For fucks sakes. Viorel had spent the afternoon being uncharacteristically lazy and having a nap, and at that point the sun had been flitting in and out of scattered clouds. He had enjoying snoozing in the warm air, until he had been unhappily woken up by that stupid bird. Not only that, but a couple hours after that an isolated rainstorm had swept through the area of the creek and the Backwater. It hadn’t lasted long, half an hour at most, but it had rained so hard that the leader had ducked away into the thicker foliage for coverage.

Only reappearing once the worst of the storm had swept through the area, leaving the ground soaked and semi flooded in areas, Viorel made his way through the now almost swampy area. He had planned on heading back to check that everyone was alright, and hadn’t been caught too by surprise by the storm when he say it. The main cache, the one that he and the others made extra sure was brimming as much as possible. Except it wasn’t a cache any longer, the storm and flooding had absolutely destroyed it. Nearly half a foot of still water hung on top, the majority of their food washed away, and what wasn’t now hung bloated and disgusting in the sticky mud. Fuck. One afternoon with an extra nap and this happens.

Viorel grit his teeth, there was no saving this. They would need to find a new area for a cache, somewhere with higher ground, dig it out, and have an impromptu hunting trip to refill it. Sighing in exasperation, he stared for just a few moments before raising his head and calling for anyone who was nearby. They had work to do.

Vanadis was the first to arrive, and normally Vayko would have greeted her with some borderline over the top physical affection. But even in his hormone, like-you-a lot brain he knew this was not the time for twitterpating. He couldn’t even bring her to answer the question before Sharlee arrived hot on her heels and had the words for him. Finally, he sighed, ”I would think from the looks of things it is all ruined.” What wasn’t washed away was bloated and stuck amongst the muck and the wreckage.

Closing his eyes and gritting his teeth he cursed under his breath, ”Fuck. What the fuck.” And then he opened his eyes, rolled his shoulders and set his mind onto a mental to-do list. It seemed his sentiment was echoed by his Aunt Modesto who had arrived just as he was muttering his own cusses. Looking towards the women gathered around him he felt his spirits crush a little bit. They had worked so hard for this, and now, with Vanadis’ belly just beginning to swell they were set back.

Finally, after the short silence he had his marching orders, ”We need to grab anything we think that might be salvageable and get it out of the water. Our best move would be to get a new location that’s more elevated to prevent this from happening in the future, then we’ll need to hunt something. I think vayko has been tracking the herds so hopefully he will have an idea of what is closest.” He looked to the other members for their opinions now, he was sure this was the best plan of action, but was open to other ideas.

Vayko was quick on the scene with a solution about the closest herds and for that Viorel was thankful. It sounded like the closest herd was farther than the leader would have necessarily liked, but the fact that they knew where they were was a blessing. Vayko would lead Vanadis and Sharlee on a hunt, which seemed reasonable but the leader worried about his pregnant girlfriend potentially getting hurt.

This didn’t really have any other choices. And, he knew that he couldn’t go with them, both leaders couldn’t leave on a potentially multi-day hunting trip especially given their current disaster. With a worried glance towards the cream woman at his side, he took a moment before his logic got the best of him and he nodded.

Even glancing around at the wreckage he knew that nothing was going to be able to be saved. Looking towards his aunt he grimaced, ”Alright, Aunt Modesto and I will stay here and move the cache and if we have time try to catch something small.” Then looking back at the other three, who he knew could hunt well together, he had seen it he said his usual pre-hunting words, ”Everyone be careful, please” That last word had been directed towards Vanadis, but he meant it towards everyone else as well.

Nodding towards the hunters Viorel moved out of the water, waiting for his aunt to catch up before moving out of the flooding scene in search of higher ground.