Dead Empress Backwater not a traditional career

Random Event: Blind Date match-up! for @Rochus only.

Eros had recently learned that he too was able to create food caches, despite the frozen earth. He found other ways, like nooks in the roots of trees and crevices within stone. They were left for others to take from, but he certainly didn't tell the whole pack about each and every one and never thought to use, maintain or otherwise check on them once stocked. Unfortunately, this meant that most of his meager kills were either taken by scavengers or utterly forgotten.

The soon-to-be teen didn't catch on to any of these logistical issues, and so felt confident that he was doing good work.

He had just caught a hare, and dropped it atop the snow next to a large but unstable stone he'd found in a particularly rocky part of the forest. He started digging at the snow, trying to find the ground with plans to push the boulder on top of the hare in order to 'keep' and hide it.

He stared at the vole carcass that appeared to have been unceremoniously stuffed within the roots of a large tree, brow raised and lip curled up in a bit of a sneer. Whatever creature had hidden its food here had not done a very good job with it, and he was surprised a scavenger hadn't stolen away with it by this time as it didn't seem overly fresh. But he was not one to ignore an opportunity thrown his way, and so Rochus quickly gobbled it up in a few bites, licking his lips to clean away the last of the evidence.

Hunger now somewhat satisfied, and he hadn't been particularly hungry to begin with, he trotted off toward the edge of the territory, figuring he may as well patrol the border while he was out and about. But he didn't get very far when the scent of one of the children caught his attention, and what he found boggled his mind a little, but then the randomly placed vole made more sense. So this was the culprit.

Rochus stared at the boy, watching as he dug enthusiastically at the snow next to a large rock, a hare off to his side. Hadn't his parents taught the boy how to properly store away food yet? "Working hard today?" He said as pleasantly as he could, doing his best to keep his expression fairly neutral. Maybe he should teach the boy how to actually create a food cache instead of whatever he was doing now, even though that was supposed to be the role of his parents.

While Eros wasn't necessarily expecting someone to come upon him and his work, he did not jump or otherwise take umbrage with the appearance of another pack mate, even one that was relatively new. Peach eyes settled on Rochus over the young wolf's tawny shoulder, a large grin spreading over his muzzle in greeting. This was Uncle Vay and Aunt Shar's dad, which obviously made him Eros' own grandpa (he'd finally figured out that different genders were given different variations to familial labels outside of 'mom' and 'dad', and had since started referring to @Vasco as such as well).

"Mhm," he answered, enthusiasm clear despite the lack of words. Only a few more swipes and he'd deemed it deep enough, and so Eros nosed the carcass into place and trotted to the other side of the awkwardly-shaped stone. He pushed a broad shoulder against the boulder and put all his might into pushing it into place. It did not budge, but sometimes things took a moment to get started like that, right?

(This post was last modified: Mar 05, 2022, 03:54 AM by Eros.)

The boy -he released he did no actually know the child's name, not that it mattered- seemed caught up in whatever he was doing, only throwing an enthusiastic-sounding but affirmative grunt his way. Rochus met the peach-coloured gaze, resisting the urge to exhale heavily in disapproval at the frankly shameful spectacle he was seeing. If this had been his own son there would not be a happy ending, but thankfully he had no interest in what the boy was up to, especially considering who his father was.

Rochus watched silently as the boy did his best to push against the boulder, guessing that the aim was to crush the prey beneath it. Apparently no one had taught this youngster that smushing meat like that would only attract scavengers, as well as make it go off far more quickly.

But then he got to thinking, as he often did. Clearly Viorel was in the way of his plans, and since Rochus couldn't overthrow him, he needed to find a way to control him. And what better way to do that than via having a big influence on one of Viorel's sons? Perhaps the boy would be useful after all.

Rolling back his shoulders in a light stretch Rochus called out to the boy, plastering a well-practiced smile on his face. "Would you like some help there? You look like a strong young lad, but I'm sure with the both of us we could move the boulder together." The idea of crushing the edible prey beneath a lump of stone was almost sickening, but he had to get into the good graces of the boy, and the easiest way would be to go along and falsely praise him to seem supportive and caring.

The very thought of that made him want to hurl, but nobody ever said getting to the top would be easy.

Eros' newest grandfather was silent for a moment, allowing him his work in peace. The boy had nearly forgotten him altogether by the time Rochus spoke again, he was so focused on getting the large stone to move. Despite all of his efforts, it wasn't giving even an inch. Looking at it, he'd been so certain it was doable, but apparently it was more strongly affixed at the base than he'd thought. The offer of help gave Eros cause to stop and take a step back, his breathing a tad heavier than it had been before the futile exercise.

"Yeah, it's more sturdy than it looks," he agreed, not at all affronted by the offer. As long as the food was properly taken care of in the end, that was all that mattered. He stepped to the side, giving the older wolf room to push with him.

The boy seemed happy to accept his offer of assistance, and Rochus watched as he stepped to the side. With a silent groan deep within his chest he moved closer to the boulder, angling his head to the side as he looked it over. Using his shoulder to push would probably be the easiest way to move it, and at least that way he could get some traction with his hind legs.

”On my count, we both push,” he instructed the boy, squaring up his body as he inhaled deeply a few times. Normally he was not a fan of hard labour that didn’t result in any benefit for himself, but this was a necessary action in a much longer plan.

Rochus glanced at the boy to see if he was ready, then gently leaned a shoulder up against the rough surface, digging his hind claws into the dirt for some leverage. ”One, two, three-“ As the words left his lips he pushed with all his strength, grunting with the effort, hoping that between the two of them they could quickly accomplish the boys fruitless task. He absolutely had better things to be doing with his time, after all.

Eros nodded firmly, and braced his own wolfish shoulder against the immense object once again. Having already given it a few tries, it was easy for him to slip back into a sturdy position. He waited for Rochus' counting to reach three before putting all his might once more into making the stone roll. At first it seemed that even their combined efforts would not be enough, but then he felt something give. Paws and claws digging into the moist earth beneath, he gritted his fang and gave one last oomph.

The boulder moved, nearly too far. It effectively flattened the carcass beneath its heft as it pinned it. Eros regarded their work with pride, everything having fallen into place exactly as he'd wanted it to. The problematic points of what he'd done still did not occur to him.

"Thanks for that," he beamed over at the older wolf toothily, voice a little breathy from exertion.

"Wanna go hunt more with me?"

The boulder was steadfast for a few moments, long enough that Rochus thought it would be unmovable even with their combined strengths. But eventually it rolled forward, completely crushing the former hare carcass beneath it. He was not sure what remained of it now, but that wasn’t for him to deal with.

Rochus grunted in response to the boy, offering him a nod as he inhaled deeply to regain his composure. The boulder had been heavier than he anticipated, and he was not as young as he used to be.

He managed to keep the snort trapped within his throat at the boys’ request. If he was not trying to worm his way into the graces of the boy Rochus would have shot down the request without a second thought. Unfortunately, spending time with Viorel’s son would be one of the few ways to get close to the boy.

”I would be delighted,” Rochus said with a forced smile, before motioning with his muzzle for the boy to take the lead. ”Perhaps you could show an old dog some new tricks, eh?”

Eros didn't know too much about his grand-uncle Rochus, and honestly hadn't yet had many one-on-one interactions with the man outside of bubbly but cordial hellos and 'catch ya later's. Still, as the older wolf happily agreed to assist him the young Valle felt pretty positive that he was a really good guy. Grinning from ear to ear, Eros practically leapt to lead the way.

"Absolutely!" he teased back with a giggle over his shoulder.

"I gotta favorite place, lemme show ya!"

It was a rabbit warren not too far from the pack's territory, and in all honesty Eros had been harassing them far too often. Not only were their numbers being thinned too frequently, but they were growing more crafty in a bid for survival. Maybe Vayko's dad could show him how to stay one step ahead of the buggers.

good to fade on your post! ^^

It seemed he had made the right decision, as the boy responded with that excited puppy enthusiasm which had him wanting to roll his eyes again. Instead he put a smile on his face and moved to follow the boy, hoping that all of this effort would be worth it.

"Lead the way then," Rochus said, allowing the boy to scamper ahead of him as he took his time strolling after him. The thought of a 'favourite place' had him wondering just what he had agreed to, but it was too late to back out now lest he disappoint the boy. And so he followed, hoping that whatever this activity was wouldn't take too long.

FADE

(This post was last modified: Sep 14, 2022, 06:40 AM by Rochus.)