The Heartwood Branching out

With the plantlife inside the Phantom Hollow practically nonexistent, Mitanni had felt too discouraged to try any hunting inside of pack borders. Just walking around the place made her mood sour, and though she knew she needed to shake it in order to be a productive pack member, she was struggling yet. She wanted her home back to the way it was, more than anything, but there wasn't anything she could to do to make it so.

In an attempt to get her butt in gear, she'd scouted the waters of the river that cut through her home and followed them south, venturing into the scarred Heartwood forest that, she assumed, once grew green and vibrant but was now a mess of burned, lifeless trees. It wasn't a pretty place, but the river still cut along its edge, offering one redeeming factor, if it could be called that.

With her amber eyes fixed on the water, Mitanni slowed her gait and walked softly along its bank. Though it seemed greatly unlikely, she hoped that the swarm hadn't messed up the fish available from the rivers. She wasn't much of a fisher, but with such limited resources nature forced her hand. Watching out for any telling flashes below the surface, hoping that the desolate landscape would potentially keep any competition away should she be lucky, the petite wolf continued to walk alongside the river.

Hope you don't mind me poppin' in here!  :)

The hunger plagued him like a sinister shadow.  His life certainly wasn't in any danger -- he managed to scrounge up just enough to keep his body functioning -- but the maddening ache of hunger never went away.  With each day, it only grew more consuming.  All he wanted to do was lie down and sleep, conserve his energy and wait for the herds to return.  But he knew that to lie down during a famine was to submit himself to death.  

He knew that he needed to join a pack, and soon.

He didn't even know where he was right now.  He'd followed the river south until it branched off into the stripped, barren remains of what might have been a lush, green wood before the swarms came through.  Here, the river became a slightly smaller tributary, whose calmer waters wove between naked, somber trees whose crooked limbs arced skyward as if seeking renewal from the sun itself.  He followed the stream for a while, figuring that if there was any prey to be found in these areas, it wouldn't venture very far from sources of water.  His dark eyes alternately scanned his surroundings and watched the moist riverbank for tracks or other signs of game, while his ears remained on the alert for any sounds nearby.

It was while he was doing this that he spied the darker-coated wolf ahead, also lingering near the riverbank like himself.  He didn't feel up to socializing much, but maybe this stranger had seen something.  So, pushing aside his reservations, he approached with an amiable waving of his tail and asked, "Any luck?"

Not at all!

She heard the soft tread of footfalls before the stranger made himself known more clearly. Her ears perked and her head turned to look in the direction of the approaching wolf as she stopped along the riverbank, eyeing the grey-hued stranger and noting his decidedly friendly demeanor. A little flutter of nerves stirred in her at the thought of competition for food--she'd already proven herself an unworthy adversary in combat--but Mitanni didn't back away or hunker down, though she did sink just a little into a more prominent crouch. It was just her nature to be cautious that way.

Even so, she returned the wag of his tail with one of her own, letting it sway against the backs of her legs, and managed a thin smile as he asked about the river. Her amber eyes darted back down toward it, double checking, before she returned her gaze to the grey wolf and shook her head. "Not so far," she admitted, and was grateful suddenly that she didn't have positive news to give. It would have only made her more of a target.

Considering the direness of the situation, however, she shifted a little, licked at her lips, and with a tilt of her head returned the question. "You?" It was probably silly to think some stranger was going to offer her any assistance with her self-appointed mission--it was every wolf for themselves now--but it was exactly those unfavorable conditions that made her desperate enough to ask.

In the interest of leaving things up to chance, I'm going to use dice rolls to determine whether or not Kelso catches anything. :)

He saw the way her body tensed and how her eyes -- a lovely, bewitching shade of amber, he noted -- became wary and suspicious.  He understood.  It was to be expected under even the best of conditions.  In these bleak circumstances, mistrust was even more warranted.  Were he a greedier wolf, perhaps, she would have valid reason to be cautious.  But Kelso was not like that.  Sure, those basic instincts that governed natural selection were there, but he had been raised in a pack where everyone was cared for.  Every wolf was given its fair share, especially those who helped bring down the meal.

Her question was concise and to the point.  And unfortunately, he had nothing but bad news.  "Nothing," he replied with a shrug, his eyes falling to the surface of the river that flowed alongside them.  Something had flashed and caught his attention, though it might have been a figment of his imagination.  "We could hunt together, if you're willing.  I'm happy to share."  Another quick flash grabbed his eye and then he saw it: the silvery shape of a trout darted past them and was gone.  There weren't many of them at all -- maybe two or three at most -- but it was the most prey action of any kind that he'd seen since his arrival in the Wilds.  "Huh.  Fish," he commented, feeling like a moron.  "Why didn't I think of that?"

That's my plan too.

She wasn't entirely disappointed with his response. If anything, Mitanni had expected it. Slim pickings were the curse of the times, and no one, it seemed, was immune to it. I should have hunted more while I had the chance, the little wolf scolded herself, then this wouldn't be such an issue. Plentiful game had been carelessly assumed to be a constant, and now she and the rest of her pack were paying for their lack of forethought and proactiveness.

Unexpectedly the grey wolf offered to assist with a hunt, suggesting that they share the spoils. The Moonlit Hills Delta blinked her amber eyes in a moment of surprise, and shifted her weight from one foreleg to the other as she considered. Dangerous, she reasoned, but so is not taking the offer. He didn't come off as unsettling or in possession of a hidden agenda. Not that her own judgment was trustworthy, but given the times she couldn't see a good enough reason to turn him away.

She opened her mouth to respond, to agree, when she saw the whole of his attention shift and focus on the river. Her gaze followed his, just in time to catch the tail of the fish propelling it just out of sight. She licked her lips without realizing she did, and had to take a second to refocus her mind on the matter at hand. Assisted hunt. Shared meal.

"Fish," Mitanni repeated, her tail giving an excited wag against her haunches as she strode a step nearer to the river's edge, "This is the first I've seen. And the luckiest we're going to get, probably." She hoped the implied acceptance was clear enough, and shot another glance at the blue-eyed stranger searchingly. "Don't suppose you have experience with this?"