Pilot
32 - Fae - No Rank
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Run, run, run, run, run.... Really having no other ideas and no other plan Pilot literally began to play an elaborate game of "follow the leader" with the smaller cousin wolves. She had managed to collect all but two in her self-induced race and even with the last two not following her they didn't seem to be getting much in the way of her group's advancement on the mammoth. Ducking this way and that no matter where she went it seemed that the wolves would follow. It was slightly curious. Was instinct setting in for them? Follow the biggest, strongest wolf around? Or was their curiosity of a new being just strong enough to keep them going? Despite previous thoughts it did not seem that any of their advancements were hostile. At least for now anyways. Regardless of whatever the reason however, here she was all the same, them in tow.
She had just begun figure 8's with her tag-alongs when with a literal earth-shaking thud the massive beast buckled its way to the ground. Success. The actions caused for a few wolves attentions to perk, the commotion of the throes of the pachyderm changing their thoughts. Slowly a few turned, actions set back upon their original intent. Unsure of what the plan was for these guys and the meat Pilot barked a few times, trying to get their attention back. No dice. "Dinner" seemed to be their only forethought now. It seemed that the other ScarPaw members seemed wary too, one of them that she didn't know the name of starting bristling and growling at their advancement.
Quickly Resin put a stop to the hostility, appearing to have made enough connection of one of the larger beasts of the pack to give gesture to come forward. Pilot sat herself on her haunches, now just an observer in it all. Warily the wolf came forwards, seeming to realize that he was in the presence of higher beings. His tail wrapped around his back leg, showing a bit of submission. Digging in quickly he took a decent sized chunk near the belly, dragging what he could away. In their own primitive-like language he yipped to the others, seemingly telling them to grab too. One-by-one they shuffled in, taking a small haul and taking themselves back out again. Once one each had a piece of their own they congregated, scampering off and away for good.
Interesting. Pilot watched them go until they could no longer be seem or heard altogether. Once gone she craned her head back around, Resin in the middle of gnawing out a rather large chunk herself. Waiting respectfully the female curled in on herself, the scent of the blood and flesh making her stomach growl with intense impatience. Food. Not that disgusting, flaky charred creature meat that she'd tried by the burn. Real food. Her maw absolutely salivating by the time that they were address to come forwards, Pilot nodded her head quickly to the receding Alpha, circling around the opened area along with the other hunters.
Mmm.. Her jaw tearing in hungrily the female wolf, well,
wolfed down as much of the meat as she could. Her face and paws along with everyone else's in presence was stained red, having dug in heavily into the meal. Hearing sounds of the rest of the oncoming Pack she grabbed the nearest bone quickly, biting at it until the end broke off. There, a to-go piece.
Taking her prize the wolfess sauntered a bit away, letting in room so that the rest of the wolves could get their own meals as well. Her eyes traced them as they came in, spying Vali among the mix. For once all being well in the eyes of the Pack, Pilot relaxed.
Attican
73 - Brute - Keeper
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Sleep was actually quite a funny thing. All beings do it. All creatures at some point gear down and essentially shut themselves down, only the few things that actually cling onto life itself working themselves lowly on auto-pilot in the background. Hours of this homeostasis can pass, leaving the being vulnerable and unaware, completely weak and submissable to attack. It was a wonder as to why anyone ever did it in the first place, purposefully allowing themselves to be so defenseless.. Yet without it, life could not exist at all. Some needed more, some less, but all do require it in order to survive.
A single amber eye fluttered itself open to a bleary world, unable to focus on anything on first try. How long he slept Attican did not know, for all he was aware of it could have been 20 minutes, 20 hours, or even 20 days. Currently he'd admit that it felt like the latter.
With an involuntary exhaling grunt, the brute shifted himself around and tried to get his bearings about him. While sleeping his body did a lot of work on himself to repair damage on an overworked body and currently his mind was drawing a complete blank on where he actually was or what it was he was doing here. Finding the first thing that was different visually, he focused on a dark shape near him. Slowly, like someone shifting the focus on a microscope, the blur began to lift. Simultaneously his nose seemed to awaken for the first time as well, smelling the kill before him.
'Food? Wha- How'd that get here?'Blinking proved rather fruitful as the brown blobs magically turned into marmots before the Keeper's eye, causing his head to tip to the side. "I didn't catch those.." he mumbled, confusion written all through him.
'What, did the magical food-fairy come visit him during the night??' Shaking his head to his own sarcastic thoughts Attican looked up again, this time everything being much clearer than before. He was.. alone. Or so it looked anyways.
'Okay, why?' Turning his head brought the rock wall into his sights, bringing a flash of previous memory of seeing it before. A few moments later and everything came trickling back, a seep of aggregate memory of the details that had happened in the last boughts of time.
Ugh.
Muttering things under his breath, Attican remembered the loss of his eye and everything that came with it. Still coping with the reality of it, it would take time for the Keeper to not be bitter about it. He sighed and looked at the two marmots again, for some reason despite his obvious need for nutrient, them not appealing to him in the slightest. Where was everyone anyways? He and Lani had ducked in farther away, yes, but still many of their resting figures had still been visible from their sleeping point. But right now there was no one.
No one there, a seeming peace-offering meal placed by his resting figure. If Attican had not known better he would have figured that the Pack had figured him too much of a burden now and had gone on their way without him, a final "parting" in the form of a small meal. Even despite his allegations against it, the thought sorta did rub in the back corner of his mind, it couldn't really be helped. Resin wouldn't just leave him.. Surely Lani would not just up and walk away.. Ahote and Xani would let him know if others were thinking that way.. right?
In reality of course, Attican had just awoken at the worst time available for him to do so. He had slept through the early morning hunt and Xani had just gathered and left with the rest of the Pack to lead them to their most needed breakfast. In fact the reason he had not been awaken to come along was with compassion and their wish for him to sleep. Even more of a fact Resin was not that far away at all, actually tucked away with Ahote into their own hidden knook. But he didn't know that.
No, he had to trust them, they would not just leave him for good...
Eh, even still though.. he'd best go out and look. Dragging his legs under him, immediately the Keeper felt his joints and muscles start to protest. More than overworked before and then laying cramped and still for hours as he slept had left them stiff and rigid, completely unwilling and unwanting to move. Pursing his jawline the brute pulled them in anyways, more unintentional grunts escaping him. He had a habit of doing that, perhaps that
was a bit of the age showing. Standing may as well have been an Olympic feat, his haunches threatening to give at any moments notice.
"Oh for ancestor's sakes," he scoffed to himself, half amused and half annoyed by his current situation. Pushing one leg out forwards he tottered around like a newborn calf trying to walk for the first time. Every step he took brought threat to a tumble, the muscles once again stretching themselves out. He grimaced, eye rolling. "Come now legs, you've only been doing this for almost 3/4's of a century, don't act like you've forgotten your purpose now."
Slowly the older brute made headway, spying his first set of prints. Little comments were left under his breath, a few phrases caught on the wind and out. "..you decrepit thing.., .. hey come on, move it.., ..Let's go there leg.." His
mostly-dismissed theory of being left behind was not helped at all by the fact that essentially all the footprints that he found lead in the direction away from him and his resting place. No there was a logical explanation for all of this, surely there would be. Over time as his gait loosened up and his findings were more prominent the brute's utterances changed from self, to more or less verbated mental questions, questioning the Pack that wasn't there. "Well where did you all go.., Come on guys.., ..hello?"
Thankfully the snow provided a perfect trail for Attican to follow behind, eventually his legs loosening up enough so that he would walk normal again. His sleep had apparently made his nose stuffy because it wasn't until he was nearly upon the clearing where the mammoth laid that he could smell the scent of a carcass. As the waft finally hit, two and two got put together in his head, the lighter-colored brute realizing the real situation. A hunt! That was why, no one had left him.
A large smile spread across his face, the Keeper pushing through the foliage. How silly of him, of course they would taken the opportunity of downtime to try and catch a meal. However the action of the grin brought forth a small twinge in the Keeper's cheek, running across the lost eye and stopping him in his tracks. Oh, that's right. All of his happier thoughts got halted instantly. Physically pulling back, Attican pulled himself inwards, shyness overwhelming him. No one besides Resin, Ahote, Hrafn, and Lani (he did not know of Xani's visit while he slept) had seen him, or for all he knew heard about what had happened.
'Did they know? What would they think of him now? What if they didn't know?'Unsure of what to do the Keeper ended up sitting in the brush, head pulled slightly away. Unable to face them quite yet, he decided that he would wait, not wanting to come into their presence.
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