Blacktail Deer Plateau no, but a tin can

Sheep did not enjoy being chased, even when Grayday had no plans to kill or even maim them. For the past two hours, he'd been dogging a mother-child pair, intent on obtaining more chunks of fluffy, white wool. It was not, perhaps, the most ethical use of his time, but it was fun, and the sheep would live with minimal scarring - physically, at least.

"Well, you should've stayed in the mountains if you didn't want your fur harvested," the male insisted after nearly not dodging a vicious kick to the head. Later on, he'd mull over the intricate thought processes that led him to believe this statement. For now, he merely fell back a few yards and began trying to pen the pair in once more.

He had settled down into Morningside fairly easy, those he had met seemed to be friendly toward him for the most part. It was nice to see those who were here when he had left and he had smelled traces of others that he hadn't seen around yet like Kieran Adrien. After the joyful reunion on the borders he and Dawn had parted ways and he had explored for a bit, but he wanted to speak with his dad. Tracking his scent his jaw comically dropped as Sunny saw him chasing what looked like running, waddling balls of earth bound clouds. 


Stumbling forward he flattened his ears as he tried to get close to one of these cloud critters and it made a god awful noise and ran away from him. His father was forgotten in the moment as his curiosity was peeked and he chased after it, pouncing and grabbed a moutful of cottony weird fur in his jaws. The cloud made that noise again and pulled away leaving Sunny to sit there with a confused and disgusted look and a good sized wad of wool hanging from his mouth.

Grayday looked up when his ears detected motion from another direction. He stopped short when Sunny arrived on the scene and promptly tore a chunk of fur away from the ewe. "Great!" called Grayday, dancing over to where Sunny stood and tugging playfully at his prize. "I've been after them all morning, and all I have to show for it is a chunk about twice that size."

He tipped his head back the way he'd come, where a wadded up pile of wool was nestled against the base of a tree. His eyesight was getting worse, and it made precision hunting like this a bit harder than it had been in his youth. "I'm trying to get enough to keep Lavender warm at night, but I'm starting to think that this isn't the way to go."

Sunny growled playfully and tugged back a few times before releasing the chunk of wool to his father and grinning "What the hell are they?" he asked curiously his flanks still rising and falling rapidly from the excitement of chasing a new animal. His dad went on to explain that he had been trying to get them all morning but hadn't had much luck and that the wool was for Lavender. Sunny's eyes softened and he nudged his dad with his nose "Why don't you chase one to me and I'll pounce on it and deliver the kill? We can choose a small one to kill and drag back, that should be enough to feed the pack and keep Lavender warm."  He suggested eagerly. They smelled good beneath the wool and Sunny had to admit he was kinda eager to taste it.

"Sheep," said Grayday, surprised that Sunny hadn't heard of them before. They'd had some at the Cuesta, but then again, Sunny hadn't stayed there for very long.

Sunny's wool was quickly deposited with the rest, since Grayday was more interested in thinking about Sunny's suggestion than starting a game of keep-away. Although Grayday hadn't been planning on eating these sheep today, he couldn't find a reason why they shouldn't.

"Okay," Grayday agreed, giving an amiable bob of his head. "Watch out for the hooves, though, okay?"

He didn't wait for a response but set off in a wide arc around the pair, assuming that Sunny was old enough now that such warnings were unnecessary. The sheep bleated uncertainly, but allowed themselves to be penned in between the two wolves.

Sunny blinked at the name having not heard of them before. He hadn't stumbled across any of these in the Cuesta and Easthollow didn't have any that he had ever seen. The warning was accepted with a firm nod and he watched his father take his place before scanning the crowd of Sheep. Most of them were large but there were a few that were slimmer and more lithe than the others.Sunny picked out one that loped ahead and to the side of the herd crouching slightly and jogging toward the young sheep. The poor thing was slow of mind and when it saw Sunny it tried to push through the crowd of Sheep instead of running away, giving Sunny the chance to leap.


He landed with ease and his weight pushed the sheep over. Knowing  that the hooves would start flailing he leapt off and to the side of the fallen Sheep narrowly avoiding a kick to the chest as he fastened his jaws around the wooly neck. He growled and bit down crushing the windpipe with his jaws and shaking hard, jerking the neck to the side with a sharp crack. Panting heavily he sat back on his haunches and looked over at his dad grinning with pride. "I did it! Not the smoothest but still....it was clean" he said through his quick breathes.

The two sheep were a blur of white, and Sunny a smudge of grey between them. There was a flurry of motion, and then one white blur fell under the smudge of grey. It was only when the male drew closer that he saw that Sunny had chosen to take down the lamb; a more economical choice. It was not as much meat, but the ewe would go on to have more lambs in her lifetimes, whereas the lamb probably would have died without its mother.

Still, the leader watched the ewe canter away with a regretful look on his face. He'd've liked to have both.

"Nice job," Grayday praised, turning his attention back to his son, eyes bright and merry once more. "Lemme catch my breath, and then we'll drag it back to the rendezvous site." He made a show of being winded, but in reality, his leg was hurting him something awful. If Sunny looked, he'd probably be able to tell there was something more afoot, but Grayday would be quick to wave off the worry. A little soreness never killed anybody, did it?

"I, uh - met someone," he said cautiously, wondering how his son would take this news.

Sunny gave a wag of his tail at the praise and stood up studying his father. He did really look winded but he hadn't done much else than herd the sheep toward Sunny, was there something else wrong? "Are you alright dad? Take your time." he asked with concern though he wasn't able to pinpoint any source of something that might be wrong. It didn't occur to him that the old injury from the snakebite could be what was causing problems for his father.

The sudden news of Grayday having another woman surprised Sunny. He processed the information slowly and silently but he didn't know what to think. How long had Akuti been gone really before Dawn came to get him? Was his Dad really over her so fast? Was that just a normal thing to happen? "That's....nice!" he began slowly trying to find the right word to use before choosing one he thought was good enough. Since he wasn't really sure what to think he sounded a bit uncertain if it really was nice but he tried to be enthusiastic and happy for his dad.

Grayday grimaced at the false tones he imagined in his son's voice. "I know it's soon, but... I'm lonely, Sunny. Khoe only wanted me because she wanted my kids, and look where that got us. But now... with her..." He looked away, not quite comfortable with the amount of vulnerability he was displaying. "I don't know. She wants me. And she's beautiful, and... I haven't felt like this before. Not even with - "

He paused, shooting Sunny a panicked look, only to remember that he wasn't keeping secrets anymore.

"Not even with Adeline," he finished softly, studying his paws.

"Dad no I wasn't judging ya, I just really don't know what to think. I don't have any experience with this stuff you know. If...she makes you feel different in a good way than you've felt with any other woman then I wish you two luck. Who is it?" he quickly reassured him. Sunny was confused by the comment on Adeline but had the vague recollection of his father mentioning that he loved Adeline. He honestly hadn't thought about the green eyed lady in quite some time after busying himself with Easthollow.

Grayday ducked his head, realizing he'd over-thought his son's reaction. He should've known that Sunny wouldn't judge him too harshly - the boy was too good-hearted for that. "Sorry," he said with a tiny laugh, moving closer to his son to bump his head roughly against the younger wolf's shoulder.

"Her name's Catori," he replied, his voice returning to normal as he thought about Cat's mischievous eyes. Something both strong and soft churned in his belly, giving him the energy to hop back into action despite the ache in his leg. "She's amazing - sassy and sweet, and patient and thoughtful and gorgeous - "

He cut himself off, shooting Sunny a contrite look. "Sorry, buck-o. You probably don't want to hear that. But it's true." He grabbed the lamb's flank and gave an experimental tug. It would probably take them a few hours, but they'd get it back to the rendezvous site. "Wanna grab it by the neck?" he suggested.

Playfully nipping at his dad's ear he grumbled a "yeah sure" that was full of mock hurt. He grinned at his dad and cocked his head to the side as he was told who had Grayday's interest. A surprised laugh escaped his maw "Cat? Oh yeah! She really is pretty!" he answered and then avoided his dad's eyes and turned his head away flattening his ears bashfully "I mean um...I..." he tried again before snapping his jaws shut and standing up shaking his pelt out and grabbed the lamb by the neck tugging it and helping his dad drag it back to the den site while hoping his comment would be let slip.

Grayday chuckled at Sunny's response, not too surprised that Sunny had noticed Catori's beauty as well. No one who looked at her would be able to deny her beauty, and so, he was able to push down the knee-jerk possessiveness that welled up in him at the thought of another wolf eying his woman. This was Sunny, after all. If he couldn't trust his blood, then who could he trust?

The conversation dropped off there, and the pair began dragging their kill back toward the rendezvous site - something that was sure to become an all-day endeavor.