Chinook Coulee everything is technicolor

Aponi is starting at the borders calling for everyone, but they will be heading to Chinook Coulee next round. Hoping for the pups and some adults. @Serach @Triell @Darrah @Larkspur @Jace @Drift @Spieden @Naira @Ruenna @Leotie @Kyna @Sahalie @Lila @Reiko @Marina @Mako @Treyah

For some reason the deer seemed to congregate in the misty woods despite the strong smell of wolf that resonated in the boughs. The beasts were always on edge, watching every movement and flinching at every sound yet they came back week after week. The Bend hadn't had much of a chance to do large hunts since Triell's injury and the pups being born as most of the adults were tied up with child rearing. It had made the creatures more confident, that and the fall season had made them a little careless. It was a mistake that they would pay for today.

Aponi had spent the morning watching them from the shadows, her silver coat blending into the fog around her and the blue eyes hidden away unless you knew they were there. They had taken to grazing near the Coulee which would make an easy trap for them, either they could be herded into the waiting jaws of an ambush or fall down the slope to their death. Either one of them was fine with the mother who once confident there were a few slackers within the heard had slipped away silently and headed back towards the pack.

Taking care to go to the furthest end of the borders so as to not spook the herd when she called Aponi slowed when she reached her mark. Raising her muzzle to the sky she sounded the alert, it was time for the hounds to feed.

@Triell @Darrah @Larkspur @Jace @Drift @Spieden @Naira @Ruenna @Leotie @Kyna @Sahalie @Lila @Reiko @Marina @Mako @Treyah - Second alert. We got to keep our POTM title!

As oblivious as Serach could be sometimes, he had not missed the distinct smell of deer growing stronger in the recent days and weeks. Despite the clearly marked borders of Oak Tree Bend, a herd had taken up residence in the larger Spectral Woods. True to his promise of pushing the pack to conduct another hunt in the near future, he had been keeping watching - tracking them by both smell and sight. While the summer's early hunt with Triell had been nothing short of a disaster, Serach felt more confident now with more experienced adults in the pack that could balance out the inexperience of their younger members. So when Aponi made the call that early morning, Serach was excited, and as he woofed to his packmates that it was time to go, his hopes were high that they would be successful.

Aponi was waiting for them at the borders, and Serach was first amongst the rest of the pack to join her. "You beat me to it," he told her with a wry smile on his lips. He minded not at all - he was already thinking through how to best divide up the pack's members into hunting groups. It was time for the puppies to learn, but he wasn't sure if he wanted them to actually partake just yet. "Perhaps the younger ones could help chase? To keep them out of harm's way." He asked her, deciding he would trust her opinion on this matter rather than his own. Who knew best what her children were ready for than their mother, after all.

Being a puppy wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. For all the time that Marina spent getting out to rollick with her brother, there were still lots of rules. Don’t do this, don’t eat that. Don’t go over the borders without your sister or some other adult. But sometimes, the adults were busy! (And Sahalie, too.) The young Coho female was left near the pack den, kneading into the cold dirt with her claws as she tried to figure out a way to explore the river on her own. In fact, the child was halfway to saying ‘forget it!’ and simply wandering off when a familiar voice rang through the trees.

Small ears perked up as the chubby cup lifted her body, head pointed in the general direction. She did not know Aponi well, but could still recognize the female’s voice as a fellow pack member. She sounded far away – like she was on the territory borders…or over them. Marine crooned softly, delighted with the realization, and jumped to her feet.

The pup was not nearly as quick as the adults, but Spedein’s only daughter went thumping clumsily through the forest until she spied Aponi and Serach both. Her head bobbed in greeting, her thick tail swinging behind her. “Hi! You called, right?”

Hunting had been at the forefront of Leotie’s mind as of late with winter coming, the pack would need plenty of food to get them through the hardest part. It was because of this she spent most of her time hunting. With her nose to the ground or scenting the air she wound through the trees. Mostly she was able to catch a few squirrels here and there as well as the occasional rabbit. She still felt that wasn't enough.

When the call that belonged to Aponi reached her ears Leotie didn't hesitate to answer it. She quickly made her way through the forest to where the beta, Search, and one of the pups was waiting, she offered them a polite greeting. The strong scent of deer had also reached her nostrils which clued her into why they had been called, “Another hunt?” She questioned. The thought of it worried her after what had happened at the last one and she could only hope this would go better than last time.

(This post was last modified: Oct 22, 2016, 04:17 AM by Leotie.)

Please see Kajika's OOC profile for OOC preferences, thank you

Spieden's head lifted, ears perked attentively as Aponi's howl rang up through the forests, beckoning the pack for a hunt. The song drifted in from the northern edges of the border, a little bit of a trek from her current position, but she would make it none-the-less. As she passed the pack's den, it was mostly empty, but she gave a few barks to rouse any stragglers. Spieden nosed about for her children before moving on. Marina, the more obedient of the two, was nowhere to be seen. That wasn't unexpected, the girl had a functioning pair of ears on her. Mako instead had to be roughly dragged from his nap by the ear, but at least he was now was large enough to keep up with her pace, they were late enough already.

Tail swishing behind her, Spieden made her way into the small group already assembled at the territory's edge. She wasn't as late as she had thought, apparently, there were still others left who had yet to arrive. Her fiery amber eyes cast over those present, finding Marina, Serach, Leotie, and Aponi, who had stepped quite easily into her role as second.

Spieden's tongue flashed out, hungrily smoothing over her lips. The smell of deer on the crisp autumn air was irresistible, as if the hoofed bastards were taunting the wolves by skirting through their land as they were.

The howl hadn't gone entirely unnoticed by the young Coho, but frankly it was way too early for this kind of thing. He had stayed up far too late last night chasing bullfrogs along the creek. The boy groaned, rolling onto his other side to face the wall of the den, pretending he hadn't heard Serach's bark to the rest of them. Why couldn't they go hunt at a reasonable hour? He had managed to drift off until another bark disturbed him from his slumber. His mother this time. He reconsidered, but, no, he decided, he still wasn't going. But his resolve quickly faltered when he felt teeth grab onto his ear, pulling him up and out of the den whether he wanted to go or not.

The boy sullenly followed in his mother's footsteps, not too pleased at being forced into something. To the edge of the territory they went, arriving to find already a few of the pack assembled. He ducked out from his mother's shadow, eyes flicking between the other wolves before he sidled up to his sister, bumping her shoulder with his own. "This is gonna be easy," He gloated to her, despite his experience so far solely limited to a few scrawny fish and mice. After all, how much harder could it be?

Third alert, this is the last round to get any other characters in if you want to get them in on the hunt. Leaving who is on take down and chasing vague until we see which other members (if any) show up but Aponi would probably suggest the chasers to be herself and Leotie and the ambushers to be Serach and Spieden and let Spie choose where her kids go.

@Serach @Triell @Larkspur @Drift @Jace @Spieden @Naira @Ruenna @Leotie @Kyna @Sahalie @Marina @Mako @Lila @Treyah @Reiko

Serach's approach was met with a friendly wag of her tail and the appropriate dipping of her head in respect for the leader.  grinning back at him the blue eyes scanned the horizon for any other approaching pack mates and was disappointed by a lack thereof.  Brows furrowed slightly at his suggestion Aponi pondered out loud, "I thought they may be more comfortable staying in whichever group their mother ended up in but perhaps chasing would be the safest for them." Truthfully the mother was unsure how the other care givers would feel, to each their own though none of the three moms within the Bend could be labelled overly protective by any stretch.

However any hesitation was quickly forgotten at the approaching form of Marina quickly followed by Leotie and Spieden and eventually a disgruntled looking Mako. Un-amused that both of her daughters thought this excursion optional she nodded at the girl's question and winked at the boy, his feisty attitude against the loner not forgotten. Glancing over the adults who had gathered the second nodded a second time, "The herd have gathered in the coulee, the others can find us there if they so choose. At least Mako and Marina can benefit from the lesson." Lifting her head back to the sky the woman let out a second call to let any stragglers know they should quicken their step if they planned on joining them.

At the signal that everyone was ready the group began their way back around the edge of the territory, a plan beginning to devise as to which of the adults and the children would go where. The silver woman couldn't budge from her mind the annoyance at Lila and Kyna but chose to remain silent on the subject. The closer they got towards the heard the quieter she became overall, soon it would be no time for talking.

It was something outside her dreams that drew her eyes open. Perhaps the feeling her mother had gone again without her. Sure enough. Lila had awoken just moment too late. Well, since she hadn't been given invitation, she set out to do her own scouting.

Why she would have preferred company in her current mood she wanted nothing of the sort. It would take work to encourage someone to go with her, and then convince it was okay to tread past the borders. Her time was better spent alone. She had every want to get to the red hills today, the ones far from the Bend. There was little she knew of them. She happened to be rather south of the pack when her mother's voice called out. A promise of food and something more. A hunt she could take part in. Maybe, she didn't want to. Couldn't Aponi had told her this before hand? Let her go with to see?

A huff of annoyance she began to make her back to the territory, then through it to get to the other side. When once more Aponi called out. She doubted her mother was impressed, but she wasn't either. Flattened ears she hustled. But, stubbornly she did not call out she was coming.

The group came in sight she could see why there was persistence. Kyna was not here either. She doubted her mother liked how that looked. They were all moving out, so she simply followed behind, wondering if she should have bothered to come. Beneath her cool facade her nerves were a mess. Anyone she wanted close to wasn't in reach.

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

It was a bad idea, right? After - after what had happened - it couldn't be anything but a bad idea. Sure there had been hunts since, they needed to eat, and none had gone as badly as that first time, but, but - but her gut twisted up in anxiety just at the thought anyway. Aponi's summons was like nails on a chalkboard, her demand for bodies to help take down something for the pack to eat grating at Rue's ears only because it cut straight into the root of all her problems with this life. The woman's voice was actually quite beautiful, separate from Rue's panic, and the young Tainn tried to focus on that. That maybe it would be a good thing to prove herself, that she could do it, that she wasn't afraid.

Maybe... she'd just see who was going. Oak Tree Bend was huge, so Rue might not have been needed at all. But then she just felt a pang of guilt that she ate from the pack's caches, that she was nothing better than a parasite if she didn't contribute, and it was just impossible to win. With a heavy and theatrical sigh she turned towards the call and moved towards it with no great haste, but she moved towards it. She'd never been afraid to see wolves before, to show her face, to be a part of company. This life was killing her, everything that had made her her, and she didn't know if that was a good thing. Maybe Ruenna Tainn had been a faulty wolf, defective, and this was good for her. Maybe she'd be reborn.

Or maybe she just needed to accept that she was broken and run away. She'd always been good at moving. It was staying still which was killing her.

Catching the tail-end of Aponi's instructions the closer she came, Rue noticed with great trepidation that Lila, Mako and Marina were all present, and any nerves she'd managed to settle just flared right up again. She definitely shouldn't be involved if the children were, she couldn't put them in danger with her incompetence. But for some reason she kept on trotting, and at the last moment pushed a bright smile onto her face and an eager wag into her tail.

"Hey all," she chirped, gaze lingering on @Serach before she refocused onto the youngest trio, falling in line with @Lila, offering the little Aquila a cheerful grin. The smell of deer was in the air. There was no mistaking it. She shouldn't have come.