This backdated happy fun times thread takes place shortly after Vjira's hatching in mid-November.

- THE LEVIATHAN -

"Do not go too far," he was saying, and then--to Agate--"and you will need to stay near Vjira. I do not think she fully understands language yet." And I'm not here to herd you both.
His strides were long, but unhurried, his toxic gaze scanning the gentle landscape with calm alertness. This first venture--for either of his charges, he assumed--into Pegasus had potential for teaching, and so Vargas--ever the Overseer at heart--offered up a lesson.

"There is much food to be had in this place, if you know where to find it. Do either of you think that you can find prey?" He glanced first at Agate, and then at Vjira; he was unsure if she understood him even a little, but so far she'd been tractable enough. Perhaps they'd be cunning enough to form a team: Vedette to find the prey, and Vjira to kill it. He'd wait and see; he had no real tactics in mind. He'd see what they did, and he'd guide them, teach them if he spotted any opportunity to do so.

They were in no hurry, in any case. This cave of fields, forest and--ugh--flowers, was a safe enough place to learn, so long as they avoided the oversized deer, here.

@Vjira @Vedette

Vedette remained at the edge of the tunnel for a solid minute, staring at the grass in front of her feet. She touched it gently and reeled her hand back as if burned. What the hell was this?

She touched it again and took a slow step forward, not paying attention to Vargas as she took another step forward, and another. She looked up, squinting in the bright light, her eyes widening. Her jaws dropped and she froze, eyes darting about.

This was what Twobutt had been talking about. Endless green, a ceiling so high she doubted she could fly to it, and flowers, so many flowers.

Vedette raced forward and flung herself into the grass, rolling down a hill and squealing the entire way. She popped her head up and snuffled in the long strands, pupils wide and tail wiggling behind her. A beetle was snapped up and she picked a flower, inspecting it before crushing it. She started to vibrate and started smushing all the flowers she could find, cackling madly.

"AHAHAHA!!! YESSSS... FEAR ME, SHITTY FLOWERS!!", she trampled everything in her path as she zoomed around the area, mouth open and tongue lolling out of her open mouth as she zig-zagged back and forth, having the time of her life.

She snapped up bugs left and right as she went, eating up beetles and worms and friggin' everything. She was a garbage disposal and even had a few bites of grass before starting to eat everything in site. vargas had unleashed a monster.

@Vjira

Vjira followed Vargas, there wasn't anything else for her to do. He hadn't exactly told her to go anywhere in the ways of pointing at things, and she didn't really... Know what she could do besides follow. Vjira didn't know anything, really - and there was a distinct instinct to wander and seek out information on the place they were going. Information could only be found through actually doing things, and Vjira was bumbling on her feet, running ahead every so often and bouncing on her claws as if she were excited. She was, kind of. It was more like childlike energy making her want to run. To zoom - she wanted to see everything.

Vargas made a sound, but Vjira's nine eyes were all equally focused on the place in front of her. There was a lot for her to look at - grassy lands, hills and mountains, trees, flowers, water. There was so many things for Vjira to go look at, so when Vedette rushed forward, Vjira did too. Except different. She ran forward, stomping paws and claws onto the ground to end up planing straight into the grass. She lied there in silence as Vedette did her own thing - food completely forgotten for now. The grass was soft under her skin and fur. It was nice.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas grunted, half-sour, half-amused.

There no chance of teaching them, just yet; the one was too lost in itself, over-stimulated by its new environment. The other didn't quite, he guessed, understand what he was saying.

He spent some time lifting his head, looking around, sniffing; ensuring that nothing dangerous would come too close, that his young creations would be safe beneath his watch. Let them tear up the grass, so long as it was not too much; it would hardly compare to the periodic digging of the local wildlife, in any case.

He glanced at Vjira, after a time--lying in the grass--and wondered if she might be hungry, despite her ignorance as to how to obtain food. Vargas turned, then, using his great height and his senses to search for any old Lesser remains--bones, hide, anything along those lines. Anything he could show her, to give her the spark of hunger--an explanation for her with something other than simple words. Perhaps he could speak more clearly to her instincts.

After a bit of searching he found a couple old bird bones half-buried in the dirt--by scent, of course; he dug them out and picked them up. He inspected them, and grunted again. They didn't smell very strong; they were dirty, older, but the faint scent of carrion was on them nonetheless.

He carried them back to Vjira, and laid them before her. "Hungry?" he asked, and then very theatrically he sniffed them, before nudging them toward her nose. He then sniffed the air, and around--then looked to her expectantly; would she understand?

Or was she too busy basking in the scent of foliage?

@Vedette

Vedette had a bunch of worms in one hand and crumpled flowers in the other, in the process of stuffing both in her face before she saw it.

The rabbit.

It was green like the rest of the foliage around, blending in as it stood sentry for a moment, alarmed by the distant commotion. It lowered itself down to keep foraging after a moment, unaware of the red eyes that had locked onto it.

Vedette lowered herself onto her belly and crept through the grass, her tail wiggling in excitement. She stopped when the rabbit perked to attention again, aching to just run out and pounce on the stupid thing. It was the most restraint she'd ever shown like... ever.

The mini valkhound barely managed to keep still the rest of the way, peering through the grass, so close she could taste it. She leapt forward and tackled the rabbit that was practically the size of her, rolling around in the dirt, her quills digging into it when her claws failed, paralyzing it. She grabbed it by the throat and shook it like a terrier, growling and snapping its neck in a few short movements.

Once it was limp she dragged it back, her tail swishing back and forth as she struggled with it, tripping a few times before dropping it in front of Vargas, standing on all four feet in a slightly spread out stance, quills on end. She grinned, teeth bloody, and let out a bark of laughter.

"I did it! I hunted a thingy!", she couldn't stop smiling, waiting for approval, for anything to know that she was finally doing something right.

@Vjira

Vjira, so focused on the grass she was squishing with her body, did not notice the Valkhound moving to sniff something out. Nor did she notice Vedette shoving grass and grubs into her gullet. If she had noticed, she'd have most likely followed Vargas, wherever he was going. Or maybe she might have copied what Vedette was doing, the small pokey thing. Instead, though, she just sat there. Her tail waved in a flag behind her, fluff picking up grass and dirt. If she knew better, it might have looked like she was trying to mask her scent, rolling around like a dog does when they find a dead thing.

Vjira, in fact, was not trying. Nor was she entirely aware of her rolling around to be able to do such a thing. Bones landed in front of her face, and the purple valkhound watched Vargas sniff them, and then shove them closer. The multi-eyed creature kept an eye on him for a short moment, wondering what on earth the other purple valkhound was doing, before sitting up to sniff them. Vargas was right, the scent wasn't strong, but Vjira could smell that it belonged to something that was now dead.

Vargas sniffed the air next - was he looking for something? Was that it?

Vjira's wings tensed and untensed, her eyes looking in all kinds of directions - it might have looked gross if creatures with multiple eyes were that uncommon. Then again, Vargas also had more than two eyes. She ended up sniffing at the air herself.

Catching the scent of something the purple valkhound began to wander off, tracking where that smell lead. She completely missed Vedette coming around with a rabbit, though she most likely would have tried to steal it if she did notice.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas didn't think about himself all that often, but he did like to think of himself as fair. Where he punished disobedience, he praised accomplishment: and his surprise, and approval, upon spotting the Agate's stalking was not forced in any way. He paused, watching her, observing the way she was stalking--hidden even from him, periodically, in the long grass. He almost didn't notice Vjira starting to slink off, to follow the scent; when he did notice, he offered quiet praise "Found something? Good, very good," and moved to follow along.

But his gaze trailed back to Vedette; and when she leapt he took note that it was the pounce of a killer. Almost cat-like, in fact, and perfect for what he'd made her for. In an instant his estimation of her ticked up quite a high notch, and a sort of relief struck him; perhaps Dhracia would approve of this one after all, or of its successor, at least.

When the Agate came bouncing back--or more accurately, dragging the thing--his approval was enthusiastic and unrestrained. (No one could ever accuse Vargas of doing things in half-measure.) "Good! That was excellent form, Agate-One! A good stalk, excellent use of the terrain to remain unseen; a strong pounce and a quick kill. Admirably done!" The praise was real, glowing, and he nodded to the rabbit. "Now enjoy the fruits of your work!"

He looked back toward Vjira, carefully following the scent--had she noticed the rabbit, or Agate's hunt? he wasn't sure. But he gave her his focus, too, and nodded again. "Good. The wind can affect odors, so be warned; the ground scent will be more reliable on older tracks, less... volatile, with air flow." Did she understand a word? Maybe not; but a child had to hear to learn to speak.

@Vedette

strong language

gore

She liked this feeling. Almost as much as she liked tormenting things. Praise was good and her chest puffed out as a result, her tail wagging behind her as she ran around her dead rabbit like a dog let out for morning zoomies.

"I fuckin' will!" she said with a happy growl, and grabbed the rabbit, tearing into it ferociously.

Vedette was like a blender, snapping up meat, bones, and organs, all of it finding its way down her gullet or on her face. She was a great hunter but not the best eater, apparently. By the end of her whirlwind the rabbit was strewn across the grass, pulverized, her quills covered in fur and blood, an intestine tangled around the nubs of her horns.

Once she was satisfied she hobbled after the two of them, red eyes alight as she eyed Vargas' tail, tempted to jump at it and maybe see if she could bite it. But alas, she doubted she could reach, and she wasn't too keen on ruining the feeling of success.

"Oi," she said suddenly, "Show her how it's done, V! Er, Vargas."

She flashed a toothy (and bloody) grin, "'Watch 'n' learn', right?"

Her eyes flicked to the side, pupils widening like a cat's as she watched a red butterfly flutter past, her butt wiggling before she chased after it, perfectly content to be covered in guts and gore as she played around like a child.

That was Vedette for you.

@Vjira

Perhaps the lesson had been taken a little too precisely; the odor Vjira followed would lead, in fact, to a tiny pile of old bones.

The route was at least interesting: a winding trail into the darkness beneath the trees, and then down a narrow, steep, empty creek bed where periodic flooding had washed out now-dry banks. Loose leaf litter clotted the ground, here, and the sounds of the birds were muffled; the odor of fresh earth and rotting plant matter were strong.

But Vjira's nose would lead to a pile of bones at the bottom: those of a gemless, tiny Red Mouse who'd been caught up in a deluge and drowned, perhaps. The remains were tangled with plant matter, but they were... here, at least.

@Vjira

The sounds Vargas made at her went unnoticed as Vjira meandered after the smell that was just about the same as the bones the purple valkhound littered across the ground for her to sniff at just moments before. He was telling her to find something like that right? Vjira would be sure to find it! That was, to say, if she didn't get distracted by literally anything else along the way.

While Vedette was out getting praised and covered in rabbit goop, Vjira was following the trail into the darkness of the trees. If she was anyone else, she would have noticed how pretty it was, or the dead growth covering the ground below her claws. Though it did get suck to those very same claws, in a way that she would need to scrape off later. It was annoying, but the valkhound could care less.

When she did reach her destination, the result had been rather lackluster. They were... Well bones. Small, sad ones that could easily be crunched against her teeth that appeared to be always bared. So, you know, she did just that. Munching up the bones, crunching them - they kind of felt like popcorn. If Vjira could understand what popcorn was. She didn't. But that was besides the point.

Turning back around, Vjira talked her way back to the area she walked in the place with. And maybe took another sniff.

@Vargas