Silvertip Mountain and where it is for one, mightn't be where it is for another

All welcome, as almost always, but hoping for @Adeline again. He missed the whole fox thing while he was out, and doesn't know about it yet.

Hedgehogs were not precisely difficult to carry. Their spines, while unpleasant, were not very dangerous, and Day merely grimaced as he carried the squirming creature in his mouth. What was difficult was taking one home alive.

It was a warm day, like the last time he'd come to the den, and Day began to wonder if Adeline would even be around. The gangly pup he'd taken a liking to was quickly growing, and was, by now, large enough to wander on her own. He'd finally gotten around to fufilling his promise of bringing sturdier prey - and tricker, too, now that she'd gotten bigger - but would she still be interested in such games, or even the mottled male's company?

Whuffing softly to announce his presence, he looked around as he waited for responce. It really was a nice day - why would she be around the den?

Adeline had not left the den area since Steady had brought her back after the attack. Her shoulder hurt like nothing she had ever felt before, and it put her in a rather sour mood, which was openly displayed on her facial features. This morning, she laid half in the den, with her front legs and head out in the open. Her ears were pinned back on her head, instead of their usual forward position.

Her eyes opened at the sound of pawsteps, and her gaze settled on Grayday, who huffed for her. She had not been in the mood for company, but she didn't bother to retreat inside the den, either. She watched him, seeing the little critter that he had in his jaws. It wasn't something she had ever seen before, and usually she would have walked right up to ask about it. Now, however, she remained motionless except for her eyes, which followed him.

She was dirt-colored and motionless, and it took Day a lot longer to track her down by scent than it would have with a good pair of eyes. This was her home, after all, and it was bound to smell like her - but the scent of her wound eventually led his eyes to the vague outline of her, and he dropped the hedgehog at once to gawk.

"Adeline? What happened?" he wondered, setting a light paw over the squirming creature and taking another whiff of air into his nostrils. His worry was reduced by the age of the wound, but he was still not pleased with the idea of her being hurt at all.

Her ears perked as he dropped the critter and began to hold it down with a paw. Generally, she would have gone over to investigate, but Dad had told her to take it easy. It was an easy enough instruction to follow, since her shoulder was stiff and sore. 

Her gaze lifted to his when he asked what happened. I got attacked by a fox, she said simply. Memories replayed in her head over and over since the incident. But, Adeline was a tough little pup, and it didn't keep her up at night. No, had the fox still been alive, she swore she would have sought vengeance. Tired of laying, Adeline propped herself up into a sitting position, though was careful not to put too much weight on her injured shoulder.

Sorrow, followed swiftly by protective anger, washed over Day's mind as he tried to process her words, imagining what the scene must've looked like. He'd known about a fox on their land, taking mouthfuls of their kills, but hadn't imagined it could end up a problem like this one. But the fox was doubtlessly dead, now - the pack would not have allowed its survival - and Adeline seemed to be on the mend. Privately, he assumed that she'd attacked first and on her own, not knowing about the hunt that'd taken place in her absence. It seemed tactless, however, to bring this up.

"I'm sure you gave it hell," he said after a moment, eyes narrowing as he watched her shift her weight. Again, he decided not to comment. "I promised a while back to find you better prey, but it seems like a hedgehog just won't do since you've already tango'd with a fox," he said instead, laying down and licking the stiff spines of the creature held carefully under his paws. "Are you hungry, or should I let this one go?"

They wouldn't be playing with it anymore, that was for sure.

To be honest, the whole thing was quite a blur to Adeline. The fox had seemed to come out of nowhere, then there was pain, and the others came to her rescue before she even realized it. I tried, she admitted, though if Valette, Niita, and Polaris hadn't been there, Adeline wasn't sure if she would have won that fight. Well, technically she didn't, they had. But, what mattered is that the fox was dead and couldn't steal any more of their food. And, Adeline was still happy Steady had let her participate.

It was true that Adeline didn't feel up for playing with the creature, but that didn't mean she didn't still want it. I'm always up for eating, she confessed, raising into a sitting position as she eyed the potential meal. It wasn't anything she had ever seen before, and it looked prickly. How do you eat that? she asked, bringing her nose down to sniff at it.

Taking her lack of explanation as a hint that she didn't want to talk about it, Day flipped the creature onto its back to show Adeline its cream-colored belly. "The spines don't hurt to bad if you don't put too much pressure, but they can get stuck in your gums if you try to bit through them," he readily explained. "Best thing to do is get it from its belly."

He had wanted to make a game of it - to play with her - but was mindful of her more reserved mood. Instead of tossing it as he might've, Day gripped it gently in his jaws and crept toward her on his belly, carefully despositing it at her paws and holding it down with one of his own while she got a good grip.

Not quite knowing what to say, he backed away from the quiet girl, ready to spring after the creature should she lose her hold on it.

Her ears perked as she placed a paw on the creature to keep it on its back and listened as he explained the easiest way to kill it. She thought for a moment as it squirmed under her paw, and then lifted it as her muzzle lowered and her jaws opened. When she attempted to close them, it was on the quills of the hedgehog.

Instantly, she reared her head back at the first feeling of sharpness in her mouth, and looked down to see the tiny thing had curled itself into a ball. Her ears flattened on her head as her accusing eyes looked up at Grayday. You didn't tell me it does that! she said, her gaze looking pointedly at what she should have been eating right now. 

Day chuckled, faintly amused by the outcome he'd already forseen. He hadn't expect her to get it on her first try; he hadn't, even as a heedless youth. Stretching out a paw and rolling the prickly creature toward him, he wedged his bottom jaw into the crease between hindquarters and head and bit down with light, experimental pressure on the back of the creature's stiff-spined neck. The spines were poking at his chin and the roof of his mouth - there would be blood, but not much. Not enough to stop him when he was hungry, and he hoped the same would go for Adeline. He did not know that she'd already learned a hard lesson about what it meant to be hungry, and the lengths a wolf would go to sait such needs.

Either way, breaking a hedgehog was an important lesson. They were slow and easy to catch, even if it was something of a pain to get to the meat inside. It was not a task that required much energy - just a bit of resolve.

Soon enough, he found the sweet spot, and bit down with two shark snaps. The little body went slack, though it did not unroll entirely. She nosed it apart and nudged it toward the youngster. The creature was not yet dead, but would soon be, and was unable to protect itself now either way.

"The spines are tough, but a meal is a meal," he said to her. "Although, I did bring it more as a toy than a snack." He'd imagined it would take her a few hours of toil before she actually found a way to eat it, but since she wasn't feeling well, he'd been willing to show her the secret; that a little blood was necessary, sometimes. Although - "You know, when I met Niita, she was hunting one of these. She found a big rock and pushed it over - smashed it just like that. I guess that would be the best way to go about it; but you're not always going to have a rock."

Her expression turned irritated when he simply chuckled at her, as if he had a secret she didn't know about. She didn't like that feeling. But, she watched with interested as he rolled the prickly thing toward him and carefully opened the ball up enough to get his bottom jaw into it. Her ears perked at the sound of the snaps, instinctually knowing that it was the sound of bones breaking. 

Her tail wagged as he pushed it towards her again, and she lowered her muzzle toward it. She could see a little bit of the skin of the creature, though it was still mostly balled up. Gingerly, she nosed it, but quickly withdrew. She realized it would still take some finesse to eat it, but her determination would see her successful eventually. I appreciate it, whichever way you meant, she said. If she wasn't recovering, she would have surely attempted to play with it. But, she simply wasn't up for it right now.

Her gaze turned up to him as he told her about Niita. She looked thoughtful for a moment, imagining the rock coming down on the hedgehog. That's a pretty good idea, she commented, her gaze scanning the immediate area. Of course, she probably wouldn't be able to move a rock big enough to crush the little creature, but she stored the information anyways, for future use. But, Grayday did have a point. Like now, a rock would not always been readily available. 

She pawed at the creature lightly, so as to not stick herself with its spines. Her brain was working to try and figure out a way to open it so she could eat it. It wasn't trying to curl itself any tighter, so maybe the bones that were broken were what was preventing that.  But, it seemed maybe the muscles were not so cooperative as to let it uncurl any more than it already was. She pawed at it a few times, and the creature rolled in the dirt this way and that, but it was stubborn. 

Day laid his head on his paws and watched as she toyed with the prickly meal. He wondered if he would get the chance to give this lesson to his own children one day, and whether the children would be as listless as Adeline seemed to be today.

Blinking such thoughts out of his mind, he lifted his head and stretched it toward the paralyzed creature once more. "I'll be your rock, just for today," he offered, giving her a little wink. "There'll be other hedgehogs. Other days."

He didn't want her to think he was babying her, although it was an accurate description of his actions. She was Steady's kid, after all, and it would be on his own head if she hurt herself messing around with a hedgehog that he'd given her. And Day didn't think it would do any harm - a little blood never ruined anyone's life - but fathers could be awful strange about their daughters.

Would he be like that one day?

Her eyes lifted from the creature as Grayday offered his help, winking at her. Her tail thumped the ground and she gave him a soft smile. She certainly would not turn him away if it meant getting to eat the hedgehog faster. While she could be stubborn, especially when she wanted something, she didn't have so much pride that she thought she couldn't learn from others. No, she wanted to learn as much as she could.

Gently, she nosed the meal towards Grayday, and it rolled in his direction, albeit clumsily since it wasn't a perfect circle. She watched as it did so, waiting to pounce on it case it miraculously tried to run off. She shuffled forward a little, just as clumsy as the hedgehog with her injured shoulder, and got closer to watch what her pack mate would do.

Adeline pushed the prone form toward his paws, and Grayday swept it closer with a paw. It was really silly of him to insist on getting it open when there was plenty of other food around. It would take more energy to get it open than it would give to Adeline if she ate it, but Day was feeling a powerful urge to show off to the young girl.

Without much thought, he bit down at the hedgehog's middle. Its needles had relaxed somewhat, since he'd broken its spine, but some of them still slid painfully between his teeth, speaing his gums and scoring the roof of his mouth. He hardly felt the former, but the latter was pretty unpleasant.

Outwardly, he showed no signs of his discomfort, not wanting Adeline to think he was wuss or something. Worse than that would be if she realized he was trying to impress her. Or a combination of both!

Spitting out the creature and running his tongue discreetly over the roof of his mouth, Grayday nudged it toward the younger wolf. "There you go - belly exposed. Watch out for those spines, though."

Feeling distinctly wrong-footed, he stalked off the way he'd come, hoping the food distracted her long enough for him to make his escape.

Her tail continued to thump the ground as she watched him bite into the softness of the hedgehog. At least, she thought it was soft. He gave no indication that what he was doing was hurting, and therefore she didn't think it was. This could come to bite her later on, should she try the same thing later. 

He nudged it towards her, and she almost lunged for it before remembering her shoulder injury. Instead, she crept forward slowly and began to munch on the softness of the creature. It wasn't something she had tasted before, and while it wasn't necessarily a delicacy, she didn't hate it, either. By the time she looked up, Grayday was gone from her sight. She looked this way and that, but he had effectively disappeared. She wondered if she had been rude-- maybe she should have thanked him before digging in-- but there was nothing she could do about it now. So, after finishing the small meal, she laid back down at the den entrance, dozing off.

Last from me! Thanks for the thread! <3