IC joining!
It was not hard for Halo to creep. She carried her weight in her shoulders and spine, leaving hardly any for her feet to place. The black thing was very quiet, slinking along, trotting really, with her spiky tail swaying and her venomous eyes leering through the deepening dusk. The peppered wolf had neared some recently marked borders, but was clever enough not to cross them.
Kindly, she skirted them, though kept near.
She was not recently fed, a scrawny rabbit two days ago having been her last meal, but the small tyrant had long since gotten used to the bite of hunger in her belly. The ache was largely tolerable at the moment, and she figured she could go another two before it actually became a problem.
A shadow passed over her then, and she glanced upwards to catch an inky figure wheeling gracefully around. This was her third time seeing it today. The bird was a crow or raven -- she didn't bother learning which, but knew this much at least -- and it had been following her for many weeks now. She didn't know why (nor did she actually care) but the obsidian creature was a strangely recurring presence.
Sometimes she went days without seeing it, but there he was again. And she did assume it was a he, because when it spoke in its deep, warbled caw, intelligently mimicking the language of wolves, she was reminded of a male.
"Bewaaaaare," he squawked then, but Halo ignored him.
Welcome!
The carrion birds, ravens and crows, were the most common creature to find in the woods. The forest was named after them, after all. Meldresi paid them no mind when they fluttered about the trees, dark feathers gliding down from the canopy to decorate the forest floor. They never picked up after their dead, leaving them instead to rot on the ground. The priestess wondered if they could use them as a food source once winter came....
Towards the borders, she heard a carrion bird, raven or crow she could not tell, caw in the wolf-tongue. Bewaaaaare.... it said ominously. Curious, the priestess searched the trees for the culprit, but quickly swung her head down when a scent filled her nostrils. A wolf, close to her borders. Her indigo eyes flitted side to side, searching for any sign of the wolf. She stepped past the border, sighting the dark figure in the distance. "You are quite close to my borders." She called to her.
After being addressed, Halo thought that perhaps she ought to start listening to the bird. He wheeled overhead, flying off in one direction before she could no longer see him; but her attention was mostly on the dark female now before her.
"I didn't cross them," the smaller female said warily, wondering if she was being accused. However, the older wolf did not seem threatening, and her blue-purple eyes (that Halo briefly glanced into), were not boring into her as if an attack were imminent. She dipped her head slightly, bright eyes surreptitiously glancing to her left as that would be the quickest way of escape, but there was no fear in her posture.
She shifted on skinny legs, tilting her head slightly as she observed the older wolf's lustrous fur and curvaceous build, noting her own lack of a womanly physique. Her scent was also the strongest at these borders, which made this female someone to admire—and young Halo was prone to such idolization. "What is this pack?" she asked carefully.
"Mm, but you are rather close, no?." She went for a less aggressive tone for this wolf. Aggression could drive away potential pack members, but it could deter intruders with ill intent. The priestess instead chose a slightly friendly approach, but lanced it with a hint of a threat, just in case.
"Blackfeather Woods, after the ravens and crows here." She gestured up to another carrion bird, different from the first, but she did not know that, perched up in a tree. One of the sentries most likely. The murders and conspiracies of birds here were always on the lookout for their rivals. "Why are you lurking so close?"
The yearling made no move to either affirm or deny the female's rhetorical question. She knew very well that she was too close, and she thought quickly on how best to explain herself. The darker wolf did not seem to want to incite violence against her, but Halo was being overly cautious nonetheless. This would not be the first time a pack chased her away, and she was leery for more members lurking near.
Quickly she followed the wolf's gesture, noting another dark bird perched there, but it was smaller than the one that followed her around—at this thought, he appeared again, turning silent circles above the two wolves, and it was then that Halo figured out the answer to her own question before the other female voiced it aloud.
"I was following that bird," she said, without needing to tell her which one. "I was hoping it would lead me to some food—I wouldn't cross your borders, though," she added slickly to her lie, though in all actuality if she had been truly desperate, little would have stopped Halo from a much-needed meal.
The other black bird, the one this girl was following, wheeled overhead. The priestess tipped her head back to look at the dark figure in the sky. "Wolf-birds, some call them. They lead us to carcasses so we could open them, and they could get something in turn." Her indigo gaze returned back to the black-furred female. "That doesn't really explain why he was saying 'beware'; unless that's the only thing he could say."
Meldresi highly doubted that the young female would not dare to cross her borders. She had seen hunger's effect on creatures and how it can drive them to great lengths to get food. "What is your name? I am Meldresi, alpha of Blackfeather Woods."
"That was the only time I heard it speak," she responded thoughtfully, though this was a lie. She'd heard a new word from the bird at least once each time he came around—it was both fascinating and irritating. "I didn't even know they could talk like us..." Now this was the truth. She was no longer surprised by the creature's intelligence, but she had to pretend to be now, considering she was supposed to only have just started following the thing.
Her short tail gave a twitch against thin haunches, and she peered at the sleek woman's muzzle, an Alpha, as she confirmed now, with quiet reverence. "Halo Vendetta," she answered promptly, wondering if something further, more fortuitous would come of this meeting.
Sorry for the wait!
She hummed in response. It was rare to find other animals that spoke the same or similar languages, especially if the species were unrelated. But, some intelligent creatures, like the crow and raven, could not only mimic, but learn the language for themselves. The priestess wondered if she could ever use their gift for scouting and messenger missions....
"Halo....do you have any family? Anyone else that is travelling or living with you?" She asked, wondering if she could gain another follower from this young girl.
"No family," and then hesitantly she added: "no companions." Reluctantly she thought of Macaw, and her hatred for the male. He had been her friend or so she had thought. She didn't understand that she had simply been too young when they met for him to look at her in the way she looked at him. It was probably her fault too, for never saying anything.
Halo's short tail twitched, and she wondered if she had been asked because Meldresi was interested in having her a part of Blackfeather Woods. "Could I stay here?" the wolf ventured. "I haven't been a pack for a while, but I remember how it works. I'll earn my keep, Meldresi."
The priestess played her cards right, and the juvenile got her little hint. She asked to be accepted into Blackfeather Woods and she was now at Meldresi's mercy. Of course she would say yes, she had no reason not too. But earning her keep would not be enough; the priestess wanted to know if Halo had any skills to offer her pack. "What can you do for the pack, Halo?"
Halo paused when wanting to answer Meldresi's question. It was obvious that the yearling could hunt. She was a loner, and if one was to be without a pack, then they must know how to feed themselves in the least. She did not mention this, even though it was presently her greatest asset. Halo needed to be creative, so she thought creative thoughts.
"I am fast, and quiet," she said after a quick pause. "I can deliver inter-pack messages... or spy. I am not above or beneath anything the Woods might need."
A spy could be helpful, especially someone as young as her. She could slip with relative ease through borders and get more out of wolves than any of the older wolves could. Meldresi could use it somehow, especially for that pack forming in the south... "We could certainly use you in Blackfeather, then." she said gently. "I would gladly have you join pur ranks, Halo.."