Lost Creek Hollow The prowler needs a jump
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All Welcome 
It took two whole days before Joss finally warmed up from his torture in the creek, and he’d avoided the area ever since. On the bright side, having been cornered in the water for several long minutes, this was possibly the cleanest Joss had ever been. His fur was still matted along his belly and wouldn’t detangle until he shed it out in the Spring, but in the very least his thickening, albeit dull pelt was squeaky clean. But you can run a wreck through a car wash all you want- and it still won’t cover up the denta or make the rust spots disappear. He looked as grim and sullen as always, like a wolf nearing the end of their days by the way his withers and hip bones jutted beneath his lacklustre grey pelt. Still- he didn’t smell like swamp anymore, and his violent shivering had finally subsided. 

He hadn’t been avoiding Treason and Terance, per say, but he certainly hadn’t sought them- or any of the ther pack members- out so that he could fulfill his purpose as the pack’s scapegoat. He’d tried hunting down a rabbit twice but failed both times, and though he’d located a couple caches, he felt certain he’d get punished if he delved into them. Hunger made his gaze more hawkish than ever, and he walked with his lean muzzle swaying from side to side just a few inches above the ground, constantly searching for a scrap of something to eat. 

He found the very last, thin segment of a deer’s lag frozen to the ground with the morning’s frost and worked it free. It had hardly any meat on it- mostly just fur, bone, hoof and tendons- but it was edible, still. Ravenously, he set his back to a blue spruce tree for protection and began to crunch voraciously through the bone trying to find some sustenance to last him at least a few more days.
Jalapeño
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#2
When it came to the point that feeling sad make her even more sad, Nunataq decided that it was high time she did something about it. Therefore one morning she simply got up and left her outpost on the borders, having come to a conclusion that she was never going to see Indra again. All people that had left so far had never returned. So, why keep paining after something that was gone?

And distraction came soon enough in a form of a scraggly cloth-rack of a wolf, who was munching greedily on a deer's leg - all that had been left after a feast few days ago. He was a stranger to these lands and Nuna was not yet sure, how all of this joining thing happened, therefore she immediately distrusted the fellow. On the other hand - it had been a while since she had had a proper look at a real, living stranger - a novelty, therefore without any greetings she came into the other's field of vision and sat down, peering at him as curiously as a kid does, when he/she sees a gorilla in the zoo.
blood canticle
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#3
if there was one thing mona was not, it was hierarchal. 
aware of her position in the ranks laid out by terance and treason, it had still never been a reason for the little redbird to flaunt herself over another. she supposed by that alone, she would make a poor leader indeed. and yet delight had not been such a creature, nor terance, it seemed. however, he had not earned those scars through being weak, determined the girl.
anytime now, they would depart for the pack where the dark man's ex-mate resided. truth be told, mona was rather intrigued by the prospect of meeting her, the helen-beauty, surely, who had claimed his heart at one time. her own romantic soul promised it would be a meeting of fate.
warmed by this, mona came across the straight-backed nunataq. worry creased her brow, for indra and laurel had gone, and she wondered how the children left behind fared. however, it was the ragged gunmetal creature who gathered most of her focus. stepping up behind the girl, slightly to the right, mona waved her plume warily. "hello," she greeted the thin creature, distress for his well-being coming to rest upon her countenance.
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Joss, naturally, kept his senses keen while he chewed noisily on the deer's leg, taking his time to get every splinter of bone and drop of marrow that he could from the meagre meal, though he was still worried he might get in trouble for taking something that had belonged to someone else. Still, he had to eat, didn't he? They couldn't begrudge him for taking something so small and ineffective...Or could they? His murky gaze swept this way and that as he chewed almost absent-mindedly on the bone, freezing and clenching his jaws together when someone appeared in the distance. He didn't drop the bone- in fact, he didn't move at all as he simply stared back at the young female for a moment. 

Well, she wasn't Treason. She looked young, inquisitive, and relatively harmless- but he knew he was still likely ranked below her. She was nothing more than an adolescent, and he wasn't going to pass up the leg he'd found if he could avoid it, so he slowly pulled it closer to him, still holding one end of it in his mouth as he stared right back at the silver-eyed youth. He would have to give it up if she asked...But at the same time, the moment she made a move toward him, he already planned to crack it to bits and make it useless for both of them. He simply waited for her to make a move- until someone else did. 

Surprised- as he'd been staring so intently at the young female he hadn't noticed the other as she'd come into his line of vision- he cracked his jaws together in rapid succession, snapping the deer's leg into bits that fell apart between his paws which clutched at the hoof. Like a dog caught with something it shouldn't have been eating he stared up at her, immediately swallowing hard when he realized he was likely in trouble now. This female's captivating scarlet fur and empathetic gaze made him incredibly self-aware, and as he nervously flicked his tongue over his teeth, a chip of bone slipped to the back of his throat, where it caught- and sent him into a vicious coughing fit.
Jalapeño
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#5
When it came to ownership of things and food, Nunataq got on by a simple rule. What was hers, was hers. And what obviously belonged to the other, was the other's, as long as that other was there to look after the treasured thing. Once it's back would be turned or he would be elsewhere, Nuna would have no inhibitions of stealing it and claiming it as her own. Therefore in this case she had no intention of bullying a wolf, who was bigger and more grown up than her, even though the deer leg he was chomping on so greedily did look very, very tempting to her. She simply watched him in nonchallant manner, never letting her eyes drift away from his face and the treasure he had. In a way it was a tactic of making the other so uncomfortable that they left the thing she wanted for her to take.

However, the one-way staring contest was interrupted by the arrival of Mona, who had been one of her nannies in Bearclaw valley, even though Nuna had never been as close to her as other puppies had been. She gave her a quick greeting glance and wagged the tip of her tail then returned to watching the lanky guy. He probably had guessed Nunataq's intentions, because the speed at which he was chipping the bone had increased to the point, where he choked and began to cough. This made Nuna see an opportunity, she crouched and prepared to bolt for the thing, in case the other's coughing spell was prolonged.
blood canticle
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the man did not speak, but broke into a coughing fit; mona dashed forward to nudge him sharply, if allowed. her need to help rather outweighed her sense of self-preservation; it could very well be that he rose to snap at her. but of course mona did not factor that into her approach, nor did she sense nunataq's impending theft of the bone.
closer now, she saw how very thin he was; the scents of the leaders were tangled in his pelt, but he seemed flightly, despondency in the lines of his body. mona blinked anxiously, looking him over as he choked, unsure of what else she might do. a strong sense of helplessness gripped the girl then, but she remained nearby, steadfast.
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#7
Though Joss was more concentrated on dislodging the piece of bone from his throat, his glowering gaze caught the keen look on the younger wolf's face, and he immediately recognized the hungry I want that look about the young girl's face. He would have growled if he could, but he continued to cough, and tried to scrabble the little pieces of shredded bone toward himself- but as soon as he caught movement with his peripheral vision, he realized that he was under threat from another angle as well. 

Though she sought just to nudge him, he let out a burbling grown as he scampered sideways, trying to use his claws and rake the sharp bone shards toward him and hastily grabbed a couple of them and began crunching away again, looking from one female to the next, not trusting either of them in the case that they wanted to team up on him to steal away the remainder of his meal. All that was left was a snowy pile of splinters that he guarded fiercely between his front paws and the small segment he crunched on. 

"Shove off. S'the only meal you people have let me eat in days." He said sourly, though there was fear in his voice too; if Treason was around and overheard what he'd just said, he was sure he'd get his precious, tiny meal taken from him again.
Jalapeño
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#8
The guy - even in his momentarily incapacitated state - caught Nunataq's intentions and shoved all the pieces of splintered bones towards himself. The girl let out a disappointed sigh, raised from her crouched position into a sit. Oh, well... she decided to inspect the spot later, when the guy will have left.

But the show was still going on and Nunataq was in no hurry to leave, if she could get on this nervous guy's nerves for a while longer. Therefore she resumed staring at him, following every piece of bone, as it traveled from the ground, into the wolf's mouth, got chewed and swallowed. Let's see, how long he was going to endure this.
blood canticle
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#9
mona frowned lightly, stepping back as the smoky voice of the starving wolf sounded. he was acting quite like an animal, though she supposed he could not be faulted for it. "i am not sure who you mean by you people," mona rejoined, a bit more imperiously than she had meant, "but if you are hungry, then let me feed you." her gaze searched for his, whatever indignation she might feel softening somewhat.
"come with me," she invited, casting an amused glance toward nunataq. it was clear now what the girl was doing, though mona could not be angry with her. she was young, and it was the way of young ones, she decided. her attention returned to the ragged creature crouched before her; she looked imploringly at him, wondering if he would rise to take her offer, or remain as he was, chewing upon bone shards.
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#10
The younger one seemed to relax for now and he felt that his bone shards were perhaps safe from being stolen- for now at least- but Mona wasn't simply going to let him be, nor did she seem to approve of the way he'd been talking about her packmates, versus where he was in the pack. Perhaps she simply didn't know, and he had no choice, really, but to explain it to her, She had been very kind to offer him a meal- but as soon as he told her the truth, he expected for her to rescind it completely. 

"I'm here on punishment." He said. "I'm your...Plaything. Slave. Whatever you wanna call it." He said, though he still protectively curled one paw about th shards of whatever was left over from the deer's leg. He'd found it, and he didn't want to starve. Neither of the other two wolves looked like they were starving. Quietly, he added, "I don't think you're supposed to be nice to me." So he gave the envious young one just one more sour look before he abandoned the shards of the deer's lag, forfeiting it as he was supposed to. "You wan' it? Take it. Don't choke on the splinters." He advised sourly, and stood, moving away from the few smal chipped pieces of bone and deer hoof.
Jalapeño
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#11
Good thing for Joss that Nunataq entirely missed the paragraph, where she as a resident of Lost Creek Hollow was entitled to harrass, bully and torment the stick-insect-wolf. Basically be a jerk to him and no one would tell her off. We would never find out, how she would have abused her privileges, but with her conscience being of inconsistent nature you never know.

Anyway - the moment the guy moved aside Nunataq bolted to the spot, where the shards of the once hoof were lying and dug through the remnants, sniffing greedily at every part. The brief inspection, however, was fruitless, because she was long past the age, when bare-bones were fun, and she shot a disappointed look in the bony fellow's direction, as if he was to be blamed for that.

Then she noticed that Mona seemed to have something in mind (people and canines alike have this particular expression, when an idea shines through the eyes and enlightens the entire face) and came up to her, ready to find out, what she was up to, join the cause and find, if that ended up with something beneficial to her.
blood canticle
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#12
mona's brow furrowed as the man spoke. slave? that did not sound like the terance she knew, though perhaps treason had more to do with it. and moreover, he had sparked her indignation again; the firebrand lifted her chin and watched as he bitterly surrendered what was left of his find to nunataq.
"you are mistaken if you believe i want a plaything," the mayfair intoned sternly. "and after all, if i did have need of anything like a slave, it wouldn't do well to let you starve, now would it? come along," she ordered, feeling flush for the first time with the power of her position. 
at her side, the half-grown nunataq moved, and mona's somber expression brightened into one of welcoming. "we should all have a meal," the little cardinal murmured, glancing over her shoulder to see if the man would heed her. if he did not, she was not sure what to do; mona was not a forceful creature.
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#13
Joss watched with a jaded gaze as the young wolf sprang forth as soon as he stapped back from the bone chips, but felt somewhat satisfied by the fact that she didn't find anything useful there. Joss had made short work of getting every bit of nutrition out of the meagre deer's leg, and really hadn't left anything behind for the young wolf to nibble on. He felt no shame, though; it'd been a poor prize to find to begin with, and it wasn't like the younger wolf really needed it; she looked healthy enough anyway. 

Mona beckoned him to go with her, and the young one brightened quickly at this suggestion and drew to her side. There was a proud way about her, and though she said she didn't need a plaything, she did seem content enough with ordering him around. So when she beckoned him the second time, he lowered his head, turned his ears back and began to follow her. She seemed to think she was doing the right thing by dragging him along to find a meal- and truth be told, he needed it- but he didn't like the fact that he was being ordered to follow her. He suppose she'd get some sort of satisfaction from treating him like a charity case, so he simply pouted and skulked along behind her silently.
Jalapeño
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#14
The russet she-wolf's tone implied food - don't ask me, how Nunataq knew it. She just did, same as household dogs recognize the sound of fridge being opened or crinkling of plastic bags, where tasty treats are hiden inside. When they set on the way to their lunch place, the girl chose to walk behind the lean and bony fellow, ready to nip at his heels and thus speed him up, in case he decided to lag behind too much. There was some order in this group and judging by the way the guy had surrendered the bones and how he acted around the other she-wolf, she had concluded that he did not stand particularly high in the hierarchy. Therefore some sharp-toothed, but well meant guidance was definitely in place.
blood canticle
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in truth, mona had not liked the way he insisted upon their roles in the hierarchy, though she had ironically set about enforcing it all the same. nunataq soon departed her side to harry the man along. while mona wished to stop her, the girl was within her rights, and it would not bode well for their relationship if mona scolded the youngster for no proper reason.
soon they came upon a full cache within the roots of an oak. stepping forward, the little cardinal drew dirt from the well-preserved meat, chuffing to nunataq that she should first have a share, and then looking to the skulking man. she herself did not hunger, and when the young wolf had taken what she wished, mona herself gave the male a wide bit of space in which to choose his own meal.
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Joss was not necessarily the most well-natured creature on the planet, so he followed behind Mona begrudgingly, but was increasingly more and more perturbed by the actions of the youngster who seemed to find it amusing to harry him forward by occasionally nipping at his heels. The first time it happened, he'd skittered forward, nearly bumping into Mona's hind end, surprised at the sidden nip to his ankle. He'd given the kid a cautionary glance, but when it happened again- and again, Joss began to lose his patience. 

Be cool, he told himself. You're supposed to be punished. And up until this point, he'd been fine with other wolves looking down on him. He was also aware that he wasn't supposed to harm youngsters. But the fact that he was not being taunted for amusement caused him to eventually snap. So, almost purposefully, he slowed a bit, just enough to invite another nip from the young wolf. 

With a snarl, he turned siddenly, snapping his teeth viciously in the air, the fur along his spine sticking straight up. The spittle that frothed at his teeth might have made him appear to be diseased, as did the filmy look to his hungry, slate grey eyes. "Do that again and I'll skin you," He hissed. True, he was there on punishment- but that didn't mean that the pack should encourage its youngsters to develop sociopathic tendencies.
Jalapeño
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#17
Sociopathic Nunataq... :D

Nunataq was smart enough and well-versed in canine non-verbal etiquette to understand the first warning glances shot in her direction that, if she were to continue, the situation was going to escalate. However, the guy had not proved himself to be anything more than a toerag and she was a bit of a jerk at this point, therefore she disregarded it for the sheer fun of seeing, when exactly would the guy snap.

Snap he did - Nunataq took a step back and made first a surprised grimace, which turned to the all innocent and friendly - I did not do anything! - which was aimed at Mona. A split of a second later, the mask of an angel was thrown away, revealing that of a demon - she gave Joss a toothy grin and everything about her spoke the ominous - Oh, you just wait! Just wait...
blood canticle
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#18
mona saw nunataq's glinting expression, heard the man's growl. and while she struggled for a moment, she knew that attempting to lord herself over the juvenile would only result in resentment. the male was being punished; it was the duty of the pack to do that. 
on the other hand, such a rank disgusted mona with its very existence. she watched the two of them for a long moment longer, before standing to chuff lightly in the girl's direction. "let's let him eat," the stalwart suggested lightly. "i'll leave after that." and while her tones were affable, her swampgreen eyes kept a close watch upon the two, not wanting this play for power to go on any longer.
mona was part of the hierarchy, and yet woefully unwilling to enforce it in many regards.
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#19
His threat caught Mona's attention, but when he looked from Mona to Nunataq, the young wolf had a peaceful, curious expression on her youthful features that made Joss snort. Mona instructed that she was to let him eat and he felt mildly triumphant- until Mona turned away and Nunataq's grimace returned. What a piece of work that kid was; how did someone as noble as Treason allow a kid like this to grow up this way? Fortunately, Mona was there to defend him so he moved closer to her as he sniffed around, looking for something that was old and possibly over-frozen. 

He found a small rabbit, frozen stiff, and settled down beside Mona to eat it. He watched Nunataq, but ate quite happily, otherwise. That's right, little brat. She took my side. He thought as he gnawed on the rabbit, and when he finished he thumped his tail gratefully against the ground, and avoided eye contact with the younger wolf altogether.
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#20
If Mona would have tried to lord herself over Nunataq, she would have met with a fierce resistance. However, whether she realized or not, she was dealing with the juvenile smartly. Rather than reprimanding her, she suggested doing something else. And, since the girl could always pester Joss and be a nuisance to him later and out of sight of the russet-pelt woman, she obeyed readily.

She walked around the guy, got to the cache and after some rummaging around, pulled out a piece of skin and rotting fat. With this prize secured in her jaws, she chose a spot at a safe distance from the two, settled down and began to eat.

Last one from me. Maybe you two can conclude it in your next posts. Thanks for joining!
blood canticle
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#21
last for me!

nunataq retreated and the slinking man joined mona with his own meal. glancing between the two of them, the firebrand settled herself quietly as mediator, allowing herself to relax in the rare sunlight overhead. for the moment, there was peace, and mona basked in it, and in the two wolves who were her companions for the time being.
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