[Flashback] Even Pups Bite(Miharu)

[Jaeden Kincade]

The subtle waking of Miharu's tale along his leg eventually caused Jaeden's eyes to flutter open as the first thing he spied was the thick coat of fur along her head, and then the tips of her ears. Looking down, he then saw her tail slapping along his leg. A slow yawn was given as his mouth stretched open wide. "Morning already then?" he said lazily as his hand reached up and fell to a pat and rub along the top of Miharu's head. The situation didn't alarm him, or surprise him all that greatly in the long run. The last time he had a Kelvic in his tent, he was awoke to a mountain lion's tail slapping him along his face. He slowly sat up, peeking through the sliver opening at the front of the tent to notice that slight tint of orange color barely settling over the grounds outside. "Alrighty, I need my pants, then I'll need to do some tracking," Jaeden said looking down to Miharu. "Ready for a long day?"

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu sat up when he did, tail thump-thumping even more vigorously when he seemed not to be upset about this whole snuggling thing. It was okay! She'd slept beside a human, and no bad had come of it. That was probably because he was a very good human, honorable and noble and caring of those around him. A very, very good human indeed.

She leaned forward and slurped a lick of her tongue across his temple and into his hair, a sort of good-morning hello, and then gave a yelping bark of agreement. Tracking was good, would be fun. Every day was long, though, what a silly thing to say.

She rose to all fours, giving a tiny little jump as if excited to be awake this morning - excited to be alive - and then bounded out of the tent.

By the time he finally dressed and emerged from the tent, he would find her back in human form, wrapped in her clean dress as he preferred, with the fire started and yesterday's meat sizzling warm.

"Here, she said, bringing him a cup of hot water with some sort of bark sticking out of it. "It's a touch bitter, but it'll help wake you up," she said, a smile denting one corner of her mouth.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden rubbed a hand slowly as he sat up, his eyes opened wider for a second as he felt the lick to his temple, looking over to MIharu. His hand then dropped to his lap as he watched her bounce slightly and yelp with energy before finally bouncing out of the tent. "How some Kelvics can shoot right up like that after sleep is beyond me," Jaeden muttered slightly before finally tossing the covers aside and rising from his bedroll. Another moment or two of fidgeting with his pants and boots would pass before Jaeden meandered out of his tent, grabbing the shirt he had left hanging along one of tent posts he had left hanging there to dry the night before. The morning was crisp as a small series of goosebumps began lining his skin as it came into contact with the cool air. Slipping on his shirt, he let out a subtle yawn before stretching his arms out and slowly turning. His eyes were met with cup full of steaming liquid and bark poking out of its reflective surface as Miharu offered him a morning pick-me-up. "Ah, thank you, Miha" he said, still a little groggy as he slowly made his way over to a nearby fallen log in the clearing, sitting himself down along it. "Come here, I'll explain what I have planned for today, because I'll need you to play an important role in it," Jaeden said, motioning Miharu over.

[Miharu Mindi]

She obeyed immediately, skipping over to the log and then folding her legs beneath her so that she was seated on the ground beside him, her head even with his knee and her wide honey-colored eyes focused entirely on him.

"I can do it," she said confidently. "You said we'll be tracking and trapping, right? What do you need me to do?"

[Jaeden Kincade]

He slowly reached over, grabbing an idle twig laying along the ground as he took another sip from his cup. "Okay, finding the tracks of these large beasts isn't really the problem," Jaeden said as he poked the end of the stick into the ground lightly. "They're all over this forest, the problem is that they often cross over one another, and such can make tracking one beast in particular a bit of a challenge." Jaeden once again tipped the cup back before slowly setting it down along the log next to him. "Fortunately, we won't be singling one of them out in our tracking. Matter of fact, we'll be looking for herd tracks," Jaeden explained as he dragged the stick along the ground, making a small trail among the dirt and clutter of fallen leaves and twigs. "On top of that, we'll be following their natural path of movement, and my trap will be nearby." Jaeden then slowly drew a square in the ground nearby the trail he had drawn. "You, Mihu," Jaeden said, grabbing his cup once again, "will simply do what comes natural to you during the initial stage of your hunt, and that's give chase.' Jaeden tipped the cup back once more, finishing off the remainder of the drink that Miharu prepared for him. "However, you'll be stirring up the whole herd in this chase, getting them all to run," Jaeden then explained, "then as you near the trap I want you to force one of the large ones to veer off towards the intended trap. This way, you don't have to worry about getting any further injury by bringing it down and we'll get a beast at least twice the size as the one you brought down yesterday. The trap I have in mind, won't be a snare, but a pitfall."

[Miharu Mindi]

She listened very carefully, nodding at the lines he drew on the ground in front of them, and when he finished she gave him a bright smile. "Oh, herding I can do. I'm better for long runs than fast ones, though, so we should make sure it isn't just a sprint."

She looked down at the crudely drawn map a moment longer, a little frown of concentration on her face, and then slid up to her feet to pad over to the fire and grab up the two sticks full of meat that she'd left to warm up, handing one to Jaeden as she sat back down.

"When we're near to where you want me to split off, we'll need to put something there that I can smell - something strong, too, to distract me, because once you get into that mode it's hard to get out." Intelligent she may be, but she was still part animal; a wolf in the midst of a hunt would be driven by instinct and survival, and she might forget what their plan was without a reminder.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden gave a slow nod grabbing a piece of the bark from the cup as he slipped it between his teeth, lightly biting it for a short second. "No problem, I'll just give myself a little nick and mark a tree with a little blood," Jaeden explained as he thought for a moment. "Say about two hundred paces before the trap, that should give ample time to veer on of them towards it I hope." Jaeden then reached over to his pack, dragging it over to his side. "Once we find their trail, we'll decide where to place the trap and I'll get started on it. Considering the pitfall that'll be needed for one of the large ones," Jaeden said as he slowly pulled out his woodman's ax, "it'll likely take me at least five chimes of the bell to dig a hole deep and wide enough for it. During time, I'll want you to track down and locate the herd itself, and then start the chase when that time has passed, driving them back towards the trap." "Oh, and be sure to break off your chase and come to a sudden stop when you see the beast begin falling into the trap," Jaeden then noted, tossing the piece of bark he chewed on back into the cup. "There'll be pointy things at the bottom."

[Miharu Mindi]

She frowned a little, peering up at the sky a moment as she chewed on her breakfast meat. "Are you sure you won't be too tired after digging a pit big enough for one of them? And how will we get it out of the pit? What will we do with that much meat?" A bounty of questions, and she looked up to him for answers.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden gave a slow shrug as he leaned back slightly, grabbing his leather armor as he began slipping it over his head. "Sure, I'll be plenty tired," Jaeden explained as he began affixing the straps to the armor along the side, "but that's the beauty of the trap. It does all the work of slaying the beast." Jaeden then smacked the chest of the armor a couple of times to make sure the straps wouldn't come loose. He then looked back to Miharu. "We'll just butcher it down in the pit," Jaeden explained about the meat, "I have a body sled to carry it back to camp. It's skin, if you want it, will have to be taken in patches though. As far as all the meat overall, a small portion we can plain cook for dinner, the rest I can make into jerky, dried out beef that will last a long while and makes for good rations when you have poor times in an actual hunt. The carcass we can leave overnight for scavengers and then bury in the next day, so the forest gets a boon as well. Waste not, want not."

[Miharu Mindi]

She shrugged, figuring he had some idea of how to yank a monster out of a pit. Not her worry, he knew more about all this nonsense. She just had to give chase, and she was awesome at giving chase.

"Okay. So I'll go track them then. Are you ready?" she asked with another grin, chomping down the last bite of her meat and bouncing to her feet again.