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 Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 5:48 pm
 
Hephaestus stared down at his bleeding foreleg, still shocked that Athena would make such a bold move. His bi-colored eyes, one of startling blue, the other a liquid gold, shifted towards the blood drops again, knowing that they had fallen from Athena's jaws.
She had bit him. Hard. It had been no accident, and it sure as hell hadn't been a play fight.
But it was the last straw.
Snarling in fury, the huge wolf pivoted on his back feet and plunged after his sister, following her shallow footprints in the snow. His speed was surprising for his size, but Athena was faster yet. Her long legs and thinner build gave her an advantage, and as soon as his enormous paws left the snow and slammed down on smooth, bare stones, he knew that he had lost her.
For now.
As soon as the thought of a chase left his mind, the pain in his leg appeared and he let out a nearly silent whimper. It hurt, and running pell mell for over 2 miles in such a short amount of time had done it no amount of good.
Still . . .
Gritting his teeth, he tried not to limp and turned back the way he had come, angling back towards his pack lands. The two of them had traveled farther from home than he had first thought, and with his leg's condition, it would be after dark before he reached the river bordering the eastern edge of the Acropolis pack's lands.
"Damn it . . . "
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 7:41 pm
The siblings were not the only wolves traversing these particular lands this evening, and this one had not been moving as quickly as Hephaestus all day, nor was she injured.
Rylenn's steps were light for paws as large as hers were, and she moved shadowlike through the no-man's land, a curious wanderer, new to these organizations. Unsure of where to go, she had been skirting owned land and seeking contact, feeding herself. While she was by no means dying, the once-healthy female could have easily gone for a few heavy meals and some long rest.
Her bright blue eyes didn't pick the limping vagrant up as quickly as her nose and ears did, and she swung her head around, body going low and stiff as she realized that she could easily be taken as a trespasser. Ears flat against her skull but tail lifted in what may have been defiance, she slunk closer, trusting the black of her coat to show her off so she did not catch this walker by surprise.
When she was closer, she took the male's scent again, curious about him, and gave a low woof.
"Hello?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:42 pm
Stopping dead, the big male turned towards the voice, hackles raised. The fur on his tail stuck straight up as it lifted above his back and a low growl escaped his maw as he saw the strange wolf, though the growl was directed more towards himself for not paying attention. With the wind the way it was, he should have caught her scent far sooner.
"If we were another mile west, I would be running you off my lands, female. Can I help you with anything?" he asked, tone biting, but again, only because of his pain. He really was an easy-going wolf, and not one to usually chase anyone away if they meant no harm, but he was stressed, hurting, and tired. All he wanted to do was curl up in his den with his pack.
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Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:49 pm
"But we aren't a mile west," Rylenn answered coolly, dipping her tail lower as her only concession to the bite and stress in the male's voice. She was unafraid of him for the time-being; judging by his steps, if he tried to charge her, she could easily avoid him. He was limping. She considered pointing that out, then decided that flippancy could get her killed if he called his pack. So instead, she shook from tip to tail and put her ears back.
"My apologies; I am an outlier and meant no offenses," she said simply, lifting a forepaw and licking the snow from between the pads of her toes. "I am unsure of the pack structure in the area...if you could shed any light on that, it would be a blessing."
She paused, and then dropped her head below his and swung the brush of her tail from side to side. "I am called Rylenn," she said.
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:12 am
Tipping his head slightly in acknowledgment of her apology and name, Hephaestus relaxed his stance a little, shifting his weight onto his three uninjured legs without drawing attention to his hurts.
"My name is Hephaestus, and I'm the alpha of the Acropolis pack." Turning his muzzle westward, but keeping his eyes on the female, he continued. "One mile west lies the river, which is the eastern border of my lands. The big mountain north of here sits as the northern edge. The beginning of the plains to the west is the far border, and the cliff face of the plateau is the southern edge."
His ears flicked forward and he took a stiff legged step towards her, his nose working the air. "We don't see many wolves up here. What brings you this high up?"
Despite his still bleeding wound, Hephaestus was a curious wolf, and he wasn't lying when he said that there was a lack of wolves in the area. Whenever one appeared, he took notice.
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:58 pm
Rylenn noticed the relaxation of the big male and let her tail swing once in acknowledgement, relaxing even more now that there was no immediate threat to her well-being. Flicking her ears forward when Hephaestus explained his lands to her, she cocked her head to one side and listened, turning her muzzle west and scenting the air for landmarks, some of which she could see, some of which she couldn't. So it was an alpha she was talking to, was it? That was interesting.
Though she should have guessed from his bearing.
The question took her a bit by surprise, and she flicked her ears before responding. "I'm a wanderer by choice, though I hadn't intended to wander so long," she said eventually. "No denning space with my home pack, and I left." She turned and licked her shoulder in a dismissive gesture, a canine shrug, and then woofed softly. "Though I confess that the higher I come, the more difficult the hunting. You have a large pack, then?" she asked, curious as to whether this male would tolerate an outlier on his packlands.
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:49 pm
Already, the wheels were turning in his mind. He cocked his head to one side and slowly sat on his haunches, eying her. The wistful tone in her voice was faint, untraceable to any but those who were listening for it.
He happened to have his ears wide open.
"A large pack to some, not so large to others. My mother and sister, son, and two foundlings I took in." The tip of his tail twitched and a grin had spread across his maw as he spoke of his pack. He wouldn't let his sister's attitude get him down, and even though he missed his mate dearly sometimes, he had moved on.
"The hunting isn't bad, if you know where to look." The enormous wolf winked, his jaws parting as his grin widened. "If you're hungry," he offered, rising to all fours again and taking a step west again, "we made a fresh kill yesterday. It might be a little frozen, but there's some left. If you don't mind left overs."
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:57 pm
The initial reaction to his offer was stiffness. Rylenn wasn't sure what she thought about sharing a kill she had not made. Certainly, she had done it with her parents' pack, but she had been a pup then; she was much too old to accept such charity now. Flicking her ears, she shook her ruff, considered the offer again, considered her empty stomach, and swallowed her pride with the hope of swallowing something more substantial soon.
"I would be eternally in your service," she said, dipping her head and glancing up at Hephaestus. "I am not a bad huntress, if you want I should repay the meat I take," she added, licking between her toes for something to do while she awaited the big male's offer. She wasn't about to offer allegiances or give him the impression that she had. Because she hadn't. At all. Certainly not.
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Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:24 am
Hephaestus eyed the femme for a few moments, as if deciding something. Then his bi-colored eyes brightened and he offered her a smile.
"You'd have to stay awhile then . . . We gorged ourselves quite a bit with this last kill. It'll be a few . . . days . . . before we eat again."
Leto didn't hunt, because he didn't want to get dirty. He would only scout, and only if it was a dry day. Kajahli was far too fearful of the elk and moose, and was only just now getting over his fear of the few deer that roamed the area. Athena tended to hunt and think only for herself . . . So that left him, Dione, and his son, but Kiion didn't really have the knack to make a kill. All he had was an overabundance of enthusiasm that didn't get him anywhere, but too close to flailing hooves.
He paused, then added as an afterthought, "And really, we don't have that many decent hunters."
Was that subtle? Or blatantly unsubtle and just trying?
Ah well, it didn't matter. She could take it anyway she wanted.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:54 pm
Rylenn had the good grace to lower her head when Hephaestus looked at her, accutely aware of what her manners could get her in this case. She wasn't by any means starving, but she was certainly hungry, and something larger than a rabbit or a ground-squirrel would be wonderful.
"I...would appreciate the charity," she said slowly, choosing her words so that her advances could not be misinterpreted. "And would love the oppurtunity to hunt in a pack again." Because really, working alone was, well, lonely. She missed that togetherness and solidarity that came from a real pack.
In the back of her mind, she realized that spending days with a pack that wanted for good hunters was probably a foolish thing, if she wanted to keep on walking. But something inside her was saying that this might be her only oppurtunity to find another pack. Mostly, she had gotten growls and nips. Outliers were less than successful at joining large, established packs.
"And your pack would approve?" she asked carefully. She didn't want to cause trouble between pack members. That would be worse than anything else.
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:38 am
"They follow my lead, have no worries about that. And since I approve," he added pointedly, "so will they. Or they will feel the bite of my fangs."
Honestly, it was an empty threat. None of his pack had ever done anything to rise his anger, with the exception of Athena. However, if she decided to show herself and got in a territorial, female snit over and outsider being in the pack, he would gladly remind her what rank she held in the pack, and what rank he held.
Turning his body towards home, he glanced at her over his shoulder, an expectant look on his face. "Well? What say you?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 4:50 pm
Opening her jaws in silent amusement, Rylenn thumped her tail once and shook from tip to tail. "I accept the offer gladly," she said, rearing onto her hindfeet and leaping about a body's length forward and putting her tail in the air in happiness. Then she paused and her expression grew slightly more solemn. She tilted her head.
"And the female I smell on you, the one who...." she trailed off and simply tilted her head, pointing her nose toward the marks on his foreleg. "Is she one of your pack? She smells like you."
She got the feeling that someone willing to bite an alpha was going to be a force to reckon with, especially if that someone was a female. Rylenn was touchy about other bitches, mostly because they tended to be touchy about outliers more if those outliers weren't male. And if one of them was going to be a problem, well....
It could be interesting.
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