Wolf RPG

A small pheasant was the only thing he had eaten in a week and his body was beginning to show it’s wear and tear. His muscles were wasting away and his mood was turning toward the dark side.

Being packless meant no drama, but it also meant life was a struggle with no caches to dine on when the hunting sucked

He realized, albeit to late, that the prey animals were all preparing to hibernate or leaving for their summer locations and becoming harder to find.
Rather then spend his summer hunting and fattening up; Rowen had spent it foolishly traveling and running away from his past.
That was going to bite him in the ass, if it already hadn’t, he was not going to survive a harsh winter on his own in this condition.

Rowen's ears perked, he instantly froze  and stood stalk still... Something moved in the bushes directly in front of him, if he was quiet and fast enough he might just have a breakfast yet...

He jostled awake as that white wolf tore him in half. He stood up, breathing heavily, and looked at his torso to see they were still attached. Glad that it was just a nightmare, he noticed there was light breaking into the bush. He must've lasted till the morning and truly felt awake, though he was still bitter. Like several birds in winter months, his mood quickly went south as the nightmares and night terrors got to him. With a sigh of relief, he glanced through the foliage to see any animals that was attracted to his awakening. He felt a bit of fear, then relief when he saw the creature looking at the bushes. It appeared to be another fox, like him, only a bit bigger and more of skin-and-bones through his odd coat. He popped his head out of the top of the bush, blinking away any of the exhaustion that was in his eyes. "Hi," he greeted, unassuming that it was a wolf.

Rowen readied his pounce, but the creature in the bush came out to meet him instead. His jaw dropped open slightly and his ears tipped toward the back of his skull in confusion. This was a funny little creature, familiar looking too; In his short life he had not yet met one of these creatures.

Once it spoke to him Rowen no longer saw him as prey. Was it a pup? Where was its parents?  He could barely provide for himself let alone a pup... It didn't smell like a wolf, though, Rowen’s own scent would hint at less then perfect wolf bloodlines.

He stood there in shock for a few moment moments before the words that were spoken finally reached his brain. He nodded a hello in return as he stepped toward the fox making a little wuffing noise as he tried to assess what he believed was a young yet dainty wolf pup.

Perchance he could use this little one to his advantage having it flush prey from under brush and bushes while he made the kill. Then they both could dine on the prize, the more he thought of it the more he liked the idea of keeping a small pup like this one around.  

The other fox was much different than he originally thought. Not only did he misjudge the fox's size (the size difference was more-apparent as he looked at him longer), but he noticed the creature didn't have the same black paws and ears that he was used to see his kind with. He quickly became skeptical of this "fox" fellow, but never the less crawled his way out of the bushes.

If they battled then and there, he believed he could have a chance to overpower him, but that was only to the fox's malnourished state and didn't take in account his fighting capabilities. He had no intention to, and instead thought of what kind of fox he was. Maybe he was some kind of crossbreed, like with the wolf-coyote hybrids he had seen on his travels. Still it wouldn't hurt to ask. With his temper still in relative ease, he asked, "So...what kind of fox are you?" it was then that he got the fox's scent, and would've paled if he didn't have any fur. He smelled similar to a wolf. Uneasy, he looked around to make sure if there were any wolves around, assuming that the guy had a run-in with a few of them.

Rowen narrowed his eyes at the ‘pup’, he had never heard of a fox where he grew up. But the wolves where he grew up had all kinds of insults for his hybrid heritage so he just assumed based on his past experiences that this ‘pup’ was just making fun of him.

He wrinkled his nose and brushed passed the ‘pup’ then paused and sighed, glancing back. Lilting his head to the left  and forward he beckoned the creature to follow him.

His own belly growled and Rowen licked his lips then looked down to the pond not far away from them, maybe they could flesh out a late duck and have a decent meal.  Rowen waited for any sign the youngling would follow him.

Hiraku noted that the "fox" didn't talk much, and seemed to take offense in his question. As the other walked past him, he noticed that the "wolf" scent, while weaker, came from his coat. With his supposed insult of a question coming in mind, he bit his lip. The "fox" may as well have been a "wolf". Feeling ridiculous of letting his guard down so easily, he could believe that the fox-wolf (he really wished he knew) wasn't going to rip him apart, but may as well felt like it. He kicked the dirt before seeing the fox-wolf's signal for him to come along.

A bit hesitant at first, the fox eventually followed the larger animal at a bit of a distance, one he knew he could spring away from if he was attacked. Maybe he can get rid of some of the sting, and thought up a question. "Hey, my name's Hiraku. I'm sorry about calling you a fox..." he thought of an excuse, "...it's what my mother told me what...we were." Technically, it was the truth. He hoped for the best. "So, what's your name?" As much as "fox-wolf" would be an easy thing to remind him by, he didn't want to make it into a habit.

Rowen casually lead the way to the lake. A smile slid long his lips, company at last, if not anything else beside hungry, He was rather lonely. A chatter box this one was though, not exactly a bad thing, but it had not earned to right to know his name yet. That was something he bestowed only upon friends and he was still unsure of what to make of this relationship. If they became friends he was surely going to recognize the fact that Hiraku was growing the way a pup should. The fact this pup didn't smell like a wolf hadn't really been much more then a passing thought so far either.

Rowen nodded to Hiraku and lay down pointing his muzzle to the other side of the reeds. Inside the foliage a fat duck was indeed napping. If Hiraku startled it from the other side and it came this way They'd have a meal to share.

Quietly he ran his tongue along his lips and eyed the unsuspecting fowl; alone he might try to sneak in and grab with snapping jaws but with two players this meal didn't have a chance.

Very quiet one this guy was. A bit irritated with his progress, he merely shook it off; he may get his chance to ask about the fox-wolf's species. At the very least, it seems that neither of them got onto each other's nerves, as Hiraku didn't storm away with irritation yet and the fox-wolf didn't chase him away.

The fox-wolf finally got his attention when he dropped down, nodding towards him. He was initially confused before he pointed his nose across the reeds. With a bit of trouble, Hiraku could spy a waterfowl within the reeds. He faltered; of all the things he knew, he lacked understanding of wolf commands. He tried to think: what would a useless fox be able to do? He gave up, starting to sneak around. At the very least, he could use his stalking capabilities for voles to good use. He hadn't had duck before, but as long as they stay on the ground, it's practically the same concept.

Rowen nodded happily, then hunkered down more and when Hiraku was in the right position on the far side, he huffed out a breath once so as to alert the youngling but not wake the duck.

He tried to make eye contact with him through the reeds first looking at Hiraku then the duck over and over, they just needed Hiraku to pounce into the brush to startle the duck. Once startled it should fly away from the danger it sees.
And that means into the awaiting jaws of Rowen if he had anything to say about it. Rowen grinned at his own joke in his head since he knew he didn't have much to say at all.

That aside this pair needed to move fast and in unison. Did Hiraku get it?

There had to be a reason why foxes like him had the inability to hunt with others. He growled softly to himself, admiring the fox-wolf's ability for his attempts for organization. Shrugging off the idea, he peered through the reeds to see the duck in question. It appeared to be asleep, making his attack much easier. Getting low for his pounce, he noted that a duck would be much-larger than a vole, and may be harder to subdue. Shifting his weight around, he jumped into the reeds.

He miscalculated. As he came down on the duck, he realized he undershot the jump. Reaching out, he splashed into the water. He knew he scared away the quack, but rather curled up from the pain from the botched attack. As he recovered, he groaned and trudged himself out of the reeds. He knew that the duck flew towards the fox-wolf, but worried more of drying up.

He lost track of Hiraku the moment the youngling broke into the brush, his entire world shifting to the duck. The duck was the morning and the evening star, it was food, it was survival, it was life, it was death. Everything Rowen was; compacted into this singular moment of life. Living only in the moment.

He was caught the slow motion of the ducks eyes sliding open, A mere nanosecond before the wings opened and the duck flailed to get out of the way. This action caused the young pup to miss its mark but Rowen could not pay any mind yet. His muscles already taught, sprung forward and tossed him into the brush, he connected with the ducks head and bit so hard and so desperately that he bit the head clean off. The body continued a lopsided journey to the ground a short distance off and Rowen nearly panicked until he realized he held something in his mouth that was extremely necessary for the continuation of life.

Stepping backward mindful of the smaller creature still in the grass, He dropped the head beside the reeds on the dry ground then leapt upon the body as it flipped around unsure of whether or not it was alive or dead yet.

It only took moments for the body to accept it’s fate and he returned to his ‘pup’ to find a sad wet mess.

He set the body next to Hiraku and ran his warm tongue along his twins red pelt helping to remove the excess of moisture. If Hiraku allowed it he’d continue to help groom the water off for a few moments until he was satisfied that he wouldn’t catch cold.

Rowen done grooming for the duration that he had been allowed; then quietly lay down and plucked feathers from the carcass with skill and speed. Afterward he pulled the belly open and nosed it toward Hiraku willing to let the ‘pup’ eat before himself. For it was the adults job to be sure pups were full and content first. Beside after what Hiraku went through he deserved first dibs

Rowen sighed and lay his head on his paws. His voice was deeper then one would expect for such a small wolf and his singular drawn out word seemed to hold a hint of perhaps a Scottish accent. Rowen He said simply, He was ashamed of his voice and very very rarely used it, and no one could convince him otherwise.  

Exhausted, wet, and aching, the fox felt a bit of happiness to see the fox-wolf come back with the duck. Setting it next to him, the wolf proceeded to lick at his coat. He initially twitched, partially due to embarrassment and partially due to the fact he wasn't used to a wolf-fox being so close to him. He quickly yielded, and allowed the wolf to finish up, glad that his red fur could hide how red his face likely was.

When he finished, the fox-wolf went to work on the duck. He was shocked by how fast the fox-wolf could skin the duck (he himself was rather used to just biting into meat quickly). When the fox-wolf finished, he nudged it towards the fox. A bit confused at first, as the wolf-fox did all the work, Hiraku accepted it and made light work on the bird. "Rowen" the fox looked up, a bit shocked that the fox-wolf spoke a word. With a humorous smile, he merely said "Nice to meet you." he then went back to the duck.

After content with his meal and making sure he left enough for his partner, he settled down to wait for him to finish. After a bit of time, a brilliant idea popped into his head. Rowen may enjoy the thought, seeing how skinny he was. "Hey, have you ever had voles? They're like mouses, but rounder. I can catch a few, if you want me to." he feasted on them a day ago, so he believed he could find a good amount for Rowen. He definitely needed them more, with the coat-hanger frame he had on.

Only once Hiraku finished and had moved away did Rowen shift himself toward the remains and devoured the rest. Nothing escaped his sensitive nose, the bones easily gave way below his teeth, the marrow, what little of it there was, was good for him as long as he chewed up the bones neatly. 

With a grin he leaned back and licked his lips. The thought of a pup taking care of him was preposterous to him. But this little one seemed to want to show off his skills, Rowen reached out and nuzzled Hiraku fondly.

He looked up to the sky the better part of the day was through with a little nap there would be good twilight hunting.
With a yawn he curled himself into a ball tucking his tail around him, the days were getting cooler now, but not so cold yet, even still, shared warmth would be welcome especially by what he thought was a pup.

He regarded Hiraku then reached out and attempted to tuck him into his side and wrap his tail around him like a blanket. but he wouldn't force the issue if Hiraku pulled away

Sleep now.... He murmured softly and closed his eyes,

Rowen likely thought of his offer more of a good-natured attempt to help than an actual proposition. Still, there was no malice, so that kept Hiraku from acting out. Rowen curled himself up to go to sleep (something that he actually was used to) and tried to pull him in as well. The fox had no time to react until the tail wrapped around him, and by then, it was too late. No matter how industrious he tried to be, he was still another lazy fox. 

As his mind struggled to stay awake to think, he quickly thought about Rowen. The fox convinced himself that his friend was a wolf, just one who looked like a fox; He was too tired to care differently. This was the first time he met someone in this place that showed this much care for him. It was a nice change of pace to see such, but it wasn't without his worries. As for as he knew, the wolf couldn't tell himself apart from a fox. It didn't mean he was dumb, just ignorant. He just hoped his friend would stay ignorant. If the wolf really found out, he would likely chase the fox away. With the last seconds of consciousness slipping away, he planned to run away and only see Rowen from time to time. After all, it would be harder for the wolf to discover the difference if he wasn't around as well.