blooding the hounds of hell - round six

I am the most terrible daughter.

The look her father had thrown her as she arrived wounded her, and so the girl had trailed behind them. Trailed enough to circle around and follow her mother, leaving her favored father to go on his own, with her brothers. So the golden girl was not there when the elk moved toward her family, nor saw the way its horns grazed her father's flank. But she was there when Blue Willow found her way toward Lasher, and hot tears sprang in her eyes at the sight of the blood. "Oh, Pappa!" She lamented not being there for him, but what could she have done? She crouched by his head and licked his ears, nuzzled her way into his fur, and lent him her strength.

quick terrible response since I'll likely be tied up all week/weekend

Luckily their combined attacks did the trick, and with a final bellow the doe was felled. Not without a price, and once it was done, he glanced anxiously towards where Blue stood over Lasher. All of his children were there as well, so the alpha remained near the kill, ears tipped to hear if Blue had need of him but not wishing to crowd. He would be of little help.

Instead he tore into the kill, though he did not partake, his appetite gone. After the initial opening he stepped back, inviting the others to come. They would take what was not eaten and bury it, at least some. He would ask Mordecai and Pearl to assist if neither were needed elsewhere. In light of the misfortune, at least the new hunters had aquitted themselves well. They would likely find little comfort in that now, but he hoped when things calmed they would have some measure of pride from that.

Pearl was relieved when the elk was finally dead. No more of their hunting party would be harmed by this elk. She cast another glance at the worried family, wondering if she could have done anything to prevent this. Although she didn't know these wolves well, Pearl felt for them. She hoped Lasher would perservere through this, for the sake of his pups. 

When she turned back to carcass, it had already been torn open by Dante. Hunger rumbled in her stomach, but she did not feel it. Angrily, she stalked over and ripped into the steaming flesh, and walked a bit of a distance away, not knowing what to do with herself. She wasn't ever trained at much besides hunting. She hoped she did well with this hunt, despite the misfortune of Lasher. Elk meat was fairly good, on the other hand. She realized the extent of her hunger, so she walked back to get more, hoping not to appear disrespectful to the others. The situation at hand was a little much for the pale furred girl with the raccoon mask of blood on her face.

the elk was brought down; first Dante tore at it, then the pale girl. Casmir watched numbly as she returned for another bite of food, then ran to his dad's side. Lasher still wasn't moving; the boy whined at his leader, at his mother. "is he going to be okay?" he demanded, staring down at the gash along the beta male's side. 

he stumbled then to Eilidh; the Mayfair boy leant upon her for support, eyes filling with tears.

last round! Ending Saturday, September 19th.

battered though he was, lasher could still hear the rise and fall of their voices. he tried to hold onto the tendrils of his wife's tones, but delirium soon seized him, and he faded into black nothingness with only the faces of his children swimming before his mind's eye.

presumably under the watchful and worried gaze of his mate and his leader, taltos was borne back to the medicine den. the elk remained as it was; it would be retrieved after their beta had been settled, and the glossy stain of drying blood upon the grasses remained a testament to the double fatality that had nearly occurred here.

Constantine had managed to garner up what they would need and with the help of their brood, they carried her love to the healing den. She would spend countless hours trying to bring him back from the cusp of death. But even Blue Willow was scared, she did not know if her heart could bear to lose another that she loved. Especially in such a brutal way. She would have to use all her skills to fix him, and she wasn't even sure what was wrong. If something inside was broken, even she could not fix that. She could help, but that ws something that would need to mend itself, if it could.

Rushing to care for him, the Elk long forgotten. She would remember it eventually when hunger got the best of her, perhaps after a few days of nursing her loved one.

Pearl watched as Lasher's injured body was taken to the healing den by his family. She wanted desperately to do something to help, but this was obviously a family matter in which her involvement as a newcomer would be likely unwelcome. Wandering aimlessly around for a bit, she decided to find a stream to wash off the copious amount of blood on her face. She hoped Lasher would be okay, but the wound he received from the strong kick of the elk did not look it.

Dante too observed intently, aiding in getting the beta settled in before returning.  Having done so, he gathered the subdued packmates still lingering, if there were any, to the task of helping him move the fallen prey to the trees.  There it could be more safely hidden from scavengers.

His heavy concerns did not allow him to take part still, but the elk would serve as a good source of food for unsuccessful days.  At least this day hadn't been a complete loss.  After a few hours passed he would seek out the children and let them know they had done well.  But for now he let them be.