Wolf RPG

She was just finishing a path across the western borderlands during which all had been well. Her scent well-enforced and all quiet, she shifted her focus as afternoon began to wane.

Ducking into a forested stretch of mountain, she then tracked the telltale scent of the mountain goats. She was curious what she may learn in trailing after them for today, for it was not necessarily the need of a hunt that inspired her. Amekaze was feeling quick to welcome spring, and after feeling its influence deep in her own bones, she was eager to see the signs in nature reveal themselves in full.

Early in the winter, the goats had gone down the mountain. Now, it seemed they were trekking back up to the higher elevations, slowly but surely. And, perhaps the fact that interested her the most, they had split into smaller groups. The scents she was following now were confirming this -- it was a group of only females, and they were leading her upward.

But she didn't pursue their scents intensely. Instead she lingered here in the spotty forest to mark a few places while she was here.. since she was feeling musky, and her bladder was willing to provide..

As she steadily worked her way along, she managed a glimpse of the goats just at the line of sight up ahead, so she hung back, not quick to shoo them along or make them nervous with her presence. They had worked their way into a rocky clearing, and were picking at the meager plantlife that had held fast beneath the melting snows. She wondered if they had come to test out how the food sources were up here, and if this would suit them or not. To her, it did not seem very plentiful yet -- especially further up the mountain.

For now, she would continue to observe from a considerable distance.

Opal took a walk around the mountain for some fresh air. It had a beautiful scene of the valley below and Opal usually went out for a walk to enjoy it. She had not met anyone in the pack yet, but Opal was looking forward to the day she will. Perhaps she could meet the wolf that she had first met at the borders, or the alphess. Come to think of it, she didn't know their names. Opal thought for a bit. The alphess's name was probably mentioned once in their first conversation, but she could not remember what it was. Opal will have to ask her next time she happened to bump into the alphess. The mountain was not as cold as it has been when Opal first joined, because spring was already here. She could feel it in her bones and see it in the little grass sprouts and flower bulbs. Opal sniffed the air as a whiff of wild fauna caught her nose. It smelled like goats, which were not uncommon to see on mountains. She took a few more steps carefully and saw some female goats hanging around. Then Opal saw the alphess casually observing them from the side. She went over to her, just to say hello. "Good afternoon, alphess." Opal said with a polite dip of her crown.

{not at all!}

Amekaze was quiet as she went about her business. Since she was downwind from the goats, they did not seem concerned about her. There were moments where they would shuffle around a little extra, and once where she thought they were going to move on entirely, but they remained within sight of the patchy forest so she could stay relatively hidden without trying.

Besides, as one wolf, she was hardly a threat to them. She only wanted to watch them a while.. to see what they occupied their time with. It wasn't often she lingered near them.

Then, as she finished up marking an awkward patch of shrubs, she spotted Opal's approach. Amekaze chuffed lowly in greeting and swayed her lifted tail in a welcoming wag. "Opal, hello.." she quipped in a halfway-hushed voice, glancing between the snow-furred female and the goats from between the trees just to see if they were reacting at all. Most of them still had their heads down to graze at the sparse greenery, and remained mostly unperturbed. "What brings you? Have you had a chance to settle in?" she asked, standing a little taller then as she gathered her composure to shift her focus.

Opal gave a grin at the alphess. It seemed like she was spying on the goats, who were not doing anything interesting in particular. They were scattered around and just munching pieces of grass. "May I ask what you are doing? If I could, I would like to help." Opal would love to help out the alphess with whatever she was doing. She wanted to make friends in the pack but was often too shy to begin conversations with them. She only knew of the alphess and the other wolf, but she had only met the other wolf once. Opal will eventually meet someone that wanted to talk to her, but it seems like it would be a while before that would happen. For now, maybe she'll stick to being friends with the alphess, although she might seem like an attached pup, which she had mostly grown out of. Then it occurred to Opal that she should find out her name. "Excuse me madam, but I was wondering, what is your name?" Opal asked politely, wanting to satisfy her curiosity once and for all.

While Amekaze did not know Opal all that well, she was swiftly proving herself a polite, sensible wolf. "I tracked them to here.. just seeing what they are doing, how their health seems.. so on," she answered. The goats had been here on the mountain even before their pack had taken up residence, and she believed them to be a valuable resource. It felt right to keep tabs on them, for some of them may just make for meals for the pack when the time was right. "They are just beginning to head further up the mountainside for the warmer seasons, it seems.." she added, glancing their way again. "Soon, they may have young among them. This looks like a group of only females, so they will be good to keep track of," the dark alpha said. This was a guess, of course, since she did not know when exactly mountain goats dropped their young, nor how long their gestation was. Spring had just led her to assume.

She switched an ear, noting her use of madam and how she wasn't sure it suited her much. In either case, she smirked subtly. "You can call me Ame," she replied. Naturally, she had guessed Nishu had passed the information along, but evidently not. She didn't mind, though.

Opal nodded at the description that the alphess, or rather, Ame gave. Observing other animals were quite interesting sometimes and there were often links to the weather or environment that one picks up. The mountain was a popular place for other wild fauna to thrive. The fresh grass and slightly colder environment made it a good place to be when it got hot. The goats probably have left their home for the winter and is coming back with the beginning of spring. "What can I do to help? Or are you almost done here?" Opal was okay with fauna, but not especially good at hunting. Maybe after Ame was done with investigating the goats, they could chat some more or go back to pack territory. But the alphess was a very busy wolf, so Opal might not be able to hang around her all day. She had things she could do herself, but Opal probably shouldn't leave unless Ame dismissed her or something.

As a naturalist by trade, she concerned herself with all things -- from the plants to the animals and to the skies above and all else in between, she tried to observe everything she could as thoroughly as possible. While it was in part due to her own thirst for information, it was also to better the pack. Or, this was the reasoning when sometimes, her efforts did not always seem to have a clear payoff.

But since the pack had not been here this time last year, this seemed reasonable. To study their prey was to measure their potential success. Without it, the mountain pack would suffer, but it did not seem like that would be the case this season. Already she had seen the return of many types of prey, and spring had only just begun.

Opal asked how to help, and Ame furrowed her brow in thought. "Maybe we could pressure them a little.. see where they go, how they react.. if any seem weakened," she said, trying to organize a plan in the meantime. In doing so, she could investigate them up close too and while it had not been her intentions in the beginning to outright reveal herself to them, maybe there would be some use in it. She couldn't know until they tried it, though. "I do not want to hunt any right now.. so we do not need to go after them seriously, but two wolves are better than one," she explained, peering to Opal to see if this might be of interest to the pale female.

Opal nodded. It did sound interesting. Maybe the goats will scatter away from them like birds, or something. That was what she supposed will happen. She knew what goats were, but she didn't know much about them or seen much of them lately. They were not very common where she was from, so she had never tasted goat meat before. Ame told her that they weren't going to hunt them, so Opal should hunt some next time. 

Currently, the goats seemed not to be doing anything except munching on grass. They seemed to be quite quiet, although they mingled with each other around the meadow. ONe thing Opal had noticed when she had been in this pack for a while was that wolves seemed to be at the top of the food chain here. There were not many predators around that Opal could see in Teekon Wilds. It is quite nice knowing that you can walk around freely without any predators after you. Opal turned to Ame. "Let's go."

In the beginning of winter, she had felt possessive of the goats, especially after seeing that cougar slay one near their borders. While she could not maintain dominion over them once they left the mountain, she always wanted to do what they could. So long as the goats inhabited the mountainside, the wolves of the Sunspire would have food. But, this winter had never managed to be terribly difficult as far as hunting went, so they had not needed to press deeply into the reserve of resources here.

Opal signaled her readiness, and Ame swayed her tail eagerly as she took to motion. She jogged casually for now, weaving subtly to move from the cover of the trees. Soon, the goats were sure to see their approach and the dark female cast a glance over her shoulder to see where Opal was (both right now and where her path would go). They could stay close, for an extra-honed threat, or split a ways to rally them from two locations -- Ame could work with whatever.

She took to a path aiming its way alongside the goats, and skillful mountain paws took to the small slope of it carefully. Soon, she noticed one of the females on the edge of the group beginning to look their way, and nervously at that. She lowered her head and stalked closer.

  Opal was excited on the inside. She followed her alpha's lead and lowered her head. She had not spotted any big shifts or movements in the herd of goats so far. Opal decided to stick beside her alpha and they stalked the herd closely. One of them has spotted them and began to pace around nervously. Some others were alerted when the wolves stalked closer yet and shifted around. It was like a ripple effect that spread throughout the herd. All of the goats were moving around each other, seeming uncomfortable. They were staying in the same clearing for now, but they seemed ready to bolt if the wolves decided to jump them.
  Opal slowed down as the distance between the herd and the wolves closed. "Do we need to go any further? They seem ready to scatter." Opal whispered as quietly as possible at an audible level to her alphess. She had told her to pressure them and it seemed that the goats were pressured already. They seemed to be warily watching them, on their guard. Opal waited for her alphess command before doing anything.

There was so much to see, and she tried to take it all in, even down to the smallest of details. While it was difficult for her to find many distinguishing characteristics between the goats (largely because she didn't know quite what to even look for), she searched for them anyway. She wanted to know who would be the first to respond, the last, the quickest on their feet, the less nimble.. so on and so forth. These were their resources, and it was important to understand them, so when the time came to feast on them, they could make their hunts the most effective.

Ame could see they were making the goats anxious. They had done plenty already just by showing their presence, although surely, the goats could see by now that they weren't serious in their pursuits -- especially being only two wolves, and none among the prey looking very injured or weak at the moment. There was one female in particular that she noticed with a very keen look about her, and Amekaze wondered if she would flee or become defensive. The others just seemed eager to leave, but of course, ever inquisitive, she had to question which direction they would go when they did.

"Perhaps a little more," she smirked to Opal, then strode forward more. Some goats began to leave -- namely, a trio of females that had loitered on the side of the group. They headed for the forest's cover. The one keen-eyed female stayed put, defiantly offering them an intent stare that left little room for questions.

Only when a few others began to move away did the dark alpha veer a path away from them, feeling satisfied by the closer look.

Slowing down more, she glanced towards Opal. "They look like a healthy bunch.. and probably not easy to bring down. Especially.. some of the bigger females, but.. maybe they will have young among them soon," she pondered aloud, wondering if Opal had any noteworthy observations to add.

They continued on a while longer but eventually, they parted ways after quick farewell and left the prey beasts alone to do what they must. Amekaze returned to the borderlands for patrol, and Opal was free to do as they pleased.