Hunting with Jeta - Finally

Prey: Mountain Goat
Hunters: Adam 11702, Xena 5845, Heifer 11859, Barely 14372
Starter: Jeta 183

When he walked onto the scene, Adam wasn’t sure who had set the tone at the beginning of the session, but he knew it hadn’t been Jeta. The melanistic starter sat quietly with her head pointed down; her typical broad smile was nowhere to be seen. Normally, Jeta would be chatting up any one of them by now, or distracting the early-arrivers with a small game. But everyone was so silent, it was almost as if they’d walked in on a funeral.

    The seal Barbary exchanged a look with his companion. Xena seemed to reflect his sentiments with an accepting grimace and a slight shrug of her shoulders. They would just have to go along with it. The extended-marked pair quietly took their seats amidst the two other Tokotas that were already waiting. Xena and Adam recognized Heifer, the Dire Yeti with the white shaggy coat and quiet, black-colored face. Xena wagged her tail up at the huge female, and Heff returned a stifled smile. The other Tokota, however, was new to their hunting team. She was a sphinx-maned Toki, one of the particularly small ones. Xena noticed her too, and twisted her mouth a little at the thought of such a small animal hunting goats. But they were going to work as a team; undoubtedly they would be able to take down at least one goat amidst the four of them.

    As Adam rounded the newcomer’s side to offer a polite smile, it fell from his face and he was never quite able to recover it.

    The Toki’s visage was so unfriendly and full of distaste, several moments passed before Adam realized it was the true resting state of her face, not just a passing expression. Her scowl was short and to the point, and her chin jutted out slightly in a minor underbite. Her brow fell heavily over her blue eyes, nearly obscuring the two tiny black pupils. This Tokota gave a new meaning to the phrase “Resting Bitch Face.”

    Without so much as a hello, Adam sat down and turned his attention toward Jeta. No wonder everyone was so quiet.

    The melanistic Starter acknowledged the beginning of the lesson by clearing her throat before speaking. “Well, I’m glad you all could make it,” she mustered a smile for each of them--including the Toki, who, to no one’s surprise, did not reciprocate. “Since there’s four of you here, I’m going to pair you up and we’re going to perform a lateral attack on the West Peak goat herd today. Now, Adam and Xena, I know you two like to stick together…”

    Xena gave her partner another worried glance. Jeta was going to try to split them up again, which they had both agreed to should it be necessary for the hunt. The first time they hunted together with Jeta, Adam was paired with a highly unhelpful Toki named Buffy, and Xena had too much fun with her partner to actually do much hunting. The last time, Jeta agreed to keep them together, but their hunt still didn’t go as planned, even though Xena managed to take down one goat. Now it was clear they were to be divided again, which wouldn’t be so bad if it hadn’t meant one of them would be stuck with Ms. Sunshine Rainbows Happypants.

    Adam looked down and to his left at the scowling Toki. Her focus remained on the Starter. Adam gulped.

    “But because Heifer is so large and--Barely, was it?” Jeta looked to the dwarf Tokota who made an audible murmur which could only be presumed to be an affirmative. “Barely’s too small to be her partner. So Adam, you and Heifer will stick together on the south side while Xena and Barely tag-team on the north side. I’ll cut the pack off to the east and we can corner them against the west-facing cliffside wall.”

    Heifer’s head drooped a little more, if it was possible. She hadn’t known Barely for very long, but she already found that she liked the little cat-like toki. Barely had only recently joined Heifer’s pack at home, and kept mostly to herself, but Heifer enjoyed the sarcastic female’s sense of humor, on the rare occasions it shone through her cloudy demeanor.

    On the other hand, Heff certainly didn’t mind finally getting a chance to flex her skills alongside Adam. They had been on three hunting trips already, but were never paired together until now. She couldn’t help keeping her tail from wagging in the dust behind her. Adam sensed her excitement and smiled up at her. “I guess let’s start heading south.”

    As the two black-and-white Tokotas set off to make their way south of the herd, Xena rose to her feet gingerly and wagged her tail in an attempt to lift the tiny Toki’s spirits. “Ready when you are!” she squawked, “I’m Xena by the way!”

    Barely’s eyes didn’t waver from the spot on horizon they’d apparently locked on. “‘Kay.”

    ‘Kay.’

    That was it?!

    Xena’s tail slowly lowered as it became more apparent that Barely was not interested in formally introducing herself. This couldn’t get any worse. Xena thought, but bit her tongue and flashed her best smile.

    “Well. Okay. I guess let’s go?”

    The sphinx Toki shifted her weight and unsteadily rose to her feet. She lead the way with a limp.

    Ah. Spoke too soon.

    Jeta watched the final pair leave with a sigh. The last time the majority of this bunch tried to hunt together, they only made out with one meager goat. Hopefully the third time would be the charm.

    The melanistic Starter lowered her head and made her way to her designated spot.

---

    Heff’s nose twitched. They were close enough to smell the goats, and they did not smell particularly pleasant.

She was crouched down beside Adam, waiting for any sign to begin: when Xena and Barely were visible from their own positions.

Adam rocked slightly on his feet, ready to lurch forward at any given moment. He had failed on his previous two hunts with Jeta, and he was determined to prove himself. Not necessarily that he could take down a goat, but work cooperatively with the rest of the team, especially his partner. He and Xena had let each other down on the last goat hunt, and their first hunt to snuff out a warren of rabbits, well… that was just abysmal. If everyone was able to play their part, they would surely have a successful hunt this time.

At the far side of the clearing, Xena’s head poked out from behind a boulder.

Well, there’s one, Adam mentally counted to himself. But where was Barely?

With what seemed like quite a bit of effort, the light-colored Sphinx head of what had to be the world’s smallest Toki popped up behind Xena’s.

The Barbary bared his teeth into a grin and looked sideways at Heifer. “You ready?”

Heff snorted.

They took off in tandem, charging the goat herd just as planned.

Xena too emerged from her spot to bear down on the goats--with Barely, as a single unit. Heifer slowed down as her attention inadvertantly focused on the opposite pair. Adam was ready to bark an order for her to keep up when he realized what they both were looking at. The Toki wasn’t running alongside Xena as he’d predicted--she was riding her.

The goats had already managed to get out of range of the four of them. Luckily, Jeta was positioned exactly where she’d said she’d be, and apparently she wasn’t ready to let the hunt fall apart just yet. Preoccupied by taking down a single elderly goat, she missed the exchange that occurred between the two pairs of partners.

Heifer and Adam had both come to a complete stop--they had to, they were laughing so hard! Xena had watched their demeanors change from full-force hunt mode to nearly collapsing into a collective heap of fluff, laughing their tails off, and as mad as it made her that they’d once again missed their hunting opportunity, she couldn’t help but crack a grin. What made the picture perfect was Barely’s sour puss, hardly visible over the top of Xena’s mane as she held on for the bumpy ride. This little stunt had clearly not been her idea; in fact, it was Xena’s compromise to ensure the full team’s participation.

“Can we go home now.”

This time, Xena joined in as Heff and Adam roared with laughter. Jeta looked up from their only kill, her typical smile returned to her face. The hunt may not have been successful, but they were finally bonding as a team.