What friends didn't do for you

@Izumi but any others also welcome

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 Taikon had crossed the river. He did not fully understand why, but he had. The river had been fierce, and finding a good place to cross had been difficult and at points impossible. The world was divided by rivers. He had always known that. It seemed that these wolves did not understand it.
 When he did cross that river, he had waited in vain to try to catch a gosling with poor reflexes. Before his attempted capture, a fox grabbed the downed young bird.
 Yet, almost immediately, Taikon saw and swiftly followed the movements of this smaller canine. He was lucky to force himself toward the vixen, who had meant to feed her cubs with this meal. It took little more than a snap of his teeth to ward away the she-fox, leaving Taikon to pull apart the gosling. They were birds that grew large and fast. It was bigger than a hare, and as he bit into the flesh, it was rich and fine.
 He threw away what seemed a healthy portion of the nearly-grown gosling, the entire portion of its upper chest and head.
 Munching away at what he had kept, he ate quickly. He smelled for others.

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❁

  The metallic scent of blood and visage caught the she-wolf's attention as she stalked the cool, dampened night. By now, Izumi could decipher the difference between avian blood and mammalian blood -- birds had more of a tangy, metallic scent to them while mammals smelled like a combination of sweet and savory. Rabbits & hares being her favorite.
  Judging by the smell, it was a bird -- which received slump-shouldered disappointment from the cranebird upon realizing it. Yet the dame was not picky enough to pass up a late night snack. If it was already dead, then why not take it for herself? Alas -- it seemed like someone had already beaten her to the meal...a wildfured, cream-coated man that tore sloppily through the young flesh of what appeared to be a gosling.
  Whilst a paw would lift to allow a fox to skitter right past her, the cranebird would let out a low chuff to announce her presence to the man who was more preoccupied with his dinner. She wasn't so far from civilization as to forget the ways of her own species; some had the tendency to act viciously over game of any size. Something Izumi couldn’t blame them for, knowing the merciless pangs of hunger to be twice as vicious -- but he was in the same path as Izu was. The last thing she'd want is to start a conflict over misunderstandings...

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She had happily followed her papa, though she didn't really give him a choice in that matter. Regardless of what he said, she would follow him and now she was realizing it was much better being out of the desert. "Papa look! My nose doesn't hurt anymore!" The burns on her nose and face had begun to heal, her face happy as always, not really knowing that anything was ever wrong. 

As the man hunted, she would watch him, wanting to learn how he did that. As he ate, she would lower herself to the ground, stalking forward before moving to pounce, aiming to catch papa's tail with her paws. She was trying her best, though her little mind didn't entirely comprehend how to effectively hunt. Typically, she just waited for papa to hunt and ate some of that, or was lucky enough to find a unknowing mouse.

She hadn't realized there was another approaching them, her mind on the tail in front of her that she was determined to catch.

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 Indeed, Vedetta had followed him beyond the Desert and through to a place where things were far less bad. They had taken the long way around, largely due to his own lack of knowledge of the land and thinking that the Plains would be easier to travel across. He'd been partly right, and partly wrong.
 Her nose had healed quickly as the glaring sun no longer tormented them. His own rugged pelt had lost all of its splendor, replaced instead by a coat of stifled, struggling hair that had fallen out. He looked awful, like someone had taken a pair of clippers to parts of him.
 For the watcher, it would have become clear why as the healthy part of the gosling was tossed to the young coyote.
 Hearing the chuff, Taikon turned, hoping that the face was as friendly as the voice that had carried the greeting.
 On seeing her, he didn't bother to defend the meagre ration he had left himself. Instead, he stepped away, eying Vedetta, praying she would be smart about meeting a stranger this time. It was easier to let the wolf take what she wanted rather than fight. “We mean no trouble, miss,” he offered, his ears bent.

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❁

  It was a high stress situation of what was gonna happen next. Trying to analyze body languages and expressions wasn't exactly the easiest in this lighting, the forests were especially thick in these parts and most sunlight was being blocked out from the tree's. What spooked her even more was the sudden appearance of white which made the crane's eyes round and her tail stiff at the hocks like a cat. A small ball of fluff -- a juvenile coyote who referred to the man as....papa?

  No, Izumi was not judging the relationship between these two. Yet for a while now, there was always the stigma that wolves and coyotes were natural born rivals in resources. One wolf did not pass a coyote without it's mangled body wrapped in its jaws, usually over a squabble of food. So to see the cream-pelted sir sharing his catch with the young girl was a...curious sight to say the least.

  “We mean no trouble, miss,” the man spoke to Izumi, not looking to take defensive action towards his catch. In response, the tale weaver would shake her head -- Izumi's wish was to mearly pass by, not cause a disturbance. "Neither do I," Fujiwara said calmly, blinking slowly as her eyes trained onto the odd pair. "I'm sure the last thing you and your daughter would need is a disturbance..."

  and the plan was to walk away, but...

  "...but would a single gosling really be enough to keep you both satiated?" Izumi had other plans.

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She didn't realize anyone was there until papa spoke up, causing her to whip her head around, eyes blinking against the sun. Sure enough, another stood not too far away and instantly, Vedette moved to greet the wolf, though one look at papa told her otherwise. She was starting to understand that papa didn't like other wolves and therefore, she didn't either! If papa disliked them, they had to be bad, right? 

So instead, she would let out a fierce (i.e. small) growl as she pinned her ears back, trying to stand protectively in front of papa. Though as soon as she growled, she would instantly change her body language, loosening up with her ears pushed forward again as she looked up at papa. "Did I do that right?" She would very audibly whisper/yell to him, tail flipping happily behind her. There wasn't a singular angry bone in this girls body, but she loved her papa and wanted to do everything she could to help him. 

What caught her attention though, was the woman's words, though she didn't understand everything. "Goosling? Goseling? Gos...ling." She tried to sound out the word, looking down at the prey that sat on the ground between them. Was that what that creature was? Now her whole attention was on the dead creature, moving to sniff it, now completely ignoring the two adults. She had the attention span of a gnat.

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 Taikon had been quick to tense up, as he often did when encountering new people. Vedetta, though, finally took heed of his general approach to things, and went on the defensive. He smiled, unable to contain himself at this new development. For so long, she had been completely unwary of strangers. Being a youngster and in a world filled with danger, he was trying to train her to be wise about her friendliness. He didn't want her killed.
 The stranger, though surprised, didn't seem aggressive or like any threat of danger. She had a soft scent to her and was well-fed, but smelled only vaguely like other wolves. She carried a calm energy, though Taikon remained wary as she watched them. He moved to nibble at the back of Vedetta's ear in encouragement, but did not look away from the ink-stained wolf. Vedetta was quick to investigate the catch, leaving him to consider what this woman was asking.
 Taikon narrowed his eyes, puzzled by this question that she already knew the answer to. He considered her tone carefully, and slowly softened. Letting out a sigh, he shrugged and made a face as in, "well, that is how it be."
 “I don't suppose you're more familiar with this area than we are, then?” The question was meant more as, "what exactly are you offering here?" without saying it directly. He stepped forward more comfortably, leaving Vedetta to hopefully eat his share as well.

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❁

  The snowy-pelted youth acted in accordance to wherever the coin flipped -- first waltzing up to greet the crane, before soon reading the room and turning to act on aggression. It was quite easy to tell it was forced behavior, though, which is why Izumi hadn't flinched -- only watched in curiosity. Especially when she'd then turn to look for approval to her caregiver....the crane couldn't help but find the act a bit bewildering, but then again, when had children ever acted normally? They were merely under the control of innocent thinking, and there was something strangely charming about it.

  "Yes Gosling," she answered to the child softly with a tilted head as she attempted to pronounce it. "It is what you would call a young goose. Their meat is usually more tender than an adult's, so you might just enjoy what you eat." Izumi referred to the generous piece the sandman had thrown to the child.

  "In a way, yes," She then turned her attention to the man himself -- the other of age; less innocence, and more experience in terms of survival. It would be wise of him not to trust a stranger with the child under his own care. So the look of distrust was expected. In turn, her lavender gaze swept to the forest beyond them -- perhaps a lack of eye contact could lessen the anxiety held between them. "I do not live here, yet I have traveled far enough to know of good food sources...it might sound sudden in asking, but if we assist each other--" looking between the wolf and coyote briefly, the crane continued; "--we could hunt something larger for the three of us."

  The offer was on the table -- it had been a while since Izumi had hunted with another before, and with an added party a group might've been able to catch something more nutritious to fill them for a while. Izu assumed that if the man had a choice, he would not purposely seek out small, half-eaten prey. So why not increase their chances at catching something better?

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Even as the adults talked, Vedetta was only interested in the new creature that laid in front of her. She didn't know what a goose was, but it certainly sounded interesting. Slowly, she would begin to eat the small prey, her tail wagging slightly as she smiled. It was good! Bouncing around, she would look up at her papa, an excited look on her face. "Papa, the stranger is right, it is really good!" Her attention turned to the lady, cocking her head to the side as she spoke of hunting. The coyote had always wanted to learn how to hunt. Sure, her father had taught her a bit, but she wanted to learn more!

So, she bounded toward the woman, stopping near her feet with a skid before looking up at the lady. "I can hunt!" She announced, lowering herself to the ground as if she was ready to hunt something now. Her posture was all wrong, most of her body on the ground with only really her tail and behind in the air. She was more so in a playful posture than a hunting one. Nonetheless, she was ready in her own mind.

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 The woman's voice carried like a song, smooth and detailed with a subtle breathiness. He listened, distracted briefly by his adoptive daughter declaring that indeed, the food was as good as she had said it might be. Taikon softened further, for though he did not trust this woman, he had no reason to think she had any ill will toward either of them. Perhaps the cool nature of her energy was enough for the moment to satisfy him.
 The woman of no name offered then that they might hunt something together. This wasn't Taikon's first rodeo — such hunts usually ended in failure because each party did not know the other well enough to collaborate, but it was always worth the effort anyway. Taikon considered it for a mere moment before Vedetta shot out with her excitement.
 A smile overcame him as he looked at the innocent coyote, hoping that his gut instinct was right about this woman. “That is a brilliant idea,” he answered softly. “I am Taikon. This is Vedetta,” he gestured to the young coyote, “and we would happily accept a hunting companion for the day.” He offered then something like a goofy smile, tilting his head such that one ear flopped slightly sideways. He sniffed politely then at the stranger who had put herself out there, a wolfish gesture to make friends.
 A hunt would do Vedetta very well. She needed to learn with someone who was not just him.
 Once pleasantries were exchanged, Taikon gave a nod. “Lead on, then,” he said to her, ready to be a follower for once.

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