Hush Meadow mundus vult decipi

Snow. It's cold and white, like iron in her lungs; the air tastes of blood each time it passes through her throat.It's just the cold that does it.There's no blood to be found, no warm meat to fill empty bellies, nothing to satisfy the urge of a hungry wolf—to calm the restless hunger of a predator. There's only snow and cold, breath steaming into the air, the silence, and the heartbeat counting down the time.It's getting late, Cézanne.

A lone trail of paws led from northeast to southwest, but you had to be there to see them, for the wind covered them up within an hour. It tugged at her fur, forced her eyes to teary, yellow slits, ears flat against her skull. She was no stranger to cold, to snow, but it had been many years since she'd had the rumbling of her belly for company this long. The search for her brother had become something else: the search for food, the struggle to survive. She was old, but not too old. In the deepest hours of night her joints ached dully, but in the half-light of the pale, distant sun, she was just like any other wolf, fleet of foot and strong of mind, sound of heart.Maybe even more stubborn than most.She wasn't interested in leaving the forest; the trees kept the howling, rugged winds at bay, trapped some of the sparse heat beneath their heavy pine boughs. A faux sense of security.Senses strained in the darkness, and Cézanne's lips curled into a grimace. Stars, and the moon, crowded the black sky, and everything was shadows and pristine light, the snow glittering like the cold, cruel carpet it was. But the view, was not why she was here. This stretch of the forest smelled of pack territory, and this was the closest she had come to the scent markers since she'd first caught wind of it. Cézanne was headstrong, fierce, but not stupid; she had read the signs for weeks.The herds were leaving.Winter, was coming.

The lone wolf dies but the pack survives.

This time there was no call, just the scent of a loner carried on the wind into the territory, and not the first time this particular scent had reached the woman's nose. When patrolling the borders a day or so before the same scent had been lingering but had not ventured too close so she had pushed it from her mind. Now it was getting dark and the scent was back, this time Minka was not going to push it from her mind, she would find out why this loner was hanging around. Her mind flashed to the caches and instantly the hackles on the back of her neck rose, was this loner trying to find them and raid them of their food supplies? Why else would the stranger not call for the alphas and return by the dark of the night?

As silently as possible with the seemingly mountains of snow around her Minka stalked the loner who was now in sight. It was a female, of average build and not in too rough of shape given she was a loner and the onset of winter. The alpha stood still, concealed by the tree line and used her golden eyes to track the woman's path waiting for her to come too close to the borders, but staying silent until then. She didn't want to start any wars, especially with a loner who would surely be killed off by winter anyways, but she would fight and finish them if she had to. This pack was everything to her, and she wasn't going to let them starve because some loner had the bright idea to raid their caches.

fate hasn't finished

MINKA LEIGH

with you yet

by Sarah

click!

Look Out!

A fight broke out between two male mountain goats. Hunt Opportunity

Thu-thump. Thu-thump.Hear that, Cézanne? It's the life and the death, the pulse and the silence in-between. It knows that you grow weak as the moon waxes, because it was so long since you had the blood between your teeth.Maledictiō tu, tace! She knows that the falling snow wishes only to cover them up for the winter, sing its requiem for them, and lay them down to sleep, a sick preservation of life in the cold arms of death: they would not rot, with the frost set so deep in their bones.The scent of the pack was strong in her nose, ignited the blood in her veins: they could be her salvation, her road to surviving this hell-wrought season, or, they could bring her to her knees. Make her easy prey for the weather to fell. Her jaws were firmly sealed, the fur on her shoulders pricking upright every once in a while. Cézanne ill liked to bow to anyone, but she had more sense than to die for her pride.At least, so she hoped.

Noise caught her attention. Cézanne's body froze immediately in the darkness, lean muscles tensing up. Silently her ears rotated, listened to the pawing, the angry braying, to the sound of the clash: something was happening. The cold wind blew in her face, obscuring the scent of the other wolf but revealing that of goats. What were they doing so far from home?Dying.She grinned wolfishly in the darkness, and veered away slightly from her path parallel to the borders. The pack could wait another hour or so. She had fresh meat to hunt, and her paws led her on a skulking journey through snow-drifts and frost-hard, naked bushes. Soon enough the frigid moonlight painted the white goats all silvery-bright, and like gladiators from a time since long past they danced their deadly dance, unaware of their coming doom.Cézanne, she was patient. She chose her vantage point well, folded her long limbs underneath her and laid down upon the snow, waiting for the time to strike—one would be the weakest, one would take the blows, and when they thought they had won, Cézanne would let them know how wrong they were.Tonight, there would be only one winner, and that, was Cézanne.

@Minka pleaaase? :D

(This post was last modified: Dec 22, 2013, 09:15 AM by Cezanne.)

what you don't know, won't hurt you

Tokino Lagina

what you can't see, won't blind you

Tokino was not dumb.He had noticed the lack of males within the pack doing their jobs. If he picked up their slack then eventually somebody would take notice of him. The gray man had long since been annoyed with his lowly position within the pack. However @Kieth was nowhere to be seen and Kino did not want to look for some missing male just to challenge him. To the Lagina wolf actions spoke louder than words, and since the second had not been doing much around the territory Kino thought that he might as well attempt to heighten his own rank by performing Kieth's duties.

That was precisely why the gray male was just outside the border searching for a meal that might feed the pups. Malia and Yuka are growing well, and Titan needs some feeding up after being gone for so long too... Kino had noticed that the dark childs scent had returned to their territory. He only hoped that Titan had learned from this experience that leaving borders without permission was a no no.

Pausing mid stride in the deep snow Tokino caught a scent on the breeze. The scent of a meal. Without knowing it the male had unintentionally placed himself between the loner, Minka, and the mountain goats. The wind was gently blowing from the mountain goats to him and then back to the ladies. Quickly the gray wolf darted to the bushes finding a hiding place only 20 yards away from the lone she wolf. The older male had not seen her hiding and would not smell her with the wind blowing towards them. He eyed the goats hungrily waiting for just the right chance to jump in. Hell if I know why these goats are so far away from the mountains, but yeah go ahead injure yourselves so we can have a good meal... His thoughts rambled on along the lines of hungry, and kill each other while the male stared at the quarreling goats.

ugh I seriously suck, I'm so so sorry. Also this join thread has taken a strange turn

A steely movement in her peripheral vision distracted Minka momentarily from her hard gaze on the loner. When her eyes rested on her trusted pack mate a smile briefly danced across her features, it seemed she wasn't the only one ready to defend the pack if need be. Eyeing the stranger once more warily the alpha disappeared into the tree line as she made her way silently towards Tokino. Moving alongside him the fae nudged his shoulder in a quiet greeting, her eyes focused upon the mountain goats that seemed intent on killing one another. Finally one of them seemed to have become victorious knocking its sparring partner to the ground and the partner did not stand up. The winner of the battle snorted and tossed its head, bleating out in triumph above the other that seemed to be hardly moving at all. The situation was tricky, Minka knew if that the goat could decide that herself and Tokino were the next targets or it could run and leave them their meal, but it was a risk that had to be taken.

The leader had all but forgotten about the loner, her hunting instincts kicking in, her pack must be fed. Brushing her tail against Tokino the she wolf gave the signal before leaping through the brush and into the open meadow. Letting out a snarl the woman barred her fangs as she crossed the clearing in large bounds, approaching the goats with great speed. Golden eyes were trained on the victorious beast, watching with great care its every move, whether it would flinch and flee or prepare to fight could change everything. It's dark eyes met Minka's for a moment but the woman did not slow, she would not show any weakness to an animal that was made to be hunted.

fate hasn't finished

MINKA LEIGH

with you yet

by Sarah

click!

There came movement. Other hungry souls were adrift in the dark night, on lithe paws with aching bellies. Hot blood on their teeth nothing but a memory, and they craved the flash-flood of it just like she, didn't they? She had not been aware of them before, but there was one. He was close. Too close. Mine. Her fangs bared in the darkness but she made not a sound; there were more important things to do.He got company. A female, rounding behind Cézanne. It bodes ill for you.Six eyes watched the display, patient predators with white breath smoking from their mouths. Finally, one goat gave in, folded its legs beneath itself, tired and beaten. Dead? Cézanne doubted it. Just too weak to survive, now. Soon, dead.

The art of hunting, the grace of a hunter, is beautiful: moonlight rippled along the fur of the charging, brazen female. She came head-on. Fool. Cézanne's long legs unfurled, and silent as a ghost she padded through the trees, snow whispering under well-worn paws. The goat stood his ground, scraped one hoof through the disturbed ground, stomped it down, snorted; you come here but no further.Which was all well. Let the young and bold take the blows while the wisdom of age quietly slits the throat.She grinned again in the darkness, blood-lust hot in the back of her throat, and stood a wary silhouette among the thin trees, waiting for the moment to strike. She was the Reaper come to haunt the earth, the devil in the doorway to block their escape: she was the butcher and the artist. A patient expert.Vivat regina, Cézanne!There were reasons she were still alive and hale.

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the snow. Hunt Opportunity

what you don't know, won't hurt you

Tokino Lagina

what you can't see, won't blind you

As the damn cloven hooved creatures beat each other to hell Tokino watched. He was started at a presence to his left when Minka appeared, however the wolf did not call out. Instead he simply jerked away until he recognized his pack mates scent and rusted gray form. Glad to see he had a friend beside him to help catch a meal.

He was grateful for her presence until Minka gave the order to attack. He bounded after her but watched the two goats apprehensively as they neared. One, the winner, stood defiantly glaring at Minka as she sped forward. The other, though it looked dead, had the scent of life still mingled within the blood and gore inflicted upon it by the victor. They would have to fight both the victorious goat off and take out the defeated male. Kino only hoped the defeated goat would give up quickly to its death.

On the other hand he didn't want to simply attack a healthy goat which was sure to be riding a high after beating such a worthy adversary in battle. The way things looked now as he rounded Minka to the winning goats left, Tokino guessed that it would take some pestering to get the goat to flee.

He also didn't want Minka to get hurt. So quickly Kino snarled and barked at the goat to try to distract it from the charging female. He made himself look as big and bad as he could hoping that two wolves would intimidate the male mountain goat enough so that it would think better of the situation and run off.

The goat locked eye contact for a long moment and still Minka sped forward, the snowy ground flying beneath her paws. It seemed as if it would stay and fight until the sound of Tokino's gnashing jaws joined hers and hesitation entered the beast's gaze. Taking advantage of the moment of doubt the woman let forth another snarl, teeth barred saliva dripped from her fangs. The goat snorted in defiance before rearing on its hind legs and fleeing the scene, the alpha on its heels for a few more yards for good measure. When the tawny she wolf was satisfied that the victorious beast would not turn around and return to cause trouble her own body turned back towards the mostly dead goat upon the ground.

Golden eyes watched warily as the prey kicked it's hooves in desperation at the snow, bleating out miserably in terror. The movement seemed to sap even more energy from the already dying animal and the kicking slowed though the sounds continued. Taking a few steps closer Minka called out to Tokino, "Finish it," before leaping forward to aid his attempt in killing the goat. Following the trail she had carved before she was able to avoid the hooves that still flailed feebly aiming for the neck as she let one more final leap forward. Sinking her teeth into flesh the fae whipped her head from side to side with as much force as possible, trying to sever the jugular. Warm blood filled her jaws and bloodlust took over, now was only instinct and her instinct was to keep herself and her pack alive.

fate hasn't finished

MINKA LEIGH

with you yet

by Sarah

click!