Stone Circle see ya in another life, brotha

Maybe @Sunny? AW, though.

These were the dying days of summer. Murdock had lived through four such times as these, and somehow, things were no less invigorating in his fifth. The dry heat still kindled a fire low in his belly, and the taste of distant, heavy clouds kept him constantly on his paws. A bad wind was blowing from the east, and each cool finger that raked through his pelt seemed to carry a message that echo just beyond the reach of his ears. It made him restless - and a bit moody, even - but he revelled in it all the same.

Today, he was pacing along the borderline, rubbing his shoulder against each tree that he passed. Scent-marking was not his usual cup of tea, but the presence of pups within the territory had awoken old urges in the aging male. Part of him wanted to resent these wolves for forcing him to relive painful memories, but he knew that Valette and Ezekiel had not procreated in order to spite him. They couldn't have; Valette had conceived long before he arrived on Easthollow's borders.

Regardless of his feelings on the matter of pups, he knew it behoved him to do his part. He'd never tell another living soul, but Murdock wasn't sure how he'd be able to go on if more pups died under his watch.

Coming from the Opposite direction Sunny made his way along the borders, taking a break from scouting out the prey and attempting to catch it. The breeze shifted directions and blew to him the approaching scent of a male he was unfamiliar with, and he picked up his pace in that direction stopping occasionally to lift his left and rub his face and sides against the rough bark of a tree or the occasional fallen log. Up ahead he spotted the light brown pelt of a male, also marking and walking along the invisible line of the borders.

He chuffed gently to state his presence and then made his way forward, keeping his ears perked straight up to shoiw his friendly intentions. "Hiya, I don't believe we've met yet"  he stated in a voice that was the farthest thing he could manage from an enthusiastic pup. He was in an adult rank now, he had to be mature and strong and use his head instead of bumbling around like a ball of hyperactive fluff.

Murdock's ears pricked as they detected the approach of another. Soon enough, a grey wolf bearing a marked resemblence to many in Murdock's family line made an appearance. Immediately, the older male felt a strong kinship with the other. This feeling was only increased when he was greeted with a jaunty tone.

"I don't believe we have," he agreed, wagging his tail as they came to meet each other. Murdock sniffed curiously at the boy's shoulder, trying to detect some trace of familial bonds - but the boy smelled as unfamiliar as the rest of Easthollow, and Murdock had to suppose it was nothing more than a coincidence that he should look so much like the family he'd left behind. "I'm Murdock - Mur, do it please ya."

Nikai had gone for a patrol and if he was lucky maybe he could find some food along the way that he could bring to Valette. As he made his way, he noticed a stranger in the distance, but he didn't reach him before someone else did. As he approached Nikai recognised Sunny and he smiled. It'd been some time since he and Sunny had had any one-on-one time and he was looking forward to spend some time with the boy.

"Hey Sunny," Nikai said with a soft smile before turning to the stranger. "And hiya. Out patrolling? I'm Nikai." He wasn't sure if Valette would've mentioned having an older son, but he didn't think it necessary to mention it as he introduced himself to the other.

Sunny was glad that his approach was met with welcoming behavior, and he drew Murdock's scent deep into his lungs so he could indentify it for future use. "Nice to meet you Mur, I'm Sunny. It seems like everyone is out for a patrol today" he introduced himself in return, tail swaying behind him in a relaxed fashion. His ears pricked up as approaching pawsteps behind him alerted him to someone else coming, and before he could turn to greet whoever it was a familiar voice piped up. 

"Nikai! How are ya?" he said this time failing to hide the enthusiasm in his voice. Nikai was one of the main reasons he had returned to Easthollow along with his sister Keoni. He hadn't seen Keoni in quite some time though, and he guessed she had gone off on her own. "Ya'll wanna patrol together? maybe we can take down some Turkey on the way back i've been keeping an eye on their wherabouts"  he suggested. He had pinpointed both the Turkey's and the Pheasant's current rousting spots. Those birds were gonna hate him forever.

Murdock's tail wagged almost automatically, responding to the positive vibes coming off the two males. Nikai didn't look familiar to him like Sunny did, but he still seemed a good sort. Murdock was glad to meet the both of them, and wasted no time in saying as much. "Pleasure! I'm Mur, by the by. And yeah - looks like we all are," he agreed, confirming Nikai's assumption. His tail whipped a little bit quicker at the mention of teaming up. He enjoyed a bit of male bonding time. Never had gotten on too well with women since his first two mates had passed.

"Sounds like a plan," said Mur, lifting his leg to mark the side of a tree. "Turkeys are my favorite."

He couldn't help but peer at Sunny, though. They even seemed to have similar accents, though the boy's was far less pronounced than Mur's. He could've sworn he knew this kid from somewhere, but he was far too young to be a son of Mud. Ah, well, thought the male. Wishful thinking at its very best.

Sunny wagged eagerly as he was just as glad for some company of the male gender, though Nikai's especially. He began to head off along the borders, brushing his pelt against the tree bark and occasionally stopping to lift his leg and release a stream of urine. "The turkeys are roosting in a patch of bushes and brush about thirty to forty feet from the stream. I don't think anyone has disturbed them yet, so they should still be around to hunt" he spoke quietly in case there was any other prey in the area as well, his nose twitching as he sniffed the air every few seconds as he walked.


"So Mur....Where are ya from?" he asked curiously, turning to look at the male over his shoulder.

Can we stick to the post order? I didn't realise it was my turn to reply because Sunny had replied again, so I thought we were still waiting for Murdock.

"Nice to meet you, Mur!" said Nikai with a friendly smile. He looked at Sunny, the soft smile on his face showing that he was happy to see Sunny too. They hadn't spent a lot of time together recently, so he was looking forward to make a change in that. Sunny suggested hunting for turkeys and Nikai nodded in silent agreement.

"Good," Nikai agreed when Sunny marked the whereabouts of the turkeys. He followed silently along and looked at Murdock when Sunny asked the question about where he was from.

"The north," Murdock said amicably.  "A place called Sameth, which lies beside a great river."

He looked at the two green boys that accompanied him, somehow doubting that they'd seen very much travel in their days, but figuring it was safer to ask. "What about you two? Are ya far from your bloodlands?" His own younger brother, after all, had left his father's pack at the tender young age of seven months and fourteen days. That was the exception and not the rule, howver. Murdock, himself a great lover of travel, had remained in his father's pack until he'd seen a full year.

But all this was his own experience, and for all he knew, these boys could've been born into a pack of nomads and travelled more miles than Murdock could even imagine. Thus, the male listened with earnest interest.

Sunny listened to them talk as he walked, leading the way toward the stream with carefully placed pawsteps so he wouldn't disturb whatever prey lay nearby. Murdock told his homeland, a place that Sunny had never heard of though that wasn't too surprising since Sunny had never been too far away from Easthollow his whole life. Once the sound of moving water could be heard he stopped and waited for the other two to reach him before quietly responding to Murdock's question. "I was born right here in Easthollow, My dad Grayday took us away for a while before I decided that I belonged here. I came back a while ago" he explained with a small smile. It was clear by the way his eyes flicked away from the older male and his tail sagged slightly that this was something he had diffculty speaking of.

He trailed his eyes down the path ahead of him and spotted the stream not too far off, visible through a patch of trees. They were right near the area where the stream began to curve off and Sunny turned around so he faced them. "On the other side of the stream is where the turkey's roost.  Right by the curve is thin enough to leap over, but the rest is wider. Still, it's shallow enough to wade across. One of us should make the jump over and herd a few turkeys toward the water and the other two maybe stand in the water and yank it in? Drowning it is a good way to avoid the wings and talons, and two should make it easier than one. The one of us that is on shore can maybe try to take down another one on their own?"  he suggested. He had never really planned a hunt by himself, or done any planning at all so this was the best thing he could see happening though he was sure there was some faults to the plan.

Nikai was intrigued that Murdock came from somewhere beyond anything he had ever seen. His lighting up eyes reflected that he really loved hearing about these unknown lands. He hoped he could visit lands outside of his home region some day too. "What made you leave?" he asked with interest, head tilted inquisitively. Nikai always thought that maybe he should spread his wings and explore, find another pack for a while and see where life took him, but each time he wanted to something big happened right here at Easthollow and he felt he should be here for his pack and mother.

"I was born..." Nikai scrunched his nose while thought. "I don't really know where, but it wasn't too far from here. Me and my sister were taken here when we were very little, so I don't really remember."

Then Nikai settled in to listen to Sunny's instructions. He nodded as Sunny spoke and when he was done offered, "I'd prefer herding them in. I'm pretty good at that." Better than trying to drown a turkey, anyway; a thing he had never even really done. He'd fill whatever role was necessary though.

Murdock was caught off guard by Nikai's question. No one had ever really asked him why he left - only what it was like. But a moment later, he'd composed himself, and he offered the younger wolf a wry grin. "A good woman," he replied succinctly, "and then a very bad one."

But that was as far as he was willing to get into the subject, and he tried to make this very clear by turning - with interested mostly unfeigned - to listen to Sunny's tale. It was a short and a little sad, but not anything Murdock felt he had to comment on. He almost made mention of his own Grayday - a young brother that'd struck out on his own a few years before - but decided that it would derail the conversation more than it would add to it. Besides, Grayday was a common enough name. Nikai probably had a Gray in his family, too.

"Well, it seems like I'm the odd one out," said Murdock, not feeling any worse for it. The conversation moved back toward hunting, and the male had to stop himself from laughing at the young wolf's suggestion to drown the turkeys. "Why not just snap its neck?" he asked, doing his best to keep a straight face. He thought better of the question a moment later. "Never mind. Why don't you and Nik here pen them in. I'll kill 'em."

Sunny turned an eye to Murdock as he mentioned women and frowned. Why was it that almost every adult male he knew had some sort of bad experience with women? Were women just crazy or something? He shook his head and let the topic slide focusing on the hunting instead.

Why not just snap it's neck? the question would have made Sunny blush with embarrassment if he was capable of doing so, he didn't want to admit the reason why out loud. Avoiding Mur's gaze he nodded at the older male's suggestion "I was good either way. Ready Nikai?" he asked with a small wag of his tail. He walked to the thin part of the stream and leaped over gracefully and stood still so as not to make anymore noise while he waited for the other boy.

Murdock had better ideas, which made sense to Nikai. Sunny seemed to feel the same way but Nikai decided not to focus too much on it because he probably felt like he should have known better. So he steered the subject away instead. As they prepared to hunt Nikai nodded at Murdock and Sunny and he followed Sunny cross the stream.

"Ready," he said with a low voice and once he had said this moved forward, presumably with Sunny by his side. He tried to grab the turkeys but they moved forward swiftly; Nikai tried getting behind them so that he could best herd them to Murdock's direction, which went well because he was lean and flexible. Nikai focussed on one turkey in particular, and hoped sunny'd fill in the other side so that it would have nowhere to go but Murdock.

Soon enough, the birds were headed straight for him. Nikai was herding one in particular, but when Murdock tried to go for that one, he only clipped its wing with his teeth before it'd flown out of his reach. He swung back toward the rest of the rafter before they passed and quickly zeroed in on the next-closest. A few quick snaps later, and it was dead in his jaws.

The rest were gone within seconds, but a racket made him turn around. The turkey he'd first targeted had gone down in a large cluster of bushes a few dozen yards away. "Grab it!" Murdock cheered, glad the bird hadn't yet escaped them after all.

Sunny focused his attention on the flock, pinpointing the single turkey that Nikai seemed to be focusing on. On the opposite side of Nikai sunny kept a few feet between himself and the bird so that if it changed directions he would have room to alter his course and cut off the bird's escape. It went to Murdock but the male missed and it scurried off gobbling and clucking loudly. Sunny wasted no time and went after it crashing into the bush and grabbing it by a wing, dragging it out again and using his body to hold it. Wrapping his jaws around the birds neck he growled and shook his head three times left and right to snap it's neck with a satisfying crunch.

Two turkeys had been taken down and for that Sunny was proud and satisfied with the hunt. Dragging the deceased bird back toward Nikai and Murdock he grinned at them "That went well. Thank you both for joining me" he said with a wag of his tail.

The plan seemed to work, and at first the turkey Nikai'd targetted seemed to go straight into Murdock's teeth. Unfortunately just as he made a lunge for it the turkey turned round and managed to flee as feathers flew all around. The other turkeys had also come into motion however and Murdock managed to grab a different one instead. "Well done!" Nikai called out towards him. As attention was gathered to the second turkey Sunny had been nearer so by the time Nikai arrived he had already managed to fell the turkey.

Nikai's tail wagged happily as he joined up with the others and looked over their earned food. "Good hunting," he said with a smile.

Murdock gave his own kill a few more shakes, just for fun, before heading toward Nikai and Sunny. The bird was deposited between the two boys; Murdock wasn't hungry, and didn't like venturing inward toward the caches just yet. The could figure out what to do with it, between the two of them.

"Nice work, fellas," he said with a grin and a wag of his tail. "We should do this again sometime."

He looked between the two a moment longer, wondering if there was something else they could do together, or if one or both of the duo would soon have to be on their way. Mur was getting a bit tired, truthfully, and would probably be heading off for a nap in a while.