come hell or high water
The last caribou had narrowly escaped their clutches, entrails actively leaking from its stomach. Iscariot was deeply, incredibly unsettled by the entire thing. Her own stomach churning, the only sounds from the panicked prey still echoed in her mind. Without another thought, she follows the blood trail until it... until it stops making sense. Until it stops making sense, then disappears entirely.
She doesn't like anything about this. Like a dog with a bone, Iscariot zeroes in on a different herd of prey, one that's just as confused. Musk oxen, mashing their faces against the horrible, snowy ground, ceaselessly. They're behaving just as strangely as the caribou had.
Dialing in on the herd, narrowing her eyes, Isacriot singles out the most confused of the lot. A large male, pawing and ramming his nose against the ragged ground, his face already bloody from the effort. Gaze scanning the red, rugged hellscape... there had to be enough wolves for another hunt nearby. If she starts running, someone will come.
So run she does. Right into the herd, directly into the line of fire, the creature throws herself. Closing the distance at a breakneck pace, she's ready. Riot is solving this one, come hell or high water.
honduran white bats, chaos & calamity (clam)
He couldn't help but feel a little uneasy as he headed north. It wasn't difficult to find prey acting strangely- birds nested low to the ground, picking obsessively at the ice, and deer scraped their antlers relentlessly on the ground. Whatever was in the air seemed more serious than he originally expected. If anyone were to figure it out, though, he was sure it would be the Armada- and he wanted to help.
He wasn't the only one studying the prey animals. Not far off, a small wolf was hot on the heels of an oxen. Bold choice for a wolf her size. Another wolf had just caught up too, and Bronze picked up his pace and tried to close the distance between himself and the hunting party. He wanted to help bring the oxen down, hoping its death might bring answers.
The thundering of hooves roared near by, quickly pulling his attention away from the strange structure. Intrigued, he hurried off in the direction just in time to see a few wolves hurdling straight towards a herd of musk ox. Well, that looks like fun! Without any thought on the potential danger, especially the strange occurrences as of late, Battery joined in on the fun and barrelled towards the crazed herd and the one the others were after.
Others had real reason to hunt these animals, a reason Battery could only assume was hunger but he was wrong. Sure, he could use a bite to eat, but he wasn't hungry- just in search of fun, and completely ignorant of what was to come. He hadn't a clue that these animals were acting strangely and that this hunt was to figure out why, but he was all in regardless, and snapped at the hooves of the animal despite his smaller size with a smile on his face.
i am what you can't escape
i am the splinter underneath your skin
ǐ̵̙͎̗̻̳̆̕͝ ̸̨̻͚͙̥̱̍̎̀̓ä̷̫̥́͗͒̄͠ͅm̶̡͒͒̚ ̸̼͖̙̯͔̞͂a̷̱̳̲͇̕ ̶̢͓͍̾̈́͘ṁ̴̨̥̲̦͚͂͋̒̂̐ơ̷͇̤̘̣̜͊̈́̽n̵̢̫̫͕̄s̵̱̥̊͘ͅt̵͖̩͈͍͈̬͗e̷͎͊ṟ̴͘͜
If she chases, they will come. Come they did. Three other wolves, melting from the shadowy red treeline. The large, pale man is the first to actually ask if he can come along, and Riot gives a nod over her shoulder. All the breath in her lungs committed to pursuit, she can't spare more. Not yet.
As they close in on the herd, she lets go an ungodly snarling. Half barking, half something far worse, it's enough to scatter the rest of the oxen. Circling their chosen prey like sharks in the water, Iscariot reaches out, grazing the already bloodied face of the dazed creature. Pushing him back toward her compatriots, pure violence and energy coursing hot in her bones.
honduran white bats, chaos & calamity (clam)
A smaller, younger wolf wasn't far off now either. Bronze cast him a sideways glance as he pulled forward, seeing the herd begin to scatter. Their target was disrupted, reeling around and beginning to thrash. He tried to dodge its kicking limbs and aimed to dish out a few small but fast bites toward its hind flanks.
do you want to burn it with me?
The other were older, bigger, stronger, and likely more skilled but he didn't care! Battery was included and involved, eager to finish this hunt and presumably eat a good meal! Unaware the oxen was plagued with whatever was happening to the land, his ignorant mind was focused on the meal, not putting the oxen out of it's misery for science.
Battery joined into the fray as the woman snapped at it's face, the pale man lunged for the inner thigh, and the blue man dodged and aimed for the flank. He wasn't as fast as the others, his shorter stride requiring more effort to keep up with the others and the oxen, but he worked hard and caught up. Approaching perpendicular to the group, scattering the rest of the heard, Battery lowered his head and snapped towards a front ankle, nipping at the skin and aiming to force it into stumbling over it's own legs as the wolves surrounded the infected beast.
Every part of her is vicious, downright nasty. Iscariot launches at the creature's face, keeping it distracted, mindful of the horns. Even still, the ox isn't acting right. It seemed... sluggish? Foggy, like things weren't making the most sense. Did he even know what was happening? Surely it must, in some way. Still, Iscariot is incensed. Driving hard and fast, she shreds into its face.
When she has an opening, the tiny wolf goes straight for the throat. No use dragging this out, especially as their prey began to rock and stumble on its feet. All snarls and snapping, sharp teeth driving as deeply as she could into her target. Nothing to stop them now, and soon, they'd have answers. Hopefully have answers.
honduran white bats, chaos & calamity (clam)