Blackfeather Woods Meat & Bone

To tha kiddo's @Pietro and Kendra

Burke wanted his kids to start eating more solid meat, they were getting the teeth for it now. And although it might prove a little difficult for them to eat it, at least it would keep the two busy. Burke wasn't going to barf up their food forever, which is why he was carrying a thick juicy deer hip and leg. He had brutally ripped it off a carcass the pack hunted. Burke carried the leg with him, heavy on his jaw. The male had already partly stripped the fur of most of the hip and butt cheek part. Burke let out a small bark to call his children. He hadn't fed them yesterday, or the day before that only in the morning. Which he did on purpose, since he wanted them to eat this.

Hopefully all that chewing and fuzzing over a big piece of meat and bone would tire them out. Burke sat down by the carcass, he himself wasn't eating, he would let them have their way with the leg. He also didn't pick two separate pieces because he wanted to see if they would eat in peace or would have some squabbling over who would get what piece. "This is what we eat. It is deer, but instead of me chewing your meat you are going to get it yourself," he explained. He would mentor them later about the deer, and how they hunted but for now, he would let them attack and play. It was just as important.

Kendra instantly jumped to her feet when she heard her father's footsteps. She liked to explore, yes, but she also liked to be underground in the darkness. At least the snow couldn't reach her here. It wasn't like she disliked the snow, she liked the earth better. The dark pup instantly came from the den she had been entraining herself. An excited yip came from her as she greeted her father. Though then she realized that there was a nice smelling piece before him. With all her seriousness she turned to it. Her nose was brought closer and gave it a good sniff. 

She turned her head as her dad explained. So.. this was meat too? That was so interesting. Kendra licked over the meat, liking the taste. It wasn't soft when daddy chewed if for them. The girl wouldn't mind letting her dad chew it for her, but she also wanted to be big and show her dad she could do this. She started nibbling on the flesh and trying to rip pieces off the leg. This didn't prove easy, yes she had her teeth but the meat was slightly frozen and a bit tough. Nevertheless, her tail was wagging.

Pietro's ears stood up as the sound of his father's foot steps. His sister seemed plenty excited, and he chuckled a little. He watched as his father came in with a leg of some sort. Pietro scrunched up his brow in confusion. He stood to his feet and padded over. He stopped a little farther away than his eager sister, and outstretched his neck, trying to sniff the new meat. He drew a few steps closer, and began to lick the meat. The taste overwhelmed him and he tried to bite into it. It was so good! Why did his father wait this long to show them this amazing food?

Pietro tried to bite harder into the meat, moving his paws next to his head, trying to pull with his mouth, and push with his paws. The pup understood what his father was saying, but he was way to into this new food. Pietro succeeded in pulling a small chunk off of the leg, making him fall backwards. He quickly got up and chewed the meat. The meat was freezing in his mouth, and it made his teeth ache, but he tried to ignore it. He swallowed the morsel bit by bit. When he was done, he dove back in for more, avoiding his sister. He shook his head back and forth trying to pull a piece of the meat off. His father missed some feedings, so Pietro was very hungry. He turned to watch his sister, trying to pick up any good ways to pull off this tough meat.

Burke watched his children, pleased to see that they started eating from it without any protest. Great. He had expected them to be a bit whiny and wanting the warm chewed meat. As it turned out they were more than happy to sink their teeth in something and doing the dirty work. They were like their parent after all. Burke let them eat first, or let them get a bit tired from eating first. 

The father watched the surroundings so his kids could eat in safety. Burke didn't expect anyone to be here that had bad intentions but he still liked to be in the look out guarding his pups. "You know where this meat comes from?," he asked. Just wondering if they could make the connection to the deer having meat, instead that he was giving them food. Kids had weird thoughts sometimes.

It didn't take long for Pietro to join her. It felt right that he would sit by her, eating alone was weird. Kendra sunk her teeth into the carcass with more and more precision. She found a good spot which was mostly muscle. Though when she stumbled upon the hip bone she was a bit confused why it was so hard to chew. She went back to the red part which was much nicer. Still she would remember the white stuff for later. Kendra started to bit more eagerly and even let out a soft growl at Pietro that this was totally her spot. She liked her brother but they did have their squabbles from time to time.

The young female looked up when her dad started talking. She was more interested in eating the meat, but she did knew that it was rude not the answer a question, especially from her father. "Meat comes from you, Daddy. Though this one I don't know," she spoke. She thought that there was different kinds of meat, and now daddy's meat garden in his tummy was empty so now her father had found new meat, yet she didn't know where. She had seen a few deer only fleetingly, so sh didn't connect the leg to it at all.

Pietro loved the taste of the meat. He would surely turn out to be an adventurous pup. He had very little patience for this meat though. It slightly annoyed him that the goodness didn't just fall off for him. He would obviously think differently in the future, but in the heat of the moment, and while he was so hungry, that is what he wanted. He didn't show it, he wanted to seem tough, and capable of doing things on his own to his sister and father. Pietro moved his body away as his sister gave him a warning. Both pups were hungry, Pietro would get her back later.

Pietro took a step away from the leg, and studied it. When his father asked the question, he stayed quiet for a moment. Pietro had seen things bleed before, so he could slightly make the connection there was a liquid, he didn't quite know about, flowing through your body. This deer leg was littered with marbled with strands of white, which was muscle. Some spots had thick white clumps on it, or fat. He didn't know the anatomy to this extent yet. He could pick out that there was a red liquid oozing from the meat. His tiny brain churned as he made the connection. Earlier in the week, he saw a bleeding squirrel. He saw that the meat put in front of them was to big to be a squirrel. It was obvious to everyone involved Pietro was confused. "Is this an animal?" Pietro asked. His face was still clouded with confusion.

Burke watched both of his children. It was quite interesting to see that Kendra was more dominant than Pietro. The pup made way so his sister could keep on eating. He thought Pietro might have been more dominant. Yet, when he thought back at Meldresi she also had been more dominant than he was at times. Only when he took over as alpha he was more in charge, but that was also while she was sick. Regretfully they never gotten to lead with them. 

He listened to his kids answers. "Very good, Pietro," he hummed. He was a quick learner it seemed. "It is indeed an animal. It is a deer. We are wolves and we eat meat which means we have to kill other animals," he explained to his children. "There are all sorts of animals we eat you have big ones like deer and moose, yet we also have smaller ones like rabbits and raccoons," he added. He looked at the two youngsters to see their reaction. "Before I would hunt and chew the meat for you but since you two are so big already you can start chewing the meat yourself. And next time you can see how a hunt goes, perhaps. If you two will listen."

Kendra was more interested in the meat than her father's information if she was really honest. But when Pietro had the right answer and she hadn't she started to pay attention more. She didn't have much of a sibling rivalry, she loved her brother but the little feisty female did feel like tackling her brother right now. Kendra listened to her father, while half laying over the deer leg. She noticed their teeth were sharper than before. When she wrestled with Pietro she could feel his teeth better, sometimes it hurt. Her father named all kinds of animals but she hadn't seen most of them yet. "I like ... chew!," she spoke. Chew was a new word for her. 

"Father Do we eat plants too?," she asked curiously after he was done talking. Then the info clicked about going on a hunt with him. She was curious was that was all about, was that where they would kill the animal for food? Did they eat wolves? So many questions! "Do we eat other wolfs?," she asked. Her pale eyes meeting those of her father, not realizing what kind of macabre question she asked.

Pietro listened as his father named off these foreign animals. The only live animals he had seen were birds, and other wolves. Maybe the occasional squirrel. He scrunched up his brow in confusion. He listened to his sister ask about plants. He turned to her and his face was scrunched up. "That's gross Kendra. Wolves are good, unless they are on our territory." Pietro said, quoting his father proudly. His mouth was very sore from pulling on the meat. He jumped over the deer leg, and laughed. He would annoy his sister in a few seconds, as he jumped over and over. He stopped and whined a bit. "Sore."

Burke was surprised at some of Kendra's questions. Pietro babbled after her, quoting him. He had to smile a bit at that. He gave his son a smile. "Well, some wolves do but it is frowned upon by other wolves, Kendra. They are called cannibals. One who eats his own kind," he explained. "We do kill other wolves, but only if they are bad," he explained. Which was also part of the brotherhood. It was maybe too complicated for them so he labeled those wolves as 'bad'. 

Burke looked at Kendra, to see what she was thinking. He was wondering how he would react to his daughter eating other wolves instead of prey meat. "And to answer your other question. Yes, we do. But usually when you don't feel well, plants can help with that. Berries and fruits too. But! Some plants can poison too," he explained to the girl. Burke then had to focus his attention on Pietro. Burke stepped forward and ripped of a good piece of meat. "It happens, it is cold now. So once the snow goes away eating will be easier. And next time we have a pack kill you can eat warm meat. But practice a lot of chewing it is good for your bite."

Kendra instantly tackled Pietro when he was being annoying. She tried to bite him in his neck and push him down. Her brother might be bigger but she had some strength in her! She wasn't going to let him push her around. Then her father started to explain which she really wanted to pay attention to. Her father clearly didn't approve of eating wolves. She would remember that. "But daddy if we kill does that mean we are the bad guys?," she asked, it sounded so innocent. She meant killing in general not killing of wolves specifically. 

Her ears perked up when her father talked about plants. She liked plants. She wanted to work with them and now she found out that she could help others with it AND poison others. Wow. Plants were awesome. She instantly wanted to investigate but where to go to? "Can you teach me daddy?," she asked. Kendra stepped forward when Pietro's jaw hurt. She licked him over his cheek and sat by him. The Kendra glanced to the side and tried to steal the meat from her bother.

Pietro listened to Burke as he explained canabalistic tendencies. He was young, and still didn't know much about life, but he thought it was wrong to eat another wolf unless you are starving. He yelped as his sister tackled him. He barked and bared his teeth at her. He bit down on her ear, softly, but enough for her to get the point. When his sister told Burke about her passion for plants, all Pietro could do was snicker. Some wolves wanted to work with plants, but Pietro on the other hand, knew he wanted to be out and about fighting. He had a fighters spirit. He sometimes made up scenarios and taught himself to fight. Of corse, these were puppy fights, so a simple swipe to the head meant his enemy was dead. A bark would send them running. It was all in good fun for Pietro. He got up and picked up a stick he played with earlier in the day. He walked back to his sister and poked her with it. "Is this plant helping you Kendra?" he said teasingly. He continued to poke and tease her. He laughed at himself, and tensed up, waiting for his sisters response.

Burke looked at Kendra who asked such an innocent question it was close to unbearable to answer. "No we are not. We have our beliefs and we follow them. It makes us good by following," he explained. Not that such words would justify all but Kendra was still young. Burke looked down at his daughter but was rather clueless with plants. She really was a little Meldresi. Burke looked into her hopeful eyes. "I can show you, but for real questions you might have to ask you big brother Cicero," he explained. Little did he know was that Kendra would make a friend soon that would teach her.

Burke watched when Pietro tried to be funny, or at least tease his sister. A mother might have stopped him, scolding the young boy, but Burke knew that Kendra could stand up for herself. Burke moved towards the piece of leg himself, starting to nibble on it since he was quite hungry himself.

Kendra nodded when her father replied to her. She wouldn't have minded if he said that they were bad guys, yet having her father say that they followed their beliefs calmed her in a way. Now she knew that her father wouldn't disapprove if she would follow her own beliefs. It made sense to her that your own beliefs were very important and one should listen to them. Kendra was pleased. Then Pietro had to ruin it by making fun of her. She scowled at him. "That is a branch not a plant, stupid," she huffed and instantly charged at him. 

Kendra let her father be, she would eat from the carcass more later. She hoped her father would keep some left overs. Now she had to deal with Pietro. She respected him about wanting to fight so she was going to make him accept that she liked plants and how cool they were. Just like what Pietro did to her before, biting her ear, she now launched an attack at his ear for now.

Pietro laughed as his sister charged him. He got up and scampered away. His long legs made it easier to move away from his sisters reach. Brothers were there to do two things: Protect their sister, and tease them. He still had the stick in his mouth when his sister tackled him. The stick snapped in Pietro's mouth and a shooting pain went through his face. A loud cry sounded from him as a trickle of blood touched his tongue. He opened his mouth wide to reveal a good sized splinter stuck in the roof of his mouth. Tears fell from his eyes, and he shoved his sister off. "It's stuck!" he yelled. It was probably dramatic, but it hurt at the moment, and it scared him. It was a good sized splinter, and it was obvious it hurt. He cuffed his sisters ear with his paws and stopped crying. The pain was dull now, but they had to get the splinter out. He shot his sister a humorous look, reassuring her he was fine. "Daddy can you help me?" he asked, the remains of the cry still strung in his voice.

Burke actually jumped up when Pietro cried out. As a father he knew his kids had several types of cries. The 'I'm so happy'-cry. The "I want this, give me'-cry. The 'Don't want'cry. And the worst The 'Severely hurt'-cry. Pietro sounded like the latter. Burke was not a healer but he was thinking of becoming one with his pups being in trouble like that. First Kendra being cold because of the mud and now Pietro. He looked into Pietro's mouth but it was far to small for Burke to get it out of there. He looked at Kendra for a moment with a scolding glance. 

"You will have to push it out with your tongue," he instructed. "I can't get it out for you. How do you suppose I'd do that?" Burke was a giant and Pietro could most definitely not open his mouth so far that Burke could take it out with his teeth. Burke hoped that it wouldn't get infected. An infected mouth was something that would be very hard to cure. "Push against it with your tongue."

Kendra stepped back when she actually hurt Pietro. She never intended him to have actual pain just to let him know plants could fight back. In the end it turned that the branch fought back since Pietro had a splinter in his mouth. Kendra looked worried for a moment, and looked at her father. She instantly saw his scoring look and let her ears drop to the side, looking pretty guilty. 

The dark girl stepped closer looking in Pietro's mouth too. "I can try!," she offered. She would do that for her bother, also because she caused this. "Also I told you! Don't be mean to plants they can hurt you back!," she pointed out.

A final tear dropped from his eye. Pietro still had that after cry look, wet eyes, slightly runny nose. He shot his sister a nasty look at her comment. Pietro looked up at his father with a confused and surprised look. How was he supposed to push it out with his tongue when it still hurt? He shot his sister a warning: Dont-you-touch-me-I-got-this look. He squinted his eyes and raised his tongue up to the splinter. Stupid plant. Plants are stupid. he thought. He obviously didn't know the full power of what herbs could do. He pushed on it and let out a tiny cry-squeak. He pulled his tongue away when it began to throb. The pain was fairly calm before his father instructed his to mess with it. "It hurts really bad!" he said loudly, and looked up at his father with big, sad eyes. He began to push on it again, and it finally popped out, leaving a visible hole where it was. The wound began to trickle blood after being disturbed. He looked at his dad with questioning eyes. What now pops?

Burke watched as he expected his son to deal with this himself, not because he didn't want to help Pietro but because he couldn't really help him. He was just a wolf too and not a medical master. He was was good in other things. He realized by raising these kids himself that he had to be everything. He had to be a hunter, a medic, always be ready to help them. Being a single father was quite the work. Burke watched Pietro as he tried to push out the splinter. Once it popped out, Burke grabbed it  and placed it away before someone would get it in their paws. Soon Pietro was looking at him with helpless eyes. 

"Come Pietro," he spoke and motioned him to follow. He briefly looked at Kendra, signaling that she could follow too. He brought them to the stream close by. "Drink." The water was cold but all the fresh water was cold by now. Hopefully as Pietro drank the water would shock the warm blood into a stop. Then he realized he should praise Pietro for being so brave and withstanding pain. "You did good," he spoke.

Kendra watched Pietro with a pout on her face when she wasn't allowed to help. She was his sister. She wanted to help him when he was hurt. Her brother would have to realize that. Kendra wanted to lick him but then their father would bring them to the stream close to the glen. Kendra was quick to follow and trot next to her brother, giving him soft licks of sorry. She didn't mean for him to grow actually hurt. Kendra drank a few sips too and turned back to Pietro.

Pietro flopped his ears down. His mouth hurt, and water didn't sound good. He reluctantly followed, stomping his feet as he walked. He felt his sister try to lick him apologetically, and he returned the licks with his own. He licked her face reassuringly. As a young male, he tried most of the time to have a brave face for those surrounding him, and he tried to do the same to his sister. He hid the fact that his mouth hurt really badly. He walked up to the little stream, and lapped up some freezing water. When the cold water touched his wound, he helped, and pain spread in his face. He squinted his eyes and continued to lap up some water, some of the blood washing out of his mouth. The wound throbbed as water continuously crashed against the hole. He stopped drinking and coughed. He backed up and stood, waiting for further instructions from his father.

Burke watched the pup who didn't look like he was hurting much. Maybe he was hiding it. Alas, if he wouldn't tell if it hurt then Burke couldn't do anything about it. The dark male looked over his two children. Though now Pietro drinking it looked like he was in pain. The father watched him closely. After drinking Pietro was back to looking helplessly at him. So drinking the water didn't help. "I think it will hurt for a while," he pointed out. Burke wasn't sure what to do now. He could mentor about meat and where their prey lived but he didn't know much about healing wounds in one's mouth. "You want to drink so more or go back?"

Kendra held herself a bit back when her father focussed mostly on her hurt brother. Kendra looked at them for a moment, remembering Xan's words that siblings weren't going to stick around and that they would leave. She didn't want Pietro to leave or Burke for that matter. The dark colored pup stepped forward and nudged her father, nestling against him. "I didn't mean to hurt him badly, he was mean," she spoke and then looked at Pietro. A soft pout coming on her face. "Pietro can't leave! And you also not leaving. I don't wanna!," she let out.

Pietro's gaze quickly shifted from his father to his sister outburst. He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "Kendra, I'm not going anywhere. I will never leave you." Pietro said sadly. His eyes were sad as he stared at his sister. Why would he ever leave? He got up and walked over to her, wrapping his neck around hers in a awkward hug. He hugged her in silence until he whispered: " I would never leave you. I love you." He pulled off of her and realized he didn't answer his father's question. "Go back. It hurts." he said and began to trot off, excepting his sister and father to follow.

Burke wondered where Kendra's fear suddenly came from. Was she missing her mother? Burke was somewhat worried about his daughter now. He didn't want her to miss her mother though there wasn't much he could do about it. The large male gave a big lick over her head. "I also will never leave you. This is our home," he pointed out to the girl. He looked at Pietro, hoping he would be okay too. Damn, he never worried and now it he was constantly worrying because of them. "Lets go home alright?"