The cold mist of the morning was just beginning to lift as the sun rose higher in the sky. Caelum had stopped near a roaring waterfall after having missed the chance to snag a deer for breakfast. He managed deep lacerations in the animal's hind, but he did not run fast or far enough to catch the creature in his grasp.

He accepted defeat and stood by the waterfall, letting the spray cool him from overexertion. He dipped his head, panting, taking a cool drink of water when something shot out of the woods towards him. He could not hear the approaching hooves over the roar of the waterfall -- but he certainly felt the puncture of something sharp into his backside as the angry stag came back for a second wind, crashing into him with a bowed head and pointed antlers.

Caelum stumbled, limping down due to the deep wound in his right thigh, and tried to understand what was happening before the stag came for him again. Stumbling into the shallows of the Sacred Falls, he swiped at the creature with eager claws before dancing away, trying to avoid those charging antlers.

The scent of blood was on the air, and she generally found that to be a bad thing. Especially up on the peak where one missed step could spell disaster, sending someone plunging down to their death. She hoped that wasn't going to happen as she ran up towards the sound of chaos.

The stag was making another charge at the man as she came upon the scene, and Faelyn darted in for its hindquarters, hoping to get a grip on one of its back legs and help bring it down. Her small size wasn't going to be of much help, but if they could manage it then she could help tend for the man... who she now realized smelled like the Bluffs. Well, maybe if she saved and healed this man then they could be on better footing with each other.

@Caelum

There was a white shape that charged the already-charging stag as it aimed its antlers toward him in the shallows of the water's fall. The flash of the joining female was surprising to him and albeit welcomed as Caelum was starting to feel backed into a corner. The animal cried out as the other's claws made contact with its flesh, and as it whirled to aim its antlers toward her, Caelum surged forward and with parted jaws lept upon its thinner body. Claws wrapped around its smaller frame, bringing it into a "hug" of sorts while his teeth bit down at the back of its neck.

At the moment, Caelum was only worried about bringing down this raging creature. He did not like to be made to feel weak - especially from a lesser animal like a fucking deer. The sooner this problem was solved the better. And then he could look at others - but it wasn't likely that Caelum would notice the lioness' pride and its relationship with Wolfbron Bluffs. He wasn't too interested in their politics.

@Faelyn

Faelyn had far more practice with hunting than she'd had when they first came here, and as such when the stag turned on her she danced her hind end away and came at the stag again, clutching its other hind leg in her jaws and yanking backwards, pulling its leg with her to unbalance it. Hopefully between that and Caelum's grip on its neck they would be able to bring it down. She didn't even want to eat it, she just wanted it to stop attacking so she could look at the other man's wounds. If he'd allow her to anyway.

She kept an eye on the stag's hooves and antlers, not wanting to catch a stray kick (if it could even kick at her where she was standing with its leg in her jaws) or get herself gored in the process of helping.

@Caelum

The two lions attacked almost at the same time, and subsequently grabbed different parts of the stag's body. With @Faelyn at the back, forcing it off its hooves, and Caelum at the front, with his jaws wrapped around its neck, forcing it down, they were a dream team! The stag easily lost its balance and fell under Caelum's weight, and with an audible crack, Caelum snapped its neck with the force of his jaws and of the fall.

When he was certain the creature would not be fighting them anymore, he let go, got up, and limping away from it, sat down panting with his injured leg outstretched. His thigh was bleeding pretty badly; the wound was deep. "Thanks," he breathed. "That would've been much harder without your help."

She too waited until the stag quit flailing around before she backed up, turning to examine the man because there was the scent of more blood on the air than could be explained by the stag alone. His leg didn't look great, and she tried to think of what might grow on the peak that she could use to help him. Not that she ought to be helping a lion of the Bluffs, she supposed, but she wasn't the sort to not help someone who needed it, regardless of what pride they belonged to.

"Yeah, I was in the right place at the right time I guess," she replied with a slight nod. "I can help with your wound too, if you want. There's oil palm up here that can help with the pain and keeping it clean." Which he might already know but it was always hard to dress your own wounds. Well, so she'd imagine, never having had to do it herself.

@Caelum

The stag would make a nice meal once all was said and done, and as Caelum looked back at the pristine, white female with his bloodied mouth, his ice eyes lingered on her a moment. She had offered to heal him? He supposed he didn't quite consider that he had run into a Medic as well. Was today his lucky day?

"I would like that," he answered, eyeing her curiously. For once, he was too tired to think like a predator and he would happily accept the help without any untold promises of violence afterwards. He made no attempt at getting up, assuming she would fetch what she needed and bring them back to him.

He set his eyes on the dead stag. "Maybe afterwards we can feast together?" he asked, quirking a brow at her. That was the only kind of repayment he could offer.

@Faelyn