A bit of exploration

Arc was glad that his guess about the alligator's belly being the most tender spot was right but there was clearly more to it than that. He gave a shake of his head when Naiche asked if he had seen one before and listened intently as his father explained how alligators had thick, solid scales on top and how you couldn't bite though those. That certainly explained why the belly was the spot to go for! But the short legs and being close to the ground definitely made that harder. He blinked with surprise when his dad told him that best case scenario if it bit him was that it just took off a leg, his eyes wide with awe at the idea that something could be that big and powerful! He almost hoped he could see an alligator one day just to see these big, teethy jaws in real life!

He throughly enjoyed listening to his father recount the tale of his dad and Uncle Mort taking on this alligator and how Mortis had clawed into into it by swimming under it in the water, a wide grin on his lips as he listed to the story. He nodded in agreement as his dad summarized how to take on an alligator. Go for the belly if you can, otherwise find some way to puncture the scales and make sure not to get bit. "Got it!" he said with a wag of his tail. He had claws and fangs like Uncle Mort so maybe he could do something that impressive one day too! His family had all the best fighters and hunters so he was certainly going to be the best fighter and hunter too, especially when them all teaching him.

As they continued to walk through the mangroves, they came up to a thin river that snaked through the trees, little branching streams spreading out from it and through the trees making this place really wet and full of water. The steams were mostly frozen over with a dusting of snow on everything, but the river was big enough that it was just slushy around the edges and the moving water kept it from getting fully frozen over. He spotted a few fish in the water and was just about to suggest to his dad that they try to catch some of the fish while they were out here when suddenly a large brown and white hawk swooped down - either from one of the trees or from the sky he wasn't sure - and snatched the fish up right in front of his nose. He stumbled back and watched it fly off with a bream clutched in its talons, a huge grin spreading across his face. "Whoa! That was so cool!" he exclaimed, bouncing in place as he watched the osprey go to land in a near by tree to start eating the fish it caught.

He bounded over to it, craning his head back to look at the big bird. "Hey! Hey bird!" The hawk peered down at him with a tilt of its head, pausing his meal for a moment to look at the smaller golden wolf. His dad had an owl so why couldn't he have a hawk, right? "Hey, do you want to be my friend? I'll feed you and stuff!" Arc glanced at the fish the bird was holding and added, "I know! I'll call you Bream!" That seemed to amuse the osprey and it gave a little ruffle of its feathers before it finally shrugged and nodded in agreement.

"Arcturus Fatalis"