The Loner and Lonely (private - me and Smoke)

Bitterness flickered across Tarlio's face as Oran spoke of Oburoka. "With Oburoka as leader, no-one is safe," He mumbled at last, "How did... how did Luna look... when you saw her?"

"Er, quite well. She recently had a battle with a deadly sickness that no one had ever seen before. Somehow she survived," He started. "I heard she used to be this fun-loving pup, but when I saw her it looked like she was the leader of the pack of Falling Shadows." The hair on the back of Oran's neck straightened out a bit, remembering how cold the alphess was when he had seen her.

Panic gripped Tarlio when he heard of Luna being sick. He relaxed slightly when Oran assured him she had survived, but a longing still resided within him to see her and check for himself.
"Who was the leader of the Pack of Fallen Shadows?" he asked, intrigued.

"No one knows anymore. They don't socialize with the other packs. They only fight them. But their leader is always the most cruel-looking. They lack emotion, only live to kill. I don't know what kind of mother she'll be when she has pups," Oran barked, finally catching his breath.

Tarlio's face darkened at the thought of Luna being reduced to such a character by the pressures of her tormented life. He only replied with a sigh and a mumbled, "I see..." to Oran, before a long silence rested between the two wolves, the loner deep in troubled thought. 
"If you're up to it, shall we head back?" Tarlio said at last, trying to brighten up.

Oran nodded before he answered verbally. "Yeah, I'm alright. Let's go back." He clamped his jaws once more on a large piece of the buck's skin, pulling.

His mind still a little distracted, Tarlio followed Oran in grabbing the deer by its flesh and dragging it through the snow-drapped wood. they left an unhelpful blood trail behind them, but there was no point in trying to cover it all up.

"Do you... think we should..... go get some of.... the other omegas..... to help out?" Oran managed to grunt out in pauses.

"Like who?" Tarlio grunted, dragging the heavey carcass along the snow. Now that he thought of it, he had no idea who the other omegas were; he only knew Marcios, of course and Oran, of couse, as well as Azar, Laith and that one pup. Lilly, or something. But all those wolves were betas, apart from Oran and Marcios. He was curious on who the others were.

"Well... there's umm... Jenolan. And Tuvin. They'll probably help us," Oran sucked in a large breath, finally able to speak normally again.

"Maybe that is the best idea," Tarlio agreed, "It'll take us a season to drag this back to camp with just the two of us. Shall we both go, or one of us stay here to guard it, do you think?"

Ooc: By the way, has there been any word from Meg?

Ooc: No, not really. Kit's seen her sister online on a different site, so she's gonna try asking her there.

"I'll go get them. I'm probably faster at running and you have a better chance at fighting something than I do," Oran half-joked with the older wolf.

Tarlio let out a tired laugh and nodded in agreement with his counterpart. He had scented linx around here on their way over and he didn't want to risk Oran squaring up against one on his own. The loner had faught many linxes in his time alone, and they were easy enough to intimidate if you act agressively enough. 

Ooc: That's a good idea

Oran bolted off from the buck and his newly-made friend. Wait. Friend? Oran supposed that was what Tarlio was now. A friend. Huh. It felt nice to have one.
Once he arrived at the camp, he made his way to the two twin omegas. Jenolan and Tuvin were sharing a piece of meat. They were incredibly dark brown males, with piercing blue eyes. But they had smaller forms than other wolves, so they were deemed omegas.
"Hey, Tarlio and I got a buck in the forest and we need help dragging it back." As he spoke, the twins looked at him incredulously. They paused form their meat for a second before Tuvin, who's eyes were slightly lighter than his brother's, spoke.
"Yeah, you got a buck. Totally."
"Come on, you just have to come with me," Oran almost pleaded. The two rolled their eyes and got up to follow him.
In a minute they had made it back to Tarlio, Oran with a bit of a smug smile on his muzzle.

Tarlio watched as the lean wolf-dog sprinted at incredible speed towards camp. Almost as soon as he had left, the linx finally appeared. Tarlio could hardly believe his bad luck, but there was the feline-like animal, its fierce yellow eyes, rimmed with black fur, burning at the wolf through the trees to his side. 
The loner leapt up, tail and hackles raise, ears folded, teeth bared and a sharp, threatening growl erupting from his throat. The rival creature tried nervously to gain the upper hand once again by coppying the wolf, but another, louder growl from Tarlio was enough to let it know it wasn't going to get this deer. 
As the linx trotted tensely back into the wood, empty-handed, Tarlio exhalled and relaxed again, sitting back down next to his and Oran's kill, letting his hair settle. Soon after, he saw Oran coming back in his direction, two very similar-looking wolves either side of him. The halfer shared Tarlio's smug face.

"Wow," Tuvin said, his jaw dropping similarly to his brother's.
"You actually got a buck." Surprise was clearly showing in the twins' eyes. Oran's only rolled. Their reactions were probably going to last for another week. Another reason they were omegas; they could be pretty annoying.
"Yes, and we need you to help us drag it back," Oran stated, his tail flicked in annoyance.

Ooc: I dunno what dogs do when they're annoyed. So. Yeah. Oh, and you can control the twins :3

Ooc: Yeah, me neither ;3

Tarlio chuckled smuggly at the twins' reactions. Once again, the wolf grasped the deer by the hide at its ribs and signalled for the two blue-eyed wolves to help him. They obeyed, overpowered by excitement at the scents of fresh prey. They both clamped their thin jaws around the spine of carcass and began walking backwards, pulling the deer slowly along with them.

Oran began helping out and within a few minutes of constant dragging, already the omega spotted the camp coming into sight.

Eventually, Tarlio and the other omegas managed to drag the carcass into the middle of the clearing where some of the pack wolves stood, looking on in amazement at the lowly wolves pulling in such a bounty. 
The loner, feeling the eyes of the pack on him and his friends, grinned a blood-stained grin, threw back his head and let out a wild victory howl, announcing the kill he and Oran had made. The tone in which he was howling hinted heavily to Oran, Tuvin and Jenolan  to join in proudly.

Tuvin and Jenolan joined in with Tarlio within a heartbeat. Oran, however, hesitated before he joined. He knew he might get in trouble for this, and that his pack leader would still see him as a criminal of dog-wolf relationships as he was a halfer.

The howl sounded strong and joyful for a long time, before eventually trailing off and leaving the twins and Tarlio in fray of playful yipping and wagging. A hunting group that were heading back to the camp after a fruitless journey halted in their tracks. Leading the party was an enormous black wolf, as tall and broard as a young bear. His ears pricked as the noise reached him and his pack wolves, and he looked fiercly up the track leading to the camp. 
Growling morbidly from his chest, Marcios sprinted towards the clearing. Once he and the others reached it and saw the group of omegas prancing around the carcass of a young buck, the leader's fury grew.
"What in the moon's name is going on here?" he demanded, towering over the twins. 

Scowling frustratingly at the tyrinous leader, Tarlio stepped forward, his amber gaze meeting with the blue one of Marcios as the black wolf snapped his attention to the loner.
"Oran I had been for a stroll in the forest when we spied the deer," Tarlio explained cooly, "When we had killed it, we sought help from these two here."

Oran's head had immediately gone down when Tarlio had mentioned his name. His muscles were tense as he prepared for Marcios' retaliation.
A few seconds passed with no sound. Oran glanced up to see Marcios' fur down but he was eyeing Tarlio.
"Is this true?" The leader barked calmly to the three other omegas. Each nodded, the twins furiously and Oran nervously.
"Then you get first pick." Oran's head snapped up now, his eyes as big as the moon.
"But, if you make a joke out of my hunting team again, you will be punished." Oran knew there had to be a catch. There always was.

Tarlio managed to conceal a smug grin, though a smile escaped onto his hansome maw. He saw the wolves from the other hunting group slowly trickle into the clearing, either astonishment, irritation or anger burning in their eyes. 
He was able to pick Azar and Laith, the two wolves he and Red had fought yesterday, out of the crowd. The golden male looked disbelieving and hungry as he eyed the kill at the omega's paws, whereas his female counterpart couldn't help but laugh. 
Tarlio bowed his head respectfully at them both as they moved on, before turning to his little band of misfits. "Well, you heard the boss," he barked, a sly, hungry smile still dancing on his salvering lips, "Let's eat."

The twins immediately grabbed their own pieces, playfully growling at one another. Oran took a smaller piece than them; he wasn't used to eating a whole lot, and didn't need as much as regular wolves did to stay somewhat strong.
After he grabbed his chunk he took away from the crowd's eye and sat down to begin eating.

Tarlio ripped off a generous portion for himself, his depleated energy baying for food to replenish itself after the hunt. Looking around, the loner spied Oran trailing his meat away from the sight of the crowd. 
He followed him, holding his head in the air and proudly showing off his dinner to the envious eyes of the pack. The amber-eyed wolf slumped down next to his friend and, after swallowing up the last peice of deer he had taken for himself, he turned to Oran.
"I don't think this day could have turned out better," He growled cheerily, "But perhaps we should avoid hunting in the future, eh?"