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 Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 8:48 pm
 Patroclus had spent the morning with his father and now was busy attending to his duties as a slave to the sisters. It was funny how different life was in the pack compared to the life his father showed him, but he was still happy. In his mouth he carried several bones from a recent kill and once he reached the hole that he and Casimir had dug he tossed them in. "That's the last of them." He told the older slave with a slight wag of his tail. His duties may be tiring some days but part of him enjoyed it, it also helped to often think of them as games instead of duties.
Using his nose Patroclus started to push the dirt into the hole, doing his best to cover up the bones and fur scraps that were inside. A small laugh came out as he recalled a while back when he had the day alone with the pack nanny how he had fallen into that giant hole and had to be rescued by another slave Iosef. Of course since then Seraphin had gotten fat, and at first he didn't understand why and each time he asked her she would get upset. It wasn't until he was told that she was expecting pups that it made sense to him and then he got excited as it meant more playmates, hopefully, and more slaves to share the workload.
Glancing up from his work Patroclus watched Casimir work. He certainly could move a lot more dirt than he could, but then again the adult slave was much bigger than him. "Where do you go to when we are done?" He asked and then went back to pushing dirt onto the hole, packing some of it down with his small paws.
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Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 9:12 pm
 Casimir was finding this little pup to be...well, if he thought about it, the ideal work buddy. There was something about having the little romper working alongside him at their duties, serious and invested as can be, until a fit of giggles or a leaping sprint mysteriously overtook him. And, gosh, , there was just absolutely nothing cuter than that. He pushed the earth back into the hole in almost leisurely scoops; Cas had an air of never really being hurried, but whether due to his big paws and solid frame, or something a little more esoteric, he always managed to finish his chores in fine time despite that amble.
He was a bit distracted, thinking on the potent and specific charm of pups, and missed the majority of Patroclus's question. "Sorry, what?" He asked, with a bit of a goofy smile, kicking at the dirt with his hind paws in a baiting reference to a poop joke.
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Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 9:29 pm
He let out another laugh when Casimir showed him that goofy smile. Somehow he wasn't surprised that the big slave hadn't been paying full attention to his question. Cas was the more relaxed slave compared to Tui and Iosef but Patroclus enjoyed working with all of them for their unique features. "I said where do we go to next?" And while he was trying to be serious there was a hint of laughter in his voice. He couldn't help it, the situation was a bit funny.
Using his weight to force his front paws down hard on the dirt Patroclus did his best to make the pile as flat as possible. "Or have you forgotten what our duties are for the day?" It was certainly possible, well perhaps Cas didn't always forget, but he did sometimes do things in different orders or slower than the others. With a break between the mornings training and the afternoons training Varia took the opportunity to do a quick check around the pack lands. The fact that she had been pushing herself and the sisters even harder in training lately didn't slow her down one bit. The others had looked tired after their morning exercises however Varia knew she had plenty of strength left in her to do this border check and then more training before even the first shreds of weariness would reach her.
Of course her paws were brought to a stop when she heard the distant voices of two slaves and instantly she let out a growl. Worthless males. Immediately she changed her course to intercept them. When she came upon the sight of the two males laughing instead of working her fur bristled. It was no shock to find Casimir slacking off, he always did, but Patroclus the Queen's son should know better. "The sisters keep you here to work not to play and have fun." She said in a dry tone as she walked close to them. Stopping now far away she held herself high, looking down upon them like the dirt they were.
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Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 9:42 pm
Casimir grinned, unable to help himself; it was so nice to have someone around to be a little silly with. He turned about on their mound of dirt and helped to palm the earth flat, making quite a bit more of an impact than his featherweight friend. "Oh, I remember, you little devil. Now that breakfast is buried, we get to catch lunch!" He hopped with all four paws into the air, landing closer to Patroclus with his eyes bugged and his ears pricked forward, smiling all the while.
And, in attending to the task of making the pup laugh, he had failed to notice Varia's approach. His spooky face disappeared immediately, and all sense of fun evaporated from his posture as he sunk into an extremely demure crouch. He felt a pang of remorse for getting Varia on Patroclus's case for acting like a puppy, and the pang caused him to act very much the deflated, contrite slave. "I regret to say I know that, Sister," he stated meekly, "but I let some fun slip in there, anyway." With his lips almost touching the earth they'd been stomping, he looked every part the defeated subject, stated his situation with genuine shame.
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Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 10:00 pm
See this was why he enjoyed working with Cas, he made everything fun. Not that he didn't have fun with Tui or Iosef, but they were more work oriented than anything else. When Cas jumped towards him Patroclus replied with a playful boy and a small mock growl. Of course that came to an instant stop as Varia made her presence known. And much like Cas, Patroclus immediately fell into a submissive posture, tail tucked tightly between his legs, head lowered, eye averted. "I'm sorry sister." He apologized but knew to keep his words short and his gaze down.
Something about watching a slave press his face into the dirt was always entertaining to Varia in an odd way. She looked between the two slaves and shook her head. "Both of you should know better than to ever mix play with work. The sisters would never allow themselves to do such things and neither should you." Her eyes moved to Patroclus and even though the pup had his eyes glued to the ground in front of him she addressed him. "Especially you young one." Then her attention moved back to Casimir, or Dirt as she preferred to call him. "You should be teaching the boy better work ethic Dirt, not like you have a good one yourself."
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Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 10:56 pm
Cas's brow furrowed, and he wondered whether or not Varia had ever had any fun as a pup. Really, he didn't know a single wolf who had anything against feeling happy, and he wondered what could make this one so thoroughly disapprove of it, and in a pup. He just couldn't fathom it. This conundrum occupied him enough to miss fully comprehending her derisive name for him, though he caught the rest of it well enough.
"I am just the worst, I know," he murmured, smiling sadly downwards; "but if you don't have a problem with it, Sister, I was going to take Patroclus hunting." It was so difficult for him to not speak with that twinkle in his eye; just about everything in his day had something charming or humorous about it, and even frightening Varia was no exception.
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Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 11:05 pm
Patroclus felt himself sink a bit lower at Varia harsh words. Deep down he knew that he shouldn't be having fun while working, but he was young and needed to play every now and then. It kept his attention focused on his work and make it less of a chore for him. Father was right, it was best to keep anything fun a secret from the sisters as they disapproved of such behavior. Even mother sometimes gave him looks that brought any play to a sudden stop, but she was different, the leader of the pack and everyone respected her, Varia included.
It was so hard not to perk up at the mention of hunting with Casimir. He had done a bit of hunting with his father so he knew how to track but would love to learn anything he could from Cas. "May I sister? Hunt with him?" Again he spoke in a hushed tone with his eyes still on the ground in front of his paws.
"Indeed you are." Varia confirmed Casimir's words on being the worst but left it at that. Perhaps she could have kept going, continue the verbal abuse even more, but even Varia the hater of males got bored of it on occasion. Her eyes roamed over Cas judging whether he was worthy to hunt or not. "Very well, show the boy to hunt, but I will be following your every move." She didn't plan to help with the hunt, just merely inspect the slave at this unusual duty and see if he could actually do so.
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Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 11:21 pm
Casimir broke out into a big smile, immediately rising from his knees and elbows to stand, still deferentially, glancing from Varia over to Patroclus. "Well, I'd say our stomping duties are complete for the day," he ruled, "so we'd best get our muddy selves to hunting!" He was a good deal more reserved than he had been before, but Cas had always found it difficult to not enjoy himself, and now was no exception. Varia's presence might keep him from goofing off, but he was still pretty sure he could have a good time while doing his job properly. With that thought, he took off at a jog, not wanting to outpace his charge on their way out into the territory. "So tell me, tyke, how much practice have you got at hunting?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2010 9:15 pm
He took a moment to glance at Varia and then over at Casimir. When it appeared that Varia would indeed actually let them go on a hunt Patroclus was instantly on his paw, trailing after Casimir. "Father has taught me how to track, and where to find certain prey. I've caught some small things like rabbits but the larger stuff I haven't yet." He said perhaps a bit too happily, momentarily forgetting that they were being trailed by the Head Warrior. Of course when he glanced over his shoulder he spotted her, reminding himself to be on his best behavior he tucked his tail in tight against his legs and did his best to stay as close to Cas as possible. The closer to Cas that he was the further away from Varia he would be.
Varia watched the two run off and after a moment of hesitation fell into a very relaxed lope that allowed her to easily keep up with them. Problem with taking a pup hunting was that they were slow, couldn't go after the larger prey and generally couldn't stay quiet long enough to not scare anything off. When she saw Patroclus peer over his shoulder at her Varia showed him her teeth, a silent warning to remember his place.
Her eyes moved to Casimir as they ran. For a lazy laid back slave he certainly could keep up a good pace, even if he was keeping it slow because of the pup. Any of the other slaves would probably try to walk during a hunt and never catch anything. But even with his somewhat fast gait Varia did not believe he could succeed at this hunt, whether the pup was here or not.
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Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 12:32 pm
He loped along, keeping his eyes on the woods and the pup, and letting his less confrontational senses keep tabs on Varia. He could hear her ghosting behind them as they made their way out into the territory, and every so often a change in air currents wafted the scent of her presence over him; she smelled a little like wood on fire, he thought, or prairie grass at the end of the summer. Fierce, and interesting. For the most part, though, he kept his sensitive nose sniffing for less formidable animals, and in the meantime continued his little talk with Patroclus. "I wouldn't worry about big prey until you get bigger, buddy," he said with an affectionate smile. "A deer is nice when you can get it, but the little stuff will feed you just as well. Now..." He slowed, sampling the air with his nose and tongue, "there's a big clearing down here, with a groundhog I've never caught out of his den, and more than once I've seen turkeys rutting around the fallen logs for grubs and things." Still tasting the air, he altered his direction slightly, moving downwind of the sunny patch ahead, and trying to ascertain what lay there. He seemed quieter now, but he glanced again to his companion, his spotted face alertly calm. "Now...whenever I go hunting, it helps me to not want to catch something too much. It gets in the way of really watching what's happening, and you don't react as fast or as well. I just think, 'I am going in here to see if anything's around', and I stay as still and quiet as I can. Does that make sense?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 6:57 pm
"I know." He said as he followed beside Cas now that he had slowed his pace. "Bigger prey is for bigger wolves." His tail wagged a bit as his eyes looked out past the trees. He didn't care if they caught a rabbit, turkey or this apparently elusive groundhog, Patroclus just wanted to show off his hunting skills to Casimir.
Crouching down beside the larger slave, and nodded to his advice on not wanting to catch something when going hunting. "Yeah, it makes sense. That way you won't be disappointed if you don't catch anything." He couldn't help but glance over his shoulder to see where Varia was, having her hear made his skin crawl. If he failed at this hunt she would never let him hear the end of it. She was still there, he just had to ignore her or else he would be too distracted to actually even get close to catching anything. You're not supposed to want to catch anything, he corrected himself mentally before turning his attention back to Casimir. "So what are we gonna try to not catch?" He asked with an obvious hint of laughter in his voice.
Varia remained silent as she trailed the two slaves. There was still enough time to watch them put in this attempt at hunting before she needed to return for the next training session. When Casimir settled down to scent the air Varia found a well hidden spot in the shade of the trees that would allow her to watch but not be seen. Her eyes looked upon the slaves as they spoke about hunting, or in this case not hunting, eyes narrowed when the young pup looked her way. She may not be very visible where she sat, but she had felt his eyes on her and it instantly send a bolt of anger through her. Perhaps he would get trampled by a frightened herd of deer and it would be one less worthless male that she had to deal with.
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Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 2:29 pm
Casimir was standing very still, listening peripherally to Patroclus and devoting most of his attention to the woods surrounding them. Insects and birds were calling idly, and a breeze kept the flora's green leaves waving and throwing silvery winks. He smelled upturned earth and the tang of crushed berries, a very good sign. "We are not catching something eating lunch," he answered quietly, throwing Patroclus a smile but not turning his face from the berry-smell. "What we do next is creep, until we know who's dining in." He flicked his amber eyes down to the pup, smiling and trying to gauge his capacity for patience. "I bet your dad told you how important stalking is?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 6:41 pm
Nose twitched as Patroclus scented the air, he could pick up a variety of different smells but none of them quite smelled like the prey they were not going to catch. His eyes turned to Cas when the male spoke. "Yeah, he told me that if you don't stalk your prey it will run off before you know its there." A small laugh escaped him before remembering that Varia was not far away and he made sure to wipe the smile off of his maw. "Cause if you make a lot of noise you will scare lunch away."
Patroclus couldn't help but look over his shoulder again towards where Varia sat quietly, unmoving, her spotted pelt allowing her to blend into the shadows of the trees. He too had a spotted pelt though not as impressive as hers, but he it did make him think that perhaps one day it would help him become a great hunter. With his attention turned back towards Cas and the meadow in front he lowered his voice. "How long do you think it will be before she yells at us?"
How long was this bloody exercise going to take? If it were the sisters out hunting they would have tracked down and caught a healthy sized deer already, or another large prey that required great effort and skill. Instead the two were chatting away in the brush, they would be lucky if they caught something this year let alone this afternoon. Still it would be worth seeing their every flaw when they did finally attempt to catch something. And should the sisters complain that she was late for their afternoon training session, well then she would work them twice as hard as normal, which would drive some of the newer members into the ground.
Also on a less important note she would get to see if Casimir was indeed capable of doing something other than slacking off at his duties and trying his best to piss her off. Though she was doubtful that was actually possible. Lazy b*****d.
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Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 7:41 pm
"That's right," he murmured, and began to ooze slowly toward the clearing, taking care to insinuate his golden paws among the grass so as to make no more noise than the faint breeze stirring in their faces. "And the closer you get, the less time your lunch has to figure out how to run away from you."
His face creased in a silent laugh at his friend's question, though the mention of their silent watcher compelled him not to pause their forward creeping. "She'll wait until we're done hunting to yell. Either she'll berate us for not catching anything, or she'll give us hell for not catching whatever we get fast enough." His ears flickered, and he pursed his lips, going still and silent as he sifted through the afternoon's little sounds and smells for something new - they were near enough now to hear a soft, gutteral sort of grunt, every so often; and if they followed the noise they would see a sprawling plant that bobbed along to something besides the wind. Casimir glanced meaningfully down to Patroclus and began to move again.
Coming around the trunk of a tree, they could see at last: a turkey hen, worrying berries off their stems with her mottled back to the pair. Only a couple of wolf's-lengths away, they stood a fair chance of pinning her in a rush. Cas wasn't certain that Patroclus was big enough to help with the kill, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to have him follow in his steps until the very end. He glanced mutely down at the pup once more; Are you ready?
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Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 8:00 pm
A smile grew on his maw and tail began to wag as they began to creep forward. The scents changed slightly and Patroclus made sure to pay attention to those changes, as they would help him not only now but in the future as well. It was important to keep you attention focused on the task at hand, whether it was hunting or doing the duties the pack required of him, as subtle changes could affect the outcome greatly. The sound of something up ahead reached his ears and they perked up slightly. Perhaps they would actually catch something on this non-hunting hunt, and if they didn't he wouldn't be too disappointed since they weren't out here to actually catch anything.
"Oh so we get to look forward to her yelling whether we succeed or not, that should be fun." He whispered and then returned his attention to the foul up ahead. He had never caught a turkey before so the experience would be a nice one of they did succeed.
As the two crept forward Varia did the same, only she did not need to crouch and slink about, she could walk at a normal pace and still remain silent among the trees and various forest parts that often gave a hunters position away. When they came to a stop near the turkey Varia once again hid within the shadows, a good distance away from the two hunters and their prey, she would not help in the kill, for it was not needed nor required of her. Besides how hard is it to chase down a big fat bird that will likely have trouble flying or running away.
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