Poison Path the whole purpose.

For @Shrike.
RE: A recent heat wave has left the forest drier than usual.

“We’ve been making poor time,” Procyon remarked dryly.

She stood at the edge of the lake, eying silver shimmers several lengths off. The water seemed to have receded from historic shores, leaving strange marks and cracked mud. It had been a very long time since the grey wolf had tried to catch a fish – her childhood, in fact – but she was hungry, and time in the water wouldn’t go amiss. Fishing was not why she was here, though.

She was here because it was quiet, away from Shrike’s spawn, and she needed the leader’s mind for a moment or two. Away from the constant chatter of his hoard.

“Do we still plan to go north? There is a pack around here. The other side of the lake, I would predict.”

Shrike was bored and that made him dangerous. He hadn't dragged his lot all this way to loiter about, they were supposed to be getting shit done, but his plan wasn't going along as seemlessly as he'd hoped. At first he thought the abundance of coyotes would help rather than hinder his cause. But after mooching off of the Draw wolves and going off on their way all they had been doing was meandering about. It wasn't his fault, he'd kill anyone who tried to say as much.

He shot Procyon a sharp look as he stood by her side, the tips of his toes dipping into the lake. He waited to see if she would continue, if she was going to insinuate something stupid. But she didn't, her statement lingered in the air before she moved on. Wise choice.

"I don't care where we go, I'm tired of waiting." He rumbled, if only it was the heat grating on his nerves. "Why do you think I keep you around? You lot are supposed to find me the targets." His words were snide, for once he wasn't in the mood for banter.

He stared out ahead as he mulled over her words, perhaps he ought to give her some credit.

"What do you know of them?"

All members of the Carrion Crew are welcome to join Shrike's threads at any time.

Waiting had never been Shrike’s strong suit. Generally, this was a trait she appreciated in their fearless leader – but occasionally, plans took time in order to pull them off correctly. She surmised this is why he kept her around. Certainly not for her dour outlook.

Procyon held her tongue, instead slowly wading into the water, towards the silver streaks. Her pace was steady enough that the fish – while they clearly noticed – did not move more than a length or two from where they’d started. Once she was up to her knees, the woman halted, waiting for them.

In the meanwhile, she replied to Shrike. Pale blue eyes never left the water’s surface, but one ear tipped back towards the large male. “I suspect that is why you keep me around. However, I doubt Marianna could find her way out of a rotting log, much less find you a target. And the children…” She gave a withering sigh. They were enthused, but clearly not yet learned in the way of the world. They were as much of a hinderance as they were a help. And the others… Well, she could go on at length. But she did not.

“Some. They are a medium-sized back, neither large nor small. Of roughly equal size to the pack on the woods. There are puppies, though I could not say how many. The benefits of this location is surely the lake, which provides fresh water, and defends one of their borders. However, this lake is a basin. All other borders are downhill. Bad for them.”

Good for us. If they wanted.

“While fish seem present, I’ve yet to determine if they are plentiful – and while I am sure game visits the basin, this is not a grazing ground. Clearly. Positives and drawbacks.”

Like everything in life. Including her current servitude.

Shrike pursed his lips as he processed the information Procyon had to offer. As expected, she had gathered a fair amount of intel, enough to gauge whether it would be worth paying this pack a visit. One on paw, it did sound tempting as he was bored out of his mind and had conducted hits on larger packs than this. On the other though, if the pack had a lot of pups would they even have enough resources to make it worth their time and effort?

Probably, anything was better than this...stagnation.

He watched his second wade into the water for a moment before his gaze wandered to the horizon. Marianna had promised him so much and yet he'd gained nothing that he couldn't have gotten elsewhere. He didn't believe that she was clever enough to lie to him, or as conniving, so what was the issue then? Were they looking in the wrong places?

"We ought to pay them a visit soon." He concluded after a moments silence. It wasn't a decision he had to think long and hard about, the urge to take made him make all sorts of snap decisions. Ones Procyon often did not approve of.

"Do you think they would take us?"His grin was wicked. "Poor loners, so hungry, bullied by mongrels."

Another reason he liked keeping his kids around, they were useful as no one could say no to two sets of sad eyes.

All members of the Carrion Crew are welcome to join Shrike's threads at any time.

"If nothing else, perhaps we could use a pup as ransom if we find the territory unpalatable," she said, shifting her gaze once more to the landscape at large. Whilst Procyon could do little to shape the environment (no matter her greatest wishes), she could very well extract every little possible detail from it and feed it to the great beast she worked for.

After a moment, the small gray wolf yawned, a flick of her ear the only indication she had heard Shrike's thought. She percolated, unhurried, and then finally gave him a short response. "If you wish. It worked before. Though I am unaware of any lines of communication between this pack and the previous, I do not suggest playing the same paw over and over lest we get caught."

She stretched a bit. "If you trust them, we could send the children in first. A test, of sorts. They could tell us what the pack is like, if the wolves are worth conquering, or simply ransoming."

Shrike quite liked that suggestion. Pups were so precious, easy to covet and easier to manipulate. Shrike found a certain satisfaction in taking important things, things that would be sorely missed. Food was great and all, but the best thing of all was to make others squirm, to make them realise how easily he could tear their world asunder, if he so chose.

"Tell the others that the first one to bring me a pup gets extra rations." He ordered after a moment of thought, food was such a wonderful motivator Maybe it would spur his children to get off their fat asses. They hadn't proven awfully useful to him yet, it was about damn time they changed that."And you, I want you to scout ahead, go north and find our next target. Loop back when you've found something, I want to be done here sooner rather than later."

All members of the Carrion Crew are welcome to join Shrike's threads at any time.

Procyon took a moment to eye the larger wolf lord and master, ears pricking forward. The first order was simple enough – and she had to admit, she was curious to see which one of those louts had enough initiative to make Shrike proud.

Proud?

Who was she kidding. Moderately pleased, perhaps. She looked away, took a moment to bite her tongue and mitigate the first, sharpest thoughts that came to mind. He did not like her bitter tongue, not when it was aimed at him. “Here? Or this entire forest?” she wondered, idly. It didn’t matter much to Procyon. One forest was as good as the next. But it would change the scope and direction of her scouting, a bit, depending on which he preferred.

She gave him an expectant look. “Do you intend to take root in this forest before the winter?”

Shrike wasn’t a pack wolf, but even he saw the prospects of pack in winter. And, she knew too well, he liked the chaos that would bring even more.