Silver Creek The Catch

Will Spring Catch The Fish?  Even= Yes.  Odd= No.  4.

Spring padded through Silver Creek with the intent on finding a decent morsel.  The brown furred female pause in her steps for a moment to scent the air, to see how close she was to the creek and was satisfied to find out that she was only about fifty feet away.  As she padded closer to the creek's bank, the sound of rushing water seemed to roar in her ears.  She stopped once again and let a dreamy smile fall over her.  She loved that sound, the sound of the most promising prey habbitate that lay before her, even though Spring was normally terrible at fishing, it was beautiful here and the best prey source in her opinion during this famine.

Slowly and stealthily Spring slunk forward, her bellyfur brushing softly against the ground.  Upon reaching the edge of the creek's bank, Spring made sure that she was correctly in position.  Was her shadow hanging over the water?  No.  Was she as close to the edge of the bank as she could get, but not fall in and not alert the fish?  Yes.
Spring let out a breath of relief.  So far everything was going pretty good.  Now she just needed to find the fish.  The Beta's golden eyes slide over the water, searching for the swimming body of a fish.  It took her a couple minutes, but then she found one.  It was a medium sized fish, so pretty decent in size.  She waited for it to get right in front of her... and then she struck.

Spring stabbed her muzzle into the creek, opening her jaws and snapping them down, all in one swift movement.  She tasted blood... she had caught it.  Excitement danced in Spring's eyes that she had actually caught the fish, but the fish wasn't ready to give up yet.  It wriggled and flipped in her grip and it took all the Spring had to keep her grip.  Not paying much attention to her surroundings at the moment, as the fish was taking away so much of her attention span, the padded a few feet away from the creek bank, and laid the fish gently down, the stomped down a paw on it's head, killing it instantly.  Spring smiled proudly and sat back on her haunches, happy to have caught something.

Although normally Spring would have wanted to give the fish to someone else, she knew that she had to do her best to keep herself fit... or as fit as she could try to be in the famine.  So with that the skinny female, leaned over and took a bite of the fish.  Her eyes closed briefly in satisfaction.  It tasted like the best thing she had had in a long while or probably since before the famine, although the fish was on the skinnier side as she herself was, so it didn't have a whole lot of meat, just enough to keep Spring going.

Hallo. :)

It was totally just a coincidence that Old Missy Hungrychops was suddenly on the scene when a fish had just been caught. Though honestly, it really was a coincidence. Shreya had been in the area, cooling herself in the shade of a handsome tree she'd grown attached to recently. It was, like the rest of nature in this cursed famine, naked in light of the plague that had stripped it of its green, but it had a big fat trunk, and thus a big fat shadow. Very nice.

Panting, the old thing had got to her paws and headed down to the river — and that's when she saw Spring with the fish. Shreya hadn't seen the girl for a while, and that was because Spring had deservedly risen to the rank of Beta, and Shreya tended to tailor her advice for those of lower rank. She was not the type of mentor that dipped into the upper echelons and interfered with their politics. But that certainly did not mean she couldn't say hello to the new Beta Female, whom she liked.

Good day to you, Spring, she said with a smile, lowering her head respectfully. I see you're another one who's benefiting from the fruits of our new home.

Spring was in the middle of chewing on some rather tough meat when Shreya appeared.  Spring's tail gave a small happy wag to see the older wolf.  She hadn't seen Shreya in so long, too long.  It would be good to have a nice little chat between the two of them for once.  Spring has about to respond to Shreya's greeting, when she stil noticed her mouth was still full, and she didn't want to be rude and talk with her mouth full, which Spring just found disgusting by the way.  A look of innocent embaressment filled her face, and if she had been human, she would have been blushing a fiery red.  The brown and cream furred female began to frantically chew the food and swallowed it in two big gulps, almost chocking once, but was just able to avoid that.  She bit her lip nervously turning her full attention on Shreya now.  "Sorry about that..."  Spring murmured nervously, hoping she hadn't offended Shreya in any way or anything to that matter.

"It's really good to see you though Shreya, we haven't gotten the chance to talk in what seems like forever."  Spring commented with a small smile, hoping to make up for her 'rudness' with the piece of fish.  Spring suddenly realized that she should see whether or not Shreya was hungry.  She flicked her eyes down to the fish, where about two thirds of it still remained.  "Would you like the rest of the fish Shreya?"  Spring asked.  "I can always catch another."  What Spring said was a partial lie, because when it came to fishing she happened to normally have horrible karma.  Still, Shreya in her opinion needed it more than her.

Shreya regarded her young friend. She was looking fine and dandy. Coat in relatively good condition, Spring evidently being active enough to groom it and healthy enough to maintain its gleam, and body thinner of course, but not emaciated. It seemed almost inevitable that a high-ranking maiden female like this one would survive well, but that didn't mean it really was inevitable. Failure could grip the most unexpected of figures: it was worth reserving a piece of concern for every single one of them. Though in Shreya's case it was less concern and more... inspection.

Spring was dribbling a bit though, getting all fishy and chompy, and Shreya was just about to tell her to slow down and savour her meal when — nom, it was already gone. She gave a crooked chuff of amusement and a shake of her head.

Good to see you too, she knew already, and sat down without being invited, though her ears were slanted low and her reasonably cheery tail was submissive too. She had no problem accepting Spring as Beta. I wouldn't say no to a bite, she replied, honest as ever. That fish looked delicious, and of course Shreya needed to eat. She wasn't too proud to accept charity. But it did go against her intentions in this pack and the last, which had nothing to do with sitting here and taking. But you know me, Spring — I have to give as much as I get. So let's have a catchup, and see if I can do a bit of the old mentoring along the way. If so, she'd earn a bit of fish. And if not... well, she'd be happy enough with the catchup.

Spring was so very beyond glad that Shreya dropped the unfinished fish bussiness, so much to the point where gratitude and relief almost shone in her eyes, but then Spring moved on entirely from that subject too.  With no intentions of going back to it.  It just wasn't very appeasing to talk about.  Much less even worthy to try to talk about, as obvious.

Spring was happy though to see Shreya in okay shape though... or okay shape for the famine.  She couldn't even think of a life without this sweet old female after all.  Shreya made her day though when she showed obvious signs of submission to the newly appointed Beta, it just felt really good to Spring to be accepted as her new rank title so soon.

It made Spring think though when Shreya offered some mentoring.  She couldn't really think of anything that it would make sense for her to be mentored on at the moment - except leadership, but Spring wasn't thinking about that at the moment - so she decided to ask Shreya if she wanted to have a chat about any herb remedies, for knowledge purposes, even though there really were no herbs right now, because the Locusts had eatten them all, life was starting it's regrowth.  Plus it would just be nice for Spring to talk about something that she was extremely passionite about for once.  "Well... if you wanted to chat about herb remedies that about be great."  Spring replied.  Then Spring bent down and nudged the fish closer to Shreya.  Then glanced back up with a look from Shreya to the fish to back to Shreya.  Eat up.  She seemed to be saying.

Oh pish and tush, Shreya could see all the way through this charming nonsense. Spring wanted to give her the fish good and proper: she was a dutiful Beta and keen to look after her elders. Shreya respected that, and, in turn, it seemed Spring respected the old woman's desire to be of use herself.

But Shreya could see that the girl was pandering to her a bit. Had Spring been a ruder soul, she perhaps would've said: "fine fine, tell me some stuff so I can fill your belly." It was a bit sweet, really. But it was vital for Shreya's survival, and indeed her character, that she maintain some value to the pack, so she refused simple appeasement.

As I understand it, you're already quite the healer, she recalled mainly from her old conversations with Esaro. So perhaps we could talk about something genuinely useful to you. I have experience with hungry mouths — could you use any advice on how to deal with them? Hunger pangs, possessiveness, pessimism... they're all problems during a famine.

Spring was slightly disapointed that Shreya didn't want to talk about herbs, although she was happy that someone at least recongnized her skills as a healer.  The complement made Spring feel pretty good in fact.  Shreya obviously knew the right things to say.

She began to consider her options.  Hunger pangs she already knew how to deal with...you go on a search for food or get some certian herbs to help deal with it.  Possessiveness she could also work with, but pessimism... well it would actually be helpful to learn how to deal with that.  Especially with her new rank as Beta.  It could prove to pay off in the future.  "Pessimism would be great to learn how to deal with, especially with the new rank and all."  Spring replied, to answer back to Shreya's offer.

Pessimism was a good one to choose, and likely chosen because Spring will have seen it everywhere. The trek over from Phoenix Maplewood had been a difficult one, and full of ups and downs — not just in terrain. Shreya hadn't outright watched Spring throughout any of this, as she wasn't the type to hang around and analyse passers-by, but she did think the girl had a sunny aura about her.

But was that enough?

The first thing to keep in mind is something you likely know well enough: pessimism is infectious. All good leaders lead by example. You may not always feel like this famine has an end in sight, but doubt is best kept behind closed doors. She wasn't talking about lying, and even hiding. She was talking about picking and choosing. If you have something to grumble about, you have the choice to spread it or keep it quiet. Do you do well with that kind of thing?

I love the new avatar!  :)

Spring listened quietly as Shreya spoke.  So far pessimism seemed like something that she could handle pretty well, as she was pretty sure that she had almost always spoken like that... and hopefully acted like that around the other Pheonix's.  As Shreya asked if she did well, Spring was about to say yes, that she did do well with that kind of thing, but then hesitated for a moment.  There had been times in her past where she hadn't handled pessimism to well.  Spring quickly revised her answer.

"Most of the time."  Spring told Shreya matter of factly.  She felt good about this answer, because normally she didn't try to push doubts down that the famine and other things would destroy the Pheonix's.  Although there had been that time when she had broken down in front of Esaro which Spring really regretted now) and a couple other times.

Oh tyvm. ^____^

Most of the time. That was a good answer. And Shreya believed it, of course, given its honesty and Spring's hearty mix of confidence and modesty. Most wolves could just let their personalities take hold, and that was usually for the best, but in a leader's case it was important to keep up some kind of composure — even if not composed by nature.

It can be hard, can't it, she sympathised rhetorically.

Keeping your own doubt or pessimism bottled up isn't healthy, but you can always share it with those you can trust not to be hugely deterred by it — like Saena, or a good friend. Or myself, she added sensibly. But if, say, an anxious subordinate comes to you and tells you they're giving up on hunting because there is really no prey out there, the last thing you want to do is agree with them even if you do.

How would you handle a situation like that one? she asked with interest.

Spring listened quietly as Shreya spoke.  She rather enjoyed having a lesson, being taught.  It felt good to be a student once again, even if this would only probably last around an hour she was guessing.  As Shreya spoke Spring did find herself however wondering how Shreya had learned so much.  Of course the female had aged quite a bit, but still who had she learned the information from.  Spring decided that she would ask after the learning session was over.

"If I were put in a situatioon like that, I would tell the wolf to not give up hope, that they will find prey if they set their heart to it."  Spring replied to Shreya's question on what she would do in the case of an anxious subordinate giving up hope on hunting, while using pessimism.

As much as Spring enjoyed being taught, Shreya enjoyed doing the teaching. And it was good to have a sensible, attentive student who didn't need to be talked down to or hesitated over. Furthermore, she knew Spring to be fairly tough-skinned. Shreya loathed beating around the bush: it was nice when someone could handle her frankness.

That was about to be put into practice right now.

For while she gave Spring's response a bit of thought, and a half-nod of vague approval, she then pointed out what could come next. And what if they don't find prey? They'll think they don't have heart enough.

She thought of Gaia, who had failed at catching one fish after the next. That girl had had heart: albeit of a slightly broken variety.

Shreya's counter question to Spring's answer, puzzled Spring.  Making her gears in her head really start to turn, as she tried to figure out a solution to the next problem that had been thrown her way.  For three whole minutes Spring just stayed still, trying to scavenge up an answer to Shreya's question.  Nothing came for a while... but then finally something did.  Spring turned her attention fully back on Shreya.  Feeling rather proud of herself for figuring out a good answer to the old wolf's question.

"I would tell them that if they keep thinking like that they won't find anything."  Spring replied to Shreya, hoping that her answer pleased the gray wolf.  In her own personal opinion the answer that she had come up with did sound pretty good, maybe even really good.  Yet that could just be her being biased about her own opinions.  She would just have to wait and see.

As Spring had a think (and Shreya approved of taking the time to think something through), Shreya bowed down to lick at the fish's spine and get off some of the remnant flesh. It was tasty, and still as fresh as a daisy.

When Spring answered, Shreya listened to each word and applied them to the broader puzzle. The problem is, it's you who's made them think like that to begin with. You're telling them that they'll find prey if they set their heart to it, right? So by that logic, if they don't find prey then they're likely to think it's because they're not putting their heart into it enough. Telling them to stop thinking like that would be to backtrack on your own advice.

She smiled faintly, knowing that this was a difficult one. Maybe you need to clarify what you mean when you tell them to set their heart to it.

When Shreya made her words turn back on Spring herself, the one who said them orginally, Spring was glad to have a mentor so honest to her despite her ranking.  She gave a swift nod, trying to come up with something else that actually went with her words.  Suddenly Spring realized something and suddenly the Beta was very certain the she knew the answer to the problem.

"I would tell them that they hadn't really set there heart to the task if they never caught anything.  I would tell them to keep trying and really set their heart to it this time and try to feel the excitment of the hunt settle within them."  As Spring finished speaking she really hoped that this new answer pleased Shreya more than the last one.  Even more Spring hoped that her answer was correct this time, unlike the last time.

Shreya quirked a thoughtful brow. Huh. Interesting. It transpired that Spring wasn't getting her points crossed, but was truly speaking of 'heart' as a powerful force in the world. Shreya was considerably less sentimental in her old age, but there was a certain strength to Spring's conviction that had her convinced.

She nodded. You have a great deal of heart, she observed. I think that'll be your greatest strength as a leader. Leading from the heart, and convincing others to follow theirs.

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Spring was more than relieved when Shreya approved of her answer.  The female breathed out a sigh of relief and then listened to Shreya finish what she was saying.  Spring thought that it was rather sweet and nice of Shreya to tell her what she did... although Spring found herself wondering if Shreya was just saying that to be nice, who knew.

She dipped her head politely to the other wolf.  "Thank you Shreya."  She told her with a small smile, pleased with the praise.  Suddenly a question occured to her.  "Have you ever lead a pack before Shreya?"  Spring paused for a moment, before continuing.  "Because after all you really do seem to have a lot of expierence with a lot of things like leadership and astromony... how did you learn all of that?"

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Spring's relief was nice, but truly Shreya hadn't said it for the grateful reaction. She'd never been one for niceties, especially not in her old age, and she was telling it like it was. Spring's train of thought had been wishy-washy if one thought she was making it up as she went along, but Shreya had come to believe that Spring really believed in heart and faith. And that was a genuine cornerstone for good leadership.

Oh it's mainly my memory snowballing its way through years of cumulative knowledge, she shared once their exercise in logic was over. But as you might've guessed, I get my leadership knowledge from being a leader. I was an Alpha for over six years.

As soon as Shreya said that she had once been an Alpha for over six years, Spring's jaw almost literly dropped.  How had Shreya managed to stay in the title for so long?  It just amazed her.  Six whole entire years?  Six years of being an Alpha just seemed beyond amazing.  "How did you do it?"  Spring asked, great surprise and respect clearly hinted in her tone as she was desprate to know how Shreya had managed to pull that epic long leader ship off.  When had Shreya decided to retire from the Alpha position?

Spring then waited, ears perked up and eagerly ready to listen, hoping for some good advice that could possibly help her one day in the future, since Shreya obviously enoguh seemed to have good expierence with being in the Upper Tier of a pack.  Why had Shreya decided to retire from her position as Alpha at her other pack though?  Had something gone wrong or had Shreya just decided that her time in the leadership was done?

Shreya didn't often talk about her life, but this was a pretty good time to do so — she had some proof that she wasn't just plucking her leadership advice out of thin air.

How did she do it? To be frank, most of it was down to peace. Oak Streams, my old pack, has always been very secluded and serene. I'm sure some brutal bully could've kicked me out of my rank if they'd wanted to — and no one ever did. But it was also down to confidence, she added, not being a hugely modest individual. Confidence in myself, in my co-leaders, and in the pack as it stood.

Spring was glad when Shreya was able to give her a more straight forward answer, because these pieces of information really inspired her.  She already knew that confidence was key to leadership of course, but she had not realized that confidence in yourself, your co-leaders and in the pack could do so many things.  It was quite amazing really.  Who knew that such actions could take you so far?

"That's amazing Shreya, very inspiring."  Spring told the elder in a grattified tone.  "Thank you so much."  Then Spring proceeded to glance down at the fish, double checking to see if Shreya had finished it yet.  There was still meat on it.  Spring flicked her gaze back up to Shreya.  "Why don't we take a little break?  You deserve time to eat that fish."  Spring remarked, then waited patiently for Shreya to start eatting.

Shreya was quite ready to shrug off the flattery and be business-like about it, but to be honest she could see where Spring was coming from. A young thing like that would see it as somewhat amazing that someone could stand as Alpha for six long years. And perhaps her testimony for confidence really was inspiring. She hoped it was, anyway.

Oh alright then, Shreya accepted with a knowing smile as Spring suggested she eat, and she tucked in obligingly.

Food was tastiest when eaten in good company.

Spring was happy to see Shreya comply to her and begin to eat the fish.  She would probably head out soon though, she wanted to try to get some more hunting in... or at least hunting pratice before the day of the day.  She decided to wait just a little bit longer though in case Shreya had anything more to say.  If not though Spring would make her leave.

"I hope the fish is good Shreya."  Spring began.  "Thank you so much for sharing with me on how to be a better leader.  It really was quite inspiring for me to listen to.  I think it will really help me in the future."  Spring told her friend gratefully.

Fading out. :D Thanks for the thread!

One grey ear flickered as she said: my pleasure. And thanks for the fish, Spring, she added with a smile. She shot the Beta an affectionate wink and waited respectfully for her to leave before she polished off the last of Spring's worthy catch.