Wabbit Season!

They had found a tree partially uprooted that had created a nice hole in the ground once you squeezed through the hanging roots.  Ricin was sleeping while Chade stride a short ways off, sniffing the wind, finding rabbits with his nose but now having to try and find them.  Chade had found rabbits on a few occasions over the last few weeks but never managed to catch one.  All he ended up with was being more tired and that much hungrier without guaranteed dinner.  He was getting better at fishing and there were mice and rats but he craved real meat.

There was foliage everywhere here, birds far higher up than he could see, vines to trip paws and leaves to hide anything below him.  Crystals and mushrooms seemed all over the place as well as the fireflies that danced about all the trees.  The young wolf walked as quietly as he could manage through the leave carpeted floor.  There was a lot to smell that was unusual to him making it really hard to focus on the rabbit.

The boy's empty belly urged him to focus and eventually poking his head over a root he spotted two rabbits chewing on some grass.  Chade imagined what it would mean if he lost this meal.  Hunting a lot of rats and finding another spot to fish.  He had gotten better at getting closer to them, having figured out it wasn’t just seeing him that alerted the rabbits but that they could also hear him.  

The boy's first thought was to leap over the root in his way and give chase but from here he wouldn’t make it to the rabbits in time.  With plenty of hiding spots around Chade backed off and made a circuit of the trees until he found a spot that let him remain unseen until he got closer.  It wasn’t a fast trip as he wasn’t sure how far he had to be to not spook the rabbits if he was too loud.  Every step he took was slow and testing the ground before putting pressure on it.  An experienced wolf would probably laugh at his slow progress and it made Chade blush a bit thinking on how poorly he was doing but it didn’t stop him from moving forward.  

Poking his head out from under a bush, a vine dangled on top of his nose, he almost swiped it away but then remembered the quick movement would probably get the rabbit's attention.  They were so close!  Saliva dripped from the young wolf's jaws as he watched them.  Mentally he begged them to come even closer.  His eyes scoured the area for their hole but couldn’t find it.  Which one to go for?  Looking between the two the boy didn’t see much difference.  He sternly reminded himself not to rush and finally Chade decided that one seemed more observant in how often it looked around so maybe it was also better at fleeing?  Maybe the other one would wait an extra second to run when its friend did.

Chade crawled partway out of the brush and froze inwardly begging the rabbits not to see him.  It was pretty dark here at least.  The tree’s shrouded a lot of the moon's light which left it to the fireflies to give extra light.  At some point, Chade realized he had possibly missed a few good opportunities while he worried about failing.

One of the rabbits was close and Chade slowly moved from laying down to a crouched position.  He inhaled, body tense, and then exploded from the brush to go for the rabbit.  The blue pup had a lot to learn but this time at least he had chosen well.  Even as he exploded the rabbit he didn’t chase had dived out of sight, the one Chade had charged at had watched the escapee for a moment before leaping away.  Chade lunged in, got part of the rabbit's rump but it kicked out with its hind feet, clacking his jaw so that Chade dropped it.  The rabbit was bleeding and had a slight limp.  Chade ran after it, finding the blood coming from it making him that much more excited.

The rabbit swerved but its injury threw its balance just a little and Chade leaped, this time his teeth found the rabbit's neck, and by instinct he gave it a good shake.  The rabbit kicked and thrashed and Chade shook his own head until something in the neck snapped and Chade dropped his prize.  The rabbit lay dead at his feet.  Slowly a grin formed on Chade’s face.  He had done it!  One rabbit wasn’t a lot between two pups but it was real meat, not fish, not bugs or rats but a rabbit!  Chade grabbed up the corpse with joyful abandon and ran back to show his brother their next meal.  With a mouthful of the rabbit he called out to wake Ricin up, “brofer, brofer, wook!”

"Speech"