Nova Peak spoken like a true debutante.

The sun was squarely overhead as Yami trotted along the plains that lined the outer base of Nova Peak. It was a warm day, but the clouds overhead told her there might be rain on the way. While a nice shower might bring relief from the heat, it mostly meant Yami needed to hurry her ass up and find her prey before the rain washed away the scent she'd spent the last hour following.

Between her and Kiwi, they'd done a decent job of claiming the mountain and keeping themselves fed. As far as recruiting was concerned though, things... could've been better. Yami had yet to even come across anyone let alone attempt to lure them into joining their budding pack. She was hopeful that maybe bagging a big kill might draw someone in. She was also hopeful that she was on the trail of a big kill. That wasn't entirely certain yet.

they were well inland now, not that anu minded; here was turf far more familiar to him, and he liked it save for the unusual cold that crept through the hollows at night. he missed the bland nights of his home; how the heat would linger even after the sun had fled.. how could he miss something he had disliked so fondly?

anti was nearby, but anu paid him little mind. his hunt had taken him off course, and he watched idly as an agouti yearling picked her way across the slope. he wondered if she belonged to a coven, and if she was malleable; he had yet to show many wolves here the light, save for the kind soul that had humored him by the shore.

anu made his presence known by a stately chuff; it was beneath him to approach women, but he allowed yami the chance to intercept him if she so wished.

The scent was growing stronger, leading Yami to pick up her pace eagerly. She was fairly certain she was on the trail of a few deer. Not a large group of them, but five or six at least. She had identified at least four individuals, but the remainder seemed muddled and confused. She had never taken down a deer before on her own in spite of the many times she had tried, but she wasn't opposed to giving it another shot if it came to that.

Which maybe it wouldn't. Yami's ears swiveled as she heard the sound of another nearby. She cast her gaze about briefly before spotting him perched upon the slopes, eyeing her in a way she assumed to mean he thought she was super hot (and who didn't). She peered warily at him for a moment before deciding she could take him if he turned out to be a weirdo.

"Help me with this hunt and I'll let you share the meal," Yami invited casually as she picked up her steps again. She wasn't about to wait around for him to say yes or no when the trail was getting this warm.

anu understood only one word of yami's entreaty: meal. assuming she was rightfully offering him food, the male picked his way down the slope.

slowing as he came alongside her, anu's long ears canted ahead and he searched her features meaningfully, the way a foreigner would decipher expressions for any sort of social cue. surely she would lead him to her (male) leader soon enough, but in the mean time he did not mind being offered a meal, either. he thought of the locals he had met thus far, and had come to the conclusion they were a kind and compromising bunch to offer food so freely.

The dude didn't say anything, just leered at her a bit more before coming down to join her. Yami glanced over her shoulder at him as he caught her up, curious as to what his story was but not sure if she wanted to ask. That would make it seem as though he had the power here, and Yami wasn't one to give that to him so easily. Except for she was and after about five minutes of silence, she gave in.

"Who are you anyway?" she asked with a frown. He was kind of a weird-looking dude. Skinny and stubby-furred with big ass ears and a weirdly sharp nose. His colouration reminded her vaguely of Kiwi, but that was about where the familiarity stopped. Yami was certain he was a wolf, but definitely not the sort she was used to seeing around these parts.

they traveled in pleasant silence for several minutes, anu keeping his distance, yami skulking ahead. he's not aware of the darkening pull of her expression until she turns her sights to him, and he pauses, surprised by the emotion there. she had frowned, and her eyes spoke of trouble anu had not picked up on before.

his long ears flick as he deciphers her question; in his tongue, it is not spoken that way, but he knows enough of the common vernacular to formulate a reply. gesticulating the way a foreigner might, anu answers. "
anu akhal, chela of jullundhar." he blinks owlishly, his dark nose twitching. "vraes .. is your leader?" he assumed, quite incorrectly, that they were still en-route to a warm meal with whoever her ruler was.

Yami stared blankly at the stranger as he responded. Not a word of it sounded like a name. It actually all sounded like gibberish so much that she almost didn't recognize that is your leader were words she did know of. She considered repeating her question in hopes that he would just say "Bob" or something simply like that, but shortly decided against it because she really just did not care.

"Uhh... my leader's name is Kiwi," Yami said, only then realizing that it sounded strange to consider the girl her leader. Her superior, sure, but leader was a little off-kilter. She wondered briefly why that was, but shoved it aside because it seemed complicated and she wanted none of that. "I don't know a Vraes," she added, looking away to drop her nose to the ground and get a few more whiffs of the prey they were tracking.

unsurprising to anu, this local seemed unaware of his language. he glanced about them as if hoping for a translator, yet none came. even anti, his trusted companion, could not help him here.

anu felt at the very least, hopeful about this 'kiwi'. it was a good thing that yami had not mentioned kiwi was a woman -- assuming he would be delivered to kiwi shortly, anu followed after the agouti, curious as to why she was tracking when clearly she must know where her lord (and food)was?

He didn't say anything in response, which Yami was grateful for. Her brief attempt at conversation had failed and she wasn't too inclined to give it another go with this weird-looking weirdo. Besides which, they were on a hunt and Yami had just spotted their prey off in the distance.

Deer. There were five of them. She felt a brief moment of triumph at seeing she had been right before she went back to work. They were in a loose group, which meant they were yet unaware that they were being stalked. And there was one whose sides were bulging a bit. A pregnant one. That was her target.

"That one there," Yami murmured, gesturing with her muzzle. "Go right, I'll move head-on and drive it your way." Anticipating no resistance to her flawless plan (and no misunderstanding), she began to trot forward in a hunters crouch.

the woman was busy. anu watched her clinically, wondering why she dallied. women were not a thing he understood empirically; he assumed, rather wrongly, that they were to complex and too sensitive for their own good. little did he know this was simply the assumption of a shallow man, and that all genders were complex beyond reckoning.

yami had found deer, but anu had not anticipated doing a woman's job, and he drew to a halt and snorted in surprise. his features were incredulous as he lifted his head, slipping inadvertently into his own vernacular. "foolish, why are we hunting -- is there not food at your encampment? take me to your leader!" the long string of words were spoken harsh and hurriedly, and with a sag of his shoulders he realized his error, for she would not understand him.

haltingly, anu tried again. "leader."

Yami made it only a yard or so forwards before she was startled into stopping. She turned to look back at the weird dude in confusion. He was staring at her rather haughtily and jabbering nonsense at her. She was momentarily bewildered, but her eyes narrowed shortly into an irritated frown as she recognized the one final word he spoke.

"Uh... Yeah, I'm trying," she replied in an angry, but hushed voice, "It'd work a lot better if you'd, y'know, do as I say?" Or at least do something instead of staring at her like she was somehow failing when he was the one not following her lead, even though he was clearly looking to her to lead the hunt. I mean, what else could he mean?

so, they were equally confused. anu's neck stiffened as he glanced over the woman, who stared back at him imperious. he was at a loss for words - because he had little knowledge of the vernacular, and also because, well, what kind of situation had he gotten himself into?

stubbornly, and refusing to take heed from a wolf he believed beneath him (never you mind she could probably gobble up and snap his bones in one bite) anu placed his rump pointedly in the ground as if to say i ain't doin' shit.

Yami stared expectantly at the stranger, waiting for him to move his damn paws and get to work. What, did he not want to eat a decent meal? Her eyes scanned him over again and she decided that no, he probably didn't, judging by how absurdly scrawny he was. In the next moment, he gave her a more straight-forward sign that he had no interest in hunting with her by plopping his bony frame down onto his bony ass butt and giving her a pointed frown.

The yearling blinked at him for a moment, too bewildered to voice her anger. She bristled once she got over that. "Right, well fuck you then," Yami snapped, abruptly turning away and stalking off towards the deer. She'd just hunt them her own damn self, and if he tried to partake in the meal once she'd caught it, she'd snap the freak in half.

omfg i love her

anu expected the woman would, once she saw he was waiting, bustle off to do what women were made to do. instead, she seemed shocked -- and managed to sling a few tasteless words his way (not that he knew). he stared blankly back, unphased -- only because he had no idea she had just told him something extremely crass.

she looked furious as she stalked away. anu considered she must be one of her leader's less favored servants; her temper was poor, and it was no wonder she was not near the leader at all times if she was always this insufferable. blinking off his own surprise, anu decided she must have finally decided to bring him to her leader, so he followed after at a nimble and completely unaware trot.

omfg i love him

Yami turned her attention back to the hunt. Now that she was doing this solo, she knew she wasn't likely to actually take one down. If she was lucky, she might manage to force one to take a wrong step and injure itself. Even a twisted ankle might eventually lead to a kill, if she kept after them for a while and slowly wore them down. That was not something she actually had the patience for though, so hopefully luck would be super on her side that day and she'd just bring one down.

She paused as she neared the little herd, ducking low as one lifted its head and began to look warily around. She didn't want them alerted to her presence yet, but as she waited, she realized she heard footsteps. Yami glanced backwards over her shoulder and felt another shock of irritation. He was following her again! WHAT THE DAMN HELL.

Even though the deer were still a good distance ahead, they were too close now for Yami to do anything more than hiss at him, her voice hushed but livid. "What is wrong with you?" she hiss-pered (hissing whisper), her eyes blazing. She was very tempted to bail on the hunt and chase him off, but she stayed still for the moment and looked anxiously back at the deer.

yikes! were all mainland women so irritable?

for a moment, anu found himself nostalgic for the calmer, more subservient women of his kind -- which was quite a powerful thing to evoke in the man, given he had little fondness at all for women and preferred men himself. he stopped, long ears attentive but askance: what was her problem?

anu did not know how much more of this dawdling he could take: wasn't she supposed to bring him to her (male) leader, so that the two men could talk and he could stop doing whatever harebrained thing this woman was preoccupied with?

hopefully, the rest of the leader's servants were not this, uh, addled.

but anu, recognizing the mule before the cart was deader than dead, and truthfully fearing that this might be a kingdom of idiots, decided to make his leave. with a decisive snort that announced his less-than-impressed opinion, anu slipped off into the reeds and was not seen again.