Post by Pavane on Oct 23, 2011 0:41:26 GMT -5
Ahiga - Male Adolescent Wolf
Ikuna - Male Juvenile Wolf
Skahla - Male Wolf
---Hilltop Vista---
Snow is so lovely. It makes everything look fresh and clean and crisp. Even the most mundane of places look picturesque with a blanket of snow settled upon it, glistening beneath a late day sun. And the Ute lands are anything but ordinary, and thus the snow succeeds in making the scenery gorgeous to those who take the time enough to appreciate it. Ahiga...is not the type to appreciate such things, and although he's already deemed the snow as something that makes things more fun than they were before, it's also making food a little less plentiful. He's found zero woodland creatures to try to chase down, and so the young wolf's stomach is a little grumbly at the moment as he trudges through the snow, leaving behind deep set tracks that lead from the woods, heading back towards the den.
Yeah, really. Ikuna had only barely gotten the basics of searching for prey down, and now? Now he doesn't even have grass or sticks to show for his attempt at hunting. It doesn't help that the lands near the hilltop where the youngsters are allowed to go unsupervised are pretty much hunted out from his and his friends' attempts at learning. All the mice and rabbits have gotten smart and left, or else been eaten. So he's coming back empty-muzzled too, from another direction. Time to climb up the snowy and icy hill. Hoboy.
Skahla is going to be no help in feeding the pups today, by appearances. The young alpha, lean as he is, cannot be accused of taking advantage of any right to eat before the others, and still he returns to the den with nothing. Why, then, has he come at all? Well, because Wachiwa did a fair job of scolding him for being so distant recently. The adult male is tense as he approaches the hill, still uncomfortable with the whole idea of being around the others, and as his keen eyes pick up the movement of the young wolves closer to the den than he is, he rethinks the whole thing for a moment, particularly as those adults who might save him from the awkwardness that is dealing his his siblings and their young friend do not seem to be present, or at least not awake. "Some help they are," Skahla thinks to himself resentfully, childishly, as he forces his paws to move again.
Oh hey! There's Ikuna coming back too. And bah-ha he has to come up the now tough to get up hill. Ears pricking, Ahiga smirks as he picks up the pace a bit, claws digging in for whatever traction he can get. "Hey!" he calls to him, pausing at the top of the hill to look down. "..Nothin'?" he assumes, seeing no yummy morsel hanging from his friend's mouth for him to mooch off of. Bummer. "Yeah well..maybe Wachiwa 'n Asku'll bring somethin'," he says hopefully, apparently not minding having to mooch off of the adults. Hey, that's what they're there for, right? He smirks, though stiffens a little as his eyes pick up the motions of another wolf. A much less familiar one than most, which causes his ears to fall back and eyes narrow. "Heads up, Ikuna."
Ikuna stares at the hill for a moment, then takes it at a bound. If he jumps from less-icy spot to less-icy spot, it's actually kind of easier than trying to walk up it. At least, if you're a kid and have near-boundless energy even when tired and hungry. He grins at the sight of Ahiga, then frowns and shakes his head. "I dun think I got it yet," he says - though with the winter, better wolves than him have had trouble hunting. He nods about Chewy and Asku, two of the main providers for these youngsters. "Prob'ly out gettin' something now," he agrees - and then turns to look out where Ahiga's indicating. Oh, it's Skahla. His other brother, and one he thinks he understands a bit better than he once did. Ikuna's tail gives a wag, and greets the alpha with a low wuff. Too late now for Skahla to pretend he didn't see them.
Just as well that Ikuna sees him, as it might have been a little too tempting to turn around, and that sort of cowardice doesn't really set well with Skahla. Oh well. Taking a deep breath, the adult makes his way to the younger wolves slowly. He does not return the greeting immediately, as he has a surprising amount of social ineptitude for such a socially-inclined animal, and once he is close enough to speak, he says, "Have you seen-" Nuh-uh. He doesn't get out of it that easily, either, by pretending he was looking for one of the adult members of the tribe. Shaking his head, he starts again. "Hello, Ikuna... Ahiga." Well, that's a start now, isn't it?
Oh wait. He knows that wolf. Sort of. Ahiga's first encounter with the current alpha has stuck with him throughout the past months, and thus he regards Skahla with a look of apprehension as he gets closer. He hasn't had much opportunity to get to know this fellow, and so acting....normal, or at least at ease, is proving to be a little difficult. But luckily, Ikuna is here, and so he mimicks his actions by giving his tail a little wag. That's a safe bet, right. No one ever started off on the wrong foot by wagging his tail! "Hey.." he offers back, looking surprised at the sound of his name. He knows his name? "I don' see you around much. Do you walk the borders like Asku, too?"
Ikuna perks his ears at Skahla's aborted question, and shakes his head anyway. "I think the others are out hunting," he says. Though they could be tucked away in the den, for all he knows. Having determined that Skahla's okay, just sorta grumpy and awkward, he's the closest to easy and friendly of the current group. He glances over to Ahiga again at the other youngster's question. "He brought that deer, th' other day," he mentions. "You were off with Tala." Then he looks back to his elder brother.
It's something they all really need to do a lot more of in these last few weeks of winter; hunting together, particularly as all of the small and easy prey has completely disappeared. Skahla gives a nod of his head to Ikuna's answer, and he looks away from the pups, sniffing at the cold air and looking about the ground. Well, perhaps he won't join them today, but it is something to speak to his brother and his mate's sister about when he gets a chance. Pushing aside his distraction, he looks at Ahiga again, as though just hearing the question asked moments ago. "You... could say that. Among other things. What are you two doing, then? Getting into trouble?" In no way does Skahla appear to be joking. He may very well look like a lecture is just on the tip of his tongue. He does not intend to speak harshly to either pup, though, despite appearances.
"Oh, that was him that brought it?" replies Ahiga to Ikuna, glancing to the other young male with ears perked. Golden eyes slide back to Skahla, sizing him up before speaking his gratitude. "Thanks." He was a rather tasty deer. Tastier than normal due to the fact that deer are rather hard to come by lately! But..wait a second, trouble? He knows that look. That means Skahla knows something....something that Ahiga himself has done that he shouldn't have done. But for the life of him he can't think of The Thing that he might've done that Skahla knows about and his apparently waiting for him to admit to. Or Else. "Uh..." a quick look is given to Ikuna. "I...swear I didn' wet the den. I haven't done that in like...forever. If someone did, it was prob'ly an accident. I'm sure Tala didn' mean it." Sure. Blame the one who can't speak for herself right now!
When Skahla says something, the best thing to do is take it at precisely face value, neither more nor less. That's what Ikuna figures, at this point. It's not a joke, but neither is it a lecture. It's just Skahla, asking as Skahla does. So Ikuna answers the question as asked. "We've been tryin' to hunt." He glances to his friend's empty muzzle, and hehs. "Guess we still got a lot of learnin' to do, though." Ahiga's hurried confession gets a bit of a grin, quickly hidden, and he tries to give his friend a reassuring look. It'll be okay. (He thinks.) Skahla isn't really mad. (He thinks.)
Skahla looks without blinking at the two young males as they speak. For just a short moment afterwards, he is quiet. Then, Skahla looks away again before speaking. "A lot of learning, yes. For one thing, that backbone of yours needs a bit of work, Ahiga." It is, at the very worse, a mild criticism, made even milder by the smile that tugs threateningly at Skahla's muzzle. Looking back, the alpha continues. "I've never met a bunny yet that would tremble at the sight of a wolf who would roll over so quickly. And telling on one's friends, and a girl at that? I'll let you both in on a bit of a secret. Girls are mean, and if my sister ever finds out what you're saying while she's not here, well... you're really going to need a stronger backbone then, won't you? So let's try this again, huh, boys? The two of you been getting into trouble?" It's significant progress on Skahla's part, yes, aided as Skahla reminds himself that at least two of the pack's youths are not his pups, but rather his siblings... and when he was their age, trouble did not even begin to describe him and his siblings.
"Hey, I didn't roll over," protests Ahiga, glancing at the snow briefly as if to prove that, no, he did not roll in the snow! But...hey, Skahla is right about one thing. Girls are mean. Well, if not mean, a little weird. And so sensitive, gosh! Granted, the only girl he has to compare to is Tala, and he has a feeling that if she /did/ find out he blamed any den wetting on her, he wouldn't hear the end of it. "I was just jokin' about that," he says with a bit of a grin. Hehhehpleasedon'ttellher! "Ikuna's right. We've just been hunting, but the snow is getting in the way. So no trouble. Plus, we've got to practice for Asku's test he's going to give us soon." He pauses, eyeing Skahla curiously. "Did /you/ get a test too to see what you was the best at?"
"Didja really ask the bunnies?" asks Ikuna with a small grin. "Or are you just guessing after giving them a chomp?" His sister can take care of herself... though he's not going to go tattling on his friend to her. Ahiga doesn't deserve that. This is just a momentary lapse, that's all. At the re-asking of the question, he nods agreement with Ahiga's new and improved answer. Besides... getting into trouble implies that someone found them doing what they shouldn't. Who's around to stop them, most of the time? Between absentee alphas and barely-adult wolves doing their best to keep the pack fed, there's hardly been anyone around to know if the three of them wander further than they should or don't go to bed when they're supposed to. If they've broken the rules, they certainly haven't gotten caught. Parents are psychic about their pups. Older siblings? Not so much.
Skahla perks his ears at mention of a test. Another thing he needs to speak with his brother about? Probably. He only gives a little shake of his head to answer Ahiga's question, though, before focusing on the question he can answer in a more light-hearted manner. "Oh yeah. I talked to ever single one of them when I was younger, just to find out what the scariest thing I could do to them was." It's a blatant lie, a joke, even if one delivered in Skahla's deadpan voice. "And now I'm going to give you two something else to work on other than that backbone, Ahiga. And other than praticing for this... test. This is very important, so I expect you both to listen closely. When I was your age, Ikuna, our parents couldn't keep me /out/ of trouble, and so I expect you two, and Tala, to start getting into some. How else are you supposed to have fun, huh, and who am I supposed to growl at if you're always so... well-behaved all the time?" A large part of Skahla, as he says this, wishes Wachiwa was here to tell him if he is doing this whole connecting-with-the-pups things properly. Even if he isn't, though, giving his tacit permission for them to get into a bit of mischief, after all the trouble they've experienced, can't be an entirely bad thing, can it? Especially since he probably won't have to be the one to deal with such trouble-making, beyond trying to keep from grinning if Wachiwa or Askuwheteau decides to talk his hear off about how troublesome the youths are being.
That's a lot of rabbits. But Ahiga can't focus on Skahla's...jest, for now that Alpha male is saying a rather curious thing. What he thought was going to be words of wisdom on how to be the greatest, most fiercesome wolf there ever was, instead are instructions to...misbehave? Alarm! Alarm! Something's not right here! The confusion on Ahiga's face is obvious, and he watches theolder male with a look of absolute bewilderment on his face. Is he being...serious? Since the moment he stepped foot on these lands, it's been constant warnings about danger. Stay close to the den. Don't wander off. Don't talk to strangers. You can't do this. You can't go there. And now...the head hauncho is voiding all of that? "Waaaaait a minute," he says suddenly, waving a paw in Ikuna's direction. "It's a trick. Remember that /other/ wolf who came and played with us and then ratted us out to Asku and Wachiwa to get us in trouble?" Uh huh. He's on to you, tricky alpha! He takes a quick and short hoppish step backwards. "Can't fool me twice."
Ikuna grins at Skahla's answer, and nods. Secrets of rabbitkind... revealed! Grr, rawr, fiercewolf. He nudges Ahiga, and says in a meant-to-be-overheard undertone, "Maybe that's what we been doin' wrong with hunting." Gotta interrogate and terrify those rabbits! Then he looks up again at Skahla, with serious and dutiful gaze that turns to a smile as his elder brother continues. It's true, from what he's heard about his older siblings. And they all turned out okay, didn't they? If anything, the worst thing that happened to them was when Asku was too serious, and decided he couldn't be with Chewy because of it. Well, and then there was the whole thing with Mori, but that's not his siblings, anyway. Hurm. There's an awful lot of boy-girl trouble, isn't there? Odd. He'll have to ponder it more later. Skahla, according to rumors, was the playfulest trouble-makingest of all, and he turned into the Alpha. For all the big serious things Ikuna's had to deal with... yeah, okay. That sort of makes a look-at-it-sideways sense. So he starts nodding, then tilts his head to the side at Ahiga's protest. He's got a point, but... "Nah," he says, and looks back up to his elder brother. "You can only growl at us if you find out." That's part of getting into trouble, he figures. At least, if you're doing it right.
"Ah. You have a point, Ikuna. He has a point, doesn't he, Ahiga? How am I going to growl, or tell my brother or Wachiwa, if I never find out? Well, I trust the two of you are smart enough to know what that means by now, with all this preparing to be tested. That just means you'll have to be /careful/ while you're causing trouble, doesn't it?" Because if all of the very few, serious warnings Skahla has given were ignored, he really would be doing a lot of growling. He trusts, though, that the important lessons have been well-learned, and so he continues to see no harm in encouraging a little bit of innocent mischief. "Now, I'm going to go far away. Very important business, I have to tend to. And you two as well, I think, because there is no better time for causing trouble than when the adults are all off hunting, is there?" This... well, Skahla hopes this went every bit as well as could possibly have been expected. If not, he'll no doubt hear of it soon... and if so, then there is absolutely no reason to push this even further beyond Skahla's comfort zone. There is, however, another involuntary tug at his muzzle as he finishes speaking.
"Uh...yeah, he's got a point," Ahiga echoes with a nod that doesn't seem...too sure. Pft. Getting in trouble /always/ means to not get caught while doing so, while showing a small amount of care.. No need getting oneself killed whole out doing shenanigans, else there will be no more shenanigans to be had! But he's still not too positive that all of this isn't some sort of grand trick, even though Ikuna doesn't seem to buy into that theory. But it all seems too easy to him, and when Skahla mentions having to go off and take care of business, giving them the go ahead to begin their merry troublemaking, he doesn't /look/ all too enthused to begin. "So anything...anywhere, huh?"
Ikuna nods. Important business, yep. "Prob'ly got to interrogate more rabbits," he says sagely, and then grins. For him, at least, this exposure of the lighter side of Skahla seems to have been successful. He's been rather more primed for it than Ahiga was, though. More stories about when his brothers were pups... and maybe genetics include a head start on the sense of humor, such as it is. There's very little danger of Ikuna not being careful about the actual dangerous stuff - not after the experience of his capture - but the encouragement to not be serious little wolf of seriousness is a good one. He leans over, and nudges his shoulder against Ahiga's. "You can count on us," he says to Skahla with a grin. They'll stick together, and that's a good start for staying safe and enjoying themselves, no matter what they actually end up doing.
"Good. I'll let you two sort it out, then." That's all the more answer or response Skahla gives before he turns to walk away, heading northward. He has nothing even so pressing as interrogating rabbits to occupy him, no, but that much is of no concern to him. He has never had trouble filling his hours, and he has no worry that this afternoon will be any different.
Ikuna - Male Juvenile Wolf
Skahla - Male Wolf
---Hilltop Vista---
Snow is so lovely. It makes everything look fresh and clean and crisp. Even the most mundane of places look picturesque with a blanket of snow settled upon it, glistening beneath a late day sun. And the Ute lands are anything but ordinary, and thus the snow succeeds in making the scenery gorgeous to those who take the time enough to appreciate it. Ahiga...is not the type to appreciate such things, and although he's already deemed the snow as something that makes things more fun than they were before, it's also making food a little less plentiful. He's found zero woodland creatures to try to chase down, and so the young wolf's stomach is a little grumbly at the moment as he trudges through the snow, leaving behind deep set tracks that lead from the woods, heading back towards the den.
Yeah, really. Ikuna had only barely gotten the basics of searching for prey down, and now? Now he doesn't even have grass or sticks to show for his attempt at hunting. It doesn't help that the lands near the hilltop where the youngsters are allowed to go unsupervised are pretty much hunted out from his and his friends' attempts at learning. All the mice and rabbits have gotten smart and left, or else been eaten. So he's coming back empty-muzzled too, from another direction. Time to climb up the snowy and icy hill. Hoboy.
Skahla is going to be no help in feeding the pups today, by appearances. The young alpha, lean as he is, cannot be accused of taking advantage of any right to eat before the others, and still he returns to the den with nothing. Why, then, has he come at all? Well, because Wachiwa did a fair job of scolding him for being so distant recently. The adult male is tense as he approaches the hill, still uncomfortable with the whole idea of being around the others, and as his keen eyes pick up the movement of the young wolves closer to the den than he is, he rethinks the whole thing for a moment, particularly as those adults who might save him from the awkwardness that is dealing his his siblings and their young friend do not seem to be present, or at least not awake. "Some help they are," Skahla thinks to himself resentfully, childishly, as he forces his paws to move again.
Oh hey! There's Ikuna coming back too. And bah-ha he has to come up the now tough to get up hill. Ears pricking, Ahiga smirks as he picks up the pace a bit, claws digging in for whatever traction he can get. "Hey!" he calls to him, pausing at the top of the hill to look down. "..Nothin'?" he assumes, seeing no yummy morsel hanging from his friend's mouth for him to mooch off of. Bummer. "Yeah well..maybe Wachiwa 'n Asku'll bring somethin'," he says hopefully, apparently not minding having to mooch off of the adults. Hey, that's what they're there for, right? He smirks, though stiffens a little as his eyes pick up the motions of another wolf. A much less familiar one than most, which causes his ears to fall back and eyes narrow. "Heads up, Ikuna."
Ikuna stares at the hill for a moment, then takes it at a bound. If he jumps from less-icy spot to less-icy spot, it's actually kind of easier than trying to walk up it. At least, if you're a kid and have near-boundless energy even when tired and hungry. He grins at the sight of Ahiga, then frowns and shakes his head. "I dun think I got it yet," he says - though with the winter, better wolves than him have had trouble hunting. He nods about Chewy and Asku, two of the main providers for these youngsters. "Prob'ly out gettin' something now," he agrees - and then turns to look out where Ahiga's indicating. Oh, it's Skahla. His other brother, and one he thinks he understands a bit better than he once did. Ikuna's tail gives a wag, and greets the alpha with a low wuff. Too late now for Skahla to pretend he didn't see them.
Just as well that Ikuna sees him, as it might have been a little too tempting to turn around, and that sort of cowardice doesn't really set well with Skahla. Oh well. Taking a deep breath, the adult makes his way to the younger wolves slowly. He does not return the greeting immediately, as he has a surprising amount of social ineptitude for such a socially-inclined animal, and once he is close enough to speak, he says, "Have you seen-" Nuh-uh. He doesn't get out of it that easily, either, by pretending he was looking for one of the adult members of the tribe. Shaking his head, he starts again. "Hello, Ikuna... Ahiga." Well, that's a start now, isn't it?
Oh wait. He knows that wolf. Sort of. Ahiga's first encounter with the current alpha has stuck with him throughout the past months, and thus he regards Skahla with a look of apprehension as he gets closer. He hasn't had much opportunity to get to know this fellow, and so acting....normal, or at least at ease, is proving to be a little difficult. But luckily, Ikuna is here, and so he mimicks his actions by giving his tail a little wag. That's a safe bet, right. No one ever started off on the wrong foot by wagging his tail! "Hey.." he offers back, looking surprised at the sound of his name. He knows his name? "I don' see you around much. Do you walk the borders like Asku, too?"
Ikuna perks his ears at Skahla's aborted question, and shakes his head anyway. "I think the others are out hunting," he says. Though they could be tucked away in the den, for all he knows. Having determined that Skahla's okay, just sorta grumpy and awkward, he's the closest to easy and friendly of the current group. He glances over to Ahiga again at the other youngster's question. "He brought that deer, th' other day," he mentions. "You were off with Tala." Then he looks back to his elder brother.
It's something they all really need to do a lot more of in these last few weeks of winter; hunting together, particularly as all of the small and easy prey has completely disappeared. Skahla gives a nod of his head to Ikuna's answer, and he looks away from the pups, sniffing at the cold air and looking about the ground. Well, perhaps he won't join them today, but it is something to speak to his brother and his mate's sister about when he gets a chance. Pushing aside his distraction, he looks at Ahiga again, as though just hearing the question asked moments ago. "You... could say that. Among other things. What are you two doing, then? Getting into trouble?" In no way does Skahla appear to be joking. He may very well look like a lecture is just on the tip of his tongue. He does not intend to speak harshly to either pup, though, despite appearances.
"Oh, that was him that brought it?" replies Ahiga to Ikuna, glancing to the other young male with ears perked. Golden eyes slide back to Skahla, sizing him up before speaking his gratitude. "Thanks." He was a rather tasty deer. Tastier than normal due to the fact that deer are rather hard to come by lately! But..wait a second, trouble? He knows that look. That means Skahla knows something....something that Ahiga himself has done that he shouldn't have done. But for the life of him he can't think of The Thing that he might've done that Skahla knows about and his apparently waiting for him to admit to. Or Else. "Uh..." a quick look is given to Ikuna. "I...swear I didn' wet the den. I haven't done that in like...forever. If someone did, it was prob'ly an accident. I'm sure Tala didn' mean it." Sure. Blame the one who can't speak for herself right now!
When Skahla says something, the best thing to do is take it at precisely face value, neither more nor less. That's what Ikuna figures, at this point. It's not a joke, but neither is it a lecture. It's just Skahla, asking as Skahla does. So Ikuna answers the question as asked. "We've been tryin' to hunt." He glances to his friend's empty muzzle, and hehs. "Guess we still got a lot of learnin' to do, though." Ahiga's hurried confession gets a bit of a grin, quickly hidden, and he tries to give his friend a reassuring look. It'll be okay. (He thinks.) Skahla isn't really mad. (He thinks.)
Skahla looks without blinking at the two young males as they speak. For just a short moment afterwards, he is quiet. Then, Skahla looks away again before speaking. "A lot of learning, yes. For one thing, that backbone of yours needs a bit of work, Ahiga." It is, at the very worse, a mild criticism, made even milder by the smile that tugs threateningly at Skahla's muzzle. Looking back, the alpha continues. "I've never met a bunny yet that would tremble at the sight of a wolf who would roll over so quickly. And telling on one's friends, and a girl at that? I'll let you both in on a bit of a secret. Girls are mean, and if my sister ever finds out what you're saying while she's not here, well... you're really going to need a stronger backbone then, won't you? So let's try this again, huh, boys? The two of you been getting into trouble?" It's significant progress on Skahla's part, yes, aided as Skahla reminds himself that at least two of the pack's youths are not his pups, but rather his siblings... and when he was their age, trouble did not even begin to describe him and his siblings.
"Hey, I didn't roll over," protests Ahiga, glancing at the snow briefly as if to prove that, no, he did not roll in the snow! But...hey, Skahla is right about one thing. Girls are mean. Well, if not mean, a little weird. And so sensitive, gosh! Granted, the only girl he has to compare to is Tala, and he has a feeling that if she /did/ find out he blamed any den wetting on her, he wouldn't hear the end of it. "I was just jokin' about that," he says with a bit of a grin. Hehhehpleasedon'ttellher! "Ikuna's right. We've just been hunting, but the snow is getting in the way. So no trouble. Plus, we've got to practice for Asku's test he's going to give us soon." He pauses, eyeing Skahla curiously. "Did /you/ get a test too to see what you was the best at?"
"Didja really ask the bunnies?" asks Ikuna with a small grin. "Or are you just guessing after giving them a chomp?" His sister can take care of herself... though he's not going to go tattling on his friend to her. Ahiga doesn't deserve that. This is just a momentary lapse, that's all. At the re-asking of the question, he nods agreement with Ahiga's new and improved answer. Besides... getting into trouble implies that someone found them doing what they shouldn't. Who's around to stop them, most of the time? Between absentee alphas and barely-adult wolves doing their best to keep the pack fed, there's hardly been anyone around to know if the three of them wander further than they should or don't go to bed when they're supposed to. If they've broken the rules, they certainly haven't gotten caught. Parents are psychic about their pups. Older siblings? Not so much.
Skahla perks his ears at mention of a test. Another thing he needs to speak with his brother about? Probably. He only gives a little shake of his head to answer Ahiga's question, though, before focusing on the question he can answer in a more light-hearted manner. "Oh yeah. I talked to ever single one of them when I was younger, just to find out what the scariest thing I could do to them was." It's a blatant lie, a joke, even if one delivered in Skahla's deadpan voice. "And now I'm going to give you two something else to work on other than that backbone, Ahiga. And other than praticing for this... test. This is very important, so I expect you both to listen closely. When I was your age, Ikuna, our parents couldn't keep me /out/ of trouble, and so I expect you two, and Tala, to start getting into some. How else are you supposed to have fun, huh, and who am I supposed to growl at if you're always so... well-behaved all the time?" A large part of Skahla, as he says this, wishes Wachiwa was here to tell him if he is doing this whole connecting-with-the-pups things properly. Even if he isn't, though, giving his tacit permission for them to get into a bit of mischief, after all the trouble they've experienced, can't be an entirely bad thing, can it? Especially since he probably won't have to be the one to deal with such trouble-making, beyond trying to keep from grinning if Wachiwa or Askuwheteau decides to talk his hear off about how troublesome the youths are being.
That's a lot of rabbits. But Ahiga can't focus on Skahla's...jest, for now that Alpha male is saying a rather curious thing. What he thought was going to be words of wisdom on how to be the greatest, most fiercesome wolf there ever was, instead are instructions to...misbehave? Alarm! Alarm! Something's not right here! The confusion on Ahiga's face is obvious, and he watches theolder male with a look of absolute bewilderment on his face. Is he being...serious? Since the moment he stepped foot on these lands, it's been constant warnings about danger. Stay close to the den. Don't wander off. Don't talk to strangers. You can't do this. You can't go there. And now...the head hauncho is voiding all of that? "Waaaaait a minute," he says suddenly, waving a paw in Ikuna's direction. "It's a trick. Remember that /other/ wolf who came and played with us and then ratted us out to Asku and Wachiwa to get us in trouble?" Uh huh. He's on to you, tricky alpha! He takes a quick and short hoppish step backwards. "Can't fool me twice."
Ikuna grins at Skahla's answer, and nods. Secrets of rabbitkind... revealed! Grr, rawr, fiercewolf. He nudges Ahiga, and says in a meant-to-be-overheard undertone, "Maybe that's what we been doin' wrong with hunting." Gotta interrogate and terrify those rabbits! Then he looks up again at Skahla, with serious and dutiful gaze that turns to a smile as his elder brother continues. It's true, from what he's heard about his older siblings. And they all turned out okay, didn't they? If anything, the worst thing that happened to them was when Asku was too serious, and decided he couldn't be with Chewy because of it. Well, and then there was the whole thing with Mori, but that's not his siblings, anyway. Hurm. There's an awful lot of boy-girl trouble, isn't there? Odd. He'll have to ponder it more later. Skahla, according to rumors, was the playfulest trouble-makingest of all, and he turned into the Alpha. For all the big serious things Ikuna's had to deal with... yeah, okay. That sort of makes a look-at-it-sideways sense. So he starts nodding, then tilts his head to the side at Ahiga's protest. He's got a point, but... "Nah," he says, and looks back up to his elder brother. "You can only growl at us if you find out." That's part of getting into trouble, he figures. At least, if you're doing it right.
"Ah. You have a point, Ikuna. He has a point, doesn't he, Ahiga? How am I going to growl, or tell my brother or Wachiwa, if I never find out? Well, I trust the two of you are smart enough to know what that means by now, with all this preparing to be tested. That just means you'll have to be /careful/ while you're causing trouble, doesn't it?" Because if all of the very few, serious warnings Skahla has given were ignored, he really would be doing a lot of growling. He trusts, though, that the important lessons have been well-learned, and so he continues to see no harm in encouraging a little bit of innocent mischief. "Now, I'm going to go far away. Very important business, I have to tend to. And you two as well, I think, because there is no better time for causing trouble than when the adults are all off hunting, is there?" This... well, Skahla hopes this went every bit as well as could possibly have been expected. If not, he'll no doubt hear of it soon... and if so, then there is absolutely no reason to push this even further beyond Skahla's comfort zone. There is, however, another involuntary tug at his muzzle as he finishes speaking.
"Uh...yeah, he's got a point," Ahiga echoes with a nod that doesn't seem...too sure. Pft. Getting in trouble /always/ means to not get caught while doing so, while showing a small amount of care.. No need getting oneself killed whole out doing shenanigans, else there will be no more shenanigans to be had! But he's still not too positive that all of this isn't some sort of grand trick, even though Ikuna doesn't seem to buy into that theory. But it all seems too easy to him, and when Skahla mentions having to go off and take care of business, giving them the go ahead to begin their merry troublemaking, he doesn't /look/ all too enthused to begin. "So anything...anywhere, huh?"
Ikuna nods. Important business, yep. "Prob'ly got to interrogate more rabbits," he says sagely, and then grins. For him, at least, this exposure of the lighter side of Skahla seems to have been successful. He's been rather more primed for it than Ahiga was, though. More stories about when his brothers were pups... and maybe genetics include a head start on the sense of humor, such as it is. There's very little danger of Ikuna not being careful about the actual dangerous stuff - not after the experience of his capture - but the encouragement to not be serious little wolf of seriousness is a good one. He leans over, and nudges his shoulder against Ahiga's. "You can count on us," he says to Skahla with a grin. They'll stick together, and that's a good start for staying safe and enjoying themselves, no matter what they actually end up doing.
"Good. I'll let you two sort it out, then." That's all the more answer or response Skahla gives before he turns to walk away, heading northward. He has nothing even so pressing as interrogating rabbits to occupy him, no, but that much is of no concern to him. He has never had trouble filling his hours, and he has no worry that this afternoon will be any different.