Fallen Tree Cove A Little Lesson

OOC! "Pack paws" XD

The snow was cold against her face. Oh course she'd do a face plant in front of her - her what? The dark woman was completely and utterly lost on what the meaning was behind what she felt when she was around the russet man. All she knew was how happy, free, safe, warm, fuzzy, excited and wonderful she felt when she was around him. Her cheeks grew warm from embarrassment as she pulled her face from the snow and faced him. He padded over to her with an unstifled grin. He explained what she had done wrong and began to clean the snow from her face. She closed her eyes as a warm smile crossed her maw which was soon accompanied by a hum in her throat and wagging of her tail. She let him finish without protest and when he stepped back she reopened her eyes to look at him. "Thank you" she said quickly before he began to speak again. She didnt want to interrupt him.

Tagg explained that what she did is how the foxes do it and that he felt like they could do it with more dignity. Tilting her head ever so slightly with confusion "Why would they want to shove their face into the snow?" The feeling of snow going slightly up her nose and coating her face was not pleasant and not something she wanted to repeat. However her russet hero said that it took him a while to master not falling on his face. Great she huffed lightly to herself, she wasn't looking forward to more face plants. Moons attention was drawn from her alight sense of dread to the smooth voice of her companion as he explained how to land in more detail. “You want to land on your front feet first; that puts all of your weight on one focused point that stuns your prey. Be careful though, or you could hurt your paws.” Her silver eyes watched him as he spoke as she tried to not get distracted by his handsomeness. She nodded with a smile, "front feet first got it". She affirmed while he eyed her. He continued to say that one needed to have their back paws land close enough to their front ones to have a focus point of force but not too close that it causes them to do a somersault. He also explained how he had done plenty nose dives into the snow but didnt have anyone to teach him and he was self taught. Moonshadow saw his chest puff with pride and she agreed with it. "Wow you taught yourself?" She asked in honest amazement while knowingly stroking his ego. But she didnt mind because she knew that he wasn't the type of wolf to let his ego get to his head. "That's amazing" she added smiling at him with her tail once more wagging with approval.

OOC!  

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Word Count: 226

Tagg was pleased his effort to clean the snow from her head was met with a hum.  That strange feeling that had been plaguing him all morning tickled up under his chest again.  When inquired about the foxes, the russet man shrugged.  “Who knows why foxes do anything?” He scrunched up his nose at thought of some of the smaller canines’ antics.  “All I know is this is an effective way to hunt, particularly small prey under the snow.”

The fact that she listened to his instruction with such rapt attention helped boost the man’s confidence.  He was sure he could help her get the pounce down this very afternoon.  Her stroke to his ego helped as well; he’d felt very silly teaching himself the technique, and one of his former packmates had even witnessed one of his summersaults. She had never let him live it down.

“Go ahead and try again; I’m sure you’ll get it soon.” He urged with a pleased smile.  Though he didn’t want to earn the title of ‘teacher’ like @Kajika, he found he liked passing his knowledge to others.  He liked it even more because it was knowledge he alone possessed; the thought that someone else could have learned the pounce on their own didn’t cross his mind while he was busy trying to impress the attractive woman before him.

"Speech"  Thought

l

OOC! Out of character comments here

She chuckled at his nose scrunch when he said who knows why foxes do what they do. She agreed with him and when he said it was an effective way to hunt small animals that were under the snow her curiosity was perked. "You can hunt and get something that you can't see?" She questioned curiously. That was something she'd most definitely like to try. She allowed him to answer and she listened carefully to his words. Different ways of hunting had always intrigued the girl and as far as self taught went she was no stranger. Having to perfect and learn to hunt on her own after losing her family was the only way she could have surivived. So that's what she did - she knew the basics taught by her father and brother but everything else she had to teach herself.

He encouraged her to try again believing that she could get it. Moon was a bit more hesitant this time around for she didnt want to look foolish in front of him. Something inside her screamed to not look dumb and to impress him. So she nodded and sallowed the huge lump that had formed in her throat. She readied herself remembering his pointers. Standing in the scrunch position for a moment she took a deep breath. She pushed off her back legs but with less power than last time. Again her arch was good and it looked like she would land perfectly. That however didnt happen for at the last moment her weight shifted forward. This time only her muzzle hit the snow before her front paws landed then her back. Pulling her nose from the snow she huffed then shook the white powder from her face. "How was that?" She asked already knowing it wasn't perfect but maybe he had another pointer for her that would keep her whole face out of the snow next time.

OOC! Maybe two or three more posts each? And then I'm probably gonna tag you in another thread today or tomorrow sorry there is something Tagg specifically needs to talk to her about.

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Word Count: 223

Tagg chuckled at her wonderment at under-snow hunting.  He nodded.  “Yeah.  Rodents like rabbits and mice like to burrow under the snow.  If you listen carefully, you can hear them moving around.  With practice you can pinpoint where they are.  That’s when my – erm – demonstration comes in handy.” He snorted.  “Since my hearing is better than most, I am particularly good at it.” He paused, realizing what he said likely came across as extremely cocky.  “Not that I’m much good at anything else.” He added.

She didn’t waste much time trying again, and this time it looked much better.  “Almost!” Tagg congratulated.  “You’re just letting your front end come down a little heavier than it needs to.” He slid down into a crouch to demonstrate again, this time selecting snow that wasn’t quite as deep.  He pounced, this time executing it correctly without lodging himself in a snow bank.  “You need to pull your head back a little bit like that.”

He moved to her side and nudged her feet to where they should be with his nose.  “That is how you want to land.  I know it probably feels funny, but it’s the most stable. Try again.” He wagged his tail.  If she doesn’t get it this time, she will next time for sure. He thought.  She was certainly a fast learner.

"Speech"  Thought

l

OOC! That's fine with me! They definitely need to talk

His explanation of mice and rabbits living beneath the snow made sense. Of course that's where'd they go. Where else was there for them to go in the winter? She giggle at his proclamation that he was exceptionally good at it. Just as she was going to speak he added that he wasn't much good at anything else. She snorted at the words. "That's not true! I'm sure you're amazing at a lot of things. You kinda have to be if you fought in a war" she smiled hoping to show him that he is in fact amazing.

She stood to try the pounce again. Doing better than last time but still not quite she asked him how she did. He told her she was letting her front end come down a bit too hard and showed her how to do it once more. Mercury hued eyes watched as he jumped up and landed gracefully. Her silver tipped tail waved behind her as she soaked up the technique. He instructed her to hold her head back more and moved her feet into the position they needed to land in. The stance was indeed strange but now that she had a better understanding of how to hold and position herself she readied to try again.

She lept upwards with the same power as the previous try. This time she made sure to keep her head back and front feet forwards. She closed her eyes as she went down. She opened them to see that she hadn't landed face first! Her tail began to wag wildly as a yip of triumph left her maw. She had did it! She looked back to Tagg with a beaming smile. "I didn't face plant!" She exclaimed happily while stepping out of the snow. Pride filled the ebony woman as she had got it on her their try. While she wasn't anywhere near perfection this small feat was good enough for now.

OOC! Oh snap

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Word Count: 239

He hadn’t really been expecting any sort of response to his comment about his skills, but he got one anyway.  If she had been looking to make him feel better, she had chosen the wrong words. “I’m sure you’re amazing at a lot of things.  You kinda have to be if you fought in a war.” He looked away, darkness swelling inside of him as he fought down unwelcome memories of the fighting.  “Yes, because killing is a talent to be praised.” He muttered. He didn’t mean hunting, of course; the deaths of their prey went to sustain the pack; it was the circle of life. But the casualties of war were fruitless and wasteful.  He’d done thing during the war he wasn’t proud of, even if he’d had to do them to survive.

He knew she hadn’t meant any harm and had, in fact, had good intensions.  He couldn’t begrudge Moon her effort, or even be upset that her words had unintended effects. He shouldn’t let such things get to him, and he knew that.  He quickly turned his attention to her next attempt.  Despite his dampened mood, he couldn’t help but smile as she landed and then promptly wriggled with joy that she hadn’t hit her face. “Well done! Your footing was just about perfect.  With practice, you’ll be filling the caches in no time.” He butted her shoulder with his head, pleased with her quick progress.

"Speech"  Thought

l

OOC! Ouch didnt see that one coming XD

The sudden change in his demeanor caused Moons silver tipped ears to drop and guilt to fill her. She hasn't meant to say anything to hurt him. A whine left her as he mumbled that killing was a talent to be praised. She cast her eyes down to her paws as she was unsure of what to do. While she wanted to go to him to try to make him feel better she felt like he wouldn't want that. So instead she stayed put and mumbled "I'm sorry". She moved to try her pounce again still feeling the sting of his comment. Despite her dip in mood she was successful for the most part. She didnt face plant but her footing was a bit off. That didnt matter however for she was simply happy that her face didnt get covered in snow for a third time.

The dark woman temporarily allowed herself a moment to feel good for doing it right before she went back into over thinking and being hard on herself for what she said. She was pleased to see that she managed to make him smile. Her silver tipped tail swayed as he butted his head against her shoulder after he said she'd be filling caches in no time. When he lifted his head she nudged his cheek with her nose. Guilt was clear in her mercury orbs. "I'm really sorry" was all she could manage before her eyes dropped to her paws and her posture dropped.

OOC! I tagged you in Take a deep breath but I only posted it so fast because I wanted it to take place right after his conversation with Kajika so you don't have to reply until this one is done if you don't want to. 

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Word Count: 227

When her ears drooped in guilt, Tagg immediately felt bad.  His mention of her filling the caches seemed to help, but the mood had been ruined. No no no no no! He thought, angry with himself. This isn’t how this was supposed to go! I’m doing this all wrong.

With a mumbled “I’m really sorry”, the dark woman nudged his cheek and looked at the ground.

Dismayed, Tagg shook his head, nudging her again.  “You have nothing to be sorry for!” he said.  “I should know by now not to let little things get to me.  I do, after all, have a very thick skin.” He chuckled in ill humor, hoping his joke about his own scars would help her to feel less bad.  “There are just some memories that won’t go away.  That’s okay and I can deal with them.  You weren’t trying to bring them up; I did that all on my own.” The veteran licked her cheek before pressing his body against hers to try and comfort her.

If I’m going to let little comments like that get to me, I might as well leave and go far away, where I won’t ever see anyone. He thought sourly.  People say things and I can’t let that get to me. I’m a soldier, not some pup fresh from the den.  I can deal with words.  Goodness knows I’ve dealt with a lot worse.

"Speech"  Thought

l

OOC! I was gonna reply last night after I replied to this one I just fell asleep early DX

Her eyes stayed down until she felt him nudge at her cheek. They closed as of to savor the touch and when he began to speak the silver orbs opened and looked at him. "You have nothing to be sorry for" he started before going on to say that he should know by now to not let little things get to him since he has very thick skin. A smirk broke through her sadness as she got that he was referring to his scars. Even in sadness this man could make her smile.

The red veteran went on to try to further lessen her guilt and while his efforts were galliant this would now be something she would be self conscious about. From now on she would watch her words to try and make sure that the memories weren't brought up. It didnt matter that she hadnt been trying to bring them up she still did and that wasn't something she was okay with. The warmth of his body pressed against hers did make her feel a bit better and allowed her to relax. His lick to her cheek was returned with one to his own as she pressed back into him. "I know that you don't see it as my fault but I do...and I want you to know I'm going to do my best to not trigger those memories for you. I'm not here to bring up the past or hurt you....." Her words trailed off not sure of how to proceed. So she just left it there to hang in the wind and allow Tagg to do with it as he pleased.

OOC! I definitely know how that goes!

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Word Count: 328

Though it didn’t have the desired effect, Tagg was pleased that his words did help her at least a little.  He wished more than anything that he’d kept his tongue behind his teeth.  “You do what you think is best but… I don’t want you to have to watch what you say around me.”   He truly didn’t; that wasn’t the sort of guy he was.  He wanted her to feel as free around him as he did around her.  He wanted her to be comfortable, and not have to think over everything that came out of her mouth.  “Honestly, I’m grateful for your bluntness.  It’s helping me get better.”

Her warmth pressing against him helped him to relax further, the darkness that had been summoned slipping back down into the recesses of his mind.  He would get better.  He didn’t want to live like this forever, fearing the next attack.  

He tucked his face into the side of her neck and breathed deep, allowing her scent to wash over him.  “You make me feel safe.” He mumbled into her fur before looking up into her eyes.  “And that’s something I haven’t felt in a long time.”  

It was true; even though he’d come all this way, even though he was in Fallen Tree Cove territory, even though he logically knew he was safe… he didn’t feel it.  He was jumpy, and when his packmates came up behind him or surprised him he responded with aggression until he realized it was just them.  He hadn’t actually attacked anyone yet, and since the response was starting at last to calm, he didn’t think he would.  Still, he was generally afraid.  He was good at hiding it, and smashing it down and convincing himself everything was fine.  The truth remained that everything was not fine, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was sick.  Not of body, but of mind.  

And somehow, Moon helped make everything go away.

"Speech"  Thought

l