Arrow Lake Ouch that must've hurt

AW but maybe @Corvus or @Ruenna or anyone she hasn't met yet which is most

It was a day that was warmer than a winter day should be but she wasn't complaining. She hadn't done much here ye, figuring out whether to be her usual ballsy self or to be more reserved and respectful was harder than she had expected. For now she stuck with hunting and roaming around the mountains as her routine, bringing in food and trying to explore the whole of their claim. This morning was different though as she heard some loud splashing and bellowing from the lake.

She made her way toward the waters, the sounds getting louder and she realised it sounded pained and grew weaker by the minute. She moved faster nearly running toward the shore and spotted the culprit, a heavily wounded elk lying half in the water half out. It couldn't seem to drag itself out of the water completely and looked freezing. She slowly moved forward, stayost a safe distance away but watching and trying to determine whether it was safe to attack and end it or to wait longer.

Ruenna was also drawn in by the commotion at the lake. Her eyes fell upon the strangest sight as she neared the source of the chaos: a heavily injured elk, flailing about in the water. Rue couldn't understand why the creature would have waded so deeply into the lake, particularly with such a nasty set of injuries. 

Another packmate approached to investigate the clamor, and Rue moved toward the woman. Kazimir, Rue recalled. Her svelte build and swaying walk were unmistakable, even from a distance. Rue's tail wagged in an amicable way. Kazimir had struck her as one of her more standoffish packmates, but at least this crazy elk situation would provide a conversation starter to break the ice.

She just stared at it, unsure why exactly it had gotten itself into the water in the first place. Perhaps something had been chasing it and the water was the only escape, or maybe it had tried to take a drink and fallen in due to it's injuries. Either way it had screwed itself over and Kazimir was thankful for it, as she would now be able to bring it down and provide a good amount of food for Diaspora. As she decided to do so, her attention was snagged by a packmate and as she turned her eyes studied the figure and recalled the name. "Ruenna, right? what do you think happened there?" she asked falling right into conversation. Unlike other wolves with a standoffish nature she wasn't one to shy away from conversation, especially if it was with someone who she may have to rely on to have her back eventually.

"That's right," Rue confirmed, voice upbeat. She was glad that Kazimir seemed willing to have a conversation-- perhaps the other woman just wasn't a fan of big groups.

Ruenna let out a long breath as she pondered Kazimir's question. "I think... it was probably being pursued by some sort of predator when it crossed into our lands, and the predator wisely chose not to follow it into claimed territory."

Rue shook her head. As for why the elk was in the water, she could only take a stab in the dark. "Maybe it's sick? That could have been why it was targeted in the first place." Stars, the beast sure was causing a lot of commotion.

Another loud Bellow from the dying beast caused Kazimir to flinch her ears going back as she gave a small growl of annoyance. She turned her attention back to Ruenna as the woman echoed her thoughts causing a grin to stretch across her maw as she nodded "Immeno Tak! Exactly" her native tongue rushed out before she could stop it so she echoed what she had said in English. "Whatever it is, it's drawing a lot of attention and scaring off all the other prey. Want to try to help me take it out?" she asked her tail swaying. She'd attempt it herself if the woman declined, the beast was weakened and Kazimir was cocky enough to at least try it.

Ruenna tilted her head curiously when the exotic words slipped from Kazimir's maw, but the woman followed quickly with the Common translation. Her next question surprised Rue. "I see what you mean," Rue allowed, "..But attacking seems like an unnecessary risk when it's sure to die soon on its own." Her voice was understanding; although Rue was rarely caught up by bloodlust herself, she knew that there were many wolves who felt their adrenaline and aggression surging if there was even a whiff of blood in the air. "It may scare away the prey for a short time, but we we should be okay with that elk padding our caches." Rue met Kazimir's gaze with a delighted gleam in her amber eyes; Diaspora was definitely going to feast tonight!

Her words made sense and Kazimir's head immediately cleared and she laughed softly, nodding "You're right. I normally don't rush head first into danger" she then grinned and lifted her gaze toward the woman "Unless there's a damsel in distress" ugh she couldn't help it, she hadn't flirted in so long. Sitting up more confidently she watched the Elk, its flanks rising and falling with shallow, rapid breaths. "That and we do have the whole mountains"

A small peal of laughter escaped from Rue as Kazimir delivered the unexpected joke. At least, Rue assumed it was a joke... never in a million years would she imagine another wolf would want to flirt with her. 

"And what if it was a man in distress? Leave him to sort it out for himself?" Rue joked back, enjoying the feeling of laughing with a packmate. How long had it been since she had been so carefree? The lighthearted conversation was certainly a welcome distraction from the slowly dying elk, which was a somewhat grizzly sight to say the least. 

Rue nodded to Kazimir's final comment. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the idea that Diaspora claimed the entire mountain chain for itself.

Kazimir's grin cracked wider as Ruenna laughed and came back with a joke of her own, causing a snort to leave her nostrils "Then he'd be a ...mansel in distress and I'd swoop in to be his Knight" she said confidently delivering what was a horrible joke that time. She knew how awful it was but her expression held no sign of that, all swagger and playful smiles. Her mind turned to Diaspora and how the mountain was their claim even though other packs resided there. What would be done about that, were Stigmata and Mahler intending to wage war and defend them chasing them off? It was an interesting idea though it made her wary, they couldn't quite afford to do that now could they? She went over the members in her head and decided that they would at least have a chance if it happened but it would be pretty even, a challenging battle. 

Her musings about war we're interrupted as the beast groaned and she looked at it in time to see a mighty shudder go through it's body before it stilled. She looked to Ruenna and motioned for her to follow, an invitation in her gaze before she set toward the downed elk. Her approach was wary, eyes focusing on its sides and flank to search for signs of breathing but when she got close she noticed it's eyes open and glazed "It's dead. That must have sucked...I hope when I go it's quick" she said with a shiver.

Kazimir doubled down on the joke, eliciting a peal of laughter from Rue. A mansel. Stars that was terrible, but hilarious at the same time. "That's really bad," Rue chuckled out, shaking her head with a smile.

She had almost managed to forget that there was a magnificent beast slowly dying in their presence. The pair fell reverently quiet as the creature took its last, shuddering breath. 

Silently, the two of them approached the elk to investigate. Kazimir noted her own desire for a swift death when the time came, and Rue simply sighed in wordless agreement. 

"It doesn't seem fair for prey, does it? Every moment of their life is either mind-numbingly boring or perilously terrifying.  Their entire existence is just.. standing around dumbly, waiting to die like this." Thank the stars she was born a wolf.

Kazimir stared at the thing wondering how her and Ruenna would be able to tug the massive beast closer to everyone else. She figured they might have to tear off the legs and maybe at least drag it out of the water and have everyone come to it. She listened silently to Ruenna's somber words and gave a small hum "Sometimes I think they're lucky. To be ignored to danger until it's right there. They live peacefully in their unintelligence" she then cleared her throat and shook her head "On more positive subjects. I was thinking we drag it out of the water and leave it, it's too heavy for us to bring all the way to the others. We can sever the legs and store them in caches"

Kazimir indulged Rue's thought experiment for a short moment and took the opposite viewpoint; she thought the prey had the luckier end of the bargain. Such a position baffled Rue. What must Kazimir have seen in her lifetime to cause her to envy a creature for its ignorance, of all things? Such an existence was out of the question for Rue; she  would rather be dead a hundred times over than than be mindless. 

Kazimir suggested moving on to a more "positive" subject, which turned out to be a discussion of how to dismember a fresh corpse. Positive. Right. "We could bring the others to us," Rue suggested with a shrug. They were well within Diaspora territory, so it shouldn't be too much of an imposition on their packmates to answer a howl. The stars had seen it fit to deliver a feast to them, and Rue thought it would be a shame to chop it up and disperse it before allowing everyone the chance to dine and mingle as a pack.

She stared at Ruenna for a moment and then laughed "You're right. So much simpler" she agreed sounding a bit embarrassed and shaking her head before she lifted her muzzle and called for the others. She then moved to her packmate and gave her a playful bump to the shoulder "It was nice officially meeting you Ruenna" she said this warmly and then stepped toward the carcass. She sniffed it tentatively before deciding she wasnt hungry yet and nodding a farewell to Rue and walking off. 

last post!

Kazimir agreed that calling the pack would be easiest, and then she proceeded to do so. However, what she did next was incredibly odd... she spoke a farewell and left. 

...What? Didn't Kazimir want to eat with the pack, or at least socialize? That was the entire point of a feast, after all. "You too," came Rue's reply, faint and somewhat belated in her confusion. By the time she got the words out, she was speaking to Kazimir's retreating form. Huh. Perhaps the woman wasn't big on crowds? 

Shaking her head in wonder, Rue settled in to wait on the others to appear. She hoped the new arrivals wouldn't be too confused, answering Kazimir's howl when there was no Kazimir at the source.