Ravensblood Forest Diamonds on the soles of her shoes

Setting: Ravensblood Forest.

Edit: I'm gonna bring this up to date (01/03).

Here beneath the dark green canopy, only a sparse layer of snow covered the forest floor. It crunched lightly beneath her feet as Pied trotted through the woodland, admiring the sights and smells. For a while, she simply explored her surroundings, then a rumbling in her gut made her ear twitch and she decided to hunt. Accordingly, she slowed her pace, careful to lessen the sound of her footfalls.

Pied paused in a weak shaft of sunlight and lifted her muzzle into the air, sifting through the myriad scents that tickled her nose. At the same time, she pricked her charcoal ears and listened. She looked like a frozen statue, up until a sudden movement overhead made her flinch out of her deep concentration.

"Oh, it's you," she murmured as Mag perched on the bough of an evergreen. She gave the bird a lopsided smile. "Seen any prey?" she asked in a playful tone, aware that the bird wouldn't answer.

Yet the magpie surprised her by spreading her wings, sashaying forward on the branch and then thrusting her beak in a slightly northern direction. Pied's lips parted in astonishment, though a grin quickly arced her lips. "Thanks, Mag," she said before woofing at the ghostly bird and trotting in the pointed direction.

Pump's grandma had been a very practical creature. "Don't use strong, when you can go by weak." She had taught each one of her offspring and passed on the knowledge to her granddaughter, when the little pup had barely been able to grasp the concept of words, let alone spoken wisdom. May sound strange at first, but, when you delve in - you get the idea - don't waste precious energy in any matter, if you can avoid it. Therefore Pump, who had forgotten quite a lot of other things she had been taught, had stuck to this piece of knowledge, because it had proven to be useful in many occasions.

So now... when she was food hunting, she did not use her gift of scent as a first choice, but followed the lead of her eyes and hearing. It was easier, it did not require her to concentrate too much and she had been lucky enough to follow a moving creature for a while now. From the distance she was standing, it was hard to tell, what it was or even smell it, but it was moving, therefore alive, therefore... possibly huntable and edible. The creature was appearing and disappearing between the trees, sometimes Pump lost her track and needed to stop, to look carefully and find it again.

But her vision didn't fail her, the creature, who blended almost perfectly with the scenery, always appeared again. And when the right moment came, Pump felt confident enough to move more quickly in a determined manner and close the distance between her and her "prey".

ooc: I suggest that Pump spotted and began following Pied a short while ago. If that is fine with you, I will leave it. If not, I can change my post.

It's totally cool with me! I've been reading White Fang lately, which inspired Pied's reaction here... I hope it's okay that I assumed Pump would make impact. :)

Three things happened simultaneously. Firstly, Pied picked up the scent of a young badger. Secondly, Mag abruptly faded from view, in truly ethereal fashion. Thirdly, something abruptly rushed Pied from the side, smashing into her right shoulder, crushing the breath from her and causing her to lose her footing and slam onto her left flank. She couldn't be sure which part knocked the wind out of her but as she struggled there on the snowy earth, her mouth opened and closed as she struggled to sip in breaths of air.

As soon as she could draw in a full breath, she scrambled to her feet and whirled to face her assailant. Even as she spun, her teeth lifted to expose her fangs in a rare display of defensive aggression. Her ears pressed forward and she lowered her head to protect her throat even as her mismatched eyes clapped on the dark stranger. Akhlut's scent registered dimly, yet the other canine's peculiar appearance prevented her from relaxing.

Conversely, a coarse growl rumbled in the deeps of her throat and her eyes flashed mistrustfully. Who was this wolf—was she a wolf?—and why had she rushed her? Pied's heart thumped wildly in her chest as she presented an aggressive front, even while backpedaling a few steps to place a measure of distance between herself and her attacker.

ooc: that is cool with me. "White Fang" is a great book, but I like "Call of the Wild" a bit better.

SLAM! Like a cannonball. Pump had never been the quickest one, because of her build and body proportions (2x2), but she compensated that with her strength. Therefore rather than running along and trying to get a good hold of someone, she used another tactic - crushing in them, when the first opportunity arised and then registering what was the outcome of her actions.

In case of this one... Pump found herself in a situation she had been in plenty of times. She had been in her share of rough fights with her siblings at the Bilberry Hills, therefore, while the other wolf showed every sign of distrust and lack of comfort of this situation, the fluffy beast stood on her ground, with her tail slightly raised above the level of her body and tilted her head to the side curiously, taking few precious moments to decide, what to do next.

Fight or not to fight... and then the clear voice of her grandma's sharp voice go by the weak! Therefore she relaxed, turned her gaze away and yawned. "Now you are one poor excuse of a meal..." she said with an edge of humor in her voice.

That's up next. I got them both in one book!

The stranger's body language displayed a clear message, even before she spoke: she possessed no interest in fighting. She relaxed, averted her gaze and adopted an almost bored air, her lips parting to drop a quip that made the yearling's brow furrow perplexedly and her soapstone ears to give an agitated twitch.

"Were you hunting me?" she asked incredulously, her pale fur puffing out somewhat, as if to make her slight figure look larger and therefore less edible. "What's wrong with you?" Pied pressed in the next breath, her tone a bit edgy and her gaze equally so. Although the question aimed for an explanation about being preyed upon, it was also a general inquiry regarding the other wolf's strangeness not only in behavior but in appearance as well.

"And - was that wrong?" Pump replied to the question with one of her own. A cheeky grin appeared in her lips, she sat down and yawned again. "I mean, my grandma always said - eat or be eaten - the law of wilderness or something like that..." she had never been good at memorizing information accurately, therefore either she added an interpretation and improvisation of her own or let the sentence trail of - like now, for example.

"So... to answer both of your questions - no, there is nothing wrong with me... to hunt you," she paused, "I mean, you would do the same, if you were really, really hungry, wouldn't you? Hungry like the Big Bad Wolf, eh?"

The other canine's question was as strange as everything else about her, leaving Pied at a momentary loss. "Wrong? I don't know. It's generally considered strange to kill and eat your own own kind, though, isn't it?" she rejoined. "And, no," she added in response to the next question, "I've been really, really hungry before but I've never cannibalized anyone," she finished sensibly.

"Have you?" Pied questioned after a pause, looking speculatively at this queer specimen of a wolf. She somehow doubted it. The stranger didn't look very powerful, now that Pied took a good look at her. "Are you a full-blooded wolf?" she decided to ask as well, even though it felt somehow rude to ask.

"Strange?" Pump raised her eyebrows in mild surprise. The other girl didn't look much younger than her, but her view of the world, which was in fact a cold and cruel place and only looked good and great on the outside, was very naive. "I assume that you have never been really hungry then?" she said and sat down, preparing herself for a longer conversation than she had expeted. "I mean, when you are so hungry that it hurts and you don't care how and which way you get the meal?"

Her first winter had been like that. No food at all. Several hadn't made it and their carcasess weren't left to rot, they were eaten - not a single strand of fur was left. And no one spoke of the young and weak wolves, which had disappeared misterously. "You really want to know?" she asked - it was not that she felt uncomfortable or ashamed of what had happened then. It had taught her that life was not fair and you simply had to deal with it. One way or another.

"Are you?" Pump replied with a question. Because to her Pied with the white fur and dark accents, which were scattered on her back looked just as strange to her.

"Yes," Pied repeated, reflecting back on that period when food had not only been scarce, so had her pack mates. She'd eaten insects at one point. She hadn't lost a lot of weight, nor suffered any long-term effects from this period of hunger, thankfully, but did that mean it didn't count? "I ate bugs or sometimes nothing at all. It only went on for a few weeks, thankfully," she admitted.

"I do want to know. And, yes, I'm a full-blooded wolf," Pied answered despite being vaguely annoyed that her questions were answered with questions. "I'm piebald," she added with a swish of her tail, suddenly aware that she was just as peculiar-looking to most as this wolf was to her.

"Then you have lived in a pretty damn good place during a famine," Pump said with an edge of disbelief in her voice. She did not believe that Pied could possibly have eaten bugs, since they were small and non-existant during a winter. Or... it was possible that the other wolf had different winter in mind.

However... "Have you ever tried a fox?" Pump asked curiously. "Because a wolf tastes just like that, but a bit wetter." When you got over the first wave of disgust, the meat was just fine. You did not think much about morals or the fact that the dead body you were feasting on had been your relative once. You were hungry and this was just the carcass. And it wasn't like you ate the soul with it.

"And how do you know that?" the wolf-dog asked. "How can you be sure that you are a full-blooded wolf?"

Although initially annoyed by the other female's approach and subsequent peculiarity, Pied found her agitation lessening as her intrigue increased. With that said, she found the subject quickly becoming morbid. She nodded her head when the nameless she-wolf questioned her about hunting foxes, though she froze and pulled a bit of a face at the idea of wolf meat being wetter.

"Disgusting," Pied comment, albeit with a note of curiosity in her voice. "Maybe I did live in a good place. That place was here. It was only a couple of months back. It didn't help that my pack's Alpha at the time left us high and dry and the pack basically fell apart without any leadership," she mentioned.

"I know because my parents were both full-blooded wolves—as far as they knew, anyway. Believe me, we all wondered how exactly I managed to come out looking like this. My stillborn siblings also had birth defects, though; mine just happened to be harmless." Pied did not elaborate further, as the subject was actually painful when she considered that it was these circumstances that had eventually led to her father's suicide.

"Anyway, do you have a name? I'm Pied Starbuck-Virtúte." The simple act of saying her new hyphenated surname aloud put her in better spirits, erasing the last of he vague annoyance. "I'm from Horizon Ridge."

"Well... let's hope that he wasn't eaten..." Pump remarked with an unpleasant smile. She did not think highly of leaders, who left their families to fend on they own in times of need. Bilberry hills wasn't either the best or the most ideal pack in the world, but loyalty was it's cornerstone. They had had hard times - like that horrible winter that was mentioned before - but leaders had always stayed. They did not flee problems, they stood their ground and faced them with bared teeth and ready to attack.

As if you are born with that knowledge... She thought sarcastically, while the other wolf explained her peculiar look. Pump did not think that she looked any different than other of her kind, therefore she simply put that the question had been odd and put it in the folder named "Not useful" and forgot about it.

"Which one of the three names you run by?" Pump asked, since family names and surnames were unfamiliar to her. "Pumpernickel or Pump for short," she returned the greeting.

"She wasn't," Pied said, then bit her tongue from adding unfortunately to that statement. She reminded herself that she didn't want to go around spreading hatred about Jinx or involving other wolves in their differences. She wanted to keep it so contained that it wasn't even much of a consideration at all.

It was pretty clear that the she-wolf wasn't going to answer her question and it wasn't so important to Pied that she would press it. She finally introduced herself as Pumpernickel, or Pump for short, and asked Pied which name she preferred. This confused the Omicron for a beat, then she laughed dryly.

"You can call me Pied. Starbuck is my family's surname and Virtúte is my mate's. I decided to just mash them together when we became mates," she replied. "Are you from a pack, Pump?"

Pump listened to her explanation with a furrowed brow, because all this thing about names seemed quite too long and complicated for a practical use. In her birth pack it was a rare occasion, when someone was named specifically (she was an exception to that rule, because no one ever dared to doubt, what grandma said). Maybe it was because of the harsh life there - naming someone would mean to get too attached and grieve for a loss later. Or... it was not needed. As simple as that.

"Oh well," she finally remarked. Stranger things had happened than a wolf with three names. "In fact, I was and I am. I happen to have moved in the same premises you are."

The news that they both lived on the ridge took Pied by surprise. "Oh... really?" The question popped out of her mouth before she could think of dialing down the dubiousness in her voice. To make up for it somewhat, she added, "Well, since we're pack mates and I assume you're hungry—judging by the fact that you were considering eating me—then maybe you'd like to help me track down some food? That's what I was doing when you charged me," she mentioned offhandedly.

Without waiting for a response from Pump, Pied took a few steps forward. She sniffed the air first, then dropped her muzzle to comb her nose along the ground. "I'd smelled a badger right before you rammed into me," she muttered quietly, searching for the trail again and finding it after a moment. Her head lifted and she looked at Pump. "You coming, or is this goodbye for now?"

"Aha - fresh from the important talk with Akhlut," Pump announced solemnly and puffed her chest out proudly, only to lose her pose a moment later to a fit of laughter. "Ok, not really - a day or two maybe - not enough time for the communal smell to set in."

The suggestion to help Pied came as a little bit of a surprise, because, as long as it was not a big game, everyone in her pack fended for themselves. Therefore she was not sure, what to do. She was not that hungry after all and the she-wolf looked pretty well and capable herself. So her first intention was to say - No, thank you! Another time, maybe. And wave a heartfelt good-bye.

But a badger sounded interesting and even Pump with her laziness could not tackle the curiosity and thrill of the prospect of a hunt. "Sure, why not," she replied. "Let's wake and eat that bug!"

Pump deliberated a moment, then agreed to accompany Pied on her hunt. "I hope you're up for a challenge," she warned with a slightly jesting note in her voice. After all, Pump had evidently been prepared to take down something of wolfish proportions. "It's young... male... healthy," she ticked off as if reading from a list of bullet points, which she was, in a manner of speaking.

"This way," she said decisively, thrusting her pale snout out in front of her and breaking into a trot that resumed her earlier northward trek. "He's not far off," she guessed, judging by the freshness of the scent trail. Thanks again, Mag, she thought silently before swapping a brief glance with her canine companion.

"A challenge? Sheesh," Pump rolled her eyes and stretched thoroughly, getting ready for the prospect of having some action and decent adrenaline rush. "He won't be a match for m... us!" she corrected her statement at the last moment, because she wasn't alone anymore and this was a pack member - something like a friend. Almost...

"Lead the way, champ!" she told Pied and took some steps back so that she would be able to follow her closely.

She didn't need to be told twice. Pied sped up to a quick lope, Pump towing along behind her like a misshapen shadow. The trail grew hotter by the second and, though the snow was sparse this deep into the forest, Pied soon found a trail of paw prints in the dusting. Saliva began to pool in her mouth and she licked her jowls, hungry not only for the meat but also for the killing. Like any other hot-blooded predator, she enjoyed the act of taking prey.

Exchanging a silent signal with Pump to indicate they now proceed in total silence, Pied slung her belly close to the ground and began to slink. Her ears flicked, picking up on some faint noises: the shuffling of a low-set body over the forest floor, the quiet snuffling as the badger himself searched for sustenance. In spite of her healthy appetite, Pied crept forward with painstaking slowness, knowing that their best bet was to take the badger by surprise.

Finally, they came around a bend of trees and spotted him on a narrow deer trail, shuffling about in the light snow. Without speaking, Pied used her eyes and body to exchange a directive with Pump. You go right, I'll go left. We'll attack from either side. With the game plan set, she then melted away into the flora to the left of the trail, prowling forth even more slowly now and angling herself to make a direct line of attack on the badger's left shoulder.

Pump followed Pied without making any sound - now that they were getting nearer to the creature, the scent got stronger with every step. The black she-wolf felt excitement rise and found it to be very hard to contain. It took a lot of effort not to rush ahead of her companion and start the hunt immediately, but she respected Pied's "first hand" opportunity and obeyed her wordless commands.

However, the moment they split to attack the creature from both sides, Pump began to lope pretty fast and determinedly in the creature's direction. Her approach caught the badger by surprise, but, rather than stopping to see, what it was and how dangerous it was, it also broke in a run. The chase had begun.

She rushed in from the left and Pump closed in from the right. The badger sensed their presences swooping in from either side a few seconds before they reached him and made a dash for it. This resulted in Pied's teeth clipping empty air as she lunged for the badger's shoulder. Undeterred by this initial failure, she sprang after the fleeing critter, a flash of black, white and gray against the backdrop of winter foliage.

Luckily, the badger didn't have enough of a head start to foil the hunt, nor did he possess speed that outclassed the two wolves. In mere seconds, they each caught up with him. Again, Pied aimed for his left side, now seeking to roll the badger off his feet. His center of gravity was so low, however, that she only succeeded in shoving him sideways, toward Pump.

ooc: I am sorry that it has taken me so long to reply to this thread. Been pretty busy in real life the past two weeks.

Badgers may seem an easy kill and Pump made just that mistake by assuming it. She waited for the right moment and then made a leap to grab the creature by the scruff, which she managed to do for two or three seconds. The next thing she knew was that the badger had managed to break free and with teeth bared attacked her directly in the face.

Pump yelped in pain and surprise, when the little but not so helpless animal anymore, bit her in the nose and left a nasty gash in her upper lip. Eager to get away from the attacker, she took some steps back, growling and shaking her head to get rid of the animal. Finally it let go and sparing no second glance began to run away, while the wolf-dog stood, where she was, and licked up the blood that was streaming down from the wounds.

No worries!

Pump managed to scruff the fleeing critter, though it fought ferociously and managed to free itself after only a few seconds. Pied looked sideways and slowed slightly when her companion stopped, blood dripping from the fore of her snout. After exchanging a glance with her pack mate—her injuries didn't appear to be dire—she then faced forward and launched after the wily badger to punish it with death.

Careful not to repeat her cohort's mistake, Pied sprang at the badger, crushing it to the ground with her forepaws and lowering her head to grasp its neck. Rather than scruff it, her teeth dug deep, puncturing layers of fur, flesh and fat to pierce the crucial veins within. She released a split second later to avoid retaliation, then fell back to keep an eye on both the wounded Pump and the dying badger.

The wounds hurt, of course, but during her short life Pump had learned to ignore pain, therefore few seconds later she felt annoyed by the blood that was dripping down from her muzzle. She licked her lips, snorted and shook her head to get rid of it, but when that did not help, she lowered her head and rubbed her face in the snow.

When she was done, Pied had already killed the badger and, even though Pump felt a bit embarrassed that it had not been her to do it, she also was a bit smug. Won't be messing with wolves, you scumbug. "Good job, Pied!" she said, as she approached her.

Knowing the badger would lay down and die in moments, Pied began to trot back toward Pump, who loped forward to meet her. When they met in the middle, the young piebald wolf sniffed noses with her odd-looking pack mate, then gently licked at her wound to clean it of blood. When she withdrew, she gave Pump a look as if to ask, There, is that better?

A gray ear swiveled backward in response to the sound of the badger's last gasping breaths. "Lunch is served," she quipped smugly, motioning for Pump to follow her as she galloped back to the badger, which now lay still on the cold ground. She lowered her head to nudge the still-warm carcass, then latched onto it with her teeth and began to tear into it with muted growls.