High Rock Den

  Looking back at it now, Jamia couldn't believe it had been a month. It seemed like it was only yesterday that they were standing among the dead bloodied bodies and broken pieces of metal. Now she was the leader of a pack. Mostly everyone in the pack contributed in some way and mostly everyone had healed. Even that young fellow Eren whose legs were almost completely cut off was healing well. He could finally walk with just a small limp. And even if they were never getting rescued, they were surviving on this island.

A few of the canines had branched off and joined the reckless group known as the pirates, and some of them just kinda wander between the two groups and everyone is fine and dandy as long as no one does anything stupid. Naturally though when there are two groups on a small island, they will meet sometime and it probably wont be pretty. She sighed gently and crawled out from the little rocky alcove that she had claimed to be her den perched so she could basically see everything.

And currently, they hadn't eaten in a few days so it was time for maybe another hunting trip. "Lash" she barked out at the male sitting on a layer lower to her. Once she's gotten the tan colored male's attention she hopped down to him so she was standing a few feet in front of him. "You care to go on a hunting trip? Getting kinda hungry." It was more of a command of course, Lash didn't have a choice but to go hunting. That was his job after all being a hunter and all. "Gathering a small group.. one or two more people. Doesn't have to be hunters. Meet me at the look out's post.

She'd seen Lash hunt before and she was glad he survived. There was a lot of great canines in this pack, but honestly Lash was among the best. He was down to earth and organized and if the time came that Jamia needed help handling the pack he would be one of her top choices... Alahya would be great too though. She sighed and shook her head as she neared the base of the water fall, approaching one of the Medics, Alahya, as she got closer. "Hello" she said with a small dip of her head. She went to stand beside the female and look out across the beach and the ocean. "It's kinda tragic that they humanity must have given up on finding that lost ship. Sure they dont care about us animals so much.. but there were humans on that ship too..." she shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to bring down the mood.

"Whatever.. we're here now and we need food. And it takes a bit more than two wolves to take down a boar so what's your skills at hunting?" Alahya was a medic, so Jamia figured she had to have some physical attributes, at least maybe fast. She'd never seen Alahya fight or hunt before though, not even on hunts where the full pack went with them she never really payed attention to a lot of the members.
 
 

The past month had been tough, Bane couldn’t deny it. It seem like such a long time in his mind though others would argue that it had passed quickly, to Bane it felt as if he’d been stuck on the Island for years slowly going mad in his own head. He had learnt to cope on the island physically; he had got used to the different food that had made him feel sick at first and he had got used to the warmer weather and surroundings that were so different from the home he used to know. His wounds had since healed too thanks to the care of the medics and all that was left was a scar partly disguised by the natural tuffs of fur around his lower back legs.   He was learning his way around slowly but surely and was learning how to survive. But he wasn’t learning how to live. There was a difference between just surviving and living life; having fun and enjoying himself. Bane’s memories held him back; the traumatic event of being shipwreck seemed to have shrouded him in a new level of mental instability as not only was he plagued by the idea that his sister had been on that boat too and must now be dead but he had begun to reflect on his entire past, all of the things he had done that had led to him being here stranded on the Island.

Bane wasn’t sure why it was effecting him so greatly; other’s had suffered loss as well but he felt like he was still suffering now in the same way he had been a month ago and wasnt making any progress at feeling better or supressing the feelings. He kept having flash backs and bad dreams every time he closed his eyes and part of him felt like he was still living in those few moments where he had found himself alone on the beach for the first time, his dreams were nightmares where he was being thrown about in the ocean endlessly. The clarity and power of these flashbacks sometimes physically shocked him, left him feeling broken all over again. Physically sure he was coping; he had food and water and the days wore him out enough so that he actually fell asleep with ease despite his insomnia but mentally he wasn’t doing so well. It was like a prolonged breakdown and the only thing he knew to do to help was to find a distraction.

That’s why Bane was deeply relieved when he heard Lash, the hunter within their little group, inviting him to what he judged to be the best distraction of them all. "Hey, Bane. Want to come hunting, get some action?" The male raised a brow sceptically, unsure of why Lash would want a wolf like himself to join a hunting party, it wasn’t like he was a hunter himself. He had settled for being a subordinate because at the end of the day he had no special skills, nothing that he could really contribute to the group other than his simple presence. Lash had no idea whether he could hunt or not, but still he asked, and Bane was glad he had done because there was no way he was going to deny the offer. “Sure, course I’ll join you.” He replied, knowing full well that a hunt would take his mind off things. He wasn’t exactly a great hunter but like everything else he had enough skills in it to get by. He knew the basics really, the essentials, and he hoped that would be good enough for him to be helpful. “When do we head out?” He inquired, looking both at Lash and beyond him to Jamia.

"Its sad that they would let it happen in the first place, I thought humans knew how to work their ships." The smaller multi colored canine had said which made Jamia frown a bit. "Well.. things go wrong. Things are not for sure going to stay in one piece.. we can't completely blame the humans."
"I've never hunted before," Alahya said sort of changing the topic and Jamia just went with it. She twisted her head slightly and gave the fox a small smile. "That makes two of us then. Well I have been hunting before but I've only just started to hunt when we got stranded here. It's okay if you're not good at something, thats why you keep doing it. It's no fun if you're perfect at something." She gave a reassuring laugh before turning her attention to Lash and Bane.

She has talked to Bane enough to say he's a pretty nice guy but Jamia didn't really dislike anyone in this group, they were all nice people. Bane doesn't particularly show much emotion Jamia noticed but she figured he's not to bad he just seems a little down at times and a little more than a loner.  “When do we head out?” The ebony colored male asked and since Lash didn't respond Jamia took it upon herself to. She walked up a little closer to the two male's, standing a bit taller than Lash. "If you're ready, I think now would be a good time.. we still have enough people at the den so I think it's safe to leave it for a bit to hunt."

It was about mid day, so Jamia figured they would have a little bit of time to find at least a few small animals and maybe they could collect some berries or something if all else failed. Which is where Alahya would really come in handy. Being a medic Jamia assumed she must know which plants are safe to eat and which ones aren't.
 
 

"If you're ready, I think now would be a good time.. we still have enough people at the den so I think it's safe to leave it for a bit to hunt." Bane’s ears flicked towards the alpha as she spoke and when she had finished he gave a simple nod to confirm that he understood. Now seemed like a good enough time as any to set out; they still had the whole afternoon ahead of them and enough light to see them through the duration of the hunt, and the sooner they got hunting the sooner Bane would be able to find a distraction from just moping about uselessly. So yeah, he was all for going out hunting now, anything to get himself away from the den for a while and allow him to clear his head was a good thing.

"Yeah, we can go. Lead the way." Bane looked it Lash’s direction and then back to Jamia, waiting for further instructions and for her to lead the way so that he could follow. It seemed that they had a good little team put together; Himself, Lash, Jamia and Alahya, they were bound to be able to catch at least something, even if that something was small. And, if all else failed they had a backup plan; the forest was teaming with plant life so they wouldn’t go without food. Bane had found that since he had been on the island his appetite had been smaller than usual and some days he just couldn’t bring himself to eat but that didn’t mean he didn’t need food; he needed the energy and the nutrition and some days he did honestly feel the nagging sensation of hunger that he used to know that reminded him that he needed something to eat.

Jamia nodded to the small group that had gathered. She felt confident that they would catch some food, or at least find something worthwhile. It would give Jamia time to see the skills of members of the pack that she didn't know as well - Bane in particular.

At the appearance of Vivian, Jamia looked to the young she-wolf. Vivian was always excited about something, but that wasn't a bad thing. A small smile appeared as she answered Vivian.

"Sure, another never hurts." Jamia replied pleasantly. She then addressed the whole group. "Come on, let's move out."
Jamia flicked her tail, turning, leading the three wolves and the fox off from the den. She heard their pawsteps hurrying along behind. Jamia didn't go too fast, giving herself time to consider where to head. She ran possible locations through her head as they went along, away from the den. Half of her mind was alert, though, always. There was no going off guard.

Jamia gave a decisive nod to herself as she focused on where they should head. The river would be good. Prey had to drink, after all, and the river was easily accessible for them. If they didn't find any prey, there were probably useful herbs there anyways.

Jamia glanced over her shoulder as she continued, barking to the others to give them a sense of where they were headed. "We're heading over to the river!"

-To river-
 

Bane warily watched as Vivian joined them in the clearing, and he couldn’t help but feel a little tense. He knew that the female was a neutral and not part of their pack group but that shouldn’t have given him anything to worry about, he barely knew her but she seemed nice enough. Only he couldn’t help but think of neutrals as one step closer to pirates, and pirates were something that Bane was afraid off. He’d never heard of a pirate before he’d washed up here, and since he’d been on the island he’d been fortunate enough to not encounter them, but he had heard enough about them to instil fear deep within him. Who knew whether the neutrals talked to the pirates or whether they had some sort of secret affiliation with them, who was to say that they weren’t just like the pirates in some sense? These questions worried Bane but it was a fear of the unknown that really troubled him – he knew so little about some of the other wolves on the island and not knowing meant he assumed the worst of them. His mind wondered whether they were bad or dangerous or out to get him.

"Hey! Can I join, Jamia? I'm starving!" Bane looked over to Jamia to see how she would respond and when she agreed he relaxed a little. If Jamia trusted Vivian enough to let her hunt with them then maybe he should have that same level of trust too, maybe  Vivian wasn’t as bad as his imagination had thought and maybe she was a genuinely nice wolf despite not being a part of the little group that he trusted, he could perhaps learn to trust her and get to know her a little now that they were going hunting together. "We're heading over to the river!" Bane’s ears perked up and he watched as Jamia left, only waiting a short few seconds before he too trotted briskly after her in a bid to not be left behind at the den site and to get to the hunt quickly.