Aryn had been spending more and more time throwing herself into her 'new' chosen profession (read: the one she'd waffled on for two years and then finally gathered the balls to actually attempt) and with Recluse's permission, marched off in search of something larger than mice to practice on. Her albino alpha's companion was always on alert for her potential escape and had come along with her now for supervision, making the prospect of a larger hunt much less encouraging then she'd initially hoped. What Recluse didn't know was that while Aryn was working her ass off to build the skillset to earn a rank to one day feed their wolves, she had yet to actually kill anything. Her tracking and capture of the creatures was going exceptionally well, up until the part where she quietly released them back into the woods out of shame.

A merciful release of whatever animal she would choose to hunt today would be much harder with the bird's eye upon her, and Aryn was already attempting to weasel her way out of the responsibility entirely. Perhaps she could wander the land, looking like she was searching, but conveniently be unable to find a suitable takedown. Sometimes wolves couldn't find prey, shit happened, and Aryn could return home with her reputation untarnished.

Except this was a whole god damn herd of deer. Adorable innocent things with little white tipped tails and big, round, innocent eyes. Eyes that were so oblivious to her presence that one might think Aryn had became one herself, she surely looked the part with her new mutation upon her crown. There was no getting out of this, it was kill or be killed, eat deer or be deer. She knew this, but still she stood quietly, simply watching the herd.

Word Count: 300

Tor had had his eye on the herd of deer for some time, waiting for a target to present itself. He could probably take one down by himself of course. It's not like they far outweighed his scrawny almost-yearling body still by a whole lot or anything. In fact, he could probably take one of the biggest bucks, except that the bucks had all dropped their antlers for the winter and he wasn't sure which were which anymore. A big deer, anyway, he could totally take one. But he had started to learn the futility of throwing himself into a hunt without thinking, because he had wasted a lot of time and energy on hunts where he just ended up frustrated in the end without anything to show for it and had had to go take his frustration out in brawling with his siblings.

Tor frowned, squinting hard at the other side of the herd. Far away from them, so much smaller... was that a buck? Look at the horns and the color, it had to be one right? And small enough that he'd be able to take it easily, without risking it getting away. He moved around the herd in a lumbering stalk, getting closer and closer, ready to pounce... and then paused, and squinted harder. What the fuck? That... that wasn't even a deer. That was a wolf, with deer antlers on.

After a moment he decided that she must have tied the deer antlers on to get close enough to hunt the deer... maybe? But she was just sitting there staring at them like they were the most amazing thing she'd ever seen. They were just deer. Damn it she was going to ruin his hunt wasn't she? Well, he wasn't going to let her. He'd make her hunt his way if she was going to hunt, so she couldn't mess it up, that's what he'd do. He could use a second body around anyway. Scowling, he marched up to her. "Are you planning on hunting or just sitting here ruining everyone else's hunt?" he "whispered" scathingly. He wasn't very good at being quiet so his "whisper" was still pretty loud, but not so much the deer noticed. "Or are you just so scared of them you were going to chicken out?" The youth's voice dripped with scorn. The best way of getting someone on board with doing things your way, he'd learned, was to make them so they had to take the dare or look like a chicken, and no one wanted to look like a chicken so they'd rush into the dare without thinking. Of course, he knew that because everyone was always doing it to him but he hadn't really caught on to that particular fact yet.


Word count: 463
Total word count: 763

Aryn may have had learned a decent amount of the tracking and stalking part of the hunt, but she was still innocently oblivious to when she was the one in the crosshairs. The unexpected arrival of a lumbering behemoth of a wolf shocked her out of her skin, her fur standing on end and her eyes widening in fear. Thankfully, Aryn was not a screamer. Even in the face of death she was resigned, a deer in headlights, one might say.

And then the monster opened his fanged maw and spoke with the voice of a child, with words that were startlingly disrespectful. The rudeness was enough for her to blink back her sudden shock, to see him as he truly was - not a monster, but a brutish youngling masquerading as the behemoth he might one day become. It was exceedingly frustrating that even while she was capable of determining this, the very sight of his young scowl was enough to bring her tail to tuck.

Clearing her throat, she attempted to infuse her words with the right amount of authority as his clear elder. It was something she should have been adept at, seeing as she'd helped to raise Veigar, but she'd managed to nearly choke on her own saliva before she'd even begun her reply. The resulting words were strained and uneven, and she was forced to direct her eyes sharply back toward the herd to keep away the tears that threatened them. "I'm standing." Aryn attempted an eye roll to punctuate the reply, but halfway through was forced to shut them tight as the motion shook free the pooling liquid. The indignation of being made to feel so intimidated was enough to bring an uncharacteristic bite to her words, though coming from someone so unpracticed, it likely fell as flat in harshness as it did in wit. "I wouldn't expect some kid to know how to hunt anyways."

Word Count: 323
Total Word Count: 1085/2500

Tor growled out a snide laugh at her words, though his hackles crackled electrically as they raised. "I know more about it than you, crybaby," he snapped out. "My grampa Valen's been teaching me since I was little and I do just fine. And I'm hungry. So you can stand here and be a titty baby about it or you can follow me and I'll show you how to actually hunt." He leveled a grumpy scowl at her. "if you're gonna hunt, go over there and scare the deer toward me so I can jump on one and kill it. If you can't even do that then stay the fuck outta my way."

With that he stalked away, lowering himself into a crouch to get all of his bulky self hidden in the grass. He wasn't exactly capable of subtle with his size and the bright blue stripes but the grass was long enough to take care of that so he could creep closer to the herd. Maybe the would-be deer groupie would actually do her part, maybe she wouldn't. If she did he needed to be in position where they couldn't see him and swerve. If she didn't, well, he'd need to go in and get messy.

Word count: 208
Total word count: 1293

The boy's returned words were as electrically charged as the fur upon his haunches and Aryn's jaw dropped in outrage. She had a hundred words she yearned to give back in reply, but even tossing them around internally she could find no combination of them that did not make her sound even more pathetic then she'd already shown herself to be. By the time she had come up with even a halfway acceptable sort of reply - something along the lines of, 'you're still little you rude little shit, a lifetime of experience isn't impressive when it boils down to 5 months in the end', Tor had already dropped the mic and headed off into a crouch, his instructions toward her delivered with the same youthful arrogance with which he'd insulted her. Well then.

Huffing her reply loudly through her nostrils, she reluctantly moved to the position he'd indicated. Except, it was a logical plan, it was the sort of plan she would have come up with herself if she hadn't been distracted by his sass, so it couldn't be seen as obedience in any form. All it was, was the desire to finish the hunt, maybe pawn the kill itself off on someo - oh no. Her head snapped up to glare over at him across the herd. This wicked little shit could not be trusted to kill a deer ethically or cleanly, not when whatever parent had been raising him had taught him to speak to a woman elder in this way. "Be. Nice." She mouthed toward him, gesturing sharply with a paw toward the deer, and then motioning her claw across her own neck. With her message delivered she lifted her horned head high, staring daggers into his scowl and waiting his acknowledgement that he'd not be a jerk in the deer's final moments. Only then, would she chase them towards him.

Word Count: 316
Total Word Count: 1609

The older woman shuffled off to do as she was told, though he rolled his eyes at how she moved with the reluctance of a toddler. Any of his myriad uncles or his grandfather would have swatted a kid who sulked like that when they were told to do something. Didn't her parents teach her anything when she was little?

As though she'd caught his eye roll her eyes snapped to him from across the herd and she mouthed some syllables in an exaggerated way, then made a slashing motion across her throat. Tor couldn't make out what she was saying. "Pe - nis?" What the fuck? Was this a threat to his.. penis? Wait no, she'd gestured to the deer before she made the killing motion. Was she wanting him to... bite a deer's penis? Uhm, no fucking thanks, weirdo. Oh wait. Maybe she wanted him to kill a buck? They had penises. What a fucking dumb way to tell him that though.

He rolled his eyes again - exaggerated so she could actually see them this time - and mouth back Fiiiiiine. If she wanted a damn buck he'd try to figure out which one was a buck and kill that one. He made an impatient gesture for her to get on with it and chase the herd towards him.

He got himself ready as the woman started chasing them towards him. The frantic leaping and bounding as the deer ran towards his hiding spot made it really difficult to see which ones had penises. They leaped around and over him to frantically avoid the obstacle they hadn't seen since they couldn't stop or turn away, but finally as one passed over him he saw a penis. Finally.

He exploded up out of his crouch before the buck completely cleared him, his jaws closing around a hind leg with with a snap that echoed like a gunshot and the deer went in a tumble as it landed and couldn't put weight on the broken limb. Tor was back on it in a moment, long fangs opening it's belly and leaping away before it could kick out at him. The struggles slowed, and Tor jumped back in again to slash at his throat, then backed off and flopped down on his belly to watch it die, his tongue lolling out lazily and his eyes half slitted.

Word count: 397
Total word count: 2006

The monsterous pup had finally - with an accompanying eyeroll that threatened to boil Aryn's blood - agreed upon her terms, and Aryn was forced to fulfill her role in the hunt. She let her breath out softly (fighting to keep the frown off of her face should the worlds-worst-child see it and jeer some more) and then sped forward, hoping beyond hope that the boy stayed true to his word and did not maul the poor deer before it's death.

First of all, this idiotic pup was obviously not the skilled master he liked to play himself off as. She ran the herd to him with exceptional finesse and he couldn't manage to even pick a target, seeming to almost duck his head as they jumped and ran, looking like a cowering infant bowing to them rather then preparing to kill one. Before she could say as much he finally struck out. Aryn could hear the break of the limb, watched his fangs slice a gash through it's belly, and then finally he went for it's throat. Even then, he did nothing to speed the process of it's death (not that Aryn knew what that procedure might be), instead simply lounging like he'd done so much work that he couldn't bother doing more, likely taking pleasure watching the light leave it's eyes.

"What the fuck was that?" She came up on him in a fluffy huff, tail flagged high. "Can you not follow simple directions?" There was so much more Aryn felt she should say, should do, but before she could put her frustration into words, a much more pressing issue made itself known.

As the rest of the herd stampeded over the plains into the distance, Aryn caught sight of a long tail that had lunged at one particular doe's heels but had missed it's mark. Rather then continue the chase down into the long grass, it turned it's golden eyes upon the pair and fixated hungrily upon the prize at their paws.

Aryn backpedaled, flailing her paw in alarm toward the dozy-looking child to alert him to the cougar that was steadily approaching. Her fighting lessons had not progressed past theory, and nothing had prepared her to take on a hungry feline. She managed to stand her ground all the way up until it's lazy walk had become a lithe sprint, squeaking in fear and leaping to the side as it lunged for her and the carcass below her, narrowly dodging the hit. "That one you can kill however you god damn want!" She breathed, her body shaking.

Total Word Count: 2495

Tor's grinning jaws snapped shut, and his head reared back, offended. "What the fuck are you talking about? I got the buck you asked for, didn't I? What more do you want?" He'd been pleased with the kill, but now rage was building in his chest.

Luckily that rage very suddenly had a target, as the woman began squealing something and backing away from a figure rising through the grass. Tor pushed himself to his feet with a snarl, feeling black fury wash over him and the feeling of dissociation from reality, the distortion, that came from it. He didn't need the woman's permission, but her words released him like an arrow from a bow as he threw himself at the big cat. Big, but smaller than he was. It must have seen the small woman and a child and thought that it'd be able to frighten them off the deer, but instead of a child he was faced with a monster in wolf fur.

Tor would remember little later but the taste of blood as his jaws closed around the cat's throat and he lifted it off its forefeet. It would have clawed at him and did manage a few swats that left lacerations on one shoulder, but Tor was already shaking it violently like a terrier with a rat until the sharp edges of his fangs sawed against something important and the cat went limp. Even after it was incapacitated Tor continued to maul it, letting his rage out onto the mangled cougar's body. No fucking cougar was going to take his kill.

Word count: 265
Total word count: 2760