Swiftcurrent Creek You've Won the Honor of Embarking on a Great and Noble Quest

I'm thinking it might work best to have this thread occur before the pack meeting, but if other threadjoiners have other preferences let me know.  :D

Now was her chance. Talos darted a quick look behind her before she scrambled up and out from the cavernous den that had been both her home and her prison cell for far, far too long now. Momma didn't approve of pups going out on adventures on their own initiative, but on the other hand, what Momma didn't know wouldn't hurt her, right? Right. Her brothers didn't seem to be paying much attention—how any of those suckers could stand to lay there napping when they had the chance to grab their freedom and run, Talos surely didn't know, but whatever. That just meant she could hog the whole great big adventure pie lying just outside their doorstep all to herself, then, and Talos seized upon the feast eagerly.

She had been practicing her stumbling walk in the safety of the den, going round and round and round until she and likely everyone else around her were driven 'round the bend in a more metaphorical sense as well. Her first attempt at a breakout hadn't gone so well, but Talos was determined to make this one count, this time. She had to pause for a moment in the dazzling sunlight arrowing down from on high, but forged determinedly ahead even before she'd quite managed to blink the sunspots from her hazy blue eyes, forcing her still-all-too-inept legs to obey her will. She suppressed an indignant yelp as an uncooperative log jumped up out of nowhere to jab her shin, and with a muffled growl chomped her teeth down upon the object in punishment the instant her vision cleared enough to let her aim. She chewed on the woodsy assaulter only briefly before turning her attention eagerly to the wider world beyond it. Now where would I be hiding, if I was Adventure?

With a stumbling hop she scooched past the small log and marched onward. She couldn't quite muster a proper wolf-trot yet but she bumbled along at a suprisingly brisk clip nonetheless. Her nose was afire and her eyes wide with delight; she shoved her stubby muzzle deep into a small thicket of grass and breathed in deep. Her tail wiggled with delight, a ridiculous flailing worm of black that didn't quite seem to know where to go, but her pace and mien were more determinedly businesslike. She didn't let any of the distractions stop her for longer than a few moments, as glancing behind her once again she knew she had to put some distance between her and home if she was to have a chance at staying out here long enough for any real adventures to find her. It wasn't until her eager twitching nose picked up an entirely new mingling of scents that she detoured in a beeline toward it and then stopped with paws akimbo. Delight wreathed her face as a thrilled Talos drank in the half an antler that lay angled on the ground before her, whence some bigger wolf whose scent she didn't recognize had left it for the moment. The strong scent of that other coupled with the fresh teethmarks indicated pretty clearly that this antler was already someone else's prized possession, but Talos didn't let that slow her down as she stumbled forward and half-fell atop the glorious find while her own tiny teeth overeagerly overreached the prize. She scooped the branching tines in close to her chest with one clumsy paw as she bit blissfully down upon a different branching of it more successfully this time. With a series of small, satisfied puppy-growls she hauled the antler several feet away before she had to pause and release the thing for a moment, spending a minute's panting thinking that this thing was heavier and more awkward than she had anticipated. But worth it! she reminded herself as she dove in for another bite whilst her nostrils bathed and exalted in the sybaritically delicious scent.

Akatosh was good at pushing the limits, but once he got an idea of where they were, he usually didn't cross them.  Usually.  This was one of those times where he definitely wasn't, mostly because someone else had just faded into the light outside.  How dare they.  Of course it was his sister!

The young boy trundled after her, awkward paws pacing along on her trail.  He wasn't exactly fast, but he was a bit more careful than Talos was, laser focused on her distant dark silhouette and the trail she left behind.  She wasn't supposed to leave!  He'd have to drag her back (even if she was like a gigantic monster).  And of course, he wasn't thinking about what mom (or dad) might say.  Akatosh yipped at her, but she obviously wasn't stopping.

Finally he caught up, but that was only because Talos had stopped at some weird stick and had been messing around with that.  Akatosh came up behind her, and with a tiny puppy-snarl, lunged at Talos' tail.  Ghhraar!  He'd drag her home!

This post appears to be collecting italics at an alarming rate but whatevs.  :P 

He was following her, again. Talos wrinkled her nose and let out a quiet whuff of indignation. Akatosh was such a pain: anytime she found any sort of fun anywhere, that particularly bratty brother of hers seemed as if he felt duty-bound to keep her from having that fun. She snorted and with a mighty effort hauled the antler another few feet away as she saw him approaching closer, his beady little eyes darting about like he was looking for any other days he could ruin too, she thought uncharitably. She loftily ignored his offended little yip. Her lungs were bigger than his; if he was going to insist on getting into a yipping contest he ought know by know who'd win that. Talos was more concerned about what he might do than any noises he'd make, though her eyes also flickered behind him to make sure he wasn't attracting any other, more genuinely dangerous attention.

 But Talos couldn't multi-task all that well, with both chomping on the antler and avoiding her obnoxious interfering little brother on her mind. Her hindquarters danced excitably around, and her front end less so (weighed down as it was by the chunk of antler); Akatosh showed a sly glimmer of cunning as he toddled around to her rear and went for the slightly harder target. Hhhgggrowff! protested Talos, as she realized where he was headed. First off, this was her antler, she'd found it, and she wasn't about to let him touch it. Secondly, she'd worked hard to get out of that musty ol' den, and she wasn't about to let some stinkin' brother she quite literally looked down on tell her when it was time to go home! Never! She scuttled her butt away from him, out of reach of his first lunge. Her radius of mobitlity was still hampered by that anchoring antler she was pivoting around, however; he didn't have much farther to go to get his teeth into her now-half-limp stubby black tail. Talos squealed, and finally let go of her prize, to spin awkwardly about and bat at her brother. Rrrowgerrowgermowgerrawrf! she half-snarled, half-screeched at him, and then to make her meaning all the clearer shoved sternly at him with her nearer paw even as she lurched her head around his farther side to try and grab his ear. That'd teach him a lesson all right, if she could get a twisting hold on that bit of Akatosh! Then she spotted the log that was quite similar to the one she'd tripped over earlier. It lay almost directly behind them, and with malicious fury Talos tried to next ram the mottled brown brat toward it. Serve him right, and if he tripped over it maybe he'd think for a change about something other than chewing on her pretty little tail and tattletaling to elders, the officious little jerk!

Of course, he didn't want the antler really, he just wanted to drag his sister on back to the den since she was being a BAD PUPPY, OMG. COME HOME THIS INSTANT.  Either way, Talos easily yanked her tail out of his grip as she spun around to growl at him.  He stumbled forwards a step as he was tugged along a few inches, but retreated back as she growled.  Well, Talos was way more pissed off about her tail or whatever than he was about her running off, that was for sure.  Akatosh still wasn't the most hideously coordinated pup, and though he growled back at her, nose crinkling, his further retreat caused him to fall back on his rump without the aid of any plant life.  That interrupted his growl with a small squeak, but he apparently wasn't going to move any more from his new seat so his little growl started up again.  DEAL WITH IT, SIS.  Like uggghh, what was her issue?!  They were supposed to stay at the den but she never listennneeedd!  Honestly, though, he was totally ready if she tried to push the issue some more -- he wasn't gonna totally back down without a fight.

Talos gave her brother the biggest, smuggest smile she could possibly manage—while still keeping the antler clamped firmly between her little needle teeth, that is. Her triumphant smirk was somewhat hampered by the large tines jutting up in her way, but the self-satisfied crinkling at the corners of her eyes would probably give it away even if her mouth was somewhat—obscured. Hah-hah, dumb little interfering brother down on his rump in the mud. It was surely only what he deserved! She hoped he stayed there, forever, and thought long and hard about what he'd done to deserve such a fate. Srrsvvnnrrragh rah, she told him snippily, in an unimpressive and unintelligible comeback that was even more garbled than her initial sneering smirk.

Her tail waved in a small, lazy sort of taunting manner itself as well, quite glad to be out from the maw of the Puppy Enforcer of Doom. She growled right back, both to respond and to threaten: Talos was here to have adventures and collect the spoils, and no one, especially not her brother, was allowed to touch the stuff she had (so far as she was concerned) legitimately earned! Her teeny puppy teeth were not going to be able to etch her name into the thing, that was for sure, but it certainly wasn't going to be for lack of trying. She dug her fangs in as deep and hard as she could get 'em, and loosed her next growl at the antler itself as she gave it another mighty tug and it stubbornly resisted budging. She yanked and yanked, and threw her whole body into it, at which point it finally moved a half-turn away from Akatosh, only to lodge itself up against another inconvenient branch some irritating spoiler of a tree had insisted upon dropping there.

Talos loosed another, higher-pitched noise of incoherent indignation at the thing as she made good her grip once more and pulled mightily upon the treasure—she was going to hoard this thing far, far away from nosy interfering brotherly nuisances, she was, even if it took all day and night! The antler obviously didn't want to bend to her will however—with the ultimate result that instead, it broke. Talos finally managed to free a tine and a half, but the sudden lack of resistance as they snapped unexpectedly loose sent her tumbling nose over tail in turn, her yip of indignation audible but muffled by the tip of the antler which she still adamantly refused to let go.

As annoyed as he was, Akatosh wasn't just gonna leave her there.  Maybe if he went and tried to tug the antler back to the den she'd finally behave or something.  Scowling, he tried to think up a good plan with his tiny brain, merely watching her from where he'd ended up plopping down.  And then she fell.

Even without proper access to words, schadenfreude still existed, and the young boy started cackling at his dumb sister getting her just desserts.  Maybe if she fell on her face more often, she'd learn to not be a jerk and be perfectly reasonable like everyone else.  Akatosh hopped back on his feet, grinning devilishly.  She couldn't take the whole thing now, either!  After all, wolf pups didn't usually come with two mouths to carry extra things with.  And not to mention she also couldn't bite him if she kept carrying that around!  HA.

From her upside-down vantage point, Talos could see her brother clumping stubbornly after her again. No way: she wasn't about to let him even think about stealing her stuff! Grrraarhhawruhrr-rrfah! she tried to yell at him, her intelligibility not in the least improved by the bit of antler in her teeth or the ground pressing uncooperatively on her stubby little muzzle and even a little onto her nose. She got a little between her teeth as she wrinkled her nose and bared the pointy little things in Akatosh's direction, but that was fine: so long as he got the message loud and clear she was willing to make a few such sacrifices.

It worked, too...sorta. He stopped in his tracks and just looked at her, making no attempt to go after either piece of her precious broken antler, but then he started laughing instead. Well that wasn't acceptable at all, either. A disgruntled Talos took a moment figuring out how to untangle her limbs and stand properly upright again—darn legs, why couldn't they just properly obey her psychic commands, along with everyone else while they were at it?!—and snorted the bit of mud from her nares.

After the quickest of mental once-overs to make sure she hadn't left any important knotted limbs behind or anything, ignoring the broad smear of dirt that changed half her cobby little face from black to brown, she launched herself in Akatosh's direction. He'd already closed most of the distance himself; in a few mighty strides she was right beside him and ready for payback time. But he was right, unfortunately, about the antler tines: they got right in the way of Talos biting properly down on the brat, curse it all. She wasn't about to drop the thing where he might be able to reach it, though, oh no. Instead she somewhat ineffectually went around him in a squiggly half-loop, teeth speedily but halfheartedly grabbing at the most conveniently sticky-outy bits of him as the opportunities presented themselves, and swinging her big black paws in wide walloping arcs to try and make up for her jaw's pathetic attempts. There was, however, one bit of Akatosh that might be able to be squished in beside her tightly-clutched treasure, and that was the very tip of his tail—the very same tail that Talos was whipping around to now and quickly made a freshly determined grab for.

As she figured out her evil plan, Akatosh was pondering one of his own.  Along with bouncing about joyfully as she got more and more irritated.  That was good fun.  Put that jerk in her place!  He kept a few feet away -- pacing around in half-circles to make her feel threatened and reeling away when she turned to face him.  It was a much better game than anything she'd made up. 

When she spun the final time, he broke away from where he'd been pacing, running a bit back towards the den.  He slowed for a moment to look back to see if she was gonna follow or if he'd have to harass her some more.  He wasn't going to let her get too close -- it was more fun, and safer, to give her a fairly wide berth and play keep-away.  If he was lucky, maybe his brothers would show up and they could all gang up on her!

He was taunting her. He was taunting her, omg. Talos's frustration was increasing by the moment, along with her noise levels—Hhhgrawrr rrowggrrosh! she yelled at him, as best she could around her bony mouthful as she took another furious swipe at his tail. Her stinkin' brother seemed to know just what buttons to puch, though, and to have the most abominally perfect timing in swishing his tail just within reach before whooshing it hastily away the instant she made a dive for it. Not that any of her divebombings were having any real great effect here, with her pointy little teeth that were her greatest weapon currently rather preoccupied. Akatosh wove and bobbed and generally ran circles around her, with his little dark-tipped tail whipping about like a fishing lure. And just like a hungry fish, Talos couldn't resist the bait: she brought all her weight to bear as she lunged after the thing again and again, her brother skillfully drawing her ever closer to the den as Talos only grew more frustrated and reckless with every leap.

She had some cognizance of just what he was doing, on some level, but at this point it was the principle of the thing, really. It was totally unfair that her much-smaller brother should be able to get ahold of her beautiful tail so easily and often, while holding his own consistently just out of reach! Surely this time, she would get him—no, maybe this lunge. And so on and so forth, until Talos abruptly stopped, blinking, and her rising growls abruptly ceased as the looming shadow of the den entryway swallowed up their own smaller puppy-shadows. What the hell...she didn't think they had gotten nearly that close to the den again. Ugh. FINE. Whatever. Pinning back her ears, Talos stalked inside in disgust and flopped down in a secluded corner to gnaw sulkily on her bit of antler. You win, little brother...THIS time. Hmmph!

It seemed to be working!  It was certainly a good thing she was way too pissed off to notice where they were going -- it let Akatosh achieve his goal.  They were gonna be home and hopefully end up not in trouble!  He didn't like getting in trouble, after all.  The only problem was he didn't know if anyone would see him dragging Talos all the way back...  Oh well.

Eventually the den appeared and his sister finally realized what happened.  Ha!  He'd totally won.  Get rekt dummy.  While she flounced into the den, he ran a few circles around in front of the entry, yipping happily. Neener neener neener!  He'd have to savor this a bit before he also went back in -- they probably weren't supposed to be outside for so long, and they'd definitely wandered too far.  He wasn't gonna try and push things more in case mom or dad found their trail and got angry.  Nah, he was just gonna pretend nothing happened assuming they didn't just show up in the next few seconds.  Nope.  That trail of them wandering off and wandering back?  Fake scents.  As truthful as The Onion.  Just ignore how smug that one particular pup was...