Oak Tree Bend Stampede in the Gorge

RE: Oak Tree Bend, look out! Something has spooked a herd of caribou into stampeding through your territory.

saw you in the village playin' mandolin

Ayla Donata

Today, Ayla had already decided, was going to be a lazy day. After spending a large chunk of the night with one eye open (just in case her siblings decided to try and sneak off without her), she would just have to take it easy. She wouldn't chase after her siblings and try to keep them out of trouble (or join them in it), she was just going to sprawl out in this little patch of sunlight and catch up on the sleep she had missed last night.

Her jaw stretched wide as she yawned, brows pinching with her eyes closed as the ground began to shake beneath her. A distant rumbling filled her ears and finally a golden eye cracked open questioningly as she lifted her head. What on earth was...? Then the first caribou came into view. Her paws slipped in the snow as she tried to scramble out of their path, flinging herself towards the stream in the hopes that water might deter them, but she didn't move fast enough and the stampeding animals didn't care. She tried to make herself as small as possible, curling into a tight ball as the first caribou leapt over her, but the second wasn't so nimble and clipped her shoulder with a glancing blow.

A short, sharp yelp left her lips and the sound seemed to be enough to send the rest of them wheeling around her. She stood, carrying her right forepaw and barked again, darting through a small opening to get well and truely out of their path. What on earth had caused all this?

Mabel had been begging her mother all week to let her go down on a trip to the Vale so she could see her adventure friend @“Sachiel”. She had been considering it, if she agreed to take her siblings and they could prove that they could hunt sufficiently enough to sustain themselves. Corsair of course had agreed right away to take the trip, and was more than willing to help her hunt today. The pup knew you weren’t supposed to pick favourite siblings; but Corsair was hers.

But, the children had more ambition than they had skill. They had stalked the closest caribou herd instead of going after more reasonable small prey. Mabel had watched and participated in enough hunts to know how it worked. You hid away in the trees until you found one that was weak and then you separated it, chased it down and killed it. Easy peasy. It didn’t always work, but they were fed often enough that the children did not know what real hunger was.

Only today it wasn’t so easy peasy. Mabel and Corsair has picked a caribou cow at random and they had taken off chasing after the herd. Only.... it wasn’t separating from the others, so Mabel switched her gaze onto another one and chased that one. That didn’t work either so she picked a buck this time and took off after that one but she was eating tired and it was getting harder and harder to keep up. Slowing down to a quick trot her chocolate eyes saying out her brother’s form amongst the beasts. She hoped he was having better luck.

Corsair wanted to travel down south too, though he had no familiar faces to meet like Mabel did. The Donata just wanted an excuse to explore... and maybe keep an eye on his sister and make sure she came home too. Ever since Aponi had told him of the time she'd run away for days, he grew worried. Not that he ever voiced this concern, and once upon a time he'd thought of telling Mabel their mother's story, but thought it was best to not give her any ideas.

Regardless, he was excited at the opportunity to explore with his adventure-partner, and just as happy to prove to his mother that they could catch something enough to sustain them on their trek south. Corsair had big dreams, and with a go big or go home attitude, the two stumbled upon a large caribou. It was easy to convince Mabel that they could take it down, and with more confidence than sense, the two decided on the best looking cow.

Their hunt was unorganized and not very well thought out. They had the gist of it down, but had yet to consider what all went into a successful hunt. Corsair's excitement got ahold of him and eventually he and Mabel split up, attempting to take down one of the large creatures by himself. They were quick, and the boy just kept switching his target, attempting to nip at anything that was close enough to his face. It wasn't a fruitful attempt, and Corsair pushed onwards and ahead of the herd, hoping that being up front might give him an advantage.

That's when he saw Ayla.

"Ayla! Get out of the way!" she must not have heard him. "Ayla!"
he tried again, but instead one of the large creatures slammed into her. He stopped, his heart dropping into the pit of his stomach. Corsair's pale green eyes darted back and forth, finally catching a glimpse of his sister. She was okay.

He dodged one of the frightened creatures and darted out of the warpath. Behind him, he could see Mabel. He didn't think she could see his we might be in trouble look from so far away, so he hoped she felt it. His ears pinned and he went to Ayla. "H-hey Ayla! Are you okay?" he stood up a bit tall and grinned at her, "Uh, pretty brave of you, taking on one of those by yourself!" he frantically scanned the girl, hoping she wouldn't have anything past a bruise.

saw you in the village playin' mandolin

Ayla Donata

Ayla was still trying to gather her wits, breathing sharply through the burn that ran down the right side of her body, eyes wide an panicky as a familiar voice cut through the din of fading hoofbeats. Are you okay? The girl bared her teeth with a low growl. She should have known. "Do I look okay? I COULD HAVE DIED!" It wasn't often that the girl openly lost her temper like this and for a moment she forgot about how much it hurt to put weight on her leg and attempted to lunge at her brother with all four paws planted. Of course she almost face-planted as the sharp pain ran up her limb and collapsed beneath her. If Corsair was here, then Mabel couldn't be far behind. "Of all the bird-brained... What on earth were you thinking?!"

This hunt want pretty much just exhausting. None of the caribou were sepeating from the herd and Mabel was ready to give up as she fell away from the prey. Her paws slowed to a quick trot as she tried to find her brother amongst all of the beasts so they could go lick their ego’s wounds together. She saw him killing at various animals without anymore luck than she had had and the Donata smirked a little to herself. She wanted to go on the trip but she also hated losing so it please her a little that she wasn’t the only wolf who had failed today.

But then something changed.

She was too far away to see her brother’s face but she could tell from his body language that something was wrong. He stiffened before taking off and shout to Ayla..... Ayla!? Primal concern took over Mabel and she too began to sprint towards her ginger sister, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. After all, Dad had said animals with horns would crush a wolf or pierce their sides with their antlers. She didn’t even think about calling for an adult and when she got close enough to see the accusation on her younger sister’s face she was enough to flip the trigger form concern to defence.

She was going to ruin their whole trip if she kept yelling and Mom or Dad heard her. Instantly the tan bristles on her saddle stood on end and the tips of Mabel’s teeth barred. ”What are you taking about!?” grinding to a halt a couple of feet away from the pair she was practically hissing. ”We weren’t doing anything until we saw you sleeping in the way of a stampede. What were you thinking? If you want to nap go back to the den you dumb-ass.” Ayla was not going to ruin this, and if that meant Mabel had to lie than so be it.

His kill them with kindness technique had completely backfired on him. Corsair hopped away from his little sister as she lunged at him, but instead pathetically fell back to the ground. It was not funny, but the young boy was holding back a laugh anyways. Not far behind was Mabel, quickly defending both him and herself. He turned to see his sister quickly spitting fire right back at Ayla. The boy quickly stood up and planted himself in the middle, not quite sure what to do from there. "Uh," he knew why Mabel was lying, and sort-of agreed with it. He didn't want to be in trouble, he didn't want to be grounded, and he definitely wanted to go to Quaking Vale. "She is right. You probably shouldn't be sleeping out in the open like that," not to mention that he did it literally all of the time.

He stepped towards Ayla, all the while fearing getting his face bit, and sniffed at the shoulder that seemed to be injured. He poked it as soft as he could manage, then quickly flinched away just in case Ayla did bite him. "Maybe it isn't so bad!" he offered. "It doesn't look so bad, maybe try standing up. Just a little bruise, probably. You get bruises all of the time, they're nothing," he was really trying to figure if he needed to run off and get one of their parents.

saw you in the village playin' mandolin

Ayla Donata

There she was, and Ayla turned on her sister a fire burning behind her eyes as she tried to cover her own ass. Ayla had seen this act played out countless times before and she wasn't buying it. If she wasn't doing anything then why was she so out of breath? She wouldn't be that puffed if she hadn't been among it and nothing would convince the girl otherwise. "Deershit." Ayla spat, the unspoken accusation clearly written on her face. There was a stinging at the back of her eyes and nose, the burning pain in her shoulder quickly amplifying to a throbbing ache. Her jaw clicked closed, her teeth clamping tightly as she fought the urge to whimper, right leg tucked tightly against her chest.

When Corsair moved to back Mabel up it was the final straw, a growl had begun to build in the back of her throat and then he poked her and everything went white with searing pain. Her head swung with parted jaws before she realised what was happening, teeth clicking on empty air in an attempt to drive her brother away. It was nothing was it? She was just being a crybaby was she? Well she'd see what their mother had to say about that. At least she might be able to give her something for the pain. Ayla barely spared a scowl for Mabel and Corsair as she began to make her way back to the den on three legs.

She wasn't sure she would ever forgive either of them for this. Especially not for lying. Lying meant they knew they'd done the wrong thing.

A lynx has left behind the remains of a deer. +5 Health

Corsair was probably just trying to help and Mabel was so pleased that he backed up her story and went along with it. Unfortunately, Ayla called them out on their lie and then lost her mind when her bruise got poked. Her teeth gnashed on empty air before she got up to presumably go tell on them. Like always.

Mabel should have just let it go, she should have just let Ayla go and tell Mom and accepted their punishment. She should have; but she didn’t. Instead she stepped forward, puffing up even more than she already was and let our something she might come to regret later, ”Do you not want to have any friends? Because you’re doing a good job if that’s your goal.” Jesus, it was just a little bruise. Suck it up and take one for the team.

Mabel knew that this would mean the end of their trip, and that there was no way Mom would let them go now. She wasn’t going to let themHappen. Turning away from Ayla’s retreating form she grumbled, ”Come on Corsair, let’s go.” She didn’t specify where but she was going to walk straight down to see Sachiel and her sister wasn’t going to stop her.

MABEL EXIT

Corsair stood between his siblings, watching as one stomped, and the other limped, away. Mabel beckoned him to join her, and he took an uncertain step towards her. He had no idea where she was running to, and figured it was just to cool down. "I... I'll join you later. I'm gonna make sure Ayla's okay," maybe he could lessen their sentence a little if he ran ahead and fessed up. The boy let out a frustrated sigh, wishing he could join Mabel. She'd be much more fun than getting scolded at. He could take the brunt of it at least, and maybe Ayla would be fine in a day or two, then they'd catch something, then they'd go to Quaking Vale. Shaking himself off, Corsair stood and ran off after Ayla.

— Exit Corsair!