Neverwinter Forest ’Til the last joint has shut down

@Caerus! And a tag for @Cupid just as a FYI, it'll take place the same time as he's out of the territory!

He hoped this was gonna go well. It seemed like it was gonna go well. He had thought Phillip had made leaps and bounds in that lesson they'd had together. So he could totally teach a kid how to hunt, right? Mal was good at this! And rabbits and mice and stuff weren't exactly super duper dangerous. Maybe they could just start with tracking.

So, as he lead the way away from the den, he spoke to Caerus, So since it's me and you today, how about we see about hunting? Then it doesn't matter if nothing in the caches smells good -- you can just find your own thing and it's fresh and yours. But you gotta find it first. What do you wanna look for? At least the one good thing was he probably didn't know what a moose was. Maybe Caerus had stumbled across a deer or two (or walked near them and scared the deer so they became departing white butts instead of a real animal). If they could end up working together to hunt, that'd also make things nice -- get to spend more time with his eldest son, and maybe later if he wanted to come patrol they could do that too.

wait it's literally fathers day that's so cute omg... father son hunting...<33

It wasn't often that Caerus was too picky for the food in the caches, but that didn't mean he wasn't eager to learn to hunt. As dad spoke and they walked together, the boy's tail wagged eagerly and mouth was painted into a comical grin. mm, dad, you think i can get a rabbit? they're super good, He chirped with delight, mouth already watering as he thought of it. He licked at his lips and ruby gaze shot curiously up to his father.

Ooh, I forgot about that! I don't think it aaactually takes place on Father's Day though, rip.

Yeah this was shaping up to be hopefully pretty enjoyable. There was probably a ton of stuff to teach so hopefully he'd remember to point out all the important bits. Mal grinned too, We can sure try! I'll show you how to find them, and then I'll see if I can catch it this time. They can be pretty quick and crafty creatures so we might end up just getting something from the cache in the end. One would hope that Mal could properly show off to his son when push came to shove.

He ended up pointing up ahead as they walked, So, I'm sure you can tell if I walked through somewhere. There's a path up ahead a lot of stuff walks down -- I don't know what's been out there today though. Why don't you tell me what you think you smell there? It was a few yards up ahead. He expected the normal array of stuff -- some rodents, packmates, deer, and hopefully a sign of a rabbit. Really he was just curious how much Caerus could work out on his own.

rip >:/

Dad explained that rabbits might be hard to catch, and Caerus' tail dropped slightly, though he would not allow his spirit to be crushed. They would catch something, he told himself, even if it wasn't rabbit. Then he was talking about the path, and the spotted boy was already scampering forward to the trail where the grass seemed thinner from the frequent walks taken there.

His nose was shoved to the ground, delighted as he crept forward along the path to catch the traces as he went. i smell simmik, and hao-nee-yao, and there was some, mm... mouses and ducks, and spooky, and ah... another animal i dunno, and ah... rabbit!! He exclaimed suddenly, head shooting up as fiery eyes gleamed with joy, looking to his father. we gonna follow it now? He questioned, head tilting curiously.

This is going to end up being such an whiplash-y 20-30 hours for these guys. D:

Caerus was totally the best kid. Mal was probably biased partially since Caerus was the kid that he could actually do stuff with. It'd be a little while longer before the twins could go on little adventures too. It'd be longer before Aibreann's litter was big enough. How long? Uhhh. Time. Not his best subject.

Anyway, Caerus was stoked and ran up to do as requested. Ok, good list -- wait, who the heck was Spooky? Or what? Who could -- augh he was still talking he'd figure it out later. Yeah, we will! But here's the real trick.. How do you tell which way it was going? You wanna figure that out or should I tell you? He said it with a bit of a playful smirk. He thought it was fun to give him a perfectly reasonable little challenge -- the look of accomplishment was definitely an A+ would see again thing.

T_T

Dad affirmed that they would follow it, and Caerus' tail wagged joyfully, eager to scurry off as he often did. But instead he waited, mustering as much patience as he could, as a question met his ears, and his face scrunched. He shoved his nose to the ground again, mumbling out: do we still got smells n' stuff? or... somethin' else? Caerus questioned, lifting his head again to let ruby eyes settle curiously on dad with a cant of his head.

So, he was lightly stumped. Well, time to use a hint charge and tell him how the puzzle worked... Still, he was happy so far Caerus was doing a good job being inquisitive and stuff. You can use smells and your eyes. There could be a track that points the way. If you don't see one, then you can follow the track in both directions. Which side smells newer? Does one smell older? The more you practice, the faster you can spot which is the way to go. But he was gonna let Caerus do the dirty work -- he was old enough that giving him the instructions would be good enough. Mal didn't consider him stumped enough to need help.

Dad said a lot of stuff. Caerus tried his best to process it all, and commit it to his memory as he could. Dad talked about using his eyes- and Caerus looked to the ground, beginning to scan it for visual signs. In some places the dirt looked lumpy but not marked, and his gaze would drift to another point. Soon enough he noticed some prints that reminded him of the shape of rabbit legs, and with widened eyes, wagging tail, and not a single word, the eager hunter was bounding off after it to pursue.

It was really fun watching Caerus figure this all out -- and hopefully way more fun for his son than Mal had figuring out stuff by trial and error on his own. There was that moment of realization and he zoomed on off after. Mal totted along behind, calling out, Remember, when you get closer, you gotta be sneaky! It'd be easy for Mal to keep up with the boy, but if a rabbit heard him coming, it'd definitely leave Caerus in the dust and Mal wouldn't be able to catch it.

If that happened, he'd have to think of a different place to find them some dinner. Maybe he should start doing that...

He heard Mal's voice behind him, but the rush of this was so exciting. He could feel adrenaline in his veins! He wasn't sure how he'd know when he was close until he realized the scent was getting stronger, and crouched low to the earth. He stalked forward, and saw a dark burrow- aha! It would be easy to trap, he thought, and scampered over more eagerly. But as he exited from his crouch, he forget one vital point of escape- between the pillars of his legs. Caerus snapped his teeth at thin air as a rabbit zoomed out from beneath him under his tail, likely headed back in the direction of Mal- and the boy whirled, determined to chase it no matter how fast it ran.

If he could have just sat back on the sidelines he would have found all this quite funny. But well, he was right here, coming along after his son as he tried to hunt his first rabbit, and Caerus had zoomed right along forward and Mal was playing catch up. In most cases, he would have been happy to let him chase after it on his own, but the surprise of it all caused him to react rather than let Caerus do the whole thing on his own. But hey, the kid was still small. He'd have plenty of time to actually make a kill later, thankfully. 

But suddenly there was a rabbit like right in front of him, and Mal lunged, catching the rabbit and ending it rather quickly. It took a minute for his brain to catch up, and once it did he dropped the rabbit and wagged his tail. Wow, you even chased it out! That was great! You're gonna be a natural hunter! He grinned. C'mere! We got ourselves dinner!

Caerus tried to catch up, but Dad was there to take care of ending the hunt. He'd been afraid he had ruined it- but Dad was celebrating him anyway, and Cae grinned a goofy smile that was clearly inherited. thanks, dad!! i almost thought i was gonna lose 'im, but you were so cool! And without explanation, Caerus did a little jump that mimicked how his father had caught the creature. dinner! good, i'm hungry!! Caerus chirped delightedly, and would follow his father to wherever they decided to eat.