Little Red

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"Are you hungry? You seem grouchy. I can get something to eat. "

Wulf chattered, taking out his bow.

Clari sighed, "I am hungry." she admitted, playing with her mittens.

"I am the best hunter this side of Romania, you don't have to starve any longer!" he declared heroically,  dashing into the forest with a laugh.

Clari was alarmed by his announcement, her thoughts instantly jumping to her Wolf friend. She feared for his life, he was such a good wolf and she wanted him in the woods not a rug on somebody's living room floor.

She sat, and waited for Wulf to return.Soon she heard the crunch of snow behind her, she turned and smiled. "you're back! Where did you disappear to?" Clari asked, throwing her arms around the Wolf's thick furry neck. The wolf let her, suddenly pulling away and lifting his head high and sniffing the air. Clari watched as he turned and ran into the thick trees, thinking he had smelled Wulf she quickly stood up and stepped on all his tracks so Wulf couldn't track him.

"What are you doing stomping around like that?" Wulf asked, Clari turned to see him holding a white rabbit by it's long ears, blood trickled from a red wound in it's side.

"I was bored so I was making a path." she said, swiping some of her blond hair from her eyes and kicking the excess snow from her boots. "sure." Wulf said, obviously not sure at all.

Clari breathed in sharply, clasping her hands in front of her and rocking on her feet. "where shall we find ourselves some dry wood?" she asked, watching Wulf look at her, puzzled.

"yeah." he said, seeming to come out of a trance when he looked away from her. He pointed to a dead log, "look under there for sticks and bark. I am going to skin this thing." Wulf held up the rabbit with they misty brown eyes with a smile.

Clari nodded and trudged to the log, going to a section where she couldn't be seen and soon her Wolf friend appeared out of the blue, with a large branch in his maw. He seemed to be smiling when he dropped it at her feet and waited, tongue rolling out of his mouth as he panted.

Clari scratched him behind the head, "good boy! But I need more..."

He seemed to nod and started walking away. He paused, looking over his shoulder expecting something. Clari picked up the branch and followed the Wolf, he led her deep into the forest where the limbs overhead were so thick that the snow fell only in some places.

"wow. " Clari said, starting to pick up sticks listening to the crunching sound of dry pine needles beneath their feet. They soon had amassed a large pile of dry material, Clari hugged the wolf tightly, thanking him for his help. Then she stood, picking up the bundle and walking away. The wolf followed behind for a time and then his paw steps vanished, Clari didn't look back she didn't want Wulf to see the wolf. I really must find him a name... 

"what took you so long little red?" Wulf called as she came into his view, Clari huffed throwing the pile onto the snow pulling back her hood so the sweat could dry. "Don't put the wood in the snow! You will make it wet!" Wulf exclaimed, jumping from his spot next to a mutilated rabbit and hurriedly picking up the wood, standing and kicking snow away so the ground was exposed then he gingerly set the sticks down.

Clari rolled her eyes. "No need to shout." she then shook out her hair closing her eyes as the freezing air infiltrated her thick curly hair making her cool. She was aware of Wulf staring at her but she ignored him, he did that often.

In a minute she flipped her hood back over her head and smiled, deciding to try killing Wulf with kindness. Or lead him on as a trick. She wanted to annoy him at the least, "Sorry. I am just tired, I don't know where my Grandma's house is. So if I was rude before, you know why." Clari said, though most of it was true.

Wulf continued to stare his flint and steel frozen in mid strike, "I never thought an apology would escape those lips." he smirked turning his attention back to the kindling.

Clari watched the white sparks fly from the end of his gadget and land on the dry moss, after three minutes of striking, the moss started burning, sending up a bright orange flame. "Aha!" Wulf exclaimed, raising his arms in the air with a big smile on his face.

Clari laughed, clapping her hands politely, though the sound was muffled by her mittens.

Later that night when they were fed, Clari and Wulf sat around the fire, talking and laughing occaissionaly. He isn't that bad... Clari thought, smiling as she listened to him tell about the time his older brother had slipped pepper into his sister's tea.

"Devious. Truly devious." she said, thinking of any more childhood mischief stories.

"one time, when I was two weeks old my brother decided he wanted to teach me how to throw hard. So he set me up against the wall and piled books next to me so I wouldn't fall over. Once he had finished I had fallen asleep. He was so frustrated he threw his ball at the wall, it bounced back and hit him square in the face. He ran to get my mom but he didn't come back. My mom was frantic, my brother had taken a nap and she couldn't find me anywhere. She checked the room I was in many times, but because of the books piled up around me she couldn't find me. She fretted late into the night, then, right on que I woke up and mom found me."

Wulf laughed, throwing the bone in his hand into the fire. "how old was your brother?" He asked, watching Clari with firelight dancing in his hazel eyes.

"He was five. It would have been cute if my mother could have found me before he went to sleep so he could explain."

Clari said, shivering slightly, wishing to be home or back in the Wolf's den where she was warm.

"Are you cold? " Wulf asked, seeing her shiver.

"Yes. A little." Clari said, pulling her cloak around her more tightly and looking at the fire there wasn't really anywhere else she wanted to look.

"Well, a tiny lady like you shouldn't be out in the cold for too long." Wulf said, starting to pile snow a small distance away from the fire.

Clari looked up, "what are you doing?"

"making a fort."

"are we making two?" She asked, crawling over to help him.

"why?" Wulf asked, glancing at Clari then returning his attention to the fort.

"Well. It wouldn't be proper for us to-" Clari began but Wulf cut her off. "we will be warmer if we share one. Not two." he turned serious as he spoke, avoiding looking at Clari.

"Fine. But you will keep your distance or I will hurt you."

"I never even considered not doing so."

"Good."