Sunflower has begun to fall into a routine, spending a good portion of her time exercising her hunting kills. Most of the things she hunts are small game, the occasional bird, and a lot of the time she turns up unsuccessful. She doesn’t know this land as well as she knows her home. Eventually, she’ll know everything like the back of her hand, making it easier to manipulate to her advantage. Half of what she catches, she eats, and the other, she adds to the cache but apparently their numbers have grown over the few weeks and they’ll need more. The elk Delight has found, and introduces the wolves to, causes her feet to subtly dance on the ground. She’s itching to get going but she lets the leader sort things out, occasionally glancing around to those that have joined in on the hunt.
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She had been laying low and keeping to herself as she settled in, but Delight's call had lured her out and eventually into their midst. Together, they gathered for the first time since her appearance on their scene, and he presented the chance of the elk before them all. Jomyo's expression quirked in interest, although she remained otherwise quiet and still on the edges of the gathering as she observed this. Eventually, she wondered how this might play out.
"Any of them pretty young or old?" she piped in with when a pause in the info seemed to suit her enough, since she had to know what they were. Honestly, she had no idea who were the primary hunters here, or what the strengths of the others would be and neither had she taken the time to extensively study the selection of elk here--assuming them out of her league (and therefore worth leaving alone) since she was so accustomed to thinking like a single, lone wolf.
in which brienne is depressed but still shows her face.
since her return she had isolated herself, her heart a prisoner in the walls she'd built up since her sudden and uncalled for disappearance. the caring girl that had once stood in these bones had vanished, and a cooler, more calculated woman stood in her place.
when she heard delight's pack-howl to the air she wasn't even sure if she should go. was she really still part of this forest? did she really still matter? but she went anyway, because somewhere she was still dedicated to the pack she'd done wrong.
she limped in, and as delight explained the reason for their gathering the light barely flickering in her was forcibly sucked out. a hunt.
how could she participate when she was injured? she cast a glance at her wounded leg and the deep gashes on her side that burned as her breathing hastened.
useless. useless. useless.
she creeped back as far as she could while still being "present", away from the bright new faces. she didn't need to dampen their spirits.
Without knowing what was meant to be a good turnout, she stayed hesitantly neutral about this as her first gathering with any number of the pack here. It didn't seem like many at first glance. She wondered who the female on the outskirts was, and where Mato may be.. among a great many other things, but maybe their numbers wouldn't matter and they could make up for it with cohesion somehow.
When he answered, she nodded, though. Noted. Old ones weren't the tastiest, surely, but maybe they could easily get an edge on the elderly. Then again, she couldn't say she had much experience hunting elk. She also wasn't sure which face of strangers was Sun, but the go ahead to be forwardly placed here suited Jomyo very well. When her main strength in the hunt was sheer speed, that was probably a wise move.. but no one here really knew that, and neither did she know what anyone else was good at, or not. Good thing she'd be finding out soon enough as Delight moved them onward to the next step towards their potential feast. Accordingly, she slid forward into a jog to warm up and get ready for this pace to pick up.
Sunflower glances around at the other wolves and tries to figure out the course of action, listening as Delight gives out instructions for them to follow. She’s able to determine who Jomyo is by knowing Anatha but her eyes rest briefly on the fifth wolf the leader speaks to but she doesn’t give her much attention, redirecting her way to the female she doesn’t know. She picks up the pace, falling in line behind her, and letting everything fall into place as they set up to separate one in particular from the rest of the herd.
she figured it would be best if she at least made an appearance, but was beginning to regret the decision now. she nods curtly at delight's pitiful attempt to include her and speaks nothing, instead waiting for the others to lead and limping behind.
as they spied the herd, she watched for a moment as they grazed in the comfort of their home, unaware of the fate that lay ahead for.. one of them.
slowly, she inclined her head at a particular individual, careful not to make noise as to not alert the herd to their position. there,
she mouths, was the old elk they'd bring down.
She's happy for any forward progression (hoping that she'll fall into stride with it) and as soon as they have their targets locked on an older one, she then felt that weird pre-hunt anticipation wanting to coil. It was a sizable beast, far larger than her usual prey, and with that thought she resisted the urge to take stock on her few fellows again. At least age had worn it down and she knew they'd at least be worth something all coming at it, together.
At the signal, she gave a little nod, first to Delight then Sunflower next, and began to move towards it with the last bits of cover she could keep to get in closer. She had all the prefacing she'd need, she supposed.. because no more was leaving her any more prepared than this. With the trees in mind, all she hoped to do was control the prey's flight once nearer. If they could keep it away.. even better, and hopefully in the chaos of fleeing and the maze a forest could make, they could potentially land some blows. This was, of course, an ideal situation playing out smoothly enough, so she did her best to envision this happening for real.
She arced along with the scenery, closing in and when it was time, she was ready to gain her speed. Now and then, she kept up with glances sent towards Sunflower.. hoping she was on the same page, somehow, as well. With the goal easy enough, and laid out before them by Delight, it was now theirs to take, or at least try.
She hoped she hadn't imagined it, but since she had a feeling her alone wouldn't be enough, she had tried to make some sort of signal to Sun before she went surging forward, aiming to speed ahead and get between their chosen elk and the rest of his lot now that they were bound to find out about the encroaching wolves. It had to start somewhere.
Everything begins to fall into place as they managed to lock onto their target. She missed the exchange on how it had been chosen but with one final look to the other wolves in tow, she hopes for the best. From there on out, she sets her sights on one thing. She keeps the other wolf in her peripheral and glancing over each time something changes with her companion. Her speed continues evenly, not as familiar with this forest as perhaps the others (unbeknownst to her that two of her three comrades are also unfamiliar), and waits for the right movement.
She notes the opportunity just a beat after Jomyo, turning to catch her glance and signal to begin speeding up. The other wolf surges forward and Sunflower does the same, with only a little space gained between them so she can help drive the older elk away from the herd just as they hear them coming.
When she finally unfurls her stride in full, she makes good use of it and gains her ground quickly. She tried to pay the others half a mind, but when her goal became more singular and she closed in better, fewer elk were pertinent and only Sunflower really registered. They cut the older elk away from the rest, stirring up the expected upset from the beast who now had to know what would come next, and with another quick shift of her stride, she didn't let it veer wide around them to return to the safety of its numbers.
Her heart raced. These were big beasts.
Soon, though, in a big rush she noticed the others again and how everything so far was falling into place. The Eizokusei had no opportunity to let her heart waver. Determined, she rallied the chase into the oncoming teeth with everything she had, where its end should await, along with the promise of their full caches and bellies tonight.
Somewhere in the midst, she started to scent the blood and everything was an even bigger blur from there on out. When the time was right, she closed in enough to hook her own teeth into its flesh before it could be felled entirely. With their little assortment of wolves hunting together for the first time, even she had confidence that they could do it.