Dix

He was still damp, his fur still spiking awkwardly in various directions despite a brief, futile attempt to straighten it out before he wandered on. Whatever. He was a punk of a wolf and honestly didn't care too much. If someone did care, they could try to fix it for him and he could bite off their tongue or something when they tried. Yeah, he was such a nice dude, wasn't he?

This wasn't the place he'd crossed before. So.. Unfamiliar land, yay? He wasn't too impressed honestly. Some distant prey was running about, but not a species he recognized (again). The great thing about the grassland, though, was that he could see most things coming. He was glad to be tall, that made things easier. He wondered what was actually gonna be ahead. Probably people he didn't like, since that was like 99% of those out there. 

Unsurprisingly, as he wandered away from the river and deeper into the grasses, he was keeping an eye out for anything edible. That was basically his life at this point -- wander around, piss off people, eat food. What a life. Was there gonna be different stuff here? One of these days he needed to get lucky and find a big deer or something that just dropped dead and he'd have a whole big carcass, but so far things hadn't smiled on him. Guess he'd keep walking.
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 Today she'd gotten lucky. There had been a herd of deer with one little fawn that was a bit too inquisitive about its surroundings. Blackfoot had initially been uninterested, knowing that a full-grown deer was too much for her to handle alone. However, when she saw the young fawn sniffing flowers and playing with insects... her attention had been piqued. 

 The lone she-wolf had hunkered down and followed stealthily behind them. The deer fell further and further behind and by the time the wind had switched to alert it that danger was nearby, it was too late. Blackfoot had lept out of the briars and killed it. The herd caught wind, the angry mother thundering back to swiftly deal with her. However, Blackfoot had fled the scene to watch from afar. There was nothing the herd could do and by the time the morning had faded away and the sun began its descent to the west, the deer had to move on, leaving Blackfoot to her meal. 

 Nature was rough, she knew for a damn fact that this was true... but she wouldn't turn her nose up at such naive prey. 

 So, she began to eat while paying attention to her surroundings. Vultures began to circle overhead, signaling the tragedy that had happened to the young deer. Blackfoot would show a fang in irritation at them, how annoying that her meal would be broadcast to everyone around. Whatever... she just would keep a lookout while she feasted.

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He'd gotten good at scavenging -- he was young and alone, after all -- but usually circling birds lead him to hollow remnants, not anything fresh. But it wasn't like he would pass up the chance, passing up chances would leave him dead. Vidocq adjusted his path to see what was beneath. Okay, occasionally vultures lead him wrong too, just hanging out inn a thermal where there was nothing beneath. That wasn't fun. However, this time it wasn't empty, there was some dark grey woman there, and she had apparently had the fortune Vidocq hadn't. 

She was smaller than him -- by height at least -- but he was certainly scruffier, given his messed up fur and just general not giving a damn. However, he also was pretty risk-averse -- you know, given the whole alone thing -- so for now he kept out of charging distance, but slowly wove his way forward, seeing just who it was and what her attitude was. Wolves around here were so unpredictable, he could see her reacting any way on the spectrum from surrendering the kill to immediately trying to eat him alive. He said nothing at the moment, though.
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 With her attention on her surroundings, the wolf that walked up was not a surprise. Damn vultures were announcing to everyone that she was here with a kill. Unfortunately, they weren't down here for her to give them a piece of her mind, so she just would have to deal with the consequences. 

 From the corner of her eye, she thought the male walking up was a full grown adult. Her head would lift, tongue running across her jaws to clean them of blood as she appraised the newcomer. Upon closer inspections, she could see that this was a rather tall yearling. Lanky, and not having grown into his body fully. Threat? Or not? He wasn't showing his fangs or hackling at her so she figured he wasn't trying to chase her off her kill. He was, however, slowly advancing upon her and instead of dip her head back down she would watch him... steadily. Her eyes weren't unfriendly nor were they welcoming as she judged the situation. 

 Blackfoot couldn't eat the entire fawn but she didn't know if she were willing to just leave... Hmm.

 As he drew closer she could more clearly see that he was in need of a meal. That made her hesitant to tell him to shove off and it made up her mind for her on what to do. 

 Her head would lower once more as she would rip off a hefty chunk of flesh and then toss it at him. 

 Fucking kids not knowing how to feed themselves. 

 So, she would remain over her kill possessively while she watched to see how he would react to her show of compassion.

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She didn't seem outright aggressive. Which was good, yes. But to a certain point he would have preferred if she'd been meek and he could have just taken the whole thing. Maybe Vidocq could just stare her down until she felt awkward and left. If only. He'd just have to wait until she dropped her guard. It wasn't like he'd gone unnoticed, she'd looked him up and down, and he thought she was just going to go back to eating, but she tore off a chunk and tossed it his way. Which he hadn't really been expecting but hey, wasn't gonna turn his nose up at food when it didn't come with strings. It was much easier to accept something at a distance than when the person was hovering. 

He moved forward and snatched it promptly, backing a couple of steps back to about the same distance he'd been at before. He wasn't going to sit down and enjoy it, he remained standing so he could scram if she changed her mind. He held it down with a paw so he could chew off bits of it and not choke himself in the process. He was good at being a scavenger at this point, and also excelled at not trusting. His tail wagged like twice, but he said nothing more, he was busy. If she had expected him to grovel in thanks, well.. She was gonna be disappointed, but considering he always seemed to disappoint (or piss off) everyone, maybe it wasn't surprising.
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 After she tossed him the bit of meat, she watched and was satisfied to find that he didn't turn his nose up at it or try to be greedy and come for the source instead. He seemed just about as wary of strangers as she did as he snatched the meat then backed away a safe distance. He said nothing but the few wags of his tail was good enough for her to show that he appreciated the generosity. So, she went back to eating with one eye on the scrawny whelp. 

 She wondered how long it would take him to finish off that piece of flesh. Would it be enough? Likely not. 

 She finished munching on the carcass and ripped off a leg for herself. She would glance over at him and then pointedly step away from the carcass. It wasn't stripped bare but it wasn't exactly overflowing with meat, it should be enough though. With that in mind she settled down a couple of yards away. Close enough to show she wasn't forfeiting food out of fear but because she was finished with the carcass. The leg she'd snatched was placed between her paws as she gnawed on it, chewing the last pieces of flesh off of the bone while she kept an eye on the kid to make sure that he didn't try to rush her or something. As far as she was concerned, he could have the rest of the fawn. He needed it far more than she did.

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At this point, he had perhaps almost coyote-like tenacity when it came to food. He was clearly a full wolf, but if there was food around, he was going to make it disappear -- it was survival, after all. It was why he still walked. He had yet to bow and join a pack at this point, so he wasn't going to count on anyone to help him. Even if she'd kept the carcass, he would have lurked until she'd left it.

Right now, though, he was finishing up the chunk that had been tossed to him, making swift work of it. As he licked his muzzle clean, his attention again had focused on her. He wasn't entirely sure what she was doing, but she was gnawing on the leg -- and then pulled it free and stepped away.

He waited a second, to make sure she wasn't going to take it then quickly moved forward, grabbing on to the carcass and pulling it back away a bit more before sitting down to quickly start eating what he could. He'd thanked her for the first piece, but now his primary focus was eating as much as he could before she potentially changed her mind. He was maybe a little lacking in manners but eh... It wasn't like he'd pretended he was super polite and cultured or anything. He hadn't said a word, after all.
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 If he was rude for not speaking then she too was rude. The woman also remained mute for the interaction while she gnawed on the claimed leg. She made sure to keep one eye on him so that she didn't catch any nasty surprises. Even a small wolf could get the upper-hand if their victim was caught off guard so she would make sure that that didn't happen. 

 The remainder of the meat disappeared quickly off of her own prize and before long she was just gnawing on the bone. It felt satisfying to do so and perhaps if she was persistent enough, she would be rewarded with the tasty marrow on the inside. As for her company? She didn't try to speak with him. He seemed perfectly fine cleaning the carcass and she wasn't going to force a conversation. Silence could be just as fulfilling as a conversation could be. If he was fine being left be, she was fine leaving him be. She'd done her good deed for the day and hoped that the meal would help him and make survival just a little easier.

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He continued to watch her out of the corner of her eye. She'd finished her food, but there was still some left on his, if only because it was more difficult to take apart than a single limb. And he wasn't willing to share it if she changed her mind. He made no motion to back away, and if anything hovered over the carcass a bit more intensely. Yeah, uh, he wasn't going to trust anyone -- that made him such a nice guy, right? 

He was planning to only leave some fur and bone shards by the time he was done with it. If he had to bluff his way into keeping it, that was what he'd be doing. There'd been so many unstable interactions with others, he assumed nothing would go well. Best to be pleasantly surprised that nothing went wrong than deal with the alternate.
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 He must really be needing that meal with how he ate and hovered over it. She could see how possessive he was over it but she'd already discarded it and wasn't going to stop him from eating. She was no taker-backer. The woman continued to gnaw on her bone, chewing and chewing until it cracked and she was able to get at the marrow therein. It was salty, tasty, and seemed to invigorate her. Her eyes were half-lidded but one ear was still cocked towards the boy just in case he tried something. She figured he would be too busy with his meal to bother with her but one could never be too careful. 

 She wasn't one to trust others easily, they were alike in that way but likely would never know it about each other. 

 As she continued to chew and splinter the bone, she would eventually finish. She would discard the thoroughly chewed thing and drop it on the ground. The blue woman rose to her paws and gave a languid stretch with a yawn. After straightening she would give her pelt a shake, look back over at the yearling one last time, and then began to pad away. She was finished here and was certain that the feeling was mutual. 

 Good kid. Good company. Nice and quiet and kept to himself. She could appreciate and respect that.

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At least the unease that they both had towards each other made things a level playing field. The unease was honest. It didn't ask stupid questions. Perhaps later it might be worth genuine favor later, but right now Vidocq was in no position to repay it. Some people he'd certainly quickly forget, though, but she was one where he might not. For good or for bad. But hey, she kept her distance, he kept his, and all things together it seemed like they had a happy little balance here while it lasted.

As she started to walk away, he relaxed. It was only once he was sure she wasn't going to be come back that he finally lay down and ate at a less-hurried pace. There wouldn't really be anything left by the time he'd depart, but eventually he would.
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