Redhawk Caldera Bang Bang

@Elwood maybe? :D Or @Finley or @Fox

Sebastian stayed low to the ground when he was watching the female elk with a baby. The last time he got pretty lucky with snatching away a new born. This calf seemed a few days older, which meant that it could be faster. The grey tank of a male kept his pale eyes on the couple. He would keep in position and then sprint towards the baby. His breathing quieted as they cluelessly stepped closer. Sebastian jumped up and rushed forward. His eyes locating the weak point in the calf's neck and trying to grab it. Once he got it, the baby squealed in terror. Sebastian held it down but the mother returned to safe its young. Sebastian had let go of the calf to barely jump away in time. That was really close. Sebastian snarled at the mother deer but that only caused her to attack him once more. Sebastian had to dodge another attack. While the calf was bleeding he still found it too much of a risk to face the protective mother alone. He might return later to kill the damn baby... Embarrassing.

Sebastian felt a bit defeated by what just happened. He promised to Peregrine that he would work hard and silently in the background. He also promised to the other male to meet the two betas and the alpha female. He had yet to encounter all three. Frankly the masked giant didn't feel like knocking on the alpha den to introduce himself to the alpha female. It would feel like intruding. Hopefully she would make an appearance soon, just like the two Beta's. The difficult thing was that he didn't know their scent. He couldn't really sniff them out even if he wanted to.

Thanks for tagging me! :D

Luckily for Sebastian, the two Betas tended to be fairly active across the territory -- when they weren't together, snuggled within the confines of Finley's den (which Elwood had come to think of as his den, too), they were busy patrolling, hunting, and otherwise serving the pack. The firebirds were over a month old at this point, and Fox and Peregrine were able to get out more frequently, but Elwood continued on his modified routine, increasing his responsibilities as necessary.

At the moment, he was descending from the top of the caldera, making his way down towards the borders. He knew that there had been a handful of newcomers lately, though he wasn't acquainted with all of them. When he came across an unknown scent, he quickly realized that it belonged to one of the latest subordinates and tracked him down efficiently.

The male was large and grey, making quite an impressive silhouette against the trees. Elwood chuffed softly to announce his approach from behind, and then voiced a verbal greeting. "Hey. You must be Sebastian?" he guessed, hoping that his assumption was correct.

You're welcome! :D

Sebastian looked down to see the deer and its calf run off, pity. The large grey turned his head when he sensed some movement above him. The masked male turned his pale eyes onto the other and then quirked up the corner of his mouth and his ears. Another grey male was approaching. By his scent he could tell that he had been living her for awhile and had been marking the borders. "Yes, I am!," He sounded a bit surprised that the other knew his name. Something told him that this male was one of the betas. Peregrine must have told this male about him being accepted. "Are you Mister Elwood?," he asked. "That would be convenient since I was told to meet Beta Elwood."

Sebastian was raised to be polite and on top of wanting nothing to be like his father he made sure that he wasn't an arrogant jerk to everyone he met. Until now it was going rather splendidly. He was busy enough to meet other wolves to not think about his father so much. Joining this pack was a smart move. He praised himself for it. Eventually he would need to fid the courage, but that would be something to deal with later. After all he had promised no drama to Peregrine.

Elwood chuckled as Sebastian confirmed his suspicions and greeted him enthusiastically, addressing him as Mister Elwood and then as Beta Elwood. "Yeah, that's me, but you can just call me Elwood," he corrected cheerfully -- he would never be so formal as to expect anyone to use his title while speaking to him. But he appreciated it all the same; it showed that Sebastian was respectful. No wonder Peregrine had let him in.

There was a bit of commotion ahead, and Elwood turned just in time to see a deer and its fawn darting away through the underbrush. "Were you hunting?" he asked, suddenly worried that he might have disturbed his packmate while he was busy.

Sebastian eyed at Elwood just to make sure he wasn't joking. "Okay. Just Elwood," Sebastian then joked himself. A grin tugging on his lips. He liked the more informal way of talking. It made him less tense while he thought of what he could say and couldn't. His shoulders visibly sagged and his tail let out a friendly wag. Sebastian decided that this Elwood fellow could definitely be great to socialize with. 

"I was. But the mother was too protective of her calf. I managed to wound the baby so it will possibly bleed out or die of infection," Sebastian returned with some technical skill about it. "I am a patient guy, not worth the injury that doe could do to me."

The Zeta would learn quickly that, once a wolf was accepted into the inner fold of the caldera, there was very little formality to be had. Peregrine and Fox were Elwood's leaders, but they were also two of his best friends. Of course, there would always be rules of the wild that had to be followed -- a certain degree of respect was necessary -- but for the most part, as long as there was an understanding between the members, they simply treated each other like family.

Elwood pricked his ears as Sebastian informed him that his quarry had gotten away. He could understand the grey male's frustration; he thought back to the herd of elk that he had hunted with the she-wolf from the plateau and how they had been unsuccessful. "Two wolves are better than one," he commented, gesturing in the direction that the animals had gone. "Do you want to track them down?" If the fawn was injured, then there was a chance that the pair of them could separate it from its mother without too much trouble.

Ohhh yes. Can we make this a gamekeeper thread?

Sebastian only had met Elwood who had been rather informal. While he met Peregrine for the second time it still felt a bit uncomfortable to be there with his daughter. She was cute but with Peregrine watching her closely, even though the alpha had been far nicer than before, was rather unnerving. Sebastian's tail started wagging at the offer. "Excellent Idea. But then I suggest that we try and take down that damn mother too," the ambitious young male suggested. He had been a lone wolf for a long time and he could do with some bigger game.

His mouth was already drooling with the thought of red juicy meat. The tank of a male only had to retrace his steps and then sniff out the blood that the fawn was loosing at the moment. It would be quite manageable. 

Absolutely!

Not only did Sebastian agree with him, but the ambitious young male suggested that they attempt to make a meal of the baby deer's mother, as well. Elwood grinned; he was always up for a challenge, and constantly sought to improve his skills as a gamekeeper. This would be the perfect opportunity.

"Deal," he agreed, and with that, he lowered his snout to the ground and began to quietly follow the trail left by their prey. The injured fawn had dripped blood in its wake, leaving traces on the ground as well as smeared on leaves and branches. It wouldn't be hard to track them down.

Soon, he spotted them and immediately halted, allowing Sebastian to stop alongside him. The fawn was lying down at its mother's feet, while the female nosed gingerly at its torn neck. "What's our plan?" he whispered out of the side of his mouth; he knew what he would do, but he was curious to hear Sebastian's thoughts.

Awesome! Whoops. I needed to post with Seb not Scarlett. xD

Sebastian was glad that Elwood took the lead, as a follower that made him much more comfortable about the whole situation. His body was thrumming gleefully. He joined a pack to have social interactions and to have hunts together. Now the young male had both. He made no sound as he stopped next to Elwood once they reached their prey. Sebastian licked over his maw at the scent. His brain needed to think of a strategy that would work. His pale eyes studied the situation. His ear turning to Elwood's whisper but not his whole head. He kept his eyes on their prey. He was focussed. Sebastian wanted to succeed. It would give him some nice boost, he believed. 

"Distraction,' Sebastian replied with the same soft whispers. There were multiple ways this could go. He could distract the female by grabbing the calf and running towards a hidden Elwood. Who would make the kill. Or he could lead away the mother from its baby. They could also completely disregard the baby, since it was already injured and focus on the mother with the two of them. It was hard to think of a strategy that involved two instead of one. 

"Let's say the deer isn't stupid and knows my scent. I can distract her since she most likely will defend her calf. Maybe it would be good if you are hiding were the deer would flee to since maybe the deer realized that her fawn won't make it and take a run for it...," Sebastian whispered back. "Basically the fawn won't make it anyhow. So we need to focus on the mom and have a back up plan for when the deer does something different than expected."

Hahah, oops!

In hushed voices, the two males devised their plan. Elwood nodded at Sebastian's suggestion -- it seemed like it would work, and the execution would be easy enough. They couldn't exactly predict where the doe would go, but he could do his best to keep his eyes trained on her and prepare himself to move in any direction. "That sounds good," he whispered, then bobbed his head. "You go ahead," he encouraged, then glanced around to find the best hiding spot.

He crept clockwise around the deer, giving them a wide berth, until he was hidden by a patch of short, scrubby underbrush. Miraculously, he had managed to move without alerting the female to his presence; she continued to anxiously tend to her child. With a preemptive lick of his lips, Elwood shifted his gaze to Sebastian, knowing that as soon as the other wolf sprung into action, he would need to do the same.

Sometimes I open a new tab and switch and then I forget to switch back. haha XD I'm stupid.

Sebastian nodded courtly in reply to the beta and kept where he was. He eventually lost track of Elwood, but that didn't matter, he would trust the male in finding a good spot. The deer wasn't alerted so that was already great. Sebastian waited moments more, his muscles tightening in excitement before he jumped forward to reveal himself. The doe's first reaction was to jump away in shock by the grey movement. Sebastian instantly snapped at her front legs so she would turn around instead of attacking the young tank. Luckily for Sebastian the deer jumped around and ran into the trap the two wolves set up.

Now Sebastian needed to make sure to help Elwood in any way he could. He tried to clamp his jaws around the deer's front leg, one that couldn't really kick back. He hoped the force would make her stumble over so Elwood would have an easier time holding his killing bite.

As Sebastian attacked, the deer reacted in the way that they had hoped. She attempted to dart away from him, leaving the fawn unprotected, but he was able to drive her with snapping teeth. The doe whirled and headed straight for Elwood, who emerged from the bushes with his jaws gaping wide.

At that moment, Sebastian seized the animal by one long foreleg, altering her balance and causing her to stumble. This provided Elwood with the opportunity to launch himself onto her shoulders, his claws tearing into her flesh as he used his weight to push her to the ground. The two wolves were too much for her, and though she struggled and flailed, Elwood wasted no time in tearing at the soft skin of her stomach.

Within seconds, blood loss was enough to end the deer's life, and the gamekeeper stepped back with a gory grin. "Nice work," he said, looking to Sebastian and then looking back to where the fawn was lying -- was it still alive?

Sebastian was pleased to see that his action by attacking the doe's legs was a success. Even though he didn't make the kill he was proud that they did this together. Even with two wolves taking down a doe was quite the accomplishment. He made sure ti stay away from the kicking legs. Elwood had it all handled so Sebastian went back to the fawn. It was an easy kill. The calf was already exhaust so when Sebastian clamped his jaws around its neck there wasn't much of a struggle.

Sebastian bought the fawn to Elwood and grinned. Before he spoke he placed the fawn on the ground. "Yes. Definitely. Plus we will have tons on meat for the pack. Peregrine will be pleased." And because of that Sebastian was really pleased. He wanted to provide for this pack. He promised. It felt good that he could keep his promise. "I couldn't have done it without you, thanks!"

Wrap up soon? :)

As though he read Elwood's mind, Sebastian moved away from the deceased doe and prowled towards the fawn. He watched, with one paw placed protectively on the adult deer's shoulder, as Sebastian made quick work of the smaller kill; a simple snap of his jaws was all it took to extinguish the babe's life. Triumphantly, the silver male carried his prize back to where the Beta waited, and Elwood's tail waved to show his approval.

"You're welcome," he said with a broad smile, inwardly agreeing that Peregrine would be pleased. Not only did they have enough to feed the pack for a few days, but the Alpha would be happy to see one of the newest subordinates already pulling his weight.

"There's a cache not far from here," he then commented, leaning down to seize one of the doe's slender legs in his mouth. He would drag the body the short distance to the food storage location, while Sebastian carried the fawn, and then they could save the tasty meat for later.

Yes definitely! :D Thank you for this. <3

Sebastian was glad that Elwood seemed pleased too. Although he didn't agree with the fact that the male was dragging the heavy deer all by himself. Sebastian laid the dead fawn over the mothers side and grabbed the hind legs of the deer to pull the weight with Elwood. Sebastian was a very participating pack mate. Even though it was a short distance the male liked to show his eagerness to help. Eventually they reached the cache. Sebastian grabbed the fawn, feeling like he earned the baby at least. "I guess it is okay to take the fawn?," he asked to be sure. 

"Thank you for hunting with me. I enjoyed it," the large ale returned with a smile. He was eager to make some friends. Hopefully Elwood would be one of them.

<3

"Yep, go right ahead," Elwood answered; Sebastian had worked hard and deserved to enjoy the fruit of his labor. He appreciated the other male's assistance -- it was quite a clever idea to drape the fawn's body over its mother, so that Sebastian, too, could take hold of the larger carcass and help Elwood to drag it across the uneven terrain.

Once Sebastian had departed with the calf, Elwood tended to the rest of the meat, carefully storing it and marking the location with a few scratches of his claws. With a faint smile, he put his nose to the ground and began to track Finley, intending to tell her about the Zeta. He had no worries that Sebastian would fit right in.