Blackened Down one more time

// @Vayko ^^

Instead of feeling sorry for himself and hiding beneath that little bush he'd found, Riven had gotten to his feet and headed off in search of something new. Most of his brain was telling him that it was useless, and that he should probably just find a nice hole to huddle in and give up. But there was a part of him that had firmly decided that he had to keep on. It sucked, and he was cold, and hungry, and significantly lighter in weight than he had been when he left the Fields, but he was also more independent, and he was sure that nature would provide for him in some way.

Except... not here.

The trees were darkened, burned and destroyed by a fire that had happened long ago. Evidenced by the fact that there was some new growth - small shrubs and winter-browned grasses that crunched beneath his paws. Mostly barren, but holding the promise of a new future somewhere under the ashes.

It seemed fitting that he'd find himself here.

And it was even more lucky that a squirrel - skinny though it may be - had picked the exact wrong moment to cross his path. Because luckily for Riven, his reflexes were just a hair faster, and he'd managed to leap onto the small creature, swiftly dispatching it in a messy bite to the back of the neck.

"Thank you," he breathed before lowering his head and taking a bite.

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

Vayko tended to be a creature of habit. He preferred the Wildwood now, even if he had only been there for a few days… there was something comforting about it’s presence. He had taken the time to scour the forest and the territories that laid in it. Things had been getting better; he still had his cousins, and he had found his sister which gave him hope of finding the rest of his family soon enough, but for now he could explore. He knew eventually his cousins, particularly the adventurous ones, would want to move on from this land into different areas, but he was a creature of habit and there was a part of him that wanted to stay safely nestled in that which he was familiar with. He’d already been unwillingly uprooted once.

It was a safety blanket.

There was an eerie look to this place that Vayko found appealing, the way the trees hummed with the darkness of the events that had once unfolded there. He liked to walk through the forest still haunted by it’s past. He had caught the scent of the squirrel, but by the time he did, it was the blood he was smelling. He made his way through the underbrush with a threatening demeanor, a scowl on his features with narrowed eyes. “Oi, what are you doing eating my food?” He owned these lands. In his mind, he was a king keeping his family safe, and so that was exactly how he was going to play this out.

A nearby creek is full to the brim with fish. +3 Health

Riven was so interested in his meal that he did not realize he was being approached until the other boy was practically right on top of him. He blinked slowly at the aggression in the newcomer's voice, blue gaze flicking upward til he met eyes with the stranger. A boy, like himself, perhaps a little bigger than him. Golden eyes.

Very angry.

Riv frowned and looked down at where he had previously dug into the squirrel. He didn't think he had gotten onto anyone's territory by accident, and he certainly knew that this boy hadn't killed this squirrel himself. So while he normally would have just given it over and gotten the heck out of there, the hunger gnawing at his stomach gave him pause. It would be unwise to get into a fight over one squirrel, but maybe they could come to an understanding.

"We could share it?" he tried, offering the boy a frown, glancing from the prey to him.

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

Vayko was outraged at the very thought that this kid had the audacity to enter his turf and take his prey! He just frowned and Koko huffed indignantly at the boy and his question. “Share that? Share that?!?” He could not believe the boy in front of him as he stalked forward, tail curling up his back as he narrowed his eyes and hissed. “How exactly are both of us supposed to get a mouthful off of that scrawny piece of meat?” He asked as his lip curled up into a snarl. Vayko had no right to be pissed, as he did not actually own the territory, but it had never stopped him before.

“You’ll leave it if you know what’s good for you… find prey elsewhere.” He challenged, intent on playing with the boy’s mental state just a little more after this. He needed to gauge how to react first to see how pliable he might be. Was he a fighter? A fleer? A bargainer? He preferred wolves who tried to bargain, but he’d take the other two as well. It’d give him something interesting to chase, or even something to sink his teeth into after all.

As nervous a wolf as Riven was, he was not a fleer. A fighter, not at all. A bargainer, perhaps. He greatly enjoyed talking things through - working every possible angle that would come out with a positive result for everyone involved. Nature's bounty was greatly depleted in the winter, but that absolutely did not mean that they weren't still meant to share what they had. It was a difficult thing to do, especially when one was alone and hungry and the wolf who approached was certainly not the kindest. But that didn't mean he deserved to starve, either.

"Like this," he offered, tone benign and even. He dipped his head down and took care to bite and tear the squirrel into two pieces. It wasn't precisely even, but it was close enough. Riv pushed the tail end toward the stranger - it was more likely to have more meat on it, after all, and maybe that would appease the other boy.

He waited, paw on his own half to keep it close to him, to see what decision the other wolf would make.

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

Vayko could not help but scowl. He had decided after his meeting with Annaliese just after arriving in these strange lands that he could not trust anyone who did not carry the Valle name. Family was all he had, and family was all he needed to keep his interests safe in a land none of them knew. The offer to share food in the middle of winter seemed too selfless an act to come with no cost. There was always a price, he just needed to figure out what this small little thing’s price was.

He watched cautiously as the boy split the pieces and offered him some, the bigger half even, though it just made him more suspicious of his motives. He had watched him split it, a frown on his features because there must have been some way he had managed to tamper with it. “What’s the catch?” There was always a catch. “I’m not an idiot, what’s the price for this alleged kindness.” He snapped again with an almost irritated look on his features. It was as if Vayko didn’t have a benign bone in his body, which was honestly probably the truth.

”The catch is that you eat the squirrel instead of eating me,” Riven stated earnestly, though he was no longer quite so afraid that he was actually in danger. If the other boy had wanted to, he probably would have already attacked. But it truly did not take a genius to realize that fighting in the winter was a bad idea.

In truth, it was a rather selfish gesture. He would get to eat his half of the prey and avoid conflict - what more could he ask for, really?

Blue eyes flickered from the dark boy to the prey laying on the ground. ”If you don’t want it, I’ll eat it,” he offered, nudging the tail end once more toward the other wolf.

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

Vayko snorted softly at his statement. He supposed that was fair, a life for a life or something along those lines. He crept forward, though his eyes never left the other boy as he slowly picked the piece up in his jaws, slumping down as he started to quickly devour the small morsel. He was a generous overlord it would seem, letting him leave with his life.

He just was not generous enough to let him have the entire pathetic squirrel. Sure, he had the good graces of having eaten recently thanks to the carcasses that he and his cousins kept finding, along with a herd near the area that they had enough wolves to hunt… but that did not mean that he would ever turn down food. It was winter and he refused to take such liberties. He was cocky, but he was not, indeed, that cocky.

“What is your name?” The question came sharp and untrusting off his tongue, trying to gleam more information from the boy that he could hopefully use to his advantage, either through the course of this conversation or at a later date. He did not meant to be so bellicose and it was not his fault, truly, that others put him in such a temperament either. He was a misplaced prince and he was not a fan at all.

Tension left Riven's body as the other boy finally decided to take his offering, and furthermore did not attack him. Which was exactly what Riv had hoped would happen. The healer's tail thumped on the frozen ground once before he tucked back into his own half of the squirrel, stomach no longer rumbling quite as hard as it had been before.

Satisfied that he would no longer be eaten, nor immediately starve to death, Riven let out a quiet sigh. Perhaps he'd just gotten lucky this time, but he truly didn't think he'd done anything to be attacked for.

Riven looked back up at the other wolf, tilting his head to the side. It seemed this one was more brusque than he was used to. "Riven," he said simply, figuring that the dark boy wouldn't want him beating around the bush about it. "And you?" His own question was calm, level, inquisitive.