Tactical Maneuvers [Hunter/Pic/Smiff]

[sorcerer]

The cemetary made him nervous at night. Pen used to come here all the time on little hide-and-seek games and mouse-catching trips. Then one evening he'd snuck in, turned a corner, seen a big black cat with red eyes, and hadn't wanted to come back since. Especially since he'd heard there was once a huge fight with Iris here, and all the cats and dogs had died in the cemetary, and..anyway, Pen didn't like it and stayed away.
Until now. He had heard that ghosts didn't exist. Therefore, the young dog was creeping through the evening light, sniffing cautiously at the air. Just in case. It was important that he know the truth about this, just in case there really were ghosts, in which case he thought the pack leaders really needed to know about them. If not, he could assuage his own fears. About this, at least.
He was still certain that black cats were very unlucky.

The dog kept a close eye on the evening shadows as he walked, and sniffed the air carefully. Ghosts, he'd heard, made the air cold around them, so it should be easy to tell if he was coming across one. As long as he walked very slowly, and was sure of what was going on. One wouldn't want to panic, and charge ahead, and run into trouble anyway..
Someone stepped on a leaf nearby. It crackled loudly. Pen jumped about a foot and immediately hid himself behind a slightly too-small tombstone. He huddled there for a moment, quivering, realized that half of his body was sticking out from behind his barrier, and stuck his head around to take a look.
He didn't immediately see anything, but once he'd stared at the shadows for a second, he realized that something dark was moving around in there. The puppy jerked his head back around behind the tombstone and went over his options.
Option A: Hide here and hope someone thought he was part of the scenery.
That might work if his fur was gray instead of red. Probably not going to work out.
Option B: Run away.
And then explain to his siblings that he ran from a possible enemy, ghost or not? Never. Even Pen didn't stoop so low.
Option C: Passive-agressive sneaking around until he got a closer look at his adversary.
Which might work, if whoever or whatever it was hadn't seen him already.
Option D: Fake aggression, scare away intruder.
...that seemed like the least embarrassing choice here.

He took a deep breath, cleared his throat, puffed up his fur in an attempt to look bigger, and leaped around the tombstone. His lips curled in a snarl. He ducked his head, raised his tail, and glared at the shadowy area.
What to do next, he wasn't sure, so Pen elected to fire off a terrifying barrage of loud, slightly hysterical barks. The sound echoed off the trees and faded away again. No response.
He swallowed unhappily, took a deep breath, and prepared to try again..

[SMIFFAGRIFF]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-image: url(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g399/SmiffDemon/leowolf.png); width: 499; height: 499] He wasn't supposed to be here. Leonardo knew that. He knew it very well. In fact he still remembered the last time he'd been caught here - Brooke had nearly chewed his tail off chasing him out. Dawn, his mother, wasn't really happy about his little mischief making habits. But Lee couldn't help it! Breaking the rules was so exhilarating! Besides, no one would really hurt him here, right? He crept along the cemetery, ears erect high above his head, listening to the faint sounds of the night. Unfortunately all that he could hear was the crunching of a leaf that he himself had stepped on and the chirping crickets in the sparse vegetation around the area.... So when Pen started to bark, it came as a sudden shock to the yearling wolf pup. Tensing, he whipped around, a flash of red catching his sight. Pendragon was actually slightly bigger than him - but he looked younger! What was that all about? Lee let out an irritated huff, forcing his fur to lay flat after being startled. With a bit of swagger in his step, he approached the other male with a grin, "Ey, Firecracker! You'll wake up the whole pack and we don't want that do we? Les' jus' keep my presence here a lil' secret, aye?" he winked. "I promise I'll make it worth your while..." He licked his lips, eyes squinting to make out the finer details on his new canine... friend if one could call Pen that yet. Mhm, as he suspected - the young male was pretty easy on the eyes. And that red fur! What a catch indeed. He gave a toothy grin and dropped into a play crouch, "I'm Leonardo, but everyone calls me Lee!"

[Hunter]

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[atrb=background,http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx34/Kitten_Lovour/vmid.png] Actions. | "Speech." | 'Thoughts.' Now when she was a yearling, her parents weren’t as strict as they once had been about bedtime, which gave Victoria plenty of time to run around and have some fun. As long as she didn’t complain about lack of sleep, her parents didn’t really care when she came home – as long as she didn’t walk too far away from Tempest’s territory of course… It might be that the young puppy was strong for her age, but even though she was a juvenile and trained almost every day, she would still be helpless against a feline of the Iris Pride. So she (mostly) kept her small tours inside the pack’s borders. As the shadows of the evening became longer, and Victoria couldn’t find anyone to harass in her own, of course cute way, she chose to head back to the Mental Asylum where her family probably would wait for her. But on her way home, she caught the scent of someone very familiar. Pendragon… what is he doing at this time of the day? she wondered with her head tilted to the side. She didn’t speak much with her littermate, but he seemed more fearful than her which was why she wondered what he was doing awiay from home at this hour. She just couldn’t really imagine him walk alone when it was getting dark. Maybe I should find out what he’s up to, she thought as she trotted in the direction of the cemetery. He would probably just hurt himself if he went about alone… Near the cemetery Victoria caught the scent of a second canine. A stranger. A young wolf who certainly didn’t belong to the pack. Her fur bristled as she curled up her lips without a sound. An intruder? How was that possible? She rose her head to look around. Her brother should be somewhere on the cemetery, and with a wolf stalking around? That was no good. What if he was in trouble? Her heart began to eat faster in her chest and the sound of her brother’s hysterical barks that cracked the silence of the evening almost made her fly up in the air of chock. Pen! What could have happened? She chose not to waste her time thinking through the possibilities but instead raced as fast as she could to the cemetery to aid her brother. If that wolf was trying to do anything to her brother, he was in serious trouble! ”Hang out Pen!” she called, not knowing if he could hear her at all. But soon she saw two creatures on the cemetery and Pendragon’s red coat was easy to recognize – especially beside the black wolf. ”You stay away from him!” she growled as fiercely as she could and put herself protectively between her brother and the young wolf. If he as much as dared to crumble a hair on her brother, she would make sure that he paid for it.

[♥Picasso]

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[atrb=background,http://i41.tinypic.com/30k6nv6.jpg,true] Orion should be asleep. His eyes were feeling heavy and his coordination was failing him. He had already stumbled three times. Letting out a mighty yawn, Orion blinked himself awake. He was looking for a decent place to sleep, and the Cemetery seemed the best place. It was quiet with a slight breeze. Very few dogs dared slumber amongst the graves. Superstition. He rolled his eyes and continued padding around the tombstones. The engravings had long since worn away, making the graves illegible. The corpses would have long since rotted away, leaving just their skeletons buried in the ground. A good chew toy... Orion thought with a smirk. Perhaps he'd one day dig up a skeleton, just to have a bone to chew on. No one would mind, right? He found a nice area beneath a large tree. Lying down on the slightly wet grass, he curled up and closed his eyes... Loud, hostile barks awoke the wolf. He lifted his head, ears immediately erect. He didn't recognise the dog barking, however he wondered why they were making such a noise so late at night. Scrambling to his paws, Orion began to follow the source of the yaps. As Orion got closer, he heard two more voices. One male, the other a recognisable female. He stopped for a moment, before he realised who it was. Victoria! He had enjoyed their meeting on Tooth Cliff, and was eager to see her again. Rushing towards the commotion, Orion hid in the shadows, deciding to sneak about a bit and see what was going on. He saw a black wolf that looked a lot like himself. However, the scent was clearly not Tempest. An intruder then. The other was a brown dog, that seemed about the same age as Victoria. Siblings? Both dogs seemed extremely hostile towards the wolf, which was understandable. The Tempest Pack had strict rules about intruders. Was this wolf asking for a death wish? Narrowing his eyes, Orion stepped out of the shadows, joining Victoria and her brother. His fur bristled with hostility as he stared at the wolf. "Should I get a Soldier?" He asked with no introduction, "They are the dogs that deal with intruders." He curled his lip, keeping his eyes focused on the wolf before him. They could almost be twins. It was unnerving to see a wolf that looked so much like him.

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[sorcerer]

Pen scowled. Here was some wanderer and then his sister showed up and shouted at the guy and now some other random kid was here. He was pretty sure that Orion or whatever his name was lived in this pack somewhere, but he knew for a fact that the one with the stupid grin didn't. This was probably something he should alert people to. He hadn't actually planned to start a scene but when he thought about it this Leonardo kid definitely didn't belong here.
The two newcomers, he noted were wolves, but they were only his and Victoria's size, so they could take them if they had to. Pen fluffed his fur out more and stalked up to stand next to his sister.
He thought his growl, directed toward the wolf who didn't belong in this pack, was a bit squeaky but ah well.
"Maybe we should capture him," he said, suprising himself slightly. Pen hadn't actually had that in mind until just now, but it would do. More glory for them, and maybe they would get to be soldiers sooner. Then his parents would be all happy with him and Brooke would say (to all of them of course) 'Good job you can be honorary soldiers' and then he would get to go in wars and fight the Iris pride and stuff..
He looked sideways at the black wolf next to him and turned his attention back to the stranger.
"Then," he added, a bit lamely, "Maybe we can be honorary soldiers and go fight in the war and stuff."

Well, if didn't seem that unlikely.
"You know."
He paused, eyeing the black stranger uncertaintly, suddenly remembering that he wasn't all that good at fighting.
"Because we captured an enemy."
Pen shut up, suddenly embarrassed and realizing that he probably sounded like an idiot. The red dog glanced between his sister and the wolf at his side, wagged his tail hopefully, and forced himself not to start babbling like an idiot.
Abruptly, he decided the best idea was to go back to the whole pointless aggression thing. He fluffed his fur up again, fixed his eyes on the enemy, and bared his teeth.
"Then you'll be sorry for coming here, 'Leonardo.'"
Like that was his real name anyway.

[SMIFFAGRIFF]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-image: url(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g399/SmiffDemon/leowolf.png); width: 499; height: 499] Upon the appearance of Victoria, Lee's eyes lit up even further. Tail wagging behind him rapidly, Leonardo let his tongue loll out as he gave the female the most charming little smile he could muster. "Well, well, two's company but three's a party! Don't worry I'm not doing anything to Firecracker here. Honest! I come in--" But he was cut off as another male appeared - a wolf like him, with a familiar scent about him. Oh! He remembered this one! He'd spooked the poor kid several months back when he was still a pup- .... when he was younger (he was still a kid after all). "Hey, bro! I remember you! I gave you a spook out here a few months ago remember?" He exclaimed to Orion. However at the mention of grabbing a soldier and being kidnapped, the melanistic Arctic Wolf realized he may have bitten off more than he could chew. Well, that meant there was only one thing to do, right? Just swallow this whole. "Hey-- hey! Hold up. I think we're all a little mixed up here. Can we just start over? I'm not an enemy! Besides, the old hag-- I mean Brooke--" he snickered. "She'll just yell at me again and make me go home. I'm Leonardo, son of Dawn and Fenris, who fought with the Tempest Pack against the Iris Pride. See? I'm on your side!" He paused for a few moments and let out a huff. "You're all lucky you're hot stuff or I'd pull some of my Dad's ol' moves on you!" Not really. Lee didn't know jack about fighting. But he could always talk himself up a bit to be on level with these mini-soldiers.

[Hunter]

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[atrb=background,http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx34/Kitten_Lovour/vmid.png] Actions. | "Speech." | 'Thoughts.' The meaning was that the young stranger should be terrified of her, but he reacted the opposite way. Actually, the black youngster seemed to be quite excited about her appearance which confused the husky mix. The male started to babble about a party and she assumed that the “Firecracker” which the lunatic was talking about was her brother. How dared he to speak like that to her brother? Just as she wanted to yell at the black wolf, he was interrupted by a dark canine emerging from the shadows. Victoria quickly recognized Orion whom she had played with at Tooth Cliff and relaxed a little now that he was here. Even though Pen and she already had outnumbered the stranger, Orion’s presence easily made up for the other wolf’s strength. Just by playing with him, Victoria had learned that there was a significant difference between the strength of a domestic dog and a wolf. Her own teeth were bared as the wolf panicked and introduced himself as Leonardo. His name rang no bell in her mind, but his parents’ did. Her parents and other adult canines of the pack had told stories about the battle in Straight Bit where the Scavengers had helped the Tempest Pack with fighting the felines. Some of the cubs of Florence’s second litter had been captured, prisoners had been freed and the felines’ headquarter had been destroyed. What a story it was. How she longed after being a part of a fight like that, but unfortunately she was still too young. For now, she had to do with her training. ”Maybe we should give him a chance,” she said to her brother and Orion even though she had to admit she was a bit thoughtful of it. ”At least no soldiers for now,” she concluded and looked Leonardo over. ”I don’t know what’s with you and Brooke… but if she doesn’t like you here, you shouldn’t sneak around like that. This is our territory, not yours” she said with a huff. He really had some nerve coming here, hadn’t he? At his last comment, Victoria narrowed her eyes and her fur bristled. ”Why – if you’re so tough, why don’t ya just come right at me, huh?” she said daringly, not liking to be threatened like that at all. She lowered her front body and tensed her body, reading herself for a fight. Not only was he coming here as a trespasser, he was also trying to puff out his chest as some smartass! Hell no Victoria would let him get away with that. If he wanted to show them some of his dad's ol' moves, then he just had to go ahead - she would be ready for it.

[♥Picasso]

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[atrb=background,http://i45.tinypic.com/4jt26x.jpg,true] Orion glanced at Victoria's brother, who suggested they kidnapped him. His heart pounded with excitement at the thought. A kidnapping! How novel. Why hadn't he thought of that? However, when Orion shot the dog another glance, he saw that he didn't look too sure in himself. It almost looked like he was trying to beef himself up and look tougher than he really was. Orion saw that with a lot of young dogs, and probably in himself. It was difficult to look tough when you weren't quite an adult yet. Orion's eyes glinted at the thought of being an honourary soldier for the Tempest Pack, "We would be the top of the top," Orion continued with glee, "Everyone would look at us with admiration. We'd be in glory." He gazed between the dogs, before Victoria's brother spoke up again, sounding a little awkward. Orion had to stop himself from chuckling at the babbling dog. He narrowed his eyes when Leonardo suddenly recognised him. It took him a few moments to realise who this cub was. Embarrassed, Orion looked at the other two dogs, before growling at Leonardo. How dare he! He had trespassed here months ago and hadn't caught caught. Stalking towards his mirror image, Orion curled his tongue, flashing his teeth at the wolf, "How often do you trespass here? I should've handed you to Brooke all those months ago!" He snapped, before hearing Lee refer to Brooke as an old hag. "Watch your tongue, Lee." Orion growled, before padding back. When Lee mentioned his parents, Dawn and Fenris, a flicker of recognition lit in Orion's mind. Had they been part of the Scavengers? Orion vaguely remembered the stories of the Scavengers, back when he was a cub. It had been them that had eventually freed his mother from the Iris Pride. If this cub really was on their side, why would Brooke yell at him and make him go home? He gazed over at Victoria, who offered to give Lee a chance. He huffed and decided to relent. "Fine," He sighed, "But if Brooke catch us with him, she could have our hide." Orion narrowed his eyes at the dark wolf, before looking back at his friend, who was challenging Lee to a fight. Grinning widely, Orion lowered himself onto his rump and looked at Lee expectantly. "Go on Lee," Orion sneered, eyes twinkling at Victoria, "Show the girl your moves," He leaned forward in a faux-whisper, "Although I warn you. She's good." Winking at Victoria, he leaned back, ready to watch the hilarity ensue.

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