Blacktail Deer Plateau the meaning of life

literally AW. Anyone and everyone. Come help Shale take down a deer and earn some hunting XP

He enjoyed watching the herd that called the plateau home--that gave it its name, in fact. He would stay in the shadows of the trees, peering out at their slow movements, searching for sustenance amidst the snow. They were thin, these days; weak.

One of them seemed particularly emaciated, limping along behind the rest, its eyes glassy with pain. Shale had gotten as close as possible without alerting them to his presence and found that she did not smell sickly: she must merely be wasting away, with little food to spare.

Her, then. He let out a howl for all to hear--anyone interested in feasting today, anyway--which scattered the deer, but no matter--once they had worked themselves into a panic over a sightless sound in the distance, they relaxed once more, returning to their grazing.

Shale locked his eyes on the target and waited for packmates to emerge from the trees beside him.

Raid prowls through the bushes, trying and failing to find any plant worth extracting. She does not particularly expect to find any, in fact, it would be a near miracle if she did find herbs because right now, they were in the middle of winter and it wasn't known to be the season of death for no reason. Still, these days, she needs to find things to so to distract herself otherwise she would drown in bits and pieces of memories - nothing that made sense, all pieces of a puzzle she had yet to solve. 

So, when a howl rang through the air, Raid perks up and immediately makes her way towards the direction of the call. Moments later, she spots the figure and hesitates. It's a guy, and though for a second, she thinks it is Grayday, she knows he isn't - there are noticeable differences. Shale, then. She'd seen him during the spar tournament. He should be trustworthy...right? Still, Raid is nervous, anxious even and there is a growing urge within her to turn away and leave. This fear is irrational, she knows, but it feels like a very real warning and it takes all her courage to force herself forwards where he could see her.

Greeting him with a nod, Raid swallows back her misgivings and tries to survey the deer in the distance, blocking out the troubling thoughts as she searches for the target.

A sleek, brown figure emerges from the trees; it's Raid, the woman he saw at the sparring tournament. He gives her a warm smile in greeting, keeping his voice low as he explains the situation.

"You see that skinny one, there?" he asks, pointing his muzzle toward the intended target. "She lags behind the others. She looks too tired to keep going if we chase her down."

Shale turns his head to look at Raid fully. She looks a bit nervous for some reason, and he hopes to calm any fears or apprehensions she may have--about him, the hunt, or anything in between--by keeping steady and calm. He can do that. Steady and calm.

"If you flank her on the left, I can take her right. She'll be surrounded if she tries to dart sideways. Keep an eye on those hooves--they can do damage. Sound good to you?" He falls silent, waiting for her response.

@Sunny you're welcome to join in for those hunting trade points!

He hadn't been too far away when he heard shale's call and immediately began to run in that direction. He came up upon the two with an excited look and wagged his tail in greeting. He caught the end of the conversation and looked off at the herd,orange Amber eyes scanning the herd and picking out the skinny listless doe for himself. "Hey Uncle Shale. Going after the skinny doe?" He asked curiously, ears perked up and eyes bright.


He turned his attention toward the female by his uncle's side and dipped his head "hello ma'am I'm Sunny. Nice to meet ya, hope it's okay if I join?" He asked being polite and not ignoring her presence.

Raid tries to return Shale's smile but she's pretty sure it came out more like a grimace. She tells herself it's okay - she hasn't quite figured out why she feels so uncomfortable around males but she has a hunch. A hunch which she refuses to dwell in - refuses to acknowledge. It..just isn't possible. Snap out of it, Raiden. "Yeah," she says instead, troubling thoughts unable to breach past her facade. "Got it, boss," Raid meets his gaze and nods, then looks down and shuffles her paws.

Then, all of a sudden, someone else joins them. Raid tenses, muscles taut beneath her coat as she scans the newcomer with wary eyes, teeth wearing into her lip - an unconscious habit of hers when she is nervous. The boy is apparently Shale's nephew, and from the looks of it, around her age. Grayday's son. He's kinda cute..I guess...for a boy. Oh, nevermind, ruined it.

"Don't call me ma'am, it makes me sound old and I'm the same age as you." Raid mutters, swinging her head away from the herd to look at Sunny. "I'm Raiden. But everyone calls me Raid." There is something like a mixture of apprehension and exasperation on her face as she cants her head and appraises him. "But yeah, the more wolves the better, right?" she smiles ruefully as the last sentence slips from her lips. A brief memory, nothing more than a few images and snatches of words flits through her mind but she shakes it away and nods at Shale. She'll move at his cue.

She was shy, but apparently willing to listen. That was okay. He could handle shy. And there was a steel he felt in this girl, perhaps buried deep within but still there, that alleviated his concerns about her handling the task at hand. She would be fine.

Before he could continue, the burly young form of his nephew appeared, looking bright and chipper. He smiled warmly, the expression stretching to a grin as Raid corrected his language. "Hi, there, Sunny," Shale greeted. "You're absolutely right. Do you think you can get ahead of her while we take either side, see if you can ambush her from the edge of the trees?" He nodded to the treeline across the clearing, shrouded in shadow.

He shrugged, not meaning anything in particular in the gesture besides confidence in their hunting ability. "I think we'll be fine," Shale said, smiling at the two of them. "There's three of us and one of her, and she's in poor health."

His confidence was thrown off as soon as the girl scolded him for calling her ma'am. He balked and flattened his ears back and if he could blush he definitely would of. Ducking his head he offered her a sheepish and lopsided smile "Sorry Raid, I didn't mean to make you feel old. You totally don't look it" he attempted to make the situation better and ruined it once again. Snapping his jaws shut he squinted his eyes shut and visibly cringed at himself before turning back to Shale. 


"Uh yeah...got it! I'll go get into position" he said quickly and scampered away, his tail tucked between his hind legs. Stalking along the tree line he moved slowly, keeping an eye on the herd. He placed each footstep carefully and made not a single sound until he was hidden amongst the treeline in front of the doe. He crouched down, hind limbs tensed as he looked toward Shale and Raid watching them to wait for a signal.

Truthfully, Raid didn't expect Sunny to react this way, his ears flattening in embarrassment. It's sort of endearing, she thinks as he offers her a sheepish smile and apologises, trying to correct himself but still somehow worsening the situation. The girl's stony facade cracks just a little bit - a smile tugging at the edges of her lips as she shakes her head in faux exasperation and turns away from the boy, trying to swallow the grin.

Sunny scampers away into position and Raid watches quietly, silently amused. Her tail flicks behind her before she casts a sideways glance at Shale and gives him a nod. "Ready when you are," she tells him. When he moves, she'll move with him and flank the left side of their prey. Already, she can feel adrenaline surging through her veins and she takes it all in, steadying herself with a deep breath. Raid is ready.

Sunny departed, soon hidden in the treeline just across the clearing. His mouth quirked in a half-smile at Raid's assurance, and he nodded. "Now," he muttered, and slipped out of the woods like a silver banshee, hurling himself furiously at the animal.

Raid must be a brown blur beside him, but he was soon taken over by tunnel vision, his gaze fixed on the doe. He smells her fear, acrid in the cold winter air. She bleats, darting away, but has nowhere to run but forward, flanked on either side by healthy, strong wolves.

Shale gives a leap of faith, raking his claws over her flank as he manages to attach himself to her for a short time. She gives a kick that just barely misses his groin--thankfully at that--and he slips off, though not without doing significant damage. She is spilling blood, losing it fast, and running headlong into Sunny's waiting jaws.

Sunny tenses up and begins to pant with excitement as he sees Shale and Raid run forward on either side of the deer. He held himself back still allowing Shale to wound the doe and slip off her back. As soon as Shale is off the doe begins to head toward him and still he waits, letting her get close before he snarls and jumps out.

The doe rears up with fright and kicks her forelegs, hooves flailing. Sunny ducks low and snarls, grabbing her by one of the forelegs ane yanking her down. As the doe tumbles he pushes her all the way over with his body and goes for the throat, teeth seeking out the jugular or windpipe, whichever he could reach to kill the doe off.

Shale utters a single word and Raid's gone, streaking out of the woods in a blur of charcoal and chocolate. She doesn't want to disappoint her packmates and so, grits her teeth and gives it all her. The pungent smell of fear is all she can smell as she streaks forward, muscles working furiously as the doe attempts to flee but finds herself trapped between two wolves. There is a thrill in hunting, Raid realises, and a grin tugs sharply on her mouth as Shale leaps, claws scraping flesh as he clings on. The doe fights back and he falls, but the damage is done and blood - crimson red and shining in Raid's eyes spills fast.

Raid swerves, nipping at the doe's ankles before leaping out of the way before any damage can be done to herself. It's risky, she knows, but she's faster than most and escapes easily. Sunny is somewhere ahead and yes, she sees him darting out...and the doe falls. Raid pushes forwards, jaws wide and snapping as she attempts to keep the doe down long enough for either Shale or Sunny to complete the killing blow.

The plan went off without a hitch. Raid's and his dogged pursuit of the animal led her straight into Sunny's waiting jaws, where the boy sent her tumbling down and ends her suffering with a quick, sharp bite to the neck.

Grinning with pleasure, Shale pulled to a stop, panting slightly from exertion while sending his packmates happy looks. "Well done," he said cheerily, muscles trembling. He sat on his haunches for a moment, viewing the scene. The doe wasn't terribly big, but it was enough meat to feed them and to bring back plenty for the caches.

Shale looked at Raid, then nodded at the animal. "After you," he murmured, his giddy grin fading into a more polite, reserved smile. He would wait til the woman and his nephew had had their fill, then would eat himself. He understood that lead hunters typically ate first. . .but not Shale. Never Shale. It wasn't in his nature.

With success his jaws wrapped around the Doe's throat and he tore it out, quickly stepping back and catching his breath. He beamed at Shale and Raid his maw stretched with a wide smile "Good job Uncle Shale. That was a great plan!" He said happily. He was honestly proud that he had been given the task of the kill bite, he found it was his favorite part of the hunt.  As Shale told him and Raid to eat first, he stepped back for Raid "Ladies first" he said looking at her with a bashful smile.

It worked. It's not like Raid didn't expect it to work, just, it's a bit strange to actually see the results of their work in front of her. She can still feel the last rush of adrenaline surging through her veins, and her breaths slip out in somewhat uneven pants. There's a strange anxiety pooling in her heart, but she pushes it away. There's food, and food, in her books, is always welcome no matter what.

Shale invites her to eat first and Raid frowns instantly, her mouth opening with protests ready on the tip of her tongue. But Sunny cuts in before she can, insisting that she eat first with a bashful smile which she finds rather sweet, contrary to her thoughts before. Raid curses herself instantly but offers him a shy smile in return and ducks her head, turning to look at Shale instead. "Um, it's okay. We can all eat together. I kinda feel awkward just eating while you guys stare." She smiles softly, hesitantly.

Shale smiled as Raid spoke, bowing his head in acquiescence. "In that case," he declared softly, "let's dig in." He dipped his nose, inhaling gently the smell of newly-dead flesh and spilled blood, repulsive to any other creature but a predator. Aromatic, especially, to a hunter like Shale.

As he ate, he mused on his status within his brother's pack. He had led a successful hunt today, with a team that included a member of his family and a wolf he barely knew. He had formulated a plan that worked, and his many-seasons old bones and muscles had risen to the challenge of the chase.

Perhaps Grayday would consider him for lead hunter, someday. It would be a chance to make something of himself in this new land. Without a mate, without kids. . .all he had was himself, and his abilities. He might as well use them to his advantage.

 

last post from me...sorry this dragged on so long

It seemed they all wanted to be courteous, as Sunny's offer was returned with one to eat together. He chuckled softly but nodded and moved to sniff at the carcass, the heat still wafting off of it and giving it a rich and meaty aroma that made his mouth salivate. He selected a spot and tore it open, eating silently while revelling in the satisfaction of a successful hunt. Maybe he would be as good as his dad someday, maybe he'd even specialize in hunting but he'd have to choose between herds and birds, the latter being what he had more experience with.

He ate his fill and once satisfied sat back on his haunches licking his jaws and giving his muscles a good stretch. It felt good to have a full belly and he was feeling the sort of warm sleepiness that came along with it but he knew they had yet to drag it back. 

sunny out!

Raid smiles awkwardly and dips her head, teeth flashing as she tears into her portion of the kill. The smell of blood is fresh in the air, and the flesh is still warm when she takes her first bite. It'd been some time since she had last had a fresh meal as large as this and thus, Raid savours the moment. She takes her time to eat her fill and when satisfied, reclines back on her haunches, licking her lips. Her muzzle is stained crimson and so are some portions of her fur; she wants to wash it away but the sleepy drowsiness, associated with a full stomach, is beginning to overtake her and she is content to let it draw her into the realm of dreams. Everything else could wait.