Ouroboros Spine GETCHO DOG BITCH! it don't bite. YES IT DO.

located near the coppice, hunting buddies always welcome <3

while shikoba would happily remain in the trail for those who killed off one of the caches and decided to ruin the rest of the leftovers, the sivullik is off once again to do more hunting. thankfully, the knowledge of moonwoman and others has led to many pieces of preserved meat. but this would not be enough; winter can be difficult and food can be scarce.

she mustn't wait for food to appear before her. so, the woman searches for snow hare. practically invisible during this time of the year due to their changing color, but with a keen eye, they can be spotted if patient enough.

Bored playing with her prophecy items and not having Samani in reach to torment her, Kausiut had left the communal den to stretch her legs. Pain in her crooked paw had subsided somewhat - rest had helped, so did herbs that Kukutux had convinced to take - and she was able to move around without limping. Her gait was still odd to a bystander, but she moved freely and effortlessly.

A packmate caught her attention - someone she had seen, did not know by name and up until now had not cared to find out more. She noticed that the wolf in question was in process of doing something - what that was - she did not yet know. Kausiut sat down to observe quietly and would not interrupt, unless addressed directly.

it does not take long for the child to be noticed by the older woman, though shikoba says nothing firsts simply because she believes that she may have found a trail of a recently passed-through rabbit. if she's lucky, she may search for the burrow and find something fresh. she inspects the snow carefully, seeing that remains relatively untouched except for the small tracks and prints of a smaller mammal.

a deep inhale with careful placement of her feet and shikoba is able to sense the direction to where the animal squared away to. a look back to the offspring of the duck and a head toss into the direction shikoba is heading into. a polite invitation to join the hunt. hopefully, it ends in success so the girl can feel excited rather than bored, as hunting can be rather difficult at times with low success rates.

For a while there Kausiut does not acknowledge that her presence has been noticed - she pretends that nothing is going on and even looks the other way. But the curiousity in, what the older lady is doing, is stronger than her stubborness. Soon she turns back and - just in time to catch the invitation to join.

She leaves her spot and nears her carefully, but not quietly. Her uneven, hobbling gait makes noise, but she does not realize that this would be detrimental to the hunt. She does not worry about it either - first, because she still has no idea, what the lady is doing. Second - because she is Kausiut. Sense of guilt is foreign to her.

she could see the general disinterest in the child's face, even the small turn of her head to show shikoba that she isn't truly interested. though curiosity always flickers and burns in the younger ones, the woman can see that the girl can't help but follow behind in her hobbly gait.

though, her loud movements cause the rabbit that shikoba was intending to track to scatter out from a snow pile, sharply to the left as it burrows in the snow. the woman is swift in the chase and soon kicks up snow behind her. she dives headfirst after the rabbit in the snow, but when her teeth touch nothing, she retreats out of the cold bundle, cold and bitter.

a sigh of disappointment, though this tends to be normal in the path of hunting. she looks towards the girl, searching for a bit of encouragement before she looks around for something else to fill the caches with.

When Shikoba charges forward, Kausiut follows her - more out of instinct than actual willingness. She is neither as fast, nor as agile as the older wolf, but she arrives just in time to see the huntress dive head-first in the snow for the rabbit. Tense seconds later she re-emerges again with nothing. A shadow of disappointment crosses the pupil's face, but, when her gaze meets that of the lady's she wags the tip of her tail a bit.

That chase of the prey has woken in her something that's more primal and stronger than her over-bearing rational mind and ensuing stubborness. Giddiness for action builds up in the pit of her belly and she looks up expectantly at the hunter. Where to next?

while there may be a short-lived second of disappointment, shikoba understands that hunting is often a multi-step process. and thankfully, she has an apprentice shadowing her. the older woman looks around now, hoping to find a sense of trail for any creature that could be lurking nearby.

the woman decides to travel south towards the repose of the territory, hoping that there may be more animals present. she is careful to walk slow, ensuring that the child is able to follow with ease. she turns her head for a moment to look back towards the girl. "does kausiut like bird or rabbit more?" this is usually meaningless information. but, thankfully, the girl is in the arms of an aunty who likes to spoil at times and take things into consideration.

Kausiut followed the hunter diligently, her awkward and noisy gait effectively scaring all viable prey away that happened to be in one mile radius of the two. She did not know much about hunting, having pounced on some mice that one of her parents had brought back for puppies to practice on before this. The girl had no idea of all the minute, but very important details that an effective hunt required. And even then - success was not guaranteed.

"Both," she replied. "You?" she asked, not because she was particularly interested in Shikoba's opinion, more likely, because she had observed that this was the way communication happened between people. If she wanted to crank out either a rabbit or a bird from this lady, she had to put a little effort.

"rabbit. tastes leaner."

wow, look at shikoba being a little health nut. anyways, shikoba decided to focus more on the hunt and less on the type of meat she was eating for that day. after all, with winter settling in heavy, any meat was better than nothing. 

but today, rabbit would not be on the menu, due to the strange gait of the girl that follows behind the warrior woman. but no matter, a white patridge flees from the ground, in hopes of escaping the steps of the wolves who drew closer.

thankfully, shikoba acts swiftly and chases after the bird with ease. with a few bounds through the snow, her teeth snap around the white bird. a moment of struggling, though shikoba is not going to end it right here. instead, she motions for the girl to come forward.

she sets the bird down gently, her paw presses against its wing so it can't fly off. should kautsiut question her, the woman would answer. "kausiut," she says with a bit of a serious tone, "kill it." the work was half done, if anything, this was the easier part of the hunt.

Wrapping up my threads. I will fade this one out. Thank you!

Kausiut was not very picky, when it came to food. She usually gobbled it all down in one take and occasionally would take a weird look at it again, if her stomach decided to push it out. She watched the hunter carefully, though most of the action she missed. The lady was too fast and, when she returned with a white bird and placed it before her, it seemed as if she had conjured it out of thin air. Like a wolf-equivalent of a magician.

Kill it? Kausiut understood, what was asked from her, but still she tilted her head to the side and eyed Shikoba quizzically. The bird struggled against the older wolf's grasp, desperate to break free. After a little thought the girl leaned forward to do the deed, but something happened - either she missed the mark, or the bird managed to strike her directly in the muzzle or the hunter's grip slipped just enough for the little thing to break free. The next moment the bird was scurrying away, dragging its injured wing and making an attempt to fly.

Without a second look back, Kausiut marched after it, forgetting entirely the older companion.