Wolf RPG

The pups were born. He wasn't allowed to visit. Not really. He could drop off food for the mother and listen in to their mewing, but Tonravik wasn't letting him much closer than that. Okay. She wasn't letting him closer at all. He'd seen shadows. He'd seen blurs, but past that all he knew was that she was guarding four male puppies. Four of them. All boys. And when they were grown they would eat a shit ton. Those boys better damn well be capable of hunting.

His hunting technique? It was getting a hell of a lot of polishing lately.

If he wasn't standing guard he was out looking for something to feed Tonravik. The local wildlife hadn't quite caught up with the idea that a new wolf pack had moved in, which made the animals a little less cautious than they should have been. He caught a little bit of everything. Small mammals. A pheasant here and there. A rabbit. Heck, one time he'd nagged her a raccoon.

This time? He was looking for something for himself. He'd already given Tonravik her offering. Now he needed to take care of himself so he could go back to taking care of her. Only now he wasn't sure what he wanted to be on the menu... choices.

Tonravik had been absent from patrols, and that spoke a lot of her current condition. Echelon, though not versed at all in what her aokkatti was going through, was astute enough to know that things had changed. By now she was certain that she had given birth. After all, she had been quite ready to pop by the time they had come to the sloping reaches of the Spire. And if she had, well what not a better way to solidify their claim?

Rightly so, Echelon had steered clear of the densite she was aware Tonravik to have claimed. If only for the off chance that she did encounter her outside of it, already knowing that even she would be driven away from what lied within. So she kept herself entertained and busy. On this particular day, she had come across a broken antler strewn on a ledge, the corpse of whatever it had come from long gone and returned to the earth.

She played with it lazily, long having mashed down the grasses that grew sporadically. It was easy to gnaw being old in age, but she did not test the limits of her own strength to see if she could continue to break it down. For now it was merely something to gnaw on in lieu of patrolling or hunting, both of which she had done previously. The former proved that their newly claimed home was quiet, and the latter had been a reigning failure on her part.

He didn't move far from the den site, but if he were to hunt, he couldn't linger around the noisy entrance of a den. He stalked, keeping his footfalls quiet as he scented the air and moved to turn his ears towards the surrounding area. Was that a bird? Something flitted through the trees and disappeared. The sound faded as he pressed on, only to hear the chattering and scraping of something.

Iqniq happened upon the coywolf. The sassy little wolf who'd taken little to no time to make herself at home wherever it was she chose to go. This time, she'd contented herself with an antler. It suggested there might be a healthy herd of deer nearby which pleased him. "Gonna use that to start the new Pukulira?" he asked, darting in to try to snatch it away from her. His teeth snapped, but his rate of success would depend on how fast her reflexes were.

Yet in spite of her contentedness, Echelon was aware.  Aware of the approach of another from the faint sounds of the terrain, even more so of the grasses that rustled as they drew near.  From them emerged Iqniq, who she regarded coolly.  Had it been anyone other than the three that she normally associated with, she may have feigned disinterest to them being there.  But with her own kin, she knew better.

Rightly so, seeing how he was already trying to take her prize.

From her prone position, she wasn't able to jerk it out of his grasp and instead found herself hanging onto the antler.  It was pinched awkwardly, but effectively between her teeth.  Though a response waited somewhere lodged in her throat to his query, the reply she did give him was a low growl.  Mine.  What was it with these big jerks, anyway?  Always trying to take everything.  Nanuk had tried to take a bone or two from her before, and well, now Iqniq was trying to take some ratty old antler.

Jerks.

Then again, she had no qualms about trying to take their food, if they had any.

Guess there had to be a trade off somewhere.

He went for the bone. His teeth latched on, grasping another end of the antler as they quickly became locked in a version of tug-of-war. Save, instead of both being on their feet. Echelon was rooted very firmly to the ground. In this case, it was something to her advantage. Her center of gravity was about as low as it could be and if he were to gain any ground, he'd have to drag her body across the earth. He attempted it, tugging a time or two, before he yielded and surrendered the antler back into her possession.

"Alright, alright. It's all yours," he consented, taking a few paces back as if to assure her his interests were elsewhere. He could find a fell antler or another bone sometime later and occupy his hours worrying his teeth over the ivory while he guarded the birthing den. "Seems to like you better anyways." He regarded her with that bone for a moment longer before turning his gaze elsewhere.

Lifting his nose, he scented the air. A light breeze passed through. On it, he picked up a number of things. Some of no concern. Others more interesting. The wind confirmed his suspicion of deer, however, which was good to know. Some day, when he had more time to better explore this new territory, he would learn their secrets and their ways. Today was not that day, but perhaps he could coax Echelon from her present activity into something more useful...

He snorted, pawing at the earth before he began to circle her like a shark. His laps around her became tighter until finally he flopped down next to her and really leaned in. Paws pressing against the earth to give him a little more pressure, he did his best to make a nuisance of himself.

A crowned winner, she was satisfied by issuing a faint hmph in response to his resignation. Of course, this was only temporarily and she knew it; his pacing and circling told her a lot about what kind of state he could have been. He could have been pissed off because she didn't share, and maybe he was just worried about things. Maybe he was restless, wishing he could go off into the sunset and bang a bunch of ladies.

Of course, when he flopped down beside her and jostled her, she also took the consideration that he was just taking a page out of her book. Content with her antler and she gnawed away, Echelon let him nudge her about; she feigned disinterest by shifting away ever so slightly, pulling the worn antler along with her.

Rude, that's all her body language could project. So rude. This was her job, to be the nuisance.

If being the nuisance was her job, she was doing a piss poor job of it. Her sulky attitude as of late left him wondering if something was bothering her. She'd been rather sullen and disinterested. Even now, she seemed someone content, if not a little annoyed, that he was stealing her thunder so to speak, but she did nothing to steal it back.

He pressed against the ground, pushing his back against her side with little to no avail. He rolled over then, effectively moving to put a paw against that antler filled mouth of hers as he pawed her face. She shifted, going out of her way to ignore him as she turned away. Well, that wouldn't do now would it?

Iqniq rolled to his feet, turned around and sat square on her shoulders. His hind legs straddled her back, forepaws on the flat of her head as he began to knead her crown much like a cat. As far as annoying went, he was very much convinced he was winning.

At first, she found herself tolerant of what he was doing. As though she were trying to purposely ignore his attempts to stir some sort of rise out of her. And maybe that was out to be the outward projection that she was trying to achieve. But truth be told, on the inside there was a rising level of annoyance that came with it. Whatever spurred it on, or spurred other things was truly about as figured out as the future to her. Perhaps she was simply inclined to do her own thing as a change of pace, or maybe she simply hated the division of time that came with Tonravik having to look after newborns.

But finally, she hit that tipping point with his ministrations, finding them increasingly unpleasant in light of her gnawing. The antler was beginning to no longer pacify her. She gave in, letting it go and craning her neck to snatch after his feet with a snarl.

He continued his pestering until he got a rise out of her. At some point, she would break and cave in with some sort of reaction to his annoyances. Until then, he could only keep at it in hopes that her level of discomfort eventually penetrated through her resolve and brought something of a response out of her. Earth to Echelon. Come in Echelon.

As some point, she did snap. She swiftly abandoned the antler to snap at his feet at which point he shifted his weight more fully onto his haunches to batt at her nose. "There she is. I knew she was in there somewhere," he teased, before rolling off to her and spinning around to place them nose to nose. "What's eating you?" he asked finally. "You aren't normally this boring."

He spoke as though she were not herself, and Echelon found that she took little offense towards it. Maybe that was more in the fact that it simply bothered him that she found she wasn't perturbed, and maybe there was something more towards it. At least he was off her back, literally.

"I am content," she stated simply, perhaps even slowly. She had been busy and content, with that antler. But he had gone and ruined part of it now, and as her gaze shifted down towards it, she decided the fun had gone out of it too. So her gaze came back to him, leveling off curiously. "Why does this bother you so, Iqniq?" It must have, otherwise he would not have gone to great lengths to try and rile her.

Then again, she did not consider how night and day she tended to be, either.

Content was she? He seldom saw this side of her to the point where, now that he was thinking on it, he hadn't actually seen her act this way before. His muzzle slipped into something of a grin. It was amusing to think that sassy little Echelon could turn off her sass and fall into something calm and somewhat complacent. While the many facets of every wolf's personality were wonderful, he counted on Echelon to appeal to his sense of banter and play. Needless to say, when he happened upon her, this wasn't what he'd been expecting.

"No reason. Just haven't seen this side of you before." It was his observation. In all their previous interactions she'd been considerably more spirited. Content simply wasn't something he associated with her. "I keep waiting for some of that sass to come out and can't seem to find it." He imagined she couldn't be quick and snappy with her words all the time, but in the short time he'd known her, this seemed different somehow.

"You sure everything's okay in there?" They'd moved halfway across the wilds. Tonravik was tucked away in the den tending to the kids. They'd lost a few wolves in the move. There were many reasons to feel... off, so to speak. Then again, if today was just one of those off days for her, he could leave her to it. No doubt she'd feel spunky another time.

She huffed at his words; Echelon made a point not to go through too many emotions in the company of anyone. Of course, up until recently she had never felt truly comfortable with being playful with anyone outside of Tonravik. But of course, Tonravik was tied up with children to feed. And before, she certainly was not in some state to truly deal with Echelon and her neverending tide of ever-changing faces.

"Pity," she chided, "guess you'll have to keep looking." Of course, he pressed to wonder if she was truly okay. True to form in some bizarre fashion, she rolled her eyes and silently wished for them to roll back and get lost in her skull. They didn't. Pity, she chided to them. But instead of another smartassed comment to roll off her tongue, she opted to bat at him and purposefully miss, as though her air-nudge towards him would hold his attention any more than it already did.

"You sure everything's okay with you?" After all, he was the one who wasn't chained to the floor with babes sucking away twenty-four seven. He was supposed to be out there being Tonravik's eyes and ears, she suspected and as it were, Echelon had nothing of importance to share.

He breathed deeply, allowing a sharp exhale to escape his nose. He was... expecting something from her. Anything. Aside from Nanuk, Echelon was the one wolf left in their pack that he could count on to shake things up a bit. She was currently more of a stick in the mud, which did nothing to help his mood or shake off the constant tension that was in the back of his mind over his new borns.

He wanted to see them. He wanted to nuzzle his mate and tell her how proud he was of her for bringing them into the world. Then he remembered his mate was Tonravik and that his affection would likely be returned with a counterproductive ass kicking this early on in their infant lives. Her aggression was unnaturally scary. Half the time he didn't know what he was protecting. The kids inside the den, or everyone else from getting too close. Likely both.

"No. I'm bored and under-stimulated." And thinking too hard. And going crazy over not knowing much about his own brood. And a number of other things. "And hungry." That was likely where the source of his currently endeavors was born from. "Forget it." He moved to his paws and stretched a bit as he made to leave. "I'll go entertain myself. Hunt something... or something."

Who would have known that a litter of puppies could be so much trouble? She didn't. She didn't even consider the possibility though she was acutely aware that it bothered her the most not to see Tonravik out and about among them. But this was something that she did not share and would not and perhaps that came as little surprise that it would be an undiscovered nugget in the dirt between them. Still, as he rose to leave her she could not help but be smug in the fact that her actions (or rather, lack thereof) were spurring him to move on.

With a note of agreement murmuring in her throat, she spoke.

"You could find me another antler," she teased, clicking her teeth resolutely.

He rose to leave, drifting a few paces as he made to clear the scene and venture off into something else that could occupy his abundance of time and distract him from this waiting game. Clearly, Echelon was not the cure for his boredom this time. He'd seek entertainment elsewhere.

He'd nearly escaped when her voice cut across the air. He laughed, tossing his head over his shoulder to look back at her. His tail swished at his flanks. "Wishful thinking," he piped back. No. He was not bringing her another antler. She didn't need a matching pair. He was off to hunt or patrol or see if anyone else was free to entertain.