Overture Downs New Seasons

Anyone is welcome to intercept her!

Here she was again. Back in the Teekon Wilds. Alone and isolated in the vast openness of the meadow, Malila stared ahead out towards the west. Her soft features blank, her mind swirling with uncertainty. She didn't know why she had come back here again. She had been born and raised in this wilderness, but it had never worked out for her. She had no family left. No friends. No pack. Leaving her to question why she returned.

That was not at the fore front of her mind right now. A little older and a little more reserved than before, she traced along the slopes, listlessly. She had no plan. No direction or destination. Only the basic need to find one of the several streams in the area to quench her thirst. After that, and maybe a meal, she would worry about the rest.

She’s hunting flood rats when a skinny solo soul scampers near. Falling onto her belly, she marshals forward to spy at them from between the twisting branches of a fledgling western yew. The little thing is fretful; dejected, hollowed out by hunger. All the symptoms that plague the lonesome kind.

Tauris chews the tail of the rodent that hangs from her lips in contemplation. Lone wolves here are in direct competition with one another over the valley’s finite resources. It would be so easy to turn and be on her way, and none could blame her, truly.

But she felt, well… bad, for the girl who was not so different from herself in many ways. So she tempers the idea to flee and instead crawls through the brush to manifest like a scrubby marsh creature before her fellow wolf.

Then drops her mangled rat corpse. It lands in the dirt beside the stranger girl.

Her lips twist, “Keep it.”

God, she’s charitable.

Hope you don’t mind a third to the party? :D

Everett was gone. Ophelia and Tybault too. And for the first time in his life, Evander was truly alone.

He could have stopped Everett from taking off. Even now, he could go and find his brother again. Instead he lingered here in the opposite direction from where Everett had gone. Why? Surely love should have driven him towards the sea — and yet, for once, it seemed the most loving thing to do was to let him go.

Evander wandered without much aim, watching the local wildlife, and the locals themselves. This was still a foreign place, after all, and he was aware of the great chasm that still separated him from the rest of wolfkind.

So when he saw the two women, he neither his nor concealed himself from them. He simply slowed his pace and kept a watchful eye on the exchange that transpired. Were they sisters? A pack? Friends given to helping one another out, even in trying times like these? Or maybe they had brokered a business deal, a trade — and he couldn’t help but smile at that thought.

Couldn’t have been a very big deal, if the object of pay looked nothing much more than a water rat.

Not at all! <3

Suddenly, she was not alone anymore. A wet thump in the dirt at her paws made her startle. Her heart lurched, eyes landing on the limp body of a swamp rat. A gift from a female stranger. 

Malila hesitated, wide eyed. Lips parted in a soft, wordless O shape. Her features confused, questioning. Why? Why would a complete stranger give her such generosity? She must really be in a sorry state. She hadn't seen her own reflection in so long.

"T-thank you..." She found her voice at last. Another wolf, a male, had materialized. Observing them, saying nothing. Malia paid him no mind. She lurched forward to grab at the token rat. Tearing into it with large bites and swift gulps showed how starved she was. She didn't even care that it was wet, or caked in dirt.

She says nothing, but cants her nose curiously and looks on as the girl eats, only a little envious of the way rodent bones crackle deliciously under fang.

She chews eagerly. She needs this more than Tauris.

There’s a flicker of movement in the corner of her vision and swiftly she’s clambering backwards to peer wide-eyed at a third figure emerging from the wood.

“You just planning on staring?” She barks haughtily, the alpine ridge along her spine standing in annoyance- though more so from being caught off-guard than anything else.

They must be loners, he decided. At least, the girl on the receiving end of the deal. Surely no pack wolf dug into prey that quickly. Those lot took care of each other, didn't they? Make-believe families of total strangers, or so he'd heard from rumour on the street.

The blonde girl didn't seem to notice him, but the other one did. Almost keeled back head over heels! Evander slipped an easy smile. Only for as long as it took you to notice, he said, noting the rise along her spine but caring very little. You know, he neared them with airy steps, if we worked together, we could bring down something that could fill our bellies for days.

She swallows the last fragments of bone and meat, sighing gratefully. A morsel like that would hardly put a dent in the ache in her stomach, but it was something. Bi colored eyes turned up to regard the darker woman, eager to learn her name. But, her attention was elsewhere, addressing the male.

When he spoke up, this time her ears pricked in interest. He even extended the offer that they work as a group, to try and catch something more...substantial. Tentatively, Malila's tail came to life. "You can count me in. It is better than scraping by on small prey." There was a smile in her voice, but she did not let it show on her face. Not yet. Falling silent, she let Tauris have her turn to chime in. If this worked out, Malilia already knew the role she would play. She had never had the best track record with hunting, which she would keep to herself, right now.

Eyes narrow with skepticism, even as the girl beside her, inundated with hunger, submits to the wanderer’s proposal. Tauris tosses a pointed muzzle into the air dismissively. Trust a man to be arrogant and patronizing.

“If that requires ‘days’ in your presence, I prefer the taste of rat.”

She scoffs with a flicker of tail. She didn’t care if she was being rash, or unrealistic, not when her pride was drawn into question.