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+--- Thread: Ouroboros Spine Send up my heart to you (/showthread.php?tid=66243)
Send up my heart to you - Ludovicus - August 26, 2025
After learning the basics from Raindrop, Ludo had put his whole heart into practicing the art of the hunt. His successes were not yet consistent, but he had begun to bring back rodents for his caregiver. Small prizes, but always a boost to his confidence. While his quest originally had the goal of bringing a thank-you gift to Ajei for taking him into the pack, it had evolved into a wish to become the best hunter Moonglow could have asked for. If not that, than the best hunter he could be.
He thought it was a much better way to thank the alpha female. Why bring her one snack when he could work to one day feed her whole pack for moons to come? More than that, he knew it would make his mother proud. He still wondered about her despite his preoccupations.
Today he did not plan on a prize, instead focusing on chasing a yellowed and fallen leaf. a soft breeze blew it forward, Ludo pouncing next to and behind it so as to keep the leaf going as long as his interest remained. While it was a game, it also served as decent practice for his quickly improving form.
RE: Send up my heart to you - Valiant - September 02, 2025
It was good to be back in the territory, though he'd enjoyed his time away. Refamiliarizing himself with the pack, he realized that a scent he'd caught before had joined them. It was one of Paula's children, though his scent now mixed with Raindrop's, and his mother's seemed entirely absent.
He followed it, and came to find a half-grown boy playing in the grass. It was a childish game, perhaps something Valiant might have found frivolous a few months ago. Now he was heartened to see life taking a more leisurely, meandering pace.
"Whatcha got there?" he asked, though he could see it was a leaf.
RE: Send up my heart to you - Ludovicus - September 02, 2025
He was joined by a face not quite familiar, momentarily startling the boy.
..A leaf.He responded, letting the litter blow away. Ludo realized now that he must have looked rather silly.
I thought it would be good for practice.
Ludovicus hadn't done much in the way of talking to the Moonglow wolves, except for Raindrop of course. They all seemed rather busy, and he was losing the cute factor that allowed him to be a bit bothersome on Moonspear.
Who are you?A perfect example, given his question came off with more attitude than it did loveable sass. It was intended as being friendly, of course.
RE: Send up my heart to you - Valiant - September 02, 2025
A leaf was good practice — for a much younger wolf, Valiant thought. But he knew that the boy's life had been tumultuous, even if he did not know the specifics. That his mother was absent was telling enough.
"My name's Valiant," he replied, supposing he ought to have started with that. "I just got back from a long scouting trip."
He stretched his back leg, testing his tolerance for the day. He wasn't too sore, he decided, and gave a little nod of his head.
"We oughta get you somethin' nicer to practice on, don't you think?" he asked, trying to sound enthusiastic. He nearly managed. "What's your name?"
RE: Send up my heart to you - Ludovicus - September 02, 2025
A scout, that made sense for the 'why' of never having seen him before, then.
You can call me Ludovic.He decided. Ludo was his usual nickname, but was that too babyish now?
Valiant had offered to find him something better to practice with.. and it was probably a good idea.
Like what?He asked.
Raindrop taught me to hunt ground squirrels.. I've caught mice too.None of it hugely impressive, but a start. Had he started to learn earlier, he may have had more luck with young rabbits as the emerged from burrows.
But, he was determined to learn. He missed the sheep his mother used to bring back to the den, various parts she would bring back for him and Ignace to chew on. As far as he knew, she had completed these hunts alone. Ludo wanted to do the same.
RE: Send up my heart to you - Valiant - September 02, 2025
Ludovic. Valiant carefully memorized the name and scent and face of this boy, already feeling that awful kinship. It would be hard to come to care about another, but considering the age of the young wolf, Valiant was sure it would be rather harder not to.
"Those are tough targets," he praised, lifting his nose to sniff the air. "It's good you got Raindrop as a teacher. I started on rabbits, myself — my daddy used to bring 'em to the den still kickin'."
He located the scent he'd been hoping for.
"Let's see if we can scare us up some pheasants," he suggested. "There's plenty this time of year, and they fly a little faster than leaves — more your speed. More fun to pounce on, too."
RE: Send up my heart to you - Ludovicus - September 04, 2025
It was hard, if not impossible, for Ludo not to enjoy the praise he recieved from Valiant. There had been few men in his life to serve as role models, so when one came along every bit of postive feedback had him standing a little taller.. even if he was trying to play it cool.
Yeah.. Raindrop is a good teacher. I lost my maman, but she's taking good care of me while I wait for her.While she certainly did treat him as her own, Ludo couldn't bring himself to call Raindrop his mother yet. It felt like he would be replacing Pala.
Valiant offered up a pheasant hunt, and while it sounded exciting Ludo hesitated in his reply. He had never hunted birds before, they seemed too difficult a target. But.. it would be more embarrassing to refuse than it would be to try and fail.
Well, alright.If Valiant knew what he was doing, Ludo was sure he could mirror it and learn.
Do they fly high like the song birds? I'm not too good at catching those.
RE: Send up my heart to you - Valiant - September 04, 2025
Already, Valiant felt that he could relate to the boy. He, too, had lost his mother very young. Had been left in the care of other family, though for a long time had been on his own. He could have said this. He could also had said that he'd met the boy's mother, and that her love for him had been so clear and so true.
But this, he felt, was more important: that a man of his pack might take an interest in him just because he was a child of the pack. He need not be anything more than that to have all that he needed provided for him.
Lessons were an important part of that.
"They can," he agreed, his tone approving of a correct supposition. "But it takes them longer to get into the sky, and they like to peck around on the ground in the mean time. We can practice our pouncing — hopefully, I can show you how it's done."
He offered a wry smile, leading the way toward the trees. "And your tracking — that's important, too," he added, sticking his nose into the leaf litter. "What kinds of scents do you know?"
RE: Send up my heart to you - Ludovicus - September 04, 2025
Had Valiant mentioned his brief meeting with Pala, it would have been more likely to evoke feelings of grief than anything positive. Ludo's thoughts on those who had known her were mixed and confusing these days; sometimes he wanted to weep for how he missed truly familiar faces, other days he blamed them for driving her away in the first place.
I'm good at rodents, and I know how goats, sheep, and elk smell from when I was little.For prey, that was about it. His meals had always been consistent and familiar.
My mom wasn't too good at catching birds, so I never got to have many.
Light paws followed after Valiant with a good bounce in his step. It was always easier to appear confident with a mentor by your side, even if he wasn't actually so sure of himself. Watching the older wolf, he copied his actions after a brief moment and checked the nearby ground for scents he could recognise.
RE: Send up my heart to you - Valiant - September 05, 2025
Valiant was distracted by his new task of sniffing around, but still found a response for the boy. He was feeling conversational, now, and did not craft this response so carefully:
"Ah, well — pheasants ain't the best for sharin', anyway," he said, his tone musing. "Whether she was good at it or not, it was probably smarter to feed you varmints or pieces off a bigger kill. But we'll be gettin' into turkey season soon and that's good eatin'. I bet your momma could hunt a turkey good as anyone — and after we get you some practice with these pheasants, so will you."
He flashed the boy another little smile.
"Alright, here," he announced, triumphant. He tapped the ground with his paw to beckon the boy closer. "Get a good whiff. This is pheasant, alright?"
RE: Send up my heart to you - Ludovicus - September 05, 2025
Ludovic couldn't help the wide smile he gave in return. Others had always been confident in him, but it felt good nonetheless when he was reminded.
Valiant called him over, having found the scent they were searching for. Ludovic took his time giving it a good sniff, it would be good to memorize it for future hunts. They were certainly different from anything Ludo knew, but had the same underlying scent of life that told him a meal was behind the tracks.
Do you think we could keep the feathers if we catch one?He asked, lifting his head. He could use them as bedding, if not pretty enough to be decent gifts.
He was curious to what a pheasant looked like, or if they tasted any good. Just a week ago he had tried to eat a toad.. the skin had an interesting taste, weirdly he had enjoyed licking it, but the meat tasted like nothing but mud. Before that Ludo had assumed all prey tasted at least alright.
RE: Send up my heart to you - Valiant - September 05, 2025
Valiant laughed. It was a smothered sound; one that wanted to be loud, but that Valiant bit back so as not to frighten off their prey. His tail wheeled in amusement, however, at the idea that they might not keep the feathers.
"Of course," he vowed. "That's my favorite part. The meat is good, but the feathers are for rolling in and playing with and, y'know — " He stole a mischievous glance at Ludovic, feeling coltish in the presence of such obvious youth: "For decoratin' in a pretty girl."
He assumed that such thoughts were far from such a young boy's mind, but he thought he was being funny. To himself, at least, the conversation offered great amusement! But —
"G'wan," he encouraged, gesturing to the trail. "Let's see what that nose can do, huh? Quiet-like, so we don't scare 'em off. We'll talk strategy when we get a little closer."
RE: Send up my heart to you - Ludovicus - September 05, 2025
Tags are for reference!
Ludovic was surprised to hear a laugh from just beneath Valiant's lips. Had his question been that strange?
He understood soon enough when Valiant explained his own reasons for keeping the feathers, though Ludo was momentarily put off by the last. He had considered keeping one for himself, but no way he was going to do that if it would make him seem all girly.
Maybe we could give a some to @Raindrop and @Ajei, then.They were girls, so surely they would like it.
Moving on from that, Valiant ushered the boy forward. Ludovic hadn't quite expected to lead the way, but regaining his composure he lowered his head to begin after the trail.
RE: Send up my heart to you - Valiant - September 05, 2025
He was surprised when this elicited no more than a look from the boy, but quickly took it in stride. His tail wheeled again, and he agreed: "I'm sure they'd love that."
But then it was down to business, and Valiant followed in the boy's footsteps, black nose twitching in careful consideration of each passing scent. He offered quiet correction if needed, directing the boy back to the proper paths if the scent trails got too confusing. But there was a prize at the end of this trail: they soon began to hear the quiet rasp and roll of a contented group of foraging pheasants.
"Get down real low, now," he instructed, pride and praise in his voice. They were deep in the trees, by then, though there was a more lighted clearing up ahead. That, he thought, was likely to be where their prey had settled in to forage. Valiant explained as much to his young pupil, and went on to detail The Plan:
"We're gonna hit 'em from both sides," he said, his voice just a whisper, now. "I want you to creep up right here, slow as you please, 'til you can see me on the other side of the clearing. Then we're gonna rush in and scare 'em up. Just focus on the one closest to you and pounce."
His tail wheeled again, but he forcefully stilled it.
"Ready?" he asked, making to break away. He waited, however, for Ludovic to give his agreement.
RE: Send up my heart to you - Ludovicus - September 06, 2025
Ludovic followe the trail the best he could, taking advice where he needed it and looking to Valiant with a purely helpless look on occasion. But, they made it in the end. Ludovic was surprised, the sounds nothing like the birds he knew.. he couldn't see them just yet, but felt sure that they had to look just as strange.
Snapping from his pondering, he was quick to lower to the ground at Valiant's instruction. Ludo listened to the plan with quiet nods, and while he was rather nervous to be left on his own he felt it was best to trust the older man over his nerves.
Alright.He agreed, lowering his voice to a whisper.
Waiting for Valiant to begin stalking away, he eyed the clearing ahead of them. All he had to do now was crawl forward.. quietly.
RE: Send up my heart to you - Valiant - September 08, 2025
The dusty scent of feathers always excited him, but Valiant was far past the age where it might be cute to let his his excitement get the best of him. He moved swiftly and silently into position, keeping an eye on where he thought the boy ought to be at any given time.
And an eye on the pheasants, of course. That was just good sense, not fixation.
He came to his desired position and tried to catch Ludovic’s eye. He thought he saw the boy, but it was hard to tell if it was him through the brush. Without knowing whether a visual signal would work, Valiant went with the obvious:
"Alright, now! Get 'em!" he hollered, springing onto the scent in a cacophony of hissing and thrashing as the pheasants all began to take flight.
Valiant jumped for them, tearing first one and then another out of the mess. He snapped for a third, even giving chase, but ended up only with a long tail feather in his mouth for his trouble. It was very quickly too high for him to catch.
Of the two he'd nabbed, one was very dead, and the other, though largely grounded, was flapping wildly through the trees, skipping across the forest floor but unable to take flight. It'd keep, of course. Valiant turned back to the boy, tail wagging.
"Did you get any?" he asked.
RE: Send up my heart to you - Ludovicus - September 08, 2025
At Valiant's signal, Ludovic rushed forward.
The experience was rather overwhelming, all things considered. The pheasants were like nothing he had seen before, and with so many flapping about it was difficult to focus on just one bird.
When Valiant turned back to him, Ludovic had the leg of a flapping bird clamped in his jaws. He shook it, which did daze the poor pheasant, but it wasn't a perfect kill in the least. But, when he was able to release and go for the kill, he still looked up with pure radioactive joy. His first pheasant hunt, and he had managed to grab one in the struggle!
Dropping the carcass he had to spit out a couple feathers before speaking.
You got two! How did you manage that?
RE: Send up my heart to you - Valiant - September 08, 2025
Valiant was still exhilarated, and praised Ludovic at once for his kill: "Expertly done!"
He had to laugh, though, at the boy's amazement. "Longer legs," he said succinctly, lest the young hunter lose confidence in his abilities. Truly, Valiant was impressed that he'd moved from a leaf to a pheasant so well and so quickly.
"And it's one-and-a-half, really," he said, turning to where the second pheasant had disappeared off into the trees. "I've got a bigger mouth — let me carry these two, and you can help me grab the other one. Still got that smell in your nose?"
He would be aided by the clear but small trail of blood as well, of course. Valiant picked up their prizes, knowing this would keep him from offering verbal advice, and gestured for the boy to lead the way again.
RE: Send up my heart to you - Ludovicus - September 08, 2025
Longer legs - that made enough sense. Ludovic made a note that he would need to start eating more.
At Valiant's instruction Ludo began after the rogue pheasants trail, a bit faster than when they had followed the scent to the flock. He had a better hold of the scent now, and the blood certainly helped.
It was only a few minutes when they spotted the bird, Ludo quick to exclaim
Look! There it is!He wasted no time charging after the now flightless bird, and not-so gracefully pounced.
RE: Send up my heart to you - Valiant - September 08, 2025
Thankfully, even a clumsy pounce was enough to end the suffering of this bird. It'd weakened during its frantic flight, and was very soon yet another casualty of the hunt. Or, as Valiant liked to call it: dinner.
He cheered behind his own burden, and then dropped them to praise the boy again:
"Good job. Let's get these back, huh? We'll pluck 'em and show 'em off to your — to Raindrop. How's that?"
He hoped the bot hadn't noticed his little stumble. He wheeled his tail and gave Ludovico's shoulder a rough nudge with his snout.
"C'mon," he said, picking up the birds again before it could become a discussion. Now it was his turn to lead the way, and he did so at a crisp but companionable pace, feeling just a little more at peace with life.