R I N A

The rabbit took its last breath as its throat was ripped out by the hungry dame. The whole rabbit was gone almost instantly. It was an old rabbit, female, dying anyway. Rina licked her muzzle and walked over to a quiet stream to wash herself from blood. After she had finished, she drank up some of the clear, refreshing water and sat on the bank, looking at her reflection. It was odd, that it was almost as if there was another world, Parallel. Eventually she got tired of sitting and ran up to a tree, shading her from the harsh sun. It was a lovely spring noon. Birds chirping, fresh grass bent underneath her feet and seldom a cloud was seen in the blue sky. The forest was alive around her, and she was apart of it. Rina closed her eyes and listened.

Saratoga Wood. Not long ago it had been nothing but a land of smoke, charred remains of trees sticking like spears in the lifeless ground. But with the passage of time, mother nature had begun to work her magic. There were patches at the edge of the land that were marginally habitable. Of course the first thing to come back was the grass, and then the begings of scrub. In such places like these blue cornflowers and purple larkspur popped up like weeds, adding a strange, surreal beauty to the land of ash spires. And where there was water there was always more vegetation. Gargoyle found himself following a stream, his paws keeping a muted baseline for it?s cheerful, babbling song. He had been in the Far North for so long. So, very long. It was high time he do a little exploring and get to know the other regions that his pack had recently become new neighbors to.

He gone about a mile or so more when he caught he scent of a fresh kill, and then, after it, wolf. Young. Female. Loner. The giant male was in a friendly enough mood this morning, and a bit hungry too (it took a lot of meat to keep a beast his size going) Perhaps a fellow stranger in these lands could give him a word of advice as to where he might hunt. ?. Or perhaps it was a rogue, lawless to the point of danger and looking for something other than rabbits blood to drench it?s jaws in. Gargoyle kept walking calm and collected. One got the feeling that, to the brute, it didn?t matter. "Morning stranger," he hailed simply as he came into view. It was a brown she-wolf with a white dorsal stripe. Pretty by any standard, but Gargoyle was more interested in the rabbit remains he noticed not far off. He fixed her with a yellow gaze so blank and casual it was almost cold. "Any more of those things hopping about?"

After soaking up energy for what almost seemed for hours, a sound in the distance caught Rina's ear. She penned Avon east in the direction of the sound to see an old, scarred wolf approaching her. She turned her head to meet him, her brown and green face meeting his. Hello stranger. the brute spoke in a deep voice. Rina replied with a friendly tone, indicating she wasn't the type to attack on approach. Hello to you too. Who might you be? Rina wasn't usually this friendly, but her rest had put her in a good mood. The brute asked if there were any more rabbits around. Rina did not know for sure, but answered anyway. I'm sure I scented done a bit further downriver. Kaala had now turned her body to fully face the brute. Speech

Her voice was polite, even friendly. Sometimes Gargoyle wondered what it must be like for the wolves he met. He didn't exactly make this simple when it came to tone or expression. With his tower of fur and muscle, and his vacant yellow eyes, he could just as easily be a flayer as a father. But he was what he was, and on this particular morning he meant no harm to anyone - except maybe rabbits. "My name is Gargoyle, Miss," he said simply. He didn't give rank or pack out to just anyone anymore, there was too much a story behind all that lately. But it was refreshing to encounter a rogue who he wasn't compelled to try to kill; he hoped she wouldn't be put off by his presence. Her directions as to the whereabouts of more good were quite helpful, and Gargoyle perked his ears towards where food might lie. How long had it been since he'd hunted rabbit, eh? Nothing but big game had been on the menu since he joined the pack. Any use of his energy had to go into feeding lots of mouths. It was a rare dare when he hunted for just himself. And yet, even thinking of that sent a ring of loneliness to his thoughts. He'd been a loner for a time, but now he was definitely a pack wolf. He liked the conversation and company of others. "My apologies for intruding on the serenity of your spring morning, but I wonder if you would mind if I joined you when my brunch is caught." Gargoyle could have an eloquence to his speech when he wished, though often when he actually needed it, it left him.



(ooc: xD you said 'Kaala' instead of 'Rina' at the end)

R I N A

The brute seemed unthreatening and civil. This was a pleasant surprised, a change from some of the mongrels she had met on her travels. He introduced himself as Gargoyle, and called Rina 'Miss'. Quite a polite person. My name is Rina, Rina Sabaid. Pleased to meet you. A pleasant breeze passed through Rina, fiddling her fur faintly. Rina came down from her rock, elegantly hopping and landing about a metre away from Gargoyle. She looked into his golden eyes with a smile.

He smelled of many wolves, possibly a pack. Rina wondered what it would be like in a pack.It had been ages since sure had been part of one. She had left since her parents died. Rina shook the thoughts from her head.
My apologies for intruding on the serenity of your spring morning, but I wonder if you would mind if I joined you when my brunch is caught. I wouldn't mind at all. I'd love the company. [/B] When Rina said she'd love the company, she wasn't lying. She hadn't had a decent conversation, or any sort of conversation, for months now.

She wouldn?t mind it. Very well, then they would have the pleasure of eachother?s company. Gargoyle gave a slight nod of his head to seal the agreement, and then excused himself with a dismissive flick of his tattered ear. The first order of business, of course, was to actually find the meal. Almost as soon as he was out of sight, the male dropped into hunting mode. His large paws began to slide across the forest floor. He avoided brushing against ferns, but kept to the shadows of the thickets. The scent of ash was still powerful in the air, but there was a great deal of life. The meadows that the forest were home to, made playgrounds for all sorts of creatures. Had one of them seen the male wolf out of the corner of their eye, they no doubt would?ve thought a bear had come to see them. A canine of a tame species becomes huge when it?s shoulder reached 24 inches, Gargoyle was just shy of twice that. Beasts of his bearing hadn?t walked the earth since the days of the Dire wolves. But thought he was built like a bear, he still moved like a wolf. His shoulders rolled and churned as he crept forward, step by silent step.

To the edge of one of the meadows he went, and there fixed his eye upon, a plump doe rabbit. She was chewing the head of a long grass stem, dragging it along as she did their awkward little step-step-hop, step-step-hop. She turned herself around, her meaty little back turned to the killer. Gargoyle needed no other invitation. With a spine-shivering, roarish bark, courtesy of his Doberman heritage, he threw himself forward. An inexperienced hunter might?ve thought the utterance a mistake. Far from it. The rabbit species is trained to leap at the slightest rustle of grass ? which even the most cat-like of hunters can?t help making in the last, sudden spring. But a roar such as echoed from the massive chest of that brute was enough to momentarily freeze so frightful a creature. Before the rabbit to take it?s second leap, Gargoyle was upon it.

But even as he brought his nose to the ground ? half a heartbeat from closing the ivory trap around the neck and head? he realized why the rabbit had been so slow. It was pregnant. The hunter paused, a vicious exhale ripping from his wrinkled muzzle. Most days he wouldn?t have cared. More meat. But?. after all it wasn?t as though he was starving, and had he not been told as a pup that all animals could be hunted save the ones that were making more future prey? Such advice seemed so coldly practical, but there was a softer side too. Back home Gargoyle had a mate who would soon be swollen with pups. It is always considered a bad practice to start empathizing with your food, but in this case Gargoyle would surrender himself up as a softie. He opened his jaws and raised his head. The rabbit had originally been kicking crazily in the dirt, but as it?s little heart became overwhelmed with fear it had stopped. Now, free, it took a second to realize what was going on. Her velvety nose twitched, her ears shivered, and then, like a shot, she bolted away into a tunnel of grasses.

By now, after seeing not one but two lupine hunters, all the prey had been warded off and probably would not return for many hours. So it was that Gargoyle returned empty-pawed to the creekside. ?Not my lucky day,? he said with a shrug in the direction of the girl. He strode to the water?s edge and laid down among the earth and reeds and ferns.

R I N A

Rina watched the brute go. He headed downriver where she had directed him for rabbits. She sighed and pulled her gaze towards the water. A dragonfly danced upon the calm water, settling upon a rock near the water lapping softly against the banks. Rina wondered what it must be like to be a dragonfly. To be able to soar above the earth, to have that power, but such a little life to do it all in. And yet, they stay by the waters edge and leap from rock to rock. What a calm life they must lead, so different, but somehow similar to her own.


After a long while the brute came back empty-pawed. He did not appear to have caught anything. Perhaps Rina had scared all the prey away when she caught her own elderly bunny. Not my lucky day. Gargoyle sighed as he lowered himself down on the bank, making the nearby dragonfly leap and dance towards another pebble. We've all had them. Rina sighed in return. She had now lowered herself to her belly, her paws tucked underneath her chest almost Catlike.


Rina didn't really know what to say to the massive brute, so she kept silent, staring at the habited rock on the far bank.