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 Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:50 am
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:52 am
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:55 am
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:57 am
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:59 am
 Participants:
Zagreus
Calliope
Calliope was enjoying herself but she wasn't lying there for that reason. Though quiet, her muscles were tense and her eyes sharp. She was hunting. She and Zagreus had spotted a small herd of spotted deer and had been following the group as they fed on the few last pieces of green vegetation. One was falling behind - a young buck - probably in his second year who was showing off the prowess of his new, wide, antlers by arguing with a young tree.
In a flash, Calliope was off. The buck, entangled with the tree, lost precious moments fumbling to get loose. She was almost upon him, her nose at his flanks as she drove him towards where Zagreus lay.Zagreus crouched in silence a short distance away from the young buck, his pose mimicking that of Calliope's. He was careful not to move more than he had to. A wrong move, a rustle of a dead leaf and the deer would realise that something was wrong.
Keeping his gaze fixed upon the buck, the dark wolf waited for Calliope to make her move. For a few moments, the only noise was the clack of the deer's antlers against the small tree. Then there was a sharp rustle and Zagreus spotted the brown she-wolf springing from the dying undergrowth behind the buck.
His muscles tensed and waiting to spring, the dark wolf watched as the deer violently wrestled himself free from the tree and blindly ran towards his position. As soon as the buck came within distance, Zagreus was on his feet, powerful leg muscles propelling him forward. Faced by a wolf behind and now one in front, the young deer panicked, unsure of where to go. He whirled around, desperate to flee from the wolves pursuing him. However, by falling for the ambush, he had lost the lead that he needed to escape. Both Zagreus and Calliope were now upon him. The dark male snapped at the deer's vulnerable flanks and underbelly, careful to make sure that he did not end up on the receiving end of the sharp antlers that were wildly flailing.Calliope was a brown blur against the backdrop of autumnal forest. Her colouring meant that she was hard to see in the warm colours of the forest at this time of year but the deer could see her clearly now. As it turned she clamped her sharp teeth down on the side of it's neck, biting several times until she had a tight grip. Her steel coloured eyes glinted with a flash of happy pride as she used her powerful muscles to wrench the struggling buck downwards - the combination of hers and Zagreus' weight combining to fell the creature.
Unlike when hunting with a bigger group or even with Ouranos' helpful bulk, this deer had to die fast or the pair would find themselves at the painful end of an antler or hoof. The pair also needed to bring back food for the two albino pups who had not yet begun to learn to hunt. This wasn't at the front of her mind, though, as she struggled to hold it's kicking form under herself. Her dull claws pressed into rusty fur.
As the deer's movements became twitchy and then stilled, Calliope began to catch her breath which raggedly tore between bloody teeth still grasping onto the deer.
She half laughed, half growled in a moment of primal bloodlust, looking at her companion wolf with pride at their joint kill. It hadn't been the first they'd tried to take down and to finally get this buck was both a relief and exhilaration at once.As the dying deer's spasms faded, Zagreus disentangled himself from the kill, his powerful jaws releasing their grip. Standing up, his dark muzzle slightly bloodied from the hunt, his tongue lolled out of his mouth as he panted a little. His dark fur was damp with sweat. It had been a fast but furious kill, and the culmination of an afternoon's work.
He grinned at Calliope, who still had a firm grip on the throat of the buck. He took a moment to regain his breath before breaking the brief silence.
"There's enough here for us all to fill our bellies tonight."
The dark male was as pleased as Calliope with their kill. They had been hungry for a few days, and this was a feast. Pacing back around the dead buck, Zagreus moved up beside the she-wolf to tear at the kill, ensuring that he left room for Calliope to feed too. They would have to eat their fill and move the remains quickly too. There were a lot of wolves in the area, and they could not risk losing the results of their hard work to a group of wandering scavengers.The chocolate-caramel female moved up beside Zagreus to feed, her tail wagging softly side to side and brushing against him. She pushed her maw into the bloody warmth, snapping up morsels of tasty flesh, filling her hungry belly, gorging almost. She was worried now that winter was coming in and food would be scare - a small group like themselves would have to work hard to keep fed over the winter. The fact that the two young ones would begin to help hunting soon was at least a bit of a relief.
Having taken her fill the she-wolf thumped backwards with a happy sigh, exhaling softly. As even was drawing in it was getting cold and her breath misted faintly - an unhappy reminder of the cold to come. She looked at Zagreus out of the corner of one eye, wondering if she was the only one worried so much about the issue of the oncoming dark-cold season.
Truly she had only been on her own in the later part of last winter - when if you ranged far enough you could find melt-land and late winter / early spring prey. Her eyes somewhat lost their shine as she began to worry again, at the same time as tallying up what the pair might be able to carry back to their makeshift home.Having eaten his fill, the dark male backed off a little, licking his chops. He was content now that he had sated his hunger. He sat down, the dry, dead leaves rustling beneath his hindquarters. They could start the process of dragging the kill back to the riverside cave soon. It wasn't too far away, and Zagreus believed that between them, they would manage without too much difficulty. Both of them were healthy, strong wolves afterall.
Glancing up at Calliope through golden eyes, Zagreus began to offer her a wolfish grin before pausing. He tilted his head faintly, watching her for a moment. Despite her euphoria moments ago, and the fact that she had just eaten her fill, she didn't seem entirely happy now.
"...Is something wrong?" he asked, his gaze quizzical.Calliope attempted to return his look with a smile. "You know me, Zagreus... I'm a worrier. I've never spent a full winter without a large pack around me and I wonder if we'll be able to keep our bellies as full as they are now.
She stretched out her body, rolling taut muscles which still thrummed from the chase. She couldn't quite relax, though, even now. "Zag... we're a pack now, aren't we?" she looked up at him with something of a desperate look. "We can survive as a pack. I know it... but not if we're... alone." she said the last few words slowly as if she was reluctant to even mention it.
Zagreus and Ouranos and the pups. They'd all gravitated towards that one small place in the forest by the river. It seemed to Calliope that they should stay that way but Ouranos and Zagreus had come into her life whilst travelling and it was lways at the back of her mind that they might continue their journey.Zagreus gazed at Calliope quietly for a moment, studying her through golden eyes. Then he grinned again.
"Yes, yes you are. Times will be harder once the cold arrives and the land turns white, but they always are. This land is rich - I think we'll be fine. Maybe without such full bellies, but full enough."
Rising to his feet, the dark male made his way over to the earthen-coloured female, nudging at her shoulder with his nose.
"And why would we be alone. Are you thinking of going somewhere?" he asked, an almost playful undertone to his voice. He had no intentions of going anywhere - he liked this area, and he was sure that Ouranos did too. As far as he saw it, there was no real reason for them to move on, and plenty of real reasons for them to stay.She harrumphed in a put-upon manner - playfully reacting to his teasing remarks. "You know I'm not going anywhere unless you are." she thought for a little while, looking around her at the forest, thinking of their den and the good hunting they'd had. "This land really is rich" she summarised, resting her head against the sooty male, her thick fur presseing into him as if trying to draw warmth and security from him.
She had been somewhat of a spoiled wolf when she was younger and had found it hard to get used to caring mostly for herself or as part of a much smaller pack. She thought now on the fact that she had her own pack, her own place and felt that this was truly a greater existance than being the spoilt child she once was.
Zagreus and Ouranos had brought something to her life, the pups too. She wanted to survive and not just by the skin of her teeth but successfully and begin her own legacy. She came to the conclusion, then, that she could leave that past life behind and begin anew.
With a new zeal she got up and looked down at Zagreus "Well then... we better get this moved before it gets dark! What are you waiting for!"Zagreus laughed, his tone still playful. "For you to decide what you're doing." Moving over to the remains of the buck, he lowered his head, looking for a good place to grip. Finding what looked to be a good spot, he closed his jaws firmly on the kill and began to steadily pull it.
The only problem with hunting in the forest was that moving a kill was tricky, he thought to himself as he yanked the kill free from a protruding tree root. At least Calliope was there to help though.
Inwardly, he smiled to himself. She was right. They were a group now, and there was a lot of security when you were with wolves you trusted. Easier to hunt; easier to stay safe and easier to enjoy life. Zagreus was more than content with where he was just now."Hmph.. Well let's get moving then.." she said, softly, her tone belying her words. She moved around the deer one way and then the other until she found a spot where she thought she could firmly grip the food. Calliope grunted an affirmative as she braced herself to haul the kill.
Around half an hour later the pair had managed to get the carcass back to the patch of forest that they had claimed as their own. Calliope dropped her tight grip on the carcass for the last time, panting loudly into the slowly darkening air. She stretched out, tail almost poker straight as she luxuriated in letting her muscles move fully rather than in the shorter, limited moves they had been making whilst carrying the meat.
"Ahhh finally!" she exlaimed, happy to be back at last. She turned to Zagreus to find his muzzle dark with gore from pulling on a bloody part of the deer. She leaned across to lick at his muzzle somewhat impishly. "You're all bloody, Zag..."As they reached the clearing near the cave they called home, Zagreus released his grip on the remains of the deer, allowing it to fall to the ground fully. He yawned widely, momentarily displaying a row of sharp teeth.
As Calliope leaned over to him, he gave her a curious look, before grinning at her as she licked at his muzzle. "Funny, that."
He nudged back at her playfully before stepping forward, his dark fur brushing against her chocolate coat. Leaning over, he rested his head on her shoulders a moment. He fell quiet for a moment, a pause ensuing before he spoke quietly again.
"We'll be fine. Nobody is leaving, and nobody will be left alone. I'm not going anywhere." He smiled, pulling back from her again.
"Now, shall we go and fetch the others? They must be hungry."
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Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 6:12 am
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Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 7:25 am
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Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 7:27 am
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Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 2:51 pm
 TrioParticipants:
Melete
Aoede
Shambala
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 11:41 am
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 11:43 am
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Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:46 am
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 6:20 am
DeceitParticipants:
Persephone
Helios
Erin
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