Blacktail Deer Plateau You and me bleed the same light

Heat rushed into the wilds on the waning breath of winter, sudden and heavy, as if overnight the seasons changed and any hint of frigidity was chased from the air. Being a babe of the spring, Saena readily welcomed the return of the sun's warmth. Already the trees were showing tiny buds that would soon flourish into leaves, and patches of grass were cleared along all of the pack's major paths through their forest. The deer herd was no longer migrating around the Plateau's periphery and borderlands, but penetrated into the forest, where they fed on tender new growth and shedding bark.

Saena wasn't tracking them as she normally did, though. Instead, she was inspecting the bases of all the trees for signs of snow mould. She was no Healer and wasn't well-versed in healing plants, but she was a Naturalist and therefore knew those that were harmful. Snow mould wasn't dangerous for wolves, but it was an allergen and unpleasant to those sensitive to it. She fancied it was her job to clear it out wherever she found it.

Currently, she'd inspected forty-seven trees and seen no signs of mould, and was quickly moving to her forty-eighth. Upon reaching it, she squatted to urinate, then began investigating the roots.

Hope you don't mind meeee. :D

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Constantine scampered along the treeline and then paused, head lifted and ears up. There was someone else nearby, a familiar someone, a Saena! He yipped delightedly and headed toward the older female with great enthusiasm. Some of his earliest memories had her scent intertwined with it and though he didn't know what that meant, he did know he liked her.

"Say-na, Say-na!" he called out when he spotted her, his tail waving an excited pattern from left to right and back again. "Me caughd'ed 'ouse!" it was the biggest news of his life lately, so he thought it was important that she should know. Mouse killing was an important milestone in a young life and he had met it. Before his sister or his brother, which was also important.

Unless she kept him from it, he would attempt to layer her jawline in affectionate puppy kisses of greeting that were his customary way of saying hello at this age.

She was about halfway around the trunk of this most recent tree when a youthful voice called her name, prompting her to prick her ears and raise her head. A concerned frown knitted across her brow when Constantine pranced up to her, and she looked over his head, searching for a guardian... but there was no one. Since he was only two months old, she thought it was odd that nobody was looking after him, and immediately assigned the task to herself. Clucking her tongue quietly, she glanced down at the exuberant boy and couldn't help but to smile proudly.

"That's awesome, Connie, great job!" she praised him as he lapped at her jaw. She favoured him with a playful nip to one of his fluffy ears before bopping him affectionately on the head with her chin, then asked, "how'd you catch it? Show me! I need some tips, and you're obviously a pro." Casting around, the red-marked female spotted a stone nearby and pranced delightedly over to it, nudged it with her paw, and said, "pretend this is the mouse you caught. Teach me how to catch it!"

Constantine was the Houdini of his group; an escape artist with no real care for what worries he pressed upon his parents by slipping away.  Undoubtedly they would find him at some point and pull him back home, but it was a normal event for him to slip away during a nap or when a parent's back was turned toward his siblings.  Casi and Eild were probably better behaved; he couldn't help his own adventurous nature.  It took his feet wandering.  So far he had been lucky that it had not gotten him into  hot water.

He wagged his tail energetically after she nipped at his ear, returning her affectionate bop with a nudge upward of his muzzle that showed both respect and his own adoration for her.  When she asked to be taught, he raised himself up proudly.  The rock was actually an accurate depiction since the mouse with its broken back hadn't been doing much moving before he found it.

The boy lowered himself toward the ground and crept forward, slowly... slowly... then when he was a few feet away he darted forward and slapped his paws onto the rock's surface.  "Wike dis!"  he showed, then backed up.  "Joo turn!"

It was hard for Saena to keep a straight face when he puffed up proudly and squared off against the rock. It was too cute. She wasn't all too sure how to handle kids, but Constantine certainly seemed pleased with himself, so she imagined she was doing something right. Maybe, if she was clever about it, she could teach him something in the process of playing along. It couldn't hurt to help shape one of Blue Willow's pups into the next Gamekeeper, and she was eager to be part of that.

She settled herself to watch attentively as he crept up on his "prey" and, at the last second, rushed it and slapped it. The Blacktail was impressed with his form, for although there were better ways to catch a mouse, he knew what he was doing, and his method was viable if the mouse was unaware of him. She was also surprised that, at only two months, he was able to hit something with that amount of precision. It was a moment of great pride, not only for her, but for the entire pack.

"Wow, cool technique!" Saena said, waving her tail in a wolfish version of a standing ovation before taking her place near the rock. She eyed him slyly, tilted her head to the side (much like he often did), and rushed the rock in an attempt to copy his movements. At the last moment, she kicked one of her legs out to the side and deliberately stumbled, but still slapped the rock with a paw and sent it skidding a few feet into a bush.

"Oops!" she said, crouching to the ground and shaking her head with a giggle. "I don't think I'm good enough to do it your way! Can you show me again?" she asked, grinning at Constantine and hoping that, if he did know she was playing along with him, he would be willing to continue the charade for the opportunity to practice his technique.

The boy was unaware that he was merely posturing and the reality of his capabilities was much less than what he felt he was showing.  It was this obliviousness that was a common character trait of the young and naive.  Constantine was merely proud.  Someday, his ego would be deflated.  Until then, he truly believed he was quite proficient and capable.  An example of awesomeness.

She seemed impressed, anyway, with his slap against the surface of the rock.  It was that technique that he had used to end the broken back mouse that he had then brought in victory to his mother.  The boy would try it again in the future and perfect it... until he figured out there were simpler, more efficient ways to hunt.

"Yuh, tanks!"  he replied with a waving tail, glad that Saena was impressed because he liked to impress wolves that weren't his mother or father.  They seemed to like everything he did.  Others didn't.  At least not always.  They seemed to have higher standards or else they just didn't know him as well.  They were just learning about his awesomeness.  Although Saena knew some of it, she had been around.

He watched as she tried and laughed as she tapped the rock away instead of merely smacking it.  His head waved from side to side.  "Seeellyyy!"  Connie said, moving over to touch his nose to her cheek in reassurance.  "Try 'gain, I show joo!"  he replied.  The boy thought adults did these silly things on purpose, sometimes, to play.  He liked to play too, though, so he understood.

Connie stalked the rock again and paused this time before he leaped.  "Watch!"  he encouraged her, then leaped again to hit it.  "Wike dat!"

She smiled gratefully when the boy's nose brushed her cheek. Although she would never fake her abilities in front of another adult, the gamekeeper had no problem doing it in Constantine's presence. She knew he had no judgment in his tender young heart. He wasn't yet corrupted with that flaw of adulthood. Besides, he seemed overjoyed to be consulted on his technique, and Saena wasn't about to end her charade and make it known that she wasn't being sincere with him. One day he would surely learn the truth, but by the time he did, he would be old enough to understand her reasons.

She watched with a bright smile as he crept toward the target again. This time, she peeled her eyes wide open and watched every move he made. She wanted it to seem like she was observing him for her benefit, although really, it was for his. In the future, she hoped to teach him to be a gamekeeper, and knowing his prowess now would aid in that.

When he pounced and hit the rock again, she silently commended him on an improved form. It was a slight adjustment—Constantine probably hadn't even noticed—but his motion was smoother the second time. Trimming back her ears, Saena followed in his wake, creeping up on the rock and pouncing at the last second to smack her paw straight down on top of it.

With her foot still gloving the "mouse", Saena glanced back at Constantine and asked, "like that?"