Porcupine Ridge Life goes on

For once, Farstep was on the borders without intending to patrol them. He was in pursuit of a snowshoe hare, one with a lame leg, that was headed for the open valley that their territory overlooked. With its injured limb, the hare wasn't able to remain ahead of him, and soon enough the tawny wolf was gaining ground as its stamina flagged. Ever the more aroused with the impending success of the hunt, the Gamma made small noises in his throat with every impact of his feet on the slick ground, somewhere between an excited cough and a full-on bark.

He fell upon the rabbit and tumbled, managing to lock his jaws around the back of its neck. The sounds it made were horrendous and sure to draw attention, but just as quickly as it screamed, it was silenced by a vicious shake of his head as he regained his footing. Only when he set down the slain hare did Farstep realize how close to the borders he really was, and only then did his eyes, no longer sharply focused on a moving target, rise to spot an ashy figure quite close to their land. As far as he could tell, the resting male had not crossed the borders, so he drew himself in Keiran's direction mainly out of curiosity rather than authority. From previous encounters, he assumed that the wolf resting there intended to seek acceptance into the ranks of Taggarik's pack. Farstep was interested in watching the ritual between a lone wolf and one of his leaders once more and trying to grasp what was happening in the gaps where body language and the outcome didn't correlate. He didn't know that he never would, no matter how many times he observed.

More than that, though, was the fact that Farstep, being an insatiably curious creature, liked to be involved. He liked to witness the decisions made by the pack's leaders and he liked to know what was going on at all times. So he didn't hesitate in approaching Keiran, at least until the faint scent of smoke was carried to his nostrils. Then, he instantly froze as natural animal fear shot coldly through his veins. His hackles rose from the base of his neck all the way to his tail, giving his withers a thick and almost prickly appearance. His lips pulled back from his teeth and he growled a low, frantic note that rose in intensity with alarming speed. Keiran had done nothing wrong on his own, but the scent of smoke was almost certainly coming from the wolf's body, and Farstep was blinded by what he sensed with his nose. He no longer saw just a grey-furred wolf, but firmly believed the wolf was capable of becoming fire or that the wolf was fire, and felt he was staring fiery death right in the face.

There was no way in hell he was getting any closer to Keiran—he was still well within the borders and a good distance away from the lone wolf—but he displayed a strong threat response in spite of the distance, and soon enough his snarl was that of a dangerously frightened beast without sense, loud enough that anyone who was anywhere near the scene would easily hear it.

Farstep's just playing first responder. Once a leader or leaders arrive, feel free to skip Farstep as needed to keep the thread moving, he will defer to them. Leaders have permission to powerplay his behaviour somewhat in this circumstance; I've sent you three a message about that. So long as I'm able to make another post or two before archival I'm happy. ^_^