If You're Gonna Do It, Do It Right.
Hunting
As a thank you for letting the young woman stay in the Hallows with Indigo for a while, Aslatiel decided to hold a training session for the new pups. They weren't her brother's and sisters, so she didn't mind them nearly as much. Besides, it would be training for herself as well. Training in patience. Asla chose the woods outside of the hot springs to hold her training. She had informed the parents of the children beforehand and had given them a time to send their curious offspring to her. What she would teach them depended on how much they already knew. If they were interested in learning about snares, she would teach them that. If they wanted to learn about stalking, she would teach them that. Asla did plan on making them actually hunt though. Perhaps that would be something new for them. "Speech" |
![[Image: qnvtMu8.png?1]](https://i.imgur.com/qnvtMu8.png?1)
Jane was excited as always and even more that she would do something new, something she had yet to know about but the thrill was way more pleasant than going already knowing what to expect. Eyes of pale blue shinned in joy as her tiny legs rushed toward the place. There she spotted an older wolf, with her tail wagging ferociously behind her she darted forward looking up to the teen. "Hiiii! I am Jane!!! And you?!!!" She greeted a bit too enthusiastic, but as young and ignorant she was she didn't think it was bad to be too excited with this and around others. She sat down before the stranger and just stared at her expectantly. |
Avantika had been thinking a lot lately. Of course, that wasn't exactly new, but what she was thinking about was very new. Her family. Her real one, with Resin and Tamsyn and all the pups. It still felt weird to call them hers. Wrong, but also so, so right. Day by day, her terror had started to fade. She still doubted herself, and her nightmares were filled with graphic visions of the Hallows turning on her. So far, Resin had thrown her in the falls, the hot springs, snapped her neck, and a thousand other things. Rudy and Bowen also played strong parts in her night terrors, though the tortures the images of them put her through were more mental. She'd had one reoccurring nightmare about them since Resin had let her stay, and it always started with her waking up. Her parents would come up to her, the vision of fury. She'd muster up her courage and attack them, but as soon as she struck a fatal blow, they'd fade and, in their place, Rudy and Bowen would lay, their glassy eyes staring up at her, completely lifeless. Then it would fade to black and start over. Over and over, it would repeat. She always woke up trembling. But on most days, she was able to suppress those fears in daylight. She practiced her fighting and stayed near other people, taking in the world around her so it could fill the emptiness in her and keep the ghosts at bay. It was working, mostly. A parade of distractions was what her life had become. She didn't entirely mind. When she was told about the wolf offering to train them, she was of two minds. On one hand, it would be another thing to do, and it would be productive, too. But there was a knot of dread in her stomach she just couldn't ignore. She was still just so bad at talking, and what if she was the only one that showed up? What if all the others made fun of her for being so bad at everything, not just talking? She wasn't exactly an expert on, well, anything. But Rudy had made the decision easier. He was going, so at least she'd have one friend. He'd help her out if she needed it, right? When they arrived, Avantika examined the strange woman carefully. Resin had said her name was Aslatiel, and she knew that the scarred woman wouldn't have sent her to someone she didn't trust. She didn't look too bad, and her body language didn't seem to be too angry. It'll be fine. "Um, hi," she introduced herself awkwardly, shifting on her paws. "'M Avantika." Should she say something else? She waited, half-crouching as usual. "speak" |
Her companions, a female sharp-shinned hawk named Kaata and a black-thighed falconet named Kit can be assumed to always be close by unless otherwise stated.
![](https://i.ibb.co/sFxYkdx/C6699768-8-E11-4-E56-A462-4-B27-EA0-CBDD6.png)
While Daphne wasn’t exactly interested in pursuing hunting as a life choice (the way things squealed when they were bitten kinda turned her stomach if she was honest), she understood that it was a valuable life skill to have. So when she heard that Asla was holding a hunting lesson, well of course she was going to go along.
It seemed two other pups had beat her there. She wasn’t surprised that they seemed to have better proportions than her, the young girl still being all leg and paws and ears. It might take her a bit longer than the others to fill out her massive frame, but that didn’t mean her body wasn’t racing to try and get there first. The newer one seemed more uncertain than Jane, so she moved in quietly and sat next to Avantika, offering her a small smile and scooching down so as not to seem so huge. "I’m Daphne," she offered quietly, mismatched eyes giving the other girl a slow blink before turning her attention to the Fatalis.
"speech".
![[Image: Daphne-Chibi1.png]](https://i.ibb.co/7NjV9kt/Daphne-Chibi1.png)
![[Image: crossfitdaph.png]](https://i.ibb.co/rQ7M0r0/crossfitdaph.png)
Excellent. Rudy’s mind was more often than not focused on wanting to learn and hunting was up high on that list. It was one of the first things he would learn to master and the byproduct skills that came along with it. Up till now learning to hunt had been a mixture of having Resin instruct him and working on his skills later on his own. A new teacher offered a new way of hearing things and perhaps they had their individual swing on tactics or teaching.
Rudy had also taken it upon himself to help Tika gain her confidence so when he had noticed her uncertainty on going he had simply told her to cheerfully to follow him to the lesson. It had worked, and Rudy had the feeling if he didn’t understand her past he was starting to understand how to maneuver her in the present so that at some point she would learn how to fit into the picture he had created of how the pack should look. In his picture, she was a happy cheery pup that played without fear, and that was therefore what she had to become.
He lead Tika down with a confidence that was both his normal attitude and now also to make sure his confidence proved to Tika this was the right thing to do. He approached and looked up at the wolf he had not spent any time with yet. He hadn’t even had a chance to spy on this wolf and knew little of her. That was a flaw on his part. Rudy made a note to himself he needed to find more time in the day to work on his spying as well. There was so little time in the day!! Rudy always had more he wanted to do but in the end, he’d end up falling asleep no matter how hard he tried to do more.
Spotting his sister he cast her a cheery grin, “Hi Daph! How’s it goin?” He loved all in his family, but he assumed they knew it and just got so busy with his plans he found himself spending little time with them. “Hi Jane,” He offered cheerily to the pup. He hadn’t really spent time with her yet either, but he had easily overheard her name. She seemed to be the type super excited about making friends so he would give her that. His eyes then turned up to soak in this wolf who would be teaching them. He gave the wolf his best charismatic puppy smile and greeting, “Hi, I’m Rudy. Nice to meetcha.”
Pups began rolling in and Aslatiel was slowly regretting her decision. It wasn't that she didn't like pups, but... well... okay so she didn't really like pups. They were so...cheery and small and breakable. There was always a risk of getting hurt while hunting though, so hopefully their parents were prepared just in case. Asla wouldn't give them anything too crazy to kill, but she wouldn't be letting them hunt injured chipmunks, that was for sure. Each pup sat and gave its name. Rather than waiting to see if more wolves arrived, she started her lesson now, hoping that she wouldn't have to repeat herself. "Hello young children. I'm Aslatiel Fatalis of the Armada. Your parents sent you to me to learn some hunting skills, so we're not going to waste any time." Asla lifted one grey and white paw and pointed to Jane. "You there. You were the first to arrive. Have you ever hunted anything before? Have any of you ever hunted?" Galaxy gaze drifted around to each small face. They looked... like dumb puppies. Okay. She would have to start somewhere more simple. "A hunter needs to be smart. A hunter needs to be quick. You need to be able to think on your paws and be able to change tactics at the tiniest moment. No hunt goes exactly the way you imagined it. Prey animals don't want to be caught, so they'll do everything in their power to stay out of your jaws. That means that they're fast. They pivot quickly. Sometimes they can attack you right back. A hunter is always on their guard and they're ready for everything." That was a lot to start off with, so Asla decided to work with them on some different scenarios. "Jane," she addressed the grey child that had shown up first. "If you were hunting rabbits and a coyote suddenly showed up and started hunting those same rabbits, what would you do? Would you scare off the coyote or would you make sure that you found the rabbit first?" Her attention was just for Jane. She wanted to know how this kids mind worked. "Speech" |
![[Image: qnvtMu8.png?1]](https://i.imgur.com/qnvtMu8.png?1)
"Hello young children. I'm Aslatiel Fatalis of the Armada. Your parents sent you to me to learn some hunting skills, so we're not going to waste any time." The older wolf began to speak beginning with saying her reason of being here today. Hunting seemed fun even though she haven't done anything related to it yet.
"You there. You were the first to arrive. Have you ever hunted anything before? Have any of you ever hunted?" Her tail wagged when she was pointed at. "No! I haven't!" She responded happily even if the question was serious but at this point there was nothing serious for her at all.
"A hunter needs to be smart. A hunter needs to be quick. You need to be able to think on your paws and be able to change tactics at the tiniest moment. No hunt goes exactly the way you imagined it. Prey animals don't want to be caught, so they'll do everything in their power to stay out of your jaws. That means that they're fast. They pivot quickly. Sometimes they can attack you right back. A hunter is always on their guard and they're ready for everything."
Her eyes widened in wonder for the explanation the older wolf just shared with them."If you were hunting rabbits and a coyote suddenly showed up and started hunting those same rabbits, what would you do? Would you scare off the coyote or would you make sure that you found the rabbit first?" She was asked once more.
She took a time to think her answer. "Perhaps I'll try to catch it first? And then scare off the Coyote."
Arty had the edge on Rudy when it came to fighting but now they were having a lesson on something he knew better! Actually, Art might not even show up. Rudy imagined his brother might not leave his fighting lessons to learn about hunting. Rudy remembered what Resin had said about focusing in one area first and realized Art was better at maintaining focus than Rudy was.
“I’ve been practicing hunting rabbits. Caught an injured one once,” The boy was certainly happy to mention the tasks when asked if any had been hunting before. It certainly wouldn’t impress this wolf who probably had loads of hunting experience but maybe the pups?
Rudy glanced at Jane as she answered, then back at Asla as his paws shifted below him in energy. He wanted to respond but she had specified Jane. Sure, Rudy was impulsive but he tried to behave during lessons. After all, if he misbehaved in a lesson Resin would give him it would probably end up losing out on getting lessons from her. Self-control was hard at times but not impossible. Ok, well if he couldn't answer yet he'd see if there were flaws in his logic. If self-control was required he would use it to make sure he had the bestest answer possible.