Shadewood First Steps
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#1
All Welcome 
Aero knows not what she’s getting herself into. She’s ventured to a land far from her own, with weeks upon weeks of travel. She began getting the scent of prey and other wolf like creatures a ways off from this strange new land she finds herself stumbling upon. She decides her best bet is to follow said scent, she’s gone too long without food–well, a trickling two days. Food is scarce on the travels closer to this new sought after land she could call her own. Thought this land is a mystery but she has a feeling she inches closer with every step. 

    Her pads thump painfully against the icy ground damp with the frozen over haze of the morning dew. She’s stepped into a vast expanse of valley. It seems like it goes on for miles but just beyond that she sees a glimmer of water off to the left and a the thickness of a forest just in front of her. She has hope yet. For if all else fails she can fish once she gets to the coast.

    So Amita continues on her journey and by nightfall is able to step into the forest she’d seen from so far away. She sighs in relief; she’s making progress. The she-wolf goes on ahead further into the seemingly infinite stretch of trees. The light fog skimming across the grass makes it troublesome to see merely thirty feed ahead, so she goes on cautiously. Large ears swiveling from each direction to listen for both prey and predators. After all, she might not be alone.
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#2
He's having about as much luck as one might expect. The forest should have been home to many creatures, even in winter—and sure, it wasn't quite winter yet but the air had that bite, so most of the little things like squirrels and field mice should have been in a subdued state, maybe even a hibernation. Yutani isn't as well-versed in the lore of the forest, having grown up on the coast, but he's doing his best. There was nothing here, just like the last place he'd investigated. How many proverbial doors would he need to kick down before he got some decent grub?

That thought made him consider bugs as a possible target for his hunger, which turned his stomach further.

On he went, though. Long strides carrying him with surprising ease despite looking so spindly. He snaked between the trees, fully invested in the moment. When the path forked he'd check out one way, double back, check out the other—never staying long at any crossroads if he could help it (call it superstition)—but no matter where he went, nor what tricks he pulled, Yutani came up empty. It was beyond frustrating... It was dangerous. The longer he spend hunting without a payday, the more calories he burned. 

After all, winter was coming or whatever. That and night-time—which felt like it was falling earlier each day. It had been dark since the afternoon which made everything seem more grim and confusing, almost like he was in another dimension or some shit; the darkness was everywhere by the time he'd entered the forest, and seemed thicker, almost malleable, as he roamed between these trees. Yutani's body was sore from the hard road he'd followed, so used to being out in the open or travelling across sand—this forest with its twists, turns, and conundrums had taken a lot out of him.

He wanted sleep. He wanted something warm for his belly, at the very least, and refused to stop his hunt even though hunger pains had begun to rot his brain. The ache started just behind his eyes, forcing him to squint in the dark and wince away from the moonlight whenever it made itself apparent. It was during this whole thing that Yutani nearly took his own head off with a slackened tree branch, the konk of his thick skull against the limp arm of the tree filling the void of darkness, after which he blurted: Son of a bitch!

If there had been any food here, he'd likely scared it off with that. Shit.






Sorry, I know its bad form not to mention the starting character in the first reply, I just got kind of... Carried away. ^^;
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#3
Traversing through this forest drains the life from her and she finds herself sighing in frustration at the lack of food around the surrounding area. Not having a destination in mind allows her to feel carefree. For she doesn’t have anywhere to be or anyone to meet for that matter. Possibly some of the only perks of being a loner.

    So she continues on, trotting through a thicket of rather large bushes she finds herself stumbling. Her front paw falls into a type of hole, hopefully an occupied home for some small to medium sized animal to her luck. 

    After the small tumble she took, Amita raises herself off the dirt and shakes off, plumes of raven tinted fur drift through the wind. Not being able to help herself she sticks her nose closer to the hole. After giving a good sniff confirms the strong and recent scent of a rabbit. 

    “Gotcha.” She growls with a smirk on her face. This is her only opportunity at food she bets.

    She doesn’t care for dirtying herself as she shifts her upper body closer and further into the rabbits den, squeezing her shoulders together and digging; attempting to get in far enough to have a grab at it. Her back half up I’m the air and the fluffy plume of her tail swishes back and forth while her rear claws did into the soil to push her further in. 

    Then all of a sudden she hears a voice, loud enough she even hears it through the ground into this rabbits den. A trickle of uneasiness passes down her spine. Who is that? She thinks and quickly attempts to dig and slide herself back out. Once out, she stands up straight, large ears on a swivel for the noise, and golden yellow eyes on the lookout. She contemplates calling out but she’s not sure how smart that would be; she risks it anyhow.

    “Hello?” She calls softly, her voice honey smooth. Not too loud but loud enough to hear if someone is near. She stands and waits, a film of dust covering her usually shiny black fur. Though she only waits for about a minute she gives it a carefree shrug and decides to continue her previous attempt at hunting.

    She delves back into the hole still attempting to squeeze her way further in. She gets in a tad bit closer and this time she sees the gleam in the dark of the little rabbits eyes. A smile breaks out on her face, canines surely looking deadly to the poor thing. As she goes in for the kill it fights back, the thing being a bit bigger than she thought she takes a good few kicks to the face. One leaving a good scratch on her muzzle just atop her nose that starts bleeding a little more than she expects.

    On the outside of the hole all you can see is her full tail sticking out of the ground along with the plume of tuft on the backs of her haunches and her hind legs kicking about the dirt. The scene suspiciously looks like a fox burrowing to dig a new hole. Perhaps not the best sight for hungry, prying eyes.
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#4
He's had it worse; the knock on his head stings a bit and makes his eyes water immediately after, but all it takes is a grimace and a little bit of patience for the full sensation to diminish. Yutani is left with a stiff neck more than anything. Maybe the blow was harder than he thought, or at just the right place to cause an immediate effect—the headache strengthens as the moments pass and he curses under his breath again, staggering to one side of the tree which had struck him, and shuts his eyes for a second.

Once the feeling in his head lessens just a smidgen, he's looking around again. The man has half a mind to rip the limp branch from the tree as punishment, hopefully killing the base in the process, but doesn't muster the energy. From behind him comes a little voice—and he's surprised in to silence, frowning again, glaring at the forest as if he's been taunted. Was he imagining things? It wasn't a familiar voice at all. Get your head out of your ass, he thinks detrimentally to himself, and gets a move on.

The sounds of scratching, of activity, and the scent of ripe earth hit him soon after. The man has surreptitiously hiked closer to where the voice could've originated but he doesn't see anyone. Just as he's about to give up the hunt and turn back the way he'd come, he spots a flash of fulvous red near the base of the trees—no, closer to the dirt. In the dirt? The hell was he looking at?

The wolf forgot about the tree and the voice all at once, fixating on the curving shape of haunches and the red tail which looks eerily similar to that of a fox. His belly rumbles. The greyed fur of his spine begins to prickle as he stalks closer, his face wrought with concern but also that enigmatic eagerness of youth: was this food? It looked like food, smelled like food. That was enough proof for him—so the man lunged at the creature with no warning, reaching eagerly for that delicious looking tail.
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#5
As Amita fights this ferocious rabbit with the pure intent to kill, the rabbit has the primal urge to fight for its life. It kicks and scratches at her but the hunger that drives her pushes her through the pain. She doesn’t care how long it takes to wear this jackrabbit out she can do this all night, especially if it means it’ll put something in her stomach. The she-wolf snaps then pulls back as fast as she can, siking her prey out with the goal to tire it.

    Her ears press to the back of her skull as she goes in for one more bite and successfully latches her canines around the weak neck of her prey. The bushy paws of the rabbit scratch at her thick fur in a last ditch attempt at survival but lastly do no damage as the blood drains from the puncture wounds and its body goes into shock, finally stilling.

    The raging battle beneath ground has Aero occupied, causing her not to hear the other wolf approaching. Her hind legs finally stop digging into the now loose soil. The thrill of the small but victorious fight has her lifting her tail up with a sense of triumph and swishing proudly from side to side. Little does she know she’d close to being a snack herself.
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#6
The tail shifted, raising up like a banner in triumph (not that he'd be aware of that part), and it was enough of a move for Yutani's initial lunge to fall short. He adjusted with a single fluid motion. His lunge timed well enough to the scrambling of the creature's hind paws, and as they kicked at the dirt and tried to reverse to safety, Yutani had to avoid having dust thrown in his face. He didn't mind getting a little dirty in the process—he was too hungry to be picky, and even if there hadn't been a famine on the rise, dirt and such had never bothered him really. His follow-up lunge brought his dark face so close that he could almost taste the musk coming off of the wolf—Wait.

His grimace of teeth caught upon the appendage while his mind scrambled to catch up to the obvious wolf-scent, now that he was nose-deep in it. The man couldn't help the reflexes that had been trained in to him; he pulled, gripping hard, flooded by adrenaline and the thought of a warm meal finally—and that momentary pause, that recognition of wolf and not the urine smell of fox, was forgotten in his haste.
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#7
The thrill of the insignificant hunt had her adrenaline spiking but now–not so much. So just as she’s completed her task to the semi-best of her ability her next action is to finally get out of this god forsaken hole. Or that is the plan until she feels the fur of her own tail get bristled by something that is definitely not a surrounding bush.

    The feeling of a whole other presence behind her really causes her hair to stand on end. All of a sudden the pinch of something clamping onto her tail causes a dogish squeal to erupt from her muzzle and she scrambles backwards in a vain attempt to investigate. 

    Amita spins around and in the moment all she sees is a massive, tall, creature that sure smells and looks like a wolf but really must be akin to a bear. She drops the rabbit more as an accident due to surprise if anything. The smaller, raven haired wolf really just stands in shock for a moment not quite sure if fighting back or panicking is the best of ideas. So she can merely stare back, wide yellow eyes like saucers but not quite full of fear. 

    They have a searching intelligence in them, always depicting the next best decision or outcome. Attempting to decided how she should go about a situation. Especially when she knows fighting isn’t the best option.
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#8
The crunch of teeth against thick fur is one thing, but the crack of bone is different and gives him a small shock to the system. It's not like he's new to this; the clashing of his teeth with a foreign body is something he savours more than he ought to, The frenzy of the moment catches up to him next, like a wave in the sea crashing to shore. The target of his aggression is spiralling, the tail tucking away from him, and soon Yutani is face-to-face with something he does not expect at all: a pair of eyes as bright as his own, wide, fearful, but familiar in that they were wolf eyes.

Had he been hallucinating? Was he so hungry that he couldn't even tell friend from food? It was dark here, he would've justified had he the time. It was dark and he was hungry and—hell. No matter what thoughts flashed through his mind he knew this was wrong and recoiled immediately upon seeing those eyes. The sharp snout, the edge of light catching on a cheekbone. He's scrambling to back off before the momentum of the attack carries him to a bloody conclusion. Tillamook would love this, said a voice at the back of his mind, and he sneers.

The hell! I thought you were a fox, lady! Shit! He's faltering a bit, falling back and sitting. His body crunches the leaves scattered on the earth while a breath fumes from his slackened jaw, like a locomotive losing steam.
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#9
Amita’s breathing evens out and the hair bristling down her spine finally settles. She whines lowly at the throbbing pain of her tail and she jumps away from him just as fast as he jumps away from her. She stands up tall, her posture confident, tail raised slightly, large ears pointed like saucers in his direction. She’s really just trying to finds words to say to the stranger who has mistaken her for a potential snack.

    She sighs and her brows furrow. “Okay,” she sighs again. She understands it’s really not his fault, Amita knows what she looks like. “I understand why, but good lord did you have to bite so hard?” She pouts comically, her feminine face twists into a faux sad face, golden eyes peering back up to him.
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#10
He isn't down for long. The shock and awe pass swiftly through him and he's on his feet, shaking the rest of the nervous energy out of his haunches and tail with a flourish; the fur of his nape sways a bit as he lets the feeling ride up his spine to the base of his skull, and afterwards he feels much better. He looks a lot more manic though, what with the fur spiking in every direction. The girl has removed herself entirely from the burrow by now and is looking at him as if he has any answers, and her question catches him off-guard.

Well yeah, I bit hard 'cuz that's what you do when you go huntin'. Nobody could afford to half-ass things these days, especially with the famine as bad as it was. If she had been a fox for real then he'd be chowing down on her by now; a fact that his belly rebelled against, gurgling and bubbling inside of him as he thought of how grisly that scene might've been, had it played out. He'd have been fed though, and Yutani could only survive on imaginary meat for so long.

Still, he needed to make amends and he knew that. Look, I didn't mean to scare you. You're very, cue a smirk Foxy, heh. Really, she should've been taking it as a compliment. He thought he was doing a good job of diffusing the situation, as per usual.
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#11
After his initial shock wears off she notices the plume of fur around his neck and back resemble a great lions mane by how bristled he is. His thick fur sticks out in every direction and it almost causes her to smirk, though had he had actually meant to harm her she’d be absolutely terrified. She’s not sure if she’d even be able to get out unscathed or even alive for that matter.

    His reply really does make her chuckle and she steps a few paces closer to the raven haired male. “Well, I suppose I get that.” She says matter of factly with a raise of her chin.

    The massive wolf’s next reply has her truly grinning. Her ears briefly swivel backwards before facing him fully and she does an experimental twist of her tail to see if there’s still a significant amount of pain; thankfully she finds it only sore. 

    She’s already reaching the hulking form of the other wolf as she makes brief eye contact with him before sliding herself enticingly against his chest. “I know exactly what I look like. I’m sure you’d believe this isn’t the first time this has happened.” As the rest of her sleek body slides against him, Aero lifts her fox-like tail and slips her tail beneath his chin. “After all,” She begins, lazily sidling away from him. “I’ve at least been successful in my hunt.” She gloats, trotting over to the rabbit and picking it up in her jaws.

    The she-wolf comes back to him, and drops it at his paws. “Care to share? As a gift for not eating me.” She offers.