Wolf RP 2

(Forgot Hunter.)
Hunter loped through the forest, amber eyes and grey ears ever alert. He was in a particularly good mood for the time being and decided to try his paw at fishing again. He trotted down the bank to the stream and sat patiently beside it.

(Oh oops)

Tratto nodded at both of them politely and asked "Have you met any of the newcomers yet?"

Hunter had spotted a fish swimming downstream, and had brought his paw up, poised to catch it, when a voice from behind him made him freeze. His paw was still in mid-air as he turned only his head.
"I've been around a while." He answered in his usual style of not giving his name. "Who are you, and what's it to you who I am?" He asked, turning back to the stream.

(Lol, that's his good mood. He's just naturally grumpy.)

Hunter rolled his eyes. “I never said stating my name wasn’t hard. Perhaps I don’t want to. Obviously I don’t like company.” He said, the hair on his spine beginning to bristle. “It’s Hunter. And I’m glad you told me your name or I would’ve chosen to call you sassy. Or annoying. One of the two.”
He dove his paw into the stream, and pulled out a trout (I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it), and set it on the bank, pinning it down with his paw. He looked back over his shoulder at Ipa, amber eyes and expresstion showing uncaringness and resignation. “Is there something you want?” He asked coolly.

(So sorry for the short posts. WB.)

Ana nodded to Brigan and followed him slowly toward the den, trying to figure out how exactly she could explain the mysterious story of her disappearance. She glanced toward Sawyer and Joshua who seemed to sbe getting along jolly, already playing and goofing around really. Her green eyes flicked forward again as they approached the hill of which in the back, opened up to te mouth of their den. She turned the corner of the hill, weaving through the leaves on the ground, though she stood many inches higher than them. Lately a small shower of snow had sprinkled down every now and then and Ana knew winter was coming fast.
Inside the den, she sat, curling her tail around her tightly. With a tiny whimper, she began her story. She explained to Brigan how that day when he had went hunting that she and the girls were in the den peacefully. Until two men came in with nets and captured Sawyer and Ana. Then they brought them into captivity and held them there, though they hadn't run any tests on them yet. She explained how they escaped whrn the humans let them out for a run, and that Ana was nearly killed in the process since she had to carry Sawyer in her mouth, run, dodge bullets and more. At the end, Ana just looked at Brigan with a sad look, not knowing what to say.
Sawyer pounded along after Joshua, giggling lightly. She came to a skidding halt at the den and went inside. She took a seat beside Brigan and lay down on her belly, her eyes watching her mother and trying to push away the memories o the horrible white building. She glanced toward Joshua when Ana finished and bounced over to her happily
"I'm gonna get you!" She pounced on Joshua's tail.

Murtagh dhook his head at Tratto's question as he licked Raiya's shoulder.
"Nope, I haven't. Who are they and what do they look like? I'll keep an eye out."

Since both of the clumsy boys tripped, Tempest was the first to reach the woods. She hadn't seen Cobalt trip- she had though he was behind her the whole time. But when she looked back to see where they were, she burst out laughing to see Comet in a distance, still sprawled out on the ground, glowering at her with mud snd dust caked to his already dirty coat. And a few feet in front of him, Cobalt lay on the ground as well, apparently having smacked into a tree. Tempest snorted with laughter.
"Hey boys! We're not in the woods yet and you've fallen already?" She teased, sitting to wait for them. "I won!"
Comet scowled. "Not fair. At least Cobalt tripped on his own. You tripped me!" He yelled from not too far from the woodline.
"I did no such thing!" Tempest argued back, but Comet ignored her. He picked himself upward and shook out his dirty coat of fluff. Slowly, he trotted over to Cobalt with a tiny grin.
"You okay dude?"

Nico’s grin broadened as Skye moaned, sluggishly dragging herself from the dreamworld. He rolled to his feet the second she let him up, eager not to waste any more time. He did spare a moment, however, to pause and admire his beautiful mate as she stretched and shook out her coat. There’s not another she-wolf in the world that could even come close to my Skye, he thought fondly. He watched, a slight smile on his face, as she immediately got down to business, sniffing around to pick up the fox’s trail where they’d left off last night. When she found it and set off at a trot, he shook himself and loped after her.
“So,” he began, then broke off, hacking and gagging as he spat out a fallen leaf he’d accidentally inhaled as it drifted past his muzzle. “Ackk, ackk, bleh! Leaf!” He spat again, his muzzle twisted in distaste.

Joshua whimpered and covered her eyes as her mother’s words brought back all her repressed memories of that day. She remembered the scary men and their giant spider webs. She remembered huddling in the shadows at the back of the den as the men caught Mama and Sawyer in those webs and took them away. And she remembered how terrified she felt, sitting there alone, until Daddy got back and found her. She shuddered.
When Ana fell quiet, Joshua peeked up at her parents, then jumped as Sawyer suddenly attacked her tail. Memories fading quickly, as puppies’ tend to when they’re distracted, Joshua giggled and swatted at her sister’s ear.
“Let go!” she laughed.

Brigan listened to Ana’s story with a growing horror for what his mate and daughter had gone through. His horror then gave way to a slow-burning rage. Humans!! Hadn’t they already done enough to Ana? Then they had to come back for her again just when she thought she was free of them forever. And little Sawyer. She was too young to have had to know that kind of fear. Brigan had wanted to protect his daughters from ever experiencing humans’ cruelty.
When Ana finished speaking, Brigan licked her gently and said nothing about it. It’s better forgotten, he thought. We’ll all move past it easier. And his eyes flicked to the puppies playing on the floor.
After a moment, a smile touched his lips. “Look at our girls, Ana,” he said softly, and in his husky voice was everything he didn’t say. Look at our puppies, look at how easily they forget. Look at our future, and let’s not look at our past anymore.

Zakira was out hunting again when she felt the first pains that warned her she was going into labor. She felt a brief flash of fear that she quickly overrode. She reminded herself to stay calm and her self obeyed. Abandoning her hunt, she picked her way through the bare forest back to her den, pausing to breathe deeply and evenly each time her body was racked with contractions. Upon reaching her den, she ducked inside.
* * *
Some time later, she lay gazing down at the two tiny dark bundles nestled against her. She’d already licked them clean and they now suckled contentedly. A little daughter, black with a chocolate mask, mirroring Zakira’s own coloring in reverse. And a son, Nomed in miniature. Both of them, so innocent. So helpless.
Zakira gently touched nosed the female’s soft head and the puppy shifted slightly under her touch. That was when she knew what she would do. Nomed would be a better parent to them than she would. She remembered how he was that day picking flowers with Kavik. Harek would have the milk to feed them. It was for the best.
She gave herself an hour with them, then picked up first the male and twisted her head to settle him deep in the hollow between her shoulder blades on her back. When she was reasonably sure he wouldn’t fall, she picked up the female to carry in her mouth.
While she didn’t know where Nomed was living right now, it wasn’t hard to pick up Harek’s scent from where they’d met beside the stream and follow it back to a small cluster of low bushes. She remembered the white she-wolf telling her accusingly that all Nomed did anymore was ‘lay under the bush and sleep’, so she was fairly certain it was the right place. She set the female puppy down and lifted the male down to join his sister on the ground at her feet. Half of her wanted to just walk off and leave them there for Nomed to find, so to avoid seeing him and having to speak to him. The other half called that cowardice. But also, she was reluctant to abandon the puppies without knowing for sure that they’d be looked after.
“Nomed?”
If he wasn’t here, she would wait.

“Oh no!” Skye shrieked, purposefully and over-dramatically stopping, wheeling around and rushing up to Nico, a feigned look of horror on her face. “Nico, no! Don’t choke on leaves! Those nasty things are dangerous, you know?” With that, she pressed her nose gently on his shoulder. “Sit down now, rest.” She instructed in a quiet, even and sweet tone. “And while you’re resting, can I say something?” She asked, sitting down, giving him a sweet innocent look, blue eyes shining happily. She felt anxious to say what was on her mind, and waited impatiently for him to settle.

Zakira's ears flattened and she took a protective step forward to stand over her little ones as Harek shot out from beneath the bush, growling. It hadn't crossed her mind that she might have to go through Nomed's sister before speaking to him directly. There was no way she was leaving her babies with Harek, however, so she steeled herself and held her ground. But when her gaze fell on the pups, all the white she-wolf's aggression left her and she smiled.
Zakira hesitated in responding to Harek's guess that the only reason she had come was to show Nomed his puppies, but the white she-wolf hadn't waited for an answer anyway. She threw back her head, summoning her brother with a deafening howl. Zakira flinched at the sudden crack of the black cloud announcing Nomed's arrival. She'd never liked his clouds. He'd stopped using them when they were together.
When the last tendrils of darkness faded away, Zakira set eyes on her former mate for the first time since she'd left him- and was shocked by the transformation she saw. He was thin and gaunt, eyes vacant, black fur tangled and matted. A fetid smell reached her nostrils and her eyes flashed to the wound on his shoulder, the wound she'd inflicted on him; it was puffy and oozing pus. When he spoke, his voice creaked and he coughed like an elder.
Zakira ignored Nomed's barbed jibe. He should know better. She'd told him often enough he was the only male she could ever tolerate as a mate. If she couldn't make it work with him, how could she possibly hope to make it work with someone else? She glanced aside at Harek, who explained in a soft, pained voice that she hadn't seen Nomed since she'd seen Zakira at the stream, almost as if to say, Don't blame me, it's not my fault; I couldn't take care of him if he wasn't here. Zakira didn't blame Harek. She didn't blame herself either. A spark of anger flashed in her grey eyes. Nomed's condition was entirely Nomed's fault.
Be nice to him??! she thought grimly, her fury growing. She had no intention of being nice to him. He need to snap out of whatever funk he was in and be the wolf he used to be or he would be of no use to their puppies as a father.
"Shame on you, Nomed," she said. "Look at yourself! What do you think you're doing??" She gestured sharply to the puppies at her feet. "How do you expect to be a father to them if you're dead??"

“How come you always take nature’s side?” Nico complained jokingly. “I didn’t mean to choke on it! The thing practically jumped down my throat! First the bush, and now the leaf. I think the whole woods is out to get me! And all you can do is scold me about choking on the leaves? Aw, my feelings are hurt, Skye. You love evil leaves and bushes more than me.”
He pretended to pout, allowing her to gently sit him down. Running his tongue around the inside of his mouth, he found another fleck of leaf and spat again, then looked at Skye as she asked if she could say something.
“Uh-oh,” he said seriously. “Don’t tell me you’ve thought it over and decided to leave me for the bush. Don’t do it, Skye. I’m telling you, he’s bad news.”

Nico grinned back at his mate as she licked his chin, assuring him he was much better than 'any ol' bush'.
"'Course I am," he said confidently.
But at her next words, spoken lightly, nonchalantly, as if she hadn't spared a thought to the potential impact they might have, his grin froze on his lips, then slowly melted away as he stared dumbly at her.
"Wha-what?" he stammered.
A dad!! What??! he quietly freaked out. No no no no no no no, that's not right, I'm not a dad, I can't be a dad. She's joking, right? Haha, good one, you got me? But one look at the anxious look in Skye's blue eyes quelled that hope. He didn't know what to say. He knew Skye wanted him to say something, but what was he supposed to say?? What did guys usually say when they just found out they were going to be dads? Were they all as utterly terrified as he was right now?