Uphill struggle, blood sweat and tears

The sun was coming up, painting the sky with fire. The space between the willows was beginning to fill with the soft flutters and trills of waking songbirds, the daily orchestra tuning up.

Safely hidden in a bed of willow leaves, Tyr watched the sun's slow ascent. He had always preferred sunsets to sunrises - sunset heralded the return of night, and night meant he could be alone, temporarily freed of the confines of his father's hate. With his new freedom however, he was finding it in him to appreciate the warm glow as the sun returned to the sky.

He stood and stretched, favoring his leg a little since it was stiff from the chill of the night, and cautiously crept down to the pond nearby. The water temporarily assuaged his growling stomach, but he knew he would have to start improving his hunting before he starved to death. He couldn't depend on fortuitous accidents to keep him fed, and the energy from his rabbit catch in the orchard was beginning to wear thin.



"Speech"

Nothing to gain, everything to fear

Esperanza was trailing off. She needed something to do rather than wait for someone to use her. The day was chilly and frigid with the tundra like cold of the morning, but the day was still good and slightly warm from the sun's rays. She was walking when she soon caught a glimpse of a brown and black wolf. She had not seen him before and walked over. He appeared to be savoring his paw, probably from the cold temperatures. She walked over and sat down beside the river, a small distance away from him and soon placed her snout into the water. When a sizeable fish came within her maw, she snatched it up, snapping down on it's fragile bones as it lay limp in her mouth. She looked at the wolf beside her that was a bit of a distance away from her.

Uphill struggle, blood sweat and tears

Movement caught his attention, a dark colored she-wolf approaching the pond. Tyr skittered backwards, giving her unimpeded access. She seemed to be willing to leave him be, but the pack-scent she carried urged him to caution. Pack wolves were not, in his experience, very welcoming of crippled vagabonds intruding on their space. Granted this territory belonged to no pack, but that often didn't matter when a wolf was looking for a convenient excuse to chase off an interloper like himself.

The other wolf crouched by the pond, sticking her muzzle in the water. For a moment Tyr was puzzled - she was obviously not drinking, she couldn't very well lap at the water like that, but it was clear she had a purpose in mind. Moments later he would see that purpose when she pulled up a fish, just like that.

Tyr's mismatched eyes widened. Fishing wasn't exactly a pastime of his family pack, so he'd never seen anyone fish for their dinner. He'd always imagined it required a lot of splashing around chasing after the fish, something he really wasn't capable of doing for long periods with his bad leg. But this, just sitting and waiting, and then suddenly a meal, this was something that could very well keep him from starving on days that running wasn't an option.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" he blurted out, momentarily forgetting to be cautious in his eagerness.



"Speech"

Nothing to gain, everything to fear

The ebony femme looked at the rogue with eyes of slight puzzlement, yet kindness also showed in the emerald orbs of hers. Her muzzle was holding the fish as it stayed still inside her mouth. Her optics shifted over to the fish, then back to the brute that presented himself to her. She The brood approached the male, placing the silver, sizeable trout in front of him. "Please, eat," she stated as she bowed her head slightly, then lifting it back up, "I can always catch another morsel. And since you asked, of course I can show you to catch a fish, just watch me."

She laid her form down onto the soft grass that lay in front of the stream. She stretched her midnight colored neck out just enough so she could get a nice sized fish. Esperanza placed her snout inside the frigid liquid as she breathed through her nostrils causing them to twitch as she breathed through them. Within a couple minutes another trout came into view. When it was inches from her mouth, she pushed underneath it's belly as it went flying into the air. When gravity had finally acted onto it, the fish wobbled onto the land, but she had stunned it enough so that it could not move. The ebony femme placed her claw upon the fish and snapped it's frail bones, leaving it motionless, scooping it up into her mouth. "See, nothing to it," she grinned and placed another fish down for the rogue.