Blacktail Deer Plateau You need to find yourself a girl, mate.

Throws challenge dart at rank table --- ROLL: 4

Reyes felt as if something had changed when he'd returned from his trip, but he couldn't place exactly what it was. The plateau was preternaturally quiet while the snow had blustered in from out of seemingly nowhere, and while he had experienced some light snowfall on his trip, he had thought the season had been coming to a close. Instead, in the day or so after his return, a brisk wind had carried giant clouds overhead and now the trees were coated in a thick new layer of white. The ground was similar where the boughs did not protect the soil - there were slick areas too, but most of it was the crunchy ice-riddled blanket that he did not enjoy at all.

The sky was dark and a blue-grey like a particularly bad bruise. Flurries of white blurred the paths within the forest, obscured what he could view from the exposed plateau limits along the south edge of the claim, making everything bleed in to white. Reyes entertained himself by doing patrol after patrol; each time he carved a fresh path through the snow and when he came back for another circuit, the path was inundated again. It made the work harder on his body but he refused to let the weather dictate what he could or could not do.

That said, he finished a fifth circuit before finally deciding he was too worn-out to continue, and stalked through the trees to the pack's central rendezvous site. There he saw a few others moored by the snow; none really caught his attention except for @Raleska, who appeared to be distracted with an old bone or something. Deciding that he wanted what she held, he chuffed as he approached and then snapped at the object, seeking to take it for himself. As he did this his tail raised and draped along his spine, held aloft like a proud flag in dominance.

roll

Raleska had not lost the skull she had found and shown @Nieve. It stayed within her den most days, but occasionally Raleska could be found overturning the bone in her paws and staring into one of its darkened sockets outside. Usually when the weather was warm she would move sluggishly from her isolated den to the outer edges of the rendezvous, watching those that passed within in silence.

Today, a shadow loomed over her as she twirled the skull within her paws. Mistaking it first for cloudy gloom, Raleska was startled as teeth followed, snapping at the skull she had pried (literally) from the Grotto in Ankyra.

Raleska's reaction was -- well, reactionary. She stood upright suddenly, her fur bristling and eyes hardened. Her voice was sharp, edged by hysteria even, as she snapped back in Reyes' face in response. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" All she knew was she had been minding her own business alone, and Reyes had come swaggering towards her in dominant posturing, trying to take one of the few things Raleska had left to remember her mother by.

Had he known the significance of the skull he would surely not have tried to take it, but the boy was oblivious. All he saw was the gleam of bone and the challenge of extriciating it from the dark girl.

His attempt was met with a reaction of exceptional over-estimation; the screech of Raleska's hysterical voice prompted him to pin his ears, but that did nothing to assuage the ringing that flooded them immediately after. With his head ducked close to the object he did not see her rise, but felt the heat of her breath and the hellfire-singe of her teeth through the air as she snapped back—together, the reaction was over-the-top and served to frighten the boy back. Shrinking and ducking with a reflex not unlike a startled feline, his flagged tail fluffed and whipped at his haunch, dropping, immediately flaccid.

Raleska remained on her feet as he buckled. The boy did not like how it felt to be yelled at but he could cope with a little noise—it was the snapping teeth that ended the challenge for him. He reacted further by peeling his lips back to brandish his teeth in a flash of white, but he did not lunge for the skull again, nor dare broach Raleska's personal bubble. She had thwarted his attempt and put up enough of a squall to diminish any yearning he held for the thing; he hid his grin after, licked his lips and postured sympathetically before her with a flail of his tongue at the air beneath her chin, drawing backwards with each hasty breath until there was a safer distance between them.

Forgetting about the skull, he flashed her a brief glimpse and then looked to the ground at her feet, shoulders tight but hunched, tail drawn against the dirt. Was just a game, he mumbles emptily.

Raleska's reaction was explosive, and Reyes' reaction reciprocating -- only, he went the other way. For the smallest incremential second Raleska felt bad after seeing Reyes fold into a tiny caricature of himself -- but no!! He deserved it!! Her inward voice snarled, vanquishing her short-lived thoughts of guilt by a bile-filled knife. He came at you. His fault, not yours.

Her fur continued to bristle. She didn't care he was cowering. She didn't care she had figuratively lost her shit on him, or caused him to nearly piss his pants. Rage and resentment flowed through her dark and as unmovable as the river Phlegethon; it was his fucking fault. Serves him right.

"Whatever." Raleska snarled, grabbing the skull by an eye-socket. Fuck you, she wanted to add -- but didn't.. more on account her mouth was full, than because she wanted to remain diplomatic. She held his gaze for a few seconds before making to leave, surprised even by her own vehemence. An unusual brand of pique was lobbed Reyes' way. Maybe there was more of Caiaphas in her than she knew. Or maybe, she was just tired of all of the bullshit and Reyes just happened to be the last small thing to push her over the edge before nuclear detonation.