Fairspell Meadow Showered by the empty hopes

After parting ways with the strange but charming Akela, Saena managed to find and catch the beaver she'd been craving. Rather than tearing it apart immediately, though, the young huntress began heading home, though she chose the more scenic route this time around. With the dead beaver clasped firmly in her jaws, the yearling skirted around Blackfeather Woods, hugging the mountain until the scent of wolves reached her from there, and then swung south to avoid stepping on another pack's toes.

By the time she reached the middle of Fairspell Meadow, the sun was beginning to sink in the sky and her stomach was rumbling. She'd wanted to save the beaver, but with no other prey in sight, the Phoenix alpha had no choice but to dig in. She settled betwixt two leafy bushes, each adorned with overripe purple blackberries, and began to tug tufts of stiff fur from the beaver's cold stomach.

Burke decided that it was time for a patrol through the buffer zone around their territory. Normally he would mark tightly where their borders were, preferably with the blood of their trespassers, but today he decided to have a trot through the surrounding lands. They weren't officially from Black Feather but it couldn't hurt to keep an eye on them. He started at Otter Creek and slowly trotted through the fields with Greatwater Lake to his right and Black Feather to his left. He slowly moved towards the swamps. So far he hadn't encountered anything unusual. He liked to also be aware of the deer herds surrounding Black Feather Woods. His pale eyes fell on the Caldera in the distance. A bubble of annoyance rose up because his coward of a son was hiding there. One day he would kill his look-a-like son for being an annoying mosquito in his life. The only thing different between the two was that Burke had a docked tail and had a different air surrounding him.

The grey tank of a male made a curve around the swaps until the Mesa was to his right side once more. Burke reached the devastation that was Fairspell, that storm had made quite a mess of the once open fields. By the looks of it the meadow seemed to be recovering itself. Burke stopped, looking over the start of the wide meadow. Soon the deer would be back he was certain of it. His nose then brought it too his attention that there was another wolf, with a meal. He trotted a bit deeper into the meadow to have a look. His eyes were met with a brown and white female. His docked tail raised as the dark king trotted towards her, the smell of blood in the air. Burke wasn't interested. He had recently taken down a bison with his good friend Akela and was far from hungry. Plus having a meal his stomach and having to travel over some distance didn't do him well. Burke was extra careful after his bloat incident. It wasn't pretty. A chuff came from his lips, he was nice enough to alert the female. Technically he was only passing through, but maybe this female had some useful information.

Casmir was ranging farther these days, half-grown bantling that he was. his hunting skills were becoming honed, as was his body; he was hard-muscled, with hardly a spare inch upon his gangly frame. he was most interested in the destruction that the tornado had wrought; the boy padded somewhat aimlessly, but he was bringing home 'the bacon,' a couple of fieldmice who'd had their heads cruelly squashed.

he decided to explore the ruined meadow a bit before heading home; the boy began to frisk about, losing one of his mice in the process, and flinging the other high with an exuberant hoot. his excitement was shortlived, however, as he caught sight of two wolves in the distance, one pale and half-hidden by shrubberies, and the other a large creature with a weird tail.

Casmir shifted closer but kept a wary distance, wanting only to be in earshot of the two.

Each tuft of fur that Saena extricated was spat to the side. She plucked with care until the chill flesh of the beaver was exposed, and then pressed her nose to the skin and inhaled deeply. It still carried the game-y scent of an exotic prey animal. She grinned, snorted, and was about to take a bite when she finally noticed another wolf in the meadow. His approach was not direct, though the man was drawing nearer by the second. Saena squinted, then grew rigid. That guy looked an awful lot like...

"Back for more, you slimy bastard?" she growled, hunkering possessively over her kill, which she shuffled closer to her breast. She didn't move immediately, but if Sebastian decided he was going to try his luck a second time, then she would be on her feet in seconds. Every muscle was poised to rise. Her short tail was held poker straight behind her and her face contorted into a warning snarl. Sebastian may have shown no signs of taking her meal, but he was an outright enemy and that made him dangerous enough.

Unlike Wildfire, Sebastian had given her a reason to distrust him. The man had refused to leave her veritable backyard when asked to and had even tried to refuse when surrounded by her pack mates. That wasn't the sort of wolf that one would call reasonable. It was suspicious behaviour in Saena's mind, so his insistence that he was innocent had fallen on deaf ears that day. She would make no move to attack him, not only because she was without back-up but because she knew she'd taken it too far the last time, but it wouldn't stop her from posturing.

A movement in her periphery caused her to slide her gaze sideways just in time to see a mouse disappear from the sky into the debris. She tilted an ear in that direction, now fearful of another Redhawker showing up to aid Sebastian (she still couldn't smell the difference), and locked her eyes back on his large grey figure.

Burke was rather surprised when he got that reply. He knew he could be a slimy bastard but he was pretty sure he had not met this female before. Somehow insults always amused Burke, to a certain point of course. The large wolf let out somewhat of a bark of laugher. The sound of laughter didn't sound too amused in the end and Burke's face returned to its natural stance of calmness. He usually kept his face a stoic as possible because it would be more difficult to read him. His docked tail was still carried up. His pelt scented of the foul swamps and of his mate Meldresi. So he was not sure who she was confusing him with-- Ah. He probably knew with whom she was confusing him with. "Quite the reply from someone I have not met before," he spoke.

Burke's ears moved back for a moment because he thought he heard something. Yet the male wasn't going to keep his eyes off this female that seemed to have a dislike to him. Females were unpredictable creatures. You never know how they will unleash their anger. "I assume you have the same hated for my son as I have?," he then inquired. Burke's pale eyes fell on her, they were rather cold. "If you had a run in with him then why didn't you kill the bastard. That would have saved me a lot of effort," the tank of a male stated causally as if he was talking about the weather.

Cas was still a little far to hear everything that was being said, but the body language was clear, and he bristled. there was something oddly familiar about the pale wolfess -- little did he know that he had met her in his youth -- and it was this instinct alone that caused him to drop his remaining mouse and approach the pair on stiff legs. 

the man was huge! easily bigger than any other member of his species Casmir had met thus far. he paused a few feet away, and tried to keep the trembling out of his voice. "she doesn't want you aROUND," he growled, though his tones cracked pitifully on the last syllable, and his face flushed hot beneath his cheek-fur.

toes gripped the earth as he regarded the the two; she seemed angry enough to be mad at him, too, but it was the big man with whom Cas wasn't wanting to tangle. that brief glissade of awareness in regard to the woman softened him a small bit toward her, though her stance was certainly threatening.

the tall, gangly Mayfair child attempted to fix the brute with a level glare and stood silently.

The bitch's face remained warily contorted when Sebastian laughed, and the sound of it sent all of her hackles into the air. Whatever he had to laugh about, Saena didn't find his behaviour very funny. In fact, given the nature of their last run-in, it was downright threatening. Saena didn't have the backing of her pack this time and while she didn't necessarily need it, her comfort level suffered for it.

She did him the basic courtesy of listening when he opened his mouth, though every word he said was punctuated by her own growl. Only when he claimed they hadn't met, and then followed up with word of his son, did the alpha have reason to pause. Her muzzle smoothed slowly as confusion clouded her eyes. While Burke asked why she hadn't killed his son, she was busy still processing the fact that this man, a total look-alike, was not in fact the wolf her pack had endeavoured to kill.

"He's a wiz-" Saena was about to say, but then a gangly wolf, all legs, interrupted with a growled remark aimed at the male. Now even more confused and unable to recognize Casmir for who he was, she curled a limb around her kill and crouched deeper with eyes flicking between the two dogs. The larger was still imposing and threatening even if he wasn't Sebastian, and the other was clearly young, probably too young to win should a fight break out.

Saena poised herself to run, not away but forward. Should Burke see fit to do something about Casmir, she would be there to intervene, if only because he was young. She didn't recognize him, and a part of her might've hesitated to intervene even if she'd known whose kid he was, having been so recently slighted by the wolves of the plateau. Casmir's youth was what drew her into a slight protective mindset, though for now she was still, observant.

Finally it seemed to click with the female that he wasn't his son, that he was a different wolf all together. He was about to spark a conversation when an annoying son of a pup was interrupting them. Burke glared at the youngster with hatred and annoyance in his eyes. He bared his teeth at the young that he could probably rip to shreds. Burke flattened his ears as the female walked away with her prey. He would do the same if there were too many strangers around his meal. Burke let out a snarl. "You better shut your face, you disrespectful little shit," he snapped. Because the male wanted to hear more about the information this female had about his son.

"Go home," he then added, turning his head to look at where the female had relocated herself. This youngster was of little interest to him and he wouldn't hesitate to give him a nasty injury if he wasn't going to back off. The tank of a male glared at the pup that tried to look intimidating and then turned away from him, keeping his ears on him just in case. He didn't want to be attacked from the back. He moved to the female and stopped at respectful distance. "You were saying?," he asked. Because maybe she had some info that was useful to him.

the woman didn't do anything, but the man snapped at him. Cas flinched at the imposing snarl, his hackles flaring and a brief tremble racing through his body, but regained quickly the space he had lost backing away from the huge brute. "No," he growled back, circling quickly away from the man, opposite Saena. the boy was not so stupid as to think he could totally win a fight against this monster -- that was Connie's stance -- but he was fairly certain that he could outrun the man, if he kept enough distance between them.

"miss," Casmir blurted, daring to address the pale female while he kept his eyes trained on the monstrosity of a wolf, "you can leave, if you want. i can watch him."

Her ears flew back when Burke snapped at the younger wolf and she decided that she wanted nothing to do with such a man, but she remained in case a fight broke out. She moved a few paces away, sidelong, with a watchful eye on the younger of the pair, lest he be taken unaware by the more hostile male. Burke followed her, earning a warning growl and grumble from the alpha female. The second he drew near, he received a hackle response and her lips pursed into a classic ambivalence display. If it wasn't clear by now that she didn't want anything to do with him, he'd get the message quite quickly.

The younger dog disobeyed the older's harsh words, then addressed her. She turned one ear forward, the other remaining on Burke, and blinked. "I'm fine," she told him smoothly, lashing her tail against the ground and pinning her eyes on Burke. "I would leave if I were you, kid. This guy ain't grown up enough to not pick on someone younger than him and I wouldn't want to see you get hurt."

Hell, she'd probably provoked the Blackfeather Woods male now, but she was a gamekeeper and a former outrider. She was smaller than him and built more evenly. If she was a betting woman, she would bet on herself to win a race, and she was far enough from him to stand and run if he tried anything. Besides, the name of the game was taking his attention off the youth, and that was precisely what she aimed to do. Following his outburst, she was unlikely to give him any of the information he evidently sought, but she would oblige him until Casmir was out of sight.

Burke was actually surprisingly calm. He knew that teenagers could have their own mind and this one was particularly stupid to even challenge him. Maybe he would die in time, but now Burke had more interest in getting information about his son Sebastian. The grey male was out to kill his son. Burke had no problems killing a wolf younger than him. The youngster had challenged him after all then who was he to not go after that challenge. Alas, this pup was just a minor irritation. 

But now he wasn't even sure if the lady was even going to give him information. Still it couldn't hurt to try again. "So what did that bastard son of mine do to make you so pissed off?," he asked, ignoring the pup for now, unless he came to close then the male would go after him, but for now he was staying at a nicer distance Burke had no problem with. "Do you know if he is still with the Redhawk wolves? He is probably hiding there for some reason," he spoke, maybe she knew more about the reason why he was hiding behind those border lines. Maybe he was hiding because of her, and not because of him.

last post for me! <3

she told him to leave, and Cas almost visibly deflated with relief. he was still unsure about leaving her there, but if she did not want his help, it would be foolish to engage in battle with a wolf like fifty times his size. he nodded at her, though his eyes narrowed at the looming brute. he would move away, but remain close until she was safely away from this asshat.

turning, the boy set a quick trot for himself, glancing over his shoulder until the two other wolves have grown to pinpoints in the distance.

there, he settled himself to observe.

Burke proved to be persistent. And irritating. The female frowned darkly as he once again tried to pry for information about his son. Based on his word choice, the male was about as fond of Sebastian as she was, but if he thought that would give them kindred ground, he was wrong about that. His haste in spitting on his son's name and his constant questioning did nothing to foster trust and Saena wasn't about to aid a wolf with such a shady disposition. Besides, he looked just like Sebastian and she wasn't mature enough not to project some of her distaste onto him, unfair as it was. Her silence was answer enough: none of your business.

When he asked about Redhawk Caldera, Saena decided she'd had enough of his prying. She smoothly got to her feet and stooped over the carcass between her feet. "Why don't you go ask him yourself instead of bugging the shit out of me? I don't know anything about it." Now that Casmir was gone, there was no reason for her to hang around, and she wasn't having anymore of Burke's questioning. He gave off all kinds of bad signals just by pressing the issue. They weren't even acquainted and he was trying to get her to spill the beans.

Well, sadly for Burke, Saena had no beans to spill. What happened between Sebastian and her pack was their business, and beyond that, she knew nothing about the man. So she ducked her head, grabbed her beaver, and made to retreat back toward the north.

Burke was apparently not getting any answers. It was exactly the reason why he wasn't an outrider. Alas, the female seemed to have more than enough of him with a few quick words she made her leave. The male shook his head, now annoyed too. Apparently he wasn't going to gain any more information about Sebastian today. He would get him one day. Maybe he could send out Akela on an outrider quest. The dark male was usually a bit better at this than him. 

Burke watched the female leave, at least there were no strangers close by their territory. That was something he was pleased about. The large tank of a male turned away too, leaving in the direction of Black Feather again. He was trying to see how he could get that Sebastian. He decided to let it rest for now and think of Meldresi first. She was about to have his babies after all.