Wolf RPG

The forest was quite far from her starting point after all. But as luck would have it, she didn't need to find a random pond after all. There was a river flowing from the mountains in to the south, and as soon as Tavi found it, she carefully soaked her paws. When the majority of the muck was shed from her toes and forelimbs, she decided to head out once more. The weather had grown cool and cloudy while she worked on grooming herself, and now that her feet were nice and damp, she caught a chill that eagerly attached itself to her soggy gray pelt. The only way to avoid getting a cold (or some other sickness) would be to keep warm; so she followed the flowing river, hoping to make it to the distant forest sooner rather than later. She reached the outskirts of the forest rather quickly once she began following the river - there was a natural pathway alongside the bank which made travel easier. The only issue she discovered upon situating herself in the gloom of the trees, was the sudden and unmistakable aroma of wolf. Too bad, Tavi. Looks like your luck has run out.

He’d given the offer to Sesi to explore the outside of the pack, he felt he should get a decent idea of the immediate surroundings so he didn’t get them into trouble or get lost.  He ventures north east of the territory to explore the way the water flows into the pack lands.  He couldn’t afford to lose one of their pups.  However, he’s quickly distracted of his goal when he catches sight of a smokey grey wolf up ahead, following along the bank that led right into his home.  Ukko clears his throat and offers a bark to gain her attention that he was approaching.

“If you keep walking, you’re gonna head straight into ghost-territory,” Ukko tells her when he’s close enough.  His brows burrow together with concern and he glances behind him as if he’s being followed by some spooky phenomanon.

A bark from upriver made her shift her head, and her brows raised when she was met with the sight of a swarthy stranger on immediate approach. He looked young - probably around her own age - and the closer he got, the more interested Tavi became. He quickly tried to dissuade her from moving on (at least, that's how she took it). "Oh, spooky!" A smirk graced her snout, and she sidled up close to him, playing coy as she looked over his shoulder at the area behind him. "I guess I'll need someone to, ah, keep me company then?" Swish swish went her tail, happy to have such yummy company. Before he could respond, she began to stride along again - but her attention slipped across the dark stranger, sizing him up with devious eyes.

Instead of being afraid of the thought of ghost territory, the female mocks his warning and slides up close.  Ukko doesn’t back down and instead pushes his shoulders back and lifts his head, letting a grin form at the corners of his features as he turns back to watch her.  She doesn’t stay near him for long, slipping by him to continue along her trek.  His ears swivel on his head and keeps an eye as she moves, careful to note her intent.  

“You’ll have to buy me dinner first,” he coos, pivoting on his back feet to sweep back around and cut her off.  His tail sways lazily back and forth.

"Isn't that the man's job?" She retorts swiftly, brows raising as she takes on a look of offense - but it is only play, like the rest of her behavior. She bats her tail, and it sweeps against her hocks. The girl raises her own head and prances a step around him, lingering just within his reach. "What's on the menu?" Swish swish. Her tail sways back and forth, the gray fur briefly mingling with his on each return trip. This was a great way to get herself a much needed meal - and hell, the boy was mighty fine too. Maybe she could get a piece of that as dessert.

Ukko gawks at the question, feigning his own offense when she suggests it was his job to buy the meal.  He narrows his eyes, then shakes his head.  

“I’m trying to bust gender norms, thankyouverymuch,” he corrects with a slight shrug.  He lifts his head proudly, turning away from her glance as he feels her tail wrapped around his own.  Ukko cranes his neck a little to look back at the smokey female with his grin turning into a full smirk.  He bounces a few feet away quickly, putting some distance between them and out of temptation.  “I could go for some sushi.”

How long to keep up the facade, Ukko's unsure, but they were close enough that someone walking by might be suspicious.  He shifts his weight to keep her busy and distracted long enough. 

"Name's Ukko."

The girl 'pfffts' air from pursed lips when he mentions gender norms. The mention of sushi just makes her balk a little; after her attempted meal in the mud flats a few hours ago, the very thought of fish made her stomach lurch and heave. "God no, no fish." She sticks her tongue out and makes a brief expression of utter revulsion - but just as swiftly as the expression was there, it vanished as soon as the boy made his introduction.

"Well then, Ukko, you can call me Tavi. Or dessert," with a toss of her head, she sends him a little wink. "If we can settle on something to eat first. Hmm," but what could they do. Hunting would be difficult with two wolves, and she didn't really want to waste energy on finding one hundred mice to fill her empty stomach. Ugh, decisions decisions. She pirouetted on the spot, and planted her plush rump against the ground as daintily as her 120-pound self could manage, watching him with a smile. "Any other ideas?"

"Ugh, fine," Ukko pouts when she disputes the suggestion of fish. He crunches up his features in thought, trying to think of something else. He'd nearly forgotten the entire reason for venturing out of the pack lands all together. 

She playfully introduces herself and then plops down with not-so-much grace but Ukko doesn't notice. He hums quietly to himself in thought, running down a quick list of foods he wants to try but comes up empty handed. 

"Well, Dessert, you can't be too picky. It's the local speciality. Besides, we need our energy to fight the ghosts," he tells her when he realizes they'd gotten off the topic in a strange way. "Whatcha doing out here anyway?

Aw, it seemed as if the game was ending a bit too early for Tavi's liking. She rolled her shoulders when he asked his question, and idly licked her lips as she prepared a response. "Just wandering around. Thinking I should probably find a place before winter hits." Granted, she could've stayed in her previous pack and been content - but it wasn't like Tavi to settle anywhere. Especially once her brother had been driven out. Who would back her up when she was in trouble if Lex was gone? So in a way she was hunting for her brother - but there was a lot of distance to cover, and time to fill. May as well have some fun along the way.

"What about you?" Maybe he was doing the same thing. She hadn't been mindful enough to search his scents when they were in close proximity, or she'd have probably noticed the layered scents, implying he was a pack wolf. For now he remained as roguishly handsome as ever. "Out for a wander, or looking for some entertainment?" Maybe he was in the market for a bunk-buddy - making him a point of interest for Tavi indeed.

Ukko hadn't been apart of the pack long and before that, he hadn't spent a lot of time searching the area. When he came across Phoenix, he didn't keep going. Why keep searching when you found what you were looking for? The fact Tavi is a lone wolf hadn't exactly occurred to the boy but there is a rush of relief he hadn't realized he'd been stressing about. With no name outside her own to call, she’s a free woman. 

“Well. I've got my bachelor pad for the winter,” he tells her. The season explains why other wolves search for homes that had otherwise been free of. It made he difference in who lives and who dies. Ukko found his way in a few weeks ago and has been every thankful. “It's hard living with ghosts, though. Can never tell where they are,” he adds before he nearly jumps out of his skin and offers a playful bow to no one in particular. 

“Damn it, Carl, what did I tell you about sneaking up on me?!”

Mm, as soon as he mentioned a bachelor pad, she was smirking with that devious glint returning to her eye. He must have found somewhere safe to settle, and maybe if she was lucky (or persuasive) he'd be willing to share. Before she could ask though, Tavi was witness to a strange (but amusing) display by the dark wolf; Ukko hopped and turned as if touched by something, and began to talk to thin air. 

Maybe it should've weirded her out - but it didn't. It was actually kind of cute, although she wasn't so interested in cute boys as she was in ruggedly handsome men which she could play with. Either way, he was a tall dark and handsome type, so why be dissuaded just because of a silly display? "Now now Carl, that isn't nice." She chided the air, playing along from her stationary point, but she soon turned to Ukko to admonish him next. "Haven't you taught your ghost some manners?"

Ukko can't control his tail once she plays along, pointing to the ghost in question and scolds him. The darker wolf shakes his head and points his nose a little to the right: “He's standing right there.” He softly tuts. “Newbies,” he says in a way that might as well have him bumping elbows with Carl. 

“It's kinda hard to teach someone if you can't see them,” he points out with a dramatic roll of his eyes. He is a little surprised the female still played along and for as long as she had. He certainly hadn't been expecting that when he came across her on the river bank. “Sometimes I think I need an extra paw just to keep them in line.”

It may have been a game, but Tavi wasn't going to let his insults slide. She didn't like being called a newbie at anything - even something silly like ghost taming - and so when he began to joke at her expense, she was on her paws and haughtily advancing upon him. Her fur bristled slightly, puffing up an already meaty girl. "So what are you, some kind of ghost whisperer?" Tavi snorted softly, her irritation already melting away as she continued to play along, but he had managed to get under her skin a little.

She walked right up to where he pretended Carl was standing, and promptly plopped her butt down again. The game was getting boring. "Um," she leaned in close, as if to share a secret, but asked a question instead. "Does this whole ghost thing usually work with the ladies? Because honestly, its a little... Hm," Her face squidged in to an uncertain expression, but then she shrugged softly. "I mean, if it works for you, that's.. great." She looked away, eyes rolling across their surroundings as if they were suddenly more interesting.

Tavi continues their banter but she seems to give up on it sooner than Ukko and he can’t deny he’s a little disappointed.  He takes a step back when she moves and plops over near him and leans in. His nose scrunches up a little but he shrugs it off.  His smile doesn’t face despite her obvious accusation.  One eyebrow lifts and he offers her a shake of his head.

“It worked for you.”  

You’re still here.

She hadn't... Thought about that. His remark was innocent enough, but like a child she forced a laugh, backpedaling as hard as she could. "No it didn't! I was just - I was playing along! I wasn't -" If a wolf could blush, she'd probably be a bright pink right now; but it had worked. She had been charmed in to lingering a little bit longer. With a roll of her eyes, the girl was up and striding - heading towards the land filled with ghosts, or so she'd been told. Ghosts weren't real. Her hunger was real, and with the game all but spoiled, she had a one-track mind.

"I'm going that way, and I'm going to find something to eat." She declared, as if it needed saying. No more hangups; Tavi wasn't going to be distracted by this rogue and his ghostly pal any longer. "If you wanna come with me -" she realized what she'd said when she was halfway through that statement, but played in to it, acting as if that was entirely intentional, " - then come on, lets go hunt something." But she didn't wait for a reply, and bound away from him.

She back pedals a little bit and the smile on his face only gets bigger.  She tries to deny it but can’t find a reason he’d been lying and that alone was enough to make his chest puff out even more and he’d preen himself like a cat if she weren’t around.  She doesn’t remaining seating for long, rolling her eyes and dramatically standing and barging off in the other direction.  

Ukko jerks his head a little when she decide where she’s going and whether or not he wants to come, but before he can choke out a response, he jumps forward and barks.

“You can’t go that way.  It’s claimed.” 

His demeanor changes a little—he’s still fairly relaxed and calm, but she’s about to step over something she might not be able to get herself out of.  And whehter or not Ukko could save her, well, he isn’t entirely sure his leaders would take to another trespasser with the track record he’d been informed about.

He doesn't move to intercept her at first, so she heads on her way - a little bothered, but maybe that's just for show. And then he's chasing her just like she wants (the way she likes), telling her no as if that had ever stopped her before. 

Either it was a forest of ghosts (ruled by Carl), or it was claimed (and ruled by someone real and alive); but either way, Tavi wasn't going to be stopped. She laughed gleefully when he spoke, turning around to face him with a big wolf grin. "So?"

It wasn't like she was breaking in and stealing - but the look on his face was a bit more serious, so she would have to convince him. "We won't be long." With that, she pirouetted and began prancing towards the forbidden forest.

She slows down a little but she doesn’t stop, as if she didn’t understand him.  His ears cup forward and he moves swiftly to stand in front of her.  He likes her and all, but that doesn’t give her a free pass into the territory without being invited.  And Ukko isn’t going to let her face be mauled off by any of the other wolves.  The trespassers Ashka warned him about hadn’t happened all that long ago and he isn’t going to let it happen again.

“You can’t walk into someone else’s territory without being invited.  Unless you have a death wish.  And then I can’t help you.”

Ukko isn’t going to let a pretty face from ruining his spot among the ranks, especially if she isn’t even apart of his own pack.  His loyalties are much too heavy.

He had a point. But that wasn't something she'd admit to.

"But I do have an invitation," she retorted swiftly, as the realization dawned upon her. Ukko wouldn't be this insistent unless it was his own home, right? Or was he really just a stick in the mud? It didn't seem like any fluttering of the lashes or swaying of the hips would persuade him. She wasn't going to stop trying. 

"You're my escort." And if he wanted to avoid getting in to too much trouble, he'd follow her to make sure nothing went amiss. Without further provocation, Tavi abandoned her company - striding off with a purposeful gait which transformed, becoming a brisk run as she headed for the trees.

The woods were cold today. Saena's winter coat had finished growing in about a week before, but the wind that cut through the sparse trees near the pack's boundary still managed to chill to the bone. Her patrol was quick as a result, her stride a choppy trot that brought her quickly along the paths she and Reek had jointly worn into the ground. Likely she wasn't paying as much attention as she usually did, what with wanting to return to the warmth of a den as soon as possible, but she wasn't too concerned. Word seemed to have got out about Phoenix Maplewood's vicious handling of its most recent trespassers. A lone wolf would have to be stupid to tempt the already alert alpha pair.

Stupid or very, very brave, which is what Tavi probably was. In her inattention, Saena passed over the first sign of an approaching lone wolf on the breeze, and only when she was close enough to actually make out Ukko through the trees did she realize something was amiss. He was with a female. The jealousy that reared up in her chest had nothing to do with the newcomer—she hadn't even really met him, and had no interest in him as far as she knew—but it roared like a fire anyway. The only female any male in this pack should be approaching so closely was her, as lead female.

She would, of course, refuse to be propositioned by any but her mate when she came into season, but fending off competing females was already on her brain, especially those from outside her pack. Already the ancient tension of autumn and winter had found its way into her, so her step was possessive as she broke cover. It was at that exact moment that Tavi made her bold move toward the maplewood pack's claim, and she would find a growling, incensed alpha female en route to cut her off with a lowly said, "going somewhere?"

“You can’t jus—“

He stumbles as he takes a few more steps to try and stop Tavi but she weasels around him and heads straight toward territory borders, where the scent is thick of his leaders and questionable with a physical line.  Mood determines how far out or far in, a lot of the times, and he isn’t too familiar with them to know how worried he should be for Tavi’s safety.  With previous trespassers before he’d gotten here, he didn’t expect it to go well.

Before he catches up close enough, Saena emerges from the brush and Ukko freezes.  His eyes widen, then shrink back just a little for only a moment.  He shakes his head and steps up, closing the distance between him and the two women, to stand somewhat between them.

Ukko attempts to stall the response—he didn’t expect Tavi to have a good excuse for what is going on—but he comes up empty handed.  

“Uhhh,” he tries for, clearing his throat.  “She was thinking about joining,” he suddenly blurts, eyes widening enough to fall out of his head.  He quickly turns to Tavi to hide his expression and shrugs one of his shoulders.  She had mentioned looking for a place for the winter and, maybe this might help her hide.

It was risky for a lone wolf to traipse so close to claimed territory, but Tavi was accustomed to doing stupid, reckless things. Back home she'd always had Lex to bail her out - or another sibling - so this entire situation felt right to her; not right in the sense of, 'yes this is a good idea, you should do it,' but like... Like she had never left home. It was a familiar thing. And it was a lot of fun to boot. 

She could hear the dark boy trying to chase after her, and almost let out a laugh, but then a figure emerged from the forest in such an abrupt and unfriendly manner, the sound was quickly strangled in her throat. Was that the leader? Her mind went suddenly blank in the face of opposition - and that was when she heard Ukko trying to speak for her. Initially this had a calming effect. She side-stepped away from the agitated woman and towards Ukko, until his words actually clicked in her head. She shot him a quick look - surprised, a bit peeved that he'd speak for her like this and tie her down - but swiftly playing along.

"Yeah, I... My name is Tavi, and Ukko found me wandering. I was just so.. Excited," More excited to play with him, and less inclined to meet his damn boss lady, but there was no getting out of this now. That didn't sound convincing at all, so she tried to play it up a bit more by adding, "Jeeze, Ukko. You didn't say your Alpha was a complete babe." On second thought, that probably wasn't the right thing to say at this moment - but Tavi was more accustomed to dealing with cute boys; she wasn't exactly womans-best-friend.

Saena wasn't the most perceptive wolf in the world, though she believed she was, so Ukko's hastily constructed lie garnered no immediate suspicion. Though she watched Ukko closely for signs of agitation, she missed the widening of his eyes and assumed his glance at Tavi was his way of giving her the floor. The alpha bitch took a step forward, her indigo eyes now on Tavi as she sized the prospective joiner up.

Tavi was larger than she by a good margin, but Saena wasn't intimidated by her. Perhaps it had something to do with the way she whipped her head around to face Ukko, or how she'd sidestepped away when Saena drew near, but the alpha sensed she had nothing to fear from this larger lady. She appraised her stormy grey coat, her figure and her face. There was nothing suggestively dominant about Tavi, which Saena was satisfied with, and the woman certainly didn't seem like a beggar. That she was a mischief-maker who had been about to callously disregard her carefully laid borders, Saena was still oblivious to.

Tavi's compliment was surprisingly flattering to Saena, who was unable to hide a genuine smile—no doubt fueled from the same egotistical source as her inexplicable jealousy—but the alpha female couldn't afford to flaunt. There was business to take care of. "Excited?" she asked, peering over her shoulder at the forest around her. "It is a beautiful forest, after all". She said this with perhaps more pride than she was due. It's not like she'd created the forest, after all.

"So, Tavi", continued Saena with a sidelong glance at Ukko for good measure, "what do you do?"

Seana’s expression surprises him a little and his own smile flickers at the corners of his lips but he keeps it down, hoping his plan didn’t unravel before his eyes and put himself in jeopardy.  He stays quiet and looks quickly back to Tavi for her reply.  They hadn’t talked about that, just joked around about a ghost town of sorts.  God, what if she isn’t good at anything?

It was a tense situation for Tavi; she had nearly been caught by the Alpha female of all beings, ready to cross that forbidden line. If the lady had taken her statement poorly, then Tavi would have probably ended up as a ghost herself - keeping Carl company, and definitely haunting Ukko. It would've been all his fault, naturally. When the Alpha asked her question, Tavi's brain reacted the same way a college student would react to a pop quiz worth ninety-percent of their final grade: it went blank. She tried to keep her composure.

"I like warm meals, hours of cuddle time, and long walks on the beach -" You idiot, this wasn't a dating app. Get to the point. Tavi smirked, hoping that she hadn't screwed up her answer just because she was being a little silly. She sat then, and puffed up a little, trying to look more serious. This was a Very Important Moment, and she would do her best to say the right thing. "I mean, I can hunt - everyone can hunt or they'd be dead - and I can fight. My brother taught me. Uh, and I can run errands if you ever need.. Messages delivered, or whatever. I'm not the fastest out there, but I get the job done." All rambling aside, Tavi had probably shot herself in the foot this time around. 

Her ears cupped forward, eager to hear the verdict, while her eyes briefly glanced at Ukko as if to silently ask - did I do good?