Rocky Start

Draven lifted his lip and flashed his teeth at Patuktuq, yet she paid him no attention and continued to move forward. The small group was moving across an open icy landscape in search for seals. It had been a while since there last night and both tokotas and handler were getting a little hungry. Looking around Aidan tried to look for any signs of a seal being in the area, he had no success. The way the ice was formed gave seals plenty of large ice rocks to hide behind. While this made findings a seal harder it also meant that once they did find one they would be able to ambush it using the natural landscape cover. That natural cover would provide a better chance of success in their hunt, so Aidan was glad of it even though it meant that he could not really help at all in locating an individual for the tokotas to hunt. It would be up to the tokotas to find their own prey and lucky for them they had excellent senses that were more than up for the task. Patuktuq lifted her head in the air and sniffed to attempt to locate a scent, and Draven did the same. There was almost no wind which meant finding a scent would be difficult, but it also meant that the tokotas scent would not be carried to any seals in the area. Everything about this hunt was pro’s and con’s but Aidan hoped it would all work itself out.

The tokotas moved forward with both their noses sniffing for any signs of prey. So far they had found nothing of interest but both had high hopes for finding a seal among the rocky ice. Looking around Patuktuq started to move to the left and sniffed the ice while Draven went right. The two tokotas thought they would have a better chance of finding a seal if they split up and covered more ground. Aidan looked from one tokota to the other and agreed with their plan, though it left him with a small issue as to which way he goes. Looking from Draven to Patuktuq, Aidan decided to follow Draven as he knew the male barbary more than the female Patuktuq. When Draven heard Aidan following him he looked back at the two legged human and gave him a small canine-ish smile and Aidan returned the smile. Then Draven returned his attention back to finding some prey.

Patuktuq was fine that Aidan followed after Draven she wanted a small amount of alone time anyway. Her nose continually sniffed the air for any signs of a seal and her eyes moved across the landscape to see if she could spot one. So far it was slow going but she was not going to give up. Patuktuq’s mouth was watering just from the idea of some lovely seal meat so she was not going to walk away empty handed. Picking up the pace Patuktuq picked her way through the rocky ice still scanning for signs of a seal, but she was not the one destined to find the prey but Draven was.  

The seal they would end up hunting was hidden well against the icy rocks and luck was on the tokotas side as it was fast asleep. That was a little strange for this time of day but they did not question it too much. Moving forward Draven tried to get as close as possible to the seal before he mounted his attack. Aidan looked back for Patuktuq and managed to catch the female tokotas eye, moving his hand he quietly called the tokota over. Patuktuq frowned at the two legged human but slowly picked her way back across the ice. When she was about half way across the ice the tokotas nose started to twitch as she picked up the scent of the seal, she looked around and caught the sight of Draven. Patuktuq picked up the pace and headed for where the grey barbary was, knowing he was on the hunt. In no time at all Patuktuq was stalking their prey right beside Draven, while Aidan hung back so not to get in the way of the two hunting tokotas.

Licking her lips Patuktuq moved slowly and carefully to the left while Draven went right to set up a proper ambush. Even though there was no real need for one considering the seal was fast asleep. It was always good however to practice hunting techniques any time it was possible, which is why the two tokotas acted the way they did instead of heading straight for the seal. Even a sleeping seal when awoken was strong and could be dangerous the tokotas knew that and that was another reason for their plan of attack. Aidan watched the tokotas move and smiled at them, despite their small dispute at the beginning of the day the two were now working as a good team and Aidan was glad of it. He had been a little worried that the two would not make a good team when it came right down to it but all of his fears had been put to rest. Still smiling at the pair Aidan sat down on a nearby icy rock, it was cold but Aidan’s thick clothes protected him from it. From this point he had a good view of everything that was about to unfold.

Draven’s mouth filled with water at the thought of the meal he was going to have, seal meat was one of his favourites. Looking down at the seal from an overhanging piece of ice Draven got ready to leap down onto the creature. Patuktuq was already down on the level of the seal ready to run at the creature once Draven jumped onto it and pinned it down. She was ready to snap at the seals throat once it lifted it’s head to defend itself against Draven. The female tokota looked up at Draven and nodded her head once she was in the correct position for her attack. Draven took the sign and leaped down onto the bubblery seal. The barbarys claws scratched into the seal's flesh and before the seal had a chance to react Draven bit down into the seal’s fleshy shoulder, biting hard. When the seal did react it lifted its head to defend itself just as the tokotas predicted, and that was Patuktuq’s chance to mount her attack. Leaping forward the female tokota clamped her jaws around the seals throat and cut deep to it’s windpipe, cutting off the air flow. The seal fought back for a short while, but with Dravens whole body weight upon it there was not much it could do to try and get away. Within the next couple of minutes the seal fell back against the icy ground lifeless. Both tokotas looked up and other to each other giving one another a canine-ish smile. Aidan hopped up off his rock and wandered over to the pair, smiling away he was glad they had captured the seal. Jumping down onto their level Aidan patted both tokotas “job well done, see I knew you too could work well together.” Both tokotas looked at him and barked in reply, the sudden noise send a nearby bird flying off into the sky screaming in surprise. This only caused them all to laugh, in the tokotas case bark, and shake their heads. For a short while they all watched as the bird flew away and then the two tokotas turned their attention back to their prey.