Dragoncrest Cliffs The Ex-Prince's Birthday

Arrille didn't know it yet, but upon this day, he had been born. Born in the cold harsh winter, toward the end of the year. He woke up early in the morning to go out and venture the borders, as he had been told he would be doing if he were to train to become a warrior. The snowfall had started early on this day, and he left rather deep foot prints.

Seri was stepping thought the snow, sinking down past her ankles with everystep. She was on a search for other member of the pack. Even though almost half of it was away, she thought that might make it easier to meet them. Only having to meet half now and then the other half one they all got back. She wanted to be more involved with this pack then she was the others. She was older now and able to participate much more. It also helped that she was eager to learn the pack's history.

But instead of finding a new member she stumbled upon Arrille. It was hard to distinguish him for the surrounding, just like it was for Seri. But with motion and the trees it was alittle bit easier. Even if she couldn't find any of the other pack members she thought she could still spend some time with him. "Hey Arrille" she called out to him before approaching. "Do you want to go hunting with me?"

Arrille swivelled his head around, spotting Seri approaching through the snow. He gave a bit of a nod of his head toward her in greeting, then got back to going along. But he kept his ears on her.

He made a couple of steps before turning so his side faced her. "Hunting? What would we go hunting?" He thought for a moment. Normally, hunting was done for him. Perhaps this was a chance to do more. Plus, he hadn't done much interaction with Seri since arriving.

Excited that it seemed Arrille would join her in this hunt she replied, "Rabbits, squirrels, whatever you want. Nothing too big though, I haven't had a chance to practice with big game yet. Is there a particular animal that you like to hunt?" she asked wanting to make this as much fun for him as it would be for her. In the past she felt like Arrille was just playing along with her to make her feel good and not for his own enjoyment. She hoped this time, both parties would have some fun.

Arille shrugged. Anything he could get his jaws around, really. "Well, squirrels climb, and rabbits run fast...so you decide, something that can climb or something that can run?" he asked. Since he had met Seri, at first anything he did was just to keep her happy, and so that he could go on his way. And although he had invited her to come, things seemed to come closer to a friendship.

Once again Arrille was being kind and letting Seri decide. But that's not what Seri wanted. Even though he was trying to do what she wanted, he was doing exactly the opposite. "Well it's not like we're going to climb a tree of run a long distance to get one of them." she said. Thinking that all they would need to do was creep up on the creature and possible chase if for a short distance. "I want you to pick. You can even have what we catch. It will be my thanks for letting me follow you here. Come on, you have to have a favorite animal to hunt." she said assuming that he had done this kind of thing all the time.

Arrille rolled his eyes after a sigh. Then he thought about it in his head. And picked...."Rabbit. Let's go for rabbit." Squirrels were much smaller than rabbits. Plus, he liked the taste of rabbit. Although the only creature he had hunted was butterflies. "Not sure if you know...but I haven't done much hunting for myself. Mostly wounded animals."

She gasped lightly. Hadn't hunted? "Really? But you're..." she stopped herself. She was about to say that he was far too old to not know how to hunt for himself. They were still young, but they were plently old enough to know how to hunt for themselves. She wondered how he got by being all alone like he without eating fresh food. Scavenging? She thought.

But she didn't say it aloud. Not wanting to embaras him any further if he was. "Rabbit it is." she declared and started to head in a random direction. Rabbit could be found almost any where anyway. "W... Would you like me to teach you? I'm no expert, but I think I have the basics down pretty good." she offered.

He shook his head, not nearly as embarassed as most. "I had Mother to do that for me...then Maude." He had been taught a few things. But not to hunt, he had never been taken on an actual hunt. And if the opportunity arised, he was too weak to even do so. Most of the eating done with Maude was scavenging. 

"Sure, I might as well learn sooner than later." He followed along beside her, keeping an eye out for a rabbit they could found.

She wasn't sure who Maude was, but Seri took note of the name and thought to ask about it later. She assumed it wasn't his father since he called his mother 'mother' rather then by her actual name. Maybe a realative or close friend, but why wasn't he with him them. Questions for another time.

Her tail wagged when he agreed to letting her teach him a bit. She thought about where they should start. Not that it was decided that they would hunt for rabbits, she though some tracking would be fun. "The first step in hunting is finding your prey. Even though you haven't hunted a rabbit before, I assume you know what they smell like." she assumed. If he had ever eaten a rabbit he should know what it smelled like. Alittle different then a live rabbit, but close enough to get them started she hoped.

"You keep your nose low to the ground and search for that scent. Once you think you have found it you follow it. But make sure your following it in the right direction. The scent should get stronger, not weaker. Otherwise you will move away from it." she explained. Hoping she had done a good job of explaining. Maybe he already knew this, but without knowing what he knew she thought she would start from the very beginning.

She began to sniff around to demonstrait and caught a faint scent herself, but waited to see if he would also find it before moving on.

Arrille nodded, he indeed did know. He had been brought dead rabbits numerous times back in his birth pack. He lowered his nose like Seri did, and also caught the scent. Faint, so he didn't know exactly what it was. "That it?" he asked, lifting his head up again. "So, what now? track it down, then bolt after it?" he asked. Seri seemed to know what she was doing, so he would follow her lead.

"Yep that's it and... it's heading... in... That direction!" she said excitedly as she pointed in the right direction. When he asked what happened after that she responed saying, "Almost. You want to be as quiet as you can can creep as close to it as you can before pouncing on it of chasing it." she said and demonstrated with the air as she spoke about it. Pouncing on the ground about a yard away from her.

Arrille looked in the same direction she pointed, the way the scent was heading for. "Pouncing...I'm good with pouncing" he replied. "Used to pounce a lot of butterflies..." He demonstrated a pounce of his own next to Seri, smiling. "So you said this way? Then let's go get ourselves a rabbit."

She smiled back at him. It was fun to see him actually having fun. Doing something that he might enjoy. She thought it somewhat strange that he had pounced on butterflies, but thinking about it again it sounded like a great idea. They weren't the easiest thing to catch. "Yep this way." she said to clarify. "Lead the way oh mighty hunter." she said in a joking manner with a light giggle. This was his time to shine, he would lead the way.

Arrille gave her a smile in return, and laughed a little. "I don't think butterfly catching makes me 'mighty'...but I'll go along with it." Truthfully, he liked the idea of being called mighty. 

He spotted the snowflake-colored rabbit ahead, nibbling on grass it had uncovered underneath the snow. Doing what Seri had told and shown him to do, he got low and began to sneak up to it, readying to pounce. One would see, as soon as he did, that his pounce was too early.

Even though Arrille remained humble about his abilitis as a butterfly pouncer, Seri still thought that it mush be alot harder to catching a small flying butterfly, then a larger rabbit that ran on the ground. 

She followed after Arrille lead and soon enough a rabbit came into view. Seri knew to get low, but she waited till Arrille did, mimicing his movements and his decisions. He make the first go at it, but he wasn't quite close enough and his pounce ended up a bit too short. Alerting the rabbit to their presence. Focused in on the situation Seri ran after it right away weaving around two trees before grabbing hold and holding onto it's throat. 

She kept her grib but wanted to make sure that Arrille saw the final act. He may not have caught it, but it could still be a teach able moment.

Arrille sprawled out in the snow, and he managed to lift his head to watch as Seri got after the rabbit, and then managed to catch it. He got up, shaking off snow from his fur to go toward her. "You...you got it" he huffed, smiling toward her. "Good job, Seri...good job." He sat down near her, keeping an eye on her and the caught rabbit.

Once she saw that he had recovered she finished off the rabbit by biting down hard and keeping it that way until she felt no more movement. Even though he didn't get a chance to make the final blow she seemed generally happy that Seri had caught it. She released her grip and smiled at him, tail wagging with a bit of blood staining her muzzle. 

"You'll get one next time." she assured her student. "Do you want to take the first bites?" she asked, not starving and willing to reward his efforts. 

He looked at the catch, then to Seri...then back to the catch. And shook his head. "You take first bite, you caught it." He sat back as he waited. He hoped he would make a catch one day, for Seri had been a good teacher. He had just gotten ahead of himself.

We can fade around here if you want?