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 Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 10:20 pm
The forest was peaceful, birds chirping happily in the trees and a little group of deer were chewing grass beside a small river. It was a beautiful day, and Aliana should have been resting happily in the sun, one of her favourite past times.
Instead, crouching in an assortment of small plants, her stomach grumbled uncomfortably. Her eyes locked on the closest deer, she growled low in her throat in thought. She'd seen her parents and a few other older helixes hunt, it couldn't be that hard, right? All she had to do was get close enough and tackle it to the ground. Easy.
Creeping across the ground, her belly dragging uncomfortably across the thick layering of grass and fallen twigs, she moved as close to the deer as she could without moving out of her covering.
The deer paused, glancing up as if it had heard her and she froze. Damn it! She moved quickly, knowing she was running out of time to move. Launching herself out, she missed the deer by inches, her teeth clenching around thing air as she tumbled to the ground. Snarling, she landed on her feet and threw herself at the retreating deer. It was too late and they had made it back into the covering of the forest, the last one disappearing as she spun around to face them.
“No, no, no!” She snapped, growling furiously towards the forest. “What did I do wrong? Damn it!”
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 10:31 pm
 Soleil was out wandering around relaxing on the nice day. She was thinking about finding a nice clearing and laying out in the sun. As she began heading towards one of the clearings she knew about, her ears twitched. Something was moving quickly nearby..... in fact it sounded like some deer running.
Her curiosity piped she began heading in the direction of the sound. She stopped as several deer ran by several meters in front of her. Something had spooked them. She looked around slowly but quickly found the source of the spooked deer. She heard someone saying something angrily and headed in that direction.
After a few minutes she came out near a small river. There was a pink and white helix clearly angry. "What were you trying to do? Hunt?" She asked sitting down where she was. She was interested in what this young one was so pissed about and if she could help her.
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 10:47 pm
Distracted by her own internal anger, Aliana didn't hear the other Helix approach until she spoke. Spinning, Aliana fell instantly into a crouch, just incase the female was hostile. Locking her eyes on the female Beta, she hesitated and removed herself from the crouch, standing normally.
“I wasn't trying, I was hunting,” she defended herself instantly, looking insulted. She purposely looked away from the other helix, glancing down the river. She couldn't spot any other creatures to hunt and growling, she looked frustrating.
“What am I doing wrong?” She snapped suddenly. “I'm doing what all the other helixes did! Why can't I catch anything?”
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 10:58 pm
Soleil snorted. "You were trying to hunt. That wasn't hunting if your prey got away." She said shaking her head, "As for what you're doing wrong. Who knows. Sure you can for the most part learn how to hunt by watching what others do but the only way to really learn is to try it first hand." She looked around before looking back at the younger one. "I'm Soleil." She said, "Where did you start at and hide from then? That could be part of the problem."
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 11:39 pm
Aliana looked annoyed when the female snorted at her attempts. Well, it was true, if the prey got away, it couldn't really be called hunting. More like...she was just stalking deer.
“I have been trying!” Aliana protested, “I have! But everytime I try, I just...fail!” She was looking more and more upset as she spoke, until she was glaring down at her feet.
“I started in the forest, I smelt the deer ages ago,” she explained, still glaring at her feet, “I used the underbrush and stayed hidden 'till I was only a metre away from the doe. Only, the blasted thing heard me or saw me or something 'cause it started to run before I was ready.” She sighed, and glanced up finally. “Aliana,” she said, simply giving her name.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:21 pm
Soleil stared at Aliana for a moment trying not to get angry. It wouldn't help if they both started snipping at each other. "Keep trying then. You'll learn from your mistakes." She said growing quiet as the pink one explain what she did. "Hm.... The problem could be that you were making some noise as you were in the brush. That could alert the deer that you were close. Or you could have been upwind from them. The wind then could have carried your scent to them." She suggested with a shrug, "It took me a while to get the hang of hunting. I also competed with my sister a lot to help get practice."
"Nice to meet you Aliana." She said looking at her, "It's a nice name."
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:44 pm
Aliana looked disgruntled at the Beta's first statement. Was that the best she could do? The usual, 'keep trying, you'll get it eventually' statement was all Aliana received. She fell quiet when she began to explain in more detail though, Aliana's pale eyes lighting up at the sudden information. The wind! Why hadn't she thought of that? She had felt the wind earlier but hadn't even paid attention to which direction it was coming from. “Is there a way of masking your scent if there's no where else to hide from your prey except upwind?” She asked, the defensive tone missing from her voice now at the offer of new information.
“It's nice to meet you too,” she replied, more out of politeness and habit. “Thank you, it's meant to mean 'Soothing Grace' or something,” she crinkled her nose, obviously not liking her name that much. "I like your name though," she added, almost as an afterthought.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:52 pm
Soleil saw the disgruntled look and rolled her eyes. If she didn't like what she said she could just ignore it. "Hm.... That's tricky. Most try to stay downwind. Makes it a whole lot easier. You're able to smell the prey while they can't smell you." She said thinking, "I guess you could roll around in some fragrant plants. If the fragrance is strong enough it could help mask your smell."
She tilted her head as Aliana spoke about name meanings. "It's a nice name with a nice meaning." She said wagging her tail, "Thanks. It means sun, if I remember correctly. Fits perfectly since I'm the Sun twin while my sister is the Moon twin."
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 6:03 pm
Aliana nodded in thought as Soleil spoke, thinking over all the plants she could in her head. There were a few fragrant plants around but she didn't really like the smell of them, so perhaps she'd best just try to stay down wind of her prey. “Thank you,” she said, distracted by her own thoughts on the matter. She'd have to try again, hopefully she'd have better luck now. She really needed to practice though. “I don't suppose you have any tricks for not being heard do you?” She asked, unable to stop herself. She had a habit of stepping on something or rustling a nearby bush when hunting.
Blinking at Soleil she was surprised to hear she had a twin. Were twin's common? She wasn't sure but she hadn't heard much about them, or met anyone with a twin. “Really? It suits you,” she said, the helix looked a lot like the sun to her, “Does your Twin's name mean 'moon' then?” she asked, more as a poor joke then anything.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 6:14 pm
Soleil nodded. "Your welcome." She said tilting her head, "As for avoiding things on the ground. Watch where you're going. There's not much you can do other than that. If you work on it, you can learn how to walk quietly and stealthily." She thought back to when she first started hunting and how she made tons of noise cause she mostly hunted at night which was her weak point.
"Yes really and thank you." She said smiling and shaking her head, "No. Lanette means fair or good-looking. However she does make one think of the moon when you look at her."
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 6:58 pm
Aliana sighed, “I thought as much,” she admitted, already knowing that there was no trick to walking silently, it was more something you learn along the way. “I suppose a lot of it's practice,” she muttered, shifting restlessly. She glanced towards the forest, wondering if she would find some more deer, or at least rabbits. She didn't bother with birds, since they had wings, they could easily out maneuver her.
“You're welcome,” Aliana responded politely. “Lanette's a nice name too. If she looks as similar to the moon as you do to the sun, I'm sure she would make you think of the moon apon sight.”
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 7:17 pm
Soleil chuckled at Aliana. "Yeah it's pretty much like you're thinking." She said nodding, "Yeah it is but it's easy to practice. You can do it while just walking to one place to another. Or if you find another helix who is willing to let you follow them and see how you do." She noticed her shifting and tilted her head. "Something else the matter?"
"I suppose it is." She said blandly not really caring for her twin, "Yes she does. I suppose the moon necklace helps too."
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:46 pm
“That's a good plan,” Aliana admitted, thinking that if she could master walking silently while just wandering the forest, then at least she wouldn't have to fail miserably every time she hunted just to practice her sneak. She snorted at the last idea though, doubted she'd find anyone who would be willing to let her stalk them. Her mother might, if she was lucky and Nani was bored at the time, but she doubted it. She glanced up when the Beta inquired. “No, I guess I'm just restless to try again,” she said, shaking off the woman's concern.
“Oh,” Aliana said, noticing the lack of emotion in the woman's voice as she spoke of her twin. Did she dislike her siblings too? Aliana perked up, they had something in common! “I like your Sun necklace,” she added, looking at the shining pendant with interest.
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 3:52 pm
Soleil nodded getting the feeling that something else was bothering Aliana and that she didn't want to talk about it. "Well if you're so restless go try again. I'm sure we can find a rabbit or something out here." She said glancing around. She sniffed the air while she was at it. Most of the scents were old but the breeze brought a fresher scent of squirrel towards her. She made a face at this scent and turned to Aliana. "Thanks. I've always had this since I was born." She said noticing how the younger female had perked up somewhat.
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:36 pm
Aliana nodded, glancing back towards the forest. “Rabbits are no fun though,” she muttered, more to herself, “but I suppose I have to start small. No point taking on a deer if I can't get a rabbit.” She almost went to move away but paused when Soleil pulled a face.
“What is it? Did you smell something odd?” She questioned, sniffing as well but her nose wasn't quite developed enough to distinguish smells that well, not from a distance, especially with all the older scents around her clouding her nose.
“It's very beautiful,” she added, speaking of her necklace with a tilted head. It was, but Aliana had never been much of a fan of jewellery.
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