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 Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 11:56 am
Hunting party Group 2 shall consist of
Merrill/Corvus
Balios
iolaus
Apollo
Adonai
Arii
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:09 pm
 Woe betide the thing that stood in their way or slowed their path, whether from within or without. This was no-longer-depressed-for-now Merrill whiplashing back into beta mode!
"Right then, follow me."
She didn't question the method Chivosi had divided them by, only felt a little relived that not all of her daughters were with her as she began to lead her small group to the east. As bad as that sounded, even if she had her youngest in the group, it was time for them to start learning how to mature. The quicker they could do so without having her around, the better.
Though by that logic, Arii could have been babied. That logic might have been possible to believe if one didn't know Merrill in the slightest.
Elk, hmm . . . Perhaps that would be the target today, perhaps not. So long as she brought them all back with . . . Corvus. Oddly she didn't feel any of the lingering bias against the smooth-talker, though that didn't mean she "liked" him as a member of the pack again.
 There was only one thing preoccupying Arianna's mind: bears.
It had happened once. It could easily happen again.
The next thought: Good thing neither Galahad nor Tantalus was with them. She felt like she would have been more of a screwup around either, for differing reasons.
The next thought: At least she was with some of the nicer of the brothers, though this didn't make young Arii any less jumpy. Awkwardness with the age and gender differences and all, you know.
All in all she was a bundle of nerves, ears always twitching for the slightest hint of prey or predator. No whining, no whining, no whining . . . !
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 6:01 pm
  At Merrill word Corvus quickly cast his eyes over the members of their small group ensuring all were present and accounted for as well as moving along before he too followed. While a small trickle of remorse passed through him that neither of his sons were with him Corvus quickly pushed that aside, wishing they were here would neither make them magically appear nor be helpful on the hunt. Elk, if they did find one, could be quite dangerous and one needed a clear head in order to ensure a good safe kill.
Seeing that Iolaus was spouting off to his brother about how he was the one who would bring down the elk and he would be the one to make the pack proud Corvus sped up his pace a bit to catch up to him. "We won't be catching anything if you two keep on talking like that. You must remain quiet or you'll give us all away too quickly." Shaking his head he was beginning to wonder if they would be successful. No that wasn't the right way to think at all. "Now keep your eyes and ears open." He said in a quiet voice as the group moved along. "The Elk could be anywhere." They were nearing the game trails which would give them possibly the first glimpse at their prey of the day.Iolaus fell into step not far behind Merrill making sure he walked beside his brother Iolaus. He was still excited about the prospect of the hunt and couldn't help but continue to boast to his brother much like he had a few days ago when they were gathered around the dens in the packs main lands. "I'm telling you Balios this is gonna be my day. I'll bring down the biggest elk buck you've ever seen." The fact that they had never themselves hunted elk before was a minor detail. "I bet we will get our kill down before the other group does." He went to open his mouth to say something else but Corvus stepped in hushing them down and saying that if they kept talking he would scare away the elk.
Iolaus docked his ears for a moment in apology but said nothing else. Now he had even more reason to pay attention to their surroundings. His nose sniffed the air for any scents that might indicate elk in the are, but he couldn't help but look over at his brother every now and then and flash him a big smile. Oh yes, today he would show them all he was the best.
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Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:17 am
 Balios grinned at his brother. "I know you are, brother," he said, encouragingly, and gave him a nudge on the shoulder. He was in high spirits. He was glad to have Iolaus with him, and was pleased with the rest of his group, too. He wondered if perhaps Apollo would be easier to get along with when Tantalus was gone; he also wondered if Arii would open up a bit.
Speaking of Arii. She looked so nervous! He tried to catch her eye, offering her an encouraging smile. He was about to go over to her, to tell her something to make her feel better, when Corvus came up to the brothers and told them to keep their wits about them.
Well! it was hard for Balios to stop talking under any circumstances, but he'd try to contain himself. He lifted his head to the air to sniff and try to catch his bearings. Truth be told, Adonai was a little nervous. Aside from his general uneasiness at being, for the first time, part of a pack, there was also the issue of the hunt itself. Being a dedicated life-long wanderer, he'd never spent much time hunting big game, and certainly not with a pack. Oh, he was capable enough of small prey, even young deer on his own or -- more commonly -- in pairs.
But a whole elk, in a large crowd of wolves...some of whom were related to him...this was an entirely new experience.
Coming in from behind, Adonai lowered his nose to the earth, sniffing for tracks, keeping his ears sharp for the approach of anything nearby.
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Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 7:55 am
Apollo was in pretty good spirits - the long trip to the hunting grounds had been relatively dull and somewhat tiring but he'd slept well last night and felt bright eyed and bushy tailed as they started off behind Merrill. He wasn't even annoyed with his brothers for raising Corvus' ire and made a goofy face at the green wolf for his brothers enjoyment when the older beast wasn't looking.
"He is right though" He whispered to his siblings when he thought he could get away with it "And I do want to catch an elk before the others so I guess we should listen" He added on, chancing a lecture himself as he ranged along his brothers and Arii who looked like she was about to jump out of her skin - which wasn't anything new to be honest.
Merrill looked like she'd jumped into full on beta mode - which meant even talking now came with the chance of getting their ears chewed off and Adonai was bringing up the rear doing...hunting things that they were probably supposed to be trying to learn or emulate somehow. Slowing his pace he dropped back a bit so that he was beside the mostly white wolf "Pst..so uh...what does and elk smell like?" He questioned
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Y-M-C-A of SW generated a random number between
1 and 5 ...
3!
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Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 8:13 am
Of course if Apollo had been paying attention when he dropped back - or knew what he was looking at the young wolf might have noticed what looked to be a deer bed - a flattened dent in the taller weeds that had been recently vacated....perhaps one of the more experienced wolves would notice and point it out.
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Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 9:41 am
She could feel Iolaus's energy bubbling over behind her and hoped the boy would be able to put that energy to use. So far their hunt had been turning up dry . . . At least until she turned her head to check on Arianna and spotted the deer bed. She flagged her tail meaning for them to stop and pointed it out. "That right there's a deer bed," she explained to them in a low voice. "You can differ it from normal trampled areas from the white hairs it left while laying down there. 'Ware it's droppings, boys and girls, they're probably about in places near here - but we're getting closer! See if any of you can find its path."
Arianna wasn't able to catch Balios's eye at the moment, busy darting eyes and ears for signs of something larger there way. Did elk ever decide to come after wolves and gouge them with their horns? What if it teamed up with a local bear to attack them? What if it could get the whole herd on them with horns and hooves? What if, what if, what if?!
She wanted to nuzzle Mama and get some reassurance, but by then Merrill had found the deer bed . . . The adolescent held in a whimper, but her tail was lower as an indicator of her mood as she trudged forward to try and find the most recent scent path.
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 3:33 pm
Corvus came to a stop when Merrill spotted the deer bed that Apollo had missed. He stood silently as she explain what they had missed to the ground and then issued an instruction to look for clues. "Spread out a bit, it will allow us to hopefully spot it's trail faster." Not that they were in a huge hurry to get the hunt over with, but with so much excitement amongst the teens it would be good if they found the elk before that energy left them or they became tired of looking. He began to scan the area looking for clues to the direction that the elk could have left in as well as scenting the air.
Catching the goofy face that Apollo flashed at Corvus the teen couldn't help but chuckle - quietly of course. He had to fight to keep the smile off his maw while Merrill spoke about some deer bed or something, he was too eager to really pay much attention. So when Corvus said to spread out he did just that, but not just a bit, he started to wander off away from the ground, intently sniffing the ground for the scent of elk or deer. He would be the one to find the trail!
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:20 pm
"Deer bed," Balios said, half under his breath, his eyes narrowed in more concentration than the situation warranted. He wanted to be sure he got this right!
Reluctant to leave his brother, he trailed after Iolaus, sniffing at the ground after him. He didn't smell a whole lot aside from his brother, and that was frustrating, so he tried to use his ears and eyes instead to see if he could come across anything. Once he thought he'd caught sight of a tuft of deer hair, but on closer examination it turned out to be a dandelion gone to seed. Good thing he noticed before he announced it!
Adonai paused a moment, eyes lingering over the boys; it was his desire to keep them all safe, if he could. He thought he owed that to his blood-kin, perhaps to make up for his absence in their life up til now.
As the pair of brothers broke away to sniff, he moved upward to Apollo's side. Hopefully the other two would keep themselves safe...
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Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:34 am
Apollo's ears docked slightly as Merrill pointed out what he had so obviously missed - not that it was his fault he supposed, he hadn't known what a deer bed looked like until just now, heck he'd never really given much thought to how deer slept at night to begin with.
In any case his brothers seemed to have paired off to search for fresh tracks or whatever without him and Apollo huffed slightly. Fine..whatever - he could handle the search alone. Turning about he nearly ran smack dab into Adonai,and jerked to an ungraceful halt a mere hairsbreadth from running him down. "Sorry..didn't hear you come up. Do you want to look together?" He question hesitantly...he didn't really know the white wolf all that well though Father hat told him that he was technically his grandfather. How awkward..but only because Apollo hadn't known him until he was older and perhaps this was a chance to fix that awkward relationship.
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Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:48 am
While the wolves searched for the elusive maker of the deer bed no one noticed as the groups spread a bit to thin and while most were still within yelling range poor Iolaus and Balios had inadvertently wandered beyond that range as they followed deer tracks. The search was futile and as the hours passed the hunters became more and more focused on finding something - anything to bring back, and while some of the older wolves noticed the changing weather everyone thought there was still enough time to find some quick prey and return to the meeting point. Unfortunately mother nature wasn't about to comply.
Angry grey clouds had continued to pile up and the wind had grown increasingly stronger until at long last everything let go at once. Strong winds stormed the forest in such gusts that the wolves at times thought they might be blown away - troublesome to be sure but had that been the only problem then they would have gotten through it with little trouble.
It was the snow which caused the problems, falling from the sky and swirled about by the winds it reduced visibility to almost nothing and threatened to bury both the wolves and their kills in short order. Winter had come with a vengeance.
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