Cedar Sweep On the Pitch of the Avenroe Grasses

In exercising his tracking skills, Bronco was beginning to learn the finesse of differentiating species by the tracks they left behind in the snow, which made it easier for him to pursue his prey with more speed. Even with other tracks crossing in the snow, he trained himself to focus on one trail, following it to where it would eventually, hopefully, lead him to a source of food- which, even then, only occasionally resulted in the reward of a successful hunt. 

He had learned as a child not to bother with skunks- but as far as he knew, they were in hibernation. But he caught sight of another unusual set of tracks and pursued it until it led up what seemed far too thin a tree for the creature to have had any business climbing it. Halfway up the flimsy, thin trunk- which was about as thick around as one of Bronco's forelegs- was the round spiny bundle he recognized immediately as a porcupine. He growled. He'd been quilled before- but it was winter, and he was less picky. He circled around the small, slender tree's base, before he finally plucked up the courage and began to use both his weight and his teeth to give the sapling a good shaking. He was able to rock the tree back and forth- but not quite enough to loosen the porcupine's grip on the thin bark. They were good climbers. In a huff, Bronco continued to circle the base of the sapling, occasionally thrusting his weight against it and then leaping back to hopefully knock the porcupine from its perch- and to avoid getting a shoulder full of quills when it fell- and like a dog with a bone, would continue to do so for at least the next twenty minutes. 

Finally, his persistence paid off- eventually, he managed to thump the small tree's trunk hard enough that the porcupine fell, and didn't quite manage to avoid getting clipped in the shoulder by the obstinate creature's tail as it fell to the ground and quickly righted itself. Bronco squealed several times, loudly, in surprise and anguish as a handful of quills penetrated the skin of his shoulder and he turned to face his foe, who looked back at him with beady black eyes, grating her teeth in a warning to him.

The viper had not been far off his trail when she caught the sight of him from a distance, young and foolish, shaking something small and hardly worth the effort out of a winter worn tree.

An amused, silent huff escaped her lips as she leaned back on earthly haunches, mismatched gaze glued to the dreadful way he shook the sapling until eventually, much to her surprise, his efforts payed off. The creature, surely brimming with rage, had a cushioned landing as it fell atop the boy and left him squealing in pain.

Solaris, delightfully entertained by the whole situation, let a whisper of a laugh escape her as she shifted her weight to stand, attention now set on the youth's poor choice of prey as she took a few aimless steps forward.

Pride rushed from the boy knowing that though he'd tried to avoid having this exact thing happen, fate chose to make it so nonetheless...And even better yetr- his stare-off with the porcupine was short-lived, as he learned soon thereafter in hearing the trill of laughter from a short distance away that he had had an audience. Had it been one of his own packmates, he might have simply brushed it off and asked them for help, distracting the creature so he could potentially make a nab at its only visible vulnerable spot, but this wasn't a a packmate. This wasn't even a friend, who'd managed to catch him in a fairly upsetting moment- this was a complete stranger and even worse yet, it was a girl.

He couldn't quite interpret exactly how kindly her gaze was, given the fact that her eyes were different shades- one of emerald, and one of amber. He took a moment to eye her up, something he would have done regardless of what kind of prey he had cornered, simply because her looks were so fetching, and he had never seen a wolf with heterochromia before. The porcupine, naturally, began to sidle off- not worried whatsoever about turning its thorny back on the boy it had already punctured. Bronco idly turned one ear toward it, and gave it a begrudging growl, as though to command it to stay put while he chatted up this pretty spectator, but it thought nothing of him, and continued to waddle away slowly, as porcupines do. 

"Glad I could be of some entertainment," He said, trying to put a grin on his face but in shifting his weight, he reminded himself of the multutide of quills he currently had embedded in his shoulder. Grin turned to grimace as he continued. "Show's over," He commented dryly, turning to eye up the porcupine which- in those few seconds- had waddled back to the lean sapling and had begun to climb back up again. "An' he doesn't do encores." He said wryly, giving up hope on the porcupine as he sat down, and craned his neck so that he could start pulling the quills out. Normally, he would be more flirtatious, and put the attention on her with some form of flattery- but evidently, sufficient pain could distract him from being a gentleman; who knew.

Her steps were firm in their placement, gaze yet set upon the retreating form of the porcupine until the boy broke the silence between them with his choice of words. How i n t e r e s t i n g she thought, for she'd expected some form of hostility from him given how she'd just laughed at his pathetic excuse for a hunt. Instead she been met with lighthearted banter which consequently, roused her curiosity in him.  

So, as the porcupine slowly began to fade from sight and up the tree, Solaris turned her attention fully to the earthly hued adolescent. "That's a shame" she let out as she rounded the tree once, mismatched gaze trailing down to the quills he had begun to pluck from his flesh. A momentary burst of curiosity had her lean in close, movements purposeful yet cautious as she aimed to pull a few quills from his shoulder should he allow her near.

"I always did love a good encore".

While Bronco had intended for his comments to be a deterrant so she could let him pull quills and sulk in peace, she instead approached while he pulled a few free. This then forced him to quell any instinct to whine or squeak as he pulled at two agonizingly stuck quills, which seemed to stretch the skin on his shoulder out several inches before they finally came free, letting his quill-infested shoulder skin snap back into place. This, subsequentially, left him clumsily trying to spit the quills out without getting them stuck in his tongue which he did with only moderate success, and only moments before she came close to him- almost too close- causing him to freeze. 

Possessed by the instinctive tendency to go stiff and give a harsh side-eye, Bronco froze and bared his teeth lightly as she leaned in so close he could feel her breath comb through the mess of thick fur and porcupine quills on his shoulder, but he didn't growl or pull away. He exhaled sharply and growled softly as the quills came free, but with the next breath he drew in, he found himself uttering a high and dry laugh at her comment. He glanced back up the tree, ruefully, at the porcupine which had made its way back to its chosen spot again, despite the fact that it made the top of the tree sway back and forth with its weight. "With any luck a stiff breeze'll knock that damn quill-pig down an' it'll impale itself on its own fuckin' quills," He said, falling silent swiftly as he realized his impolite slip. "Pardon my French." He said, though without a great deal of sincerity, but did seek to punish himself by wrenching another quill free, blinking and gritting his teeth as he did so. He dropped it on the ground with the others. "Name's Bronco. Sarry I'm not up to my usual level of charm but...These things-" What, admit that something hurt, to a pretty lady? She'd already seen him shake a porcupine out of a tree right down onto himself, though, so he sighed. "They're effin' stupid."

His reaction amounted to nothing more than a few bared teeth and a nasty glare, something she did not shy away from until the quills were plucked cleanly from his skin. It had been more of an experiment to test how close he would allow her than anything else, but if she could get away with it being taken as a gesture of kindness, then that's what she'd go with.

"Solaris" she introduced after his little ramble, a friendly grin stretching across her features as he tacked on that last bit about the so called quill-pig being stupid. "The wind might help", she started, eyes trailing up to glance at the porcupine once more. "Though an extra set of fangs might be better" she suggested with a toothy smile.  

Bronco rolled his eyes, still a literally sore loser from his failed attempt at catching and killing the porcupine. Solaris, as she introduced herself, seemed somewhat enigmatic to him, as he couldn't be sure if she was just being sarcastic- or if she seriously thought the porcupine could be blown out of the tree...Until she offered, or least, he thought she offered- to help him. He grimaced. He was actually fairly done with the porcupine, but for her sake...And perhaps just for the opportunity to spend some more time with her, he'd chance another fateful encounter with the porcupine, if she was willing to pitch in. 

Then again, maybe she just wanted to see him get beaned by the porcupine again. But he was willing to take that chance. 

"Well," He said, doing his best to ignore the painful sting in his shoulder, as he still had at least twenty quills embedded in the skin there in a good clump. "What do you suggest?" He asked, willing to allow her to take over the expedition, and learn some better way of de-treeing and killing a porcupine.