Ravensblood Forest High time for some camaraderie

Would love to chill with some STM members I haven't yet met. @Ezekiel & @Makui. Also this can double as our hunting thread @Anita. AW though, so if you wanna pop in you can do so.

Silvertip's size had fluctuated as of late. On the bad end of things, many were now gone, whether of their own accord or taken by death. Mason, who he had never met. June, found dead in a field. One of Zaria's pups--he had heard the mother's mournful howl. On the good end, they had added to their ranks several wolves of talent. Ezekiel brought brute strength, Niita kindness, Anita cunning. He had not yet met the new wolf Steady had admitted into the pack just recently, but he felt this latest recruit was just as worthy as the last.

Speaking of Steady, news had spread that the big black wolf had ascended to alpha, with Zaria taking a backseat as beta while she cared for her pups. Phocion thought that was a good decision. Steady had a fine head on his shoulders, was fair and just with everyone he dealt with, and was strong and capable. Silvertip would thrive under his reign, Phocion was sure of it.

The white wolf mused through all of this as he trotted through the dark forest, shadowed by Silvertip to the southwest and by some mountain range on the opposite side. It was calm enough in there, but the reddish sap running down the tree trunks lent it an unsettling feeling--he supposed that was why they called it Ravensblood, that and the sounds of those black birds scattered throughout the branches above. Phocion was hoping he could find prey here, as well as companionship. There were wolves he had yet to meet formally in his own pack, and so he tipped his head back and let out a howl, calling for several to join him here.

The rust coloured male was fiddling again. This time, he had placed a rock on the ground, with a stick laying on top of it. He grasped a pebble from between his forepaws and placed it delicately on the side of the stick touching the ground, careful to keep it balanced. Then, tail wagging, he brought his paw down quickly on the opposite side of the stick. It bent like a see-saw, and the pebble flew into the air-and landed in the wolf's eye. He yipped and hopped backward, surprised, and rubbed his paw against his face in a rather ungainly manner. 

A hwl rang out, and Makui stopped his rubbing, it was a call of summoning. He got to his heat, shaking his head as if somehow that would alieviate the pain, and headed quickly toward the howl. He came across a pale wolf, a male, fairly quickly. He smiled his trademark tooth grin and dipped his head in greeting. "Hellooo!" He drawled in a friendly way. oops. Should he show respect toward this male? He was obviously high ranked than him... "My name's Makui. Glad to meet you!"

Anita heard a familiar howl and figured it was a summoning for a hunting trip. The reddish she-wolf traced the noise, nearing a dark forest with looming trees. The smell of sap was strong, and she worried she wouldn't be able to smell prey over its overwhelming fragrance. A pale-furred wolf reassured Anita that she wasn't lost, and she quickly ran to meet up with Phocion before she could lose sight of him. Getting lost in this ominous forest was not something she wanted to do.

"I made it here without dying, which is something," Anita grinned. She noticed another wolf with a rust-colored pelt; another male, but he seemed very friendly. "I don't think we've met yet," she said, dipping her head towards Makui.

"I'm Anita, nice to meet you." The she-wolf was new to greetings, but was reassured that she'd have practice with it in the future. Afterall, she was naturally more on the sociable side. Anita turned back to take in her surroundings--observations always aided her in hunting. She stayed standing as she waited for the others to arrive, feeling a bit more safe in the sinister forest at the thought of the others arriving.

Lol all your wolves are so friendly, and then there's Zeke <3

Ezekiel heard the howl and assumed it was just gonna be him and another wolf. The howl was Phocion, a wolf who Zeke had never met really. He had hunted a bear with Phocion and Steady, with the help of a giant other pack. While he didn't specifically want to meet anyone, he was totally up for a hunt, so off he went. So far he'd made a friend in Steady, who was the new alpha it seemed, and Krypton. Honestly that was enough for Zeke. He had no idea that he was about to meet a lot more people than just Phocion.

He traveled out of Silvertip and towards the coast. He soon found himself in a forest with huge sequoia trees. The vegetation on the ground was pretty dead, but the massive sequoias were doing alright. They were strange though, it was like they were bleeding. He had to stop to sniff at the blood, and found that it was just weird sap. He'd never seen anything like this before. Gross Was his first thought, before he continued on his way towards Phocion.

Finally he found him, but it was definitely not just Phocion. Two other wolves he'd never met were there. Who the fuck. He thought in frustration, normal cold blank stare plastered on his face. He gave Phocion a side glance, staring at him as if to ask who the hell these guys were. He then turned to the others and padded towards them, head held high. He sniffed both of them over, checking their scents to find that they both faintly smelled of his own pack. So they were newbies. Newbies that he didn't really want to meet but oh well.

The large boy stepped back and have the two new Silvertip wolves a quick nod. I'm Ezekiel. It's nice to meet you. He grumbled, clearly he didn't actually find it nice to meet them. He was ready to hunt, that was all he wanted to do at the moment.

Uh oh Zeke seems to have an attitude. Anita's not going to like the competition

Anita turned around as another wolf strolled into the area. Another male, and a bit bigger too. Obviously, he was not going to be friendly, and she dreaded that he would make this hunt a pain. She rolled her eyes as the new male gave them a sweeping look of faux coldness. She was not about to have that. "Are you surprised to see more wolves that just you here, or are you too busy thinking about yourself for it to matter?"

Anita knew that she was already being too aggressive for someone who just joined the pack. She had to tone it down or else she'd be back out by herself again. As Ezekiel sniffed her and the other newcomer, she stepped on his paw, bringing down all of her weight before quickly jumping off like it wasn't intended. "Oh my goodness! I'm so bad at greetings, forgive me." She glanced at Phocion, hoping that she wasn't already being too much.

"It's nice to meet you too Ezekiel, I'm Anita. I hope we can become good friends."

Ezekiel just informed me about the posting order, and I apologize for skipping a bunch of people. I totally forgot about it and hopefully it won't happen again!

It's all good Anita! I've made the same mistake before :) It's also kinda my bad on not replying for so long; been terribly busy. From now on let's keep the same order as originally meant--me, @Makui, Anita & Zeke. Chill?

The wolves of his pack appeared, first Makui, his exuberance infectious, then the lovely Anita and finally, big-framed Ezekiel, looking a bit dour as he surveyed his packmates. Playing the mediator between them all, he greeted them one-by-one as they arrived, resisting a snort as Anita "accidentally" trod on Ezekiel's large paw. As delta wolf, he ought to reprimand her, but he didn't want to dull her spunky nature so soon before a hunt.

"Thanks for coming along, guys," he said amicably, smiling at all of them. "If we haven't already met, my name is Phocion. This will be a good hunt, hopefully. We should be able to take back a lot of prey to Zaria and her pups."

Without waiting for any response, he began to stalk through the woods, rueing his snowy coat for its lack of camouflage. To his delight, a brown-furred hare bounced into view, tiny nose wrinkled, rooting around for tiny plants to munch on. Phocion waited until it stood still, then pounced, paws outstretched to try and trap the creature in his grasp. Unfortunately, the famine had taken its toll on his speed and strength, and the hare bounded away easily, leaving him breathing hard in exasperation.

Makui noticed some tension between two of the others, a hardened grey male and another pretty female. His gaze strayed to her for a moment, before snapping back to Phocion as he spoke. Nodding his assent, the ginger male flashed a quick smile at the female. Anita, she said. He rather liked that name. His gazed passed over her pretty pelt once more before glancing quickly at the buff male. He followed Phocion when he begun to move, staying close but behind the male. They quickly chanced upon a hare, which Phocion promptyly missed. For a moment, Makui thought he could have done better, but pushed the thought aside. They were starving, hungry, and missing prey was common. He kept his eyes peeled instead for any other prey they may chance upin.

Sorry for the late reply!

Anita walked forward, eyes peeled for any rustle or flash of movement in the undergrowth. The forest was silent except for the chattering of birds--most likely ravens. Anita did feel a bit worried that she would mess something up, which would not make the best impression on some of the more unfamiliar pack members. Behind her, a tree limb snapped off, falling into the leaves below with a loud crunch. Thinking prey was near, Anita whipped around, ready to give pursuit. "False alarm, it was just a stick."

The red she-wolf trotted up to the fallen branch to see if it had landed on something. Yes Anita. The branch fell on a deer and killed it, so we can all eat now, she scolded herself for her foolishness. However, she did notice animal scat, and it wasn't stale. She looked towards Makui and Phocion, disregarding Zeke. 

"I think we may be on to something."

I read a bit about the Famine, and it said that around this time (June 1-30) that game prey is becoming more common? I'll leave it to you guys to figure out how you want this to play out!

You are totally fine Anita <3 This thread is going to be fun! Anita as for the prey though, I think we should stick to small game for now, so the bwp doesn't get messed up but it's totally up to you all.

Excuse? Did she just? Ezekiel hated her already. Nobody had ever been so rude to him, and as he rounded them to check them out, she stepped on his paw. Unacceptable. Its nice to meet you too Ezekiel, I'm Anita. I hope we can become good friends. She said, sass clear in her amber eyes. [i]I hate you, you're awful I hope you fall off a cliff.[/i] Sure. He said through gritted teeth, ears flattened and with an annoyed look on his face. Pretty or not, she was rude. Besides, Zeke had been taught not to be swayed by beautiful females. His sister had kind of ruined girls for him anyway.

Phocion gave his little speech, and Zeke gave him a respectful nod. Now Phocion he liked, the white wolf talked a lot but he was respectful and easygoing. He wasn't sure about this Makui guy yet, but they'd just have to see. Without another word the hunt ensued. He watched Phocion miss a rabbit and he couldn't hold back a small snort. He thought it was funny when his friends failed, but it was funnier when his enemies failed. If only it were Anita who'd missed the rodent. He shook his head, ready to get in the game. 

After a bit of searching, he came upon a plump raven picking its way around. Ravens were hard to catch, but he'd try for it. After preparations, he leaped forwards, teeth barred and ready to snap at the bird. With a squawk, it flapped its black wings in a frenzy and he caught only a stray feather in its wake. He hit the ground and dropped the tail feather to the ground with an angry grunt. The next prey he went for wouldn't get away so easily.

Phocion watched the goings-on impassively, reacting to Ezekiel's miss with merely a flick of one white ear. He knew he ought to try again, but he was starting to tire of small game--when would the herds be back?! Instead, he padded over to Anita with a small smile, bringing his muzzle close to her ear as he prepared to whisper.

"Don't make an enemy of Zeke," he breathed, voice quiet as a summer breeze. "He's not worth pissing off. Trust me." He gave the pretty female a smile, softening his words, and took a step back, waiting for someone else to try their hand at hunting.

Makui he liked, though the wolf seemed a bit of a goofball. Then again, he thought sardonically, he supposed he could be a bit weird, as well. Ezekiel meant well but was a bit grumpy; Anita had a plethora of sass. All in all, this wasn't a bad pack to belong to. Hopefully they were as good at hunting as they were at bantering back and forth.

hopefully it's ok if I can go ahead and post?

He missed the bird. Mister Ego missed the bird. Ok, so it wasn't that funny, but a small part in Anita was very satisfied, though it was only a small part. She stifled a grin from coming to the surface of her features, suddenly noticing Phocion's presence. Very close to her. In fact, he was whispering something in her ear. She was a bit too baffled by his advance to catch his words, but the male was muttering something about Ezekiel. 

Anita rolled her eyes, a smile on her lips. She was turned away from Ezekiel so he couldn't see her dramatic facial expressions. The she-wolf leaned in towards Phocion, exchanging a few words herself. "Sure he's not worth pissing off, but he sure can piss off. If you know what I mean," she grinned slyly, slowing easing away from Phocion. She took a step back, dropping her muzzle to the ground. She had picked up the slight scent of rabbit, but decided to go for Ezekiel's bird. 

It had settled a few yards from where it had been before. Anita slunk towards it, making sure to keep herself low to the ground. When close enough, she pounced. The bird scrabbled in her paws, attempting to flee. Unfortunately, it was successful in doing so, and flew away frantically. "Damn birds, am I right?" she muttered under her breath to nobody in particular. She failed to catch the bird but also failed to catch Ezekiel's bird. It would have been great if she had managed to do so, but it had already flown away.

Yeah, I guess since Makui left we should go ahead and finish this thread :)

Ezekiel's lip quivered in frustration when he saw Phocion and Anita conversing. Clearly about him. He looked towards the male, hoping for some back up. You know like bros first and whatever. But Phocion only whispered in Anita's ear. Ugh, flirts. Always with the flirts. Zeke watched as Anita went after his bird next. It had landed on the ground a bit away, and the dumb ginger female thought she could catch it. Well she didn't, he Zeke allowed himself a small smirk of satisfaction. It would've been very embarrassing had she caught the bird, but she didn't so ha.

After a moment, Ezekiel realized he was done hunting. Makui had already left, and Phocion and Anita were having fun doing their own flirty thing, so he stepped back. I'm going to head back to the pack. See you around Phocion. Anita. He nodded to the white male, then gave a disapproving glance to Anita before turning back to Silvertip Mountain. They didn't know it yet, but this was the beginning of a rivalry.

wrapping up this thread if that's ok!

She didn't catch the bird. This had more significance than merely missing a catch. Anita shook her head, sure that Ezekiel was doing one of his disgusting smirks that drove her mad, which he had no right to do at all. "Well, it seems we're all done here. A pretty good hunt, if you ask me." Actually, it wasn't. They didn't really catch anything, but she only realized that after she spoke, causing her to curse under her breath.

"See you around. Ezekiel. Satan." Anita said seriously, dipping her head to the male. She resisted the urge to leap at his throat after being given a disapproving look. Anita decided to wait until he was out of sight before making her leave.