there ain't no grave can hold my body down

title felt right LOL @Bronco

---

 

The craggy landscape Hydra navigated was one she was quickly becoming used to. The matriarch was a woman who seemed to adapt and overcome rather than the alternative, which was do nothing and succumb. Down she and Bronco descended to a particularly verdant forest, rich in Douglas fir and ponderosa pine. Hydra paused near one such pine, nosing a pine-cone that looked as though it had been harassed by more than simply her. It gave quickly, and once it was to the earth the matriarch circled around it and sniffed quietly. 

Her tail swayed behind her as she nosed the pinecone to Bronco with bright eyes. Mule deer, her keen nose had noted. The sun was descending, slowly—no doubt the creatures were active at this time. She wondered if they had bedded nearby recently, and imagined that they must have given the scent upon the object was so strong. Hydra looked to the tree and observed the bark, noting the absence of it in some places—snuffling the area, she recognized the strength of it there, too, and turned to seek tracks.

+1 Discovery Point

---

the staff team luvs u

The air smelled fresh in the forest, even though it was quite still. The sun streamed through the branches in slanted pillars that spilled light in patches on the ground, dappling the forest floor with pockets of brilliant white. Bronco meandered along not far from Hydra, having fanned out so they could cover a bit more ground on their search for prey. A bird called out from above- and for a moment, Bronco thought it was another grey jay- until he noticed the hooked shape of its beak. So Northern shrikes also called this forested area home; he shuddered at the thought of finding the butcher bird's tree, knowing full well how gory that might look. He knew shrikes hunted other birds as well- and wondered if perhaps at least the grey jays might be safe, due to their size. 

Like Hydra, he picked up on the scent of deer, and something in his side twinged as he realized that this was the scent left behind by mule deer. He turned to nibble at the fur along his ribs, and noticed the small patch of white fur that had grown in over an old scar. He couldn't remember how that had happened- but his body did. 

Hydra was investigating the area where the deer had been chewing away at the bark of the trees, and when she began to scour the area for signs of tracks he did the same, meandering this way and that at a jog, hoping to come across a fresh set of hoofprints in the area.

+1 Discovery Point

---

the staff team luvs u

Hydra, unlike Bronco, was not so adept at identifying birds beyond the ones she knew could assist in their way of life as she knew it. The only familiar sound to her in the canopy of trees was the sound of crows communicating with one another.  Recalling their scavenging purposes, as she turned to pursue Bronco she looked overhead to watch one flap from the tree it was upon to the one ahead of Bronco. But none seemed to lead the way to any carrion, and so she heeded her own senses. Weaving in and out of the trees, the matriarch heard a snap of a branch in the near distance. 

Slowing, Hydra became all the more alert as her gait shifted into a prowl—the scent of their quarry had strengthened, and she knew they were close now. Not wanting to spook them, or make them aware of their own presence, Hydra moved downwind with light footsteps, careful to avoid breaking anything beneath her paws herself.

+1 Discovery Point

---

the staff team luvs u

He would continue padding along through the forest, making note of the scents that caught his attention, and stopping every now and again to investigate the nature of the forest. It was old, he thought; not a lot of new growth, and a number of the trees had various forms of lichen growing on them. He wondered if it might mean perhaps that the forest was due for a fire, but hoped that might not be the case. For all that he could tell, the forest thrived- and had lived long enough to avoid disaster for quite some time. 

The scents became stronger, but it was the sound that caught Bronco's attention. He looked to Hydra to see if she had simply rubbed up against a thin branch and snapped it, but her posture had changed. In the filtered light beneath the canopy, she began to move like mist through the trees, pawsteps careful and body crouched slightly, and indication that she'd cottoned on to something. 

So Bronco followed suit. He moved parallel to his leader, peering through the forest and around the rough tree bark to scout out the pale, tawny shade of fur that mule deer had until he caught a slight flash of white in the distance. While they weren't quite as bright as white-tailed deer, there was still a soft fringe of beige about their tails that gave them away, and Bronco moved closer to Hydra, keeping his eyes trained on the stand of trees in the distance. He could see, beyond them, that a couple forms moved in and out of view, pausing now and again to chew at the bark that had seemed to catch their interest. He wondered if other kinds of deer lived in these woods together, of if they tended to stick to family groups. They would have plenty of time to suss that out later.  He could only hope, now, that they might stay focused on eating so that they might turn a blind eye to the two wolves that stalked closer and closer.

+2 Discovery Points

---

the staff team luvs u

Bronco kept alongside her, and she noted his presence with only the minuet twitch of her ear. Her bright eyes scoured the spaces ahead of them, until they locked upon movement. Hydra paused for a breath, trying to see if she could ascertain a number from this alone. The wind told her there were several, which was good; it was as though they had never been preyed upon. Hydra stayed in place as they drifted ahead, grazing, pressing her nose to the earth. A more accurate and immediate headcount could be provided by finding where they had bedded, and she did not think it would be too far off from where they were now. The wind was perfect, and gentle (unsurprising, given the mule deers preference),  which was a relief—they would not fool the nose of a deer, and she imagined even if they had not been preyed upon in their lives... instinct would guide them.

This particular slope was east-facing; it explained why they had risen as early as they had. Having tracked the species before, Hydra knew several things about the animal. Gingerly stepping toward where their scent seemed to originate from, the mule deer would become silhouettes soon enough.

+1 Discovery Point

---

the staff team luvs u

Beneath his paws the snow was soft, pitted by the little shreds of pinecones cast to the ground by hungry squirrels who pried them open for food. Little bunches of empty seed cones rested at the feet of the tall, Ponderosa pine, and as he passed one Bronco looked up when he heard the scratching of claws on bark. Part of his inner instincts twitched when he looked up to see a squirrel, nose pointed toward the ground, staring down at him. But it didn't chatter or give any sign of warning, fortunately for the two wolves. If it had started a quarrel, Bronco wouldn't have been able to help himself from growling at it which could potentially foil their hunt.

The deer too seemed not to be terribly frightened of the approaching foes, which indicated that the latter half of winter might not be so hard if all of the prey on the mountain was so cool with their fate. Perhaps there hadn't been wolves here before, to bring the world into balance. 

He licked his lips and moved a bit closer to Hydra's side when the animals came into contact view, so they might select a target together.

+1 Discovery Point

---

the staff team luvs u

One ear backturned, listening to the scratching but not heeding it when Bronco paused, deducing he would give the thing the appropriate attention once he figured out what it was. Squirrels were bothersome things, to be sure... but not her own priority if they were not bothersome. Some could be, and were dealt with... once they were within reach. Moving further toward the leeward side of the gentle hillock, the matriarch found the bedding site at last. 

There were drifters nearby, grazing around this area too not very far off. There was a small, albeit spacious, area that the mule deer had rest within—there were several impressions within the earth left behind by them that Hydra quietly made her way toward. With her nose, she would ascertain the demographics of the herd here, the feeding mule deer none the wiser as they nibbled upon choice pieces of their own feeding. She paused, hovering over a spot in which she detected the scent of mule deer older than she had ever encountered thus far, a clear indication of some sort of imbalance. A better look at the earth around them some miles away would show the consequence to that—where there was no undergrowth at all from their eating habits.

+1 Discovery Point

---

the staff team luvs u

Closer and closer they prowled, being able to scent individual deel now within the herd. Hydra had investigated the soft crater left behind in the snow where one had slept- and the deer smelled of ancient arthritis, and teeth worn down from years of chewing. He could see where bits of poorly chewed grass had fallen out of her mouth, a sign her teeth had been ground down to little more than soft stubs. She would make a perfect target and as soon as they could see the deer clearly, he could pick her out.

She wasn't rail thin but she showed her age in the way her belly sagged leaving hip bones and shoulders that jutted, a roller coaster spine that led from the nape of her neck to her sunken haunches, and a dullness to her pelt that besoke the poor nutrition she had been getting with her dull teeth no longer fit to properly process her food.

He kept his gaze on the old one, and touched his nose gently to Hydra's cheek.

0 Discovery Points - they are just hunting here

---

the staff team luvs u

Hydra looked to the fallen bits of foliage and the like that had fallen from its mouth to ascertain if she knew of any herbs there. Hardly chewed, they were easy to distinguish still... she recognized one (not by name), which Hydra only knew due to her sisters advisement that it could help prevent infection, as well as stop internal bleeding. It could also help with headaches, but when Hydra dealt with those they were namely due to one obnoxious party or another. Lyra had told her the name of it (big sagebrush), but she had never bothered to remember such things—only the scent of it. It was largely whole, which caused Hydra to think—

and when Bronco nosed her, she looked to him, and then what he gestured to. 

The doe looked terrible, and that was putting it kindly. How did it live still? It would likely be relatively easy to kill it now, and put it out of its misery... and perhaps even a mercy. Hydra shifted her weight, considering—its filmy, unseeing gaze looked toward them then, without any recognition of their presence. Even despite that, Hydra became perfectly still so as to not to alarm it on the off chance that their eyes functioned any. No doubt the creature might be hard of hearing, and she wondered about the remaining senses, though by now it was abundantly clear it could not see them.

+1 Discovery Point (noting the herb)

---

the staff team luvs u

He lifted his haze when he heard the soft whoosh of wings, only to see a large bird, cloaked in black with an ugly head on its shoulders. He might have expected as much- with so much prey around, there would surely be not only avian predators but scavengers as well. The vulture looked on, peering down through the pine trees and seemed fairly comfortable with where it was. If it had been tracking the herd for some time, waiting for the old doe to fall, Bronco wouldn't have been surprised. But he was
 happy to see it; a healthy forest needed a healthy ecosystem, which included scavengers in the mix. And if they could be counted on to lead wolves to a potential kill, then they had the potential to have a symbiotic relationship.

The breeze brought the scent of deer toward them, and Bronco licked his lips again. He could smell cedar on the breeze as well, which he knew was a favourite wintertime snack of the deer as well. It's ropelike bark was easy to strip, and left its perfumed scent on the air. It seemed that the coniferous forests of the Nameless Mountain boasted several different types of evergreen trees, and each one had its purpose. 

He looked to Hydra to see that she had frozen. Slowly turning his gaze to the herd he picked out the grey, dull coated female- and saw the filmy nature of its gaze. At least partially blind, likely relying heavily on its herd for protection. 

But that wouldn't keep it safe much longer.

+1 Discovery Point

---

the staff team luvs u

Indeed, with the herd around it Hydra determined it was not the time. Were this a hunt, it could easily be separated—but as it were, the creatures were close together and between the two of them, it would likely manage to be protected by its own. Even with their skillset, the matriarch did not wish to risk injury to herself, or Bronco. More teeth would do the trick. 

Looking overhead at the scavenger that had entered the scene, and unable to identify the bird by name as well, Hydra pondered if they might even be given the opportunity to hunt the doe before its own time came. It felt near—hell, it looked it—and even with all of her love for the chase and the hunt, Hydra equally respected the sanctity of the circle of life, and hoped for it. As the creature moved, it was clear by the gait that it did not do so very comfortably. It must live, she thought, on its will alone at this point. 

Having found what they sought, Hydra turned to depart the scene, nosing Bronco gently to join her. There would be a hunt, soon—so perhaps they could get to know the land they hunted upon better, too. 

0 Discovery Points - not much exploration here

---

the staff team luvs u

He thought they could take it. It would spook the herd of course, but he considered there to be a fair chance that the two of them could probably separate the aged deer from the rest of the herd and take her down. But for the day, it seemed they were simply scouting the prey on their mountain, which caused his stomach to twist. He wanted to eat the bison. Now, he really wanted to eat the deer. But when Hydra turned away from the herd, he would reluctantly follow, having to put his dreams of filling his belly until it hurt off for another day when they had a few more wolves with them. They had to survey the land first- not strip it of all its prey and have a big welcoming barbecue. 

So he prowled after her, and eventually snuck up to her side. "C'n we get lunch sometime soon, though?" He asked sweetly as they moved along, pattering through the woods and the scattered shafts of sunlight that lit the way. "Even just a little nibble of a rabbit or somethin'," He pleaded with a laugh, as they ventured off into the forests to continue their scouting mission.
the staff team luvs u