Home at last [OPEN]

[thunder]

"No... What brings you to that decision? I left on my own accord." She looks at him confused now to before thinking it out a bit more. "Ooooh.. My ear was it? Sorry. Just a bit of an irritating thought." She said amending this and looking at him wondering what he would ask next. Her ears were perked at him. She could tell he was watching her closely but that was okay. Questions had to lead somewhere.

[cptkickercutleg]

(( Can't put much, going to college in 5 minutes ))

Graal's face spreads into a small smile
"So you were happy to leave then? I thought that irritated thought was that you had somehow been forced out, either by the jealous gnaw Vulfs that were not as good as you." he says, a twinkle of mirth in his eyes.
"And if they weren't jealous, they should have been." Graal adds, peering at the bone to see if it could bring back any details in his head.

[thunder]

She followed his eyes to a cat skull in confusion. She then looked around trying to match the bite marks on it to another creature she had seen before. No not Graal, wolf teeth wouldn't make a largely separated bite like that with two long teeth. It is small and appears to be a very old bone. Hm.. If its own teeth were bigger and more separated it could make a hole like that. As she thought she began pulling it out of the dirt. When she freed it she looked at the long sharp canines. "Ah. Saber-tooth." She whispered beneath her breath. A cub killed by its own kind, sad end to one so young. She thought eying the small skull.

[cptkickercutleg]

(( whoops, the bone I was on about was on the "Faster, Faster and even Faster!" thread XD but it's okay! I can adapt! It just took me a few days to think of a way to turn it around :3 ))

Graal looks to Thunder, an eyebrow raised as she commented on the tiny skull."Ah, that poor old thing? It's mother snapped it's neck after the cub had fallen from a cliff and broken it's spine, I was on my way myself to end it's misery, the mother got there first. I couldn't leave such an innocent to the crows, even if it was a sabretooth cat, it was still only a cub. I brought it back here to bury it, but I was late in coming back from a short hunt, and the rats had picked her oodles clean." Graal says, his tone almost mournful.
"But that isn't the bone I was looking at." he says, the slightest spark of amusement in his voice. He steps over to where Thunder had pulled out the skull and gently picks up a rib from the floor, displaying it to her with a slight flourish, it was the first picture that Thunder had drawn after she had met him, clear indentations and bold scratches creating a perfect image.
"This is what I was talking about, your work is truly astounding." he says, smiling at her with his wide grin.

[thunder]

She nodded then snorted. This bone looked older than Graal oh by twenty make that thirty years either that or it had been sitting around in a lot of rain for a long wile. She looked at him and shook her head. It was almost the same exact smile she had carved. Yeah. it used to be my job. She thought.Then her red eyes narrowed and she brought her pa up and mock smacked his face with a silly grin. Her legs stretched out as she leaped into a tree. Then in a silly fake challenging tone she said "Snapped the neck? Looks more like she crushed its skull!" Quickly she began leaping from tree to tree as she challenged him, a warrior, to chase after her, a messenger.

Her paws lightly hit the ground as she came down once more. She dodged trees, bushes, and swining branches with ease. This was nothing compared to running through a battle field with the enemy behind her and attackers trying to catch her as she passed. No, this was easy and she could go much faster. She jumped and flipped over a large rock as she raced towards her cave. Upon getting there she leaped up and began climbing and jumping from pillar to pillar until she was in the tower. She brushed past the human door and raced down the steps. Carefully she reached the bottom and sighed.

[cptkickercutleg]

Graal watches Thunder leap from tree to tree with her acrobatics, her astounding agility, leaving him in the cold dirt."Well, at least she is intelligent enough to spot all of my incredibly obvious story flaws." he says, rolling his thick shoulders. "Barely home, and I'm chasing after her again." he muses, then sets off at a steady pace after her, he was no warrior, no messenger, he was a defender, and he'd have to show her how he had managed to carve that niche in the pack structures that almost every pack followed, unbendable, unspoken ranks without the perceived need for additional ranks.

Endurance.

"It seems I will have to wear my prey down yet again. I will wear her down, and she will stop running. Eventually." he thinks, "Just not too soon." he whispers to himself, grinning as he approaches her den and the human tower beyond.

[thunder]

She didn't gasp for breath, nor did her legs or lungs burn. It was a simple run that didn't take much. Her mind was back into the times the pack was at war with the lions. Eyes darting around the room she quickly knew what she had to do. Swiftly she tore a curtain into small long strips. They were low enough that if you weren't looking down or were very unlucky you would trip. Once they were neatly woven all around the room she stepped over a few and brushed out the door. Seeing that she still had time she ran backtracking so her scent was everywhere and one would be unable to tell which way was fresh until you got to the end of it.

Legs now pounding faster she raced off into the forest. Thinking quickly the dived into a stream. Instead of rising on the other side she swam into a tunnel and came out in it. It was not visible above water and was underground. Not taking any chances she shook dry and wiped her paws. She raced through the tunnels and came out in Graal's cave. She trotted out and startled the bats on purpose. She herded the bats back in knowing they would attack the next wolf they saw.

She wove her way easily to the top of Grall's cave and lay there with ease. Still not out of breath she yawned. Still on alert her eyes searched the land for any sign of him. She was no overpowering force and her build clearly showed it. She always had to be able to run-even when it hurt. She could be off in a flash if she had to. She had a grin on her face as she smelled the air. Three tricks,hm not quite enough.. She thought eyes glinting with mischief. Using twigs to hold them together she made an army of miss-match skeleton monsters for Graal to see when he got there. Sitting next to the largest in the middle like a messenger would she looked around patiently waiting.

[cptkickercutleg]

Graal chuckles.
"You know, if you would have waited in that tower a few more minutes, I'd have lost your trail." he says, stepping out from behind a bush.
"Vulfen are harder to track than you, I learned my lesson full-well: do not go into the dens, wait until they come out and think they've given you the slip." he continues, "Although, the bats will be problematic." he muses.

"Put nicely, I predicted you'd run circles around me, so I met you at your end: the beginning." he smirks, feeling very proud of himself.
"So, what now, Drappa? Going to run away again? Make me chase you and pounce like you are my prey?" he asks, grinning cheekily.

[thunder]

"Often my trackers weren't so determined and wee easy to shake off my path. Maybe a challenge that requires more than a few simple tricks and speed would be fun. Oh by the way Graal, I know much more than caves in this land, tunnels are sprawled almost everywhere in this area." She didn't finish he thought as she finally cracked through to the tunnel below her and came down. The skeletal monsters around her meant he would halve to wave his way past them to give chase.

She dove through and lead he way off. The sort dart forwards was good as she came to a halt at a dead end with water rushing past. The ice cold water contrasted with the warm air as she was forced under. Her paws grappled with sand as she raised her head to intake some of the stale air. Soon the water would take her again and out into a clearing surrounded by willow trees. The water slid off her coat as she rose. She spotted some strong smelling rosemary that she knew grew just about everywhere in the area and rolled in it. Quickly she uprooted the bush and tossed it into the water to sink without trace. She brushed against trees and flowers allowing her scent to disappear and the scent of forest to replace her own.

She quickly pawed her way lightly over the ground taking care not to leave a trace. She was not heading to any cave she had used recently, no not at all, but rather an old cave that she had not used in a long time and that her scent had long since faded from. She moved fast enough to travel quickly but slow enough to not leave a trace. She slid into the hidden hollow that was the old abandoned cave. The last resident was a fox and now plants inhabited it. Oh how lucky am I! She thought cheerfully at the sight of a blue and black flowering vine with a hole in it she could squeeze into. Even more lucky she was that the berries on the vine were red and so she would, for once, blend perfectly. She burrowed her way in deep into it and rearranged the vines. She could have ran through the tunnels to get here but were was the fun in that? How many tricks did these Vulfen know? I wounder if they know the disappearing scent trick I used. If he sees through it with ease I shall congratulate him, if not well I'll have to see how far off he was. She got comortable and waited ready to dive down back into the tunnels if need be.

[cptkickercutleg]

"When will you learn, Drappa, I have you." Graal croons as he shoulders past the fake skeletons before falling in behind Thunder, pursuing her with greater speed and effort than last time, now that she knew he was a half decent hunter, she'd be sure to pull out all the stops.
"Footprints, how crude." he thinks, noting her deep paw prints in the sand and mud approaching the fast flowing river.
"Dead end, nowhere else apparent to go, smart move, but the prints give you away Thunder." he lectures her, mentally planning to reprimand, praise and teacher her all at the same time as he takes a gulp of air, enough to last a minute or two as long as he made no efforts while under the water.
He slips in, fur melting into the fast flowing river as he let's go of the ground, letting the current take him futher underground.

The luke-warm water carries Graal to a bend in the river, a short beach before trees, "What a strong smell, she would have tried to lose me here." he ponders, grinning to himself as he sees disturbed earth, where Thunder had pulled up a small plant, a footprint embedded in the soft dirt. "No matter how hard you try, you'll never truly cover your scent, not to me, I know it too well." Grall thinks as he follows her faint trail to her old den.

He approaches the den, his nostrils widening and his feet slowing. As he pads silently to the entrance, he pauses "Drappa, I never thought flowers would disguise you so well." he remarks, turning his head towards her hiding spot. "Your caution was between that of a Varg and that of a Vulfen, far beyond that of an average Vulf. You are remarkable"