turn back the clock

It was nowhere near his first time out of the den now, but Fidelias still kept his mother's warning to keep the stuffed rabbit in sight very seriously even as he set out to cautiously explore the grasslands surrounding the den, even stopping every few feet to glance back at it to be sure. He was slowly inscribing a circle around the den at the farthest reach that he could still see the macabre flag. He didn't know where his sister and brother were today, but he kept his ears flicking warily for the sound of their puppy paws in the grass. He didn't want to get pounced by one of his tuskier siblings, and wasn't particularly in the mood for a wrestling match.

Suddenly, he jumped as something went whirring off into the grass practically right under his feet. He stood quite still for a long moment in surprise, but then cautiously nosed his way through the grass until it happened again. This time, he was ready, and he could see that it was actually a little creature of some sort, long and low to the ground and kind of flat looking, all spikey and scaley looking. It scuttled off again, and this time when Del followed he lost it. He snuffled around for it, finally spying it sunning itself - and watching him - from a warm boulder. It seemed loathe to leave the warm basking spot, so Fidelias dropped into a crouch and crept up on it as best as he could despite the distinct impression that the creature was glaring balefully at him with the one eye closest to Del.

Moving very slowly the pup eased himself up the edge of the boulder, and then pounced, both paws landing on the spikey lizard to trap it. Fierce triumph turned to horror as the creature turned in his grip and... and it's eyes squirted him with blood! Fidelious fluffed up to practically twice his size in alarm, back arching and even his bob tail sticking straight up as he stared at blood dripping from his chest.

Horrified and disgusted, Del threw himself backwards off the lizard, and off the boulder, to roll desperately around in the dirt and grass to clean it off him. It wasn't natural for something to just squirt blood out it's eyes at you, he was fairly certain of that even at his tender age, so there was probably something a lot more bad about it than just blood. Like.... like acid or something. So he frantically rubbed his face and chest until it was cleaned of blood - though now he was caked and coated with dust from nose to stub tail. He was probably safe, unless its poisons were instant and he was already doomed. Well, if he was he was taking the awful creature with him.

His jaw firming stubbornly he edged back through the flattened and torn up grasses to the boulder. Having satisfied itself that it had succeeded in sending its attacker fleeing, the lizard had gone back to sunning himself quite smugly. Seeing the lizardy smirk on his nemesis' weird face, Del's muzzle wrinkled in a silent snarl. He crept back up like he had last time, inching up the boulder, easing himself up it, until he could see the lizard, and his legs were all coiled beneath him. And then...

He pounced!

Full of puppyish rage he threw himself headlong onto the creature that had poisoned him, trapping it again between his forepaws. But this time he didn't even give the creature time to think about squirting him. He slammed his jaws forward so fast that his nose smacked the boulder even as his teeth closed over the lizard. Tears sprang instantly into his eyes at the sharp pain, and a faint yip made it past the lizard but he refused to drop it. Snarling fiercely now he whipped his head back and forth, thrashing the lizard around like a rope toy. Blood filled his mouth and splattered over his dark fur and the rock, unheeded. The lizard went limp long before Fidelias stopped shaking it.

He stood there for a moment stiffly before dropping the lizard. Or rather, what was left of it. It was definitely the worse for wear. Del poked at it with his paw experimentally, but it stayed limp, like the little food animals that his mother had started bringing home recently to get them used to whole prey. So, then the lizard had been prey? Which made him... a hunter. He had actually hunted something, and killed it, and now he had food. Staring down at that ragged lizard, Del marveled at the knowledge that with this torn up thing, he could feed his family. Well, he corrected himself as he squinted at the size, maybe just one of his siblings. It opened up enormous vistas of the possible future, of making sure his family was never ever hungry because he would hunt for them and take care of them. Of being able to take care of himself and never need rely on anyone - though in reality he was far from that.

Carefully he picked up the raggedy lizard and cast around for the flag over the den. For a long second he couldn't find it, but then... there, at the edge of his ability to see it. He bounced down off the boulder and set off towards the den, hoping to find someone to share his kill with.

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