Come bother my boy...

[wolfborn_were]

Who: Emery Deluca (wolfborn_were) & ANY OF YOU
I'll take you all on!
What: new character meet and greet?
When: any time in November, before or after member event
Where: Lockwood Forest
Warning(s): May include some animal death, since... werewolf. Hunts for his food.
Note: Just the one general open prompt, so no cut. I can add some closed prompts as well -- feel free to hit up my inbox.

You've probably got your reasons to wander around in Lockwood Forest. Making friends with those cute little ghost animals, maybe. Wood-cutting, since this island is pretty low tech compared to home. Foraging for helpful plants or hunting for wild game to supplement your groceries.

But there's something... someone who is making his home in the forest. Did your plans include running across a wolf? Or, worse yet, a werewolf?

Comments

scene change...

[wolfborn_were]

Emery agrees to the suggestion, and soon after vanishes back into the shadows of the forest.

They won't see each other again until two days later at the appointed time. Emery waits at the tree line in his true wolf shape, clearly visible from the south train station. He ignores any efforts by the staff to make him go away, just sits there stubbornly but calm as you please.

And he'll stay there until he sees Tarantulas approach.

[tisnotthehouse]

[sorry about the delay! I wasn't feeling well, but I'm eager to continue this if you're up for it!]

"You're here!" Tarantulas calls as he quickly skitters across the train tracks and briefly vanishes into the tall grass. He's in his spider form once again, nearly the same size as Emery, but with a backpack perched on his cephalothorax with the straps wrapped around two of his legs. "And I'm in the mood to bite something, so let's go!"

[wolfborn_were]

Emery shifts to his hybrid form so that they'll be able to talk to each other.

"Yes, I said I would be. What's got you in a biting mood?" Without waiting for the answer, knowing they can still talk on the move, Emery begins loping through the woods to the east and slightly north.

They will have to cross the train tracks again, just before the tracks go onto the bridge over the river, but this path will bring them closer to Hatchet Lake (the 'good lake') rather than the Leeds Estate. The deer do sometimes venture down toward the estate, but usually just for foraging in the very early morning. At this time of day, they'll be hiding in the deeper woods.

[tisnotthehouse]

Tarantulas coughs loudly, the product of his best efforts at stifling a wild and inappropriate burst of giggles. The effort also shakes him so hard that he has to literally lengthen his stride to keep up with Emery; for several steps his body is closer to the size of a small horse than a medium-sized dog before he gets a hold of himself and shrinks back down again.

"It's nothing serious," he says, in direct contradiction of all the above. "It just turns out that, hyeh, I'm poorly-suited to customer service. Which shouldn't come as a surprise! I've spent most of my life working alone for a reason, after all -- but people can be so terribly foolish, Emery! And frankly I don't see the point in hiring a professional if you're just going to ignore or belittle every little thing he says!!!"

But he's not mad or anything, honest!

[wolfborn_were]

"Hah! And my new Little Shadow thinks I should get a job with the humans and save the money they'd give me... I think I really would bite someone who treated me that way!"

Emery huffs. "A pack is better. The leader figures out who is good at what, and nobody questions the hunters on the hunt or the scouts when they're scouting."

[tisnotthehouse]

"Your Little Shadow?" Tarantulas asks, his curiosity piqued. "Is this someone I know?"

"But yes," he sighs heavily, "A small group with a single executive figure can be much more efficient, not to mention pleasant to work with -- so long as said executive is the type of leader who actually cares about the feelings of their followers. Unfortunately that isn't always a given."

[wolfborn_were]

{And now I'm the one that dropped the thread. Sorry!}

"Sounds like you might need to be the 'executive figure', so you can assign someone else to 'customer service'!" There's a flash of teeth as Emery grins at Tarantulas.

Emery leads the way across the train tracks again, and into the forest surrounding Hatchet Lake. His keen ears let him know that no train is close enough to be a risk. And they can keep talking because no deer are this close to the tracks.

"You might! He's a young human -- dark hair, dark eyes, skinny as sapling. Loves to talk. Had myself a different Little Shadow at home, but Bart reminds me of him."

[tisnotthehouse]

[No worries! <3]

"Hyah! Perhaps I do." Yes, somebody to handle all of the annoying customers while he does the real work would be much more pleasant -- oh, but then he'd have to pay them, and that would mean less money for his research...ugh, what an unfortunate trade-off.

Talking about Bart is much more pleasant. "Oh! I do know him, then. I caught him following me around and making sketches of my body some time ago. His passion for scientific inquiry is very close to my spark."

[wolfborn_were]

"The boy does love to draw," Emery replies with some amusement.

The words that Tarantulas uses are odd to Emery, but he's not going to call the shapeshifter out on it. It was already established in their previous discussion that they are from different worlds, so idioms being different isn't such a surprise. He can guess from context anyway.

"Maybe if we catch something extra, we can leave it on his doorstep. Bit of a feline move, I know, but... also proof that 'we're fine out here in the woods, stop worrying so'." It's half a joke, but if Tarantulas goes for it, Emery will be serious.

Emery pauses and takes a deep breath, then slightly alters their course to follow a scent trail he's caught.

[tisnotthehouse]

"Oh, that's not a bad idea...Does Bart know how to cook, though?" Emery and Tarantulas are perfectly capable of digesting raw meat, but baseline humans are rarely so lucky. Although he supposes Bart could always take the meat to the Oak & Iron or something and ask them to cook it for him...

Such questions can be safely set aside, however, as Tarantulas lapses into silence at the sudden change in Emery's body language. He sidles closer, keeping an eye on Emery's movements with interest. "If we can but find a natural chokepoint," he murmurs softly, "I might spin a trap for the prey you stalk and startle into motion." He doesn't know what Emery will think of such tactics. It's not like they stopped to talk about how this hunt would go. But if they're to work together, why not play to each other's strengths?

[wolfborn_were]

{Accidentally opened the tab with Mary's account signed in. Now that would be a very different outcome!}

"Ambush. It's a good plan." Emery glances around, then points out a spot off to one side where the trees look thicker. "Maybe over there?"

With his own pack, they'd be able to separate and still sense where each other were located. Since there's no mind-link in this case, Emery sticks close by Tarantulas as they try to locate a choke point.

But eventually, Emery will leave Tarantulas spinning his webs and seek out the deer...

[tisnotthehouse]

Yeeeeesss, excellent.

Tarantulas spins quickly, increasing his size so he can build the web more quickly. Then he shrinks down, and climbs into an upper corner of the web; should the plan succeed and prey becomes trapped inside, his fangs and silk will be ready. And Emery shouldn't worry; his venom won't spoil the meat...

[wolfborn_were]

{Rolled a one, but that's why he's working with someone, heh...}

Emery attempts to take down an older deer, who is standing at a slight remove from the herd. He lunges for it, but totally misjudges the distance. He lands hard on the ground and the deer aims a kick at his head before the herd goes scattering in several different directions.

But at least one hurries in the direction where Emery left Tarantulas to build the web. Slowly, still aching from that hard landing, Emery gets to his feet and follows that particular target.

[tisnotthehouse]

[And Tara rolled a 9 on web effectiveness and a 5 on that jump. The mighty hunters indeed XD]

Tarantulas thought he was ready for anything, but he made a miscalculation: a deer is not only larger than a rabbit, but also much more dense. When a running deer hits his web it stretches -- and then starts to break. He curses and jumps down onto the deer -- and its entire body jerks and bucks, throwing him off.

He lies on his back for a moment, legs in the air, trying to work out what just happened.

[wolfborn_were]

For a wolf, when hunting deer up to eighty percent of the attempts end in failure. So Emery isn't surprised to see a broken, empty web when he arrives. If Tarantulas still needs a hand up from that spill, Emery will gladly give it.

"Hm." Emery picks up a shred of web, and rubs his thumb against it before trying to use the claw on his thumb to cut it. "You figure out what went wrong with your web?"

Before Tarantulas can answer, Emery notes, "I messed up my initial attack as well. Drove the healthy ones toward you, too." No one is at fault because they both messed up.

[tisnotthehouse]

No worries. Tarantulas's daze only lasts for a few seconds, and he's able to scramble back up to his feet on his own. He scuttles over to the remnants of his web, touching the dangling strands with his pedipalps.

"The strands were too thin," he says after a moment. "And I believe I placed them too far apart. It started to break as soon as the deer hit it." He laughs quietly and glances up at Emery. "So of course I tried to jump on it and bite it, and I expect you can guess the rest. What shall we do now?"

Not give up, he hopes. But with the herd scattered, will they need to find another angle of attack?

[wolfborn_were]

"If we keep downwind of the herd while circling back to where they scattered, we might be able to find the trail of another old or sick target." Emery replies. "If you wait up in the trees, I can drive the target toward that spot. Break one of their legs and let you drop down to bite it."

That way, they won't be relying on the webs, which take time to spin.

"Of course, I'd expect you to get clear after biting it, so it doesn't hurt you. We'll keep the deer cornered til it dies."

[tisnotthehouse]

"Yes, let's try that!" Tarantulas agrees eagerly. He knows how they move now, the deer won't throw him so easily next time. Or if it does, at least he'll be better prepared to land on his feet.

It takes them some time to circle around the herd, of course, but Tarantulas is in a much better mood now, the failure of their first attempt perversely making him more interested in the process. He's ready to make a completely new set of mistakes.

[wolfborn_were]

Making new mistakes is the name of the game -- you have to fail to figure out what works, sometimes.

Emery takes his normal wolf shape for the stealth of it, creeping low to the ground as he stalks his new target. He'll have to get upwind of the herd for a moment, in order to be in the right position to drive the older deer toward Tarantulas in his tree... but even that helps. A few of the younger deer raise their heads at that wolfish scent and move uneasily... and clear a path to the older one.

Emery bursts out from cover, and shifts in mid-run to his hybrid shape. He stretches out and rakes his claws against the deer's side -- the deer bolts right for the trees!

Right toward Emery's hunting partner.

{And that's an 18 - woo hoo!}

[tisnotthehouse]

This time, Tarantulas is ready. He leaps, landing on the deer's shoulder and quickly injecting it with his paralytic neurotoxin. The deer immediately begins to twist and buck, and he jumps clear -- earlier than he'd hoped, but the foreleg on that side is already beginning to drag, slowing the deer's movements.

Perhaps slowing it enough that Emery can catch up and hit it again?

[wolfborn_were]

Emery is a few steps behind the deer by the time that Tarantulas jumps clear, and manages to get his jaws around the deer's back leg on the same side. Those jaws close, there's a muffled cracking sound as the bone breaks -- Emery releases and drops back to avoid the deer's last desperate kick to defend itself.

With both legs on one side of its body disabled, the animal falls heavily. It thrashes around enough that Emery pauses a moment.

"Can you pin it down with webbing? If it moves less, I can disembowel it clean."

[tisnotthehouse]

"I believe I can do better than that," Tarantulas says. He grows larger before putting a clawed foot on the deer's head, holding it down. A second foot pins its uninjured foreleg, while a third stops its body from thrashing. Tarantulas swiftly dips his head and sinks his fangs into the deer's neck, just beneath its immobilized head.

So close to the brain, this time it takes his neurotoxin only a few seconds to work. The deer kicks just two more times before falling limp, and ceases to breath just a few seconds afterwards.

"There," Tarantulas says, a little breathless himself from all the excitement. "To the victors go the spoils."

[wolfborn_were]

"Any preference on the organs?" Emery asks. "I know humans don't like most of 'em, and I don't know if you do or don't."

Eating in the field will help recoup the lost energy from the hunt, and the rest of the carcass will be lighter when they haul it back.

"And that poison you put in... any parts we should leave alone?"

[tisnotthehouse]

"I'll eat anything except the bones," Tarantulas says, shrinking back down to a more reasonable size to let Emery get closer to the carcass. "The meat and organs should be fine -- my venom affects the nervous system directly -- but let me remove the injection sites just in case." He transforms and takes off his backpack, getting out a sharp knife which he uses to peel back the hide, beginning with the deer's chin.

"We should skin it first," he explains. "Unless you want it for something, I'll take it back into town with me. Leather seems to be in high demand around here."

[wolfborn_were]

"I don't need the skin for anything. I'm just glad we figured out a good hunting strategy."

Once the deer has been skinned, Emery does disembowel it... and step back, allowing Tarantulas first pick of the meat and organs. A sign of respect, and an overture of friendship.