Wapun Meadow desperation

she wheeled her way back to bearclaw valley as the day drew to a close, and despite the relatively good encounters she'd held today the night found her in a rotten, brooding mood.

she was frustrated —  nothing inside of her had magically changed upon her initiation to what she assumed was alexander's pack.  she had thought, hoped, that once those mysterious lands had been revealed to her that the gift of communication would also be bestowed.

but it wasn't.  she hadn't changed.  even despite her loneliness being quelled (she thought of sif and her playful posturing, of fighting alongside xan) she felt incomplete.  and what if running off during the day meant she could never come back?  she didn't know how any of this worked!

in a bout of frustration, she felt the need to destroy.  she tore after the trail of one of those long-eared creatures with the plush cotton tail and clamped it quickly in her jaws, vigorously shaking it back and forth.  but she didn't eat it.

she tore it apart.  had she known what a cache was she might have saved it for her pack, but she presently remained ignorant of such sweet things.  she worked the flesh, crushing the small bones between her teeth, leaving membrane strewn across the snow.

indra had only just managed to hobble to wapun meadows. her limbs were used to longer destinations, but the wound on her back crippled her progress and made her slow. she had hoped she would see laurel, or the sharp-faced woman named poet she only just barely remembered. before she knew it she was following after an unidentified scent - distinctly wolf, and possibly of their brethren.

indra may have been in pain, but she resented feeling useless and she struggled after the wolf's footpath, coming across it just as it eviscerated a poor bunny. indra's jaw dropped and her stomach lurched. it was not the violence of the deed that shocked her, but the visceral, wanton needlessness of it. indra may have found her peace with such a brutal slaying if the wolf at least consumed it -- but she just flung it around, gristle and all, like it had personally wounded her.

indra felt sick to her stomach to witness such banal depravity. she wanted to turn around and make leave of this wolf before it did the same to her -- so with a limp to her step she turned to hasten away -- until she stubbed her paw on a small twig and a loud snap betrayed her exit.

I should preview before I post. Edited~

Laying everything out before Valette had been freeing to the Sveijarn, who now found that his eagerness to stretch his legs and explore the area would be unhindered. The wolves of Easthollow had accepted him on the basis of his wandering nature - he was a scout, something to be utilized and used, an asset versus the burden he had always considered himself to be. Thus far he had not been scorned for wishing to roam. Larus did not have strong ties to this pack, but he hoped that with the fading of the winter season he would begin to root himself somewhere. Easthollow seemed like a good fit.

Today he had patrolled the stone circle for a time, then chased the shadows in the nearby glade until his breath pealed from him as thin grey puffs. It was quiet here and while Larus was usually quite introspective, he found his mind was calm; he was content in the stillness of the world, enjoying his own company as he patrolled and perused throughout the woodland. As he came around a westerly copse of trees, he was faced with an extensive meadow layered by snow - and on first glance he was charmed by it. Yet the further he went the more murky the snow became.

There was a tinge of red that stood out against the stark whiteness, and it gave him pause. But the man dipped his nose and through careful inspection learned it was not wolf - although there was something similar beneath the metallic aroma, a musk of sorts that was thinned by the chill of the season. Curious, he embarked in pursuit of this trail; the scattered bits of rabbit came in to view soon enough, and with it a dark figure sequestered among the frozen grasses.

The motion of the stranger's head had his attention, at least until a crack sounded across the emptiness and Larus' eyes darted to meet the sight of a rufus-furred youth. His ears turned forwards as a show of alertness, and for a second or two he wasn't sure who to watch. It seemed clear to him that this ruddy girl was trying to sneak her way along - so that indicated they were not together in any sense (he failed to initially recognize Indra as one of the wolves of Duskvale - but that had been a lifetime ago, or so it felt). The man was solemn, not wishing to make any sudden move in case he had stepped in to some sort of poorly laid trap.

she did not notice the red woman's entrance until her exit — her footfalls had been quiet as her disgust until she hit the wrong place and a loud snap, much like the bones she'd just been cracking, pierced through the relative silence.

immediately, her head craned upwards, eyes seeking for xan, for sif, even for poet who was a stranger still, but instead it was someone new, someone who wouldn't understand (although she doubted the others would have, at least she had established something with them).

the girl was hobbling, she noticed — had she seen the girl who had performed the most odd rituals on her thigh, the one who had made her feel better? — and she closed the distance between them, rabbit remains left in her mouth and on the ground behind her and the second stranger missed entirely.

she let out a desperate, pleading whimper, if she were able to get close enough she'd push the rabbit at the red stranger, still in her mouth.  was she okay?  no, she wasn't.  family, though.  she needed help.

indra winced at her folly, cursing her fumble under her breath. as she looked around to see if reigi noticed her she was chilled by the approach of another wolf -- her hackles rose immediately and she gingerly rotated around to face him. from his conformation he was a year her senior, and he wore a soft golden mask she had never seen in a wolf before. she was too defensive to notice the warmth of his sunny gaze. since her encounter with ithrik, all men were suspect and enemies in her eyes.

her attention jostled to the killer, who was now only feet from her with entrails still hanging in thick gobs from her mouth. indra recoiled, casting her gaze between the two in slight fear. were they together? had she fallen unwittingly into some elaborate trap? like larus she had her suspicions and she stepped back slowly, backpedaling until she felt her hind end painfully bump against the rough edges of a douglas fir. she winced, a gasp of pain rocking her small body.

"what do you want?" she asked accusingly of the duo, only putting it together after she spoke that reigi was not accompanied by the strange man. she did not understand the gesture behind reigi placing the rabbit towards her -- just moments before she had been cleaving it into a thousand smithereens. "oh." she exhaled, finding she was wrong with her initial assumption. her gaze might have softened but she remained rigidly pressed up against the tree as much as her body could bear.

He watched their exchange in silence. It was clear by the look of surprise from the ruddy girl that she did not know the rabbit-maiming oddity, and so that put the bulk of his apprehension to rest. The more he thought about it (and these were quick flashing thoughts strobing through his mind) he realized that even if they were meaning him ill, he was larger than them combined. He would be able to hold his own if it came to it.

Larus wasn't sure if he should linger or move along, finding nothing of importance between them save the rabbit. It was mangled to such a state that even the hungriest of rogues might be put-off by it - but that was an opinion and nothing more. It surely was not appealing to him, and Larus had just come off of a "lone wolf bender" that had lasted many months.

Still, he was curious - mostly of the dark wolf, the not-quite-right wolf. His decision was swift as was his advance, and he bayed a low call to them both before pausing in the snow, after which he bowed his head low and whisked his tail-tip across the fresh powder behind him. I mean no harm, he told them with his body; he would speak if he had to, but for now would merely watch them.

there was something sharp and accusatory about the red girl's tone that she did not like.  could she not tell reigi was trying to help?  could she not smell bearclaw on her?  she dropped part of the meat in her mouth on the ground in front of the woman and pushed it back towards her as she backed into the thick trunk.

the man finally catches her attention with his baying.  reigi drops the rest of the rabbit at his paws and then takes to dancing in circles around him, taking in his smell.  he smelled like the pack that neighbored them, the one that her white-cloaked friend had been interested in.  curiously, and if he would allow, she'd stick her nose in his fur and drink in his scent before bounding a few lengths away, tail swaying slow against her hocks.

indra out! feel free to skip

indra left the offering where reigi had deposited it. it was not the girl's intention to snub her future-pack mate, but seeing two strangers at once overwhelmed her. a sense of fear that could not be fled from consumed her, and her breath came in rattles as she tried to figure out how to make her escape.

thankfully, whatever strange male was in the woods seemed more interested in reigi than her -- never one to overstay her welcome, indra beat a hasty (albeit limping) retreat into the forest. without laurel or blondine alongside her the girl was taking no chances.

As the ginger retreated, Larus was none the wiser. He watched as the dark wolf-thing danced through the snow, seizing up with a bit of apprehension only when she dove in close to inspect his fur. He caught a few whiffs of her in the process, but could not discern much. There was a faint note of familiar wolf-musk carried in her pelt but, since Larus was a bit of a world traveler, he did not yet make the connection to Xan and the nearby valley.

The creature behaved in a magnanimous manner in regard to the rabbit's remains: she had her fill with them through strange play, but now seemed intent on leaving the bits scattered throughout the snow. Larus kept his ears pivoted towards her (and adjusted accordingly) but he dipped his snout to inspect a garish red streak of blood and fuzz, tentatively probing with his tongue. He licked his lips next, and then turned to inspect another pile of carrion, keeping his posture neutral.

ew short

yes, yes!  caught up in the stranger, she does not notice indra's hasty retreat.  instead she is entirely pleased with his tentative interest in her offering.  she had no use for it — she wasn't hungry, — so with a soft wag of her tail she bobbed her head as he continued inspecting.

The girl had, more or less, dessicated the remains to a point that made him skeptical of their value. They smelled fresh (the way any chilled meat might) and as an opportunistic creature, Larus wasn't about to let it go to waste; but there wasn't much intact.

He got to wondering (when she did not involve herself in the food's defense, as a wolf might) what the purpose had been. Why had she assailed the rabbit in such a manner? He glanced at her quick, sharp, a bit put-off by her inability to keep still. He breathed sharply through his nose to clear it of the scent of blood and then took a languid stride across the bulk of the remains.

Without a word Larus began to scour the soil, and when he found whatever he was looking for, he began to clear the frozen surface and claw at the permafrost. It wasn't that he did not appreciate the meal—but he could at least bury it until it was absolutely needed.

sorry to hold this up!

she was curious as to what he was doing.  she had expected him to eat her gift, but instead he was putting it in the ground, much like she had when she was on her own.  but he smelled of the neighboring pack, this seemed like a very inconvenient place to put it!

oh well.  nosing her way in, she used her own strength to help the strange man break through the permafrost, moving in a mechanical way that eased her tension.

she kept casting glances up at the stranger.  he smelled of the pack that neighbored the valley directly.  she had met very few of their wolves, but she wondered why they were so close together.

Little by little he transfered the bits of the animal in to the small pit he had dug. It might not have been deep enough but Larus didn't really think about that. As he was covering over the remains he did notice that some of the bloodied bits of the animal were still visible over the soil; any snowfall would further mask it but it was likely to rot if exposed to moisture for too long. He huffed softly, clearly out of practice, and tried to carefully unearth some of it and fix the issue.

When he was finally finished there was no red to be seen, except for where it had streaked the snow from the strange wolf's earlier tussling. The ground had a small dome to it still and the food had been properly covered, so he was not worried. Larus then dropped on to the ground shoulder-first (almost like he was going to do a somersault) and wiggled about frantically, imparting scent from the gland between his shoulders. 

He flailed a bit as he rolled to his side, then staggered to his feet and shook a dusting of snow off of his pelt, fixing a satisfied look upon the dark-faced stranger.

once he had buried the prey and covered it with her scent, reigi's interest in the stranger waned.  he had taught her something new, and perhaps later they could meet again.  but it was getting late, and she needed to return home.

she gave him an appreciative woof and so long as he wouldn't stop her, rounded back to the valley.