When Cascade woke that morning, a faint chill had joined the turning of the leaves as the autumn trudged onward toward winter, and the ancestral urgency to prepare for the harsh times prompted her. The pack held many children between her litter, Daegmar's, the Armadas, the Destructions and Esti's young pup, many children and few adults to feed them over the winter. Some, like the Armadas and Destructions, would reach their first year over the winter. It was far past time for the whole lot of them to receive formal training in the art, and it was a sport she relished. Stretching, she moved toward the Orchard, bound to have abundant prey at this time of year with all the fruits ripened, and a full, fat prey animal was a slow, stupid one, especially if they'd been snacking on rotting fruit that would make them tipsy. Throwing her head back carelessly, she called out a long, low note for all the pack's children to join her.

OOC: I would prefer if all wolves under 1 year old were to show up but I'm not going to strictly enforce it. The most it would get is a Super Disappointed Look from Cascade... Adults are welcome if they really want but it's going to be pretty basic.

The call came for all children, and the boy looked up from the mouse that he was pawing around. He wasn't killing it, just batting around the poor creature. But the howl has distracted him, and the critter staggered away. Scowling at it, he rose to his paws and padded over to the purple woman. What did she want now? He had wanted to come here for fun, but then his stupid siblings got pulled into it with him. Bah. And there were so many pups here! He had thought that he was going to be special once in his life. Stomping his way towards the older woman he flopped down to his rump in front of her. He didn't say anything, just eyed her with his bright green eyes. This had better be good, he had more small rodents to torture. ""

Vana was outraged. Her mother had called for all of the pups, but though Vana had hurried, one of those kids had beaten her there. Not one of the Thyres, who had been born in the pack like she had, or even one of the Armadas whose dead daddy had been a friend of Vana's daddy, but one of those kids. Giving the boy something of a stink eye, she sat huffily beside her mother. At least it wasn't the other boy who'd beaten her here, the one who didn't like her Daddy and acted like he didn't have to listen because he didn't want to be in Imperium. Why anyone wouldn't want to be here was beyond her. She 'hmph'ed at the spotted boy again, raising her chin and resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him. At least she'd beaten Angel here again.

Karabela when skittering madly back to the orchard at the call. Tongue lolling out of her mouth, her legs beat against the ground as fast as she could to make up the distance from her exploring. Trotting into the, thus far, small gathering she promptly sat down, panting. "'Sup Cas?" She gave a little nod before moving to pick some brambles out of her fur. The girl was prone to wandering, there could be no denying. Each day she went just a little and a little further. It was great that Dægmar was finally letting them start to wander on their own accord. As long as they stayed within earshot of Imperium they could go wherever they pleased. Then next month they'd finally be free to wander anywhere and make their own decisions. It was so exciting! Raba needed to brush up her skills as a fighter, she still wasn't anywhere near her mother's level and it really bothered the girl.

"Speech"

For once Integra's mouth was void of plants. With autumn coming in it was getting harder and harder for her to find anything to store. Well, anything that she knew about. The more she thought about it the more she decided it was probably time to make another long trip to Ebony to see if she could coerce more instruction out of Kassander. She knew he was probably busy as an alpha but that wouldn't stop her from trying to make herself a priority. Integra sat on the outskirts of the gathering and offered a nod to Cascade in greeting. ""

A hunt, huh? That sounded like fun! Quickly, Sirius stashed her bedraggled duckling in a deep hole she'd dug just for him. She was counting on his tiny little wings being too...well, tiny and little, to aid him in a jailbreak. Honestly, she was a bit disturbed by the idea of him not being around anymore and was having a hard time picturing him not being there. She made sure to be extra careful in hiding him away. Duck safely caged, the young Armada took off for the gathering. She arrived seconds after her sister and moved to stand at her left shoulder. She was looking forward to a hunt. Already she'd gotten down the basics. Well, of hunting small prey, at least. Maybe today she'd get to take on bigger prey? "Speaking" "Thinking"

Ashmedai had been so seton going to the damned hunt. When Cascade called out, he wouldn't stop asking. Esti told him no several times, but he wouldn't pipe down. How could he possibly be a leader if he couldn't hunt, he had complained. Why didn't she ever let him away from the den, he asked. He ended with a huffy, teary eyed, "Pleaaaaaaaseeeee, Mommaaaa?" and finally, Esti relented, "How could I say no to that face?" she would say, licking his cheek as he looked at her in disbelief, "Really, Momma?!" He started, jumping up with his tail wagging in hard circles, "Only if you can keep up," she had replied, taking to a brisk walk. She wasn't too thrilled to drop him off with Cascade, but she was glad he was so happy. The lanky pup trotted and sometimes broke into a lazy run to keep up with his mother, his tongue lolling out of his maw between breaths. Once they came to the scene, Esti surveyed the other pups carefully, her eyes narrowing slightly as she came to look at Cascade, "You better take care of him," she thought, "or else," as if her sour gaze would penetrate the woman's mind. Ashmedai was close to Esti's side now and Esti gave him an affectionate lick on the head before shooting one more look at Cascade and turning to go, "Have fun," she called out, though if it was to the group, Cascade, or Ashmdai wasn't too clear, and to Esti, it might as well have been all of them. ""

He had begged her, begged his momma to let him come to the hunt. He wanted to show off how big he was getting! He had to show how much of a leader he could be! She said no, but he wouldn't let that stop him. He asked again and again, trying to reason with her. Finally, he tried being polite and, somehow, it changed her mind. Ashmedai was thrilled! He was going on a hunt! His mother set a hard pace for him to follow- for him to prove his worth in being able to go to the hunt. They came to the group and Ash was suddenly overwhelmed by the number of wolves there were. He was excited, but there were a lot, at least to him. His momma licked him and called out to have fun. For a second, he looked tennatively over his shoulder at her retreating form. He took a step back, wondering if he should follow her, but when he looked over his shoulder again, she was gone. Ashmedai looked back over the group. They all looked really different from himself and his momma. He licked his lips nervously and eyed the purple momma. Was she a momma? What was the word for a wolf like his momma that wasn't his momma? He shot her a toothy smile and walked over a bit, fluffing his chest out, "I'm Azm'dai Imper'als!" he called confidently, his name pronunciation being a little off, but not so much that it mattered. His name was a bit long and complex, after all, and something he would have to grow into, "You can call me Az, though. I think it's okay, and it's easier!" ""

She followed after Cascade and Cesar timidly, and obviously slowly enough that by the time she'd reached where the woman had called them almost everyone had already shown up. The girl had nearly lost her voice, almost never speaking unless it was in hushed tones to Speare. She'd found herself slowly becoming more and more fitted to the name of her rank, quiet subservient and quick to follow any and all of the orders that were given to her. She still missed her mother and fatherly dearly, and had hoped after all this time of being good she might be reunited. Thus far her attempts had been futile. She was beginning to believe that she would not ever see her parents again. That thought was obvious on her features as her slender form slipped through the trees. She was close to reaching her full height, which was incredibly unimpressive as she sat near to the giant pups that lived within. Colette would fall back onto her haunches softly, her form sinking as her blue gaze lingered on Cascade for orders to be given.

Angelus came bounding towards the gathering. He was trying his hardest to imitate a deer. Tail up, legs out, he bounced and wove around trees and bushes and whatever else got in his way, pausing every once in a while to leap over things. This method of traveling was tiring. He didn't know how deer did it. It did feel good in the sense that you couldn't really run this way and feel grumpy. The springy movements demanded cheer. Th tiny rump of his littlest brother came into view and Angel found himself unable to pass up the opportunity. Abandoning the bouncing jog, he adopted a more casual pace as he moved to creep to beside the smaller boy. Angelus pursed his lips and thought of tasty things to work up a mouthful of saliva...and then he attempted to run his tongue from the base of Ash's skull to just right above his eyes. "Hellooo, Ashy!" "Talk" "You" Think

Chances were Shakespeare would have been furious if he ever discovered that this entire ridiculous situation could be pretty much entirely blamed on his brother. Caesar's moods hadn't improved at all and truth be told whilst he was his brother and the little family he seemed to have left, Shakespeare was already struggling enough with actually liking him these days. He'd grown rather bitter, hints of the sweet little mummy's boy still existed, he still missed his parents but there was a fury boiling below the surface at these stupid Imperium wolves. How could they all continue on like everything was fine when a family had been destroyed? They had the power to put it back together, they'd damn well had the power not to break it in the first place. This irritation meant it was with great reluctance that he made his way to the gathering point for this meeting. It wasn't often that they were all summoned together, though the idea of sitting with the all the other children to act all happy and carefree disgusted him. He'd go though, if only for Colette, his nose told him she'd already joined the mob and he wouldn't leave her to suffer alone. She had been seriously broken by all of this, a shadow of her former self and whilst her screams had driven him mad, what he wouldn't give to hear her confident shouts again. Silently he slipped past the other children now, not giving any a second thought as he moved to his sister's side.

Atreides heard Cascade's call for all the pups and - though in a way he resented being lumped in with pups when he was nearly a year old - he knew he needed the training, especially if he was going to leave the safety of the pack when he turned a year old. Winter was a harsh time even for pack wolves... choosing to leave in the dead season without any serious hunt training would be disastrous. So when the call came he stood, stretching, to lope toward the orchard. Two of his sisters were already there and he flashed them a lopsided grin before flopping down beside them. Maybe they'd had the same thought he had? At least it was Cascade - she treated them like pups but she treated everyone that way so it was... different. And she was supposed to be pretty good at hunting, so maybe they'd learn something here. ""

Ordinarily a call from anyone but his mother or Hati would have gone unheeded, the boy uninteresting in learning from inferiors when he could have learned from the pack's lead warriors... particularly when the call was for all the pack's pups. Sabre sneered - who all was actually going to show up to this? The Imperialis pups, the Armadas, sure. Grudgingly he would acknowledge even to himself that neither litter was half bad, though the Imperialis girl was irritating and the smaller of the two boys was an annoyance they were well trained and the Armadas had been trained by his mother. Well. Maybe it wouldn't be all bad. Besides, his mother would be cross if he refused to show up to a direct summons. Arriving at this conclusion somewhat late, he similarly arrived somewhat late to the group, being the last to appear. Even the Destructions had appeared first, though since the Saxe woman was their guardian he supposed that was to be expected. He passed his gaze over the whole lot of them with an equally frigid eye before slipping over to sit next to Raba in silence. ""

Cascade noted with approval that all of the pack's pups - except Seraphim and Falx, who were both still ill, and the third Armada girl who probably didn't have the strength yet to hunt - had showed at the training, including the Destruction pups... though the sullen expressions several of the pups showed didn't bode well. Her half-smile didn't falter even as Caesar stomped in, or Vana flounced up, or Esti arrived with Valen's youngest in tow to glare at her - Cascade just offered her a blandly unconcerned raised eyebrow in return, and smiled - or when Colette crept in - sometimes she seemed to behave as though Cascade regularly beat them, which was almost more annoying than Vana's dramatics - or when Shakespeare thundered in like a brewing storm cloud, or at Sabre's arrogant entrance onto the scene. "All right!" she began cheerfully, "It's nice to meet you, Az, I'm glad you could make it. You can never start too early learning to hunt, it will teach you many skills you can use later when you start learning self-defense as well as helping you with creative thinking and learning how to use those big paws of yours." She passed her eyes over the group, mostly consisting of older pups, and grinned. "The rest of you are a little late for learning to use your paws but maybe we can teach you how to work together to increase the effectiveness of your hunt. I'm sure you older pups have been trying out hunting rodents, and some of you have maybe even been off bunny-chasing. That's good, the more practice you get the better at your age. But I'm sure it wasn't easy, and it probably used up a lot of energy." Here she turned serious, fixing them all with a look. "That extra energy you're using up could be the difference between life and death if you're out on your own. No hunter, no matter how good they are, always gets their prey, and if you're using up too much energy on your attempts, you're going to run out of strength before you get a meal. You need to work smarter, not harder, if you're going to survive. Likewise, if you're using up more energy in a hunt, you're using up more pack resources that could be going toward those who are too weak or small or too unskilled to hunt for themselves. Conserving energy is key, and to that end we're going to work on our stalking, choosing the best prey, and working together in a manner that will increase your efficiency and likelihood of making a clean kill. Ok! We'll start with stalking." She stood, her grin returning. "What is the most important thing when stalking? Control, control, control! You need to know where your feet and tail are at all times and you need to be in absolute control over what they are doing. Your tail's out wagging along behind you because you're happy and hunting is fun? Well, it's also hitting grass and bushes and sticks and alerting every animal near you that you're coming. You can keep your tail out for balance, but keep it still. Keep your body low -" she bent her joints, keeping them loose and fluid, to demonstrate - "And keep your head low too. Sure you probably want to crane your head to see over stuff, but it is much, much easier to lose your balance or misstep with your head up in the clouds. Keep it level with your spine or a bit lower. When you walk you need to be absolutely aware of what you're stepping on before you put your weight on your paws. Otherwise..." She stepped down on a twig, the resulting crack making her point for her. "Sticks will crack if you step on them, but you also need to be careful about fallen leaves and dead grasses that will crackle or rustle if you are careless, or loose rocks or gravel that will clatter or make you lose your balance. Mud and clay will squelch and get slippery. You want to set your toes down slowly and gently, feeling what is beneath your foot, and then slowly rock your weight onto that paw once you're sure. Once you get really good you'll be able to speed up, but it is better to be slow and sneak up on your prey than to risk scaring them away and need to waste energy chasing them down." She demonstrated, slowing down to exaggerate each motion the way she wanted them to work on doing it, then sat back. "All right, I want all of you to give it a go." OOC: I know a couple people are on absence so we're going to be waiting on them, but try to get in as quickly as possible. I don't want to waste a lot of time on this round, I want to move on to something more fun. :)

Just as he finished his introduction, his brother, Angelus, cooed out his name and bounded in for a big slobbery kiss. The boy made an almost choking sound as he made a dash for it a second too late. His brother's tongue smacked him between the shoulders and, in his struggle to get away, pulled up his head to just about between his ears as Ash reeled away forcefully, "Gelussss!" he cried as he stumbled a few feet away and turned to look at his brother, his ear pinned, "Why'dya gotta go and DO that?!" The pup shook his coat several times to no avail. He would get revenge later, definitely, he thought. He made a face that was probably way more cute than threatening thanks to the birdlike stalks of fur now standing on end at the top of his head. Stumbling away from his teasing brother, Ash noticed a mournful girl and a dirt-colored other looking all gloomy in the side of the group. Ash made his way to them and tried to whisper, "Psst, hey, why are you all grumpy? Did your brother mess up your fur too?" He'd ask, eyeing Angelus again. At some point, Cascade started talking and Ashmedai hung onto her every word... when he could focus. Try as he might, he had a young mind and it wandered terribly off and on during the woman's speech. When she started demonstrating how to hunt, the stormy boy followed right along. When she crouched, he crouched, when she stepped on a stick and broke it, he stepped on a stick and... Hey, that stick didn't break! Maybe this one would! No? What about this one? The boy pattered around stomping sticks until one broke. A smile rose on the boy's face. It really did make a nice noise. He found another one, pounding on it with both paws a time or two until it snapped. Then he found another. Breaking sticks was fun! He found a big one, one that was definitely gonna pop really loud. He pounced on it. It didn't break. He tried again. It still didn't budge. A few more tries met with confusion. If the stick was gonna be like that, fine. Ash snatched the stick up and settled for biting on it furiously. Oh yeah, Cascade was still talking. It continued for some time and Ash gnawed on his stick and listened until she asked them to try stepping softly. Ashmedai jumped straight up and tried it. Toes... paw! Toes... PAW! A stick cracked under his paw. Oops, maybe not like that. His eyes dashed to Cascade and he tried it again, softer this time. Nothing broke this time and after one or two more tries, Ashmedai decided he could probably walk like that forever. His tail swayed slightly as he began to prance around, tow to heel. He moved faster until he was trotting around in the odd display. He was so good at this. He completely forgot about the leaves and grass that he was supposed to be avoiding, but hey, he wasn't even breaking that many sticks anymore! ""

The young girl found herself sighing softly as she watched Speare follow her here. An almost grin would find her lips as she leaned into him, thankful for such a comforting presence. She didn't know what she would do if she'd been separated from him too. It hurt bad enough being away from their mom and dad for so long. She'd keep her eyes on the woman who'd called them, knowing the other pups wouldn't pay attention to them. That was one positive about being so quiet now, wolves didn't take notice of her so much any more. Once she'd craved attention, and now she would only wish to be ignored.

That didn't happen this time though. A young boy, the youngest of the pups she'd met. He was rather new surely he'd only been out of the den a few times. He would catch her attention and Colette would glance at him from the corner of her eye, features still facing Cas. "Why are you all grumpy?" she still wouldn't move but she wasn't going to ignore his question. "Because I was taken from my parents." And her eyes would find their way back to her teacher and captor.

Her ears would perk at her words, listening intently as she spoke to them, instructing and telling them where it was they were going to start. There was so much to think about, but even as the woman spoke Colette knew what she spoke of. She almost never caught anything, and now she was really beginning to understand why. Ears would perk and her eyes would grow a bit brighter, the need to lean more, to have something she enjoyed. Eventually it was time to try. Ash had already traipsed off to do his own rendition of the task. Colette would stand, taking a deep breath as she mirrored Cascade's form, finding herself walking a few silent steps in an attempt at practice. Already this seemed like it would make hunting so much better. She'd look back to Speare, hoping to see an encouraging expression as well as his success.

Sirius came to stand next to her and Integra smiled. This should be fun and it was about time they learned to hunt more than just rabbits and smaller prey, much of which was self taught. More wolves would file in, including her brother. It seemed Minerva would sit this one out but that was understandable. She still wasn't up to full strength yet so Integra would have to make sure to take really good notes so she could pass them on to her little sister. Though maybe the other would come to watch at least? She glanced back at the den before Cascade began to speak. The girl immediately focused on what the older femme was saying, intent on taking in her every word and committing it to memory. Most of this she'd already figured out herself but there were always new things to learn. Then it was their turn to try. Integra stood, legs coiling, head and tail lowering to align with her spine almost exactly like battle training. Flexing her paws she began to practice stalking silently forward toward Cascade, flinching when leaves crunched under her feet. Dam this was tricky to do in autumn, but with previous practice, patience and determination she quickly began to get the hang of it. ""

Raba grinned and playfully swatted at her brother as he finally joined the group.
This would be fun. Dægmar had trained her kids well to be rapt listeners so as soon as Cascade began to speak Raba immediately snapped to attention. Quietly listening to the other woman and ignoring the ruckus from the other pups. Soon it was time for them to try. Karabela rolled her shoulders and shook out her coat, limbering up her body before lowering her head and holding her tail steady. The girl was focused, limbs bending slightly as she slowly stretched a paw forward, carefully setting it down. However as she tried to pick up speed she immediately started making noise. Suppressing a growl she continued to practice.

"Speech"

For the most part the pups would gather quietly, though one, easily the youngest of them around was a little more excitable it seemed, starting off with innocent chatter though Shakespeare could say it wasn't exactly a nice question that the child asked. Colette responded with the blunt truth and Shakespeare remained silent. Cascade soon began her talk, lessons he told himself were useful no matter who they came from though he still would have much rather had his parents teaching him these life skills as they were always supposed to have done. Valentine, Cascade none of the wolves in Imperium were ever meant to play a part in their lives and yet they had not only barged in but taken them from their natural paths. All these other wolves were with their parents, it wasn't normal even for these monsters to separate families, so why on earth had it been done to them? Though such thoughts seemed to always lurk within his mind, Shakespeare was concentrating upon Cascade now, listening and taking in her words, attempting to ignore Ashmedai, until finally she fell silent and it was time for the rest of them to attempt. Quiet came naturally to Speare, he had always been the quietest of his litter and even now with Colette in her terrified silence for it seemed it seeped naturally into his movements. There was the odd crunch of a leaf, though with a little more care in where he placed those large paws of his down and lighter steps it began to get less and less frequent.

His lick, even though it didn't land exactly where intended, earned him a satisfactory reaction. Angelus watched as his little brother stumbled away and then wheeled around to face him. He grinned, eyeing the slicked up fur that peeked up over the back of Ashmedai's head. His brother fixed him with a grumpy expression, but instead of chilling Angel at the thought of possible revenge, it drew a smug smirk from the bigger boy. "I wanted to say hi, but just saying hi is boring," he explained. His mom started to speak as Angelus moved to sit beside his sister. For once he didn't harass—he knew better than to try it with his mom right there. While he enjoyed attention he didn't want that kind of attention. The idea of being reprimanded with the other pups there was definitely unappealing. So instead he sat quietly and listened. And listened. And occasionally watched the antics of Ashmedai. But mostly he just listened. Encouraged to try out the new moves, the boy slowly got to his paws and did as he was instructed. It felt kind of silly, but he pushed aside the feeling. Everybody was doing it, so why not just try to do it the best? Angelus decided to try the tail-out-for-balance approach. With his head lowered and his forepaw raised in a slow motion step, he looked a bit like a bird dog on point. He went through the motions slowly and carefully, his eyes every once in a while darting to the others in the hopes of calculating where exactly he stood success-wise. Was he doing it the best? He hoped he was. "Talk" "You" Think