The Heartwood Did you hear the one about the dead wolf?

When did I eat last?

The thought was pointless. Snowl couldn't count. And he certainly had no concept of passing days. They all ran together to him, just as wolves and territories did. Everything seemed the same; which was likely why he didn't realize he had come into Teekon again, just as he hadn't realized that he'd exactly left.

He was a careless sort -- a dirty teenager with no care or responsibility to speak of -- and the only time he seemed remotely talented was when he was hunting. For a large thing, he was quite fast, with reflexes like a whip and moves that he thought rivaled lightning. He was shaping finely into a runner's build, lacking the brawn of a brawler because... well, he'd never been a fight before. Antagonized them, sure, but Snow Owl had never once actually engaged anyone.

The proof was in his build that bore only minor scars from sheer clumsiness or accidents rather than the teeth of another wolf.

The sun was proudly lifted and he had only recently woken from his mid-day nap when he decided it was time to fill his stomach with something fresh. Carrion had never suited him too well, the picky brat-prince. It wasn't long before he was giving chase to a plump hare, and it was an even shorter time before he was charging headlong into a fallen log after it. Only when his shoulders were painfully wedged in the too-small opening, did he realize he was too big.

"Shit!" he whined loudly from his confines, trying to back-pedal unsuccessfully out of the wooden trap. A few more tugs and he realized he was very stuck. "Help!" he shouted, the noise bellowing out the other end of the log. "Heeeel— hey that sounds pretty cool!" he stopped wailing, finding the projection of his voice much more interesting. He (profanely) tried it a few more times:

"Heeeyy, bitches!"

"Weiner!"

"Weenis!"

"Ha! Ha! Weenis!"

"Hey! Seriously, though... Any cute butts out there?" he called loudly, his voice booming out into the woods in a much deeper tone than his normal voice. "My butt's right here, and I'm out here just-a booty-shakin'! Kinda need some help, yo!"

"I don't know that I've ever heard a weirder pick-up line," Fin said out loud to the stranger, eyeing the white wolf in his predicament from her perch on a slightly elevated patch of ground not far from where he struggled to free himself. She had been wandering nearby, continuing her search for her missing friend, when she'd heard the sounds of his hunt. Curiosity had taken her towards it, and then intrigue had hastened her paws at the sound of his voice.

The young Blackthorn had sat down where she was and began observing right around the second weenis. He clearly wasn't too panicked about the new home he'd found for his upper half, so she was content to let him writhe around there for a little while. After all, he did have a cute butt, for a kid.

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Thanks for joining, Stevie!

Snowl was prepared to keep rambling (to himself, he thought) but a feminine voice from somewhere behind him ceased all his obscenities and brought his wriggling body to a brief stand-still. "Well, hot damn! I can't believe it actually worked!" he said, louder than necessary. If there had been any prey in a five-mile radius, there wasn't any now.

He shuffled a little, attempting to free himself one last time before resigning again to his wedged state. "A little help, gorgeous?" he said a little quieter this time, trying not to induce a booming echo for once. "I mean, you must be gorgeous—I can hear it in your voice—but if you're not too busy being gorgeous, I'd be super grateful if you could, y'know... give my tail a li'l tug?"

Are you kidding?? Thank YOU for joining wolf again, ol' brudder! *snuggles* I may have teared up when I saw one of Tric's pups was named Anya cause it reminded me of my sweet Ana *lil' bit o' sob*

Fin didn't move when he replied excitedly to her words. Even as he continued, she barely noticed. All she saw was that little bum, that scruffy flag of a tail, flapping around wildly. Her head very slowly tilted to the side as she watched. He posed a request that really caused some conflict within the young wolf. She really wanted to see what that face looked like and if it went well with the bum. But at the same time... Could she really pass up this opportunity when it offered such a high level of amusement as a reward?

The silver female danced down from her perch towards the boy. "Yeah, I bet you'd be beyond yourself with gratitude if I helped you out, but..." she stopped in front of the log, hopping up to place her front paws upon its surface. "I don't know... I'm so gorgeous and dainty and, like, crazy attractive..." she replied with fake worry in her tone, "I might not be strong enough to get you out... " She gave a huff and laid her upper half down onto the log--rather throwing her weight hard upon it. "What ever would you think of me if I tried and failed? It would probably be a detriment to my attractiveness..." She allowed herself a devious smirk. He couldn't see her, after all.

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Yaay, glad you noticed! Anya is definitely named after Ana :D I think Tricks has a daughter named after all his immediate family lol he had so many <3

He fell quiet, hopeful that he would be assisted, possibly even more hopeful that she was flattered enough not to laugh at his predicament—but Snowl was never quite so lucky. He heard her come near, her words creating a sinking feeling in his chest, although he had an idea that she might be joking. Unfortunately, the spiky male wasn't in the present position to joke back like he wanted to. The proneness of his frame was making him slightly uneasy; especially when she confirmed that she was indeed gorgeous.

He could tell when she was laying partway on the log. Small cracks in the wood had become shadowed by her frame, and though he struggled to see what she looked like, there simply wasn't enough space in the openings to eve discern fur color. She was definitely in no rush to help him, and although he didn't know how much longer he would be okay with staying like that, he was briefly enticed to further the conversation before outright begging.

"I dunno..." he drawled, pointing his muzzle towards where he thought her head would be. "A princess trying and failing to rescue a demoiselle en détresse like me sounds pretty damn cute. Might even up your points more than if you actually save me." He shifted once more, throwing his rump on the ground, which was more comfortable than having it plumped up in the air, but still uncomfortable since he couldn't actually lie down completely.

"Either way, unless you've been horribly disfigured by a forest fire, you'll prob'ly still be pretty adorable." At least his father had lived long enough to teach his only son how to "woo a lady".

d'awwwwwwwwwwwww :3

Finley crossed one leg over the other, shooting where she assumed his head was beneath the wood a rather judgmental look as the boy spouted off his crap. He had a pretty clever mouth--full of charm and wit that would probably one day move aside many a dumb lady's tail. Unfortunately for him, the Blackthorn was not dumb when it came to the wiles of the opposite gender. That wasn't to say that she wasn't dumb about many, many other things--just in this particular area she had learned to keep her mind on point.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I have no doubt that I'll be adorable," Fin replied, uncrossing her front legs and propelling herself up onto the log with little effort. She turned to face herself towards the boy's now seated rump, tapping a paw lightly upon the log just above his head (probably). "I'm worried that if I try and fail, that I'll end up looking foolish, and thus, less sexy. I can't have that. Yes, looking foolish will increase the adorability factor, but I am a grown ass, experienced, sexual woman. I can't jeopardize that by looking foolish, and there's nothing more foolish than failing to help a fool." She sat down hard on the log, smiling as it shook from the force. No harm rattling that witty little brain of his, after all.

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Her logic was sound, a fact that was only frustrated further but the causality of her "dancing" atop his wooden trap. Snow Owl was beginning to consider that his log would be his grave—although a few hungry days in here and he'd be sure to lose some of his mass and probably squeeze out with relative ease. But those days would be highly uncomfortable, of this he was sure.

He realized after her speech that she was older than her sweet voice depicted, probably a year or two older than himself. He had little to no chance of her being interested in his boyish charms, even if she was humoring him slightly. As she sat, woody dust sprinkled down onto his face and muzzle. The thick air tickled at his nostrils, flooding them before it became too much for his sensitive sense of smell to handle. He began to inhale sharply, feeling his swelling shoulders press painfully against the sides of the log, before a massive sneeze overtook him, and the young wolf was jerked backwards, freed from his would-be coffin.

"Wow, who knew allergies would save me." He scooted the remaining way out of the log, erecting his long, tall frame and giving his spiky fur a shake (not that it cleaned him much). He looked up at his "rescuer", brown eyes glinting mischievously at her. "Well... I wasn't wrong," he mused, glancing up and down at her pointedly.

Fin's delight at having caused the sneeze was short-lived as it shook him free of the trap. She had just gotten back up onto all fours, preparing to start lightly trotting back and forth upon it when the boy burst free. A look of mild disappointment slipped across her face as he turned his gaze upon her and said... something, she wasn't really paying attention.

"Damn," she muttered, "I had so much more planned." She really did, she had a whole bit about trying to pull him out by his tail, but instead weakly grabbing the hairs on the very tip and pulling them out with a light tug. Now what was she supposed to do to torment the devious little snake? The teen was so.... smarmy. She couldn't just leave there without knocking him down a few pegs. It would be good for him, and Fin had always been ever so devoted to guiding today's youth down the right path.

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She seemed disappointed with his escape, which only served to confuse Snowl and make him wonder if her personality was as pretty as her face. "You had plans while I was stuck in there?" he gawked at her, tilting his spiky head slightly as his tail swayed back and forth like a decelerating pendulum. "What were you gonna do to me?"

Fin's ears twitched as he gave his somewhat nervous and yet intrigued response. A sly grin swept across her muzzle as she quirked a single brow at him. "Oh, you would've loved it," she quipped back, "So much that it would just be cruel to tell you about it now after the opportunity has passed."

The Blackthorn nodded sagely, trying to give him the impression that she really was doing him quite the favor but keeping her intentions a secret. With any luck, she could take a leaf out of Peregrine's book and trick him into getting into some precarious sort of situation that she could completely abandon him in. Her alpha had always made it look like so much fun, even though she was usually the one on the other not-at-all-fun end of it.

But, on second thought, she really did need to continue her search for Adair, and she supposed leaving him wondering what it was she would have done was a good enough torment. So, with only a cheeky grin and a nod of her muzzle, Fin hopped down from her perch and strode off into the forest, leaving the young wolf wondering in her wake.

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