Work smarter, not harder

Manea glanced up occasionally while Malico was hauling off the dirt just to watch his progress and make sure he was doing okay, and it took all of her will power not to snicker at his first failed attempt to pick up the obviously over filled bucket. She could have gone to help him, but she wanted to let him figure it out on his own and while just getting a more stable stance to man handle the bucket away wouldn't have been her first choice it did do the job so she couldn't fault him on it. Chuckling softly to herself she went back to her own work and eventually the two of them finished up the hole and clearing out the space quickly enough. That brought them to placing the parts of their trap that would make it dangerous for their prey and she grinned a little at the excitement her son had at the prospect of being able to pick out where the spikes would go.

She sat back with an amused, affectionate smile as he jumped into the hole and began searching around for what he thought would be a good spot. She nodded and chuckled as he marked a few spots with his declarations of where he wanted each spike before coming back over to the edge of the hole–and struggling to get back over the edge. Manea leaned down and gently grasped Malico by the scruff, lifting him up and over the lip of the hole and placing him back on the grass once more. "Alright, wait here and I'll get them put in then," she told him with a quick nuzzle before stepping down into the hole herself, making quick work of digging out a deep enough spot for the spikes to sit in nicely and packing the dirt in tightly around them so they wouldn't fall over.

With that done, she stepped up beside Malico again and began to look around for thin branches and large leaves. "Now we just need to camouflage our trap. Look for any thin branches with leaves or any clumps of brush we can put over it to make it blend in with the grass. You just don't want to use any branches that are too thick or sturdy because then it won't collapse under their weight and they might not fall in the hole at all."

"Manea Mendacium"