Dragoncrest Cliffs return of the pistolero
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Ooc — Kat
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There was a shift in the atmosphere. Haunt sensed it, even though she couldn't make sense of it. She stepped softly out of the cave to find snow falling thickly. But there was no wind. Everything was very still. Breathless, Haunt decided, her yellow eyes scanning the nearby beach before she decided to take advantage of the kinder conditions and climb up to the top of the cliffs, to the forested breadth of the territory.

As she wove through the trees, skimming along the deep drifts of snow, Haunt caught a vaguely familiar scent. Licking her chops, she hastened her step, following a natural slope in the landscape that led her toward the rocky escarpments near the southeastern fringe of Sapphique's claim. Just beyond the borders, she spotted it: a young doe lying in the snow. She was upright but breathing heavily, with no obvious wounds.

Haunt crouched instinctively, her mind racing. Was the deer injured? Or would she run at the first sign of wolves? After a moment of deliberation, the young huntress decided to take a gamble. She raised her head and howled, a short note turning into a longer one when she saw the deer startle and try to jump to her feet, only to tumble back into the snow.
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Njord heard the teen’s abrupt call. Prey. He hurried in her direction like the steam engine Snow-piercer, making easy work of the drifts in his path. Slowly, he was becoming more adapted to life in the North of Teekon. His endurance increased as his winter pelt grew plush to fend off bitter cold. New strength build atop his frame from the constant plowing of snow. He was beginning to look less and less than the islander Erzulie had met upon the moors and more like a man who belong in the taiga’s coast.

He found Haunt quickly and moved besides her, silently prowling. He could see the doe struggling to move. An injury? Kigipigak’s vexing insults haunted the seafarer in the back of his mind as his hot breath furled like smoke in the quiet, windless air. He was hungry. They all were. He would not let a prize like this escape from them.

Cerulean gaze flickered to Haunt as he paused. Perhaps others would join them shortly.
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haunt's call for straying prey drew erzulie as well, and she was pleasantly surprised to see njord there as well, both focused upon the poor straggling thing. with a warm glance of her mintgold eyes flickering between the younger pair, erzulie stepped forward.
they were both winterbuilt, and hopefully used to the way sapphique lay her stone curves against the sea. the obsidian moved closer to test the animal, nostrils flaring as she tested its scent.
a snap of her teeth to make the doe move again, and erzulie flirted backward out of reach.
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A growl rumbled deep in her throat when she realized the doe would be unable to flee. It was tempting to crowd her, work on wearing her down even more to make her easier prey for the pack when it arrived. Haunt did creep a little closer, jaws slavering and tail wagging as a mixture of grunts and whines spilled from her maw.

Njord was the first to heed her call, prowling up beside her. Haunt's ears pinned and she ducked head and tail. She bumped his chin with her nose, then pointed her muzzle at the doe. She had begun to struggle again at the sight of two wolves, making another abortive attempt to stand when a third strode onto the scene and immediately lunged.

Haunt watched this with sharp eyes, noting how Erzulie fell back right away. Haunt yipped softly to her leader, begging for a command or instructions of some sort. She was both inexperienced and subordinate, eager to follow Erzulie's and even Njord's guidance to make this hunt a success.
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Haunt fondly welcomed him before they were joined by Erzulie. Now a hunting party of three, they had good odds against their injured quarry, despite their differences in age and skill level.

Their golden kingpin was quick to move. She took the lead and lunged at the immobile doe. SNAP! Her tactical fangs pressured the beast. It struggled, but floundered. Njord turned to Haunt as she yipped. “With me, to tha rear,” he advised, slipping away through the trees and rounding the doe’s backside. His long legs made easy work of the snow, and his teeth sought purchase in their prey’s hide, hoping to burden the animal with his weight while it was distracted by Erzulie.
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erzulie had been focused upon the glint of those still-sharp hooves against the snow. downed though it was, the doe would harm whomever strayed too close, and the harlot refused to let that target become haunt or njord.
it occurred to her that she was rather out of practice as a teacher for those who were not children; she returned to herself, a wave of her plume slicing a lash of approval through the cold air for their gambit. mintgold eyes watched njord head through the white, and then she was snapping toward the chin of the deer, feinting, harrying, nipping the shoulder here and there as the animal surged and bellowed in the drift, unable to rise as sapphique converged upon it.
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Warning: violence.

Njord directed her to follow him to the doe's rear. Haunt eagerly paced toward him, then loped in his wake as he made a wide arc through the trees. She whined under her breath when their trajectory carried them out of sight of the deer and Erzulie, though they hastened back onto the scene a few heartbeats later. In the blink of an eye, he flung himself at the deer's flank, while their leader continued to harry her at the fore.

Haunt lingered for only the space of a second before she eagerly joined the fray. In fact, she was so driven to participate in her first big game hunt, she didn't even give technique a second's thought. She was a flurry of furious, savage enthusiasm as she instinctively lunged for the doe's backside. Here, she unwittingly discovered the source of the ungulate's weakness: an infected wound hidden by the tail which now whipped at her face as her fangs sought the pain point.

The rotting sore smelled horrific and tasted even worse, making Haunt gag even as she latched and began to shake her head rapidly. She nearly gave herself whiplash, so furiously did she worry the doe's hindquarters, causing the prey to buck and writhe in absolute agony. Still the young huntress did not release, ruthlessly ripping and tearing the flesh apart.

Only when one of the doe's hind legs struck her a glancing blow to the chest did Haunt finally relent and fall back, slavering, her face and chest slathered with gore that dripped into the snow.
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Njord held on firmly, puncturing the doe’s hide and giving the meat a good shake every time its fighting waned. Erzulie’s snapping jaws did their work. The doe had to raise her to avoid the queen from snatching the windpipe. which, in turn, kept its rear on the ground offering Haunt an opportunity to join the fray.

The yearling followed Njord’s lead with vicious zeal. He could see, out of the corner of his eye, a flurry of white snapping, twisting, and tearing. She seemed to have found a particularly sensitive spot for the deer moaned out in response and fought anew. She heaved and bucked in an effort to shed the predators from her skin. With great effort, she kicked. Though Njord’s field of vision was limited, he could see the fringe of Haunt’s pelt cast away.

Had she been kicked? Was she hurt? Concern bloomed in his chest, but it also fueled the fire to finish the fight.

Njord bore his full weight down upon the animal in an attempt to restrain or roll it, and provide Erzulie a window to make the finishing bite.
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haunt was palpably thrilled by the hunt. the obsidian kept the bulk of her attention trained to the delicate deadly dance delivered by she and the doe; two steps, sideways, backward, forward. all the while the scent of deerblood grew thick and rich in the air, hunger lending itself to her more pointed attacks.
the girl's fur, stained with red; their quarry had kicked. erzulie glanced from her eye-corner, but her duty fell to the kill. njord's powerful young body pinned the struggling creature to the crimson-smeared drifts, and the harlot lunged gracefully for its throat. 
she bore it to the ground and waited until its airway had succumbed beneath her jaws, and the deer beneath the might of the pack wolves.
panting, erzulie unlatched her jaws from the bitten flesh and looked toward haunt, pride mingling with concern. "are you hurt?"
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The adrenaline stopped her from feeling any pain and Haunt didn't pause long enough to make an assessment. While Erzulie and Njord finished felling the doe, she flirted back in briefly to once more snap her jaws at her backside. Driven by blood lust, she only managed to snag the flickering tail. This she ripped from the doe's body in a spray of blood, earning a final twitch as the Obsidian put her out of her misery.

Blood pooled in the snow around the carcass as the two adults turned their attention upon her. The severed tail dropped from her mouth. Haunt blinked and looked down at herself, smeared with blood that quickly cooled in the wintry air. She cleared her throat and rumbled a low, "I'm fine." Her chest smarted a bit, though not enough that she wanted to bother with it.

Instead, her yellow eyes fixed on the doe, dead in the reddening snow. She had found their quarry, she had helped bring her down and kill her. Haunt panted, ignoring the tufts of fur clinging to teeth and tongue as the rush of her first big game hunt swelled within her. She wasn't just fine, she was fantastic.
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The doe fought against his grasp, but Njord was dogged in his hold. His spry sinew and strong muscles kept the prey still long enough for Erzulie’s experienced fangs to find their mark. The queen strangled the beast, pinching its throat. It fell to it’s knees until it turned on its side. The fight was over.

It was the largest kill they had made since the storms began. Njord’s heart thrummed with victory and his bellied rumbled in hunger. He stepped back, the warm blood still fresh on his maw. Haunt stood besides him, the white tail of the deer hanging from her mouth. Njord let out a loud AWOO and cheered while Erzulie inquired more thoughtfully about any injury.

“’Atta girl!” he crowed, headbutting Haunt’s shoulder. “Yer a gen-u-ine pistol! All fangs an’ fury! An’ ya got hawkeyes in yer skull. What a find!” he proudly commended the young wolf for such a good hunt. He nipped at her playfully, still energized from the fight.

He was more gentle and courteous to Erzulie. She was their captain, after all. Njord slid past her, his tongue darting out to lick her chin. “Sapphique will feast today!” he proclaimed to the huntress. She had led the charge and landed the final blow. Njord’s deferential body language was clear, but he licked his chops as the smell of fresh meat wafted towards them. He waited, now, for Erzulie to feed first or call the others.
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last for me! ty for a fantastic thread

haunt was steady, njord was jubilant. erzulie found herself laughing along breathless as his happiness spilled over, reaching forward to exchange a nose-press and a wave of her tail to each of the successful hunters. "i agree. a pistol," she grinned at haunt. "an' a cannon," she joked to njord.
the animal lay between their paws. erzulie pivoted around it and began to tear at the underbelly, surfacing with a trailing of heart muscle and a strip of fat. she paused once to lift red-stained muzzle toward the heavens, summoning the rest of the pack with a delighted howl that spiraled over the clifftop.
good hunting, the obsidian said with her mismatched eyes, before picking up her prizes and heading away to find her youngest.
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