They were getting older, and Balthier had known for what seemed like forever what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to be exactly like his dad. Strong and providing for his pack and family. But if it were up to him, he would change how his mother was absent. He couldn't wait for the day to have pups of his own though the feelings were a little hazy given the fact that he was so young. Honestly, he wouldn't mind some younger siblings or something. He liked meeting Poem's children even if it was a little awkward at first. He seemed to have a natural knack for it though. Balthier's time away from his mother had been silently taking a toll on him. He wouldn't let his father or siblings know that he had slowly started to resent his mother while missing her so much, even if they made advances that they felt the same way. He was starting to look at Poem as a mother himself. But still, he would always love Aranea as his mother and do anything to make her happy, no matter how much he would slowly grow apart from her. Allegro had promised to take them out together for a hunting trip. Even though prey had been getting more scarce as spring rolled in. He and Psalm had taken up hunting more than Solo, but Balthier and Solo shared the desire to learn fighting to protect their home. Their morals at least seemed to all be the same at least in Balthier's eyes. Allegro could only do the best he could on his own. They moved only a short distance out from Abaven to the top of the falls outside the rapids of the pack. The falls themselves had gone frozen and it seemed the only water source in all of Boreas happened to be where they lived at the rapids. As they stopped to group and plan their tracking and hunting party, Balthier looked at his father with a logical statement, "Prey would want to come to the rapids since it's a large water source, right?" He wagged his tail lightly looking up to his father who he would soon grow to level ground with. Looking to Psalm he would give a smile before preparing himself to follow Allegro's lead. Hunting Seasonal Prompt Total Word Count: 389 words Word Count Goal: 1500 words Walk "Talk" Think

Allegro led his children out of Abaven's lands to take them on a hunting trip, proud of his son and daughter for taking interest in a skill that he was more than happy to share with them. They were growing up so quickly in front of his eyes even though it felt like just yesterday that he was watching them play as small little fluff balls. They were growing into beautiful and handsome adults, something that he took extreme pride in. Their mother was a pretty constant, lingering part of his thoughts even though he did his best not to dwell on her too much. If he did it only led him down a dark, disappointed road and he didn't want to let his own thoughts taint their opinions of her. He couldn't expect them to not hold any animosity toward their absent mother, but he made a conscious effort to only speak of her kindly and only bring up good thoughts about her whenever he had them. He continued to tell himself that it was just the horrendous weather keeping her away, that it wasn't her fault that The Hallows had decided to move the pack down to Auster. He didn't want to believe that she was staying away from him or their children on purpose even though that was a thought that had crossed his mind more than once on the nights that felt more lonely than others.

He looked down at his son when he spoke of prey coming to the rapids to get water, smiling and nodding to the statement. "They would - especially in this kind of weather. Although they would probably opt for a body of water that wasn't so turbulent if everything else wasn't frozen over." He didn't have to explain how dangerous the rapids could be - that was something he had instilled in all of them very early on. He never wanted any of them to feel scared to venture out of the pack or experience nature and all of its glory, but he did want them to do it safely. The last thing he wanted was for one of them to end up injured and stranded the way he had. As they ventured a bit further toward the falls where The Hallows had once resided, he started scanning the bare trees for any sort of signs of prey. They were getting harder and harder to find as the endless cold stretched on and it made him grateful for all the work he had done though the fall to get them a stock of dried meat - though even that was starting to dwindle. He spotted some unusual tracks ahead of them in the snow and he slowed to a stop, sniffing around them and lifting his blue eyes to follow the trail that led down the slope toward the bottom of the falls. It wasn't tracks he recognized, but he was willing to hunt just about anything at this point as long as it wasn't a predator.

"Lets go off of the path a bit and see if we can sneak up on it," he instructed quietly to the pair, nodding toward the trees beside them. He led them into the forest to use what little cover it provided with the lack of leaves or brush to help them hide behind. It was still better than nothing he supposed as they slowly worked their way down the hill, his eyes following the odd prints in the snow off to his right often to make sure they were still on the right track.

WC: 602
Total: 991/1500

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Psalm didn't often focus on her thoughts of her mother, if she was left alone to stew too long sure but as it was right now she was doing everything she could to focus on her father and make him proud, make him happy. Though she was not totally aware of it that was in part because she feared if she didn't he too might leave, an anxiety she would eventually grow out of but wholly reasonable to her still young developing mind. So it was that she'd thrown herself whole-heartedly into the same activities she saw him doing, wanting more than anything to show how much she could be like him. The girl was often glued to his leg when he was around and that was true as they marched along right now. Her brother asked if prey would be drawn to the rapids and their father responded affirmatively, but the girl was confused, her head tilting to the side. "Would they risk being so close to a pack though?" She could understand if water was scarce but surely they could follow the path of the river further away from such a large group of predators who would undoubtedly be eager for prey so close to home.  She had little frame of reference for how much more desperate they might be due to the cold, this was her very first season of life and so had no reason to assume anything was amiss and that spring wasn't usually just an extended winter. They continued their trek, which was admittedly still a little hard for Psalm, though she was half a year old she was still quite small, her growth spurt not having totally kicked in yet, so she was much closer to the snow and therefore couldn't see too far out, but was able to get real up close and personal with the tracks her father seemed interested in. They were led slightly off the path, and Psalm's whole being was on high alert. There was a shuffling up ahead and she perked, stopping suddenly in her tracks and trying to peer through the trees. Something large and rounded was moving up ahead. (Glyptodon)"What is that?" She whispered, jerking her head in its direction, the unknown creature was snuffling around in the snow, lifting its small rodent-like head from time to time to peer around with small beady eyes. Perhaps the next most important question, was... was it edible? WC: 411 (1402/1500) "Speech"

Art by SardonicCitrus

Balthier wagged his tail as his father approved his observation, and he wouldn't waste any more time lingering on random thoughts. Psalm made a good point, Balthier himself wouldn't wander into the cave of a bear for a meal unless he was absolutely dying, but then the risk of being killed by the bear would be equal to starving to death maybe. He watched Allegro intently, wanting to soak in all the knowledge and experience his father would bring both him and Psalm on this adventure. He wanted to be just like his dad and on top of that wanted to grow strong to protect his siblings and his father one day. He really looked up to his father like Psalm did, but he didn't act the way she did. There was nothing wrong with it, maybe because she was a daughter and he was a son. There was a time maybe last season he just found himself wanting to be a man that he wasn't so close and personal with Allegro anymore. He grew out of a pup stage pretty quickly, maybe too quickly, not that he didn't want to spend time with Allegro as a father and son. Balthier nodded as his father instructed to go off into the trees. He tried to keep his paws quiet in the snow while they moved around the tracks. He tried to show an eye to them every once and a while as Allegro was keen to watch where they were headed. They would come to a rest as they laid eyes on the creature that made the strange tracks, and Psalm could only ask what was on Balthier's mind. They seemed to be in the same mindset right now. What was the creature and could they eat it. "Can we even hunt it?" He questioned at a whisper, looking both at his sister and father. It's shell looked weird, tough but scaly at the same time. He wondered if it was hard like a rock, or slick like a snake. Maybe it was both. He looked more to his father now, he figured if any of them would have a plan it would be Allegro. He obviously had many more years of experience compared to his children. Hunting Seasonal Prompt Total Word Count: 1779 words Word Count Goal: 1500 words (Met) Walk "Talk" Think

Psalm made a good point with prey not being as willing to risk getting too close to predators just to get to get to water so he offered her a nod and replied, "That's usually true... That's why you don't typically see herds of dear or anything like that near where our dens are. But in this kind of weather they have to start making exceptions sometimes. It's the same reason why he have to go a little further to find food and hunt animals that we wouldn't usually hunt. You do what you have to take care of yourself and each other." That was true for many things, not just food or water. He did what he had to in order to keep his children safe and as happy as he could manage on his own. It didn't matter that it was difficult or draining at times. They had easily become his reason for living and he would do anything for them.

As they crept up on the creature in question, he frowned and crouched down behind some brush, watching the unusual beast for a moment. Psalm and Balthier both has very valid questions - what was it and could they hunt it? I'm not sure..." he replied to both, hesitating as he tried to formulate some kind of plan. It looks like an armadillo, but... I've never seen one so... huge." It was much bigger than any prey animal he had ever seen at least. It was as if an armadillo had somehow grown to be the size of a bear. Armadillos, as far as he knew, weren't dangerous so he couldn't imagine this one would be, though he was hesitant to risk it with his pups in the mix. "We'd have to figure out a way to knock it over so we can get to its belly. I imagine the scaly plates on its back are going to be too tough to bite through."

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