Their bit of a vacation was a good breather from the back to back matches, stress and anger Azure had fought through over the last season. In no rush to hurry home, the pair travelled further - skirting right past the Pirate's flimsy borders and into the adjacent briar patch in search of a filling meal. Both Azure and Sirius were competent and skilled hunters, but fighting through a thicket of briars was neither direwolf's idea of a good chase or hunt. Deciding instead to let the prey come to them, they began working on a trap that could hang between the spiked vines and ensnare whatever they could bait into it.

Azure had collected a few of the thinner vines as well as some sturdy branches to craft a frame from. Setting the vines aside, he picked up one of the four sticks and began to work at carving a point at it's base, sharp enough to drive into the ground to hold the eventual snare. "I doubt they even noticed us pass by." He spoke conversationally as he worked, disdain clear in his voice. The pirates had attempted to protect their borders when he had come through, but Az was sure that Sparrow's new litter had each of them in much too deep to worry about the adjoining territories.

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"Speech"

Some bonding with Azure was well overdue. Seeing him come back to the Col ragged and bloody had driven that point home to the Warlord. Now the two were relaxing and making the most of their small holiday away. That included taking the time to feed themselves.

The Briar wasn’t Seer’s favourite place to explore, but it had been a while since he had come here. Once upon a time, it had been next door to his home in Ashen, and he had spent time scouting it. Now, it seemed even more overgrown and treacherous. As Azure returned with branches for the frame, Azure picked up a stick and began to carve a point down it. Using the knife he kept stored in his bracer to do so.

He grunted in amusement when Azure spoke. “Likely too busy cleaning blood off the sand to look up” he agreed.


"Speech"

Working alongside his father was easy, as easy as leading a pack beside him was. The two worked in mostly silence, only stopping to gently rib their foe across the way. "Blood, among other fluids." He quipped back, shuddering at the memory of Sparrow dropping her whelps right onto the sand before him. It almost took the joy out of his victory, and might have entirely, had he not had more healthy fighters to prove himself against. "Those pups are going to have quite a story to tell."

With the stake sharpened he began to work a slit into the top to allow somewhere for the top of the frame to wedge into. While Sirius worked on his own side, Azure moved to drive his into the ground beside a thick branch of bramble, using one of his collected vines as an extra method of security to ensure it would hold the weight of the struggling animal. Once Sirius' stake went opposite his (and the center beam wedged into both) all that was left to do was to tie the noose.

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"Speech"

Sirius grimaced at the mention. “What fool starts shit with another pack right before she;s about to burst with puppies?” He said, shaking his head at Sparrow’s foolishness. She deserved the trauma of her lost fight with Azure. Deserved for it to leave a lasting mark. He was sick to death of the Plunder and their habit of messing with Armada wolves.

As Azure began to drive his stacks into the ground, Sirius moved to mirror them on his side. Driving them down to make the frame. The Warlord wiggled it a few times, pulling on Azure’s vine to ensure it went around the whole thing and would hold steady. Tie the noose, I’ll attach the berries” He suggested, lowering himself to his belly to do exactly that.


"Speech"

Sirius' words brought a curt laugh from his son, who shook his head in disbelief while he assisted in finishing the frame. "If you'd believe it, she was arguing against being pregnant even while the damn things dropped. Accused me of poisoning her, believing it to be her organs hitting the sand. If there was a poison that could make a wolf literally shit out their organs I might change my tune on it being a woman's weapon and consider it." Grabbing for another vine, he began to twist it in and under itself until a noose was formed. He had to carefully chisel out a few thorns to ensure it would tighten appropriately, but others he left to allow for a more deadly trap. Satisfied, he moved to attach it to the center beam, spreading the noose wide across the frame.

With the majority of the trap complete, Azure double checked the strength of the vines as Sirius began to bait the trap with berries. His stomach growled loudly, already eager for the taste of the meal. "Finish that, and then maybe we can go out and see if there's anything we can gently steer this way?" It took too damn long to wait for the prey to come to them, Azure was impatient, especially with how physically demanding the week had been.

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"Speech"

The Warlord barked out a laugh at that. “A shitty line of defence, and no healer to tell her she’s pregnant even up to the day of giving birth? You’ve given us some interesting intel indeed, my son” He said as he tied the berries to the trap. He smeared some of the juice on the noose, to make it look a little less threatening. As he got back to his paws, and shook out his coat, he made a thoughtful noise.

“Marshal, see if you can find something, I don’t fancy tracking all through these vines” he ordered, watching as the bird lifted off, and made a slow glide away from them. The Warlord turned the opposite direction of the bird to cover more ground. Moving slowly so as not to startle anything, and be mindful of the thorns.

"Speech"

Azure scoffed in reply. "Well, they had what I would consider to be a healer. I left her alone. Unwritten rules and all - leave the medics be or there'll be no one left to patch us up at the end of the day. But she must either be incompetent, or Sparrow doesn't listen to even her own packmates. Seemed to know what she was doing with the newborns, though." Azure shrugged, unperturbed. If Sparrow's healers were incapable of convincing her of a basic biological function then sucks to be them.

Sirius sent off Marshal and Azure watched the bird head out, following his father the other direction and ducking carefully below the brambles. As he crept, he sniffed, keeping vigilant for evidence of a critter the right size to lead into their baited trap. Tracking through this mess of brambles was misery - Azure hoped Marshal was having better luck in finding a target.

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"Speech"

The Warlord would have been proud of his son for attacking a non combatant unprovoked, so he nodded his head as Azure spoke of leaving the healer alone. He showed more dignity and restraint then the healers, who had taken their fucking diplomat. And he was a better person for it.

He didn’t speak again immediately, concentrating on navigating through the brambles without catching his wickedly fluffy coat. As he ducked under a particularly thick knot of vinery, he caught sight of a fluff of white and paused, holding out a paw to stop Azure and direct his attention towards the rabbit.

"Speech"

Sirius fell into a comfortable silence and Azure emulated it, redirecting his attention to navigating the brambles carefully so he did not come home even more scratched up then he already had been this season. Ducking his head low, stepping high, weaving in and out through the vines and eventually, the pair stumbled upon a target. A little fluffy white rabbit, blissfully unaware of the wolves watching through the briar patch.

Azure reached his paw up slowly toward a hanging berry, puncturing it with the tip of it's claw and quietly disconnecting it from it's stem. With a swing of his foreleg he sent the berry flying, out behind the rabbit in the direction of the trap. It landed with a soft thud, bouncing and rolling to catch the rabbit's attention. They could not give chase in a situation like this, it would be too difficult to herd it in the right direction. The easiest play was a gentle nudge in the right direction, potentially a small spook to get it moving faster should it stall.

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"Speech"

The Warlord cracked a smile as Azure hooked a berry and sent it flying like a pro before the bunny rabbit. Catching its attention as it tilted its head and examined the fallen treat, looking this way and that before bounding towards it.

Seer crouched low, silent and watchful as it made its way to the berry and ate it. Pink juice lighty matting its white chin. Sirius grabbed a berry. Copying his sons method as he poked it lightly with an extended claw and pulled back his paw, before shifting it forward and throwing the berry. Leading it closer to the trap. If it followed this one, it might then be close enough to see the berrys they had baited the trap with.


"Speech"

One by one the wolves lured the rabbit closer, watching as it hopped merrily along after their thrown berries none the wiser, until it was near close enough to their trap for death. Azure waited, and waited, and the rabbit paused and began to groom itself. Too stupid to see the wolves at it's back, too stupid to see the bait before it. With a sigh he crouched forward, shouldering through the brambles to the nearest distance he could risk.

Peeling back his lips, he gave a snarl and a bark, lunging forward in the limited space he had to spook the thing. It was facing the trap already, and did not hesitate in shooting forward through the frame and catching itself on the noose in the meantime. The vine tightened poorly (for it was vine, and not rope or gut) but the thorns that extruded from it found a mark within the bunny's white pelt. Azure weaved through the brambles after it before it could find it's way out from the trap, throwing one paw heavily down upon the rabbit's tail to still it, and then slicing it's throat with the other. The rabbit's lifeblood poured out from the wound, staining it's alabaster fur and bringing Azure's hunger to rise further. Carefully, he extracted the thing from the vine. "Dinner is served."

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"Speech"