Grizzly Hollow gaze into the iris

RE: Grizzly Hollow, a gopher snake has made its home in your natal den.  (As the pups were raised largely in the medical den, that's where our snakey friend is hiding.  :9)
@Oula @Joan @Ophelia @Tomen @Nineva @Amaryllis @Yvly @Blitz @Nix'q

Had you been there tonight, you might know how it feels to be struck to the bone!

There was no rattle to warn Veho as he trudged towards the cache, cold and devoid of most scents these days.  The pups were growing by the day, and three were far too many to fit into the medical den; it seemed wrong to have them in the communal den if he was not (despite their mother being present, it still seemed to set a weird president).  Besides, Rook’s prolonged absence had continued, and—

The medicine man might have continued his thought process had a blur not raced out of the open, striking at a forepaw as quick as lighting.  Despite everything, it was not sharp teeth that dug into flesh, but the hard rap of the snake’s nose against his leg.  Veho jumped backwards with a startled yelp, plants falling to the ground forgotten as he skittered away.

How had a snake gotten into the den?  It’d only been a day or two since his last visit, surely—

The wolf lowered himself to the ground, sniffing the earth as he peered into the darkness.  Beady eyes peered right back at him as the gopher snake coiled much like a rattler might; the warning sounds never came.  Was it without a rattle?  Or perhaps he mistook it for something else?

With few options to entertain, the wolf raised his muzzle to call any nearby packmates; this was a puzzle for more than one man.

The call broke Yvly out of her reverie. Head snapping up, she cocked an ear, a frown crossing her face. Veho would not call unless it was important. Scrambling to her feet, the tawny female began a mad dash in the direction of what seemed to be the medical den. The thought had her heart racing; that's where the pups were being raised. What if something had happened? She pushed herself faster, hoping the worst would not be true. If only she had been resting closer to the den.

Finally arriving - and slightly out of breath - she paused a few wolf-lengths away from Veho. He was practically lying down on the ground, staring intently into the darkness of the medical den. Her own eyes followed, she could spot a pair of beady eyes staring out. "What is it?" She asked quietly, almost in a murmur, hoping not to scare the creature into attacking. Yvly could not see what animal it was from this distance, it could be a number of smaller predators, each just as dangerous as the next. She waited fervently, keeping her body still. Veho would be the one to give the order on how to handle the situation. Hopefully someone else arrived to help.

 

209 words

Had you been there tonight, you might know how it feels to be struck to the bone!

Yvly?  Only Yvly?  Where on earth was the rest of his pack?

The alpha’s ears flattened backwards for half a second, displeased by the general apathy to his summons.  This was a problem, and certainly, the Macieo brood wasn’t anyone else’s concern, but the medical cache should be.  Illness did not care who you were, or who your Ancestors intended you to be.

“A snake,” he groused, turning his attention back to his packmate before grey eyes flickered towards the den’s opening.  What kind of snake though?  Certainly the important question.  It looked like a rattler – but it did not have the telltale sound.  “It struck out at me – but did not bite.”

It could have.  It should have.  His mouth twisted again as he raised his head, calling for the wolves of Grizzly Hollow a second time.  As he waited for any of the others to respond, he regarded the female with a raised brow.  “It seems it is you and I – for now.  We need to chase it off, I think.  We shouldn’t kill it, if that can all be avoided; it didn’t bite.  But we cannot have it around the children, and we certainly cannot have it in the medical den.”

Why oh why did his medical cache attract chaos like some sort of lodestone?

@Tomen @Nineva @Blitz @Pip @Niq'x @Joan @Amaryllis

Pip had been all the way out at Frog Chirp Creek when she heard Veho's call. Unable to howl back to let him know she was on her way, the mute girl did the best she could to answer the summons as promptly as possible. Of course, by the time she was there, her lungs were burning and her previously injured leg felt a bit sore. It had been a while since she'd had the need to run so fast; the last she could remember was for the birth of the pups when Oula needed help.

Upon arriving, Pip's tongue practically dragged the ground, but still she made efforts to greet both Yvly and Veho with the respect they were owed. She approached her Alpha first, back slightly curved, and licked at his chin before doing the same for the tawny female. While she caught her breath, orange eyes scanned the medical den for whatever it was that had Veho giving the call.

She spotted the creature coiled in the middle of the den. Wasn't it odd for this time of year? They should be getting ready to go for hibernation, right? Pip couldn't remember ever a time where she'd seen a snake in winter, so surely they must hibernate like other animals. Maybe it was feeling ill and wanted Veho to help it. She smiled at the thought, amused by her own silent joke.

Turning back to the pair, she tilted her head, curious as to what they had planned.

Nineva's head lifted when Veho's initial summons flooded the air around her ears. Muzzle stained with the blood of her latest kill, she ran her tongue over her lips in an attempt to clean herself as her paws brought her back off the ground. Were it a different situation, the girl would have taken a brief moment to throw some dirt over her half-eaten meal. Given the tone and source of the howl, however, she did not dare spare the time to do so.

Her pale legs took her nimbly and quickly over the forest landscape, traversing the width of Grizzly Hollow's claimed territory to get to the man. Nearly there, a second call went up, and worry started to twist her gut. What was so horrible to make the man sound off again? Was one of the children hurt? Maybe Tomen-- she broke into a sprint to cover the last of the ground, brows knit with great concern as she skidded onto the scene.

The scent of blood was not present within the air, and it was only three others, though surely more were on the way given the urgency Veho had communicated. Yet as her gaze searched frantically, she could not find the cause for concern.

"... whats going on?" she asked tentatively, unable to see into the den past the others.

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

Eyes widened in alarm at Veho's mention of a snake. They were fearsome creatures, particularly those brave enough to stand up against a wolf. She could remember being told to watch out while hunting on the plains for they always liked to hide in the long grass. But with one in the medical den it could only spell out disaster. Fighting a snake in close quarters was a bad idea; they needed to get it to come out. Glad to hear that he had not been bitten during his initial contact with the snake, Yvly breathed out a sigh of relief. For one, she had no idea how to treat a snake bite herself, and two, depending on the snake it could either be very poisonous or not. Either way she was not risking being bitten.

She turned her attention to the older wolf as he spoke, nodding when he mentioned chasing it off. "I agree. Poisonous or not, it is too dangerous to be near either of the dens. If we could somehow tempt it out of the den...?" Her words trailed off as she glanced back to the den, allowing Veho to think over her proposition and then decide what must be done. However, it seemed his second call to arms had worked as suddenly Pip was by their sides with an appropriate form of greeting, to which Yvly responded with a swift nuzzle to her dear friend's cheek. Not far behind appeared Nineva with a query pertaining to their current predicament. She shifted herself to the side to allow the younger, though larger, female room to stand next to her and see the foe for herself. Her gaze then returned to Veho as she waited with jangled nerves for their plan of action.

296 words

Had you been there tonight, you might know how it feels to be struck to the bone!   

Veho hummed under his breath, a low, rumbling sound not unlike distant thunder.  Pale silver eyes narrowed slightly as he tried to peer back into the medical den – only the cold glint of black towards the rear of the den indicated their unwelcome guest remained within its newfound home.  He racked his mind for a solution to remove the animal, a solution that would only require two bodies, and came up with nothing at all--

Thankfully, his second call did not go unnoticed.  Pip arrived shortly, followed in no short order by Nineva.  While he would have preferred more bodies, he could not complain; it was especially nice to see one of the yearlings taking on such responsibility.  Each was greeted with a nod before he spoke back up.

“There is a snake in the medical cache,” he informed the young ladies, mouth twisted in an ugly grimace. “It keeps coiling like a rattlesnake – but as you can hear, no rattle.  I haven’t been able to see the whole animal, so I’m uncertain if it’s simply lost its rattle, or…”  The wolf trailed off with a shrug, nose twitching as he sighed.  It was too dangerous to risk until they were certain it was something else.  “We cannot leave it in there; it poses a risk to the puppies, and we won’t be able to get any of our medical stores when the winters come and everything dies off.” He paused for a moment, glancing at the yearling. “A good opportunity to practice your leadership, Nineva – but all of need to put our heads together, and find a way to lure it, or scare it, or otherwise get this creature out.”

Thank you all for joining!  Posting order is @Pip --> Nineva --> Yvly --> Veho.  Please tag the next person when they are up!  Helps things move a little more smoothly.  (:

(This post was last modified: Oct 02, 2016, 07:29 PM by Veho. Edit Reason: borked tags )

The one and only encounter Pip had experienced with a snake, Jaysyek had skillfully talked her out of trouble by asking that she simply back away slowly. It was really the only helpful thing she had to fall back on, however, the mute girl doubted that would help in this situation considering they wanted the snake to come out...

Though Veho had turned to @Nineva for her thoughts, Pip wanted to try to be helpful, too! Instead of offering anything verbally, an obvious impossibility for the female, she instead glanced around to find a nicely sized pebble. No doubt Felix would be upset, but she needed to borrow it rather than save it for his collection. Stepping up to the den's entrance, Pip gave the pebble a little toss only to watch the snake curl with alarm away from the falling stone. Her ears fell back a little as guilt took its place. The snake really hadn't done anything wrong, but still, it wasn't safe for it to stay.

You have to leave, she wanted to plea with it.

Alas, the snake could understand her about as well as she could comprehend its own language. She had half a mind to sneak along the edges within the den and maybe try to scare it out that way, but Pip was honestly a bit too frightened of it to do so herself.

sorry for crappy late post, you're up @Yvly

Crystal made room for her, and Nineva took advantage of her mindful courtesy, nudging forward to better peer into the dark underground. Swiftly after, her ears perked as Veho summarized the event. A snake, and it was unknown just how dangerous the serpent might be. That certainly wasn't good, and she better understood why the newly-made father was so alarmed. His words were thoughtful, and they set her own gears to turning, especially when he suggested what a benefit this could be for her.

"We often had snakes in the Caverns," she put in. To navigate them safely, the wolves had to be aware and know how coerce the reptiles as needed. "It was never anything so closed quarters, but sometimes we lured them with very small prey. Any mice in one of the caches, by chance?"

If so, from the extent of her own experiences, this would be the fairest way to get the snake out. It would take time, though; it wasn't an instant fix.

"Where are the children?" she aksed Veho, turning her mismatched eyes to him before suggesting; "one of us should go and make sure they're kept away from here, just to be safe."

Especially with his call that had been sent out, they might be on their way now to see what the commotion was about.