Pool Party! (Tain+Jay/Open)

[lan]

Yes, this bug catching was all very swell, but that wouldn't fill Lan's stomach, and when he's hungry, my God, you better give this wolf some room. He only watched as Tain's genius plan undoubtedly failed, then inched his way over toward the body of water to make some attempts of his own. Now, normally, he would be hunting small game, such as rabbit, and fish was somewhat new to him. But searching for hares would be giving too much effort, and when there's a pool of food to be caught right in front of you, why bother? While he scanned the waters, the other's voices were only a dull distraction. Well that was until: "Your name is Lan!"

Water bellowed from below the pup's small feet as he bounded back and forth, then back again. Lan could only watch painfully, knowing any fish within ten miles wouldn't be his next meal. "NOOOO!!! Come back! He didn't mean to scare you," He cried desperately, which probably only drew the fish further away.

When he eventually peeled his eyes away from the now silent waters, his gaze was met with a glowing set of jaws. Lan knew if he gave a reply to Jay's many questions, it would only be ignored by the hyperactive pup, who I dare say, may have an even shorter attention span than Lan himself.

Anyway... back to fishing. Oh, right. They're all gone. Maybe if he stared at the water long enough, a fish might swim by. Once the idea came, Lan hunkered himself down near the water's edge and gazed into the its depths. The dull buzz of the pup's voice was the only sound in his range. Well, other than the subtle growls from his stomach. Oh, gee, could it be? Could that faint glimmer possibly be the scales of a fish? His forepaw extended toward it in one swift motion, the fish just clipping the edge of his claw... or maybe that was algae... what is that?

"What are you three doing here?" "Ho shit!" Just as quick as his forepaw entered, it retracted from the water as Lan widened the space between himself and the lake. Then, ceasing his awkward backward trot, he closed his eyes regretfully. He knew what was coming. It would be some big ol' wolf of authority arriving just to give them (or just Lan, since he was the only one actually attempting to fish at the time) some lecture about stealing food from their pack's lands. Whoop-di-doo. If Lan didn't eat them, someone else would. That was his logic.

Once he was full and ready, his eyes opened just to discover he was fully correct. An alpha. That was just Lan's luck, wasn't it? To end up caught in the act by an alpha.

After this alpha had finished with his rant (most of which Lan did not retain), Tain had spoken, and Lan figured he may as well do the same. It couldn't hurt his circumstances, could it? "There weren't any fish, anyway." This was a lie. The number of fish wasn't the problem... it was all these distractions. "I am Xinelil, the alpha of this territory. I wish that yadda yadda yadda. I have already had to deal with a couple femmes yadda yadda with the warning sent out by Zahir's member, I am not exactly happy yadda yad-yadda."

After this, they all began yadda-yaddaing. Lan figured whatever this alpha - Xinelil - had asked for, Tain and Jay would have no trouble answering it for him. Nope. No trouble at all.

(Sorry for the not-so-great post)

[tain]

Tain grinned as Jay spoke, then fell silent and watched the alpha with head cocked to one side. Would he care that she was here? Or would he be mad at her for talking out of turn, not howling when she came into his territory, and..what was the other thing..ah, yes.
Eating his bugs.
She turned to stare at Lan, attempting to convey her slight nervousness by jerking her eyeballs from side to side and making bizarre faces of the 'look, he's mad' and 'do you think we should run away?' types. Having finished this, she turned her head back to the alpha and grinned appeasingly. Maybe he would be inclined to be merciful if she looked like she was sorry..
Yeah, nothing at all. Tain had glanced away from the alpha anyway before she could see anything, but she could imagine the thunderous look on his face. The she-wolf lowered her ears, a slightly skewed image of Xinelil glaring angrily at her filling her mind, and backed away slightly.
A flood of apologies came from her maw, to the general effect that she was sorry for coming into the alpha's territory.
"Sorry. I guess I should'a howled an' yeah maybe eating your glowbugs was pretty bad because, well, I guess you need them for..for making your pack's mouths glow..and I'm not supposed to talk to strangers anyway so, um.."
The she-wolf opened her yellow eyes wide, casting about for a way out. Ah, there! A gap between Lan and Xinelil, leading to the open..closed..woods and southwards. That was the way to Zanarir lands anyway and Tain wanted to go there. She had to play her joke.
"Run!"
The word came out in a loud bark and Tain lowered her head, narrowed her eyes, and charged for the gap between Lan and Xinelil. It didn't occur to her that she might knock either of them over. Fortunately she didn't, and only shot between the two male wolves and off into the woods, her tail streaming behind her and fur standing up like a frightened pup's. Panting, Tain headed for the woods and Zarinar land, leaving Aldgar behind her..
Maybe she would come back and see Meikou some other time, when Xinelil wasn't around.

[Uruviel]

Xinelil glanced over at the brute that had been fishing with a curious stare. He wasn't pleased with the intruders, but at least this one hadn't been making excuses. The pup was alright, too, as he was too young to know any better. However, this femme was a different story. She's dodging around the- The brute's thoughts trailed off as Tain cried out. "Run!" A snarl rippled through his maw as the femme darted between her and the other brute. His gaze flickered from the pup and the brute to the femme that was quickly storming away. "You two are welcome to stay here," he woofed hastily before turning towards where the femme had bolted.

He wasn't going to let the femme get away, even if it meant leaving his own pack lands in search of her. The other alphas would understand if he entered their lands. He would also be courteous enough to howl before entering; he knew the proper etiquette of a pack. However, Xin wasn't about to let that femme leave his lands in such a manor without an apology or at least him putting her into her place. How dare she? The femme that had been killed not too long ago on his lands... She had done much less than this wolf had. Yet blank disobedience when faced by an alpha, that was a much worse offense. He would find this femme. He didn't care what it would take; he would. Then he'd either tell her or SHOW her exactly what actions like that lead to.

A growl rumbling in his throat, the multi-hued alpha brute darted off into the brush, hot on the scent of this femme. He had the resources to track her, and also a much stronger knowledge of his territory. It wouldn't take him too long to find her. And when I do, she better be prepared, he thought coarsely, his maw lowered to the ground and his nose filled with her scent as he shot between trees and other obstacles in his persuit.

[tain]

Tain, you did it again.
A voice that sounded oddly like Tain's mother ran through the young she-wolf's head, followed by a wave of pure panic as she heard the alpha follow her at a run. There was no way a small wolf like herself could outrun a big male. Tain wasn't sure what she'd done..other than the things she had apologized for already..but apparently it was something really bad, because Xinelil was definitely gaining on her. Tain glanced over her shoulder, yellow eyes huge, to see the shape of a large wolf running through the woods behind her.
And it definitely wasn't Lan.
It wasn't long before Tain, running as she was while looking behind her, tripped over a large stick and went flying. The small wolf turned head over heels and somehow fell into a gap between a fallen tree's roots and the ground. Here she cowered, panting loudly, terror flickering in her eyes.
Tain pressed herself down into the very muddy and wet hole she'd found, blinking away a cloud of small flies that had been disturbed from - from whatever flies did in muddy puddles. It was unlikely that Xinelil, who hadn't been more than ten feet behind her when she fell in here, would miss that she'd fallen. However, it did almost look like the hole was too big for the large he-wolf..Tain might have fit in well enough, but it seemed unlikely that Xinelil would.
Unless he was smaller than Tain originally thought and she'd just imagined that he was eight feet at the shoulder and was belching fire..

So maybe Tain wouldn't die immediately, but there was a good chance that she'd end up besieged in this mud puddle for the rest of her life. That sounded..yeah, kind of nasty. There might not be much she could do about it, though. Being forever crusted with mud might not be so bad, so long as she wasn't dead. Tain poked her head up slightly, trying to see through the hole and out to where she was sure the alpha male would be prowling, ready to remove her foolish self from the lands. Somehow, and probably due to her usual naivete and not any inner courage, Tain was more curious about Xinelil than she was afraid..at least for now, since she thought she was out of reach. Maybe he turned into a vicious demon wolf when he was angry. Tain's mother had told her bedtime stories about wolves like that sometimes..
Her yellow eyes gleamed in the dark as she moved her head up and forward, peering out from a safe distance inside the hole. Where was he?

[Uruviel]

The sound of a "thwack" against the ground instantly attracted Xinelil. He maneuvered gracefully towards the noise, the scent of Tain growing strong as he approached. He spied the femme's tail disappearing into the earth as he slipped around a large tree trunk. Hiding, he thought irritably. What a cowardice move. The least the femme could do in the face of danger was stand up and take it like a true wolf. This only proved to the brute how childish this wolf was.

After all, Tain had been sitting around the lake, eating bugs. The brute snorted. If one was to invade his lands and eat, it would've been much wiser to hunt or fish, not eat the bugs! He wasn't exactly as angry as before; after all, he was more curious about this femme than he had originally thought. Sure, she had run. Athena hadn't run from him, and she had disrespected him. She had taken her punishment boldly. This femme was a completely different story. When confronted with her crimes, she had attempted to escape. Was this what most wolves were like when faced with a crisis?

The brute poked his nose towards where the femme had disappeared. He peered down into the muddy hole, a spot possibly eroded over time. He was a tad too large to fit, but maybe he coud coerce the femme out to speak with him. He wouldn't do anything yet; he wanted her to understand what exactly she had done to set him off so easily.

If it hadn't been for the cry from the Zahir wolf about the renegade kidnappers, he would not have been so harsh about the trespassers. Angry still, but not driven to forced them from his lands so easily. The threat of these wolves coming to overtake him was enough to set off an extremely territorial part of the wolf. He was simply doing what an alpha was programmed to do; defend his territory at all costs, even at the loss of a wolf or two in the process. "Femme, come out to talk," he ordered gently, trying not to scare her with the order. After all, it was an order; he didn't want her to think that she could stay down there forever. If worse came to worse, he could always get Kadhi over here to fish her out of the hole.

He would rather speak to her on her own terms, though, instead of forcing her to do so. Jay had seemed innocent; the young pup would not have known better. Lan had acknowledged his presence was unacceptable. He had the brains to realize what he had done. This femme couldn't have been much younger than Lan, if younger at all. Why did she have such a childish approach to the situation? Had her last pack not taught her of such etiquette of the lands? Xinelil was curious to know.

[jay]

Jay watched with wide eyes as his friend tried to run away from the big wolf! "Run, Tain, run!," he yelled, giggling quietly. He started running in circles, chasing his tail awkwardly before toppling over in the dirt. The big wolf, Xinny, he thought with another quiet giggle, chased after her. "Oohhh... Are they playing tag? I wanna play!" he called after them, a smile across his maw as he slowly bounced after them. His little pup legs couldn't keep up with them, but he was determined to try!

Maybe they would slow down and let him catch up. After all, they were nice! Jay's tongue bounced out of his mouth as he panted. He couldn't run as fast as them! "Comeon, slow down!" he called after them, hoping that they weren't trying to lose him in the trees. He could still smell the big wolf though, so they couldn't be too far away.

With big, confused eyes, Jay's run slowed to a trot, then to a walk. He wasn't getting to play with them! They were running off without him. Big wolves have all the fun, he thought with a little defeated sigh. Then.... He could hear Xinny!

"Xinny!" he giggled, running up to the big wolf and weaving between his front paws before dropping to the ground and staring up into his big green eyes. He turned suddenly and spotted Tain! "Tain, too! Good, now I can play," he giggled before noticing the grim looks on both of their faces. He wanted them to be happy. Why did they look so upset? I wanna be happy. Happy is more fun! he thought, a quiet whine in his throat as he simply lay on the ground between the two of them.

[lan]

Lan gave a sheepish smile in the alpha's direction, only vaguely aware of Tain's voice. She seemed to go on and on about what they had done wrong, which probably only worsened their circumstances. What about all they had done right? Like, uh... Well, that wasn't important. But Tain was still decreasing his already not-so-great impression, and just as he was about to open his mouth to respond with some sorry excuse, he was rudely interrupted by a loud bark. This brought on so many things that rendered Lan dumb struck. First off, Tain ran. Ran right past him, right past Xinelil, and into the cover of nearby trees. This was accompanied by the alpha's snarl and his hasty departure. And all the while, Lan only sat there with his dumbfounded self. His gaze shifted to the young pup next to him for answers. "Run, Tain, run!" Hearing his ecstatic voice seemed to trigger some sense into Lan's confused and jumbled mind and he leaped into a standing position.

"W-Wait!! Don't leave me here with him!!" With that being said, Lan blotted, following the trail in which Tain and Xinelil had left behind. He didn't exactly know where he was headed, and only followed the muddied prints the two had left in their wake as he weaved through the uneven undergrowth and towering trees. Without adequate amounts of light to show Lan the way, it wasn't long before he thought he was lost, although this didn't stop him from trotting toward where he thought they were. It was this way.. right? Or should he have turned at that rotting log a few paces back?

Then, out of no where, as if answering his confusion, the unmistakable image of Xinelil formed right before his eyes. "Oh, crap," he mumbled aloud, nearly losing his footing as he attempted to skid to a stop. Despite his various attempts - such as clawing at the muddied ground with his overgrown nails - Lan just barely managed to keep from saying hello to the forest floor. Or worse, Xinelil himself. But thankfully, his temporary claw brakes seemed to provide him with enough time to regain his balance. "Good God, that was a close one," he breathed, more to himself than Xinelil.

"Where'd Tain go?," Lan added, realizing her absence. His mind jumping to conclusions, Lan gasped as he said, "Oh, God... You killed her." Lan bowed his head in respect, seriously believing that was what had taken place. "She was so.. young," he continued, not even considering the fact that she could be lying hidden somewhere.

But before he could continue further, he heard the dreadful voice of that overly energetic pup. "Xinny!" The pup sprawled himself on the ground before adding, "Tain, too! Good, now I can play."

Instead of having the pup's statement cause Lan's needed deja vu, Jay had really only assisted in Lan's far-fetched assumptions. "That must be where you hid the body," Lan remarked sadly, shaking his head. His eyes shifted toward Xinelil for a response. Perhaps shame or grief... Lan would take whatever just to know his story was correct. Not that he hoped it was correct... He didn't really like the idea of being anywhere near a big ol' wolf like Xinelil who had murdered his newly found friend.