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 Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 10:27 pm
 Jukka sighed as he picked his way through the foliage that was that particular thick, dense bit of woods he was currently passing through. He had spent many long days and nights in self imposed confinement, fearing passing on a deadly illness that had wiped out his former pack a little over a year ago. There were still a few clinging to thin threads of life, some that refused to leave, and some that were on the verge of passing to the other side. The few that were healthy enough stayed, meeting their ends.
He survived, but had none to turn to. He lost his mate, his pups, and his pack. He hated it and still had nightmares, but there was nothing to be done. Except try to keep others safe. He had met a few wolves and none had fallen ill, so he knew he did not carry disease on himself, but he still worried.
The surrounding land was rising and sloping and, though he didn't smell any packs, he half hoped he would run into some wolf or another, be it friend or foe, merely for socializing.
His ears were pricked and his keen nose remained on the alert, searching in vain for a scent. It was still some paces before the wind shifted and something wafted towards him. It was not prey. It was not man.
It smelled like wolf!
His tail wagged slightly and he seemed to perk up. He still held himself proudly, much like the strong beta he had been in his former pack
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:13 am
The fox, however, was determined to eat. It wanted that rabbit! It kept trying to dart past the unaggressive wolf to get at the food that the wolf didn't seem to care about. In fact, he was just beginning to get exasperated enough to n** at Oga's large paws. The hulking female merely ignored these attempts at dissuasion and merely kept blocking his path with her large body. "Not safe for fox. Oga will hunt for fox, if fox hungry. But no eat rabbit. Rabbit dangerous." Her voice was earnest, and her movements even more determined than that of the fox.
Finally exasperated beyond all patience, the smaller predator turned with a flick of his bushy tail and stalked off at a run. Let the batty wolf have the rabbit, or protect it, or whatever she had been doing. He could use his time better finding his own prey than spending hours dancing with the dumb wolf.
Thus satisfied to have averted tragedy, Oga sprawled herself near the trap and stared at it mournfully, trying to figure out what to do about it now. She couldn't very well guard the thing the rest of her life! But she couldn't just leave it either. Her slow mind churned on the problem.
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 12:51 pm
Other scents tickled his nose as he trailed the first.
Fox... And rabbit? Albeit, deceased rabbit.
His curiosity was peaked and he could no longer change his mind about his destination. After several moments of tracking, his sensitive ears picked up the sound of something leaving rather hastily and, not much later, the sight of a rather large wolf caught his eye. He blinked, his single, emerald eye hidden for a brief moment, and a smile slid across his maw. His tail wagged and he cleared his throat.
"Ahem~ Hello, there. Everything alright, miss?"
She seemed rather unhappy, though he wasn't sure quite why. The trap was hidden from his view by her bulky, tan form.
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 3:16 pm
She raised her head and turned to look back at the approaching wolf. Upon seeing him and his waving tail, her own bush of a tail began to wag as well, and her jaws split open in a wide smile. "Alright," she agreed, nodding her heavy head. "Bad trap, but Oga guard." For now. She looked back at it with great trepidation. "Bad trap," she repeated firmly, almost as if addressing it and scolding it for being what it was.
She rose to her paws then and moved towards the stranger, tail waving her own greeting. "Hello new wolf. Oga happy to see you." Her tongue lolled and she sat close by, a small puff of dust arising from her wide haunches plopping themselves down. She swung her head back towards the dead rabbit and the heavy steel jawed trap. "Bad trap hurt animals. Wolf, fox, bear, lynx. All in danger." She laid her ears back and momentarily looked quite fierce. "Bad trap," she repeated with a growl. But when she turned back to him, her face was very relaxed and amiable again. "New wolf be careful?" It was both warning and question. Would he watch his step so as not to get hurt?
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 8:06 pm
"Trap?" Her demeanor seemed to change as soon as she saw him, for that he was thankful. It looked like there wouldn't be any ordeal, with luck. He wasn't exactly in the mood for a fight. But her manner of speech intrigued him, as well as her "trap."
"What kind of trap? Oga? I am Jukka, by the way." As she moved, he caught sight of the dead rabbit and the steel trap. He had seen them before and a shudder ran down his spine. Fortunately, she had been here to ward off others.
"Yes, I'll be careful~" He was almost touched that she was worried about he and other creatures that came near.
"How long have you been here, Oga?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:08 pm
She bobbed her massive head in genuine pleasure at learning the other wolf's name, but smiled very widely at his promise to be careful. "Bad trap not sneaky enough for smart wolves," she agreed with his agreement. Her tail swished an arc of joy against the soil. There was no indication of dominance or submission in her, no worries about who was better. It simply wasn't her way. She was as she was, and he was as he was. She just was glad he was as he was, since that was a very nice way to be!
"Oga came yesterday. Found rabbit. Found bad trap." She frowned, swinging her head back towards the offending object. She gave a disgruntled snort outwards. "Trap tricky. Oga not know how to kill trap." She stared intently at it, mind clearly slowly turning, but not coming up with any solutions. She paused then though, as if a signal fire had gone off in her head.
She turned to gaze wonderingly at him, and rumbled softly in hope, "Jukka kill trap? Save animals?" Her wide eyes were entreating in her almost child-like desire for him to help her. "Jukka help kill trap?" she asked plaintively. She wished she was clever enough to figure out how to spring the trap and remove the danger, but such ingenuity was not something that came easily or well to the large she-wolf. But perhaps her new friend was blessed with more imagination than she?
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Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:46 pm
"Good thing we're a pair of smart ones, then, eh?" He gave her a cheery wink and plodded nearer to take a close look at the rusted contraption. He was wary, something that could easily be seen in his cautious nature as he took step after step, slowing several steps from the dangerous thing.
"Yep, you're certainly right, it's a very bad trap..." He hadn't seen one before, but his single, good eye was tracing over it. The edges looked like teeth, sharp and dangerous teeth. If his guess was right, he knew what it was for. Man was tricky at times, but they tended to stick to a similar repertoire. If they didn't dig pits, many of the traps they set went around the leg.
A shudder coursed through him and he backed off slightly, fur bristling.
"Sure, I can help you kill it, but it'll be a bit risky."
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Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 2:27 pm
She nodded her head and returned grin for grin. He seemed an amiable enough wolf! Surely he could figure outthe puzzle of how to make the trap die. She gave a huff of satisfaction through her nose and made plenty of room for him to examine it.
"Tell Oga what to do, and Oga do it," she replied soberly. "Oga not touch rabbit. Evil trap. Clever trap. Maybe teeth jump at Oga." Granted, she'd never heard of or seen one do such, but those animals that put the trap here were canny and baffling. Oga did not put much past them, and considered anything they did capable of unfathomable acts of violence. Or stupidity, come to think of it. They could go either way.
"What Jukka want Oga do?" she inquired intently, watching his every move while her ears swivelled warily. She was tensed, poised in every inch of her large and muscled body to take action as commanded. Indeed, whatever he said to do, she would be doing. Immediately. With force. She bared her teeth to show she was ready.
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 8:51 pm
"Let me look at it, first."
He nodded as she offered help, though even he wasn't one hundred percent sure what it did yet, not having experience with such devices. He sniffed at it, yet was hesitant to touch it. Teeth jumping, like she said, may have been exactly what it did, but he had to find out for sure.
Once satisfied that he had an idea, he backed up and glanced at Oga.
"Well... Oga, I have an idea." He sighed and looked from left to right as he made his decision. "What I think we need to do, first, is to find a big, long stick. Something we can poke the trap with from a safe distance."
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Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 3:56 pm
She stiffened as he got ever closer to it, her hackles raising and her paws shifting uncomfortably. She was both sure that he was smart enough to be careful and anxious that the trap could hurt him regardless. Still, she managed to keep her place as he examined it and drew away. She huffed a deep sigh of relief from her big lungs in a gust.
At the word of what he wanted, her ears came up, as she could find a nice long stick. It didn't take brains to do such a thing, and just might be something her brawn could be well suited for. "Oga find," she responded happily, leaping to her paws agiley. She began bounding about the underbrush, sticking close to trees and pawing through the grasses.
She found and discarded several smaller sticks, as well as some long but slender ones. Such would not do. Long was not the only thing he'd said he wanted! Big. It had to be big! Finally she spotted a tree-like shrub with low, thick branches. She was out of speaking distance of where the trap was located, so she sent up a howl of triumph and discovery, her voice coming out in a lovely contralto song of wolven might. For lo and behold, one of the branches, for whatever reason, was mostly broken off already.
She first tried seizing it in her jaws and pulling. It groaned and popped once, but did not do anything close to pulling loose. Time to get tough then! She wriggled her large frame up close to the point near the base where it broke. Huffing at having to wedge herself in like this, she put both front paws on the break and leaned. It screeched in protest and began to come loose, but still clung stubbornly to its position. With a gruff mutter of determination, she squeezed herself in further and brought nearly her entire weight to bear. With a cracking, ripping sound, it at last came loose, making the rest of the shrub shiver with reaction. Pleased with herself, she grasped the broken end in her teeth and began dragging it back, wail waving furiously behind her.
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Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:13 pm
He waited patiently, sure his new acquaintance would have found the item he requested. He had half a mind to join her in the search, but he feared either he or she might walk into it on accident, or perhaps another unwary creature. His single, emerald eye looked over it again and again, knowing that it could only be from man and that things from man usually only meant death. A shudder traced down his spine and his fur bristled as fear of the thing grew. His ears pricked, however, at her triumphant howl and a grin slid across his maw.
Oga was back fairly shortly and he was pleased to see the large stick she held would be the right length, he hoped at least, and was quite thick.
"It's perfect, Oga, thank you. Now, I have an idea and I hope this works, but I still need your help with holding the stick. Both of us will hold the end in our mouths as tightly as we can. Then we are going to prod the other end right into it. Maybe that will set it off and the stick will feel all the pain, not us or any other critter. What do you think of that?"
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