|
|
Post by chickenmuffin on Jan 1, 2008 22:52:56 GMT -5
Danny's sharp eyes gazed up at the towering trees. He took in a deep breath, filling his lungs with sweet air. The night wind tugged gently at his fur, and brought to him the scent of prey. It was just a rabbit, but enough to make him salivate.
He moved forward, body close to the ground, senses on red alert. His gray coloring helping him to blend into the surrounding area. Pointed ears erect and facing forwards.
This fat rodent was not about to get away. He was hungry, and wanted the rabbit to fill him. Step, silence, Danny tensed. The rabbit had stopped chewing, it was alerted to his presence.
Danny leapt forward, his paws sending him flying. His teeth glinted as he lowered his cranium. His shoulders hunched forwards for speed.
He grabbed for the rabbit, his experience telling him it was going to dart to the side. Logic telling him it would go to the right as he was more to the left. His expectations were fulfilled, and once more he ran after the darting rabbit.
With a flourish, he finally grabbed it by a foot, and jerked his head round so the struggling body smacked against an oak. The struggles stopped.
Danny howled his victory, one paw on the crushed body.
|
|
|
|
Post by .Rabid Lycan. on Jan 1, 2008 23:27:07 GMT -5
A pair of eyes watched from the bushes, wide and curious. Slowly, a young wolf (a Destinian neophyte, though not formally given a mentor), emerged from the thicket. His sandy ears were angled torward his packmate, though he didn't know him by name. It was only the smell that told him that this wolf was of the same pack... especially since he had only been in the pack for a few moons after coming from BloodMist.
Curious (but mute) Sumer tilted his head at Danny. He had not been taught to hunt, and the catch fascinated him.
In the back of his mind, he hoped that his older brother hadn't discovered that he had wandered off.
|
|
|
|
Post by chickenmuffin on Jan 1, 2008 23:38:36 GMT -5
Danny lowered his howl into a finish. The scent of another made his fur prickle into the upright position. The heavy brute turned his head, the scar-tissue around his neck wrinkling. It was only a young wolf, and from the pack.
Danny relaxed, smiling somewhat. He turned and looked at the small wolf emerging from a thicket. The way he'd killed the rabbit could have been brutal if he hadn't used the right amount of strength.
If hit wrongly, the rabbit would suffer extreme pain and stress. Hit correctly, its life flickered faster than if you grabbed its throat. Danny got an idea, tearing a leg off the fallen prey, he put it before the sandy colored wolf. Before steping back over the three-legged rabbit. Now it was he who tilted his head and watched.
|
|
|
|
Post by .Rabid Lycan. on Jan 1, 2008 23:42:19 GMT -5
Sumer wagged his tail, breaking into a relaxed smile. However, he couldn't express his joy vocally-- he was born mute, unable to make a sound. It was all body language now... and he was happy.
He pounced on the piece of prey as if it were going to run away if he released it from his grasp for too long. With an air of caution, his scented the rabbit, and then took a small nibble from the flesh. It was delicious in the eyes of the famished neophyte.
|
|
|
|
Post by chickenmuffin on Jan 1, 2008 23:48:40 GMT -5
Danny smiled at the pups antics. Perhaps it was better it couldn't speak, pups by nature were curious, and one question about the scar on his neck could turn fatal.
Danny took a chunk from the rabbit, gulping it down. He didn't know the pup was mute when he said "Whats your name? Mine's Danny" You couldn't blame him. He remembered a few stories about mute creatures that wrote instead of spoke, or made odd signs. Or creatures that were deaf and learned to read lips for communication.
|
|
|
|
Post by .Rabid Lycan. on Jan 1, 2008 23:51:58 GMT -5
Sumer immediately frowned, as if frustrated or confused. He raised a paw, ear twitching, and made his jaws move. But no sound came, and wasn't long before the tan wolf began shaking his head and looking very ashamed of himself for being unable to answer the question.
|
|
|
|
Post by chickenmuffin on Jan 1, 2008 23:58:05 GMT -5
Danny flicked his ears when the pup moved his mouth. A moment of panic came over him as he thought he'd gone deaf. But he could still hear over sounds, and after a moments thought knew he was hearing fine.
It was the pup, it couldn't speak, poor thing. Danny's eyes softened, despite his harsh puppyhood, he'd been able to function normally. This wolf wouldn't even be able to speak... Danny blinked, but it had moved its mouth. His tail rose, what if he could lip-read? But he'd missed Sumer's mouth movements when he was listening. "Try your name again, but move your mouth clearly so I can understand" Danny instructed. Not being demanding, but wanting the pup to obey first and ask questions later.
|
|
|
|
Post by .Rabid Lycan. on Jan 2, 2008 0:01:17 GMT -5
Sumer blinked, then quickly obliged. Sumer he mouthed. He did it twice, the first slow, and the second time at a normal speaking pace. He hoped that was enough. Why does this keep happening? he wondered.
|
|
|
|
Post by chickenmuffin on Jan 2, 2008 0:09:07 GMT -5
Danny smiled, nodding, pleased with himself. "Nice to meet you Sumer" He said, knowing a male wolf wouldn't have a name like summer. He never knew he could lipread before. He took another bite from the carcass sinking into the throes of rigor mortis.
The pup was really quite cute. Maybe it could get better... If there was a cure for being mute. Or in the old days, being dumb.
|
|
|
|
Post by .Rabid Lycan. on Jan 2, 2008 0:18:27 GMT -5
Sumer nodded enthusiastically, glad that Danny had figured out his name. He bowed to the older wolf-- actually, it was his way of saying "hello and nice to meet you". The pup looked around... and saw a butterfly in the air. Instantly he dropped into a crouch... and then pounced, batting at the butterfly like a playful kitten. He had been originally meant to be trained as an assassin-- not a hunter-- in BloodMist. But now he was with another pack, an unofficial neophyte without a mentor, and without any tracking experience. He was not surprised when the butterfly escaped his grasp-- only slightly disappointed.
|
|
|
|
Post by chickenmuffin on Jan 2, 2008 0:27:15 GMT -5
Danny laughed, cruelty to butterflies, happening right before his eyes. "You don't know how to hunt do you?" Danny asked, watching the distressed butterfly flutter. Of course the pup didn't know how to hunt, what a stupid question.
Well, not exactly stupid. The question held another question. That hidden question being 'want to be taught?' For some reason, Danny kept thinking that the pup had no mentor. He shouldn't have known, despite his long stance in the pack, new and old came and left. He wasn't the most sociable wolf in the world.
The pup could also just nod or shake his head. Danny made a note to try and keep all his questions in a yes or no answer format.
|
|
|
|
Post by .Rabid Lycan. on Jan 2, 2008 0:33:16 GMT -5
Sumer looked up at him, and shook his head. "BloodMist are bred warriors-- you will earn your place of respect in the challenges. The finest assassins and better than hirefangs! You'll soon be one of them..." Sumer shivered as he remembered his old mentor's cold words in his former pack. But now there was new light. He could learn survival instead of blood...
If only he had a teacher.
|
|
|
|
Post by chickenmuffin on Jan 2, 2008 0:48:38 GMT -5
Danny took another bite, when he looked back at the wolf his eyes twinkled. It would be hard to teach a deaf wolf, but life was full of challenges. Like working out what the shiver ment.
The pup had probably been through a lot. It was something the heavily-scarred wolf could relate to. "Would you like me to teach you" Almost as if to remind the wolf he was a prolific hunter, he jerked a chunk off the rabbit at chewed it with the triangular molars near the back of his jaw.
|
|
|
|
Post by .Rabid Lycan. on Jan 2, 2008 0:55:51 GMT -5
Sumer's eyes sparked with a genuine excitement, wagging his tail. He nodded furiously. No one had offered to teach him about hunting before-- no one had decided to take on the challenge.
He was overjoyed that someone would consider attempting to teach a mute wolf to track, who wouldn't be able to ask quesitons.
|
|
|
|
Post by chickenmuffin on Jan 2, 2008 1:04:32 GMT -5
Danny liked the pups enthusiasm. He couldn't remember any excitment about learning to hunt... But it had been dark times back then. He wondered where to start, or if they needed an alpha to make it official. He'd never paid much attention to neophyte's before.
Deciding it couldn't hurt to start and talk to the alpha later, Danny shoved the rabbit into the fork of a tree, flicking his tail as he returned. "Sumer, I'd like you to try and find prey" Danny said, unable to ask what the pup smelt. Well... He could ask but it wouldn't do much good.
|
|
"My name is Percy Jackson, and I am INVINCIBLE!!"
