Shy Deer Steppes Heavens on fire

Akari's ochre fur made it easy for her to pass unnoticed as she moved across the reddishplains at a brisk pace. Her small ears perked up in search of the faintest sound as she stuck her muzzle into every crack in the rocks and every hole in the ground, looking for lizards and other small creatures.
The xerophytes sprouted sparsely over the land, but their thorns scratched her flanks and clung to her fur annoyingly often. The wolf was grateful for the thickening of her fur in preparation for the coming winter.
 
The steppe might seem dry and barren compared to the lush meadows to the northwest, but the landscape still offered an interesting mosaic of angular boulders and round spiny bushes.
As the sun began to set, the sky lit up with the colours of fire and the clouds turned to rosy smoke. The steppe glowed bright red amid dancing shadows, a spectacle worth witnessing with an open heart.

"Two dragons whirl and dance

Their fires burn and prance

All around the twilight hall

Fating the night to fall"

The night came cold, and soon the coyotes' barks echoed across the foreboding plains. Their bodies faded in the darkness, and only their eyes, glistening in the moonlight, gave away their presence. Akari could see them, peering warily over her, as she follows their trail not far behind. She had learned that following the scavengers usually pays off: there are more noses searching for the same.

And tonight, there was a whiff of abundance in the air.

Trying to pick up the scent from the air was in vain: the winds were constantly changing direction. Akari had been walking across the plains all evening, her nose brushing the sandy ground, sniffing.
She knew she was tracking an antelope. An old one. A sick one. One that, with luck, would fall soon enough. If it hadn't already.
This was the treasure everyone was looking for.
It was hard to stay on the scent of this particular animal, as the plains are trampled by dozens of them every day.
Akari did her best to stay focused. From time to time, she would stop to sneeze out the excess dirt and get a breath of fresh air, only to stick her nose back into the ground and taste the dirt with the tip of her tongue.
She was getting close. She could feel it rushing through her veins. A wave of adrenaline strong enough to make her fur bristle.
It had been far too long since she had tasted the flesh of a hoofed animal.
And time wasn't in her favour either. Dawn was at bay, and she had only a few hours of darkness left before the vultures joined the search.

As dawn broke, a blaze of light rose from the horizon, slowly blotting out the stars from the strange blue sky. The steppe was once again a battleground of light and shadow, but the splendour was ignored. Akari had finally spotted it: the curves of a shillouette lined up on the plain.
The wolf accelerated towards the carcass, as did all the other scavengers nearby. The antelope seemed to be in a peaceful slumber as the other animals swarmed around it, eagerly burying their snouts in its entrails, tearing off skin and chunks of flesh, racing to fill their bellies.
It was noisy, it was messy, and yet Akari could feel her tail wagging. There was a warmth in this feast. A touch of happiness in the gluttonous growls. For a while, she held on to the illusion of being part of this nomadic pack.

i hope it's okay to join this - message me if you'd rather keep this as a self-thread!

Long Rain had hardly slept a wink through the night, a testament to her youth. She was overeager to strike out on her own and carve out a space for herself that didn’t include her father shadowing her at all times. He was far from being overly protective of her – quite the opposite, really, as he likely would’ve been categorized as neglectful by most parental standards – but that didn’t mean she was interested in having the adult male hang around.

She moved without him again under dawnlight, this time following the scent of blood on the dry steppe air. It was an antelope, felled somehow – she wasn’t wise enough to know how – and a group of scavengers were tearing it to bits. This group included a small wolf among them, which briefly caused the young girl to wonder at the relationship between lesser creatures and the superior wolf species. It seemed unnatural to her to share with them.

The inviting prospect of a meal drew her forward anyway. She didn’t mind the wolf, but the others were a nuisance; she snarled at them, snapping at the crowd as she wedged herself towards the carcass in an effort to steal a massive bite.

Akari was so focused on gnawing at the fallen antelope that it took her a while to notice that another wolf had joined the feast. She peered over the confusion and watched as a young female snarled her way to the carcass. The coyotes were rattled by the intensity of the new guest: they became louder, more rambunctious, desperately swallowing whole chunks. 
Meanwhile, Akari could see the first groups of vultures landing nearby, waiting at a respectable distance for the right moment: as more and more birds flocked to the place, it would only be a matter of time until they felt numerous enough to drive out the competition.

The siege of hungry eyes tightened around the two wolves. With her eyes nervously darting around her surroundings, Akari thoughts rambled to the young she-wolf, a creature that seems to be as daring as it is innocent. A pup that has yet to reach its very first year out in the world.


Eat, and eat fast!
This truce won't last!
And then, flee!
Take the wind
Your youthful glee
To meet the world you've yet to see!

Long Rain was not yet salient enough to completely intimidate the rowdy bunch of yappers around the carcass. This was disappointing to learn, but her absolute hunger staved any further attempts to dominate those around her. The meat shredded beneath her large, still-new adult teeth and slid in mouthfuls down an eager gullet.

Her voraciousness was urged by the she-wolf on the other side of the dinner table. They wordlessly locked eyes, sharing a brief connection of telegraphed thought in a moment of pure synchrony. In her innocence, Long Rain perceived this as a sort of kinship shared between them, whether or not that’s what it truly was.

The girl ate as quickly as she could swallow, gaze darting towards the vultures hopping in and out of her peripheral; she snarled when a coyote drifted too close to her section, distracting her long enough for another coyote to take position on her other side, tearing at the antelope’s face. Long Rain was starting to feel claustrophobic, reflected in a wild flashing of the whites of her eyes.

The wolves were pushed away from the carcass by the growing crowd of necrophages. There was virtually no room to move, no air to breathe, crushed against the alienated bodies. Stress was rising and Akari could feel her legs trembling with adrenaline, angered by the coyotes' nibbling. The scenery on the other side of the bloody mound wasn't any better: the grey pup was getting more and more anxious, understandably. Even the meat began to taste bad.

Then Akari felt something she had never felt before: a dormant instinct that awakened in a rush, urging her to protect this innocent creature and free it from this crushing grip.
With a vicious snarl, the wolf leapt over the carcass and then straight for one of the pesky coyotes. She felt her front paws sink into the coyote's soft flank, blunting the momentum of the leap. Her ears pricked back to muffle the high-pitched yowl as the creature twisted and turned and ran. The commotion startled the crowd, scattering the creatures just enough to give the two wolves an opening.

"Run!" Akari barked to the young grey,  her eyes baring a reassuring glow. I'll be right behind you!

oh man, seeing "necrophages" in your post makes me miss playing the witcher 3!

The more aggravation Long Rain felt, the wilder this bunch of scavengers seemed to become. More and more of the body’s available real estate was taken up by these skittering guttersnipes, and still more seemed to descend upon them. As much as she could bully one, there was another to immediately take its place. Soon, she was defending her own plate at the carcass more than she was actually eating.

There was a sudden snarl that startled all who perceived it. Long Rain could barely react fast enough as the other wolf came hurtling over the antelope, stomping on the coyote nearest to her, who fled with a sharp cry. The others dodged invisible enemies, frightened for their hides but too hungry to move out of reach.

Recovering from the flinch, Long Rain obeyed the she-wolf’s command on pure instinct, turning swiftly to run through what felt to be a corridor among the mass of skinny dogs. (And though it certainly wasn’t that many on scene, her spongy brain would remember it that way years from now, fostering a deep-seated hostility towards these mangy wolf-cousins.)

Only once she had passed the infringing vultures did Long Rain stop to look back. Her thundering heart slowed fractionally as she took in the gory backdrop: a bloody trough surrounded by skeletal pigs. There was an air of loss around the chaos, an irritation that she had not gotten her fill. She turned to the stranger nearby and extended her muzzle towards her in a symbolic handshake.

I trust you.

Long Rain looked elsewhere, searching for a headway before settling mismatched eyes on the she-wolf again. You know place where they not follow? She jutted her muzzle contemptuously in the direction of the coyotes. Then, regardless of her response, what I call you?