-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The grapevines stretched out around her, by now familiar and welcome terrain. She could spread her wings, metaphorically, and fly across any part of this territory without incident. Well, with minimal incidents anyway. She still tripped over her overly-large paws occasionally, but just as she was becoming more comfortable with this territory, she was also becoming more comfortable with her own body. She was becoming restless with her inability to venture out from beyond this territory. She knew her family owned another land, had even seen it when she attended the meeting. She did not, however, break the rules. She was an Abraxa’s, and she would make her family proud. It just sucked a little, was all. She stalked along the territory line, not crossing into any lands she wasn’t allowed, but exploring from her side of the line. Curiosity drove her her, and she walked up and down a few times before a scent caught her nose. She was still learning how to understand what her nose was telling her, but she was certain she recognised this scent, food! The scent, luckily, brought her back a little further into their pack territory, keeping her within the boundaries their parents had set for them. She stuck low to the grass, butt in the air, a hilarious impersonation of someone hunting. Before she could go much further however, she caught the scent of one of her siblings, a far more familiar scent. “Aureus, pssssssst, Aurry, get over here” she loudly whispered. She would wait for her sibling to arrive, and they would chase down the scent she followed together. "Speech"

TIED TO WHAT IS LATE, AIN'T YOU NOW

Aureus crouched next to the hole where the snake had disappeared. It had slithered out of reach just as he pounced and now he was trying to will himself to be patient enough to catch it but he was swiftly growing bored. Surely the snake couldn't hear him. It didn't even have ears! He flopped down on his belly with a sigh as he began to wonder how the moved the way they did. He stretched his front legs out in front of him and his back legs behind him and then tried to propel himself forward but instead he just flopped about like a shored fish. With a sigh he opted to just lay there for a bit, letting the dappled sunlight warm his pelt.

Aureus' eyes started to droop until he heard Felicity's voice. His ears flicked up and soon he spotted her butt in the air. He giggled and trotted over to her, answering quietly. "What? Why are we whispering?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- She heard her brothers giggle, and stuck her tongue out at him, before resuming a more serious expression. “Put your nose here.” she whispered back at him, nudging a spot where the scent was particularly strong. Perhaps the young deer had watered the bushes here. Or something, she was guessing really, she had never properly tried to hunt something before. Most of the things that came close to the territory could scamper up trees or fly away. Here was there first realty chance to get something. She sure was glad her brother was here, so they could do it together. “We can be real hunters, yeah?” she was still whispering, quieter now that her brother was beside her. She slinked back into the grass, head down, butt up, as she crawled forward. She was excited but she managed to keep it contained to just a wag of her tail as she continued forward. The scent was strong, she was sure it couldn't be far… there! “There!” she excitedly pointed the baby deer out to her brother. It was smaller then they where. They could totally do this. “Uhh… you go right, i’ll go left?” that sounded like a plan right? And when you weren’t certain, the best thing to do was pretend you where. She grinned at her brother, showing her confidence. "Speech"

TIED TO WHAT IS LATE, AIN'T YOU NOW

"Put your nose here."

Aureus eyed his sister suspiciously. It was never a good idea to put your nose where a sister told you to, you never knew what you were going to end up smelling. However, he decided to humor her but he only took a very light sniff. At first he didn't smell anything and so he took a deeper breath. It smelt a bit like the smell of the food that dad would bring home sometimes. "Hey… this smells like… like deer?" Aureus gazed back at her before sticking his nose to the ground and following the scent, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from.

He grinned and nodded eagerly. "Yea, like real hunters. Think how proud mom and dad will be when we bring home a deer!" He copied his sister's posture, head down, butt up as he crept forward. He found the scent difficult to track but with a bit of luck and determination they found a fawn nestled in the grass beneath a large oak tree. Aureus stared at it. "Huh… it seems kind of… I don't know, small?" The legs and pieces that Malleus brought home made them seem like really big animals. Maybe he'd just been imagining it or maybe he'd really grown big! Oh yes, he definitely had grown, like, a foot. Soon he was going to tower over his dad!

Aureus shrugged and nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me." He slunk off to the right, pushing his body low, finally remember to bring his butt down in line with his spine. The fawn knew they were there, he was sure of it. The nose twitched, the ears swerved but it didn't budge. He crept closer and closer. His hind legs scrunched beneath him and just as he was prepared to leap he head an angry snort! Aureus' fur stood on end. What was that? There was the stamping of a hoof and another snort and a shadow fell across him. He turned around to see a large doe standing behind him. "Uh…. Felicity…."

Aurry eyes her cautiously, and Fel had to fight the urge to grin. Ok, so there was that one time where she had tricked Aurry into sniffing something terrible, but that was play and this was serious. Her brother just had to know the difference. She beamed when her brother got it right away, and gave a vigorous, excited nod. “Yeah!” she had been a little bit worried she was mixing up her scents, but if her brother got it too, then she had to be getting this right. He was following her train of thoughts, voicing them outloud as he pointed out how proud their parents would be. She gave her tail an excited wiggle as they hunted through the undergrowth. Finding the deer was much easier then she had expected. They were natural hunters, Fel and her brother, and this was the proof! When Aurry doubted the size, Fel stuck her tongue out at him. She had found this deer, and she took offense to his size remarks. But that was all the retaliation she gave. She might have pounced him any other day, but for now there were more exciting things to pounce. Her brother took one side, and she took another, edging closer. She kept her butt in the air, forgetting how she was supposed to bring it down, and she hadn’t yet glanced Aurry’s way to see how he was doing things. At least, not until he spoke her name. She glanced up at him briefly, hair going on end as she froze, and did a double take. “Uhh.. Aurry…” she whispered back. “On my mark, run right.” She whispered furiously at him. Right was towards her, left was where she was going to make their enemy run! She coiled her hind legs, fear jolting through her stomach, but she ignored it. “MARK!” she howled, as she ran directly at the deer "Speech"

TIED TO WHAT IS LATE, AIN'T YOU NOW

Aureus gazed up at the deer. It was incredible how large the doe seemed to be, compared to him and he wasn't quite sure what to do. The doe stamped her hoof again as he heard his sister speak and he risked tearing his eyes away, searching to meet his sister's gaze. He nodded at her instructions and all would have been well if he had had a better grasp of his directions.

When Felicity yelled 'mark' Aureus took off and swerved to his right from where he'd been facing, only to trip on a root. Aureus somersaulted right into the fawn who bolted in a panic of frenzied limbs. Bruised and tunned, Aureus struggled to regain his composure just as the mother charged, her hooves darting down toward him. Aureus let out a yell as he swerved through the flailing limbs and headed back in the direction they'd come from. "Felicity, come on! Let's get out of here!" He hoped the doe would go off in search of her fawn and leave them be but he wasn't going to stand around and wait to find out.

Her brother ran in the wrong direction, away from her and towards the baby deer. She was running toward the doe, but still managed to see her brothers antics, as he tripped, and fell into the fawn. The mother, clearly angered, completely ignored her in favour of the wolf who had gone near her young. It darted towards Aur, and Fel let out a yelp of worry as the hooved came down.

Her brother managed to get himself out of the way, showing at least some coordination as he scampered to the side. That done, he cried for her to follow, and she ran to him. They darted off into the trees together with hardly a look back. When they didn’t hear the sound of hoof-fall behind them, she thought that maybe they were going to be okay. She fell to the ground in a fit of laughter, perhaps a little from shock, too. “You should have seen your face, Aur, I thought you were going to barf when you saw the deer behind you.” she teased him, feeling she was able to now that they where both safe.

TIED TO WHAT IS LATE, AIN'T YOU NOW

Aureus slowed down when he realized they weren't being followed. He came to a stop, panting. Sheesh! That was a close one. Felicity fell to the ground laughing and Aureus face grew hot with embarrassment and annoyance at his sister making fun of him. He stuck his tongue out at her. "You were just as scared, don't lie!" He knew his father wouldn't have run he'd have turned around and killed the stupid doe and her stupid fawn. Feeling the need to make up for his fear he launched himself towards his sister, his ears pinned and his hackles raised as he dived head on towards her, seeking to latch onto her soft underbelly just below the ribs. Simlultaneously he sought to wrap his arms around her torso. She was going to regret making fun of him!

Aureus vs Felicity for unjudged spar
(would you be good with this? They could then get some skill points from this thread. Idk how you want to determine a winner. We could maybe do a dice roll or something)
Rd. 1 of 3

Aureus reactedly typically to her teasing, but she still wasn’t quite expecting it when he launched himself at her. She was still wriggling on the ground, laughing at the sheer realisation that they had gotten themselves out of that without losing any fur. Of course, she was also carefully not mentioning that the whole thing had been her idea.

“Was not!” she got out, her lie bursting forth moments before Aureus was upon her. He wrapped himself around her, and she rolled, until they were both on their side, her paws kicking out at his underbelly like a cat, and her teeth going for his soft ears. She was growling and huffing noises of intimidation and play, laughing between her growls.
Her brother’s arms were around her, so it was a close-combat kind of fight, not giving either of the pups room to move. Not that they were doing much more than rolling around in the dirt, kicking at each other.

Aureus vs Felicity for unjudged spar
(i’m totally cool with dice roll! There's even a bot for that on discord we could use!)
Rd 1 of 3

TIED TO WHAT IS LATE, AIN'T YOU NOW

Aureus collided with his sister and missed her belly as the two fell onto their sides but he had his arms wrapped around her and he didn't want to let go. Her teeth nipped into the top of his head but thankfully some instinct had told him earlier to pin his ears to his head and thats where he kept them. She kicked him hard in the gut and he winced, while growling he quickly drew his own hind legs up but to shield his underbelly but also to try and kick her back.

Twisting his neck up he tried to grab the side of her neck that was facing up toward the sky. He wanted to get a grip right in the middle and then… and then… well he'd do something!

Aureus vs Felicity for unjudged spar
I figured it'd just be easier and quicker to go ahead and each do our three posts and then just have a judge or staff or someone pick a winner :)

Rd. 2 of 3

His ears were folded to his skull, and weren’t easy for nibbling. She was going at it with her feet, and digging into his gut with her ineffective, little claws. She was actually having a lot of fun, even if the scuffle had stated out because of a misunderstanding. She was trying not to giggle, knowing it would just make her brother even more furious at her.

As she ineffectively scrambled at his belly, her own teeth would go for her neck, but she’s had her chin tucked up and he got some of the loose fluff around it in his fangs. She yelped as his teeth dug in and went to gnaw at the side of his face in retaliation, soft little growls coming from her belly. Both their paws where kicking at each other, missing their tummies and just pushing against each others legs.

Rd 2 of 3

TIED TO WHAT IS LATE, AIN'T YOU NOW

Aureus tried to growl and be scary but when he tried to bite his sisters neck he just got fur instead. Boo! No! He saw her fangs coming toward his face and he jerked his head back to avoid getting bitten. He kept his ears pinned to his head, his fur still standing on end as he lunged forward and tried to nip his sisters nose. His hind legs were still scrambling as he tried to kick her in the stomach for pay back but instead he kept hitting her back legs, it was a mad scramble. Aureus tried to wrap his arms tightly around Felicity's neck, just trying to keep himself lined up with her and as a precaution in case she tried to flip him.

Aureus vs Felicity for unjudged spar

Rd. 3 of 3

She felt more then saw his head jerk to the side, and her fangs clamped shut over air, hurting her teeth. She growled at him, and when he went to bite her nose she tried to slam her forehead over his muzzle, so he couldn’t bite her and they could share a headache.

Their paws scrambled together in some mad, vague attempt to get eachother bellies, and she didn’t try to change tact. She just kept scrambling away like she hoped sticking to her guns would get results. She, finally, couldn’t help herself and burst out into a round of laughter at the crazy fight. All because a deer hunt had gone terribly wrong. In all honesty, she wanted to try that again. Just, maybe without big mumma deer around.

Rd. 3 of 3

Felicity's head jerked forward as her skull collided with his skull. "Ugh, ow! Felicity!" The blow had been solid and he knew he'd have severe bruising forming there. Already it stung so bad it was making his whole head ring. The scrambled and scratched at each other until Aureus finally broke away from his sister and shook out his coat. "Fine! I've had enough, I quit." He hated losing to his sister. She was just so obnoxious some times. He couldn't wait til he grew out of his pudgy puppy form into something more awesome and muscular like his dad.