Haunted Wood We make our own future.

There was still much to contemplate before making any life-changing decisions. If she could manage to convince enough "outsiders" to leave (read: chase them away), then maybe she could stay after all. But if they turned out to be as greedy and selfish as Burke and his mate, then Towhee knew the ax might have to fall on her head instead. She sighed heavily at the thought even as she departed from the borders, deciding she might as well prepare herself for the worst case scenario.

It was a hot, sunny day, though the forest neighboring the caldera was cool and shadowy. Towhee found a well-worn footpath and began following a scent she had never come across before. She was equal parts hungry and intrigued, even though she had no idea if she would be able to take on this type of prey alone. But she couldn't leave the opportunity unexplored, especially if she might be on her own soon—that thought made her stomach lurch—so she sped up her prowl.

Hope you don't mind another one with me. <3

Her belly growled. And growled. And growled. Raven tried to remember what it was like to not be hungry all the time, but the painful protests of her empty stomach distracted her. As day after day passed by with still no food, whatever optimism she'd had about the food shortage was gone now. In typical Raven fashion, she had eschewed eating anything herself and instead took every little scrap or morsel of anything edible she found to the alphas' den. The puppies had to survive, they were the priority.

Raven tended to look at the world through extremely rose-colored glasses, but a week and a half with nothing to eat had stripped away some of that. She was irritable and easily distracted, two qualities that were highly uncharacteristic of her. But still she persisted. She'd never been the greatest hunter, but she hunted night and day, always keeping watch for berries and edible plants along the way. Aunt Flea was probably tired of eating berries by now, but Raven still took them to her. It was for the puppies.

Her mood was dour as she followed scent trails, not really sure where they led or what they belonged to but hoping they led to something made of meat. She stumbled upon Towhee's scent several minutes before she saw her, and as her eyes fell upon her younger sister, Raven felt a moment of sadness for her, as well. Towhee wasn't far out of puppyhood herself. She was still growing and needed food too. Towhee was coming toward her, intently following a trail (probably the same trail Raven had been following herself), so the theta stepped out of the brush to where Towhee could see her.

Thrilled to have another!

Towhee was so much in the zone that when Raven stepped in front of her, her heart skipped a beat. She gasped (overly loudly) and took a step backward, then huffed when she realized it was just her older sister. -You startled me!- she signed as her heartbeat returned to normal. -I was just trying to track this scent. Do you smell it? Do you know what it is?- she added in the next beat, head tilting.

She considered explaining why she was away from home, hunting unknown creatures, but surely Raven understood. And Towhee didn't want to burden anyone with her innermost turmoil, not yet. She hadn't even talked to Phox about it. She would keep it under wraps, until she was ready to act. Then, and only then, she would go directly to the Alphas. For now, it was her secret burden to bear.

Raven had hoped to avoid startling Towhee, so she felt immediate regret when the girl nearly had a heart attack at the sight of her. Sometimes she hated that her sister couldn't hear. Towhee had overcome her disadvantages with astounding success -- her deafness was hardly a hindrance to her at all -- but there would always be little ways in which it made things awkward and difficult for the girl.

-I'm sorry, I figured it was better than randomly coming up behind you,- she explained, feeling like a douche. Her belly growled again in response to Towhee's question, and Raven shook her head uncertainly. She sniffed it again, but still didn't really have any ideas. Maybe if she were a more experienced hunter, she'd know what it was. But alas, hunting would never be her greatest skill. -I'll follow it with you if you want. We can find out together.-

When Raven apologized, Towhee shook her head and smiled. -I'll forgive you,- she said, moving to poke at her sister with her elbow, -someday.- Her grin grew cheeky, though her expression became more contemplative when the Theta said she didn't recognize the source of the smell either.

-Only one way to find out,- she said even as Raven signed simultaneously. Towhee laughed despite herself, then nodded. "Let's go," she said with her eyes and body before lowering her snout to the ground to pick up the latest trace. When she pinpointed the scent trail, she resumed her pursuit, winding slowly through the shady woods.

Her sharp eyes compensated somewhat for her lack of hearing, and Towhee froze and motioned for Raven to do the same when she saw a flash of motion just off the path about a hundred yards ahead. The youth expected the two of them would have to formulate an ambush of some sort, creeping closer and then springing an attack. But what was their quarry? How big was it? Was it safe for a pair of wolves to confront?

She wasn't left wondering for long. Some sort of strange creature emerged from the underbrush, looking quite a bit like a part of the forest floor come to life. Towhee squinted, trying to make sense of what she was looking at. It was like a small, squat, malformed deer. Her brows lifted and she shot a glance at Raven, face asking, "What the hell is that thing?"

Going to go ahead and apologize if this post is disjointed and makes no sense. I am being talked at incessantly and I can't concentrate on anything. 9___9

The two of them walked in companionable silence for a while, their noses keen and senses on high alert. Raven was glad Towhee couldn't hear her belly's growls and gurgles, though she wondered if any potential prey animals could. Wouldn't that be some shit? Finally find something to eat and it's spooked away by Raven's stomach. She grinned at the thought, but there wasn't much humor in it.

After some time, Towhee stopped short and motioned for Raven to do the same. The theta's attention had been on the ground, searching for tracks or signs of any kind, so she was glad that her sister had been paying attention to their surroundings. Her eyes flicked around for an instant before they landed on a truly bizarre creature. Instinctively, she crouched down and thought hard -- had she ever seen one of those before? She wracked her brain, but couldn't remember. Her memory was about as solid as a screen door. It was kind of sad that she could identify almost any plant in the region but she couldn't even identify an animal she had probably eaten before. It looked sort of like a bison, a tree stump, and a bear had all had some sort of weird, disturbing orgy and this was the product. She shrugged lamely and shook her head, signing, -No idea, but it's alive and that means...meat.-

I love that meme. XD

Raven signed back and Towhee's expression grew pensive before her gaze swung back toward the... beast. Her sister was right, of course, and it seemed small enough that the two of them might even have a chance. As Towhee tried to think of any tactics Phox had shown her that might come in handy in this situation, something suddenly occurred to her. Looking thunderstruck, she glanced back at Raven.

But whatever epiphany she'd had, she didn't remark on it. Instead, Towhee signed, -I think we should go for it. What do you think?-

I love it too. Memes make IC posts so much better! XD

The two considered the creature for a few moments more, anticipation suspended over them as they both weighed their collective balls and tried to decide if they were actually going to give it a try. Towhee was just a juvenile and Raven's hunting skills were so terrible that sometimes even plants kicked her ass, so the odds weren't exactly in their favor. But as the russet-streaked youth looked at her with a weird light in her eyes and said she wanted to go for it, Raven couldn't turn her down. Besides, it wasn't exactly like they had a lot of alternatives. -What the hell. Why not?-

They were both on-board then. Towhee sucked in a breath and let it out rather noisily. Although unaware of the sound herself, she saw its effect on their quarry: it froze and lifted its strange head, peering at them with beady black eyes. Towhee's mouth fell open as they made eye contact. In the next blink, the creature had turned and fled into the woods.

"Do we go after it?" she shouted (still being unnecessarily loud and totally oblivious to it). She glanced frantically at Raven, then impatiently sprang forward in pursuit despite a total lack of a game plan.

Given Towhee's youthful lack of hunting and stalking experience combined with her inability to hear, their cover was quickly blown. Raven probably should have expected it, but it still took her by surprise. Even more surprising was when Towhee took off after it, not even waiting for a response from Raven. Her eyes widened and she muttered to herself, "Shit!" Neither of them had any idea what this animal was or what it could do. Chasing after it without a plan and without backup really wasn't the smartest thing to do, but Raven wasn't going to let Towhee take this thing on by herself.

So the black healer bolted after her younger sister, bringing up the rear as the two of them crashed through the brush after the...whatever it was. There was nothing suave or elegant about their chase. They tore through the woods like a stampede of elephants, and while the creature zig-zagged this way and that in an attempt to shake its pursuers loose, the wolves had the advantage of longer legs and were steadily gaining on it.

It was imperative for Towhee to keep her eyes on the fleeing prey, so she couldn't afford even a quick glance behind her to see if Raven was bringing up the rear. She thought she sensed her sister's presence behind her—even felt a hot blast of breath on her heels—but most of Towhee's attention was trained upon the fleeing pig.

At first, she kept up with it and even gained some ground. For a solid minute or two, her blood thrilled with the success so close at hand. But then one of her paws snagged on a tree root and Towhee didn't just stumble, he smashed into the ground with enough force to break a couple of teeth. She was lucky she didn't bite off her own tongue.

She laid there, dazed, smarting where parts of her body—her chin and her chest, mostly—had impacted with the solid earth. She tasted blood in her mouth and spat at least two small, white fangs into the dirt, along with some pink foam. But Towhee barely glanced at them, instead peering around for any sign of Raven or the beast.

omg Towhee XD <3

Things were actually looking pretty good for the pair of them, at least as far as the chase was concerned. Towhee was within inches of their quarry's heels and Raven was right behind her. Whatever anxiety she'd been feeling moments before had been lost somewhere in the pounding of her heart and the racing of her adrenaline as deeply-ingrained instincts drove her on. The phantom taste of warm meat made her mouth run with saliva and her belly growled as she prepared to follow Towhee in for the kill.

...And then in an absolutely spectacular display of destruction, Towhee went down and smashed the ground with a thump that Raven actually felt. It was all she could do to avoid tripping over Towhee and doing the same herself, but somehow she managed to twist and jump awkwardly over her fallen sister. As she skidded to a stop, panting to the beat of the blood pounding in her ears, she felt a momentary urge to keep going and try to bring down lunch herself. Realizing that was ridiculous, though, she turned to see Towhee rising to her feet.

She was dismayed at the sight of the girl's broken teeth laying in the dirt. -"Oh, Towhee,"- she commented softly, eyeing the girl's mouth as the ghost of the mother she had been to Towhee stirred somewhere deep inside her. No mother liked to see her child's perfect teeth broken. -"Those weren't baby teeth, you klutz."- She cleaned away a few droplets of blood from her sister's chin, hoping there wasn't more damage beneath the surface. Towhee had hit the ground hard.

Their prey was nowhere in sight, though Raven quickly spun and came to loom over her, expressing dismay at the broken teeth on the ground. Towhee momentarily ignored her, as well as the aches and pains wracking her body, as she shoved back onto her feet and stared in the direction they had been running. The beast was long gone, a realization which made the Xi spit out another spray of blood, this time angrily.

-I cost us the hunt,- she said, holding still as Raven tended to her chin. There was anger and guilt written all over her face, one directed at herself and the other toward her sister. -I'm sorry I suck,- she said, followed by a long, gusty sigh as she scuffed a black heel in the dirt.

The spirited juvenile was understandably upset with herself, and for one precarious moment Raven thought Towhee might dash after the runaway pig in a mad effort to catch up with it. The sounds of its crashing escape through the forest had faded off into the distance now, so Raven knew it was hopeless. She had no intentions of trying to stop her sister, though, so she was glad when Towhee seemed to get a grip on herself and came back to the present situation.

Her mouth was a mess of blood, and Raven imagined there would be some hellacious swelling both in her mouth and elsewhere. As the girl voiced her guilt, the delta's look of concern became something grimmer, a subtle hue of disapproval casting a shadow over the compassion in her eyes. She could not stand the thought of Towhee thinking less of herself over one mistake. Putting herself firmly in front of Towhee's gaze so the girl could not miss a word, Raven responded, -"You do NOT suck. You are a fantastic hunter. You're not even a year old yet and you almost had that thing by yourself. That's amazing."- She flicked some leaves, dirt, and other forest detritus from Towhee's chest before adding, -"One botched hunt isn't a big deal. Everyone screws up from time to time. What matters is that you learn from it and try again."-

Towhee appreciated Raven's reassurances, though it did little to make her feel better. If she couldn't hunt worth a damn, then she probably would have to leave the pack. Her throat felt dry and pinched, her stomach hollow, not with hunger but with fear. After all, she shouldn't burden the pack with another hungry mouth that couldn't even contribute. But if she left, then how could she possibly provide for herself?

"Thanks, Rave," Towhee muttered, then turned away and began wordlessly leading the way back home. There was too much on her mind, too many feelings fluttering in her chest, to even try to make conversation, so she kept her gaze on the caldera and stewed in her moody silence.

Raven knew the girl wasn't satisfied, but there was nothing to be done for it. Towhee was hard on herself, sometimes a little excessively so, and Raven knew that no amount of reassurance would extinguish the frustration she felt. The best thing to do was to leave her alone to sort out her own thoughts. Towhee turned and began to head back home, and with a sigh -- and a last somber glance at the small white teeth that lay in the dirt -- the medic fell into step behind her younger sister and followed her.