the circle of life

Pack RE! Sanguine Cove, look out! Something has spooked a herd of caribou into stampeding through your territory. This takes place early-to-mid-afternoon, October 3rd, 2021

First round ends 10/13/2021! Encouraging everyone to pop in, especially pups so Aquene doesn't stress the hell out <3

But I put it out of my mind Long enough to call it courage To live without a lifeline

Aquene had been out searching for more wormwood around the lake. She knew insect bites usually got worse around the fall, so she liked to make sure that she was stocked up on them because the pups would no doubt get bitten to shreds with the way they ran around with little care in the world… it was then that she felt the trembling of the earth. At first she thought she was imagining it, that she was just tired and it was all a figment of her imagination… but then the trembling came with the sound of hooves and her eyes widened.

Where were the pups?

That was her first thought, frantically searching for the scent of not just Kateri, but Leo and Stella too. She took off, letting out a panicked call for not just them, but the rest of the pack as well. It was important. She saw the beasts and bolted to the side. Fortunate for her, stampedes tended not to change direction because usually something spooked them into their run. She needed to get a headcount and make sure that no one fell into their path, and then they could figure out how to move forward.

(This post was last modified: Oct 03, 2021, 06:20 PM by Aquene.)

Nash was trying to spend as much time within the borders as he did pacing the edges of them. He didn't change his routine of marking every day, he merely picked up the pace and stopped brooding so much. Well, he tried to stop brooding. At least working the borders faster gave him a time limit on how much he was allowed to brood before turning back into the territory proper.

Today he'd gotten a late start and was just finishing up, heading to find Aquene and see if she'd eaten yet - he was trying to make checking on her a regular occurence - when he felt the trembling in his paws. For a moment he was confused. Was there an earthquake? He was too far from any dangerous slopes for there to be a rockslide like the one that had killed his father.

Then he heard the hooves, and Aquene call, and he was running. "Aquene!" he shouted, pausing when he saw the caribou and frantically searching for the dark form of his friend. He finally caught sight of her, dodging out of harm's way, and he made for her, dashing in front of the herd in a move he would scold anyone else for. "Aquene!" he said again as he reached her, voice raised to be heard over the thunder. "Are you okay? Where's Kateri?"

Throughout his stay at the cove, things had been pretty quiet, laid back, and calm. So when he heard the odd rumbling sound, and the very earth seemed to shake, feelings of concern and dread quickly took root. Jethro felt sure that something was horribly wrong, and he had no idea what was causing it.

That unawareness did not last long, for as the noise grew louder and the tremors more violent, Jet was able to witness something he’d never seen before. A veritable swarm of caribou were rampaging through the area, and would carve a path right through the pack’s territory. By some stroke of luck, he did not appear to be in their direct path, but that didn’t mean others weren’t, and he wasn’t about to sit idly by and watch anyone be run over.

The dark one launched into a sprint as he attempted to keep ahead of the raging group, and run parallel to the path he thought the creatures would follow. He frantically scanned for anyone that might be nearby, ready to aid if needed. Amidst all the noise Jet was fairly sure he could hear someone calling out, though he could not make out exact words, and altered his path to head in that direction.

Siyet was spending some time down by the lake. She often spent her days here because the temperature was cooler here. Hopefully when winter came she would be more comfortable.

As she was sitting and enjoying the cool breeze she felt the rumble. This rumble was all too familiar to her. There were often herds on reindeer that would travel near her old home and they would frequently get spooked and start charging in a random direction.

She listened for a moment to try and figure out what direction they were going to. She realized they were headed directly for the cove. She got up and started full sprint towards the cove. As she was running she caught a familiar scent. Nash. She ran towards the scent and saw him as he was shouting.

"Nash! The stamped is headed this way, what can I do to help? Are the others okay? The pups are they in the den?"

There should not be this many ungulates crossing through the valley. First the deer herd, now caribou? 'Alarmed' was an understatement. Chan felt as though a lead weight had been dropped into his stomach. Where had they come from, why had they chosen to scale the mountain? He was unlikely to get any answers. In the moment, all that could be done was mitigate.

He ran alongside the thundering herd, attempting to get them to change direction. He snapped at their legs and tried to press the caribou into turning, but he was not enough of a deterrent by himself. In their blind panic, they continued forward, kicking out at him but refusing to hesitate.

Dammit, dammit, dammit!

Aquene's howl reached his ears through the cacophony, and ahead he began to catch glimpses of Jethro. Chan pushed his muscles harder, trying to catch up with the younger wolf so that he could aid him in attempting to keep their path cleared. When Jet veered, Chan remained on the same course, eyes scanning wildly for others. He couldn't help a horrid vision of the den site caving under their weight, the rest of the pack and their children trapped within.

This was a waking nightmare.

(This post was last modified: Oct 15, 2021, 01:15 AM by Woya.)

 

He was not in the den. In fact, he was as far from it as he could get, without actually crossing the border of course. Leo, like so many times before, had gotten tired of his siblings’ constant clamoring – a harsh way to put it perhaps, but the quietest of the Vuesain pups had a low tolerance for chatter. Instead he went exploring, stretching his tether to the utmost in his search for new experiences. At this point, he had mapped most of the territory to himself, sniffing out every nook to be sure he hadn’t missed anything. Very soon, the protected lands of Sanguine Cove would not be enough for him.

 

But for now, Leo would obey the rules, keeping exactly one paw length inside the scented line as he trotted a long, stopping now and then to sniff a plant or look closer at a particular rock. He had just stopped to inspect a particularly interesting specimen, seeming to shimmer faintly in the sun. His head lowered to bring his dual-colored eyes as close as possible, he reached out a paw to roll it over, when it suddenly did so on its own.

 

The lanky pup jumped back, startled, ears flattening against his skull. Around him, all the stones and gravel had suddenly started to dance as the very ground beneath his paws began to shake. Tail curling beneath him, Leo looked around, hoping to find a safe spot, but everything seemed to be quaking, more and more intensely. And then he spotted them, or it as it appeared: one giant mass of hooves and antlers, rushing towards him.

 

Spinning on the spot, the boy started running, too terrified to even shout. He just ran, stumbling over his oversized paws but pushing ahead, not daring to look back, but hearing the ruckus coming closer and closer. He couldn’t outrun it, soon enough the frontrunners would be pulling up along side him, obscuring his view so that he didn’t even see the others darting around, though he heard their shouts. But his only response was a whine, easily drowned by the thunder of hoofs.

Sorry for the delay! I blame exams -- next round will end November 4th

But I put it out of my mind Long enough to call it courage To live without a lifeline

Frazzled was one word that the healer knew she could use to define herself. She spotted Nash and with it brought a calming sense of comfort, though even that did little to stay her nerves. Too many pups were currently unaccounted for. In that matter, all were unaccounted for, including her daughter. “I’m fine but I don’t know. I don’t know where any of the pups are. Kateri went off to play with the others.” The worry in her tone was hard to miss before others started to arrive, others she really didn’t know all that well but the help that reminded her that she wasn’t dealing with this situation alone.

Siyet was finding and talking directly to Nash. She answered in turn. “We need to try and herd them away from the territory… I don’t know where any of the pups are right now but we need to find them and make sure that they’re safely out of the path.” In the pack den was likely the place for them right now. The herd was coming right towards them, and with it she saw Jethro and Chan, chasing and trying to herd the creatures as she had already suggested. She didn’t think, she just acted, instantly falling into the form as she pushed to herd these creatures away from the pack lands and any young that they might have the chance to stumble across.

It was then that she saw Leo. Fear gripped her.

“Leo!” She yelled out as she pushed her muscles harder, pushing for any and all speed she might be able to muster to get ahead of the herd. She needed to get him out of there. He was frozen, not that she blamed him for that at all because she could hardly imagine the thoughts gripping his puppy mind. She managed to get ahead of the herd, opening her mouth in the hopes of grabbing him by the scruff on the fly so she could pull him quickly out of the stampeding path.

(This post was last modified: Oct 24, 2021, 01:27 PM by Aquene.)

Nash ran alongside Aquene, scanning the heard for any break, any sign of what might have induced them to storm like this. He caught glimpses of his brother and Jet running alongside the herd, and flashed a look to Siyet to acknowledge her presence before nodding at their healer to indicate her plan was the one. It seemed the other two men present were already on it.

He spotted Leo just as Aquene shouted and sped up. Nash's heart began thundering in his ears louder than even the caribou at the thought of the pup in harm's way. He needed to help! His friend was putting herself directly in the path of danger to get the frozen child. Nash pushed himself harder to keep up with her, growling and snapping at the stampede to try and turn them, to part them around the mother and pup. He put himself between them and the ungulates bearing down on them, keeping half an eye on them so he could follow them out of harm's way as soon as he knew they would be safe.

The further they went, the more faces began to appear. Siyet’s familiar light form was there, as was Chan - who seemed to attempt to get the herd to veer in another direction, albeit with little success. There were others, ahead, too - Nash and some woman who’s name escaped him at that moment, but most frighteningly of all was the form of a sprinting pup that was just barely managing to keep ahead of the raging herd.

Maneuvering the stampede away was now an absolute must. Jet resisted the urge to dart after the child, for the unknown woman and Nash already appeared to be moving to do just that, though the latter did not go for the child directly. Mirroring his packmate, Jet maneuvered himself to be an additional obstacle between the stampede and the child as Nash had done. He opted for growls and snaps at the nearest creatures, hoping and praying to whatever gods or spirits were out there, that it would at least buy the woman enough time to scoop up the child and get to safety.

As the stampeed continued on, Siyet followed along with what she observed Nash and Jethro doing. She tried to help get between the animals and the pup, snarling, growling and snapping at their feet. She really hopped that they could get the animals away from the pup and the cove so that way no one would get injured. While doing this she noticed a stray animal moving away from the main stampeed and a few others following its lead.

"Hey guys! Look! Some are breaking ranks! What do we do?!"