located on the southwest edge of the massive lake rodney, heading north.
in the nearly-twelve-hours since we'd last spotted juria she'd managed to travel north quite a ways; the scents of wolves were less dominant upon the air now but not gone, and she was more than a little irritable from lack of sleep. but she couldn't just stop. how had she managed to get this far without encountering an entire pack? she knew it was out there somewhere - all she needed to do was find it. what came next... well, she wasn't sure. not many wolves would welcome a stranger among them at this time of year. especially not someone so large and unweildy, who could eat more than her weight in one sitting and required constant activity. then again, maybe someone would see the value within her? the effort to keep her body fit and hale of health, the luxurious quality of her healthy coat -- therer were signs she'd been on her own for a while, but juria chose to look on the bright side. she was big and strong and a great addition to any pack.
but where the hell were they?
she'd found a dense coppice of trees that were intertwined with shadows; as loath as she was to approach it (being quite tired of forests and darkness by now), the plainsrunner knew it would be safer to rest somewhere hidden. the tiny creatures which gave the area its name were not out and about today - not yet - so she wasn't met with a beautiful or idyllic scene as she crossed along the path and delved deep within the glen. no, juria was met with lackluster darkness interspersed with shafts of spring daylight. just as she began scouting the forest for a good place to hunker down, a small critter bolted from cover and sped across her path. she was tired, yes, but hungry too - and instinctively dove after it, ignoring the twisting path and irregular, boorish way she ran, up until she sank her teeth across the vole's back and heard the bones there give a satisfying crunch.
when she looked up - resembling a sleepy bear with something far too small in its mouth - juria noticed how out-of-place everything was. did i seriously just get lost... again? she thought, and dropped the vole upon the dirt by her feet.
Gonna be extremely vague about what he has goin' on right now, but I was ready for our thread already lol
[table width=72%][tr][td]
Though incurious by nature, there was hardly ever a time when the scent of blood did not attract Grievous’ (mostly) unwanted attention. As a lone wolf, scavenging had proven its worth on many occasions, and even if the situation didn’t pan out as he intended, there was always the chance he could wind up with a free meal. Even when he wasn’t particularly hungry— like now— he saw no harm in finding the source, perhaps to save it for later. For you see, without the support of a pack, he thought only of his meals; the last one, the next one, what plan there was to get one. And if the lofty mountain ghoul wasn’t thinking about his stomach, then he likely wasn’t thinking about very much at all. He was also pragmatic, which meant that he’d rather work smarter than work harder, which had in turn molded itself into an affinity for things that were already dead.
Easy pickings, as he liked to call them.
But what he came across was not some carcass left behind by some careless predator. It was a fresh meal, enough for only one, and set protectively between the massive paws of a... she-wolf? Grievous had to look twice. She was nearly his size, if not broader, and her earth-laden pelt made her seem disjointed in the shadows, where she blended slightly with the soil and shaded tree trunks. The titan knew immediately that he would not risk injury for such a meager prize, but he hesitated to take his leave, interested somewhat in the bearwolf that reminded him greatly of the women from the Blacksea. He hung back neutrally, making it clear that he had no intention to accost her.
[/td][/tr][/table]
it was not uncommon for a kill to bring about the rise in scavengers. she knew this well, now. it was a fact of life that the lone wolf had to drive off competitors, sometimes from larger kills, sometimes from the smallest and most useless morsel. it should not have surprised juria to find someone stalking among the shrubbery once she'd grappled herself the vole; perhaps the only surprising part was the wolf himself. he was large, like her, but imperious. there was a malevolent gleam in his eye despite his lackluster approach, and she watched him with more care than he was likely due. he did not come too close though. he did not challenge for the tiny dead-thing on the ground. juria kept her eyes upon him anyways, even as she dipped her head and grasped the vole's skull between her teeth. she stepped carefully upon the broken back of the vermin creature, and then with a yank and a sickening pop, she pulled the head and spine free of the rest - like a crawfish. the blood smell was more intense because of this; it rose like a wave and perfumed the entirety of the glen. juria tossed the head and spine towards the beastly man - maybe to test his interest, or to make a friendly offering - and then watched him while blood cooled across her maw.
[table width=72%][tr][td]
Though he regarded the scene without true expectation, Grievous nonetheless found himself caught by surprise when the robust stranger pulled apart her sparse meal and tossed him a comparably bony share. But the savage was not picky, and nor did he carry with him the baggage of uncertainty. The skull had yet to still before he was plodding forward with large, tread-forging steps, uninterested in carrying himself in any sort of lightness. Coolly receptive, he snapped up the skull and slurped down the spine with a crunch, hardly sparing the chews before his gift was gone.
He sniffed the ground for anything he might’ve left, lapping up blood and dirt in a single pass of his tongue before he leveled his head with his shoulders, and peered attentively at the she-wolf. He licked his chops several times, but was otherwise still as he waited with tempered eagerness for an opening to approach her.
[/td][/tr][/table]
sorry for the wait!
this stranger was large, in charge, and brooding. everything anyone could ever want from a conversation, she had. silence, but attention - they could share a meal and she'd be off on her way again, unless of course something new caught her interest. he seemed surprised by the gift she gave to him; juria had to stop herself from smirking as he dug in, keeping a serious face and emulating her no-nonsense father (and, sort of, the look that was on the stranger's face as well). when she dipped her own head it was to hastily tear in to the rest of the meal. it did not take long. and when she looked up, licking blood and fur from her lips, she watched him.
they shared a glance. seeing as juria wasn't so great at starting conversations, she had been waiting for an opening from him - but he, presumably, was quiet for the same reason. they were stalemated. so, she took a chance and murmured: perhaps we can find something more filling together?
and then, without waiting for a response, took a few bold strides onwards, her attention fully focused upon him.