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 Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:08 am
Nostrils flaring, Alucard stalked the plump, feathered bipedal as it wandered about, pecking at the ground occasionally on a quest for a midnight snack. The Runt, meanwhile, had glided over to a tree on the opposite side of the bird; hopefully she was coaching Jahdara's bat.
What was the name of that creature?
The vampire stallion closed his eyes and cleared all the nonsensical, distracting thoughts. There had been a time when they had come from another's lips, but no more.
He hoped Jahdara was watching carefully, then nodded silently at his bat.
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 1:18 am
Jahdara had fallen still nearby within the shady grasps of the bushes. Her azure eyes studying every detail of her father's actions as she licked her lips. Her course of vision occasionally drifted to the feathery morsel the Stallion had intended for the lesson, making her muscles itch to make her leap and bound after it playfully... but she remained in place. She refused to screw this up. Her hunger depended on these lessons.
Jero wasn't too far behind Alucard's bat. His blue tipped appendages fluttered silently with the breeze as he came to land on a branch above Jahdara. His eyes also falling upon the bird with idle curiousity about the creature before continuing to take mental notes on the dos and don'ts about hunting with his 'companion'.
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 4:36 am
At Alucard's signal, the Runt swooped towards the bird and let out a loud screech, startling it back towards the vampire. As the bird fled straight towards Alu in a mass of colourful feathers, he sprang at the last possible moment and pinned it down, sinking fangs into a scrawny neck. There was a startled chirp, and the wings fluttered frantically for a while... but its eyelids gradually fluttered shut.
Alu lifted his head without drinking, and called his daughter over.
"Did you see that?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:23 pm
Jahdara's ears perked when the Runt screeched. Apparently the distraction also worked on young fillies too! But she managed to catch a final glimps on the takedown and that was enough for her to learn on.
She glanced up at Jero to make sure he was paying attention and it was obvious that he was just as amazed as she was.
Her ears twitched back towards Alucard as he called to her and she grinned, giving her tail a joyful flick. in one giddy bound, she cleared the bush and pranced over toward her father.
"That. Was. AMAZing!" she giggled and bounced a bit in place as she came to a stop. "That feathered thing didn't even see you coming!" She let loose a small - and somewhat maniacal - cackle before she froze. Clearing her throat she calmed down yet still tried to remain poised.
"Yes, Daddy. i saw."
Jero rolled his eyes from his branch but remained silent. He knew the young filly could often get too excited and was glad that she too had taken notice and was making efforts to calm herself.
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 8:27 pm
Alucard couldn't help but grin... then he realised his muzzle (and teeth) were bloody, and that quickly closed his lips over the smile. Since he'd left Khalidia, the vampire had ceased to angst over being a hunter and a freak; especially since his daughter had inherited both traits as well.
Instead, he embraced himself for what he was. Meat, he had discovered, was appealing to him when he felt like it, but like grass could not sustain him without blood. He remembered Silarial's teachings and did not slaughter entire populations wholesale - or there would be no next generation of prey - but there was joy to be found in hunting. Real, proper hunting, ending with the kill.
However, Alucard stopped short of hunting his own kind. That, he decided, was a line he truly never wished to cross.
"Very good," he said, truly glad that Jahdara was willing to learn. "In time, you will have to learn to be cunning and invent your own methods of hunting... but this is the first I want you to learn, because you and... Jero... should work together to keep both of you fed.
Some day I will be dead, and before that day comes you must learn to fend for yourself.
Now," he continued, glancing at the bird pinned beneath him. "Would you like to take a rest, and a drink? Or perhaps you'd rather practice this trick on something else, and leave this bird behind?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 6:42 am
Jahdara beamed a grin, holding back a giggle of excitement. "I'm sure the two of us could work something out!" she assured him, looking up to Jero as he flitted down. He landed upon her neck, latching onto her mane with his wings twitching in agreement.
She shrugged an invisible shoulder at his comment of one day not being there. In her mind he had been there so long now, she couldn't see a life without him around. Of course she was young and still had yet to realize that what they were doing to these animals was permanent and could possibly happen to him - or even her - as well.
She flicked back for a moment, unsure if she was ready to do such a task all on her own. Luckilly, her stomache decided to make that decision apparent by rumbling audibly for all of them to hear. She blushed with a nervous giggle and grinned sheepishly.
"Drinking would be nice?" she started, then bounced a bit as she stepped bloser. "Besides! We wouldn't want to waste good food, right?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:29 am
The stallion chuckled and stepped back from the barely-breathing body to make way for his daughter, as his bat flitted back to him and hung comfortably on his horn.
"No, we wouldn't."
He watched her eat her fill, feeling a sort of grim satisfaction that he was able to provide her what her mother could not. At the same time, he wondered what kind of creature would make good practice for Jahdara.
A rabbit? Too fast. A fox? Too big. An owl? No, he hadn't been able to snag one until he was an adolescent, nearly his current height.
Then he caught the scent of something furrier. Something that was slow enough. Something that shouldn't be up at this hour of the night.
The vampire Kirin closed his eyes, pondering the possible outcomes... and he was satisfied.
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Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:20 pm
With a giddy flick of her tail, she pounced on the morsel provided. Her first true meal since her mother's milk that didn't taste like... well... grass...
She nearly drank the fowl empty before she remembered her manners and stepped back. Licking her lips with satisfaction, she beamed another smile up at her father.
"You can... uh, have the rest?" she offered with a shy tone. There wasn't much left to the limp creature, but at least she knew enough to share.
Shifting upon her hooves with excitement, she bounced again. "So, is it my turn to do it, daddy? Huh?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 12:16 am
Alucard shook his head and turned, heading deeper into the forest - the Runt flapped her wings once and glided silently before him, occasionally pausing in the trees.
"I am no longer growing, Jahdara. I do not need to drink as often as you do.
And yes, it's your turn. I'd like you and Jero to try the same thing out on that creature. I think you'll be able to handle it. Watch out for the horns."
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 12:32 am
Soft padded paws made little sound on the littered forest floor as a small and silkily furred creature poked it's nose out from under the ferns cautiously. Night was a dangerous time to be out and about, but a drive stronger than caution spurred him onward. The young male had left his mother's territory far behind, and was now in search of his own mate.
Something rustled in the distance, and he froze, hunkering down to the ground. Giant eyes aided his sight in the twilight gloom, delicate nose on alert for alarming smells. Something flapped through the air, and the furred male relaxed a bit. A night flyer, not a threat to him. He continued on his path, sniffing the shrubs and tree trunks for territorial marks.
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 4:22 pm
Jahdara nodded and quietly pranced ahead a bit, her nostrils flaring to catch the scent of the creature her father was obviously choosing for her first attempt.
Jero swept off in flight, flitting ahead of them all to do the same. He made sure to stay within sight of Jahdara to watch for her signal, but flew towards the opposite side of the beast in preparation.
With idle curiosity, she pondered just what species it was that she was smelling. What could possibly have horns other than a Kirin?! She was still new to learning the various species that lived among her. Her scaled fur shivvered with excitement as she came close enough to see it, yet stayed in the shadows in hopes of staying out of sight. Then... it came into view.
Her footfalls became mute and she hunched down a bit as she crept closer still.
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:22 am
Hidden in the shadow of a tree so that his coat did not gleam in the moonlight, Alucard watched his daughter stalk the creature, well-prepared to run in if it tried anything... though he doubted it. Young males were always the showiest, but the least experienced and the most easily frightened - if it sensed Jahdara its instinct would probably to put on a show, not really bite or gore.
He was glad that his daughter was all sable colours, and less easily spotted. The main reason he was unable to hunt well as a foal was because he was pale.
Alu didn't expect his daughter to fail or succeed - what mattered was that she was trying, and that was good.
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:40 pm
The silky furred quadruped padded out from under a bushy fern, momentarily outlined by the moon's gentle glow. The face was certainly his most striking feature, dominated by huge, pointed and fur tipped ears that swiveled about like a hunting cat, and large eyes tinted silver in the monochromatic world of the night.
Short legs with stubby digging claws were none the less effective at carrying their owner across the litter strewn forest floor with relative silence. A long bushy tail was held up in the air as he rubbed a cheek scent gland against the smooth bark of the tree. His passage thus marked, the fluffy creature ducks back under the ferns, a faint rustle betraying his movements onward.
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Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 9:44 pm
Jahdara looked at the creature with wild puzzlement, but never altered her from her hunting pose. She crept up towards it nearing where it just stood and sent the signal up towards Jero.
Jero flitting above them all, following the creature as it started to move again and nearly missing the signal as it was given. With a spazz-flurry of his wings, he dove towards the opposite side of the being and screeched as loud (and probably his most awkward...) as he could hoping to send the creature back towards Jahdara.
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:04 pm
A frightened yip followed the bat's sheik as the furry creature backpedaled from the divebomb. Ferns and pine needles flew in all directions as he fled, zigzagging through the brush towards a corpse of knotted tree roots, diagonally across Jahdara's path.
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