The Wildwood but the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair

The dark masked man had filled out since he first joined the Draw. No longer did he look like the frail, skinny ghost of a man with fur hanging on only bones. Despite winter seeming to last forever, the Wildwood was bursting with prey and Zerxes had been taking full advantage. Of course, any thing extra that didn't feed himself went to the pack as was typical. He seemed no closer to earning the trust of the wolves here and had since stopped putting much effort into it. The only one he had any wish to interact with these days was @Treyah. The girl was bright and warm and always willing to listen to any stories he had to tell. He didn't even mind that she would climb all over him in excitement or nap against him.

Stronger now, he spent much of his time in the forest hunting or patrolling the borders. The male was currently on a musky trail that made his nose wrinkle with distaste. The cloven prints in the slushy ground were too wide to belong to deer and too close together to be so long legged anyway. The scent as well gave him a clue to just what he was trailing after and grumbled. It was unlikely he could take a boar, even a young one, down on his own despite his renewed vigor.

Tawny ears flicked back to capture the sound of another approaching. Distracted from his hunt, Z paused and lifted his head to look towards whoever had interrupted him. Spotting the blue-eyed woman, his tail wagged. "Perfect timing, doll. How do you feel about taking down a pig? Ever seen one? Strong bastards, but they make for good meat."

The last few weeks that her symptoms had persisted Leotie had kept to herself inside pack lands. Most nights she hadn't even gone to the communal den and instead finding other places inside the territory. She felt it was best to distance herself but now with her symptoms resolved she was feeling much better. It was time she left pack lands once more now that she didn't have to worry. Wolves like Savion wouldn't be a problem for her but thanks to him and Sven she’d learned a valuable lesson.

Traveling through the Wildwood she was glad to be back out on her normal routine. Most of all she was glad that she could get back to providing for her pack the way she had done before. She’d been on the lookout for rabbit tracks since she'd become rather skilled at hunting them. They'd become a little easier for her to catch then some of the other types of prey. With spring though she was eager to improve her hunting skills in other areas. Which was why the peculiar scent she'd come across had become so interesting to her.

Leotie followed the scent for a while through the Wildwood. She didn't know what kind of creature it belonged to but she meant to find out, the truth was she wasn't even sure it could be eaten. When she came upon the other wolf she was a little surprised, it felt like a long time since she'd seen Zerxes as well as her other packmates. She could see that life in the Draw was being rather good to him as he'd gained most of not all of his weight back. “I’m definitely up for it,” she said before shaking her head in response to his question about seeing one. She had yet to run into a pif but something told her she wouldn't have to wait much longer. “That must be the scent that I've been following,” she mused before meeting his gaze, “Well if it's good meat then what are we wasting time for,” she stated jovially, “Do you have a plan in mind?”

A plan? Zerxes' grin was all charm and feral delight. "Yeah, I've got a plan. Catch it and eat it." The masked male had been a loner for most of his life. Hunting alongside another was something he was well out of practice with. Plans for hunting? He nearly scoffed. Who needed plans? You see something, you attack it, and you reap the benefits.

The entire idea gave him pause. Did pack wolves really have to coordinate? He supposed it did make sense for larger prey. Z was so used to hunting mostly broken animals or smaller prey that the thought of working with another to safely take down a larger animal felt like a foreign concept.

The tawny male paused in his tracking to look at @Leotie with a frown. "Why? How do you normally hunt?" Was there really so much planning involved? Shaking his head, Z's muzzle fell back to the ground. Wet, slushy leaves were mussed up, revealed rutted mud below. Looking for food, he mused. So it could be caught unawares. "This way," he rumbled, leading the female onward. The closer the pair got to their quarry, the faster his tail wagged. He could practically taste the meat now.

She could not help the look that clearly stated, 'are you serious?’ Whenever she'd hunted with others she'd always had a more elaborate plan then catch it and eat it. “Nothing more to that plan then?” She asked with a raised brow though her time held amusement. It was only when she was alone that he applied the plan had stated. If the creatures were as he had said she certainly didn't want to take this endeavor on without one. She'd seen how even planned hunts could go wrong and she did not want this to go wrong.

If she had seen one of these pigs that Zerxes spoke about then she could help him to come up with a plan. However, she had not so this was to be a learning experience for the beta, that was fine with her. She did like learning new things and since he seemed to know what he was doing she wanted to learn what he knew.

In the process of tracking their prey he stopped and asked her how she hunted. Leotie too stopped her tracking and looked at him, “Well it depends, if I'm by myself there isn't really a plan, track, chase, kill. You know? But if I'm with someone or a group we talk about it and decide on the best course of action. Too much can go wrong if everyone doesn't know where they need to be,” she explained. She never wanted to experience another situation like what had happened to Triell.

Ugh. Everyone in their places? Knowing where to be, where to stand? This was one of the many reasons why he disliked packs. That wolves had to be told where to be, what to do, how to scratch their ass, or chew off a tick was maddening! Couldn't they just think for themselves??

Of course there'd been nothing more to the plan. What more did there need to be? Apparently where to stand, what to do, and how to scratch her ass while she was at it. Z shook his head again in disbelief. This was crazy! Well, he supposed he could offer some insight since it sounded like she'd never come across one before. @Leotie was in for a treat. They were mean bastards with tusks meant for gouging trenches in the ground or goring wolves too stupid to know better. But their meat was delicious! Z's favorite, if he were honest.

"Alright, well. Don't let them gore you. And uh...I dunno. Don't try to take it head on. They've got big tusks - especially the older males - that can rip straight through you. Get on its back or take it from the side. Either way, it's a wild ride!" Devilish green eyes danced with delight as his tail rose higher in the thrill of the hunt. He lived for moments like these. High danger with high reward. It was the best way to live.

The tawny male's ears rammed forward and he barked a warning before diving to the side just as the beast charged through the brush straight at them. He laughed as it missed him by a hair and turned to stomp its hooves and rend the ground angrily. "Did I mention they were wily assholes?" he called over the young boar's hairsplitting squeal.

As far as she was concerned a plan was the best way to go, she wouldn't get hurt and he...Well she had mixed feelings about the man since their last conversation. She wasn't ready to plan out his death anymore but she might if this all went very badly without a plan. It seemed that since he didn't elaborate on a specific plan she was going to go with catch and eat. If anything this was something new to learn and she had been hoping to learn something. The beta prepared herself for what was to come whatever it might be since she still didn't know exactly what a pig was.

That was probably the scariest thing is not even knowing what it was she was helping Zerxes to hunt in the first place. The way he spoke they sounded like horrible creatures which made it harder for her to picture the meat being very good. As they tracked the pig down she supposed she would find out soon enough what exactly they were on the trail of. Then she would know what they were dealing with but she wasn't sure how confident she was feeling just then.

She gave him that look again as he spoke about what not to do. “Don't get gored, really?” As he described their tusks she knew he had to be serious. “Okay, I won't get gored,” at least she hoped she didn't but she couldn't deny that she wasn't a little nervous about the possibility of it. Zerxes at least told her how she should attack the pig which was helpful. “These things sound pretty crazy,” she commented, “It shouldn't be too hard to come from the side, right?” By doing as he said she hoped it would keep her out of the way of the tusks. She also took notice of the excitement he seemed to be showing, she wasn't feeling that just then.

The time for talking had ended as Zerxes sent out a warning bark. Leotie's ears had already come forward at the sounds of something crashing through the forest. With almost no time to react the creature that Leotie had never seen before came charging right at them. Leotie jump to the side before it could get a hold of her with it's tusks. She quickly turned to face it as it stomped its hooves, so that was a pig. “Now you tell me,” she stated, “What's next? We just jump in then?” Catch and eat, she wasn't sure it was going to be so simple.

He'd thought it was sound advice, and there she was criticizing it! Next time, she could give her own advice then. But before the male could get too up in arms about it, she was relenting and seeming to take it to heart. Good. The last thing he needed was some hunting accident to make everyone else think he'd planned something terrible from the get-go. No doubt, Kerberos would believe so in a heartbeat. The punk had it out for him bad ever since he dug up his childish cache.

"Hard is a relative term," he laughed. And hard couldn't begin to describe the hunt for a boar. But it was exhilarating and fun and—again—good meat.

There was some relief when the woman was able to dive out of the way of the animal's charge. At least she wasn't completely incompetent. Good. He didn't want to have to perform any life saving measures today. Z didn't want the title of hero attached to him no matter what guise he was wearing. Fool, fiend, ignorant, whatever, but never hero. That was for some starry eyed idiot with a complex.

Zerxes laughed in part frustration, part disbelief as she asked him what was next. What was next?? Next was don't get killed, don't get gored, and yes, jump in, catch it, and eat it. He didn't understand what was so hard to get about all of it. He did see some point to it when she took a step in the direction he'd nearly taken. Alright, well, it'd be best if they kept to opposite sides so they didn't trip over each other and become easy targets. "You keep to the left. I'll keep to the right," he decided on the fly, immediately following the instructions by racing forward and snapping at the pig's face to encourage it to turn away from @Leotie.

The Zamora barked with success when the pig spun on its heel to give chase to him, giving the woman her chance to approach its bared left side. And with a quick pivot, the male had spun up on the animal's right and dug his fangs into thick, muscly shoulder. His ears rang with the angry, pained squeal that ripped from their prey's mouth. A garbled version of "Grab it!" came from the masked male as he demanded she do her part as well. They'd slow the bastard down, wear him out if they had to. But it was young and unlikely to fight for long.

Life after leaving the bend seemed full of new life experiences and this she took as another however the possibility of being gored was something that did worry her. Though she did not fully trust the male just yet she had some hope that he might help her if she needed it. Once the pig had charged them and stood facing the she had the chance to finally see what exactly not looked like. It was big and angry and like nothing she'd ever seen before but she wasn't afraid of it or what it could do to her. With the advice that had been given to avoid it's tusks Leotie felt confident she could help take the creature down.

Crazy was an understatement when it came to describing the pig in front of him and Zerxes words about hard being a relative term was in a way helpful. “Well then I guess I will just have to see for myself.” Which was fine with her, she did like surprises though she still hadn't decided if this qualified or not. All in good time she supposed but this was an experience she didn't want to miss out on and in a way she was glad to be sharing it with her current hunting partner.

Leotie observed the pig for a moment and was reminded of the two lynx they'd run into when they had decided to call the draw home. While a lynx was a much different animal the concept seemed to be the same. She had helped there and she could handle this now that she had formed that relates between the two incidents.

What was next? What would the pig do next? These were questions that Leotie began to believe couldn't be answered. However, Zerxes did have an order that he gave in response to her question, “Got it,” she said so he would know she'd heard him. Leotie had no problem staying on the left of the best and she could work from that side as well. Not to mention if they were on opposite sides Leotie has her’s to focus on while he had his. All she needed was that one instruction and she was ready to go. So when the man ran to snap in the pigs face Leotie took her chance to move to it's side away from the tusks. She did worry about Zerxes snapping in the animal's face it had allowed her to get into a position that would be helpful to him.

When the pig chased Zerxes she gave chase to the pig staying on it's left side trying to keep close. She wasn't expecting the squeal that came from the creature, it gave her only a moment's pause. The words that were spoken to her appreciated but unnecessary, she'd been in enough hunts to know what she needed to do. Coming up beside it she grabbed with her jaws at its left flank and pulled. Her added weight and position of her bite impairing the movement of the pigs hind leg.

She was a damn good hunting partner and took well to directions despite her quibbles about any insight he offered. But really, who could effectively describe hunting a boar? It was something that had to be lived, experienced! On his order and opening, @Leotie was quick to react for which he appreciated. The animal's movement had been unpredictable, but as she clamped down on a hind leg, the bucking and jolting was replaced by panicked forward motion, dragging the pair along. Had the masked wolf not been experienced with boars before, the deafening squeals may have made him let go just to protect his ears.

At least they were slowing it down. The hunt would have been far easier with a third wolf, Z had to admit, but they would manage just fine. Feeling its fate being sealed, the young boar renewed its efforts to escape and yanked its head forcefully to the side. Z did not lose his grip on the muscle, but rather the large chunk he was crunching down on ripped away from its shoulder, leaving behind a gaping, bleeding wound. Instead of slowing the creature, it only served to piss it off. And now without the male restraining it on the front end, the boar was free to turn on Leotie to try to battle her off.

Tusks were just shy of approaching the woman's face before Zerxes lurched forward and grabbed for its face to keep it from goring his packmate. One of his canines slid readily into the boar's orbital space and he felt a jelly-like substance against his teeth and tongue as the boar's eye ruptured under the onslaught. It was the male in danger then as the beast whipped its head to the right in an attempt to pin Z against its side and gore at his chest. The demon managed to get a bracing paw on the boar's snout just in time to protect his vulnerable neck. From his current position, he was in a deadlock with the animal, but it had at least stopped running. If they were to take this thing down, it would be up to Leotie to find a vulnerable spot.