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 Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 10:22 pm
"I've been all over with Mother's tribe--forests, plains, even human lands." But none of them had really appealed to him. Maybe it was because he had been there with other foxes--he hadn't seen the appeal of the abandoned church until he had gone there by himself, either.
"I could live here. There's no other foxes around, and I can find food and shelter here." Still more benefits from having lived with the clan. He supposed he ought to be more grateful to them. He was hardly about to go seek them out to tell them as much though.
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 10:35 pm
Tamo nodded. "It does have it's own charms. Sometimes there are mountain goats, which are quite interesting if you've just been living solely on forest fare for awhile." His first taste of goat had indeed been interesting. It was a good thing his kind was so big, and that he was big for his kind; those goats were tough fighters!
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 10:46 pm
"I've seen mountain goats before, but never eaten one." The clan had passed through mountains once as well. But there had been plenty of food in that area, and so they hadn't been forced to go after prey as difficult as the goats. He could imagine the struggle one put up: Tamo had to be tough in order to take one down. In spite of himself, Caolan was somewhat impressed.
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 11:01 pm
He laughed. "Well I got lucky, there was a lame goat in the herd. A strong, young adult though, that might be too hard for me to take down on my own unscathed!"
They went through another patch of trees, but this time it was much thicker, and seemed bigger. It took awhile before they came out to an open spot again, but it was smaller than the others, for in the distance Tamo could already see more trees coming up. They were making good time for their easy pace.
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:44 pm
Caolan nodded, but said nothing further, letting the conversation drift off into what (to him, at least) was companionable silence.
He liked it here, far away from other foxes. It was nice. Almost too nice, really. Part of him kept thinking that this couldn't last, that someone from his family, or maybe Yabetz, would show up to ruin it. It was too nice to continue as it was. It always was.
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Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 8:47 pm
Tamo was perfectly fine with letting the conversation lapse into silence. Some foxes might have felt the need to constantly fill the emptiness with chatter, but he was just as accomplished at stoic silence as he was at carefree banter. In truth Cao's personality was a restful one to be around sometimes, without any of the normal social pressures one felt with the normal bulk of foxes.
Even as big and strong as Tamo was, Cao was no slouch! The two males kept up the easy pace with no signs of tiring and the distance melted beneath their paws. Soon they got to land where there wasn't any open space, just thin sections of trees. Small prey was actually visible now as they looked around, though nothing worth chasing yet.
Tamo slowed his pace gradually until it was set at an easy walk, looking around as his did. As he thought this land seemed more.....flat, somehow. Not much in the way of natural shelters. If he chose to make his home here he'd have to build something up. It was a lot closer to food and water, but the run really hadn't been all that bad...
"It's not so bad here," he said, echoing his thoughts. "What do you think, Cao?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:22 pm
No, it wasn't so bad here. And that was why it was bad for Caolan--it was nearly inviting, some place other foxes would want to live. And so somewhere he wouldn't want.
"The mountainous area was better. Much less hospitable." He could easily live there in solitude. And this place wasn't too far away--he could easily come here for food, drink, healing herbs for when he got sick, and anything else a fox might need to survive on.
It might not be a comfortable existence, but that was a price he was willing to pay for his solitude.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:33 pm
Tamo abruptly stopped running. He stood there, amid the trees, with the most peculiar expression on his face. It was almost a pained expression, but subtle pulls at the muscles here and there didn't match up. His body was also trembling to the point of vibrating.
"You.....wanna live somewhere.....based on the fact that it's....less.....hospitable?"
And then Tamo was howling with laughter. It was wrong, and he knew it, but he couldn't help it. Tears streamed from his eyes and he was almost falling over from the force of his laughter. God! That was just such a....Cao thing to say!
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:40 pm
Caolan could only stand there and stare with a politely stunned expression as Tamotsu collapsed into laughter for no readily apparent reason. Obviously something was funny, but Caolan was utterly failing to see it. So he just waited until Tamo could compose himself enough to explain what that had been all about.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:45 pm
Thankfully Tamo's fit didn't last long, though he still erupted into small chuckles everytime he looked back at the blue and purple male. "Sorry, sorry," he said, voice a bit breathless after all that laughing and still with short laughs escaping between words.
"That was just something that was so....you. You never seem to react like any other foxes I know." Which just about summed up everything Cao did, really. Tamo never had met anyone who acted quite like Cao did, and the difference was interesting and amusing by turns.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:03 pm
Caolan could only shrug at that, not able to come up with any other response. Was it like him? Of course. Was Caolan unlike most other foxes? Probably, although he'd never gotten close enough to any (his family excepted, and he'd like to think he wasn't much like any of them) to really find out.
No, he knew enough about Yabetz to know he was nothing like the masked fox...and Caolan had to repress a shudder at the thought that there could be more foxes like that out there--that most foxes could be like that one.
"Are you hungry?" he finally asked, unable to come up with any other response than the shrug, and so he decided changing the topic was the next best idea.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:28 pm
"Maa, a little," Tamo said, finally breaking free of the chuckles so that only his black eyes continued glittering with mirth. "Wanna hunt here, or back at the mountains? I think a goat would be big enough to take care of both of us, while a deer might be a bit too big to eat in one go. We'd be here for a couple days," he said, musing outloud rather than actually talking to Cao towards the end.
He didn't really mind either way, so the option was up to Cao and what he wanted to do. That the two of them would still be together long enough to finish off a deer together, and possibly longer, didn't really consciously cross his mind. Like it was just a given or something.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:58 pm
"A deer. That would be easier to take down." Caolan hadn't eaten for some while, and so for right now, the easier the prey, the better. If he chose to live around here, he could always learn to hunt goats later.
Plus a deer would feed them for a few days. For as long as they were together this time? Caolan wasn't sure. He knew that he wanted to spend another day or two with Tamotsu, and Tamo seemed to think the same, but beyond that? Well, who knew what either of them would do. If Caolan would stay here or not. The place seemed too perfect, and he was still waiting for its hidden downside to appear.
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Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 3:13 am
Tamo nodded, stretching the muscles in his chest and front legs, and then the ones that ran the length of his body and back legs. "Been awhile since I tried to go after something big." He glanced sidelong at Cao. "Spread out to cover more ground, or stick together?" Spreading out meant they might find dinner sooner, but they'd either have to take the deer down alone or risk losing the herd to hunt down the other. Together just meant less ground was covered.
Personally Tamo went with the together approach since he had plenty of patience to hunt down his prey, but Cao might have a different style that worked best for him.
It was a little bothersome in an odd way, how little he knew about his friend. Of course when you only spent a bit of time in each other's company and one wasn't inclined to like chattering pryers while the other was perfectly content with sitting in silence, it did make getting to know each other harder. Tamo sensed Cao wasn't someone you could just "get to know" in a single meeting, or even a handful of meetings.
No, Cao had to be courted like a lover. Quiet consideration here, a question there, time to be by himself and time for quiet bonding, the odd token or gesture to prove Tamo wasn't some fair-weather or flighty creature. All of this would undoubtably take time, time which Tamo may or may not have; he wouldn't force his company on Cao.
Baby steps. First they would hunt, share a meal if successful, maybe den together for a night for safety in numbers and warmth. He would deal with tomorrow when tomorrow arrived. Yes, for now their relationship was very in-the-moment.
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Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 4:00 pm
"Split up," Caolan said nearly immediately. Then they could cover more ground and find the herd faster. And if they stuck together, the herd would be warned of their approach and run, and then there would be no dinner for either of them.
Caolan stalked off deeper into the wooded area, quietly slinking through, searching for any signs of deer having passed through recently--tracks, chewed bark, clumps of fur, or anything of the like. Finding the start of a fresh trail was one of the hardest parts of hunting, and so he put all of his focus on it.
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