Seaside Moors with cankered peace to part your cankered hate

There were other wolves around; Sif's dark-brown body was coiled tight as she traveled through the dusk, body held low even though there was no one around to submit to. It was better to be ready. She didn't want to have to think about it if she came across another - something the young shewolf both dreaded and desired in equal measures.

Except, it must not have been that equal; she froze in place when she caught a particularly strong whiff of wolfscent, and when she could move again, altered her trajectory to avoid the source of the scent.

Soon, but not yet. She wasn't ready.

Sif moved toward the sea, seeking the comfort of home. She'd lived by the sea her whole life, and although she was wary of getting hemmed in with no place to go, she wasn't above swimming to escape, either. She'd be fine. She was always fine.

He had spent the day scavenging but had been unable to procure much from the shallow rock pools here. He had thought that the prey, essentially being sitting ducks in the pools, would be easy pickings. The boy had been mistaken. What little he did manage to catch he did not agree with and he had also been pinched on the nose twice now. Redshank had only grown more frustrated as the day stretched on.

At sundown, he finally decided to give up and head back to the forest with an empty stomach, but a figure in the distance made him pause. It trailed along the coastline, posture meek and gait skittish seeming. Redshank squinted, curious, as a plan began to formulate in his mind. Slowly, he turned and began to make his way towards the stranger, drawing himself up and thrusting his ears forward in a dominant gesture.

The sound of the waves and the salty sea brine hid the stranger's presence from Sif's finely-tuned senses for a while, but she was far too skittish not to scan her surroundings visually every thirty seconds or so. As soon as she caught sight of the dark figure stalking (aggressively, to her anxious eyes) toward her, Sif began to bristle as well.

Teeth bared but body held lower than ever, Sif edged backward toward the water. Her ears were flat against her head, her tongue was lapping nervously at her nose, and a warm trickle of urine was running down her leg.

She was a perfect picture of DO NOT APPROACH - an innate instinct she was eternally grateful for.

It noticed him quite quickly, fixing him in a wide-eyed stare with teeth on full display. He would have been unnerved were it not for the sudden scent of urine that hit him. The boy let out an amused chuff of laughter and bared his own teeth, stalking ever closer to the feral creature even as it gave off many warning signs. Any show of weakness to Redshank was like the scent of blood to a shark; he couldn't help but be drawn to it.

"What're y'so scared of?" he asked in a mocking tone, canting his head slightly. His first thought was how he could use this stranger to his own advantage, but it seemed it would be more effort than was worth. Could it even speak?

Her warnings did not work; her submission did not appease. The stranger continued to march toward her, seeming more malignant now than he had before. Sif shifted nervously from foot to foot, not wanting to move to the next step of this process. But Fen's voice was whispering soft words of encouragement in her ear, and the stranger's words sent a spike of hot anger through the girl's chest.

She charged forward several yards, barking visciously. Her ears pressed forward in agression, now, and her tail stood out from her body in a straight, puffed-out line. The rdige of fur along her spine was almost comically stiff as she stopped a few yards short of the male, teeth bared and body wound tight.

Got PP permission!

He was closer now, and through her scent he could determine she was female. Though even that was barely recognisable through her figure alone due to malnourishment. He could have almost sworn he knew that mask that adorned her wide, dark eyes; it stirred a deep sense of familiarity within him, but the boy pushed away the eerie sensation. He opened his mouth to taunt her again, growing frustrated with the lack of a reaction other than peeing herself, but suddenly the stranger charged forward with a series of savage barks.

Redshank almost tripped as he stumbled backwards in surprise, but quickly reasserted himself with his own defensive snarl. She didn’t look to be slowing down, so he aimed to take her on headfirst and charged with a similarly aggressive posture. The two would’ve collided spectacularly if it were not for the girl suddenly skidding to a halt, which caused Redshank to do the same. They locked eyes, all bared teeth and bristling hackles, before the boy took a chance at snapping at her foreleg. He dove forward, but the girl was quick. She leapt away, before twisting and grabbing his scruff in her teeth.

The battle was short-lived but intense, ending as soon as it had started as exhaustion and hunger was quick to temper their rage both. Golden eyes flared as the feral girl’s figure disappeared into the darkness after a scuffle neither had won, and the boy headed back to the forest to collapse into a bleeding heap, resigning to go hungry for yet another night.