You need more than a big blank cheque to be a lover or

The wind had a bit more of a bite to it. Such was the change of seasons. The problem with the territory's forest being patchy at best was that the wind ripped in right off the sea and at this time of year it came with a wintry bite that warned of the coldest months to come and wasn't so swiftly deterred. He knew his past forest had been nice and insulated -- thick trees protected by mountains -- so this was a change. He'd get used to it. Or at the very least find a path that kept himself out of it as he wandered the borders.

That's what he was doing now, curving around from the northeast to the east, leaving the occasional mark as they slowly built both a path and a more well-defined territory border. But quick detour. A herd of deer had passed into the bluffs a few hours prior, and Mal stopped there to investigate. His nose traced the path, picking out the individuals one by one. A couple of bucks, a few does. A handful of that number were younger. There wasn't anything that was striking enough for him to call everyone for a hunt, but they were, as always, worth noting to check out in more detail later. He raised his head, looking out into no-wolf's-land, just to see if any strangers had a similar idea. If not, he could continue on his patrol.
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 The blue-coated woman had found a beachside cave to call her own. It wasn't in the carved-out, shoreside rocky area that Mal had showed her before but instead somewhere a bit further inland with a view of the water. It was a bit up on a cliffside where you had to climb a few rocks to get there but at the top had been a small area, large enough for a couple of wolves to lay in comfortably. It was larger than she would normally like but something about it called to her, there was a bit of nostalgia that made her want to call this place her own. So, she'd worked on adding soft things to the floor of the den. Various mosses, feathers, fur, and pelts made their appearance here. Everything had a purpose and she would not make her den have an excess of items that she did not need. No, it was all necessity for comfort.  

 That night, after she'd completed everything, she'd sleep contentedly and rose when the morning sun peeked into her den. She raised her head, looking out onto the ocean. It was so peaceful here, calm, quiet... and yet it was time for her to go out and make herself useful. She refused to lie about and do nothing. One could always make themselves busy and she would do so... after breakfast. 

 She thought about catching herself a fish but decided instead to wander deeper into the forest --that was a generous term-- of their territory, perhaps there'd be something tasty there as well. She wandered over hillock, grass, and rock until she caught scent of Mal. He seemed to be marking the borders and it was easy enough to follow in his tracks. When he came within sight, she saw that he was looking the opposite direction of her. She called out a quick, "Morning." And came up abreast of him. It was then that she caught scent of the deer and asked unceremoniously, "Hunt?" She was all about getting to the point of things.

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But he wasn't alone. Blackfoot had come to join him: “Hey!” Mal grinned, tail wagging with his usual cheer and welcome, “Maybe. Was just planning to patrol until I crossed this path. But I think it'd be good to check out the herd.” He looked in the direction they'd gone, but at least right now he didn't see anything, but they could easily just be over the next rolling hill, out of sight. “I don't smell any that stand out as a need-to-hunt right now, but maybe there's something that would be more visual.

[q]I mean, I hope the majority of the herd is doing well. They'll be good to hunt if they're planning to stay through the winter. And then in spring more fawns for easy hunting. Either way, it's a good sign that a herd of this size is in the area.” A thoughtful pause as he again looked in to the territory. “Actually. Even if the herd breaks up for the winter, I think the way the forest here is all patchy and stuff might make it so they'll want to stick around. Just enough stuff to eat, just enough shelter?” Then with a bit of a laugh, “I dunno, if I was a deer I think it'd sound good, but I also think it's good just normally.” He'd been over it before, hadn't he? He liked the dang territory!
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 Just as he greeted her with his usual cheer, she greeted him with her usual... impassivity. There was no returned tail wag, no smile, just her previous greeting and a nod. Then, she would follow his gaze towards the wandering deer herd. "Both?" Perhaps hunting now and a patrol later?

 "Hmm..." The woman said thoughtfully, staring off at the distant hill and the likely herd beyond. Should they leave the herd alone at some points to lure them into a false sense of security? While Mal spoke his thoughts aloud, Blackfoot allowed her own to marinate within her mind. Not wanting to say them until she had something of value to add to the conversation. "Who knows what deer think..." She said at length, after she'd gathered what she wanted to say together. Her eyes, which had been on that hill, turned back towards Mal and his cheerful face. Why didn't he annoy her? She always figured the cheerful types would piss her off but here he was and while she wasn't amused, she was... charmed --was it charmed?-- by his behavior. It off-set her own dryness nicely. 

 "Might hunt them sparingly in winter. Don't want to scare them off. Overzealous predators could offset the good territory." She added on. Always a stick-in-the-mud when everyone needed it... or didn't need it. 

 With that she would tilt her head, the blank eyes didn't ask it but her head tilt did, the simple gesture of "shall we". She could hardly wait to get something into her gut.

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Her more subdued attitude didn't seem to bother him at all. It was sort of familiar in a way but he couldn't place a finger on it. Too many holes that he couldn't fill in the gaps, and it was one of those things where he didn't ask. It was sometimes better to not remember.

And yet they were still on the same page. He was always glad to hear he wasn't totally operating on Mars or something. “Yeah, pretty much my thought. Unless we suddenly get tons of people I think we'll be fine with a mix of small and medium prey -- with the odd deer to supplement. I think it should be fine -- I've always been good at catching the smaller stuff so that'll help out.” He kinda had to be to keep himself alive. He was pretty sure about that -- his history was pretty vague, but he knew he'd spent a long time on his own.

“But yeah, let's go check 'em out.” A flashy grin and he went towards the hill. At least on this side of the slope they didn't have to be stealthy, but when he approached the top, there was a definite change in Mal's attitude. He'd become more serious, there was that shift to stalking, to slow as they could see what was beyond. Rolling landscape. At a quick glance it was empty, but on a closer glance the some of the vegetation dying for the fall wasn't actually that -- but a bit of deer, abstracted as they paused to eat, currently oblivious to whether they were being watched.
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 "Fish too." The quiet woman said with a nod of her head. She could hunt the smaller stuff to but it felt more right for her to go after fish and surprisingly when she thought about big game hunting, that too seemed just right. Deer especially. She didn't know what it was all about but it seemed that she had a lot of "feelings" and general senses about things. It was so very strange... and she thought of that strange woman in the deeper reaches of the mountains. The one who spoke of purgatories and past lives. It was altogether too crazy for her and yet due to the weirdness that was this place, she couldn't just dismiss her findings. It was frustrating in a way. Here she wanted to have everything wrapped up in a nice sane bow and she just couldn't do it.

 In any case, she had other things to worry about now. She could tell Mal later, maybe after they had food for themselves.

 She would follow the man up the hill, the impassive juxtaposition to his jovial smile. He easily faded into a hunter's crouch as they crested the hill and Blackfoot followed suite. She would settle into the grass next to him with her eyes trained on the lackadaisical herd. Instinctively her eyes would search out a good target. There! She found one at the edge of the herd, one with a little bit of a stilted walk. Past injury most likely, they'd be doing it a favor if they culled it from the herd.

 Blackfoot would clear her throat to quietly get Mal's attention and then she would point with her muzzle to the deer she had seen at the fringes of the herd.

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He looked where she pointed, otherwise frozen in place as he quickly examined the distant deer. Hunting required patience, and while it stood there eating, it was hard for him to be able to see just what the problem was. It was just a deer standing there. But when it moved forward finally to find another shrub to chomp on, that was when it became visible. His ears perked forward a little more. Oh! Yeah. That one right there. If they didn't hunt it now, it would certainly be one to pick off sooner rather than later -- before someone else had a chance. It was best to keep it in their pack.

He looked back to Blackfoot, giving a slight nod, then started creeping down the other side of the hill, winding his way towards a copse that could provide some visual shelter. Wind-wise they were probably fine, so it was just a matter of hiding both their coats -- neither of which werre a nice earthy brown -- until they got close enough to start the chase. Thankfully a deer that was in the state it seemed to be probably wouldn't be too hard to chase down, but Mal didn't want to take chances. But then again, maybe Blackfoot wanted to start the chase earlier -- it really didn't matter, one of them would take off and the other would follow because that was just how it worked. This was not some crazy complicated hunt where they were directing 10 different wolves to do different jobs. Just chase until it was exhausted, pull it down, chomp it to death. Ezpz.
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 He followed the direction that she indicated and noticed the lame deer. With a simple nod, the cheerful man indicated that he agreed with the deer she'd singled out. With his movement, he indicated that they should proceed. Silently, the blue lady followed him down the slope and towards the unsuspecting deer herd. She followed in his pawsteps, hiding where she could and creeping ever closer.

 They edged past the herd, getting closer and closer... too close and they'd spook them too quickly, too soon. Blackfoot was all about precision and doing things correctly the first time. This was a small hunt with an injured doe, lower stakes... but still room for error.

 Either way, she figured they had gotten close enough. With a quick glance and nod to Mal, she would burst out of cover and lope right towards the injured doe. The alarm went up from somewhere in the herd but the deer wasn't quick enough to get away from Blackfoot's fangs. Before she'd turned to run, a wound had been opened up on one of her uninjured legs. Then, she was running off with Blackfoot hot in pursuit and the herd fleeing around them. This should be a piece of cake.

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It was good to hunt big prey again. Blackfoot had taken off and Mal wasn't more than a breath behind, flying over the terrain that had started to become so familiar. A breath was enough that he wasn't able to sink his own teeth into the deer, but that was ok -- he could run along after it without getting kicked in the jaw for his troubles. When it came to Mal's overall hunting technique, he was patient and not really much of a risk taker when it wasn't a dire sort of situation. Probably also explained why it was he frequently hunted small prey too -- low risk of injury, and plentiful enough that they could keep alive here without gobs of risk. 

Again he flashed a smile Blackfoot's way as he ran. That uneven gait of the deer was beautiful to a predator -- it was a good call on her part, so he'd have to mention that again later when they got a chance. Right now they gotta catch the damn thing, though. So as his head whipped back to the deer, he snarled and snapped at the air behind it to drive it forward at a faster clip. The jagged step of the deer was further emphasized -- if they pushed it hard enough it might even stumble early. At least that was his thinking! Especially if the elevation changed, as it was apt to do -- if it went left it would be farther down into a water runoff not-quite-creek kind of thing, and right would be up a hill that had connected to the one they had started on.
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 Mal was right there after her. Flying over the terrain like a ferocious, fanged cloud. The deer ran along, fueled by the predators at its heels. Its eyes rolled in its head, the whites showing from fear. It would try to turn, to rejoin the herd that was practically gone at this point... but Blackfoot was there, snapping at its flank. She would keep it herded towards the creek, not allowing it a reprieve from heir harrying. 

 She missed her comrade's smile, her entire attention focused on the deer as she didn't want to get kicked or lose the deer as it ran. She was in sync with its movements, watching and nipping and snarling as she steered it towards the creek. As she forced it to run to faster speeds in hopes that it would tire and fall. If it fell, it would not get up. 

 There was the creek, and there was the hill. She steered it right and forced it faster and faster. Up and up, it went. Panting, eyes clenched shut. 

 Its dreaded mistake was close at hand.

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Think you can take it down in yours?

---

The first half-dozen steps up the hill were normal, but then there was that expected slow as it was far more work for a wounded animal to do than it would a healthy one. He let it go a couple more before he dove forward to tear at one of its rear legs. The deer bleated -- or made whatever noise you'd want to say a deer made. Either way, it was not happy, and definitely in pain. It was easy to see they were nearing the end of this chase.

After his first quick attack, Mal dropped back, avoiding the frantic but not full strength kick that came back at him as the deer tried to gain a second wind as it continued uphill, but that was unlikely to last. He doubted it could continue to push on the way it had, so with another snarl he feinted another snap and again the deer surged. He looked to Blackfoot, just to make sure she was ready for this, but it wasn't like he was waiting for a reply, launching himself forward to bite what may be a final time. Again came the pained noise from the deer and it lurched forward, starting to stumble forward onto its face in its haste to get away.
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 They worked together to get the deer to fall to its knees. The combination of the uphill battle along with being bit at and harried, made the deer trip up. It eventually fell down onto its face. Blackfoot didn't intend to let it rise as she ran over and snapped her fangs around its neck and began to rip and tear. Its jugular flowed freely onto the earth, painting the ground around it red as its attempts to struggle became more and more feeble. 

 It would not rise again. 

 Blackfoot looked back to Mal and offered a dip of her head, a respectful gesture and an appreciative one towards her excellent hunting partner. Now they could feast. She was about to take the first bite but remembered that Mal was really the leader her and stepped back so he could have first pick.

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And I think we can wrap!

---

Perhaps it was cruel that with deer they couldn't so swiftly end the suffering, but such was the way of life. It struggled until it ceased, leaving two wolves that were probably quite content with their victory. Mal's tail wagged, and he gave her a grin, complete with lolling tongue. This was a nice detour off of the patrol. This would help their new little pack, possibly more than his border maintenance would in the short term. 

And so a call to @Huā to bring her this way as well. It would be good for them to all feast together. He shoved at the deer, positioning it better so that it would be easy to gut. He did appreciate Blackfoot stepping back, as was proper, however Mal wasn't going to go and take all of it for himself. He had a few things in mind that he'd eat, others he would make sure stayed aside for when Hua got here, but it was an entire deer so that still left some often-favorite bits for Blackfoot as well. It'd be a good time.
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so we can officially close this. my bad!

---

 The deer came down and Mal showed his obvious pleasure at the large meal. Blackfoot... showed it with a nod. She would wait as he took his spot and his meal and then would pick a choice section forself. Where she would gorge herself. Perhaps they could save some bits in a cache for later.

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