Moonspear Crazy youngsters

She had been around long enough now to see some faces come and go. Wildfire hadn't seen Lex since their meeting and upon attempting a cursory search, she realized she could no longer detect his scent anywhere around the mountain. But there were some new ones that intrigued her. One belonged to the wolf she had met briefly during the pack hunt a few days back: @Horcrux. With nothing else on the agenda for today, the Epsilon decided to try finding him. The tracking practice would be useful too.

Wildfire pressed her nose to the rough bark of a sycamore, where her pack mate's scent was concentrated; he must have brushed past it recently. With his signature smell strong in her nostrils, the dhole lookalike pivoted on a slender red heel, dropped her nose and began brushing it along the ground near the mountain's base.

No obligation, Ilona! This is open to anybody. :)

*barges in* Ilona, you should still join if you are able! :)

Little did the hunter know that she, too, was being hunted.

Floki had been hot on Wildfire's trail for the better part of a half hour, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth as he tracked her. Their practice with the deer and the recent pack hunt had really fueled a fire within him, and he felt his instincts growing stronger by the day. He was fairly certain he wanted to become an official gamekeeper, though it would take a lot of time and effort to earn the skills.

As Wildfire moved around the circumference of the mountain, Floki closed the gap until he could see the flash of her red fur between the trees. He accelerated, though he neglected to conceal the sound of his footsteps as he approached. One paw landed on a twig and snapped it with a satisfying crack, and in the next instant he lunged forward to nip playfully at the tip of her tail.

Good thing I wasn't able to post until now; cause now I have a Kat and a Kim :)

About a hundred paw steps farther away than Wildfire and Floki was the raven-boy, crawling behind the treeline in search of the bears. He left behind a strong odour, secretly revealing where he had been and what he was doing. Although rather naive, his point of focus wasn't on what or who was behind him but rather who was in front of him. There were tales and rumors of bears being agressive towards the pack and he wanted to proof the opposite; that bears weren't as dangerous as they were said to be. He could be wrong, but he made it his mission to discover the truth for himself instead of relying on words alone.

Bears were supposed to be hibernating during the winter but their strong scent convinced him of a different story. Finding these new facts odd, the raven-boy moved forward while still unaware that the hunter was being (playfully) hunted.

Woo! :D

She simply followed the scent trail for a while, weaving hither and thither as she shadowed Horcrux's invisible path. After a quarter of an hour, she paused to look around for a place to pee. She was just stepping behind a burly oak when the sudden sound of footfalls caused her to jerk her head over her shoulder. She barely caught a glimpse of something silver and sandy as it launched at her backside.

"Hey!" she cried with false indignation, laughter already tinging her voice. Wildfire struck out with a slender foreleg to cuff Floki about the ears. "Why are you biting my butt, boo?" she demanded with a playful quirk of her brow before tugging her black tail from his grasp and rolling forward on her heels to bump their noses together.

"You interrupted me," she reported, not the least bit of annoyance in her tone. "I was tracking that new guy, Horcrux. Do you know him? Wanna help me creep? Maybe we can practice our signature hunting technique on him?" the Epsilon thought aloud, imagining the two of them closing in on either side of their pack mate like a couple of velociraptors.

"First though," she added, slipping out of view behind the oak's thick trunk, "I have to pee." She fell silent as she watered the tree roots. Perhaps thirty seconds later, she sprang out again, aiming a revengeful love bite at her beau's hindquarters.

"'cause it's so cute," Floki laughed, dancing out of Wildfire's reach as she swatted at him. He was feeling particularly playful, but his ears pricked readily when she explained what she had been up to. The name Horcrux wasn't familiar to him, although that wasn't surprising; Moonspear had gained a few new members over the last couple of weeks. At the same time, other wolves had departed, such as Lex and Jura. Floki supposed that was just the way life worked.

He nodded his head, ready to follow Wildfire's lead, but she announced that she had to relieve herself first. He rolled his eyes as she excused herself, and then leaned down to gnaw at an itchy spot on his left foreleg. When she sprang out from behind the tree cover, he wasn't prepared for her attack and yelped as her teeth gently grazed his haunches. "Ouch! I guess I deserved that," he chuckled, swinging his hindquarters away from her.

He then crouched, giving a shifty-eyed glance around. "Ready to creep when you are," he said in a low voice. Horcux wouldn't be hidden for long.

Sometimes his concentration was peaking and at other time's it was at an all time low; while the bear had swarmed through his mind just moments before, he became utterly distracted when a bug flew over his muzzle. The bug flew in such a position that his eyes immediately found a new target, like a Bull's Eye, Horcrux snapped. With teeth flying through the air, he tried to grasp the bug. To suspicious onlookers it could appear as though he was playing air guitar but in reality the newly accepted Moonspear was down to serious business. Catching bugs was serious business. Ghost Bug busters.

He jumped left, then right, each time trying to grab a hold of the bug. And unfortunately for Horcrux each time was a miss. Fortunately for onlookers, though, this rather spontaneous situation that he was in, made him completely oblivious to his surroundings and two possible stalkers. He was in bliss. Bug bliss.

"Indeed you did," Wildfire replied in a prim voice, tipping her snout into the air like some sort of diva, which was of course the last thing she was. Seconds later, her head dropped and she dissolved into laughter. The two of them began to move in tandem, resuming Wildfire's previous mission in companionable silence.

The young huntress detected an odd shuffling noise and motioned for Floki to slow down and follow her as she crept toward it. If Horcrux had been a deer, he might have detected their encroaching presence and fled. But he was a wolf and a distracted one at that. Wildfire's eyes narrowed slightly as she spotted him and tried to discern what he was doing. Was he dancing?

Then she noticed the bug and heard the telltale buzz. "Oh." The word dropped quietly from her mouth. Forgetting about their plan to launch an ambush on their unsuspecting pack mate, Wildfire loudly warned, "I wouldn't do that if I were you! That's a stink bug." She suddenly sat up straighter, making herself visible, nose scrunched. "It'll spray in your mouth."

Floki followed Wildfire's lead, moving alongside her with nary a sound. He hadn't been too conspicuous when he approached her, but he slipped into stealth mode in order to complete her mission. Although stalking a packmate didn't exactly qualify as hunting, it was still an opportunity to practice their skills.

His ears pricked at the sound of rustling and he paused when Wildfire did. Peering around her, he spotted their target: the mottled male was darting about in an erratic way. Floki was confused at first, until he noticed that Horcrux seemed to be chasing something airborne. Just as he identified that it was an insect, Wildfire stepped forward, warning the newest Moonspear wolf that the particular bug he was messing with had defense mechanisms that could be detrimental to his health.

While he didn't have any words of advice -- he attributed Wildfire's knowledge to her experience as a naturalist -- he wrinkled his nose and nodded his head to emphasize her words, his gaze following the unpredictable path of the stinkbug.

To him, the bug was his entire point of focus, it was all that mattered. It brought him fun and joy, to chase a rather irritating and smart bug like that, simply because he could forget about everything else. He was just about to lunch the most ultimate attack of attacks the world has ever known when the bushes began to wag and wiggle. He didn't pay attention to it at first, after all, it wasn't as if a bear could hide in such denze, small vegetation.

However, when a red fox-faced female popped up, followed by her greyish sentinel, his heart skipped a beat. He.had.just.launched.his.attack. The bug, it had unfortunately for him – or the bug – landed in his mouth. The warning came out seconds too late, he was already bug-a-boo'ed. ”O-oh.” Was all he could say, startled and shocked. Horcrux gulped slowly, letting the bug slide down his throat. 

Taken by the moment, Horcrux felt as if his entire world came crashing down and burning. He did, however, feel a strange taste in his mouth. Sticking out his tongue, barely able to talk, he added hesitantly. ”I'm S-s-s-stinky breath. I-I think it did.” His face suddenly grizzled with disgust and he felt like he could vomit every second from now. ”Who are you guys?” He wanted to ask but felt his stumach twirl instead.

Even as the word "mouth" left her mouth, Horcrux chomped the stink bug. Wildfire immediately winced, imagining how awful it must taste. When he stuck out his tongue a moment later and remarked about his rancid breath, she kept cringing but laughed lightly. He seemed to have a good sense of humor about it. At least he hadn't vomited... although his face suddenly contorted and he looked like he might lose his lunch after all.

Taking a step back to avoid any back splash, Wildfire bumped into Floki. "You should get a drink of water," she suggested to Horcrux. Then an idea occurred to her. "Then the three of us should hunt up some grub to get that taste out of your mouth." She quirked her brows, glancing between both of her fellow wolves as if to ask, What do you think?

Wildfire's advice had come just a second too late -- Horcrux swallowed the stinkbug. Floki winced; he had never tasted a stinkbug himself, but its name was fairly indicative of its flavor. He glanced at Wildfire, taking a step back as her hindquarters bumped gently into his chest. She didn't seem to be overly concerned, which he took as a good sign. Had the stinkbug been poisonous, she likely would have known.

It appeared that Horcrux would probably just have a case of bad breath and perhaps an upset stomach, but Wildfire suggested a hunt to cleanse his palate. Floki nodded his agreement, stepping up once more to stand next to his red-furred friend. "I think that's a great idea. I'm Floki, by the way," he said.

Gonna PP Horcrux as I was hoping to use this as a specialty thread. :)

He made no reply. He was probably trying not to vomit. But Floki seemed to like the idea and he also offered an introduction. Wildfire exchanged a bemused glance with him, then faced their new acquaintance again. She motioned for them both to come with her, then turned to act upon her suggestion.

"And I'm Wildfire," she added as they began to trot along. "We'll get you sorted stat," she promised the literally foulmouthed wolf traipsing along in their wake, then lapsed into silence as she let her nose drop to begin combing the ground for scents.

When they passed a puddle, she pointed at it with her nose, then instructed their comrade to, "Drink." While he refreshed his mouth, she continued plodding ahead, sifting through the various smells lingering near the substrate. There were a few promising ones and Wildfire chose one, more or less arbitrarily.

"This way," she mouthed to Floki and Horcrux (who had provided his name now that he could speak), leading them on the hot trail of a hopefully plump and juicy hare.

The first order of business before they started their hunt was to get Horcrux a drink of water. Wildfire promptly led the trio in that direction, and once their packmate had taken a sip and hopefully rinsed the unpleasant flavor from his mouth, they all slipped into hunting mode.

Floki fell into step behind Wildfire, his nostrils flaring. He did his best to identify the trail that she had chosen to follow; although there were many scents, he was fairly certain that they were on their way to tracking down a rabbit. He glanced at Horcrux and flashed the older boy an encouraging smile, but otherwise focused on the task at hand.

As the scent grew hotter in her nose, Wildfire contemplated strategies. Truthfully, hunting a rabbit was best done alone or possibly in a pair, depending on the particular circumstances. She could think of no way to actively involve all three of them. But she didn't want to leave anybody out either...

Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you looked at it), Wildfire was saved from making a conscious decision when she led her two cohorts around a thick oak tree and stumbled right into the rabbit in the middle of digging a burrow there. It immediately attempted to flee and the young huntress just as instantaneously struck out, her foreleg as quick as a rattlesnake as she instinctively tried to trip the fleeing rabbit.

It worked and in only seconds, the rabbit was bloodied and dead on the ground, albeit still twitching and kicking in its final death throes. Wildfire blinked down at it, then glanced almost sheepishly at Floki and Horcrux. She hadn't meant to steal the show. But food was food, right? And she totally intended to share in equal thirds, despite the unequal participation in the kill.

Once the thing was properly dead, she tore it into pieces, offering Horcrux the juiciest bits, seeing as he needed them the most. "Bottoms up," she joked to the two males as she took the rabbit's hindquarters for herself, sheared off a bite-sized chunk and then threw back her head to tip it down the hatch.

It seemed that the hunt ended before it had even begun. Trailing a few feet behind Wildfire, Horcrux and Floki stopped in their tracks when the petite trapper suddenly lunged forward, springing into action as though her life depended on it. There was a flurry of motion, and then Wildfire glanced back at her companions with a sheepish expression. Beyond her, the rabbit lay still and lifeless on the ground.

"Nice one!" Floki congratulated her, his tail swaying behind him. He wasn't at all miffed that Wildfire had "stolen the spotlight" -- he was simply glad to have a bite to eat, as his stomach rumbled appreciatively. The carcass was just large enough to provide each of them with a decent-sized portion, and the grey youth settled onto his stomach to devour his snack.

Wrapping up. :)

They fed in mutual, companionable silence, each enjoying their own small patch of ground as they indulged. The meal—more of a snack, really—didn't last long before they cleared the proverbial supper table. Wildfire licked the blood from her lips, exchanging friendly glances with her two cohorts. Although it had been a small repast, she now felt slow and sleepy. Maybe a nice nap was in order, a reward for lots of successful tracking today.

"How's your mouth?" she asked Horcrux. Evidently, the food had done the trick. "Good." She paused, then said, "Think I'm gonna take an afternoon siesta. See you around, Horcrux." To Floki, she said, "Coming?" It was up to him. Either way, Wildfire woofed a farewell and began plodding off in search of somewhere warm and quiet to catch a few Zs.

Floki swiveled an ear towards Horcrux as he swallowed the last bite of his snack, giving a nod when the other male verified that he was feeling better after the stinkbug incident. He wouldn't have minded chatting with Horcrux a bit longer and getting to know him, but Wildfire's suggestion of an afternoon nap was equally as appealing, if not more. Now that his belly was full, his eyelids were getting heavy.

"Coming?" she asked, and he replied as he got to his feet. "Yup. It was nice to meet you, Horcrux," he said, flashing a grin at their packmate before following Wildfire.