Hush Meadow oh, my sweet summer child

RE: "FEAR IS FOR THE WINTER, MY LITTLE LORD."
Post Prompt (Cubs). Cubs by the time of their first snowfall are roughly 6-7 months old (mentally 10-11 human years old). They may begin to hunt on their own, but are prone to discovering strange, unnerving and unfamiliar things... Summer and Autumn are all they have ever known and now Winter is about to give them the harshest lessons yet. (Dead crows, frozen bones, sibling spars over scraps of food, storytelling to prevent wayward wandering, etc.)

selfish and spoiled rotten

Sköll Archer

those little Archer boys

January 11th; Late Morning; Partly Cloudy; 19° F/-7° C

The uncomfortable feeling of hunger was completely disagreeing with the young Archer. It had been two days and counting since he had last had something that was customarily consumed by wolves (rabbit, deer, moose, mice, groundhog, woodchuck, etc.). For the past few hours since he had risen from the den that morning, he had tried to bum something off of Angier. "C'mon Angieeeeeer," he had whined for nearly five minutes straight. "Just a mouse or scrap of something. Please? Pleeeaaaaaaaase? Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease?!" The Lyall had merely brushed him off, leaving Sköll to his own devices and the space to grump, grump, grump.

In a tantrum the second-born prince kicked and swiped at the snow all around him, raked his nails down the frozen willow tree trunks, and snapped at anything he could lunge at. For an hour this continued before Sköll thought he had heard @Elettra, @Morganna, or, goodness forbid, @Asriel lurking somewhere nearby. As coolly as he could he stood up straight and sauntered away until he was a long way's away at the edges of Hush Meadow. He scoffed to himself as he continued along the trail Angier had forged through the deep frost, never straying from the trench-like path the whole way until he was able to look up into the gray skies without having willow branches over his head. His stomach rumbled angrily through the silence that pressed against the boy's ears and Sköll groaned.

Hastily he lowered his nose to the ground, hoping to find something of use, scents that would give him a plethora of information or telltale signs that would direct him to something, well... edible. With an unbecoming glare on his face, he scrutinized the spacious area of what looked like an endless winter wonderland. He shrugged. It looked more like the land of wintry hell. Having been inexperienced with dealing with the whole blizzard-borne weather, Sköll had made up his mind that, so far, this season was the absolute worst. He still much too lanky to traverse around where there wasn't a path for him to follow and the feeling of the cold in his nose, in his ears and against his eyes were annoying.

He brought his head back up, ears flattening in determination as he thought he could have picked up on his mother's scent trail. Rather boldly, he barked into the cloudy skies for all to hear, "Mother! MOTHER!" He strode forward from the tree line and scanned the distance for any sign that Elettra had come out this way. "Mother, I'm hungry!"

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(This post was last modified: Jan 11, 2014, 04:49 AM by Skoll.)

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

No matter how much time he spent trying to hunt, Asriel found little to nothing. No mice holed up to hibernate, no chipmunks either. Squirrels weren't to be seen or heard, and the herds of deer had all left- seemingly taking the locals warrens of hares with them. He moved away from the depths of their forest home, through the ice laden branches of willow and toward the open meadow where he hoped to find something, a scrap of meat left behind by another predator or the tracks of a mouse as it skipped across the snow- anything would have sufficed. He felt his patience wearing thin and his hunger made him agitated. His eyes were focused and lips drawn into a thin line; this was what the beginnings of starvation felt like.

He reached the meadow and didn't notice the beauty of the untouched snow as something to be admired- no, he would have given anything to see the snow's crust marked with the criss-crossing tracks of a herd of deer. And rather than hearing silence- which still he would have exchanged for the warning blast from a buck's nose, the silence was broken by a brash, unpleasant voice. Asriel winced and scanned the horizon. Sure enough, there he was, a barely discernable blotch against the forest, striding out into the snow. "Don't be such a baby, Skoll," Asriel hissed. "Everyone's hungry." The boy's words came in a snarl, and he considered putting Skoll in his place physically- but refrained from doing so. Why waste the energy?

Avatars by Allie <3

The boy waited in the silence, ears on alert for the sound of even the faintest noise. A fleeing sparrow soared over his head, but then, there is was... the blissful sound of approaching footsteps. He grinned to himself, but before he could even turn around, Asriel snapped, "Don't be such a baby, Sköll." What should have been a pleased and gratified look on his face morphed into a frown. His whiskered brows came down; he did not particularly enjoy being snarled at, but he had long since learned to expect it of his older sibling. "Everyone's hungry." In a rather exasperated fashion, Sköll turned about to look at his brother with skyward ears, criticizing those stark golden eyes and equally dark face. "I'm not a baby!" he quipped in a partial yip.

What was it that always made Asriel think he had a right to boss him around? Willow Ridge might not be big enough for them both in the near future, but for now, the way the younger royal saw it, he had rights and personal needs that needed to be tended to... just like "the almighty Asriel" had. Didn't he deserve equal treatment? Like their sister Morganna? As much as Sköll loved his siblings, he now inwardly resented them. At this point, he would have loved nothing more than to be his mother's only son, her sole heir... anything to be rid of his wretched bully of a brother. Perhaps if Asriel had been different, then his outlook would have told a different story, but as it stood he decided that he would rebel. He could put on a show with just as much flair; he was sure of it.

His lips drew into a thin line, the black outline no longer visible between the white on his chin and muzzle. His plume-like tail lifted from its place at the boy's ankles. "Help me find something then," he retorted, feeling just as unamused by the thought of tolerating Asriel's conventional dominance spats but still ready to bear the brunt of it should the other prince decide to put him in his place. "Or go away. I'm busy." These days, the middle-born Archer made an effort to keep away from Asriel altogether if only to avoid wounding his pride further (which was still presently recovering from what had happened from the first hunting exercise they had done several weeks ago). It had been just his luck that the his brother had shown up when he had initially called for their mother.

He waited two mere seconds for his sibling to make a move but soon after began to draw away from him, tediously lifting his slender limbs and trying hard to bring himself towards the middle of the meadow and away from the willow trees as quickly as he could manage.

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

Asriel snorted and arched an eyebrow at his brother when he received a high pitched reply. Oh, he wasn't a baby? He had a lot to prove. The childish attitude his brother had irritated Asriel, and an irritated Asriel almost always ended up antagonizing his already cranky brother. But he did not always seek to discipline his brother, and he'd made his mind up not so long ago that it would be better to get his brother to work with him rather than against him. If he came up against Titan and Mace again, he knew he would rather have had Skoll on his side. He was a wildcard, but he could be useful, for sure, as long as he could control himself. It was an idea he'd been toying with recently, and he'd found himself quite liking the idea of having Skoll be a companion rather than a nuisance. Because while Skoll irritated him, Titan infuriated him.

Skoll gave him the option of joining him but Asriel knew at once it was a conditional offer- he could only go along with his brother so long as he didn't rub his fur the wrong way. He'd have to appease his brother a bit in order to get him on his side, so when Skoll moved out into the meadow, Asriel picked up his stride to catch up and bring himself to his brother's side. He noticed with pride that he'd grown taller and larger than Skoll- but tried not to show it. He lowered his head to try and detect any scents in the snow to show that he was pulling his own weight. They could work as a team.

"What other pups have you met, brother?" He asked calmly, interest in hearing from Skoll who he'd met and what he thought of them- this would be integral to their relationship. Shared enemies could easily work as the primary factor in bringing them together.

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

Just when he thought Asriel was departing, the young prince's ears twitched. His brother was coming along with him. He half-scowled. So be it. At least if he came along, the chances would be significantly higher in securing something to eat. After all, two noses and two sets of eyes were, in this case, better than one.

Standing only a few meters from where he had stood when his sibling his come along, Sköll began to investigate the area, plunging his nose into the snow and using his paw to shovel away most of the dense blanket of frost. There were no mice to be found but there were rabbits. To be quite frank, Sköll had never seen a live rabbit. They had always been limp in his mother's jowls or covered in dirt from being stash away in one of the many caches Angier hid away. The caches had long since been empty now though, and for the boy to discover the tracks would have been a very pleasant surprise... if it weren't for Asriel's yapping.

He was eyeing the fresh tracks in the snow - he had originally thought that the tracks were made by birds or, somehow, light-footed deer - when the golden-eyed prince asked if the trickster had met any other pups. Sköll lifted a paw to brush the snow from his nose, shaking his head before turning to face his brother. "Two," he divulged, after failing to suppress a sneeze. He drew his lips down to stop the remaining air from hissing through his teeth.

"Titan and Yuka," he muttered, lifting a brow as he studied his agemate's face. Why would he want to know? He had to keep himself from frowning; the way he saw it, perhaps his brother had a reason to ask rather than trying to make idle conversation. "Thorben," he clarified, in case Asriel had never heard the names in his short life so far. "They live over there," he vaguely pointed with a sharp jab of his nose in the general direction where he had initially seen the other brothers come from. "They're from Whisper Caverns."

Sköll returned to the task at hand, stalking forward a few paces to touch his nose into the nearest rabbit footprint just to assure himself that the tracks did belong to the type of animal he was thinking of. He didn't even cast a glance over his shoulder when he confessed out loud, "I don't really like them." His brother could take that as he liked, but Sköll, in all actuality, didn't particularly like anyone aside from their mother and, generally, Morganna on a good day.

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

Asriel padded closer to his brother, and wondered if Skoll simply wanted him to leave. While there'd been somewhat of an invitation given for them to hunt together, he still suspected that his brother would prefer that he left. All the same, this was his brother, someone he did, on a very deep and more or less untouched level, love. And someone he did consciously know that he would protect from other wolves he liked less. The two moved forward, until they came upon a set of tracks. He'd seen ones like this before, but it had been quite some time, given the fact that most of the prey had disappeared when the winter became too harsh. But the scent was still familiar, and made his mouth water. This was definitely food, and he, like his brother, assumed correctly that the tracks belonged to a rabbit.

Asriel's face changed very little when he heard his brother speak the names of the pups he'd met. Yuka and Titan. He absorbed these names for a moment, as well as the tone with which they'd been spoken. There was a good deal of spite in his brother's voice, something Asriel could understand quite well. When his brother spoke further, Asriel actually smiled. He nodded, and licked his lips as he scented the tracks again and began to move forward. "Nor do I, brother." He confessed, and found that he actually liked the idea of sharing an interest- or a dislike- with his brother. "One too proud, the other too meek. Their sister, on the other hand..." He said quietly, trailing off. He could have said cruel things about Malia- but having seen Titan attack her had changed his opinion.

"Nor do I, brother," Asriel seconded, sharing his similar outlook on the Thorben brothers. "One too proud, the other too meek--" Sköll allowed himself a small grin as he continued to survey the ground with his nose, "-- Their sister, on the other hand..." The mention of Yuka and Titan having a sister made the second-born's eyes widen and he shot an assuming look back at his brother. It might have been a different story if he had found out that there had been a third Thorben brother, but for Asriel to notice or even meet Yuka and Titan's female sibling made Sköll absolutely fume. As much as he wanted to know why, he was also already beginning to question himself as to why he had even entertained the idea of letting Asriel tag along on his improvised hunting venture.

"What about 'er?!" the younger Archer snapped, oblivious to the fact that his sudden vexation could have hinted at a liking for the girl. The way Sköll saw it, he had found another reason to not like the cubs from the neighboring pack. When the time came, the Thorbens had the means to steal his brother away from him. No matter how much he loathed Asriel or how much he wished he had been born an only son, the middle-born prince had every reason to still want Asriel for his own. His brother was his ally by brotherly bond and blood. This Thorben princess, no matter how foreign or mysterious, would not take Asriel away from him.

"What about 'er?" he asked again, the anxiousness inching up his limbs and working its way along his shoulders and neck. "Tell me." Whatever Asriel's reason, no matter how foolish or motivational, a part of Sköll was driven to understand why his older sibling had hesitated or even paused before even introducing this... girl.

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

Asriel felt a surge of pride when his brother expressed, finally, an interest in hearing what he had to say. Wasn't that quite the change in events! It seemed, then, that all it took to get Skoll to bend an ear in his direction was to bring up gossip about other wolves. As a prince it was natural for Skoll to want to know everything he could about the other wolves in their age group, particularly those who were princes and princesses themselves. Asriel felt the same way- he was a highly competitive wolf and did not like the idea that there were other princes and princesses out there, as they would also eventually lead a pack and become a threat to his rule. He needed Skoll to be on his side- and it seemed that this was the way to do it.

"She's fiery." He said. It felt odd to be saying a nice thing about Malia, but it had to be said. It was obvious in his tone that he approved of the girl from the other pack, but in order to convince Skoll, he went on. "Like mother." He said, knowing that this was high praise that perhaps Malia did not deserve- but he wanted Skoll to be intrigued. "Someday I think I'll steal her away from her family," He said with a slight nod. There was no way he wanted to associate with Titan or Yuka- if he could keep Malia for his own and forget about them completely, he'd be pleased.

selfish and spoiled rotten

Sköll Archer

those little Archer boys

The anticipation was almost too much to bear but as soon as Asriel had spat the answer out, Sköll was riddled with both shock and incredulity. Fiery, his brother had said... Like Mother. He swung fully around to face his sibling, his pale eyes clearly reflecting his distaste in the matter. "Do you even know what you're saying?" he partially growled. "Think, Asriel..." He shrugged his shoulders, releasing a fraction of the tension that had built up along his spine.

He sat down to keep himself from anxiously pacing while he thought, running around on the inside of his skull as he promptly spun up all the reasons why he believed Asriel's declaration was a foolish one. "What if Titan and Yuka had been us?" he countered. "If they had been in our place right now, right here... What makes you think they'd let you steal her away? If..." Sköll had to stop himself and take a breath... Make certain that his brother was not letting his words and precious inquiries go in one ear and out the other. He wanted more than anything for Asriel to understand.

"If the Thorben brothers wanted Morganna," he vocalized the concept slowly on his tongue as if he were introducing the idea to a rather slow subordinate. "We wouldn't just let them run off with her, let alone let her go with them... Now would we?" His head had slightly tilted to one side as he attentively watched every movement in his brother's face, the way he held his golden-touched frame before him. As much as he detested Morganna in all her ways as a "privileged princess," he was very much attached to her, bonded to her just as as any protective brother ought to be.

His scowl became more apparent the more he thought on the matter. "You don't want her, Asriel," he tried one more time, leaning slightly away from his sibling now that he had verbalized his opinion. "She's a Thorben... If you want a fiery woman as head of our pack, you're better off letting our own flesh and blood, our sister, take charge." One of his tall black ears flicked at the air as he repeated what he had said inside his head. If Asriel couldn't already see his brother's concern for losing either of his siblings, then so be it. It would be his loss, and Sköll would never again let himself fear for either of them again if they didn't care. There were only so many ways and so many words that he could offer up on a silver platter.

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i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away