Memorial Mound on the road to the playoffs [BWP]

AW! tries to make coyotes appear

 

The twins had made their way into the world a little less than a fortnight ago and the mother and father - though strained had been nothing but doting on them. Serach stood guard at her den and Aponi nursed dutifully, calling the father in when their eyes had opened just the day before. They could still hardly see now but they were on their paws and stumbling about the den, yipping and babbling nonsense from the time they wake up until the time that they fall back to sleep against her belly. It would still be weeks before they could wean off of her milk and onto meat but the Donata couldn’t help but think it couldn’t come fast enough, they were already chewing her raw.

So, after a particularly painful round of nursing they had fallen into their slumber and Aponi had called for one of the yearlings. A reluctant Mabel had appeared and while she had looked disgusted and taken aback at the request of taking her mother’s place until they woke up she had agreed. The silver woman had slipped out of the den and headed straight out of the territory at a quick lop, needing to put as much space between her and the pups as she could before being called back to duty. It wasn’t that she didn’t love them, because she did, she just needed a little room to breath even if it was only for an hour.

Aponi headed with no particular destination in mind and as the dog got thicker she barely even noticed, she was used to it’s ghostly presence by now. It was only the large moose head surrounded by the stones that gave her pause. Had this always been here so close to the territory?

 

(This post was last modified: Jun 13, 2018, 11:42 PM by Aponi.)

Chamomile had trailed after the female lead. At first it was mindless wandering and weaving on her trail for things seemed fine so far. Perhaps the coyotes he had been smelling around had finally moved on. Yet when the fog seemed to thicken around his small form, he pushed forward a bit faster. The Bend second was more concerned about getting lost himself rather than his lead becoming lost.

He almost bumped into her, the fog cloaking her grey hairs with stealth. His small paws stopped his form from running into her back end as he slowly came up to her left side. Chamomile was silent at first (a strange occurrence indeed) as he acknowledged the moose head and stones.

"Do you know what it means?" He asked as his green eyes looked over at the silver Donata. Had she been here before? More importantly - did this place mean symbolize something important?

"speech"

OAK TREE Bend

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@Chamomile

Aponi had been half aware that she was being followed but the lingering scent of the Bend had been enough to dismiss any concerns she may have had. She was grown enough to take care of herself, she had made that clear in her challenge with Spieden but it didn’t bother her either. The scent of coyotes had been strong in the woods recently and if she got injured then the pups would surely die of starvation. If they died then Serach would never forgive her for anything that she had done. And he didn’t even know the half of it.

Blue eyes glanced sideways as Chamomile slid loudly beside her before settling in at her flank without a word. Her attention had turned back to the spectacle before them before he even made his inquiry and at first she said nothing. Finally she shrugged, ”I don’t know what it means, but someone clearly left it here on purpose.” The alpha strode forward, intent on getting a closer look. Afterall, besides the two of them there was no other scent of wolf on the air so whoever had built this was clearly long gone.

It seemed they were both at a loss. His tail flicked in a thoughtful manner as a barely audible hum escaped his small frame. It was a strange display. Not exactly creepy but it also wasn't something one typically saw every day.

He tentatively drew closer when his leader already had. "Guess we probably shouldn't take anything then, huh?" It was a bit of a tease but he had to admit, the moose head was tempting. The object could make a good chewing object or even something for the new children to pretend hunt when they were old enough. He let the thoughts roll away as quickly as they had rolled in. Chamomile could find something else to serve the role of chew toy.

The small male let his head lean down towards the stone ring as he did a half circle around it, sniffing all the way. Everything was old and less than promising.

"speech"

OAK TREE Bend

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@Chamomile

 

The alpha didn’t hear Chamomile’s hum or see his flicked tail while she was walking away, intrigue getting the best of her. She didn’t know who left this or why but Aponi found herself sorely wishing that she did. It just didn’t make any sense and the closer she got the less sense it made. A circle of stones and a moose head, what did any of it mean? Silver paws paused when she reached the ring, not sure whether or not she should cross the clearly marked border for whatever it was.

It was her subordinate’s teasing words that pushed her over the edge, and with a sly grin cast his way Aponi stepped boldly over the stones. Sniffing the moose head over she lifted one single paw and placed it on the crown of the skull, ”Or maybe we should take the centerpiece.” Her words were full of humor, she clearly wasn’t really going to take the skull even if the pups would surely love it.

It had been a long time since Aponi had felt so lighthearted and free, out here she didn’t have to be a leader or a mate or a mother. She could steal a moose skull and waltz it home or she could so somersaults in the grass and nobody could say anything. There was no pressure, and it was so freeing.

 

In the distance there is a large pack of coyotes howling.

He returned her sly grin with one of his own. Green eyes watched as Aponi moved past the stone border. Part of him really did want to nab the skull. It was a lovely trophy going to waste by sitting out here all by itself. A sigh escaped him as his nose reached out to trace along one of the wide antlers.

His admiration for the skull was quickly disrupted by an all too familiar howl. A sharp frown cut into his usually cheerful expression. They were too close for his liking. Perhaps they should call for someone else and they could teach the pests a lesson. The Donata children from last year were, well, yearlings now. Surely the coyotes wouldn't know the difference between yearlings and full grown adults. Especially when the Bend's yearlings towered over some (a.k.a Chamomile) of the adults anyway.

The Bend second tossed a glance over towards his leader. What did she make of the rowdy coyote call?

"speech"

OAK TREE Bend

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Corsair had snorted with glee when Mabel had been summoned to pup sit. He was still trying to figure out exactly how he felt about his new siblings, but at the very least he knew that he didn't dislike them as much as Mabel seemed to. He had plopped himself outside the den, content to talk to his sister through the opening while they waited for Aponi to return. But after a while, he grew restless and so he decided to go looking for his mother, not at all concerned with or aware of the fact that she had left the territory specifically to get away from her children.

Loping through the woods, he paid very little attention to the thick fog pooling around his legs. Even when his visibility was limited, he moved with confidence that his nose and familiarity with the terrain would not lead him astray. But when the high-pitched howling started, a shiver ran down Corsair's spine. Skidding to a stop, he listened with eyes wide open, frantically moving from side to side trying to see anything in the fog. He wasn't sure if they were coyotes or wolves, but either way, he wasn't interested in crossing paths with them.

Pushing off hard against the ground, he sprang forward. "MUM! MUM!" he shouted, barreling through the woods along the trail her scent had left behind.

 

Perhaps Aponi had thought too soon about how free she was out here near the moose skull. Because she had hardly formed the thought in her mind and noticed Chamomile’s sly grin before her silver ears flipped backwards in surprise. The Bend had been aware of how aggressive the coyotes had become thanks to Mabel’s run in with them and the information she had garnished from her Edge friend. But, the alpha almost hadn’t believed it, surely it had only been a story that had been exaggerated by the yearlings. They had probably run into a few coyotes - who truthfully were more abundant than normal - who had hesitated for a moment instead of running and the teens got spooked.

Yet, the sound of so many vermin together howling at some undetermined distance made her tail stiffen. Perhaps she had been too quick to dismiss her daughter’s story as that of a child talking themselves up. Blue eyes narrowed in the direction that the sound had come in, they certainly weren't here attacking them but they were trying to send a message. Aponi was ready to send one of her own back, they were after all the larger more dominant canines but before she could even lift her head a familiar voice echoed into the clearing.

Shit. Now Corsair was out here somewhere in the wolves and if what Mabel had said was true then he could be in real danger. This time there was no hesitation and her muzzle lifted to the sky with a bold howl. It was a message to the coyotes that they shouldn’t be so brass and also to her son to let him know where they were. He shouldn’t have been to far from them.