Kingsfall dagrabbit

Hi, Alice! Set before Teshi goes to join OTB.

In the dripping darkness that came at the end of a glorious sunset, a lone figure moved quietly through the underbrush, his pelt glowing faintly in the last lingering light. He hardly made a sound as he placed each paw deliberately in front of the other. There was an intentness to his pace, the way he moved steadily for a few steps and then stopped abruptly with every muscle frozen. His body was lowered, and it was clear that every ounce of focus was directed at a spot fifty yards ahead.

A small shadow hopped along, unaware of its stalker. It stopped with great casualness and looked up every few seconds, but this was clearly for show. It was munching with excessive enthusiasm on a mouthful of dandelions; its chewing could be heard from miles away, Teshi noted wryly. Not the politest of rabbits. He forced back a smile, as though even that small disturbance would alert his prey to his presence.

There was a small creek nearby, and its faint gurgling was enough cover for Teshi's light footsteps. It wasn't enough, however, to mask the sudden burst of sound that came from directly overhead as a parliament of magpies took off to find a better roost for the night. The rabbit startled and bounded off.

"Dagnabbit, you rabbit!" Teshi puffed as he leaped after it, figuring he had lost his chance with the creature anyway.

He lost sight of it as it darted away through the bushes, which were plentiful among these tall trees. The grey wolf, trying to conserve his energy, stopped quickly and flung himself on the ground. He stuck his tongue out after the lucky prey. Feeling his stomach complain about this newest development, Teshi finally picked himself up and strolled to the creek that had been on his side. Maybe he could trick himself out of hunger by filling himself with this endless supply of water instead. He drank miserably.

Askan didn't plan to make a habit of hanging around Kingsfall. He liked the River wolves well enough, hell Lachesis had saved him from a great deal of pain, if not death. So there was no way that he couldn't at least appreciate them, even if not all of their wolves deserved said recognition. But even so, hanging around outside their borders wasn't the most neighbourly of things to do. He knew damn well that he would be pissed off if one of their wolves lurked around, like a creep, without saying hello or explaining why they were there. Not that Askan was doing that but...Maybe he'd strayed too far east on his hunt.

That's all there was to it, it wasn't like he'd came out here on purpose. It was an accident, but now he was here, in a forest full of life he'd be a damn fool if he just turned around empty handed. Or pawed, whatever.

Usually, Askan was asleep at this hour, curled up by his mates side. But it was clear his case of wandering feet was getting in the way of that. Which...wasn't good. But maybe Reyes would be happy to see him return unharmed and with food. Surely the fact he'd wandered off at all was a good one, that he was feeling better, more stable. As to whether it was actually true, well he wasn't sure and honestly he didn't want to think about it.

Food was on the agenda, everything else didn't matter.

With that in mind, the last Selwyn crept through the dark forest, his ears and nose on the hunt for anything he could bring down and eat. Be it rabbit, deer, some sort of bird or so on so forth. And then, of course, some arsehat had to yell and make a whole lot of noise.Probably scaring away whatever prey had been lurking nearby.

Squinting in annoyance, Askan felt the hackles along his back stand on point as his tail swished this way and that. To say he was pissed...Would be accurate.

"Oi, shut your gob!" Askan hissed, though his voice was loud enough to carry through the night. What an idiot, yelling like that. Tsk.

So sorry for how long you've had to wait! This week has been ridiculously busy. :O

Teshi felt a disturbance moving through the forest nearby before he heard the stranger reprimanding him. He stopped drinking abruptly, his tongue poised just above the water in an absurd position. His ears flicked up on high alert. Though he tended to have a dreamy quality about him, the former Warbler was surprisingly attuned to his surroundings and would have made a decent guard. It was most likely skill born out of necessity; time spent too long alone meant he had only himself to look out for his own back.

He heard the stranger moving closer, a slight set of footfalls on the other side of the creek all that betrayed the other wolf's presence. Teshi strained his eyes in the darkness, trying to make out a figure. The wolf must have sported a dark coat because he could make out nothing through the muddy light. Reflecting on how much he must have stood out with his fairly light coat, Teshi retreated from the edge of the creek, taking slow steps backward into the minimal cover the straggly brush offered.

A little embarrassed at having been caught out by this stranger, Teshi stage-whispered back, "Consider it shut!"

He thought best-case scenario in this instance would be that the other individual simply moved along, having fulfilled his moral duty to chide a foolish wanderer. Worst-case would be if the other individual felt obligated to then engage him in further conversation—probably to scold him further. Teshi was a generally social wolf, but he wasn't feeling positive about an interaction that started with another wolf yelling at him like a child (even though he had somewhat earned it with his impulsive volume). Feeling a conflagration of dread burn through his chest, the russet-caped wolf ducked his head and waited with wildly beating heart for the next turn of events.

Askan didn't expect, nor did he want a response yet he got one nonetheless.

The Selwyn scowled and shot a dirty look in the general direction of which the voice had come from. Really? Wouldn't it have been better to just not say anything? It's not as though Askan had asked for a response and yet the stranger-rather stupidly- decided to make even more of a ruckus just so that he could tell him that he was going to shut up. What an idiot. Had his parents dropped him on his head as a pup? Did he have a few screws loose?

Stomping out of the undergrowth, Askan approached the creek and lo and behold there was the loud mouth. He assumed that the stranger would have been younger, smaller. An adolescent at most. And yet, it was obvious he had at least a couple of years under his belt. He was a tawny thing,unremarkable at best and bland at worst. Or so Askan thought, but then again he did have a predisposition towards a certain dark coated wolf...But that was beside the point.

By this point Askan had given up on his hunt. He was no longer in the mood and was doubtful there was anything worthwhile around anymore anyway.He planned on having a drink before turning around to make the journey back home, but before he even bowed down his eyes locked with the noisy stranger on the other side of the creek. Immediately, his expression shifted into a sneer.

"You cost me my dinner, you prat." Askan snapped, his bright yellow eyes scalding hot with contempt.

Much to Teshi's chagrin, the stranger emerged rather closely to where he had taken up his post in the foliage by the creek. But for someone who had appeared to be so annoyed at Teshi's earlier noisiness, the other wolf sure did make some noise of his own while stomping out of the undergrowth. Teshi noted the fact with a slightly amused inward grin, though he schooled his face into a picture of contrition and betrayed none of his internal amusement.

The other wolf's manner was hardly sibylline... His mood was fairly telltale from the surly expression and unnecessary name-calling. He understood why the dark wolf was annoyed, but having very rarely felt the emotion for himself, Teshi thought the stranger would soon overcome his annoyance and return to a normal state. That's how it had been when he'd ever felt irked. But being fairly genial, and only loosely attached to circumstances, Teshi was hard-pressed to ever feel extremes of anything. He blew neither hot nor cold, his temperament remaining fairly tepid at all times. It often came in handy in avoiding conflicts, which he hoped to do now.

He could make out the size and shape of the other wolf, now that he had emerged from beyond the gloom. Teshi could tell he had a couple inches over the other wolf, but the other was far bulkier and could probably take him on quite easily in a fight. With a few gentle whiffs, Teshi was able to discern that the other fellow had traces of pack scent on him. Oh, he definitely wouldn't be able to defend himself against a pack wolf. He was going to have to rectify this as lightly as he could.

"Apologies," he replied gently, dipping his head and flicking his ears back briefly. He had found it easy to pick out the other wolf's eyes, magnetic as they were, in the darkness; he drew his gaze downward now to further illustrate his regret at having disturbed the stranger.

But how to demonstrate his willingness to atone for the unfortunate situation? Teshi thought fleetingly about turning tail and dashing off into the night. He was fairly sure he could outrun the other wolf, too.

... But what if he wasn't? And it was also a fairly cowardly option. Teshi was far from proud, but he didn't like the idea of this wolf taking word back to his pack about an easily intimidated lone wolf roaming near their land. Maybe they were the type to hunt wolves like him, who wandered too closely to their territory, for sport. No, he was better off at least trying to repair the situation by other means first.

"If you'd like," he offered now, offhand, "I could hunt you down dinner to make up for it."

A lynx has left behind the remains of a deer. +5 Health