Bearclaw Valley It Can Be Us

Skoll had joined the upcoming pack named Ursus. He still had no idea what he would be doing while with them, but he also was extremely curious. Merrick had told him that he was trying to live alongside the bears, as if they weren't some kind of dangerous creature. He was exploring, now, but was sure to stay in the area until the pack was formed. He didn't want to wander away from the area, just in case he got lost, or they thought he left them behind right after joining their ranks. He would have to ask Merrick about the lands here more eventually. 

For now, though, he just moved and explored this new area.

likewise, merrick had settled himself into a patrol. the winter was still heavy, but herds were beginning to traipse back. the sight of them fired the young coywolf with hunger, and the lurking scaled underbelly of another wonderment: what sound did an elk bellow when its skin was removed?
he hoped to find out.
titillated, the boy called out to skoll, spotting the other male's dark coat at a meandering pace. merrick drew close, tail affable. "how does the day find you?"

Skoll hadn't noticed the other wolf approaching him at first, too focused on the small flurries coming to the ground. he didn't think any of it would stick till the morning after, unless the snow decided to stay all day and all night. It didn't bother Skoll, and it wouldn't either way. 

he did turn, though, when the other wolf he knew as Merrick approached. "Hello, Merrick." He said with a pause, tail giving a wave behind him. "The day is treating me well. You?" 

"very well," merrick answered. "i'm wondering how you're liking the place." bearclaw valley was a modest claim, sufficient enough for the boy. ironically, despite his growing sense of vanity, he had not chosen the location for its small beauty. 
here was where the scales had first gripped him.
ashes to ashes dust to dust;
oh mother are you dust now?
and this was the first place in which merrick had a true faith.

Skoll did like how Bearclaw valley looked, though he hadn't seen its namesake quite yet. He was quite curious of the bears, and how they would react to a pack taking the place over. Though he didn't think it would cause many issues- Merrick had mentioned that he wanted to live beside the creatures, not drive them out. "I'm liking the place. Curious of the bears that linger around the area. I've not seen one myself yet." He replied, though Skoll imagined it wouldn't be too long before he saw one wandering. If not when the winter ended.

"i bet they'll be up soon enough," merrick remarked. "it's my first time doing something like this you know."
a grin.
thirst bubbling under his skin.
"do you have any ideas for how we should greet the bears?"

Skoll nodded at the remark that they would be up soon. He wondered how many would be around the area once winter was over and all of them would be out. As long as they did nothing to get the bears mad, Skoll didn't really care what they did. He'd just rather not die. 

"How about we bring them a feast of sorts? Or something like that." He murmored, not really confident with that answer.

"a fine idea," merrick declared, glancing into skoll's thoughtful face. 
he wondered if the man had ever cracked bone between those jaws.
mouth watered at the thought; the boy swept his mouth with tongue and pretended to concentrate with an expansive, joking furrow of his brow.
"and the menu? what do you think?"

Skoll sat on his haunches. At least Merrick saw his idea as good enough. Skoll wasn't confident in his answers enough to truly show it through his voice. When he spoke, it wavered, much different to when Skoll had met Merrick initially. He was confident before, but not now with such questions that he didn't know how to answer. Of course he could figure out how to answer them, but it would take a lot more thought than his brain was willing to procces at that moment, especially with the expression that Merrick had just given. He gravely swallowed his salavia in his mouth. 

"I hear that bears like fish, but it would be a pain to hunt down that many in this time." He noted. "What about some kind of deer? Or other carrion found about." He murmored, keeping his heterochromatic eyes on Merrick's form. 

skoll sat, and merrick settled down as well. the man appeared to take him seriously, which the boy not only expected, but demanded. the bear spirit spoke only to him; it had brought him to a great bear, and then back to this valley of claws. he alone could lead the wolves of ursus.
"i like the idea of deer," the mad youth mumured thoughtfully. "a pack hunt, and we lay it at his door." thoughts spinning now, bounding iin all directions like delighted rabbits. "you're good at this. you should be in charge of planning."

Skoll watched as Merrick sat, taking to doing the same that Skoll was himself. The dark male was less worried now, with the both of them sitting down. It would take longer to get bitten- if Merrick would even do that to him. Skoll didn't doubt that he would, if Skoll somehow stepped out of line. Where even was that line, anyway? He had no idea what he was supposed to say. 

He was surprised, though, at the idea that he should be in charge of planning. A pack hunt? Planning a pack hunt? The idea of that screamed inside his head. How was he even supposed to plan that? Either way, it was nice to know that Merrick would trust him with such a thing, considering the two of them didn't even know one another well at all. 

"I would be honored." He replied with a respectful nod of his head. 

there was no better way to test the mettle of a new joiner than to rattle them with a heavy task. merrick watched skoll slyly, knowing the man was still tense around him, still untrusting.
no matter. merrick did not need his trust. he needed only his fear.
"i know you will be great," the boy smiled, laying back against the snow. "now, tell me about you. your childhood. so on. so forth."
adjusting into a more comfortable position, merrick waited.

Skoll wasn't so sure that he would be as great as Merrick claimed. He'd never tried to plan something like that before, especially to this calibre. Planning a hunting party, planning how the deer that they would be hunting would be taken down. It was a lot, but Merrick knew that. He had a feeling that part of this was due to him being a newcomer to their pack. Though it was moderately confusing, he would still do what was asked regardless. It would be a chance to prove himself, and it would let Skoll show himself that he knew what he was doing. "I certainly will try my best." He said. 

The next question did surprise him, though. His life? Skoll didn't really have much interesting happen in his life, sure he and his sister got seperated when they were traveling, so Skoll ended up out here, but, that was about it. 

"Well." He paused. How much did Merrick want him to say? "I grew up with a sister in a small family of just us and our parents. It had been a year after that when a storm happened and my sister and I got seperated from our family. We ended up traveling and getting seperated somewhere along the way. I ended up out here, don't know where she ended up." He said, pausing again. Nothing that interesting. No battles for life or death, nothing of the sort. "That's about it." He said. 

"you won't be alone," merrick assured, before his tattered ears swung forward to hear what skoll would tell about himself. it was not a remarkable story, but the young coywolf seized upon the potential for some intimate detail of the man's relationship with his lost sister.
"i lost my sister too," merrick revealed, feigning a mournful expression. "we hunted, we played; one day i woke up and she was gone." the lying was easy now, glibly rolling from his tongue, insistent that merrick be believed. "it's hard to lose people you love."
he enjoyed skoll's straightforward way, his easy manner. "what's your favorite color?" the boy chirruped gleefully a second later.

Skoll wondered what Merrick meant when he said that he wouldn't be alone. As far as he knew, his sister was still in the living. It didn't matter if the two of them never saw one another again, they'd of seperated eventually. One of them would have found someone else or would have found a reason to leave, a reason that they wanted to live. Skoll didn't have one of those yet. Now that he was figuring out how pack life worked, though, he would have to get used to it. 

Skoll's ears went back when Merrick mentioned he'd lost his sister as well. She just... left one day? Skoll couldn't imagine how that could hurt someone, or pose some kind of trauma. "It must have been hard." He said, but that was about it. The male never was good at comfort, and he wasn't going to start now. Had he known that Merrick was lying, he might have made some kind of snarky comment about trust and how that comment wasn't going to get any of it. Though, that was never said for Skoll believing pretty much every word that was said- Merrick was a good enough actor, and Skoll was not in-tune with emotions. 

His ears shifted back to normal when Merrick asked what his favorite color was. He'd never really thought about it before. "I like red and blue." He replied.

for the first time in months, merrick wondered where nunataq had gone. she wasn't a verbal creature and never had been; would it aid or hinder his one-time sister, he mused to himself.
he thought of Indra, mouldering beneath the earth. they would never know what had happened to her, and the thought was not as satisfying as it had once been.
with no one to hunt, with no one hunting him, the boy was growing bored. his mind traveled lazily to rumination on easthollow, and how many pups they would have this year.
a low smirk. a plan. 
"what shade of red?" merrick asked of his companion, an eerie grin crossing his features. "i like the dried-blood shade myself."

Skoll wasn't entirely sure what shade of red he liked. Darker ones were better for his eyes to look at- like the mention of blood Merrick had just said. The hair on his neck almost raised at that, but really, it could have been a normal statement made by anyone. He knew Merrick was some form of fighter, solely based on how he looked. All scarred and marred up like that. 

"I'll agree that darker shades are easier to look at." He replied. Skoll wasn't used to talking this much with anyone, really. Not even he and his sister spoke with one another or held up entire conversations. Usually only pulling small words to say what they needed, and then continue on. 

He would just have to ignore the comment about blood. "Why?" He asked. Maybe it was his turn to start asking questions.

skoll had become less verbose, and merrick wondered if this was the end of their conversation for the day. "dark red suggests there was life, and is no more," he answered simply. "or were you asking why i wanted to know?" a laugh, a wave of his plume.
"i think it is important to get to know one another," merrick mused. "so many of us go through life without ever truly knowing a single person well." he blinked, shrugged; jaws split in a yawn. "enough of that. want to hunt?"

Merrick was right about the color of red. It did show that there was life at one point and time, and that there wasn't life anymore. Though, he still wasn't fond of that. It could mean a million different things. About hunting, but he had a feeling that Merrick wasn't speaking about the death of prey. "I see. You're right about that." He commented, shaking his head no at the second question. 

That next thing was also true- it was good to get to know those around you. "Getting to know other wolves allows you to better understand the things they do and say." He agreed, once again. That much was true- speaking to others and learning things about them helped Skoll get a better understanding of the things he did, even if Skoll rarely spoke as much as he had been lately. Skoll raised a brow at the thought of a hunt. It gave him something to do. "Sure." 

yooo i replied to this last night and it got eaten SMHHH

"whatcha in the mood for, skoll?" merrick questioned lightly. the man alongside him was a hard read, unlike ulysses or even astara.
"you'd make a good spy," he added, thinking of moonspear. merrick had no idea there was a veritable bounty upon his head, something that would have absolutely enthralled the one-eyed boy to know.
he stopped, inspected a track in the snow. "little fuckers," merrick swore gaily of the invading foxes. "might need to wipe them out."
his expression suggested this was not a joke, but a bloodsport for which he hungered.

Skoll wasn't even sure what he wanted to go after. Really, there were so many things. Though when Merrick brought up the fact that he would be a good spy- he couldn't help but think that he really would. His fur was so dark that it was pretty remotely hidden when in the dark, and he was quiet and didn't normally talk this much. Since he wasn't good at fighting, something like that was a better job for him to do. "I can't help but agree." 

Skoll wasn't aware of the reason that Merrick brought it up, but it was a good strategic choice either way. Fox tracks- Merrick was mad at the notion of there being foxes in the area. They were a nusance, sly things they were. "You up for a foxhunt, then?" He noted.

"they come from the glade next to us. reeks over there. place is crawling with em."
he began to lead skoll along the trail, tongue lolling, thirsty for the impending taste of blood. "let's make it a competition. best fox hunter gets to choose a prize." his single eye glittered teasingly toward skoll.

Skoll always was up for a good competition. Skoll was aware of the glade where the foxes came from, but he'd never been there himself he didn't think. If he had, he must have forgotten. Skoll followed Merrick along the trail that was chosen, walking in-line with the other wolf and leader of Ursus. "What kind of prize?" He was curious. Skoll wasn't sure who would be classified as "the best fox hunter" either, but hey- he'd figure it out once one of them won.

he gave no answer, only a haughty chuckle before darting off through the snow. skoll would catch on, he expected; the man did not seem to need much of anything.
merrick himself set a swift pace, following one musky footpath until the tell-tale winter pelt of a fox was spotted. he lunged; a brief struggle, a scream, blood dancing dancing dancing downward in drops of hot scarlet.

When Merrick took off Skoll got the hint that it was now time to start the competition. At least- that's what it looked like anyway. So, he ran down the path as welll. Spotting one of those creatures, Skoll used his long legs to lurch forward only to miss the creature this time. He never really was good at all of that nonsense. He had picked up the sound of Merrick taking one down already- which only solidified his previous thoughts. 

Rearing back, he missed once again. 

Growling- Skoll wondered how bad he was going to do. Either way, he had a feeling he would lose. 

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I'm rolling to see if he catches anythin! Which is why he failed tegafsd