Duck Lake so i made for the creek, where she and i did meet

@Aria - but AW to anyone else that wants to come in  -- rolls done here - you rly cant make this bleep up - GUESS THE GODS WANT IT!!

it had been no small feat tracking the hind that made her way across the reservation, her left fore dragging as she went. thorn could not believe his luck -- first, to find an elusive and solitary doe, and second of all, to find one that was already weakened by winter's cold bite.

from a distance he surmised she must have an abcsess in the cleft of her heel, for she would not press upon it, and was lame. he did not chance to wonder why, or how, she came upon this misfortune -- he only thanked whatever gods may be for shining favor upon him that windy and cheerless winter day.

he had approached her from the front, knowing his risk for being detected was greater, but the reward for ambushing far more riskless -- for if he came from the front she would not be able to assail him with her hind hooves, and would be forced to gather her limbs under her (particularly the lame one) and spin away -- all of which would take time, giving the soot-black eyjolfur a considerable advantage.

he sprung from the thicket, much like a crocodile might rise from murky depths -- first its nose and prehistoric eyes visible, then its fangs -- and much like his reptilian counterpart his prey was ambushed by surprise and dragged down alive, so that she might struggle in the snow under the force of his grip.

she had not struggled for long before she managed a hind hoof under him -- a resounding smack sounded as her kick connected with skull, splitting the brute's lips and forcing him to release her. she did not make it long before he felled her again, this time receiving the full brunt of a double-barrel kick to his chest.

a reckless move he immediately regretted, for no sooner had he worried her to exhaustion, did he feel and dread the sensation that overcame him. he was wounded - both in his muzzle, and a new tightness in his chest -- and a wolf injured in the face of the hunt often faced the same terrible fate as the stilled doe beneath his bloodied muzzle.

it was no easy accomplishment to drag the hind, and with her flesh yet untouched, thorn was loathe to leave his kill to gather aria. thus, he limped and dragged and hauled and grunted his way to the steep banks of the river bordering the creek, and it was then he threw back his head in a distinguishable howl -- one that aria, and any wolf in swiftcurrent would hear.

!!! the gods: 

he returned.

she felt her heart leap in her chest, for some unknown reason. what reason had he given her to love him except that perhaps he gave her the time of day? maybe that's all aria needed -- someone's time of day. he was silent and mysterious and so... feral. like a cave man. but sexy. aria was drawn to him in many ways -- even if the most prominent one was that constantine didn't want her to have him. 

hmpf. 

but when she approached, her heart sank. it pounded in her chest, anxiety riddling her whole being. he was hurt. she should've stayed. how often (if only aria knew) had such poor communication caused such trouble for poor aria. with casmir, with lasher, with constantine, with deirdre (ie. every mayfair ever) and now? with poor thorn, who was bloody and bruised at her border.

but with a doe. 

aria could see the injuries in his expression and posture before she knew what was wrong. hurriedly, she came to him, covering his face in nervous licks, whining gently. "you're hurt," she said softly, worried, "you did not need to do this for me -- let me help you." she was a healer, after all, and even if constantine was not here to permit it, aria would bring him within their borders to try to patch him up.

He had no idea who this dude was, but Akatosh had started to recognize the howl.  Like what the heck, dude, go bug someone else.  Go away!  This time Akatosh hadn't been too far away patrolling the borders so he stomped over them and into that direction to go tell the dude to piss off because he was being annoying and this wasn't his pack so either join or shove off. 

He arrived on the scene scowling and probably more annoyed than he had right to be.  Ugh. Why do you keep coming back over here to bug us? Aren't you bored yet?  He didn't care what the heck he came here, why he was hurt, why he had the meat there.  That dude wasn't anyone he cared about at all so he had no interest in knowing any answers.  Just go away, wow would that be so hard.  Akatosh had no clue why Aria didn't just tell him to buzz off too.  She should.  Duh.

He looked between them periodically, probably equally accusatory.  She should totally quit fraternizing with weirdo strangers that kept annoying the pack.  From his understanding, that wasn't the kind of thing you did, though he did think back to when he ran across his own father and that suspicious lady.

thorn needn't wait long, though while he did he stood fastiduously over the felled doe, his ears turning nervously atop his skull. his posture softed as aria came from the wintery forest, rushing towards him with concern writ across her delicate features. it might have done thorn some good to see such care in her regal eyes, but before he could remark upon it he was received with kind licks that set his skin alight and heart racing.

he stepped back to inform her he was not that hurt, its fine, just a flesh-wound, nbd -- yet soon as he stirred to speak,  a slim shadow split across the snow followed by the fiery form of a youngster he did not recognize. his ears pulled back as the youth spoke, addressing him with the caustic annoyance only teenagers managed to muster. lifting his muzzle carefully, he looked first to aria for guidance, and then back to akatosh -- presumably, this was a youngling of the creek -- for a minute he worried if the child was aria's, but he saw little maternal motions in aria to suggest this to be the truth.

perplexed by akatosh's question, thorn frowned -- but he spoke nonetheless, addressing akatosh with the same polite subservience he would spare an adult. "i could never be bored of aria." he answered honestly, a sway in his tail suggesting the genuity of his statement. stepping back from the felled doe, thorn looked to aria once more and then, with a nudge towards the hind, asked: "are the two of you hungry?"

aria held back a well-meaning scowl at the redheaded boy, who was clearly more durnehviir than constantine -- physically and verbally. aria continued to lick at thorn's muzzle and face, concern dripping from ever faucet she had... especially as he spoke that he could never be bored of aria. the statement made her heart race. she couldn't believe someone spoke about her in such a manner. 

a gentle whine persisted from her maw as he offered the meat, ignoring his own state. "akatosh you may take it back to the cache -- eat some if you're hungry," she told him gently as she could, given how rude he was being, "thorn, please let me help you," she added in a voice that seemed to beg. "you are hurt," she reiterated, white eyes frozen onto his features -- worry written all over them.

Wow, barf, could you get more cheesy than what he said?  Maybe you should just join the pack then instead of being some kind of weirdo lurking around bugging everyone over and over, huh?  He hadn't been around for any of the previous incidents, so he wasn't privy as to why or how that probably wasn't going to work.  It did make sense to him, though -- obviously wherever Thorn was from wasn't too attractive or people would come to him instead.  That meant the Creek was superior.  Duh.  So Thorn should just quit being stupid.

And what was with Aria?  Come on, she knew he was right.  Akatosh knew Talos wasn't exactly impressed by her either (though he didn't quite understand her reasons, they were often more garble to him than anything), but maybe by some freak coincidence she was right.  Begrudgingly he started forward to collect the kill as instructed.  If he did do so, that would mean leaving Aria alone with that guy, and he wasn't sure packmates should be left alone with outsiders.  It wasn't safe -- most of them seemed to be weird.  So, Akatosh didn't exactly rush.

aria's ministrations brought a tingle of joy to thorn's mind, and each brush of her body against his seemed to excite his mind further, for it was her contact alone he had longed for -- yet, it was the towheaded youth that consumed most of his attention, for thorn felt an inkling of misgiving that akatosh might escalate to more physical actions soon.

not wishing to enrage the youth, and knowing full well of the misgiving in his voice, thorn's ears flattened and he took on as nonthreatening a pose as he could. it didn't trouble him that he was hurt or that he had been called a weirdo -- but he wished to diffuse the situation in any way he could and was relieved that aria had instructed, in a polite manner no less, that akatosh beat it. last thing he needed was constatine to come along -- in his present state he would be easily conquered, right in front of aria no less.

offering the concerned aria a brief smile, thorn shrugged off her worry. "i will be fine." his gaze lingered guiltily to akatosh, though he did not respond to the boy's question for worry of inciting him further. "just make sure you get some of that. i got it for you, you know." thorn sported a roguish wink, wishing to take the attention off of his injuries and onto lighter subjects.

panics in lateness

secretly, aria agreed with the stubborn boy, but she held her tongue for the time being. the attention was getting her far enough along, no reason to ruin it by begging him to stay with her... right? akatosh agreed, by any means, and as he left aria watched him, sighing gently. her ears flicked towards thorn as he commented on it, and she looked towards him with a stern, pale gaze. 

"i will, of course," she told him, but nudge the bottom of his chin gently, "only if you let me look at you." a bargain, and a fair trade, she thought. and without waiting for an answer, she again attempted to usher him up and with her towards her cache.

Akatosh isn't too far, so tag me back in if you need trouble him for some reason. XD

He could only dawdle along so much before it would be blatantly obvious.  Akatosh just didn't trust this dude, but if Aria was gonna be all stubborn and stuff, well... He tried to keep her from getting murdered, at least.  That was about the best he could do if she wasn't going to cooperate.

So, the boy dragged off what was had been gifted and ate his fill.  After burying it in the cache because he wasn't going to just sit there and guard it from crows to wait for her to maybe not die, Akatosh ambled off somewhere kind of nearby in the territory.  If something went totally wrong, then he'd be able to show up for backup, but there was only so much he could do.

thorn watched in silence as akatosh dragged off the kill -- if he had any misgiving at all for the boy to be taking aria's plunder, he did not show it. in his own way, he believed what would benefit the pack would benefit aria -- even if he did not wish to join swiftcurrent's ranks.

his attention turned back to the pale sylph, who proposed a hard-nosed bargain that elicited a smile of amusement from thorn. he did not wish to trouble her, and he shrugged off her worry with an open smile. "nothing to look at," thorn quipped, happy enough to follow aria to whatever destination she designed for them.