Where Has All the Rum Gone?

<i>Current Temperature/Time:</i> 68F/roughly 1 am or so ...'Grizzly Hollow, your food caches are running low.' ...Soooo not Vlars fault. -cough-

Oppressing hunger - it was a constant pinch in her gut, and one that Vlarindara had done her best to ignore since the lowest had returned to Grizzly Hollow. Usually when she became hungry, she was able to find *something* to eat.. whether it was a fish chased from the waters in Jasper Rocks, or some left-overs from one of the packs hunts. Vlarindara was still far too weak to be of much use on the hunts, her stamina low enough that she could barely cross Grizzly Hollow territory without becoming short of breath and weak legged.

Of all the nights for her stomach to act up - it had to be *now*. She had known that Jaysyek and Borden.. or she HOPED it was Borden at least were expecting.. And had done her best to leave the food cache's alone, and to scrounge up a meal for herself. However, the entire day spent hunting had proven completely futile and she was left with nothing to show for it except weary legs and muscles shaking with fatigue. The wolfess had crept back to her nest of leaves well after dark where she collapsed and fell into a fitful slumber.

Prior to dawn, however, her stomach protested quite painfully, forcing the ivory female to her feet to do something she'd not done in a few days - head towards the food stores. She intended to stop by the tree and simply pick at one of the smaller bits that was available, to leave the rest for the pack and Jaysyek's growing litter. However, once she arrived, the smell of blood and meat caused her mouth to water... and the pink tongue to slide along her lips of its own accord. With her stomach growling loudly, Vlarindara crept forward and snapped her jaws around the remains of a rabbit.

Scooting backwards, the wolfess devoured the thing, bones and all before she turned to return to her bed. That was really her only intention - but her stomach still grumbled, and the smell was simply too much to resist.. so she turned back and once more stuck her head into the trees base and tugged on the nearest haunch she could sink her teeth into. Vlarindara ended up dragging out the remains of a doe.. and her stomach seemed to bubble in glee at the smorgasbord that was lain before it. Guilt rode her as she shifted, mouth watering to sink her jaws into the carcass.. but was soon washed away by the insatiable hunger that left her quite literally.. decimating the corpse - or what was left.

table by katsuma

(This post was last modified: Apr 29, 2012, 05:18 PM by Raigo.)

<blockquote> He had been avoiding this place for what felt like weeks, and once again it was beginning to show. Even in his worst days as a loner he had managed to maintain a reasonable weight, probably because he wasn’t above chasing other predators from their meals. He was a very selfish beast at heart, charming and handsome for sure, but lazy and selfish.

And it was, in the wee hours of the morning that he finally crossed the heavily marked borders of his home. It would seem that Borden had elevated himself, but Kade’s scent was still the stronger of the two, and so he had to assume he had not made his way all the way to the top of the pecking order yet. He didn’t know if he was relieved or disappointed. Kade was a good enough guy, made the effort to get to know others, Borden? Well, Valiant had never known the Hollow under Borden’s rule. All he knew was that the man hurt Jayse. He had seen how stressed out she had been, how exhausted. It wasn’t healthy and it didn’t help him harbour much warmth toward the man.

The next scent he came across made his hairs stand on end. It was one scent he knew well and was often the only sign he needed to high-tail it out of there, but he had behaved himself this year... for the most part, at least with wolves that were known about these parts, and he tried to relax. But he simply couldn’t. It grated against his bones, and while most would be overjoyed the Hollow would be having pups, he had to wonder if he was meant to come back at all.

There were new scents here too, as he got closer to the pack den. The scent of old blood, but the scent of the caches was... well pretty much non-existent. His brows furrowed a little concerned. Although he was lazy, he had felt compelled to pull his weight here. He had been in a few hunts with others and a few by himself. Surely if the numbers were increasing, the number of those contributing to the stores had to as well? It was then he saw her. A sickly little white thing. No not little, just extremely underweight and she was gorging herself on what little food remained. A single brow quirked in questioning as he cleared his throat to alert her to his presence. She was not a wolf he had encountered before, but she did smell of pack, of Jayse specifically so he wouldn’t cause her harm. <b>”You might wanna slow down a little love, if you eat too much too quick after being starved for as long as you have, you’ll only make yourself sick.”</b></blockquote>

Even after her stomach was full, she kept eating. Vlarindara was so busy gorging herself on the remains of the doe that she didn't hear another creeping up on her until he cleared his throat.. To which she reacted much like she'd been shot. Vlarindara yelped and then immediately clamped her jaws shut to suppress any further sound from escaping - it was the middle of the night after all. Ears pinned against her injured and freshly wounded neck before she tucked her tail so far beneath her belly it seemed not to exist. The ivory canid immediately backed away from the doe and cowered a good five feet away from the carcass, her belly shoved into the ground.

All of this happened in the short span of silence between Valiant clearing his throat and speaking. When he spoke, she zeroed in on the source of his voice and turned her scarred, half blind face to look at him before immediately dropping her amber and silver gaze to the ground so as not to accidentally meet his eyes. "I....S-sorry.." She knew her stomach was protesting the sheer amount of meat she'd put away, and knew the truth to his words.. but instinct alone had driven the female to the food caches of Grizzly Hollow. She glanced at the remains of the doe and whined softly.

The hell? What had she done? The female clamped her jaws down in an attempt to stop the miserable whimper that threatened to break free from her lips. She'd stolen food from Jaysyek and the pack! What right had she had? None at all - as Lowest, Vlarindara knew she was really supposed to fend for herself.. at least that's what she felt she should do - the lady hadn't ever really been *in* a real working pack before Grizzly Hollow - and even then she'd only been the second.. a guardian. When it came to her current rank, she was in the dark completely. Her attention shifted back to Valiant before she dropped her gaze to her bloodied paws.

table by katsuma

(This post was last modified: Apr 13, 2012, 01:12 AM by Vlarindara.)

oh gosh I'm so sorry this has taken so long! That'll teach me to fight with glass windows!

<blockquote> He had caught a whiff of the almost empty cache and looked at the discarded carcass with worried eyes. Stepping forward to collect what remained and put it back where it belonged, he tried to keep his demeanor mutual. <b>”Surely you know better than to be leaving good food out in the open...”</b> he conversed lightly. He wasn’t upset with her for eating when she obviously needed it, he was upset with the rest of the pack for letting the food stores run so low, after all, at the meeting hadn’t the task of keeping an eye on this stuff been volunteered by Borden? Of course the silvery wolf should have known better. He would have had other things on his mind and he kept the growl from his chest as his frustration grew at the situation. This was why he avoided packs.

He hardly noticed the lady’s scarred appearance, although once the pale eye and pink lines registered he did wonder what sort of terrible life she had led before coming to the hollow. She was terrified, and the more she worked herself up, the more likely it was that she would throw up all she had eaten and that would be a waste of scarce food. Lowering himself so he was laying between the lady and the cache, a heavy sigh escaped his chest. <b>”Don’t say sorry to me. I’m not the one carrying brats.”</b> he commented casually. <b>”Although admittedly, you do look like you need it a little more at the moment ay?”</b> he questioned smoothly, almost cooing to the terrified wolf. She had nothing to fear from him.</blockquote>

Food in the open? Oh.. right. Vlarindara shifted and began to both nudge and drag the remains of the meal into the hollowed tree, only stopping once it was once more put back where it belonged. She shuffled her footsteps nervously and glanced up at him before shifting a decent distance away and lowering herself down to her haunches. "S-s..." She fell silent, forcing herself to remain quiet. Jaysyek HAD told her no more apoligies.. right?

The wolfess frowned, her ears folding over her skull before she lowered her gaze, focusing intently on the dirt between her paws. "I..uhh..Jaysyek needs it more than I do..I shouldn't have..eaten so much." There, she'd apologized..without apologizing in a way that might get her face bitten off!

table by katsuma