The Kill

[kruger]

Rising over the distant horizon, the sun shone softly, painting the sky in gentle hues of yellow and orange; on the faint morning breeze was carried the scent of fair game - a Rabbit, no less. Chaucer's bright golden eyes glittered with anticipation, opportunity, and most prominently, the prospect of a meal. His mind had been focused solely on his travels for the past few days and in the cold of the coming autumn, prey was becoming scarce. In spite of that minor, insignificant detail, Chaucer stood poised, determined. He sniffed the air intently, catching the small animal's scent on the breeze that came his way; his target was directly ahead, partially hidden among a tussock, crisped over with frost that glistened in the growing light like tiny fallen stars clinging intently to the scattered blades of grass.

Chaucer crouched, his large brown paws carrying him silently and steadily over the ground, his mouth watered as he grew ever closer to the unsuspecting creature upon which his attention was focused. Closer still, the Rabbit continued absently munching.
Poor carefree soul... Chaucer thought, still approaching carefully.
In a single moment, the stillness of the dawn erupted; the Rabbit had seen him and bolted, instinctively, Chaucer followed at top pace. The Rabbit was crafty, he'd give it that, twisting and turning in an attempt to throw him off but when all was said and done, the early bird would catch the worm; and Chaucer was indeed an early bird - a bloody fast one too, he mused, still pursuing the persistent beast. Once more, a sudden event changed everything; as if some unknown force had simply batted an eyelid and that was that. The Rabbit, so desperate to escape yet failing to find cover, had run headlong into a stray root that protruded from the ground and down it went with a sickening crack. Chaucer approached and gazed down at the creature, pitifully waving its forepaws as if pleading for mercy - no such luck.

Silence and stillness fell once again as Chaucer settled to his meal, satisfied with his reward; hunting was never the same without a fair chase and the prospect of having earned his dues made it all the sweeter. However, his sense of self-satisfaction was not to last for it was soon overwhelmed by suspicion and - though he'd care not to admit it - a slight pang of curiosity. A new smell came on the changing wind and he drew back his ears, prepared to defend his kill; there was another Canine somewhere nearby, and it smelled like it was coming his way.

[tioga]

Dex had been traveling for days. Not really knowing or caring were the road took him, he just followed it. He was exhausted, and hungry. And his paws ached. And to make things, it was starting to get cold.

He stopped and shivered slightly and he looked around. All he could see beyond the road itself, was dying trees. He looked up at the sky, the sun was getting higher - and realizing the time of day made him hungrier.

He looked around and more and swished his short tail irritably. He stood on the spot for a few moments, and then a scent came and slapped him in the face - and then another, harder this time. He looked to see if the source was in visual range. Finding it wasn't, he trudged along the muddy path.

Cream colored paws carried him forward, toward the scent. The young mutt would lift his nose once in a while, the check direction - which seemed to changed erratically. He weaved between trees and jumped over fallen logs and stepped over hazardous tree roots. He hadn't really been paying attention to were he was going, just following his nose.

He stopped short, as he saw a Wolf eating his kill. he was about 50 meters from him. He sighed to himself, he hadn't seen any other game, and sure he didn't take stuff seriously - but going after a wolf's kill - that was suicide.

Not able to decide, he just stood there, until the wolf raised his head. He swallowed as the wind rippled his blue bandanna and he took a step back, trying to put some more space between him and this wolf. He really didn't want this wolf to attack him for being too close.

[kruger]

Swiftly, yet in somewhat of a crooked motion caused by his ailed hind leg, Chaucer assumed a defensive stance over his prey, gold eyes flashing, sharp and focused. He could now place a visual context to the scent he had picked up and in his mind, he turned over the idea of dropping his guard. He reasoned that it would probably do better to assess the situation in more detail first, get a feel of what was going on an make decisions with more firm ground.

Rising from his crouched position and straightening his face, Chaucer silently analysed the canine standing at a cautious distance; taking in his physical features, noting the bandana worn around his neck and detecting no scent of humans, thus no major potential threat. Though he'd never seen, caught the scent of or met this animal prior to the current situation, the last thought to cross his mind told him that it was safe to fractionally lower his defenses.

Still standing over the mangled remains of the Rabbit (such had almost been wrest from his attention) Chaucer regarded the strange canine with more of a subtly gentle look in his eyes.
In a fairly gruff yet settled voice, he called "'Ang about, I haven't seen you before. What'd bring a fellow of your sort by 'ere at this time of day?"
Curiously, he cocked his head and twitched his ear, whilst still retaining a firm position.

[tioga]

The young canine took yet another step back, and the wolf assumed a defensive stance. No doubt ready to protect his kill. Dex titled his maw curiously at the other canine as he relaxed.

Was he not ready to attack to defend his kill? This confused Dex, but he pushed the thought away. He took in the wolf's appearance. Fit, strong build two scars over his left eye - yellow eyes that were much the same color as his own.

A silly thought sprang to mind, that this canine could be his long forgotten father. And he almost laughed at it. - but refrained given the situation. But, no. This wolf looked like a gray wolf, not a Timber.

"'Ang about,"

He pricked his ears as the wolf spoke, his left ear - floppy as it is - hung oddly in comparison to his up-right one.

"I haven't seen you before. What'd bring a fellow of your sort by 'ere at this time of day?"

He regarded the canine before him, "I'm not sure really. I was just traveling, and I smelled food." Yellow pools shifted briefly toward the manged rabbit, "But I see someone beat me too it."

Gah, he was still hungry too. He would have to find food soon, after not eating for two days. He was lousy hunter anyway, the only thing he had a chance of doing was catching the game - but killing it was another story.

[kruger]

Chaucer listened to the stranger intently, a new interest sparked from what he heard. Perhaps it was his lack of recent interactions that had caused him to appreciate it more; he suddenly realised just how hard the solitary life could be. Inadvertantly, his bushy tail started to swing idly back and forth.

"I'm not sure really. I was just traveling, and I smelled food."
So the travelling type must be more common than he'd thought; to his knowledge, most of the area's canine inhabitants were segregated into packs; he couldn't help but figure that this was a live and learn moment. Then again, so long as he could remember, the only other canines he'd come within range of were of a unit, it was the only lifestyle aside from his own that he could recall.
Too much time alone he thought to himself Bloody poisonous!
The recurrance of the unfamiliar animal's voice caught his attention once again.

"But I see someone beat me too it."
At this remark, he gave a faint chuckle, his sporting nature rising to the surface once more.
"There's always the ol' survival of the fittest routine" he answered in a rather jubilant, pretentious tone.
Somehow, even after spending so much time alone, he felt at ease communicating with another being and the remains of the meal he'd coursed previously were steadily slipping to the back of his mind, socialisation taking its place in precedence. Moving forward slightly, he added,
"It just so happens we haven't introduced ourselves yet. The name's Chaucer, and who might you be?"

[tioga]

He smiled slightly as Chaucer chuckled. Was that good, or bad? He could tell.

"There's always the ol' survival of the fittest routine."

He nodded with a smile, even though his thoughts were contradictory to his actions - which were along the lines of, 'Yeah, right.'

The wolf moved forward, and Dex's first instinct was to move back, to keep an equal distance between them, but he didn't. He felt a little safer now, that he was talking with this wolf. It was nice to talk to some one after quite a while.

"It just so happens we haven't introduced ourselves yet. The name's Chaucer, and who might you be?"

He pricked his ears again, "Name's Dex. Nice to meet ya." Dex sat down on his haunches, feeling much safer now that he knew a name. It was odd, and surprising that he hadn't said anything to offend Chaucer... yet.

"Sooo, were ye headed?" He looked around briefly, "I... dun think many a wolf would live here." His maw turned back toward Chaucer, awaiting his response.