Start of Leaffall: Returning Home from the Hunt

[Go-Kember]

Kember is not a hunter. Not by a long shot. So he remains quiet, taking a spot on one of the sitting logs and passing along the soup as necessary. He pays close attention to the behavior of these new elves, as he is still nervous to be new in the group. And then he receives his own bowl of soup. And the smell is heavenly. After weeks of near-nothing, this meal is surely the best he has ever had in his short life. Kember loses himself entirely to the soup, and ceases to pay attention to the rest of the group, focusing only on the flavor and the way it fills his neglected belly.  

[DewPaw]

Dewpaw dropped from the tree and ran to hug Llune and Peyote, each in turn. She was still excited and full of energy from the hunt, and knew from experience it would be a while before she would calm down. It happened every time she returned from an adventure, a large burst of energy then a total crash. She grinned at Llune, "We did find meat. He is meat after all, just not the edible kind." Dew accepted her bowl of soup and sat down cross-legged and waited to see who was going to tell the tale. In her tribe, there had been certain elves who told stories the best. Even though everyone told some story at some time, some just told it better. Dew just didn't know who that person would be. Instead, she scooted closer to the new elf and waited for him to notice her.  

[ChosenSavith]

Savith watched the group, reaching a hand out almost lazily to float one of the bowls offered by his mother toward himself. He sat up and forward to eat, mildly surprised the hyper cub didn't launch into the story, only for the slight emotion to be over ruled by a growing concern of their food supply. A light frown graced his face, one so often seen in his youth then again after the cataclysm, and now again as the small group of survivors continues to grow. Long fingered hands wrap about the bowl, and he peers into the murky contents, pensive and silent.  

[Llune]

With everyone fed, Llune takes her bowl and settles on a log, waiting for *someone* to tell the story of what transpired over the hunt.

"Well?" she coaxes gently, "... How was it...?"  

[ChosenSavith]

Like a true mindless robot of the Mountain, Savith replied, "Unsuccessful." His tone was flat, dull, and dissonant as he peered into the bowl's contents, watching with almost a morbid fascination, at the wisps of steam. Within the ethereal dance of the white vapor was the wisps of ash-dust from the destruction of the forest and his mountain home.  

[DewPaw]

The silence was more than Dewpaw could stand. A story was waiting to be told, and the eager cub was more than willing if no one else was going to speak up. "Unsuccessful's not a story, Savith," she said and slurped up the rest of her meal. She set the bowl down as she continued to speak, "It was amazing! No pack is grand their first time out because all the new wolves have to learn to run with the old. Which woulda been easy, if the prey was something old, but we were hunting something weird. I've never seen anything like them. Creek had a name for them, thunder-something. Thunder-hooves! They were this big" she held her arms as wide as they'd go in an attempt to show their size, "Bigger than our bonds! And they had fur all right here," she put her hands by her neck, "like a wolf's scruff, but really long, like a mane. And the rest of their fur was short. And they made a lot of noise. Any predator could hear them easily. Only Creek has seen them, so he told us how to hunt them. He said we had to get one away from the pack- er, herd. There were so many, one for every star in the sky. So Creek knew what to do but Savith was the alpha, which makes sense, cause he's the chief. He knew what everyone could do. So he split us up. And he took Creek in the air, you shoulda seen Creek's face. i don't think he likes flying." Somewhere in there, she took a breath. "And Autumn was look out, cause she can send really car. And we were getting ready to attack when all the thunder-hooves just took off. They made even more noise! It sounded...like thunder. And Savith sent Creek to find out what set them off, cause Creek said they don't usually stame-stamp- run like that. But then Savith saw someone on the back of one of those huge things. So he swooped down, like a hawk, and picked the elf up and brought back to safety. Then said we should all head back. So we got something. Just not what we went for." Dew grinned, took a deep breath, and sat back down, excited and worn-out all at once.  

[ChosenSavith]

Savith hid a smirk as successfully as the hunt had gone. He listened to Dewpaw's story, smirk still visible on his face - amused.