all he did was sniff at her, and she relaxed just a bit. Enough that her eyes resumed their normal shape. He introduced himself, speaking in a less intimidating tone, but she remained her in ball, afraid to move, for she was not certain what had warranted his reaction earlier to her harmless greeting. She figured at this time that not moving was probably her best bet.

"I'm Kit," she offered. She was not expecting to have to list a bunch of skills, or be interviewed in this way at all, and she somehow doubted that she had what he wanted. So she did her best to embellish truths she thought would be of interest to him, and make herself seem not entirely useless. "I am a good hunter," she said. It was not a lie; she was! She was a good mouser, but he did not need to know what she was good at hunting. "Um... I can help you keep your scent lines established." Yeah! Just like the one around her yard. She could do this. She was doing this.

She lifted her head a bit, feeling a pulse of confidence again. "I can alert you all if someone comes near your home and... whatever else you need?" Her voice wilted with uncertainty at the end, her confidence rather fleeting.

she reminded him of a cat -- that was from where her mannerisms must have sprung. curiously he watched as she fidgeted and blurted words in her flighty manner. the woman's answers were vague enough to cause him pause, but she could soon be sent on her way if her work at the plateau was less than satisfactory. "you will learn swiftly what is is that we need," lasher murmured softly. but he required more information than her hopeful piping voice and pleading eyes provided.

"from where have you come, and why did you depart there?" came the druid's next inquiry, and he narrowed his eyes upon her. no lie would be taken -- in fact, if the russet wolfess strove to deceive, he and behati would rout her until the marks of their teeth were in her shrinking flesh.

She nodded quickly, her eyes alight with hope and determination. Yes, she would learn what was needed. She needed to. But as quick as the fire within her had been stoked to a hearty blaze it had been reduced to an quivering ember with his follow-up question. She swallowed, hesitating to answer. Her mind worked to find some truthful but favorable angle from which to answer, but she sagged before him with a sigh.

With her gaze cast to the ground, she answered in a quiet murmur, certain that in her revelation she would find her defeat. "I was a pet," she said. "I was taken from my home, and just... just stuck out here!" Her head raised as she blurted those words. "I'll learn!" She hurried to add. "I promise I'll learn. I can't be alone for winter." Her eyes pleaded with him.

she was a broken creature -- lasher listened, but he had already made his decision to bring her into the fold. "what is your name?" he asked, having already granted his own. the catlike sylph's willingness to learn, her desperation, had endeared her to the soft-hearted beta, but he would turn cold in a moment if her clear ineptitude cost them. lasher was a kind beast, but he would not hesitate to defend hearth and family first.

a pet implied that she had been kept, and therefore knew no requisite skills. he would take her beneath his wing for tutelage, but not forever. the girl would be set firmly on her way, and if she faltered, he would cast her out.

She waited for rejection, but instead he asked for her name. She took a lot of hope in that, but her heart still fluttered with anxiety. "Kitten," she replied. "It's what the ca—" she paused. "My family... It's what my family called me. You can call me Kit for short though." The name was never meant to be a name; it had been instead meant as a jab toward her inadequacies, but it had stuck, and the naive girl had never inferred its sarcastic origin. Rather, she had thought it a complement. In time it had become nothing more than a moniker, for she had, in a way, grown out of it. Among the wolves though? They may as well call her Pup.

last post for me! <3 @Behati, feel free to hop back in if u want

"kitten. it is fitting." truly so, given her propensity for catlike behaviors. yet she would need to learn swiftly the ways of the wolf, for the flighty manners of felines were intolerable within the clutches of a pack, where each member depended upon one another.

"this is behati," the druid went on, indicating the pretty girl with the surly expression who stood somewhat behind him. "she shall show you unto a cache and the heart of the territory. you are our kappa now, and i suggest you seek out a densite. the winter nights are long and filled with ice."

his piece being said, lasher nodded to the pair and turned smartly to break into a brisk walk and continue upon his patrol, rather amused at the thought of what transpired in his immediate absence.

Pet? Behati hung back for the entirety of the exchange, taking notes from Lasher whilst staring intently at the peculiar stranger. She certainly looked like a wolf, but everything else about her - her posture, the way she spoke - was at odds with her exterior.

When Lasher volunteered her services, Behati offered a tight-lipped smile and nodded. She was in no mood to be friendly, but orders were orders and Lasher was not a wolf to be disobeyed. "Come on then, I guess," the dessert-coloured female sighed, rolling her eyes when her back was turned and only the wilderness could see. "But keep up."

She chittered nervously. She thought to keep her raising a secret, but suspected that the dark wolf already had himself a fair idea. She knew what she was, and what she was not, but never had the influence needed to life the live for which her paws were intended. Perhaps she would now, now that she had checked off box one of 'live in the wild' - find a pack to live with! She gasped, clearly shocked at the good fortune. "Oh thank you thank you!" She chirped. But it seemed the other wolf was not so thrilled by her acceptance, sighing as she beckoned Kit to come with her. Kit followed as she was bid, careful not to lag.