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 Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:25 pm
Proserpina walked with two of her three children through the darkening forest. Dusk was upon them, the sun already just a sliver upon the horizon. Many animals were returning to their dens to sleep for the night, but others were just awakening. It was a good time for hunting, a time of transitions. This warm spring evening was the time she had chosen for the very first hunting lesson for her two sons. Teaching her daughter would come later.
"The most important part of hunting is not speed or strength, it's stealth." She looked over her shoulder to address Enoch and Zamiel. "If your prey cannot hear or smell you, you can get as close as you need." She smirked a bit, fangs protruding from her elongated mouth. "If you're already on top of your prey by the time you reveal yourself, it doesn't matter how fast you are."
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:33 pm
Zamiel nodded to his mother's words but didn't respond out loud. He was too busy concentrating on where he was putting his paws to hold a conversation. Currently his paws seemed oversized and large for his small body. He was constantly frustrated by their bulky clumsiness and stealth was no easy task for him. He was managing to move fairly quietly, but he wouldn't be satisfied until he could achieve the almost noiseless passage that his mother managed.
He shot a glance sideways to eye Enoch, wondering if he was doing any better... or even trying at all.
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 4:43 pm
Enoch came last in line and was even less gracefully than his brother. Not only did he have to wrestle with keeping quiet on over sized paws and limbs that never seemed to be quite the same length, but he also had the disadvantage of having eyes right at ground level. He would try to close them to keep out the grass and twigs, but he hadn't yet perfected the art of closing just a few of his eyes. Every eye on his body blinked in unison. So when he closed the eyes on his legs, he lost vision higher up as well. When Zamiel glanced over Enoch had just shut his eyes again and it looked as though he was trying to do the hunt blind.
Always eager to please, he spoke up when he brother didn't, "Okay!"
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Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 3:37 pm
Proserpina frowned a little at Enoch. He wasn't exactly graceful yet. Neither of them were, but Enoch's fumblings drew more attention. With the eyes on her rump, Proserpina could literally watch them even with her back turned. Sometimes it looked like Enoch could barely control his own body, like his strange habit of closing all his eyes at once. "Part of the gift of many eyes is being able to keep one on your target at all times," she said, putting words to her thoughts.
"This too will be of great benefit, if you can learn to use it properly." She sent that comment more directly at Enoch. If he couldn't find some way on his own to fix that silly habit of his, she would have to think of some less patient remedy.
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Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 3:41 pm
"I understand, mother." Zamiel spoke now, with a sideways smirk to Enoch. He liked it when his mother noticed something wrong that his brother did. It always made Zamiel feel a little more superior by comparison. He was young but already had a strong competitive streak growing in him. If there was something that his siblings did, he wanted to be better at it than them.
Inwardly, he was a little jealous of Enoch's many eyes. He only had six eyes himself, the two on his head and four on opposing shoulders. He could see excellently in front of himself and pinpoint his distance from an object with great accuracy, but he didn't have the wide field of vision that some of his other family shared. He told himself that he would be able to fly one day while his mother and Enoch never would, but eyes seemed almost like a better gift to him now while his wings were still small.
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Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 1:30 pm
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 2:27 pm
"Yes, mother. You're right, mother." Enoch said, squinting as he tried to keep his eyes open without allowing the grass to poke in. It barely helped, but his footing improved a touch and he wasn't constantly on the verge of wandering away from his family. Every few steps, when he could feel that he was away from any tall plants or poking branches, he would pause and look around then start squinting again so he could move.
He was aware that what his mother had said was as much advice as it was a warning, but learning to close just some eyes and not others would have to be something he practiced on his own later. He had tried to learn before and failed. Now though, he just wanted to participate in the hunt. The worst outcome, in his mind, was being left out of future lessons.
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