There was no real reason why Peirus should still be here among the willows; he had no further business here, and so by all rights he should really consider moving on. He simply found himself unwilling to leave just yet - a momentary lapse in purpose, nothing more. As long as he insisted on remaining in this place, the least he could do was make the most of his time here by filling up his stomach and memorizing the area for future reference. With any luck, he might even stumble upon yet another of @Morganna and @Craw's pack mates; the thought made him grin wickedly to himself as he padded through the trees.

It was not terribly long before he picked up the stench of rotting meat. It was not exactly an enticing scent, but to one with an empty belly any dinner bell was worth following to the source. With a flick of one ear, the Asurn turned his paws towards the reek, his nostrils flaring as a low breeze set the leaves above to a tremulous dance. Whatever carcass was nearby, it was one that had been dead for more than a day or two, that much was apparent. No matter; a meal was a meal. If he could not slate his thirst on fresh blood, he would dull the gnawing in his belly with rotted flesh. The result would be the same either way.

The stench lead him to the ribboned remains of a doe; darkened meat hung in strips from bloodstained bones, and the organs had been spilled across the ground by some thankless beast who had not possessed the good sense to eat more than its fair fill before moving on. Likely this was the work of a bear; the creatures were brainless brutes at best, prone even on the cusp of winter to over hunting and wasting. Whatever beast was responsible, its foolishness would be Peirus' gain.

He was in for a nasty surprise, however. As the man lowered his head to tear at what remained, his eyes landed on the squirming shape of a maggot crawling about the doe's flayed remains. As with all crawling vermin, finding the first soon made Peirus aware of the scores of others chewing their way through the foetid meat. Soon his ears began to detect the sounds their tiny, gnawing mouths made, hundreds of minuscule maws ripping away thousands of tiny bites from the slowly decomposing corpse.

Nose wrinkling with disgust, Peirus reared back and took a step away from the doe. Her neck was broken, her head thrown back at an unnatural angle to stare glassily back at Peirus. The Asurn met that dead gaze coolly, half of a mind to rip her eye out just to spite the creature for being so infested when he was hungry. But no; the childlike display would not be worth the possibility of chewing down and setting a horde of maggots scurrying into his mouth. The little devils devoured anything soft enough to chew; surely some were in or travelling towards the eye of the deer even now. Pity.

Peirus' head swivelled around, his attention snapping from the rotted deer to the snowy newcomer who had called to him. A boy, nothing more; Peirus could have marked the signs of fading puppyhood in his build from a far greater distance than that which separated them now. The whelp's disgust with the situation he had stumbled upon was even more obvious to the Asurn, and the humor of that leant itself to the unbothered smile Peirus levelled at this... charming young lad.

“Loitering?” he asked, stepping away from the deer and closer to the boy - he would hate to see the poor dear vomit, after all, and so graciously used his own body to block the other's sight and scent of the carcass. “I was not aware these particular lands were held by any pack. I am aware of the nearby presence of one - yours, I would assume,” he added for the benefit of the child before him, “But I have not violated the borders. I can hardly dent your supply of prey, either--” and here, for a moment, he allowed his smile to become patronizing, “--as I am only one wolf, and neither foolish nor desperate enough by far to seek out larger prey than I know I can handle for myself.”

A wet ripping noise drew the Asurn's attention to the carcass again, and he turned his head disinterestedly to glance back in time to watch a rat tear its way out of what remained of the deer's chest with its teeth. How curious; Peirus wondered vaguely how he had managed not to notice the rat before, then dismissed the thought as unimportant. The doe was ripe with the stench of decay, and surely one little rat was not large enough to move the remains enough to have garnered his attention until its emergence through the barricade of the deer's breast.

Well, if the boy thought he was disgusting for nosing at a carcass... Peirus stuffed the thought away for now as he returned his burning gaze to the boy before him and dipped his head, feigning a polite show of respect as he said, “Allow me to introduce myslef. My name is Peirus Asurn. I do apologize if I have disturbed anyone,” he continued smoothly, raising his head again. “I did not realize the pack controlled more lands than what are contained within their own borders.”

The polite smile on Peirus' face did not waver as the boy raised his head in defiance of the Asurn's words. They controlled everything, did they? Such arrogance; someone should really have taken better care to teach the boy the reality of the world he had been born into. Instead, it seemed that responsibility had come to rest upon Peirus' noble shoulders. It would be tedious, but this child really did need a lesson in manners - he was far too sure of himself to survive for long against any friendlier wolf than Peirus.

“I see no one else defending this forest,” the Asurn rumbled, taking a more pointed step towards the white-furred lad. “The only wolves here are myself... and a boy who fancies himself a defender of a kingdom that does not extend this far.” The smile melted away, morphed into a hideous grimace that was not quite a snarl and yet far too animalistic now to qualify as a simple grin.

“If you would like me to leave, boy,” he said, his voice a low growl that only deepened even further as he continued, “then I suggest you leave me looking far worse than I leave you.”

The Asurn lunged forward, jaws snapping as he hurtled towards the little upstart mongrel. If this child did not react swiftly enough, he would find Peirus' fangs tearing through the skin across his muzzle; the Asurn was not bred to fight gently, and this boy would know no kinder treatment than any other mongrel.

The boy was smart enough to dodge out of the way - pity that he did not have the speed to entirely evade Peirus' attack, though he did appear to have had enough training to turn the contact into a chance to strike back before his opponent could slip away. Pity, again, that he wasted his chance calling for aid, and that his speed was not quite up to snuff. Peirus leapt out of reach with a mocking laugh.

"Crying out for mother already, are we?" the Asurn barked. "Turn and face me, whelp. Your pack mates will not come in time to save you if you waste all your energy bellowing for them!" He shook his head and circled slowly around the boy, working to make of himself a barricade between the little mutt and the direction from which he had come. If he could manage to, Peirus would prefer to herd the child farther away from the Willow pack, and in so doing increase the distance between them and any who had heard the runt's howl.

With a snarl, Peirus lunged towards the boy again, jaws snapping and foam flying from his maw. Unseen in his moment of tunnel vision, the rat chose that exact moment to charge between the wolves, squealing with the same blind terror that drove it towards what had most likely startled it. Peirus' foot came down on the creature, and it retaliated by sinking its teeth into his foot until he felt them meet with the bones of his toe. With a snarl, Peirus stumbled to one side and kicked the little vermin away, splattering his own blood across the ground as he did so. Of all the times--!

Peirus might have taken his attention away from the boy for a moment, but he was not unprepared for the child to take advantage of his momentary distraction. The boy's shouting gave his rage away, and Peirus was already well prepared to leap to the side as the whelp charged him, teeth flashing viciously. It was a rather precious attempt, Peirus though, and certainly a promising sign that the lad was not a complete waste of flesh. With some proper training, he could grow to become a halfway-decent warrior.

Of course, that was provided that Peirus allowed him to survive this encounter.

As the boy went sweeping harmlessly past the Asurn, Peirus snapped around and flung himself towards the white-furred boy, jaws opened wide to rip into his little "opponent" as he sought to drag the child completely off his feet and end the battle. This little scuffle had been rather charming, but he was quite ready for it to be over - and what a better farewell gift for his unwitting hosts than to leave behind the remains of one of their young as a token by which to remember the Asurn? There was no home for him among these mongrels; he might as well make sure they did not forget his displeasure with them.