Stone Circle We don't talk anymore

@Grayday

Valette got out of the den early that morning to run off and do some errands. She would check if the bison returned, yet they still hadn't, and would check upon the other herds to see how well they were fairing. With the warming temperatures they seemed to be doing better. With that in mind Valette decided to check for small game too. Even though she was a deer stalker she liked to track small animals too.

The female followed a set of tracks with her nose. Mainly to know if there were many foxes around. It was not a typical prey but the small canines were a thread to their caches, and if they wouldn't watch out they would end up being in a cache, same for coyotes in Valette's eyes. Her tail was up and swaying in excitement. Her whole embarrassing encounter with her first time pushed to the back of her mind. She kind of had been avoiding Grayday even though Steady apologized for him and eaten his gift.

Day wasn't looking for foxes. He knew there weren't any around - not this deep in the territory, anyway. Ever since that stupid foxhunt, the only kind of fox he'd allow near Addie was a dead one. He knew she could hold her own against one, now, but Day found the thought of her having to see one at all rather insulting.

Maybe he was being a little dramatic.

Either way, foxes were far from his mind when he caught sight of Valette sauntering by. He almost turned tail and retreated, as he'd been doing for a couple weeks by then, but instead, he decided it was time to bite the bullet. They'd hidden from each other long enough.

"Hey, Val. Whatchya up to?" he called to her, trotting tentatively in her direction.

Valette lifted her head when she heard a voice, a familiar voice. She turned and realized it was in fact Grayday. The female swiftly turned, not really wanted to show her behind to him right now. She lifted her heard and looked at him. "Grayday," she greeted. She had not really been talking to him a lot.

"I found some fox prints and was curious where they were headed. We don't have that many foxes, like ever, hence why I was curious," she explained, kind of glad she had a topic to talk about that wasn't their other encounter.

"Fox prints?" Day asked at once, moving a bit closer. He thought he'd been doing a pretty good job of keeping those little demons away! Well, he couldn't keep everything from getting past him. "Want help? We ought to get them out of here as soon as we can. There are too many kids around."

Not to mention, Valette herself could go into her season any day, now. Day didn't want to bring it up, considering what'd gone on the last time he'd been this close to her, but if it was on his mind, he was sure it was on Valette's.

Valette stepped aside when he stepped closer, mostly to let him look at the fox prints. That was her own excuse. "I think they would do more harm to our caches than to our kids,' she pointed out, she had forgotten the fox hunt they had at silver tip. She saw foxes more of a thread for their food supplies. She did not want to share them. Only a very desperate fox would ever attack a wolf. "If you want to help me you are welcome to join," she spoke.

Day noticed when she seemed to shy away from him - maybe because he was looking for it. He stopped a little short, still too far for his weathered eyes to see the prints, and tried not to show how awful her continued discomfort made him feel. Instead, he focused on the supposed trail, curling his lip as he sniffed around. Foxes, he thought irritably. "I guess it's just personal," he said with a shrug. He'd never known a fox to attack a pup, except one had attacked Adeline.

Despite her welcome, Day found himself suddenly wishing he hadn't asked to go along. "I mean - I don't have to," he said after a moment, though he would hate to miss this. "I don't wanna make you uncomfortable."

Valette turned back to Day when he spoke. Her face fell into a frown as the male made that comment. Her hazel eyes fell into his and she raised her tail a bit. She was not sure if she liked that comment. It was probably meant well, as in that he really didn't make her uncomfortable. Though it could also be seen as a jab. Valette's ears swiveled back for a moment. "You aren't making me uncomfortable," she returned, though when she thought about that moment where he watched them she did start to feel uncomfortable.

"Well, Now I feel uncomfortable," she commented with a thoughtful frown. "I don't really want to talk about what happened, Day. I know it happened and you didn't have bad intentions but I just felt terribly humiliated afterwards," she admitted to him. "I'd rather wanted that to stay private but it didn't. So there isn't much I can do or say about it. So lets continue to track these fox tracks," she pointed out.

His heart twisted guiltily at Valette's words. He wanted to talk about it and to try and make her feel better, but in this, he knew to simply adhere to the alpha's desires. Far be it from him to cause her to dwell on it. "Then we won't talk about it," he agreed, but his guilty conscience wouldn't let him set the topic aside entirely. "But I wanted to apologize - in person. I know Steady probably passed on the message, but I feel responsible. You deserve better than what happened. I'm sorry, Valette."

He felt that he was testing the limits of their friendship here. He'd never really been close with Valette until the move, and even now, they hadn't spent that much time together. Especially now. Things with Steady seemed easier, even when the other man was angry with him. He didn't know what was different, here.

With a breath that was still more anxiety than relief, Day turned his attention to the tracks, brushing his nose over the floor as he took in the scents. It seemed liked more than one might be around, though it could be that the fox had simply been near its ilk before traipsing through their territory.

She looked at Grayday more sincerely and nodded. "Apology accepted," she spoke. After all Valette was not a vindictive female, nor could she stay mad forever. Both parties made a mistake, they shouldn't have done it in the open, and if she hadn't insisted Steady to continue they wouldn't even be having sex right there.

"Don't worry too much about it Day. I am not truly mad at you. I just felt awkward after what you had seen, and it didn't help it was my first time doing such things. Seeing that Steady and I are mates now I do expect that to happen more often, but just next time please don't comment on anything, just silently leave," she advised him, and offered a hint of a smile.

Valette let Day use his nose, as she knew his eyes weren't the greatest. Instead she would be the eyes and watch for any curious things that the fox might have caused. She followed the tracks, knowing she wanted to expand on being a tracker. "There, those bushes. There is a pluck of fur on it!"

"Yes ma'am," Day said with a whisk of his tail. He wanted to expand and tell her how things had been different back home, but there was no need to make excuses. Poor manners were still a choice, even if they'd been learned. Day had the ability to determine what would and wouldn't be appropriate with his new family, and it was his own fault for falling back on old habits. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

The hunt commenced. Day followed dutifully after the alpha, knowing that she would be more useful while they were following visual cues. For his part, the beta scented the air often, trying to glean as much about their quarry as he possibly could. "It's a vixen," he noted, taking a strong whiff of the fur. "But we've been following a male's scent, haven't we?" It could be that the vixen had recently been with a todd, and he was picking up the residual scent from her fur, but Day was now fairly confident they were dealing with more than one fox.

Valette sniffed the fur too, she was not as familiar with female and male fox scents if she was really honest. She labeled it as 'fox'. She just chased them away when they got too close for her comfort. Day mentioned that it was a vixen. It could be that she had been with a male, it seemed to be the right time of year for it. Valette wondered if she was going to settle here.

"Perhaps it is best we find the vixen and chase her out. If she is carrying we don't want her to give brith here in our pack lands. It would mean more foxes," she pointed out to Day. She sniffed it more intently and locked onto the scent. There were some paw prints in the snow and Valette was quick to follow them. Hopefully they weren't too far behind on the fox's trail.

"Addie'd hate that," he agreed. It was his personal conviction that all foxes ought to be killed if they were found on packlands - but this was a new belief, one born out of his inane drive to provide happiness and safety for Adeline and not out of any sort of logic. So he follow Valette's lead, deciding that chasing the vixen out would have to do for the time being, and if he saw her around again, he'd bite first and ask question later.

From there, he stopped following Valette and began forging his own trail, fanning out from her to better cover ground. The vixen's scent was all over, almost as though she'd been searching for something. A place to whelp, most probably. That in mind, Day used his knowledge of the territory to his advantage, heading toward some larger bushes that would provide shelter from the elements.

Sure enough, there was a smudge of tang making its way through the dirt and snow. "Hey," he called, hoping to draw Valette's attention, if she hadn't already seen their prey. He was darting forward before he had a chance to check.

Valette noticed that Grayday was going in another direction than her. But she trusted his senses enough, even though he was becoming blinder, to leave him to his own path. Valette looked up at his hey. She had been on a trail but it was becoming dead. She had been more in a visual tracking path rather than using her nose. Once again it proved that the nose was a stronger tool than her eyes.

Valette turned to Day and then heard a screech. Very typical and then followed by a dash of red. Day had startled the female. Her sides seemed rounded. It looked like they were right about her carrying kits. Valette instantly sped forward, chasing after the startled fox. "GRAB HER!,' she called out as she started a chase. There was no way the fox was going to get away with the lack of speed from being pregnant.

Grayday was gratified to find that they were not actually going to let it go. He would not have been satisfied with merely 'chasing it out', though he'd been willing to do it to appease Valette.

"Got it," he puffed out, a little breathless from running. The beta sped up and, in two quick bounds, had snapped the vixen up in his jaws. For a moment she hung limp - stunned - but then seemed to come to and began snarling and yowling alternately as she turned her teeth on the wolf that held her. Grayday merely growl and clamped his jaws more tightly around her hips, where he'd managed to grab her by. Hopefully, Valette would be there soon to dispatch her. In the meantime, Grayday simply shook her with all his might when he felt the sting of her teeth on his face, chest, or forelegs.

Valette let out a victory woof when Day had her, the female didn't linger to speed forward too. Even though Day had the fox it wasn't an ideal place to get a hold of her. Valette charged at the red furred creature and bit down her throat, snapping her neck with the force of her bite. Spasms came over the dead fox until it stiffened. She let the fox go, checking if she hadn't done too much damage to Day.

"Are you alright?," she asked and stepped closer to their Beta. She didn't want him hurt too badly, but from what she could see it were only small cuts and some teeth marks. Though maybe she was wrong, she wasn't a doctor.

Grayday dropped the fox as soon as Valette had dispatched it, his tail wagging excitedly behind him. He was glad they'd gotten to it before it'd whelped - Grayday had a soft heart for the kits, since they looked so much like wolf pups when they were that size. Now, he nosed the fox onto it's back and bit down with a decisive snap of his jaws, not wanting to prolong any suffering that might befall the unborn babes inside her.

"Think so," he said to Valette, looking down at himself. There were little dribbles and droplets of blood speckling his front, but when he shook out his pelt, he felt only pinpricks and stings rather than the hot pain of deep wounds. "Yeah, I'm fine," he decided, tail whisking once more. "Nice job, team! We got it!"

Valette slowly curled his lips into a smile and nodded. "Yeah we did!," she confirmed. The young female liked that hunting brought them back together again, it was probably a good thing. She was glad that they got the fox before she got to whelp. Valette was getting more keen in having only babies herself this spring. Not even foxes would steal from her young. She tried to picture her future young with Steady. She wanted it badly.

She cleared her throat to stop those thoughts. "Feel free to have her as a meal, Day," she offered to him. Maybe it would be a nice thing for his own young to play with and learn how to open a carcass. She wasn't sure how far they were after all.

Day wagged his tail in thanks and gathered up his prize, planning to take the carcass to a section of the territory that Adeline did not often visit. He thought he'd take the kits out and have them for a meal before bringing the kids by to play with whatever was leftover. He didn't want to confused or frighten them by encouraging them to eat meat that still looked like them - they could learn later that meat was meat.

Close here?