His nose, although truthfully it was more his grumbling stomach, led him on a roundabout route that left him swearing he'd pass the same boulder more than once and just when he'd had about enough he finally, after at least a solid hour of searching, found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. His treasure came in the form of thick, sable antlers and a two toned coat that looked like more like a five star seared steak in his ravenous gaze.
The was a small band of them, all physically young and fit, drinking a good distance away at the lake's edge with one always seemingly keeping an eye out for any threats. He found it strange for them to be so close to the mountain range for he knew they usually preferred the open terrain and he wondered if perhaps they were migrating to their summer encampment where they would likely raise a new generation of their species. It was then that his eyes drifted to the female's bellies and one, with slightly protruding sides, became his unfortunate target of choice - if only because the odds tugged ever so slightly in his favor if he chose her and her assumed unborn child.
Throughout the sea of white, she stood out the most, snow lightly coated and clung to her mass of coffee-colored fur. At an ambling pace, she treads through the snow, exploring the world outside her groups. Though she had spent a solid month and a half out in the wild, surviving and thriving, it was still alien to her, scary even. When she was young, she never thought of anything being beyond the walls, beyond naked faces of those strange, flat teeth beings, and yet here she was. Some days, she’d walked to the borders, thinking she would hit some kind of wall of metal and stone.
But for now, she cast the memories aside to focus on another thing, her rumbling stomach. That’s one thing she didn’t miss - the full meals. The beings always fed the pack a big meal that filled all their bellies but she has yet to really have one unless one called scavenging off a near picked clean bull carcass called a big meal. A still growing wolf as big as she needed a big meal.
And as if the Gods heard her thoughts, off in the distance she heard a bellow, her ears perked up as she followed the sound and scents carried by the winter winds, bursting into a quicken trot until the lake came into sight and nearby she saw the small herd a few bucks and several does, all young and healthy from what she could tell. If her group was here maybe they could pluck one of them but it’ll be too time-consuming to go fetch them and the herd could move by the time she came back.
As far as she knew she was on her own, Aeliana moved into some cover and keeping an eye on the herd before scanning the area for any others, it’d be foolish for her to try and pursue on her own.
It was hard to miss the sudden flash of movement across the muted backdrop and in an effort to discover just who or what had joined the chase, the sable man crawled his way towards the blurry figure until her features slowly came into focus. Young as far he could tell, though the baby blue of her eyes likely made her appear more youthful than she was, or at least he hoped that was the case anyways.
Despite having inched closer her way he still remained a good ways off and though she would have likely noticed him already, Sanguinus positioned himself so that he remained hidden amongst shrubbery to the herd, yet half visible to his new company. He assumed her goal was the same as his own, but he swung his head towards his target nonetheless in a silent invitation for her to join him.
Aeliana spots the male out the corner of her eye, hidden and tucked away within shrubbery, seeing the male’s gesture and nods taking up on his invitation for the hunt. Quicky and silent and made her way over to him and takes cover behind the bush as well. She never took on an elk before, and from the looks of it, he looked like he knew what he was doing. Perfect. She’ll watch him and follow his lead to see how this hunt goes.
She looks to him and sees that he’s focused on something, she followed his gaze to the doe with the big belly among the herd, must be pregnant with a calf, “...You’re going for the pregnant one?” She asked quietly as she watched the herd with him before remembering to introduce herself, “Names Aeliana by the way...”
"Sanguinus" he introduced in a hushed whisper after a quick nod to her previous inquiry regarding the target of choice. Should they succeed and the doe truly be with child it would mean an extra bit of meat that, from the looks of it, they could both use. Of course that was only reality if they struck true and in his typical reserved fashion, Sanguinus wasn't one to get ahead of himself and rarely ever expected the best result.
So with a clear mind and the target now revealed, he gave a single glance towards his new companion before slinking forward towards the wary herd, heart drumming to a rhythmic beat in his ears while he closed the distance. And when the brief moment finally presented itself and the watchful scout turned ever so slightly away, Sanguinus launched himself from the shrubbery and began his decent upon the unfortunate and startled prey.
Aeliana watched the herd as well, soon noticing that their eyes and ears turned away for just a moment and before she knew it; Sanguinus flew from her side, starting his descent upon the herd. Aeliana realized that was her cue and quickly lunge forwards, following after the male, running by his left as they went after their pregnant target. She watched as the whole herd bolted as a unit to escape the pursuers.
Breathes escape her in hot puffs, cold winds whipped across her face. Snow was kicked up into the air as she propelled herself forwards in a gallop, moving at a good pace despite her size. Aeliana wanted to push herself, to see if she could get on the other side of the pregnant elk so they could try and separate it from the rest of the herd but kept at her for now, letting Sanguinus lead the chase for now as she followed him.
The sound of steady footsteps falling behind him among the symphony of rumbling hooves was all the paragon needed to know in order to confirm his hunting partner was not far behind. So with no need to check behind him, Sanguinus latched his focused upon their prey and targeted her fleeing backside as he scanned for any visible weaknesses.
From what he could tell there weren't any physical faults of the doe and he knew if it came down to a game of chase, they pair of them would ultimately lose. They needed to act now before any more distance was put between them and their meal and in an effort to push them towards success, Sanguinus motioned for Aeliana to take the lead.
Her brows rose, caught off guard, as he motioned for her to lead. Her?? She bearly knew how to hunt and she wanted her to lead this hunt, a brief flash of uncertainty ran across her face, but soon went away, replaced with determination. She can do this. She can get it. All she needs to do was get a hold on it before the elk outran both of them...
Aeliana took lead, breaths came up in loud puffs. She came upon the Doe’s hind right, she saw no other way to slow the elk down other than the hind leg. She just needs a good grip on the thigh and they might just be able to take it down.
Come on, come on! She mental ushered herself, pushing herself to go faster. She was close, she could practically taste the Elk’s fur on her tongue, her jaws part as she reaches out to bite onto it.
He allowed her to slip in front of him as they switched positions, heart thumping in his ears as they neared their unfortunate victim. They were a step away from success, quite literally, but he had been too eager to jump into the rush of a hunt to truly evaluate the condition he was in. His leg and shoulder were still healing and he'd mistakenly assumed he would be able to handle to chase just like any other but he was wrong.
Just as her jaws parted to snatch their prey and he leapt to aid in taking the doe down, his wounded leg gave out beneath him and he went down with a sharp yelp. Frantically he searched over his injury worrying he might have worsened it in his haste but, it appeared to have only reopened with tiny beads of crimson pooling out. He let out a low sigh and glanced upwards to see how his companion was doing, wondering if she had managed to secure a meal tonight.
☙
「 Aeliana kept going with the chase, not knowing her Hunting partner had fallen, she kept going until finally, her fangs managed to sink into the Doe's thigh, she held on tight, the familiar taste of blood danced on her tongue as she then pulled back, slowing down the pregnant Elk. The herd rushed past them as the Doe struggled and tried to kick the predator off of it, but she held onto as best as she could, avoiding the kicks.
It was then she noticed that her hunting partner was nowhere to be seen, she looked around and soon spots Sanguinus laying in the snow. She looks back to the elk and then back to Sanguinus, without help, she didn't know if she could take down as it is but at the same time she felt like she could try and quickly go for the neck. Before she could make her decision, she felt a sharp jab in her left shoulder, she yelped and let's go. The Doe had managed to give her a good kick in the shoulder, it didn't break any bone or draw any blood as far as she saw or felt but man did it hurt.
She watched as the injured Elk ran off, following after the Herd's trail as best as it could with an injured leg, she huffs, ❝Damns it all...❞ She said under her breath as she panted, she was looking forward to having some elk too...
She sighs and soon looks back to Sanguinus and walks back to his side,❝Are you alright?❞ She sniffs a couple of times, ❝I can smell blood on you...❞ 」
He should have been focusing on his newly reopened wound but his empty stomach outweighed his concern for the injury and as a result he found his attention instead glued to his hunting companion. For a brief moment he'd thought she succeeded on her own but, as fate would have it, a swift kick delivered by the doe sent all hope for a meal flying out the window. He tried not to show the disappointment in his features as she approached mainly because he wasn't upset at her, but rather that he wouldn't be eating tonight cause, let's be honest, food is godly and without we get hangry and I'm telling you right now nobody wants to see a hangry Sang.
"I'm fine, a wound just reopened is all" it was no big deal, or at least not in his eyes anyways. "I apologize. If it weren't for me you might have had yourself a meal." The fact of the matter was that the blame fell on him, a man meant to soar above others, and the reason behind it was because of something as simply as his leg giving out. It was shameful to him really and yet still all he could do was offer an apology thanks to the very wound that had caused their failure.
☙
❝
It’s alright. I may have not gotten a meal❟ but I got something just as good—experience. ❞❟ She said with a smile before looking to Sanguine with a ting of worry. Though she was born and grew up in a pack who cared little for lone wolves as using resources on a wolf who wasn’t even part of the family was a waste❟ she couldn’t help❟ but worry for those who were hurt, even if it was small cut❟ a small cut can get worse and infected❟ ❝
...Are you okay? If you follow back to my pack, I’m sure I can ask my Leader if we can spare some resources...❞ Well, she didn't know if they had healing herbs yet but she was sure she could dig some up if she sniffed around.