Iskata had been sitting in the middle of one of the pens that housed the cattle. She had only gathered a small herd in the meadow but they seemed to be doing well, as long as she stayed away from the sharp tempered male. She snarled at him and raised her heckles as she passed by, the snort and pawing of one hoof warning enough of his thoughts to attack. She knew he was a large beast but he seemed a little slow and stupid, after the fifth or sixth time she'd ran him off she'd have thought he'd have given up by now. She shook her head as she watched him from the corner of her eye and moved on towards the edge of the pen. She grinned to herself, thinking that there was only one thing on the male's mind obviously as she watched him approaching one of his females.
She squeezed underneith the fence and turned about to watch the cattled from her vantage point behind the fence. Her tongue was lolling out as she sat with her forelegs up along the top rail as she leaned back on her hindlegs, balancing herself carefully as she enjoyed the warm summer sun that was pouring down upon her back. Her tail beat back and forth as she daydreamed, wondering when she'd next go on another mad hunt for more of the cattle, or perhaps some sheep or goat. She'd been reading up on farm animals the the stock the humans use to keep. Perhaps the pack thought she was a little crazy for keeping and feeding the animals, but they'd think differently when dinner was right before them instead of a long hunt through the lands and the tiring chase. She smiled to herself finally feeling at home in their packlands.
Asmodai walked noisily to the pens, having made the decision not to mask his movements here. It would seem strange for such a large wolf to move so quietly...and he didn't want to seem strange. He had shifted down temporarily, deciding to spend the day in his four-legged form rather than the eight-foot lycanthrope body which he usually preferred. There was a certain freedom to having four feet and no hands, a freedom from getting bogged down with unimportant or human things and ideas, a freedom from getting chained to everything, a freedom that would let him just...run.
"Hello, Iskata," he said as he approached, smiling and wagging his own tail in reply to her obvious excitement, though he didn't know what the motivation was, what thoughts were going through her head to illicit such excitement? "I see that you've got some pets in there. A little difficult to manage, I'd think, especially in your condition." Not that having an injured foreleg had much to do with managing them. If the bull inside decided to gore her, it wouldn't matter what health she was in, running would be the only out. Unfortunately, legs were crucial to running, hence his concern. He hadn't seen anyone handle animals that way in quite a while.
He wasn't accompanied by the pack he usually carried, it was awkward to carry on his back when on four legs. Instead he had left it near the beach, where he intended to return to by nightfall. If anyone needed help before then, well, he would be somewhat limited in how he might assist, though he would still make an attempt. Hopefully no one else would need stitches any time soon.
Iskata's head turned as she heard the voice, a sudden smile lit upon her lips as she caught sight of Asmodai, though the form he was in wasn't one she'd seen him use before but she wasn't stupid, she knew she'd have seen it at one point or another. It was obvious that the male seemed to perfer his shifted form though. At the words he asked she laughed softly and turned back to watching the creatures. "They're not pets.. More like dinner..." She really didn't know how to explain all her strange and odd ideas but she figured she should atleast try. "When the winter sets in here it can be hard to feed a pack, muchless oneself.. and dangerous. It's how my mother died." Her words ended softly as she was reminded of the words she'd been told by Laruku. Shaking her head to rid the thoughts from her mind she continued. "Keeping them here makes life a little simpler for us all.."
She turned her gaze back to Asmodai as she patted her injured foreleg against the wood of the fencerail as she tilted her head to the side at the mention of the dangers she'd put herself into. "They're not really that dangerous.. once you've got them in the pen.. The leader seems to be only interested in one thing.. if you catch my drift." She wrinkled her nose as she watched the bull go back to sorting out his females for a moment before her eyes flitted over to two of the young calves that were born shortly after the cattle had been corraled. "As long as I watch him I really don't have to worry about much. The others don't seem to care unless they'd got young. I can walk among them.. they don't like it but they just tend to watch me or shamble away to a new patch of grass.." She was rambling and she knew it, but the time she'd spent in the field watching these creatures who would oneday become their dinner the easier it grew to learn about them.
She knew so much more now and it would be much easier to improve their stock. The ideas were boiling in the pack of her mind as she turned back to Asmodai and asked. "What's the worry? Afraid you'll have to save me again?" she teased the male as she grinned.
OOC: Is it a good closing point for our "A helpful drifter" thread? We say he walked her home? I'll get a reply up shortly if you think there are still some parts of their discussion to take place.
IC:
Truth be told, he thought there was probably something morally wrong with keeping prey pinned up like that, not even giving them a chance to resist. But then again, they weren't very intelligent animals if they let themselves be put into that situation...perhaps they deserved to die? It was what the weak often did, and nature's way, after all. At least that was logic he had heard from his peers in the past.
"Something like that," he smiled, looking at the hemmed in prey-animals, grazing away, incapable of rationalizing well enough to understand their eventual fate. It hadn't been any trouble helping Iskata out her quandary, it had actually been an unexpectedly pleasing experience. He had not been brought up to help those in need...the creed of GreyClaw was not one of charity. Not that all of them were cruel, either, but when on the job, everything else came second. Mercy, sympathy, charity, there was room for these things, but they were not to hinder the attainment of the main objective.
"I'm going to leave here for a short while in the next day or two. My cousin is still ranging around out there, exploring. I doubt I'll convince him to stay here, but I should talk to him nonetheless, we've been loose traveling companions for quite some time, now. It won't take me long." He wasn't sure how she'd take that, but it was true, he did intend to take a jaunt outside of the newly founded lands, as he needed to correlate with Soro. Once that was finished, he would have a plan for the future, and would return until the time came for that plan to reach fruition.
OOC: It's a fine place to close it up. 
IC
She sat there studying the cattle before her as Skoll spoke up. With a slight smirk to her face she rolled her eyes and turned back to him. "Ok, if I need saved you can save me.. but Deuce gets to do the dirty work.." She grinned a devilish smile at the thought of Deuce actually playing out her role of healer. She knew the lady would bicker and bitch if Iskata got herself into another fix, especially if it was with the herd of prey she insisted on keeping. Iskata knew the keeping of the livestock was looked at funny though some of the packmates seemed interested in the idea, even if it was beyond strange.
The Matriarch had never been beyond trying new ideas and she knew if the idea failed that there was nothing lost but time. She smiled at the memory of other things she'd attempted with her old friends, friend lost or passed on. She was tempted to try catching prey in the ocean again. They'd caught some delious fish in the strong waters.. yet she could even remember trying to catch the large lobsters and crabs.. yet they'd never got the chance to. She closed her eyes and shoved the end result of that adventure from her mind as she turned back to Asmodai as he began to explain something to her.
She pawed at a splinter in the fencerail as he spoke of leaving. She was a little crestfallen that he was departing for some time, but it seemed like it wouldn't be forever. She turned her eyes onto the male as she studied him. She smiled suddenly as she nodded to the male. "I'll inform the others.. just return to us safely." She didn't know the male's whole story but she was willing to let him be, he'd been honest enough with her by explaining why he'd be gone. Normally when the packmates of the past had disappear they'd never showed back up again, but then again they'd never said they were leaving in the first place or even asked to go. She smiled again, a stronger smile as she stretched out, her paws atop the rail as she arched her back, feeling her spine creak as she sighed. "Just don't be bringing back a whole herd of puppies.. I might be the matriarch but I'm not the pupsitter." her eyes twinkled as she watched the male, realizing the idea of him toting any amount of pups about was too laughable.
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Sorry for the wait =\
Deuce must be extremely talented, he decided, since with her around his demonstration of skill hadn't landed him in any kind of healer rank. It was just as well, he didn't need the distraction of heavy responsibility. At her words, he smiled, despite the chain of thought it started. He liked Iskata, it was a shame he wouldn't be around long enough to see where the relationship went. In a separate life, he could get used to being this role he was playing now, the unaccomplished, easy-going lummox who spent all his time at the beach. The truth was unwanted sometimes, but responsibilities were responsibilities, and there would be no running away from them just yet.
"Puppies?" he asked, surprised. He didn't understand where that comment had come from. Though she couldn't have known that Soro was male, the fact that he'd said it was his cousin shouldn't have incited such a statement. "There shouldn't be any worry about that, Iskata. He and I go way back, and he doesn't seem the type to settle down, especially since we've been here for such a short time. I'll talk to him about my intentions, and he about his, and we'll figure out if we're parting ways, or if he's going to linger here. Then I'll come right back. Only a day's discussion, no more, I expect."
That was, unless Soro already had things set up, in which case he would regretfully need to leave. If his cousin had found their target and formulated a plan of action in his absence, it was important that he be ready to move out. He would be remorseful if he didn't have the opportunity to return. Nevertheless, he expected Soro to be much more careful after the accident, the chance that he already had things worked out was unlikely.
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She acted so innocent when Asmodai asked so suddenly about the joke she'd made at his expense. She turned back to the male with a slight smile as he began to try and find an explantion, she chuckled softly as she shook her head. "Don't think so hard on that one Asmodai.." she said simply as she smiled, her eyes trailing across the meadow once more, watching the grasses swaying in the breeze as she listened to her packmate. They wouldn't mind another packmember, but she wondered if this cousin of Asmodai might convince the large wolf to part ways with their laidback happy family. She hoped not, but she wouldn't voice her concerns aloud. She'd be patient and wait and see where the world took them all.
She was silent a moment as she thought about the words that he'd said, the serious tone that she'd so jokingly step around, trying to keep her mind off the fact that one of their own was going to be absent for a while. Finally she sighed softly and turned back to the male. "I trust you, just return when you're ready." she said quietly, not really knowing when she'd see the other next, but knowing that it wouldn't seem like forever, atleast, not as long as she'd been waiting on others in her life.
OOC: Good place to stop? It seems like the conversation is over, and he has her leave to...well, leave and see Soro =P
IC:
I trust you... the words stung some part of him that he wasn't used to being in touch with. He was letting her get in deeper than just a tool, this first friend he'd made in these new lands. Was he just trying to fill in the gaps left by his fallen comrades? He didn't know. It just twisted inside him foully to hear her say that, knowing how ill-placed her trust was.
"I'll return soon, don't worry," he said, turning his four-legged body off in the other direction. He knew that the end of his journey would not be easy. The last objective would be more difficult to attain than any of the previous ones, they had already lost half of their party trying to get this far. Still, he had not anticipated that it would be difficult in this way. He would need to push aside these distractions to succeed in his final task. Hopefully, he had the discipline to do at least that much.
Iskata nodded as he gave her assurance that he'd be returning soon. She smiled softly and quietly watched him disappear down the ol' dirt road that ran along the fence. She believed that he would return, there was no reason why he shouldn't, atleast she couldn't think of any. Smiling to herself she turned away from watching her friend go and gazed at the cattle in the pen once more. She knew that she couldn't sit around and do nothing, moping and worrying, there was work to do.
Leaping the fence rail once more she weaved in and out of the herd, dodging the stamping hooves and watchful eyes of the mothers as she took the shortest route towards the barnyard. There were places she hadn't even begun to explore at the farmhouse and she figured she'd best start now.
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