Brandr's ears pinned tightly to his head as the cold wind bit through his thick coat. The clouds rolled over him in a pale mass of gray that sat heavily upon the sky. He'd travelled north to investigate a few stories he'd heard from a loner that passed near the Abaven border when he'd been out hunting. Tales of beautiful stones and unique items and a river bed that ran with gold. Brandr had been hoping to get something special for Corentine for their anniversary, even though he was a bit late and so he'd taken the time to trek north. He was standing here in the supposed river of gold but he didn't see much beyond it's marble walls. It was pretty, but not quite what he expected and there was nothing he'd found that he could bring back. To further hinder his searching he had to first dig through the snow to find the marble. This was not going well at all. He shook his head. Brandr knew better than to continue this line of thinking. How could be be so ungrateful? He found the Marble Wash at least and that was something. He'd gotten turned around in a storm a few days before and found himself in uncharted territory. He'd been terribly lost. At least now that he knew he was in the wash that he was close to the S.S. Antiox. He wasn't sure what kind of name that was for a territory but supposedly there was a great metal cave full of wonders. Let's see that would be to the east of here. Brandr tried to study the sky but it was hard to tell where the sun was when everything was just an even, depressing shade of gray. He continued on for awhile until he heard the sound of ocean waves and swore. Dam. That meant he'd been heading north. Brandr took a deep breath, trying to focus on the positive. Ok, ok, so at least he knew where north was so east… had to be this way. Sighing he sat down as his stomach growled. It'd been five days since his last meal and he was rapidly burning calories during this long, cold journey. So far he hadn't seen much in the way of prey this far north. Maybe he could find a lemming or two? Any sort of snack, however small would be very welcome to the hungry man. He hoped Corentine and Lucine weren't too worried. He'd planned on a long trip but by now he was overdue. Brandr would take a brief hour or two to find some food and then he'd continue on to this strange, magical cave. He'd come so far he didn't want to leave empty-pawed. If he could return with at least a good story of his adventures that would be something. Brandr set his nose to tracking but without any scents to really start to follow he ended up wandering down to the beach. Maybe there were some arctic birds he could pick off. As he worked his way down to the beach he spied what at first looked to be fuzzy rocks until they started to move. He froze. What in the heck were… were those seals? He'd heard of seals, even spied a few now and then. A small group… herd… did they call them herds? There were about five seals in the group that he could see resting on the beach. The seal nearest him reached up to scratch its belly with a flipper. Instinctively, Brandr crouched down. The creatures looked to be mostly fat which was a fuel he was in sore need of but how exactly was he supposed to take one of these down? They were big and no doubt heavy. On top of that they were all blubber, where exactly was he supposed to bite? It would take him forever to work deep enough to do enough damage and by that time one of the beasts would probably drag him right off into the sea. That would never do. He supposed he did have a bit of leeway in that a good chunk of the ocean was covered in ice but a section about ten feet long near the beach was free of ice. Once they hit that he'd never catch them. They were slow but was he fast enough to take one down? Brandr's brow furrowed as the tip of his tail twitched. What to do, what to do… "Talk" "You" Think

Word Count: 751
Total: 751

Mikkal was running low on supplies again, as winter ground on and he followed the herd. He had pregnant cows to watch over, now, and it was hard to tear himself away from guarding them from other predators to go hunt. Far better to depend on the smoked meat he'd had left over from his last major kill than to waste time every day hunting. He didn't want the local predators getting any ideas if they saw him regularly leaving the herd.

So, early this morning while the herd had bedded down among the pines he had slipped away in the hopes of finding something that suited his purposes. Another badly-injured moose to chase off a cliff would be nice, but he didn't have Kai to help him this time. He'd have to hope he could either find another predator's fresh kill he could chase them off, or someone who could help him hunt and hope that he could somehow communicate with them. Admittedly his English hadn't been great to begin with and years of living on his own with the reindeer he hadn't exactly taken great pains to practice the language. So, other than the spattering of words in other languages that he could, with great effort, dredge up from memory, he reverted automatically to thinking, speaking, and singing to the caribou in his native Finnish without much in the way of English breaking through. The majority of the wolves in Boreas spoke English though, or a myriad other southern languages that brought to mind rolling green hills or warm Mediterranean waters, not the cold frozen pines and tundras of the north.

Preoccupied with thinking such wordy thoughts, he was taken a little by surprise when he broke out of the terrain onto a short cliff overlooking one of the north's rocky beaches. No soft white sands and pleasant blue waters, these were the beaches of his childhood and filled him with much more fond memories than the unfamiliar site of a warm beach full of frolicking children would have. Rocky beach, driftwood-strewn, with crashing breakers in a sea of gray. His gaze was drawn to the fuzzy gray bodies that sunned themselves on the rocky beach, and he regarded them with pleased delight. Seals!

His family had always been reindeer herders, in-landers, wolves of the tundra and the pine forests, not wolves of the cliffs and the sea, but he was not unfamiliar with the scandinavian shoreline and the food sources there. He hadn't thought of it in quite some time, but more than once in his youth he and his siblings had been brought to the shore. They'd hunted seals on the beaches, puffins on the cliffs, even gathered sea life. It had been fun for a wide-eyed young reindeer-herder to see how very different life had been for the wolves who didn't follow the caribou, but in the end he'd never seen a more superior life for him than the herds. He did have a brother who'd left the family to live along the shore though, and having visited him several times before he'd left the homeland entirely to follow his cousins to a new land, and new reindeer, he'd learned the skills fairly well.

He was thinking now that it was too bad his brother wasn't here now, or Kai. Hunting seals wasn't anywhere near an easy endeavor for a lone wolf. Still, he thought wistfully, those big seals would provide not only a lot of meat, but a lot of blubber and good waterproof sealskin to tan.

His eyes were suddenly caught by something that didn't belong on the beach, a patch of white that drew his gaze. He focused on the distant form, until he could pick out features. A wolf! A wolf, crouched like a hunter staring at the seals. Mikkal grinned. Good! Someone to help him! He hoped the pale hunter knew not to try to catch the seals like that, though. They were canny beasts and would break for the water as soon as they saw him, and if he tried to chew through their blubber to kill them he would quickly find himself in the icy waters with them, or crushed when they rolled on him.

Mikkal quickly picked his way down the cliff to the beach, skirting along the cliff edge to avoid the notice of the seals and made his way to the other male's side. "Psst," he hissed to get his attention, then burbled in a happy whisper, "Hyvää huomenta! Oletko täällä metsästämässä hylkeitä? Olisin iloinen voidessani auttaa sinua, jos et ole koskaan metsästänyt niitä ennen." At the male's blank stare he rethought his position on the whole jabbering in Finnish and hoping they understood. "Mikkal," he said instead, pointing to himself. He couldn't think of the english word for seals, so he added, "Hylje? Hunt hylje?" while indicating the seals. He tilted his head to the side, struggling a little. "Hylje big fat. Not-teeth, hmmm. Stick." He picked up a reed from the ground at their feet and mimed a stabbing motion. "Stick, not teeth, stick big fat hylje." He grinned at the other male. "Kyllä?"

Without waiting for a reply, he crawled over to a pile of driftwood, pausing whenever the seals glanced his way. He selected two long, thick, fairly straight branches and carefully broke them off the rest of the driftwood. He rolled one slightly away so the other male could take it. Taking his own branch between his forepaws he settled on his belly and proceeded to use his teeth to strip any remaining twigs and bark off it until he had just one long, bare length of wood. The wood was old and dry, so it was fairly lightweight despite being the width of his wrist. He could grip it fairly easily in his mouth. He found a length that was comfortable, then used his powerful bone-crushing jaws to snap it off and strip the tip of it into a relative point.

Selecting a rougher stone, he used his teeth to hold the stick and one paw to press the side of the tip to the rock and scrap it back and forth along the rock repetitively until the side was fairly flattened, then flipped it over and did the same to the other side. He checked it - a long, flat, vaguely leaf-shaped tip ran two paw-lengths along the top of the rod, forming what was basically a wooden spear tip. He eyed it critically, then sanded down the flat sides closest to the outside even more until it was much thinner at the edge than the center, leaving it fairly sharp for wood. He grinned to himself, then checked over to the other wolf to see how he was progressing.

Waving his tail gently to get the wolf's attention, he gestured to the seals again. Arranging small twigs to indicate the shore and stones to indicate the seals, he pointed to the other wolf, then used his paw to 'run' along back and forth between the rock 'seals' and the twig 'water'. The other wolf would run along back and forth along the water to keep the seals out of it - he was bigger than Mikkal, so he'd be a more formiddable barrier to the seals and they'd hesitate to bull past him to the water. Pointing to himself, then his other paw - with a twig between his toes like a spear - 'pounced' on a stone seal and stabbed it with the twig, and the other paw - with its own twig - 'ran' up and did the same. "Ta-da!" he added with a flourish of his paws. "Kyllä?"

Word count: 1284
Total word count: 2,035

ooc: got permission from Tea for powerplay

Brandr settled in to watch the creatures, the gears in his mind turning as he surveyed them. He wasn't in that much of a hurry. Better to take a few moments to study and learn about your prey then go diving in and getting injured. The creatures were quite large and he didn't fancy tripping and getting rolled over. He spied one tip hits head back and yawn and he noted the canine teeth. A predator. Not really surprising.  Part of him wished Corentine was here to see this and help him work out a strategy. However, she was needed at home with Lucine. Brandr's face fell a bit when he thought about the loneliness his daughter was struggling with. He wished he knew of a better way to help her. Brandr almost didn't notice the strange man approach him til he heard a hiss.  Brandr's ears flicked back, his fur on end as he turned to gaze at the other man, trying to decide if he was friendly or wanted to start something. Living as a nomad had made him jumpy. They'd had a number of unpleasant encounters and he just couldn't shake the wariness. However, as soon as the man began to speak in jubilant tone Brandr felt himself relaxing. Clearly the stranger was friendly but Brandr had no idea what he was saying. The language was completely foreign and while he knew small snippets of various languages this tongue wasn't close to any of them. Brandr's head cocked to the side and he spoke in a low voice. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're saying." The man paused, seemed to consider this for a second and then pointed to himself and speaking another word which Brandr quickly picked up as the man's name. He smiled softly and nodded then pointed to himself. "Brandr." "Hylje? Hunt hylje?" It took Brandr a second but he started to pick up what the man was saying. He pointed toward the seals and asked "Hylje? Seals?" This seemed to be correct and Brandr's grin widened. Ok, so far this wasn't to bad. The communication was clumsy and a bit awkward but it worked and that's what mattered. He found himself grateful that the other man seemed interested in hunting the seals and also seemed to know the best way to go after them. Brandr was an eager student and he listed as the man said that they were big and fat and had no-teeth, wait no that wasn't right. Oh! Don't use your teeth. Ok, that seemed reasonable and was part of the reason he had yet to charge the creatures. He could tell by looking at them that trying to tear through their flesh to cause enough damage before they got to the water was going to be nearly impossible. "Stick?" A stick? How was a stick going to help? The man picked up a reed and made a stabbing motion but Brandr just gazed at him skeptically for a moment. Poke them? Herd them? Well maybe they could herd them farther from the water and attack them then but he didn't see how a stick was going to stop those creatures from just mowing right over the wolf pair. Clearly he was missing something. Did Mikkal mean stab them? Like stab sticks into them? Before he could ask the other man took off and he quickly followed him to a pile of driftwood. Mikkal rolled a branch to him and he swiftly took it. He copied the movements of the other male, straddling the stick underneath his stomach as he stripped off spare branches. He paused every now and then to watch what Mikkal was doing. The man seemed to be fashioning a sharp point out of the top of the branch. Ok, he could do that. Brandr started working on his own point at bit more sloppily than Mikkal but after some persistence he managed to get a good point on it. The lesson got a bit weirder as Mikkal added a stone. Oh goodness… what was he doing now?  Mikkal took the rock and started to run the branch back and forth along the rock to flatten the sides.  Brandr glanced about until he found a stone of his own and then he quickly tried to flatten his as well. It was rough going at first. Brandr had to find the proper balance of his weight so that he didn't accidentally shift the rock or lose his grip on the branch. Brandr worked at it until he felt he had something reasonable. Mikkal came over to investigate, his tail wagging lightly. Brandr assumed that meant he'd done a passable job as the man gestured to the seals again. Brandr nodded then his gaze went to the ground where Mikkal was re-arranging small twigs. Brandr quickly realized Mikkal was laying out an attack strategy and he paid close attention. "Oh, ok I understand." He said softly, nodding. He understood what Mikkal was wanting him to do. He was to try and bar the seals from getting into the ocean. While Brandr hindered the seals escape Mikkal would select and pounce upon the target. Then Brandr would join him. Brandr nodded firmly again and picked up his stick. It was a bit awkward in his mouth and he took a few minutes to get a good feel before he crept down to the beach. His pale coat, though golden-hued provided excellent camouflage. Once he felt he was in a good position he sprang between the seals and the ocean. Some of them scattered further inland, heads turning to stare at him. Other seals couldn't be bothered by whatever the stupid wolf was doing. Clearly they were in good health and couldn't imagine being prey to the canines. However a few were not going to take the risk and they started moving toward the ocean in the strangest way. The rolled along their bellies, their blubber rippling and shimmying underneath their flesh as the waddled toward the ocean. Brandr shifted his head and stabbed at one. Bellowing in pain it turned and tried to get around him. He lunged forward and stabbed again as it shifted further inland. There was one seal farther away that managed to get into the water but Brandr wasn't overly concerned. They still had a good number of targets to chose from. The seals were quickly getting agitated and even the ones who had previously been less concerned were starting to beat a hasty retreat. One particularly panicked animal was heading right for him and it didn't seem as perterbed by the sticks. Brandr braced himself, placing the unsharpened end into the snowy ground at a forty-five degree angle. He was not going to be mowed down in front of a northern hunter he'd just met. Thankfully, he didn't have to worry to much as Mikkal sprang into action with a well timed assault, his stick piercing into the neck of the seal. Brandr's limbs coiled and he sprang. With the seals combined momentum toward him and his leap forward his stick sank deep into the blubber of the creatures chest. A horrible noise burst from the creatures mouth and he focused on the stick, anxious to hold on as it thrashed. What if it could still get to the ocean? He didn't want to feed the orcas. The creature was flailing and undulating for what seemed like forever until finally it lay still. Brandr sat down heavily and stretched his jaw muscles. Ow, ow, ow, ow. Finally he turned to Mikkal and grinned. "Talk" "You" Think

Word Count: 1270
Total: 3306

Brandr seemed to understand well enough what the plan was, because he took his spear with determination and set out to herd the seals away from the water. Mikkal held back a moment to keep from startling the seals towards the other wolf too soon, then began to lope up the beach, his eyes darting between the seals to find the right target. When one big one bolted straight for Brandr in the undulating, thunderous way seals bolt, Mikkal sprang into action, sprinting up behind the seal. If it bowled Brandr over, as big as the other male was he could be badly hurt. Mikkal leaped, jerking his head sideways to slam the spear into the side of the beast's neck, trying to stop him before Brandr got in the way. Luckily, Brandr set his spear and braced it as the seal slammed against him, letting the combined weight of seal and Mikkal drive it deeply into the seal's chest and holding it back from crushing Brandr. Between the spear driven into its chest and the one he ground deeper into the side of its neck, it didn't take long for the seal to stop trying to escape and simply convulse in its death throes, and then, finally, to go limp. Mikkal held on a moment longer, warily making certain of the seal's death, before he let go of the spear and grinned happily at the younger wolf. "Fun, Brandr?"

Word Count: 240
Total: 3,546