Beaver Dam hungry for the food that won't come

Her mother had never taken the time to explain this season to Pip. In all honesty, her mother had never taken the time to explain much of anything to her. Though it had not been done with cruel intent, Pip hoped, her mother often neglected her in favor of raising her healthier pups. And so, as she had as a pup, Pip wandered off on her own to figure out her own issues. Her current problem was the raging heat beneath her fur and the itchy, driving need to run and run and run until she couldn't breathe anymore.

The little mute found herself on a scent and was just as easily distracted away from it and towards another. Nothing seemed to hold her attention and she knew there would be no hope for fishing which had been her original intent for traveling out this way. Or so she thought. Was there really something else pulling her in this direction?

Not for the first time since she left Hollow territory, Pip's tail tucked between her legs and she paced uncomfortably before wagging her tail again and flopping down in the snow to roll. Were her voice suited for it, the young sea wolf would have been whining and whimpering madly with frustration.

Maybe she just wasn't smart enough to figure this out on her own. Hadn't her aunt said as much so many times?

It must be Nauja's recent return that dredged up painful memories from the past. While Pip would normally shove them away quickly, she instead gratefully latched on to the distraction and tortured herself with more of them.

In her mind, the memories played back as if she were living them again. Every embarrassing event leading to some sort of punishment by the Bella Coola wolves. While the past hurt, Pip knew those memories made her into who she was, so there was little use for wishing they were otherwise. Besides, if she hadn't followed this specific course in life, she never would have met Kjell.

Just the thought of him sent the heat beneath her fur raging worse than before. Miserably, Pip rolled to her other side and lay prone, panting as if she had exerted far too much energy in the action.

How was she to know?

Oh, Salem had been around women in season before, but she’d been so young, then. Barely a month old. That was hardly old enough to realize that the smell of musk wasn’t a normal thing, and by the time the season passed, Salem had no memory of it. This year, however, she was old enough to at least recognize that something was weird.

Ever since entering the vast forest, she’d been able to smell wolves. She’d needed no further telling that wolves were likely prolific in this area, and who could blame them? The forest was utterly endless, or at least that was what Salem would say, but Salem exaggerated. Still, it went on and on and on, and in every corner, the smell of wolves prevailed. But it wasn’t just the smell of wolves. As the black-and-silver yearling wound through the bare trees packed tight right up to the edge of the creek, she also detected a scent that was more out of place, mostly musty but somehow sweet and tangy, as well.

She didn’t like it, and as she came upon a prone wolf in the snow, Salem noted that the scent was stronger, too. She eyed the woman, slight of figure and draped in warm hues and panting as if she’d just jogged several miles. She instantly attributed the smell to Pip, whom she fixed with an expression of extreme distaste and snarked, you need a bath.

(This post was last modified: Mar 05, 2017, 10:09 PM by Salem.)

Russet ears flicked back quickly to capture the sudden voice of a stranger and Pip immediately rolled to her belly. Her tail swept readily between her legs and her head dipped low in wary submission. Though it shouldn't have mattered coming from a wolf she'd never met, the hurt shone in her orange eyes at the female's insult. Never before had the sea wolf been accused of being smelly and needing a bath, and now that she had, Pip wondered if she always smelled bad or if it was perhaps by chance. Surely one of her packmates would have said something. And she just had a swim yesterday despite the cold! Did this woman take several baths a day then? That was just unrealistic!

She hated times like these most; when she met with a stranger on poor terms and had no way to verbally defend herself. And even if she had the tools to physically defend herself, Pip never had learned how to use her teeth and claws to attack another efficiently. Having only just started getting the hang of hunting, the little female found the two subjects to be of vastly different fields entirely. Maybe Kjell would be able to teach her how to fight some day. Still, Pip wasn't sure that even if she knew, that she would be able to bring herself to do so.

Carefully so as not to incite violence from the other female, Pip stood slowly and would not meet the woman's eyes.

Well, this was certainly a new and unexpected reaction. The only girl from her litter and the smallest of her siblings, Salem was used to not being taken seriously. Even if she had had some sway among her brothers, she was more often than not mocked for her size and inability to do anything about it, and that meant she was definitely not winning any dominance contests. When she left home, her eldest brother had snorted in her face and said she'd be back, claiming the world was far too large for a little girl to handle. Salem had promised she would never returned, but she'd found that things weren't much different for a yearling alone in the world. She wasn't taken seriously on the best of days.

After all, taking her seriously was kind of like taking unicorns seriously, at this point. And who did that?

This woman, apparently. Salem could hardly hide the shock that sparked in her eyes when the chocolate-and-cinnamon wolf submitted to her. Submitted. To her. The glee that snaked up into her expression and tipped the corners of her lips upward was impossible to hide. A wolf with a more courteous mien would make the effort to hide such a thing, but not Salem. Oh hell no.

I know, I know, I amaze and astonish, she said with a sideways tilt of her head and the smoothing back of her ears. Half-lidded eyes swung to Pip, studied her briefly, and if Salem noticed the hurt in the other she-wolf's eyes, she didn't let on. The fact was, she did notice, and she did feel kind of bad about it (like when you say something you don't really mean but are too stubborn to take it back or apologize), but she was already playing the part. Still, even she wasn't really cruel. Just a bit misguided.

Relax, said Salem at last. I don't think it's just you. This whole place kind of smells funny. Maybe it's just the forest. She didn't know the nitty gritty details of the season, but she connected the dots well enough, as far as she was concerned. She was far off. Wolves where she was from didn't smell like this, that she could remember, but this smell was everywhere here. Ergo, she assumed that these wolves, including Pip, just reeked for some reason. And oh, if only she knew the real reason, her joking would fall away to mortification upon realizing that someday, she'd get to smell like that too.

(This post was last modified: Mar 06, 2017, 12:57 AM by Salem.)

The little mute had grown used to not being bullied while in the Grizzly Hollow pack. Granted, @Ophelia had taken a good chunk out of her shoulder in a fit of rage, but otherwise, she was treated very kindly. And yet, she fell so readily back into patterns established by her birth pack where the small get smaller and keep their eyes away to avoid challenges. Pip found the other woman wasn't very gracious in her success, leaving the pack wolf to wonder if this stranger won very many challenges.

Regarding her again now that the pair had established something in the way of boundaries, Pip found she couldn't quite agree with the woman's self assessment. Amaze and astonish? Not so much. But she was pretty. While the tawny sea wolf had come upon several wolves with black fur, she'd never seen quite a coat like hers before. It reminded her of a grizzled old wolf who used to tell stories, only instead of being riddled with arthritis and chronic pain, this wolf was as young and vibrant as they came. Silver suited her well.

Of course, the mute could hardly say as much. Even if she had a voice, she doubted she would say it outright and risk embarrassment.

At @Salem's bidding, the tension in Pip's shoulders eased off and her stiff legged stance loosened into a more relaxed posture. So she didn't think it was just her specifically. That was at least a relief. The mute was feeling odd enough as it was without a stranger insulting her about it.

The stranger's words revealed herself as a newcomer to Relic Lore and Pip found herself in the awkward position of being the first - she assumed - to welcome her to the area. Trying to take the offered olive branch, the tawny wolf wagged her tail gently and offered a small smile.

Dense and self-absorbed as she was in her youth, it took Salem longer than it ought to to realize that her tawny company wasn't talking back. It might've taken her several moments longer if she hadn't been expecting an answer. She hadn't posed a question, but she was accustomed to being corrected on her admittedly inflated ego, and when no reprimand came, she was taken aback. She searched the mature female's face a moment or two, blinking, before quite loudly asking, are you playing dumb or something?

You see, Salem was a most insensitive sort, the trait primarily attributable to the fact she was young and untried. She was also fairly naive about the many problems in the world, and muteness wasn't something she'd come across in her time. That a wolf could simply not speak was such an alien concept that it didn't even cross her mind. Pip was obviously just choosing not to, she reasoned, for some reason. She wasn't sure whether to be puzzled by it or offended.

Being somewhat of a teenager, she went with offended. It's not very cool to just ignore wolves, she sulked, pulling a pout as she flopped her rear end down in the snow. The mute wolf's tail was wagging and her lips were pulled into an expression of welcome, but Salem was wholly convinced that Pip was somehow mocking her that she didn't really notice the telltale signs of camaraderie. Instead, she went on: I get it, saying you smell wasn't very nice, but it's true, isn't it? You don't hafta just like... look at me and not say anything. She shot Pip a side eye as if to indicate that she was, in fact, deeply hurt by what was a completely innocent, uncontrollable thing on the other woman's part.

And this was it. While Pip was an overall meek wolf to begin with, this was the source of her social anxiety. It seemed no matter how skilled she grew at verbal conversation, there would always be those out there who ignored or missed her cues. The little wolf winced when the stranger asked if she was playing dumb. No, no, not at all. She wasn't playing dumb at all. She just was dumb. Pip hated the slur as it also implied that she lacked intelligence. Once upon a time, her own family had believed that as well until her siblings proved otherwise when she was a pup.

But @Blitz and @Niq'x weren't here now. She was on her own and would have to muddle through it as best she could.

Pip's tail quickly replaced itself between her legs and her head lowered with sorrow. Though never before had the mute tried to mouth out words (it felt silly and unnecessary in her opinion as long as someone was paying attention), she sidled a few steps over to be back in @Salem's range of eyesight to do just that. Demeaning, she decided. It didn't feel silly after all. It felt demeaning.

'I. Can't. Talk,' she mouthed slowly and exaggeratedly, praying fervently that the younger wolf was paying attention. She'd rather not do it again. Ever.

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