Noctisardor Bypass We can fight gravity with our legs

Oh shit, that loud low growl from Arbiter sounded like it meant business. The daughter stopped short, digging her heels in and half-dropping to the earth, even as her dilated eyes roved after the baby deer in dismay. I didn't touch it— I di'n't touch either of 'em, Brou whined in dismay, but at a much softer volume than her usual, as her ears folded unhappily back and her head drooped a little. And now the little one's gone, she added in a sulky mutter. Why hadn't anyone else jumped on that opportunity? Darn it! Even the bigger one looked so skinny, and as one of the youngest of the pack Brou was lowest on the totem pole when it came to taking her turn to munch. (Especially now if mom was going to get all persnickity about it with her to try and teach her another freaking lesson... ugh!) She hadn't had venison in ages and ages and ages and now who knew if there was even going to be anything but gristle left when Brou finally got a bite!

Why hadn't anyone grabbed the little one as it ran past, seriously. It just didn't seem very pack-spirited of the rest of them, harrumph, especially when they surely all knew that Arbiter's stupid rules were keeping her kids from grabbing any of the morsels for themselves while the critters were still up and running. Seriously, if Brou was going to miss out on lunch from this failure on the other wolves' parts she was not gonna be happy.

Brou's eyes widened just a fraction as her attention was pulled away from their prey by Mother's stalking towards her. Oh shit. Brouhaha flattened the rest of the way down, even laying her chin in the dirt as she tucked her white tailtip down inside the curve of her left hind leg. A tiny whimper escaped her. Her blue eyes darted unhappily up to Arbiter, then submissively away; they couldn't resist slipping over to linger on the big doe the others were making sure of even now. Brou pulled her gaze away when she noticed and shifted it off to the right, away from Mom and all the delicious distractions of the day, but she had to dart her tongue out and run it over her upper lip in a tiny motion to catch the gathering saliva before it could fall and betray her. ...The big one's down now...at least... she murmured, but sank her jawline deeper into the upchurned cold dirt even so, half-shutting her eyes and resigning herself to wait until Arbiter relented and gave her the explicit go-ahead, this time. Damn it, this was so unfair! She'd been stuck here forever and ever with all that stupid made-up murderers business, she'd held back as much as Momma said to no matter how hard it had been, hadn't touched even a hair of either of these stupid deer, and now she was going to miss out entirely on getting more than the merest taste of venison haunch, just watch.