Hush Meadow Oh a hunting we will go

Do you want to go for more points with this and go for demonstrating/practicing a pack role since it'll basically be like Enoki teaching him how to hunt since his parents never really did. On top of the successful hunt and pack thread points.

It was a chilly autumn morning, the sun yet to break the surface of the horizon with the first lights of dawn leaving the lush grass of Hush Meadow covered in shadows still with the added coverage of patchy rain clouds. The perfect time for a huntress and her little companion to scope the area for potential prey, whether it be small like a couple of rabbits still nestled in their nest for the night, or an animal of larger sustenance like mule deer, caribou or moose. The piebald woman sauntered along the edge of the meadow, keeping her body hidden among the looming silhouettes of the trees that lined the area before opening up to form the meadow. With a quick glance behind her, she noted that @Titan the yearling she had met just a week prior alongside Xetor was still within close quarters. It was that first encounter that filled the woman today with guilt, having ignored the young lad in the presence of the second with talk of hunting some time with him. She had not meant to ignore the yearling boy and was the reason now she had extended an invite to him alone to accompany her on a hunt in the meadow to apologize for her previous actions and wanted to make it up to him the only way she saw fit. Today it was mule deer on the menu and in the distance the sound of clashing antlers echoed across the vast meadow, the only sound breaking the silence aside from the occasional boobook owl signaling the last hour of night. With the changing of the season, the mule deer bucks were now coming into their rutting season which led them to be at peak aggression as their hormones drove them nearly insane with the need to pick a fight with every buck that crossed their path to showoff their dominance and woo any doe close enough to witness the fights. It was the drive to survive and pass on their bloodline to the next generation. Also it left the bucks generally weaker than normal after exhausting their energy on fighting and mating. They paid less attention to the dangers around them and made them only slightly easier targets come fall. If a predator was lucky they may even stumble upon two bucks with antlers locked together from battle, unable to free themselves which ultimately either ended in one dying from a broken neck in an attempt to break free, or both would die without seeing their genes passed on. Either way that made a hunters trip easier, but that wouldn't be the case this trip. "The bucks are in their rutting season now, Titan. This means that they will be sparing with other males and much more aggressive towards us than usual." She informed him, pausing her steps to allow him time to catch up to her side and lower her voice to just above that of a whisper to avoid spooking any mule deer within close range. She hoped he would take heed to her words, knowing that one false step in the hunt could injure either wolf if not get them killed with the amount of raging hormones the bucks now had.

Khalliysgraphy @DA & CathleenTarawhiti @DA - Table by PuppyThief

Yes that would be awesome! Though that means we got to get to 15 posts in all to get that extra LP. :)

Titan had been invited by the new she wolf in Willow Ridge called Enoki to go out hunting with her. The invitation had surprised Titan as he had assumed that the she wolf would care more for getting closer to the higher ups rather than getting to know a lower wolf like himself. He was a bit touched by her concern for a mere yearling and because of this; proud Titan followed the woman diligently and listened to whatever words she spoke, whether they were comments or commands.

As they traveled forward through the willows and off into the edge of very familiar meadow territory, Titan silently listened, scented the air,and looked for any sign of prey. His keen nose, used to sniffing out herbs from impressive distances, had already keyed in on the smell of the mule deer just within the confines of the meadow. Though it was the dark lads hearing that allowed Titan to understand Enoki's next hushed words. He could hear them battling it out under the trees, in the hills to the left, and someplace far to the north of the canine pair.

"Why are they attacking each other? Don't they try to keep from getting hurt so that we won't single them out?" Titan's question was a simple one. He had not been given the "birds and the bees" talk yet, and had no knowledge of the competition between males vying for a females attention. Although he himself had participated in that very act when his close friend Danica had commented that his brother had been handsome. Titan had not reacted well to that.

Soon they came to a stop and Titan raised his head simply to look around more closely at the landscape. He was a good head taller than the female, though the boy tried to be respectful and keep his head lowered most of the time while in her presence. As he glanced around at the meadow he had grown up in, Titan couldn't help but feel like his mother or brother would burs through the grass at any moment to greet him. Secretly he wanted it to happen, but his head had him hoping that the Whisper Caverns wolves would stay away despite their closeness to their territory.

-juggles two wolves on the thread again-

Narime had been going around the borders marking them with her scent. Her pace was rather slow as the gray she wolf walked slowly along the well worn trail. Her pack was doing well now, with a stable leadership and a pup to look after. They were all doing better, but there were still a few smaller matters that kept Narime from achieving peace. She felt warm feelings for Rory, but the child was not hers. In her heart she knew this and because of these feelings Nari forced herself to look forward. She looked to the future and hoped for family again. Except within the family portrait Nari imagined there being only a mist where the male would be standing beside her. The pups stood beneath her, and the pack stood all around them in the portrait. It was as if any male who wanted to stand in the fathers place of the portrait would make Narime happy. The gray she wolf wondered why she thought this way when in her heart she hoped that Ash would be the one standing next to her in that very portrait. These thought nagged at the queen as she strolled past a large bush, one of only a few that dotted the meadow, and scented something familiar on the breeze. Her head came up abruptly as the woman paused to smell the wind. Titan... She thought breathlessly before taking note of the other scent that came alongside her sons distinct odor. The warm earthy scent of willows tinged the wolf smells which flowed upon the slight breeze. Nari inhaled the perfume and let it warm her. She missed living there, but her home was now within the darkness of the caves. Though the woman did make a point of visiting every so often to chat with Elettra. Wondering what Titan was doing back within the meadow, Narime decided to put her border patrol on hold and investigate. She hoped her dark boy was doing well in Willow Ridge. Hoped that he was learning more about plants and stuff. Though the fact that he was here with a pack mate might mean that the other older wolf was teaching him something. Hunting perhaps? Now is the best time for getting a larger meal to store in the packs caches. Nari thought quietly knowing that more deer would get hurt during their breeding season than during all the other season combined. Usually it was injuries that deer got during this time that killed them off during winter or allowed for easier hunting opportunities. She was still far away from the other pair of willow wolves, but Nari set herself to an even pace so as to cut the wolves off and eventually join them. "Speech"

faestock @DA & Dawnthieves.de - Table by PuppyThief

A young deer has been separated from the rest of its herd. Hunt Opportunity

I think we can do it. We just gotta make one step of the process per post.

"Why are they attacking each other? Don't they try to keep from getting hurt so that we won't single them out?" The boy asked simply before taking a glance at their surroundings. She had to hand it to him, it was a good question to ask. He was smart in knowing that in a hunt one would single out the weak, old and injured individuals. Appreciating his enthusiasm she rewarded the yearling with an approving nod of her head, a small smile now appearing on her lips. "You are correct in that sense, but come autumn the bucks fight to prove who is the stronger male around and claim rights to pass on their genes with the next bunch of baby fawns." The woman didn't know that Titan had yet to receive 'the talk' and wouldn't understand exact what it was she said, but she hadn't brought him along to teach him about the birds and the bees. Today was about learning to hunt. A key in surviving the cruel world. In the distance the continued ruckus of sparring bucks rang within the confines of the meadow and trees around them, the long bleets of raging males calling forth challenger after challenger who thought they had what it took to take them on. Dawn was just starting to break over the horizon, bringing the first rays of sunrise cascading down over the treetops. It was time to move on and Enoki led the two wolves onward, skirting around the meadow while keeping her body low to the ground to avoid detection as they slipped past a pair of bucks in the middle of a said fight, antlers clashing wildly together as they took turns trying to deal damage and counter. They would not do for the hunt, both bucks in the prime of their health. No, she would select an easier target for their first hunt together, but give him the chance to decide what animal would be ideal. He would need to learn what was was hunting worthy and what was not come rutting season. Finding a good vantage point to spy the herd without spooking them she paused her steps once more and turned her attention to Titan. "Now I want you to study the herd. Tell me what you see, what you smell, what you can tell me about them." This was a very important role in hunting. You had to know your prey. You had to know the way they think, the way they acted. You had to know the difference between the sick and the strong. The old and the young.

Khalliysgraphy @DA & CathleenTarawhiti @DA - Table by PuppyThief

Titan nodded as if he understood her explanation, but in truth he had no idea what "pass on their genes" meant. Though he understood that the bucks had something to do with making fawns,and that fighting each other proved who was stronger. Titan still thought it strange. His dark crown tilted to the side for a moment as he thought about what she said trying to put two and two together. However after a long moment he gave up. When was he going to learn that his brother got all the smarts in the family?

He didn't ask anything else as they swerved through the thick bunches of grain producing grasses and sedges. As she lowered herself to look inconspicuous Titan also tried lowering his large, tall, dark frame. He had always stuck out like a sore thumb while trying to hunt in this meadow. Titan was sure that come winter he wouldn't be able to catch anything because he would be quite noticeable in open areas like this with a snowy white backdrop. His only chance would be to hunt in a forest, which Narime had forbade him to even visit now.

They traveled closer to the bellows and clanking of antlers. Soon Titan was able to spot some deer, but most of them were bucks defending their territory from other males.

They paused and hushed words fell from Enoki's maw. Titan nodded and resumed looking about the deer scattered around them. He scented the air and sifted through the various individual deer scents. He searched for the smell of disease or blood. There were plenty of deer who's smells had the tinge of blood on them, probably from injuring each other while fighting... but no animal had the smell of sickness upon them. They all seemed horribly healthy.

Deciding to narrow his search for weaker animals Titan decided to exclude any scents of bucks and search for does. His eyes flitted around. He spotted a fat healthy doe creeping out of the forest towards a pair of fighting bucks. but she looks damn healthy. He noted before passing around that deep blue gaze across the meadow. His nose went to work and found more scents of does drifting through the air. However again they all seemed well fed, happy, and healthy.

Once scent began to stand out though. It was not like the others, Well it was but then wasn't. It was a does scent, but it wasn't as musty or cloying as the adult does. He couldn't tell why that one scent was different than the others, but unbeknownst to Titan he had just found the one lone sub adult doe that had just been forced away from her mother. She was not in season(which was that cloy scent he smelled on every other adult doe) and she was a tad bit smaller than the larger does around the territory.

"I smell a doe, but it smells different.Not sick or unhealthy, but just different than all the others. What's wrong with it?" He asked quietly while his probing gaze searched the field in the direction that he had scented the younger doe.

Narime found herself having to avoid angry bucks as well as the usual mounds of grasses and groundhog holes. She had yet to be attacked by a buck in her hunting career, but Nari couldn't believe the number of them scattered about the meadow this year. Where had they all been hiding during the harsh winter? Eventually she found herself creeping along after the fresh trail of Titan and his pack mate. If they planned on going after a buck then they would need help, but Nari wasn't entirely sure what they were even doing in the hush meadow as of yet. She began letting out low woofs that would only register to other wolves in her vicinity. She did this to alert the willow wolves where she was but to keep her position hidden from the deer around them. With her body crouched low and keeping to the shadows, Nari continued to pad forward towards what she assumed was a hunting pair. The meadow was not hush right now. Nor would it be for about a month or so. However just as normal the golden field swayed under the calm breeze while the birds flitted around at its edges. Rodents and lepus skittered about hiding themselves underneath the grasses or in their earthen homes. A single burrowing owl flies up to one of only a few bushes in the meadow to look around for danger. Then it settled back to the earth to forage for mice, moles, and meadow voles. "Speech"

faestock @DA & Dawnthieves.de - Table by PuppyThief

People don't know how to /not/ distract me so sorry if it seems a little blah.

As the yearling lad beside her scented the air, she too joined in only to verify what she already knew about the deer before them as he fed her the information he gathered. Enoki couldn't help but feel proud of Titan at how quick he was catching on to the role of a hunter, whether or not he planned to later on become a hunter as a pack role. She remembered upon their last meeting how he was searching for a healer and knew that was most likely where his choice would be once he came of age, but she couldn't help feeling proud of herself for passing on what vital knowledge she had on hunting; a skill she loved dearly, down to him. "I smell a doe, but it smells different. Not sick or unhealthy, but just different than all the others. What's wrong with it?" A soft chuckle was her response to his question, knowing exactly which doe he had singled out among the others. It was a young doe just barely a year old that had become separated from its mother due to the constant pushing and shoving a nearby pair of bucks had caused. The lack of maturity mixing with her personal odor was what he found wrong with her. Her voice was soft in response to his question, though still holding a demanding tone for attention. "There is nothing wrong with her. That doe that you have scented is still young. A yearling much like you are and hasn't reached that point where she becomes an adult and her smell becomes more cloy like the older deer around her. Also she has become separated from her mother making her a great target." But it was not long after her last words fell from her black lined lips that she heard the faint woof of another wolf, causing her ears to perk forward in alert. Who was this mystery wolf calling out to them? Obviously the stranger felt comfortable enough with them to reveal her whereabouts, but why? It wasn't until the faint scent of the stranger grew stronger that her question was answered. The woman's odor held that of authority; obviously the lead female by the prominence of it, musk as if she lived underground and the softness laced with a pinch of sweetness of the meadow. Whisper Caverns. Knowing that said pack was in alliance to the Ridge pack, Enoki gave a soft woof in response giving the lead woman their location while also avoiding the deer from detecting them. Another able body would only make the learning session that much easier and quick once the actual hunting part began.

Khalliysgraphy @DA & CathleenTarawhiti @DA - Table by PuppyThief

Titan looked at Enoki with a slightly annoyed face as she chuckled at him. What? Had he asked a stupid question? His thoughts led him before the dark and light she wolf began to talk. His annoyance immediately vanished while the willow female explained that a younger doe smelled different from an older one. Feeling a trickle of pride run through his heart,Titan couldn't hold back a grin before a soft sound beat through the air. His pride crashed as embarrassment flooded him. It was his mother.

"No! Don't tell her where we are!." he spoke in a hushed yet demanding tone while looking at Enoki desperately. However it was too late, she had already called back, and by how close Narime's callhad been Titan could guess that she was tracking them.

"Awwwww noooo..." He complained as they waited for the gray hunter to slink through the grass and find them. Heat flashed through his face making the dark wolf glad for having his blackish fur. Why does she have to show up?He growled darkly in his thoughts before hanging his head low completely depressed. He thought he had escaped his mothers shadow when he had joined up with Willow Ridge.

"MoooOOOoom, what are YOU doing here???" He snorted as her silver shape began to appear through the tall grasses. With a long sigh His attention went from Nari then back to Enoki wishing that they had hunted someplace else. Struggling to keep calm, Titan dug his claws into the dirt and grit his teeth as he resumed sniffing the air for prey. With an adamant wave of his tail for them to "follow" Titan struck out along a tiny trail between the flowers and grasses. He kept himself low to stay hidden, and made sure not to step on anything and make noise. The younger doe's scent was coming from their left, so the dark wolf followed his nose and began padding towards the smell of the yearling doe. He didn't concentrate on the bucks nearby, instead making sure that he didn't get too close so as to scare off the little deer.

Her ears quickly went back against her skull as Titan ushered a hushed demand to keep their location a secret, but his demand was too late as Enoki had already signaled the other woman on where they hid. Why did he care so much that this woman not find them? His sudden change in mood perplexed the older woman while also causing a small pang of guilt to fill her heart for causing his discomfort, noting the way his head now held low in a state of depression. But there was nothing she could do to change it, the deed was done and it didn't take long for the silvery form of the woman to appear through the brush behind them. "MoooOOOoom, what are YOU doing here???" Mom? So that explained why he didn't want her to reveal their whereabouts. For whatever godforsaken reason, the dark coated boy was avoiding his mother, another thing that just added to the confusion of the Willow woman. Here she was trying to make up for ignoring him, now she had gone and borderline messed up again by inviting his mother which he wanted nothing to do with to hunt with them, but she wasn't allowed to swim in her thoughts for long as Titan gave an adamant wave of his tail and struck out along the scent trail of the young deer they had planned to hunt for the day. Weaving through tiny flowers and grasses with no choice but to follow him, she too followed the tiny trail behind him while keeping her dark silhouette low to the ground as they tracked the young doe, her smell coming just off of their left and so the small hunting party gave suit in her general direction. As the distance began to close more and more, Enoki quickened her pace to cut off the yearling while the distance was still great enough to keep from scaring off their prey, her tone hushed so that only he would hear them as the other woman covered their flanks. "If I had known she was your mother and you didn't want her to be around us, I wouldn't have called her over. I'm sorry" With apologies said, now they had to get back into the groove of their hunting lesson. Already he was proving himself in the areas of observing, scenting and now tracking, but there was still the waiting, stalking, herding, chasing and catching aspect of the hunt she had to teach him. She didn't know how patient he could be nor if the presence of his mother would make him lose his sense of judgement. What if he had something to prove to her and disobeyed her orders to do his own thing? What if he did something reckless to get himself hurt or worse killed while under her watch? She couldn't allow such thoughts to cloud her focus and shook her ebony head. It wasn't until they came within a few yards from the young deer that she lowered her body completely to the ground, glancing at Titan for him to do the same thing before she spoke just above a whisper. "Now we must wait for the prime opportunity. If we give chase too late they have the upper hand and have a greater chance at getting to safety in the tree line, but in the same sense if we move too soon another deer could blow our cover and warn the heard before we get close enough to our prey, ruining everything. We need to observe the meadow as a whole before we move in." Pausing her words she glances between the boy on her left and the woman on her right, making sure both knew her words though Titan's mother needed no lesson on how to hunt. Satisfied that they were all on the same page she then let her amber gaze peer out before her, scanning the meadow and trees. "You need to know who will go where and what part they will play in the hunt. Communication prior is key to a successful hunt. Now look at the surroundings, notice what the young doe is doing. Is she alert or relaxed? Is there another doe in the area on alert?"

Khalliysgraphy @DA & CathleenTarawhiti @DA - Table by PuppyThief