Lost Creek Hollow lemon

still young and lanky and not even close to cully grown, pike was certainly filling out. he was thick, not quite rotund but certainly threatening to be, and he crashed through the territory like a possessed bowling ball -- with teeth. he had harnessed his walking capabilities, no longer struggling to walk without wobbling, and he was on the prowl. 

today, he crashed through the territory towards the borders, following @Arbiter's scent the best that he could. and, when he spotted her, he launched himself right at her, though she had plenty of time to hear / see / and return the attack by merely shoving him away -- if she wanted. anyway, pike wiggled. mOM ! he exclaimed, a tooth getting caught on his lip as he paused, making sure he had her FULL attention, i wanna patrol wi' you today. he was quiet for a second, eyes ablaze with tiny, devil-spawn ambition, and finally added quietly in a young slur, pwease?

Apparently today's patrol would not be a solo one, she had a particularly loud shadow approaching at high speeds!  She turned to face Pike as he galumphed forward out of the brush.  It seemed like they were growing like weeds now.  And that meant that Arbiter could in turn be a bit rougher to them.  And it wasn't like she was gonna dodge.  That'd be totally counter to her as a person.  He was still far too small to shove her much, but with her own wide maw she could certainly lightly nom him and ruffle his fur, in a still reasonably-light play bite.  She let go, then licked the boy's forehead.

It was good that he was taking an interest in things.  Their previous border outing had pretty much soured Spook on the whole thing, seemed like.  What would she do with that child?  Yes you can.  Do you think we'll see anything out there today?  The answer was probably not, but if he really wanted to find something, she could look a bit harder for proper entertainment.

a little scuffle, mass affection to the tiny shark, and then yes!! she accepted his request! mega awesome cool. pike wriggled with excitement at his mothers response and then began to pad alongside her looking rather arrogant. like fifteen bad guys. responded pike with a flash of his gaze, n' me'n'you are gonna kick their butts! seemed a little too optimistic, but hey, at least he was enthusiastic. 

you can show me all your sweet fightin' moves, he added with a few wags of his tail.

Okay, to a certain point she did enjoy this.  Arbiter welcomed his enthusiasm even if she was a much more calm and collected sort.  It allowed for games, and of course since it was Arbiter, all of the ones she thought of were educational, biased towards survival, really.  All of her children would be ahead of the curve, if she could have any say in it.  That sounds like an awful lot of bad guys -- if we run into that many, we should pick them off one by one.  Tactics, you see.

She nipped lightly at his shoulder, then nudged Pike with the flat of her muzzle.  So why don't you show me how you'd sneak up on one?  Then I'll know you're ready for action.  It benefited both hunting and fighting, so whether he disappeared into the bushes only to reappear to "fight" her or just showed his best prowl, it would likely be good.

he stored the information into his little peabrain, noting that this was logical. but still, he had some question. but won'ey all attack at once? returned pike with a flick of an ear. her comment made sense to him, and he agreed, but would they even be able to take em one by one if they were all there at once!!!?? maybe we'll only run inna' three, he added with a few wags of his tail, imagining that to be more exciting. 

yeah!! he yipped with wild enthusiasm, giving his mama an affectionate nip as she nudged him. and disappear into the bushes was exactly what he did. terrible exit, he crashed through the underbrush creating a lot of noise... but then it went (mostly) quiet. a few moments passed before a little black nose was poking through a space in the bushes, twitching. he moved, low to the ground, disturbing the underbrush (whoops) and looking rather funny -- not really in the best position to attack from but certainly putting forth the effort. and when he was fully emerged, pike made a few puppy-growls and scrambled forwards from his position to launch himself at arbiters ankles.

Not if we are very sneaky.  If we're very quiet, they won't know what's going on, she said with a smirk.  Simplified, sure, but it was probably a bit too early to go into a full making lots of noise on purpose vs staying quiet theory-crafting session.  Besides, hunting lessons had to be starting up soon, so it would help more with that than anything else.

Then off he went!  Ah, how she enjoyed his interest in this.  Arbiter did her best to try to seem completely unaware, watching a little bit out of the corner of her eye.  Of course, inexperience meant he made plenty of noise, even as he tried to attack stealthily, so at that point she could sort of stop pretending, swatting lightly at him with a paw, and gently nomming him on the shoulder as he "struck," playfully growling all the while.  Not a success, obviously, but it was a start.  You must be like an owl -- fly silently, then strike.  Since we don't have wings, we have to watch where we step.  Each leaf touched will make a noise, sticks crack, and rocks can clatter.  When you learn to pick the quietest path, you can catch your prey unawares -- bad guy or food.  If the first time they know you're there is when they feel your teeth, you have the advantage.

But just in case he thought it was something easy, it was best to quash that right now  (or happened to take his failure a bit too personally), It takes a lot of practice to do.  How about I walk along and you can try again?  Sure, it would slow down the patrol, but it was an important thing to teach.  And she had a sneaking suspicion that if Pike learned it, it would be easier to teach to Brou because he could use it against her.

whoop

aw. it seemed he failed!! which sucked!! because this was a full proof tactic on spook, who was always available to be chewed on. oh well.

pike nodded along as he listened, but squinted at a few comments she made. okaayyyyyyy, he replied anyway, little string bean tail waving, but jus' lettin' you know tha' owls are real loud sometimes too! i mean, maybe when they fly! but pike was only thinking about the sounds they made that sometimes kept him up at night. he reiterated his point. WHOOOOO. WHO. WHOOO. and then nodded for full emphasis. 

anyway! he agreed. okay!! go!! he said, giving her a tough lil shove to the ankles and then scrambling backwards to give her a headstart. and so when his mom was far enough away, pike began to sneak forward again, quieter this time... mostly. he was at least aware of his motion, but definitely made a bit of noise while he stalked along. he also didn't growl to announce that he was about to strike, which was good! so the little grey shark dove out from the underbrush at his probably suspecting mother, aiming again for the ankles like a little menace.

Enthusiastic, wasn't he?  Yes, but they don't hoot while they hunt, and right now you are to hunt like an owl.  And soon enough he skittered off to try again.

Of course, just because she heard him and expected him, it didn't mean she couldn't pretend just a little to encourage him.  Though Arbiter knew roughly where he was as she moved along, she did try to not swivel an ear in that direction.  Still, it was quite an improvement, even if she couldn't help herself from turning at the last second to playfully (and pretty gently) chomp him back.

Much better!  With more practice you will be even quieter.  And it will give you an advantage over your sister until she learns it as well, she said with a grin, always eager to foster a bit of competition between them -- encourage them to learn faster...  On the other hand, teaching Spook to be quiet was pretty useless, he was meek enough already that he didn't have as much of a problem going out of his way to not draw attention -- it was the other end of an attack that was more his trouble.

hoo hoo, he agreed with some aggressive nods. owl. be an owl. hunt like an owl.

his mom stopped him again, but he got some good praise out of that one!! his tail wagged furiously, and he gave a few puppy growls to show he was really taking all this attention and ego-building to heart. or, well, to the ego. she'll never know w'as comin! he exclaimed firmly, i bet cou' get spook too -- he don't really like to play fight all that much. good detective, work, buddy. 

only partially waiting for a response, pike head butted arbiter's leg again, softer and more affectionate this time than before. imma practice every day, he told her, glancing up with some crazy waves of his tail and some glittering green eyes.

Do we wanna fade soonish and make a newer one or something? XD

Quietly, Arbiter was looking forward to seeing Brou think her brother was some sort of phantom for however many times it took for her to figure it out and pay attention for the subtle clues.  She was loud enough it might actually take a while...  No he doesn't, but not everyone will become mighty warriors.  If you practice, you can be one.  She reached down to affectionately nibble at the fur on the top of his head before licking the fur flat again.  At least she approved of two of her three children (though sometimes who that other good one varied depending on who was behaving).

What else shall I teach you on our patrol, hm?  She was curious if he had any particular desires.  There was always the option to work on his tracking skills, or just make him work on being kinda stealthy the rest of the way.  Arbiter was pretty sure they weren't gonna have crazy intruders though.