Be the spotlight on the lonley stage

ooc: all welcome. Set in 15 - 16th February.

Osprey's almost a week long wanderings around the wilds had had their effect on her - she was weary and tired. Had it not been for the cold that kept her waking up frequently during the night, she would have slept like a log for two or three days in a row. Funny, how it was hard to remember most of the things that had happened during that time and how very sharp the other memories were. The most confusing thing to her was the distance she had walked and the places she had been. It was hard to piece it together and as the days passed, it got even harder.

Eventually she gave up. If there was one thing she had kept from her days of madness then it was the motto - seize the day. This was exactly, what she did now. She had caught sight of a coyote, feasting on a dead deer. Her eyes had lit up and the instinct to hunt it down and kill it had kicked in. She went after it in an instant, engaging in a chase, which meant fun to her and almost certain death to the feisty canine, if she caught it.

After resting up from his trip to Duskfire, Koda returned to patrolling the pack lands. He was still a member of the plateau, for now, so he rededicated himself to keeping the place safe. It was a quiet job, one that gave him a lot of time to think about everything that had happened recently, most importantly his talk with Kesuk.

A commotion up ahead caught his attention, and he quickened his pace to a lope. He came upon the scene in time to see Osprey chasing a coyote away from a deer carcass. He joined the chase, racing to cut off the smaller canine's escape so he and Osprey could catch it and maul it to death. Because fuck coyotes.

ooc: I assumed that Koda came from different direction than Osprey was. Correct me, if I am wrong.

The animal was very quick and was hellbent on staying alive. This, however, gave more thrill for Osprey, who loved nothing more than a good chase and competition of speed and agility. It would have been a lot easier to hunt coyote down, had there not been trees to avoid and go around - had it been flatlands, she would have caught up with him by now. Maybe even grabbed it. Now she had a disadvantage.

The situation changed for better, when a packmate joined the hunt from another direction. She recognized Koda - the trap making wolf - who she had not seen for a while and who - according to the rumors that ciruclated among wolves had been gone for a while. But this was not the information that needed to be analyzed now. Not at all. For a moment it seemed that coyote would run straight in Koda's jaws, but then it changed it's trajectory at the very last moment.

Osprey let out a short, disappointed yip, but speeded up to go after the kill. She was determined not to let it escape.

yes you are correct :)

The little beast gave the wolves the slip, jerking in another direction to narrowly avoid death in Koda's jaws. He snarled in frustration. He wanted this over, fast. Koda stayed on it as best as he could. While he was strong, agility wasn't his forte. It was hard, dodging trees while racing at breakneck speed while also trying to catch a fleeing coyote with your teeth. Koda realized Osprey was actually getting ahead of him a little, and at that moment this became a competition instead of a hunt. He was gonna catch the varmint.

Finally, a stroke of luck swayed the chase greatly in the hunter's favor. The coyote stumbled, having caught his paw on a root, and lost a lot of ground allowing Koda to catch up. The male seized his prey by the neck and throttled it viciously, slamming it's head into a trunk just to make sure it was good and dead.

When it went limp, he let it slip from his jaws. He stood over it proudly, lungs still heaving from the chase. "We have a coyote problem again it seems," he told Osprey.

The coyote's race for life and death continued - now having too eager hunters at it's heels. Osprey put all effort in her leaps, so did Koda - for a moment they were even and then she got the upper hand. Only for the prey to slip, trip and have it's life ended in Koda's jaws. She watched him finish the creature with slight disappointment that she had not been the one to kill it. There was a tinge of sadness too for the misfortune of the canine - something she always felt, when one of wolf look-alikes died.

"Not anymore," Osprey said, leaning down to give a sniff at the lifeless body of the animal. It was still warm and there were tiny streaks of blood, where Koda's teeth had got through the skin. She pondered, whether to eat it or not, because - frankly speaking - she was hungry and the meat was fresh. But it's smell was odd and made her wince and turn away. "Not with this one, anyway," it was true that there had been a problem with a thief months earlier and this one could have been it. Or simply someone, who had happened to be in the wrong time at the wrong place.

"What are we going to do with it?"

Koda gazed down at the still body as he thought about an answer to Osprey's question. "I dunno," he admitted. "I guess I was just gonna leave it here. Let it rot away." What else could they do? Maybe they could use the fur for something... a blanket for Blue's pups to snuggle. But they certainly couldn't eat the thing. Consuming the flesh of another canine seemed so...wrong.

"Maybe leaving it out will keep other coyotes away," he suggested. They could use the body like a warning sign, to stop other coyotes from entering and taking food. "What do you think?" He asked Osprey. Perhaps she knew how to make the most of the carcass.

Osprey had heard about this practce of keeping pests at bay - you killed one of their kind and then left it lying at the borders. Except she was not sure about the efficacy of it. Meat was still meat and if they disposed this carcass along the borders, they could have unwanted predators coming in flocks to raid. The canine's skin was nice and soft - it could do well for Blue willow's kids. Except she didn't know, how to skin an animal and second - she hadn't heard of anyone, who had got warm, by sleeping besides a rotting corpse.

"Let's leave it here," she said after a moment of deep thought. If she had no luck in hunting today and if she decided that her hunger was worse enough to try out the smaller predator's meat, she would return here. Somehow she got a feeling that Koda would not understand her if she proposed eating it here and now. Decisions, decisions... she sighed and looked away, pretending to having lost interest in the corpse. "So - how did the journey go?" she asked him to change the subject. "I heard that you were away for a while."

So it was decided to let Nature take it's course. Over time, the corpse would decompose and be forgotten, almost as though it had never existed. This creature, like him, had hopes, memories, fears, dreams, and now, it was just gone. Kind of made him wonder what the point of it all was.

One day, he too would meet his end and his body would be reclaimed by the Earth. All he could do was hope that when it came, it would be as quick as the death he'd given this trespasser. He remembered his grandmother in her final days, how she'd slowly wasted away to nothing as he helplessly watched. At the end, she was so far gone that she'd forgotten her own beloved grandson's name.

Deep in reflection, Koda almost didn't hear what Osprey said to him. "Yeah, I went up to Duskfire Glacier for a couple days. I know someone up there," he replied. It didn't surprise him that Osprey knew of his absence. News traveled fast through the tightly-knit wolf pack. He wondered what else Osprey might have heard about him.

"It's beautiful up north, in the mountains," he went on. "You do quite a bit of traveling too, don't you?" He questioned, remembering Osprey's own absences. "Have you ever been up that way?"

Duskfire Glacier? This name rang a bell to Osprey and, while listening to Koda explaining his journey in more detail, she furrowed her brow, trying to remember, where had she heard this name before. It had happened a long time ago - of that she was certain. There had been seaside and snow and... an odd wolf, chasing waves. Her name had been extraordinary too. Scarface, Scarlatta? Scarlett! Her expression cleared, when she hit the right word and the tip of her tail wagged happily.

"I have my share of adventures," Osprey agreed. There was no point in hiding her wanderlust. By now it was just as an important part of, who she was, as her imagination and loyalty to her friends and family. "Like my namesake - the bird - I can't be confined all the time. I need my freedom and escape now and then," she smiled at him and then to answer his question she continued. "Mountains? No, not really. I admire them from afar, but I have never felt the pull to actually venture the stone paths. Plains, forests and waters are my deal."

"So, what's new in the glacier? How is your friend doing?" it probably was a very good and close friend, if Koda had dared to venture that far.

"Things are good at the glacier," he told Osprey. "She seems really happy up there." He went on to tell Osprey about his first trek into the mountains and about the amazing view from Duskfire lookout. He left out the discussion he'd had with Scarlett, however.

"Aren't you afraid something will happen to you out there on your own?" Koda asked her. The world was a dangerous place, especially so for a female. Osprey was taking a terrible risk each time she left the safety of the pack to go off on her own. Was the risk really worth it?

Osprey listened carefully to Koda's story about the Glacier, memorizing the most striking details and trying to imagine, what could possibly the place look like. It was not an easy task though, since she had never been that near to the mountains, but she had to give a try, since the possibility of her ever going that far was very slim.

Koda's next question striked her as very odd and she almost laughed it off, had he not sounded so serious and even a bit worried about her. "No - if I worried about that something could happen to me every time I went somewhere, I would probably not be able to leave my den," she shrugged. "If something will happen, it will happen and me going or not going on my own will have nothing to do with it," she resolved for this answer to be a more truthful one.

"Why do you ask? Did something happen during your journey?" she asked, wondering, what his reasons for asking had been.

Koda nodded at Osprey's words. He understood the point she was trying to make. His view was simply that staying home where it was safe could prevent a lot of dangerous situations. "Nah, it's not me I'm worried about," he replied. "It's Kesuk."

He explained that Kesuk was pursuing the outrider trade, and expressed his discomfort with it. "I... don't think it's safe for her, a woman out there on her own," he said quietly, as if he feared she might be nearby, listening. He was certain Osprey would be offended as well, but he had to be honest. "I just want to keep her safe, you know?"

Although Osprey was all for gender equality, feminism and personal freedom, she saw nothing wrong in Koda's concern for his mate. She was not that familiar with his traditional views of the female/male role in the community, therefore she thought that it was kind of nice that he worried. It would be a lot worse, if he didn't.

"Have you told her this?" she asked him. "I mean, if the trade she has decided to pursue concerns you - she should know," this, of course, didn't imply that he should tell her not to do it or that she should give up on her chosen path. "I don't know much about your girl, but, if she loves wandering and being out in the open just like me, then I don't think it would be right to deter her from doing that," Osprey continued, trying to imagine herself in Kesuk's place and, what would she tell Koda. "It would make her unhappy and you don't want that, do you? I believe though that talking this through would be the right way to go. And maybe you can find a solution that suits you both."

"I haven't said anything about it to her," he confessed. There had been a few opportunities for such a discussion, but Koda tended to forget important stuff when Kesuk was around, being all sexy in front of him. He was still very much in the honeymoon phase, and this being his first real relationship, he'd never learned how to have a proper discussion.

"I knew she liked adventure, but I thought she would settle down once she became my mate," he recalled. His sister had been a bit like Kesuk, rebellious and restless. Mateship and motherhood had forced her to rein in her wild spirit. She went on to become a devoted wife and mother, a pillar of the community. Their father had said he was proud that she had finally made something of herself.

Koda suddenly realized he did not want Kesuk to be anything like his sister. He'd always thought that Kaia had the good life: the devoted husband, the adorable kids, the high rank and all the privileges that came with it, the whole package. He'd wanted to give all this and more to his precious mate. But in retrospect, he could see that Kaia had been unhappy in her role, just forcing herself to go through the motions for the sake of appearances. He wanted Kesuk to have real happiness.

But what about him? Could he be happy with a mate that liked to wander so far from his side? Could he ever quiet the nagging thoughts that she could be in danger, or she could be hooking up with random dudes?

"I want her to be happy, I really do," he told Osprey. "But how is this gonna work out? I'm never gonna stop worrying about her when she's gone." Koda sighed and sank back, suddenly feeling defeated. It wasn't as if he could just wish away his feelings. He could mask them, but he could never stop feeling them deep down.

Osprey's expression softened, when it turned out that this was his first relationship. She had had her fair share of affairs in her early youth, but it had never got anywhere further than friendly-teasing and cuddling. Being so occupied with her desire to become an excellent story-teller, she had never sought a serious relationship, fearing that it would cut her wings and make her settle down, when she would better fly high, far and away. Things were a little different now that she was older - her fourth year of life was about to close and the fifth was approaching. She was getting older and there was a small part of her that wished to be just like everyone else - have a mate and couple of children.

Therefore, while she didn't fancy Koda particularly, she envied Kesuk a bit, for having a faithful and caring husband. Apart from her brother, who lived quite a distance away, there was no one else, who would care for her in that kind of way. "Why don't you go with her now and then? I mean - having adventures alone is one thing, but it's very different, if you can share your experience with someone else," she offered. It seemed like a good idea. "I mean, the more time you spend together, the more you get to know each other. The easier it will be find compromises that suit you both," she went on, thinking about the irony here. She was giving relationship advice, while having none of that kind of experience herself.

Koda thought for a moment. He'd been so preoccupied with convincing Kesuk to stay home that he'd never really considered going with her on her outrider missions. He actually kind of liked the idea. He was doubtful, however, that she'd actually go for it. He figured she wouldn't like the idea of him keeping an eye on her. Still, Osprey's insight had given him renewed hope.

"That's not a bad idea," he said, his voice a little brighter than before. "I'll talk to her about it," he gave Osprey an appreciative nod. "I'm gonna say it was my idea, though."

"So, can I ask, what's the most dangerous situation you've ever faced alone?" He asked this both out of curiosity and hope that her answer could ease his fears about letting Kesuk go out into the world alone. If Osprey was still in one piece after all her adventures, maybe Kesuk would be okay too.

"Sure, I don't mind," Osprey shrugged, when Koda told that he would present her idea as his own. Good ideas were meant for sharing, after all, and she hoped for the married couple's sake that neither of them would get offended and that it would turn out for the best. Otherwise she would feel guilty for causing trouble and disagreements.

"Ummm... I got in a stampede few months ago - I was tracking a herd of deer, when they got spooked by something and - yeah - I don't remember much, what happened afterwards, but it was a hell," she shuddered at the memories of event. She had been shaken by the experience for quite some time. "But these kind of events are rare. More often you get lost somewhere," if you had survived a stampede then any other kind of trouble appeared bleak and not interesting.

sorry I'm a dick

Koda had not faced much danger in his young life. He had only traveled alone for a short time, and during his journey the only danger had come about from his own carelessness, when he tried to eat a porcupine. Yet because of his gender, he thought he knew better than this she-wolf. And in his mind, there was no way she could have survived a stampede.

He did not voice his doubts out loud, however. He'd learned to keep his mouth shut after his little outburst. "You're lucky to have made it out alive," he said. If her story was true, it was a miracle she'd lived to tell the tale. He'd never witnessed a stampede, but his grandfather had often told young Koda about the deadly stampede that had killed off many of his comrades during a hunt. It was a story that always inspired terrible nightmares, no matter how many times it was retold.

Koda had another question for Osprey. "Have you ever had to fight another wolf?" He asked her. This was a threat that seemed much more real to him. There were a lot of creeps roaming around that would love to chance upon a woman traveling on her own.

Even if Osprey had known or sensed that Koda didn't believe a word of what she had told about the stampede, she would not have cared. No one could look through the other's eyes and understand, what was going on in their minds. So, when it came to believing the truth of the other person, it was a matter of choice and opinion.

"I definitely was," she agreed, furrowing her brow at the recollection of the unpleasant event. It was a mystery, how she had escaped a certain death under the hooves of the hundreds of ungulates, and she would probably never find out either. Some things you simply had to accept and not question too much.

"Not really - I avoid fighting, if possible," she shrugged. Apart from some scuffles and play fights with her brothers and friends, she had been lucky to avoid any kind of serious physical interaction. "I am more of a fleeing type. I outrun trouble rather than face it. What about you?"

last from me, ty for the thread

Koda thought for a moment. There was that one time he'd pushed his cousin a little too far and ended up with a bloody nose, but that could hardly count as being in a fight for your life.

"Naw, but if I ever had to I'd face him head on," he declared. Koda was fairly certain he could beat any wolf one-on-one. Sure he'd never even been in a real fight, but he had plenty of successful hunts under his belt. Hunting and fighting were pretty much the same thing.

The gray wolf rose and stretched. "Well, I'm gonna continue on, gotta finish my patrol," he told Osprey. He planned to investigate some of his caches to see if this thief had struck before meeting his end. "Thank you for the advice, it was a real help."

Koda dismissed himself with a nod and trotted away into the trees, Osprey's dark form was soon swallowed up by the darkness.