The birds settled in for their feast, completely oblivious to the fact that their circling overhead before landing had not gone unnoticed by the wolves that inhabited this area. The kill was likely from a mountain lion or bobcat, either one of which Finley had come to find traces of throughout the Caldera's innards. It was a beast that hunted solo to be sure for no animal that hunted in groups like the wolves did would have left so much edible carcass behind to be picked at by the carrion birds.
But that was all for the best, a thought that first occurred to the vultures and then to Finley Blackthorn as she darted forward with a roar and drove them all away from the half-eaten yearling caribou that she claimed for the Redhawks with a throaty howl to all of her packmates to join in the fortunate feast. Without waiting for them, Finley grinned to herself and lowered her head down into the animal's inner thigh to tug at the meat that dangled from its lifeless bones.
Hungry, the bi colored male was on a mission to find something edible to feed himself so he would have enough energy to hunt for the pack. Then he noticed something, a bunch of birds were circling an area and it wasn't too far away from his current spot. So the hungry wolf obviously went to check it out. He was not the first to arrive, however, a greyscale packmate, someone he had not met before was chasing away the birds.
Without even waiting for her to invite the rest of the pack to feast, Theseus darted forward towards the half eaten carcass. She was already eating though, which meant he was not as fast as he thought himself to be. Bummer, he thought but was not actually upset about it, as long as he was here before the others arrive. The sandy male tore at the remaining meat, swallowed and lifted his head to greet the female. "I have never seen you around before," were his first words.
It didn't take long for another wolf to join Fin in her feast. She hadn't been enormously hungry and so the few swallows of meat she'd managed to get in before the stranger arrived had been enough to satisfy her. Even so, as the male sprang forward, she couldn't help but utter a dominant snarl at him for daring to approach the kill without so much as a whine of submission to the beta.
He seemed to be completely unaware of what he'd done wrong, which caused her to pause, giving him time to address her. She eyed him irritably and lifted her head and tail high. "Clearly," she grumbled, "I'm Finley, the pack's beta. You know you're supposed to treat betas with respect, right? A little bowing and tail tucking often does the trick." She really wasn't sure why she was being so bitchy with him. She had invited everyone to the kill after all. She just hadn't expected anyone to be so.. bold about it.
Worrying about the potential of seeing his brother again, Amon had been preoccupied. So much so that he had failed in many of his duties - abandoning the pack, more or less, to become a less social creature. He did grunt work on most days. Patrolling the area he had last encountered Donnie, hunting small prey for himself, and generally avoiding the others. When a howl greeted his ears, he was charmed by it; but at the same time, the long winter days of self-implemented solitude made him... Nervous? No. Unsure, maybe. He felt off and couldn't really figure out why.
But he was being summoned, and that was a rarity. Perhaps it was his desire for contact and camaraderie that resulted in his changed mind. Amon breathed a great puff of a sigh, watching as the breath dissipated as he thought, and lurched in to action. It did not take long for him to find the origin of the call - but by the time he had reached the wolf in question, she was not alone. The brute tried to place faces with names, but due to his segregation, he couldn't remember if he had met these two or not.
But he did hear the female speak, reprimanding the male who advanced upon the carcass. Amon did not intervene, but he did not seek out the meat either. For a moment he was still and watching, then striding towards the two of them - dipping his head in a little nod towards the Beta.
"Alright. Sorry. Chill, I didn't know you were the Beta." he said, aqua eyes moving from the Finely to the newcomer who didn't speak at all. This was a weird bunch, seriously, why did he even come here after all? Why was he even accepted? Oh. Right. Because he was weird too, why didn't he realize that? "We obviously gotten off the wrong paw." he muttered.
It was then that she noticed the older wolf approaching respectfully, and it somehow helped her to remember herself. She glanced back at the jerkface guy and gave him one last glare before letting him off the hook. "Just make sure to straighten up your act," she warned him, a little glint of her humor returning to her, "I almost had to kill you and feed you to that guy over there. Can you imagine how awkward that would've been for him?" Being fed a packmate? Man. How uncomfortable.
Whatever dispute had occurred, it appeared to have ended right as Amon approached the pair. He lurked alongside them in silence and listened - but then let loose a rumbling chuckle when he was conscripted in to the joke. Aye, awkward indeed - this kid is far too bony for my tastes. But maybe with a little butter basting, some salt and pepper..?
Amon licked his lips, and pretended with the hinge movement of his jaw to salivate.
Good thing we have this caribou.
As he muttered this, Amon turned his attention towards the carcass - winking at the Beta as his gaze passed over her - and settled himself in the snow near one of the exposed limbs. How long has this been here anyway.
The meat was partially frozen, and there were some very obvious stab marks throughout - likely from the birds.
When the newcomer asked about how long the carcass had been there, Theseus merely shrugged. "Dunno," he replied, before realizing the dude still hadn't introduced himself. "I'm Theseus, by the way. And I've never seen you before either, whats your name?" he asked, remembering to keep his tone polite and respectful. God knows what this huge dude was going to do to him if he wasn't bowing or some shit like that.
Fin waited until the older wolf introduced himself before deciding to rejoin the conversation. "Good to meet you both," she said, all aggravation completely forgotten, I don't know how long this carcass has been here, but it does taste wonderfully like dead animal, so please help yourselves." She took a few steps back from the carcass to give the boys room.
The carcass didn't smell strongly of death, at least not now. It was cold and smelled of snow - but a muddied snow, a bit impure. While the older wolf advanced upon the carcass with the full intent of rending a nice hunk of meat from the bones, he paused long enough to bellow his name - Amon.
- prior to diving face-first in to his lunch.
Amon bit in to the exposed leg bone and gnawed on that for a bit, just to get himself warmed up. Then he moved closer to the frozen shoulder and began gripping, pulling, twisting, and generally rending the chilled meat off in chunks. He managed to gulp down a few bits and pieces of hard flesh, some with layers of frozen skin and fuzz on them. Then, the mother-load: a deeper segment of meat was pried free, and Amon wrenched it off with the power in his hunched shoulders. The muscle tissue hung from his mouth, which was spread in a wide grin.
Whll? C'mun thn, git some.
He chortled through this teeth, which were firmly sunken in to the chunk he had wrestled free.
The Chinese tore into the flesh, teeth expertly tearing a bit of caribou flesh away from the bones and chewing it up, realizing although it was not fresh meat it still tasted alright. And it filled his belly, a win win he guessed. Or maybe not, after all the caribou was dead....
The pair of men took eagerly to the carcass while Finley looked on. Not being hungry herself, she didn't partake, instead just watched their backs to make sure nothing even bigger than them tried to sneak up and steal it for themselves. She had little expectations that something would happen, but there wasn't much else to do while the two were eating. In fact, had she not needed to stick around to stash the rest of the carcass, she might have just left them to it. But, gamekeeping required her to remain, so she did.
"So what're your stories?" Fin asked as she flopped over and sprawled out in the snow. It should have occurred to her that while they were eating was a rather inconvenient time for them to be talking about their histories, but she was bored and needed entertained. "Where you from, what you doing here?" she explained, "What's your favorite color?" A little grin played upon her muzzle, but otherwise she just laid there with her head upon the snow.
The boys took turns answering and the conversation flowed from there until their bellies were full and their brains were tired and they all passed out or something the end!