Strai was a wolf who was all too familiar with hunger. His hunting skills needed a great deal of polishing, and he did not anticipate hearty meals while he remained a captive in this pack. That meant he needed to learn to hunt better, and fast. He made his way down off the icy, unforgiving mountain that the Black Nidhogg Vidarr had claimed. He anticipated having better luck across the more lush territory of the Stone Steppe. Of course, winter had claimed this territory as well, and a fresh blanket of snow had fallen. The scents off the snow were cold and crisp. The scent of prey seemed buried, at least this early in the morning.

He made his way into the strange stone ruins, finding a stone he could put his back against. So, he couldn't use his nose very well with the freshly fallen snow. He could still use his eyes. He intended to do just that, with the stone for cover. Here at least there were patches of earth not fully buried, and he could stand without freezing his paw pads. He hunkered down, and watched over the white field. Watching, waiting.

He could be a patient hunter, especially when inexperience had already caused him a few hungry nights. He blinked slowly, chasing away any feelings of sleepiness. Hunger came first. Hunger came before everything. At least here his white fur might actually come in handy. As he lowered himself, he blended well against the snow, and the faded silver of the ruins.

What he would soon become aware of, was the presence of a white rabbit huddled beneath a snow-laden bush in the opposite side of the ruins for now, his back was to the ruins, and his front facing out across the vast field beyond. He wasn't entirely sure what alerted him, perhaps a soft change in the wind gave the barest hint of scent, but he turned. His eyes roaming the ruins behind him. His sensors prickled as he breathed in deeply, his body still and silent as he watched, and waited. After a moment, he saw the barest hint of movement in a bush, barren of leaves but thick with snow. He rose slowly, letting the shadows of the stone hide him as he watched a few moments longer.

The stillness didn’t dissuade him, he knew what he had seen. He began to move, stepping very slowly and cautiously towards the bush. Each step was agonisingly slow, because he knew that stealth was the most important thing now. The closer he could get, the easier the chase would be. When he was about half way across the ruins, his paw hit a hidden stone. Something crumbled and long broken from the main structure. His claw clipped against it, and suddenly the bush shook.

A rabbit, white as the snow around him, shot from its hidden spot. It darted on long back legs through an ancient archway, its feet silent on the snow-packed ground. It was too light to find hidden obstacles like the stone, but he didn’t need sound to track it. Following the movement, he bolted forward. Giving chase, weaving through broken pillars, and under the archway it had vanished beyond just seconds earlier.

The chase led them through a maze of broken columns, shattered status hidden beneath a layer of snow. The rabbit was agile, turning with frightening speed through the many obstacles. Around he chased it, before the rabbit leaped suddenly upwards. Landing on what might once have been a staircase. It looked fragile, and he knew his weight would test it. He weighed caution against his hunger, and hunger won. He leaped, landing on the first crumbling step. He heard a ‘crack’ and scrambled forward. The rabbit was already hopping along, moving upwards he scrambled after it, his steps careful and uncertain. His ears pricked for any further sounds of breaking. So far, so good. He jumped another step, and then another again. He was gaining on the rabbit. It was agile, but he was larger. He covered the jumps more quickly. He was almost up to the rabbit when a loud crack vibrated through his body. He froze, feeling swaying beneath him. The rabbit had frozen too. Carelessly, he leaped. At the same instant, the stone beneath him broke away, him and the rabbit were suspended in freewall, with his momentum carrying him forward. His fangs wrapped around the rabbits body, digging in, as he fell through the broken steps, and hit the packed snow with an oof. His teeth clicked harder together with the impact, eviscerating the rabbit. If he had wanted a warm coat from its fur, he was out of luck. But as for a meal… he released the dead rabbit, his muzzle stretching into a smile. He snapped it up again, and fled to a corner of the ruins where he could eat before anyone saw and stole his meal. Ignoring the pain in his side, or the slight limp with every step.

Wc: 839

"Speech"

The steppe was beginning to be her favorite place. Aside from the hidey hole that she and Aji had found deep in the mountains, she would rather be down here. It was still cold, but warmer than up on the mountain. Plus, the snow wasn't so painful. The snow was soft and pretty down here. Swirling and sparkling as it fell, twirling from the heavens. Delphi would begin to admire the beautiful frozen rain as she wandered around the steppe. As of late, with the snow blowing in from the north, the plants had all since shriveled and hidden beneath their frosty blankets. So she had to find other things to do with her time. Hunt mice, peel bark from trees, ya know, the weird things she did.

Everything was silent until it wasn't. She had been enjoying the peace and quiet, watching the snow as she walked until a scrambling noise caught her attention. Looking around with those bi-colored eyes, she was surprised to see someone larger than her slinking, well more like limping, off to some corner of the ruins. Delphi's head tilts lightly as her brow furrows. The white of the other pup's coat was familiar, but she couldn't tell if it was the color or just some snow. Feeling not so angsty that day, she figured she could at least offer some help. Approaching the corner with slow, cautious steps, Delphi peeked around the corner and found of course that damn boy. Her fur bristles instantly, lips raising in a snarl until she sees the cut on his side.

"You're hurt," she says, her voice flat as her body relaxes. Though her satchel is with her, she has no snacks this time. Just supplies. Bandages, a few salves, and some dried bark and flowers. "Let me see it," Delphi demands as she marches up to the boy. Even if he wasn't done with his meal, she didn't care. She didn't need his stupid rabbit. She wasn't desparate like he was.

At the sound of a voice, he felt a hint of panic flare in his heart. He had worked hard for this rabbit, and wasn't prepared for someone bigger and meaner to come and snatch it away from him. When he turned, he realised who it was. Well, not someone stronger, but definitely someone mean. He held his eyes to hers, awkwardly so as he bent down and picked up his rabbit. He growled from between the flesh and shook the rabbit twice, before placing it back on the ground at his paws. Doing that, he then took a step forward. Placing himself above the dead rabbit. 'Mine' his body language said. 


Feeling that was enough to give her the message, he continued to stare her down, waiting for her to go away. He forgot that she'd spoken, and seeing she wasn't leaving he scrambled to pay attention to what she'd actually said. H8s eyes narrowed. "Whats it to you?" He said, through the adrenaline was starting to wear off. He already felt the bruise across his stomach, but now he was starting to feel the cut, too.

Delphi ignored his possessive body posture. If he wanted to scare her off, he'd have to do more than look like a puffed-up cat. Staring at him in almost a bored fashion, her eyes keep drawing down toward his cut leg. From where she stood it didn't appear too bad, but it still would need to be looked at. Waiting for him to chill out, Delphi finally looks at him when he asks what it was to her if he was hurt. She lets out a dramatic sigh before stepping closer and lowering her head to get a better look at his cut.

"It could get infected, skojare," she retorts to him. "Let me clean and bandage it and then I'll be on my way," her words are quick and have an edge. Turning her gaze to look back up at his light purple eyes, she furrows her brow, squinting, waiting for the go-ahead before she tried to touch him.

He tensed as she pulled closer, but realising that she was only looking at his cut and not after his rabbit, he did nothing more than tense. He had already proven he could beat this girl, short stupid mite that she was. What hurt would it really do to let her look at him? He just couldn’t fathom why she wanted to. Maybe that was what nagged at him the most. He thought of her pulling him from the water. Strange wolf that she was, even if she did attack him afterwards anyway. He stood there a moment longer, then shrugged “If you make it worse, I’ll take it out of your hide” he said, almost lazily. Not entirely believing she would but feeling the need to put it out there anyway. He needed to know where he stood with Delphi, especially when she had a strange habit of acting wrong around him. Like pulling him from the water, and offering to look at his cuts. "Speech"

She can see him tense, but stay still which she takes as him saying it’s okay for her to approach. His sneering words ellicit a roll her eyes as she closes the gap between herself and the cut on his leg. “How am I to beat you one day if I kill you now?” Delphi seethes back at him, a coy smirk playing on her lips as she reaches out to pull on the fur and skin near his leg. Getting a better look at how deep and nasty the cut was would help her know how to help.

Letting out a hum, she nods before sitting back on her haunches. Reaching for her bag, she pulls in front of her and begins digging around. “Might sting, but only for a moment,” she warns before dipping her paw into a cup of salve and then slathering it over his cut. It was basically a beeswax and frankincense mixture to help heal and keep it clean. Before he could protest, she quickly grabs a strip of bandage made from rabbit hide and places it over the slathered wound. With the help of her companion, Binti, they get the bandage tied around his leg.

“Leave it for a few days. If it’s still bad looking, I’ll do it again,” Delphi leans back and looks up at him with a stern look. “Anything else?” She questions, having a feeling this wasn’t his only injury.

Oh, was that how it was? “You’ll need to do more than play with flowers if that's your goal.” He sneered at the wolf playing healer on his shoulder. Perhaps not the wisest move, but he didn’t know any others. He grunted as she pulled on the fur near his wound. Next, she was grabbing out something that stunk, and warning him it would stink. He forced himself not to tense, to barely react, though he did grit his teeth when he felt it sink into the wound. Oh, it definitely stung. But pain was an old friend of his, and he rolled with it until it subsided. He stood there as she pulled a bandage around it, feeling like some girl's doll as she did so. He braced himself so he didn’t move with the tug of the bandage around the leg, and then it was done. The pain was already starting to soothe, a fact that surprised him. Her work looked… tidy. “Bruising… but it's nothing” He grunted. He wasn’t about to show her his belly, and besides, there was still the rabbit to protect. "Speech"

Unlike Delphi, Binti did not trust the boy and would step back as soon as the bandage was finished. As such, Delphi did not expect a thank you. She had been honest in her response to him. If he were dead by some other force, how could she do it herself? Her brow does raise when he mentions that he has some bruising. Letting out another hum, she thinks about what would be best for that. An idea comes her and she goes digging through her bag.

After a moment, she pauses when she sees two different barks. One is a white-grey and another is a light brown. She thinks for a moment, trying to remember which one came from which tree. Willow and… Elderberry? Her brow furrows. Heal or poison… The contemplation is there, but she couldn’t do him in now. That would be too easy. Resolving to helping the boy as Vidarr’s words struck her mind, she grabs the white piece of bark and holds it out to him.

“Eat it,” she commands him. “It’ll suck cause I didn’t bring a liquid version of it, but it’ll at least help the pain,” Delphi offers as she once more sits back and waits to watch him eat the bark.

He wrinkled his nose at the bark, he could suffer through the pain. It made him stronger. That was a deep belief in his family, and one of the few things he had left of them. He wasn’t scared of a little pain, and she didn’t say the bark helped with anything useful, like inflammation. He shook his head. “Keep it for someone who needs it” He said gravelly, reaching down and pulling out his rabbit. He considered heading away then, but he hesitated. He already hated himself for the thought, but she had helped him at no cost to herself. Crazy bitch. “Do you… want a bite?” he asked. Sharing food was almost taboo, and he fought to keep himself from cringing at the offer. But it was a peace offering, in some small way. "Speech"

Her brow furrows when he pushes the bark away, denying her help. She indignantly pushes back in his direction. "It will help," Delphi insists, her gaze never leaving him. "The bark will do more than just take the pain away," she again insists as she pushes it closer to him. Her eyes bore into him as if to say if you don't eat it yourself, I'll shove it down your throat. As she is waiting for him to eat the bark, he instead offers her a bite of his rabbit.

Suddenly, Delphi's gaze softens. He was still an asshole, but maybe not as big of an asshole as she previously thought. Looking down at the rabbit that was pulled out from beneath him, she considered it. If she didn't take the rabbit, would he see it as her denying his peace offering? But if she did take it, would he see her as greedy? Could she trust him? Delphi hesitated on the line between yes and no. The expression on her face was obvious as she looked up at him and then back down at the rabbit. "Keep it. Appreciate it, though," she finally says after a few moments of awkward silence.

Standing up, she takes a few steps away as if she is going to leave. Stopping, she turns to look at him over the shoulder. "Two to three days. Take off the bandage and if it still looks bad, come find me or I don't know Tenshi or Ulmaria, I guess," she rolls her eyes to brush off the idea of her maybe wanting him to come to find her. "If the pain picks back up, Tenshi made some tea the other day. She's pretty good at it. Something about her homeland or whatever," Delphi shrugs her shoulders before beginning to take off again across the steppe.

-exit unless stopped-

He didn’t push the bark back this time, but he didn’t immediately eat it, either. He rested his paw over it, and waited to see if she would take a bite from his rabbit. He was torn, he didn’t want to share, but he was curious what she would do, as well. When she denied his peace offering, he couldn’t help but feel snubbed. An emotion that made no sense, but he was starting to get used to that around Delphi. Daft bugger that she was. She stood up to leave, and he took an awkward bite of the bark, grimacing at the tough material and dryness it left in his mouth. “You're still a spoiled tös” He called after her retreating back. Mostly because he couldn’t let her think he appreciated her help, or have her get in the last word. He grabbed his bark and his rabbit, and started to trot off in the other direction. "Speech"