Snowforest Taiga when the firetrucks show up

Backdated for November 16th, set directly after this thread. For continuity's sake, this will be set before Moonglow arrived in the Taiga. Please allow @Askari to post first.

Lane and Askari crossed over the Duskfire Glacier border into the wider Taiga, still in deep conversation. Guiding herself by the size and position of the Nova Peak to the west, Lane was able to approximate the position of the site she wished to show to Askari. 

They approached what would appear to be a kill site; several carrion birds loitered by a day-old caribou carcass. Given the near-freezing temperature of the surrounding air, the carcass had not yet begun to noticeably stink, but it was only a matter of time. 

Lane strode up to the carcass boldly, chasing some of the slower-moving birds away with snaps and growls. She then gestured for Askari to approach. 

Using her forepaw, she gently lifted up a cracked piece of the skull to reveal the creature's brain. "This caribou fell yesterday and died, seemingly of sickness and starvation," she told Askari, "But look at this." The brain had the appearance of having been wasting away for much longer than a day. The only conclusion that could be drawn was that it had begun deteriorating while the animal was still alive. "Have you seen this before?" Lane questioned.

Always expect the unexpected.

A saying often told, but not always heard.

Lane led Askari to a mangled carcass. Birds flapped around, pecking at the flesh. Insects swarmed, craving the taste of the crimson offering. No stench was prominent — which was shocking, given the flagrant appearance — but it was to be expected in the near future.

Never before had she seen something so revolting. It made her want to wretch, but with what strength she could muster, she held her composure.. — and her lunch. The way the brain had deteriorated was an awing sight, while also managing to be disgusting all the same. Lane had questions, but Askari wasn't sure if she had answers.

I've never seen anything like it. There is always the possibility that the brain can become completely dead before the rest of the body's organs, such as the heart... but I'm curious as to how the creature continued to physically live a few days on. Once the brain dies, there is no function left for the body. This shouldn't have happened. That was that. She was in complete and utter shock. No, she was no medicinal expert, but she did know a few things. To her, this was considered impossible, regardless if it was staring her in the face.

Had a whole geek medical professional moment there, lol. Don't mind me.

I love it! Here's a link to an article explaining a little more. 

Lane nodded. "When I opened this skull up yesterday, there were empty spots in the brain, like.." She might have said a sponge, if she'd had any concept of what a sponge was. "Like a honeycomb," she said, settling on the closest imagery she could muster. "That's why the brain has deteriorated more quickly than the rest of the body, if I had to guess." 

Lane wasn't a great reader of emotions, and so she hadn't noticed Askari's disgust. As a medic, it was her profession to deal with sick bodies and yes, sometimes those bodies were deceased. It was a necessary evil in the spirit of learning more about the diseases that affect wolfkind. 

"The damage to the brain seems to occur while the affected creature is alive. It causes behavior changes. The deer can't seem to remember how to feed, or how to walk in a straight line. They shake and limp around until they die... but not before passing the disease on to others." 

The implications were obvious. Where there was one zombie deer, there would be more. This deer marked the beginning of an outbreak, and that was a major concern to Lane.

This behavior reminds me somewhat of aging. As each year passed, certain areas of the body suffer loss.. whether in size, memory, capability, and stability. This disease.. it didn't completely shut off the brain function, but it took away essential bits that it needed to keep the creature surviving by independence.

During the time of her explanation, Askari had been circling the corpse, studying different locations.

It took only a short time for this one to succumb to its fate... if this disease continues to spread, a majority of what herds find their way here will either suffer and decease, or move elsewhere and leave us without a competent source of sustenance.

While it may have been better to request permission before doing so, curiosity took the better of her mind. Before when she searched the specimen, she noticed that one of its antlers had broken off. After relocating it, Askari grabbed it within her jaws and roughly jarred it through the flesh of the caribou somewhere around where the heart should have been. As expected, the organ was placed correctly. Like the brain, it had also suffered great loss.

The heart deteriorated just as quick, if not more-so than the brain. It doesn't take long for the disease to be caught and once it has been, there is no curing it. Normally, when these things happen, it's the more logical approach to find the source to help contain the outbreak... however, in this circumstance, the source is likely long dead. Those else that have already been infected will need to be found and killed before they can pass it on. Until then, any caribou hunted should not be eaten unless it has been proven healthy upon being struck down. A bold suggestion to make, given she had no leadership status. However, she felt the need to pass her opinion promptly as to avoid fatality with their own kind.

"Until then, any caribou hunted should not be eaten unless it has been proven healthy upon being struck down."

They had been on the same page, until this last piece of advice. Lane frowned thoughtfully. 

"You would have us slaughter the sick caribou, and hunt the healthy ones for food?" She shook her head. Given that all of the animals would fall into one category or the other, it stood to reason that if they followed this plan, the entire herd would be wiped out. 

Askari seemed to clinging to the same overabundance of caution to which Issorartuyok, Eldritch, and Ensio had first ascribed. Because this sickness was devastating to deer, they seemed quite terrified that it posed a risk to wolves as well. However, there wasn't a shred of epidemiological evidence that any disease could pass-- or had ever passed-- from prey to wolf through consumption, this one included. 

A wolf's entire ecological purpose was to relieve the herds of the weak and sick. Wolves had been doing this since the dawn of time.  Lane would not allow baseless fears to deter her people from fulfilling their duty to natural order, because when the natural order is interrupted, the result is chaos. This is known. 

"I would like us cull the sick as quickly as possible, as you advise, but we cannot afford to dispose of the meat and also kill the healthy. This herd sustains not only us, but our two allied packs as well. If we don't harvest meat from the sick, we will certainly starve." There may be a thin possibility that the wolves would come to harm if they ate the sick caribou, but they would face very certain peril if they did not. Therefore, Lane had decided to hedge her bets, and she did so with the confidence of a woman who knew her place in the natural order.

As Lane reworded her concern, the realization arrived. Was it possible that the flesh of the sick would not endanger the bellies it filled? She took a few moments to wrap her head around this. Of course, Askari could have continued along the path of forming her own argument, but being able to see from Lane's view as well was preferred. This is how a pack better served alongside one another.

I understand, She nodded sincerely, admitting where she had seen wrongly. Targeting the sick first would come as a benefit. Much less work for the hunters. And, if thought about fully, we can say we are doing the ill a favor. Rather than continue to fight on to live while in pain, we are giving them peace while also sustaining the pack.

Lane knew in her bones that they were doing a good thing by culling the sick, because that was the most basic duty of a wolf. Before they were anything else-- medics, spiritualists, naturalists, or warriors-- wolves were hunters, and what Lane suggested was simply the natural order. The herd was strong because the wolves culled the weak, and the herd was healthy because the wolves culled the sick. 

"If thought about fully, we can say we are doing the ill a favor."

Lane thought this to be an especially odd point for Askari to make, because it suggested that Askari thought of the deer as people with feelings. She supposed this was another point on which she differed from Askari. Lane had no empathy for the deer, and therefore felt no need to rationalize their killing, under these circumstances or any other. Deer were not people. Deer were food. 

However, Lane did have enough comprehension and insight to see that the distinction Askari voiced was meaningful and important to her, and so Lane responded compassionately. "Yes, this is how I see it too." It was a half-truth at best, but Lane valued her relationship with Askari over her relationship with the truth. 

"Come, let's leave the scavengers to their meal. Unless you think we should bury the carcass..?" Lane would defer to whatever Askari suggested. Once they were finished here and ready to depart, Lane would lead the pair back to Duskfire Glacier. 

"Thank you for your advice, Askari," Lane would say as they traveled back to the Glacier. "I'll need your help with this in the coming weeks. We'll need to keep an eye on how this sickness develops, and adjust our plan accordingly." Lane was thankful that the universe had sent her Askari; it was infinitely easier for her to think and make decisions when she had someone off of whom she could bounce ideas. 

can be last from lane, feel free to write a fade or just archive. <3

To suggest that such a creature would require a burial? Nonsense. Of course she cared, but that was not the length she would take it.

Shaking her lightly, Askari was careful and soft with her reply. They require no burial.. not in my sight. Doing so would strip the natural way life circulates. When they decompose, that is providing a form of burial. It's better we didn't touch them and left nature to take its course.

They both fell silent and for a moment she almost didn't realize that Lane had begun to move on. All had been done here and now other things were to be planned. Once she noticed, the red wolf moved quickly to catch up and match a steady pace for the journey back home.

With the wolves of Moonglow now preparing for hunts, they will need both an extra set of eyes and teeth. I will make sure to stay near for your next call. As always.. I'm here to help. She concluded with a faint smile, ears perked thoughtfully.

This will be the last from me here!