They had plenty of prey after the hunts Mordecai had led. While he was angered by the fact his Frost Queen was demoted below him, he had to admit, their current alpha was doing pretty well. The Beta dropped the last piece of an elk in one of the caches he set up before covering it with dirt. Now that the frost was setting in, the soil would keep the meat a lot longer than any other time, though it would be harder to dig it up.
Kaname shook his pelt and licked his chops, relieved of one duty, but now burdened with another. Warden duty. Their full caches would be sure to attract scavengers like coyotes, foxes and other wolves. Their borders had to be marked and patrolled often, lined with blood need be, if they were to keep them full. The Beta trotted off towards the nearest border, his footsteps the only noise in the silence of the autumn forest.
Autumn was near the border of Ouroboros. She was unsure whether to enter. The times before when she'd entered land, she hadn't been chased off. But she knew from the birds that this was pretty much the fiercest pack in the Wilds. Although personally Autumn believed the fiercest large group of anything had been the crows. They were loyal and cruel and silent, sacrificing their lives for the lead one. Maybe he was their king.
Her mind drifted on this encounter a bit before coming back to now. She looked up. Looking out from the cover of several bushes and a few trees, she could see a wolf. His fur was dark brown and he had eyes like chips of ice, and he seemed to be patrolling the borders. She stepped out from the foliage with a small smile. She was careful not to step on or past the border, although it was only two or three feet away from where she stood. "Hello there, Sir!" She said, with a friendly wag of her big fluffy tail.
He did not resppond with the cheerfulness the fox had when she approached him. In his pack mentality, he viewed Autumn as a threat to their caches, a scavenger waiting for the chance to slip past them and steal their food. His fangs bared slightly, and his blue eyes froze to near 0 temperatures. "What do you want, fox?"
Woah, Mr. Grumpy. Calm down, bro. But she didn't dare to say that, she knew many wolves had a temper and could also kill her somewhat easily, although she could outwit them. "I don't really want anything, bro. A conversation, I guess?" She did her best not to let her hackles raise at the sight of his fangs bared at her. She thought about starting the conversation, but instead she left it up to him.
"A conversation?" He hissed. Why would he talk to a no good scavenger like a fox? And what would they have to talk about, anyway? "What do you want to talk to me about, huh?" The assassin peered at the amber-furred canine, with the temperature of his eyes raised slightly, but they could easily return to their frigid state.
That wasn't a very good conversation starter, Autumn couldn't help but think as he threw the conversation starting responsibility onto her shoulders again. When he hissed at her she grinned, but no happiness was in it, if that makes sense. "Woah, woah, woah, Calm down. Don't eat me." She said, completely serious. "How about trees? What do you think of trees, huh?" Yeah, she reassured herself, that's a great conversation starter!
"Like I would eat you." It would probably taste tough and gamey, with all sorts of garbage tainting the meat. He did not want to waste his time eating that thing. The assassin barked out a harsh laugh. "Trees?" He walked closer to the smaller canine, towering over her. "Stop wasting my time. I have better things to do besides talking to a fox about trees. Like chasing a scavenger off my pack's land."
"Good," she laughed, "most spirit foxes die in something noble, not being eaten by some wolf on the borders. If I wanna be a spirit fox I gotta be great, including death." She said. Yeah, she had her legend set out: she had a backstory that was rather pleasant and normal, and she left to find adventure. And she had an arch enemy and a quest. "Scavenger?! Bleach! Scavengers eat dead stuff! I eat fresh food! If you wanna meet scavengers, go to to Scavenger Bay!" She said, without care for the fact that it was Stavanger Bay, not Scavenger. "I'm an omnivore." She said with a little grin.
He rolled his eyes as she babbled some nonsense about spirit foxes. She was really wasting his time, he needed to get on with his patrol and other duties. He bared his fangs at her smile after she happily declared that she was an omnivore. The assassin growled, puffing up his fur slightly, eyes turning ice-cold. "Get out." He snarled, stepping forward, towering over her. "Leave my territory, fox. I don't care if you are an omnivore, you still eat meat, and you threaten my pack's survival by taking our prey." He hissed.
"Whatevs, bro. I don't steal prey. I hunt my own much more awesome food than you." She said. But either way she begun to back out of the territory. "Chill. I'll go. See ya, Spine wolf." She called with a broad grin, before turning and racing off with a swish of her fluffy puffy tail. This guy needed to quit being so grumpy and instead cheer up and socialize and stuff. Not mope around on the borders wasting time. Not that it was wasting time, but this was how Autumn saw it. She didn't get packs.
He snorted as he watched the auburn creature trot away, looking smug. The assassin snarled, but ignored her, going his own way and continuing his duties. What a waste of time, what an annoying creature. She may have claimed not to steal prey, but that didn't mean others of her kind didn't. The next time he saw a fox, he would tear off its tail and hang it in a tree, so no other would dare come to annoy him or his pack, harmless or not.