Viper wasn't used to having freedom inside a pack. She spent the last week or so with a high anxiety around the borders. There was a small part of her that was scared to cross them or scared to leave the pack. She was punished severely for trespassing into Fireside, and she lived most of her life confined like a slave. Still, she somehow mustered the courage to go past the borders and into the surrounding lands of Ashen and it's sister pack. It was pretty crowded here in the eastern-southern lands, and it did make her anxious in general. She had spent a good few years on her own, but she was hiding from her grandfather after all. She avoided most wolves in general up until the last couple seasons. She stayed in the bushes and lurked by others, taking their leftovers when necessary and just observing and eavesdropping on them. Her lack to want to learn from others along with her early life being void of nurturing and parental figures had distorted her development up to now, and her eyes hadn't opened to the fact that she was different until she sought Jupiter in Fireside. But she still wanted to avoid the new feelings of her self esteem and just continue on with her life. The familiar scent of The Hallows made her scrunch her nose in a bit of disgust. She didn't recognize the fact that it was the scent of Aranea in their most recent encounter, again another common sense type of thing for any ordinary wolf. But she would ignore the thought of perhaps danger and instead of dwelling on those bad feelings, sought out her own kill for Ashen. Hattori had told her to take it easy and regain her strength, but as much as she was worried about leaving Ashen's lands, she wanted more to go out and hunt and fill her days with something other than wander. She stalked around the woods, trying to track an easy prey to bring down. The colder months were moving in and they had a few flurries here and there, nothing Viper wasn't used to since she lived in the north most her life and returned after her imprisonment in Fireside. Her nose remained low to the ground as she went around the trunks and vines of the weeping trees, her mind focused on the sounds and movements around her. She was feeling unlucky today, thinking she wouldn't find anything. She followed the feathery scent of what she believed would be her only option of a kill. Her eyes keen as she saw the waddling of the goose almost camouflaged with the trees and lightly snow covered ground. Silent, she stalked carefully around the maze, her weight easy to not struggle at making any noise. She was surprised at how close she was, or how well she was going to take this first kill back to Ashen. Perhaps earn her keep if it was that easy. Finally, she would pounce and go to put her teeth around the goose's long neck. She was usually pretty quick to put an end to her meals, but she would be in for quite the surprise before that could happen. Seasonal Bonus Prompt - Steal the Goose! Total Word Count: 540 words Word Count Goal: 2500 words Walk "Talk" Think

Slowing to a walk, Askan huffed sharply out of his nose. Ever since that girl-Askan didn't know her name, whoops- was torn to shreds by hyenas he'd increased his daily patrols by a lot. It was his job to keep the Hallow's protected, to make sure only invited guests came and went and look at what had done and happened. He didn't blame himself per se, nor had Resin chewed him out for it but in the end the fault could be laid, even if only partially, at his paws. A girl had died on his watch and yeah...he could have done better. There wasn't much else to say about it, to be honest. Except that he'd patrolled back and forth all day and if he had to make the rounds one more time he'd chew his paws off. He needed a change of scenery, something to take his mind off it and...hmm, where was his goose?

For the most part she stuck to him like glue but at some point during his patrol she must have wandered off to do goosy things and just hadn't returned. Not yet at least. He pursed his lips as he stepped forward, his paw resting on the invisible barrier that separated the Hallows from the thin strip of no mans land between them and Habari. He didn't care for her, she was a major pain in his ass but he if he was looking for an excuse to go walkabout for a bit then this was the best he was gonna get.

Heading off, it wasn't difficult to find her scent, she was a stinky ass goose after all. From what he could gleam she'd wandered south towards the Willows, but why? Shrugging, Askan quickly decided he didn't care and pushed on, venturing into the shade of the Willows. And the scene he came across was...something to say the least.

It didn't register in his mind that he recognised the wolf, all his eyes narrowed in on was the fact that there was a woman holding onto his goose's neck. Except that.... well his goose wasn't defenceless. Any other bird would have been a goner, but Squanch was a nasty bitch and thus was beating the ever living shit out of her attacker. Armed with two beating wings, she slapped and whacked the wolf, beating her muzzle, her face and chest like there was no tomorrow. Honking up a ruckus all the while of course. Askan blinked, completely baffled, only to come to his senses soon after.

No one was allowed to attack his goose. She might have been a raging bitch but she was his raging bitch! Stomping forward Askan made his presence known with a sharp bark.

"Oi do you fucking mind?" He snarled, his hackles raised like his prickly porcupine namesake. "Let go!"

Viper would be wildly surprised as the goose flailed about and started beating the ever living crap out of her with it’s wings, legs, beak, and anything else it could throw at her. This thing did not want to die, though maybe because it wasn’t meant to be a meal and it just had a jar of spite to throw out at the attacker. The dark man came forward quickly to save his honky companion from the jaws of Viper, but as he shouted out, Viper would only side eye him as she struggled with the meal in her teeth. "Wha? No, I’m ganna kill it." What was wrong with this brute? She found the goose, she tracked it down, and hunted it. It was hers to take. But it was being awfully rowdy for such a small creature. "You can’t have it, is mine!" but just as Viper was trying to speak through her teeth and wrangle her meal, the goose continued to bust at her head and chest until it was free from her grasp. At least separating itself from her in the first place, she reached out to go after it but wasn’t sure exactly what the brute would do if she did. "Aw, look what ya did." now her kill for Ashen wouldn’t be successful today. Unless she stayed out late and looked for something else. She wouldn’t expect to catch the goose again, but she also wouldn’t expect it to come lash at her if it chose to. Viper wouldn’t recognize Askan in the slightest. Not his scent, not his appearance. Though the scent was familiar to Aranea, he clearly wasn’t her so she wouldn’t be worried one little bit. Her only focus now was how she would impress the pack, or impress Hattori. She had to start somewhere, and getting that kill for the pack would have helped somehow. Viper had changed a lot since she met Askan, not that it was noticeable or anything. Not that he cared. But it wasn’t clear if her change was for the good or bad of her life. She was creating a structure and discovering more mature things on her own, and though she was still brave and curious, fear and rejection had settled in harder than her more desirable traits. Seasonal Bonus Prompt - Steal the Goose! Total Word Count: 1,397 words Word Count Goal: 2500 words Walk "Talk" Think

She was gonna kill it? Askan's brows furrowed so tight the muscles in his face ached. Who the fuck did she think she was? Any normal person would have been able to put two and two together and would have-probably- backed off, but instead the crazy bitch just held on even tighter and got wacked around even more for her efforts. Askan knew he'd have to step in, that he'd have to wring that bitches neck and force her to let go but- oh maybe not. Sqaunch was made of stern stuff, Askan already knew that, but even he was taken back by the way she managed to snake herself free. And then in typical goose fashion hell hath no fury. Askan watched on, making no attempt to intervene as she whipped around with an almighty honk and resumed her barrage of beatings with a few pecks thrown in for good measure. She'd be lucky if she escaped with all of her fur intact.

The goose jabbed at away at her eyes and like a crack of a whip snapped and grabbed at the wolf's ears. Squanch was merciless, fiendish, going for every low blow that presented itself. Askan stepped forward and shouted over the ruckus, further adding salt to the wound.

"Look at what I did?" He sneered, enjoying the show. "She's my goose and you know what I ain't gonna stop her from beating your arse. It's what you deserve. Fuck her up Squanch!"

Except that watching wasn't all that fun. He really ought to have thrown in a bite or two himself but...he could smell a pack on her and Resin had made it pretty clear he wasn't allowed to stomp around starting shit with their neighbours. A shame, since this woman no doubt deserved but not a total loss since Resin said nothing about his goose kicking ass. As far as he was concerned it was fair game, the stranger had tried to kidnap and kill his goose so it was only fair that she was allowed to defend herself.

The goose had no mercy, even after Viper's grip let her go. The goose turned around and continued to wail at her in any way she could, beating her with the wings and pecking at her with the beak. Viper certainly could have ran away. But other than her desire to take it home on a silver platter for her pack, she was getting jumbled and confused with the goose going wild on her body. It felt like the whole world was shaking around her as she saw a wing, and an eye, and a beak, all a jumbled blur of the goose's color and feathers. And the brute that interfered? He just stood there and laughed pretty much. Had Viper even remembered her first meeting with Askan, it probably wouldn't have affected her actions towards him now. Viper was good at moving on from things in her past, or at least most things. Had Askan thought her rude or bratty or visa versa from her to him, it wouldn't have made her sour to his appearance now. Viper also wasn't a cry baby though either, so his idle standing by and smirking wouldn't cause her to cry out for help. Though it was pretty rude to watch someone as they were beaten by, well, anything. Askan had mentioned the goose was his, and Viper had been aware that some wolves used other animal companions for battle purposes and the goose certainly seemed to live up to an offensive nature. Viper herself didn’t think she could wrangle any creature willing to fight for her. She either wanted to kill things for food or was just not cut out to care for anyone other than herself really. Still, realizing that the brute had the goose around for personal reasons made Viper pout to the thought that there was no way she could take it and go back home to Ashen. As soon as the goose calmed, even just a little, her expression changed to disappointment as she went to announce, "Now I- don’ have anything to take back to my pack. " it was genuinely a down feeling even if Askan couldn’t really care. But Viper felt like she had a continuous string of bad luck that would never run out. Seasonal Bonus Prompt - Steal the Goose! Total Word Count: 2121 words Word Count Goal: 2500 words Walk "Talk" Think

Squanch had a lot stamina and even more spite, but ultimately she was still just a goose, a devil trapped in a mortal form. She couldn't keep up the assault forever and soon she began to pull her punches, her breathing winded. But Squanch was content, her point had been made and the shewolf had been well and truly put in her place. Waddling back to Askan's side, the Selwyn shot her a side glance, as though hoping he wasn't next on her shit list. His attention soon returned to the thief as she lamented that she now didn't have anything to bring back to her pack which only caused him to quirk a brow. Was she serious? He turned to look at his goose and she at him.

"Oh so I should just give you my goose outta the kindness of my heart? Pfft. Not my problem." He snorted, stomping a paw for dramatic emphasis.

He looked away for a moment and pulled in a deep breath, there was prey of all sorts around in these parts. Either she was too lazy to learn how to hunt like everyone else or she was too dumb. Maybe a bit of both.

"Now get outta here! Scram! Look for food somewhere else!" Squanch paused her feather preening and honked in agreement.

The discourteous male would shun her, not that she could really blame him. But he could have been a little more nicer or understanding. At least offered to help her hunt or something similar? But no, no generosity from him. Honestly though, Viper may have done the same thing. She was turning over a new leaf, but she was still pretty selfish and aside from believing she could provide for herself, she felt like everyone else could do the same. The goose at his side, he would tell her to leave. And instead of throwing some back talk in response at him or defending her ego or whatever, she would shyly turn to leave them be. There wasn't anything she could do after all, she wasn't going to just get suddenly viscous and murder his goose friend. Without another word she would start to trail back towards Ashen. She wouldn't find any prey today, and hoped to have better luck tomorrow. Hopefully she wouldn't run into another strange animal friend. She really needed to start pulling her weight better and finding her worth not only for Ashen, but for herself. -Exit Viper- Seasonal Bonus Prompt - Steal the Goose! Total Word Count: 2531 words Word Count Goal: 2500 words Walk "Talk" Think