1x1 with CalicoWolf

[CalicoWolf]

(Will be posting today, just got busy and took me a bit to formulate a reply, sorry!)

[nyctorin.]

{It's cool! Take your time. :3}

[CalicoWolf]

Velkan snarled at his sister as the cold water hit his snout and chest. He shook himself a little. Suddenly he looked up, his ears laying flat on his head as they both heard someone call out "SPICE!". Velkan groaned and raised his hackles. He stood straight up, the back of his fur bristling. He watched the two Western pack wolves run closer toward them. Oh greeeaatt....

Calico looked up and saw a two wolves running toward them. The one in the front appeared to be laughing and playing with the one that called out to her. Calico also noticed that, the one called Spice she assumed, didn't seem to notice them yet. Calico felt excited and a little nervous at the same time as the two got closer. They had a frozen chunk river separating them, but Calico had heard so many horrid things about the other packs, but at the same time, she wanted to meet them and see for herself. She stood up at the waters edge and wagged her tail slightly.

[nyctorin.]

Kodiak barked loudly at his sister repeatedly to slow down, but she only seemed to think it part of the game, unaware that there was a potential threat nearby. She ignored her brother's words and continued running, then sped right past the area across from Calico, missing the wolf completely. However, when she passed, she had noticed a pale, wolfish figure out of the corner of her eyes, which caused her to hop/skid to a stop in the snow with a confussed expression. She looked back over her shoulder at the place she had passed, momentarily confused. A loner? Suddenly, it clicked that this was the border between them and their rival pack- something she had known, but forgotten- and she realized the wolf was an enemy. Having been trained to be as hostile as possible towards the enemy, she pulled back her lips and snarled low, narrowing her eyes and stalking back to the area across from the wolf.

Kodiak had given up trying to stop his sister- she was too far ahead, too stubborn, and already nearing the part of the bank across from the other wolf. He slowed his pace to a trot and watched his sister fly right past, then slowly and warily walked to the bank opposite of the Southern Pack wolves and glanced at them with a worried look. His ears were pinned back due to nerves, but he was also curious about the other wolves: he'd never actually seen them, and had always wondered if they truly were as bad as his pack made them out to be. He spotted the pale she-wolf looking across the river, making direct eye contact with him. He perked his ears and tilted his head at her wagging tail, intrigued by her seemingly friendly nature, but was brought back to bitter reality when his sister had returned, snarling at the she-wolf like a demon. He rolled his eyes.

"Well, well, well, if it is a Southern wolf." Spice spat venomously, her emphasis on the word "southern". She then seems to notice the male farther back and further scowled. "Oh, wait, make that two southern mongrels."

There was something about her tone and that way she immediately started hating theses wolves just because of their origin that made Kodiak's stomach churn- she sounded just like his brother, and that wasn't a wolf he wanted young Spice taking after. He shoved his ears forward and stuck his tail out, towering over his sister. "Stop that nonsense Spice. They aren't even on our side of the river- you have no need to be so hostile."

"But they're our rivals, Kodiak!" She hissed, as if that was reason enough.

"Okay. Aside from that, can you give me any other reasons to treat them that way?"

The she-wolf's eyes went blank, clearly showing she couldn't think of an answer. After pausing for a moment, she progressively started to look more frustrated, then gave a growl-yelp at her brother and plopped her rear down in the snow with defeat, looking away and mumbling something about them "probably having fleas". With that settled, he turned his sights back to the she-wolf at the river's edge and relaxed his dominant posture, licking his nose with faint discomfort. "Apologies about her..." He could hear his father yelling at him now; you don't apologize to the enemy, boy!

[CalicoWolf]

Velkan stepped in front of his blonde sister and growled, "Better than a Western Mutt." He also emphasized on the type of pack. He showed his teeth and raised his tail in a dominant fashion. He was usually not hostile unless he had to be and he felt this was one of those times. Not only was he threaten, but his little sister as well who he was very protective of. The pure black wolf looked at the smaller wolf who was talking the smack before he glanced at the slightly bigger male wolf. He noticed he seemed a little more reserved than the female.

Calico's ears went down and her tail tucked between her legs as a wolf she had never met already hated her, just because of her origin? She didn't have any choice where she was born. Her ears perked up a bit when she heard the he-wolf apologize for the rival she-wolf. She lifted her tail a little and wagged it once but before she could say anything, her big brother snarled again, "We don't need an apology from you..."

Calico turned, "Velkan! He was being polite, what has gotten into you?!" The older male wolf's golden eyes fumed with anger, "They are the enemy pack! We don't need to associate with them" He spit out the last word like it was a bad taste in his mouth. "Lets get out of here..." Velkan turned around, tail still in the air, heading back toward the western woods, back toward their den and pack...

[nyctorin.]

Hearing the male's responce, Spice perked her ears and whipped her head in his direction, eyes and brows narrowed angrily and upper lip curling in disgust. She did her best to focus all hatred and rage she possessed into a single glare, hoping to seem more intimidating, but she was truly no match for the larger male across the river. At least, not from this distance, she thought to herself.

Kodiak pinned his ears back and glanced away when the male snapped back at him, being coldly reminded again that they were in a war; apologies meant nothing. It did surprise him, however, to see the she-wolf snap back at her brother and bring up a responce similar to what Kodi had said to Spice. His ears perked once more and his eyes lit up with interest. Could it be that he had finally found a wolf that shared his opinion about all this?

While Kodiak was deep in thought, Spice took it upon herself to speak up, rising to her paws once more and raising her tail. "Well then this is the first - and last - time I've ever agreed with a Southern wolf!" She gave one last venomous snarl in the enemies direction, then rounded on her brother and growled, "Let's go. Their stench is killing me." With that, the angry little wolf turned and walked off in a huff, her legs stiff and face scrunched up in concentration as she thought over what just happened. She was far too distracted to realize her brother wasn't following.

Kodiak hung back at the river and cautiously turned away from Spice to regard the she-wolf across the way, seeing she was also now alone. He was too curious about her to just leave now; what if he did, and her brother never let her near the river again? He'd lose his one chance to talk to a civilized wolf. There was an awkward silence between them, filled by the sound of the slow-flowing river. He glanced out her out of the corner of his eyes, then smiled faintly and wagged his tail, almost as if saying "small world, huh?".

[CalicoWolf]

Calico snapped at her brother, "I'm not going anywhere..." Velkan whipped around and stared at Calico for a moment before snarling at her, "Yes you are, You will not stay here. I don't care that they are on the other side. It's my job to protect you, so let's go."

Calico sat her rear down on the bank, stubbornly, and replied, "I'm. Not. Leaving!" Suddenly there was a black blur and the blonde was pinned on her back under her brother. His gold eyes filled with anger and his teeth bared as he growled venomously, "Yes you are... unless you want me to drag you back like a pup." Calico's tail shook in a submissive position as she adverted her eyes. "Fine..." She whimpered.

The larger male wolf backed up off his sister and frowned. He glanced one last time at the Western Pack before turning tail and heading home. Calico, with her ears drooping, glanced as well, noticed the small female wolf had left. She glanced at the western wolf, a sad look on her face. She looked like she was saying, "I'm sorry... The ebony wolf called, "Calico!" and Calico turned slowing to follow, her head low and tail down...

[nyctorin.]

{Feel free to skip what's in between the ---'s. It's mostly filler.}

When the argument broke out between the two, Kodiak instantly stilled his nervously wagging tail and wiped the sheepish smile from his maw, replacing it with a look of alertness and slight worry. He shrunk back, crouching in the snow along the back as he watched the blonde wolf get pinned by the darker male, snarling and snapping in her face. It didn't take long to see the she-wolf was lower than the male on top of her; she knew when she was beat and quickly submitted to her aggressor. Though Kodi hated standing by and just watching her get thrown to the ground, he knew it would be suicide to cross the borders. At any rate, it seemed the male's intentions were solely on protecting the female- from a "Westerner"- not on harming her. He looked on, with a sad and disappointed gaze, as the she-wolf gave him an apologetic look, then turned and fled after the other. The Western hunter lingered a moment more, watching the she-wolf bolt away in silence, feeling the icy winds gently tug at his fur and digging his toes into the snow, then lifted his rear from the ground and began padding back towards his own home, where he knew an impatient Spice would be waiting.

---

When he returned to camp, after a long, cold walk of deep thinking, he discovered that the hunters had not waited for him to return: they had been organized into a hunting party and left without him. Tail low and head bowed, he approached his family's den to apologize and ask for orders, but discovered his sister, older brother, and father were in a heated discussion about what had happened. Kodiak froze upon entering, his heart hammering fast- would they know about how he tried to make peace with them? He knew his father would frown upon such behavior, possibly even consider making him an omega. Permanently. He swallowed hard, then continued in, only feeling the anxiety double as everyone turned to look at him. From what he had heard, Spice had just finished with something about how irritating they were, though he knew she meant the male: the female hadn't said a word to his sister. As he looked around the gauge everyone's reactions, he was relieved to find that his father didn't seem upset. Not yet, anyway.

"So," the older wolf started, staring down Kodiak intensely. "A run in with Southerners at the river border, eh? Definitely explains your absence when I was giving out orders." He allowed that to hang in the air for a moment, silently warning his son not to miss another meeting. Kodi shrank a little. "However, I suppose I can excuse you, seeing how you were just serving your pack in getting rid of those mongrels." The lead hunter smirked, as if proud, but Kodiak averted his gaze, ears flattening a little. The elder's smirk faded.

"You DID tell them to beat it, correct?" His voice was sterner now. Kodi glanced to Spice and silently thanked her for staying quiet. Perhaps she was arrogant more often than not, but at least she could occasionally bite her tongue. The younger hunter looked back to his father, trying to stand taller and seem more sure of himself.

"Yes, of course, just... Not at first." His father perked a brow. "Things got heated pretty quickly, so I took the time to try and calm both sides down before advising them to leave. So we could avoid a battle."

The older male relaxed some at this, which made the younger feel far more relaxed. His brother just looked on with narrowed eyes, clearly not buying it, but not caring enough to say anything.

"Very good. Smart thinking. Well, with that out of the way, I believe it's high time you got your tail out there and started hunting. The party already left, and are no doubt already tracking something, so just go hunt independently for today." His father nodded to him, then looked at Jonas. "Your sister is your underling, so you take her out and give her orders as well."

Jonas nodded, then looked at Spice and jerked his head in the direction of the den's entrance, beckoning her to follow him out. The two quickly departed, though Spice managed to give Kodiak a "that was close" look before leaving. Nodding to his father, the hunter also left and exited back into the snow covered camp.

---

Unable to get the encounter out of his mind, after being told to go hunt independently, Kodiak decided he would hunt beside the river. Perhaps the she-wolf would appear again? Hopefully without the other one in tow... Either way, he'd be hunting, an action necessary for keeping the pack alive, so he doubted they could give him any grief for it. Plus, Spice wouldn't be accompanying him, so any conversation that might occur was guaranteed to be more civil. Hopefully. The male made quick work of exiting camp and trotting over the harder-packed snow, then once he wasn't too far from the river, he lowered his nose and began searching for the scent of prey. The river ran through a woodlot a little further up stream, so he was more likely to find prey there. He set his course and began to run in that direction.

Spice, after leaving the den with Jonas, was instantly (and nonchalantly) ordered to go patrol the borders. He said that if there were just two of them along the river, who know's how many others might be lurking about, planning to jump across and attack. He did try to briefly question if Kodiak had been telling the truth about how he handled the incident, but Spice turned away from him with a curt nod and bolted for the borders, pretending not to hear him. He's older than me, the she-wolf growled in her mind, thinking of her overly-friendly brother. Yet I feel like he's MY responsibility. Oh Kodiak. She shook her head briefly, then continued towards the borders. Naturally, she was heading for the river, a little further downstream from where the Southerners had been. It was shallower there, so if anyone was going to cross and attack, they'd do it there.

[CalicoWolf]

(Whoa You got on a roll! lol)

Velkan trotted back toward the den, looking back every now and then seeing his little sister moping slowly behind him. When he got to their tree, he stopped to wait for the blonde wolf, "Calico?" The blonde wolf lifted her head to look at her brother. The older wolf sighed, "Look Calico, I'm sorry about back there, but you have heard what father says about the Westerns; they can't be trusted. You are a sweet pup, but not everyone is good." Calico looked at her brother, "I am well aware that not everyone is good, but the one wolf didn't seem like he was a butthead." Velkan's ears perked up, "Maybe he wasn't, but we can't risk it. Besides, there may have been more, if we hadn't left we could have been ambushed and we didnt tell anyone where we went."

Calico shook her head, "It was a deep and wide part of the river, plus it's freezing. They would have been insane to try and cross it..." "Yes they would have, but they still may have tried..." The older wolf started walking toward the opening of the den where there father stood. "I've got work to do today, please stay out of trouble while I'm gone..." Calico nodded and curled up in the hole of the tree, "yeah yeah yeah..." and she rested her head on her paws. Then she raised her head and called out to her brother, "By the way, I'm not a pup!" Velkan turned his head and grinned, "You'll always be a pup to me, little sis."

Calico rolled her eyes and sighed. She really wished she could have spoken to the civil-seeming wolf. Maybe she would try to head back toward the river once her bother and rest of the pack left.

[nyctorin.]

(Yeah. I had finished a big school project that had been nagging at me, so my relief of getting that out the way gave me more muse. ^^)

Snout pointed down to the cold snow, Kodiak swiftly strode across the freezing terrain, his paws flying across the ground at a steadfast lope. His nostrils were constantly twitching as he searched for the scents of prey, and his ears swiveled back and forth, listening. He could hear the sound of rushing water once again, not too far away, so he knew he had already arrived at the borders. After a few minutes of searching, he eventually concluded that there wouldn't be anything in this area, so he really would have to travel further upstream if he planned on finding anything. There would probably be a burrow or two, full of rabbits trying to escape the cold. The male changed his pace and raced off down the frozen shore, kicking up snow as he went. The icy winds tugged at his fur, and he could already feel the cold sting of snow building up between his toes' he'd have to lick it off later, unless he wanted to get frostbite. Once the snow covered trees came into view, he recognized his destination and slowed down once again, lowering his head to the ground and searching for prey. Though the traces were faint, he could pick up hints of rabbit, so with a wag of his tail, he began to follow the trail. It seemed to be leading down to the river, which puzzled him. Perhaps the creature had made it's burrow in the side of the bank?

Spice was also journeying out to the borders, though her speed was a bit slower and her steps fell heavier. She had an expression of utmost seriousness on her face, thinking of what she might find and what she was to do. Anything could happen, knowing those pesky Southerners, and though she was a little scared of getting ambushed, she knew her duty to the pack, and was eager to prove herself a dedicated fighter. Her mind flashed back to the event at the river, causing her to snarl and lower her head. She thought of the two enemy wolves she had seen, and just thinking of the male that had thrown back her insults made her fur bristle. He's lucky Kodiak was there to stop me from throwing some REAL insults. Or was she the lucky one? Her look of irritation shifted to one of thoughtfulness as she considered her brother's "lie". If she had said another word, was it possible the other male would go back to his camp and encourage his pack to come attack? Had her brother actually prevented a battle from happening? Would she be at fault...? She flattened her ears some, knowing her father and older brother, as well as the Alpha and Western Pack as a whole, would not take kindly to her arrogance... She could be exiled for starting a battle like that... She realized, as she finally arrived at the river to patrol, that if she saw another wolf, it would be a good idea to watch her tongue.