Round Stone Crest Sharpening my claws

ooc: @Kova dated 9/8/15. Sunny, 56°F, midday.

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The summer months were slowly coming to a close; Calanthe could feel the change on the wind, could smell it in the early morning while the dew was still burning away from the trees and shrubs. Autumn was slowly but surely inching towards the Crest, and with the colder seasons on the move it wouldn't be too much longer now before food began to grow more difficult to come by. The caches would need more diligent tending to once winter arrived, or else the pack would starve.

Calanthe felt the weight of that responsibility already beginning to rest across her shoulders; it had been there from the moment she had first told Raela of her desire to become a Hunter for the pack, a nagging itch that had slowly turned into a tangible thing with each day she had waited to begin earning that rank. The pack would need every hand on deck to pull through the winter - and she couldn't deny it made her chest swell just a bit to think that she could quite possibly have such a direct hand in keeping everyone alive before the cold, skinny months were upon them.

But before she could call herself a Hunter, she needed to earn it, and that meant actually going out and proving her mettle in the field. She had already done so once, with Raela, but she also remembered the conversation she had had with Kova, and the promise she had made to the younger wolf that she would invite him to hunt with her. Well, she supposed it couldn't hurt to see if he was up for it right now (although in hindsight she might need to plan these things a little bit more in advance...)

When she found Kova, she smiled and dipped her head briefly in greeting. "Hi, Kova. I was thinking of going out for a hunt today; do you think you'd like to come along?"

(This post was last modified: Oct 20, 2015, 10:55 PM by Calanthe. Edit Reason: Fixing the table. )

@Calanthe
I can't... read.. it.. well
Was thinking we do this before doing a new thread. We could both use the hunt points. Even if its a failed hunt cause there's only two of them.

Kova yawned then shook his ruff casting water droplets all over the earth at his paws. His legs were soaked through but they were beginning to dry now, and the end of his tail was also still rather moist after the boy's quick dip in the creek. The young wolf had been unsuccessful catching some smaller trout in the cold water, but the bath had him feeling very refreshed. wading out of the shallows Kova chose a nice warm spot in the sun to groom and dry himself. After a few fishing expeditions with Firefly and his previous pup sitters Kova had learned that while you were wet you became very cold unless it was really hot outside. So he tried to keep from getting cold by cleaning himself up. The only places he couldn't reach were at the space between his shoulders, and at the top of his head where a mohawk of stiff fur rose up between his ears from drying water.

Once he was clean and dry, a part form the odd looking hairdo, Kova then began to stretch only to hear his name being called. He looked sideways to see Calanthe slowing to a stop before dipping her head in greeting. His ears swiveled catching the she wolf's words before he grinned and nodded his platinum coated mohawk covered head. “Yeah sure!” Kova answered enthusiastically before shaking his ruff one last time and padding closer to the huntress. Though Kova didn't know where Calanthe planned on going he was still excited to be able to help out. Hunting and fishing were two of his favorite pastimes.

“So what are we going after?” He asked happily while looking at the forest surrounding them. There weren't many species that lives high up in the hills nearest to their home. Some goats and deer ran through their territory but most kept outside the wolves lands.

(This post was last modified: Oct 20, 2015, 09:34 PM by Kova.)

ooc: Sorry about that; I'll fix the other one in just a second.

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Calanthe couldn't quite bite back her grin at Kova's current hairdo as the boy trotted up to her. Considering where she had found him, it wasn't a stretch to figure that it was probably the work of a dip in the stream that had left his fur standing on end atop his head... but that didn't make it any less funny to look at. At least she was able to stifle the giggle that threatened to come with it as Kova eagerly agreed to come hunting with her. It wouldn't be nice to laugh at him, no matter how silly he looked just at the moment - and it might just embarrass Kova enough to make him a bit less enthusiastic about joining her.

"I came across the trail of some pheasants earlier," she told the younger wolf when she was sure she would burst into a laughing fit. Humor still make the end of some of her qords quiver with the threat of laughter, but that faded out as she continued on: "It seemed fresh enough that the flock might be close by - but if you're up for it, I'd prefer to find something larger. A deer, maybe. We wouldn't go after a big one," she added. "That might be too much for just two of us to handle. But we could go after a smaller one, or one that's injured or fallen ill. Still big enough to be worth the time, but not spry enough to get away from the pair of us." She turned her nose to the northeast, roughly, and added, "I would hazard a guess that there might be a doe or two grazing near the northern border; there are still a few clearings yet that have plenty for them to mow down. If nothing else, it's worth looking into, right?"

The plan sounded good enough to her. The hunt with @Raela had been exciting and educational, but beavers were small pickings for so much trouble. If she was going to get wounded in the line of duty, Calanthe would prefer for it to be at the hooves of something that would feed more than two or three hungry wolves - something that would keep the pack fed for a day or two on its own, if not longer. She knew a deer could be a dangerous opponent, but surely one that was sick or old or injured, up against two young, strong, healthy wolves, wouldn't be nearly so dangerous. If three wolves could take on a healthy doe, surely two could bring down a sickly one - right?

All that was left was to see if Kova would agree with her. If he wanted to hunt pheasants instead, that would be fine with her, too. She just hoped that he was in the same implacable mood she was, and just as eager to try for larger game. How could she become a hunter - or he maintain and improve his skill at it - if they only ever went after small, harmless things?

The kids eyes squinted at the she wolf as her face twisted into a strange grimace. Her body jerked once, then twice as she bit bat laughter. He was not amused, but totally confused instead as she tried to speak through and hide her amusement.  “What's so funny about pheasants?” He asked totally perplexed as to why she was on the verge of losing it. He tipped his head downwards while a serious look clouded his face. The mohawk tipped forwards drooping over his forehead as Kova looked intensely back at Cala. Then she seemed to gather her wits and continue speaking with a bit less strangeness in her tone.

She spoke of a fresh flock of pheasant close by that Kova silently nodded to while listening. Then the tawny girl suggested That they try to take down a deer on their own. He was about to comment that it was a bad idea, and his face turned a little downwards until she spoke up about trying to find a sick or old deer. Kova weighed the options in his mind. He knew from first paw experience that taking on deer in the first place was dangerous. He'd already had enough close calls during pack hunts and wanted nothing more than for the both of them to be safe by the end of this.

..but we as a pack have gone for injured deer already. Even they pose a rather large threat to a pack hunting because the deer are more apt to fight back rather than run. It's like when Gent, Raela, and I were on the one hunt... I don't want something to happen like that again. Kova paused now completely serious as he thought about the choices she had given him. He also thought about the old moose hunt that seemed like a distant memory now. He shook that memory away though knowing that no wolf would every go after a moose unless they had a pack with them. 

“Even if its injured I don't like our odds with just the two of us.” He sighed before glancing from the trees back to the young she wolf. “If we can find a deer that's close to death or like.. totally lame. Then I'll attempt it with you. Otherwise I would rather go after the pheasants.” Kova finally answered. He had no problem with just going to look and see if there were even any deer around in the first place. This way if no deer were there they had a plan B with the pheasants nearby.

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +10 Health

Calanthe dipped her head as she listened to Kova's rationale. She still thought a deer couldn't be terribly difficult to take down - surely, @Cathair's scar had been the result of a fluke, nothing more? But Kova was also an experienced hunter in his own right, even if he had not and did not, as far as she knew, intend to pursue the role within this pack. She also didn't want to dismiss his concerns that two against any deer might be too much for them to handle; it seemed clear to her that he spoke from a desire to protect the both of them, and she respected that.

"You make a pretty good point," she said, dipping her head to show her words were sincere and not meant as a sullen snipe. And the more she thought about her plan, the more holes she started to find in it. She wasn't even entirely sure there would really be deer when they showed up, let alone any weak or injured enough to be safe for the pair to take down. Common sense was beginning to sweep back to her in the wake of her previous dithyramb, and one of her ears flicked with embarrassment at herself. Pheasants would be a better catch than one or both of them being taken out of commission and nothing to show for it.

"It might be better to head straight for the pheasants," she told her companion. Apology colored her tone and momentarily brought out some of her old sheepishness, causing her ears to lay back a tiny bit and her head to lower itself a little as she added, "I don't know for sure if we'll even find any deer if we head off looking for them, and if we don't, that will give the pheasants time to move on while we're wandering all over the territory."

She gestured over her shoulder, to the west this time as she added, "Their track starts back there a ways and heads northward. If we move quickly enough, we should be able to catch them." Provided Kova agreed to head straight after the pheasants, Calanthe would happily lead him back the where her path had crossed the scent trail of the meandering flock of pheasants so that they could begin tracking the creatures down.

Kova felt a little bad for shooting down Calanthe's plans so quickly, but he couldn't get the images of Gent jumping over to push him out of the way of the injured doe when it tried to attack him. Then the image of Raela laying on the ground with the breath knocked out of her. His tail fluttered around his back legs flicking to his belly at the scary images of an injured she wolf popping into his head. As much as he felt bad about opting for the pheasant hunt Kova felt all that much more happy about knowing that they wouldn't over estimate their own abilities and get hurt on a deer hunt. He gave her a meek grin then nodded when Calanthe switched her plan to going after the birds. Besides, maybe she could teach him how to hunt birds. Kova had not ever hunted a bird as of yet. He had always thought that they were just animals who were pretty to look at and never things to be considered as prey.

 “Can you lead the way? I don't think I have ever actually hunted any kind of bird before, though I've seen them in the caches occasionally.” He asked while trying to dip his head below hers, but Cala was already lowering her head pretty far down. He hoped that she would perk up if he asked her to help teach him because Kova never liked seeing anyone sad or hurt. He would much rather her be smiling because she looked nicest when she was happy and it made him feel good inside.

He padded in a random direction totally opposite from where the birds were located. The young wolf turned to look over his shoulder at her pleadingly a few times before stopping and waiting for Calanthe to take the lead.

ooc: Cal hunting thread 1/6. Gonna try to draw this out a little bit to give Kova time to ask questions and Cal to answer.

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Calanthe smiled and nodded, getting to her feet and shaking herself out before heading back towards the trail, trusting Kova to follow after her as she answered, “Their trail is back this way. I think it's at least an hour old, maybe two. They'll not be very far off - the trick will be sneaking up on them before they notice we're there.” She tilted her head, her eyes narrowing a bit as she added, “Pheasants are noisy things, and once we make our move it'll be nothing but wings beating and the birds making that weird creaking sound they do when they're startled. We'll have to be very coordinated if we want to snag any before they fly off.” “Although, at least they aren't violent like geese,” she added as they came upon the trail. Her nostrils flared involuntarily at the smell of the birds. “They won't waste time trying to peck or whack at you; they're too little for that, too fragile. Once they're spooked, they'll be off like a fish in water.” She bent down to sniff at the ground and get a better look at what marks the birds had left; they were definitely headed to the north, and the trail hadn't started to go stale yet. “The stupid things might try to bed down and hide if they sense us coming,” she added, absently wandering along the trail. “If they're in thick enough brush, even a cock with all his bright feathers can vanish if he holds still. If that happens,” she continued, stopping and looking up with a grin, “we'll have to have one of us flush one out and the other one ready to try to jump for it. Or just give up and look for some rabbits.” She grinned, hoping her companion would understand it was a joke meant in good humor, and not as a dig at the failed deer idea - really, the decision not to try for such large game made plenty of sense to her, and she was well beyond the embarrassment of having suggested it by now.