Moonspear manic monday

Mature Content Warning

This thread has been marked as mature. By reading and/or participating in this thread, you acknowledge that you are of age or have permission from your parents to do so.

The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: slight violence; injured bird getting played with

attn @Mira ? but all welc!

The rain was annoying, but Caelum had quickly grown used to it being an ever-present factor. He did not seem to practise much self-care when his pelt got wet and his skin got cold, but he had grown used to finding sources of heat if that occurred. The dark boy did not speak much; he was silent often, though when spoken to he seemed to diligently listen, and he spoke when asked to speak.

Presently Caelum had discovered a bird with a wounded wing at the rendezvous site and he was playing with it; sneaking up on it, pouncing it, and then releasing it again so he could practise pouncing it again while the bird squeaked and fluttered its remaining wing uselessly.

gonna place a MATURE warning here for like, slight violence?

The commotion outside drew Mira, and she scampered excitedly over to her brother to see what toy he had. It was an injured bird which he played with. The girl swiped her tongue across her lips, but thought the long game was more fun too- and shifted close to Caelum, murmuring i want to play too. Assuming Cae would allow her a moment, she might lean in to grasp the very end of the bird's injured wing between her teeth, and stretch it outward, trying to see whether it would look fairly normal or something grotesquely bent.

Toad had spent several hours trying to catch more ground squirrels in Moonspear's forests toward the lower part of the mountain. She had managed to catch nothing more than one subadult, which was hardly a mouthful. Still, she carried the rodent diligently back up the mountain. Having eaten a full meal not two days prior, she thought it right to gift it to whoever might be at the rendezvous site that day.

The rain made her journey less than pleasing, and she arrived wet and cold from being wet for too long. She was immediately attracted to the screeching noises coming from the site, and trotted toward its source. Two of Hydra's puppies were torturing a bird with what looked like a broken wing. Toad grinned, finding this game funny, and dropped the drool-coated squirrel by accident. She looked at it for a second, then stepped over it to inspect the bird. Watcha' going to do with it? she asked them, wagging her tail.

She had seen Hydra's pups all before, but had never directly interacted with them until now. The dead ground squirrel lie in the grass behind her, entirely forgotten.

I didn't feel that it was necessary to mark the thread for violence, but in case you feel better if we do I've marked the OP :)

The play was disturbed momentarily by Caelum's sister as she arrived en scene and was quick to take over. Caelum allowed her to step in; there was no denying her authority and while Caelum was not necessarily one to move aside or give in to others quickly -- he was rather brawny and had little regard for personal space of others -- Mira was an exception in the area. She and her quick wit, short temper and sharp teeth had proven early in his life that she was a match for him and while strong, Caelum was not necessarily dominant at this stage in his life. Not if it seemed that the other wolf could outmatch him, anyway.

So he allowed her to step in when she said she wanted to play, too. But then she didn't really play at all, but simply looked at the wing, which looked normal enough though was probably broken anyway. While this was a bit weird to Caelum -- this wasn't what playing looked like -- he did not question it, lacking the curiosity to pursue it.

Before long another arrived and Caelum turned his head towards this newcomer, someone he had not seen before. She looked excited and asked what they were going to do with it. Caelum said, his voice a little rough from not using it unless asked to, Learn hunting. Eventually, they'd probably eat it, but for now he wanted to practise because it was a good way to learn how to sneak and pounce better. When its body gave in, he supposed they would eat it.

no worries! wasn't a gripe, I just like to be careful :D

 

The wing looked too normal, and Mira was bored by it. She looked momentarily to Toad when the woman arrived, deeming her Moonspearian adult and thus friend- but did not answer because Caelum did so. She turned back to the bird, deciding to disfigure it further by pulling, pulling at the wing- causing the poor thing to chirp and struggle and flail wildly all about. She YANKED and something snapped- and when she spat out whatever she had, it was about half the wing, the end of it- and the bird was left with half its broken wing still attached. It was much more amusing to Mira this way- and then she released it, to watch it try pathetically to scuttle away from her and likely back into Caelum's grasp.

She's skippable, just watching

Toad lay down in a sphinx position, nodding as Caelum explained with two simple words. Important, she answered simply, knowing they were probably too young to listen to long sentences. Puppies were fantastic at this age because their games were simple and they didn't ask too many questions. Toad watched with a calm smile as Mira toyed with the animal, eventually causing a broken wing and watching it react to the abuse.

This was not the type of game where Toad would be able to interject and show anything of real value. The two youngsters were experimenting with how prey animals reacted to their teeth, exploring what they could do. The brown huntress watched patiently as the bird attempted a futile escape, hedging bets in her head on who might eventually end the little thing's miserable life.

Everything changed when Mira joined in the game. Pretty much right away, while he was explaining something to Toad, Mira was ravaging the prey. He was only positivity the chase, but his sister destroyed his toy with ease.

Hey, it's my toy, Caelum huffed, though he sounded more unamused than angry in any way. He didn't mind sharing toys, but it wasn't great that she cut its use short. You break it. The bird waddled back to him and Caelum was easily distracted with his sister breaking it, his instincts kicking in, and he lowered his rump into a play bow before jumping at the bird again.

A little too clumsily, because he snatched one of its legs, which came loose. With a squawk it tried to escape again as it escaped Caelum's grasp after losing another limb, likely right into Mira...

yours and mine, Mira huffed quietly, more fun this way. Didn't he think so too? It wasn't like he had stopped playing with it, so it must be good enough. Mira glanced at the adult while Caelum assaulted the bird, but looked back down after that as it squawked. Her gold eyes widened as it came towards her, pathetically bumbling. The serpent reached out with a black paw and batted it playfully, likely disorienting the poor thing. Perhaps her brother called it hunting practice, but she didn't want to kill it just yet. That would be like a robot with its batteries removed, which seemed a lot less exciting.

Mira said that it would be more fun this way, but Caelum was not sure. With as many siblings as he had, Caelum was used to having to fight for what was his. He puffed up his cheeks but then let the matter rest, didn't argue with her even though his expression said that he was not so sure if it was more fun if Mira had a part, too. But he would remember this in case she was ever playing with prey herself and join in, too.

They continued to assault the bird, back and forth, until eventually it broke down definitely and no longer moved. Questioningly Caelum looked at the adult, who would probably give some explanation about the death of the bird, after which they would tear off whatever pieces might be edible. Caelum kept a brown feather to himself. Dull, perhaps, to others, but to him it was a mark of the kill he had made.

like discussed on discord, i'll throw in a fade here :) zina, feel free to archive this as is, or post once more if you like ^^