Heron Lake Plateau Accidental Success!

It was hot and boring today so Tywyll decided to go out again. He waltzed right out of the den and toward the direction of the lake. Before he got to the lake he heard a rustling in the bushes, not knowing what it was he rushed straight at the bushes and was surprised when a small weird looking creature ran out. He gave chase and just as the weird thing was in front of him he tripped and fell on it, squishing it and making it shriek. He stood up and looked at it, the small creature was twitching and shrieking in terror. Before he realised what he was doing he pounced and began to bite at it, blood flowing into his mouth. He found he liked it and began to crunch at it and lick at the juices it made. Then he picked it up and began to carry it toward the den, hoping someone came across so he could show them what he got.

The boys were growing more independent by the day, and it wasn't uncommon for Tywyll or Cinder to take a solo jaunt away from the densite. As the former of the two mini-Blackthorns departed from the homestead, Elwood followed him like a shadow, leaving enough distance between them that his son likely wouldn't realize he was there -- at least not immediately.

He trailed Tywyll at a slow pace, though he halted when the youth suddenly sprang into motion and began to chase something. He watched with interest as Tywyll managed to dispatch his quarry (though it might have been accidental) and grinned as the boy picked it up and headed back in his direction with his prize clasped firmly between his young jaws. "Nice one," Elwood congratulated with a wave of his tail as Tywyll approached.

Just as he hoped someone would notice him, his father appeared and complimented him on the catch. He wagged so enthusiastically that his whole lower body wiggled and approached his father, dropping the mouse and licking his lips clean before placing greeting kisses all over his father's chest and face. "What is it? Can I eat it? It tastes Eatable." he began to shoot off rapid fire questions, extremely excited over what seemed to be an awesome new thing to busy himself with all day every day.

Tywyll's excitement was contagious; Elwood grinned broadly as the boy's entire body twisted back and forth in an expression of his happiness. He chuffed softly as his son greeted him with licks and nibbles, then answered Tywyll's question promptly.

"It's a mouse," he said, "and yes, you can eat it. We can practice some more hunting if you want, after your snack." While the youth had quite literally stumbled onto his first kill, he had a natural eagerness to learn that Elwood suspected would make him easy to teach.

All Elwood had to say was that it was edible before Tywyll began to tear into it. He was slow at first, not sure exactly how to go about it but then he shrugged and gulped it down with gusto, even chewing up the small bones. Then he looked up, still wagging and licked his lips clean. "That was awesome! Better than milk! What else can we catch? Ceara said she wanted to teach me too, but I'd rather go with you" he said enthusiastically. He mused over what little animals he did know, Hoppy bugs, eagles, mouse, fish. He wondered if Hoppy bugs and fish tasted good, he'd never ever have the guts to take down an eagle.

Almost before the words were even out of Elwood's mouth, Tywyll had gulped down the mouse in its entirety. Luckily the small animal was something that could be eaten that way. Elwood chuckled as Tywyll licked his lips and then expressed his readiness to try hunting something else, mentioning that someone named Ceara had offered to teach him, too. While he hadn't met her in person, he had heard about the other Blackthorn that had joined their ranks, and he nodded his head in approval.

"She can teach you, too. She might have some different tips and tricks than me," Elwood said. Then, slipping into teacher-mode, he said, "Let's see what we can find around here. The first thing you have to do is use your nose -- that will tell you if there's anything nearby that we can hunt." He demonstrated by lowering his snout to the grass and beginning to sniff as he moved ahead.

For a moment he hesitated, thinking that it was a shame his brother couldn't join. Then he snorted and decided that he wanted to learn alone with their dad, get all the knowledge and teaching for himself first. He would just teach Cinder himself a little later to make up for it that's all. When his father began to demonstrate how to sniff stuff out, he found it an easy concept to grasp. What was even more surprising to him was that he'd already been kinda doing it already, to sniff out bits of interesting stuff around the den or to find a particularly big bug. 

Lowering his nose he sniffed around while moving in various directions before his ears perked and he stiffened slightly. There was a scent that was vaguely familiar though much more fresh than he was used to. It was....squirrel! That was the name. He'd had a squirrel pelt to play with a while ago but it had gotten destroyed between him and Cinder. "Squirrel! I smell a squirrel!" he yipped loud enough to scare prey off within probably two miles. Not knowing his mistake he beamed expectantly at his father, expecting to be told it was good.

Elwood watched with a smile as Tywyll imitated him and began to sniff around in search of a scent. He felt a familiar sense of pride that he remembered from each litter; there were many things that he enjoyed about being a father, but teaching his children was one of his favorite activities. For now, he simply observed as Tywyll veered back and forth, nose working frantically.

The boy announced loudly that he had smelled a squirrel, and although it was likely that any prey in the vicinity had been scared away by his shout, Elwood still progressed with the lesson. "Great! Now let's follow its trail and see if we can find it," he encouraged, gesturing for Tywyll to go ahead so that he could follow.

He gave a nod, putting on his best business look as he lowered his nose. It took him a bit longer than it should have to find the scent again but once he did he moved forward, tail wagging with enthusiasm as he quickly followed the trail. Then suddenly the trail vanished and he stood there confused until a weird crunching sound came from above. He looked into the trees and spotted a hawk on the branches tearing apart his squirrel. He immediately got pissed off and began to snarl and bark up at the tree at the Hawk, which fixated him with an annoyed look.

He followed Tywyll at a distance, allowing the boy to guide their path without any input from his father. Before too long, the boy stopped and seemed to be momentarily at a loss. Elwood drew up behind him, and then looked up when he heard a sound from above. At presumably the same moment as Tywyll, he spotted the bird -- it wasn't X -- and then noticed that it was making a meal of Tywyll's intended quarry.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much they could do about it, but Elwood allowed Tywyll to loudly express his anger for a few seconds before reaching out to touch his shoulder with his nose. "Sorry, buddy. We can look for something else, if you want?" he suggested, leaving it up to the youth.

After he had finished with his wordless equivalent of screaming curses at the bird he shut up and then sighed. "Guess they have to eat too, huh?" he asked turning to his dad with a slow wag of his tail. This hunt was a failure but he knew it wasn't his fault and he also knew there were plenty of other animals to hunt around here, he could always try again. Maybe he would get something more exciting than a squirrel! "Yeah! You wanna find something and we can try together?" he asked, all anger gone and replaced with enthusiasm once more.

Elwood was impressed by Tywyll's resilience as well as his maturity. The boy acknowledged that, although the hawk had essentially stolen his meal, it had to eat too, which was a particularly insightful thought. And then, a moment later, he was over it and ready to move on to the next adventure.

"Yes!" he agreed eagerly, turning away from the tree and dropping his own nose to the ground. He gave a thoughtful sniff, then lifted his head again to look at Tywyll. "What can we find now?" he asked, again leaving the ball in the boy's court.

Tywyll followed suit and sniffed the ground slowly. He couldn't quite get anything at first so he wandered away a bit, sniffing every so often assuming his dad would follow before he got wind of something he had no name for. It was a goose, but he didn't know what that was and hadn't seen one either. He did know it was feathery because he had played with feathers before plus that nasty eagle had given him a good whiff of what feathers smelled like. "There's uh...something feathery. A bird"

Shoot, I'm so sorry that this took so long

No worries!

Elwood waited patiently as Tywyll searched for their next conquest. Only after the boy announced that he had found something did Elwood lower his head in order to take a sniff himself. It was indeed something feathery -- a goose, which would likely be a bit too challenging for Tywyll to try to hunt himself just yet, but tracking it down would still be a valuable lesson.

"Smells like a goose. They can be kind of mean, so I'm not sure if we can hunt it, but let's find it and then decide," he suggested, gesturing for Tywyll to take the lead once more. And off they went to pursue Tywyll's next lesson in tracking.