The Heartwood all she wants

@Arrakis (: and also tagging for reference, but all are welcome of course.

terance was feeling... better, this morning. though, perhaps that was not the right word. he still felt terrible. he missed hydra dearly already, and the thought of never seeing her again hurt every inch of him. and lyra, it was the same thing. but, the prospect of starting something new was really exciting, especially since he was starting it with rannoch... and with liffey... and with wraen... things would work out, he knew, but yesterday still hurt.

he wasn't hungry. in fact, terance wasn't sure he'd ever be hungry again. but he knew how the body worked, and knew especially he needed to care for wraen (even though she didn't need his help). so he wanted to hunt for her, if anything. so he left the group, letting @Rannoch, @Liffey, and @Wraen know what he was up to. he picked up the scent of a boar once deep in the woods, and right away terance was hot on it's trail. the scent of another lingered, but he didn't have time to concern himself with that.

After his unfortunate encounter with the striped sisters the day before, Arrakis had returned to the Heartwood and hid himself away among the foliage. He liked the forest, which had become something of a base for the young Imperii-d'Erom - a reliable source of prey, privacy and comfort. A place where he felt he could breathe again.

He rested atop a fallen tree, draped lazily over the frozen trunk with his chin propped atop an outstretched forelimbs, while a hideous creature rummaged in the earth with its tusks several yards from his post. Arry's tangerine eyes lingered on the boar, boredly following its movements and ignoring his natural instinct to pursue it. It either had not noticed the presence of a predator or it realised how pathetic he was.

When it grunted out loud and skipped into a hurried jog, Arrakis figured it had perhaps finally picked up on his scent. He exhaled breathily and gathered to his paws to stretch his stiffened muscles and prepared to hop from his perch when he spotted movement between the trees.

A darker figure prowled, and briefly the raven youth wondered if the wolfess from yesterday sought him, but this stranger's frame was significantly less feminine. Arry froze to watch the other male's approach, waiting to see if he would be noticed.

the boar suddenly fled, and terance let out a quick curse. he must've startled it, somehow, which sucked-- considering the fact that he was pretty sure he would've been able to catch it had it not sensed him. but his shoulder wasn't all that good for sprinting just yet, and without the knowledge of a healer terance didn't quite want to agitate the wound. damn.

but, while the boar left, the male caught sight of another shape. it wasn't as gross as the boar, actually quite a nice on the eyes in comparison-- a dark wolf with a face splashed with red. terance paused, a foot hanging in the air as his nose twitched. "hey," he greeted, forgetting about the creature and focusing on this guy instead, "were you hunting that? i think i mighta scared it off-- that's my bad." or maybe this guy scared it off, hm, terance held his tongue.

"i'm terance."

When the dark stranger noticed him, Arrakis dropped down from the tree trunk and shook his head. "I wasn't," he assured, and canted a velvet ear was he considered he might be the one at fault, "were you? I can help you find it again, if you'd like."

He wasn't sure what startled it, and supposed it did not matter, but he wasn't willing to let this stranger take the blame. Arry hadn't been hungry enough to claim the boar for himself, nor did he wish to be injured by its tusks - a potential death sentence for a loner. But the chances of a successful hunt increased with additional wolves, and so he did not regret his words.

He let his gaze linger on his newest companion's face, and orange eyes met briefly with cool emerald. A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth with the offering of a name, and politely responded with his own: "I'm Arrakis." 

terance replied with a smile when the male-- arrakis-- offered to join him on the hunt. "actually yeah," he said with a prick of his ears, "that'd be great." and then he took the lead-- something he was going to have to start doing a lot more if he wanted to be a good beta for rannoch. he was so used to letting hydra take the lead on things like this. lead. he could do that, he had dante's blood in him, he could take charge. 

he glanced back-- sending another friendly smile-- to make sure the guy was following him, and then began forward, at a reasonable pace until the boar's scent was stronger again. then, he slowed, beginning to crouch, green gaze searching. he spotted the creature a ways back, rummaging again in the underbrush. he stopped, stilling himself and thinking for a moment, before motioning to the other male to go around to the right. he would go around from the left and scare it towards him-- they'd trap it and take it down. hopefully, anyway.

i'm fine assuming they catch it but if you feel more comfortable rolling you're welcome to do that! mild PP just in the assumption that arrakis would follow him (:

I'm good with that.  :D

The raven yearling accepted his offer of assistance, and Arrakis' tail swung to attention. It waved contently at his hocks, and he followed at Terance's flank without hesitation when he took the lead and strode forward, making his way along the deer trail that the boar had trotted along after fleeing the scene where the two wolves crossed paths with one another.

Its strong musk hung heavy in the air and in pricking his velvet ears forward, he heard it nosing through old leaf litter just ahead. He ducked low as his hunting partner did, arching his crown to the side to peer past and settle his bright eyes on the rugged creature. Terance looked back, motioning briefly to him to head to the right, and with a single nod of his head he crept around to settle into position among the foliage.

It was there he waited, ears pressed back and his body crouched as low as physically possible - a coiled spring, waiting to pounce.

and so arrakis took the orders well, immediately slinking off to the side and getting into position. terance did the same, feeling a pang of sadness as he was reminded just how well he and hydra had worked together on things like this. he tried to brush it aside, now was not the time for sadness, it was time for hunting.

he moved slowly, careful this time not to disturb it, his ears angled forward. and, when he'd managed to get close enough-- the boar was so damn loud in it's snuffling through the leaves and snow it probably couldn't hear much else but the crunching-- terance charged, snarling. the boar-- not trying to run straight at some teeth-- turned and fled just as he hoped, right towards arrakis' waiting jaws.

He watched Terance give the boar a wide berth, circling loosely to the other side. The dark yearling blended well into his surroundings, prowling in the canopy's shadow, his steps light and soundminimal enough that their intended prey could not hear the crunch of snow above his own snuffling. The young Imperii-d'Erom smiled wryly to himself, wondering what morsel he'd managed to source that so distracted him.

A sharp squeal of surprise echoed through the Heartwood, and Arry braced himself. Haunches tensed, he inhaled a sharp breath as the pig's trotters carried it swiftly in his direction, where the wolf waited in silence. When it was mere feet from his waiting jaws and preparing to disappear into the shrubbery he'd hidden himself amongst, the wolf sprung forward with fangs unsheathed.

Again, the animal shrieked and jerked to the side so that Arrakis' jaws found its flank, through the rough hide slipped from his attempt to grasp. He swung a forepaw to take a swipe at a haunch, causing the boar to stumble, and he made to snap at the nearest part of it he could reach: a hind limb. Another scream sounded, this time directly at his ear as the pig turned on him with its inability to free itself from the enemy's grip. It bashed its skull to Arrakis' own, and he saw stars but bit down hard to hold it in place for Terance to catch up and move in for the kill.

oh dear, this boar was causing quite the ruckus. arrakis didn't quite take it down in one blow (realistically, of course terance hadn't expected him to do so), and now it was thrashing and squirming to survive. he moved forward, ignoring the twang of pain in his shoulder after a particularly hard step, and leapt at the pig which was grounded by the red-painted wolf.

his teeth met throat-- luckily-- and he bit down hard. deadly crunches sounded and a bit of blood surfaced from the bite, but after numerous squeals and screeches, the creature suddenly went silent-- save for the few gurgles that bubbled up in it's throat. panting from the last bit of struggle, terance eyed arrakis with concern. "you okay? nice work, dude," he said, giving the guy a small smile.

Arrakis braced himself for impact as Terance moved in to assist. He watched through bleary orange eyes as his raven-pelted hunting companion parted his jaws to take a firm grip of the boar's throat, which flooded the boy with relief. Still clinging to their squirming, objecting prey, Arry manouvered enough to pull the animal's leg taught, causing it to slump onto its belly and make for a swifter kill.

When the cries dimmed to watery gurgling and the muscles slackened, the freckled youth released his grip and staggered somewhat. He exhaled a sharp breath and tried to blink the stars from his eyes, trying his best to ignore the accompanying dizziness. "Yeah," he managed, though his cheek and brow burned as he mustered a gratified smile, "thanks."

The scent of blood hung heavily in the air, enough to rouse his desire for fresh meat, and Arrakis blinked down at the stilled pig with newfound interest. He made no move to help himself, however, considering this had been Terance's prey - Arry was his mere assistant.

terance frowned, a bit concerned. "you sure?" he asked, and then glanced down to the boar, "why don't you eat some, you look pretty frazzled." besides, the guy had done half the work, he deserved it! assuming arrakis took some, terance tore off a small piece of shoulder for himself. he wasn't hungry but... well, he probably needed some sustenance. then, a small thought came to mind. hm.

"do you live nearby?"

Terance pried, asking after his wellbeing again, and Arry furrowed his brows as he considered providing an honest answer. Dizziness still made his vision a little blurry and the side of his face throbbed, but not enough that he was willing to admit it. After a moment, the dark yearling lifted his orange eyes to try and focus on the features of his hunting companion. A smile tugged the corner of his mouth again, and he waved his tail in silent assurance that yes, he was fine.

The offering to take his fill of their kill was warmly welcomed, and the boy did not hesitate to accept with a polite dip of his head. Naturally submissive, Arrakis waited patiently for Terance to move in and take the first bite. Saliva pooled on his tongue as the other wolf tore at the pig's shoulder and he swallowed, resisting the urge to step in alongside him.

When the opportunity presented itself and the emerald-eyed hunter took a section for himself, Arry reached out to set about pulling at the flesh where Terance had already helped himself. The still-warm blood tasted like nectar on his tongue and, carefully, he plucked a portion of the muscle from the boar's carcass before settling nearby to feed.

"I'm a loner," he said in response to the dark male's enquiry, figuring he was mearly making smalltalk while they ate. "I keep coming back here, though, so I guess you could say this is my home."

a loner, that was... well, what was he? was terance a loner? or was he part of a wandering pack? he didn't know the answer... but he wasn't sure it was all that important. "are you attached to the place?" he asked, glancing around as he bit into his piece. it wasn't anything special-- at least not to terance-- but maybe arrakis saw something in it. 

but in case he didn't.

"i'm part of a group of wolves traveling eastern," he started with a tilt of his head, "you're welcome to join us." a small, hopeful smile traced his lips, tail tapping against the ground. he liked arrakis, dude seemed level headed and clearly could be helpful to a pack-- and rannoch would be proud of him if he could bring in someone like this guy.

Was he attached to the place? Arrakis blinked, unsure how to answer that one. While he had no ties to any territory, the Heartwood was... comfortable. Safe, perhaps. It certainly was not a home to him - home was wherever Kayi went, though he was loathe to admit it. But it was a familiar place to him, and sometimes that was enough. He frowned with the thought of his failed attempt at love, though it could easily be interpreted as one of contemplation.

After a pause, Arry rolled a slim shoulder in a shrug. "I am not," he decided, and his brow softened as Terance extended an offer of a place among his brethren. His anxiety flared to life as a myriad of questions swarmed his mind: what if they hate me?, why are they travelling?, what's so special to the East?, how many others are with you?, but you barely know me? and most importantly, why me?.

He did not wish to leave silence lingering between them for too long, and so opted for a safer enquiry: "do you think I'd be a good fit?"

terance shrugged. truthfully, who knows? but arrakis hadn't immediately offended him and that checked at least half of terance's boxes. "i'd say so," he responded with a few twitches of his nose-- he wasn't sure how to validate this to arrakis, "but you can come meet the rest of the crew if you're not so sure." that was good, terance, he thought to himself, that way arrakis could decide for himself. "i think you'll like 'em a lot," he added, since it was hard to not like wolves like wraen and rannoch and liffey. and so officially, they set off, back to the rest of the group to introduce them to arrakis-- who terance decided he was quite fond of.