Snow stepped through the forest slowly, her bushy tail swishing softly. So far, there was no sign of food. All she had was what she found yesterday. Her ears perked up, listening carefully to any prey which may be close by. After a moment, a plump pigeon flew down to grab a worm from the ground. Snow crouched immediately and slowly snuck up to the pigeon, after a quick pounce, Snow grabbed the Pigeon's neck and snapped it. There, she had found something at last. She smiled gently before picking the pigeon up and walking along with it.
Rex
Rex laid on a large flat rock with the sun against his back. He loved to sun bathe whenever he could. He gave out a loud yawn and stretched himself out. For now, he was alone. He enjoyed being along sometimes, but it was nice to have company at times. He gave a few sniffs of the air for a few moments, but so far nothing came to him. He stretched himself out and laid his head against his paws gently. His tail swished softly, and his eyes were beginning to close.
The strong scent of blood invaded the air in the group’s private patch of forest that morning. Two canine figures lounged about, Lotus being one of them. The mutt perched on top of a slightly large rock and guarded the area like a hawk, focusing intently and quietly. A few feet away from the rock laid Ruvik the wolf who was tearing away at the fur and flesh of a freshly caught rabbit who was unfortunate enough to be caught in his ivory fangs. In the midst of his chewing, he snuck a glance at Lotus with a furrowed brow. She seemed awfully cautious despite their current situation, which was a safe one.
“You do realize that we’re safe here, right? There hasn’t been a foreign scent for weeks,” Ruvik inferred towards his ‘adopted sister’.
Lotus didn’t seem fazed and kept her focus, straightening herself out a bit at Ruvik’s comment. She sniffed the breeze as it floated in her direction. “I’m just trying to be safe. Zinovia said to always stay on your guard and never let it down for a single moment.”
Ruvik took another large chunk out of his kill and looked right up at the dog with a chill expression. “Yeah, but… only when you actually smell that something’s up, or when you’re in a new area.” Just as he spoke, there was rustling in the bushes nearby, capturing both of the canine’s attentions immediately. Out popped Ahanu the fox, licking his chops at the scent of Ruvik’s kill. “Leave her alone, Ruvy, she’s still a dog who’s fresh off the leash. Still scared, too,” he chuckled slyly to himself and approached Ruvik.
Lotus scowled at him but kept quiet. Besides, even if she decided to voice her opinion about that, Ruvik and Ahanu had already started fighting about one thing or another. “Get your own, stupid fox!”
“But I’m huuuungry! Share with your little brother!”
Ruvik quickly rose to his paws and violently yanked the rabbit carcass from Ahanu’s grasp quite easily, being a wolf and all. “You’re not my brother.” He snorted at the fox, who simply rolled his eyes and snickered in amusement. Lotus had already hopped off her perch and approached the two proudly, a soft scowl on her face. “I swear, you two fight like tykes every single day. My siblings and myself weren’t even this bad.”
Ahanu raised a brow and sniffed Lotus, who stepped back in annoyance. “Shut up, mutt. You’ve still got some getting used to. It’s a dog eat dog world out here. You either kill or be killed, steal or be stolen from. You’ve only been here for three moons, so I don’t wanna hear it.”
Lotus whined softly in protest, “Well maybe if Ruvik would teach me how to hunt and fight, I could be less of a pampered pet and more like you guys -- just less immature.” Suddenly, there was rustling in the bushes near the trio, and all three immediately became alert and straightened out in caution. Lotus lifted her snout high in the air to try and catch a scent, but the breeze wasn’t blowing it in their direction. Their scents were blowing in this creatures direction.
“I think I smell blood. ZInovia’s back with some deer, I bet,” Ahanu smirked and started to bound in the direction of the rustling, much to Ruvik and Lotus’s shock as they tried to call him back. He refused to listen and kept approaching the area where the noises were, licking his chops in anticipation for a good meal. Who needed Ruvik’s rabbit anymore? “Come on, guys, we should probably help her.”
Just as he was a few taillengths away, he halted at the sight of an adolescent cougar who made her way out of her cover of foliage. She wasn’t terribly large, but still greatly outweighed and would overpower Ahanu if they got into a fight. She was somewhat malnourished and licked her maw at the sight of the vulnerable fox, making her way towards him threateningly. Ahanu lowered his frame and slowly started to walk backwards, knowing any sudden movements would cause a chase -- and predators enjoyed chases. Ruvik shouted and snarled at the cougar, grabbing her attention immediately. “Pick on someone your own size, cat! Don’t lay one claw on that fox.”
She raised a brow in confusion and stood up straight whilst immediately shifting her body towards the wolf’s direction, swishing her tail in amusement, but the cold, hungry gaze in her eyes still lingered. “You gonna stop me?”
Ruvik stepped forward, subtly motioning to Ahanu and Lotus to take cover somewhere as he readied himself for a good fight. “I am.” He growled lowly at the feline and braced himself, muscles tensing up so he could avoid injury and dodge any attacks skillfully. The cougar snorted and unsheathed her claws in annoyance, angry that the wolf was interrupting her mealtime, which she needed desperately. She also readied herself.
“Fine. I like wolf meat better than that of a fox anyway.”
She wasted no time, and at the moment, the skinny cougar sprinted in his direction, claws and teeth flailing in rage. Lotus and Ahanu watched to see what Ruvik would do, to see if his combat training did him some good. He’d sparred with his mother before, but never actually got into a real fight. But from where they hid, it was clear that Ruvik was frozen and didn’t know what to do. .
Both Snow and Rex both heard the sounds of talking from where they were and both decided to head in the direction. Rex for curiosity sake and Snow because she wanted to see if she could make anymore friends. It was a few minutes after, and Snow arrived first. She poked her head out of the bushes behind Ruvik and watched as he was going to fight. Although, as he froze she stepped forward for a second be waited to be sure. As the cougar was getting closer it was clear Ruvik wasn't going to move. Immediately the bushes would rustle loudly and Snow ran out quickly. She ran at full force into Ruvik and sent him flying back on his side as her heat met him. Now in front of the Cougar, she turned and kicked up the dirt in the cougar's face. Afterwards she began to ran. She spoke quickly enough to speak to the others.
"Your welcome, my name is Snow. Nice to meet you all."
Jut as she disappeared into the bushes the cougar followed. Then Rex came from nowhere and pounced on the cougar. He scratched the cougar and bit the cougar hard. It was clear that Rex was a fighter, and a good one at that. The cougar quickly ran away and Snow gave a grateful nod, before running off once more. Rex looked to the bushes before looking towards the white fox. Rex went through the bushes to see quite a few creatures, both wolf and fox. He stepped forward slowly before speaking.
"Is everyone alright? My name is Rex. Who are you all?"
He tilted his head for a moment before sitting down, showing that he wasn't a threat, even to the fox.
Just as the cougar was about to make harsh contact with Ruvik, out of nowhere, he felt much force against his side and soon enough he was kissing and rolling in the dirt. He heard Ahanu and Lotus gasping from their position in the bushes, though he was in much confusion which made him unsure of what happened. Did she... get me? Is this what dying is like? Nothing? His thoughts intruded. He attempted to sit up and shook his head out when he realized he was not experiencing the onset of death. His head whirled around just in time to see a snow white fox fleeing from the cougar, who was taken down by another wolf. Words were exchanged from the fox as she ran off to hide and soon enough the feline predator was running off into the trees, beaten and hungry.
In a way, he kinda felt bad for her.
Rex spoke up and sat down, showing no harm. Lotus quickly ran to Ruvik's side and helped him to his paws, examining him closely. "I thought you were going to be dogmeat for sure. Nothing more than a few bumps and bruises, though." She affectionately licked his side were Snow made an impact, though the gesture was more in a motherly and sisterly way. Ruvik shook his fur out and simply nodded, grunting a bit as he finally pieced together all that had just happened. It was all so fast, but no one was hurt.
“Who are we? Who are you?” Ahanu approached Rex with a curious look in his eye, swishing his tail to and fro. “We are no one as a whole. I’m Ahanu. My wolf brother that your fox friend knocked to the ground is Ruvik, and the wolfdog is Lotus.”
”What’s going on here?”
Ruvik, Lotus, and Ahanu looked in the direction of a familiar voice. Zinovia, Ruvik’s mother, had returned from a hunt, her white fur bloodied, a deer carcass laying a few feet behind her. Ahanu looked back at Rex and chuckled. “And that’s Zinovia, Ruvik’s mother. She’s a saint.”
