Growth Among Destruction <Training Neveria>

[Njack]

Ligua slunk along the ground, sniffing as he went. Then he straightened up. It seems so long ago that last I came here...

He still remembered it vividly. Him, searching for his sister, meeting Leviathan... I haven't seen him since. Wonder where he went.

But it wasn't time to dwell on the past. He put his nose back down on the ground, sniffing the air again. "I need to see if there's any prey around here," he muttered to himself. "Otherwise, we might have to move somewhere else."

He had told Neveria to meet him in the Eclipsed Woods, and so here he was. The smoke hung heavy in the air – yet another difference since last he came – and the trees were scorched, remnants of their former dignified statures.

Ligua thought he smelled a rabbit.

(I didn't do anything wrong, did I? ^_^;;)

[Sivoncé™]

( Nope! ;D )

Neveria was running just a tad late ; she probably should've been there early in her mind....so really she was on time, if you wanted to get logical about it....
But who could really blame her? She hadn't been training for long, and this fog and mist was a little hard to work through. She knew her home well, though, so she didn't have too much trouble -- she just moved at a slower pace.
She padded through the shrouds of mist around the eclipsed woods ;; the umistakeable, iridescent trees (even if they were covered with blankets of soot) were giveaway landmarks. She looked around, surprised to see Ligua already there.
"I'm not late, am I? It was hard, walking through the mists and smoke and stuff...." She frowned, deeply troubled.

[Njack]

"Nope. I just got here myself... arriving precisely when I meant to, of course," Ligua whispered, a lopsided grin appearing on his face. It slipped off his face as quickly as it had come as he continued, "I think there's a rabbit around here... See if you can sniff it out."

He sniffed the air once more. There was definitely the smell of a rabbit. Muffling a cough, he added, "Be careful, don't sniff too hard. The soot's pretty thick."

I hope I'm not doing anything wrong... He shuffled his paws silently on the forest floor.

[Sivoncé™]

Neveria felt a little relief from knowing she wasn't late for the session, but the underlying anxieties remained still, refusing to move or leave her stomach, churning like the crashings of ocean waves, leaving all of the wolves affected by this disaster in depths of blue. But right now, the best way to help her pack was to learn, work hard, and train well. So she was set on doing just that.

Neveria scented the air cautiously, gingerly. It was very hard to do so and search under the thick aroma that the black soot cast into the atmosphere, but after a minute or so, she managed.
Having never hunted rabbit before, and previously sticking to things like ferrets and small, unlucky birds and squirrels, she looked up to Ligua. "I can scent it....but how do I hunt it? Rabbits are different than the prey I've hunted before..." she woofed softly to him.

[Njack]

"Well, for one, stalk them, making sure it doesn't sense you," he answered, keeping his voice soft. Ligua dropped down to the ground, slinking as he had done just a few minutes before.

"Then just jump on it and break its neck. Don't worry if you don't get it the first time; I certainly didn't."

[Sivoncé™]

Neveria nodded, but before she dropped down into her crouch, she asked one more question of her mentor. "The stalking is needed to get closer to it....right? And then if the leap doesn't work, I could probably outrun the rabbit...." she mused. "One of my brothers told me he learned that rabbits have sprints of speed, wheras wolves have stamina, but I probably shouldn't try and charge it so far away....so the stalking, then," she didn't really wait for an answer, but dropped down into the prowl. If Ligua wanted to confirm her facts, he could, but she wasn't going to let the rabbit get away in the meantime.

[Njack]

"Well-" he started, still speaking softly. Ligua closed his mouth. I'll just let her try to catch the rabbit, then I'll answer.

He pondered the question silently, his analytical brain working to its full extent. What she says is probably true. Wolves are bulkier than rabbits, as they are built to hunt and kill. Rabbits, all they have to do is eat and flee. They eat grass, too, so that doesn't weigh them down much.

Isn't it strange, that every creature is unique? But in a way, it's not strange at all. Of course, Ligua wasn't about to say this out loud. Wolves would think he was crazy or something.

[Sivoncé™]

Neveria prowled closer to the rabbit, but instead of making a wide leap as she got closer, she waited until she was inches away and then sprang. The rabbit didn't have a chance to escape her straight lunge ; the creature attempted to evade her, but it's flesh was already caught in her claws. She moved forward swiftly and delivered a quick bite to its neck to end the hunt. She was a bit sad that she didn't get to test out her theory, but she inwardly reasoned that that method of hunting was probably only used when you were about to lose your target. Besides, the pack needed every hunt to be successful, and if there were any other creatures about, she would run the risk of sending them into hiding by making too much racket.
Satisfied with herself, she picked up her kill and padded back towards Ligua. "Was that okay?"

[Njack]

"More than okay." Ligua batted around his face with his front paw. "The smoke's pretty thick, and I couldn't see it that well, though. If you felt anything off about the hunt at all, try to correct it, and it'll be even easier."

"Oh yeah," he continued. "If you have any questions about anything I’m saying, you can ask me for clarification or even other wolves. I’m pretty young and I don’t know all that much, so… Well, the more teachers, the better."