chase

@Nefarious

Star had gotten up today and done her common run alongside the creek as usual. Now she was near the end of it and she slowed down, beginning to walk back. Soon she caught the scent of something. She begun to follow it. She reached Wapun Meadow. There was a large herd of sheep, baaing and grazing. Star realized they were all just standing there, they hadn't noticed her! She could take down a lot... Except, she'd need some help. If she chased them they might just run and she could never catch any. She needed to corner them, and she hoped someone would help. Perhaps she could just wait till someone smelled the scent of sheep and came and they could work together. Or perhaps Star would have to work alone.

A light rain had begun to fall at some point, splashing against the burgundy and over-creamed coffee colored male's back as he moved through Swiftcurrent Creek's territory. By now, he was able to navigate through the Creek's internal territories without the pressing feeling of getting utterly lost in the process. Soon, his explorations and the demand to continue to fill his private stores of medicinal and poisonous plants would take him further into the uncharted for him free territories of the Wilds. Nefarious did not oft stray far from pack lands, though this was mostly because as the shaman, at least as far as Akkuma went, he and his Master were in high demand, whether for a physical healing, or a spiritual one. There were always rituals to prepare for, alters to maintain, or loa to commune with. The work of a shaman was never finished, and now given that it was just him, the demand felt to be even higher. At least on the spectrum of his faith. He was alone in that sense, left to build and accordingly maintain alters on his lonesome. Some of the aspects were missing, if only because Nefarious was left to assume that no other followed his faith in the Wilds. This assumption felt ignorant to him, but until proven otherwise, or until he was able to convert it was an expected truth.

The rain did not appear to be in any sort of rush to pick up to a down pour anytime soon, of which Nefarious was thanking Atka and Sos profusely for internally. Each tendril of fur was slowly curling with the linger dampness that would not dry until he sought shelter against the elements; but there was much to do and no time to fret over something insignificant. After all, he wasn't going to melt. The shaman had been patrolling the borders when he had came across the scent of a pack mate that led out of the territory. Curiosity begged him to give pause; steps ceased as he lowered his muzzle towards the ground, snuffling at the scent. The wolves of Swiftcurrent Creek were free to come and go so long as they didn't go entirely AWOL, which was no different than how it had been at Akkuma. Intruding wasn't really Nefarious' cup of tea but he had made it a mission to meet as many of his pack mates as he could and if he didn't take the opportunities when they arose then he wouldn't be fulfilling that personal task.

Having convinced himself to pursue the trail, Nefarious lifted his leg to mark the place in the borders where he would, hopefully begin at when he returned and followed after it idly. Nefarious wasn't sure for how long he'd been following the trail, only that he knew that he'd reached his destination when he came across an ivory cloaked female whose scent was heavy with Swiftcurrent Creek. A soft chuff was given to announce his presence to her before he lingered there, pumpkin orange eyes focused upon her, giving her the choice to either accept his company or reject it should she wish to be alone.

wow... Your posts are long. I hope it's okay if mine aren't that long...

It begun to drizzle lightly, raindrops rolling off her snow white fur. Star whirled around at the sound, so concentrated on her prey that she hadn't noticed him. He was a brown wolf, darker on top and more of a creamy color on the rest of him. His eyes were amber. He smelled of Swiftcurrent, but not heavily. He must be newish. She momentarily wondered whether she should stay silent or if she should give up the hunt and say hi.
Star chose the good of the pack's health over being polite. She made eye contact with him and gave him a polite nod, before lifting her paw. She pointed in the direction of the sheep herd. Luckily she was behind a bunch of tall grass. Hopefully he would smell the sheep and understand they could hunt. Perhaps afterward they could exchange names and stuff. Star hoped he was willing to hunt with her.

That's fine. :-) Also, sorry he's being temperamental. xD

Nefarious and his plush, snow white companion, for a moment simply did nothing further than stare at one another. As the shaman assessed her, he felt sure that she was, likewise, assessing him. Nefarious expected her to break the silence further by introducing herself, since, technically he had made the first move with his chuff. She did not particularly accept or reject his company, either way. They made eye contact across the distance and she offered a courteous nod to him, though both remained rather short lived. Nefarious watched, a little annoyed, as her attention went back to whatever it was she'd been peering at in the first place, gesturing with her paw. A frown creased Nefarious' lips, unsure if she was attempting to direct his attention or shoo him off. There was a chance, the shaman allowed, that perhaps she was mute and couldn't speak. Annoyed, the shaman looked away then, finally what she, presumably, had her attention on caught his eye. It was a small herd of wild sheep, their wool making their bodies appear larger than they truly were. He looked back at her, wondering if that she was being so quiet but in all honesty, it made sense to Nefarious that his chuff would have scared them off if they weren't entirely oblivious to what was happening in the world around them, currently. Vocally communicating with him likely wasn't going to, either. Nefarious was wise enough to put the puzzle pieces together: she as looking to hunt them. He contemplated leaving, however, surely she could handle a sheep by herself. If she wanted his help then she could take three seconds to lowly speak to him. After all, he wasn't a mind reader, and just because he assumed that was what she was doing didn't make it true.

As the male didn't react she exaggerated rolling her eyes.[size=x-small]"Hunt." [/size]She growled lowly. Was this new member really so stupid that he couldn't understand some gestures? [size=x-small]"Corner them. Herd them. Pick them off."[/size] She whispered to him. And hopefully he knew not to kill off the while population, so that the species would still stick around as future prey. He better help her out-not only was she a way higher rank than him, but they were low on prey. The more the merrier, and she would be delighted at possibly filling up the caches with a few sheep.

The pallid colored woman's low growl of the word was highly unappreciated by the shaman who took her attitude on a personal level. Should she had admitted to the fact that she thought him incompetent he would have told her that talking lowly to one another wasn't bound to scare them off if his loud chuff to get her attention hadn't done it in the first place. As it was, he sensed that she was irritated with him, though he could not read her mind. He could understand her gestures well enough, but that wasn't the particular point in the matter. The shaman didn't have to help her do anything, and half had a mind to do what Suluk would have done and just let her hunt by herself. The Kesuk was silent as he stared, with heavy indifference towards the sheep, since he was fairly sure he couldn't stare at her burn a hole through her for getting an attitude with him. Still, Atka worked to soothe the irritation that Sos sought to stoke within him, and with a heavy breath Nefarious decided to shake it off, and remember his place within this pack. It was very likely that she was higher ranked than him and he was not necessarily eager to have the higher ranked wolves running off to tattle on him to the leadership. “Lead the way,” Nefarious murmured with a sardonic smile tugging at the edges of his lips. After all, this was her hunt.

She nodded, not replying with words. She slowly crept forward, making as little noise as possible. Her eyes scanned the herd. Most of the sheep seemed young, strong, and healthy. As she watched them waddle around and graze, she noticed one particular adult. She could be wrong, but he appeared to have a slight limp in his right back leg. Star raced forward into the clearing. She didn't look to see if the man had followed her lead. Instead she attempted leaping on to the thing's furry back. It baaed a ton as the other sheep rocketed away, but still remained nearby to watch. The sheep begun to buck wildly like a bull, and Star was thrown off, hitting the ground hard. She got up and shook off some dust, getting ready to attack again.

Nefarious could hunt well enough to keep himself sustained, and to fill the caches when he noticed that the one closest to his den site was getting particularly low but he had never considered himself much of a hunter beyond what nature deemed was norm for his species. He did not suck at it, but he did not particularly excel at it either, neither did he ever consider it as a potential trade for himself. His focus had always been on 'Healer' or 'Medic' as it'd been called in Akkuma. The part that Atka reigned over within the neutral shaman yearned to heal, while Sos' domain within Nefarious deigned to hurt and in some cases kill with poisons. What healed you in small doses could kill you in large doses. Life had a tendency of being ironic like that. Nefarious' pumpkin gaze followed the woman as she took off, taking the lead whether because she'd seen his gesture or because she was irritated and tired of waiting for him. Smoldering gaze watched her with an absence as she managed to fling herself on her target's back and managed to get bucked off.

It was then that the shaman leapt forth to join her, snapping at it's heels while carefully trying to avoid being kicked by it. It's wool was thick due to it's feral life, meaning that it's throat would have it protecting it as nature's padding. For now, Nefarious hung back from going for it's neck, content with snapping at it's heels, watching it's weakened leg — that which gave it it's slight limp — attempting to strategist when he would attack it.

finish up soon? If you dont want her to catch it yet tell me and ill change it.

Star recovered from the impact quickly. She got up and shook off some dust before racing towards the sheep's neck. Leaping on it once more, she stretched her neck forward, trying to reach its throat. Her white fangs snapped at it as she finally found her fangs nice and snug within its skin. It baaed uncontrollably as its thick wool began to turn crimson. The amber eyed wolf snapping at its heels helped a lot. It was beginning to trip up trying to avoid the bites, and was losing its balance. It clumsily tripped over its own leg as he snapped at its ankles. It wobbled just a moment before falling. She bit its neck once more to make sure it would die soon. She made eye contact with it accidentally as she glanced at its face. I'm sorry. Thank you for giving your life to help us survive. May you live a long life in the afterlife. Star didn't really believe in the afterlife, but she still added it to her thoughts. Sometimes right after a hunt she would feel guilty for killing the animal, which was why sometimes in her head she thanked it or apologized, but she would still eat the prey. Guilt came with the hunt, but she knew it was for a good cause- the life of Swiftcurrent Creek.

Since I have the tenth post and you're looking to wrap this up I'm going to go ahead and get this archived for us. :-)

Their disorganized teamwork — lest it felt disorganized to Nefarious — paid off by some small miracle. With Nefarious snapping at the creature's heels it left it distracted enough for the pallid woman to regroup and come in for a second attack.. Nefarious saw a blur of white out of the corner of his eye as she lunged again, though he did not pay her more attention than that, more determined to avoid being kicked in the face by their bucking prey. He snapped again, this time aiming for the injured leg and made contact allowing his companion the opportunity to end the hunt. She seemed to understand and took it, and the creature fell with a heavy thud against the frozen earth. Having ascertained that it had landed to the ground and would not rise again as the woman went for it's throat, the thick wool that protected it stained crimson with it's own warm life blood, Nefarious turned his back to her. With a silent last glimpse in her direction he departed, not willing to stick around even if it cost him his share of the mutton — which his cold behavior no doubt would. The shaman believed in the old saying 'an eye for an eye' and figured that even if it cost him some fresh meat he had no intention of sticking around and speaking with her since it had been made apparent to the shaman that she had no interest in speaking with him, either.

Figuring his time could be better spent elsewhere the shaman in his stormy mood left her to her prize in silence that he had no real intention to break anytime soon. What she did with her prize was of no concern to him.