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As many rabbits as he'd been able to hunt up the day before, Grayday was still feeling pretty nervous about his situation. Part of it was due to his uncertainty over when he should leave for the Hinterlands to see Amber again, but mostly, he was worried that Steady would take back his offer and cast Grayday from the pack.

He could deal with the first part; Amber had her own pack where she would doubtlessly want to raise their cubs. If he had to, he would abide by that and do his best to settle in at Silver Creek. But Silvertip - East Hollow, he reminded himself - was his home, and the wolves here were his family. Addie was his family; Steady a brother he'd never known he needed. Chaska, Ezekiel, Niita and Anita - Day even had a gruding respect for plucky young Valette.

Which was why he searched for her now, hoping that she might be willing to help him take down some bigger, more filling prey. They all needed the meat, but more than that, Day needed to help bring it in.

"Valette?" he called, giving a quick, low howl for the other woman.
Valette had been curled up close to the stones, the whole thing with Eden had kind of surprised her. She couldn't understand how someone could be so disrespectful towards an alpha. The girl quickly pushed it from her mind to take a nap. She dozed off into the sun, having the warm sun heated stone in her back. It was probably her new favorite spot. Once she felt a bit more rested it was not long until Grayday howled for her. In such a timely fashion too. Valette wondered what he needed her for, they hadn't spend much time together yet, but her opinion of him was good. He seemed to carry out his part of the pack.

Valette howled back in response she was coming towards him and instantly trotted in the direction of his howl. Once she came closer her nose could track him. It wasn't too difficult to find him. Her ears were pushed forward. "You called?," she asked kindly. It was a nice surprise, perhaps one she could have thought of herself. She should spend more time with other pack members especially if she was away for a mission. Maybe Grayday knew something about Ezekiel. Valette had to admitted that she missed him terribly, but she didn't want to let her feelings hold her back.
It was a little surprising for the storm-coated male to hear the warmth in his packmate's voice. Though he hadn't interacted much with her, what he remembered of her had been an insistence on her way and a desire to prove herself. Day felt a little sheepish as he realized he'd let his own moods cloud his judgement of the woman - Like him, she had only been thinking for the good of the pack.

"I was hoping you'd let me tag along on a hunt," he said - words he'd decided on prior to searching for her. Words meant to cater to the whims of a wolf he'd only imagined. Valette appeared as warm and friendly as any of his other packmates. "There are a few herds around that haven't realized we live here, yet. They all look pretty healthy, but I'm sure we could take down a smaller doe, between the two of us."

He'd been watching the blacktails dutifully during his border patrols, though his bad sight had hindered that, somewhat. It would not hinder him during a hunt, however, and he hoped he would not have to explain this to Valette. As his eyes grew worse, his embarassment over them grew stronger.
Valette was surprised at the question that came from Grayday. Because of course he was allowed to join a hunt. The young female checked the weather conditions with a quick observation by looking over the sky. It seemed overcast but not going to rain. "Yes, lets hunt," she agreed with a soft smile. "Though I'd never like to plan what I am catching because then it never seems to work," she pointed out. "And I am very certain they did notice. They are very observing creatures. The ones out on the field are far more on edge than when I scouted this territory," she chuckled kindly. Wanting Gray to know that deer were far from stupid or to be underestimated.

The younger female thought about it, there were few herds. On the plains sometimes two type of deer would gather. It was a very rich field, no doubt. She looked at the male before her, not really wanting to be a know-it-all but sometimes she couldn't help to correct others. She would want them to live with the wrong ideas. "But, why don't we go look if there is a sickly smaller animal around. It is becoming autumn, that means we could still get a younger doe perhaps," she smiled, her tail wagging because she rather liked to hunt.
Day held in a sigh as the side of her he was more familiar with came out. Though she was still perfectly friendly, it grated the older male a bit that she felt the need to continue to correct him. Perhaps he needed to be more literal around her - his words were rather misleading if taken at face value, and maybe Day just wasn't good at making jokes. Clearly, the deer knew they were around; Day had been commenting on the fact that they'd stayed around, as if they didn't notice that the lands were now taken.

I guess it's not really funny, he allowed, reluctantly. Or maybe it just doesn't translate well for prim-and-proper Valette.

Regardless, Grayday gave himself a firm kick in the rear, reminding himself that this had been his idea and that he needed her help and that she was being very nice to him. He kicked himself a little harder when she seemed to repeat his plan to him. Part of him was already done with this hunt, and thought that it'd be far more useful to skulk off and pick apart every single faucet of their short conversation.

"You're the boss," he said instead, offering a weak but genuine smile. Maybe he just needed to get used to her, and possibly stop making suggestions.

First impression has clouded Day-day's judgements. Pls forgive <3
Totally Alright! :D <3 I laughed at prim-and-proper Valette xD

Valette wanted to head off towards the deer herd but then Grayday spoke about her being the boss. She frowned lightly but she didn't feel like correcting him again, and it did feel genuine that he liked her as a boss? Valette dropped her frown a bit and then moved towards the stone circle. From there she could excellently watch over the herds that might be in the meadow and they could take down. In the meadow however was little shelter so it would be a race of stamina.

She settled by one of the stone in the circle and turned her eyes towards Grayday for a moment. "Okay so what do you see? Any sickly deer or injured ones?," she asked the gray male. She wanted him to review the herd too, that was how he would learn how to see which one was injured, often they were quite good in hiding their injuries. Valette often made them run just to see which ones were limping or couldn't keep up. Then she would come back lated with help.
Day gazed out into the field on her command, feeling halfway between irritated and amused. He'd led a lot of hunt in his lifetime, and it was strange to have someone trying to instruct him after all these years. In his youth, he'd learned to target the weakest prey for his hunting parties, and how to make decisions on the fly. He'd learned to track and to trap, how to lunge and how to hang on, and when it was more prudent to let go.

But Valette didn't know that; he'd kept to himself more than he knew.

"Hmmm..." he said aloud, eyes scanning over the distant pinpricks of shadow. In hunting, the one fault that he would allow himself was this; he could no longer see things so far away. One of the shadows did appear to be moving more awkwardly than the rest, but it could've been a trick of the light. It could've been anything. "Why don't you pick?" he suggested. "I won't be able to see them clearly unless we get closer, and I don't think we want to startle 'em just yet."

Looking straight ahead, so that he could not see the look on her face (he didn't want to know if she pitied him), he waited for her to pick their mark.
Valette was surprised when she was the one that should pick the animal they would try to tackle down and kill. She was especially more surprised that Grayday couldn't see them from here. Valette watched him with a clear surprised expression. "You can't see them?," she asked and started thinking about solutions that could maybe help Grayday. Alas she didn't know what he could see or not. She frowned lightly and thought about the implications of his lost sights. "I know! This won't be a problem Gray. I have techniques that can help you!," she decided with a firm nod.

"I'd like you to use your other senses and practice them from now on. You can sniff out illness, injuries or birth/labor. You can listen to their sounds and most of all you can feel with your paws!," she explained to him. Sometimes she closed her eyes to focus on those senses. "The last one might be a bit confusing but you should try it once. Close your eyes and feel the tremblings of the ground with your paws. You can feel it when the whole herd moves. Perhaps you will become such a pro at it that you can feel a limp a deer is hiding!," she spoke almost excited.

"Do you want to try and practice those senses? I could make the herd run and startle them on the meadow so you can practice?," she offered to him. It wouldn't be exactly hunting but she would help Grayday develop into a very useful hunter.
"I can - "

Day started to tell her that he could see from a bit closer just fine, and that he wasn't blind or anything but things were just a little smudgy, okay? He didn't need her to tell him how to hunt - he'd been doing just fine his whole life after all.

But he wasn't getting any younger, and it wouldn't be long before he'd no longer be able to tell the smudges from the rest of the world. And instead of feeling sorry, Valette was suggesting something to ease the transition. She was helping, refusing to allow him to become useless, in a voice that suggested she'd just try something else if he didn't like the sound of this plan -

And hell, Day kind of liked the sound of it. He sucked in a breath and looked again toward the herd. He had a good nose, didn't he?

"Okay - do you think if I hide in the tall grass that you could scare them toward me?" he asked, closing his eyes and taking another deep breath, his lips curling to better taste the air. "I'll keep my eyes open so I don't get trampled, but I'll focus more on my other senses. Sound good?"
Valette didn't even hear that first part, so consumed by her own thoughts and how to help her pack mate. She was pretty keen on helping him and luckily he seemed to like it too. She nodded in confirmation. That would be a good plan, and she could learn how to herd a group of deer better. Especially if she wanted to be a deer stalker she would have to know how to separate a deer from its group, or see if she could make them go in a certain direction.

"Yes, let's go," she hummed. She got to her feet and stalked down the light hill the stone circle and the forest was on. The meadow was a light dip in the ground. The grass was high, and soon it would become short, no where to hide. Perhaps in winter it would be fully covered. Perhaps even Bison would come! Valette grew excited. She was very eager to hunt anything and extend her knowledge. The dark female looped around so they wouldn't run to the forest, howling and barking loudly to startle them and let Grayday listen.
Grayday did as Valette suggested and opened his mind to the rest of his senses. His sight faded ot vague flickers of color and shadow, and he focused in on sound and scent and feel. The thundering of hooves was present in both sound and feel, and Valette's noisemaking in the former. For a moment he started to wonder how he was meant to focus on the hunt when she was making such a racket, but such distractions were quickly pushed aside.

This needed to work. He needed so badly for it to work...

The beasts drew nearer, and Day curled back his lips to take in the scents and tastes on the breeze. At first, everything seemed to blend together, overwhelming and strange without his eyes to tell him what it all meant. But Logic came next, and he was able to make some sense of what the world was telling him.

"You!" he shouted, turning his head and blinking the scent-sound-feel into the figure of a young mother and her newborn fawn. Day ignored the fawn in favor of the mother, knowing already that there was another doe in the heard the could foster and give milk to the gangly youth. It did not feel nice to be taking away the child's family - Day often thought of such things, during hunts - but the doe was not doing well in any case, and if he and Valette did not take her now, it would not be long before after-birth-weakness did the same.

Sounding a summoning bark in Valette's direction, he began trying to separate the weakened, first-time mother from her child and the rest of the herd. With his broader frame, he threw himself against the sides of the larger deer, while the smaller ones needed little more convining than a few snaps of his teeth. Hopefully, Valette was working to separate them as well. Perhaps working more on forcing away the sickly doe, as she would follow her herd and get mixed back in if they weren't careful.
Valette watched Grayday stand there and focus very hard. It seemed to work because he did lash out. Yes perfect! She almost wanted to bark in victory when--- She stopped her running when he went after the full grown mother instead of the child. Valette was instantly confused to why he went after the mother. It happened sometimes that there was a miscommunication. Perhaps Grayday took the mother away for her to kill the fawn! Yes that must be it. The summoning howl confirmed it for her and she flashed forward.

The speedy female sprinted forward to the confused calf and tackled it at full speed, the big herd running and bellowing around her. Her teeth clasped around the small neck, already broken with her rough tackle on the young. By the looks of it the fawn had been born mere hours ago. She looked up to find Grayday. The fawn hanging from her mouth as she still wanted to hold it. Then she spotted Grayday away from the running deer with the mother. She had to help him! But then she would have to leave a perfectly fine meal behind. She trotted with the dead calf in her mouth towards him, trying not to get trampled by escaping deer.

She let out a muffled howl. The female dropped the calf and protectively stood over it. Then she had an idea because the mother had seen her with her calf and now came more towards her. She dropped it, at seeing the mother charge towards her. Perhaps they could still have both. They had been a distraction for each other. What a wonderful technique!!! Valette had made for the mother to run to the dead calf, which she probably didn't realize, but while she did that Valette tried to jump up to her neck and clamp down. However, this was an adult and could easily shake or kick her off. She would need Grayday to tire her out too. But she figured that he knew that aspect of the hunt. He was not a newbie.
Valette's howl turned his head only briefly, while the sight of the dead calf made him double-take and stare. The darker shewolf was indeed going after the mother, but had also taken the calf to boot. Probably, it was a kinder fate, but Day had been taught to let the calves grow when they could, and to take the weak and dying. Perhaps things were different where Valette came from.

Either way, he wasn't going to leave her alone to chase the doe, who seemed sufficiently distracted from her fleeing herd that Day felt comfortable to leave them to themselves. Turning from the mass of terrified animals, he bounded toward his hunting partner and began to lunge and bite at the ailing doe.
Valette hung on with all her might. The young female had an iron grip around the neck of the deer. The only real danger was her overheating because she couldn't let out her heat through panting. Still she doubted that she would overheat. The female deer collapsed under her weight and fell the the ground. With the help of Grayday the female gave up and died under the attack of the two wolves.

Valette let go and then ran to retrieved the fawn. She carried it back to the dead mother. "Good work Grayday!," she spoke enthusiastically. Her muzzle darkened by the blood of the deer. The young female's tail went crazy. Even though there was some miscommunication Valette was proud that they make it work. "We will feed so many mouths with this meal. We did a good job," she spoke, sounding happy and relieved.
The doe went down easily enough with both of them on her, and soon enough, they had two meals instead of one. Tail wagging happily, Day surveyed their work, eyes lingering on the spotted pelt of the fawn. He wondered if Adeline would want it, or if it was the sort of gift only Doe would appreciate. It still seemed sort of macabre to him.

When Valette had done her own surveying, she turned to him with high praise. It reminded him of how is mother had praised Day and his siblings for going to the bathroom outside the den, or bringing her dead grasshoppers when they were learning to hunt, but Day thought he could forgive her. She was just very positive like that.

"You too, Val," he shot back, feeling light-hearted. "We did do a pretty god job - all thanks to you, too."

He'd keep practicing what she'd shown him, though maybe on his own for the most part.
Valette shook her head. "We pulled both of the weight," she assured him with a smile and wagged her tail. "I promised Steady a good meal to celebrate our new home, so this looks like a good meal to feed the pack," she spoke and started dragging the mother deer more towards the stone circle. She only pulled her briefly when she realized she might as well howl for the others and all gather them here around the fresh kill.

-Fade end!-
thank you!! :D <3