Noctisardor Bypass Making love at the break of dawn.

if u all have time <3

@Gideon, @Ezra. Anselm ducked beneath the canopy of willow tassels where the duo played, waiting for their attention. They were old enough now that their responsibilities to the pack over the coming months would change, and Anselm would not raise deadbeats. Come vith me.

He did not exclude @Heda, though it pained him to hold her gaze even a second. It is time for you two to earn your supper.

Staged, of course. They would not know it, but they were still too young for large game. Anselm had tracked a female hare to her warren of kits -- and here he would set the two children upon them like small, hungering cyclones in a peaceful city.

druid's absence, though felt keenly by ezra at first, begins to fade as his focus is pulled towards learning how to be a contributing member to rivenwood. the strained relationship with her children and their absences only yawns into a wider chasm. which, ezra is finding he is fine with. as long as he has gideon, he is fine.

his attention is roused from the small hole he was digging as anselm calls for them. dirt cakes his paws and smudges along his muzzle. a forlorn look is given to the small hole before he abandons it, heeding his father's call.

a small frown tugs at his lips; more curious than it was disapproving in it's nature. earn our supper? ezra inquires, trotting after anselm, quickening his pace to keep up.

While Ezra dug, Gideon searched for things to fill the hole with. His brother hadn't invited him to do so, but making decisions for one another without approval was just what brothers did best, wasn't it? When Anselm ducked into the shade and beckoned them to follow, Gideon had collected a long twig with the trailing ends of a spiderweb clinging to the tip, several nondescript rocks, and one mushroom.

Awww, he said under his breath as he, too, cast a longing look at Ezra's hole before following along at his brother's heels. Normally he would have a lot to say, but he was too busy thinking of more items he could collect for the hidey hole later to think much about what earning his supper entailed. Sometimes the process of thinking consumed him so much that the physical world passed him by unremarked. Now was such a time.

Only when they reached the site Anselm had prepared did he tilt his head and ask, what're we doing?

Two messy children met him. One looked like a tangled ball of dirt, the other skulked behind like he was barely part of this world. Anselm wondered to himself -- were all children so weird?

Yes, earn your supper. Here. He motioned for the pair to stop, standing on a grassy knoll. Ahead of them the grass turned from green to starchy, crunchy tan -- grass that was tread often and tired. See the grass? Vhere it is cropped down and brown by little teeth. He hunched his back and motioned for them to imitate him. And see there, the hole? He motioned to where a dip in the earth revealed a blackened tunnel. This is vhere your supper is. Earn it.

he cast a glimpse at gideon as anselm stops and shows them a rabbit warren, explaining to them that it's where their supper was. a soft tilt of his head is given: when he pushes himself to hear past his own grumbling stomach, he can hear the small noises of their quarry within.

he frowns back down at the hole, unsure of how to even start.

his natural inclination would be to dig down to them ( or maybe it's just because he was still wanting to dig holes ) and so, that was what ezra began doing.

Earn your supper.

Gideon was a distracted child most of the time. He had a very colorful world always inside of his head where he spent a great deal of time. Sometimes that world inside his head was just a quiet murmur, but sometimes it was so loud, it drowned out everything around him. He would always have a serious case of squirrel brain when that happened.

Once in a while, something would capture Gideon's attention so completely that his inner world disappeared, allowing him to be pinpoint focused on the present. Now was such a time. The moment Anselm hunched over, Gideon followed suit, scanning the ground for the signs Anselm described.

There! What should have been long blades of grass were instead truncated stalks, their finely tapered ends cut down to jagged crowns. Once he saw one, he saw another, and another, and soon he swore he could see the very paths the rabbits took during their feedings.

Cool and all, but that didn't help him earn his supper. Luckily, Ezra was there to show him the way. Gideon studied his brother for several beats, and when he realized just what Ezra was doing, he scampered to another spot where the grass was cropped low and began to dig as well.

Very good, Ezra, Anselm encouraged as his boy set down upon a hole with long heaves. The boy was a born hunter, something Anselm observed with a well of pride in his heart. His gaze fell upon Gideon now, entrenched in some hidden world of imagination beyond Anselm’s understanding; but one by one the lights seemed to flicker on, and then he too scampered off to a separate tunnel to dig. Vell done, Gideon, Anselm stalked past them both, waiting at a third entrance. 

His voice was hushed. You can flush out your prey, but you must be faster then them when they come — Scratching noises caused him to stop and tilt his head from left to right, listening with intense concentration. 

Suddenly, three hares streamed out of the mouth of the den, startled by the digging of the pups. Anselm set upon one with a snatch of teeth, sending it barreling towards Gideon and Ezra. The other two slipped between his legs, too fast even for his experienced teeth to snare.

the praise threatens to make its home in ezra's chest. it begins to burrow beneath ezra's ribs like the boy digs into the warren; nails scraping dirt with a fierce hunger that transcends the physical rumble of his belly.

he wants the prey. he wants more praise.

the hares fly from the den, startling ezra. they are quick for being such little creatures! and he had not known what to expect by his and gideon's digging.

a snap of his father's teeth and a hare comes careening towards him and gideon. pupils dilate and breath stills as instinct pushes ezra to lunge, teeth snapping: in an effort to injure or push the hare towards gideon so they might tag team it, ezra did not care.

he just wanted to succeed one way or another.