Grizzly Hollow Lion's Den

Amaryllis chuckled at Crystal and her still slight disdain for the bird, though she seemed marginally cheered up. At least compared to before, when she was snarling at the large bird as it strutted around her.  As Crystal introduced the younger wolf as Squeak with a small smile on her face, the woman wondered why she was doing so, until the other mentioned she could not speak.

“Oh? She can not speak?” Amaryllis raised an furry eyebrow, curiosity filling her. The girl looked old enough to know how to talk so Amaryllis wondered what it could possibly be that prevented her from speaking? Something in her past or perhaps some illness of some kind? She supposed they would never know because Squeak might have an idea but she could not speak. “Well, I am very pleased to meet you either way Squeak,” Amaryllis smiled warmly at the young wolf. “I hope there is much we can learn from each other. The same goes for you, Crystal.” Dipping her head towards the one who recruited her, the would be healer looked towards Squeak and noticed her limping as she yipped at them to follow her. The eagle had moved along to another branch, watching them intently, as if it wanted them to follow it.  

“Well, it seems our young friend has made...a companion with our feathery shadow. Why not follow them?” Amaryllis suggested, eyes trained briefly on the wounds on the young lass’s hindquarters before moving the pale eyes to look back over to the eagle, as if addressing them both. “Though I would suggest you keep yourself to a slow pace, Squeak. Your wounds might be healing but we do not want you to injure yourself further by walking around too much now do we?” The tone she had was somewhat stern, in a motherly sort of way. But she to wished to know what the eagle wanted of them so she pushed herself to her paws and took at few steps towards Speak and the eagle, glancing back at Crystal. “Fond you might not be of the eagle but they are useful scavengers.” She added. “It will be good if we can find a meal that the pack can feast on or at least, place some into the caches.”  

(This post was last modified: Feb 29, 2016, 09:15 AM by Amaryllis.)

OOC here!

Squeak and the eagle chirped at each other in a form of communication that Yvly did not understand at al, but her friend clearly understood what the rabble-rouser wanted as she glanced at her and Lily, slowly limping away. Ears going from slightly flattened to perking forward, the tawny female briefly looked at the greyscale female, one wolfy brow raised as she began following Squeak and the eagle, the latter flying to the next branch and hopping eagerly up and down upon it. "I agree. We'll have to keep them out of trouble," Yvly slyly remarked to Lily, motioning with her muzzle to Squeak and the bird.

Her head nodded thoughtfully at the greyscale female's warning of keeping to a slow pace. She had not even thought of that! It would still take some time to get used to the idea of looking out for the welfare of others, but she was learning. At about the pace of a snail that is, but she was getting there. "There was little use of birds back where I came from," Yvly explained to Lily while keeping a watchful eye on Squeak. "And they weren't too fond of the flat plains. Not enough trees for them, I suppose," she mused. But she agreed with the bird leading them to a meal that could help fill the pack caches. Even with winter nearly over it was still a high priority.

It didn't take too long for the excited bird to stop moving, now hooking its talons into a slightly swaying branch. Yvly's dark amber eyes surveyed the surrounding area, her gaze falling upon fresh rabbit tracks leading to a burrow at the base of one of the large cedarwood trees. So the eagle had been leading them to prey. Rabbits were always a good meal, and she knew for sure Lily could catch one. She was not so sure about Squeak though. It reminded her that she would need to show her friend how to hunt something other than fish at some point. "You have a plan?" The tawny female said to Lily, allowing her the chance to take charge if she wanted to, but she herself was happy enough to do it if Lily would rather follow orders this time.

377 words

Yvly Doramor

imagine we are higher than the arrows,
casually we're breathing with the pharaohs,
tragically we fall just like the arrows.

Pip smiled patiently at Amaryllis, though the yearling wished others would address her as readily as Crystal. Of course, she understood the unease. It took time to learn her ways of communication and could be hard upon first meeting. There were still some from her old pack who seemed to flat out refuse to even try, forcing the yearling to rely on others to communicate for her. It had been a sore point growing up, but the female had mostly grown numb to it now.

The pale wolf pleasantly surprised her when she did in fact address her directly. Pip wagged her tail in return, relieved to be receiving such a welcome outpouring of support from her packmates. While Amaryllis spoke a bit too formally for the yearling to feel completely comfortable around her just yet, she had little doubt they would be fast friends. That gut instinct was strengthened when the wolf expressed concern over her wounds and suggested she go slow.

She sounds like Veho, she thought to herself with some amusement.

Beneath the branch where the eagle waited, Pip lowered her muzzle to the ground and sniffed curiously. Rabbit. She was pretty sure. However, having only had experience with the animal once dead - sometimes for days prior - Pip couldn't say for absolute certainty. Fish didn't require the kind of tracking that hunting other animals did, but she thought she may come to like it. The tracking aspect, at least, if not the actual hunt.

Mirroring the eagle, Pip settled down beneath him and turned to watch Amaryllis and Crystal curiously. How they would catch the little vermin was of great interest to the young wolf.

Template courtesy of Shipwrecks

"We can try flush them out of their burrow?" Amaryllis suggested as her sigbt traced where Crystal had looked too, seeing the burrow as well. "Have two waiting at the entrance, one slightly behind the other, while another finds their back entrance and dig them out? It would chase them towards the front and depending on how many are in there, we'll hopefully be able to catch one or two." She wasn't going to over estimate how many they would be able to catch. Two at most and none at least. It all depended on who sat at the front entrance, waiting for the rabbits to come out and who went to dig the back to scare them to the front.

She had been a fairly competent hunter, back in her old pack, not that she was one for rodomontade. But it was because that was the only thing one could do without any extensive sort of training or potentially harming another pack mate. And she was not big enough to be a gaurdian. But it was her passion to help others heal and learn about all different sorts of plants. Which is why she chose to learn to become an herbalist under the guidance of Veho.

However, she was not sure if this tactic would work so she looked over to Yvly. "However, if you think there is a better idea to get the rabbits, feel free to voice it."

OOC here!

Yvly nodded at the greyscale female's suggestion. For rabbits, at least when they were in their burrow, it was the only mostly successful way of catching them. But the wolves around these parts may know different ways of catching them. She herself had not hunted rabbits all too often so trusted Lily to make the right call. Maybe she knew something she did not. Her plan was smart and safe, just how the tawny female liked it. She always tried to plan out a hunt with the least amount of risk. Fatalities were something she would rather not happen on her watch. "If you can manage it, Squeak, would you like to dig around the back entrance to scare them our way?" Yvly asked her friend who was sat down by the eagle. Of course she would accept a no, but it would be nice to make her feel involved in the hunt. When Squeak's leg healed she would definitely get her more involved, but for now it would do.

Wolves were factotum creatures, but as any individual did liked to specialize. Hunting had always been one of the less specialised branches of work in a pack until Yvly factored in fishing. It was a foreign idea to her, to catch a fish and eat it, but maybe it was the same with how Squeak thought of them eating deer and rabbits. It was all a matter of perspective. "You and I can then wait by the front entrance then and catch two, maybe three if we're lucky." Then Squeak could say she had been a part of the success. And it seemed the eagle knew they were going to start soon as it had become silent. It would be only fair to give it something to eat if they caught anything as a thanks for showing them where the burrow was.

312 words

Yvly Doramor

imagine we are higher than the arrows,
casually we're breathing with the pharaohs,
tragically we fall just like the arrows.

(This post was last modified: Mar 05, 2016, 07:45 AM by Yvly.)

Pip tilted her head as she listened to the pair discuss how best to catch their prey. Thinking on it, hunting didn't sound all that different when compared to fishing. She always picked out her ideal spot to begin - usually where the fish tended to pool or feel comfortable - and then followed with the set-up. In this case, talking it out was a bit synonymous with picking out a spot. Sure, the rabbit's burrow was a fixed point, but they had to pick out where each of them would stand. It made plenty of sense the more she thought about it.

Though not used to hunting or even fishing with others, Pip thumped her tail and nodded her head, happy to be included despite her inexperience and injury. Carefully, she got to her paws and stepped forward to bump Crystal's muzzle with her own in thanks. After offering a quick nod to Amaryllis, the little wolf carefully tried to sneak around to find the back entrance of the burrow. Following her nose, she found herself readily distracted by every little scent available. How did hunters sort through all of them to find the one they were looking for?! It seemed an impossible task to the coastal female when finally her nose settled over rupestrine lichen near the base of a tree that held a particularly interesting scent. Following it, Pip wagged her tail upon finding a hole that smelled heavily of it.

On an excited chirp, she reached in the burrow with one paw and began digging at it, excitedly shoving even her muzzle into the hole while her injured leg rested gently on the ground to help with balance without causing too much strain on the healing tissues.

Template courtesy of Shipwrecks

(This post was last modified: Mar 05, 2016, 03:39 PM by Pip.)

(OOC: Apologies for the short post)

Waiting for the tawny wolf's response, Amaryllis nodded when she asked if Squeak could dig out the burrow from the back. It was a good idea, since not only was the young wolf seemed perfectly happy with this but it would not put too much strain on her leg. After bumping her muzzle gently with Yvly and offered her a nod, Squeak went about finding the back entrance to the burrow. Amaryllis watched her go. Between the three of them, they were sure to get something.

Taking a few steps towards the burrow's front entrance, Amaryllis smiled up at the eagle before glancing over to Yvly. "let's hope we can catch two or three. It would mean some for us and one for our friend over here." she nodded up to the eagle briefly before turning her eyes onto the burrow, carefully watching and waiting for any rabbits to come running out of it. The eagle seemed eager as it watched them from above but it stayed on its branch and stared silently down at the wolves as they attempted to get the rabbits. It would be productive for the both of them if they could be captured

I am terribly sorry for the long wait! Been busy with school :x @Pip @Amaryllis

The tawny female smiled at Squeak's acceptance of her role in the hunt, watching with dark amber eyes as the younger wolf slowly and carefully made her way to the desired location to scare the rabbits out of their burrow. As long as Squeak did not over-exert herself Yvly would happily let her join in. It seemed only right to let her do so. She glanced momentarily back at the eagle as Lily spoke of possibly catching another for their dear friend. "It seems only fair," she replied, even though the idea of giving the bird a well-earned meal was displeasing to her. But, it had lead them to the burrow, so she could not complain. Maybe next time it would show them a fresh carcass. That would be nice.

As Squeak began excitedly digging at the back end of the burrow, making sure she was very much kenspeckle while doing so, Yvly set herself up in a much more hidden location, legs bent at the knees and body low. She would be ready when their prey decided they had had enough and tried to escape from Squeak's disturbance. Eyes meeting Lily's, she nodded once to show her readiness before returning to the wait. Luckily it was not long before small, furry forms shot out of the burrow. Without blinking the tawny female pounced forward with the intent of trapping one of the rabbits beneath her front paws so it could not escape, where she would deliver the killing blow.

250 words

Yvly Doramor

imagine we are higher than the arrows,
casually we're breathing with the pharaohs,
tragically we fall just like the arrows.

The plan seemed to be working well, as Squeak dug out the back of their home.This terrified the rabbits and once the small animals found they couldn't escape via their back entrance, thanks to Squeak's digging, the small animals had a slight dilemma. Not only qwas there a wolf at their back door, they could smelt wolves at the front as well. Their flight or fight instincts came into play quickly. If they all ran at once, hopefully at least some of them would escape.

Amaryllis waited patiently for the rodents and it came to fruition as they all shot out, one heading towards where Yvly had hidden herself once they spotted Amaryllis standing right there. The tawny wolf pounced instantly on the rodent, trapping it under her paws and delivering a killing bite to its small body. Amaryllis lunged forward herself and managed to snag the foot of a rabbit between her fangs. It squealed loudly as its foot was caught(something within her rumbled happily at the noise it made.) yet it was swiftly silenced by Amaryllis adjusting her grip on the rabbit by trapping it under her paws and providing a killing blow to its brittle neck.

One she had seen scatter towards their den, thinking it could hide in there, away from the terror that was happening. But once it was in there, realized its mistake at the over powering smell of wolf hanging in the den. It would turn to escape, only to perhaps find its escapee blocked by a wolf.    

(This post was last modified: Mar 26, 2016, 04:47 AM by Amaryllis.)

I feel terrible making you wait so long for this short post @Amaryllis and @Pip :x

Once her rabbit was dead Yvly, with its furry body trapped beneath her front paws, looked over at Lily who, it seemed, had also been successful in her endeavours. Offering up a small smile in gratitude of their efficient teamwork, the tawney female glanced over at the burrow where one of the rabbits had, quite stupidly to be honest, returned to hide from the pair of predators. This, however, was a good thing for the wolves as it was now trapped; and easy kill. Picking up her kill, Yvly padded over to the entrance to block the creature's escape, and woofed lowly around the prey in her mouth to signal Squeak that she could stop with the digging.

"Would you like to do the honours?" She asked her silent friend, motioning with her muzzle to the burrow entrance. It would be good practice to let Squeak have the final kill, especially as she could not run with her injured leg and that this particular rabbit had nowhere to go. Of course she did not have to participate in the hunt if she did not want to. Yvly would then offer the honour to Lily if that was the case. Either way their fellow eagle friend would get its reward for showing them to the burrow.

215 words

(This post was last modified: Apr 10, 2016, 06:42 AM by Yvly.)