Spectral Woods power through

for @Serach hope this is okay! Mabel needs some dad time, also let me know if the pp isn't okay

September 9th 2017, Early afternoon, overcast 55F/13C

Autumn would soon be upon them. The days were cooler and the nights sometimes got cold enough that the pup could sometimes see her breath billow in puffs of steam. This had been a fun game for a night or two, pretending she was some fearsome wolf who could breath smoke with @”Ayla” and @”Corsair” but now the cold was just kind of annoying. It made the grass stiff in the morning and when she stepped on it it melted and her paws got all wet. She was in for a nasty surprise once the snows came if she thought frost was bad. The tops of the trees were just beginning to change colours from green to red, orange and yellow and the first few leaves had begun to fall.

In the last couple of days Mom had given them a new rule, they could now go out of the territory with any of the adults and then return home by themselves.. Mabel had already annoyed her Mom with this rule, making her take the pups out for a walk only so she could say she was tired halfway through and walk home alone. Then ask for another walk an hour later. This time Mom had said no and Mabel was prompt to go and find Dad and ask if he would take her out of the territory for a walk because Mom was busy. To her delight he had agreed.

Now she trotted alongside him, pale daughter with pale father. Her mind wandered as she looked around the trail she had already walked this morning, when could she say she was tired?

Mabel, Corsair, and Ayla had been in Serach's life for a few months now, but the Bend patriarch doubted he would ever get used to their presence. He delighted in everything they did, taking in stride both their joy of discovering a new world along with the whining about its cruelties. Fall was approaching and it had brought its own new adventures; he had been unable to hide his amusement the first time his children had awoken with their fluffy coats covered in frost. He was looking forward to seeing their reaction to the snow and ice that would soon dominate their landscape.

Padding along next to Mabel, he was content to walk along in silence, watching her out of the corner of his eye. More than the others, she had seen fit to push her parents' patience and the boundaries set by their rules. Chuckling to himself, he couldn't help but laugh noting Aponi's exasperated face when Mabel had requested to go on a walk for the second time that day. Perhaps it had been wrong of him to give in when Mabel had come to him instead, but he found it difficult to say no to those large brown eyes.

"Where'd you walk this morning, Mabel? See anything interesting?" He asked her.

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

@Serach

Mabel’s brown eyes had been sweeping the world around them, occasionally checking over her shoulder to see the trail that they had come from. She had to make sure she knew where she was going when she left to walk home alone. Would Dad even let her? Suddenly the pup saw a flaw in her plan, unlike Mom this morning who had kept walking with the other two her father would have no reason not to turn around with her. Internally she sighed, but she was still happy just to get out of the boring old borders anyways even if she couldn’t walk home alone.

Now that the pup was no longer distracted with the joys of newfound freedom she was much more attentive to Dad. Watching him carefully Mabel attempted to take steps as big as he was with his long legs, but that meant she had to make huge leaps. Hopping along side him like some kind of bunny rabbit the pale girl shook her head, ”Nope, nothing. It was boring” That was Mabel’s new favourite word, before it had been the word “Nuh-uh” but now it was boring, everything was boring. Even things that were secretly exciting, like getting to spend time alone with your Dad.

Serach had seen young wolves grow up before, but they had never been his. And he had to admit, there was something special about it in a way that he hadn't anticipated. If it had been any other cub, watching Mabel bounce along trying to keep pace with him would have grown annoying after a little while, but because she was his daughter, it was the most adorable thing he had ever seen. Resisting the temptation to slow down his steps so she could keep up with him, he watched her out of the corner of his eye with a smile on his face. He'd tell her, but well, she probably would tell him that she was just "bored".

It wasn't a huge surprise when her only response to his question was that it had been boring - everything seemingly was as of late. Hopefully that would change soon, although knowing Mabel, there was no guarantee that her next catchphrase would be something more positive. "Ah well, that's okay too. Sometimes too much adventure can be exhausting," he reassured her, intentionally using a more upbeat tone of voice to tease her and her choice of words. "But maybe this time will be less boring." He offered her a wink as his nose crinkled up in response to a scent. "Do you smell that?"

Mabel was considering that too much adventure might be exhausting and was about to protest that that couldn’t possibly be right. Opening her mouth to let Dad know that no, there could never be too much adventure and he was just being boring she fell silent at his wink. Beaming in pride instead she closed her jaws, a lot of things were boring but never Dad. Mom could be absolutely, but to the lookalike child her father was absolutely perfect. Call her a daddy’s girl all you wanted, she would probably just headbutt you.

To answer Serach’s question Mabel gave a large exaggerated sniff, she was still learning how to properly be stealthy about these things. Giving one or two more long draws of air her chocolate eyes lit up, ”What is that smell Dad?” She could tell that it would be food, that much was clear but she was also still learning the different words for their food. They couldn’t all be rabbits or mice, some of the big ones had other names. And much to her dismay they often needed more work to catch them.

Feel free to move them forward in your next post!

He was expecting a sarcastic retort - he even crinkled his lips in a smirk as Mabel started to open her mouth to protest - but something stopped her and instead he was treated with a smile. That was his girl, Serach chuckled quietly to himself as she breathed in deeply. Her dark nose twitched comically and it took all of his patience to not laugh out loud. He had become patient in his new role as a father though, and so his lips stayed closed with a smile firmly planted in his muzzle while he waited for her to process what it is she was smelling

”That’s a deer,” he told her, lowering his voice so she would know that what he was about to say should be taken seriously. ”They’re big creatures - bigger than us - and travel together in herds. They move all around Relic Lore eating where they can find food - long grass, but any vegetation will do. We hunt them, and depending on the size, a single kill can feed us for a few weeks.” Turning his head, he quietly sniffed the air to figure out the direction they should head in before he looked down at his small doppelgänger and indicated with a dip of his head that she should follow him.

”They have sharp hooves on their feet that can kill a wolf with a single blow, and the males, called bucks, have horns on their heads that can pierce the thickest of hides. So you need to promise me that you will stay close and do everything I tell you, understand? We aren’t going to try and catch it today - we need more than one wolf, and you’re not old enough yet,” he cut her off before she could attempt to argue with him, meeting her brown eyes with his pale ones so she would know he was serious. ”But we can look, and perhaps I can show you how we herd them,” he continued before pausing to give her space to ask any questions. It was a lot to take in, he knew.

Her father knew her more than well enough to know when she was about to protest that they didn’t really need the others and could do it themselves. Before Mabel could even open her mouth to voice her difference in opinions he silenced her with a stern look. Instead, she smiled at him as sweetly as possible and she nodded. Even if they weren’t going to hunt them they were still going to look and that was more than Corsair and Ayla had done so she would still have something to brag about. Her whole life currently revolves around trying to one-up her siblings, and so far so good.

They had moved through the woods as silently as possible, her dad leading the way and her pup only a half step behind. The man had told her about the sharp hooves and the antlers that could pierce their sides but it still didn’t prepare her for the sight of them. Mabel had seen them dead before of course, but seeing them slowly meander through the woods was completely different. They were huge in the eyes of the child and instinctively she took a step backwards.

Normally her pride would have gotten in the way of her showing any fear, but this was with Dad. Tucking in closer to his side Mabel’s pale tail threatened to tuck up against her belly. She couldn’t wrap her head around hunting these giant things with the tree branch horns on their head. Even with the whole pack it seemed like somebody was certain to get hurt. Mabel was too big to be carried now, but she tucked herself under Serach’s belly. It felt safer to watch from under here.

I suck. I'm sorry >.<

Perhaps Serach was getting the hang of this fathering thing - the seriousness of his tone of voice and the look in his eyes silenced the defiant Mabel. Rather than protests, he was greeted with a smile, which was good enough for him to decide it was safe to proceed. Mabel was headstrong, but she was also a smart girl, and he felt comfortable enough that she would stick close by and not run off on him. The last thing he needed was for his daughter to get caught between a new cow and her growing calf.

Ears twitching atop his head as the low bleats and bellows of the deer broke the silence, he turned his head to see Mabel right at his side. "Stay close," he whispered, offering an encouraging smile before he led her further onward. The herd wasn't particularly large - maybe 10 deer in total, but he stopped anyway to let his daughter take it in as they came into view. She pressed into his side and he turned his head to nudge her ear in reassurance, but missed as she scooted under his stomach. Chuckling, he dipped his head to nudge her muzzle. "No need to be scared," he told her.

Although they had approached quietly, Serach had made no real effort to hide himself from the herd now that they were in each other's sights. His body posture conveyed a silent message that he was not hunting today, and after a few warning bellows, the deer had returned to their grazing. "When we hunt them, we always pick the weakest of the bunch. Perhaps an old bull or a young calf, or maybe one that is sick. Even with a dozen wolves, we would never try and hunt a healthy adult. If you ever meet someone who says that they can, they're just trying to brag." He'd met a few wolves in his lifetime who had made such a claim, but it was either bullshit or dumb luck. "Do you want to chase them?"

The deer didn’t seem nearly as frightening from under her father’s belly while he nudged at her ears. The tightness in her stomach began to subside as the beasts went back to their grazing and lost interest in the wolf pair. It would have been a good opportunity for the pack to hunt while they were unsuspicious but alas it was just the alpha and his daughter. And now was the time for a lesson and not a hunt, valuable in its own right but it would not keep their caches full.

Mabel listened closely to everything that Serach said, storing it away in her childish mind something that would come back with some haze later. Over time and constant repetition it would eventually lodge in there like second nature but for now this was brand new information. Nodding vigorously to her father’s question she exclaimed, ”Yeah!” It was enough to startle the closest cows into looking up from their grass in alarm.

They eyed them for a few moments before shuffling uneasily away and beginning to graze again a few feet from their beginning position. They waited until Serach thought it was safe enough and not a second later the child burst from the foliage. With the wind in her ears and the sound of the hooves pounding away from her Mabel couldn’t be more content. That is until the buck swung a little closer and his horns flashed in the sun. Panicking Mabel swerved and lost her footing.

She wound up with a mouth full of dirt and bruised pride but other than that she was no worse for the wear.