When he charged into the thicket, he came out with a rabbit, squealing as it hung from his jaws before he crushed its skull between his teeth. But the thicket had also bestowed upon him another gift: burrs. Burrs that threatened to replace his fur coat with one made entire of clingy, spiky spheres. It took him the better part of an hour to groom himself while his breakfast cooled off to the side. His teeth plucked burrs from his legs, his chest, from his flanks and tail. But he could not reach a clump that had lodged on his back, between his shoulders.
Kodiak rubbed himself against a tree, rolled, and tried to hook the burrs with a back paw, but he succeeded only in crushing the burrs and causing them to settle deeper into his grizzled brown fur. Now every ripple of his muscles made his nose twitch with irritation, as the burrs pricked his skin, like the claws of some tiny gremlin. His ears fell flat against his skull, and a growl rumbled in his throat as the brown bear sank to his haunches. Left to contemplate this annoyance, and how he might rid himself of it.
Syn had watched a dark brown wolf rub his back against a tree, roll, and do something with his back paws. She tilted her head in confusion, and then smiled. "You're funny," she told him as he sat. "What are you doing? It looks like fun to Syn. Can Syn play too?" Her bushy tail wagged softly behind her, tongue lolling out the side of her muzzle. If it was a new game the wolf had made up, then she wanted to be a part of it too. Without waiting for an answer, Syn dropped to the ground while rolling onto her back. She wiggled back and forth, stirring up dust, before jumping back on her paws with a new coat of dirt. Twisting around to find the nearest tree, she ran up to it and rubbed her back on the rough bark. "Fun! New game fun!" she announced happily to the bear like wolf.
Without missing a beat she kept speaking. "Would you like to play Syn's game too? Syn loves games!" Leaving the tree, she trotted to the wolf. "Will need berries, or..." The scent of a rabbit caught her attention. "Blood!" Syn didn't think about the fact that the rabbit may be this new wolf's breakfast, so she attempted to grab it to use it for her game.
No solution immediately presented itself. He was about to tuck into his cooled breakfast when the omega, whom he had never met but knew of, showed herself. She babbled nonsensically, referring to herself in the third person, and the brown bear stared unblinking at her. Instantly he questioned the judgement of the alpha to accept this female, but he was quick to shake the thought from his head, for he had been raised not to question his leader.
He watched as she mimicked his earlier attempts to rid himself of the last stubborn burrs. He growled lowly, and flicked his tail. She had been watching him the entire time. "It's not a g—" She moved for his rabbit, and instantly Kodiak was in motion. He leaped to his paws and lunged for her, snarling loudly as he snapped at her muzzle with the intent to draw blood and cause her to drop the rabbit. He did not have the same restraint as Tonravik; his warnings were more severe when a line was crossed, and she had crossed a line by attempting to grab his prey. The brown bear was decidedly food aggressive.
Teeth snagged into delicate skin producing a high pitched squeal from Syn. Blood emerged in lines, bright against her black muzzle. Immediately the prey was dropped onto the ground as the small black wolf cowered back from the brown one. She bared her teeth at him with her tail tucked firmly between her hind legs. This would be the third time that she had felt pain. Syn was starting to comprehend how touchy wolves could be. "Syn only wanted to play!" She explained to the bear of a male. "Why did you bite Syn?" Feelings of anger were beginning to flicker in her eyes. The little wolf had never been the aggressive type, but the more that she was attacked the more she began to want to fight back.
If you won't, I will...
It was that voice again. She had heard it first when Tonravik had attacked her for almost crossing the boarder. Back then she had believed it had been the spectator, but at this moment she knew it hadn't been the male in front of her. It had been a female voice. One that almost sounded like herself. "Syn confused. Is there another wolf here?" Sitting, she forgets her anger and gazes around them. Twisting her head around one direction, and then the other she spots no other wolf. "Was it Syn?" She questioned herself. Swiveling her befuddled gaze back to the bear-wolf, she winced from the sharp pain on her muzzle. "Stupid wolf," she mumbled under her breath. Drops of blood splashed into the dirt below from her movment. Syn drew her tongue across the stinging wound to rid it of the red tears only to feel them quickly gather again.
poor Syn lol
His fangs met her muzzle, broke the skin and drew blood. She squealed. The rabbit dropped. He stomped a paw on top of his prey, ears thrust forward, tail erect, and he stared at her. She was not so smart and yet smart enough to cower, her tail between her legs. His deafening snarling ebbed into a low growl. For a few moments he towered over her, then he gathered the rabbit and stepped away as she babbled. Kodiak lay the rabbit on the ground, behind him, as he turned to face her again. Only because she was a packmate, however low on the totem pole, did he force his aggression to fade. He was a young wolf who aspired to lead, and a leader would not tear his packmates apart. He would teach them.
"Don't steal prey." He said firmly.
"You'll be fine. Stop babbling." He eyed her coolly. She was a strange, weak thing.
I know D: so mean Kodiak :p
The bear spoke again, Syn looked at the rabbit. "Your prey? Syn no mean to steal prey," she informed the male. She ran her tongue over her snout again, enjoying the taste of blood, but winced at the pain. "What wolf name?" she asked him. "Why wolf not want to play with Syn?" Sticking her lip out, she pouted. No one seemed to want to play with her in this pack. When she tried, they only attacked her. "Syn wants to have fun, but no one wants to be Syn's friend." She drooped her head low to the ground, feeling rejected. It had been better when she was on her own. There was no one to attack her, no one to teach her what fear was or pain. She had done well on her own and had plenty of fun by herself. She had not known what it meant to have a friend, so depression never touched her. Now that she is within a pack, she wants others to play with her. So much has changed since she stumbled across them. It wasn't a good change for her.
"Dead animals don't fall from the sky," he growled. His ear twitched. How she could not understand that the rabbit at his feet belonged to him was incomprehensible for the brown bear. He stared at her as she rambled about wanting to play, the words almost falling on deaf ears for how much he considered them. "Here," he gestured to the burrs irritating him still. "Pick these out for me." He waited then, to see if she would do as she was bid. Indeed, he had been raised not to question his leader, but he could not fathom what use she had seen to accept this one into their ranks.
The brown bear says something funny, then tells her to pick something out. With narrowed eyes she studies his back and notices that he has burs. "So bear wasn't playing?" she says, feeling dejected. Then thinking that the male would be her friend if she got the nasty burs out, her ears perk up and she happily bounces closer to him. Slowly, delicately so as not to harm him, she begins to work out the burs one by one. It was a long process, and she flinched whenever she pulled on his fur not wanting to be attacked for it.
Once all the burs were out, Syn double checked her work and stepped back. "There!" she exclaimed. "Now you can be Syn's friend." Sitting, her tail works up dust from the ground behind her. She was happier now and confident that she had a new friend.
He was patient as she tended him as she was bid to do. For one so unsound of the mind, she had a gentle touch and scarcely pulled a hair as she worked the burrs free from his pelt. "Nope, wasn't playing," he answered. When she had plucked the last burr he stepped away from her and stretched, feeling the freedom of his skin moving across his muscles without the former irritation that had been there. He expelled a relieved breath.
"Better," he said with a glance to her, which was as close to a thank you as she would receive from him. "Yeah, maybe," he pursed his lips as he glanced to her again. It was not likely. The brown bear was selective with his play; namely he played with females whom he was interested in, not pack omegas that he could make no sense of. "Go for now," he ordered, albeit softly. Though his tail flicked; he meant his words despite their gentler delivery. "I want to enjoy my rabbit in peace."
After she had finished with his burs, the male thanked her and said maybe that he would be her friend. Syn felt happy about that, but then it vanished when the male bid her leave. Her ears fell back dejectedly. "Syn go." Her usual spastic mood was shadowed with sadness as she slowly turned away from the bear and left. She stopped only once to look back at him enjoying his rabbit before continuing on to walk alone elsewhere. She didn't feel like exploring, or painting, or doing much of anything. She found a warm patch of sunshine and laid down to bask in it with a sigh. Perhaps if she gave the pack more time, she would find a good friend.
He watched her only briefly, as she, made sullen by him, wandered off. His attention was then turned to the rabbit. He settled to his stomach with his prey between his forepaws, hard black nails digging into its hindquarters as he started with its head. The crack of bone breaking between his teeth was the only hing to break the silence around him as he devoured the creature in totality, leaving not but tufts of fur behind.