Great Bear Wilderness Windy Prancer

ooc: @Uma 

It was almost a month since Birk had joined Redhawk caldera and, while he did not know all of the folks there well, hadn't had a reason to regret his choice of the new family. Cubs were amusing and silly, the parents decent and characterwise - friendlier and more open than his own family had been. Perhaps it was the warmer climate that had done the trick.

However, now and then he would make short trips out of the territory to scavenge tiny morsels and leftovers from other predator meals. Sometimes he was lucky, more often he was not, but it was a fun thing to do. Quite relaxing too, because it required focus, but not much thinking. Today, if someone wanted to find the scruffy, grayish-yellowish white wolf, they would seek him in the open fields near caldera, sniffing and searching for mice.

thanks so much for starting this <3

Uma pounced like a fox, her front paws crashing down upon the tiny body. Several high-pitched squeaks issued from beneath her digits, but with a bit of added pressure, the mouse was crushed, and therefore killed. The pale she-wolf removed her paws from on top of the lifeless little creature, dropped her snout towards the earth, and began to chew, her ears splayed comically to the side. The bones crunched within the pressure of her sharp ivories, and in little more than a minute, she had swallowed the mouse whole.

It would take many more mice before her hunger would be even partially sated, however there was no shortage of mice scurrying underfoot. She headed forward, stalking along, ears pricked to capture any sound of small woodland creatures which would make decent snacks. 

Since the wind blew away from her, Uma did not immediately detect the presence of the male currently engaged in similar activities. Instead, she spotted him a short way ahead and towards the left of her. Ever-curious, Uma trotted forward until the  moonwashed man was directly in front of her, peering at him with her strange pink eyes. "Hello..." she greeted cautiously.

ooc: I apologize that we never got to the spree and that I have kept you waiting!

"Oh... hi!" Birk was taken aback by the sudden appearance of a she-wolf that shared many similar features with him and at the same time with her odd coloured eyes and scarred body was an entirely different being of her own. But the most marked difference between them was that she smelled of food - a very recent meal - while he just reeked of the sickness he had gone through weeks earlier and the old deer-hide that he had stashed at the same place he slept and kept chewing on it, when there was absolutely nothing else to busy his stomach with. 

"Did you want anything from me?" he decided to ask, since she had been the first to approach and talk to him.

No need to apologize <3... sorry about this horrendous wait.

The snowy male seemed surprised by her presence, but she easily detected a chipper, friendly demeanor. There was the scent of illness about him, such that Uma ordinarily would have recoiled from. However, he seemed healthy enough in this  moment, and in the interest of bettering herself against her inherently rude nature, she opted to stay and exchange pleasantries, although her bland expression held no hint of a smile.

She tilted her head curiously at the question. No... she spoke, almost questioningly. Why would I need anything from you? She snickered softly, though her tail swayed in good nature. Do you need anything from me? It was a cordial sort of teasing, although if he had any good ideas, she thought she might consider them.

"That's good," Birk smiled and though he had held no ill thoughts about the stranger's intentions, when she had decided to approach him, he did feel relieved that there was nothing particular that she wanted from him. "I mean - for a moment there I thought that you might be hungry and want to eat me," he joked. "You do smell of food, but... well, sometimes a stomach can be an abyssmal pit that can never be filled," now he sounded too smart for his own good - he marked that down and hoped that he had used the "smart word" he had learned recently in the right context. 

"Well, since you ask - what do you have to offer? I might be up for a trade," Birk asked in a playfully-business-like manner, tilting his head to the side,

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A pale, invisible brow cocked bemusedly at the use of the weighty word; perhaps this boy was smarter than he looked. Are you serious? she wondered with an absent chuckle and thump of her tail. I am many things, but a cannibal is not among them. It did give food for thought however {no pun intended}, and so she pursued the subject with a birdlike cant of  her pretty head. 

Have you even eaten your own kind? There was no judgement in the question, merely curiosity. Would you do so if you were forced to? She would wait for his answer before she made up her own mind on the matter; in the meantime, another query was requested of her, one which warranted a shake of her head. I have nothing, she admitted flatly, although she did wonder what his own available wares might be. 

I have captured a few mice, but I ate them all.

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"Grave hunger is a very powerful motivator, don't you think?" Birk asked with a wry smile and looked away. Although he had spent only year and a half in the ice fields, every single day had been fight for your survival. And when the winter came, when it got really hard... well, let's say that one stopped caring about the moral side of the things. Out there everyone fended for themselves and, if eating a dead wolf or ganging upon an unlucky loner was one the things that guaranteed your survival. You did not debate much with your conscience. Nor - with belly fully - did you ponder much about your actions. You had to do, what you had to do. 

But those were not pleasant memories and Birk shook his head to push them back, where they belonged. "What about a mental trade then - a wisdom, a story, perhaps?" he pushed the trading matter further.

Uma nodded in agreement, even as her ears twitched in irritation. Her intention had been to begin a conversation, and yet the young wolf had, in her perspective, ignored her questions and closed the subject. It was difficult to keep her feelings to herself, but with a clench of her jaw she was able to let it go. Old dogs could learn new tricks after all.

Well... she began, biting her lower lip in thought, slightly insulted that he thought he could offer her "wisdom." What sort of wisdom could he possibly have at his age? These musings, too, Uma kept to herself, twitching the tip of her silken tail. I like a good story. With that, the Andrews woman challenged him to entertain her.

"You misunderstood me, miss," Birk said with a light laugh, when he sensed the wave of annoyance coming and passing within the she-wolf. He could not tell though, whether it was because of his refusal to continue the subject about cannibalism or that he had asked her to offer something other than the mice she had already eaten. After all - in an unusual surge of deep thoughts - all people had something to offer. Nothing came, when one did not exist anymore. 

"I was asking, if you had a story or wisdom to offer? In that case I may think of a proper trade."

Oh, she said, frowning, her voice deadpan to mask the embarrassment that she felt boiling in her belly and rising up to warm her face. Uma did not like  being caught in a mistake, and this situation was no different, her delicate pride damaged. She attempted to brush the feeling off internally, but it lingered, even as she hastened to provide the proper answer to the question which she now understood correctly. 

I can offer you wisdom, or advice, the singer offered, willing to give him whatever information he sought, in spite of her fluke, if for no other reason than to get something out of him in return. I have been around a while, definitely longer than you. What would you like to know?

"Would you mind, if I got to know you first" Birk asked, thinking that testing the waters first would let him find out, where to find the golden fish - in this case - piece of information that I would be useful for him.

"And to make it fair - for every question I ask you, you can ask one for me in return?" 

They talked for a little while longer, however, they ran out of subjects quickly and soon parted their ways never to see each other again.