Blackberry Fields Hunting...of a different flavor.

Raigo had been saved from his brush with death in the frigid waters near their makeshift den.... Vlarindara had felt him strong enough now, to leave on his own as she went hunting. Raigo wasn't the only one she felt was strong enough to hunt, she herself had been gaining weight and bulk with the help of her own hunts, and those of Bordens.. Borden.. a wolf she often found occupying her thoughts - though she still wasn't sure where they stood. Each time she'd seen him, he was so calm.. and working..most of the time. It was harder than anything she knew to get him to relax - goodness knows she had yet to manage such an impossible feat. She let loose a gusting sigh as she trotted through the forest, her long legs carrying her growing weight effortlessly. While she may have been tall.. she had weight to her advantage - but not height.. She was more.. stocky than a runner... Her talents when it came to prey...were short bursts of speed followed by brute force.

Odd, when she stopped to think about it. Both her mother and father were lithe, athletic and agile as were her siblings... Vlarindara, on the other hand.. was not... Perhaps that had been her problem from the get-go... When she'd been unable to dodge around the antlers of a moose they'd been hunting. The female didn't slow in her pace through the woods, nor would she have to.. Wolves had the innate ability to go for hours, possibly days at a steady lope without tiring. Obviously, they would need food, or water, and the white female was no exception. She drew to a halt near a lightly babbling brook and lowered her head before breaking the ice on top with a heavy impact from her front paws. There... Now it was more than accessible.. While she drank, she let her mind wander.. her thoughts chase their own tails in endless circles.

She wasn't much one for daydreaming.. but at times, even such a frivolous thing took her fancy.. or when she was solving a particularly difficult problem in her life. Like, what to do with Borden...and with Raigo. The question about Raigo was easy.... simple in fact. She wouldn't leave him, or let him go off on his own..unless he chose to leave her. Even if Borden stayed with the Midnight Plateu pack.. and she and Raigo weren't allowed, she had her own pack.. technically. A gathering of wolves numbering two or more was technically a pack....Even though it was just the two of them, and they were fairly young.. She lifted her head annd shook it, trying to dislodge the thoughts from it. Her legs carried her over the stream and across it..into a part of the lands she hadn't explored.

Borden had said he loved her.. hadn't he? But... why did she feel so torn about it? The females large, floppy ears lay back over her neck as a soft whine escaped her. No. NO, she stamped her foot, forcing herself to think about the matter at hand - the hunt she was on for both her and for Raigo. The thoughts fled and in their place, the scents in the air... the taste of the foilage around her.. it all changed, and she listened. White on white, she blended in with the snow as she came to the edge of the forest leading to the Blackberry fields. An odd place this... but after a moments hesitation, she stepped onto the deep snow of the place. Tracks darted every which way.. this way and that.. but she wasn't interested in the smaller ones.. she wanted something bigger.. to see how she could manage it.

Just as thoughts of Borden were returning, she lighted on the tracks that were indicative of a deer.. the large kind of prey she wanted to see if she could handle.. could take down. In her pack the right of 'passage' for a young wolf was to lead the pack on a hunt against a moose.. they were larger than the deer she'd seen.. This would be no problem at all..right? The tracks were meandering through the thick branches of berries without real direction. Judging by the distance between each footprint, the animal was full grown.. but the question was.. could she take it? With body low to the ground, she listened, waited.. and could hear the faint crunching of the snow, the rustling of branches. Something was there....

Slowly...ever so slowly she crept around the bushes, eyes, ears and body strained, focusing on the source of the sound.. of her prey. She could see the tawny color of the deer filtering through the snow covered branches of the bushes around them... she could smell the musk in the air.. So it was a buck.. but could she do it? Could she take it down? She crept closer, pausing with each step, each new one placed deliberately, almost hanging in limbo before it touched the snow. Aggravating, painful exaggerated movements.. but it kept the skittish deer from noticing her. Closer...closer... The relative quiet of the glade was uplifting - the twittering of the birds was even telling her she hadn't been noticed.

The deer froze, lifting his head and the female froze, crouched to the ground. Strained seconds passed before the antlered buck swished his tail and lowered his head to return to stripping the berries from the branches. A nonexistent puff of air between her lips and she continued her path.. slowly... Slowly.. A tensing of her muscles and she ripped from the crouched hiding place in the snow, snarling as she came up at the animal. A frightened clarion call rent the silence, followed by the snarling of the wolf and the warning calls of the birds. 'Predator! WOLF!' They screamed. She bounded through the snow after the quadruped, her attention wholly on her target and the meal ahead...

It was wounded.. she would have little problem with taking it down.. she knew that now - having scented the metallic of blood as it jumped from her initially, reopening half healed wounds on its haunches. A snarl and she leapt, airborne a few moments before having to twist away. The powerful kick aimed at her only sent blood spattering in different directions - but even a kick from a wounded deer could kill her. She landed, then darted in beneath him, snapping at his hocks. The animal danced away from her snapping jaws and spun, lowering his head towards the threat.

Claw. Hoof. Snarl. Bleat. Lunge. Dodge. Kick. Snap. Circle, lunge. The deadly dance between wolf and deer continued for a few minutes... minutes that stretched longer and longer as each tested their opponent, and each exchanged blows and defense. Vlarindara had a single-minded focus on the deer it seemed, but she wasn' really seeing the deer. No.. she was seeing the problems at hand.. with each dodge of a kick or a swipe of the antlers, she was concentrating on a problem, a facet of her life. Each lunge and bite at the animal before her was her own reactions.. Oh, she really did see the deer - but metaphorically it was the same thing.

Both animals were candy-striped with blood and dirt.. the snow around them churned and tinged pink. The buck sported a few claw marks, more bites and longer marks of teeth scraping along his hide. Vlarindara sported a kick to her shoulder that had bruised, thankfully having been a glancing blow...some kicks that had landed, drawing blood, a brutal scratch across her muzzle from an antler... The two circled, each snarling in their own right... Vlarindara knew the buck was tiring.. his breathing, like her own was labored, his head lowering under the weight of his primary weapon. His injured flank was almost completely matted with the blood from his wound... that to, weakened him.

Borden...Raigo.. Raigo....a pack.. a home.. somewhere safe to call her own.. to defend. Things running through her head, distracting her from hte matter at hand.. This... she couldn't fail in this. This would feed both her AND raigo for some time.. even Borden and his pack! Perhaps... she could ensure Raigo's future with a pack.. ensure he was safe and cared for... He just had to eat.. to get better.. stronger. The rabbits and squirrels she'd been catching weren't enough - he needed more.. something... more sustaining than the smaller creatures. The deer would do.. The deer would do indeed.

It lunged, she dodged to the side and slammed her weight into its side when it stumbled, sending them both to the ground. As it thrashed to get his feet beneath him, Vlarindara dove in, then under, dodging the hooves to veer towards the throat of the beast, a feral snarl raising from her throat. The metallic taste, the jumping, living warmth.. that was what the hunt was about.. Food, yes.. but the thrill of it.. was coming out the victor. Placing two paws on the gradually fading animal, the white wolf let loose her cry to the heavens, victorious and challenging.

Wounded, yes.. but she had managed it.. with the help of the deers own injury.. she had still managed to take down the larger creature.. and would be able to provide for Raigo, and herself.. perhaps for Borden to. The melodic howl rent the morning skies, calling to her charge, warning and challenging the other wolves who might try to steal her rightfully won kill. "Come, Raigo.. " It said.. "This is our meal...Come at your own risk.." It said..It warned away strange wolves who would seek to find her kill.. to see the source of the proud, victorious calls. She didn't mind.. With the taste of blood on her tongue, she had cemented her decisions.. her choices.. her problems.. She was resolved.

**wow... that got windy..**

<i>D</i>ire consequences indeed awaited Raigo. The young wolf's body, seemingly miraculous in the vitality of youth, had emerged victorious in it's battle with disease. He had healed to the point where walking no longer tired him overly much, though running for any distance still taxed his weakened body. With this ability to walk finally regained, the wolf grew restless. He knew that he should stay in the den or in the immediate vicinity of the den, but he had already smelled everything in the area surrounding the den. He wanted to go explore!

P<i>r</i>obably not the best idea idea, though, in his current state of health. So Raigo kept a lonely vigil around the den, peering into the woods and hoping to catch sight of Vlarindara or Borden. Several times, Raigo's ears would prick forwards and his tail would wag as he caught sight of Vlar or Borden in the woods, but each time, that image turned out to be nothing more than phantoms, a devilish doppelganger, perhaps. This recurring event disheartened the young wolf, but he refused to even consider the possibility of abandonment. Had Vlar not already proven, quite outstandingly, that she would not abandon him?

He <i>a</i>lmost found himself entrenched in the throes of sleep when a familiar and wonderfully welcomed howl caught his attention. Raigo sat up, swiveling his ears to and fro until he had pinpointed the source of Vlar's joyous call. Lifting his head, Raigo gave a reply, a simply "<span style='color:teal'>I'm coming!</span>" before setting off at the highest speed that he could muster. That speed, however, lagged woefully behind the gait at which the pup--no, that the yearling would have liked to travel.

His <i>o</i>bvious weakness only became more apparent as he made his way towards Vlarindara's call. He had memorized where her call had originated, and so he did not need to call out again. But, despite that fact, his progress seemed agonizingly slow, limited to a walk, maybe a fast walk, if he felt up to it. However, before much time had passed--it had seemed like much longer to the hungry yearling--Raigo caught that delicious scent of blood, as well as Vlarindara's scent. His paws became lighter and his pace quickened slightly, knowing that he drew near. Finally, he found Vlarindara, standing triumphantly over a dead deer, a buck, no less. A struggled had obviously occurred, as both the snow and Vlar's coat bore a ruddy stain.

His a<i>b</i>solute love and respect for Vlarindara only increased when he realized that she had felled this deer on her own. Tail wagging, Raigo approached her, sniffing carefully. However, upon closer observation, Raigo could see that a significant amount of the blood coloring Vlar's glorious white pelt belonged to her. A concerned whine escaped his lips as he moved closer, reaching his head up to lick at the wounds that Vlar would not be able to reach on her own. "<span style='color:teal'>Vlar, are you alright? Are you hurt?</span>" he asked, concern for his surrogate sister/mother etched clearly in his features--his pinned back ears, his low-held tail, his dark brown eyes--as well as his voice.

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At the responding howl from the pup she had adopted, Vlaridnara turned to their meal and dug in... She hadn't felled the thing on her own.. and in fact she never would have if it had been healthy. The animal was ill and wounded.. and she had simply taken advantage of that. The wolf lifted her head with a slight growl of warning when she could hear the footsteps of another. Seeing Raigo, she smiled, stepping away from the kill and shaking herself. She was injured, yes.. but once thy stopped bleeding, they would stop bothering her.. the worst of them would take a week or two to heal.. but that was fine - she still felt better off than she had when they'd come here!

"I'm alright, Raigo.. there's nothing to worry about." She smiled, ducking from his ministrations and swiping her tongue over his muzzle and head. "I'm supposed to take care of you.. remember? Here.." She returned to the felled beast and settled in next to the haunches, leaving Raigo the more tender...bits. "How are you feeling this evening? She was worried for him.. and hoped that the trek from their den to here hadn't taken too much a strain on him.. but she wouldn't have bothered to fell their meal if she hadn't thought he could make the trip to it. There was no way in *hell* she was going to be able to drag the carcass all the way back without notice. No.. it was best that they keep it here and eat sa much as they could.. perhaps she'd hide it..

"You are getting stronger.. a week ago you couldn't have made the trip from here to the den.. It's quite a distance.. I'm proud of you.." The pride was in her tone and she smiled at him - looking *QUITE* pleased with his progress in defeating the cold the water had left in his body. "Would you like to go on the next hunt with me, Raigo?"

<i>E</i>very fiber of his being seemed to be on edge as Raigo crept through the brush towards the carcass. He knew that something could spring at him at any moment and, given his current condition, he could not do a single thing about it. However, he proved his fears unfounded as he arrived at where Vlar had felled the deer.

A<i>s</i> Vlarindara ducked his attempt to lick his wounds and instead licked him, Raigo's ears flattened slightly and his tail arched up over his back. "<span style='color:teal'>Vlar, stand still,</span>" he said, his voice holding a significant more bite than he had originally intended. His tail lowered slightly and wagged behind him as he added, "<span style='color:teal'>Please,</span>" onto the end of it.

If <i>o</i>bstinance subsided sufficiently for her to do as he asked, Raigo again licked the wounds clean around her muzzle, face and neck. Only once he thought the job sufficiently finished would he step back and take a bite of the deer. "<span style='color:teal'>I'm tired,</span>" he answered, but seemed unperturbed by the fact. "<span style='color:teal'>I think that I <b>am</b> getting stronger, though. I made it all the way from the den to here without having to stop once. I could only walk, but I didn't have to stop.</span>" He looked up at Vlar, his tail wagging behind himself.

The <i>l</i>anky yearling's eyes widened when he heard the invitation to go hunting with Vlar. He swallowed the chunk of meat that occupied his mouth and fixed his dark brown eyes and Vlarindara's golden orbs. "<span style='color:teal'>I...I would love to, Vlar,</span>" he said, barely able to keep himself from jumping around. However, he quickly sobered and his tail lowered to sit docilely between his thighs. "<span style='color:teal'>But I don't know if I could keep up. I mean, whenever I try to hunt something, it always ends up running away.</span>" His ears drooped slightly at this confession.

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It was his please..more than anything that left her to sit still and lower herself to the snow so he could clean her wounds. The wolf waited patiently before turning it on him and hooking him with a paw and settling down to give *HIM* a bath. She was chuckling once she finished, finally releasing him to his meal and she to her own. After a few moments and bites, she looked up at him with a soft chuckle. "It's learning... You have to learn to hunt.. it comes with practice.. Besides.. we won't do it until you're better." She smiled before returning to her meal, downing a few more mouthfuls before getting to her feet and shaking herself. "Stay here, Raigo.. I'm going to go run a perimeter.. make sure no one else is going to come up on us tonight.."

Her tail flashed as she hopped over the buck and bounced off into the underbrush around them. She was gone a few minutes as she trotted around them...scenting the area in a circle before returning, appearing about where she'd disappeared. "For now, we can enjoy our meal in relative peace and quiet..." And she did just that, settled in for their meal and gorging herself until she felt like she was going to pop like an overripe cherry. "Perhaps.. I ate too much..." A glance at the buck showed that they wouldn't have an INKLING of a chance to bring it back to the den... still far too heavy.. but she couldn't simply let it go to waste.. They could stay here.. but it was far from ideal.. little to no shelter.. No.. she couldn't do that.. not with Raigo still being ill..

(This post was last modified: Feb 14, 2011, 09:30 PM by Vlarindara.)

<b>OOC: Hope you don't mind if I throw Kauda in here. She hasn't got a place to RP right now. I haven't got a table for her either. </b>

<blockquote>A very small, slim she - wolf took short pawsteps in the shimmering white snow, her delicate black paws disappearing in the snow. The dim sunlight that was partly blocked from the clouds filled with snow made her sleek, onyx black fur - as dark as a raven's wings - shine. Her eyes - oh, her eyes - were a deep, electric blue outlined in a dark black that gave them a darker tint around the edges of the blue. She was beautiful, and to doubt that was wrong - except that she was too skinny for her own good. Much like her long lost sister, she was very small and the fat that she did have hung loosely and painfully around her bones. As she moved, any wolf could pick out each one of her bones. She hadn't eaten in days - she had missed the huge buck she was so excited to feast on a few days ago and it resulted in a head injury that had her feeling dizzy a while back.

The she - wolf was named Kauda, and she moved slowly along the blackberry fields, watching the land cautiously and waiting for something to magically appear and feed her. Of course, that wasn't going to happen. Kauda hesitated for a second, lifting her dark muzzle to the air. Something had caught her attention, and it smelled live wolves.. but also, prey. It was faint, but Kauda couldn't help but to follow it. Curiosity took over her as she burst into a run, pushing herself forward with delicate black paws. Her ears perked forward as she ran quickly. When she finally saw them, she slowed.

In front of her were two wolves and a deer. First she examined the deer, her eyes watching it intently. Beside the deer were two wolves, just as she had predicted. One was a tall female, her fur as white as the snow on the ground. The other was about as old as her, a male. Her eyebrows furrowed in curiosity. A lucubration went through her mind, and it said who are they? Slowly she crept forward.</blockquote>