Working together... or not? - RoH

After their chance meeting in the mountains, it had only been polite to invite their new friends back to the tribe for a little while, if they wanted to anyway. Tori and Katt had to move on, after all they had been out there for longer than they had expected, and Piper had made her excuses, probably trying to avoid the awkwardness of returning to her old tribe... Mana couldn't really blame her though, she wasn't sure how the others around the tribe would behave around her. Isabella seemed quite curious, or maybe she was just being polite, but she accepted the invitation and accompanied them back to their tribe when the group split up to go their separate ways.

Having noticed the way Mana had been itching to get back to see her Tokotas, particularly Echo who always seemed to be waiting by the pathway to the tribe even though no one could recall letting her out, Jonah offered to take Isabella around for a tour, even though it was really Mana that should have done it as she was a founding member. More than relieved to be back, Mana quickly slipped away, leaving the pair alone as Damien had disappeared as soon as he could be rid of the others.

It was during the miniature tour that Jonah had been giving her that Isabella had overheard a fairly interesting conversation between Damien and a female handler who appeared to be around her age. They seemed to be discussing a rite that they would be participating in the next day, which pulled Isabella straight from Jonah's words to theirs. Realising that she was both eavesdropping on their conversation and ignoring Jonah, she felt herself blush a little, but she tried to suppress it when she turned back to Jonah in case he got the wrong idea.

“Jonah? I accidentally overheard some of what Damien was talking about... Is there a rite tomorrow?” She hoped that there was, as it was a good opportunity to get one of her Tokotas' rites done. With the way that their tribe travelled, sometimes coming across these were quite difficult, so they took the opportunities when they presented themselves. And this one was just perfect... To the point where she even had the Tokota that she would want the rite for with her... After deciding that she would go with them back to their tribe, she went back to her own to grab another Tokota, just to take them out for some more exercise, and to gain a little more experience along with Otis. She was a beautiful merle female with a much calmer exterior than Otis had shown the rest of the group in their last hunt. She seemed quite easy to get along with as they had travelled back to the tribe, and hadn't caused any problems unlike her half mane companion. Isabella could relax a little more while she was around, allowing her to get a little more comfortable around her hosts as that fear that Otis was going to cause trouble started fading.

Jonah was more than happy to answer her question, making her aware of what was going on at the moment and letting her know that she was welcome to stay with the tribe for as long as she needed to get things done. However, as a pack leader, the rite of the hunt was the only one that was currently open to participants in their area, so she decided to stay the next two nights then leave to return to her own tribe after that. This was passed on to Mana and arrangements were made without any fuss.

…

That next morning, Isabella practically rose with the sun, unable to get back to sleep with all the unfamiliar sounds around her. Not that it mattered, as the others were soon awake as well and getting ready for the rite. She noticed Damien tacking up a pair of Tokotas with the female handler from before. He seemed to be doing most of the work, and this seemed to annoy the female handler a little, but Damien either didn't see it or just didn't care. Both Tokotas were probably his then...

Hesitantly, Isabella made her way over to the pair, her two Tokotas trailing after her. Trailing being the right word for their stiff, sluggish movements since they had just woken up. Soon enough they would be back to normal. The female handler noticed her first, and nudged Damien so he wouldn't completely ignore their guest, which Isabella silently appreciated as a welcoming gesture.

The female handler held out her hand for Isabella, a wide smile on her face. “Hi there, I'm Lea. I take it you're Isabella? Jonah told me you would be interested in coming to the rite with us?”

Damien almost looked surprised for a moment, but then he was right back to not really caring.

“Yes, I am. Thank you for letting me join you.”

Unhappy that he was being ignored, Otis tried to get the attention of the merle curly that was stood by Lea, but he didn't seem all that bothered by the half mane male's “intimidating” display, so he moved onto the other merle, a black with bright lavender eyes. He merely stared, which ended up unnerving Otis more than he unnerved the other male, so he quickly gave up on this idea and went back to his solitude. Gaia on the other hand seemed to be making friends with the curly, Astros, and the pair were clearly reluctantly holding back from playing like pups, though the black merle stayed as he was the whole time.

They chatted for a little longer, while the other necessary preparations were being taken care of, then they mounted up and the three handlers headed off. Otis had wanted to go with them, but Isabella had know that would be a bad idea since he was likely to try and participate in the hunt even if told not to, so he was reluctantly left behind. Mana promised she would watch over him while she went about her daily jobs, and he was likely to only mope around on his own most of the day anyway so she didn't have much to worry about. Though she knew she would anyway... Because that's what you do when you care about something. Still, he was in good hands for the day.

Once they had arrived, signed up and were allowed to begin their hunt, the three set off into the forest to get out of the heat of the sun and find some shelter, as well as some prey that had likely done the same. With no breeze to bring in colder air, it was a little uncomfortable for the handlers, but they were managing well enough considering. The shadows of the trees kept them cool at least, so their search for fresh tracks wasn't too tedious.

Before too long, and quite by chance, the group stumbled upon the first signs of their prey. It was only half of a print, but this was enough to get Astros excited for the hunt, and Lea was finding it a little difficult to control him. The new spring in his step made his gait uncomfortable for her, and although she generally had no quarrels with the curly merle, now he was getting a little irritating. Though after a small struggle, she managed to calm him down, mostly through hanging onto his neck and whispering softly to him to remind him that she was there... At least he seemed a little embarrassed when he realised though, that was something. Ammon merely stared blankly through them as if they weren't there, for once his actions holding a slight hint of emotion to reflect his handler's disapproval. But then as quick as it had appeared, it was gone. Gaia wasn't quite sure how to behave around the pair, they were strange... certainly not what she was used to as company, but she was content to go back to the tracking when Astros was back under control.

Just as they usually did, the track they had found led them to a much clearer trail that they could follow. The grass was flattened where it had walked, the earth bearing the marks of its paws, and any other plant matter that had been in its way was now merely broken debris lining the path. It clearly was not trying to hide, but whether that was a good thing for the group or not, they couldn't quite tell...

Damien urged Ammon into the lead, doing most of the tracking himself and leaving the two female handlers to just follow along behind him. Isabella wanted to help him out, but when she moved Gaia ahead to give him a hand, he seemed to ignore it. Lea brought Astros in closer to the other handler and her Tokota, lightly touching her arm and gesturing for her to hang back a little. Isabella hesitated, but slowed down a little to fall back with Lea, where the pair spoke softly to one another for a little while. They kept their voices down, to avoid ruining the hunt, but Lea felt that Isabella needed to know about Damien's need to be the best, and to do things on his own. So after that, she felt a lot less bad for not helping him out. She couldn't say she didn't try, he had just rejected it.

It wasn't that Lea and Isabella didn't do any tracking for themselves, in fact they did a lot between the two of them, it was just that they didn't really share it with Damien unless it was necessary because he was obviously an expert and didn't need any help. It was true that Ammon's ghostly gaze didn't miss very much, but unlike his godly namesake, he wasn't all seeing. He did make some mistakes, miss things.

The tracks started getting clearer, the ground softer so holding more of an imprint for them to follow. This made things easier on everyone, although they couldn't relax quite yet. The softer ground could mean one of a few things, which in this case when paired with the sound of running water, meant that they were nearing a river. Approaching with caution, slowly they edged through the last of the trees until they could see ahead of them. Sure enough, the bear was by the water, drinking, seemingly unaware of their presence.

Since they had the time to do so, the handlers dismounted and removed the larger bits of tack from the Tokotas, giving them much more freedom in their movements and making it less likely for the bear to grab them by it. After all, a well placed swipe of a paw catching a bridle could drag a Tokota back at a terrible position and leave it very vulnerable. As the three of them were practised in removing tack in slightly stressful conditions, this was done quickly and quietly, even Astros understanding the need to be quiet and still right now despite his obvious excitement.

Just as Damien had led them on the way there, Ammon took his place as leader, although he was more open to help from the other two. He didn't make any gestures, or show any emotion to let them know, but somehow the pair could read him enough to get into their positions and wait for the right time to move.

Moving in sync with one another, as if the three had practised this before with one another to make sure it was perfect, they advanced on the bear. With prey that could be potentially deadly if not treated with the right amount of care, the three knew they had to act both on the offensive and defensively, to attack and stop themselves from being attacked at the same time. It was hard to do, something that took a lot of practise, but even Astros who could be a little pup-like at times knew what he was doing.

Working as a single unit allowed them to bring down their prey with relative ease, and without injury. Sure there were a few scratches here and there, but nothing that wouldn't heal in a few days or less. Standing over their kill, the three Tokotas were proud of their success, or at least Astros and Gaia were. Astros was bouncing around like he was a puppy again, and this time Gaia, who was usually quite calm and patient, had decided to join him. Ammon stayed alone, as was normal for him, and just watched Damien as he moved over to give him a small scratch behind the ears and a pat on the head. Seemingly content with the praise, Ammon moved off a little to sit on his own, allowing the handlers access to the bear carcass so that they could decide how best to move it.

Isabella and Lea mostly left Damien to it, just as they had before. They were happy enough chatting away while he did his thing. Usually Isabella was much more quiet, but there was something about the openness and welcoming attitude of the other female handler that made her feel much less shy. Maybe she could work her magic on Otis when they got back to see him? But probably not. The anti-social male was always going to be just that, but she knew how to handle him, just like Lea seemed to know how to handle Damien's style of rudeness, and there was certainly going to be no changing him, so everything was as it should be.
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HP -
Word count (2276) - 11HP
Handler bonus - 2HP
Show bonus - 1HP

Totals - 14HP for Ammon, Astros and Gaia. 13HP for Otis.