Wolf RPG

Full Version: Will uphold any old authoritarian rule made up on the fly
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
Dragomir wandered away from the thicket again, this time under the heat of an overly warm noon sun. He was getting larger, smarter and more curious with each rise and fall of the moon. Soon he would have free reign over the entire territory; he had already expanded his range to just over a mile in all directions, and was about that far from the den when he found a narrow stream.

It was his first encounter with running water; most of what he drank came from puddles and shallow pools in the forest that ringed the valley side of Arrow Lake. This stream shot off from the lake toward the northeast, dwindling as it went. He was at the deepest part of it. With ears perked high and whiskers trembling, the little jet-furred pup crept toward the water as if it was a living thing. His tail was ramrod straight with only a slight shake at the tip to suggest that his focus wasn't as sharp as he'd like it to be.

Dragomir made a right racket as he approached his "prey", being clumsy and inexperienced and far too young to know better. He broke his cover much too early, what little cover he'd bothered to have, and gave a ululating, boyish cry of got got got got! as he charged for the burbling water. He ducked low as he approach and snapped sloppily at it. Had it been a real living creature he would have missed it by several long inches. Or several miles, as it would have heard him coming long before he got to it. Instead he got a face full of water and stumbled backward with a spluttered cry and a soggy muzzle.

@Kazimir as promised!
She had been on her way to the stream to take a drink, popping out of the bushes a few feet away just in time to watch the hilarious fail. She snorted and then flat out laughed, her firey eyes gleaming with amusement and mirth. She had no experience with pups but if they were this funny, she definitely wanted to hang around them more. "It's water kid" she explained her tone still sounding like she was holding back laughter but there was a kindness to it that prevented her from sounding mean.
Brrrrrrr, Dragomir reproached the stream, which responded with a quiet ploplop of water bubbling over stones. It wasn't in him to be nasty, but he shot a frown at the surface nonetheless, then visibly jumped when it spoke to him. Large ears swung apprehensively forward as the boy twitched his nose toward the water. Wa da? he asked it, tail stirring in a hesitant wag. But it had no forthcoming reply and eventually he turned around, only to jump again when he noticed Kazimir.

He failed to draw a connection between the voice and the wolf, so he didn't think to reiterate his question to her. Instead, when his heart rate settled, he cautiously asked in childishly lilted Romanian, what is? By which he meant Kazimir's name, his new favourite subject, which he "clarified" moments later by adding, Is Dragooo!
She wasn't noticed at first and instead watched what was probably the cutest display she had ever seen. She sat down and was about to speak again, uncertain how to explain to a baby that the water couldn't talk back when he looked up and noticed her. He startled and she sighed softly, sliding to her belly while he composed himself and asked her a question. Or at least she thought he did. He spoke a language she had heard before in Russia but couldn't understand "What?" she asked and then understood as he proudly introduced himself "Kazimir" she said with a warm smile, fascinated by the little wolf before her. "Drago hmm? Like a small dragon? You're much too cute" she teased her tail lifted and wagging as she shifted her position, hind legs splayed out behind her and forelegs dragging her closer to  little Dragomir.
To say that Dragomir fully understood everything that was said to him was a bit of an exaggeration; he understood maybe 30% and inferred everything else. Language would develop rapidly for him from this point onward, but for now, he picked out certain words and made a habit of mimicking them. Wuh, he repeated, followed by Casmmmer? There wasn't enough inflection there for it to really sound like her name. He didn't know how to move his tongue like that yet. Even his Romanian and Spanish were shaky at best, repetitions of words said to him by Aure and Vonn, often without the proper pronunciation.

Dragoo! he repeated, followed by little dragon, the nickname his mother often called him by. He pranced in place then, chirping sma, sma, sma, sma! because for whatever reason, he liked that word, and then he suddenly heard a noise and whirled back to the water and perked his ears. It was just the splash of a fish's fin cresting the surface, but it was enough to remind him that there was prey here.

Forgetting Kazimir for a moment, and forgetting that he had already tried this, Dragomir crouched and let his hindquarters rock almost cat-like as he prepared to pounce at the stream.
There was something about the boy's inability to speak properly that was endearing. If it was a grown man it wouldn't have been so cute rather it probably would have pissed her off. Watching Dragomir try to repeat everything she said was probably one of the sweetest things she had ever experienced and she found herself wanting to be around the kid more than was probably acceptable. She watched as his attention was quickly grabbed by the water and she too looked to see what it was, noticing the rings expanding on the surface of the water. She wanted to catch that fish but the wiggling of little Drago's excited and inexperienced hunting position distracted her. She gently placed a paw on his back "Be still. Watch" she said and went toward the stream. She motioned him closer and then waded into the stream "Stay here" she said more firmly, she couldn't afford a drowning child. She went to the middle and stood still watching the flashes of greenish silver that meant the fish were curious and wary. "Shhh" she warned him and as a fish snuck closer she lunged, grabbing it. 

She carried the flopping fish to the shore and hopped out, carrying it away from the water and dropping it on the ground. "Have at it little dragon" she said with a grin, wondering what would transpire from this.
Dragomir was just about to gather his strength in his thighs when Kazimir touched him lightly on the back, distracting him. He craned back his head and peered curiously up at the underside of her throat with an expectant blink. Normally Aure drew his attention in a similar fashion, though she tended to coddle much more than most strangers did. He was accustomed to responding to it, and it was good he did, or he might have missed out on a wonderful opportunity.

He let his belly press against the cool ground as quivering eyes tracked Kazimir's movements, ears tilted toward the bubbling stream. Sitting still was hard. Every leap of a droplet from the water's surface caught his eye and made his muscles twitch with the desire to rush forward, but he summoned all the willpower available to him and managed to stay still. Still enough, at least. His anticipatory trembling could be excused.

Everything happened so quickly after that. He could hardly keep his excitement down as his eyes darted to and fro, following Kazimir's splash and the sudden slick of greenish-silver that broke the surface, the quick jab of a snout into the water and then droplets flying as she crested back with her prize in her jaws. It was so exciting and overwhelming, Dragomir might have peed himself. His tail windmilled when Kazimir brought it back to him and dropped it for him to inspect.

Dragomir wasted no time bounding forth to meet the fish... and wasted even less springing back from it with wide eyes, which he cast toward Kazimir in a silent question, when it suddenly flopped.
She laughed freely at his surprise, the fish flopping a few times more before laying still it's gills opening and closing with it's mouth as it tried to breathe. She met Dragomir's eyes and stepped forward "It won't hurt you. Watch the tail though" she circled to the other side of the fish and sat down, putting a paw on it to hold it still. "Bite it right behind it's head" she instructed, deciding on a whim to let the child kill the fish himself. It was a good lesson to learn, how it felt to kill your own prey though she wasn't quite sure if he would understand what he was doing. "It's prey, a fish. Food" her voice was hesitant as she explained further just in case he didn't know what it was. He could barely speak after all, who knew what else he didn't understand.
What is? Dragomir chirped again, tilting back his head so he could fix Kazimir with a questioning stare. She didn't so much answer the question as supply instructions; little did she know that Dragomir had only milk teeth still and was no more capable of biting through a fish's tough skin than he was of plucking one out of the stream himself. He would be over four months old before he was able to kill anything larger than a bug or maybe a tiny field mouse. It wasn't for lack of trying though. He followed Kazimir's instructions eagerly, throwing himself at the flopping fish with gusto.

But he met its cold, slimy flesh with ineffective teeth and a searching tongue and recoiled with a shudder. Food? he wondered, wrinkling his muzzle and licking his teeth. Gross. Maybe one day he would make more sense of fish, find something delectable about it, but not today.
She watched with interest as he obeyed, jumping on it and...well she couldn't call that biting. Gnawing was more like it and the fish comically gave a few weak flops in response, mouth opening wide before it stilled completely. Well...apparently he killed it anyway or the lack of breathable oxygen did, either way she'd let the kid bring it back to his mother. She snorted as he recoiled at the taste of it's scales, a rumble of amusement given as she nodded "Yes. I don't like it much myself though. Do you want to bring it to your mother?" she asked as she stood up, wanting to go elsewhere and hunt now that food had been mentioned. "Tell her how you helped me kill it. She'll be proud" she suggested with a smile her tail wagging slowly. There was some sort of emotion growing inside of her for the small boy, an affection different than any she'd felt before. She would definitely want to spend some more time with him, learning how puppies were while perhaps slipping new information and lessons to him.
Gonna fade this one out since we have a newer one now!

Dragomir couldn't blame Kazimir for not liking fish. There was nothing appetizing about a cold, wet lump of scaly flesh. Give Dragomir a steaming pile of regurgitated meat and he was please as a peach, but this thing? This thing was nasty.

However, Dragomir was nothing if not incredibly impressionable, and the words she'll be proud were all he needed to hear. He knew what the word proud meant and he knew he would do anything for that coveted praise. If Aure would be proud of him for "killing" the fish, then Dragomir had to bring it to her and show her. Even if he hadn't really killed it. Even if he didn't entirely know what that meant, and certainly could not comprehend the concept of death. Okay, he agreed with an expectant smile he wasn't able to mask.

He managed, with immense difficulty, to seize the dead fish by its gills. The chill of it on his lips made him shudder. But the fish was a decent size and dragged down between his forelegs, resulting in an awkward straddling hobble as he attempted to carry it along with him. He tripped more than once on his way home, but with Kazimir's patient guidance, he managed to bring the fish home to Aurewën, who surely saw right through his claim that he had caught it all by himself.