Jasper Rocks annoyed

Hocus, a nearby raven won't shut up about a nearby kill-site where sizable prey has died from the severe weather. ♫ ♬

Not a single lead.

A sigh so heavy it was visible in the frosted winter air left the man, floating out across the ice. But there was nothing to thaw the cold case that his daughter had become. He found himself returning here often, to the last place he had seen her. The white patriarch draped himself over the stones and watched the rivulet, although it did not move. He wished the time would, like the water, stop as well. It surged on, moving without him. He thought of returning home: maybe Piety had gone there. His woman would be waiting for him. Breeding season was fast approaching and his window of opportunity was closing if he remained her any longer.

Hocus did not attempt to feign much interest in the daily life of the pack. He did not speak up about the roles, for why should he? He hunted when he needed to, lectured when he needed to, and guarded the forest when he needed to. There was nothing special that the pack needed from him. Besides, there was no point in investing himself too much.

Nearby a bird was screeching mercilessly. He assumed more would flock to it, soon, to pick away the corpse that it did not cease to mention. But Hocus was not hungry. There was no doubt that the others, wherever they were, would be able to hear the damn raven. They would rise to it's grating summons if the mood took them. He hoped they would sooner rather than later. Put the damn thing out of its misery and give him some time to think more. Just some sleep.

Eyes were to the ground as she searched for prey tracks. She thought she had scented something eariler on the breeze but it had changed too quickly for her to properly gather which way it was coming from or what it was. It already smelt faintly of death, meaning it was dead but that could also mean it was in the throws of death.

Either way, whatever it was could give the pack some meat of the winter, for caches or otherwise filling up hungry stomachs. Her ears pricked and she paused at the grating sounds of a raven, screeching off about some choicy prey that had died. A deer or an elk perhaps? If it had only died recently, then there was a fair chance there was still a good amount of meat on it. She nodded to herself and anlged herself towards the noise. The bird must be best the corpse so it would make sense to make a bee line for it. It might also be fun to scare it, if she could sneak up on it. While they were helpful in identifying of there were any kills nearby, Amaryllis could not say no to a small prank.

Thankfully for the raven, it spotted her before she saw it and it let out a loud whistle, as if calling to her and hopped around on the branch it was on as it's head tilted side to side. She snapped her jaws at it, warning it off any jokes it might pull on her. It fluttered up higher to another branch, looking down its beak together as it watched her carefully.  She smelt the carcass of a deer nearby and knew it was the prey it was speaking about. But something distracted her. The raven now seemed to be looking over somewhere else then back to her somewhat anxiously. She was curious as to why. The carcass was not about to get up and go anywhere anytime soon. So she wound her way around the trees go get there, only to spot another wolf basking in one of the rocks.

"Hello!" She yipped at him, eyeing him up briefly but the smell of Grizzly Hollow, of Cedar trees and other things, was strong on him. So he was a packmate, one she had not met yet. Which was not a huge feat, really. She had only joined a few days ago and so far, had meet only Crystal and Merlin.  It would do well to introduce herself to the others in the pack, so she knew who to look out for in her new family.  "Who might you be? I am Lily."

(This post was last modified: Feb 27, 2016, 01:16 AM by Amaryllis.)

The crunching snow behind him warned him of the company that would soon be upon him. The scent that drifted towards him along with the sound was unfamiliar. He had assumed he had seen and smelled all that the Hollow had to offer at the meeting, and was left to conclude that this female was new. Her chipper voice was enough to solidify that. His great head turned to find that her countenance was not so benign: she was sporting a fearsome scar. Chewing his lip was all he could do to keep himself from shuddering. His own coat was unmarked by a single thing: pure white and cream.

"Lily," he drawled, one brow raising as he looked the rest of her over. "I'm Hocus." His tone said quite plainly 'you must be new.' The preacher let whatever silence fall between them, not feeling that the burden of conversation should be his. After all, the woman was the one who had instigated a conversation. Hocus also outranked her in seniority, familiarity with the pack, and — he suspected— the hierarchy as well. The eyebrow atop his right eye drifted upwards as well, expecting her to either say something or to leave.


Meanwhile the dreadful bird continued with its cries.

The man's coat was almost as pure as the snow around them, she noted, though there was the exception of the creamy colors that were also mixed into it. Her own gray scaled coat, a mix of pale grey with darker markings dusting her face, shoulders and back, stood out even more against the snow, when compared to his.

As he turned his head, his eyes appeared drawn to her face. Though she gave no outwardly indication she had noticed it, she did noticed the chewing at his lip, as if to stop another, almost involuntary action as soon as he had spotted her face. More importantly her scar.

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you Hocus," Her tone was kept even and with the better part of sincerity rolled into it. While still somewhat anxious when it came to the pink flesh that split her face, she knew that beauty still clung to her overall. It had taken her months to accept the scar herself, once it had healed and she was not going to allow another to bring that knowledge down, because of one aspect of her. She was just grateful that the wound had not struck too close to her eye, the attack that caused it having started at the bottom of her right cheek and having not cut deep by the time it reached the other side of her face, near her eye.

A small sigh escaped her lips as the raven started up again with its cries, shrieking for its flock to come get the choicy prey, before the wolves took it. “That damned raven. If only it had been closer to the ground and not hiding in its tree, I would have wrung its little feathery neck.”

(This post was last modified: Feb 27, 2016, 01:56 AM by Amaryllis.)

He grunted. Old age was getting to him: it was hardly a pleasure to meet anyone anymore. Besides, the godless wolves of Relic Lore were not particularly high on his list of favorites. He missed his pious congregation back home deeply, and could only hope that his sons and woman were doing a decent job of holding it all together. Meanwhile he barely held it together. Spent even more time napping than he had previously though possible. Meditation, he believed, would be the key that would unlock the doors to heaven. Or piety. Or just an answer.

His present companion was equally annoyed with the carrion-eater, and he grunted again. She was wasting her breath with these violent thoughts. Wasting her good karma, as well.  Deep in his lungs he could feel a sermon coming on. He stifled it. "I am doing my best to ignore it. You should too. It will not be satisfied until the whole forest has seen that deer." Why the bird was not interested in pecking away at that, rather than the peace-of-mind of good country people, was beyond him. Perhaps the tough skin was not yet broke enough for the bird. But assisting a lower species was not his job.

Lazily, his eyes turned back to jagged rocks that rose haphazardly through the ice. He wasn't particularly sure what this woman was doing here.

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

(OOC: I’m sorry but I keep laughing at the “Old age was getting to him” every time I read it XD)

Amaryllis noted the man did not seem to interested in conversation or even companionship at all. She shrugged and went to turn away. If the man wanted peace, then she would give it to him. That is when she scented something very...interesting. A lynx, which gave her pause, one paw still in the air as she lifted her nose to scent the air even further. The scent lingered and she wondered if it had been drawn to the deer the raven was talking about or if it was drawn to something else. She hoped it was the deer.

Licking her lips somewhat nervously, because a lynx was not something to frown at and if it was brave enough to come near a wolf pack then it must have been hungry, Amaryllis glanced back at Hocus. The man seemed disinterested in her company and just most things overall, so she wondered if he would even care that a lynx was potentially prowling around.  And coming up to breeding season, a rouge lynx was not something one wanted nearby.

Making up her mind, since he was close by and did not appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, Amaryllis figured it would be best to check to see if the lynx was still around. It might have traveled through recently, just before the deer had died and was no longer around. Because if it was still hanging about, surely it would have already gone for the deer carcass and thus the raven would not still be keeping up its crying.  Or at least, she hoped.

(This post was last modified: Feb 29, 2016, 08:52 AM by Amaryllis.)

Where once he had rarely ventured beyond the pack borders, now Tomen took most of his solace in the lands just outside of them. To remain at home was to be reminded of all those who were not there any more.

It had crossed his mind a few times that @Hocus was going through something similar; Tomen understood that his daughter was missing, that she hadn't been found, and while he had been callously and childishly dismissive of it at the time, now that his own mother and so many he looked up to were gone, he was finally understanding. He felt guilty for not helping to look for her more. For not helping to look for her at all. And, on behalf of his pack, how little empathy his uncle seemed to get in general.

The white man's stoic support at the scene of his grandfather's death had never been forgotten, his presence as someone strong and wise committed to memory. But it wasn't with Hocus in mind that Tomen had been lurking through the cedarwoods that day, rather just an aimless desire to escape the irrational feeling of loneliness that hung over his home. It wasn't like the pack was empty; new faces had come to fill the places of those he had loved. But he didn't feel like just forgetting them that easily. Family wasn't supposed to be replaceable.

The incessant cries of the raven could be heard from quite some distance away, and it had drawn Tomen towards it in his goalless state, for it was as good a direction as any. It wasn't that he was particularly fond of birds in general; Prudence was a special case, and at least she was still tucked up in her predictable spot. He wouldn't let anything happen to her. Eyes dull, ears hung listlessly to the side, Tomen came closer to the site where the deer corpse lay under the noisy watch of its raven.

The quiet hiss almost went unnoticed. Something in Tomen snapped to attention, but a few moments too late; blinking as his eyes came back into sharp focus, he glanced from left to right and then stopped dead, the empty feeling in his gut an excellent vessel to quickly fill with startled fright. "Oh shit," he breathed, as the lynx drew back its lips and hissed again, louder, its fur rising and body tensing. Instinctively he took a step back, and the lynx rightly saw through to his fear and took two steps forward. It wasn't even that big, but he was normally so careful to avoid confrontation that seeing pure hostility so close made him like a deer in headlights. "Oh shit!" Backing up further, Tomen bumped up against a wide tree, and just like that all common sense was flushed from his mind.

Again correctly recognising that the wolf was far from a dangerous adversary - young and frightened and inexperienced - the lynx decided to teach its foolish rival a lesson and rushed forward to draw blood. Tomen only fell to the ground, covered his head with his arms, and cried.

assuming hocus is near enough to hear tomen's cries. also awkward post let me know if what I assumed wasn't okay @Amaryllis
also anyone is free to pp the lynx/what it does to hocus in their next post! :3

The vague scent of a predator teased at his senses. He could hear his companion moving behind him and then suddenly stop. Without turning his head, Hocus knew that her footsteps led off into the direction of the scent. Initially, the white Father had no intention of following the woman: if it was a lynx she was surely grown and wizened enough to handle it on her own. He assumed so at least. In his fairly idyllic lifestyle he had never encountered the cats, but he knew their signatures well enough and their paw prints were not nearly as big as some of the other beasts lurking about in the forests. He also failed to consider the fact that the pale woman was quite smaller. Or that their would be other, less capable pack mates lurking out there in the forests. So like the slothful man he was, Hocus stared down into the ice as if he were in some kind of trance, reflecting on his uncomfortable position in life.

When suddenly the bird cries stopped.

His head peeled away from his paws, turning in the direction Lily had left. For a moment he wondered if the blubbering was hers, but in an instant he realized that it was not the hints of femininity he detected but youth. It was Tomen. 

Reflex commanded him to his feet and carried him through the forests. A flash of pale white caught his eyes through the trees: Lily's form as she wandered after the trail of the lynx. Maybe she had not yet heard the cry. But Hocus headed directly for the deer carcass, knowing with dreaded certainty that this was the source of his nephew's cry.

There was only enough time for him to detect the chess pieces on the playing field: Tomen cowering on the ground and the lithe, pouncing form he could only assume was a lynx. No time was left for decisions. Never having been a fighter, Hocus would have been glad for his lack of strategy, for surely he would have doubted and erred. He might have attempted something far more complicated than the situation warranted and then acted too late. But in this moment their was only instinct and the force of his shoulder knocking the cat away from the boy. "Tomen!" he shouted, too distracted to form the sentence he wanted to say but he prayed the boy would catch his meaning of "Get the hell off the ground." Hocus collapsed in a heap onto the cat which spat and hissed.

(Hope what I did was alright. Let me know if not!)

The sounds of a crying wolf and the hissing of a cat - a lynx! - caught her hearing and shifting her course slighlty towards the noise, she caught the sight of Hocus already running towards the sounds between the trees. Regardless, she rushed towards the source. A lynx was a dangerous enemy, even against a full grown wolf.

When she arrived on the scene, Hocus had already tackled the lynx away from the young wolf that was nearby. But the boy had yet to move from his cowering. The name Tomen had been shouted before so the woman could only assume it was the boy.

"Get away now!" She barked at him as she drew up to him, placing herself between the youngling and the lynx. She had no idea of Hocus could hold it down for long and if it did mange to toss him off, she didn't want the cat to go straight for the boy. However, they soon found out just how long Hocus could hold the lynx, as it managed to get its legs underneath it again and tossed Hocus off its back.

It hissed at the both of them, angry it had been interrupted in its lesson (and even possible meal of the deer) but Amaryllis just snarled back at it, snapping her jaws inches from its face as she lunged at it.  

Hopefully it would get the message that two adult wolves weren't as easy as the younger wolf and be driven away without an actual fight.

(This post was last modified: Mar 17, 2016, 09:44 AM by Amaryllis.)