She followed through and the praise that was bestowed in the simple, but utterly moving
"You have done well, my son," sent his ego flying through the atmosphere. His tail had only stilled for a moment when he began to believe his chance for appraisal was going to be dismissed, but as soon as she had told him he had "done well" it resumed it's flailing... even when she had told him that it was
not a toy. It
was small, that he knew, but it had never occurred to him until now that it
wasn't worth "much." His little black nose wrinkled along one side momentarily as he processed this information. It was enough for him and that would have to do, he guessed. Perhaps when he got older he would have to try it again with one of those long-earred thingies he often saw his mother's subjects bring into the territory.
Elettra further informed him that he would actually eat things like the maowse he currently possessed and it prompted him to lightly bite down on it with his still present milk teeth and feel the fur against his tongue and the roof of his mouth. It tasted funky, that was for sure, but at least he came to slowly understand that in "playing chase" and catching his little trinket, he finally got a "leg up" on a skill his brother and sister had yet to learn: hunting.
In noticing that his mother had seated herself, Sköll gently placed the rodent between his paws and looked back up at her, obviously still on a quest for something more from her... more of her words, her voice and knowledge of things he did not yet know. "Mamaaa," he had to sound out just to be sure he continued to keep her attention. "It taste..." His brows drew together in a scowl as he found that he did not have the words to describe that it didn't taste "right." "It not toy?" he managed, thinking a question would better suit his thoughts instead.
As if to suddenly declare the fact, he looked from his mouse to Elettra's face, testing her to see what she would say if he outright said such a thing, "Mah, dis a toy. Maowse-toy." Still wanting to impress her, he made sure to pick up on what she had just told him, "Sköll hunt maowse. Look!" With that said, he bent down picked up the lifeless creature again and flung it somewhere to the left, watching it come in contact with the ground and roll about with its hairless tail thrashing about behind it before it came to a stop. Hastily, he darted after it, closing in on its location with an energetic pounce. Before he could even pick it up, though, he made sure to prod it with a nose and paw just to make sure it would obediently lay there as it had before. Jubilantly he chirped back at his mother, "I hunt!"