Golden Moose

@Caiaphas

The small patchwork fox was content, full, and overall happy. In a few days, his attitude had changed completely. Suddenly, he had everything he wanted. Today he was sunning on a log some distance from his meadow, lying on his side listening to the chirping birds of spring. He sighed contently, and yawned, stretching his legs. The only thing that would make this better was if Autumn were with him.

often caiaphas was consumed by melancholy. it made her pine and it made her anxious: and when anxious, the coywolf traveled. today found her a great deal away from ankyra sound -- despite her alphaship there, to stay constant within their borders would have been torment for the waif. she elected instead to broaden her knowledge of the outside world, and all the tenants that came with it.

she had been nosing along somewhere in the region she had known as 'rising sun valley' -- a name befitting such descriptive beauty, for little was more breath-taking than the rapid wash of yellow that flared over the landscape during dawn's first ascension. she had spent the latter half of the day digging for truffles, as the moist rise in temperature and climate was fantastic for the opportunistic fungus. she paused when she scented (and subsequently saw) a most oddly colored fox. squinting, the feral beast rose from her muddied pit she had dug and shook herself off. for now, she would stare at the little thing until it became cognizant of its unfortunate company.

A strange sound made Kesik perk his ears, then slowly turn his head. Wolf. She stood in the shadows, staring at him. He was about to utter a hello, when his heart skipped a beat. She was light, with a dark head...exactly how Autumn had described her. His eyes narrowed, so this was the cruel child stealer!

"It's you! The coywolf who steals children" he shouted at her angrily. He leaped to his feet and pranced to the end of the log, where he craned his head at her. "You're Autumn's enemy, sea wolf" he muttered. The normally brave fox shuddered. This was a dangerous lunatic, (or so he thought) and she was right in front of him! And not to mention that Autumn's biggest enemy was very close to their meadow. His eyes flickered briefley in it's direction before turning back to the enemy. Had she come to hurt Autumn? "What are you doing here?" he growled, though it sounded more like a purr.

she had expected the thing to wilt in terror as it realized her eyes upon him -- yet he did not shrivel up and waste as he beheld her. caiaphas allowed her ears to flatten as the fox bellowed in her direction. for a moment she was unsure of the reason for his outrage -- that was, until, he mentioned autumn.

caiaphas had not seen that fiery little fox in a while, and in truth, had hoped the thing dead. it seemed fate enjoyed intertwining their lives, for they had met on many occasion and none of those occasions had been pleasant. "i don't steal children." the coywolf supplied in a dark tone, lowering her head as she prowled forwards. nothing about her approach was friendly -- not even the way her fur remained calmly slicked to her gaunt body.

"are you autumn's friend?" she inquired, her voice beguiling -- "or more than that?"

The fox, tiny as he was, was angry. Anything that hurt Autumn was officially on his top 3 list of enemies. He growled/purred at her again, standing at his full height (small) and bristling, face disfigured in a snarl. "I love her, and you arn't going to eat her, so GO AWAY! " Kesik bellowed at her. He stood on the end of his log, where he was the same height as Caiaphas. He felt no more fear, just a unfox-like bravery and anger.

It was quite a sight, the tiny fox standing up to the hostile wolf who dwarfed him, knowing he was very likely to be eaten.

it was not often that things were aggressive to caiaphas -- rarer still was it that the thing in question was markedly smaller than her. being of a lean and small stature herself, it was uncommon she held the advantage of height. so for once in her life, caiaphas could see the irony in the situation.

the spotted fox, drawing himself imposingly upon a log, was now eye level with the gaunt siren queen. she delivered him a tactless and doleful stare, unphased by his impressive display of bravery. what had her father once said of bravery? she thought for a moment -- courage was the absence of intelligence. a funny thing, this little fox.

"if i was going the type to eat fox.." she started, a lethal gleam in her eye -- "don't you think you'd be dead by now?"

He suddenly realized how much trouble he was in. Luckily, he came up with a quick solution. Play stupid. "You can't eat me! I'm invincible! Just last night a big ol wolf with a foaming mouth and and wild eyes tried to eat me, but he only got a bite before he started shaking and I esc-" He stopped and his eyes grew wide, he fell to the log and begun to twitch, then convulse, then shake.

He forcible pushed saliva to his lips, then staggered up fake dazed, mouth foaming. With a growl, he launched himself straight at the wolf. Hopefully, his plan would work. Most people ran when they saw a rabid fox springing toward them, eyes rolling, but he wasn't sure about this one.

unfortunately for kesik, caiaphas had pulled the very same trick upon several wolves in the vicinity, not including autumn. for a moment she considered the truth behind his spasms -- if he were truly rabid, she was playing a risky game. all the same, she considered rabies a spectacular way to go.

as he barreled past her the salted wretch side-stepped, bounding artfully out of his grasp only to slither back around and settle on the very log he had moments before been kingly sitting upon. she hunkered down, melting into the log's grooves in the manner of a demon, her eyes feral and hungry as she peered down at the frothy thing. "i guess that means you can't kiss autumn anymore." she imparted in singsong with a snide jeer.

Kesik spat the froth from his lips, glaring up at Caiaphas. He had taken quite the tumble, crashing against a stump. A tiny cut open above his eye, and a trickle of blood fell down his cheek. "Can't you just roll over and die? You look ancient." He have her his best death glare, and wished that looks could kill. He loathed this vermin, and growled at her again. He hoped Autumn would stay far, far away, and knew he couldn't go back to her until this vermin left, for then she could easily track him back to the den where they lived.

if only looks could kill -- caiaphas had been on the (well-deserved) receiving end of several such scathing looks. but kesik looked positively adorable, even with his most menacing scowl. caiaphas truly envied his cutie-tude.

being of haggish stature and quite ugly herself, she returned the loathing statement with a leer. "that wasn't very nice." she clicked her tongue against her teeth, leaning her head down to better view the spiteful fox. "where is autumn these days? i haven't had a visit from her in forever. i get lonely, you know."

He gave her another adorable, cute glare. "She's with me. And you'd better never come near her again, or I will eat you!" He was a bit unsure of how he would eat a full grown wolf, but those details could come later.

caiaphas batted her eyes as if innocent to kesik's accusations - as if she were some fair maiden incapable of ungodly horrors.

unfortunately, it was not so -- and she was deviously capable of all manner of terrors. terrors not even kesik's cute visage could quell. she smiled her bland smile, its effulgence lacking genuine clarity -- it was a smile a skull would bear. "okay, i can do that." she answered calmly. in the disposed manner of a cretin she crossed one angular paw over the other and peered down at him atop her rotted log.

"where does she live, so i know to avoid her?"

Kesik's eyes narrowed. Did she think he was stupid? Then, another fabulous idea came to him. The bear. "You better not! We live in Bearclaw Valley, and if I ever catch your scent, I'll eat you! I swear I will!' He punctuated the sentance with another cute glare, and puffed up his fur again so he looked like an adorable fuzzy teddy bear fearsome warrior.

He was in awe at the level of this wolf's ugliness, he wondered what terrible mistake had befallen her in the womb.

wow im so sorry i didnt see you replied!!

caiaphas had hoped he would fall for her inquiry -- and while it seemed he did, she had her reservations on the truth behind his statements. "the fuck's bearclaw valley?" the siren spat, peering down at him with disbelief. with a narrow muzzle she snaked her head about and peered at him with those serpent yellow eyes, her tongue lancing across her thin cheek.

she doubted kesik could kill her, though she did not doubt fox would eat their brethren. rude little shits. she hung from the log as she awaited an answer, her breath loud and ears pulled forwards with expectation.

He gave her his look again, and pointed north east. "That way. So don't even think about going there. We have a bunch of friends and we will eat you alive!" He sniffed distastefully and waited, ready to head north then double back when Caiaphas wasn't looking.

last post from me! ty for the thread :D

the salted wretch issued a chortle at what she presumed was an empty threat. she was not intimidated by the fox's threat and it showed -- with a sinuous grace she slid from the log and towards kesik.

"i invite you to try it." the siren queen hissed with a malicious smile. as she pulled past him she issued a snap of her teeth in his direction before she sauntered back towards the wooded copse where she had previously been hunting truffles.

"Run while you still can!" he called after her before slipping into the woods again. He chortled to think of how the witch would react to a bear in the valley instead of foxes, who were far away in their own small place.