Ok. Fuck. Hmm.

There was a Horn rapidly approaching her position now. This was predicament.

Look. I know we've screwed up jumping for it previously. However, consider if we did it again, but better this time. What if we used the leverage this deer was offering us, and bit it behind the dangerous bits. A complicated move, yes -

But we've got this.

The beast stumbled, twisting and bellowing in pain as blood spray filled Eleven's maw. There was a tangle of bodies in the dust as it strove to whirl on the Valkhound, but it was not agile enough: heavy, brutal, but not so quick. It was turning, though, head still low to defend its neck, but now... it was injured.

The fleeing herd heard the bellows. It slowed as one, the creatures turning to look back with deep alarm: and then it began the circle back, the animals quickly picking up speed, like four-footed steam engines with antlers. They were rushing back to the fight, emboldened by their own numbers.

@Aethril

Valkhound wove with meadow deer, and for a beat the only thing Aethril could make out was the blood that went spraying through the air. She was certain, at least, that it was not Chaos-Eleven's-- so she did not have to drag a stone back to Vargas and explain herself yet. The meadow deer hadn't been taken down entirely, though-- though it was wounded.

That could have gone a lot fucking worse.

Now the herd was running back, though. Maybe they had decided that their herdmate was worth saving? Aethril still kept her safe distance, squinting at the shapes running across the grass.

@V-Chaos-Eleven

OK. Mission accomplished. What now? Her teeth sunk into its shoulder, the blood hitting the roof of her mouth, absorbed, digested, swallowed. This was what she'd wanted, but it wasn't enough.

In the corner of her vision she saw the movement of the herd coming to her quarry's aid.

This is the part where you kill it. And quickly.

Unfortunately. This was beyond the range of her current skill set. She scrabbled desperately against the parts she'd reach, hoping to get to an artery, something important, literally anything. She managed to pull away some fur, a couple layers of skin if she was lucky - barely enough to make it bleed.

Where was the prowess she'd exercised 30 seconds ago?

Could it come back, please?

The herd came on, reaching their full speed. They hadn't gone far, and so it wouldn't be more than a moment before they reached their struggling herdmate--and by extension, V-Chaos-Thirteen.

They arrived in that continuous thunder of hooves, their furious bellows and kicked-up dust again filling the air with, ironically, chaos.

At the last second, they split: a stream of bodies, perhaps each individual animal trying to avoid stampeding over their friend. They stormed around V-Chaos-Thirteen, a massive of bodies; if the Valkhound chose to avoid them and break off the hunt, it could do so cleanly here.

If not, it might find itself somewhat surrounded--but the creatures had not managed to harm it as yet.

@Aethril

Right, well, this looked bad.

Though Aethril did nothing for now-- she waited, again, to see what Chaos-Eleven would do --she did subtly roll back the sleeves of her dress for now. If the Valkhound did nothing and let herself get surrounded, and the Creator's magic did not come to her, she might be dead.

Now, she could have yelled something helpful. She had the ability to control Valkhounds themselves, in fact-- she could have told Chaos-Eleven one way or another to turn and run before she was surrounded.

But she didn't.

Figure it out yourself, apparently, bozo.

@V-Chaos-Eleven

Ok, Eleven was at least smart enough to know when to back away and regroup. Even though killing that massive meadow deer would've single-handedly been the coolest thing to do after being born.

Hey, maybe she had hit an artery at some point? Or she could come back to it later - wait, we should focus on getting the fuck out of here, firstly.

The herd closed in moments later--but around its wounded member, and not the fleet-footed Valkhound. They didn't seem to want to give chase, either, though the loud lowing, the rolling eyes, and the pawing of the ground all indicated they would fight (again) if pressed.

They moved like a river, flowing around the wounded animal before beginning to drive back up the meadow, intent on moving away from the threat V-Chaos-Eleven posed. One of the animals was wounded, limping, bleeding--but it was somewhere in the middle of the herd, guarded by its fellows.

@Aethril

Now was probably a good time to bow out. If Chaos-Eleven wasn't already coming back, Aethril called out to her. "Come here. You won't be getting into it now."

Only briefly did she contemplate it: a spell to break the earth and shatter the herds bones, or to spawn a tendril and drag a calf back kicking and screaming to its death, but the Valkhand only shook it off and glanced down towards the Valkhound. "It wasn't a bad attempt, but you need training. There's plenty in the Chaos Forge that can show you better than I could."

She glanced off towards Draco. "Do you know the way back? Master Vargas will feed you. If he doesn't, tell him that Aethril said you were to be fed."

It was time for Aethril to go home, she thought.

@V-Chaos-Eleven

She watched the herd shuffle back together, her gaze inimical. Her lungs burned with the breath she wasted on those goddamn deer. With a final huff, she let the idea of taking on down drift away into the ether. Fuckkkkkk. It would've been really, really cool.

Eleven snapped to attention at Aethril's call, trotting back towards her like a sheepdog to her shepherd. An attempt still wasn't success, but she'd have to settle for it. Unless she wanted to actually die in her first cycle.

"Yeah." I mean, she could figure it out pretty easy. Draco definitely had a strong scent. "I'll go see Master Vargas then."

She shifted her weight from foot to foot, nerves returning some. "So I guess this is goodbye?"

@Aethril