Spending Some Quality Time With Dad

Grumble

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"You looked so arbitrary
That insolent manner-
Q: "May I copy?"
A:  "May it burn..."
Don't look down on me-or try to talk me down, either
Remembering that is a piece of cake..."

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The next morning after her terrifying initiation, Grumble was waiting patiently for father to show up. She still didn't know his name still, so he would just be dubbed as father. Plus it was secretly nice to pretend to have a parent once more. She had a feeling if she voiced that though she would meet his teeth again. Grumble was not one for waiting on others though, and she found herself walking in a circle as she waited. Did she come out too early? Did she hear wrong and was suppose to find him instead? Actually what did he say again? As the thoughts raced through her she found herself licking her muzzle anxiously.

Actually maybe what was bugging her was the fact that she was anxious of failure. She wanted praise, to get everything right on the first try and become a staple to the pack's survival.
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With every step the weight of his paws sent ripples through the relaxed muscles, fat and extra skin. Thundering as he followed the scent of the young girl that Almight had taken in just yesterday. Today would be the first day of her lessons from their agreement. For a soldier he would teach her how to hunt, to kill for food - soon enough he would see if she would truly be one of his kind and hunt to devour another of their kind.

Maybe that would be for the next lesson.

He had been out all night - so this would be the final thing he would do before sleeping off the daylight as per usual. There was no stopping as she came into sight, pacing as he suspected, anticipating his arrival. The Warlord did not stop to greet the girl and only kept moving to walk past her. “Do you know how to track?”

Quick to the point as usual, he spat out for her to listen, to follow as he cut through the woods and mist impatiently. Depending on her answer, he would either slow down and let her take the lead on tracking any near by beast to hunt... or keep moving with his own nose to the ground to find their prey and begin the lessons immediately.

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Grumble was wondering if she should just leave due to her short attention span, but then, out of the shadows as usual, popped Father, giving her a start. However, he just kept going and she wondered for a moment if she should follow, and decided to commit to the idea. As she walked silently alongside him, she couldn't help but to keep staring at him, as if in a second he would vanish into smoke. He began to hasten his paste even more and she ended up just having to follow his tail, ended her time of observation. Should she tell a joke? Humor was the best way to forge friendships, right? Does it help forge parentships too? Wait is that a word?

She opened her mouth to speak but quickly closed it shut as Father beat her to it, asking one simple question. If she could track. She never thought it that way. She just picks up strangers or food with her nose sometimes and followes it. That's how she met Almight after all. So she supposed she could track. "Yes I can, Sir." She said with a nod of her head and then he slowed his pace to let her lead, making her feel somewhat important. As she put her nose to the ground and began to smell, she tried to look as cool as possible, but it honestly just made her seem for tense.

A few more silent minutes passed, and Grumble was already losing focus as nothing of interest had popped up. Remembering her previous idea, she went with it. "What did the Mule Deer say to the lost mutt that couldn't stop crying? 'Quit your MULEING(mewling)'! Haha, get it? Cause the word mule kinda sounds like mewl? Pretty funny huh?" Any normal wolf would would have had the commonsense not to do this, but that never stopped Grumble, expecting her companion to start howling with laughter. Ironically Grumble could only make jokes by using her imagination with the experiences she went through. So yes, she met an angry Mule deer, and yes, it was not happy to see her.

Suddenly her nose caught the smell of something that made her mouth water and possibly save her from the situation she was creating. Elk. Her sudden quiet excitement gave way to the fact that she had discovered something. And perhaps this was when some of Grumble's talents showed, the abilities that allowed her to survive up until now. She began to alter the way she was moving drastically, each placement of her paw filled with purpose, having the muscle to support her heavy frame in various slow and still movements. Her breathing became hushed and rhythmic, and as she began to get use to her new posture and movements, she began to pick up speed with it. It was as if all sound had left her, as if the forest stole her very presence. Grumble slowed again, shifted a bit to gain the advantage of being downwind before speeding back up.

Soon they came near a herd of elk, the noise of the bull could be heard who must be showing off his new growing antlers to his females with pride. Now Grumble came to a halt, three paws on the ground, one in the air about to meet the ground, she almost looked like a chameleon in a way, posture rigid and so subtle. She turned slowly to look at Father, not sure what to do next. Grumble usually started running after them. But they would always run away, sometimes she had the jump on them, but being one wolf they usually guarded against her and chased her off/she could not make them run. She just didn't know how to play the long game with the hunt. And she hoped for him to show her guidance and wisdom.
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Perhaps he wasn't giving her enough credit, but when Grumble stepped up and assured she could track - he had easily fallen back to watch as she sniffed through the scents along the ground to find something edible. The girl was obviously nervous or at least not accustomed to tracking. Rigid as she walked, it was hard not to imagine that she wouldn't come up with anything with her head so far into the ground and unmoving with the winds. She spoke, talking some utter nonsense with a ridiculous joke. Perhaps @Aries would have liked something like that; but with Vengeance he was only annoyed.

Thinking she was here to waste his time and not take their little lesson seriously. With a low growl and quick snap at her rear. “Focus.” He hissed lowly. (don't worry Grumble, Noki loved ur joke).

Just as he parted blackened lips to offer some sort of impatient guidance - she found something.

Perhaps it was luck. And so his maw shut silently as he continued to follow and watch her progress, taking a sniff here and there of his own to make sure they didn't lose their target. This time she was serious as she followed the prey's tracks, keeping silent and not cracking some nonsensical joke to break the silence they wandered in.

She stopped... poised and ready to go but uncertain up to this point. So this is where she had the most difficulties. Sliding up next to the large woman, shoulder to shoulder as to make sure they could speak as lowly as possible to not frighten the herd. “Think... Which would be the perfect target for two of us?” He'd let her have a guess, see what kind of cogs they were working with upstairs. Naturally he eyed the sick and old, an easy take down with little fight left in them. Let the herd scatter and follow the slowest.

But this was her lesson... so he waited for Grumble to think it through.

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Besides the previous snap on her rump, so far this was all going a lot better than Grumble thought it would. As Father asked her to think of how to handle the situation, she found herself getting a little nervous due to the sudden independence. She thought about it for a few moments before answering honestly. "Well obviously the biggest one because you're here, right?" She tried to whisper, however her voice in general was too strong for silent nothings and thus the rumbling could be felt from her chest. She wondered if she made the right assumption. Father was probably super strong and she liked to think she was no pushover either. With their powers combined, they could probably slaughter endless herds of elk. The thought of all the food they would have caused her to drool and lose focus, staring off into the void as she continued to think about food and daydream of eating it all. Her tail began to wag, her mood visibly picking up as saliva hit the ground.
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“Wrong.” He huffed just loud enough for them, if they weren't trying to catch these ungulates he would have been louder in his annoyance. Of course she would want the biggest one of them all. But, he supposed, this is why he was here teaching her the basics to hunting. “We may be big and strong, but it will take too much energy to take it down. We go for the youngest or oldest, weak and sick.” The absolute basics.

“Many smaller kills is better than nursing wounds from hunting large, healthy prey. Pick again.” He kept his eyes on the herd, not letting his gaze linger too long on any of them as to not give Grumble any hints on which one was best for them... certainly he had already made his pick. An older doe caught his wandering eye. She was larger than any of the fawns, but also weaker than the others... also had to be slower than any of the fast moving fawns.

Now if only Grumble could think of such a thing. 

He had doubts.

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Grumble quickly became crestfallen as Father told her she was wrong. She tried her best to take in his explanation, his information was valuable after all. She found it to be interesting. She had always thought power was just power. Being explained the cause and effect of actions was something she never thought of. The strong just made it look easy she assumed the strong consumed the strong. After all she had been weak as a pup but the strong did not consume her. The theory and understanding of luck for her survival was starting to dawn on her. She found herself mumbling to no one in particular "There's a lot of responsibility to one's actions, huh..."

She began to focus on the elk again, trying to figure out her target. For a moment she thought she would never get this right, but her eyes soon caught onto the old doe that unbeknownst to her, Father had identified. Her reason for identification was a lot different, however. She pointed her muzzle towards the older doe. "Maybe her? She's not interacting with the others as much and is eating a lot less." She said with a puzzled frown before adding, "Even if I pick the right elk, won't they just stand their ground anyways?" It wasn't meant as sass or defiance, but concern, a desire to understand and absorb whatever wisdom he would part with. It just never got into Grumble's head that it was a standoff, that one side would eventually give way. She did not know this yet, but elk held their heads high to appear taller and stronger, to cause their foes to lose their nerve and hesitate. It definitely was effective against her.
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Thick ears flickered as she spoke to herself. Mumbling some kind of nonsense (to him) that he didn't bother to try and get repeated. If speaking to herself helped in learning, then so be it. Silence stretched out between them as she focussed on the herd again, trying to make heads and tails of what was the best pick for them. Just because he was all for war and battles, Vengeance wasn't the type to want to sit around nursing a wound obtained from prey when there were easier options at hand.  

Perhaps by sheer dumb luck, Grumble had picked out the right doe. Even with the explanation that came it was hard to assume that she had actually understood their lesson here - not without a repeat occurrence later on with the right decision. “Yes, she will do fine.” She was large enough after all, larger than any of the fawns despite their meat before more tender. She was either sick or old and could feed many more than a youngster could. 
 
“They can smell the pack, they know there are more than just the two of us. They will scatter and try to outrun us rather than risk injury.” Was his explanation. Were Grumble to hunt them on her own outside of their lands, perhaps yes - then they might be more willing to impale her with their crown of thorns. But here, they had the advantage. “We will go as close to her as possible for an ambush, as soon as we come out, the rest will flee.”

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Grumble listened quietly to father, finding confidence in the unity he spoke of. She was totally ready to try now, all hesitation gone with all that remained to be just the simple eagerness to show her stuff. Target now considered and plan decided, Grumble began to creep closer upon the group, silent as can be. She trusted father to follow since it seems he wants to see what she was capable of. Each silent stepped with webbed toes was placed with care. She was pretending to be back home, creeping about so as not to get a beating. For life or death was the motivation. And so to was this, no food meant no life. It was a simple truth that lulled her into a clear state of mind.

As they crept through the grass, downwind, they were but a few wolf-lengths away and then the worst thing happened; the wind shifted. The heads of the elk shot straight up. There wasn't a moment to waste. Grumble leapt into a sprint as one-by-one, the elk began to scatter and ran, the doe instinctively tried to follow the direction of the buck as they started to run. The sound of hooves stomping the ground filled Grumble's ears like war drums, the vibrations from all the weight of mass that moved through space was mind-boggling.
 
But still Grumble tried to focus, tried to think of this as her one and only chance. Not paying attention to what her companion was doing, she kept running after the elk, having spotted the older female on the left side of the hear. As they scattered and weaved around trees Grumble identified the section one by one until she saw the older one. She was keeping up with the herd, but even now it looked like she wouldn't be for long, the doe breathing harder than the others.

Prey identified, Grumble kept a steady lope now, trying to figure out the next course of action. Exhausting or bleeding out, right? The problem was she was not as close as she would like to be to them due to the element of surprise being ripped away from them a little earlier on. She forgot all about Father, it was just her and the doe now.
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As this was her lesson - Vengeance had remained behind to watch as she moved toward the herd. Some things were inevitable, the shift in wind for example alerting the herd was one of them. There was a reason why hunting wasn't a perfected art and that some would go to bed hungry on most nights. Why living in a pack with other members to assist in keeping caches full as well as hunting was always beneficial to living a solitary life.

With his size it was difficult to remain hidden in the undergrowth. The man had to be more cautious than others as he circled around the herd and watched Grumble as she prepared. Even if this was a lesson, to end it with a meal would have been beneficial... and yet, it seemed that the cards were not in their favour. Even as he silently crept around, attention drawn to his footing, to Grumble and toward the herd, he was stretching himself thin but with practice it was almost second nature... 

It was that fucking wind.

As it shifted, Grumble moved as soon as the herd was on alert. So did he. Launching out from the leafy growth with jaws ajar, attempting to bite into the older female they had targeted but finding nothing but air between his jaws as they snapped loudly without a prize in between his incisors. Gripping the earth he tried to catch up to the fleeing herd as Grumble did the same - but it was all for naught as even the elder deer managed to outrun the two of them.

Instead of giving chase to an impossible task... with a frustrated growl he stopped as their pale rear ends faded away with the mist in the distance.

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Grumble kept on chasing after the elk, quitting not having come across her thick skull as an option yet. However, as she noticed Father refusing to chase, she eventually slowed down and looked at him with a derpy puppy-eyed look full of confusion. The sound of the stampede could be heard fading into oblivion. Why did he stop? Even if the odds had been against them maybe the food would have tripped or something eventually. There was always a chance right?

Curious, she walked back over to the other, leisurely with her pace as she realized the hunt was over. Peering at the other large wolf, the question came out of her mouth without thought of consequence. "You are teaching me to hunt, right? So why did we not catch the food?" She asked simply. She saw this wolf as experienced and thought surely they would catch it with his help. If so then why did they not have food.

Her face lit up with childish delight as her tail wagged and she shifted her weight on her paws as she did an excited dance. She understood now exactly what was happening. She was on her A-game today. "Oh I get it! This was a test, to show me what NOT to do. I get now, I pass, right, right?!" She exclaimed, eager for praise, to be told what a smart cookie she was. Her excitement and energy now was positively blinding. If the other had rage building up she would or did not notice, oblivious to social ques as usual.
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Naturally he was angry at the slipped prey. It was normal, he had to remind himself. Not all hunts were successful especially with only two wolves, while one was inexperienced and this was simply a lesson. Yet still, as hungered brewed, the thought of fresh meat just slipping through their fangs was a frustrating thought. The idea of failure was not one he enjoyed wallowing for long. Even if the caches were relatively full and he was certain no one would go hungry for the night...

There was nothing like a fresh kill. 

Grumble approached and at first he had no desire to speak, even if he was her mentor for the day... Vengeance was possibly the worst mentor as his lack of patience didn't go well for those who were trying to learn. This became evident when she spoke in a way that he took as an insult. In an instant he snapped in her direction, teeth lashing to pinch and draw blood but nothing more than a single bite. 

A low growl rumbled through his throat, tail lashing irritatedly behind him. “Not all hunts are successful, even the most skilled of us will go hungry some days.” He spoke, after all if she was not aware - it was an important lesson to know. Hunger was something that pushed them regularly. “The caches are for days such as this, eat some and we can try again tomorrow.” And hopefully then they will be more successful than today...

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Grumble yelped dramatically as the other snapped at her, the kind of yelp you expected from when a human steps on a very offended chihuahua's paw. She immediately backed up in a submissive manner, ears flat against her skull as she took said few steps back. Thankfully no more fangs were laid upon her. Her cheeked had been the victim and the large brute quickly flashed her tongue on the graze, stealing crimson to hide in her maw, the taste of her blood was bitter alongside her spirit due to the lack of praise.

She proceeded to listen to his words, intently. Having been reprimanded made her just want to please more, and that meant taking his words to heart. This seemed a lot harder than she initially had thought it would be. She was almost discouraged, but Grumble emphasized this lesson with her own personal experiences. She didn't realize right off the bat that she was voicing this verbally. "I guess living is hard no matter how you do it. Sometimes you can steal and take really easily, and other times you fail and grow hungry, even when you're good at it..." She mumbled in thought. In her experience, the better she got, the less this happened, but there was always a bad day for all. Surely this could apply to hunting?

The chastised Grumble's tail began to wag as she made a full recovery. All her energy coming back in full-throttle with newfound motivation. She found herself doing a little dance as she pawed the ground and wiggled in excitement. "YES. WE'LL TRY AGAIN TOMORROW!!! And we'll be eating like kings tomorrow~" She bellowed out loudly before puffing her chest in pride and confidence. She took his words as a means that they would hunt tomorrow, and she couldn't wait, she was going to get that praise one way or another. Part of her wonder if she should just sit in front of his den until she passed out and he woke her up. That way they would waste no time.
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As much as she annoyed him most days, Vengeance had to admit her spunk was well appreciated within the Nightwalkers. She was willing to please, and not one to take to heart the harsh punishments that would come her way. With each passing day she was looking more and more like a true Nightwalker despite her... silly moments, which was the kindest way he could put it.

Ignoring her outbursts and time taken to talk to herself, he grunted. Half annoyed - half tired from the lack of food, he too would take something from their caches if not see if there was some unfortunate coyote or loner wandering too close to their borders for him to snack on... Turning away from the woman as she called out loudly and proudly, with a flick of his tail she was dismissed.

And be damned if she did wait outside his den - she would simply be greeted with another nip but nothing as serious as the last. Perhaps one day she would grow on him, but today was just not the day.

Not yet anyway.

^^
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