Dawnlark Plains your pages are full, your age is a lie

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trade thread - tracker
it was the raven's that drew her attention some the grey, listless coming of dawn; their discordant cawing shattering the monotonousness of the particular day. auds flickered as she regarded them, stretched out carefully in a tight stretch that threatened the scabs across her shoulders. blinking, she positioned the group somewhere near the edges of the territory. she was just fast enough, for in a moment's time they fell abruptly silent. 

their agitation spoke of something freshly killed; without some other carnivore to tear open the carcass to offer feeding space, pickings were slim. rising and giving her pelt a stiff shake, she moved near the rendezvous with the intention of prodding one of her sleeping packmates awake, black shapes occasionally drifting above the treetops far in the distance.

Loir had been bored lately, and recently her time in Morningside was going well. She had earned some respect by Sunny and Aliac being she had demonstrated wondrous hunting skill, and it made her happy. Loir loved hunting, and she then figured she could do just that to get her mind off of boredom! The time of dawn had been arriving, and that meant a new day was to come, and that meant prey coming out of hiding. As Loir tried to find some prey, she then noticed Dawn, the Envoy. "Oh, hello Dawn!" She greeted, bowing her head in respect. "Would you like some prey? I could go hunt if you'd like." 

Loir wanted to hunt, anyway.

She quietly waited for an answer, looking around.

TAGS: @Dawn

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not sebastian; his legs marked him as one who wouldn't be hunting for a while yet. there was her brother, yet he looked soundly asleep - and then there was Loir, suddenly at her side and asking if she wanted prey. the leader blinked, once, wondering if this was the woman trying her best to make up for the rocky joining. the effort was admirable, and ghost of a smile twisted her muzzle in slight amusement. 

shaking her head in quiet rebuttal, she moved her muzzle to gesture at the dark birds, who'd suddenly taken flight all at once, four of them bursting out above the canopy. she knew the reason for that, too, and possessiveness prickled along her spine. still, there was a test to be had, and she glanced back to the woman. "what do you think of that?" 

Loir had watched the Envoy's reaction, and then she had noticed Dawn looking up at the birds above, then looking at Loir. "What do you think of that?" Was what Loir had heard the female ask. In response, the amber-eyed Joiner looked at the ravens, and she licked her chops. Ravens were indeed annoying, and Loir was always bothered by them. Their calls made her black ears hurt and ring. "They are indeed nuisances, Dawn." Loir said, sneering at the ravens.

Should they die, or no?

"If they're going to be a problem, they should be killed, and then we won't hear their cries anymore."

TAGS: @Dawn

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the woman sneered at them, obviously not a fan of birds in the slightest. she stopped her muzzle quirking into a grin just in time as the woman spoke; she could kill all the birds she could, and there would still be more to caw and scream and whistle. still, it wasn't the point, and the envoy elaborated.  "they're scavengers; mostly solitary. when a bunch come together -"  she let her words fade off, looking at the woman to fill in the answer. 

they seemed to be quieting; she could only hope that they wouldn't be too late in coming, or that a packmember, not some rival, had beaten them there.

Loir disliked ravens a lot, they were annoying in her opinion, again, and they made her ears ring and hurt, and gave her a headache. If there was only a way to get them to shut up...
When Dawn had started talking about the black birds, how they were scavengers and mostly solitary, Loir decided to fill in the words for her. "They can get annoying." She had said.

When she noticed the ravens were quieting down, she looked around to see if someone else had beat her and Dawn to the ravens and was here. Loir hoped not, otherwise the fun out of maybe catching birds would be taken away. She looked back at the ravens, wanting to catch one so badly.

brow furrowed a moment, gaze sliding to the woman. "no."  she gestured out towards them, continuing a beat later. "it means they've found a kill. gathered above it." she began the move, snaking through the grasses in the general direction of the birds; whatever lay below them obscured by the dips and rolls of the land, the dead grasses. 

beckoning for the woman to follow, she continued. "ravens, crows, are your allies. they'll show you a weak, dying or dead animal, if you're smart enough to follow them, watch for them." 

Loir listened to Dawn explain, and Loir couldn't help but feel stupid that she had given out the wrong answer, that it had been they didn't become more annoying, or annoying, which could've been an answer, but rather that they have found a kill. As Dawn said that ravens and crows were allies and helped find food, with her beckoning for Loir to follow her, Loir did so and began following the Envoy.

However, it seemed as if as they walked, the smell of prey, maybe dead or dying, was becoming stronger. I smell food, maybe these crows and ravens are great, after all. Loir thought, and she looked at Dawn. "I smell food." She said. "I wonder what kind."

they drew near, Loir speculating on what might await them. the stench of fox hit her nostrils suddenly, but intermittently, the smell of sickness. putrid and thick, it had her nose wrinkle, gaze narrow. there was no smell of death, and so the ravens had not led them to carrion. 

she motioned that her companion halt, and breached the last few meters between herself and the clearing in which the fox lay, twisted in on itself. each time a raven fluttered near, it would twitch and snap. emancipated and reeking of a sickness that had her lip curl, she whispered her instructions to Loir quickly. "we need to chase it out of the plains. don't get bitten." she ought to have been specific in her instruction, or the instinct that told her this was no longer viable prey, but she merely surged towards the creature, snapping and sending it to its feet, where it wobbled, eyes glazed.

Soon, the sickly scent of sickness had wafted into Loir's nose, belonging to a fox. When the grey-and-black wolf had thought it had been carrion, it turned out to be a possibly rabid fox. Loir nodded at Dawn's instruction. This fox had to be chased out so that way it wouldn't infect the whole pack. It had to be chased out for its own good, or maybe put out of its misery, but that would be too dangerous, Loir could get infected herself.

Once Dawn had got the sickly fox to its paws, Loir prepared to get her speed to the maximum and she began charging at the fox, snapping at it and leaping back when it tried to bite her. Soon, Loir noticed the fox try to run, sometimes stumbling. "We can't let it infect the pack." She said as she continued chasing after the fox, watching it run...weakly.

Loir got the hint without much prompting, and once Dawn got the fox on it's feet did the other woman charge at it. the creature began to move slowly, caught between attempting to attack them and some remnants of a survival instinct. the former began to win, and so Dawn danced in front of the creature as Loir pushed it from behind. never in range, but in its sights.

the pair led the creature over the border and beyond, and when it began to slow and it's lunges become more maniacal did she signal the second woman with a quick flick of her muzzle. adopting a trot, she left the fox behind, intending to loop around and return to the borders with Loir, should the fox try and follow them initially.

Soon, Dawn and Loir were able to get the fox away from the borders, and once Dawn signaled Loir, the grey-and-black wolf followed her back to the borders. Here and there, she would check back behind her to make sure the fox wasn't following them. If it was, then maybe it would have to die. Loir didn't want a sick, possibly rabid fox tailing her.

Loir wondered if the fox was following them, but she didn't want to look back.

when they'd crossed over the borders again, and Dawn's breathing had returned to post-rabid-fox levels, she turned to Loir. "go tell the mothers about the fox - the pups should stay near the den for the next few days. I'll make sure it hasn't tried to come back." she doubted it, but she also doubted she'd be able to sleep easily unless the fox was far from the territory. instructions given, she dipped her chin the slightest before turning on her heel and heading back to the place they'd originally seen it, hackles prickling still.