Blacktail Deer Plateau I'm insane

@Finn

It was midnight, but rather than being tucked safely in the den she'd been born into—which she'd gone to after Swordfish told her about Junior, only to find the tunnel they'd found as children was regretfully collapsed and inaccessible—Saena was prowling through the forest. Unrest caught her up in its turbulent arms, and the best way she could think to work through it was to walk it off. The youth's mind lately was on rank, but she didn't dare to try to pull status over any of the Plateau's longest-standing members. She wanted to, dearly, but feared the consequences. She had yet to become truly brazen.

She stopped at the edge of the clear little spring Pura and she had found in the summer. The water was frozen over now, but she could tell it from the surrounding snow by its sheen. Placing a paw gingerly over it, Saena sighed and lifted her eyes to watch her breath curl away through the air. The stars were twinkling overhead and the sky was completely clear, though by some sixth sense she seemed to always have, the Naturalist knew the pack would wake to falling snow in five or so hours. The air was still for now, and she breathed it in deeply and willed herself to relax.

Unlike the young Virtute Blacktail, Finn did not care or bother to remember the young girl that used to roam the halls of the Plateu. Even if they had arrived (in different senses of the word) at a similar time, they had never been connected. Especially not after she had shown her blatant stupidity to the world by not only playing suicidal but attempting to drive out another injured wolf out of pure jealousy.
In that sense, both aspiring Gamekeepers stood in the opposite spectrum.
Even if now Saena's thoughtful wandering had brought them to stand relative close to one another.

Being used to having nothing more than the shelter of the trees, the young Delta would not have found it strange to see another body out in the open. Since the earliest days of his adolescence he had trained himself to sleep under the mercy of the weather. Not rain, hail or even the promise of snow the young Naturalist predicted would stop the Ollivander from remaining outside.
Why?
That was a question due for another time.

Why was the juvenile out however was a question he would much rather to focus on.
Hey, um, Saena right? He barked loud enough to hopefully break her from her thoughts and call her attention. Even if he wasn't keen on anything really that reminded him of the idiotic smaller version of Peregrine, he had to also remind himself she as not necessarily like her -- or so he hoped.

Soon, Saena didn't have to focus on inner reflection to quell her unrest, for a distraction came trotting along at exactly that moment. Admittedly, she knew almost nothing about Finn, though he'd been at the Plateau basically her whole life. They'd never had a conversation nor play session when she was little. She only knew he existed because of his constant scent and also his appearance at gatherings. She didn't know his thoughts on her sister or her family, or that he was in love with Finley Blackthorn in spite of her desertion, or that he was a strangely vulnerable yet prickly sort of fellow.

She knew his name, and that he was ranked high and because of it, only hesitated for half a second before lowering her ears and tail into poses of submission. "Finn," she said, as though to acknowledge this single bit of information she had on him without revealing that she'd never actually cared to talk to him before because to her he was invisible (a sad fact of being a self-absorbed teenager), "how are you?"

weird midnight post is weird :B

To Finn, the young Naturalist and also aspiring-Gamekeeper brought little interest to his mind --that until he saw no better way to spend his sleepless night than to chat with her.
Perhaps he'd get a surprise out of her, and hopefully it would be a pleasant one.
Just like she viewed him as a mystery, the silver Gamma saw her as an unresolved puzzle he had never cared to assemble. But now, maybe because of the simple boredom that filled his body, the inexistent interest towards her was swiftly replaced by a sense of curiosity.

Like the juvenile, Finn remained oblivious to her views on the whole Crapdera fiasco, and Junior's involvement (excused according to her) with it. Because if he had known maybe, he wouldn't have even turned to look at her twice. Even if in a way the feeling they had once held could be more similar than they could imagine. While she was a fierce protector of her sisters incredibly retarded actions, he had once been a fierce defender of the Blackthorn's health.
Maybe they weren't all that different.
Or maybe this was just a lame excuse to explain why the Ollivander man decided to stay in that moment.

I'm well, thank you He barked, while bobbing his head like one of those toys set in taxi dashboards before realizing that for once he had run out of conversational material within the first question.

Maybe talk wasn't what was needed.
Remembering suddenly what the pregnant Beta had mentioned during another conversation he suddenly piped up again, his voice cutting through the awkward silence with razor sharp edges. You want to be a Gamekeeper -- let's go hunting He proposed, not caring if the way he did so was not the most tactful one.
If she didn't he wouldn't be offended really, as an also aspiring-Gamekeeper he was sure he'd manage alone.

Still, he felt a bit reluctant to simply leave after no more than a sentence had been exchanged between them.

Finn answered promptly, then followed with a long stretch of silence. However awkward it may have seemed, Saena wasn't too bothered by it. She'd lived her early life in silence and found it comforting, even if it was between two pack mates who had nothing else to say to one another due to unfamiliarity. She glanced up at the sky, briefly mapping the stars in her mind before he made a suggestion.

Though abrupt, it was said perfectly for the subject matter. Hunting wasn't something a wolf thought about too much. They just did it, just as Finn just suggested it without any further fanfare. This earned him a bright smile as the willing juvenile stirred from her still state and said, "okay, let's go!"

She was content for him to lead them. As a fully fledged adult, Finn had more experience tracking herds and knowing where they were. Saena was acquiring this skill in the day, but having never hunted at night, her comfort level was perhaps a little low for her to be leading.

well that went better than expected :v

Truth be told, Finn had not thought the female would give in to his suggestion so ..easily.
And while her agreement had been unexpected it was not less appreciated by the silver male, who simply responded by giving the teen an amiable wave his black-tipped tail before turning to take the place of guide.

As he began to slip into the shadows once more he felt the urge to turn and ask the female what she was craving but quickly dismissed the thought as he realized how well speaking less had gone during the start of the conversation. Besides, there was not much he wanted to talk about with the young female.

With his nose hovering over the ground and his ears swiveling restlessly over his cranium his nose picked up on the relatively fresh scent of hare droppings. He grunted softly to alert Saena of his finding. Then with nothing more than a quick flick of his tongue over his jowls and a fleeting smile he fell back into inspecting the trail, silently hoping the female would follow.

Finn swept ahead and Saena followed him closely. She angled her head to the ground and took quick, deep breaths with every step, drawing in as many scents as possible. The majority were stale deer trails and the leavings of other wolves—soon her brain was swimming with the scents of Dante, Blue Willow, Koda and Finn himself—but somewhere in the murk, there was the fresh, crisp smell of hare droppings.

Finn must have seen them too, for her grunted and his manner seemed to grow excitedly tense. Saena felt it too, the anticipation of the hunt that only an apex predator could truly understand, and she fell with fervor upon the hare's trail. Soon, they were following it swiftly and closing in on the unsuspecting animal.

tried to reply to this yesterday and the post and my muse got lost halfway :p

Silence was suiting for the two wolves, who without more than the faint sound of their paws treading over the snow advanced through the dead of the night. With his nose always hovering above the ground the silver Gamma guided the teen across the forest, his tail often raising and swishing over to one side to give the girl small indications of where she should position herself.

Finally, with the last few steps, the silver man slithered within striking range.And while he wanted to be the one to give the blow, he stopped to search for the young girl's eyes, his body held at a low posture and his hind legs ready to launch him into the unsuspecting creature.

While hunting a hare should be relatively easy for two wolves, there was always the possibility that in a race over the snow it would be the smaller critter which would rise triumphant. Because oof this Finn lifted his head again and motioned towards the other side with his snout, if the girl could serve as a barricade to prevent the hare's escape their late night snacking would prove sucessful.

Then, without directing any last signals, let alone words, he jumped into action his legs propelling him into the air and his jaws ready to make contact with the now terrified animal's body.
Even if he missed the initial blow he would jump into a high speed chase, hoping to herd the animal into Saena's paws.

She was still learning the silent cues that wolves took during hunts, and so once or twice she blundered Finn's signals, but managed to correct herself. Her slip ups didn't result in the hare getting away from them, so she was able to forgive herself for her mistakes. As badly as she wanted to be an adult with a high rank who commanded respect, Saena was still as good as a kid in most of their minds. That wasn't helped much by her immaturity.

Thankfully for the pair of them, when they actually found the hare and Finn made one last signal, Saena didn't screw it up. She moved quietly in the direction indicated, pausing one or twice when a small sound tweaked her ears, but the hare didn't seem bothered by them. She was lucky that the sounds came from the forest and not herself, and that the hare was at ease with the natural rhythm. Soon enough, she was in position, and without even needing to give any indication, Finn burst out of hiding.

Saena didn't really see what happened. The hare spooked, as hares were wont to do, and fled with powerful strokes of its broad hind legs. And when it was near, she too snapped out of the undergrowth like a trap and the hare whirled back, and she barreled toward it... but in the frenzy and the cloud of snow that they jointly kicked up, Saena couldn't tell if Finn had captured it when it turned back or if it had managed to evade them both.

And without further ado, the wild goose hare chase had begun.
As fast as Finn had propelled himself towards the small winter critter it had jumped out of his reach, like a spring that had been released, a rection fueled by the Delta's own action.

And it was with the same force that the hare had lunged out of his grasp that the Ollivander pushed himself forth, his jaws snapping at the animal's heels in a futile attempt to catch it before reaching the hidden juvenilen -- who without delay shot out of her designated spot, making the small creature skid to a halt and turn, only to be submerged in a cloud of confusion.

The sound of jaws enclosing rung withing the blurry cloud of white that had encircled the pair of wolves, followed by complete silence. With olive eyes seraching the younger female, Finn grunted for her.
Despite his former reluctance to break the already established silence there was no way for the male to speak at the moment.

He had his mouth full.

As the flurry they kicked up began to settle, Saena cast around for Finn, and found his solid grey form standing in the middle of the little circle of disturbed snow. For a moment her heart sank with the realization that the rabbit got away from them... but then she spotted it, hanging limp from his jaws. They'd managed to corner it and snap it up despite the whirl of activity, which of course was what wolves were good at.

"Awesome!" she said at last, settling down where she was as an indication that Finn should feed first. She had no doubt he could polish off the rabbit all by himself, and as a higher ranked wolf and the successful hunter, it was his right to do so. There was no obligation to share it, though she did wet her lips hopefully. If he chose not to, she would merely snag one of the bones to chew on. It would put her appetite at rest for a few minutes, anyway.

eep non-teenagezilla saena is cute makes me think they could actually get along :p
fade?

[size=medium]"If I had a heart you're the one who should break it"[/size]

[size=small]With his flanks moving rythmically as he recovered his breath and the tip of his tail twitching ever so softly the male allowed his grip around the small creature clutched between his jaws to go loose. Having already felt the animal go limp in his jaws he had was certain of it's deceased state. The hare was dropped with a thud over the snow and with an equally loud rumble Finn's stomach made itself known, just a second after the female had made her exclamation.

He craned his neck to sniff over the small body, and almost inmediately looked up at the girl. The outline of his olive eyes adorned with little specks of white bits of snow that had clung to him at the time of the kill. He allowed his eyes to linger on her for a brief second before using his jaws to make a clean incision on the hare's flank. l

Despite not being as hungry either he was quick to tear and swallow the flesh off the animal's body. He took hold of one of the stomach and then as he was finished with it he moved on to one of the hare's plump hind legs. Wiithout much trouble he savagely plucked the animal's extemity off it's body, and without even less charm he snapped the bones and tendons.

Never excelling in table manners, it was with strangety that the bloodied Ollivander extended the remaining bits of meat clinging to the skeleton towards the juvenile. "Bon appetit" he barked , his lips parting to reveal a crooked smile dressed in red.
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They made eye contact for only a moment, but unlike some of her recent encounters, the teen knew Finn was above her and would be for some time. Saena wasn't bold enough to challenge him outright, not the way she boldly challenged Osprey recently or how she made certain newcomers knew their place in the pack. This male, albeit new in her book of known wolves, had been a fixture of the Plateau as long as she'd been alive and probably longer still.

He fell on the rabbit and she glanced away. Her eyes lit on a stick nearby, and soon she snaked out a forelimb to awkwardly pull it to herself. Wedging it between her jaws, she began to chew, growling playfully around it as Finn satisfied himself. This continued until the male dropped what was left of the rabbit with a muttered invitation. Saena didn't need to be told twice; she dropped the stick and sprang on the rabbit's remains.

For the time being Finn was forgotten as she stripped flesh from bones. Only when most of it was polished off did her eyes turn gratefully up to him in a rare expression of supplication. She then went back to the rabbit, not noticing if he stayed or left—they shared a silent camaraderie this night, and though she did care, she was preoccupied—and then buried the bones, either alone or with his help, for another to play with.

thanks for the thread! I think this completes my trade threads for gamekeeper woot!

[size=medium]"If I had a heart you're the one who should break it"[/size]

[size=small]While the words between them had not flowed with the same ease as with others, Finn still able to pick up on the subtle body language and gestures she used to express her gratitude. And in the same manner, he knew she could too percieve the slow blink of his olive eyes and the pleased curvature of his lips. That if she had seen it.

As soon as the rabbit's remains were pushed her way, the juvenile's mind was pushed to a further place. Far from Finn. She ate happily, and by the fierce concentration and quickness with which she gulfed down the man's leftovers he could tell that her sass was not the only voracious thing about her.

With his stomach relatively full and the moonlight dancing over the silver hairs that guarder his back, the male was struck with sudden exhaustion. As if a load of bricks had just been laid upon his shoulders and his energy had been all wasted during the brief scuffle with the hare he allowed his maw to part in a wide yawn.

He directed a last glance at the female, who was still busily gnawing at the bones, and with a final chuff he exited the scene. Something told him that there would be no need for goodbyes in this ocassion because soon, they would meet again.

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