Wolf RPG

Once again, Zephyr's snow splashed paws grew antsy. He set off for Felltree Marsh, stopping at first to howl for his best friend and old beta, @Rana. Perhaps she would be interested in hunting? The pack needed the food, what with Sen's pups being born and his plans to trips to recruit new wolves. They, too, better be hunting. There was almost never anything within the borders, and so Zephyr would resort to what his usual fallback was, traveling: as far as he had to go to feed those he cared for. The more paws, the better, in his opinion. The ebony man set off before waiting long, but went at a slow pace. Even if it took her a while to come, he would have left a pretty good scent trail to the marsh.

The dark female had been resting by the edge of the cliff, staring down at the river far below. When a howl was carried to her ears, they reflexivly turned towards the noise. Registering that it was her friend, she scooted away from the edge and got to her feet. Making her way in the direction of the border her stomach growled, she'd left herself without a meal for a few days and it was about time to grab another quick snack that would keep her alive. Knowing it would take a little time to reach the border, she broke into a run.

Reaching the spot Zephyr had been and not seeing him, she parted her jaws to look for a scent. When she found it, the trail lead away from the territory. Turning to follow the trail, she decided to trot to catch up since she was unaware of how far he'd gotten before she reached the location of the howl.

He hadn't gotten too far when he heard Rana's approach, only five minutes or so from the border by walk. He shot a look over his shoulder, grinning and letting out a playful bark and taking off at a run. Might as well make the short journey better. Coming back without prey for Sen wasn't an option, not when he was always pissing her off by leaving the borders and then calling her to them. So far, however, he'd been good to have each recruit bring back pray so far. 
  Leaving Sen and the pups in the territory without him made him nervous, but he knew it was something he had to get over. She wasn't his mate and those weren't his puppies. He had to provide, yes, but that didn't mean his possessiveness was acceptable to Sen.

She saw Zephyr and grinned. When he started to run, she gave chase. Though it burned through her energy quicker, she wasn't going to fall behind. After a few minutes of running she almost tripped over her paws, causing her to crash into the ground with a startled yelp. Spouting out a few curses to no one, she pushed herself back up and continued along at a trot. If not for the hunger burning a hole in her stomach, she would've been able to get farther.

At a slower pace, she was able to look around a bit more. Soon she recognized the area they were in and sighed. When first arriving she'd come from the opposite direction, then a few days later she'd walked back on the path to see what lied South of the rise where she was reunited with the wolf ahead of her.

Zephyr skidded to a halt, hearing Rana's crash, and galloped back to her immediatley. He couldn't help a bit of a chuckle when she was deemed okay, spraying curses at the world itself.  
They trotted along together now, side by side. The dark female's sigh drew his grassy gaze from the area to her.
            "Something the matter Rana?"

Rana shook her head, turning her maroon eyes to him. "No, just been this way before, though it was interesting." She smiled at the almost recent memory of the two dogs. "One of them had this strange thing around their head." She looked forwards again and saw the marsh. On the far side, back on solid ground, was where she met them.

The fact she'd been this way was insignificant to Zephyr, since she didn't really seem to mind. Her next words, however, brought his focus once again to her. Who was she talking about? Had the woman gone crazy or something? 
      "Them? Rana, who's them?"

Rana tilted her head slightly, she thought she'd told her friend, but apparently not. It didn't even cross her mind that it sounded crazy, or that she forgot to vocalize other details. "Must've slipped my mind..." She said to herself before turning to face him. "Two dogs, one black and the other looked similar to dying grass, but brighter." Looking forward again, she added. "The thing was around the second one."

Though Zephyr was indeed listening, his thoughts were on their nearing departure. There was no set time he planned to leave, but he could feel the change in the air. As soon as Heldi returned from her scouting trip, they would be off and consisting of whoever wanted to come. As far as the brute knew, it was only him and the two females. Lyric and Rain still hadn't showed up, and there was no sign of where to look. Zephyr had no other options but to hope they would show up again one day, and couldn't allow himself to hold back from anything.
"I've met a few dogs, not bad creatures."
As he didn't know really what she was talking about, he went on with their own conversation. He had yet to tell Rana of Heldi's appearance, or her mission for the pack.
"Rana, do you remember Heldi? She entered Shadowfax when I was in my training."

Rana nodded to both the statement and the question. "I remember her. Good wolf, why?" She stopped and turned to him, tilting her head. She remembered Heldi quite clearly as a hard worker. Turning back to the marsh she smiled and started walking.

"She found me the other day, told me she would be glad to rejoin me and is out scouting new places as we speak."
Zephyr smiled thinking about the young girl, glad to have someone to help. Soon, they would be on their own and starting their own pack, revive the old Shadowfax ways here in this new land.
                "You're still willing to follow me, right?"

She was happy to hear that Heldi was helping out with what with scouting. Rana would've liked to help in the same way, but her friend's current pack needed the help. The dark female nodded without hesitation. "Of course I'm still willing to follow you. Why else would I be so willing to help?" There wasn't any doubt in her mind that she wouldn't go with him.

It was a relief to hear she indeed still wanted the pack to come to life again. With a shrug, he came to a halt in the marshy ground.
              "Just making sure, I guess."
The marsh smelled of birds, he was sure, but he couldn't see or her any. Perhaps they were too late? The ebony male stalked silently ahead, scenting and keeping his senses alert.

Rana nodded. "Don't worry about what I'll do. We both know I won't leave again." She stopped and waited a few moments before following with her head down. Smelling the birds, her tail started to sway as a smile creeped to her muzzle. Bird wasn't something she ate often, but it was just as good as anything else.

Zephyr slid forward further, grateful for Rana's support both now and forever as he tried to look for the birds he knew he could smell. With a flick of his tail and a glance back, he signaled for the smaller, lighter female to go first.

Rana could smell the birds as well, and stalked forwards. She stopped next to her friend and looked at him. Seeing the signal, she crept even farther ahead to search for the feathered creatures. Lifting her head slightly, she heard the faint sound of wings above and tilted her head to watch them in case one decided to land. These birds were oddly quiet. She couldn't tell what species of bird they were, but either way any of them could be a meal.

Zephyr did his best to keep his large frame sheltered, pressing against trunks and bush carcasses whenever possible. He was more worried about staying silent and unseen than hunting the birds, and was thankful Rana took his silent command to lead. So easy it was, to fall back into the habit of being in charge, to take command and rule on his own terms. Especially with his former Beta here, it was nice to forget, to imagine that they were still in the diverse lands of ShadowFax. 
Soon enough, he heard the flutter of wings. It was faint, and Zephyr took into mind that they were more silent than the usual duck he stalked, but went on following his ebony friend.

Rana let herself fall completely to the ground, no use keeping herself ready to lunge when there was a chance the birds would move on. After all, both wolves were clearly visable from above without cover. However, she remain optimistic as she waited.

After what seemed like forever of waiting, one of the birds made it's decent towards one of the fallen trees. She frowned when she realized this, but it was still close to the ground. What irritated her about the small bird was the ground around it. Though it appeared solid, there was standing water close enough for her to jump into from the log. She glanced back at Zephyr before creeping forwads.

Zephyr crept after the woman slowly, his ears on a swivel while his grassy eyes stayed ahead. His belly growled and the man wrinkled his nose, but pushed on towards the prey. He hadn't come so far to only come this far, right? If he could survive this famine, they would be off towards their permanent home. The dark male didn't make the first move, keeping Rana in the lead, but he couldn't deny the saliva pooling in his mouth as he waited.

Rana crept closer, until she was almost at the edge of solid ground. As she did, her eyes never left the bird in fear that it would fly away if she didn't. She waited a few moments before quickly rising and jumping for the fallen tree. To her disappointment, the bird had noticed her with plenty of time to rise high enough that she couldn't reach. While the dark female was fighting with herself to get over the tree, she growled. Instead of waiting even longer she'd rushed for a possible meal.

Zephyr watched the bird flutter out of his friends reach, and with a sigh he knew there would be no catch today, not here. The alarm call from the frantic avian carried far and wide, and now everthing would be hiding. Shooting a sympathetic grassy gaze Rana's way momentarily, the obsidian man turned and headed silently for home. Next time, perhaps.... If they could make it to last time. Times were pretty hard now, with the lack of food, when would it get better?