Muddy Pines

Lacking the full speed required to chase down the faster prey, it wasn’t rare for Steller to go hungry. Often, Steller has had to turn to less-filling meals. Mice were a common one she would turn to. Mice acted as less than a snack to a wolf like Steller but it was food nonetheless. Winter had given a lot of drawbacks but at the very least it meant that bears were busy hibernating.

Having failed to catch a squirrel, Steller was left staring defeatedly up a tree. An unknown lump protruding out of the side of the tree caught Steller’s attention. She’s seen it before, in the previous summer. A bear had ripped it down and was eating the inside. Ah, bees. A beehive, of course... it was edible. Enough so that something bear-sized thought it worthwhile to eat. An idea struck her. Worst come to worst, eating a beehive could hardly hurt her, right?

Steller stood on her back to legs, using her first two to lean against the tree. It would take some reaching but she decided she would probably be able to reach it. She sniffed at it, gently prodding it with her nose. Already, a few angry bees had flown out of it to investigate. They hovered around Steller’s face, being more of a nuisance than attacking. She stepped down back off of the tree, flicking her ears irritatedly. Thankfully, the thick winter coat wolves developed protected her main body. Her nose and eyes weren’t quite the same.

This time when Steller jumped back up, she nose-butted the hive with much more force. A slight desperation for food drove her to push harder and ignore as the bees began to try and sting. Some made it through her fur—many, in fact. Steller continued to underestimate the strength that would be required to dislodge the hive, before a swift smack with her paw sent it flying. By now, a decent swarm of bees were swarming her head. Their stings hurt, and some had even buried through her fur, but the prospect of food was a good motive.

To break to open, Steller used her powerful jaws to break through it. Powerful jaws that should be used to break open bones to get to the bone marrow. What Steller would give for a decent meal... Getting through the outer shell was not difficult. It took some minor digging at and chewing. In all honesty, Steller wasn’t sure what was supposed to be edible and what wasn’t. So she lapped up as much of everything as she could. Honey was surprisingly sweet, packed with sugar—good to keep her energy up. It also had a strong scent, giving her a mild concern for lurking predators.

Sure, the stings were, well, stings—undesirable at best. But she’d gotten desperate enough that she probably would’ve tried to scavenge from a bear’s meal. Plus, the fact that Steller’s winter coat hadn’t quite shedded out yet helped immensely. When she had first begun eating, she’d been cautious to keep an eye out for more predators. But the feeling of finally being actually full—not just “caught enough” or going hungry, really and truly full—awoke something inside her. Steller ate with a crazed look in her eye, the kind of a wolf that hadn’t seen good food in days.

Steller began to move away from what was left of the beehive. A good portion of the bees remained hovering around the beehives, many continued to follow her—much to her disdain. She flicked her ears and tail to get them off, half-hearted snapping at one.

It was only when she couldn’t eat anymore or she’d be completely immobile that Steller came back to herself. The scent of another wolf was strong and unexpected. She was alert immediately, scanning the treeline for the wolf. A rogue, probably. A pack wolf would have no business being here. Steller held herself with confidence, but still a friendly lowered tail. Somewhat saying “I’m not going to attack you but if you attack me I will mess you up” . She had a full belly and definitely more will-to-live than the day beforehand.


@nereus

She wasn't sure about where to go. The first place that came to mind, was the relaxing beach Mira had always known. She remembered clearly how her family always enjoyed the sand, the calming waves and the salty breeze. Yet, two years of wandering around hadn't taught Mira every single place and direction. She had no idea how to get to the coastline. So, when Mira had her refreshing sleep back in the cave, she decidedly headed towards a random direction. Padding along cautiously, the dark female had been hoping that she would somehow end up in the sandy area. The moisture of the terrain suggested otherwise. Mira hadn't been travelling for long, when she ended up amidst towering trees. A forest. The smell of sweet pine surrounded the Eurasian wolf. Brushing past a branch, Mira dipped her head and pressed her nose to the ground, sniffing. Along with the squishiness of the mud, the female picked up the scents of two wolves, not far from where she stood.

Lifting her head, Mira felt chunks of mud dripping off her snout. Golden eyes stared off into the distance, as she considered whether to approach them. Maybe I've gotten used to being alone. For Mira realised, that the longing for company no longer ached her. But it's still there... Uncertain, she crept closer where their scents grew stronger by the moment. There they were, a silver-furred she-wolf and an orangish-coated he-wolf. With cautious steps, she approached the two, "Hi."

@steller @nereus

“I’m sure my friend meant no harm, his hunger is an endless void and thus his brain is often replaced with his stomach.” Hux’s words rubbed the she wolf the wrong way at first, she could sense the tension between the two males and it had been making her weary the entire time they were travelling, thoughts filled her mind. If they were travelling companions already and couldn’t seem to get along with each other Shikoba wasn’t so sure that they could get along together either, but she had invited them along and the she-wolf never rescinded her invitations, and she always did her best to keep her companions as well. “I fear I’ve not had a meal in quite some time, and I’m sure with the lot of us, we could bring down a decent meal that he’ll scarf down and we can be off again in no time.” The charcoal female just gave him a slow nod, she had no interest in his lack of food or anything of the matter, his honeyed words meant nothing to her, only getting this done in an efficient time frame so she could get back on schedule. The group was now headed in the completely opposite direction of the pack that Shikoba has been headed for, and it was driving her crazy, but the she-wolf was holding her tongue, at least for now and only strictly for propriety’s sake. Shikoba decided to walk a few yards away from the group, including her more cooperative companion Mirai, she had no intention of being taken for a fool and the smaller wolf, a coy-wolf seemed to be a bit more on the silver-tongued side, and the charcoal female was in no way interested in being caught up in his web.

As the scenery changed from that of the prairie to the somewhat muddy pine forests, mismatched eyes darted about, her ears flicking almost like radar dishes as she picked up the scrabbling of small game, her tongue swiping of her lips as she resisted the urge to chase, she could probably fill up both of the males in a matter of a couple hours even if she was hunting alone but she forced herself to keep walking and forget about the squirrels, opossums, rats and mice. She was in hunting mode yes, but the two males of their small group had bigger plans in mind, and Shikoba didn’t notice as the smaller one, Hux, disappeared to scout ahead, she wouldn't have cared either way though, Hux could do whatever he wished and if he liked scouting Shikoba was happy to oblige. As Hux came back into view he turned to report what he had found, and instead of looking towards his larger travelling companion Hux’s eyes went to her. Shikoba’s own narrowed, the ghostly white slitting to barely nothing, she could tell neither of the males liked it, especially the larger one, but Hux’s only goal seemed to be irritating Kylo. “Herd, approximately 60 feet ahead, two calves, but one with no mother near by from what I could tell. None seemed to be favoring it. Male is at the perimeter farthest from us so we could try to surprise them.” Shikoba slowly nodded and then the smaller male quickly took control of the situation himself, continuing on, “Shikoba and I could take flank, Mirai and Kylo could run interference on the buck if need be. The calf seems newly born so it shouldn’t be too difficult.” Again the black female nodded, “Sounds as good of a plan as any to me, let’s just hurry, I do have a schedule to keep.” Her mismatched eyes once more turned to look in the direction they had come from, she was backtracking and that was never good, how she was supposed to manage keeping up with her already planned schedule was beyond her, but she would figure it out soon enough.

Right as Shikoba was about to move on Kylo’s voice caught her attention looking back to his eyes, that small smile appearing on her muzzle again at the sight of the red and white, "Fine, just don't let it get away." Shikoba couldn’t help the small snort as she shook out her charcoal fur and then she was gone, slipping into the pine trees, slowly at first as she waited on Hux, but then she began to gain speed as they neared the small group of animals. It had been a while since she had hunted big game, but she had to admit, even if these males were throwing her off schedule just a few bites from the kill would hold her over for a couple days. Mismatched eyes locked onto the calf Hux had decided to target, and nothing else mattered to the small female, her ears went straight back and she slowed from her quiet, light-footed trot, into a stealthy walk, her paws making no sound as they moved across the wet, snow covered pine needles. Shikoba slowed as one of her ears turned listening for Hux to get into his preferred position, and as soon as the male was there, Shikoba immediately took off, head down, paws flying over the ground headed straight for the calf. She had no intention of trying to deliver a killing blow, but they had to get the calf moving, and they had to get the other animals moving, cause a ruckus, and hopefully they could get away without much of a fuss. Shikoba saw the other animals as they began to panic, each mother taking quick count of her children, but still no female came to the aid of the lone calf, and that was exactly what would be the poor thing’s downfall. The calf began to shuffle panicking as the wolves headed for it, the only thing Shikoba could hope for was that Kylo and Mirai did their job and kept the other animals off of her and Hux as they rushed to separate and herd the calf in the other direction and towards what would soon be its death.

@hux Kylo @mirai

“Hi. I’m Steller. And you two?” As soon as the silver female began, Mira felt relief wash over her. She had her doubts about whether the two of them were friendly, but now it all seemed to vanish without a trace. “Neurus,” the brute was first to open his mouth. Mira watched with delight as the he-wolf wagged his tail, seeming extremely excited upon meeting the both of them. "I'm Mira, nice to meet the both of you," the ebony lady nodded, smiling. "This is kinda like my first time in this forest. I love it here, the pine smell especially."

Taking in another whiff of the refreshing pine scent, another sweet scent struck her nose. The two-year-old lowered her gaze to the ground, where she found a fallen portion of a honey comb not too far away from them. The humming of the bees flying ferociously around it sounded like an angry buzz. "Are those...bees? They don't seem too happy."

@steller @nereus

Mira hadn't really planned on staying here for long. She had never given much thought about the survival factors of the beautiful forest. So, she was taken by surprise when the silver female began to introduce the hunting factor of the area, in response to Mira's light statement. It was good advice though, from the older one. Mira gave a nod, mouthing: "Thanks. Guess I'll have to go for smaller kills.". Another knowledge Mira had picked up from her reply was that Steller had been staying here for awhile. As for "unless you plan to stick together", Mira wasn't sure what Steller thought of that. The other she-wolf had mentioned it so casually, and Mira wasn't sure if she was serious about it.

“Yes, I think so. I destroyed their hive. There’s food inside them, I’ve seen bears eat them in the summer. Good source of protein if you can access it and don’t mind the stings.” What does honey even taste like? Mira tried to picture licking the thick liquid of the hive, while enduring the annoying stings. From the scent of the broken hive, Mira could only guess it was sweet, not the same sweetness as a succulent kill, but even sweeter. So sweet that enduring the stings is worth it.

“I’ve only been here since Autumn. I plan to keep moving when Winter ends. South through the Brush Lands and then East into the Mountain Prairie. Come along if you‘d like or don’t.” The pale lady was really good at directions. Perhaps Mira could pick up a thing or two from two older ones. "I'd like to come along, if that's okay with you.


@nereus @steller