Lost Creek Hollow So, what's the deal? Gary says triple homicide.

He could take food from the caches- the over-frozen, decaying sort of things- all he had to do was put something back in them, to make up for what he'd taken. He scoffed, as he shuffled along through the snow, squinting sourly as he noticed that there was a fog beginning to lift in the dimming, early evening light. Easier said than done, Treason. At least, that was how he felt. The dull creature had assumed that as a prisoner (also more of an assumption than anything) that he wasn't permitted to leave the pack's marked territories, and he was too afraid to push his luck doing so anyway. Confined to their claimed area, he could only really go for the prey animals that wandered into their territory; fortunately for Joss, that meant that the less-than-clever wolf only really had to worry about catching the less-than-clever prey animals that traipsed into the proverbial lion's den. 

Still, with it being winter, the pickings were relatively slim for someone who rarely ever put more than 45% effort into anything. But he knew that Treason would eventually check in on the caches and would notice that he had resorted to taking a rabbit that had been frozen solid to eat. He hadn't wasted a bit of it- he knew better than to be wasteful or picky- but now he had to find something to put in the rabbit's place. For a skinny guy with a whippet look to him, you'd assume Joss would at least be quick on his feet- but he wasn't. 

He caught the scent of partridges in an area dense with brambles and he felt his stomach gurgle. The rabbit hadn't been enough- but he'd have to surrender anything he caught before he could eat something for himself again or suffer punishment for being greedy. He crouched to the ground and began to slinge forward, threading himself between the dry, leafless bushes until he could hear the soft sound of feathers and cackling from the birds that were hiding within the brush. One misplaced step of his made them go silent, so he gently set himself down on the ground, content to lie in wait until they start clucking again- then he would take another stab at getting closer.

With two dead rabbits tucked between her jaws, Nara made her way back to her den. Her paws were still dirty from digging out the burrow, giving them an uncomfortable, heavy feel. She slowed down when the scent of a pack-mate filled her nose. Her eyes scanned the area—but there didn't seem to be anyone around. Then she noticed a brown, bony frame, hidden in the bushes. She  stopped and cocked her head to the side. Was this that new wolf? Yeah, she'd heard about him. He looked even worse off than they had described him to be.

He seemed to be focused on something. Nara followed his gaze. Was he trying his luck with those partridges? She opened her mouth to say something, forgetting that she was carrying the rabbits, who promptly fell to the ground.

The longer he waited, the more the partridges began to settle, so he quietly gathered his feet beneath his slim body and took one step forward, and then another. He hunkered down again when they seemed to stop their clucking, but when they continued, he peered through the brown twigs and sticks, squinting until he could make out what he believed to be tawny feathers. He was close enough to see them now- so as long as he timed things right and didn't misjudge the distance, he'd have a chance of-

tha-thud.

And with that, the partridges were spooked and they took off in a flutter. Joss rose with them, but only to a standing position, spooked also by the sudden albeit soft sound. With a scowl he whipped his head around to see first the two dead rabbits on the ground- and peeling his lips back he opened his mouth to swear at the wolf who'd dropped them until he lifted his gaze to meet hers. 

And if it wasn't the damndest thing that'd ever happened to him, but Joss couldn't bring himself to say a single thing. The wolf who'd approached and dropped the rabbits was a plush, alabaster picture of beauty, with a thick, fluffy coat that made her frame look soft and cottony. Against her pearlescent coat, her apple-green eyes stood out like gemstones that had been polished and faceted so they caught the light just right. Joss' mouth had been opened- and rather than articulating any words, his jaw dropped. He must've looked like he'd had some sort of mental malfunction, and it took him a second or two to realize how stupid he looked so he corrected his pose, shuffling his hind feet forward so he didn't look quite as drawn out and skinny. He cleared his throat so he didn't sound like a teenager and lifted his head, closing his jaws. 

"You, uhm. You surprised my bird." He said and his eyes went wide with shock. "My birdssss. The birds. They weren't...Mine..." He said, and cursed himself. Stupid stupid stupid!

She knew she screwed up when a dozen or so birds hastily took flight. Nara froze in her position—like that would somehow un-spook them.

Her eyes landed on the wolf whose dinner she had just scared away. She flattened her ears a little when he looked like he was going to bite her head off or at least shout at her. But then his temper quickly subsided. For a moment she was afraid he was having some kind of stroke, he was acting quite strange all of a sudden.

Nara gave him an apologetic smile. sorry about that. Her eyes darted over his clearly visible ribs and thin, scrawny legs, and then back to the rabbits she had just dropped. She wanted to say you look awfully thin and maybe that one partridge would have saved your life and I kind of don't want your death on my conscience, so eat this. Instead she said let me make it up to you, you can have one of these rabbits, if you want? nodding to the animals in front of her feet. Then she thought about that for a short time. or! she said a little too excitedly, like she just came up with the greatest idea ever, I can help you catch something? I mean, something else—bigger than a bird you know. Also she hated birds, but decided not to mention that.

Fortunately, she didn't seem to balk at his Freudian slip, though he still felt embarrassed about it. She might tease him later, but in the meantime, she actually looked as though she felt bad, and she went so far as to apologize. Though Joss was a snarky creature, and had a certain amount of completely unfounded pride and ego, he shook his head quickly, denying her any acceptance. "It's OK. Don't need to apologize to me," He said, shrugging one shoulder as though to point to his rank and say 'yeah, look- nobody apologizes to the guy who's just here serving time.' This lady was much too pretty and fit to ever need to apologize for doing anything to somebody like him. She could've tripped over him or stepped on him, and he would've told her not to apologize; as long as he got to look at her, he wouldn't have minded one bit. 

He swallowed hard when she offered him one of her rabbits- which was again, rejected vehemently. "No, no, you don't have t-" He interjected, but she seemed to have come up with another plan. And he couldn't help himself when she spoke. He couldn't take something from her- but here she was, this devastatingly beautiful creature, offering to spend more time with him. How could he possibly say no to that? So he straightened up a bit, trying to look slightly less like a degenerate, and squared his shoulders a bit. He still looked like a stick figure. "Well...I could go for that," He said, and began to feel a bit nervous about the whole situation. He was a horrible hunter. There was no way this was going to end well.

Nara gave him a friendly smile when he shrugged off her apology. She felt bad for him, that he felt the need to act like he wasn't someone you had to apologize to and more like someone who did the apologizing. She hoped it didn't show—he probably didn't want her pity.

Her excitement quickly returned when he accepted her proposal, albeit rather tepid. great Nara exclaimed, I know of a sounder of boars that live on the outskirts of the Hollow. It's not far from here, really. It usually took a group effort to take down boars, but the two of them should be able to manage just one. She took a moment to size up her hunting partner. Maybe just a small one, she decided. let's go then Nara said and turned around without waiting for his answer. 

Then it dawned on her that she didn't know why exactly he had been given this rank and if he was even allowed to go outside of the borders. So she stopped and turned back to him. actually, before we go, I- she hesitated for a moment, trying to put her thoughts into words, look, I don't know what you did to deserve this rank and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I suppose it's fine if you come with me—as long as you didn't kill someone or something like that she added with a brief chuckle, before asking more seriously, you didn't...kill someone, right?

if you want, we can continue this in a new thread after your post, or right here. you decide!

May's'well just continue here :)

Boars? Joss' expression likely gave away exactly how he felt about hunting down something like a boar. A boar would be at least twice his size, right? Plus they had tusks? He had absolutely no confidence that he could help Nara take down a boar- but she seemed to be so enthusiastic about it, that he couldn't very well coward out now, could he? He gulped hard and shook off his initial fear, squaring his shoulders a bit, even though it didn't do him much good; it showed off the hollow just beneath his throat when he did that. "Boar it is," He said, summoning as much bravado as he could, and he watched her turn to go. For a moment, his fear returned. There was no way they could do this. But there was no way he was going to let the opportunity to pal around with a girl this pretty slip through his grasp. Something like this was never likely going to happen again. 

She stopped when they reached the borders, and he was thankful that she did. He'd forgotten, of course, that he wasn't permitted to leave- and had been trying to find a way to re-route the whole expedition or the last few minutes before she actively stepped in to stop things. He regarded her like a guilty dog that'd been caught tearing up couch cushions- but his jaw dropped and he gawked at her in shock when she mentioned that she suspected he'd possibly been a murderer. At first, she'd made a joke out of it- but then, she seemed to resent her joke, as she reiterated the question a bit more seriously. 

"Of course not!" Joss spluttered, shaking his head quickly. "No no. No, I uhm...I accidentally trespassed...Was walking up the river, and didn't smell the borders." He said, hoping that that might reassure her. He glanced past her, and his ears flattened. "I'm...Actually not allowed to leave the borders." He said, and backed up a few paces. "I'm sorry. I kinda forgot."

good, so it was an accident she said quickly. And no murdering whatsoever, which was great. She honestly didn't mean to imply that he had actually killed someone, but that was what happened and now she felt kinda bad about it. 
just asked to be sure, you never know these days, right Nara said, trying to brush it off like it was completely normal to assume strangers are probably also murderers. She felt guilty about the whole thing already. Sometimes, Nara said out loud what she was thinking, without much processing. It was a working point.

Then he said what she was already thinking. He wasn't allowed to go past the borders. She thought about it for a second. it'll be fine she said, shaking her head dismissedly, it's not very far and we'll be back in a jif. No one will even know you're gone. Actually, she couldn't guarantee that no one would find out, but she didn't see the harm in him crossing the borders as long as it was with someone from the pack. Besides, he didn't look like he would (or could) take advantage of the moment to flee. 

But she wasn't about to force him into doing anything he didn't want to. you don't have to go, you know. I can always go alone and bring you a piece when I'm on my way back. It's fine either way.

The pretty female seemed to relax once she found out that he'd become their punished slave because he'd done something wrong by accident, and he nodded. What the heck did she think he'd done? Right- she'd asked if he'd killed someone. Did he really look like the type who would do that? Of course, Joss hadn't seen his own image in a fairly long time, and had no idea just how dire he really looked and was oblivious to the fact that he almost always had a scowl on his face. Being constantly hungry did that to a wolf. Nara brushed the incident off, so Joss did too. Apparently things were bad nowadays- he was certain he had a pretty good idea of how bad things were. He was a slave to a pack, after all, for making a mistake. 

She insisted that he should go with her, and he knew he could possibly score some points with her if he did- but it wasn't worth it. He backed up a few steps. "I wanna go- but you seen Treason, right? Ain't gonna piss her off. Can't risk it." He said, shaking his head, flattening his ears. Damn his punishment; here he was, being invited out for a hunt by the prettiest thing he'd ever seen, but no, he couldn't go- he was forbidden to do so. And he was too cowardly to take a risk and go anyway. She excused him, of course, but he still felt sour about watching her go off on her own, knowing he couldn't go with her. He shrugged one angular shoulder. "Boar can be mean...Shouldn't go on your own. An' don't gotta bring me back nothin'." He said. So she'd scared off his meal earlier; he could forgive a face like hers.

For a moment Nara was hopeful that he would come with her after all—but then he didn't. She couldn't hide the slight slumping of her posture. I understand she said, and it wasn't a complete lie, it's not worth the risk. She gave him a small smile. besides, I don't want to disregard Treason's authority either. Although she disagreed with the way she had punished Joss, she still thought highly of Treason and she wouldn't want to do anything to lose her trust.

He was right, of course. There was no way she could come out of the fight unscathed. At least not without someone who had her back. She once had such a person, someone who had gone with her far and wide—and now she didn't have that anymore. Someone like that was almost impossible to find again, or so it seemed. A pressing emptiness filled her chest. She suddenly felt alone in a pack where she had spend most—if not all—of her good days. Still part of it, but also separate. Could this be the reason why she was, in some way, drawn to a wolf like Joss, and why she was so insistent that they go on a hunt?

Realizing she had been silent for a while, she quickly shook her head as if to shake off the heartache. I guess you're right she agreed reluctantly, turning her head to glance at the spaces between the trees outside of the border. There would be no boar hunting today. She turned her head again to face him. why don't we go and see if those partridges are back, then? Nara asked, ignoring his last comment. 

He was lucky that this girl was understanding- and she had a healthy level of respect (if not, then fear) of Treason, which Joss felt was probably a bit of a prerequesite for joining the pack. He was relieved that she wasn't going to go boar hunting on her own as well; she was as smart as she was pretty, then, and kind too- she suggested they go back to see if the partridges had returned to their little brushy nook in the forest, and he nodded, expression lifting slightly. "Sounds dandy." He said, and gestured with a flick of his muzzle that they should head back.