Arcturus was never one to turn down the opportunity for an interesting or challenging hunt. He didn't need a request or encouragement from their sovereign to do it, but it did certainly help. With Scylla's instruction to make use of the land they were aiming to claim as their own to prove its worth as a hunting ground in the back of his mind, he gathered up several of the pack's wolves to form a hunting party with him. He was a pretty adept hunter when working on his own, but he kind of wanted to prove his worth and make a grander show of this than just bringing home a deer. No, he had his sights set on something larger than he could bring down on his own.

With his pack members in tow, they made their way out into the lightly wooded nook just after sunset. He had been scouting ahead for a few days now and tracking a herd of bison that had been moving into the area. He had let the group know their plan before they left, but he waited to form a solid plan until they had the bison in their sights to make a concrete plan. He motioned for them to follow as he found the familiar scent and found the distinctive tracks that these large beasts made in the dirt and he followed them to the edge of a clearing where several of them were gathered. Moving at night meant that they could use the shadows to their advantage and possibly sneak up on one of them while its resting, but it did mean that they were clumped fairly tightly together instead of spread out and grazing like they might have been during the day. "I'm thinking that two of you will charge in to startle them and make them scatter and then myself and someone else can run in to start the kill," he suggested in a quiet whisper to the group, looking to them for input or approval.

"Arcturus Indarra"

Tsuki was always more than happy to follow after anyone who was happy to have her, and even those that weren't... But it was always better when they did want her. Even, even better was when she was with her family. Her outou-san and sister had also been grabbed by the big yellow man. It was fair to say most days Tsuki was off in her own world so it wasn't a surprise that she'd largely failed to notice the work happening around the pack to add to their territory. So her understanding of why exactly they were heading out to the woods beyond their current borders was shakey at best. But she also admittedly wasn't one for details most of the time. Simply happy to be there at the end of the day. Tsuki wasn't usually half as quiet as this either but her outou-san had taught her the importance of it when it came to hunting. (A lesson she'd had to learn more than once before it finally seemed to stick.) So now she did her best to keep up with the larger wolves as quietly as she could. Surprisingly light of foot for a wolf of her build. They came to a half and Tsuki had to awkwardly stretch to see around the others, her height certainly not helping. Much as she wanted to help in giving the killing blow here she reckoned her size wouldn't exactly be an asset there. These things were huge. More so than Tsuki was used to at least. It was a moment of unusual clarity for the girl who was often much less self-aware. "I can chase em, get em spooked!" Tsuki looked up at the yellow man and then glanced at her outou-san for approval before quickly continuing, "I can be real loud when I wanna be." It was true, for a wolf so short she certainly wasn't lacking for lung capacity. In fact though she was doing her best to whisper it was more akin to a stage whisper than anything else. Luckily it seemed she'd yet to alert the bison. "Speech"

Art by Fewtish

Scylla sidled up beside Arcturus, flashing him a confident smile as he laid out the plan for the bison hunt. The Sovereign had no problem with following orders. Especially when delivered by such a handsome man. Besides, this was for all of their benefit. It was the intent to bring down some big game in the Nook just to see how the locale treated them.

"I'm small and fast," she began. "I'll run them." The fae's blue and grey gaze settled upon the rest of the group. Who would be coming with her and who would be laying in wait? She was quite sure that their bellies would be full after all of this hard work either way.

"Scylla"

A hunt wasn't his usual activity, but when duty called he wasn't exactly one to say no. He followed the group being led by Arcturus out to the redbud nook along with Scylla and Nero. Arcturus showed them their target for today–a herd of resting bison. The leader of their hunt suggested that they split their jobs into two teams with two of them getting the herd moving and two of them laying in wait to take the bison down. Scylla volunteered to be one of the runners first which did make since given the size of the rest of them in the party. He and Arcturus were matching in height and quite large and Nero was even bigger than them. "I'll join Scylla. Nero can help you bring it down," he whispered back, giving a glance to the gray-spotted man to make sure that was alright with him. He wasn't typically a hunter so it made more sense to leave that task to the ones that were.

Cináed

Nero followed Scylla out to the nearby cherry blossom grove along the side of the dormant volcano, escorting her as she went to check on the progress of Obscura's hunting party. They found the other wolves stalking a small herd of bison in the nearby distance. Nero eyed the massive prey animals with intrigue. It had been a while since he'd hunted bison. They were difficult animals to bring down alone, and Nero hadn't hunted with others in some time, so the delicious bovine meat had been a rare treat for him. But as an apex predator that almost rivaled the size of bison, he didn't see them as much of a threat—more an exhilarating challenge.

Nero was only half paying attention as Scylla left him to slide up alongside the golden wolf leading the hunt. The plan was simple—run the bison down into a trap and take down one as it separated from the herd. Naturally Nero assumed he would be on the takedown crew, given his immense size and strength, and sure enough he and Arcturus were put in charge of assuring the kill. Good. It had been far too long since Nero had gotten to kill something. "We should use the terrain to funnel them into a kill zone to make it easier for us. A denser part of the woods, or alongside the volcano's slopes."

"Scylla & Nero"

Cina and Scylla both volunteered to run the herd, leaving him and Nero to bring down the kill. That’s more or less how he had assumed things would go, but he didn’t want to speak for them if they had a better idea. Nero made an astute suggestion of using the landscape to their advantage in order to funnel the bison toward them more efficiently. He nodded in agreement and started to scan the area around them. There was a natural corridor where the trees were fairly dense along one side and the rocky elevation of the volcano was on the other and he nodded toward the spot before leading the way for him and Nero to take their places. He made sure to signal to Scylla when they were ready both so she would know when to kick off the chase and so she would know where to aim for as she and Cina began to chase their prey toward him and Nero.

With the plan laid, the only thing now was to herd their dinner down the chute. Flashing a smile towards the trio of big boys, Scylla cut away from the group, winding her way through the terrain of the nook and behind the herd. She could have walked right through the herd with as much mind as they paid her. Silly bastards. Just because she was small didn't mean that she couldn't murder them.

With a whoop, Scylla bit into the heel of one skittish cow. The bison leaped forward, startling the rest of the herd which followed along quickly. Very few of the herbivores altered course, all of them seeking out the smoothest path that would lead them out of danger the quickest. Dumb, dumb bastards. They ran right down the natural valley and right towards the awaiting jaws of Nero and Arcturus.

"Scylla"

With their tasks assigned and the path for the hunt decided on, Cina began to follow Scylla as she took the lead and went in toward the herd. Since he was far larger and more noticeable than she was he hung back a bit, keeping to the taller patches of shrubbery and the shadows of the trees until Scylla yelled and bit into the ankle of one of the cows. That kicked off the stampede easily and he charged forward to join in toward the back of the herd to help keep them moving with growls and snapping jaws. They were fortunate that the clusters of trees created natural tunnels through that kept the fleeing animals more or less on a predictable path as they guided them toward the valley where Nero and Arcturus would be waiting. A couple of times he had to speed up a bit to snap at one of the bison and get it back in line, but that part of the job seemed pretty easy compared to the idea of stopping one of these big animals. He was glad there was some experienced hunters with them that could handle that portion of things. For now he just kept to the plan and trusted that they would all worth together seamlessly to get this done.

Cináed

The plan was made and it was sound. With everyone in agreement, the two parties split apart—Scylla and Cináed to go wrangle the bison and Arcturus and himself to lay the trap. Maneuvering through the Nook and in the direction of the sloping valleys alongside the volcano wasn't a difficult feat per se, but remaining unseen when you're a five foot tall Goliath of wolf certainly was. Nero had to move about carefully so as not to let his vibrant white coat be seen against the dark terrain of the volcano or in between the trees, his movements more akin to crawling sometimes as he and Arc snuck past the grazing bison. Eventually they made it around and came across a suitable valley where the bison would be forced into close quarters, meaning no place for them to escape.

Nero followed Arcturus up to the top of the crag, lying in wait at the edge of the slope where he wouldn't be seen until the bison were directly below him. Arc gave the signal to Scylla and Ciná, and then there was silence as the other team made their move. Soon enough, the rumbling of heavy hooven feet pounding across the terrain came in their direction. It was time. Muscles tensed beneath his thick arctic fur, Nero's claws dug into the rock, poised and ready to launch himself down onto an unsuspecting bison once they were in the fatal funnel. He waited for Arc's signal to pounce. Then instinct would take over and do the rest.

"Scylla & Nero"

Arcturus settled into a hiding spot across from Nero, the two of them lying in wait for the buffalo to close in on them with Cina and Scylla guiding them. The plan itself was potentially easier said than done, but this wasn't his first time hunting a prey animal this large and he had the benefit of having Nero here with him this time as well. Soon enough the sound of loud, beating hooves began to draw closer, getting louder with each passing second. He carefully peeked over the top of the shrubbery he was tucked behind and watched as their target moved quickly toward their range. He very quickly picked out one of the larger cows from the herd that seemed to be running a tad slower than the rest and fixed his gaze on the animal so he wouldn't loose sight of her.

The first several bison went by and the moment the one he had in mind was in range he gave a quick nod to Nero before leaping out from his hiding spot to sandwich the cow between them. His powerful jaws and fangs immediately latched onto one of its front legs, causing the cow to bellow out a call for help and begin to stumble forward, dragging him a bit with her. Even if he wasn't the size of Nero he was still plenty big to slow the bison down and make it an easy target for his hunting partner to finish off.

"Arcturus Indarra"

When the bison were in range, Nero and Arc did their thing, leaping into the fray to bring down one of the massive herbivores. Cina would likely join them, but Scylla would not. The small wolf did her best to turn and ward off any of the approaching bison, turning some of the line back the way they'd come. She kept the trio of killers from getting trampled as they dispatched their first big meal in this new land that would soon very much be theirs.

When she was sure that the boys wouldn't be deaded, Scylla moved back towards the group to inspect their work. "Well done, boys. Well done. This will be a great land to call our own. Full of snacks."

"Scylla Klein"

The job of herding the animals into place went quickly and before he knew it he saw a flash of white and gold leap into view as Arc and Nero dove into action. Between the two large wolves efforts combined it slowed the cow to a stop and brought her toppling to the ground. He helped Scylla divert the rest of the herd around their compatriots and their kill for a moment until the bulk of the bison had moved on and then he jumped in on the kill as well, helping to hold down the struggling bison till Arc and Nero could finish the job. With a satisfied sigh he stepped back from the bison cow once it was apparent that the hunt had come to an end and he grinned a bit at Scylla's praise. "Glad I could help." Now all they had to do was get this big animal back to the pack food store so it could be broken down and preserved. They were going to eat very well tonight.

Cináed