Antler Ring Isn't she shy?

Re: Lenae, while you weren't looking, a mink stole your kill! @Namir

Today was a good day. Not only was Leane going to see-brave, pretty, and utterly charming- Little Crow again, but she'd also caught something! Her first ever proper kill since she'd set paws in this new and strange land. It was only a rabbit, not even a big one. Gangly and not yet fully grown, but a rabbit was a rabbit, right? And she'd chased it down and caught it all by herself. What an achievement.

Not only that, but she had to much to tell her new friend! Piety, as she had hoped had been very helpful. She had told Leane everything she wanted to hear and more. Now it was only a matter of telling Little Crow and then her debt-not so debt- would be paid and she'd feel lighter than a cloud.For today at least.

Bouncing along with a spring in her step,Lenae approached the Antler Ring and gingerly placed the rabbit on the floor. It was a gift, of sorts. She thought that....maybe they could share it. If Little Crow felt like it, if she liked rabbit.But then again, didn't everyone?

In hindsight she wished they had been more specific when agreeing to meet. Was she too early? To eager? Or was she hours late and the Crow long gone? Frowning, Lenae bowed down and sniffed about, looking for her familiar scent. It wasn't to be found...Which meant she was early, on time...Or that Little Crow wasn't going to show up at all.

Like her bird namesake, Lenae flitted about, pacing back and forth, weaving through the antler ring. She had gotten ahead of herself,once again. When would she learn? Or was it too late for her, was she a lost cause?

Sighing, Lenae turned her attention back to her sort of-maybe not- gift and- what was that little furry thing doing here and why did it have a rabbit in it's mouth?It a took a split second for her to realise what was just happening and by then it was too late.

"Hey! No, that's mine!" She cried, her voice already starting to tremble as tears pooled in the corners of her eyes.

Of course this had to happen, nothing ever went her way.

(This post was last modified: Aug 16, 2017, 08:44 PM by Lenae.)

“Hey, if I ain’t back in a lil’ while, come lookin’ ‘fer me near th’ antler ring.”

The nice thing about having a travelling companion, Little Crow thought to herself, was that there was someone to look for her if things went awry. Which kind of happened back with the pack, but it was more about an excuse to retaliate, and less that someone working her would be sorry to see her go. Wasn’t like she thought Annabird – or whatever her actual name was – might try to pull a fast one on her, but then again, it was her own Mama that had thrown her to the proverbial (and literal) wolves.

No one was really trustworthy.

Big Buzzard was her best bet right now, if only because she was feeding the guy – he was the least likely to set her up, because he’d benefit the least. It was a natural way of things. Perhaps it was the train of thought that had her so distracted, but she almost missed the kerfuffle up ahead. Her head jerked up, ears laying backwards as Annabird’s voice rang out.

“But I didn’--!”

A little furry snake! No one out-thieved a thief! Little Crow changed direction suddenly, hurrying after the fuzzy critter. “C’mon, Annabird! We can take ‘em!”

Lenae was at a loss.

It wasn't fair, she had caught that rabbit all by herself. It wasn't as though she deserved this, that she was getting a taste of her own medicine. She never stole, the closest thing to it was when she picked at the remains of something else's kill. But surely they'd already had their fill, or they wouldn't have left it for scavengers.

It was a silly thing to cry over, she knew that, but even so she had a hard time keeping the sniffles at bay. Every time she tried the world had a way of throwing it back into her face. She'd been looking forward to seeing Little Crow again but apparently she wasn't allowed to feel that way. Maybe the world wanted to be miserable now and forever.

Maybe she deserved it too.

She had been about to cut her losses when a voice stole her attention.Oh, Little Crow!

It hadn't even occurred to her that she could take back her rabbit but when Little Crow said so it seemed...like the right thing to do. Little Crow was already in pursuit and the minx knew it. It was only a small thing and dragging the rabbit along slowed it considerably. Lenae could easily catch it, if she tried.

She licked her lips nervously as time seemed to slow around her.  This wasn't the sort of thing she did, but wasn't that all the more reason to do it? New experiences and all? Okay. Just this once, because Little Crow was here. With all the speed of a hummingbird in flight, Lenae kicked off into a sprint and rushed across the tundra, quickly narrowing in on the struggling minx. Nasty critter, how dare it steal her rabbit!

Darting to the side, Lenae-rather skillfully, she might add- held out her leg and watched with subdued delight as the minx crashed right into it and tumbled to a stop. Before it even had a chance to get to it's feet, Lenae plucked the rabbit off the ground and darted off again with her tail wiggling behind her.

"Er gut oot!" She proclaimed, so very excited.

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

Little Crow wasn’t exactly sure what she intended Annabird to do – or what she intended the older woman to do when she called out to her – but springing out and tripping the mink was definitely not on her list, not even close. If she wasn’t busy trying not to trip over her own paws as the sudden cessation of motion, she might have dropped her jaw plum open, utterly stunned by, well, the shear genius of the move. The wolf circled around, ears pressed forward as Annabird scooped her kill back up and the disoriented mink struggled to its feet.

The loner gave it a curious look, watching as it staggered before it seemed to realize the gravity of its situation. All at once it squealed and took off again; Namir lifted a paw, and then decided better of it. Why bother chasing a muskrat’s cousin? Wasn’t like it was good eats.

Sunset eyes fell on her companion instead, head tilting to once side as she wagged her tail at the small female. Not many wolves were smaller than Little Crow! “Good catch, Annabird,” she panted, tongue lolling out one side of her mouth. Certainly wasn’t the uncertain female she met floundering around in the water now, was she? Little Crow plunked her haunches down, and then slipped all the way down, sprawling tiredly against the grasslands. “Never woulda thoughta that, kickin’ out. Neat trick.”

Lenae lived for praise. Any positive interaction or even a smile made her heart race in her chest. She was so used to being treated poorly....It just felt good, incredibly so. At this rate she was at risk of getting addicted, but she didn't care. Not when Little Crow seemed so impressed by her.

It wasn't like she had done anything fancy. It just sort of popped into her head and she acted on it. It was as simple as that. By no means she was going to argue though, if anything she stood there basking in the moment and wiggling her tail so fast it was starting to ache. Her lips were hurting too, though whether it was from grinning like a goof or carrying the rabbit she didn't know.

Plopping it to the floor, she licked the blood from her lips and offered Little Crow a sheepish, if not flattered smile.

"Thanks! I was thinking...Maybe we could share it. If you'd like? You know what they say, a meal is better if shared with good company!" She wasn't sure if anyone ever said that...but it sounded good. Like it was a saying.

"Oh and I have news for you, if you'd like to hear it." She set her rump on the floor and tilted her head, her eyes closing in a cute squint.

“Oh! Wow, really? Thanks!”

Shit! Who was she to say no to a free meal? Usually Little Crow had to do more than meet a friend – even Big Buzzard didn’t feed her just for showing up. Damn. She couldn’t hide the dumb grin threatening to crawl across her face. It didn’t matter if anyone else actually said that or not – Annabird’s suggestion sounded damn fine!

The skinny loner plopped down next to the other female, tail thumping against the grass as she leaned into help herself. Was she supposed to wait? She didn’t make the kill, but Annabird did offer. And they weren’t in a pack. So did rank matter? Sociability and good manners were all still kind of a blur for Little Crow; navigating pack politics was hard enough, but dealing with wolves outside? Eh. She was just going to stick with the first offer and hope it was good.

That was the plan, anyways, at least until her friend mentioned the news. Oh yeah! That was why they agreed to meet in the first place!

Namir’s head jerked up and she slurped up a piece of muscle hanging between her teeth, tongue smacking across her lips. “News? Good news?”

Lenae was content to watch Little Crow chow down. She never really went hungry these days, as the packs caches were almost always full and she had been told to help herself if she was hungry. Even now, she still felt a little bad taking from them, but maybe from here on out she would take advantage of her change of luck and hunt on her own from time to time. Every little helped, right?

She wasn't going to demand that her new friend save her some, but if she did she'd be happy to eat it. Even if it was just to spite that silly mink who thought it was a good idea to try and steal from her!

Lenae sat there in silence, watching Little Crow with perhaps a little too much interest. What? Seeing others be happy made her happy as well, like she was borrowing their joy or something. It sounded stupid in her head and she knew if she ever tried to explain it she would no doubt come across as a weirdo but...It meant a lot to her, really. And after everything Crow had done for her, was it so bad she wanted her friend to be happy?

And oh- oh oh oh did she seem to be happy when Lenae mentioned she had news. Even if she looked kinda silly with all that rabbit hanging out of her mouth. It was actually sort of cute, endearing in an accidental sort of way.

"Yep! It's good!" She assured her with a big beaming smile. "I asked my friend and she said she knows about that pack, but it's called Fallen Tree Cove, not cave. It's far far away, across the mountain and all the way down to the south! And she once spoke to a man called Ka-" She paused with a troubled frown. She'd went over and over his name in her head but still she couldn't quite..."Kajika! Who said he was from Fallen Tree Cove. I don't know anything about Namid though, my friend has never met her. I'm sorry." She ducked her head down, saddened she couldn't be of anymore help.

Maybe she should have slowed down a little, she'd been in such a rush to get it out there. But it was all said and done now, she supposed. She hoped Little Crow was happy.

Wow…good news!

She’d spent her whole life pissing off gods that might or might not exist, cursed with bad luck that belonged to either her or her mother, and Namir had come to expect the worst. Didn’t even need to prepare for it anymore. It just happened. And shit, she’d been in the forest for a few seasons now, with no luck in answering any of her questions, and she was beginning to think there weren’t anything to be found here, neither. That she was in the wrong forest, or that she had the wrong names, or that maybe her Mama had made them up all together.

But Annabird knew.

Little Crow’s mouth dropped open, eyes widening before she could catch herself. “Don’t be sorry!” she choked, trying to get herself back together. “Ain’t no one told me jack shit yet! Was startin’ t’ think there was no such thing as Fallen Tree Cove ‘er the wolves ‘er whatever. Hot damn.” She shook her head, the look of wonder still stuck there. Fuck, she felt like a damn idiot. But they were here! Everything she was looking for was here, in this stupid forest…when she went around the mountain, apparently she’d gone right around the pack.

Her tail beat wildly from side-to-side. “Yer fuckin’ amazin’, y’know that?” Her paws patted the ground. “Thanks, Annabird.”

Damn, was she ever glad she pulled this one outta the water.

Little Crow told her not to be sorry, but she was. In comparison this seemed so little to what she had done back then, at the rushing river. And yet it was clear that the loner appreciated her efforts, she was over the moon, mouth agape and wide eyes. Lenae, as rude as it might have seemed, couldn't help but laugh. It was funny and the Selwyn had always had a good sense of humour, if not a little slapstick at times.

She sure did have a funny way of speaking, but Leane quickly decided she liked it. That it was quirky, fun and different. Something that made Little Crow the smart and brave individual she was.

Still, her compliments took Lenae by surprise and she couldn't help but stare, just as befuddled as Little Crow had been mere moments before. Amazing. Not only that, fucking amazing! That was something else, but best of all she knew that her new friend meant it. They weren't pretty words designed to lower her inhibitions and guard. She really thought that Lenae was more than the sum of her parts... and it felt good. Really really good, if not a little embarrassing.

"Uh..Well, I don't know about that..." She shuffled her weight from one paw to the next. More of an excited little dance thaN a nervous one. "But thank you! Really!"

She paused, she was quickly running out of steam, damn it.

"Is there...Anything else I can do! I like to be helpful you know, doing my part for the greater good!"