When your dreams all fail.

@Rohesia maybe?

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Since the scrap with Edith, a dull ache in Maral's upper jaw would come and go. Some days it pained worse than others, and on that particular morning it throbbed enough to rouse her from sleep. The young Déorwine flicked her tongue over the affected tooth, certain that her chipped fang was sure to be at the root of her most recent woe.

She picked her way quietly through the forest, eager to keep moving in an effort to distract herself with other things. The trees thinned and opened up into the range that neared the border of Elkshire's claim, and Maral paused to take in the gilded plain that stretched before her.

The deer had come to graze as she arrived to hunt and while they were never on the menu of a Déorwine wolf, they lifted their heads to eye her with suspicion before leaping off to seek a place to feel more safe. Maral lowered her head and prowled forward, nose working to locate any scent of hare.


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churned this out at like 3 am bc im out of my mind ! may this be as awkward for them as possible

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rohesia was not unlike other elkshire residents in that she made sure to monitor the herds in the plains. from miscellaneous lessons: tracking was a skill she practiced faithfully. she enjoyed it too, the methodical, slow-paced activity usually done in solitude was perfect for her, only when she was alone could she be truly raw.

  unsurprisingly, the cygnet chanced upon one of her sisters, maral. it was pretty awkward given célnes pitted them at odds with each other as soon as she ingrained telelogical arguments for being born they way all were into her children, and it stuck mostly.
  it was partially a shame, given the chance, with their combined dislike for their elder sister edith and the feeling of being cast aside by whims they couldn’t control, they would’ve been a duo to rival ‘the three tines.’

  ”are you tracking a hare?” it really wasn’t that interesting enough to prompt a mention, but she had to bite to hopefully coax maral into answering her question.



  “we could also … just hunt something bigger together … feeling, turkey?” not that she would ever admit her fear of confronting one alone because of a sour experience when she was much younger, but maral’s presence especially as good collateral material would be a great reassurance.

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Nose to the ground as she prowled forward, the shadow inhaled deep. She scented moist earth and dry grass along her chosen route, void of any suggestion that her intended pray had passed through that morning. Maral paused to lift her crown and survey the immediate area again, with the quiet wonder if perhaps the hare population had not risen to forage as early as she anticipated. She huffed a sigh, disappointed, yet made to move on in search of something different that might serve as her breakfast.

Rohesia's path was not something Maral had expected to cross. The darkest of the eight paused to regard her sister coolly, velvet ears pricking forward with an odd feeling of uncertainty as she paused to observe her approach. Tongue sweeping without thought over the damaged tooth that plagued her, she blinked in surprise at the offer of hunting larger prey - together - was suggested.

For a long moment, the shadow did not breathe a word. She simply stared, struck dumb by a sibling's consideration of sharing a meal with her. Her immediate thought was to reject the idea, balk at it, but with some thought she decided against it. Maral was not close to Rohesia and had no desire to be, but making something of an ally of her would definitely be beneficial. “Alright,” she said simply, and awaited instruction.


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maral to rohesia was prolific with melancholy, earth, and quietude. she had every avenue to forego the puritanical ways of her upbringing, and her sister could respect her for that, even is she had never resented maral's varnishings of telltale sin. it was too hard to find any good people who understood the terms of their fate, talk much less of resigning to them. or maybe she was wrong, like she was wrong about all the rest, but her troubles were far from her mind. mirthlessly, the girl chuckled inbetween her sister's pause. she insists as canted her brow towards some direction across the range, painfully, but insisting.
  the girl would scour for a bit before finding a scent trail and pursued it. "did you chip your tooth eating rocks?" she asked absently, as she had noticed during the rare moment her sister opened her mouth at all. bored and wanting her to emote at least a little to see what it would look like, her ears swiveling around her head for the liquid measure of fowlstep.

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Maral padded along quietly, trailing at Rohesia's flank as she turned to move off. Nose to the ground, she worked to locate any scent of their intended prey and the shadow maintained her watch through the trees of their sacred woodland. She looked for any sign of turkey having passed through the area recently: disturbed earth where they might've foraged on the forest floor, fresh scat or dropped feathers.

She saw nothing of the sort, but lifted an ear the the call of a bird somewhere farther off. Definitely not a turkey, she decided, but noticed that her sister seemed to have detected a scent trail. Maral flared her nostrils and inhaled deep to confirm.

Rohesia piped up again as they moved, and made mention of the chip of Maral's fang. Immediately her tongue swept the offending tooth again, felt a ruggedness where once there'd been a smooth point. She huffed, wondering if her littermate was poking fun of her or if she was genuinely unaware of her scuffle with another of their sisters. The shadow shook her head. “Edith,” she answered simply, and paused as she considered how to explain, “caught her picking on one of the cubs. I wouldn't allow it.”


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 "sounds like her," she began, "mom basically raised a ninth kid with edith's ego, but you won. so." she knew maral wouldn't scold her for not calling célnes "mother" as they were repeatedly chastised into doing since they learned to talk.
 neither were for conversation with the other, so she further pushed as they continued to pursue the trail.
 the eiderduck noticed fresh droppings a span away, nodding to maral if she wanted to try and corner a bird. that's what she appreciated about hunting, they had no other earthly business but to sacrifice language and trust in affinity of the universal device of skill.
 she lowered herself, weaving her body ophidian-like till' she spotted a plump victim.

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She hadn't won - not by a mile. Maral twitched a lip in frustration as she recalled that day. She remembered Faust, so little and helpless, cowering beneath the towering form of a snarling she-wolf who was supposed to care for her, not bully her. She had saw red that day, enough that she'd felt the drive to attack and to maim. Maral had wanted to hurt Edith then, still felt the desire lurk beneath her hide.

Perhaps it was the Nightwalker in her blood. Perhaps she was more like Edith than she thought.

The hide of her shoulders twitched and she stifled a shudder; she had never had any desire to seek the beast who'd fathered her, and she had zero interest in learning their ways. Even if Vengeance' genes were strong within her, Maral wished only to be influenced by Elkshire.

She hadn't won that fight, but was content to let Rohesia believe that. Silence lingered between herself and her littermate again, and together they returned their focus to the task they'd set. Maral noticed the droppings after her sister had and lifted her dark ears, which swivelled keenly for any sound a nearby bird might make. The shadow exchanged a glance with her sister and veered in closer - grouping with her could be a wiser decision, one that would leave less room for their prey to escape between them.


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rolled success for managing to corner!

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 their words,
 when translated a thousand times through unreliable interpreters were not read as they originally were in commonspeak. ticking the ear, flexing their brows: a hunter's nomenclature made cunningly.
 rohesia flexed her muscles as she was made aware of maral beside her. rohesia appreciated her sister's insistence, suddenly turned to stone as their target became alert.
 she would signal to pounce with a leer.
 she would breathe down the quarry's neck until it lost it's nerve and separated itself from the group ... the eiderduck veered around to the fattest turkey, successfully cutting it off while the others fled in wayward directions, leaning into what would be a short chase.
 

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Fading here  <3

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Rohesia stiffened beside her and Maral eased her stride. She was alert to the changes in her sister's posture, having accepted that it was she who would lead this hunt. The shadow flicked her tongue over her upper lip, anticipating their prey; she could smell the distinct aroma of turkey on the air and the tip of her sleek tail curled. She was a patient huntress, cool and collected, yet she could not deny that the thrill of a chase roused a rare excitement in her.

They pressed on, herding a particular bird away from its group, and pursued it through the forest. Maral leapt at it when appropriate and gifted her kill with a swift death, and her fangs clung to its neck for a time after it's protesting squawks had ceased. When she released her hold, the shadow allowed her sister an opportunity to eat first then stepped in to consume her share.


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