Oak Tree Bend double rambo

The morning had dawned crisp and refreshing, an inviting sort of day that promised all manner of adventure. The sun had risen magnanimously, its rays strong and far-reaching as it crept over the treetops. The trees swayed to a jovial tune, murmuring amongst themselves in gossipy waves. Even the mist had held off longer than usual, as if it too felt the portentousness of the day and wanted to participate.

Unfortunately, Teshi missed all of that, having slept in rather indulgently. He awoke instead to a steady rainfall that drowned out all sights, smells, and sounds from outside the den. The earth around him released a fresh, damp odor, and he spent some time just breathing it in while thinking of how he ought to preoccupy himself that day, if they were stuck indoors. Although not a wolf of action, exactly, Teshi did usually prefer accomplishing things while walking if possible.

He had met all his new packmates by then, at least in passing, and he was comfortable striking up casual conversation with them but not yet comfortable enough to invite himself along to their preset plans. Not wanting to be a bother, Teshi slunk out of his little corner among the rocks and nonchalantly made his way towards the alphas' area. If anyone could direct him to a task, it would be either Serach or Aponi. Or... their children. His heart lifted. If nothing else, maybe he could watch the cubs for the day while the rest of the pack went off into the downpour.

Although he wouldn't say he had a soft spot or particular affinity for babies, Teshi relented that he tended to be more tolerant of their antics than many other adults. Their observations were prelapsarian, charmingly so. Teshi always found that the words of babes held far more truth than anything observed by their adult counterparts, as if they were born with the taste on their tongues and eventually lost it.

"Hallooo," he called softly, flattening onto his stomach as he neared the sleeping area of the alphas and their children.

He was the picture of prelapsarian contentment sprawled outside the den where the rain gently fell. While adventurous and inquisitive at this age, Corsair didn't have any aspirations yet and was, therefore, a little lazy. He liked wrestling with his siblings on a daily basis and his competitiveness was well established, but the boy had no concerns and no desire to do anything more than exist, basking in the attention of his pack and family. He was already a proud little thing and protective of his kin, but he wasn't yet as eager to explore and cause mayhem as Mabel, and yet he wasn't as reserved as Ayla.

He didn't know where his parents were. They were never far off, but they left their cubs for several hours at a time now, and Corsair usually knew better than to wander away while they were gone. That was bound to change, too, once he got a taste for the world beyond the clearing. Sometimes other wolves came by to check on him, and he greeted them with whines and licks and wriggles that hardly befit a prince, but most of the time it was just him and his sisters.

Now, under the fog of rain, a new wolf approached. Neither his smell nor appearance were familiar to Corsair, who lifted his head up from his limbs as the adult approached the yawning den mouth. Silly adult! Corsair blended right into the ground and went unnoticed, at least until Teshi called out. Haaaalloooo, he parroted boyishly with tail slapping the wet ground as he rose halfway to his paws.

(This post was last modified: Jun 13, 2017, 02:17 AM by Corsair.)

Teshi, easily introspective, had already been distracted by thoughts of how he might occupy the alphas' children for the day. He was easy prey then for the child's abrupt appearance, and he jumped back a noticeable bit from where the child had popped up. The scraggy rocks that sheltered their dens had covered his approach for the most part, but now he was exposed to the elements with this sudden leap backward. He felt the rain trickle greedily into his fur and bounced forward almost instantly to escape it. He gave himself a great shake, sending droplets flying around him without thought for victims.

"Oh brr!" he sputtered, not from cold so much as shock.

Having overcome the incident with little damage, he turned a ready grin on the enthusiastic child below and dropped back to his stomach so they could be at the same height. He had seen all the cubs around, of course, but he'd kept himself a respectable distance away for the most part until Aponi had gained more trust in his presence near them. He couldn't remember this little one's name, but it was something regal, he thought. Something like "heir," but not Heir exactly or else Teshi would have already made the joke, "This is my heir, Heir."

In any case, he thought it was best manners to ask anyway. "Ho there," he said. "I don't believe we've met properly yet. I'm Teshi. What's your name, lad?"

It wasn't until after he'd started talking that he realized the young cub might not have been old enough to form a proper reply. He didn't know much about how children developed, but he figured the small wolf had imitated his hello well enough that he might be capable of saying his own name at least. Surely that would be the one word he knew without fail. As for if he understood any of what Teshi had said... It was a good thing Teshi was a born entertainer and patient, to boot.

Arnaq had just made her way back from her brief trip out of the territory and she was wet, but she hadn't come without gifts. Her jaws clutched two dead rabbits and more was stored in cache's around the area. She was happy with her job to hunt and meet a new wolf and was shaking her body from the rain that once again came to the land. 

As she walked into the clearing she saw Teshi a new member of the pack talking with one of the pups. Perfect timing she thought as she walked over to them. She had already had her morning breakfast and laid the two dead animals at their feet as she sat next to them. 


"Morning, breakfast for the youngster and you as well Teshi, in case you haven't eaten." She wagged her tail as she sat there. Hoping her morning meal was taken with gratitude. She stretched out a moment and then laid on the ground. "Plans for this morning?" She asked as she laid there her nose pushing the dead rabbit towards the pup. She had already ripped open a small portion so the pup shouldn't have any issues getting to the meat if it wanted some. 

She yawned, she needed to think about sleeping a bit later tomorrow. Being up before sunrise to hunt the first prey to rise was taking it's toll on her and she looked tired. She wasn't going to let that stop her though. She needed to be stronger for the pack and this was one way for her to do it. She had excelled at hunting the smaller prey of the area. Slipping further away each time so as not to stop the prey closest to them, in case something happened they needed prey close by for the pups. 

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +10 Health

The pup's whip-like tail slapped the ground merrily when Teshi took note of him, and he giggled boyishly when the older wolf fell back. This wasn't Other Mom or Other-Other Mom. He smelled like the Great White, yet different. Masculine, but unrecognised for all his physical differences. He may as well have been Serach but for that difference in smell. Corsair was beginning to pick up on physical variation and after a moment's further consideration noted that Teshi's fur was more heavily patterned than Serach's, and marked them as different in another way.

Hooo! repeated the pup with an owlish blink and a toothsome grin as he wriggled closer to the adult. By now, he was becoming more familiar with his pack family, and he knew his pack family was generally less strict than Real Mom and Great White. He could get away with more when it was his pack family, so he greeted them with a special amount of exuberance because sometimes they took him adventuring. Other times they brought food, and that was what Corsair was after when he lifted his snout up toward Teshi's jaws and began to lick at the air.

He was distracted from his efforts by a new voice, lighter and higher than Teshi's, and he whipped his head around with a comical flap of his large ears. Corsair's gaze pinned Arnaq and his grin only grew. Other Mom! He recognised her scent immediately, but he was also beginning to recognise her, how she looked and how she acted. Today, she was acting a little deflated. Corsair paid it almost no mind; he hardly knew it for tiredness and wouldn't yet understand that other wolves sometimes felt the way he felt.

His attention went back to Teshi, though the interesting scent of the bundles Arnaq brought kept pulling his gaze away, at least until the new one had introduced themselves. Corsair understood this, at least a little. He replied with a bright chirp of, I Coo-seeeeer, whaz oor naym, laduh? before suddenly pulling away and wandering toward the rabbit. He recognized the smell as he drew nearer, and sniffed eagerly at its bloodied pelt and the gaping wound Arnaq had left, but as he was on a diet of regurgitated meat and milk still and didn't know what to do with it. He looked to Arnaq then with an inquisitive bunching of his brows.

(This post was last modified: Jun 17, 2017, 02:10 AM by Corsair.)

Ah, he was going to have to start much simpler. The child didn't seem capable of forming a coherent reply, which was fine, but it might have been a result of Teshi's question being too difficult rather than a lack of skill on the boy's part. He was about to try again when an approaching figure caught his attention through the misting rain. As a result, he missed the cub's attempt at demonstrating his hunger. He wagged his tail to indicate his friendly mood as Arnaq dropped her packages by their feet.

"Morning," he replied brightly, stomach rumbling slightly as the scent of the dead rabbits wafted up to him. Mmm, still slightly warm. What a treat. "No real plans, save to entertain this one and enjoy some of that bounty you've brought."

Teshi caught her yawn, but feeling like it wasn't his place, or his duty really, to inquire after her state of health, he simply smiled sympathetically and turned his attentions back to the child. Oh, apparently he understood after all! The similarity of the sounds produced by the cub to his real name sparked a memory in Teshi's mind; he now recalled being told by Aponi that one of her children was named 'Corsair.' Pleasantly surprised by the fairly well-constructed response, Teshi beamed down at the little wolf.

"'Coo-seer,' eh?" he teased. He assumed the child was just repeating the rest of his question out of amusement, since Teshi had already introduced himself, but he answered anyway to reinforce the association. "I'm Teshi."

Already he was losing his audience to the fresh kill, which he understood completely. But the small wolf approached the rabbit carcasses and seemed at a loss for what to do next. A thought dawned on Teshi.

"Say, Arnaq, is he able to eat that yet?" He remembered being assigned chew duty when he was living with the Warbler Forest pack and wrinkled his muzzle in slight distaste.

Arnaq chuckled at the young one's response. He was adorable none the less. She looked up to Teshi. "Uh, good question. This is my first year with pups, so I am not entirely sure. I don't recall on how I moved from milk to meat to be honest. I have seen Aponi drop some for them before tho. I just thought if it was already opened at the gut, he could eat?" She had no clue what she was doing when it came to feeding the pups, though she knew she would be watching them from time to time, she had no idea what went into raising them. 

"I thought I saw them eat meat yesterday though. I mean it looked odd, but it smelled like meat. Aponi dropped it for them." She looked up at Teshi as she spoke. When she finished she put her paws on the dead rabbit and using her jaws ripped it open more. "Can they not eat from it yet?" She looked up at him confused. 

Corsair seemed really intent on wanting to eat the rabbit but looked as confused as she did. She yawned again but stood up and shook the rain lightly from her coat trying not to get the other two even more wet then before. She seemed to struggle with the idea of what to do and she sat back on her haunches looking at the two of them. 

(This post was last modified: Jun 20, 2017, 04:25 AM by Arnaq.)

Other Mom and Teshi seemed intent on speaking with one another, and neither of them solved the rabbit conundrum for him. He glanced between the man and the woman with his brows still knitted together, then returned his attention to the unmoving hunk of fur and flesh. He had never seen it in this form before, but there was a niggling familiarity in the scent. It lacked the sharp tang of bile that usually came with what Aponi gave her kids, though, and so he couldn't quite place it.

After a short while, he approached the rabbit more boldly, sniffing and prodding at it with his nose and his paws alike. His ears flipped back toward the adults as they spoke further, but he couldn't tell what they were talking about. The subject matter was over his head. Had he been brighter or at least a little more tuned in to what was being discussed, he might have been able to indicate to them that he wasn't sure what to do with it, but he wasn't capable of it yet, much as he wish. Frustration etched the lines of his face, but also determination, and he made his first bold move.

Corsair stretched his neck out toward the rabbit and took an experimental bite. His teeth were still a bit too young, fresh, and weak for him to be able to pull anything off the carcass, but he could taste the muscle and the blood and his memory was jogged. It was food! So he slumped his small body against the rabbit and began to gnaw on the meat, wincing at the sensitivity of his small teeth and his inability to so much as shred off a piece, but savouring the taste of it all the same.