Morningside Cuesta Hunt for who we've not yet become

Set after this thread and this thread! AW for other Morningsider members but @Grayday And apologies on the tired post x3 

Large paws stepped lightly upon the earth, his leathery pads feeling the countless blades of soft grass being crushed beneath his bulky weight as he moved slowly across the Cuesta. His brown ears listened out carefully, pivoting a top his lean head as the voices of the group finally became inaudible to him, the mercenary having ventured further away from the gathered wolves to prepare for the hunt that would hopefully take place and feed them all.

Sylvas knew he wasn't a much of a hunter, but as Sylvas walked, his bright amber eyes stared ahead of him, his nose to the ground as he detected the many scents that lingered within the little-known lands. An untidy, bushy tail gave a couple curious flicks behind him as he became focused on his task at hand, that is, until the morning breeze suddenly swept through his fur, causing his pelt to rippling involuntarily at it's cold touch. Sylvas couldn't help but shudder, lifting his head swiftly from the ground to then vigorously shake off his pelt, hopefully regaining his focus.

He'd been tracking for a while now, maybe half an hour or so and all he'd managed to pick up in his search was the scent of many species of poultry lingering within the distant edges of the terrain, along with the strong stench of fox. With a slight grumble, the mercenary came to a slow halt, his amber eyes surveying the area around him, becoming undecided on whether to double back and search closer to the group for bigger game, since he'd journeyed this far and had still failed to encounter even a sizeable morsel to feed several hungry stomachs or more.

Grayday caught up to Sylvas as soon as he'd finished his little "chat" with Sunny and Dawn. It'd been an emotional conversation, but he did his best to compartmentalize so that he'd be useful during the coming hunt. The painful thoughts and feelings that had been dredged up were not quite put away yet, so he was glad that they would not be beginning the hunt for a while - not until they actually found something to hunt, at any rate.

"Any luck?" he asked the other male as he came alongside him, his voice a bit gruff, but not unfriendly. Grayday liked Sylvas, and his calming nature was especially appreciated as they set out to feed their family that day.

Ears swivelled round at the sound of Grayday's voice coming from behind him, amber eyes peered to Grayday as he approached and the brown male offered the brute a polite nod of his head before replying, ”Nothing yet.” Sylvas said with a long sigh, ”I can smell pheasants around the edge of the lands, along with other species of bird, though it's mingled with the strong stench of fox.” The brute grumbled slightly, snorting at the aroma of fox, his fur bristling slightly as he thought back to his last encounter, the male having developed a personal dislike toward the pesky, troublesome creatures, especially from past experiences.

Giving a flick of his tail, Sylvas turned to look across the Cuesta once more, black lips parting as he allowed his gruff voice to escape his maw, ”Other than small game, I am yet to come across anything large enough to feed all those hungry mouths.” He licked his chops for a brief moment before turning his head to look back to Grayday once more, ”Unless you fancy doing a pheasant round up?” Sylvas chuckled light-heartedly.

Kieran was done. Done with the pain, done with the grief, done with watching as others kept his stomach full and kept him safe. He wanted to be useful. This was why he tracked down his father's scent, following until he reached both him and Grayday. "Dad!" he called, walking faster until he was just in front of the adults. "Dad, let me help. I'm sick of sitting around doing nothing while everyone else works." he glanced with a pleading look to Grayday.

"I want to help..."

He was worried, at first, when Kieran came running toward them calling for his father. His first thought was that something had happened to Sunny or Dawn, even though he'd only just left them. But the reason for his haste became apparent soon enough, and Grayday washed his tail when he caught on.

Though he had been about to mention the wild burrow scents they'd passed just before reaching the cuesta, he held back, for now. He liked that the boy wanted to help, but he was still a bit young and small to be tangling with donkeys - Grayday had seen them stomp the life out of coyotes bigger and sly-er than Kieran.

"Pheasants it is, I think," he said to Sylvas, allow him to answer his own son's question, but unable to help but tack on his own opinion. "I think it's a good idea for all of us to be able to hunt. We should help Heartha get used to it as well."

He did not think it was fair for Heartha to simply eat whatever they brought back for her without her ever lifting a paw. Because he did not know her story and because hed had other things on his mind, he hadn't pressed the issue, but it was incredible to him that the woman thought she could simply opt out of hunting altogether. He'd speak to Sylvas about it later to see if there was a valid reason for what Grayday couldn't help but see as laziness.

sorry for the short and crappy post ;-;

Sylvas' head jerked at the unexpected voice of Kieran calling to him and instantly the brute's amber eyes gleamed in the morning light as he turned to face his son, the male's brunette ears arching forward as he carefully listened to the approaching boy's words. His tail gave a gentle wag at his son's spirit to help and the mercenary gradually turned his attention back to Grayday and offered him a nod as he replied. With Grayday's decision, Sylvas felt more comfortable letting his son take part in the hunt, catching small game, such as pheasant was less dangerous than Sylvas' initial idea, ”If it's pheasant we're hunting, then I don't see the problem.” Sylvas replied as he glanced back to Keran and then gradually back to Grayday, his ears swivelling as he caught the silver male's thoughts on the whole idea, ”I'm sure everyone will be willing to take part if they want to eat.” He said calmly, ”And with it being the children's first hunt, maybe Heartha could help monitor them? I know she's more of a caretaker at heart really.” The brown male suggested with a tilt of his head.

When they agreed to let him hunt, Kieran gave a relieved smile. "Thank you - I'll try my best to catch something." He had, in all honesty, never hunted before. But perhaps now was the perfect time to learn? After all, he needed to learn soon.... this was just a good opportunity to begin. The boy grinned at the adults, before waiting to see what they wanted to do.

"What's a pheasant?" he piped up, tilting his head in curiousity. In all his 5 months of living, the boy had never once heard of such a thing. What even was it? He assumed, by Grayday and Sylvas' words, that a pheasant was something you could hunt, but what did it look like?

Day didn't really hear the boy's question. He'd just gotten a whiff of the trail that Sylvas had scented earlier, and was nosing along it with happy enthusiasm. It seemed like there were quite a few pheasants in the area, something that Grayday thought would be good for their beginners.

"They smell like this," he said to Kieran, beckoning the two over with a wag of his tail. "Kind of dusty and alive at the same time. Like any bird."

The mercenary smirked down at Kieran as he smiled back up at them, the brown male giving his head a small nod as his son went on to thank them and that he would try his best to catch something, ”I'm sure you will..” He said smoothly, bushy tail giving a gentle wag behind him as he caught sound of Kieran's question – 'What's a Pheasant?', Sylvas smiled to the boy and licked his muzzle briefly before explaining,”It's a brown, speckled bird of a medium size build.” He paused of a second as he peered over to Grayday, ”It also has long tail feathers and a green and red colored head, if I remember rightly.” He frowned as he began to question himself before finally giving his head a firm nod, ”Yes, but either way, we'll find out if I'm wrong wont we?” He grinned and offered his son a playful wink.

Chocolate colored ears perked a top his head as he listened to Grayday's voice and the male's amber eyes glanced to Kieran, the mercenary motioning with his nose for the young boy to follow the silver male and take in the unique aroma of the particular bird they were after.

He padded closer to Grayday, lowering his muzzle to sniff at the trail. Dusty and alive? Curious. But, if he was quite honest, he liked it. This new information - he could use it. And he liked that. "So all birds smell like this?" He'd never hunted before, and he'd never really been told much about it, so getting these little bits of knowledge were useful to the boy.

It wasn't long before his father began explaining what a phesent - or however you say that word - really was. "They have green and red heads? That's so cool!" Kieran grinned, trying to picture in his mind. He had never seen anything with a red or green head.

"More or less," Grayday agreed, answering Kieran's question about the scent of birds. "As you get older, you'll start to be able to tell what kind of bird it is by it's scent, but all birds smell like feathers, and this is the feather-smell you're getting, here."

It was a highly addictive smell, in Day's opinion. He could spend hours rolling around in turkey feathers, breathing in that strange, dusty smell. Sometimes he wondered why, since the meat wasn't the best-tasting or the most filling. He supposed it was just one of those mysteries. One of the best parts of catching birds was playing with the feathers.

"Let's see if you can follow this trail," he suggested, glancing toward Sylvas to make sure this was okay. On second thought, he fell back a bit, wanting Sylvas to take the lead. It was only natural, since it was the other man's son that was accompanying them. Day merely kept pace with them, keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of movement. He'd like for Kieran to try his teeth at hunting, but that didn't mean he'd let dinner get away from them.

Brown ears twitched as he listened to Grayday's voice, the brute's large paws carefully stepping forward as his amber eyes peered between the silver male and his son. And as Sylvas silently observed them, he couldn't help but smile as he watched Kieran's first hunting lesson unfold before his eyes. It was a reminder that his boy was growing up and fast, but it also reminded him of how much he had missed during their pup years. He'd spent too much time patrolling the packs borders before all the havoc and tragedy, having never really had the chance to properly bond with his children and the realization of this was a hard bite to the nose for the mercenary.

As his mind briefly wondered, Sylvas continued to trail behind the pair, his head lifting some as he caught sound of Grayday's words and slowly the mercenary looked to the silver brute as he too faced him in return, offering a small nod of his head. The brown male was grateful for all of Grayday's help and Sylvas knew that he was probably a far better teacher at this than himself, ”Go ahead then son.” He said with a smile, bushy tail giving an encouraging wag behind him as he waited for Kieran to start the pace.

Kieran was terribly excited to try his first go at hunting. Though, he had never done it before, he stuck his nose down confidently and took in the scent, shooting a glance at both Gray and Sylvas before beginning to follow it. He followed it well for a while before slowly starting to go a bit off course, the mix of scents distracting him. However, before he could get too far away he stopped and retraced his steps to make sure he had been going the right way, discovering where he had gone wrong. With a determind expression on his face he corrected himself and began following the trail again.

Soon enough he could smell the dusty-bird scent a lot more. It was very strong here. Did that mean it was nearby? Like, very close by? Kieran sent a hestitant glance at the two adults.

Grayday's tongue lolled in excitement as they followed after the boy. It was good to have cubs that were interested in these things. If Kieran kept this up, they might even begin to take him on regular hunts. He was not yet grown, but if they could use him at all, it would be good to have him along. All wolves had to start somewhere, after all.

They were getting closer and closer to the birds. Grayday knew that it was time to pull back and creep along, so they could get as close as possible before the birds got scared and tried to fly away. Then, it was a simple (but challenging) matter of catching them before they flew too high.

The male demonstrated this by crouching low and taking tiny, silent steps through the brush. Now was the time for quiet, but Grayday wouldn't be surprised if Kieran had questions.

The father watched on proudly as Kieran got stuck in and began to find his way through the many aromas that lingered within the Cuesta, his golden eyes observing how the boy pursued the bird's trail to eventually get caught up in the other scents that criss-crossed many times over, causing the young wolf to loose the trail for only a moment. But with patience, the mercenary continued to watch as his son ventured onward, finding and following the scent of the dusty bird once again.

As the boy stopped and lifted his head from the ground, Sylvas turned his attention to Grayday for a second and merely smiled before glancing back over to his son, giving him a quick nod for him to do the same that Gray had. He was almost unable to contain the excitement, but offered a light wag of his tail as the time grew nearer and the mercenary too, lowered himself to a crouch, gold eyes staring ahead into the flora, nose twitching at the strong aroma of dinner just meters away.

Sorry for short post :c

Kieran watched as Grayday dropped into a crouch, tip-toeing forward with silence. Sylvas followed suit, so the boy shot them both a second glance before imitating them, stalking forward. He continued to creep forward beside the two adults, his tongue swiping across his lips as he realised just how hungry he was. Perhaps that was what the effect of the scent was.

He glanced again at the two leaders, wondering what to do know.

"Watch," said Grayday then, the words more air than sound so they would not disturb the birds hidden somewhere before them. And though he needed his own advice, it was really up to Kieran and Sylvas to spot their dinner - such things were beyond him, by then. "When you see movement, get as close as you can, and then pounce."

With that, the male fell silent, waiting for Kieran's next move.

Sorry for ze short/crappy post x3

The brown male remained crouched, paws shifting him slowly forward as he stepped lightly behind Grayday and his son. His stare was focused as he peered ahead into the brush were the pheasants lingered, hidden amongst the thick long grass around them. The excitement began to wash over the male as they grew closer to their target, his leathery nose twitching, inhaling the dusty aroma of the creatures they were hunting and for only a moment, Sylvas glanced over to the hunting group, ears arching forward as Grayday gave Kieran a few simple instructions in regards to what was about to go down. Carefully, Sylvas lowered himself, ready and waiting for the time to pounce.

Kieran listened to Grayday intently, drilling the instructions into his brain. He wanted to get this right. He wanted to show them he could be useful! He didn't honestly feel like he had something to prove, but he wanted to. He wanted to show them. This - hunting - also sounded fun, and he was more than willing to give it ago. Perhaps it might become a passion of his. That would be nice. Besides, even if it didn't turn out to be something he enjoyed, he would have knowledge of how to do it. The pack needed food, so even if he didn't like it he would do it. For the pack.

Once Grayday finished explaining, the Watcher nodded, turning back to where the prey unmistakably was. He waited a moment, then saw some movement. He crawled closer, tongue sticking out in concentration. Then, when he believed the time was right, he leapt forward. The boy landed on a big feathery creature, and for a moment Kieran was so startled by it's appearance (it was like nothing he'd ever seen!) that he completely lost focus and fell flat on his face as the bird began to flee, but luckily for him he recovered quickly. He surged forward, filled with a strong determination - he would catch this! He would do it!

He managed to get close enough to the Pheasant to be able to pounce again, and he did so, but landed awkwardly on it's rear end. Eyes narrowing, the boy pushed as hard as he could, making the bird lose balance and topple over - Kieran fell too. Neither were very graceful. Before the pheasant could get away again, Kieran grabbed it's legs with his teeth and bit as hard as he could. There were squawks, but the boy pressed on, finally releasing. He grimaced as he looked at the poor creature, unable to run, and leaned over to bite it's life without much hesitation. He did not want to keep it in pain for a long time. He beamed then, turning back to look at the adults with a gleam in his eye. He had done it! It had not been very spectacular to watch, certainly not graceful, but he had done it.

Day leaped only a moment after Kieran, grabbing at a bird that had startled a few yards to their right. He'd only been able to see it when it tried to take flight, but Day'd been tight as a coil beside the father-son par. He'd sprung in an instant, and the bird was between his jaws before he'd turned back to the others.

He caught the tail-end of the boy's catch, and grinned through pheasant-feathers when he saw that it'd been a success. With a muffled woof, he pranced toward them with his own catch, tail waving like a flag behind him.

"Nice job!" he praised, spitting out his own pheasant and ducking his head to lick a bit of blood off the top of the boy's muzzle. Pheasant, not wolf, he decided, pleased that Kieran did not seem to be injured. "Put up a fight, though, didn't it?" he teased.

In the commotion of the hunt, Sylvas had manoeuvred himself to the opposite side of the hunting party, having had a similar idea to that of Grayday's and so, Sylvas silently positioned himself to cover the left hand side. And as they quietly prepared themselves, watching the rustling of the tall grasses, Sylvas felt his body become tense as Kieran finally pounced, allowing the drama to unfold around them.

Golden eyes were focused as many feathery bodies began to scatter, attempting to escape them, fluttering off this way and that through the brush, frantically trying to flee from eager open jaws. And though some had gotten away within the scurry, Sylvas had luckily caught one that had barrelled blindly toward him. He stood, clutching the dusty bird tightly by the throat, till its body fell limp, his gaze soon searching for Kieran and Grayday.

With a little bounce in his step, Sylvas trotted closer to the others as they spoke, allowing his own pheasant to drop from his mouth and down to the ground with the others, ”I definitely agree!” Syl said happily as he peered to Kieran and Grayday, his bushy unkept tail giving a wag behind him, ”That was really good, especially for your first son. You even did better than me when I went on my first hunt.” He chuckled, peering proudly to the boy.

Kieran continued to beam as he was praised for his catch, and he noticed with a grin that the adults had also caught a pheasant each. "That was fun!" He barked, glancing down at his own prey. "Yeah, it did. I wasn't expecting it to look so.... funny, though. Why's it got so many colours?" He asked, wishing to know more about the strange birds. For sure, their markings were unusual.

He had, despite feeling somewhat sorry for the bird, thouroughly enjoyed hunting. His first hunt had been a success and he was proud of it. "Can... can I give some to mom?" He asked, glancing up at Sylvas. He would let Kieran go and bury some, wouldn't he? "I... want her to have some of my first catch." He let a shy smile run across his maw, hoping that his father would say yes.

Day chuckled at the boy's question, wondering how kids came up with all these questions. He hadn't been nearly so curious as a child. (He did not know that this was because of his sub-par imagination - and, perhaps, a certain lack of existential intelligence.) Nevertheless, now that the question had been asked, he was also wondering about the answer. Why did they look so stupid?

Having no idea, the male left Sylvas to answer that question. Too, he looked to Sylvas when Kieran mentioned giving some to his mother. Isn't she dead? he wondered, shooting a wide-eyed glance toward the boy's father. What's going on?

Sylvas smirked at his son as he spoke, though brunette ears arched forward at the sudden question asked, regarding the birds peculiar appearance. For a moment, Sylvas remained quiet, thinking over Kieran's question. Why did they have so many colors? His golden gaze peered to Gray as he chuckled and Sylvas slowly glanced back to his son with a soft smile, ”Well, I guess that's just how mother nature made them.” He said smoothly, tail swaying behind him as he licked his blood speckled muzzle. The mercenary's mind trailing back to his childhood, for his mother had told him of such a thing called mother nature; a force that changes the seasons and is a nurturer of life, but also a bringer of death.

Head jerked as another question came from his son, the second being more unexpected than the first, completely taking Sylvas away from his thought. His golden eyes slowly peered to Kieran, a saddened glint within their gaze, ”I..” He started but found himself unable to finish, not wanting to deny his heart felt request and slowly, Sylvas turned to Grayday, the look of confusion upon his friends face plain to the mercenary, ”I guess son, with this being your first catch and all, if you feel that you must.” He said softly, a small smile making its way across his leathery lips and gradually the male turned back to Day, ”If that's okay with you, Day?” He asked, ears twitching back some as he added, ”I can always start digging out some caches to fill for future.” Sylvas offered in return for Kieran's strange request.

He was still mightily confused about how Kieran was supposed to give food to his mother, but when Sylvas agreed with the boy, Day began to realize it was some sort of spiritual thing. Nothing he'd heard of, but like with Nimue, he wasn't going to question it.

"Of course," he replied when Sylvas asked his opinion. Privately, he hoped that they weren't planning to waste good food on some sort of ritual, but the male decided he'd tag along and roll with it, curious about what could be going on. "Do you mind if I come with?" he asked, speaking directly to Kieran but glancing at Sylvas out of the corner of his eye.