Barrow Fields huntokar, destroyer

@Blu

The days get colder and she is reminded of home. It is colder longer further north and this gives her a little comfort. She’ll be in something familiar, despite the ocean. The cold and wet winds often make the days worse and she keeps refuge in Hougeda, or the redwoods, and tries to stay out of their ire during high tide. She has not done a lot of exploring since she has arrived at Drageda, considering half the pack had been missing for a good portion of it, and the threat of winter on their heels has kept her close on the off chance something were to go wrong.

On this cold day, clouds heavy in the distance, she moves through an open plain with a light coating of snow. The brief flurry must not have reached the edge of the cliffs, the air too wet so close to the water, and it makes Ajatar long to stay further inland. She has spent little time near the sea, only making Drageda feel less like home and more like a temporary stay.

Further in the distance she sees the skulking of three deer, moving through the pasture as if there isn’t a care in the world. Ajatar’s tail lashes behind her as she crouches low, using the curve of the ground to her advantage and her white coat blending into the background, and she finally feels a feeling of belonging. Not lingering on the notion long, she begins her stalking of the small herd.

253

The Barrow Fields had become a favored haunt of the creamy shewolf. There was something very pleasing about the way the mist hung over the grasses, and now that snow was falling, she was reminded - painfully, desperately, lovingly - of the flat, endless stretches of snow in her homeland. When she was feeling homesick, she'd take to the fields and run until her lungs ached, until the mountains grew too close for comfort, until the trees broke through her free spirit and reminded her that she was in an unfamiliar land.

Today, she was hungry. The fare in Constantine's woods was plentiful, but light. Birds, rabbits, squirrels, fish from the distant shore. They'd not yet come together for a hunt. They'd yet to come together for anything.

Here, though, stood a stranger. A stranger except that she was built like Sunspot, and wreathed in a thick, white pelt like many of her kin. Spot watched her as she caught sight of something - deer - and began to stalk toward them, her heart aching with that terrible sickness of longing. She couldn't shake it.

The creamy femme moved forward, circling around the woman and her quarry until she had entered the other's eyesight, tail wagging in friendliness and ears pushed forward toward the deer - Can I help?

She catches movement from the corner of her eyes, away from the herd, and she flicks her green eyes off to the side briefly. Not wanting to linger long on the movement, she looks back to the herd and moves just as smoothly forward as she had been until it is obvious the other is trying to obtain her attention. Once more she breaks away from her goal to see the shake of her tail and forward position of her ears. Her own flicker upward, breaking her concentration, and with one single shake of her tail, she bobs her nose invitingly forward. While some part of her selfishly wishes to ward off a stranger, she does not have her own pack mates with her, and it is foolish to turn away something when she is perfectly capable of playing nice. For a little while.

Two of the deer have paused in their tracks, rummaging through the light snow as if they’d found something particular tasty. Another one, larger than the others, continues, and her eyes fall back to the pair that has slowed. Between the two of them, they are likely to pull something down, but she moves slowly to further distance herself but curve around one particularly wide hill. Looking back to the stranger, she points to the two to divide.

222

The woman made herself easy enough to read; Sunspot fell into place, keeping one ear quirked toward the other as she began driving a wedge between their prey and the rest of the herd. Her coat does not blend into the snow like the stranger's, so she moved achingly slow, keeping to the scrubby bushes and half-covered grass when she could. What she wanted was to burst forth and give chase - to do as she had not in so long - but the stranger was there first, and Sunspot knew that the kill should be on her terms.

Having positioned herself in the right place to divide the pair from the herd, Sunspot flicked her eyes back toward the stranger, awaiting another signal. It was possible, from where she stood, to dart forward and attack. She would not bring one of them down that way, but she could wound it. She could get it running away from its fellows. She could begin the slow process of exhaustion-by-exsanguination that often led to a successful kill.

From behind a well-grassed mound, Blu watched the drama of the impromptu hunting party unfold. Befuddlement racked her brain as she tried to understand why seeming strangers would unite in a circumstance so intimate as hunting. Her best guess was they were packmates who happened upon one another at the perfect time. 

As she observed the lead hunter slowly nearing the herd, coming in and out of view as it stealthily stalked from one hiding spot to the next, their plan became apparent to Blu. She felt excitement brimming in her chest, and began to shake with restlessness and adrenaline. It seemed instinct was kicking in full-throttle, but her desire to please the spirits was even stronger than hunger, and suddenly she wished more than anything to procure a deer organ or two for a spur-of-the-moment ritual... Even if that meant partnering up with complete strangers, on top of risking their ire.

The eager she-wolf decided her best bet was the make a wide circle in the direction she could best guess the two offset deer would run toward and startle them long enough for the other two wolves to catch up and make a grab at them, or perhaps send the deer right to them, but it was always hard to predict what those wily hooved beasts would do. She flattened herself as close to the ground as possible and slithered off to her target destination. There was a slim chance the other wolves would catch a glimpse of her, but it was unlikely seeing they were so focused on the prey.

Blu completed her wide circle and was now out of sight of both herd and fellow wolf. She strained her ears, nose, and eyes in their direction and waited quietly, while practically vibrating out of her skin.

There is a third scent upon the wind that Ajatar does not take note of. The stranger in the distance, and the deer, are what has her focus and she only assumes it is mixed in with the one across the field. She takes direction easily from her distance and she moves slowly, slinking down while her shoulders angle and define. Her back legs lock into place as she anticipates the upcoming movement. Soon she’ll be on the chase and she wants to be ready. Hunting with a stranger offers plenty of negatives and her stomach rumbles with desire and the other so far has fallen into place, waiting for the second. Her nose lifts once and she silently chuffs, her lips ruffling out with a puff of air, and she inches forward and waits for her to make the next move.

142

Sunspot did not notice the third member of their party, either. Her eyes were darting quickly between the stranger and their prey, and as soon as she saw the shewolf's signal, Sunspot burst forth from the brush and flew at the pair, startling both halves of the herd. The far herd immediately began to flee to the east, and the stranger's two tried to follow. Sunspot was there, though, warding them back with savage bites and bristling barks.

The pair reluctantly parted from their fellows, allowing themselves to be herded - for the moment - toward where Blu waited, unnoticed by Spot and her prey.

She flicked her ears toward the stranger, her tail wagging cheerfully as she kept pace with the deer. One was already limping, and the other had rivlets of blood rippling down its flank.

It seemed everything was unfolding smoothly as a newborn cub's rump. Blu heard the panicked crashing of hooves grow closer and closer until they were in her sights, with an eager wolf on their heels. They were headed a bit to her left, so she turned her body to be aimed at the nearest doe's flank as it passed. When the moment came she launched like a missile with heat-seeking fangs, but the deer, with a terrified bleat, veered to the right and used its forward momentum to slam against Blu instead of the other way around, knocking the wolf back and momentarily stunning her. The deer only faltered for a moment, but it too seemed winded by the close call, thus making it an easier target for the other two hunters. The other deer had rushed off in the opposite direction, but Blu needed a moment to shake herself off and see what the other wolves decided to do before rejoining.

Everything clicks into gear and Sunspot takes the command. Ajatar waits only a few seconds—until the deer are separated—before she launches forward. She closes the distance quickly, slipping through the lower portion of the hills until she’s close enough to rival the other. The smell of blood lingers in the air and she notes one of them has a gimp. Their target is more or less handed to them on a silver platter and Ajatar uses a little bit of force to move faster and catch up.

That is, however, until someone comes out of nowhere.

Focused on the task at hand, keeping her new companion within her sight has torn her attention from the outside world. Their bubble shrunk down to the size of the deer. When it collides with another wolf entirely, she’s forced to alter the way she moves. Everything slows down abruptly but both deer and wolf are stunned. Making the decision to pursue the deer, deal with the new wolf later, she moves around and lunches forward, hopeful to have her former companion join in in order to take the creature down.

Jaws lock down in front of the shoulder, at the base of the throat, and the creature staggers the next several steps.

211

Okay, so - she hadn't been expecting another wolf to crop up right in front of them, and by the look on the stranger's face, neither had she. And, since the second stranger hadn't been invited, Sunspot felt it was rather rude of them to simply charge into an ongoing hunt. The shewolf snapped scoldingly in their direction as she passed, but hurried to help her stranger by charging around the limping deer and barking in its face. This didn't slow it down much, but it did falter a bit more, and slowed as it tried to change directions once more.

Sunspot darted forward, throwing herself into the deer's side and doing her best to cling there with her teeth and claws. The beast slowed once more, trying to remove its painful passengers, and wobbled where it stood.

The added help of the stranger is enough to slow it down. It shakes and twists and turns and does everything in its depleting power to try and shake free of the two beasts, one on either side. It stumbles, wobbles back and forth, and with a quick regrip of her jaws, she punctures the jugular vein. It only takes a few more seconds before the deer can’t handle it anymore, a loud, pained groan followed by shallow, agonal breaths. Blood coats both sides of her mouth and part of her chest and though the prey isn’t completely dead, it might as well be.

Ajatar spins around temporarily forgetting the kill at their feet. She doesn’t even pay attention to the first stranger, searching for the idiot that threw them off course. While they still succeeded in bringing down their next meal, she has something else to take care of. The third wolf isn’t too far and Ajatar takes off again, forgetting the strain in her lungs from her last chase, and with several loud barks, she chases off the disoriented wolf with clashing teeth near her tail side. She slows to a trot once she’s gone, circling back around and surveying for the aftermath of the hunt.

When she gets back to the kill, the other stranger is close and her fur bristles around the nape of her neck. She doesn't let her get too close before she bares her teeth and snaps in her direction, chasing her away from the kill too.