Vanta had taken her cruel brother's words to heart while they'd only managed to inflame the hate in Kite's. If she couldn't grow up to be a strong fighter or navigator or intellect, she would work at hunting. Her crystalline gaze did not impede her in night hunts, and if worse came to worse she could always tuck away in a cavern skinning, tanning and preparing hides or meat. It was not the lot in life she expected, but without the strong will of her equally disabled sister, Vanta knew not what else to do other than accept it.

She'd trailed a mouse from the Col's northern entrance deep into the adjoining tunnels. It was the least-used section of the warrens as far as den sites went, and some tunnels were clearly suffering from lack of use, their walls dusty and the doorways adorned with cobwebs. Catching the rodents that had holed up in and reclaimed the dens was something she knew the Warlord could at least appreciate, and they were small enough that she had a chance against them.. unlike the northern caribou the grown hunters could bring back.

She chased the mouse onward to a fork in the tunnels, skidding to a sudden halt as a sunbeam flooded in through a crack in the walls. It blinded her just long enough to miss which turn the rodent took, and by the time she stepped out of the light and let her eyes readjust, she'd lost it. Damnit. "Mousey.. mousey.. where'd you go?" The pup whispered, crouching low and poking her head in both tunnels, hoping to get a clue of which way to take.

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Crux had caught sounds coming from inside the caverns, coming from a place he'd yet to fully explore. It caught the young boy's curiosity and he trailed slowly through the caverns, catching the sounds of moving, of something scuffling around. His own movements were punctuated by the dull thud of his cuffed leg as he moved. It was maybe a small mercy that he'd yet to have to take his eldest brother's abuses directly, he knew his brother was rather... Aggressive about his dislike for Crux and his sisters, but Crux had yet to bear the brunt of it. He couldn't know how he'd respond, he certainly thought it was stupid but he also knew there were things he'd struggle to do compared to some of his siblings, and he just didn't see why his older brother blamed them so much for the fact that parts of the pack he was running was inaccessible to him or his sisters... Seemed like a failing on his part in Crux's mind.

As Crux moved through the old clearly unused caverns the sounds got closer and he rounded a corner to hear a voice and spot his sister squinting down a fork in the caves. Crux stopped, taking a moment to drink in what he was looking at. The sun from the crack in the roof reflected off of his sister's coat and despite himself, he couldn't help but partially wish he looked more like her, his pelt was dark and boring in his mind. He had failed to really register the fact his sister was whispering. "Whatchu doing?" he asked, stepping up behind her and peering down the forked paths trying to see if there was something worth seeing in the gloom.

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Art by Talia!

The sound of another voice broke Vanta from her intent focus, her crystalline spine bristling in alarm as she spun on him, tiny teeth bared. The sun flooded into her eyes from behind his frame and she squinted hard, thankful she'd at least caught sight of him before being blinded again. "Oh, it's just you Crux." She stated wearily, rubbing her sore eye with a paw before gesturing meekly to the tunnels. "I'm chasing a mouse, but I don't know which way to go. I don't want to get lost." She turned her head from him (and the light of day out the cavern entrance) and opened her eyes, allowing them to refocus back into the dim lighting with less pain.

Skirting around the sun shaft from above, she returned to poking her head in and out of tunnels. "I don't even hear him anymore, how am I supposed to figure out which way to go??" In Vanta's mind, she had to be successful in this hunt. Allowing a single mouse to stay set a precedent that they all could stay, and then they'd eat their bedding and food and.. and.. the whole pack would fall to pieces! Azure would surely think it was all her fault, too. "Can you help me, Crux?"

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Crux couldn't help the feeling of guilt upon seeing his sister spinning around to snarl at him, had their older brother done this to her? Anger flared in his stomach, he'd yet to be subjected to his brother's torment and he didn't know just how brutal he could be outside of the stories his sisters had told. But Crux pushed those feelings down as Vanta calmed and explained what she was doing. He cocked his head to the side and he padded forward towards the fork in the caves and peered down each one, his nose twitching as he tried to pick out any specific scents but the mildewy scents of these unused caves were over-powering.

He couldn't hear any tiny paws but he could feel something. The path on the right had a slight breeze, very slight and he noticed it only because he'd been spending so much time learning how to navigate some of the winding cave paths, there was a hole in the rock somewhere down this path. Maybe a mouse would be inclined to pick the path that would let it escape to the outside where it could more easily hide in the grasses? "I don't know which one it went down but there's an opening somewhere down this path." Crux said, gesturing with his muzzle, his voice softer now that he knew his sister was stalking something. "Maybe it wants to try and get out of the cave?" He didn't even know if the hole would be accessible to the mouse, it could be a hole in the roof like here. "Worst case we can look in both caves, I can come with you to make sure you don't get lost." He hadn't been here before of course but he was pretty confident in his ability to not get turned around after he'd spent so much time learning how to keep track of where he was.

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Art by Talia!

Crux was willing to help her and Vanta gave a relieved exhale, grinning over at her brother and stepping aside so he could look with her. The crystal-booted boy poked his nose in a tunnel and seemed to be thinking hard. Vanta envied the way some others of her litter had inherited more of their mother's navigational ability - as Crux mentioned an opening down the path, Vanta gaped at him. "How do you know?" She whispered. "Can eyes that aren't broken see that far?" Squinting she peered into the darkness, but could see no end in sight. Regardless she was not about to deny that Crux just knew things and nodded her small head. "Okay, lets go that way then and try not to get lost."

She led him into the tunnel, ears flicking with every distant drip or echo. A huntress on the trail of her prey, Vanta kept keen eyes and ears waiting for any single sign. Suddenly movement shuffled before her and she pounced, feeling the squish of flesh and hearing the sad squeak of pain. The mouse in her maw, she turned toward her brother to brag when.. a distant squeak sounded once more, from further in. She spat the mouse body out and grimaced. "There's MORE? C'mon Crux, we gotta find their nest!"

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