Umbra Copse watership down

@Kino

The snow had fallen ceaselessly for hours now. They'd been huddled in some tree roots for most of it, dug into the snow that was somehow so cold but the only thing that could keep them warm at the same time. But her stomach was gurgling and it was hard to ignore that days had passed since she had eaten. The sudden warm temperatures a fortnight ago had vanished in a thankless flash, snowing so much that the sky barely even stopped to breathe. When she was a cub her father had told her that wolves could go days, maybe even weeks without food. But Sahalie had never needed to do that, never wanted to--her stomach made that much plain.

"I'm hungry," she said sourly. Her moods were even worse now as the hormones in her body rose to a crescendo. When would it end. "Let's go," she said, shoving the silver man beside her. Her space heater. Her talking space heater that kept her sane... but also drove her up a tree. When they came back she wasn't sure if she should make him carve his own hole into a snow bank and sleep separately. Maybe she could cuddle up with @Castel or @Larkspur for warmth. But they were not as large as him.

The winds were heavy and her eyes were slits, trying to stare through the blizzard without getting snow into her eyes. Hopefully there would be some tracks, some noises, something to lead her to food. She didn't care if it was just a mouse. She would eat it.

(This post was last modified: Mar 23, 2017, 08:19 PM by Sahalie.)

If I ever leave I could learn to miss you

Kino was no stranger to hunger having gone months in his earlier days with little food. During their travels the boy-no, man now- was the first to forgo food if it meant the others got to eat, finding an ability to ignore the painful clenching of his stomach in protest to lack of food. The recent blizzard, however, was leaving them without much food all around. The loud growling of Hal’s stomach, curled against him, was as much a testimony to that as it was a feeling of failure in him. Everytime she tensed from it he had to grit his teeth, push down his feeling of shame at not being able to provide for her. Things would be better once they settled down, once they found a place to call home.

Suddenly he was given a shove and for a moment he prepared himself for a nip or something, maybe Hal deciding she’d gotten too warm and wanted him to move over. He shifted but was surprised when she told him to go with her, presumably to find food. His auds flickered forward curiously as he watched her move out into the windy, snow conditions but he was quick to follow. He moved his mass to stand against the wind for her, providing shelter as best he could. He could see her scanning for any sign of prey, but that wouldn’t do any good in these conditions. They wouldn’t see anything, the snow and wind being sure to cover up any tracks as soon as they were made. “We’ll need to use our noses instead of our eyes,” he said, lowering his head so that he could be heard better over the wailing wind.

With sentimental boy as my nom de plume

(This post was last modified: Mar 23, 2017, 05:43 PM by Kino.)

1/4 hunting (tracking). feel free to follow her. or find a larger game animal despite her pessimism. or we could wait for a sow drop. xD

"Too cold for my nose," she barked back. Sahalie had never really been a great hunter. Never practiced much, preferred to talk when she needed to be silent. Fishing was alright, she was decent at scooping salmon out of Chinook Coulee because fish couldn't hear her coming. She was fine when it came to wolf scents: she had learned well the nuances that distinguished one pack mate from another, those things were interesting. But the patience that it took to follow the trail of a critter that actively tried to conceal itself was more a headache than she could bare most of the time. Which wasn't to say she was bad--she did fine--but there were better hunters out there and activities she preferred more. Certainly she had never hunted in a snow storm this bad, before. "If you think you can do better. Be my guest." And split up.

Already she was walking away from him. It wasn't like they'd find any large game, right? There wouldn't be anything where she'd need his help. She could chase a rabbit by herself. Right? Her paws carried her into the denser parts of the copse, and the thick arms of the evergreens brushed at her sides. The dark, furry trees shielded her a little from the worst of the winds and the snow, enough so that she could tune out the distractions and focus with all her senses. She stood on a bit of a hill, letting the scents that collected there flow through her slightly parted lips, reverberating at the back of her throat, sliding through her nostrils. But as she turned her head she could find no direction. It was calmer, here, in the firs than under the winter-dead deciduous trees, so there should have been something here but... there were too many things.

Dem post 1/4 tracking

If I ever leave I could learn to miss you

His friend bit out a sharp reply and he let out a sigh. At the beginning of the month he might have flinched and crawled away to pout but at this point he was more accustomed to her flying emotions. He knew he’d just have to wait it out, since the other females in the Bend had seemed to cool off. But...then again...the other females in the Bend had all been pregnant when their heat wore off and Hal certainly wasn’t going to end up pregnant this year. God help the soul who tried anything like that with her. But, if she wasn’t going to be pregnant then what was there to say that her mood swings would ever stop until she was? He didn’t know how this whole heat thing worked and the prospect of her behaving like this, well, forever made him want to crawl in a hole and never come out.

At the proposal of them splitting up he didn’t even have to think about it, he knew that the answer would be a no from him. He wouldn’t allow her to travel alone in this weather. It was easy for wolves to become lost with no sense of direction and he would never forgive himself if he lost her. No, she’d have to deal with a Kino sized burr in her side.

He didn’t say anything to her outburst, instead he opted to follow along quietly. He paused a little ways behind her, watching as she tried to sort through the scents. But, the frustration in her pretty face clearly showed that she was having difficulties. Truthfully even Kino was having some tough luck sorting through them, the whipping winds throwing everything around and making it confusing. But he allowed himself to calm down, drawing in his own breath and sorting through the scents that were flung about. And, to his luck, he was able to find the scent of a hare. He waited to see if his friend would find the same scent because he knew that if he brought it up to her he’d just get his nose bitten off. No, she had to find it herself.

With sentimental boy as my nom de plume

There is a rabbit's nest nearby. +1 Health

@Kino 2/4

Alastor came up behind her. Her body--though these days it didn't feel like hers anymore, it belonged to a far more primal animal--stiffened reflexively. It was even harder to focus now, with the blood pounding in her ears and all the things that @Kyna had told her about doing it that made her face feel like it was melting off. She did not want to do any of those things. Her body thought otherwise, apparently.

Sighing as loudly as she dared, she screwed her eyes up and took a big whiff. Focus, focus, focus she willed herself, before realizing that this mantra in itself was distracting. But suddenly--

"Rabbits," she breathed. There was a warren nearby, perhaps their opening had been buried but they had popped up to dig themselves out. Even rabbits, crazy as they were living underground, had to fear suffocation at some point. The snows would melt eventually and cave in on their holes, or flood their nests. 

The snows muffled her footsteps as she looked for the hole. Her memory nagged her about getting stuck in the mouth of a rabbit den only a few seasons back, but she was thinner now and not diving straight for it. "I'm gunna try to flush 'em out. You chase, she said." She was bending over the hole in the snow. Her breath frosted up around her.

She released a howl that was like a blood curdling scream. 

Would they come up here, or somewhere else?

2/4 dem posts 6/12 total

If I ever leave I could learn to miss you

Sure enough she found them, a pleased smirk slipping onto his jaws as he caught wind of her whispered epiphany. He knew she could do it. The girl was certainly stubborn enough when she put her mind to it and she seemed set enough on finding herself some grub. She turned and he followed along, nostrils flaring as he tracked the twisting and turning tendrils in a weaving formation, though it was more erratic than normal. Then, they had arrived and his auds swiveled forward to catch her orders. He nodded, positioning himself to allow himself to give chase should any of the animals jump out.

But, it wasn’t the rabbits that jumped.

Sahalie’s screeching, warbling howl echoed with the winds and made his fur stand on end. His gut instantly dropped, every part of him yelling to go to her even if he could see clear as day that she was in no harm. God, he hoped that she would never make that sound again as long as he lived. It made him want to vomit.

But, it seemed to do its job. He almost missed it, almost. The rabbit that popped out of another entrance a few feet away. In the winter it’s coat had been stripped of its color, blending in with the snow around it. But, unlucky enough for this hare it was close enough to spring that its ears had started to turn back to brown. How lucky for him. He let out a deep bark then was off, long legs eating away at the ground as he gave chase.

With sentimental boy as my nom de plume

@Kino 3/4 hunting, 7/12 overall

Alastor practically shed all his fur he looked so startled. She might have laughed if she was not so hungry. They needed this meal. There was no time for giggling, even in the seconds that it took to pull her eyes away from his bulky form back to the hole already she saw a dirty-white fur ball rocket out from beneath her paws before she could get it. That one would be for Alastor, even though she was concerned he was too large and bulky to catch the rabbit in the confined case.


She would have stood there and watched, but already there was another one popping up. Several, actually, right behind it. Yipping excitedly, the girl took off after one of them. 

The trees were just a big of a pain to her as they would surely be for mister Big Boy Alastor, and she tried to steer the rabbit back around so that it could not dive under the thickest, saggy limbs of the evergreens. The rabbit was bounding left and right, hoping to trick her into wasting her energy but she was trying not to let it fool her. She just had to push forward, reach out.

Snap.

(This post was last modified: Mar 23, 2017, 08:18 PM by Sahalie.)

3/4 overall post 8/12

If I ever leave I could learn to miss you

Kino rocketed after the rabbit, twisting and turning around different trees as he tried to keep up with the animal. He turned his shoulder forward, using his bulk to break through a bit of frozen vines instead of ducking through them. In no way was Kino a tank like his sister, but he wasn’t a gangly boy like his brother. Truly he was the middle child, filled out and muscular. His initial living had stuck with him, making it so that he was constantly up and about. He made sure he had no down time and it showed. He had never been one to pay attention to his looks and he wouldn’t start any time soon.

The animal was suddenly skittering, trying to avoid hitting a tree and in its hesitance he was able to extend his neck. His jaws opened and just as he was about to snatch it…

Snap

The sound invaded his ear drums and he himself slammed to a halt, skidding on the snowy terrain. His gaze widened and he turned, headed back in the direction he had left his friend. He had left her, stupid, stupid, stupid! His heart hammered in his chest, worried that something horrible might have happened to her. He pushed harder, large white clouds of breath exploding from his jaws. “Hal!” he yelled as he ran, praying that she would respond to him.

With sentimental boy as my nom de plume

@Kino 4/4 hunting, 9/12 overall

The snap had just been a branch under foot, some sorry body part ripped away from the trees by the wind. It crackled as the put her weight on it, and she felt her ankle start to buckle before her back legs--at last underneath her--propelled her forward and up. In the end it was just an early, unexpected leap that she would just have to make the most of. Anyone watching might have missed the stumble, so brief. But this was part of hunting.


Her jaws came down on the rabbit first, and then her whole body, and suddenly she was deep in the snow with a screaming, writhing hare in her mouth fighting to escape. The girl strengthened her grip and awkwardly floundered in the snow, trying to pull herself backwards. She braced her forelegs against the poor, shrieking creature's neck and she pulled.

It was silent.

Sighing, she sat back up. And Alastor was already there, looking rather harried. She hadn't heard him shouting for her. The rabbit's body hung limp in her jaws. Sahalie blinked. "'Ijja looosh i'?" she mumbled through the dead thing. There were so many other hares to go after. He shouldn't have given up. One rabbit was good, but more were better. "'Mmmm fine!" Did he think she was screaming? Again? 

"Goo!" She wanted to eat alone.