backdated to pre-bear attack
in his dreams val had stepped under the hanging jaw of a subterranean cave. why was he here? he looked around the dark, tooth-vaulted ceiling and remembered: alyx.
val woke with a start, his eyes fluttering open. around him the scent of his maman, his sisters, his home filled his nostrils. he breathed deep, settling the rapid stirring of his heart -- all just a dream.
Nestled alongside Valravn, having finally found peace for her inner turmoil when he'd been returned to them, she flinched and startled awake when he drew in a sudden breath of air and lifted his head up. She turned her head to gaze at his expression, noticing how he seemed bewildered for a moment or two. She wasn't entirely certain what he'd gone through when he'd been separated from the rest of them by that bear, but he seemed to carry with him dreams haunting enough to awaken him.
She thumped her tail against the ground and scooched closed so that she could lick reassuringly at his cheek. It relieved her so much to have Valravn back; she'd been adrift without her chosen sibling to shadow.
just a dream.
another one to store in the hidden vault of his mind; where that spectre lingered yellow-eyed and distant.
he suppressed the memory by closing his eyes, pulled earthside by something warm and wet brushing his cheek.
chacal. val's eyes fluttered open again and he grinned, not a sliver of the previous shadow remaining on his face. "your breath stinks." val teased as she moved closer, offering her a gentle nudged of his shoulder before he yawned and stretched out his front legs simultaneously. "brekkfas?"
At his comment, Chacal whipped her head back with a grimace of indignation, and snorted loudly. The sudden exhalation would likely send another puff of her morning breath straight at his muzzle but she didn't care. She shook her head with such force that her ears made funny flapping sounds as they beat against her cheekbones, before she froze, tilting her head to the side and biting her lip at the mention of breakfast. Insult immediately forgotten, she jerked herself to her feet with an ungainly heave of her shoulders, and trotted out into the open light.
She halted almost immediately outside the den and shook her coat out, finding the sudden absence of another wolf at her side left her exposed and cold. Her coat puffed out a bit as her shake turned into a shudder. The sea breeze was one thing, but winter's keen chill was something new, and not entirely welcome. She turned, circling around so that Valravn could lead- and so that she could glue herself to his side and take some shelter from the soft, cool breeze.
val cringed when a big old snort came his way, followed by a furious flapping of chacal's ears. before he could quip anything she was up, making her way to the entrance of the den.
he followed dutifully, crashing right into her suddenly halted backside as she deployed the brakes. disentangling himself from the collision, val peered at the world outside which was cold and windy.
no wonder chacal had second thoughts. not to fear though! val was the Big Brother, and that came with certain expectations for deportment: 1. always defend the little sis, and 2. always act like you're not afraid of NOTHING!
he marched forward with much more confidence than he felt inwardly. it was cold as a clam's empty shell outside, and he didn't favor the way the wind just raked up and under his fur without invitation.
val decided to make a game of it; he knew chacal was using him as a wind/warmth shield -- so every time she came close, val would try to dodge and dart around to her other side -- so that she was the wind breaker and he the one protected from the clawing wind.
Sh stumbled forward but didn't lash out at her brother for thumping into her. She grinned, and turned around to give him a toothy grin, as though to warn him against tripping over her again, before they set off. And she eagerly sough her place in his shadow- but it seemed so soon that every time she bounded to his side, he would veer away and then continue on- but at her flank where she was exposed to the wind, and he protected. She didn't catch on immediately and thought for a little while that he'd veered suddenly because he'd caught the scent of something. But it didn't take her long before she understood what he was doing.
"Rav!" She complained "Ra-ra-ra-ra... Tête! After they'd wheeled around each other a few times, she became frustrated enough that she huffed, and began to stomp off in another direction, with the wind at her back. It was easier to handle the ind that way, and she could simply find something on her own if her brother was going to be that much of a bother.
it took a few repetitions before val was caught. once chacal's expression turned to one of indignity and she aired her complaints to the world, val giggled and aimed a playful shove at her shoulder. in that moment she'd pulled away so he hit empty air, but he stalked after her all the same.
her tail was beginning to look like a very enticing thing to nip. val weighed the pros and cons here - he could grab it and tug before running away (and he'd probably earn a score of teeth for it) or he could play dutiful big brother and keep wa-- nah, boring, eff all that --
val darted and aimed a pull at chacal's swaying tail, feet light as a hare's as he sped away.
Perturbed, the dainty femme continued to stride away with her ears turned back, listening for the sound of her brother's footfalls as he stalked her. She didn't particularly like being followed, as she was much more comfortable being someone else's shadow...But this was Valravn, and he could be trusted, and even if hehad irked her, she was still immeasurably glad he'd-
"YIPE!"
She issued a loud, high-pitched shriek when he nipped at her tail. Not that he'd hurt her, but she'd been surprised, and while she had no problem chasing her own tail, she definitely did not appreciate it when someone else went for it. She whirled- but Valravn had already beugn to dash away. Instantly, she forgot about the prospect of hunting down breakfast- and began charging furiously after her brother.
YIPE!
hah, gottem!
oh shit -- val didn't need eyes in the back of his head to know that chacal was bringing up the rear with some well-deserved vengeance. engaging his afterburners, val bolted for cover.
he made it several strides before he decided to change the stakes. darting for a nearby tree, val spun around and grinned, positioning himself so the tree would always be between him and chacal. hah! cant get him if someone put a tree in the way..
She was fleet on her feet, but Valravn was a coy creature, and as soon as he swerved around a tree, a barrier was put between them. Chacal pursued- only to find that as she bounded around it, Valravn did as well, and with the tree in the way, she couldn't simply cut the corner and pounce at him. She let out a sharp exhale of frustration and dodged in the other direction, hoping to trip him up- and began to jig one way and then the other. Exhasperated and outfoxed, her patience trickled away within moments and she emitted a high pitched yip of contempt before she turned on her heel and began to march off once again. She held her tail tightly between her legs in an attempt to at least dissuade him from trying to grab it again- and lowered her head to begin sniffing out something to eat. At least the momentary chase had helped warm her up, so she was better able to track without the distraction of the freezing wind.
+
thank god for ears, because this big old tree made it so val couldn't see chacal at all. he craned his neck and head, listening for her footsteps and matching it tit-for-tat in the opposite direction.
he'd earned his intended goal, for after a few roundabouts, he heard his sister's exasperated yelp and the sound of slinking pawsteps. peering around the bough, val could see chacal's tightly-tucked backside walking away.
aw.
he scuffed at the ground for a second, debating trying to lure her back. after a few seconds of debate, he saw chacal had smelled something interesting, or was at least searching for something.
hey! not without him you don't! val pursued, thrusting his nose right in the spot chacal was investigating.
She could hear him coming after her, and her ears flicked back in momentary irritation, before she spotted rabbit tracks in the snow leading into a thicket of brush. Her ears flicked forward and she momentarily forgot her irritation as the possibility of snagging a meal came at hand- though her brother was quick to re-insert himself into her peripheral vision. He sniffed at the ground too and for a moment, she defensively wanted to ward him off as he'd already pissed her off once that morning, and she hadn't quite forgiven him- but then again, she was simply hungry, and probably a bit low on patience because she needed to have something to eat.
So she licked her lips and nosed his muzzle, gesturing toward the thicket. The rabbit tracks disappeared into the tangle where the bushy plants grew too close together for her to shove her way in without causing a complete racket. But she thought if they worked together, they might be able to spook the prey out and into the open, where they would have a better chance of catching it.
The only issue with that plan was the communication part. She huffed. She looked from Valravn to the thicket, and back again several times- hoping he might suddenly become capable of reading her mind- and know what her plan was. She beseeched him with her urgent gaze, but couldn't bring herself to try and speak, knowing that she would very likely not be able to convey the message she wanted to speak.
blissfully unaware he'd managed to annoy his sister not once but twice this fine morning, val nosed the ground with noisy chuffs. ah, rabbit. if he had used his eyes, he might have seen the tracks chacal was investigating for what they were -- it was not until he lifted his snow-covered nose and sneezed that he saw a trailing of rabbit prints in the snow.
chacal's pointed looks too and fro were fairly straight forward, but val completely misjudged the application of her pointed stare. he nodded, confident he knew just what she meant -- and dived right into the thicket with a loud, ear-shattering racket.
He s=was sent a slightly panicked look when he sneezed- but at least, nothing came springing in the thicket. Nothing even rustled- so perhaps, if there were rabbits hiding within, they hadn't been disturbed. He gazed at her then, and for a moment, she felt as though this was working. She could simply gesture, and that he would get the-
-no, he did not get the point.
So she had to react swiftly, and while she would have preferred some time to skirt around to the opposite end of the thicket first, she darted around the edges of it as Valravn flailed his way through it. She kept her eyes focused on the edge of the brush as she sped along, only departing from it when she saw something white dart out of it- only a few lengths in front of her. He'd done it! Whether or not their plan had been perfectly communicated, Valravn had managed to flush out a rabbit, and Chacal was already hot on its heels, and given the fact that she was actually already in a full out dash rather than lying in wait, she closed the distance on it within moments.
It ducked and weaved, this way and that- but Chacal did her best to anticipate its movements, and kept close. Several times she swept a paw at its hind limbs, only to have done so at the wrong moment. She needed to snag it not when its hind end was up in the air, but when it was just about to land- so she pursued, settled in with the rhyrhm of the rabbit's strides- and smacked it soundly on its thigh, causing it to tumble end over end into the snow where she descended upon it.
A small, sharp cry was all that came from it in that instant, and a moment later, Chacal looked up- to see how her brother had fared.
yes, her brother had flushed the hare -- never mind that he had completely fumbled the hunt, and hadn't even pounced where the rabbit fared.
while val's sister dove after the rabbit and chased it down, val struggled to even get out of the thicket. by the time he managed to escape the tangle, his little gunrunner sister had downed the hare and now was peering back at him.
covered in brambles and new nicks and scratches, val grinned. "you got it! all thanks to me." he joked, giving his fur a rough shake so that he might rid himself of any thorny hitch-hikers.
When she caught sight of him, he'd only just pulled himself free of the thicket. She had to giggle slightly, as some fine sticks and twigs remained embedded in his fur, though he looked pleased enough, considering that they had managed to get something out of their shared efforts.
She growled playfully and hoisted the rabbit aloft, as though to tease him with it and claim it as her own- but she wouldn't do so for long, knowing that that would likely invite him to try and take it from her and if he got it, she wouldn't get it back. She tossed the rabbit and caught it about its middle so that she could do her best to crunch through it- until a portion fell to the earth, which was then nudged toward her brother.
She'd make short work of her portion, and found her mood improving once she had something in her belly. When she finished, she'd help Valravn pull the last few twigs from his fur, before settling down alongside him (naturally choosing to use him as a shelter from the breeze still) so they could digest a bit before moving on to their next adventure.