Thorn had stared at dad’s sword for a while before he had gone to bed yesterday.  The boy had spent time in the armory and he was quite confident there were no swords small enough for him.  Sure, someday he’d be big and use those but the blue boy wanted a sword he could wield now!  The easy thought was asking dad for a small sword that he could use but another thought had come to him as the pup started to fade into sleep.

Thorn stepped into the grove for the first time, looking around with wonder.  It was all perfectly new and wonderful.  There were all sorts of sticks here.  There should be a perfect one here to make a sword!  One stick, or two?  If he wanted it to look like dad’s it would need a crossguard.

“Thanks for coming with me Ezra,” the boy looked to the antlered fellow who was with him.  There were numerous smells around here that hadn’t been in the castle, or even on the plains.  He could hear the sounds of birds hiding in the bushes and trees, the faint sound of the squirrel claws as they ran up and down trees.  

The boy circled about several trees, looking thoughtfully at sticks that had fallen from them.  He needed one that was thick enough to not break when used but not so fat he couldn’t get his mouth around it well.  On top of that Thorn imagined he’d need a piece maybe a bit thinner and it would need to be shorter than the main one.

Picking up a good fat one mouthed on it to make sure the size was right.  Grinning when it worked, he felt less picky about what he’d use for the cross piece.  “Hey looky at that!” The boy pointed where he spotted the back end of a porcupine as it was waddling into some bushes to avoid the wolves.  “What’s that thing?”

"Thorn Carpathius"

Ezra walked out toward the pack's grove with one of Artorias' sons in tow—along with his own eagle, his dog, Briar's falcon, and Art's raven acting as some sort of protection detail behind them. As soon as he saw just how protective Art was as a father he decided to just go along with whatever it was that his friend wanted to make him feel better about the pups going places. He was sure he wouldn't be much better if he ever became a father himself so he didn't criticize his friend. When Thorn thanked him for coming with him to the wild berry grove, Ezra gave the kid a grin and nodded. "Sure thing, little guy! No problem at all." He didn't know exactly what Thorn wanted to do out here, but when the blue-hued boy's family was busy and he needed to go out to the grove to do his usual patrols anyway it just made sense for him to let the pup tag along.

Ezra kept an eye on Thorn while the boy poked around some trees and experimented with a few sticks, but also looked around at the grove as well to make sure no bears had tried to creep back in on their territory. He didn't know how this unseasonable autumn was going to effect their hibernation so it had made him start doing more frequent patrols just in case. What he hadn't really been expecting was the spiny creature that Thorn ended up spotting first. Ezra turned his attention over to where the pup was looking and as soon as he saw the porcupine he moved closer to the boy, saying, "Oh, that's a porcupine! Don't get too close to that thing, your parents would kill me if I brought you home full of quills."

"Ezra Adravendi"

Thorn looked at the porcupine curiously, wondering what to make of it.  When Ezra mentioned getting quills stuck in him Thorn’s eyes brightened up in amazed curiosity. “Those quills actually come off?  Hey, think the quills could be added to a sword and be more effective like that?” If so would dad’s sword already have them on there?  The idea that they could stick part of their body into someone was a fascinating concept.  He took Ezra’s words to heart though and looked around once more.

Moving to one of the many bushes that had vines on them, Thorn took time to look the bush over curiously and then bit into a vine curiously.  He chomped on it, testing a few times before really trying to cut a piece loose.  With a bit of work, he got one side cut open, watching it dangle down but still catch on another lower part of the bush.  Thorn yanked on the vine, making more of it come loose.  His gaze looked back at his sticks, trying to imagine how much of the vine he might want.  Maybe a whole lot!

Thorn started pulling and walking with the vine, shaking his head to get it loose when it was clinging to the bush.  Once he had a long strand he chewed the rest of the vine off.  Moving to sit down in front of the sticks with an absurdly long bit of vine he considered it.  “I’m gonna make a sword just like dad’s, well, but wood. Then I can learn to be a great fighter and have dad show me how to use one of the real ones!” Yes, the pup had visions of a true iron miniature small sword in his mouth.  For now, a wooden one would be almost as cool.

Thorn started moving the thinner stick up and down the thicker one, trying to decide what height to position it for a proper crossguard.  “Have you ever used a sword?  Or do you use your antlers like a sword?  I bet those could be really useful like that?”

Child that he was, despite his desire to focus on making a sword the boy's attention still was easily diverted at moments.  A yellow butterfly flew by, the sound of some bird he didn’t recall having heard in the past.  The scent of prey he could imagine but hadn’t seen yet also teased his senses.

"Thorn Carpathius"

Ezra hadn't been around a pup before now and already he was amazed and maybe a little concerned by the fanciful ideas Thorn came up with. As his friend's son questioned the porcupines quills and asked if they could be added to a sword to make it more effective, Ezra tilted his head with an uncertain hum. "Well, yes, they do come off and technically they are something the porcupine uses to protect itself so they are pretty sharp, but I don't know if they would really be all that helpful in weapon form... They seem kind of like a one time use thing and they'd be pretty hard to get more of I imagine." He certainly didn't want to encourage the idea of getting these quills to make something out of them, but he had to admit it was pretty creative. Maybe that creativity could be pointed toward something a little less... dangerous, though.

He heard a rustling behind him and when he glanced down he realized Thorn had walked off. Turning around, Ezra spotted the boy pulling a clump of vines off of one of the bushes and Ezra raised a curious brow before walking over to see if he could lend a paw with whatever it was the pup was trying to do. He helped Thorn pull the vine free until he seemed pleased with the amount he had and then stood back while he chewed threw it and took it over to where he had left his collected sticks. Ezra was finally able to put the pieces together for what it was Thorn was up to as he explained how he was going to make a wooden sword out of the materials he had collected so that he could have a weapon like his father. Ezra grinned and chuckled softly at the plan, giving him a nod. "I'm sure your dad is going to love that." He had vague memories of seeing Art when they were kids with wooden training swords as well and it felt so fitting to have Thorn doing the same.

He settled back on his haunches, keeping the pup company while he toyed with his project. At his string of questions about whether or not he had used a sword or if he used his antlers like a weapon, Ezra replied, "No, I've never gone for a sword myself. I have these pointed, serrated teeth so any weapons that I'd need to hold in my mouth don't really work out for me." He grinned with a flash of teeth to show Thorn what he meant, giving him a glimpse of his unusual teeth. "I haven't really incorporated my antlers into my fighting very much. I haven't had them all that long and it's hard to change to a whole different way of fighting after learning how to do it one way." He shrugged and added, "Maybe I should though! Who knows, maybe I'm missing out."

"Ezra Adravendi"

Ezra had some good points on the porcupine quills and Thorn had to ponder those.  His first thought was how cool it would be to have a porcupine for a pet but as he imagined it there were flaws in that concept.  A pet that could hurt you on accident just for being close probably was a bad option. “If you get near a porcupine and it likes you, can it like, choose not to let go of the spines?  Like does it really jab you or is it more like you get yourself jabbed?” It probably wasn’t worth it as Thorn considered it more.

His gaze swept the ground curiously for other ideas of a pet of his own.  Mom and dad had pets and the idea suddenly came to Thorn that he should have pets also.  Mom and dad would let him right?  If they thought it made him safer then surely they would?  Thorn wanted something big and intimidating.

“Thanks,” Thorn offered Ezra when he helped with the vines. Once the branch cross guard was in a position Thorn thought was best the boy started trying to wrap the vines around it.  The very first thing that happened was cross guard rolling off when Thorn's paw bumped it.  It got a glare for daring to not stay still but the boy picked it back up and worked at it again.  Slowly the vines got wrapped around and the branch stayed where he wanted it.

There was a lot more vine than it turned out he needed.  It wrapped around both sticks over and over till it was relatively fat, just in case.  His gaze swept around looking at the autumn leaves, wondering if they’d help it look cooler but, they probably wouldn’t work in the end.  His eyes glanced down, noticing circular prints in the ground that seemed pretty similar and kept to a pattern a short ways off. “Hey, Ezra, is that from some sort of animal?  It doesn’t look like paws though.”  The prints of some deer or deer-like creature were new to the boy that he hadn’t seen in the plains but maybe they were just hidden better?

Ezra didn’t even use the antlers?  “You should use them!  Dad and I have to hold swords in our mouth but it seems like you get to just carry them around on your head.  I mean, they aren’t exactly the same but, kinda similar?  I mean you could make them sharper right?  Would it hurt to sharpen them?”  Thorn imagined just scratching off the blunt part of the antlers so they were sharp as blades on the ends.  Why not?  

"Thorn Carpathius"