#god i love dace and rime

[sedge-and-sanctuary]

Sanctuary Pack Stories: The Hunt [Part One]

A leap ahead for The Sanctuary Pack, as we jump from the spring of the last pack story to deep into the pack’s first winter! 

With the pack’s lead hunter out with injuries, hunts haven’t been bringing in any food. Out of desperation, new packmate Hoot brings the adolescents out into a blizzard, hoping to bring something down.

----

A chunk of snow hits Rime in the side of the head. 

Dace is conspicuously focused, when Rime turns around, her head ducked low to the ground, hunting for scent-trails. Rime squints-- yes, there. Dace’s mouth is twitching with the effort not to laugh.

Well. 

Rime shakes off the snow and trots on ahead-- or. Trots is a strong word. Wades ahead, the snow chest-deep and clinging-- but at least cold enough to be powdery.

She sneaks a glance ahead; Hoot and Grackle didn’t notice a thing, naturally. Only a leap away, they’re still a little obscured by snow-- the blizzard had blown in thick, that morning, and didn’t seem to plan on thinning out. Well-- it would probably OK, then.

Mid-stride, Rime whips around; Dace freezes, her eyes comically wide-- she’s braced up on her hind legs, ready to go shaking another tree. The branches, heavy with snow, would have dumped a whole drifts’ worth right onto Rime’s head.

Dace gives Rime a sheepish look, dropping to all-fours. She wriggles up, tail wagging, her mouth falling open in a grin. Her breath gusts out visibly, the freezing air turning it instantly to smoke.

The wind howls incessantly; ahead of them, hunched against the chill, Hoot and Grackle won’t hear a thing. Rime checks-- double checks. Then:

“Dace,” she says, under her breath, and Dace pauses, one paw lifted in an exaggerated stalking pose.

“What? I’m practicing my hunting!”

“By dumping snow on me?” 

“It’s... a special move! Um, that I’m developing.” Dace holds still, a moment longer, to see if that’s gonna fly, and then Rime can’t resist, anymore. Her tail keeps wanting to wag, looking at Dace stuck in that stupid pose. 

“Special move this,” she growls, and leaps at Dace. She misses, but kicks up a ton of snow when she lands, and buries Dace up to the ears.

Dace laughs, springing up through the drift like a rabbit, spraying snow in every direction. She growls, playfully, and leaps back at Rime, her breath leaving a comet-trail of fog in the air behind her.

Rime dodges, skittering for purchase on a patch of ice--

“Rime.”

Oops. She had skidded right up to Hoot. The big adult is scowling down at her, snow heaped on her head. 

She looks irritated; thin with hunger and tired already, and now this. How embarrassing. Bad enough to do that sort of thing to Hat Trick; but to Hoot- big, cool, former-loner Hoot, with all the good stories, and--

Hoot is still looking at her, expectant.

“Sorry, Hoot.” Rime ducks her head. And, of course, Dace got away with it…

Hoot shakes her head, dislodging the snow. “If I can hear you, so can the rabbits.”

She looks across at Dace-- who pretends not to notice, pulling the same ‘no I’m just sniffing the ground’ routine she had on Rime, earlier. 

“Sorry.” Rime creeps up to her, tail low and wagging. “But--”

“Enough.” Hoot turns. Tosses a look over her shoulder-- is that amusement in her eyes? “At least try harder not to get caught, alright?”

Rime has to stop herself from leaping up-- she had seen Dace! And she wasn’t mad! And then Grackle- of course- has to open her big mouth. 

“You should be conserving your energy, anyway,” she says, in that snooty voice of hers.

Hoot winces. 

“This isn’t about you,” Dace says, wading up to Rime’s shoulder. “So you should be-- shutting your mouth, anyway.”

“She’s right,” Hoot says, a little reluctantly-- it’s definitely reluctant, Rime thinks. Who could be excited to agree with Grackle?

“Hmph,” Grackle says, and trots on ahead, like she’s the one leading the hunt, when she’s younger than Rime is-- she’s younger than Eight!

“She is right,” Hoot says, too low for Grackle to overhear. “I know you’re--” she snorts. “Eh, Scat, girls, I’m not gonna tell you not to have fun. But we’ll be out here for a while. And I know you aren’t running on much.”

She flicks an ear. Hesitates-- but apparently that’s it, because she trots up to join Grackle again.

“Sourpuss,” Dace mutters.

“She is not!” Rime turns to nip at Dace’s ear. “She’s--!”

“Oh, we all know what you think of her,” Dace whispers, widening her eyes. 

Rime growls at her, and Dace ducks down, ready to pounce off playing again.

Hoot shoots them a look over her shoulder.

Grumbling, Dace straightens again, and plods on through the snow, head ducked against the wind. Rime trudges after her.

The thing is, they aren’t running on much. And without Dace to distract her, it’s hard not to think about. Rime finds herself working her tongue between her molars. Maybe a scrap of that little ptarmigan is still in there, somewhere?

The hunger is a constant ache in her belly, like the cold of the winter; inescapable, but impossible to ignore. Rime pauses to lick at one of her paws; raw and cracked from the dry, freezing days on hunt. This wouldn’t help, of course; Hoot always said licking at your paw pads would just make them icy, and that would make them worse, and she would know! But--

Rime drops her paw. But her feet ache. her legs ache. Her belly aches. Wading through the snow is like wading through mud, the way it saps her energy, and--

She looks around, ears pricked. The wind has picked up, swirling the snow and blocking any other sounds with its endless, incessant howling. The blizzard, thick already, is nearing whiteout.

And there’s no sign of her packmates anywhere. 

“Dace?” Rime waits. The wind howls.

“Dace?” Rime raises her voice, running ahead, panic starting to crawl up through her chest. “Hoot? Grackle?”

But her only answer is the endless, eerie groaning of the wind.

#wolvden #wolvblr #the sanctuary pack #pack stories #grackle #dace #rime #hoot #wolvden lore #winter one #god i love dace and rime #dumb and dumber #they're best friends ok!!!!!! #And!! they are not very bright!! #the hunt