There were sharp tugging and pulling sounds, the sound of pelt being ripped and shredded as the male pulled the pelt from the hare he'd killed and spat it out. He was somewhat particular about his eating habits, and preferred to skin the entire critter- providing it was a small one- before eating it. The pelt was torn into small bits and left for some other opportunistic creature, whether it be a coyote who didn't mind eating the skin and fur of a creature or a bird who wished to pull the fur out of the bits of skin and use that for its nest. Either way, Lawless didn't care- he was done with it. He hated the feeling of fuzzy stuff in his mouth.
Had Katrina been pregnant he might have taken it to her, and had it been later in the fall he might have stored it somewhere but as it was, and neither being the case, he settled down to devour the meal once it was skinned. He decided, after stripping a bit of meat from the bones, to save half of it. This being the case, it took him very little time to devour half of the rabbit before he picked up the remains and carried them with him with the intention of finding a fellow pack member.
He had to reconnect again; and for sure, the best way to make connections was through food.
Just as she was considering howling to grab the attention of her pack mates, Turq smelled blood. She began to track the scent, which eventually led her to cross paths with a large black wolf. He had the remains of a rabbit stuffed in his mouth. The tawny she-wolf halted about a dozen yards away, scrutinizing the stranger. Although she didn't much like males, she was so hungry for company that she decided to overlook it. Besides, he had food.
After briefly meeting his shockingly yellow eyes, Turq's gaze dropped to the meat dangling from his jaws. "Hey," she said, "if you share that with me, I'll be your slave for the next hour." Her black-tipped tail swished and she smirked, indicating the joking nature of her proposition.
The male did not have to travel very far to find a packmate, and found himself noticing her just as she began her approach after having come from out of sight. She headed straight for him so he cut the distance by turning toward her and beginning his lumbering walk. He was immediately taken by her markings- she looked almost foxlike, with a curious pattern of black points contrasting against her vibrant fur. He did not think her markings unnatural, but rather found them quite pretty, very bold.
Her eyes were the colour of the sky in the morning, a bright, light shade of cerulean blue. He noticed how they dropped at the sight of the half-eaten hare which he'd already begun to place on the ground as she spoke. He'd barely set it on the ground, though, before his breath caught in his throat at the ridiculousness of her offer and he choked somewhat, and then tried to turn the sound into a cough..Which ended up being somewhat of a snort as well.
"No need for that." He said quietly, stepping away from the hare."I was planning on surrendering it to the first packmate I met." He said, as an explanation. There was a brightness about her that reminded him of his brother- a daredevil nature that he could sense just from the vibrancy of her being. He nodded at the kill and stepped back, easing himself into a seated position as he licked the last bit of taste from his teeth.
He stepped back and fell onto his haunches. Appreciating her space, Turquoise looked at him every so often as she made quick work of the rabbit. When she finished, she also took a few steps back and reclined. She stared at him rather openly now as she licked her lips. She realized with a bit of a start that he vaguely resembled Rivet. It's just 'cause he's black, you friggin' racist, she quipped inwardly, smirking at her own inner monologue.
"So what's your name? I'm Turq," she said after a few beats of silence. "Thanks for the grub," she added, tipping her head fractionally as a sign of gratitude.
Both of Lawless' ears turned back slightly when he was addressed with a sharper sense of humour than what he'd like to have received from someone he'd just offered a small meal to. His brow furrowed lightly at the faint sexist remark she made about males, and took both of these as a sign that the female before him was immature for the age she looked. Not that she looked terribly old, but she looked old enough to know how to respect others, especially those who'd extended an act of kindness to them.
Given that she was quick to pull the offering toward herself and thereupon wolf it down, he didn't interrogate her to see if she'd 'slave it up' for a female, just to see if she was, in fact, being sexist. It wouldn't make much of a difference- Lawless wouldn't have snatched the remains back to himself and said that he'd changed his mind- that he was going to give it to the first non-sexist wolf he met, just to teach her a lesson.
Blatantly she stared at him and he stared back- mainly because he'd been partially offended and didn't want her to get the better of him. So her gaze was evenly met as he refused to defer to someone who was younger, impolite and sexist. She asked who he was before introducing herself and had she not, he would have told her to give her name first, in exchange for the meal. Part of his ego which had been irked settled down a bit when she finally thanked him, though he couldn't tell exactly how earnest she was about it. "Lawless," He said, and for some reason he expected some sort of joke about his name from her- but to keep her from doing so, at least immediately, he nodded to acknowledge her thanks and asked"How long have you been in the pack for?"
Only when he'd answered her questions did she finally get around to his. "I just joined a few days ago. I joined with my girlfriend, Rivet," Turquoise shared. Although she wasn't one to share her personal business openly, she was not at all shy about sharing her relationship status. Especially after being a total jerk to Rivet, she wanted nothing more than to flaunt her girlfriend.
"So keep in mind not to bother either of us with any romantic gestures; we're not interested," she said in the manner of a lighthearted jest, although there was a rude—and, indeed, very sexist—undercurrent to her tone. She gave Lawless a two-second-long sharp look, then grinned to play off the whole thing as a joke.
The already disgruntled male became further annoyed when she answered his question with one of her own, which he decided not to answer at all. While he liked to think he was fairly tolerant, and while they were of the same rank, he didn't feel as though he was being respected even at the base level of being a packmate. This girl was trouble and he wouldn't hang around and have her rely on the rest of the pack to A.) put up with her bullshit and B.) feed her, just in case she was the type who would always be a mooch. And so, with a fairly disappointed and sharp look he stood up silently, refusing to answer her questions about the DeMonte family and Rivets.
She kept talking, saying something about another Rivet- this was her girlfriend and while that surprised Lawless it didn't disgust him. A mere second of reflection later and he felt himself thinking No wonder she's such a brat. She's the type of sexist who seeks superiority, not equality." And when her petty threat came, armed with a stare that Lawless took to be sincere he bared his teeth and growled. "Grow up," He said in a low and quiet voice, but the emphasis placed on each word was with practiced heaviness. She grinned, innocently- and had he not already been wound up he might've perceived the joking nature of her ways, but she'd pushed him too far. Hackles raised and tail lifted, he stared her down now, prepared to punish her into submission should she not apologize, submit or turn her own gaze away.
Yet Turq wasn't simply all talk. He took it upon himself to attempt to dominate her. The she-wolf arched her neck, thrust her black-rimmed ears forward and stabbed the air with a lash of her suddenly stiff tail. Her eyes continued to bore into his, letting him know that she wouldn't be frightened by him, nor would he receive the satisfaction of her submission.
"If I could barf up your rabbit, I would. You think you can push me around just 'cause you offered me food? Just because you can't take a joke? Just because you're a male?" she spat, the tips of her own fangs just barely showing against her black lips.
With her sudden display of defense, Lawless' tail lifted to arch above his back, feathering slightly as the nerves sent a shudder along his spine, just enough to set the hairs standing on end like quills. She spoke but he didn't care to resort to the back and forth of an argument. Lawless did her the courtesy of allowing her to finish speaking- and was yet again reminded that the female was sexist and had judged him simply because he was a male. This had come immediately after he'd done her the service of offering her a free meal- her delayed appreciation and ever-present rudeness meant to him that she'd earned exactly what she was being given.
Without a sound, Lawless closed the small gap between them, but did not attack. His eyes were still engaged with hers, the mesmerizing blue orbs which fiercely held his own. "I gave you food without asking anything in return, and your first reaction is to be rude and immature. And then you begin slinging gender-based insults. Women like you complain about how horrible men are, but you never see that you're the ones who create them with your own slander." He said. His voice was low but brimming with energy. "If you'd said 'thank you,' and hadn't judged me by my body, it wouldn't have come to this." He said, holding his ground, teeth bared only just enough to be ready for use should she decide to attack. He remained strong, dominant, but spoke with an eerie kind of quietness.
"We're not all monsters."
"Did you not hear me when I said 'thanks for the grub,' buddy?" she said with both sarcasm and indignation coloring her voice. "Sorry I'm not sorry that I didn't lap at your chin and nuzzle your balls just 'cause you shared your food. You said yourself that you were going to give it to the first person that came along," she pointed out, though even Turq wasn't quite sure of the point she was trying to make.
"I didn't say you were a monster," she said argumentatively, taking a step backward but keeping their eyes locked. "Can't you take a joke?" she repeated. "Just because my sense of humor isn't your cup of tea doesn't mean you can try to 'put me in my place' or whatever the hell it is you think you're doing right now," she finished icily, her voice disappearing into a thin growl of deepest disapproval.
True, he'd heard her thanks- though it had come after she'd implied that she'd be damned before she did anything for a man. Of course, his emotions were high and things were becoming blown out of proportion. Still, it was a meeting between two packmates and a pecking order had to be established between them since they'd been put at equal rank until such a thing was sorted out. Katrina would have the final say, but a hierarchy would also be established in a natural way, between packmates. Lawless had had enough of this immature woman's foolishness and wanted to show her that he was the more one out of the two of them and wouldn't bow down to her. If it came to a fight, then so be it- but this girl was no role model, in his eyes, and didn't deserve a rank above him.
"There you go, conjuring this stupid delusion- saying I'd need you to nuzzle my balls? I wouldn't have dreamed of such a thing- I would've been fine with civility and politeness." He said. "So you can stop trying to project whatever warped image your imagination can whip up onto me." She'd taken step back- and had he been a misogynist, he would've gained the ground she gave him. Instead, he drew slightly taller, but let her have her space.
"You never called me a monster- but you're making me into one in your own mind." He said. "And yes, I want to put you in your place. Your place is to treat my gender as you'd treat your own." He said. He paused for a beat. "Otherwise, you're no better than the monsters you create."
"Whatever, dude," she said dismissively. "Such psychobabble." She wanted to leave it there, yet she couldn't quite resist arguing. "You know, boyah, it's not your place to tell me where my place is, dick or not." It was probably the fairest point she'd made so far. "I still maintain that you simply cannot take a joke. No, I don't like males particularly—get over it—nor do I like anyone who gives a gift and then throws a hissy fit because my show of gratitude apparently didn't meet his friggin' standards.
I'm just me. I'm real. Sorry I'm not sorry that I don't fit into your ladylike typecasts, Lawless," Turquoise finished on a bitter note, as if his name were a synonym for chauvinist.
--At which point Lawless starts dropping a beat--
(Wants that to happen sooooo badly XD)
So she had a thick skull. And was stubborn- and refused to see that he was right.Of course, he wasn't given much in the way of leeway either, even though his eyes were beginning to feel somewhat dry from glaring at her so continuously. He found it irritating that she chose to stick with her very weak point that he had no sense of humour- yet again, he thought, she was choosing to illustrate him however she wished in her mind. But she seemed to step back a bit from the argument- he hoped, then, that it was because he'd made a point which was true, and she didn't like it. In his mind, her very disdainful 'whatever, dude,' was a surrender. Of sorts.
"You're not funny." He said, quite simply. And it was the truth- she didn't have the same type of humour as he so the statement was honest, rather than being abrasive as it could have been, had he snarled it at her. The thrum of her growl merely reinforced the idea that this girl was nothing but an immature waif who'd obviously had some issues when men in the past and now projected her memories onto other males. "So I guess your humour doesn't meet my standards either." His lips didn't show it, but in his eyes there was a tiny fragment of a smile.
He was quiet for a moment after she finished her little huff."Hardly. I wouldn't want to offend any real ladies by saying you were one of them."
It irritated her when he told her she wasn't funny. "Neither are you," she retorted. "In fact, I think it's pretty safe to say you don't have a sense of humor at all." At his next jab, she smiled sweetly at him, all her teeth showing now. "Believe me when I say I couldn't care less whether I meet your standards." That much could definitely be taken at face value.
His next blow was a low one. Turquoise's eyes narrowed. Then, finally, she looked aside, shaking her head at him. Surprisingly, she didn't say anything in response. She simply kept shaking her head and glaring angrily into the distance. When she finally did face him again, her eyes found his again, still sparking mutinously, letting him know that just because she'd broken eye contact, that wasn't to mean she would back down from her point of view.
"Well, Lawless, you've proven that you're a real classy gentleman," she eventually said in a low, toneless voice, her gemstone eyes momentarily flickering with something like disappointment or maybe pain. Then it was gone and her eyes were nothing but hard chips of colorful stone. Turq commenced to stare at him for several long moments, gaze unwavering.
Then, abruptly, her head lowered—but not in submission. Instead, her throat rippled and she deposited the barely-digested rabbit pulp right at his big black feet. "You make me sick," were her flat, final words of parting before she turned and walked away, head and tail held rigidly, aiming to make a beeline straight for Rivet.
So much for meeting pack mates.
Their insults had quickly gone from being mature and to the point, to becoming quite immature and insensitive. It had been too witty a trap for Lawless to fall into- that weaved by a woman who painted pictures of malicious men and then hung them about the shoulders of the ones she met. And true to the one she'd judged him to be, he'd become as immature as the face in the picture. But he was too angry right now to stop and apologize for being such an idiot.
When his words hit home, she became still and silent, and eventually tore her gaze away to shake her head. She looked as resilient as before, and despite the fire in her bright eyes he was still proud enough of a creature to think he'd won. There, He thought. There- I've won. I'm not so boring am I now, Seattle? But when he saw the tiny glimpse of hurt in Turq's eyes, he simultaneously saw the disappointment in Seattle's. She wouldn't come running back to him, certainly not because he'd hurt another woman through a fickle battle of words and staring. This wouldn't bring her back, nor did it make him any more worthy of her. If anything, this proved her point. There was nothing in him that would keep a woman by his side.
He held her gaze with a cold yellow one of his own, but his disdain was not for her- but himself. And it inflated when his pride kept him from saying anything else to her, even when she regurgitated the meal she'd eaten not so long ago- like a mother would for a helpless baby. She turned and left, leaving him half the winner but even moreso the loser. Wordlessly he turned and kicked a few pawfulls of dirt over the barely digested rabbit remains and moved away from the area.
He couldn't keep driving women away. But he wasn't sure it was a habit he could break.