Hush Meadow oh, my sweet summer child

Obviously, Skoll wasn't pleased about the idea of having a female from another pack come to join them- though he clarified quite quickly that he simply didn't want Asriel to 'steal' Malia because he could actually sympathize with Titan and Yuka on the loss of a sibling. For a moment, Asriel felt slightly disgusted by his brother- he'd hoped that Skoll might be pleased to see that they were stealing princesses from other packs to strengthen their own. He sniffed lightly, and moved to continue on with their hunt, but his pace was checked when his brother sat down. Asriel turned around and allowed his brother to speak, but when he finished, he smiled softly. So Skoll thought he'd steal Malia away without her permission, or permission from her brothers?

"You're right, brother, they are Thorbens," He said. "All the more reason to cut off their bloodline. Improve it, perhaps. And I never said I'd steal her against her will...I'll make her want to leave them. It shouldn't be that hard," He said with a small shake of his head. No, he wouldn't pry her away- he'd woo her, bring her back to Willow Ridge- though not necessarily because he wanted her as his queen. Though he did want her, because she made him feel excited in some strange way, he knew he would take more joy in seeing her aspirations and hopes pulled out from underneath her, rather than seeing them fulfilled. "She won't be a princess here; much less a queen."

"And no," He hissed, offended that his brother had even brought up the thought- "I would never let someone of their ilk steal Morganna away." He said. He glared at his brother for a moment. "Or you, even. We're Archers."

selfish and spoiled rotten

Sköll Archer

those little Archer boys

There it was. That moment where the connection between brothers had been affirmed. Sköll had managed to get under Asriel's pelt, pushing him to hiss and snap back. What the middle-born Archer had not expected was the little bit of information his sibling had tacked on at the end of his response. That he would not let someone remotely like the Thorbens take him away either.

Asriel's word was sound, however, at least it seemed that way, and for that Sköll was also pleased. If Malia Thorben was persuaded to come away from her family, she would be inferior to their sister. Not even a princess. A smirk would have inched its way up along his maw if it weren't for the sudden, unexpected sound of something scampering off in the distance. For a seasoned Hunter, it was the sound of game, the true spirit of the hunt, but to the young prince who had yet to get through his first winter, it was strange.... unworldly. Like something that was meant to be on the ground, had taken flight through the trees, for when Sköll turned around to seek out what had sought refuge between the willows, a flock of birds soared up into the sky.

Sköll stood up, staring into the back of Asriel's head, suddenly no longer interested in hunting. At this rate, he supposed he could go just one more day without food. If he was lucky enough, he also supposed he could try to beg Angier for something, so long as his brother and sister were not watching. "Azzzz-riel..." he pronounced slowly, his silvery eyes wide as he scanned the landscape on either side of his siblings' tall black ears.

His voice began to waver, "Asriel stop..."

As much as he wanted to catch up to his brother, he took a step back, shuffling backwards towards the path he had taken out into the clearing. "Did you hear that?" he asked, one of his ears swiveling about before coming to mirror his other ear. He turned his head this way and that, his frame tensing as he began to crouch in the trench-like path he had made just moments before. "As-reee-elllll," he whimpered, the rather unflattering cub-like side of him returning. "There's something out there..."

Then... there it was. An even scarier sound than what he had initially heard - the unfortunate cries of some hare suffering the rage of a disgruntled den mate. A yelp escaped the young Archer's throat and before his brother could possibly even have a chance to turn around to look, Sköll was gone, sprinting back towards the den as fast as his lanky legs would allow him travel.

template base by GINNYSAURUS

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

His brother's first interjection went more or less unnoticed. His ears flicked forward at the sound of something moving in the distance, but unlike Skoll, Asriel's curiosity was piqued. He didn't know what it was, but there was something out there- and his stomach begged for it to be some sort of prey they could hunt down- perhaps the one they'd been tracking, which certainly looked small enough for them to catch....Then again, the hoofprints of some deer weren't very big, but a deer would have been above and beyond their capability anyway. Asriel wasn't bothered by the sound of the something at all. He wanted to move forward and investigate- but his brother's voice, eerie and mystic, held him back.

It was only when he looked at his brother and sensed his nervousness that Asriel doubted himself. What did Skoll see or hear that spooked him? Asriel's ears flicked forward and back and he looked around, trying to see what it was that had so earnestly spooked his brother. He found that it wasn't the sensation that something was out there that worried him- it was, instead, the large, open expanse of land. Open, white snow. Snow too deep for them; if something did come at them, either one or both of them would be caught, struggling through the snowdrifts. For a moment, Asriel stood, unsure of what to do, fear leaking into his heart like white dye seeping through black threads. And when the shriek sounded, he lowered his body to the ground instinctively.

Skoll's reaction was to run, and Asriel turned his head to hiss at his brother- he wanted his brother to stay with him, not run away, but Skoll was fleet and ran back in the direction they'd come, using the tracks they'd left behind to move at a faster pace than he would've had had he leapt forward through virgin snow. Asriel remained crouched, and found himself panting slightly in anxiety. Out in the open by himself, he felt like a fawn hiding in tall grasses; there was nothing he could do to help himself. Slowly, with his tail down and ears slicked against his skull, he turned and slithered after his brother, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible as he too sought the sanctuary of the woods and home range they knew and trusted.