Shuriken’s massive mismatched paws stopped at the edge of the beach as her dual toned eyes searched the ocean and the island across the channel. The chilly fall was settled in, it was cold not despite the warm water that came here from the south on a warm ocean current. The girl was still, the only time she looked poised. Her expression was determined, she was getting older and her skill set was growing, she had no shortage of teachers. There was one wolf she looked up to with reverence, Chimera.

He was short when it came to his attitude, serious, and the last thing she expected from him was to be coddled. She had seen how he hunted and that scene stayed with her from a young girl. Maybe she put him on too high of a pedestal but she knew he was the most talented hunter in Ashen, and he was her uncle. That meant he would teach her. Right?

She wasn’t supposed to go across to the island, it was Chi and Siren’s home, and like the palace she needed permission to enter. The young princess threw back her head and called out to the Kage from where she was. As her voice was whipped away by the wind Ike waited for her uncle.
"Kiyohime Shuriken Ōritsu Abraxas"

Chimera hadn't been expecting any calls today. He didn't expect calls any day. It was well known in Ashen that he was unsavory, outspoken, and many more negative connotations. Not that he cared. Chimera was, and always would be, one who hated bullshit. He refused to sensor himself for anyone. This affected his interpersonal relationships, which also suited him just fine. The smaller his circle, the better.

The cool autumn weather colliding with the warmth of the sea water brought mist rising up from beneath the bridge, swathing it in a curtain of trailing tendrils. As such, Chimera couldn't see who waited on the other side. He hadn't recognize the call because he simply didn't interact with others enough to learn all of their voices. He hadn't been expecting to see Shuriken standing on the other side.

Chimera's giant frame parted the mist and he stepped down off of the bridge and onto the sand. The brute's pale pink eye rested on the ever growing child and one brow lifted. "Shuriken," he greeted simply. Surely she would tell him what she wanted.

"Chimera"

The young princess watched as her massive uncle appeared before her. His dual toned frame parted the mists and revealed himself to her. This was the first time she had seen him since her aunt’s lesson, and as her dual toned eyes looked him over she still couldn’t believe that he was cursed. He was both like and unlike her father, stern and serious but he lacked a feeling of decorum that Hattori held. The main difference being that Hattori was obsessed with image and optics while Chimera couldn’t care any less. Ike admired that attitude in her uncle.

He greeted her by name, and Ike was almost surprised he had come to her call at all. He was quite reclusive but maybe that was part of the reason she held him in such high esteem. He was a mysterious figure that had impressed her greatly. "Oji-san,” the princess greeted with reverence as she lowered her head in a respectful nod of greeting. "Uncle Chimera, I…” This was no time to loose her nerve but she couldn’t help but think now that he was standing before her that she was wasting his time. "I want to learn to hunt like you.” She lowered her head humbly, hoping that he would accept her as a student.

"Kiyohime Shuriken Ōritsu Abraxas"

The girl bowed her head and used some sort of honorifics passed down from her father. Chimera continued to stare, waiting for her to get to the point. Eventually she asked if he would teach her how to hunt. Not in so many words, but the intent was there. The two-faced man looked down at the bisected child. It took a lot of guts to ask a favor of someone as abrasive as himself and she hadn't done it once, but twice. Chimera had taken the girl hunting back when she was younger, but she hadn't been able to do much. Her legs were longer now and her body larger. Perhaps now would be different.

With a low rumble, Chimera stepped off of the bridge and pulled his head, motioning for the girl to follow. "Have you hunted at all?" He needed to gauge her skills before he chose a prey item for them to kill. Too much and she could get injured. Too little and she wouldn't learn anything.

"Chimera"

Mismatched ears perked behind her antler nubs as the sound of Chimera’s weight shifting on the floating bridge brought her attention upwards. Dual toned eyes blinked open as he didn’t say anything but motioned for her to follow after him. A silent acceptance of her plea. Ike grinned and quickly lifted herself to trot after her uncle. She had to focus extra hard on not tripping and falling on her face. If there was anyone she didn’t want to trip around it was this uncle. Plague would help her up, tell her everything was alright, and smile as she stood up. Ike had no doubt if she tripped right now Chimera wouldn’t even look back nor slow down to wait for her to catch up. He made her want to do so much better.

"I helped in the Mammoth hunt,” she told him, mostly just to try and impress him, all she had really done was chase the mighty beasts. "Besides that I just chase the doves on the island.” She was getting pretty good at catching the flighted treats too. Their breasts were kind of tough, but they were so tasty. She knew the theory behind different kinds of hunts, how best to try and kill an animal. She just hadn’t had a huge amount of paws on activity.

"Kiyohime Shuriken Ōritsu Abraxas"

The girl said that she had hunted mammoth and it sounded like bragging, so Chimera ignored it. They both knew that she hadn't hunted mammoth. She'd gone where someone had told her to go and helped others kill it. Chimera wanted to know if she had hunted things on her own. A moment later, she admitted that she had been hunting the doves that littered the beaches. That was more like it. "Doves aren't easy to catch. Especially when you're larger." That would be good practice for her.

Chi led the girl into the thicker trees and lowered his nose to the ground, lightly scenting some recently scratched dirt. "Here. What do you smell?" He was being patient with the girl, but he wouldn't give her all of the answers. She would work for her training. If she was able to discern the smell of pig from the rest of the scents, they would continue.

"Chimera"

He didn’t give her any feedback on the mammoth hunt but it wasn't like she had done much more than learn the strategy and run. When it came to real world abilities and strength the doves had probably added more to her repertoire than twenty of the same mammoth hunts might have. Chimera did take note of her doves, he knew the birds were not so simple to capture as their dumb demeanors might allude to. They didn’t have a whole lot of meat on them so they weren’t big targets for the pack. The puppies enjoyed themselves and more when it came to catching them though, and they had shaped Ike’s skills.

She remained quiet as she listened to him as they went, his massive frame led her into the forests of the island. He drew her attention to the ground after they had both walked a few paces. His own head lowering his speckled nose to the ground. She stepped forward carefully and mimicked his motions, breathing deeply as she shuffled against the earth. There were many scents, small animals, birds, earth, the ocean. There was only one that could be considered appropriate for a hunt like this though.

"Swine” She answered confidently as she lifted her head, eyes and ears active as she tried to guess where the plump creature was hiding.

"Kiyohime Shuriken Ōritsu Abraxas"

The girl stopped and sniffed the ground. It took her a moment, but she eventually located the scent that he had detected. "Now find it," he instructed. He would watch and see how the girl moved, how her brain worked. What would her instincts tell her to do? Where would she go? Would she know to stay low and quiet or would she tromp about loudly and spook the prey?

As Shuriken moved, Chimera moved behind her. He allowed the girl to lead the way, simply observing her actions. The stench of swine was getting more and more pungent. Before long, they would likely find a wallow. A wet, muddy hole where pigs liked to roll around to keep the flies away. They would have to be careful once they reached the wallow, lest they scare their quarry.

"Chimera"

Ike had barely declared her findings when Chimera was moving onto the obvious next step. Find their quarry. He left her to her own devices, testing her skill and watching and observing as she reacted to his instruction. Or lack thereof. Ike was uncertain, but that led to her being cautious. She knew how to sneak through the foliage, if she didn’t then she would never catch the doves that lived on the palace island.

For having such massive paws and long legs the girl moved with an unexpected silence. She tripped over a couple of logs and bigger bushes. She stumbled but didn’t make enough noise to disturb the pig or pigs in their wallow. The scent grew stronger until Ike was paused behind a few branches, barely breathing, and staring at the sleeping wild pigs in the mud before her.


"Kiyohime Shuriken Ōritsu Abraxas"

Chimera followed as his niece tracked the stinking swine to where they rested in the mud. She looked through the foliage to spy them and Chimera sat behind her. The massive beast was obviously not in a rush for anything and the situation didn't appear to have any sense of urgency as he leisurely rested. Once Ike looked back to him, Chimera arched a brow at her. "Which one would you kill?" This would be the next part of her lesson. She had to decide which pig in the bunch would be the best target. The easiest to pull out of the mud. One that might have an injury. One that might be smaller than the rest or older than the rest. Key details to look for when choosing a target.

"Chimera"