Heartleaf Creek Party Over Here

So much within such little time happened as in the blink of an eye the pup and his russet colored friend were gone, descending the knoll she now stood upon towards the gathering of wolves in an attempt to get a bite of food. How was she suppose to con him into winning her precious carcass if he went all willy nilly to fraternize with the enemy! Some partner in crime he turned out to be and reminded her never to send a pup to do the dirty work. Their poor tiny minds couldn't keep plans straight even if they wanted to. Silently she stood on her hill, glaring down at the every growing collection of thieves below with her bi-colored gaze of stone as they fed upon her meal. It was her luck that the bison was there. This was her meal, her food, hers hers hers and they were stealing it! A growl followed her mental screaming before a thought clicked and quickly pushed the tantrum away. Now that the pup was down there she had an excuse to venture down and eat her fill. Her stomach voiced its opinion then as it gurgled and groaned with the desire to be fed like it deserved. Brilliant! The pup had some use still after all.

With this thought tucked safely in the recess of her mind the ivory Beauvau woman made the descent towards the gathering, intent on getting what was in her mind rightfully hers. Her stare quickly darted between the mixture of brown, dark and light pelts as she marched confidently forward with her tail raised behind her in a posture to indicate she wasn't afraid of a few pack wolves and settled herself neatly along the curvature of the belly between the light colored female and dark coated male both of which smelt of different packs. That didn't matter though as packs meant nothing to Hexamora these days and thus she placed a single paw on the middle of the belly before lowering her head to tear a large chunk from the bison, her taste buds welcoming the morsel and much needed source of calories. Hexamora 'Primrose' was gonna be eating good today and nobody was gonna stop her now. Nobody.

She had wanted him away from the bison completely. The thin whine did little to help the situation and her low growl continued as he stumbled away. He wasn't leaving as she had hoped and the hard stare followed him to the bison's hind leg. There was a loud outcry from the rusty female and Iopah snapped around to face her. The step closer was countered with one of her own. They no right to come in and expect anything. It was a lesson the adult caretaker seemed to need a reminder in. Bloodied lips pulled back as she snarled, body poised to defend her position. The other didn't press it and Iopah watched tensely as the group congregated on the hind leg together. She calculated and considered for a moment, then an ear flicked back and she returned to her spot. It simply wasn't worth it.

Her tongue swiped across her face, streaking along her jaw like warpaint. The bison was waiting and she angled back to her spot, turning to give Mordacai an exasperated look as she crouched down to it. It had been so long since she'd had bison. This one was a little ripe, the stench of spoiling meat beginning to overpower the heady smell of blood. That made it all the easier to slice through the muscle, carving out a piece to return home with. She crooned low in contentment and a small movement made her look back to Mordacai. Something was oddly familiar about him. From the corner of her eye she studied him, chewing steadily. A mental piece shifted into place and she stilled, looking over at Enoki momentarily. She swallowed, the meat heavy in her gut, and stated, "You're related."

The statement didn't have a chance to continue into a question. Iopah was still watching him, blinking in familiarity when a pale wolf placed herself between them. She growled a loud warning to the bold wolf, mouth wide to show stained ivory teeth. This was getting ridiculous, Io thought. She didn't have the patience to deal with most strangers. Rapidly her teeth returned to the task of tearing a chunk of meat away. She didn't care about all these secrets, the names of the Black Thorn idiots, any of that. Eat, collect her prize, then get the hell out of dodge.

(This post was last modified: Nov 14, 2014, 06:45 AM by Iopah.)

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

The younger wolf, Titan he called himself, quickly excused himself after ordering the kid not to be killed. That made him tense up, as if expecting an attack right then and there, once Titan was out of sight and hearing range. But nothing happened, except for wolves either moving under the trees or going back to eating the bison. But that did not mean Florence was going to relax at all. He and Fly were going to wait until Kova had finished eating and then they were going. Whether they would tell Tokino and Minka, that would have to wait until Kova had been delivered back safely to the pack den. His stomach grumbled at being so close to food and nothing was being eaten. But Florence could hunt later. Kova needed the food more then he did.

Florence's eyes flickered over to the piebald female when she spoke to them, snidely calling Kova, Fly and himself pup, shadow one and shadow two.

"The 'pup' spoke his name earlier. It is of no consequence of his if you did not hear it." He answered in a carefully guarded tone. Florence was a patient wolf but with so many wolves around and the possibility of a fight breaking out with the pale female wolf especially, he was wary and on edge. "And either way, it is polite to speak your own name when asking other for theirs." Florence did not want to freely give his name to this stranger. He just hoped Kova was too preoccupied eating to answer the woman's question, even if he only knew his own name and Fly's.

If only he was an adult. He'd show them all what the rules were, but unfortunately Kova knew how weak he was. Even if he had been practicing the pack roles and growing both physically and mentally stronger, he was still just a kid. Ridiculous. He kept on eating, though Kova did watch as the black male decided to leave. The young Lagina was trying to remember where he had heard the name Titan Thorben before. He was certain that it had been uttered by his father. As the male turned to leave Kova sat up and called out to him, "Wait!" he asked. However the dark wolf either ignored him and continued on or he hadn't heard the pup as he loped away. Sullen and now full of questions once more, Kova settled back down to his meal. He had a bad feeling that he was forgetting something important, and he NEVER forgot things. Kova's eyes flicked to the white and black woman as she asked for his name. Pointedly the boy ignored her and continued gulping down food as fast as he could. The child's belly was not only being filled, but it was beginning to swell. Then he noticed Primrose come over and situate herself at the carcass. The wolves around her growled again and Kova grew annoyed with their complaints. "Stop growling at everybody! This thing is huge, there's lots of food for everyone! Besides Primrose is the one who brought it down in the first place." Kova looked over to @Hexamora with a pained look on his face. Why was everybody being so mean? Yeah they weren't all from the same pack, but that didn't matter here. It wasn't like they were on each others territory. He was pleasantly full, but Kova didn't ant to leave the carcass just yet. Not after everything he had to go through to get to his spot. Turning to look at Firefly and the new Downs wolf, Kova wagged his tail. "Fly, uhh.. what's your name? Come by me you can have some. I'm almost done." Kova looked to Florence curiously. He knew he was his fathers subordinate but he didn't know the males name.

SalsolaStock @DA, Eirian-stock & Dawnthieves.de - Table by PuppyThief

[/quote]

(This post was last modified: Nov 14, 2014, 02:24 PM by Kova.)

Firefly noticed Titan come closer to her little group of Down wolves and was surprised when he addressed Kova instead of her. He asked for the boy's name and Firefly was painfully curious what the fixation with Kova was about. Florence had asked her a question, though, and she didn't want to be rude so instead of asking Titan what interest he had in Kova, as she had planned to do, she instead addressed Florence. "Yes, this is a bison. My family and I encountered them every so often, though we never hunted any; they were far too large for three wolves to take down. They also travel in packs and are very protective of their young so that wasn't an option either. But when one died, as this one did, my family would have full caches for many days." Fly explained remembering the few times her mother, brother, and herself had been lucky enough to come across a fallen bison. Firefly listened to what passed between her prince and Titan and was a little irked when Titan made a hasty retreat. He simply whispered something to the dark woman and trotted away, ignoring Kova when the pup called out to him. Fly watched as the light colored suspicious woman made her way over to the carcass and was quite satisfied when the light colored growling lady also growled at her. At least it was fair treatment with that one. When the darker woman asked for all of their names she was also satisfied with Florence's answer and counted herself lucky to have the large male by her side. She would have to thank him in private later, and tell Tokino and Minka how well he had protected their son. On the other hand, Firefly was very dissatisfied with Kova protecting the suspicious lady. The boy invited her to eat, but she declined, "No, Kova, it's alright. Im not that hungry. You and Florence can eat." She gave her friend a meaningful nod to let him know it was okay to eat if wanted to. She would keep diligent watch over them both. "Speech"

Dawnthieves.de - Table by PuppyThief

Mordacai was surprised to see it was the light she wolf with the pretty eyes that got the pup to leave, though he did feel bad that she had been so aggressive with him. He would have preferred a more peaceful method of getting rid of the begger. It got the job done, so be grateful, a less considerate voice in his head chimed in and Cai shrugged. It did get the job done, and it wasn't like the pup actually got hurt so he did owe her thanks. Before he could say anything he noticed Titan rejoining the group, but his stay was short. He shared a few words with the pup and then let Kiki and Cai know not to kill it. Apparently, they were family. Again, Cai merely shrugged. Their family drama was their own and he had no interest in it. He was never going to hurt the pup anyway and surely Enoki wouldn't have, though the russet female and her large companion were another story.

After Titan left, another light colored female walked up. Her eyes were two different colors and Cai thought that was interesting, but they weren't half as pretty as the faded gold color that Enoki's friend had. Speaking of which, Cai noticed that she was staring at him now. He heard her mumbling something about being related and this piqued his curiosity. Now, it was his family drama on the table. He heard words being exchanged between the pup and it's guardians but he was more interested in Kiki's friend now. Finishing off the last bit of his liver, he ran his tongue over his lips hoping to clean the blood off of his maw before speaking to her. Then in a polite voice, he thanked her and asked, "Thank you for helping to defend our meal earlier. You seem to know my sister, but we have not met yet, I believe. My name is Mordacai Ashrelle. May I ask for yours?" The swarthy male was happy to let his amber eyes meet her pale orbs briefly before lowering them slightly out of respect.

Not even a minute went by before the light colored she-wolf beside her issued a warning growl barring stained teeth at her boldness, clearly not keen on the idea of sharing the abundance of food with another stranger and Hex met this display with a quick lip curl to reveal her own blood stained canines, clicking them together with a quick lick to the front of her maw defensively as her body grew tense in anticipation should things go down hill quick. Nobody was going to push her out of the way and force the pale woman to miss another meal opportunity even if she was the smallest wolf present minus the kid, especially a mangy pack wolf. Meeting the golden eyes of the woman she stared defiantly for a minute to get her point across before turning her head away to return to her previous task of filling her stomach ignoring the stares that followed her.

Idle chit chat floated around her that was pointedly ignored as her only concern was filling her stomach up to max compacity, not making new friends or enemies in her case for the day. That was until she heard her alias name fall from the pups mouth and this piqued her interest causing her to lift her bloodied head from the carcass, fixing her gaze on little Kova who returned her look with a pained one of his own. "Nice try kid, but they don't care what a pup has to say. Everyone is fending for themselves." With that said she turned her head back to the belly in order to saw off a large chunk with her teeth, her intentions of taking it away from the carcass and the others to eat hopefully in peace. The sheer number of wolves present was starting to make the ivory woman highly tensed. Once the last bit of sinew was sliced her fangs sank into the tender meat and dragged the precious morsel to a more secluded spot, but still within view and hearing distance of the gathering.

Now that she had her own private abode to enjoy her meal in silence, Hexamora began to gnaw on the chunk of meat while her stone cold stare watched the wolves before her cautiously. They may all leave once their bellies were filled to never return, but she wasn't a fool and knew this creature would feed her for days and she planned to stick around the area to take advantage of the free food. Nobody was going to eat another bite of that delicious bison. No scavenger, no bear, no raven, no other wolf. She would chase them all off and hoard the beast all to herself selfishly. Luckily for her though with the overpowering scent of wolf saturating the area the chance of something walking up would be slim for at least a day or two. Her belly could be filled over and over again until nothing but bones remained. What a treat this bison was to a gaunt framed girl like Hexamora.

Florence flicked his ears towards Fly as she begun telling hums about the animal that all the wolves were currently feeding off. He nodded in understanding, the beast was quite large and could easily feed a pack of wolves for a few days. Glancing down at Kova as he tried to stop the others from growling at each other but before the woman apparently called Primrose told him it didn't matter, that they wouldn't listen to him. Florence sent a glare her way before turning back to Kova.

"My name is Florence Flint." The larger male answered the pup's question lightly, looking over to Fly and catching her nod to him. He knew she would watch over both him and Kova as they ate. He trusted the small female to know what she was doing. Quirking his lips into something of a smile, Florence nodded when Kova asked them to join him in eating. "Well, I am feeling a little hungry so I shall join you." Lowering his mouth to the leg of the bison, he tore off a suitable slice of meat and begun chewing on it. He ignored all the other wolves for now, letting their chats mingle together. Only Kova and Fly mattered to him right now.

Slice and pull. Congealed blood smeared against her chest as Iopah worked. Casting the white woman a suspicious glance with each tug. Little by little the meaty prize was coming away in her jaws. Pale gray ears were swept back, aware that many of the wolves probably thought very little of her. The idea wasn't even a blip on her moral conscience. If they thought life should be kind and generous, it was her responsibility to demonstrate otherwise.

They were talking only, no rumblings of an attack while her back was turned. The pup was awful bossy for his age. The hunk of bison came free and she backed away from the shrinking carcass with it. Her teeth lost their grip on the shredded end. Iopah set it down and swung a foreleg over it protectively. The kid was still going on, idle ears listened as she pondered a better angle to grasp it. Now he was saying the skinny white woman had felled the bison all on her own. It was a lie, no way that was possible. The bison was already to smell of decay and the other woman was smaller and younger than Iopah. She laughed loudly at Kova's statement. A loud condescending belly laugh at Kova and Hexamora's expense. "Even your dads got more sense than that.", she commented to Kova before starting to pick the waiting piece of bison.

There was another interruption. She paused, teeth sunk into the meat, as Mordacai addressed her. An innocent question, but she hesitated and her eyes cast down. Tempting as it was, she had to speak to him. Iopah couldn't ignore Kele's blood brother, this Mordacai. But she couldn't have this discussion here. Her head came up, meat in tow, and moved toward him and away from the others in a few steps. The meat was dropped and she spoke, tingling with nerves. "I'm Iopah Barberi. I grew up with your older brother." Of course she wasn't talking about Arion, but with her last name that should have clicked instantly with him. As soon as the words were out she was backing away, shaking her head at any following questions. She didn't want to let all the skeletons out of the closet with so many ears listening. "I'm sorry," she called back as her steps turned into a jog. Her pack was waiting. This was the wrong time to speak with him, but certainly they would meet again. It would have to wait till then.

Iopah's exit? unless someone pursues...