Stonewatch Timbers This great wide world of ours

The dark child's patience was impressive; leaps and bounds ahead of Ari's. Kino seemed to display a similar amount of self control as well. The Lagina boys were all shaping up to be very good young men. His changing expression alerted her ahead of time to the impending inquiry. Killing wasn't fun; hurting other things wasn't fun; and the empathetic little boy latched right on to the moral quandary. Raela could hardly say it was a surprise. She was only thankful that he hadn't jumped to any moral conclusions that would require her to convince him to eat meat again lest he starve. The words leaving his sweet little mouth flew in the face of the last pups she'd chaperoned. No self-respecting Asurn asked about the mouse's feelings. And if they did, they didn't wonder for long.  Her smile faded away; eyelids drooping with the sad reality. But that's what it was, reality. “Yes, I'm sure he was scared,” she began gently. “If all the mice in the world just sat there when something came to eat them, there'd be no mice left!” She watched the child as he chomped away with sharp puppy teeth. “We'd run out of food to eat if they didn't get away sometimes.” A soft smile returned to her ivory maw. The boy would learn that prey got away quite often; but that was a frustration they could tackle when it came up. The woman tipped her head to the side as the mouse was slowly devoured. “He wasn't scared for very long though.” Another few moments passed with the older woman's ears flicking this way and that; filled with the forest sounds she'd grown so accustomed to. Nothing spoke of danger, and the wind carried only the scent of a distant carcass. She'd have to relay that information to the rest of the pack later. Draven had learning to do. Her golden eyes landed gently on the boy's as soon as he was finished. “You want to try tracking down one of your own?” Her sweet voice inquired.  Image © Chris Smith Photography Manipulation © Jenandra

            

Draven paused in his crunching, listening intently to Raela as the older wolf told him that, yeah, the mouse had definitely been afraid. He frowned and swallowed down his bite of mouse, hesitated, and then finished what was left. Well... it did look like it had been over pretty quickly. He guessed it was at least a good thing that the mouse wasn't scared now. Just dead. Really, really dead. He sat up and licked his chops when he was done, then swiped his paws over his face to try to get any spots he might have missed. At least he knew his charcoal fur was dark enough that any blood he missed wouldn't be very easy to notice. He tilted his head, watching Raela's ears flick and twitch around before she looked down at him and smiled. Did he want to try hunting something? How could she even need to ask? He bounced again, excitement returning full-force to him and turning him yet again into a squirming, bouncing bundle of energy. “Right now?” he asked, dancing about happily. “I can really try it right now? Yes!” He hopped around in a circle, lost his footing, and plopped onto his rump - but he didn't once lose his grin, and his tail started sweeping a clear space in the leaf litter behind him as it continued wagging. He didn't stay sitting for too very long before he hopped up again and raced off a few feet, then skidded to a halt and turned clumsily around “C'mon, Raela, let's go!” he called.

Her pupil seemed to digest her words as quickly as he digested the mouse. She was content to let the air hang silent, and to let the young lad retreat into his own thoughts. It was a tough topic to grapple with, but Draven was actually handling it remarkably well. Perhaps they could make a fine hunter out of the Crest's youngest child. Rae watched patiently as he tried cleaning off; knowing that if @Minka were here her tongue would have been on the job in no time at all, and would have done it well too. Again, as expected, the dark youth practically burst with enthusiasm at her suggestion. Fully prepared this time, she only giggled as his feet refused to contain even an ounce of it. It evolved into something much more like a belly laugh as he circled her and toppled over, still wagging and grinning ear to ear.  Her own tail gave him an approving wag and the woman rose to her feet. He was off like a panicked squirrel, and for a moment there was a tinge of concern in her mind. She didn't need the prince running off; he could really get into trouble if he got too excited to watch his own footsteps. Fortunately he decided to wait for her. With a more relaxed and reassured smile, Raela lurched into an easy trot to close the distance. Lifting her head and raising her voice, she spoke before she'd actually reached him, just in case he wanted to run again. “If you go crashing through the woods like that you'll scare everything away!” She chuckled. “Those mice aren't gonna hold still remember?” It was impossible to hide the amusement in her voice.  Image © Chris Smith Photography Manipulation © Jenandra

            

The lack of brickbat from Raela helped soften the reminder that Draven was being way too noisy to hunt anything, but the black-furred put still lowered his head and hunched his shoulders as he grinned sheepishly at the agouti and said, “Sorry, Raela. I got too excited.” His tail started wagging again though as he added, “I'll stay quiet again. What do I do first? How do I find a mouse?” Oh, wait... didn't he already kind of know what to do? He had just watched the woman hunt a mouse down, after all. He tried to remember what he'd watched Raela do, tilting his head as he thought. Well... she'd listened first, right? He remembered watching her bright orange ears flick to and fro on her head before she had gone off towards the mouse. So... okay. It wasn't so much what he should do first, it was what should he listen for before he went looking... Right? Better safe than sorry. “Actually, I gotta listen first, right?” he asked Raela. “What should I start listening for, Raela? What did you listen for?” His floppy front paws were starting to prance around on the ground under him again, although now he was trying very hard not to bounce around. Raela's warning was still loud and clear in his head: He couldn't make too much noise, or else he might end up scaring away anything else that might be around here and then he'd never grab a mouse of his own to show @Minka!

She still held her endearing smile as the boy apologized. Luckily he didn't seem to be taking the minor correction very hard, and held his own grin. As she reached they boy's side he fired another question at her, and then appeared to immediately reconsider it. She was ready to answer him (again,) knowing full well that there were a few things she'd likely have to repeat to the child, but felt that it was probably better to let him work out whatever it was he was thinking of. Her expression remained soft as she regarded  Minka's youngest; cocking an eyebrow with amusement while his head listed to the side.  Her patience was rewarded, and Draven's emerald eyes snapped upward with new light. The older woman nodded reassuringly at his first question, pausing when the Crest boy asked a much more informative question. Now he was on the right track. The combination of approval and the entertainment of watching his excitement bubble again widened her grin. She could see that he was still keeping a lid on it, though; and for a pup that was pretty difficult. She let it go with a soft titter. “I listened for the sounds they make as they move.” Her brilliant eyes flickered off into the woods now and again as she spoke. “They make little scratching and crunching sounds when they move through the dead leaves and other things on the ground.” Now that the information was out there, the would-be teacher stood tall; fully expecting the boy to whip around and begin his search. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long, but she was ready for a nice stroll anyhow. There was no need to festinate. Image © Chris Smith Photography Manipulation © Jenandra

            

Draven gave the agouti his complete and undivided attention as she explained the kinds of sounds he should specifically be listening for. Scratching and crunching noises when they moved... but they were so little! How was he ever going to hear something so tiny moving around on the forest floor? It wasn't like they made the kind of racket he did when he was playing! Well, he could worry about that later. First he needed to find a mouse - so the little dark-furred pup picked a direction and charged off as quietly as he could, which wasn't much quieter than before. Raela might have been happy to take things slow and steady rather than festinate, but Draven was eager to get his first mouse so he could show it off. Plus, he figured there probably wouldn't be a whole bunch of mice around after Raela killed one. If he was a mouse and another mouse had gotten killed and eaten he knew he wouldn't want to stay around! He stopped near a big group of really tall trees with so many long, full branches that they blocked out the sunlight, making the ground below almost completely shady. This was a spot a mouse might like. It felt secluded to Draven; maybe mice were smart enough to think so, too, especially with the big bushes scattered around the bases of the trees. The pup sat down very quietly and closed his eyes to listen for any scratching noises - and then remembered that he didn't know what he should do if he did hear anything. He looked around for Raela and asked in a loud whisper, “Raela? What should I do if I think I hear a mouse? How do I go after it without scaring it off?”

Draven was off at speed. Her eyebrows bounced up a bit as she watched him begin to lope off. At least there was no harm in jogging a few paces – no creatures would have lingered so close to the wolves for this long. His guardian bounded along complacently, careful not to outpace him. As the teacher she needed to hang back and let him decide which way to go. Plus, she didn't want to be the one to ruin his chances. She kept the boy within sight as he continued his pursuit; careful to trail by a few strides. Each time he paused, she would pause too. Eventually he led them to a particularly shady grove, and their journey came to a halt.  She saw the boy recline, undoubtedly trying to focus long enough to pick up the sound of a certain species of rodent. She too let her rear-end hit the ground softly while her eyes remained fixated on the child. It was a good idea for the woman to use her own ears again; in case something bigger and more dangerous than a mouse was lurking nearby.  She had just begun to concentrate when his hoarse whisper brought her back around. He was asking again about stalking techniques, and she could hardly blame him. This was one of the hard parts. She leaned forward to respond with the same loud whisper; faintly wondering if he'd already heard a mouse, and was just at a loss of what to do next.  “Make sure the wind is either holding still or blowing toward you, not the mouse.” She waited for a brief second to let him digest the first part. “Creep as close as you can without startling it, and step where there aren't leaves or sticks. Every time it looks up, freeze. Only move when it's distracted.” One of her ears flicked away disobediently to catch the trill of a songbird, but her face remained serious as she leaned down toward him. She was always listening. “Keep your eyes on it, and charge when it does.” That should have been enough to get him started, though she doubted his execution would be perfect the first time around.  “Don't worry if it runs early, you still might be able to catch it.” Image © Chris Smith Photography Manipulation © Jenandra

(This post was last modified: Aug 18, 2015, 10:07 PM by Raela.)

            

Okay, that was a lot of directions in one go, but Draven was pretty sure he got most of it. Make the wind hit him - he moved carefully around until the tiny breeze filtering between the big trees hit him square in the face, then tried very hard to ignore all the smells that came to his nose. Next... next he had to listen again. He didn't sit down this time, though, and he didn't close his eyes. He was pretty sure he smelled something like the mouse Raela had gotten, and if it moved he didn't want to miss where it went. There was a lot of brown around here, though, and the mouse was probably going to be brown, too-- Something skittered very, very quietly in the leaves across from him, maybe several Raela-lengths away from where the shadowy little hunter stood. Draven froze, his eyes wide and his ears trained towards the noise - there! One of the brown spots he thought was a leaf moved in the wrong direction for the wind to have blown it. And that smelled just like a mouse...! Draven's whole body quivered like a leaf. He had to fight very, very hard not to charge forward right away - but the mouse moved to turn its back to him, and that gave him just enough time to settle down and creep carefully forward, putting one paw carefully in front of the other. It was hard to balance his focus between where he was stepping and what the mouse was doing, and it was even harder to stop and not shake or fall over when the mouse glanced around once and then again a few paw steps later. Just a little closer. Just hold still, you stupid mouse, and let me get a little bit closer! It looked up again - he was off balance when he stopped and stumbled to the left, and off it raced! Draven took off after it, moving faster than he could remember going before and swatting at the mouse to knock it over. He was on the tiny body before it could start running again, pinning it under his paws - ow! He yelped and pulled one paw back, scattering a few drops of blood on the leaves from the bite the mouse had left in his toe. That hurt! He lunged forward and managed to drag the mouse back by its tail, then pounced it again and bit down as hard as he could on it. It crunched under his teeth... and stopped moving. The youngest Crest prince froze - and then pulled away, breathing hard as he stared down at the mouse. It was... kind of really badly beat up. Its legs were all skewed up, and its head probably shouldn't twist that way... Draven shook his head and plopped down unsteadily. Oh. Oh, he killed it. Oh, it was really dead... “Did I do good?” he asked, looking up at Raela so he didn't have to look at the mouse. He wasn't... entirely sure how he felt about this. He kind of wanted to lay down. Or maybe run around. Or maybe just stare into space a little... This was kind of a lot worse than the quiet feeling had been. But still kind of better. Sort of.

Minka's youngest son did exactly as he was instructed, and Raela was left in the background as the hunter-in-training got right to work. With movements more clumsy than any adult hunter would have been, Draven got on the better side of the wind. It was only a gentle breeze that kicked up every few moments, but important to keep track of nonetheless. Later they'd have to go over changing wind directions, among other things. Luckily for the boy it held steady, as it had been doing most of the afternoon. Rae's golden pools never moved from the youth's body. She knew what was happening just by the look on his face. She didn't bother picking out the mouse among the foliage for herself; she wanted to see what Draven was up to.  She could however, see how he shook and trembled with the weight of the situation. This was no bug. As the stalking began, Raela couldn't help but lean forward more and more. Her tongue slithered out to stroke her muzzle a few times nervously. She badly wanted him to get it right, despite the odds. Her own eyes were wide, growing wider still each time the boy froze. Good. Good... Her mind droned on. She saw the stumble coming before it happened. The woman's breath caught in her throat as she urged him to sprint. The clumsy descent of his foot seemed to happen in slow motion for her. Run! His paws hurried to correct themselves, but somehow the brilliant child was already off at a gallop. Raela bounced to her feet, scanning the best she could for the prey as the dark pup rocketed across the forest floor. In a stride or two he struck it, and in another he was pouncing.  That part was pure instinct, and she was glad he executed it so well. Excitement bubbled up, sending her paws forward at a brisk trot. There was a bit of distance to close now. His yelp jerked her head up abruptly and halted the advance. She couldn't see exactly what had happened, but the way he jerked his leg back gave her a pretty good idea. The ensuing scuffle had her moving forward more slowly so as not to disturb his concentration. He seemed to have it. The moment it all ended was punctuated by the movements of a very shocked puppy. He was still staring down at the carcass when Raela appeared at his side; giving the dead critter a shallow once-over. He'd done it. However, she could feel that the mood wasn't one that warranted excited bouncing or laughter.  She was already looking at him when he spun to question her. The ruddy-pelted woman just had to smile. It came across as a genuine question and not the excited reassurance-grabbing the children usually did when they knew they'd done well but wanted to be sure. No, Draven seemed spaced-out enough that he really wanted to know. “You did, you did,” she repeated, nodding for effect. Her eyes were still a bit wide with amazement as she looked between the two. “That was pretty fast,” her voice was light and airy, though he was the one doing the panting. Silence descended again; long enough for the both of them to further process what had just happened. “Well done,” she finally added, turning to face him fully. Her smile reappeared. “And that was just your first time! We should show this to your parents!” Just then her eyes landed back on the paw she'd seen him draw back. Concern pricked her ears forward. “Is your foot alright?” She inquired, glancing at it.  Image © Chris Smith Photography Manipulation © Jenandra

            

He did good? And he was fast? That was... that was good, right? Because killing it fast meant... the mouse wasn't scared for too long. Right. He needed it to be fast because then the mouse wouldn't be scared for too long before it d-- before he got it. He glanced down at the mouse again. It was kinda... well, kinda dead. Kind of really dead. He guessed that meant it wasn't scared anymore, and that was good, because it was food. Food that I got all by myself! The buzzy feeling vanished like water splashing on a rock, and Draven bounced up and around with a sudden happy yelp. He caught a mouse! He caught a mouse on his first try! He was a real hunter now, just like Raela and Minka and-- Oh! “Raela!” He whipped around again to look at the agouti woman, his whole body wiggling along with his tail. “Raela, we gotta go show Mom! I wanna show Mom my first mouse - and Ari and Kino and Kova and Gent and everybody! Can we go show them my mouse? Pleeeeeeease?” He pranced in a happy circle around his mouse, and as he did he stepped hard on his right fore paw - the bitten one. A piece of stick jammed into the bite and ow! That really, really hurt! Draven plopped down and licked at his foot. It was just a pair of deep cuts in one toe, but it hurt a lot. Dumb mouse, biting him like that. Why couldn't the stupid thing have just sat still and let him bite it? Then he wouldn't have gotten hurt and the mouse would be dead quicker. Ow. “I think it's okay,” he finally grumbled. “It just hurts really bad. It's just a cut, though,” he added hastily, “so we can go show the mouse to Mom now, okay?” Without waiting for an answer, he snatched up his mouse - carefully, so he didn't break it again - and charged off towards the den. He couldn't wait to see the looks on everyone's faces when they saw his mouse! He was a real hunter now - he even had a war wound to prove it!