Hushed Willows Linger

A calm had come over the alpha, and he lay on his side beneath one of his many willows, eyes open but unobservant as he gazed listlessly through the billowing branches before him. It was the first time in a long time that he truly felt at ease, unable to enjoy this type of relaxation in the position of a lone wolf. He had patrolled this morning, and surely someone else was now, and so he felt content to examine his world from a skewered angle for a time. The high sun dappled through the trees, the light dancing off of his coppery coat, making it appear brighter than usual. Pale, hooded eyes watched a couple birds flit in and out of the corner of his eye, before he resumed gazing ahead and ignoring the vague pang of hunger he felt in the pit of his belly. Breathing evenly in quiet huffs, Warbone eventually fell asleep; right in the middle of thinking that he should get up and do something.

hope you don't mind my popping in

Kunik padded through the pack's territory almost silently, dead squirrel hanging from her jaws. It had been a productive morning which put the brownish female in a good mood. She had patrolled for awhile, coming across none from her pack before taking off to hunt down her lunch. 

The shift of the wind stopped her as she cut across a willow grove, one paw stopping midair comically as she scented another in the grove with her. Recognizing the scent as Warbone's, she made her way over to him.

He looked rather vulnerable sleeping there, not quite as frightening as he made himself out to be. She was no fool, she saw beneath that stony exterior to know he must have his moments. There was a difference between being aloof and being cruel.

Kunik sniffed her Alpha before sitting down the squirrel and commenting quietly, "Ah, come on Warbone. Tell me ya ain't bit it yet." Her voice was quiet enough that it wouldn't outright wake him but she suspected a wolf like himself was a light sleeper.

You're welcome with me anytime! ;D

Warbone was quite the light sleeper, sleeping slightly harder than usual, so he didn't actually stir until she spoke. And at the voice, he jerked himself upright, onto his stomach, in a knee-jerk reaction to being disturbed. This was still a habit from the solitary life, but it would ebb as he grew more attuned to his wolves and their immediate presence. He blinked at Kunik, registering the familiarity of her first before turning his head away in a massive yawn, and peering about their surroundings as a responsible alpha should. "What did you say?" he asked, swinging his large, angular muzzle back towards her, and glancing down at the squirrel. He was hungry, but not interested in taking the kill from her. "Did something happen?" He looked her seriously in the face. She had woken him for a reason right?

Kunik hadn't expected him to wake up, thinking he would stay asleep and she would continue on her merry way. She jumped visibly when he suddenly jerked to life, leaping away nimbly on her small paws. A small startled noise left her throat,"Shit, give a girl a heart attack would you?"

She calmed a bit but remained where she was, wondering if he would get violent for waking him accidentally. "Nah, nothing's happened. I didn't mean to wake you up, I was making sure you weren't dead,"she assured as if it were the most common thing in the world. Considering her background it was pretty normal. She nudged the squirrel towards him, remembering when she had first met him. "Hungry?"

"Dead?" he repeated, his voice light and curious, though his inflection had mostly been posed rhetorically. He was partway disappointed that she had actually woken him up by accident, but he was amused nonetheless, so felt no ire towards her mistake. He leaned back on one elbow, relaxing further now that he was aware no "alpha on duty" was required. He watched, with a lazy expression, as she nudged her meal towards him in offering. His tail thumped quietly on the ground in appreciation, but shook his head in polite refusal. "Quite the little huntress," he remarked fondly, hooded eyes appraising the small clay wolf. "I will not take your prize."

She would be an ideal caretaker for young. She was fit, and sexually mature, he noticed; a natural thing for him to ponder. Her children might be small, but they would be healthy and quick, if nothing else. And she would be an excellent provider for them, as she was turning out now. He blinked languidly, then said: "tell me where you come from, Kunik."

She glanced at him warily, being more hesitant in nature than most. "I can not tell if you're mocking me or actually giving me a compliment. It matters not, suit yourself,"she lay next to him, digging into her small meal. She ran on less than other wolves, Kunik needed no elk to fuel her petite frame.

"I am from the south but not much farther south. My father ran his own pack alongside my mother-he won it in battles. They were often, the rank challenges, and he won every single one or so I am told. I prospered well in them and rose to Beta before he died. I tried to challenge for the right of Alpha but was defeated by my brother,"she had known not if he meant the location or her natal pack so she gave him a brief description of each in turn and her placement amongst it.

He listened raptly, an alpha intent on learning every detail to be learned about the wolves beneath him, the wolves he considered kin. "The dream is not yet deceased, Kunik," he mused, eying her critically. "Keep up your dedication and I could see you leading beside me, yet." The waspish red female had shown nothing but a level head so far, and her obvious depth for hunting made her invaluable besides the fact. If he was going to continue to take in wolves that needed help, then he would also need wolves who could provide it. "Do you think yourself very ambitious?" Though not required, he would not fault her if she was. He quite like the ambitious, being of the same party himself; and Warbone was not a wolf to shy from threat or competition. Rather, he reveled in it.

She assumed his words were teasing, he could not really mean for her to lead his pack alongside him. Warbone was not the type to easily follow another and she doubted he would ever have a co-leader to rule with. Kunik could aim high though, and aim high she would. 

"I think I am,"she told him. "I was ambitious enough to challenge every male I had to until I won the right of Beta. Females don't challenge where I come from, I made a mockery of them. I had enemies but if you lose you're outcasted, I didn't have to worry about any of them coming back for me. I only challenged for Alpha because they planned to outcast my mother now that their Alpha male was dead. But I lost. Now here I am with you, I don't believe I'll be challenging you for Alpha anytime soon. I'd lose,"she shrugged good naturedly with a smirk. It was obvious who would win that fight between the larger male and the small woman.

While Warbone could most certainly accept a co-alpha, Kunik was right to assume he would never follow their direction. Value their opinion above all others, probably, but never obey. He looked at her fondly as she delved deeper into the factions of her life, explaining herself to be the rebellious type and then making sure he knew that she knew better than to challenge him. "You have a chance," he purred in good nature, starless eyes gleaming in mischief. "A chance, however slight it may be, is still a chance after all." His tail began to thump thump thump quietly on the ground; the wolf imagining his wolves becoming an impeccable force. Even little Kunik had such great promise, and the patriarch of the Keep would probably combust in his hubris quite soon.

She smirked, her chance was slim against the warrior. It wouldn't do her any good to challenge him, besides she didn't want to lead. Not even when she had challenged her brother had she wanted the position, only doing it to save her mother.

Kunik laughed,"It must be hard for you to admit that, you're not exactly humble." It was made in jest, no harm was meant by her words. Kunik quite liked his attitude, at least he didn't pretend to be average. Rather he seemed to embrace his arrogance.

He snorted at her words, blinking slowly as his eyes scanned her mirthful face. He was not inclined to disagree with her, so as if to confirm her statement, he said: "it is not hard for me to do anything." Except perhaps be humble. But nobody held contests for humility. Warbone pushed himself up then, rising to his feet like a sprouted beanstalk, and his gave his dusty body a shake. "I should resume a patrol. Would you like to join me?"

Fade here?

He snorted as he rose, Kunik's muscles tensing as she wondered what he was doing. She showed no outward signs of worry, her face still coated in a smirk and amusement.

At his words, she relaxed as she moved to join him. "Aye,"she answered him as she shook out her own fluffy brown pelt. Kunik padded after him to patrol the border.