Having killed a deer for the first time, Beat was incredibly proud of himself. With the help of Corvus, they'd brought down a decent sized meal and he was looking forward to sharing it with the one that he held most dear. It had been the suggested of the earthen colored man that they invite Twig to eat with them and Beat thought that it was a fine idea indeed. The boy raised his muzzle and called into the plains for the small woman that he called aunt.

The boy was seated beside their kill, a gentle breeze ruffling his fur. In his mind, he went over a play by play of the hunt. It had been glorious and he was looking forward to trying it again on his own. This would be the very first meal that he could offer to Twig, but it wouldn't be the last. He had moved into her den at her insistence while he was still weak and emaciated, but he wouldn't always be that way. In the back of his mind, he wished that he could always be with Twig. She seemed to want to be around him too. Nothing would ever change that. Ever.

"Do you think she'll be surprised, Corvus?" A little over a year in age, the boy's voice was changing and, though deeper than it had been before, every now and again it cracked. Beat had the habit of clearing his throat every time that his voice wavered and he cleared it now. He made sure to clean the blood from his dark maw before Twig arrived. He didn't want to look a horror when he presented his kill.

"Chatting." & 'Thinking'

Twig had been patrolling, it was one of her most productive pass times, she could get her paws moving and her mind occupied. There wasn’t usually anything exciting to see, but she was prepared just in case. With winter right around the corner predators would be eager to try and infiltrate Abaven and their stores so she had to be n her guard no matter how peaceful everything was.

The young Memoire was almost finished when she heard Beat’s call. There was no urgency so there likely wasn’t anything wrong. She was glad that he hadn’t put up any resistance in denning with her, and as he slowly integrated himself into the pack her sweet almost nephew was blossoming. She couldn’t take all of the credit, he had to want to get better and that quality was obvious in the way his ribs disappeared and his coat replenished.

Autumn made her way quickly to where she was summoned, ivory paws swift and lavender eyes widened in surprise as Beat and Corvus appeared. They were standing over a deer carcass, and Beat was looking more than proud of himself. ”Beat!” She offered excitedly, unable to resist nuzzling into his cheek as she guessed at the victory that lay before them. Her lilac gaze shifted to Corvus, and before she could even think she was offering him an affectionate nuzzle as well.

Surprise was obvious in her widened gaze as she nervously removed herself from his personal space. She turned back to the yearling, her pale features tinged with a rosy blush. ”Beat, you did it!”

Corvus was just as proud of Beat. He'd spent a lot of time on his own, as far as he knew, and he had a lot of recovering and learning to do. A hunt with his packmate was a really good start, and he knew Beat would end up well-fed before long. He grinned as he excitedly called for Twig, glad that the boy wanted to share their success with her - he had no doubt Twig would be proud of him. "Maybe a bit," he admitted. Not because she didn't expect Beat was capable, but because he and Beat hadn't really spent time together yet.

Luckily Twig was quick to arrive, looking surprised but pleased. Corvus shared a lazy grin of his own, calmed now that he'd rested a moment after their little hunt... though Twig nuzzling him unabashedly seemed to make his nerves suddenly flare up again. He returned the affection slightly, leaning to press his nose against her neck, but before long she was pulling away and directing her attention back toward Beat. She was almost glad that the spotlight wasn't on him for a split second. "We figured you might want to join us for lunch?" Corvus looked hopefully as he slid onto his belly, directing his face toward one of the deer's hind limbs.

With his muzzle cleaned of blood just in time, the boy grinned as Twig approached. He could see the excitement on her face as she came upon their kill. The black and white child beamed happily, his tail swishing back and forth with pleasure. The tiny woman gave him praise before coming up to nuzzle him. "It wasn't as hard as I thought. Corvus explained and made it easy." He was still wagging. He couldn't help it.

When Twig went over to give Corvus a nuzzle though, the boy's tail stopped. What was that? What had that been? He felt strange. A streak of possessiveness rose in him. All of the foreign emotion stopped the boy in his tracks. He found himself frowning hard, especially when he saw the look that Twig gave to Corvus and the little bit of nervous affection that the man gave back. Was Corvus trying to take Twig away from him? That was his first thought.

Twig moved away and Corvus settled in his place where he would eat. He would let Twig choose her place next and would take what was left over. He forced a smile at the small woman, though inside was whirlwind of strange emotion.

"Chatting." & 'Thinking'

She was so caught up in her pride in Beat that her thankfulness to Corvus and his guidance had come through with more enthusiasm than she intended. Twig was overwhelmed with pride in Beta though, this was his first big kill. It had been a long road to get him to a place of confidence like this. He had done it without her, the biggest accomplishment. He was becoming self sufficient. He seemed a little nervous, even as she felt butterflies in her stomach for her outburst, but it was hard to calm down. She got caught up in the bits of hope she could cling to.

”I’m so proud, Beat!” Twig’s tail wagged eagerly as she grinned at him and Corvus settled down for lunch. ”It was very nice for you both to think of me.” She grinned as she settled down near its spine. ”Do you know how to skin it?” She asked curiously before anyone started in on it. ”Preserving the pelt might be a good keepsake.” For him or her she wouldn’t say.

Beat had seemed quite pleased before, but when Twig arrived something seemed to change... something that a wolf as dense as Corvus could notice without any difficulty. What had bothered him, he wondered? Maybe a more observant wolf might've noticed the correlation of the discomfort and Twig's affections towards him, but when it came to the small pale female he had trouble thinking clearly. Sometimes around her it felt like his heart and body were doing all the reacting, rather than his mind... this moment was no exception. But Beat's sudden frown didn't go unnoticed, and it derailed his own train of thought abruptly.

"He did perfectly," Corvus admitted, hoping that focusing again on their hunt might ease the weirdness that he felt suddenly settle over them. Did Twig feel it, too? She didn't seem to. He was glad to settle in beside her, hoping Beat would do the same. "I know a bit..." He started, but he sounded uncertain. "But I'm not sure I'd feel confident enough to clean it properly to keep it. Do you?" He figured Twig might know, but he cast a curious glance at Beat too, wondering if he had any ideas of his own. Either way if they figured it out, it'd make some damn good bedding for someone's den, if nothing else.

The boy was distracted from his thoughts by the skinning question. He frowned and gave a little shrug. "I wouldn't know where to start." He'd just learned to hunt. He had no clue as to how to skin an animal. The boy was quite eager to learn, however. He simply looked back and forth between Twig and Corvus, searching for direction.

As he waited for someone to take the lead, he thought a bit more. So Twig liked Corvus. That was okay, right? They were adults. He liked Corvus and he loved Twig to no end. Beat wanted her to be happy. If they were together, would she still be able to spend time with him? Would he still be allowed to live in her den with her? Beat hadn't exactly had a childhood. His caregivers died and he was left to his own devices. It had nearly killed him. Now that he was with Twig and she was caring for him, he felt that he was getting back a little bit of what he'd been denied. Maybe... maybe he should ask? The black and white youngling shook his head at his own thoughts. No. Now wasn't the time. Besides, maybe he was wrong? It would be awkward to bring up such things right before they started a meal. Then things would be strange the whole time. No... he would hold onto his thoughts for now. There would be time later to ask. Or maybe it would become more obvious and he wouldn't have to.

Twig felt a bit of the mood change around them, but she chalked it up to Beat being bashful about his accomplishments. She was so proud of her ‘nephew’ that her grin didn’t diminish. The focus of the conversation shifted easily to skinning the deer, and Twig felt that it was very important that Beat keep the pelt of his first real kill. Corvus admitted that he wasn’t confident enough to help, and Beat wasn’t much better. Twig had experience though, and she’d teach both of them what she knew.

”Alright, well watch me.” She gave Beat a wink before lifting herself to her paws and revealing her skinning knife. She hadn’t originally planned on bringing it, but was glad she did. Carefully she’d demonstrate how to remove the pelt. Starting at the hind end she pulled backthe skin, using her knife at the most opportune moments as she removed it while it was on the ground. It was a little more difficult, and it wouldn’t be a perfect pelt, but it would work for the intended purpose.

”Once we’re done eating i’ll show you how to preserve it.” She told Beat with a grin as she returned her attention to the carcass. ”For now, lets eat?”

Beat didn't have any idea where to start either, which wasn't a surprise given his limited knowledge on hunting in general. Luckily Twig seemed receptive enough to teaching them both, and Corvus was grateful for a distraction from the weirdness that her arrival had apparently created. Instead of asking why something had shifted, instead he settled in and watched as Twig began to use her knife to carefully cut the deer's pelt - like she'd been made to do something like this.

Corvus was impressed, and beamed widely at her as she showed off. He'd have to try something like that himself, though.. yeah, he didn't know the first thing about what to do with the pelt afterwards, but that was a lesson for later rather than now. It was time to eat, to share their meal they'd taken down together with Twig. Hopefully sharing his kill with her might help bolster Beat's confidence further. "Let's do it," he agreed easily, grinning as he began to tear into one of the deer's flanks, now hungry after their hunt.

-end?-