Season's Greetings [Airila]

[Toiro]

Toiro padded noiselessly along the smooth mountain path, slowly descending towards the more sheltered cover of the forest. Although it was still decently warm in Shyia, the chill of winter was beginning to nip at the air, and the peaks of the Tia’deli mountain range were beginning to become a dangerous place, with the snowline already starting to creep further and further down the mountainside. Soon it would reach the dens – Toiro had made a mental note to make sure to warn his and Aludra’s pups not to stray too far from the caverns of Lerelm in case they were caught out in a snowstorm.

The approach of winter also meant that it was becoming more difficult to find sufficient prey for the Airila pack to feast upon, and that was in fact why the former hunter was out today. Having managed to catch naught but a scrawny stoat up in the snow, Toiro had decided to try his luck on the more forested slopes instead, where the activities of prey animals could still be frequently heard.

And lo and behold; almost immediately upon entering the woods, his nose caught a musky scent which - although faint - was undoubtedly that of caribou. A pleased smile spread on Toiro’s face as he followed the trail a little further to confirm that the smell was in fact from a decently sized herd of beasts, likely the same ones he’d distantly spotted out on the plains of Tiayr a few days ago. What luck that they had decided to cross over into Shyia; it was uncommon that such a large herd was to be found in the far northern areas of Anikira so close to winter, to the point where Toiro had even been wondering whether to send a hunting party out of the territory to pick off a few of the large group. Thankfully, that wasn’t necessary now, and with any luck he would be able to safely take down one of their number this very afternoon.

The alpha paused to debate whether or not to call his hunters to him to assist with the hunt. On the one hand, having a team to work with would make it much easier to make a successful kill, but on the other, it might take some time to organise whoever came and he didn’t want to lose the opportunity by standing around while the caribou might be moving back towards the border and thus out of the pack’s reach. After a moment’s thought, the grey wolf decided that he must still be sufficiently far enough away from the herd to hope that the caribou would not be spooked by his howl, and even in the unlikely case that they were, they wouldn’t move far so it should be a fairly simple task of catching up to them. So Toiro lifted his muzzle towards the open sky and let loose a long clear howl, calling to his packmates in the area. “A fairly large herd of caribou has recently moved within the borders of Shyia territory, and I believe I have caught their scent near the base of the Tia’deli Mountains. Is anybody up for a hunt today?”



((OOC: This thread is mostly meant for @dimitri, Tala, and @5572, but others are welcome to join too as long as they are able to hunt ^^))

[Deleted]

    

        A midnight fae moved from the den area to the howl. She had not meet anyone at the dens so she was moving on. It was in her nature to keep moving so that her stalker could not find her at one place. She headed in the direction that her pinna had heard the howl come from. She did not know who the call had come from since she only meet the beta of the pack so far.

        She slowed down because of her leg was starting to get tired again but she finally crested the last hill. Her yellow hued orbs caught sight of the large male wolf that placed out the howl out for a hunt. She stood there for a few minutes before moving down to the male. She kept herself small so that the male would not attack her. She did not know if he knew that she was member of the pack or not since the pack had a large terra to patrol.

        She stopped a couple of feet from large male. "My name is Ashaka." she said to the male as she kept her body lose and ready to move incase the male attacked her. She did not want to appear big to the male since he could overpower her so easily. "I was just accepted a couple of days ago." she said to the male. She wondered where the rest of the pack was or if he just had a mate who would come help them hunt the large deer. She had not gone after a large before since there would be too much left over. She soon sat down on her hips so that she let her damaged front leg rest before they went to work hunting. She wondered if she could prove herself the male that she could keep up with the rest of the normal wolves.

[Deleted]

He'd been napping rather fitfully, snoozing under some trees at the edge of the beach, Isna curled up behind him; beak under wing. Even breathing was interrupted as a summons came tumbling along the air, rousing the Beta. Perking up suddenly his ears prickled as the message Toiro was sending began to sink in. A hunt! And for caribou at that! He leapt up, startling Isna rather badly, the little gull letting out a bewildered kaw as she sprung into the air. "You nearly scared me half to death!" Landing on a nearby rock, she ruffled her greyed plummage, red feet comical against the dark stone. "What is so exciting about a bit of howling?" She questioned, eyes narrowing at the big canine.

Huxleyi smiled, his tail wagging furiously behind him with the excitement of the opportunity to socialize. "Toiro has called for a hunt. You are welcome to come with if you fancy a bit of caribou, perhaps he'll even let you act as a scout?" The Beta was eager to try and work with the little kittwake as a hunting partner as an aerial view was one that wolves were not gifted with. He was unsure as to whether Toiro would let a bird hunt with them, and he surely wasn't going to suggest it, but simply bring his seagull friend along, and see if inspiration struck the alpha wolf.

Hesitantly, Isna nodded and took wing, following Huxleyi into the trees, maneuvering as best as she could through the trunks. She often had to move with more of an awkward hopping motion, leaping from branch to branch where the foliage was too dense. Huxleyi made no comment on her rather silly appearance as she could do many things that he could not. Their pace was swift, and it wasn't long before he could smell Toiro, as well as one of their newer members. Huxleyi had not met the dark female yet, but was excited to see what she could do. Banner still wiggling he approached Toiro with a shrill yip, his childlike excitement evident. He buffeted the males shoulder with his nose and gave a toothy grin. My he felt giddy! Such a change from the dismal wolf that had landed on this continent.

"Morning!" He chimed, Isna giving a bobbing nod to Toiro, something she had learnt to do to acknowledge presence and rank. He turned to the female he did not recognize and smiled at her too, "Hello. I'm Huxleyi, the Beta. And this," He motioned to the little silvering gull on the ground, "Is Isna." The hen fluffed her feathers and gave a gravelly kaw, a form of greeting perhaps. She was often speechless around wolves other than Huxleyi as they made her uneasy. Her companion had pledged not to make her into lunch, but no one else had. One swift bite from a wolf and she was an easy meal. But as long as something more tasty was on the menu, she felt safe enough.

Words: 501
Muse: Gud.
Tags: Toiro @5572 Tala @dimitri
Notes: I thought I might try and rejuvenate this thread! Maybe get some people involved?

[Deleted]

An early winter’s breeze rustled the leaves of the mighty trees of the Xayar Forest. With each stride he took, the wind caused the Mackenzie Valley brute’s fur to sway back and forth. Even though winter was just around the corner, the brute had already grown a thick winter coat in preparation for the dropping temperatures. Dimitri had woken up earlier than usual and had made the decision to come to the forest to stretch his muscles by going on a light run. He had been padding around the forest for about a half an hour now when his light workout was interrupted by the call of his alpha. His alpha was asking if anyone was up for a hunt since a small herd of caribou had been sighted. The idea of a pack hunt caused Dimitri’s tail to wag furiously in excitement. He had never been on a big hunt before so he was more than eager to join in. He also had yet to formally meet his alpha and fellow members of this pack, so this would give him the opportunity to do so. Dimitri immediately spun around and took off in the direction that the call came from at a light pace.

It didn’t take too long for the scent of the caribou to enter his nostrils. The scent was relatively fresh and very promising. Dimitri couldn’t remember when the last time he had caribou was. Lately he had been feasting on deer and rabbits since that was all he could find for him and his pack mates. So caribou would make an excellent feast for the pack. He couldn’t wait to hunt but he knew that he had to find his family first, and with several more strides, the scent of them entered his nose. There was four different scents, one that was not of a wolf but of some other kind of animal. There were only two scents he was familiar with within the pack and they were Toiro and Aludra. Toiro’s scent was present but Aludra’s was not. So he was unfamiliar with the other two wolves, but he was very excited to meet them.

After several moments of trotting towards his family, they finally came to view. The mighty alpha was there and was joined by an ebony colored she-wolf and a brute that had a pelt that contained different variations of a brown hue. The brown hued brute was joined by a seagull that was perched on the ground not too far from him. Dimitri found it odd that a bird was hanging around wolves, but he was sure that there was a reason for its presence. Once Dimitri was gathered around the others, he bowed to Toiro first and then the other two wolves. When his grey orbs made contact with the bird, he just shot the seagull a friendly smile. The hunter’s tail returned to wagging in excitement as he began to introduce himself. “Hello, my name is Dimitri. I am one of the hunters,” he said in a smug tone.


Words: 511
Muse: Decent
Tags: Toiro, Tala, @5572, @huxleyi
OOC: Sorry for taking forever to reply!

[Toiro]

The final notes of the alpha’s howl slowly died away, and the large grey male was left to wait in silence for a response to his call. Fortunately it wasn’t very long before the first hunter appeared at the crest of the hill and began to make her way down towards him. Toiro didn’t recognise the she wolf by her scent, although it did hold traces of the Airila pack around it so he guessed she must be one of the newer members whom Huxleyi had invited to join their family. His guess was affirmed as she shyly introduced herself. “Greetings Ashaka, and welcome to Airila. I hope you’ve found everything to your liking so far.” Toiro wagged his tail and smiled at the dark female to show her his natural friendliness; she needn’t have any fear of the gentle giant as he wouldn’t have hurt her even if she had been a trespasser. Although he was a large fearsome looking male, he would truly never wish to cause harm to another wolf unless that wolf posed a serious threat to his packmates.

The next wolf to arrive was Airila’s faithful beta. “Good morning, my friend!” Toiro greeted Huxleyi with a joyful laugh at his pup-like enthusiasm and nuzzled him back playfully, not hesitant in showing his affection despite the presence of the new subordinate. As he drew back, the alpha noticed that Huxleyi had also brought along the small sea bird which he had somehow managed to befriend – Isna, if he was recalling her name correctly. He gave a quick nod in response to her kaw – which he assumed was her way of greeting him – before his attention was pulled away by the appearance of another unfamiliar wolf, this one a hunter who his mate Aludra had accepted.

Although Toiro had seen Dimitri around, the two wolves had never properly met before so he was pleased that the hunter had shown up. "Hello Dimitri, I’m sure you’ve been told already, but my name is Toiro, alpha of Airila. It’s nice to meet you.” He dipped his head respectfully in greeting, hopefully letting the male know that Airila was not a pack where high ranks were used to push others around – every wolf here was respected and valued.

“If that’s all of us, shall we begin?” The grey wolf doubted that any others were going to shop up, and he wanted to get started before the herd moved too far away. So after looking around to check that everyone was ready, Toiro turned and began to trot through the alpine forest at a decent pace, but taking care to keep as quiet as possible as he followed the trail of the caribou.

Soon the small group of wolves were in view of their prey, who were grazing on the brush-covered slopes just downhill from their position. Toiro settled down into a crouch as he peered down at the unwary herd through the long grass. “If any of you have any suggestions, feel free to tell me, but I think the best approach is for us to split up and surround the herd. Then if we drive them down towards the rockier ground in the lower parts of the valley, it should be easier for us to pick out our target. Perhaps Huxleyi should take the left side of the valley, while Dimitri takes the right. Ashaka and I will stay at the rear and drive the caribou forwards, moving to the left or right if either of you need help keeping the herd on a straight path down the valley.”

He hoped the little kittiwake didn’t mind acting as a scout for the hunters, for he intended to include her by making use of her unique ability. “Isna, because of this long grass, it will be helpful to have eyes in the air so that we know the movement of the herd. Could you perhaps fly overhead and direct us from above if you see that the herd is out of position?” The grey alpha looked around at each of his hunting companions in turn to check that they approved of his plan. It had been a very long time since he’d directed a proper hunt like this, so he wouldn’t be surprised if they picked up on something that he’d missed. If none of them had a problem with it though, they could begin.



((OOC: @5572 @huxleyi @dimitri Ashaka hasn't logged in since the middle of January, so perhaps we should skip her turn? She can always rejoin again later if she comes back, but it's about time this thread got moving.))