Breach of Territory
Breach of Territory Written by Runewolf and Soulessolace. Part one of ?
Story Synopsis
Solace, a young mountain lion, barely out of cubhood, Has been wandering for some time, looking for a territory and eating when she can. She realizes one day that the Wolf that owns the territory she's been on for a while is tracking her, and decides to get it over with and approach him, her starvation giving her a desparation she should never have. She runs into him in a clearing outside of his den. The encounter goes on as follows.
CH.1 Dinner
Solace flits her ears then pads over, eyeing him up and down, her head tiliting from time to time as her head cranes up to his. She smiles at him, and sits just before his paws. "Hi," she mewls out.
The wolf perks his ears. He had been tracking the feline through the mountainous parts of the woods around his den for a while, never appreciating uninvited guests in his territory, then finding the cat literally bounding over to him when spotted, he stares down at her for a moment.
She grins and purrs softly, her tail twitching. "You've obviously been watching me, so I figured I aughta pop in and stop this mess so I can actually hunt without you scarin off my prey." She narrows her eyes as she says this, but she schools herself into staying calm. She knows she has no chance of taking the larger creature down in a fight.
Rune snorts a little, regarding her calmly before baring his fangs "This is my territory." he simply states, lapping one of the two longest protruding fangs "Besides, you hop about like an amature..." now snorting once at her inexperience "If you are hungry, I'll let you have some of the venison from my den, then you leave, and if I catch you hunting again around here you'll be dinner."
Solace shirks at his bared fangs, choking down a reflexive growl. Her ears go back at his words, but she stays silent, not willing to bare her past to just anyone. She winces at his snort and the words before, knowing it's damn true every bit. As he speaks, she looks up, her whole demeanor changing to hope and raw hunger, tamping quickly at his nowhere near veiled threat. She mewls softly, pathetically, and breathes deep, the action showing him easily how long it's been since she's successfully hunted, regardless of his tracking. She nods and smiles softly, nearly purring out. "You mean you're not going to just send me off? So many have. Thank you for at least feeding me first."
He was about 7ft fall when standing on hind paws, broad frame not overmuscled or fat, simply showing the healthy signs of a sturdy hunter "Do I LOOK like I've got nothing to spare?" he smirks, not meaning it as a boast but it certainly showing a lot of confidence "Follow." he growls once in a low tone before dropping back to all fours and with one final glance over the much smaller form starts to pad back to his den, large fluffy tail swisting sometimes outright batting her in the face, a relatively short distance from where he had first spotted her as she had followed the same old trail in a circle. Arriving at his den he rises to hind paws and heaves the heavy oak door ajar, slipping into the darkness of the first large, open room lit by kerosine lanterns flickering orange lights around. As soon as she'd enter he would pull the door with a strain closed again, it clicks into place. "Now..the venison.."
The lioness shrinks even further when he rises, nearly mewling. She shakes her head, still afraid, as he asks his question. At his words, she rises to a stand again, stretching before padding forward, mentally comparing her small form to his. She starts at his head, her own being almost as big as his jaws, her ears maybe a third his size. His teeth, jeez, nearly 4 times the size of hers, and she shudders at the thought of one of them piercing her flesh. His neck is so much more sinuous than hers, the musculature showing plainly still his still thick winter coat. Her own kelley green coat is matted and sparse, a victim of malnutrition.
Her head only comes to his shoulder, and this alone scares her to death. He is by far the largest creature she's come across, and she nearly has to run to keep up with his strides, wincing as his massive tail snaps in her face. She thinks about how large his paws are as he opens the door, her eyes darting around to notice the placement of his den and the architecture of the door, then pads to the door, hesitating momentarily before she enters with her tail between her legs. The closing of the door seems to echo through the room, and she's instantly comforted by the much softer light as the bright sun is closed off. She blinks, her eyes adjusting quickly and seeming to glow an icy blue as she finishes her examination and looks up at him, licking her lips. Her stomach audibly growls, but she keeps her composure, staying standing and following him until he tells her to stop.
He presses a paw against the firm oak door, the joints connecting it to the stonework a thick iron matted and blackened with time, the door itself worn away, mostly smooth apart from a few details.. large scratch marks of varying sizes down them, some appearing weeks old some seeming like they must have been done years ago, all making very little difference to the sturdy door but a disturbing feature, one or or two parts of the door seeming stained, reddened in the wood. The rest of the room a fairly rounded affair with a ceiling not much higher than the wolves head, the center of the room having a large pile of various furs, different shapes and colours, thicknesses and scents to them, all expertly skinned.
There was a sofa as well, it must have been dragged for miles to be brought here and looked oversized as if intended for at least 4 human sized people to sit on, it a matt black but lots of grey strands of fur and a few other colours could be seen on it, finally the fireplace, more a hearth with a metal tube going through the rock to the outside to stop the cave getting smokey when closed, orange embers flicked in there as well wrapped in what appeared to be a very reused sheet of foil an entire leg of a large deer, slow cooked on the embers and with the kind of scent that would make a vegan salivate, the wolf eyed her a moment for not noting the scent first thing as he pulled it out and dropped it on the cave floor.
Solace lets her eyes travel a little more slowly as he stands there a moment, scanning the door and wondering about the marks and stains, her ears going forward as her head tilts, so deep is her consideration of it. She nearly loses herself in her contemplation, then seems to startle as she realizes she's letting her guard down around somebody that just threatened to eat her. She turns her head and notices the vaulted ceilings, of course only vaulted to her, and continues on to the pile of furs, picking out a few she recognizes as she realizes they were all kills, and probably skinned personally. She shakes her head almost imperceptibly at the wonder of it. She marvels at the massive sofa, thinking about how she'd make a damn pretty throw pillow on that black expanse.
She notices the fire and her nostrils flare at the smell that suddenly hits her of the roasting leg, getting dizzy and nearly collapsing with weakness as it slips into her consciousness. She realizes then that she'd been holding her breath, and her head swims, barely noticing his look as her eyes lock on the meat. Drool slips through her jowls, and her small tongue curls out to keep it from dropping onto his floor. Her stomack rumbles visibly this time, as she comes closer slowly, her ears back, her body lowered submissively as her tail tucks even tighter underneath what seems to be a dirty grey underside.
The massive canine edged the large deer leg towards her, skinned and lean the braised and singed meat could have been slow cooking for a day or so, as it slips just under the seemingly cowering lioness the big wolf waits until she is distracted and sits besides her, watching a few further moments before pressing his broad muzzle against the back of her neck, nostrils flaring as he draws in her own scents, a warning growl ready should she try to move as he investigate, the cold pad brushing through and ruffling her fur as he moves it to her sides, then along to her hindquarters, then just a little higher still drawing in her scents calmly before a broad, knowing grin spreads over his maw. Licking his lips the huge wolf figured this would be a very fun evening for him, sitting back up regally his fluffy tail folded around as he watched her take a mawful or two before pulling it back towards him and tearing the marjority off the bone, in a few large bites clearing just over two thirds before pushing the scraps back for her to then pick at it. "You've not hunted much, not done a lot of things at all" he grins darkly.
The tinier feline takes a small bite greatfully, keeping her senses poised just in case. As she's chewing pure hunger takes over and she digs in, quite forgetting herself. Of course this means that when he got near her she nearly jumped out of her skin, but as she realized his muzzle was on her neck she froze. She wriggles a little as his nose maps her small body, mewling when he sniffs her rear. She only continues to eat once he sits once more, this time watching him out of the corner of her eyes as she laps at the juices, her hunger slowly sating. She slips her head up when he takes the meat, meowing full on in fear when he takes such a large portion so quickly. When he pushes it back, she laps at the bone for a while letting her stomach take the food in portions so as not to get sick. Feeling a little more at ease by his tone, yet still oddly on edge, she mewls back at him between licks, "It's been quite some time, been scavenging mostly. No real place to stay so I guess you could say that." She completely misses the direction of his comment, her naievete showing plainly as she takes a few more dainty bites.
Rune flits his huge pointed ears before nodding, licking his lips from the delicious deer while looking her up and down and making a choice for this one "Hmm.. you're filthy, you'll have to bathe before going" he quietly utters before without a single word steps around her, pawpads making next to no sound despite his size of the canid - the only sound a distant rumble of moving water, the floor under their paws was smooth, so smoothed that it was shiny as if the cave had seen use for thousands of years, going down a dimly lit corridor and only tilting his muzzle to murmur at her "Do not go in the dark room." with no humor to his tone, or threat, just a cold seriousness to his expression hinting that it would not be a good idea.
There was a thin enterance to a dark room with a bright torch on the opposing wall, a small draft coming from the silent room but no light seems to breach it only a series of scents that are hard to distinguish, if one would squint they may see far in the distance of the low, black room a couple of reflective dots in pairs, moving around but fixed in the direction of the dire wolves cave. Coming to the end of the path there were two rooms to go into, the one that he turns to and enters where the roar of water was coming from to a fairly dim room with a single kerosine torch near to bubbling water rolling down from the roof into a natural basin, training one end through cracks the body of moving water was fairly small compared to the other room but utterly dancing in reflected orange light.