Corbie had never seen an elephant in her life.

She'd heard them described before, of course, as a marvel of nature. She knew they were found often in the southern hemisphere.

She did not expect to see one in the north.

She tilted her head to the side, studying the young bull elephant with bemusement. He was far from where he belonged. She couldn't imagine what had brought it to wander so very far from where it could possibly be physically comfortable. Winter was not kind to animals that were suited to it, let alone those that were not. It was a pity, but he would not likely survive until spring brought forth enough plant life to sustain his bulk. Not with the cold eating at his reserves by the day.

It was too bad there was no way she could hunt such a titan by herself. By the time he died from cold he'd have been starving for some time and would be nearly all skin and bone. Granted, that hide alone would be interesting to work with, but... the amount of meat on that bulk right now would feed a pack for months. It would be such a waste to leave the elephant to his fate and salvage what was left at the end.

Tyrfing was not taking losing Fireside very well. The pack had been all he'd known for years, the place to come home to and where he could always feel he belonged. The absence of it left him empty inside, emptier still as he was forced to watch members scatter off in search of new homes. Rather then choose one family member in particular to follow along behind, the young Finnvi had tried to take the change as an opportunity. In his two and a half years of life, he'd never felt the need to wander or stray. Curiosity had not taken him on any wild adventures, he'd stagnated and became complacent. Perhaps this was his Gods' will, to force him to break out of his comfort zone. Tyrfing was many things but never a coward, and so he headed out in search of whatever self-discovery he was meant to find. Along with him he had drug one of the Regni brood, Mitros, who had uncharacteristically strong words against becoming a pirate with the rest of his family. The creature in the distance was absolutely fucking massive. It towered over anything he'd ever seen and by double the height at least. Instantly he remembered stories from when he was a pup, of the long winter and the mammoths that had come down from the ice bridge during it. Squinting out over the snow toward it, Tyrfing tried to remember what exactly made a mammoth a mammoth.. he could have sworn it had been described to him as an elephant, but woolier. This creature had no visible fur, so perhaps it wasn't a mammoth at all and was in fact the smaller cousin 'elephant.' If smaller could be used to describe it at all. Already a wolf was present, studying the creature with interest. Tyrfing was not put off by her presence, accepting easily that it would take more then just himself and the near-yearling with whom he travelled to bring the beast down. "Greetings." He murmured, keeping his voice low as to not alert the strange creature. "He's marvelous, isn't he? Would you mind terribly if we joined you?" "Speech" "Thinking" "You." table art by nightauctor

Mitros was a follower, and so it should have been easy for him to follow the rest of his litter to their new home with Sparrow and her pirate squad, except it wasn't. Something about the idea didn't sit right with the titanic blue pup, and while he adored his family and did not want to part with them, he had the sinking feeling that his mother would have been disappointed in the choice, if she was alive to guide them. He was meant for more then raiding, pillaging, drinking and copious amounts of sex. He was not an extrovert, he did not enjoy parties or really other wolves at all. It was for his family alone that he tolerated socialization, and now with them gone, he turned his tenancy to follow toward one of the few adults who had not scattered in the wind or made off for replacement packs.

Tyrfing was quiet like him, he did not pry and he did not talk down to him. They had enough in common and got along decently enough, and the pair fell naturally into a sort of comfort in their travelling. Mitros was nearing his first birthday and the pair were in search of a place to bed down to wait out the last remnants of winter until then. It was not unusual for the iridescent man to pull them off their path when he caught a particular scent and this time was no different, Mitros followed dutifully behind and waited quietly while he addressed the stranger and asked if they could join in the hunt. "What is that?" He spoke up softly, awed at it's size and might.

"Speech"

She quite enjoyed having her freedom. Well...she didn't have it officially yet, but someday...soon...hopefully. She was hopeful about it. They were failing to break her spirit, though they almost did at one point. But she bounced back with fiercer determination and brighter fire in her eyes. They couldn't keep her down no matter how hard they tried! Her new companions walked on either side of her this time, and she wore her fancy new claws that she had stolen from a jaguar. Nothing was going to keep her down! Not even-- Whoa! What was that!? Dual toned eyes widened at the sight of something huge and she had never seen anything like it! She had half a mind to get closer and investigate, but a rumble from the cougar at her side drew her attention to a small group of wolves that seemed to be watching it, so she headed to them.

She didn't smell that bad today, but she still didn't smell like roses. Regardless if her smell was repugnant or not, she approached, "Are you guys looking at that, too? Medusa doesn't know what it is!" She exclaimed, though she was eager to find out.

speech

code by Cloudy; art by Cloudy

"Talk" Walk It seemed he was just destined to continue running into the monochromatic young woman. He wasn't following her on purpose, but his cockatoo had spotted something pretty interesting. There was an elephant near the gorge, and the bird had also spotted a small gathering of wolves that were eyeballing it, with one of them being Corbie. She had helped him take down quite a few things the past few days...so why not turn around and offer himself to help her with this one? Especially if she already had quite the growing gathering? He had never hunted down an elephant before, but he did hunt one of their ancient counterparts once. Would they taste the same? He wondered. Turning around, he headed towards the gorge and followed the path the cockatoo had led him on until he smelled the mingled scent of wolves. He didn't recognize any of the group except for Corbie, but that was all well and fine. "I think at this point, we might as well just trek across the lands and hunt everything in sight, don't you think?" He grinned and winked as he slid in near her and turned his gaze to the thinning elephant.

Havoc trotted along happily at the heels of her new friend Medusa. She - she being Havoc, not Medusa - was very nearly a yearling at this point, so she had absolutely no compunction about going wherever she pleased, with whomever she pleased. Besides, Medusa was cool and she made things really interesting. Who else would have let her poke at dead wolves and stuff? Everyone else said it was "gross" and "disrespectful" and "blasphemous". Well screw that.

When Medusa veered off towards something she'd spotted, Havoc was more than happy to follow. A plain black and white wolf, a dark slatey colored wolf, and a bright blue wolf were already there, but that wasn't what had caught Medusa's attention. It was... well, Havoc had no idea what it was. Something really big, and leathery looking and... kind of pathetic, actually, despite all its bulk. All hunched over and weaving back and forth like the cold made it miserable. Well, maybe it shouldn't have been so naked then, if it was going to be in the cold. Should have lived down south instead. At least Medusa didn't seem to know any more about it than she did, because she asked right out what it was.

A big red guy showed up, and Havoc eyed him. Between him and the blue guy they practically had all the primary colors represented. She opened her mouth to make a snarky comment about that, but the guy's comment caught her attention and instead she blurted out, "Cool, we can hunt that thing?!"

Corbie glanced up as a pair of quiet young men popped up asking to join her. "Please, feel free. Yes, he is rather magnificent. It's a pity that he got himself stuck up here to starve." She sighed regretfully, but life was not always kind to its creatures. It was what it was. She was about to answer the second, brighter colored wolf's question when a second pair, this time a nearly-but-not-quite matching set of females, popped in rather more boisterously. Not loudly, but just more... physically exuberant in the manner. The older one asked the same question, so she answered both at once. "It's an elephant," she told them both. "They usually live far in the south, past the land bridge on the other continent. It is nearly unheard of for one to be this far north. You can see why."

Another face appeared, this one more familiar, and she couldn't help but grin back at Ignis. Hunt the elephant? She looked back at it more speculatively. She had inadvertently managed to gather a group large enough to consider it. That elephant though - she knew that traditional hunting methods wouldn't work on it, with it being so tall and so thick skinned. But there was one way...

"If we get it running instead of standing to fight," she said slowly, "We could get it moving too quickly towards a part of the ravine that they couldn't see it, so it couldn't stop in time..." And then it would fall, dying without them needing to actually get through that skin, and putting it out of the misery of a long slow death by starvation and freezing.

The woman accepted the request for more and as she did so, four new strangers approached. Tyrfing eyed them each in turn, but nothing in his gut spoke to any sort of brewing danger within them. He trusted his instincts wholeheartedly and turned back as the monochromatic woman spoke, confirming his suspicions on what sort of creature it might be, and suggesting how they might kill it. The pup at his side spoke up about one of the new additions and Fin snapped his head towards him in reply, narrowing his eyes. "Mitros, that's rude. Apologize. This is Mitros, my name is Tyrfing." An introduction was only polite, especially when his travelling companion may have potentially offended the group. Straightening, he continued. "I think your plan is sound, with the six of us we surely have the numbers to drive it towards the ledge, and there's more then enough meat on his bones to feed us all." The hide and tusks did not interest him, having no way to carry them nor craft with them. So long as he and his cousin got a meal out of it to keep them going, the hunt was worth their time. Clearly the monochromatic had a good concept of how to run it to it's death, and knew enough about the species to anticipate it's behavior. He looked to her and waited, expecting further instruction. "Speech" "Thinking" "You." table art by nightauctor

Mitros idled quietly while the adults conversed and more adults arrived, one who brought along a child similar in age to he was. His ears perked in excitement, having not yet met a pup that wasn't belonging to his own pack, but then pulled back sharply against his skull as the scent of her travelling companion reached his nostrils. "You smell." He stated bluntly, his muzzle wrinkling into a frown. Tyrfing's reprimand brought from him a huff and a murmured apology, though he continued to eye the smelly female who spoke in first person wearily as the discussion continued.

The creature had a name, elephant. Hopefully this Medusa wouldn't get too close as to ruin the meat with her poop smell. "So it couldn't stop in time for what?" He spoke up, encouraging the black and white female to elaborate on her strategy.

"Speech"

Her bestie was with her, and of course, she didn't forget about her unlike her player, woops when she turned to her with a sparkle in her eye after learning what that big lumbering sad-looking creature was. An elephant!? She had never seen one before, but she couldn't wait to see what it tasted like...but mostly she was interested in seeing if its bones were really as big as the creature itself looked! It looked like something that would be hard to bite though, even with her sharpened claw covers, it didn't look like she'd have an easy time slicing and dicing. But what the monochrome woman said what they could do definitely sounded interesting. She had never run an animal to its death before! When the blue kid said that she smelled, Medusa grinned and giggled, even when the other guy told him it was rude and apologized, she didn't take offense. She knew she didn't smell the best, but it was her natural defense mechanism. It made others think twice about wanting to take a stab at her most of the time, though she mostly used it as a defense against Habari considering her rank there, maybe she would consider lessening it a bit whenever she got the chance to finally get out of there. "Yes, Medusa stinks but it's for a good cause!" She flashed a grin as she glanced at Havoc for a moment, suddenly wondering if her new best friend was offended by her stink, too. She didn't want her smell to drive off any new friends, but what choice did she have right now? "Medusa"

They had a pretty big group with them that it shouldn't be too hard to take it down...the only dilemma was, would they even be able to considering its size? Sure it was weak and frail, and Ignis listened quietly as Corbie explained to the others what it was and where it normally lived. He wondered why the beast had come this far north from its usual stomping grounds. While it was unfortunate for the dying pachyderm, it was good for the group. They'd be able to get a pretty good amount of meat off of it and feed them for weeks! Though he imagined the loners would only be able to carry so much...still...it would be worth it. As Corbie spoke about the possibility of driving it over the edge, he wrinkled his nose when he finally realized there was the lingering smell of rotten meat in the air and his attention was only drawn to it when one of the much younger almost-yearlings said someone smelled. The offender, of course, commented that it was for a good cause. "At least take a bath once in a while, will ya!?" He growled. Just his luck to get some weirdo...but weirdo or not, they needed her to help with this hunt. The blue kid asked the question, and Ignis turned to him and flashed a grin, "So it couldn't stop in time before going over the edge and falling to its death. That's how we'll get it." It was a solid plan, and a good one at that. It would be much easier than trying to pierce its skin with tooth and claw, and for the most part, would keep them out of harm's way. "Speech"

Havoc fluffed with indignation when the bright blue stranger mouthed off about Medusa. "You take that back or else!" she snapped at him, drawing herself up to her full height from the lazy lounge she usually adopted, to stare him in the eyes aggressively. They were every inch the same height (and, if someone had actually known they were related, it would have been obvious that she shared many of the same physical features as both him and his older friend) though as she got in his face it was obvious even with the gangliness of adolescence affecting them both that he was heavier than she was with her knobbly bony form. She subsided slightly at the mild look the plain black and white woman gave, but her eyes still shot daggers at Little Boy Blue that promised if they weren't planning a totally awesome elephant hunt she'd totally have knocked him down and rubbed his nose in the dirt for insulting her buddy.

The young blue male responded to the females' appearance with an exclamation of disgust, which luckily didn't seem to phase the odorous one much at all though the blue male's companion corrected his rude behavior. It did set off her young friend, though, and the skull-marked girl got very aggressively into the young male's face over it. Corbie cleared her throat meaningfully, and slanted a flat glance the girl's way. If they were going to fight and brawl, this hunt would not happen. As it was, the girl risked alerting the elephant to their presence, distant as it was. Luckily, she took the hint and stood down.

"All right," she said, starting again. "The elephant is going to want to break left or right if it can, to keep from going over. That will be the dangerous part, there at the end. It can change its path at right angles much easier than it can double back. Ignis and... Tyrfing was it? I want you there on either side anchoring the flanks. You are both large enough that you should be able to deter him from wanting to turn until it's too late. It will be dangerous, though, since he will want to go your way desperately." She regarded both males solemnly - she hated to put them in danger, but she was too small to appear enough of a threat, and she definitely didn't want to put the children in danger. The young woman with the bones was a wild card as well. Corbie didn't want to put her in a dangerous situation if she wasn't capable of making clear decisions. "Once we get him running we will spread out at his flank - the pups will stay behind him to keep him running -" and to stay in a safer position, for the elephant was less likely to turn around than to turn aside - "And Medusa and I will take a position between the flankers and the chasers." There they would be able to actually reach the elephant to chivvy him on with more than just frightening him, a position more dangerous than she wanted to fill with puppies. "When we start the attack make sure to leave a wide space for him to escape, or he will find it too risky and stay to fight."

Glancing over them for assent she turned to start off towards the elephant at a trot. It spotted them quickly enough, but it didn't have the energy to waste moving off right away, instead standing its ground for the moment and swinging its head threateningly. Corbie feinted in and dodged a swing of the trunk, snarling and barking riotously to encourage the elephant to break away and run.

Whatever Tyrfing did expect in retaliation from his cousin's remark, it wasn't to have the scrawny fluff ball stand toe to toe with him in aggravation and threat. Regardless he simply stood and watched with brows raised in faint amusement, not the type to get protective or brew conflict from a mere rivalry between pups. The monochromatic woman put a quick stop to it with a clearing of her throat, and Fin's gaze lingered meaningfully on Mitros' own before returning to the discussion. The strategy was sound, and he appreciated the placements of each wolf. Ignis and himself were clearly the more intimidating predators, and the pups were placed securely behind along with the mentally challenged one. "Keep a careful distance, those feet won't feel pleasant against your skulls." He counselled the children, adding little to the woman's instruction. With a nod of assent, he moved off with the group to intitiate. The woman was not as large as he, but had the bravery to match his own. She stood her ground against the greater creature's immense size, barking and snarling and providing as much threat as she was capable. Tyrfing felt the urge to back her up in her assault, but knew the importance of keeping the elephant from veering off to the side in it's escape. He sped to the creature's right side, leaving a sizable distance at it's back for it to break to, and focused his efforts on maintaining his space as the rest of the wolves fell into their own roles. "Speech" "Thinking" "You." table art by nightauctor

The other-child's reaction utterly shocked the blue-tinted boy, who reeled back in uncertainty as she approached him with jaws snapping. "I took it back!! Chill!" He insisted, eyes wide and heart beating rapidly. Why did she choose the smelly one over him? They were similar aged, wasn't there some comradery there? He didn't have long to think on it before the leader-female had calmed the loud bitey one, and Mitros squeezed up against Fin's leg beneath the dagger-like stare he continued to receive. It wasn't fair, they were supposed to be friends, she was supposed to agree that Medusa was smelly. Offended and indignant, Mitros stuck out his tongue at the child stealthily as the adults explained the plan.

He had to focus his attention away from the biting glare at the back of his head and toward the monochrome woman, memorizing his role and intent on following through with it as best as he was able. He would be running the opposite side as Havoc, and between the two the smelly Medusa would be squished. He could only hope that this kindly and not-smelly woman would be on his side, so Havoc would be the one distracted by the stench while they ran and not him.

As the group moved forward, the hunt commenced. The adult males took either side of the elephant and Corbie began to harass it. Mitros would have been happy to wait for it to begin it's flight, but he didn't have to look to know that that other kid wouldn't be sitting back and letting the job be done for her. Not willing to be outdone, he flanked the woman and made himself as large as he was able, barking and snarling with the rest of the group until the elephant broke and ran.

Falling into his position at Corbie's side, he did his part in chasing, keeping his body placed evenly between Fin on his flank and Corbie to his side and sprinting hard across the grass to encourage the beast onward. Speed was important, the adults had said, to ensure the creature could not stop in time before they made it to the cliff edge.

"Speech"

She didn't care if others thought she stunk. There was nothing she could do about it right now, even if she wanted to, and the blue boy would just have to deal with it! Havoc had taken offense to what the boy had said and had gotten in his face, but the black and white woman had quickly quelled any possible fighting happened. Were Medusa anyone else or a little more normal, she would have likely gotten all smug and stuck her tongue out at the pup, but as it was, she was far more interested in the elephant than she was getting offended over the way she smelled. She had already stated it was for a good cause, and maybe if anyone knew what her reasoning was, they'd understand. Havoc was the only one here that knew Medusa's position in her pack, and she didn't seem to be offended by the way Medusa smelled. If it did bother her, she didn't say anything about it. But Medusa really and truly appreciated Havoc's sticking up for her. Nobody had ever done that for her before. She listened to Corbie's plan about the elephant, the skeletal-marked girl nodded eagerly along before slipping away with the group and placing herself on Havoc's other side. When Corbie initiated the assault, Medusa joined in and snapped, snarled, and barked until the elephant got moving. Her companions raced along with them, adding to the commotion and herding the elephant towards their intended destination. With the two larger males flanking its side and the pups helping with harassing the beast, she had a feeling they were about to all have full bellies real soon...and she'd get to dig around in its corpse to see just how big those bones really were! Hell, if she had to make several trips to collect them, she would! It was the main prize she wanted, and it seemed she would definitely get that chance. The sickly elephant trumpeted as it tried to get away from the wolves, its head waving around and its trunk trying to fend off its attackers. Not only were her companions harassing the beast, but she spotted a black bird harassing it as well as another wolverine. Perfect. Everything was going according to plan! And she couldn't wait to taste the fruit of their labors! "Medusa"

There was a lot of commotion with the blue pup who had a problem with the woman that had the offending odor. While he did wonder what the deal with her stench was, there were more important matters at hand. He swore he was about to put some kids in their place when it looked like they were about to get into it, but luckily and to his relief, Corbie had managed to quell the altercation and get everyone on board with a plan. He sighed in relief. The blue pup seemed to have a guardian with him, and although Medusa didn't seem to be all there, he imagined that she wouldn't have hesitated to go to bat for the pup that somewhat resembled her. He shot Corbie and Tyrfing a grateful look before anything escalated further, and listened to Corbie's plan as she gave them their positions.

Once they were all ready to go, Ignis moved into position on the other side of the elephant, and before he knew it, the chase was on! Corbie initiated the chase, and having hunted with her a few times before, knew she was more than capable of handling herself. Besides, if something did go wrong, he was sure that the six of them had the capabilities to handle it. He raced alongside the elephant, keeping his distance enough so as not to make it swing for him or anything. His cockatoo harassed it from the air, distracting it so that when it reached the inevitable, it would be too late.

"Speech"

The blue kid backed down under the forceful force of her forceful wrath, and, somewhat mollified Havoc backed away to Medusa's side and turned her attention to the woman planning the hunt. So she and Little Boy Blue would be doing the chasing, with the plain woman and Medusa on either side and ahead of them, and the two big adult males would run keep it going straight. Seemed easy enough, and Havoc was really good at being annoying when she wanted to be. She hopped to her feet, pacing impatiently while everyone else got ready and started towards the elephant. Once they got to it, she poured on every ounce of annoying and threatening she could, snarling and barking and bouncing back and forth under the elephant's nose. It didn't take long before it turned to run. Havoc, still barking madly, settled in for a run after it, heckling it every time it tried to slow. The flankers kept it from turning, and then they were bursting through a line of bushes and there the gorge was, gaping open before them. The elephant threw its trunk up and trumpeted, trying to slow, but the pressure of the four wolves driving it forward had provided too much momentum for it to stop, even though it fell to its knees at the edge. It was sent tumbling over.

Corbie stood there on the edge, just panting for a long moment after the elephant tumbled over and disappeared into the canyon. She'd never done anything quite like that before. It was much easier than making an actual kill, especially on something that big, but she couldn't help but shudder thinking of the elephant's last moments of fear as it fell. No, she didn't like this method of hunting. She'd thought it would be like a snare, but in a snare the animal was choked unconscious before its death, not... that.

She took a deep breath and set that aside, smiling at the other hunters instead. "Well, we should go start butchering it, shouldn't we?" She started down the canyon - in a much safer way than the elephant - and approached the now-dead behemoth.

She chose a place next to Tyrfing and Mitros to begin the laborious process of skinning, and Ayer made her way down the canyonside to hop up next to them with a sharp blade of flint that she'd obviously been working on while they'd been chasing the elephant. "If you pull on the hide as it comes loose to keep tension, I'll cut it away from the meat," the kinkajou chittered, then set to.

"So are you boys from around here?" Corbie asked while Ayer was working on loosening the skin enough for them to grab. "Or are you traveling as well?" Neither of them had a pack scent, so it was probably pretty safe to assume that they were both loners, like her.

Mitros did not share the monochrome woman's sadness at the elephant's demise, all he felt was raw, unbridled excitement at his first successful hunt on something larger then a rabbit. The absolute power in the creature's limbs and tusks, the amount of weight it had acquired over what must have been years and years.. and felled, by a small group of wolves who'd outsmarted it. It felt good to have experienced this, and before his first year was up.

He made his way down the gorge alongside his cousin, stepping lightly to ensure he did not meet the same fate as the elephant before him. Butchering it was almost a second thought - sure he was hungry, but not starving. Perhaps if he was lucky, he could trade away a portion of his meat for the right to one of those massive tusks.

Corbie got to butchering and her companion offered instruction on how best to separate the hide from the meat. Mitros pushed forward to assist, grabbing a portion of the hide and holding it tight so the knife-wielding raccoon-thing could begin to sever it. "We came from Fireside, before it disbanded." Mitros offered helpfully. "My family decided to go off to become pirates, I didn't want to, so now we're just wandering looking for somewhere new."