Fox. It was all she could smell, all she could think. The forest was rife with them and their ear-grating cries -- it reeked of vulpine in every denomination: young male, female whelp, old crone, extremely smelly male. It was not the welcome party Starling expected, these flitty stupid creatures. Any chance she got, Starling hunched over and parked her rounded tush above the frozen earth to deposit a rank and steamy pool of urine over their various markings.
Being bitter was tiring work, and demanding. Starling considered herself highly deserving of a rest after her laborious challenges. Without any regard to the fleet of foxes that constantly whirled about her, Starling circled in the middle of a well-worth path. She circled and circled and circled and finally when her self-made bed was ruffled up to her liking she curled into a pleased ball, smack-dab in the middle of what was quite a busy game-trail.
she had again, left the bypass to get some time and air, but had found herself nearing the foot of the foxy forest, blackfoot. the last time she had been here she'd almost been jumped on by both a bunch of aggressive foxes and a pedo, literally— that dickface was what, five? and he had tried to seduce her.
the sterling female cringed at the memory, her face twisting up into a brief sneer. she was about to abruptly turn and leave when her forepaw tripped over another— this time it wasn't hers, but it belonged to a dark-furred girl, who seemed to be at peace whilst laying down amidst the foxes' main street.
"oops, sorry!" crëyr apologized, quickly withdrawing her paw to avoid bumping into her once more.
with a yelp she flew to her feet in upstart, her green eyes flooded with royal outrage. the steel-grey thing before her had malignantly stepped on her! what was she thinking treading on a princess's snoggin?? starling took a step back and smoothed her ruffled fur, quickly regaining what she assumed was a naturally enviable sense of aristocracy. little did she know it was more like aristo-ass-y.
'what are you doing!?' she queried snobbishly, holding her muzzle and neck straight in the manner of a true-born starlet.
the girl flew up, hackles bristling, her green eyes sparking with anger as they zeroed on the grayscale girl. crëyr herself took a small, unsure step back, ready if she had somehow triggered any more of the swarthy female's severe anger-management problems and was to lash out at her or anything.
when the female arrogantly demanded what she was doing, the petite sterling girl said calmly, "okay, sorry, i didn't mean to step on your paw. it was an accident. i didn't see you and i was trying to leave as quickly as possible, sooo sorry again for disrupting your sleep." with that she began to slowly back away, if the enraged creature was to erupt again like a ticking time bomb.
how did she even possess the ability to sleep in the middle of a fox-rife area, anyway? didn't she find them pissy?
the silver-toned wolf was apologetic enough that starling considered offering a royal pardon - though not before she gave the pewter girl good and hairy eyeball. "it's fine i guess." she supplied snootily, carefully flattening a wry hair that stuck out along her shoulder. "why you in a hurry though?"
she was about to turn and bolt out of "blackluck forest" when the female's voice again stopped her, informing her that she had decided to tone it down a bit. following that was a query to why she was in a hurry to leave.
the sterling wolfess turned her uneasy cerulean gaze back on the bright-eyed she-wolf, taking in the flattening of her upraised hairs. "well... something distressing happened to me the last time i was here, i guess." crëyr certainly hoped that she wouldn't see him again.
another fox screeched in the distance, and the sterling outrider cringed at that. curiosity and bewilderment got the best of her, then, so she asked, "how do you find it bearable to sleep with these creatures around, anyway? the last time i was here a band of, like, five tried to attack me." and then the creep had assisted in fighting them off with her, though he had wanted sex later on.
well.. that wasn't exciting -- she didn't exactly say what terrible horrible thing had befallen her. starling considered interrupting her to as what had happened, but elected instead to keep her mouth shut until the female was done speaking. creyr's question gave her pause -- she hadn't really found the fox too troublesome. "they're scared of me." starling puffed up her chest smugly, as if she were actually intimidating. she wasn't. "besides, what happened to you here?"
she answered, deeming the foxes afraid of her. well.
the other wolfess really seemed to be intrigued once crëyr vaguely spoke to her of how something had happened the last time she was here— and never missing a beat, she questioned her about it, once the sterling girl was finished speaking.
"uhm," she started. "well, so this guy helped me finish off the five foxes. then he, well, wanted to get laid for a reward or something," a disgusted expression fell upon her delicate features, unsure of why she was to not dispose of the memory like she always managed to do, anyway. "then i was like no and he got mad so i think he was about to, you know..."
the grayscale girl had her eyes flitting to the ground, unsure of why she was actually telling her this. "so i told him to go away and ran."
who could do such a thing? who was so wretched and ungentlemanly that they would force themselves upon a lady? starling felt outraged for this pewter girl. "who was he?" she blurted, her gaze hardened and mien protective. she never hated men more than she did right now!
the swarthy female's fur gradually began to raise as she told her story, possibly for a fellow girl— and when crëyr concluded it, she instantly demanded his name.
the grayscale girl rolled a troubled slim shoulder. "i have no idea! i'm glad he doesn't know my name, because if he did he might have went around asking for me. but i'm sure females are to him disposable toys..." her normally mild eyes hardened. "and you know what the sickest thing is? i think he's old enough to be my grandfather?!"
she sat, curling her fluffy silver tail around her paws. "and he also took the five foxes, so no feast back home."
feeling miffed, starling snorted -- boy she was not glad a pig like that existed. she didn't even know whoever it was creyr was talking about that didn't prevent her from designing her own special line of hatred just for him. "where does he live?" she asked darkly, her expression sour.
when she sent another question her way, the sterling huntress shook her head. "i really don't know," she spoke. "but don't. i don't want another fellow girl harassed by him so don't go hunting him down." crëyr was sure she wasn't that stupid but who knew? in addition to that, she remembered how kove had told her something about him being very dangerous, so crëyr certainly didn't want anyone getting hurt. if it ever traced back to the bypass...
two more fox cries broke ominously into the air, allowing the grayscale girl to wince. cracking a weak smile at her swarthy companion, she spoke to attempt to take both their minds off things. "sooo story time is over, i guess. you wanna hunt down one or two of these things? to eat?" since i didn't end up being able to feast on the bodies who tried to feast on me.
but she wasn't going to be convinced otherwise so easily! slyly she canted her head and asked: "but what does he look like so i know to run when i see him?" she could always pull the maiden in distress thing.. when a woman screams in the woods, someone is bound to come running, right?
the mention of food did brighten her features, and with a perky smile she shifted. "sure! i mean, i don't eat them but i'll help you chase them."
crëyr didn't wish for any drama revolving around him to be stirred up, for who knew? something like that would probably bring unwanted danger to both herself and her pack. so she did wish for starling to forget about everything she had just said and carry on with her peaceful life. after all, shadow himself had vowed to personally hunt down the bastard if he ever tried anything again, and he hadn't. so they left it like that for now, and that was the way the sterling girl wanted it.
how had it so easily slipped out of her mouth, anyway?
so it relieved her, just for a moment when the swarthy female uttered a "fine". but when she asked her what he looked like, she knew she couldn't dodge that. "i don't remember much, but... he was huge. blue eyes, i think." the grayscale girl hasn't exactly gotten a chance to study him, for most of what had happened pretty much had her have her back to his face.
glad starling had lighted up, the pewter female got up from her spot and began to head in the direction of the fox cries. "yay! let's go!" they weren't far from where they were, so easily they caught a couple. two, before they ran off.
while her thoughts were still dark with the prospect of feminist revenge, starling allowed herself to be plied into hunting with the pewter-toned female. there was little in the world she enjoyed more than chasing, so she was happy to oblige. she wasn't really keen on the idea of eating anything she caught, but if the hunt sharpened her skill and kept someone's stomach full, she was happy.
the two parried and pranced after a duo of fox, and while starling abstained from delivering any killing blows, she hoped she had been helpful in securing some sustenance for creyr. when the two finished they exchanged farewells and starling, left feeling replenished, slipped into the forest to sleep.
starling proceeded to assist with hunting the foxes down, and finally she ended up with a good pile to bring home. her companion didn't seem to be up for the idea of eating the foxes, so with a shrug, crëyr thanked her for helping and dug into one herself.
after a series of introductions (they had forgotten to offer each other even their names) they gave each other their goodbyes and the grayscale girl proceeded to leave the forest, content with the game she was dragging. she wondered if she was to again meet starling someday, and at that if she would still be on the idea of persuing the male.
after all, girl power, right?
well, she hoped that she was to never see the male again, and with that trouble was not to be brought along with him because of this meeting.