Swiftcurrent Creek Get some gravel in your claws

More and more, Phoenix tried to find his legs among the Creek wolves. Patrolling alone felt unnatural to him, but it was a task that needed doing, and he needed dearly to come to terms with the fact that this pack simply didn't operate like the one he'd been born to. Even if he didn't necessarily like the job, the necessity of it certainly kept him busy; making him appear more useful than he felt, given his questionable success-rate for solo hunting. Being unable to fill caches meant he had to do the next best thing, begrudgingly or not.

This didn't mean that he wouldn't try to provide if the opportunity presented itself, as it did now in the form of a meandering rabbit. The future hot meal paused to drink from a melted rivulet slinking through the shrubs, and Phoenix stalked it carefully— trying not to shift a single pebble as he eeeeeeeked forward... He put his foot down wrong and the rabbit bolted, sending the wolf prematurely into a stuttering sprint.

But the chase was over well before it even began, and Phoenix, knowing better than to expend himself without tact, hung back with a defeated sigh. Back to pissing on the front lines.