Hidden Grotto and here we sit

<blockquote><font style='margin-left:20px;'><b><i>DID YOU EVER WANT TO FEEL ALIVE</i></b></font>
The small damage he caused was largely inconsequential, but did serve to kick her reactions up a notch. Good! Good! He wanted to feel her fire, get a feel for her power, and she was really starting to heat up - and it <i>was</i> fun! When she pushed back, he was elated, feeling her head fall to the side, seeking a different target. He thrust his head down and forced his shoulders to twist, so that he was offering the thick skin of his scruff, and heaved up to meet her teeth.

He didn't care about pain; it was just his body's signal, it had rarely distracted him. The nature of the scruff, though, wasn't to encourage puncturing, and whilst he could feel her teeth rub against him, she more got a mouthful of folded skin. He knew she hadn't intended to cause much damage, her lunge didn't have the right energy; if it had, she would have truly drawn blood. Now lower down and temporarily attached to her by her canines, Marsh used this as an opportunity to push her back more, using all the might in his hindlegs and straining against her chest, his face buried in the fur at her armpit and chest, forgoing the use of teeth in order to concentrate on forcing her to lose balance or give up ground.
<font style='margin-left:20px;'><b><i>BECAUSE THIS IS THE REAL THING SO PAY ATTENTION</i></b></font></blockquote>

moonlight on my floor shining through the roof they got the city surrounded as if i needed proof Her attempts were quite useless, and while she was trying he had the upperhand it seemed, he was slightly larger and while she wanted to blame this on size, her losing, she couldn't. It was merely an excuse, and she knew that he was winning. She disliked it, she had been trained to fight, to kill! To be undermined by a mere stranger, one that was older than her, it made her scowl in distaste. But it was only fair, and as he pushed into her and she got but a mouthful of skin and fur. She pulled away, but by then he had already gotten underneath her and was pushing her. She yelped out, not in pain but in surprise, and she lost balance, surely what he wanted her to do. She slid onto her back, thumping her head against the ground and laying there helpless for a few moments. "Oof," She breathed, forgetting momentarily about their lack of voices. She had been beaten. With a wide smile on her face, she let her tongue loll out of her mouth, and laughed. For once in a very long time, she let her melodious voice break out into that of laughter, and it was a sound that made you smile, if you weren't heart-less. She breathed, tilting her head up to look at the stone wall behind her, exposing her throat completely to the male. She relaxed, letting her body go limp as she lay there, belly up to the sky. Suddenly, it was almost as if she snapped awake, and she flipped onto her paws, standing abruptly as if that hadn't happened. She was ashamed that she had let herself go that easily, and as she looked at the male, into his gray eyes, she turned her nose down to the ground. What would happen next was unknown to her, it was his choice. "Speech" i forgot my fear feel it's on the rise buried by all of the pieces falling from the sky

<blockquote><font style='margin-left:20px;'><b><i>TAKE NOTES SIT UP AND LISTEN GOOD</i></b></font>
- and then she finally toppled under his assault.

It was an unfair fight, really. She may have been trained as a spy, but subtlety and cleverness would not win anything here. Marsh was born to be a battering ram. Stone beats scissors, lady.

He hadn't expected her to consider falling a failure - afterall, she still had legs to lash out with and her teeth were still operable - but then, this wasn't a serious situation, so that could be forgiven. Then she started <i>laughing</i>! For a moment, that put Marsh on edge; was she laughing at him? What was funny? But nothing about her suggested hostility; she even bared her throat to him, an ultimate show of trust and submission, and Marsh relaxed.

She was just enjoying herself.

Despite the fact that he had won (and that hadn't been entirely surprising, all things considered) her manner was pleasing, as had been her spirit. Marsh half-regretted that the conflict hadn't been more serious; he wanted to know how vicious she was capable of being. But that was all fancy desire; he was already panting lightly from the exertion, and whilst thoughts of enjoyable sparring flew through his mind, there was a more pressing matter at hand.

Hunger.

Marsh stepped back out of instinct when she suddenly leapt up, but his surprise lasted nanoseconds; she had already submitted and they were on equal ground again. He had nothing to fear, and likewise for her. She seemed eager, willing, and he knew she was hungry.

Had she been good enough? He would have liked her to win, but she was young yet, and she had shown energy. Yes, she would make a good hunting partner.

His eyes glittering with eagerness, maintaining the stare, he whined quietly, expressing his own need. Licking his lips, he gave a low, excited growl, and slowly, carefully stepped forwards, past her, returning to the path they had both used to get here in the first place. Never keeping his eyes from her, he stopped, watching to see if she would follow.
<font style='margin-left:20px;'><b><i>THIS IS OUR FUTURE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT</i></b></font></blockquote>

moonlight on my floor shining through the roof they got the city surrounded as if i needed proof ooc: Do you want to actually rp out the hunt or assume that they got something? This'll be a long thread if so :3 unless you wanna do a different thread with them hunting. We definitely need to thread again, though, because this is awesome. :P Her adrenalin had been pumping violently through her veins, readying her for a real attack and for her having to run if she needed to. She figured it wouldn't be necessary, there was nothing wrong with this male that she could tell and he had already beaten her in a spar, if he wanted to kill her or be a threat he would have sliced open her throat when she had given him the chance. To her, it was almost a challenge, to see if he would give in to his natural instincts and murder her, lapping the blood off of her skin as it poured from an open wound. He seemed to be able to resist enough to let her spring up back on her feet, though, and that she was glad of. He may have initiated the attack, and he had ended it with being able to topple her over. He had gotten her all riled up for a simple game, and it bugged her that the game hadn't gotten too serious. Maybe once they both had food in them they would be able to spar in a realistic manner, instead of how pups played. She let her jaws part again to release her tongue, panting from the exertion of the small exercise. Though she had already hunted today and it had been unsuccessful, she could tell that the male was hungry and that he wanted to hunt, too. She was all up for a hunt, if there were still deer in the area then why not try to take one down for a bit of food? She let her mouth curl into a goofy smile, her tongue hanging limply out of her mouth as she watched the boy walk around her and head towards the path. She turned herself, his eyes trained on her at all times, and nodded, walking a little closer to show him that she was ready to hunt with him. She was sure they would be able to find the trail of where those deer from earlier had run off to, hopefully he was a better tracker than she was. It wasn't until now that she realized that they still didn't even know each other's names. Did it really matter if a name was given? She decided that it didn't, and she let the thought of it slip from her mind, allowing nothing but instinct and happiness flood in. For once she was happy, she had not been betrayed by anyone and she wasn't lonely. She wasn't constantly wanting attention from anyone, it was just something that wolves weren't supposed to be accustomed to and being a wolf as she, Murder wasn't really comfortable on her own, either. Wolves were pack animals, built to be surrounded by family and other wolves their whole life. Murder liked the thought of being surrounded by others, while she wasn't very trusting she was sure that she could eventually let herself relax around others, if only to make herself happier. With her yellow eyes glancing towards his, she twitched her ear to show that she was ready. "Speech" i forgot my fear feel it's on the rise buried by all of the pieces falling from the sky

I would quite like to continue it! I like long threads, but if you're more comfortable ending it here, let me know and I'll tag something on at the end. And yes, we must do this again, it has been awesome :3 I'm tempted to have Marsh join MP, so might see you there? (...could do with some more testosterone >>)

Assuming her compliance in several bits at the end - if Murder would not act as thus, it is easy to change. It just sounds better to assume than go 'and if blah, he would blah' for more than a few sentences.

<blockquote><font style='margin-left:20px;'><b><i>IT DOESN'T GET MORE SERIOUS THAN THIS</i></b></font>
She followed.

That was enough for Marsh; rumbling contentedly, he couldn't resist showing his excitement in his tail, but conserved most of the energy for the journey - and the hunt, which would probably be quite tiring with just two of them.

He was sure they were capable. His confidence in her wouldn't be for nothing, would it?

Again Marsh resented the wind, which was not working in their favour at all. No wonder the girl had attacked from the other direction; it had covered her presence completely. Shame she hadn't been able to pull it off alone. The deer would be on the alert, though probably not expecting a second danger so soon, so that would be in their favour. They would still have to be careful about that wind. Marsh debated scenarios and tactics as they loped steadily back down the steep incline, winding their way through the plants and rocky terrain which served well to hide their bodies from view. He strained to scent the herd, but it was no use, it was no use; they'd have to drastically relocate, or just rely on eyes and ears. Marsh wasn't comfortable enough in the latter. It would seriously impair their chances, he believed.

They soon hit flat ground, but Marsh didn't stop. Being hungry but <i>patient</i>, he led them both on a roundabout trail, using his detailed knowledge of the immediate area to his significant advantage. He knew how far the trees and bushes extended, and he knew where the grass-grazers liked to roam, and he knew how far they were comfortable walking. He knew the best hidden routes. There certainly were benefits to staying in one place for extended periods of time! Eventually, when Marsh inhaled, the hint of deer filled his nostrils, and he knew that they had turned the tables. Huffing, pleased with himself, he glanced once at the girl, and then darted off again.

Now they needed a good stretch of land, suitable for the chase, using terrain to help direct the herd since they were so lacking in other wolves. Fortunately, he had a good idea - the river. Well, one of them. It was not so deep that the deer would not consider leaping into it to escape death, but not all of them would be so keen, and it wouldn't be hard to encourage them to run forwards rather than sideways... hopefully. He still couldn't see or hear them, but having the wind advantage put Marsh to great ease. They came to a shadowed spot, under the canopy of trees, and Marsh finally stopped. He could hear the water to their right, and, if his judgements were correct...

Yes. It would work. But with only two bodies, they had to be assigned their duties carefully. Marsh had beaten the bitch, but she was not weak. If it had been more vicious, he was sure she would have shown a lot more of her capabilities. The only thing he did not know was if she was fast - very fast - and he regretted not testing that. Marsh was not fast, but he knew he had stamina, and that was an adequate replacement given the circumstances. He did know, however, that she was brave.

That was enough to decide. Lifting his nose to the air, he made some last-minute judgements before deeming it acceptable. He then turned on the girl, lowering his head, growling at her, demanding her to stay. If she did not understand quickly, he would nip at her hindlegs and rump until she sat or laid down. They had mutually comprehended each other well enough so far, though, so why not now?

Upon her compliance, Marsh nudged her cheek gently with his nose, giving thanks and good luck and all at once. This would not work without her.

Without a single word of explanation, he turned tail and quickly disappeared.
<font style='margin-left:20px;'><b><i>BUT YOU'VE JUST GOT TO ADMIT</i></b></font></blockquote>

moonlight on my floor shining through the roof they got the city surrounded as if i needed proof ooc: Alright, I was merely wondering. (: And the ending is fine, no need to change it. She rathed enjoyed the silent company of the other being, as she trailed behind him, for surely he knew where he was going and where the deer were and had headed off to, she continued to think about how beautiful their silence was. Words were not needed to fill the atmosphere, body language and communication through such was the only thing that was truly necessary for the two to understand each other. She wondered why nobody else she had ever conversed with had thought about using just pure energy and their body to communicate with one another. It was much easier than using words to define emotions, actions and the like. Actions did speak louder than words, did they not? She smiled to herself as she continued to follow him to wherever he was leading them, hoping that he had not forgotten about her as they made their way down the path, which seemed much more treacherous now than it had before. Once they hit flat ground, there was no stopping the male on his quest for the prey that they would take down together and feast upon later on. He glanced once at the girl, maybe to see if she was still following him, maybe to make sure that she hadn't turned this into a hunt that maded him the prey, but for whatever reason it was a slight look and before Murder knew it he had run off again, and she was following him eagerly, her anticipation building and the saliva in her mouth beginning to dribble onto her chin. She licked it off with her tongue, releasing it from its cage momentarily before allowing it to slide back into the reaches of her maw to stay intent on the chase. They were certainly downwind of the prey now, the scent of them reached her nose and made her tail move excitedly, despite the fact that she was trying to keep her cool and not make an utter fool of herself, as she had earlier. She could tell that the male knew this territory much better than she, he was leading her around and she followed like a lost puppy, her muscles twitching in anticipation. She would be fed tonight, and would sleep beneath the moon with a full belly. Suddenly, he stopped and so did Murder, straining her body against itself as to not run into him. She backed up a bit, slightly uncomfortable with the sudden lack of space between the two of them due to her failure to recognize him pausing. He seemed to have a plan in his head that would end up with them feasting on venison within the hour, and as he turned to her and growled she understood immediately, this was her place to stay and to wait for the prey to come, with the river rushing past them and the scent of deer on the wind, yes, she understood. Moments later he had brushed her cheek with his nose, almost sending her into a frenzy of snarls before she remembered that he was of no harm to her and he was a friend, not a foe. He dashed off, and she was left alone, her muscles crying out to follow him but knowing that if she did so there would be no chance of them eating. This would be difficult, taking a deer down with two wolves, and while Murder had accomplished the feat with only herself for company, that had only been when one of the deer had broken a leg and had fallen without the aid of her fangs, and that was rare. With her heart thuddin in her chest, she hoped that this would work out and that she would not disappoint him, he had trusted her enough to lead her here so that the two of them could hunt and she would not let him down. Two loners hunting a deer in unison was a rare enough occurance that she could understand not to mess up this opportunity. Standing in silence and solitude, Murder waited, desperate for the taste of blood on her tongue. "Speech" i forgot my fear feel it's on the rise buried by all of the pieces falling from the sky

<blockquote><font style='margin-left:20px;'><b><i>THAT THIS IS THE BEST FUCKING THING</i></b></font>
It was beautiful.

Marsh could not remember the last time he had worked so cleanly, so effortlessly with a wolf he hardly knew - the last time he had trusted without concern, the last time he had been so happy to depend on another who was not his chosen leader. She was younger and weaker but <i>she understood</i>, and Marsh wouldn't have traded that in for the best damn hunter in the world.

There was nobody else, right now, he would have wanted to share such a valuable meal with.

Of course, they had to secure that meal first.

Now, Marsh had to find the herd properly. It was all well and good sneaking around it, but that wouldn't help to actually get the chase going. He had debated taking the river's route, keeping his scent away from their delicate noses, but that would lose out on a potential idea which might help keep the deer on track. It's hard to shepherd with two bodies - and in fact, the girl would be doing little of the actual shepherding. Marsh, therefore, had to pretend to be an entire pack all by himself, and what better way than spreading his scent parallel to the river?

As they ran, they would smell him, and in their frenzied, scared states they would hopefully have the sense to avoid it. If he could keep them out of the river, then that would pen them in, channelling them towards her teeth. All she had to do was pick the right one, since Marsh wouldn't have the time to do so, and this was a done deal.

There - <i>there</i>. Practically drowning in saliva, Marsh made sure to keep his nerve, careful not to spook them before he was in place. The wind was taking his smell to them, but he was moving fast, and they knew he was there but not <i>where</i>, and they were indecisive for just long enough. Lined up and ready - oh so ready - Marsh decided enough was enough.

It was like pulling a trigger in a field full of birds; the herd moved at once, instincts telling them to just run, and Marsh had to summon up enough threat for twelve wolves. He was quite capable of that. He just had to keep them moving, since he had little to no hope of catching one in a flat race, and swerved as much as his body would allow, trying to keep the body of the herd going in the same direction, trapped by his stench and the river and -

She would hear it, she would smell it, and soon, she would see it - Marsh ached from the effort, but he would not stop. He was leading them directly to her hidden spot, the little patch of trees and foliage that the herd would try to run past, en-masse, as just another obstacle. She would have to perfect her timing and her target.

The first deer, Marsh was sure, would be upon her in seconds. He hoped she had a good, weak target in mind, for he certainly wasn't able to concentrate on picking one out.

Here's to faith, and let's hope it fills their bellies.
<font style='margin-left:20px;'><b><i>IN THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD</i></b></font></blockquote>

The assumed conclusion to this thread is that the hunt was a success, and they parted ways in much the same silent, mutual understanding that they had met (:

(This post was last modified: Aug 23, 2010, 07:01 PM by Marsh.)