Dragoncrest Cliffs Hang Out

AW but maybe @Chacal ? Vague post-meeting?

Njord had seen some new faces at the pack meeting, most notably the pale man with the torn up face, and desired to get to know his cohorts better. The young back and gold kid who had sat next to him in silence was attentive with a kind expression. She looked quite different than the rest of the wolves of (the newly named) Sapphique pack but seemed the most approachable.

On an unusually warm November afternoon, Njord finished a patrol of Dragoncrest's borders and began to search for her.

She'd seen it disappear into a burrow, but had only caught sight of the back end of it as it had waddled in. It was bigger than a mouse, but it had a longer tail than a rabbit. It wasn't dark and muscly like a badger, but rather squat and tawny- and had caught sight of her well before she'd seen it. The groundhog had wanted nothing to do with the new wolves who had come to claim the land it had already called home- and thus far, it had escaped becoming a meal by remaining vigilant and remaining close to its burrow. It would be soon time for it to hibernate- but it wanted to get some extra snacking in before it did. 

So she waited, huddled in a dark puddled against the ground not far from the creature's burrow, waiting for it to come back out again. The young girl had boundless patience- but it seemed like the groundhog knew better than to tempt fate, and had decided to take a nap to wait out her surveillance. Still- she would wait a little while longer, hoping it might poke its little nose out again so she could see what it was- and potentially catch it.

Njord smelled the air for the girl, but the breeze was rife with salt and pine. Kaertok here, Grímnismál there. Eventually, he discovered the wolf he was looking for. The islander entered a copse of trees, Sapphique’s daughter firmly rooted before a narrow burrow in wait of its dweller. He watched her for a moment in silence, amused. One silver ear twisted, listening to the creature scritch-scratching at the dirt inside. Eventually, he cautiously came up besiders her.

“Oy! What’ve ya got there lass?” he whispered, falling to his stomach and shuffling up next to her (though, as a much bigger wolf, the effort was quite clumsy).

Her ears flicked forward and she glanced over her shoulder when she was spoken to, and she looked up to see, to her delight, the male she'd sat next to at the meeting- the one with the auburn tail. Like a feathery banner her own tail waved from side to side, sweeping across the dry ground behind her as she greeted him with a bob of her head and a keen smile as he moved forward, crawling, to inspect her find. She gestured toward the hole in the ground, where the groundhog remained deep inside, happy to avoid the unwanted company. She uttered a series of soft breaths as she inched toward the small den's mouth again, as though pleading for the creature to come out so she could get a look at it...And perhaps hunt it down.

The young girl greeted him with a bright expression and a wave of her tail. It made Njord feel accepted and happy that she welcomed his presence with such delight. He assumed Erzuilie was the child’s biological mother, because of her elegant features and gold accents, but he wouldn’t know for sure unless he asked. Two wives – two mothers – was still a foreign conundrum to him.

His pack-mate gestured back to the burrow, and Njord peered in – but he could barely see the glint of the groundhog’s angry eyes. He sniffed sniffed. Rodent? What was that? Unlike the fauna on Meares Island, mainland prey was incredibly diverse in Teekon. His red tail wagged in excitement, child-like.

“I’ll dig ‘er out from tha’ back!” he exclaimed, and hopped to his feet. Though he was still learning to hunt the wildlife in the forest, Njord was an excellent beachcomber. Digging out mussels, crabs, and other sea-critters was practically his specialty. He moved round’ the burrow’s backside, to where the body of the tunnel might be, and began to fervently excavate the groundhog’s home. His large paws would till the soil until their quarry attempted to (hopefully) escape into Chacal’s waiting pincers.

Chacal was an inqusitive wolf, and one who was very sensitive to the energy levels presented by others. With the sudden uptick in interest expressed by the red-tailed wolf, Chacal bounded to her feet and pattered her front paws against the ground excitedly as he suggested they should dig the rodent out from its den by digging in from the back, or where the end of its tunnel might be. She hadn't thought of that- but it was an absolutely brilliant plan and made her burble excitedly. "Ch'vais ta-ta-ta-ta. Aaaa-ta-ta...Ta-ta..." She trailed off as she found herself coming to a verbal dead end in fetching up on a word that she couldn't find. She'd also failed to realize that perhaps Njord did not speak the language her Maman spoke and had attempted to communicate in one of her two mother tongues which might also have gone over Njord's head. Feeling a bit self-aware, knowing that she probably sounded like a babbling baby, she simply did what she'd tried to tell him she'd do- and flattened herself to the ground not far from the entrance to the groundhog's tunnel, to wait and see if it would come out when it heard someone digging nearby.

In the moment, Njord scarcely noticed Chacal’s unusual language or lack there of. All he could see was her couched like a tiny black jaguar, eyes as big as moons.

The longer he tilled, the more agitated the rodent became. It squeaked and chirped in protest, but its cries only roused the pirate further until there was no more tunnel left to dig. Suddenly, the burrow collapsed and the groundhog was forced from its capsized chambers. It scurried out what had been its front doors, panicked to be cornered between two predators.

“Ho!” Njord cried as his head popped up, covered in dirt, “scuttle ‘em lass!” The chubby hog scurried away from Njord, the larger wolf, and hoped to evade Chacal.

I rolled a bummer so she won't kill it XD Feel free to have Njord intervene as you'd like!

She'd been so focused on staring at the dark entrance of the creature's den that Njord's exclamation caused her to spring into the air, leaping to her toes just in time to see the groundhog come fumbling from the mouth of the den when the rest of it collapsed. The dry, brittle earth would have been a merciless way to die, though its chances didn't appear to be much better when it found itself confronted not only by the wolf who'd forced it out into the open, and another who landed clumsily and scrambled to get some momentum going to chase it. 

The groundhog wasn't terribly fast, nor was it very agile, but Chacal was still an inexperienced hunter, and not quite as committed to killing the uncanny prey, as she likely would be when she got old enough to know how foolish it would be to waste such an opportunity. Hunting techniques, after all, stemmed from play- and she hadn't quite bridged the gap between playing with prey and simply killing it. So she bounded after the creature with yips and barks, antagonizing it more than anything else. She even became so bold as to hop from one side of the groundhog to the other as it waddled away- thoroughly enjoying just how much more spry she was than the short, chunky creature she harassed.

Njord loosed a loud, joyous laugh as the groundhog gave fright to Chacal and scurried away. The red-tail jumped to his paws and bounded (nay – frolicked) to cut off their quarry. This was a delightful game! Chacal danced around the much slower creature. It was wonderful to see the predator inside her awaken! Njord, too, was inexperienced with mainland prey… but he knew how to end it.

Their game continued as the pair repeatedly chased and cut-off poor Mr. Groundhog until he was exhausted. Njord took a hard nip at at the fat rodent. Adeep, bleeding gash in it’s haunch. The islander took on the role of mentor in this little escapade as they practiced their hunting tactics. He circled their prey, but moved aside to let the dark girl finish the job.

It was mostly a game to Chacal, who took advantage of the situation to familiarize herself with what this creature was, what it looked like, and how it moved. Unlike a porcupine, it wasn't dangerous to her, which she found somewhat peculiar. The creature's only defense mechanism, it seemed, was the fact that it lived mostly underground- as it lacked a shield of prickly quills, a disgusting musk, or any manner of really defending itself. It had teeth which she could see- but she wasn't frightened of them; they were somewhat similar to a rabbit's teeth, she thought and thus, fairly harmless.

They'd worn the creature out and when Njord moved in to bite at it, she felt suddenly defensive about their quarry, and issued a yip when he did so. The creature was too exhausted to run away from them, and gave up trying. It hunkered down against the ground, which more or less ended the fun- but Chacal was intelligent, and found a new way to play. 

She bounded between Njord and the groundhog, and dipped into a playbow. She issued a small growl, baring her teeth in a cheshire grin- to challenge him to try and get past her to the groundhog. With her posture, she claimed the prey as hers- and if he wanted it, he'd have to get past her.

Apologies for my terrible sandbagging! Last post from me to wrap it up… we need a current thread soon! :)

The groundhog waddled, exhausted by the harassment. Njord, too, was learning about this maindland prey. Mostly, that is was fat, slow, and could be dug out if the ground was soft enough. His mouth watered hungrily as his blue eyes fixated on the quarry, half-expecting the young she-wolf to pounce.

However, Chacal’s defensive yip spurred Njord to spring away with a great laugh. “Forgive me, lass! Couldn’t help m’self!” he woofed playfully as she dropped into a play-bow. Njord mirrored her as his paws hit the ground. He turned his head to stare at her out from the corner of his eye, a low grrrrr rumbling in his throat. Suddenly, he popped up and hopped at her, turning this way and that as he pretended to spar.

He would continue playing with Chacal until they both grew weary, enjoying their time together.