Hunting was something that Mortis felt he could really teach his children. He had been doing so since he was just a child himself. More so, hunting was a great way for the pups to learn about themselves. About how they walked, and how they used their noses. As well as what to pay attention to around them. He felt it was vital, and important.

He came home from his patrols early, though he was finding it harder and harder to duck away early these days. His father was on edge about something, and Basilisk was out of the pack lands searching for his own dad more often than not. Finding someone to cover part of his shits was getting harder.

But he managed it, and raced back to the clearing before their little house with enough morning to spare for a hunting trip. “Who wants to go hunting with me today!” He called out as he reached the house.


"Speech"

So far, Warden has really quite enjoyed chasing various small furry creatures around their home. Rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, all of them. They looked like they should be tasty, and on the off chance he'd actually caught something... well, so far it had been a mixed bag. Squirrels were gamey, and sorta boney. Chipmunks were a little better, like furry meatballs. Rabbits? Okay, truth be told, Warden hadn't actually been fast enough to catch rabbits. Yeah, so what if he fell a little short sometimes. He had little legs!

The small boy had been napping in the den when his dad returned home. A little afternoon snoozle, if you would. Still, Mort's voice drew him from dreamland and sent the boy right into action. They were going hunting! His eyes lit up, springing to his feet, trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes at the same time... and promptly getting too excited, tipping straight over. Warden crashed his way through the open door of the den, landing in a heap at his father's feet in the little clearing before the den. "I wanna go, take me!" Before he'd even righted himself all the way, Warden was ready to go. Well, at least mentally ready. He clumsily climbed to his feet, shaking the dust from his coat.

"Speech"

After a morning spent hitting various objects with a stick to see what kind of sound they would make and putting together a little collection of things that could loosely be called instruments, Wynter was in desperate need of something else to do. She considered doing some more drawing or maybe practicing the stances their grandfather had taught them some more, but luckily she got her answer in the form of her father coming home earlier than expected with an invitation to go hunting. Her head popped up with interest and she considered the option for a moment. Hunting seemed really helpful and she liked to be helpful so the task had that going for it at least. What finally sealed the deal was Warden excitedly scrambling up from his nap to join their father on a little hunting trip. Never wanting to be left out, she dropped her "instrument" and bounded over to join her brother and dad by their home. "Me too!" she replied as she bounced over and stood in-between her dad's paws, peering up at him with a grin.

"Wynter Carpathius"

Unlike her snoozing brother or musical sister, Ursa was tucked neatly beneath the table that stood within the den. Laying splayed out on her belly, she grasped a bone tightly between her front paws. Chewing away at the fragments of last night's dinner, the round puppy easily kept herself occupied. It wasn't quite time to go wandering about the garden so another snack before lunch sounded like just the thing she needed! Content to keep her teeth clean and her belly full, it wasn't until her father's voice and Warden's thumping paws caused her to look up toward the doorway.

A hunting trip? Oh, she loved hunting! Well, what she had managed so far. Which... wasn't much, but she was trying! Quickly, the bone was discarded and avoiding bumping her head on the table, Ursa scrambled from underneath it. Rushing over to her father and siblings while trying not to stumble over her paws, she bounced around beside Warden as her tail wagged back and forth. "I want to go!" Ursa exclaimed as loudly as her quietly soft voice would allow.

It seemed he would have three participants for his hunting adventure. He greeted Warden as white wolf answered his first. In his haste, he was a little too excited. Crashing through the den door and toppling over. Mortis kissed his brow, and helped him back to his paws. Wynter was between his paws before he knew it, and he grinned at his little daughter, as well. At least she had made it without falling on her nose. Ursa was the last to answer his call, and he moved a paw to scop her a little closer as well. They were still so small, and yet… so much bigger than how they had started.

”Alright, we have a few things to cover today. How to walk, how to scent, and how to take down your prey.” he told them, standing back at his full height and surveying the little puppies, he would attempt to help them track down the prey, and hope they didn’t find anything too dangerous. If they did, he would have to direct them to different scents. “let’s start with walking, and with scenting. When you're tracking prey, something very important to remember is which way the wind is blowing. You need to be downwind of what you are tracking. You need to walk silently, and pay attention to what's in front of you. As you are walking think ‘if I step on that, will it make noise?’ He said, wondering if that was too much information all at once for the kids. “let’s start waking, ready? I want to see your best tracking-walk!”

Prey animal: reindeer


"Speech"

How to walk-- wait a second, Warden knew how to walk. He'd been doing that for a while now but... hm. His brow furrowed as Mortis began to talk. They would be walking and sniffing. Intently sniffing. Sniff-tracking. Oh shoot, yeah, tracking! That was the right word. Warden straightened up, listening to his father carefully as he spoke. The instructions seemed clear enough, and he was ready to try it until... oh.

The boy looked carefully at the ground, staring at the leaf litter. There were hardly any spaces that weren't covered in leaves. What was he to do? He looked beseechingly at Mortis, and then at the crunchy leaves, and then back to his dad. Horrified. "But the crunchy leaves, dad. What about the crunchy leaves?" Warden took a few high steps, trying to step as carefully as possible, but... alas. The leaves were still susceptible to being crunched.
"Speech"

Her father scooped her closer and thus a giggle escaped. Any time she could spend with her dad made her happy! Once he had stepped back though, she stood to her own paws and glanced up at his very tall height. Ursa attempted to listen to his words as they made their way out of the den and into the space right outside. Walk? She could also walk, but quietly? Walk quietly and downwind? But also how?

Ursa’s nose and brow scrunches as she looks down at her own paws. Warden’s quipping question about the crunchy leaves also leaves her stumped. How was she supposed to focus on all of that at the same time? Lifting a paw, she sets it down gently and hears the crinkle of a leaf and the shift of dirt beneath her paw. A scoff snorts out of her nose as she looks up at her dad. “How we supposed to walk quietly?” She practically whines while taking another step. This time a small stick snaps. “See! We’re too loud!” Ursa frowns as she looks over to her brother and sister.

Wynter peered up at their father once Ursa had joined in and the three of them were poised to go hunting. Very quickly she realized that there was way more steps involved with tracking down something to hunt than she would have guessed! She had thought that they just kind of walked around until they found something to catch, but obviously it made more sense to actually follow the trail to something. How did they do the walking and sniffing and tracking all at once though? And having to be extra quiet on top of it?! It was so many steps to remember and they hadn't even found the prey yet!

Still, she wanted to do her best for their dad, so when he bid them to do their best tracking-walk, Wynter was immediately on her feet and making her best approximation of what a stealthy, attentive walk would look like. All of her spying and hiding from her siblings had prepped her for this! Her brother did quickly point out an important point of all of the crunchy leaves that covered the ground around them. She frowned at the realization but forged ahead, trying to move over them as slowly and as gently as possible. They were still crunchy, but the crunch was a little less loud as she sat her paw back down so, so slowly. She moved almost in slow motion in her attempts to be quiet, but if they had to move this slowly they'd never catch up to their food!

"Wynter Carpathius"

It was proving to be very difficult to keep a serious expression on his muzzle. The kids were simply too cute, and the worried expression Warden threw him left him wanting to laugh. He didn’t, however, not wanting them to think he was laughing at them.

Ursa was quick to agree with Warden, and Wynter was already giving it her best shot. He looked at the three pups, and decided to slow down the lesson a little. “Alright, let’s start with walking. You're right, the crunchy leaves do make it tricky. That’s why we have fur on the bottom of our paws, it helps to muffle sounds. Here's a way you can walk that moves the leaves without crunching them, and how you can use the fur in your paws to brush them aside.” He said, before very slowly demonstrating a sweeping step motion that helped him place his paws under the leaves without stepping on them.


"Speech"

Ursa stares at her father's very large paws with a scrunched brow. How was he moving his paws in such a way?! Truly baffled, the little pup looks down at her own paws. Her upper lip crinkles in a frustrated expression as she lifts a paw slowly. Lowering the paw, she begins to swipe it to the side but doesn't quite get it under the leaf. The loud noise of the leaves crunching forced her to let out a disgruntled sound. "C'mon!" She whispered under her breath as she tried again with the next paw. Her going was slow, but Ursa was eventually getting the hang of it. Leaves soon were swept to the side, but minutes were passing instead of seconds. Her father made it look so easy and fast! Scrunching her nose, she looks at him and wonders if he has anymore tips or tricks.