Gnawing the bones

[Squeeji]

The ground was bloodied, the folliage smashed down under a struggle, there was a corpse chewed through, but only the stomach and the bones remained. It had probably been a deer in a past life, but the remains hardly seemed enough to give the creature a proper identification. Obviously it had been a great meal.

And Rat was throughly annoyed that he had missed supper. He sighed and picked up the freshest bone and started gnawing, with a little luck and ambition he could probably crack it open for the marrow, a trick he knew all too well from his castoff youth.

It wasn't that he had wanted to miss the hunt, no, usually it gave him some gossip and the chance to talk up some of the others of the pack, maybe even share the choicest tidbits of knowledge to the higher authorites. Nevermind that the food was better. But the scabby male had been making his own arrangements in regards to any potental threats on Sallin front, escape routes, and what not, common practice for the male. Only thinking of himself. He grinned as the bone finally gave through and he munched away on the juicy marrow, it was like a metaphor for his life, he thought, those who do the hardest work, reap the richest rewards.

[Nightshade]

ooc/ Just to let you know, I'm not ignoring you XD - if no one else posts here I will, I just have to get some of the acceptance stuff done that, currently, only I can do. Sorry for the delay. ^^

[Squeeji]

OOC: Don't worry about it, I'll still be here. ^^

[smartie]

Smartie was quietly watching in the shadows of the trees, as the other had feasted upon his prey. Her stomach was aching for food, and she had hoped that the male would leave some scraps behind; but he had not. The male too must have been very hungry, there seemed to be nothing left on the bones of what she had thought to be a hoofed animal. Her brown hues glinted in the deep darkness of the forest, her tail swayed gently to the sides. She knew that her presence must have been known by now, she had been laying there for some time now. Smartie sighed. She was desperately hungry, but she did not feel like going on a hunt, and so, she had waited patiently for anything from the male. Hm... He is even eating away the bones... Damn... Looks like I am going to have to work for my food... Oh well... I should not be so lazy and dependent on the scraps of others anyway... Might make a bah habit of it... And she stood, and she turned, to face the forest.

She glared into the shadows, her ears swaying, assessing the quiet movements of the night critters. She could sense a fox scuttering across the Sallin forest floor, a rabbit cautiously emerging from its burrow. The female grinned, and she looked back at the male, who seemed to be really enjoying the bones of his hunt. She tutted, rolling her eyes, and then she began to creep towards the fox, who was then edging towards the rabbit. The slim frame of the female creeped ever closer, her eyes shining. She moved slowly upwind of the fox, as not to let him hear or smell her presence. Carefully did she place her velvety padded mitts gently upon the damp soil. The scatter of small rocks were located across the woods, and she was careful not to knock them with her paws. Stubby claws jutted from her paws, trailing the ground as the moved, and she lowered her body close to the ground, watching the fox. Her silence was deadly; her movements, careful and slow. Saliva dribbled down her chin, and she licked it up with her long crimson tongue.

With a sudden push of her hind paws, she leaped into the air, her jaws opening wide; revealing her perfect set of pearly white teeth. A roar like growl emitted from her parted jaws, as she sprung onto the ground. The small beast was caught off guard, stunned, as Smartie landed upon it, her jaws grappling its scruff. The cries of the young fox rung through the air. The female held it firmly against the ground, smacking her paw against its tail. Its shrieks pleased the female, and she shook her head, jerking the neck of the mammal. With one last cry it drew its final breath, as the powerful jaws clenched around its throat, crushing its airways, so that it could breath no longer.

And she lay down, with her prey held down between her two paws. She ate with great contempt, laying not too far away from the other wolf, stripped the meat from the bones of the beast, before chewing upon the tender stomach are. A smile rolled across her blood soaked maw, and she glanced around, making sure that no beast was watching her in wait.

[ I was unsure of what to post so... I just made it up as I went along. Is it alright for me to join this thread? ]

[Squeeji]

The sound of the fox cry made the scabby wolf leap to his feet in an instant, forgetting his meager meal or his devious thoughts. His ears perked and his tail erect he gave a warning growl to whomever just ambushed the creature, not knowing if it would come to him next.

Rat huffed the hair, his lip curling slightly as he picked up the odor of some strange wolf, with a slight growl he tensed himself up trying to seem more threatening than his sickening appearance would allow. He usually wasn't the sort to get involved in this sort of behavior, policing the territory was the job of stronger wolves, who didn't have half the wit to do more than fight, but if it came down to it, Rat would throw down...

"Who trespasses on Sallin territory." He didn't yell, his voice greasey and dark, almost more threatening than if he had lifted his voice.

[smartie]

Smartie ceased to tear her prey no further, and she lifted it in her maw, and rose to her mitts. Slowly did she move, her pupils darting around, looking for the owner of the voice, that echoed in her ears. Then she realised, it was the wolf whom she had seen before. Snorting, she began to slowly make her way towards him, the fox in her mouth half chewed. The female emerged from the bushes in which she had concealed herself before. Her long slim body moved elegantly from them, revealing her striped self. Her brown hues shimmered as she come into the light; and she stared at the male. Dropping the fox at her feet, she listened as it slumped in a heap, its blood running from its corpse across the ground. The tail of the female lowered, as she assumed the male was of Sallin, the pack in which she had only recently joined.

" Male wolf, I do not trespass on Sallin territory. I am a wolf of Sallin, although unknown to many other than Alpha Nightshade herself." A long tongue lapped from between the parting jaws of the female as she sneezed. Her eyes shut as she did so, and her tongue licked the crusting blood of the beast off of her Ebony lips. The corners of her mouth twitched, as if to smile, but she did not, and she only stared at him. Her ears fell back upon her head, and they twitched some.

" If you must know, I am Smartie, and may I ask for your name male wolf?" Her voice was gentle and soft. She was not angry with the male and his demandings. She simply stared at him, not saying a word now. The faint sound of wolves howling in the distant horizon echoed in her ears, and she smiled at this, before leaning down to lick her lunch, and then drag it between her mitts on which she stood.

[Squeeji]

Rat watched Smartie carefully, but had no real reason to not believe the wolf that she had been accepted by Nightshade, with a few sniffs, now that she was closer, Rat noticed her smell on Smartie, ever so slight, he let his guard down some, and trotted a few laps around the striped wolf.

"You might." Though he didn't answer with such a thing as a name right off, he seemed slightly amused at the prospect of just playing hard to get, but a sudden itch made him stop his pacing, instead he scratched at the back of his torn ear and sighed.

"They call me Rat, you may call me whatever you like, I'll only respond if I feel like it anyways." he grinned slyly, but it seemed that he wasn't holding any hidden motives, he was just enjoying himself. Meeting the new pup in the woods so to speak.

[smartie]

" Rat... Hmm... Odd name to be given to a wolf I think..." Smartie paused for thought, thinking that Rat may take offense to her comment, but she looked at him, lowering her maw to the fox that lay between her mitts, and she tore a piece of meat from it, and slowly chewed. She watched him carefully as he circled her then stopped to scratch at his ear. Smartie observed how his ear was torn, and she looked at it." Is that not painful too scratch? It certainly looks like it hurts." Raising her maw and turned her body slightly so that she faced him, she sat down on the moist earth of the Sallin territory.

Her muscles tensed as she sat, not knowing whether or not to trust this stranger, even though, he appeared to be some form of Sallin border guardian. A grin rolled across the maw of the female, and she placed a mitt upon her prey. Smartie pondered whether or not to offer some of her kill to this wolf, but then again, he had munched his way, to the bones, of what she thought was a deer. So he could not possibly still be hungry.

But he had been trying to scrape every last piece of meat from the bones, maybe he was still hungry. So was Smartie though, so she stood defensively over her kill, and again, she lowered her maw to grasp a chunk of meat to eat. The tender flesh of the fox stomach felt good in her mouth as she chewed at it, its blood dribbling down her chin as she did so. Her tongue lapped along her lips to catch the dripping blood, and she savoured the taste. After she swallowed her food, she smiled.

[Squeeji]

"What is a name, really?" The scarred and poxed wolf didn't seem terribly concerned. What was something so they could tell him apart from all of the others, to point him out from a crowd really. The Rat smiled, taking a moment to lick his chops. "your concern is appreciated, but unneeded, the wounds are old, long healed from when i was a pup." His words were well placed, succinct and intelligant sounding. Rat was smarter than many would like to believe.

"So my dear fox-eater...I see you made it quite well without being maimed by our Nightshade...no small task I assure you, soooo....tell me about yourself." he slumped to his haunches watching the female consume the vulpine meal casually.

[smartie]

The female rested her rump upon the soft grass on which she stood. Her paws were placed upon her kill, and she began to chew at the rough bits. Her long striped tail flickered behind her, and she made quiet grunting noises as she wrestled to break a tough bone. Her eyes were focused on her kill at the moment, she wanted to eat some more. She was hungry. Her fangs gripped at the meat and her carnassial teeth tore at the flesh, ripping off the meat. Her molar teeth crushed the small bones that were caught up in the tore meat. Some small bits of meat fell from her mouth as she ate, and some blood trickled down her chin.


Smartie paused to finish her mouthful and then looked up at Rat, who seemed to be content hunger wise. Well he should be. He only ate a whole deer then wanted more. Well more... he wanted to gt every little piece of meat... Hmm.. I wonder why. Hm. The female then tossed aside the remaining of the fox; half of the meat and tender areas remained. Smartie had not eaten most of it; she was full now. With a flick of her maw the carcass move only a little and she rolled her eyes and stood up to move it. Looking again at Rat : " Would you like to finish this? I am full... I got a small appetite and I knew this would be too much for me..." Smartie then placed the fox in font of the male in case he wanted it then returned to were she had been lying.


The grass had been flattened beneath her from before, so she lay down on that flattened grass and paused for some thought. "tell me about yourself" Her ears folded down to these words, and she glared at the brute. Why does he 'want to know about me'? Does he want to know my past? Get an idea of what I am like. Rude wolf. Sticking his nose into other wolves business... I should give him a right good ear whapping... but maybe he is just being friendly...

The female held her glare upon Rat and she snorted at him, then looked away. " That all depends on what you want to know. If you are wanting to know my past don't touch me. These scars run deep you know. " She looked away again, growling lowly under her breath. Making me bring up unwanted memories of my pup hood he did... Damn why did memories from so long ago come rushing back...Uhr...


" I am not telling you of my past; that has nothing to do with you, or any other wolf. If it is about my personality however, you'll only understand me through getting to know me. " Smartie was angered by Rat now. She did not like other prying into her life. He would not understand that; he had only met her.


" Don't take my actions in the wrong way. The wrong way being, don't think that I hate you and I am just being a stubborn, stupid little wolf. This is the way I am and I dislike other wolves wanting to know my past. Especially when it is behind me now. " Smartie was watching him now through narrowed eyes. Now she felt sad; and this sadness was reflected in her eyes. She placed her chin upon her mitts and looked away, her lips placed with a sad frown.

[nightmare]

Dark eyes stared into the equal darkness of a roughly-dug den, the nearly unnoticeable hole hid previously under a pile leaves, a simple attempt to hide it from predators. Her small, triangular ears twitched subtly as she leaned forwards, sniffing gently. It was the lair of a few rabbits; a father and a mother, with two young children that were nearly ready to leave. If it was hidden from view, its scent was clear, and a swipe of the paw had revealed its location. She narrowed her eyes slightly, peering further into the hole, seeing dirty white fur further inside. Her curled tail flicked lightly in contemplation. Her own fur was white, a soft, glowing color that could still be masked by the ever-powerful earth. And the same was with this defenseless hare, quivering inside with its family. They held years of difference between them, and yet, something was still the same. She took a silent step back and carefully swept the leaves back in place. She was not hungry, merely observing. There was no reason to kill without need.

The black cloth above her paws was tight and warm, but the one on her front-right was starting to slip. She gently pulled it back up with precise fangs, and turned to look up at the sky. Or, at least, where the sky should be. The amount of twisted trees reached up towards the clouds, envious and non-relenting in their mission to touch the sky, not bothering to realize they were obstructing the view for creatures further below. Ah, well, she should be thinking of something else, shouldn’t she? This should be the territory of the Sallin- or, at least, very close to it. It seems they were thought of as dangerous, and especially to dogs like herself, but she did not understand the reason. Unless they were all considered spies from the Synl pack, their rivals; and that itself had a low chance because of the risk involved. There would be little reason to attack her... What was the emotion that signified danger? Rage? Hate? Perhaps both of those, actually. But why would they possess that emotion and direct it towards simple wanderers like herself? It intrigued her, truly, but she was patient. The territory was large, and it was unlikely that one of the Sallin would confront her. At the best, it would be a Scout... if they even held those ranks in the Sallin.

The faint smell of blood and a murmer in her ears enticed a change in her thoughts. There had been a chance that there would be more than one, hunting or simply overlooking the territory, but it had been a small one. Luck? Maybe. It would have been better if there was only one- from what she gathered, she was about half the size of a normal wolf, and weighed a large amount less. That initially meant a quicker getaway, but it would be hard to run from two, even if she could somehow be faster than both. Wolves had more stamina, and if they wished, they could simply tire her out. But again, she couldn’t fathom the reason why they would do such a thing- maybe she was trespassing in their territory, but the borders weren’t clearly marked and it was a large area anyway. Surely that wouldn’t be enough for a death sentence.

Inquisitive eyes looking towards the smell of blood, and she turned, paws barely leaving marks in the soft earth. Sigrun always walked lightly and quietly as to not disturb the varieties of life in the area, and now was no different. Small ears alert, she quickened her pace into a light trot towards the faint conversation, making no effort to hide herself. They couldn’t be /that/ dangerous...

...could they?

[Squeeji]

As rude as Rat seemed, for just asking, he only laughed at Smartie, his tongue lolling out with his amusement. "...I didn't want your life story female, I wanted to know why Nightshade didn't tear you apart." he pulled the fox remains over to himself when the striped wolf was done with them, and cracked the remains without too much effort, slurping down the white chips and pink slime of the bone and marrow.

The soft sad little look in her eyes gave him pause. There was a hardluck story somewhere in that litttle beast. He almost, ALMOST seemed like he felt almost the tiniest bit sorry for her. "Don't worry about it now...it happens, and we all have to do what we do when things happen to us." Rat was painfully dismissive of Smartie's little outburst, it didn't seem to faze him one little bit.

[nightmare]

Soon enough there was a clearer path to follow of crushed foliage and broken twigs, and she trotted lightly down the mess of flattened grass. It was much easier than following by scent and hearing, and she settled her pace now that there were tracks she could see. It didn't sound like they were moving, and she hadn't heard any warning howls or loud snarls just yet, so they may not have noticed her. However, her unmarred white coat would soon come into view- she was headed straight for them. There was no use in hiding from a wolf's superior senses.

As she narrowed her eyes, squinting to see better, she could just barely see the forms of the two she was heading for. Both were... smaller than she had expected. One was around three feet, the other a little smaller than that. On top of that, the smaller one looked only half-alive, ragged and sickly. The taller one was striped, as if she was bred from the distant yet majestic Tiger that she had heard of. Hmm. Perhaps Sigrun was being a tad stereotypical. She had supposed they would all be the same bloodthirsty, wild-looking creatures that the fearful pups whispered of, but that didn't quite seem so. Maybe luck was on her side and all those presumptions were wrong.

If that was the case, perhaps the rumors about them being dangerous to dogs were untrue as well.

[smartie]

Her body rose as she breathed deeply. Her ears lay folded neatly upon her scruff, and with her stripes hiding her ears, it would seem she had known. Her brow furrowed as she watched the forest. It was quiet, and Smartie blinked slowly two times, and licked her lips. The sound of Rat enjoying her half eaten meal came to her and she moved her head so that she was facing him. Her tail flickered from side to side and Smartie listened carefully as Rat spoke. She was glad that he had not took offensive to her words. But perhaps he did, and she did not know, and he was thinking about how rude she must be in his mind. She watched Rat eat away at the what was once a fox and her nose wrinkled. Her eyes shut and her mouth opened slightly and she sneezed. Her eyes then began to blink and her head shook. Her fringe bounced on her head and her eyes squinted at her nose. A smile spread across her maw and she laughed.

Placing her chin on her mitts again, she turned her head away again and looked into the forest. Smartie was not normally much of an observer of the scenery, but she wanted to clear her mind of some thoughts that had been forming in her head of her pup hood. The female noticed that there were many leaves scattered on the ground. Berries had ripened on nearby bramble bushes, and there were some small mammals hiding within those brambles. The leaves of those bushes were prickly, as Smartie had learned from trying to push her nose into the bush to snap at a small animal. She had recoiled and pulled her nose from the bush, as it had a scrape on it and there was a little blood coming out. She had sat down on her rump, lifted her paw and attempted to wipe this blood away. This had resulted in her accidentally smacking her nose to the opposite side, and she fell to her side.

That was an early memory that Smartie had of being alone. Since leaving her fathers pack she had felt lonely, and bored and she longed for companionship. Her mental health had been affected and she had become withdrawn, and she then searched for a long while for another wolf. When she did come across another wolf, it had been a male one, and he had attacked her. He had had a mate who was in her den with her newborn pups and Smartie had intruded on his territory. She knew that there were pups in the den because of the scent the mother had left. The sound of a female growling and pups whimpering could be heard faintly beneath the snarls of the protective mate.

Smartie had been scarred by that wolf, and she felt she could trust no other. And Rats question about her had made her think of days like that, and she felt sad. Smartie was quiet now, lost in thought, but she also had nothing more to say to this wolf as he finished off her meal, with sounds of great content. Her body rose once again as she took another long slow breath, and it fell slowly, as she exhaled slowly, trying to make herself feel better. Her eyes had glazed over and she did not notice that there was another within Rat and her presence. Smartie, if she had been paying attention to her senses, would have seen the wolf walk past in the bushes to another location around where they sat. She would also have smelt her scent as she came closer, and she would have heard the dog moving around in the bushes. But she did not, and she was oblivious that she was been watched.

[Squeeji]

The the scar hardened and marred ears of the Rat twitched, as well as his nose, he had let his guard down chatting with Smartie, discarding the remains he looked over to the female, his eyes loaded with concern, yet again his voice dropped to a dangerously low tone.

"Did you hear that?" the male was quick to his feet, regaining a defensive posture, claws digging into the earth. Rat could only hope that the new comer would be able to help him with this recon, just in case something became ugly...because it often did. With a rumbling growl he ducked his head low, his ears back, there was someone nearby, yet again someone he hadn't met and just plain old statistics said that who ever it was, hadn't gotten permission to be in Sallin territory.

Just because they hadn't run into Nightshade first, didn't nescessarily mean they were lucky, his hackles raised he barked his traditional warning, as the striped wolf had heard a variation before. "Halt, who trespasses on the territory of Sallin. Name yourself."