He came from the south, poor thing, having gotten his father killed and side-tracked from his family. He was probably too ashamed to return, regardless if he had known the way or not—it was The Lion King all over again, except that it was with wolves, his dad had been traveling man-candy and not "King of Pride Rock", and the small little fact that it had actually been his fault Tricasse had been killed. The wiser, tufty-earred DeMonte had known how to avoid mountain lions; and Snow Owl could do nothing but watch in pain and horror as his father made sure the vicious cat was dead, before collapsing in death himself.
The memory was sour to young Snowl, it created a crushing weight on his stomach and made him want to throw up. But Monarch had helped him with a lot of his bitterness. Monarch helped him in a lot of ways. And the wolf's words of wisdom would always make the youth a survivor if nothing else.
A day and a half had passed since his last drink, and his last catch had his mouth considerably dry. So by the time he could scent Big Salmon Lake, he was using the last of his strength to bolt cleanly for the cool banks. He didn't stop, but rather careened into the lake, disappearing for too long and then emerging like a furry manatee attempting to clear a too-little hoop. A big splash and he floated around, munching on slops of water to gulp down.
Rivulets of dirt swirled around him as it was washed away from his pelt.
After teaching Ira the arts of silent murder, he travelled to the lake not too far away from the Heartwood. He was wondering if their were any fish large enough to feed multiple wolves lurking in the waters.
But fish rots quickly... a familiar voice whispered faintly.
Ah, so it's you again. How nice to see you, Itzal.
The voice had not bothered him with it's nagging tones in a long time, though other voices were taking his place. More pleasant ones.
You have an apprentice now? How lovely. He doesn't even care for you.
I don't care.
It was true, Ira was not the type of apprentice (how the boy loathed the word!) he would like. But he guessed that it was some deities' way of training them both. Him to be a better teacher, and Ira to be a better assassin.
The dark-furred Gamma emerged from the shadows of the forest and made his way to the banks of the lake when he heard a splash. His ice-blue eyes locked on the wolf dirting the lake with muck from his pelt. Kaname's lips curled in disgust. "You're scaring the prey." he hissed to the wolf, a young one at that.
He was making quite a racket, laughing uncontrollably too, thoroughly enjoying himself in the water that his father had inexplicably been very wary of. He always hid during storms too, so it was a little ironic that a storm happened on the night of his death. Snowl, even at his age, respected Mother Nature, but he didn't fear her... yet.
A scathing tone made him freeze, and the wet and gawky teenager peered wonderingly at the male. "Well, I wasn't huntin'," he retorted, trotting out of the water like some high-steppin' sea-cow. He smirked and added rudely: "and nobody told you to come 'round all tha noise, tryna hunt neither." The pale youth gave himself a thorough shake, and now instead of resembling a dirty Q-tip, he looked more like a misshapen cream puff.
"I'm Snow Owl DeMonte!" he suddenly said, quite cheerfully. "You can call me that, or Snow Owl, or Snow, or Owl, or Snowl (that's what my dad used to call me!) or Mr. DeMonte, or Beefcake (you should call me that one) or Superwolf, or Dragon Thundah (you gotta say it just like that), or Hyper (my mom used to call me that...)—just don't call me like Squirt 'r nothin' because I don't like that shit."
The kid came with his own background commentary and everything.
Kaname's cold eyes narrowed at the boy's rambling. Great, another archetype of child he didn't like. First it was the spoiled brat Ira, and now it was the hyperactive idiot who named himself Snow Owl "Snowl" DeMonte, among other things. The Gamma growled with annoyance. "I was already coming here when you had the audacity to jump in the lake, making all of this noise. Not only did you scare off the prey here in the water, but around the lake too."
He stalked towards the teenager, ears pressed forward. "Look here Cream Puff, you should be more considerate of others around you. There are plenty here to feed, and it's hard enough without idiots like you running about!" The unspilled annoyance he felt during his time with Ira was spilling out now. It took a lot to drive Kaname to anger.
Though probably much more hungry than the male before him, Snow Owl was not at all bothered by the loss of easy prey, especially in the wake of him having so much fun—it was a shame, really, that this dark brute had to come ruin it all. And it was unfortunate that he was threatening the young "idiot" because if he wanted respect from him, this wasn't the way to get it. The only wolf Snowl had ever feared was his father.
He pulled his head back slowly as the wolf came near, but didn't otherwise shy away or cringe from the male. He gazed unabashedly into the cold eyes of the ebony combatant, and the young male curled his lip in distaste for his nearness. The fact that he had not chosen a single one of his given nicknames and had dubbed him "Cream Puff" instead wasn't a helping factor.
"Listen, vous vieux sot," he spat in French—because of course he would know some of the language, being the son of a Frenchman, and because it had been Tricasse, he would know only dirtiest of words and phrases—"either go hunt somewhere else or sit here complainin'. Either way, just know that I don't care, and I'm 'bout to keep on splashin'."
He sarcastically flashed the furious, nameless wolf one of his most charming grins, and then charged back into the water with a mighty SPLOOSH.
The juvenile did not flinch at his gaze which made Kaname even angrier. Another fucking stuck up brat, except this one's more brash than the other. He growled in his mind. I wonder what would happen if this idiot and Ira met. Boy would that be a show. Snowl curled his lip and spat an insult in French. Kaname had his doubts that this kid even knew the proper language.
"Is that all you know in French? Insults? How pathetic." He was sick of anything related to French ever since that French whore Erika had left. The boy jumped into the water with a big splash that sent water to the dark brown wolf. He shook his pelt, growling, "I hope your massive ego drowns you."
Snow forced a barking laugh out before dunking himself in the water and emerging a moment later. "You wish that was all I knew in French!" the dripping youngster called, diving down again only to resurface in time to hear another insult coming from the venomous mouth of the antagonizing male. He paused, soaked and grinning, his brown eyes playful despite the other's hateful intentions.
He'd stopped being bothered by older wolf's surliness a long time ago—a trait earned from his father—so while his "guest" was the epitome of annoyed, Snow Owl was still thoroughly enjoying himself.
"Least if I drown, I won't hafta lookit your ugly mug anymore," he smirked, trotting towards the shore again, but not quite leaving the clutches of the lapping lake. He splashed some water towards the irritated wolf with an over-large forepaw. "You gonna stand there and keep starin' after me, or you gonna hop in and have some fun, old man? Swimmin'll take care of that attitude you got from that stick up your ass. The water's real soothin'," he added, preparing to splash the wolf again.
He really wanted to jump on top of this boy's head and drown him. No one would notice or miss him, and the fish would benefit from a large meal such as him.
So the great and powerful assassin Kaname wants to kill a child? You've certainly fallen from grace.... Itzal teased.
"Shut up." He growled to both Itzal and Snowl. They were both annoying him at this point. Again he was splashed by the white bastard in the lake. Growling, he headed towards the boy, not willing to be defeated by such a brat. "Oh indeed, I will have fun in the water." His fangs bared, he lunged towards him.