Silvertip Mountain So you embrace them in the hopes that you'll survive

SUCCESS FINALLY

You will not fail this time. You can't. Niita followed the scent of hedgehog, nose low and mouth open to scent it properly. Given her luck, maybe hedgehog wasn't such a good food choice but it was large enough to make up for the days she couldn't hunt and tantalizingly close.

The Anreis found her prey snuffling around a tree trunk, digging its muzzle into the soil for worms and gobbling them down with greedy smacking noises. Niita crept close, considering how to go about killing the spiny mammal. 

Knowing she was bound to get poked with a handful of the spines no matter what, the girl leapt for the hedgehog which curled on itself to expose a ball of spines that counteracted Niita's attempts. Pulling up short, Niita batted the thing with a growl. 

It rolled over to a flat rock, one that leaned against a boulder. Coming up with an idea that might be crazy enough to work, the white wolf clambered atop the boulder and pushed the flat rock with all her might. It fell slowly, gathering momentum, until it slammed into the hedgehog which made a sick cracking noise.

Hopping down, Niita wedged her head under the flat rock and heaved it off the now dead hedgehog. As the rock fell to the side, Niita let out an excited yip. She had finally caught something! Digging into its fleshy underside ravenously, Niita felt a bit of triumph for herself.

Takes place shortly after this thread: http://wolf-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=16103

Almost there, he thought to himself, unable to keep the spring out of his step or the lift out of his tail. He was hurrying back into the territory with the otter pup swinging proudly from his jaws. He couldn't wait to share his catch with the rest of the pack - especially with the male he'd first encountered at the borders. Eli or something. Grayday couldn't remember, but he knew the male hadn't approved of his presence in the pack.

A thud in the distance made him pause, and after a moment, he made his way in that direction, wanting to make sure that everything was in order. When he came across the white she-wolf, his tail lowered at once, waving uncertainly behind him as he tried to take in her pearly coat once again.

It was a moment before he realized what she'd done, and then his tail began wagging in earnest.

"That's clever," he commented - or meant to. The otter pup hanging limply from his jaws made it come out more like: "Sfaths fehrr."

Glancing up as she munched on the hedgehog, Niita spotted Grayday. She had felt a bit bad about questioning his eyes in the border, given that he was probably insecure about it. Niita hadn't meant it maliciously, only curious about his film covered orbs.

"Sorry, didn't catch that. Nice catch." Niita gestured to his otter, finishing off the last of the hedgehog before speaking. "How have you been settling in?"

Grayday spat out the otter and licked the blood from his muzzle, feeling - for the first time since recieving it - the bite-wound on his cheek. His tongue couldn't reach it, but he'd worry about that later. "I said - 'That's clever.' The thing with the rock. The otter was pure luck - right place, right time - but I'd've never thought to hunt like that."

He meant it. Wolves in these lands possessed an ingenuity he was eager to learn. He'd never even tried to hunt a hedgehog - too many spines for his taste - but he knew how he'd try and go about it, now.

Her next question made his ears twitch back in chagrin. He wanted to be honest with her, but he didn't know how to explain the way things were going for him. "I find it hard... it's... hard to find..." he began, and then began again. Oh well. Whatever. "Never mind. Your name's Niita, right? How long have you been here? What is it like?"

I think this one might not be the brightest Crayola in the box. It wasn't a mean thought, or at least it wasn't meant that way, Gray just seemed a bit...different. Nevertheless, Niita smiled at him in thanks for his compliment, ears flicking as she listened to him speak. "It was the same with hedgehog, it just happened to be near the rock." 

Gray stuttered over his words, Niita's brow furrowing in confusion as he seemed to be having trouble with something. He gave up and Niita didn't press for whatever he had been about to say. "Yeah, I'm Niita. I've been here for about half a month. Silvertip is great in my opinion, they're all very loyal and friendly."

"Friendly," he chuckled, his mind straying back to Steady's words. They didn't seem friendly. He'd been spending all his time on the outskirts, too worried about encroaching on their lands. But that's just my fault, he told himself firmly. I'm a part of this pack, and if I act like it, they won't turn me away.

"Where should I put this?" he asked, setting his paw on the otter. It wasn't much, but it would be plenty for the pups. Perhaps that would buy him some favor. "And did you want any, incidentally? You seemed... pretty hungry." And hedgehogs didn't have a lot of meat on them, he didn't think.

Niita held in a grimace. So maybe they had seemed kind of brutal on the border, what with threatening to eat him. Bygones, right? Instead she raised her proudly, ready to defend Silvertip. "We are. We just do what we have to do, so we can survive." 

"Nah, you should eat it." Niita assured him. With the pups gone it wasn't necessary to take kills to the den, hence why she ate the hedgehog herself. "I suppose I was, I couldn't hunt for awhile." 

Whoops. Nice going, Day.

Grayday gave an agreeable huff in answer as he nosed hungrily at the otter. He hadn't meant to be critical of her family. Hard times were hard times, and he was proving himself. He had the otter, after all. And while he'd've loved to take her advice and scarf down the whole thing, he was reluctant to partake before offering it to Steady, and to the rest of the pack as well. Threat or no threat, he'd meant what he said at the border. He was not here to be fed, but to feed others.

"This is the first thing I've caught in a while," he admitted. "But I had help along the way. I think I should take this back to the others. It's only right - I ate the kills of others, and so some one other than me should be eating this. At least this first kill."

He picked up the otter and looked questioningly back at her, hoping she would walk with him to the den. He wasn't sure how to face the others, yet, as he'd mostly been keeping to himself.

fade?

Niita got to her feet, kicking the spiny remains of the hedgehog beneath the rocks and moving to Grayday's side. Smiling, she gestured for him to lead the way. Niita knew how intimidating it must be with the threat of being eaten over his head, she was prepared to be his first friend here if that was what it took for the others to accept him.