Wolf RPG

Others had crossed their borders. Bazi assumed that Scimitar was to thank for that, and it prodded her inner competetitive spirit awake. She had added Dovev to the ranks, but her Beta had brought in twice that number. The young Alpha had not spoken to her second-in-command for days, wanting the dust to settle on the unfortunate departure of Shadow, Danica, and Paarthurnax before she tried to rebuild whatever it was that had been going on between them.

She followed a female's trail today, nosing the damp banks near the Creek's northern territory. Somewhere around here, a pile of rocks denoted Lethe's Rest, though no wolf currently belonging to Swiftcurrent Creek had known her. It was misty and a little cold today - autumn was making ingress into summer, bending back her fingers and bullying all that was green.

Falwasi paced up and down the creek, the ground soft beneath her paws. She was new to this territory, presuming some wolf would confront her. She stayed near the soft ruckus of the creek, where she felt comfortable, ignoring the crisp air. Pacing was one of her habits. When she was deep in thought she would pace for hours, mowing down the grass as she retraced the exact same steps. Today, she walked in a figure of eight. Drowning in a sea of thoughts, she resurfaced to an unfamiliar smell. Another wolf was nearby.

Falwasi caught sight of a small, piercing white she-wolf making her way down the creek. Fal didn't know this wolf, the only wolf in her pack she had met was Scimitar. The wolf must have caught her scent in the breeze. Fal steeled herself as she watched the other wolf nosing the banks.

She didn't say a word, she just observed.

Be kind, be sensible, be kind, be sensible. Bazi repeated the mantra in the privacy of her own mind as she approached, channeling her very best Tuwawi. She kept her head and tail high to indicate rank, but wore an open-mouthed smile - she was happy to see that another wolf had joined them, after all. The pack had perilously few women after Paarthurnax's departure, and Bazi yearned for female companionship.

Perhaps she ought to have taken Danica up on her offer to court.

"I think you met Scimitar," Bazi opened, stopping within sniffing distance of the other female. She was a long, lean thing, with mottled fur and warm, copper eyes. No Paarthurnax, but pleasant to look at all the same. "I'm Bazi - the Alpha; hello. Where have you come from?" Pleasantries! Chit-chat! Oh, it was going so well already.

Falwasi smiled inwardly. No confrontation. As Fal looked into the wolf's eyes, she noticed how beautifully blue-grey they were. They reminded her of the sky back home. Stop, she thought to herself, this is your new home. Hopefully. Maybe things would start to get better if she got to know the other wolves well.

'Greetings?' Fal said, still unsure of how wolves in this region conversed. 'Nice to meet you, Bazi. Scimitar is the only other wolf I have met so far. My name is Falwasi; I come from the Eagle Pack on Eagle Mountain, far east of here.' she said confidently, attempting to match the warmth radiating off Bazi, but failing miserably. She didn't dare move closer or say anything to the Alpha, even though she appeared friendly and genuine.

She was unfamiliar conversing with a female wolf. There were more males than females in her old pack and she was mainly friends with her brother and his playmates.

To Bazi's delight, Falwasi seemed both awkward and unsure of herself - a lonely foreigner from the east as Bazi had once been, though she hailed from the far north of the continent. The alpha took a few careful steps forward, stretching her neck to sniff at the former Eagle Mountain wolf. She smelled Not Swiftcurrent, but that would soon change. Every wolf that lived by the Creek for longer than a couple of weeks absorbed the scent of fresh water somehow - and fish, regrettably.

"Long journey then. I came from the North.. it's hot here, so I'm pretty glad the summer's over." A chirp of bright, girlish laughter escaped the Alpha's smiling mouth. "Hey - do you know how to fish? Want to have a competition? Our recent hunt was unsuccessful, so.. I could do with some food."

Reminded by the heat of the west, Falwasi remembered her scorching hot journey and started sweating lightly but stopped as she heard the word 'fish'. Her eyes lit up with eagerness.

Delighted that the Alpha wasn't offended by her unsureness, Fal smiled for real. She liked Bazi already, although, she was curious about her age. She looked so young! Fal refrained herself from asking, not wanting to ruin their budding relationship by offending her. She was so glad the she-wolf also showed an interest in fishing. And competition.

'Fishing?', Fal questioned, waking up from her daze, 'I love fishing; I used to live next to a big lake full of pikes and perches -' she stopped herself before she started to feel nostalgic. 'But I'm guessing there are different fish here.' she finished in a chilled tone.

"Mostly trout," Bazi filled in, nodding her head at the Creek. "Fast trout, too.. but you learn to deal with that after a while." She moved toward the banks of the creek, dipping her paw into the rushing water to test the temperature. It was already much colder than it had been only a few weeks ago. No, it's fresh and revitalizing, Bazi reminded herself, wondering when she had become such a summer wolf. Winter was almost upon them, and she was best equipped of anyone in the pack to actually enjoy it.

"On your marks, then!" she declared, waiting for Falwasi to take up position. "Hm.. maybe one of use should go on the other side of the Creek, to make it fair. What d'you say? Fish for a few minutes and compare totals?" Jace had played this game with her, as had Njal.. neither were Swiftcurrent wolves now.

(OOC: I did the roll thing, managed to burn my grilled cheese at the same time haha!)

Falwasi walked past Bazi, stepping over some small stones through the rushing waters to the other side of the creek. Her flanks were wet with the spray from the water, the cold stimulating her adrenaline. It was the first time she'd been in water since leaving her pack. 'All set.' Fal said, crouching into position. She was already scanning the water, her hunting senses kicking in.

Guessing she was allowed to start, Falwasi watched the waters for unusual movements or the shiny glimmer of a fish. She caught sight of one swimming upstream, not too far from her and slowed by the current. Perfect. she thought, a grin spreading across her face. She sat back into her stance, her muscles coiled and mouth open. She trotted forward and leaned her face into the water, swiping at it. Bazi was right. They were quick! As the trout started to swim away, Fal slammed a paw down onto its tail, holding it to the floor of the creek. She then grabbed it with her mouth, her snout clamped shut on the wiggling fish, and bit into its carotid artery instantly killing it.

She got quicker and quicker every time, getting used to the shallow waters of the creek and learning new tactics for catching this kind of fish. She threw the fish into a pile, totalling them up to four trouts, ranging from small to average. She had missed one fish, but nevertheless she shook water off of her coat, pleased with how she had done.

Falwasi took up position on the opposite side of the Creek, and Bazi readied herself for battle. She started when the other girl did, swiping at tell-tale flashes of silver that were wriggling their way through the water. There were less of them now than at the height of summer, and Bazi only managed to bring two fish - one large, one less so - onto the banks. When it became clear that Falwasi had bested her, she put her paw on the largest to steady it, snapped its neck, and pushed the smaller creature back into the water. Until next time.

"Beginner's luck?" she called across the water, grinning wryly. "Care to share a few with me?"

'Excuses, excuses.' Falwasi teased. She picked up her game and tossed them gently over the creek to Bazi one at a time, watching as the slick organisms flew slowly through the air before she picked up another one.

Fal loped across the creek and sat down beside Bazi, answering the Alpha's question. She ignored her soaking fur, not wanting to shake all over her hopefully new friend.
'So did you fish with your old pack?' Fal asked, assuming Bazi had not been born in Teekon Wilds since she said she came from the North. She wanted to know more about the wolf.

'I notice I used a different fishing technique than you. In my old pack, we killed the fish by aiming for their main artery to cut off their blood circulation.' she commented.

Bazi moved out of the way of the rain of bodies, watching each fish land on her side of the creek with a muted thump against. Falwasi joined them shortly after, damp from her trip across the water.

"Yes, loads. I'm actually a bit shit at hunting land prey - in big groups. 3 or 4 is alright.. but any more than that and I just lose track and get confused." Pitiful, really, for a gamekeeper, but Bazi confined herself to tracking and cache management. At Falwasi's input into the killing of fish, the Alpha raised a brow. "Really? Like you would kill a deer? I didn't think fish had big enough, you know... tubes. Snapping their neck works for me." It wasn't something she had considered. Strange what nuances existed in the world's wolf population. "I bet we eat them the same, though - quickly!" With that, Bazi dropped to her belly and immediately tucked into her only fish - bones, scales, and all.

The conversation flowed easily after that, both girls settled into the familiar pattern of a new friendship forming.