Dragoncrest Cliffs ♫ & eyes & eyes & eyes & eyes

Even though the kill had gone to good use, giving it to Blixen, she’s empty handed once more with nothing to offer her friend. He’s likely taken from the cache, or hunted for himself, but she wants to find something he doesn’t have to put too much effort in in order to have something fresh. The bird had been small, perhaps not enough to fill his belly, so she searches the outer portion of the redwood forest that lines their claim. She’d noted the scent of a fox earlier in the day and she finds it later, trailing after it when she realizes just how fresh it is.
 
Most of her kills have been small, or injured, and a fox will be the first thing of some substance. It is a little thin, likely separated from its skulk, but enough to satisfy hunger for a little while. Her tail whips behind her when she finds it slowly, sniffing the ground, but foolishly continues to move against the wind to give her the advantage.
 
She takes a heavy step where her feet had once been light, cracking a branch beneath her that causes the fox to flinch and look back. Furi doesn’t give it the chance to really get away before she’s launched forward. It takes off a second later, weaving through the trees but her speed with limber legs make it easy to close the distance, throwing herself forward to land on its back. They land with a disgusting crunch, a wailing yip, and she scrambles to latch onto its neck, shaking and clamping down until its form is lifeless beneath her.
 
Furi remains on top of the kill for several minutes, panting, and trying to catch her breath before she scoops it up by the scruff and trots back into the forest with @Étoille in mind.

 With the conclusion of his mission the Rauna has returned to his favorite pasttime: leisure. Not that he intends to slack in his duties to Drageda, but he has at least earned a few days of rest. The still-fading ache in his bones demands it. 

 As content as Étoille would be to lay around, he does wish to check in on Furi. They'd spoken briefly when he arrived but he is curious how she is settling in and so he has already set off to find her when she comes looking for him, fox in mouth. His tail wags behind him slowly when he sees her, taking the time to note the ways she has grown in his absence. She seems much healthier than when Eske brought her to the original scouting party. He's pleased.

"Hello," the titan greets, watching the fox carcass as it bobs in her grasp. "Good work," he compliments, impressed by her kill (she is still, to him, so small!).

It does not take long to find her friend and her tail begins to beat faster, picking up her speed until she’s standing in front of him. Furi spits out the kill at her feet and nudges it closer until it touches the brute’s feet and she takes a step back. “Thanks,” she says, beaming with more pride (if possible) and plops herself right down. “I got it for you,” she adds in case it wasn’t obvious. She’d had more meals in the last few weeks than she had in a long time, filling her form back out, and while she is still thin (something perhaps she’ll always be), she does not mind giving away her hard earned work for someone she cares a lot about.

 He does not expect the gift and, caught off guard, he smiles softly. "Merci," the titan murmurs and easily settles onto the ground so that he may work on the fresh kill while still talking to the girl. It is a kind gesture and he does not think twice about it. After a few moments of eating, he glances back up to her. "How have you been," Étoille asks - a rephrasing of a question he's asked her already, but now they are alone with time on their side, rather than limited to the quick exchange required in the flurry of the party's arrival back to Drageda. "It is .. nice, here," he adds, asking, in his own way, if she likes the pack itself, likes living here as he does. Like him, she is an outsider. Such things do not bother the giant, and he has found himself accepted fairly quickly, but he curious if it is the same for Furi.

Étoille says something before taking the kill, in a similar fashion Blixen had with a sound she didn’t understand. Similarly, while he takes a bite, she questions him: “what?” Her words slip in before he asks about her and she smiles, shrugging one shoulder with a little exaggeration. Did something just bite her? She brushes it off and slinks all the way to the ground though it feels weird to watch him eat but in his pause, she searches his face. “It’s been kinda boring,” she tells him with a thump of her tail, a little more playfully than her concerns a while ago with Eske. He seems to fit in with these wolves, even if he is still on the outside, but she does not have such a connection yet beyond the few wolves she spends her time with. Now that the rest were home, perhaps her chances at establishing herself will increase.

"Ah," Étoille says, and clarifies, "'thank you'." Furi tells him she's been bored and a flicker of amusement passes through his gaze. The titan has never to his knowledge been bored. Restless, perhaps, but his fairly self absorbed nature keeps him content. Nonetheless he can sympathise. "Did you talk to Wanlida about it?" He asks, unsure himself of how to offer fruitful assurance.

This time, her question is properly answered and she smiles when he clarifies. She tries to remember if it had been the same sound Blixen made but she can’t really remember. She knew Étoille spoke another language, different from the common tongue and the tongue of the tundra but it sounds smoother than those of Drageda. She wonders how much he knows of their language, too, but it does not become questioned. ”Yeah,” she says with a bit of a shrug. She’d been a little helpful and she didn’t want to admit she missed the man but he doesn’t have to know that. When she glances down, she realizes her first meal with the Drageda wolves had been a fox, later she played tug of war with, and she can’t stop the smirk from her face. ”Do you have any good stories from your trip?”

 He does not know why Furi smirks, not  being aware of her relationship with foxes, but does not push it. "Hmm," the titan rumbles in answer to her question, giving his ear a quick scratch. "It was not very exciting until Wildfire arrived," he admits, swallowing a mouthful of fox meat. "I did encounter an old... friend." Ah, Mirabelle. Although he respects her decision, a part of him wishes he could have pursuaded her to join them after the scouting trip. Still, Morningside is not so far away he could not visit... (alas, he remains unaware of her departure from the Teekons). He does not provide more than that but of course, should Furi be curious, he will oblige her.

There isn’t too much exciting about what he has to tell her but it seems to have been rather straight forward. The mention of an old friend doesn’t mean much to her and she doesn’t pick up on his tone. Instead, she imagines an old wolf—much older than he—that he’d run into and it didn’t sound terribly exciting. ”I sparred with Eske some. And Blixen asked if I wanted to spar with her sometime,” she explains after a moment. It seems important to state, though she doesn’t know why, but she’s glad to have a friend close to her in age so she isn’t the weird kid with only adult friends.

 She does not press, and so Étoille is content to leave it at that. He nods thoughtfully as she speaks. "Blixen," the titan repeats, trying to place a face to the name. "Which one is that," he asks, somewhat sheepishly. As before, he did not spend much time socializing on the trip - focused on ensuring he was giving Heda the most accurate directions he could. There had been the two children around Furi's age - a girl who resembled the missing Wildfire, and a boy who resembled the Wocha - Heda's children, he knows, and Wildfire's, but the particular configuration is a bit of a mystery to him. Still, it is not his place to question. Also he should possibly make more of an effort to learn all of his packmate's names. Well.

Étoille repeats the name and she opens her mouth to speak again but he asks which one it is, which surprises her. Her teeth click back together as she thinks about it. Blixen had gone with them so she is surprised to hear the question. ”She’s a little shorter than me, bright red fur... um, her mom is the one you were looking for,” she elaborates, hoping it’ll joke his memory. Without thinking about it, she shifts her weight and lifts a back leg to scratch at her thickening mane a few times until her nails dig into her skin, satisfying the itchy for the time being.

Ah, the ginger. He nods and mirrors her gesture absently. "I was not sure if you meant her or her brother," Étoille explains. Hm. Were it not for Furi's now-lightening coat, the pair of them would almost resemble a young Heda and Wildfire together. It's an oddly endearing mental image, but one he does not comment aloud. Instead he says, giving his scruff another scratch, "I am glad you have a friend."

Étoille seems to figure out who is who despite the confused expression on Furi’s face. She brushes it off quickly because she’s too happy to receive it from her companion. Her foot settles back on the ground and she not-so-gracefully surges forward to bury her face into his chest, winding herself around the larger male. “I met this other girl, um… before.. before we came here and we played tug with a dead fox but it wasn’t as big as this’un,” she comments, drifting off from the thoughts of Blixen and their potential spar. Furi slinks down to the ground to grab one section of what is left from the kill and grumbles low, shaking her head so one red limb comes flying across her face.

He is not expecting the child to surge forward the way she does - he emits a soft oof with the impact of her body, though he does not move. After a moment he gently rests his head atop hers. His chest is warm. "I see," Étoille murmurs. He does not follow until she grabs the fox and shakes the limbs.

No, he still doesn't quite follow. "Would you like to play," he asks, watching her. Look - he's learning.

There are new factors in this game. The fox is bigger, nor is it picked clean, and her component is much bigger than Witchbaby. With the strange girl, she had a little advantage, but she hasn’t seen everything Étoille is capable of. He’s only been home a few days and he’s still probably tired, plus he has a full belly, and she might have some benefit when it comes to it. She opens her mouth to adjust her hold on the kill, shaking her head with vigor that sends limbs flailing in all directions. The cold air has chilled the corpse rather quickly, especially with so little left, and she pauses her shake to try and get him to grab the other end.

Furi does not answer him in word, but she seems intent on getting him into the game. Very well. Étoille had not had siblings to play these sorts of games with as a child; looking back, he probably would have found them silly, even then. For choupinou, though, he does not mind. 

Like a wave crashing into shore the titan rises, teeth sliding around one of the fox's limbs to grip it firm. He does not growl or begin to tug - instead, he watches the smokey girl with an intent expression, following her lead.

Étoille’s efforts—or lack thereof—go unnoticed. For whatever he does not offer in order to egg her own, she makes up for. She growls, she groans, she yanks, she shakes. The brute plays along as much as you’d expect but she doesn’t pick up on anything in particular. When the fox begins to shred in two, cracking at joints, tearing ligaments, and eventually the girl falls back with a laugh lodged in her throat. They play a while longer, until Furi tires herself out and settles somewhere to rest nearby with her friend.