Silver Creek just repeat the alphabet and hold out your longest breath

indra trotted clumsily after @Shreya, a wide grin plastered wildly on her short snout. this was it! the day she and laurel had waited for! game had returned to the wild and finally, there was an opportunity for a pup to tag along without great risk to the pack's livelihood.

she couldn't contain her joy -- she practically frolicked behind shreya with little rears and ayips of excitement. all this stopped when she passed the marker that defined her familiarity with the world -- a small band of rocks that indra had never braved to venture past. but they were passing! the world she viewed now was altered forever. she stopped to sniff a plant, though was quickly left behind by shreya's quick pace. "where we going?" she hollered, lumbering after shreya loudly.

Shreya smirked back at her little wriggler, then returned her eyes to the road ahead. The old wolf was limping heavily — she'd hurt her hind paw recently, and had explained it to the pups as the result of "a little adventure granny had beyond the borders". And this was quite true. But Indra was sprightly enough for both of them.

We're off to find ourselves a mouse to chase, she replied. For you, little lady, are quite the chaser. She peered round at Indra to judge her reaction to the lesson at hand.

a mouse! indra stopped, her expression darkening. "but they's so fast!" she chimed, confusion ringing in her voice. the storminess of her expression was fleeting, for in a few moments she was right back to clipping behind shreya's limping form. "how?" she queried.

Well, we're not going to catch it, she admitted. This top-notch hunting team consisted of one crippled elder and one tiny tot, after all. You're going to chase it — to practice hunting. And for fun, of course, she added wisely.

Shreya limped onwards until she found the patch she'd been looking for. A circle of bushes thick with heavy branches and twigs, their leafiness still on their way back in. She stopped, and bid Indra do likewise. What do you think, Indie. You up for the challenge?

indra was more than up for the challenge -- she puffed out her scrawny little chest self-importantly and strutted confidently forward -- that was, until she tripped.

regaining composure the little girl eyed shreya slyly, trying her best to recover from the embarrassing moment. catching things was too exciting and her legs were not really cooperating with her. as shreya fell to the ground indra tried to follow suit but was too eager; her breath came in shaky gasps and she practically resonated with frenetic excitement.

she waited, a shivering bubble of chaotic frenzy.

Knowing that Indra was following suit, Shreya lowered herself to the ground, her injured paw hurting a little but she ignored it. A good stretch wouldn't do it any further harm, as long as she didn't put all her weight on it.

Okay, now — she paused, and looked round at the girl. She smiled. Indra was vibrating like a leaf. You're going to cause an earthquake, she observed with amusement. Get down low and take a few long, deep breaths to calm yourself down.

indra was ready -- so ready -- and she focused on shreya with her eyes widely intent and her bat-like ears strained forward in tense excitement. when the she-wolf instructed indra to take deep breaths she gasped loudly, sharply inhaling in somewhat inefficient strokes of breath. "earthquake?" indra frowned for a moment before rejoining with a cheery exclaimation: "but i'm not earth!"

Shreya was about to explain earthquakes to the little one, and would've been quite happy to, but that's when an idea struck her. Pretend you are earth, she suggested. Lie close to the ground, and be as still as the soil around us.

pretend you are earth, came shreya's suggestion -- a suggestion which was met with incredulity and bafflement on indra's behalf. she was not by nature recalcitrant, but the very idea of being dirt repelled her - she was a wolf! a thing! not the insensate ground beneath her. she hunkered down, breathing heavily into the soil as she did so -- and with every muscle outpoured her will to be earth - to be still.

it was a valiant attempt on indra's part, but a poor and novice attempt at best. she laid there, tense as a quiver -- and awaited further instruction.

At this age, most hunting training was done by playing. But Shreya wanted to give Indra a chance at chasing some real prey, knowing she'd get a buzz out of it — an almost literal buzz, it seemed.

She watched as the girl moved close to the ground and stayed as still as possible, which would certainly do for now. They lay there, primed, and soon the tip of a mouse's head could be seen at one of the far bushes. See that, Indie? she whispered. When we stay still and quiet, our prey comes out to have a look around...

Subtlety was an important lesson. Perhaps Indra was too young to learn it, but Shreya had every confidence that it would sink in some day — and the girl would look back and remember the mouse.

Edit: Shreya is now a PPC! Please feel free to fade out here, or reply again and fade. <3

@Shreya thank you for the thread - i archived <3

when the smallest snout of the world peeked bravely from the cover replete with a twitching set of ivory whiskers, it took indra's all not to shout out 'look! mouse!'. she bit her tongue and lurched forward, taking after the mouse with all the subtlety of a bowling ball tossed carelessly upon a glass staircase. the mouse, too smart to be eeked from the world by the paw of a keen babe, was long far gone.

she nosed wildly about the fern where the mouse was last seen, and consterned made her way back to shreya hopelessly. "i's quit!" she yelled, storming back to the den with a new task in mind. bedtime!