He didn’t dare turn to look at Vel, but the sudden quiet in the woods above told him that she was aware of his predicament. He knew she would jump in if the man lashed out at him, but the little Ninja still thought it would be prudent to get away. He took a very slow, exaggerated step backwards, only to find that the edge of the log was there and his foot was going to slip off if he took another. He froze, looking up in the cold eyes of the beast he towered, soared even, so far above him.

No wonder the Songa prefered to stay in the trees, and to keep clear of creatures like this. He was like a natural disaster, inevitable if you got in his way. Ra was reeeeally, wishing he was back in the safety of his tree about now.

The wolf looked to Ra, and presumably over the Songa’s shoulder and to his sister. He promised he wouldn’t hurt them, that there would be no sport to it. Ra huffed at that, he would totally be a sport, the sportiest sport of them all. Had this silly little giant even tried to catch a Songa before? He managed to contain his huff at the offensive paw wiggle in their directions. He had after all, been afraid of this monstrosity a moment before. He still was in awe of it, but he had his pride too, you know?

Taking a risk, the little Ninja turned and found a branch not too low down that he could leap to from the log, and scramble to its base and leap to the next branch and the next until he was beside his sister, looking down at the funny looking ground wolf. Being big was overrated, this weirdo would never be able to climb like him and his sister. “We are Songa, the greatest wolves to ever live.”he told Tsarvix, boastful and unafraid now that he was back in the safe clutches of the trees.

She wished he would have looked at her, she would have made clear they should be going now. The last thing they needed was for the giants of Auster to know of their presence. Ve’s heart beat fast in her chest as the adrenaline raced through her veins. She was still tense standing there in the tree, the giant’s words gave her little comfort. The Songa had a code and had honor, what did this giant have? He had helped to topple the jaguar though, and despite his offhand comment he seemed trustworthy enough.

Velvette still wasn’t coming down unless absolutely necessary.

She watched as Ramesh managed to look graceful as he scaled the tree and returned to her side. Velvette relaxed a little, but felt herself puff up again as her brother spoke. She stared daggers at him as he proclaimed their origin loudly. ”Shut your pie hole right now, or I’m pushing you back down to him.” She whisper yelled at him, warning that she would use the extra two inches she had on him to her advantage.

”Thank you for your help.” She offered to the stranger as she returned her bright gaze back to him. ”If you don’t mind though, we’d like to keep the carcass.” A jaguar tail hanging in the antlers of her deer cape was a needed addition.

Tsarvix Once more Tsarvix watched as the undersized male pranced about the branches with careful precision, stopping to come up alongside his sister. “We are Songa, the greatest wolves to ever live.” Ramesh's announcement was full of pride and Tsarvix couldn't help but let his eyebrow raise in question. Wolves? They call themselves wolves? Surely they were canine, but, wolves? The coyote cannot call himself a wolf, why should these tiny things be able to? He shook his broad head in disbelief. The female gave a stern, pointed stare at her brother's outburst and Tsarvix wondered why the Songa was such a secret. "If you don’t mind though, we’d like to keep the carcass.” Tsarvix was perplexed once more. These tiny wolves could not use the entirety of this carcass, to them this jaguar might as well be a bison. How selfish. "What, are the mighty Songa not firm believers in sharing?" The chocolate male stepped forward towards the jaguar's remains, placing a large paw upon the bridge of it's spine and dragging it towards him and off the log on which it died. "Surely we can come to terms fairly." Tsarvix brought himself to stand above the carcass. He had no interest in fighting the pair, but he was not about to be stolen from. Pyrrhic had promised to teach Tsarvix how to craft weaponry someday, and so the male decided he wanted to present his Fallen God with a bone he had gathered himself so his deity would see his determination to learn. If these two Songa would not let him come away with a piece of the carcass that he'd helped to fell, then Tsarvix would simply have to fight for it and claim his spoils in the name of the Fallen God. A last-ditch effort for peace, Tsarvix lifted his head to address them loudly. "Look, we all have secrets. Come down from your tree and share the kill with me, and I will not bring back stories of the tree-dwelling Songa to the Abraxas empire." He fixed his gaze upon the seemingly dominant female and awaited the pair's decision. "Speech." "You" "Think"

His ears flattered to his skull and he looked at his sister in surprise. Had he done wrong? Well, he suppose it did make sense not to sprout their existence to those weird giant brute things. They laid packs and thought they owned the world, the last thing they wanted was for them to turn their eyes to the Songa. Vel was right, as she always was, even if she was a gross girl.

Vel told the man that they wanted to keep the carcass, and he assumed it was because of him calling dibs on it earlier. He didn’t realise that she wanted a piece of it too. Of course, the giant had other ideas, shouting out their name to them and making the little ninja wince. Yeah, he really needed to learn to keep his mouth shut.

The giant grabbed the carcass and dragged it with such ease, bringing home his mighty shape and size. Ra had a bad feeling about this, and hunkered down on his tree, tail swinging uneasily behind him, ears still to his skull. He was the picture of unease.

“Actually, I ah, I like it up here.” Ramesh called back down. Surely the man didn’t really expect them to climb down from their trees and squibble in the mud like savages. “I ain’t never heard of no Empire, but why don’t you tell us what piece you want from the kill?”
He didn’t look at Vel, he didn’t want to sit quietly in his tree, but he was also pretty sure that the woman would be annoyed at anything that came out of his mouth. His solution was to very precisely not look at her as he spoke. What did stupid older sisters know anyway.

For a moment Velvette was sure that the giant was going to give up the cat, the practice of keeping little bits of your impressive kills was a practice done by the Songa only. She also did her best to avoid eating the flesh of other predators. Unless they were fish. He seemed offended then, returning to his disdain for the name he had gleaned from Ramesh’s loose tongue.

He made an offer, share and their information wouldn’t go back to the Abraxas Empire. Well at least they were fairly matched in their knowledge of one another. She might have been able to forgive Ramesh at that point. However, Ve still did not trust this stranger farther than she could throw him. She didn’t like the sound of the empire either.

”We aren't so selfish to deny you after you’ve asked. You were an important participant in battle.” Ramesh took over, beginning his negotiation in divvying up the dead cat parts. She wanted the tail, but would accept a paw or ear. Or a fur for her home tree. Ve tried to continue to be a voice of reason for both sides. ”Your silence will be much appreciated.” Not that she wouldn't feel anxiety over the potential for this stranger to go back on his word. If he did keep their secret Ve might have considered giving him the whole cat, it might teach her brother a valuable lesson on keeping his big mouth shut.

They were supposed to be soundless after all.

Tsarvix Tsarvix found it hilarious that the pair had wanted any of the spoils, when they seemed so unwilling to even come down from their tree before him to collect it. He wanted badly to point this out aloud, but decided against it. Were these wolves seriously expecting him to just, walk away? They didn't seem to want to fight for it either, and for that he was glad. Tsarvix didn't know what strategies they'd employ in battle, and though they were small and didn't scare him, he had no interest in having a fight amongst the trees. The female had decided to be reasonable, then. Good. Tsarvix nodded politely as they each voiced which part of the cat that they'd hoped to come away with. "I'd like the femur." He said simply. He didn't think he'd need to bring home any other pieces, Tsarvix wasn't sure what Pyrrhic's stance was on trophies and trinkets, but he assumed that a mere jaguar pelt was beneath the God. Now that the cat's parts had been spoken for, Tsarvix realized he still had a conundrum. He had no lessons in harvesting prey aside from that to bring home to eat. He set his sights upon the male, who seemed to like to talk much to his sister's displeasure. "My name is Tsarvix." He offered. The male cared little for pleasantries but he needed the tiny wolves to feel comfortable enough to come out from their tree. "I know you'd like to stay in your branches, and that's fine, but this is a quite beautiful cat." He paused to look down at it, admiring it's colors. "The pelt is nearly perfectly intact, even. It's too small to blanket my den, but if you'd like to take it to decorate your home then I'll need you to come down and harvest it before I take my share. I'm quite busy, I don't want to be here forever. If I have first pickings amongst the corpse then I can't promises how much of it I will destroy on my way to bone." He'd stepped back to give the corpse distance so the small wolves might feel comfortable to come down, hoping his words sounded reasonable to them. "Speech." "You" "Think"

The giant asked for only the femur, and he was more than happy to let the man have it, that worked out just fine for Ramesh, who was already daydreaming about the beautiful black coat he could fashion from its hide. It was going to be so much cooler then Ve’s silly deer coat. He could blend into the shadows with a black coat, he would be like the night! The unseen danger.

“I’m Ramesh, this is Velvette. Don’t mind her, she got a branch stuck up her butt when she was a pup.” he apologised to the stranger. He darted quickly from his tree branch before the expected retaliation could rain down upon him, and landed on a branch just above the male. He was almost the same height as Tsarvix from here, and could look into his intimidating green eyes.

“That’s why I broke the neck, instead of slashing it. I’ll get started on that coat right away” he explained to the man, leaning forward on his branch so it swayed and dipped at a funny angle, and he balanced right at its very end. The drooping branch just about hit Tsarvix on the head - but wasn’t quite close enough to do so, as Ramesh jumped free of it and landed near the corpse. He eyes the giant cautiously, feeling his height now that he was on the ground fully. He wasn’t even on the log, he was actually standing on the earth, like some sort of weird savage.

At least Tsarvix had stepped back, so he didn’t give the impression of looming so much now. “What part did you want Veve?” he asked, still expecting her to get revenge for his comment. If she shouted out a part he would be careful to work around it as he got started in carefully stripping the creature from its beautiful fur coat. All of the Songa people knew how to harvest pieces from the kills, it was a long standing tradition. By the time he was done, he had separated the coat and pulled out a nice piece of femur, giving it a quick clean before placing it to the side.

Velvette continued to observe this tall stranger as he put on his manners and offered up his chosen piece. Though bones weren’t a rarity the one he chose was more so. She didn’t let her thoughts show on her features as her brilliant gaze didn’t leave him. He seemed to realize he would get further with Ramesh and looked to her borther as he spoke next. His name fell from his lips before doing his best to coax her fool hardy brother from the tree.

Already she ahd a bad feeling, but as Ramesh spoke the pit of her stomach dropped. No, she would not be leaving the safety of the trees. From here she could easily go and get help from the Songa, or jump in and help her obtuse littermate. She gave him the look as he opened his fat mouth again. She knew when she had been defeated though. After it all went to hell she would be there to pick up the pieces and say ‘i told you so.’

”What part did you want Veve?” Oh he was really going to get it now, using her detested nickname in the presence of anyone, but especially a giant. She scowled at him. ”The tail.” She muttered, eyes still on Tsarvix. Velvette was still wary of him despite his help.

Tsarvix Tsarvix couldn't help but to be amused by the pair. Ramesh seemed very outgoing and trusting, whereas Velvette seemed to despise that particular trait of her brother. Thankfully his manipulation had worked, and the small male came happily out of the tree to carve the kill for him, and once the jaguar was stripped of it's pelt the femur was carefully cleaned and then placed aside for Tsarvix to retrieve. He watched with carefully concealed intrigue as the corpse was taken apart, unable to understand where these small canines had gained such knowledge. It was something Tsarvix knew he could never do, and he was glad at least that these two were here to do the dirty work. It was definitely odd that the female would ask for the tail, but no odder then the Songa themselves. Tsarvix waited patiently for the male to finish, not wanting to scare him off if he were to approach early to claim his femur. It didn't escape his notice how carefully Velvette surveyed him, obviously still unsure of the chocolate male. It didn't usually bother Tsarvix how others thought of him, but he couldn't help but be a little offended at his treatment. He wasn't a monster, he had saved these wolves, he had refrained from threatening them in any way, so why were they still uneasy? He gave the female a pointed stare, and spoke to her from her place amongst the trees. "If I wanted to hurt your brother, I would have done so by now." "Speech." "You" "Think"

He figured if he was going to dig his hole, he might as well make it deep. He continued to needle his sister, in ways the giant likely wouldn’t recognize. Using his sisters nickname. He did however do a proper job on the tail and removed it tidily and placed it to the side as well. What was left was a mass of meat and bones and sinew. Scavengers would clean that up nicely in no time.

He bounced back from the kill, only to pause when the man spoke to his sister, and his ears flattened his skull a little at the suggestion of the giant being a threat. “I would mess you up” he muttered, likely too quiet for anyone else to hear. He was brave, not stupid - through his sister was likely to argue that point.

Having done his task, the ninja draped the coat over himself, put the tail in his mouth, and hopped onto the log and awkwardly back onto the tree, moving two branches off before carefully shaking off the cloak near the base of the tree, and placing the tail over it. Unburdened he moved to the edge of the tree and looked down at the giant. “So what’s it like being all, like, disproportionate and living in the mud?” He asked with genuine curiosity.