Emberwood up & over

@Dauntless and @Engel - all other tags for reference. Forward-dated to the 13th. All Welcome!

After bidding his @Spiritwalker a long and affectionate goodbye, Grayday, Engel, Easy, and Dauntless had taken their leave. He'd left @Dawn and @Pema in charge, telling them to consult Catori if they had any concerns, or if anything unexpected came up. Sylvas was there if they needed muscle, and he was sure Kieran and the others would lend their jaws as well. But while Grayday worried about those left at home, he was sure he'd come home to find them no worse for wear.

"Okay, let's stop here for a while," said Grayday as soon as they reached the Emberwood, where he'd stayed a few nights with Sunny, Dawn, Khoe, and Adeline once upon a time. He knew there was good hunting, here, and that they'd find shelter for the night. They'd pushed through the mountains with minimal stops and only a few short hunts; they'd stop here and get their bearings before making the final push to Easthollow. "How are you two holding up?" he asked the children. Easy had been complaining non-stop.

The male kept one ear flicked toward Engel, but he ignored the other male for the time being. He wasn't sure how the other had ended up in this party, but he supposed he was glad for the extra set of eyes to look after the kids. Still, he would have prefered to have Cat along, if she hadn't been needed on the plateau.

Engel stopped, and laid down on his stomach with his tail curled around his rear legs. He heard Grayday's question, but wasn't watching to see who he was asking to. "Oh, I'm doing fine, rea-oh" he said after realizing. The older male sat up for a moment, and scratched at his ear with a back leg. 

"How far to Easthollow? Not getting tired at all, I can keep going...If you wanted to know" the male said, pausing between scratching at his ear. It was quite itching, and he felt it was something to take his mind off how his legs were getting tired.

Despite his initial excitement, Dauntless found himself second-guessing his decision to go with Easy, Grayday, and Engel to Easthollow. The day had been arduous and had left Dauntless in a sour mood.

When the crowd stopped to regroup, Dauntless sat next to his sister with an expression that told the others that he was exhausted. He turned towards Grayday as he spoke and answered his question quickly. "I don't wanna walk anymore," Dauntless huffed before he looked to Easy to see if she agreed. It was as he looked to his sister that Engle spoke and, in reaction, Dauntless shot his packmate a displeased look.

Easy leaned against her brother's shoulder, visibly nodding off. She didn't answer her father's question, and her lids only fluttered when Dauntless responded. She'd been very excited to go on a trip with Daddy and be just like Dawn, but she'd forgotten just how tiring trips could be - and the last one they'd been carried half the time!

But it was still fun - after a quick nap, she'd be back to her usual, energetic self.

Grayday was tired, too. He'd been living an easy life at the Plateau, especially since getting injured. But he was a dutiful male, and knew that some things needed to be seen to before he could settle down and rest.

"You two can rest up here," said Grayday, heading toward the sheltered base of a tree and digging a little bowl for Easy and Dauntless to nap in. "Uncle E and I are gonna go on a quick hunt. If there's anything easy around, we'll have dinner for you. If not, we'll all go on a hunt tomorrow. Does that sound good?"

He looked around at the three of them, waiting for some kind of protest.

Engel raised a brow at Day, he had not been called Uncle in...well, ever. He had never been called Uncle. Yet, he found amusement in it, smiling gently. "'Uncle E'?" he asked with amusement. "Well, I'm up for it. Can't hurt to stretch the legs more." Unless he pulled a muscle, which was a chance for a the old wolf. But, any chance to impress was a chance he would take.

Surprisingly, Dauntless saw no reason to protest his father's orders. The shelter seemed suitable to him, and Dauntless wanted nothing more than to curl up next to Easy and sleep for a long time. His tail wagged slowly at the thought. "You wanna sleep now, Easy?" he mumbled with a yawn as he turned to his painted sibling.

"Yessss..." said Easy, stumbling toward the shallow bowl and collapsing into it. She barely had the energy to make room for Dauntless, but when he did lay down, she made sure to drape herself over him like a blanket, and buried her nose in the fur of his scruff to breath warm are onto his nape.

She was asleep within seconds, but within an hour, she'd be up and at'm again.

Relieved that they'd accepted this course of action without a hitch, Grayday lingered just long enough to see both kids into their makeshift bed before trotting off to look for game.

"Looks like we'll be having a turkey dinner," Grayday said with relish, looking around for Engel. They were lucky they'd stumbled so quickly upon a trail - Grayday was glad they'd aimed for the Emberwood. It had always treated them well in the past.

"I'll need help getting to them, but once we get close enough, I won't need to see 'em to kill 'em," he said to the other male. "Let's try and pen them in, and then we'll pounce from opposite sides. Two should do it for us."

Engel followed beside Grayday, trying to resist the temptation of getting up close to him. "Your kids are great, by the way...I mean, all kids are, but I'm sure you know what I mean" he said, glancing back at them. "Turkey it is then...They won't be the only things going 'gobble gobble'" he laughed at his own little joke of the sound of turkeys.

Although the tone went to serious. It must have been hard having one eye, although Engel did not know of the other sight problems Day had. "I'll get you over there. My voice might not be the greatest to listen to, but I promise I'll get you there...can't let them starve." The last bit had a different voice tone, he'd lost too many children.

Without a second thought, Dauntless followed Easy and collapsed into the divet once she had made herself comfortable. He fell asleep within seconds of hitting the ground, and when he woke again, his motivation to recommence their adventure would be renewed.

Until that happened, the cub snored loudly at his sister's side.

Speeding up time!

Some time later, Easy blinked open her bright, orange eyes and found herself in an unfamiliar place. Daddy and Uncle E were nowhere in sight, but Dauntless was still curled up beside/beneath her. More snow had fallen around them, but most of it hadn't reached them under the tree. What little had, Easy began grooming from hers and Dauntless's coats, not wanting it to melt and get them all wet.

"Are you still sleeping?" she asked him, loudly enough to wake him if he hadn't yet been woken by her grooming.

Grayday chuckled at Engel's joke. It was a dumb one - one he'd use to make his children groan and go Daaad... later on. Engel wasn't bad company when he wasn't trying to flirt or turn a casual game into cheating on his wife. Day still didn't know how that'd happened.

"They'll be alright," the male said bracingly. "They're tough kids, and if they don't eat tonight, they'll eat tomorrow." But Grayday still wanted to feed them - it went against all his instincts to allow them to be hungry this time of year.

They grew closer to the turkeys - the males could tell by both scent and sound. Grayday slowed his pace and kept his ears cupped toward Engel, not needing him to speak in order to follow him. As long as Engel didn't make his footsteps too quiet, Grayday would be able to follow behind him.

"Tough kids, cause they have a tough father." He didn't want to think about that spar either, and chose not to mention it, even though he wanted to. He didn't notice Day fall behind a bit. Engel readied himself to move. Turkeys scattered sometimes. Other times, they could get rahterr aggressive. He rathered that he did not get pecked in the eye, or somewhere else by turkey. 

He was already salivating, and he couldn't wait any longer. So, he sprung forth. Right away, his muscles ached a bit, but he shrugged that off. And in response, he received many 'gobble gobbles'.

Somehow, Dauntless had managed remain asleep as Easy groomed him. It was only when his sister spoke that he blinked open his foilage-like eyes; he felt suddenly irritated, and he turned his attention to his elder sibling. "I was 'til you woke me up," he grumbled as he lifted his head from the ground.

Unlike Easy, Dauntless had yet to realize that they had woken up in an unfamiliar place. It would only be a matter of time until he caught sight of a landmark he did not recognize.

Easy paid no mind to her brother's bad mood - she'd been dealing with him her whole life, and things were just easier if she pretended that everything was going her way. Eventually, reality tended to comply.

"We should explore while Dad and Uncle E are busy," she said to her brother, standing and stretching before trotting away from their makeshift bed. The girl looked around intently before picking a direction and striking out. She paused long enough to throw a glance over her shoulder, silently begging Dauntless to come along.

Suddenly, they were in the middle of a turkey fight. In the confusion, Grayday somehow managed to grab onto a very frightened turkey. It flapped angrily against his face, but the male ignored that. He was being pecked all over by turkeys he wasn't going to be able to catch, and in an effort to save himself, the male darted from the rafter of turkeys and began running away.

Furious GOBBLE-GOBBLES following him from the area. He didn't stop until they'd faded away.

The turkey had died somewhere during all that running. Grayday gave it a few shakes just to be sure, and then swung around, looking for Engel. "I thought you were gonna give me a singal or something," he groused.

Engel tried to make as many snaps with his jaws, although all the pecking sure was very, very painful against his rear and sides. "Bad...turkeys!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, snapping about again. Finally, he managed to grab one by the neck, and followed quickly behind Grayday with one. He mumbled 'gobble gobble' back at the falling behind turkeys mockingly.

Once they got to a safe distance, Engel put his turkey down to answer Day. "Sorry, the hunger got to me..." he said quietly. "Let's...let's get these back, yeah?"

Easy's remark caused Dauntless to consider the unfamiliar territory around them. With confusion evident in his expression, he took a moment to observe and recall the journey that had brought them there.

When Easy set off, Dauntless followed dutifully after her; he now had the energy to spare and was curious to know where Grayday and Uncle E had taken them.

"It smells weird here," Dauntless observed with flared nostrils as he caught up and set his pace to walk alongside his painted sister. He regarded her with a questioning look as he wondered if she smelled what he did; anything new was considered "weird" to the dirt-pelted child.

"Hmm?" said Easy, glancing back at her brother. It smelled very empty to Easy, which was weird in a way, but there weren't many new smells around. Some strange wolfscent, long faded, and some fox scent, which Easy only ever found around the edges of the plateau. Nothing she would really classify as weird. "How do you mean?" she asked, shivering a bit.

It was getting colder, so she backtracked toward her brother to press her side against his. They should probably get back before Daddy and Uncle E did, but she was enjoying the strange feeling of being alone in the wild. "I think I want to be a ranger like Dawn," she confessed.

It was a mark of how tired he was that Grayday simply nodded, and made no effort to play with his kill. Turkeys normally had a catnip-like effect on him, but that would have to wait for the morning, after he'd had a bit of rest. Especially since, although Grayday was sure they'd made it back to where he'd left the kids, there were no kids in sight.

The turkey was unceremoniously dropped. "Mirza! Easy!" he called, his voice whip-crack sharp through the cold, winter air. Those kids were going to be the death of him.

Engel trailed behind Day, and once out of the turkey's eyesight, he made a 'woop!' sort of sound, celebrating having just barely gotten out of there. "Woah, Day, that was crazy, right? I mean, turkeys! We got chased by-" he stopped when he realized why Day had called for his children.

His turkey dropped out of his mouth. "Oh shhhoot, not good." He went to looking about. He may not have met children in a while, but he had a massive soft spot for them. Something he and his first mate shared. "Gotta find them. They gotta be around, right?"

SO sorry to hold this up!

To Easy's question, Dauntless shrugged. It was hard for him to describe the odor that hung in the air. "I dunno," Dauntless replied as he scrunched his nose. "It's just strange," he explained, opting for a different word. He hoped that it would suffice and the conversation would be dropped— he was already done with explaining himself. 

In the midst of his irritation, Day beckoned his roaming children. Instinctively, Dauntless rolled his eyes and turned in the direction from where his name had been called. "Do we have to?" he groaned, his voice only loud enough for Easy to hear. He wasn't ready to head back.

"They couldn't have gone far," he muttered to Engel, not really caring for the man's panicky tone. Grayday listened for only a moment before Easy's voice reached his ears: "Be right there, Da!"

Thus appeased, the male laid down and pulled the turkey over his paws, beginning to strip it of feathers. The kids returned soon enough, and the four had a small meal before bedding down for the night - after the kids were appeased with scary stories, of course.