Back From the Hunt

Cale tripped a bit, but caught himself when they reached the stream. It looked cold, and he was still wearing his clothes... But what the hell. He let himself fall into the stream. It was really cold, but it also felt nice. His wolf jumped in, and landed on Cale, pushing him underwater. He brought his head back up and took a seat on the rocky bottom. He leaned against the muddy bank and enjoyed the feeling of water running over his sore feet and small rays of sunlight hitting his body. "I've missed this. The feeling of a forest..." He closed his eyes to take in the smell, which was his favorite part of being outside. The smell of water, decay, spores, pollen, bark, and wolf.

"Ya, nothing beats the forest," Animal agreed, laying back so everything but his head was covered by the cool water. He laid there for a few minutes, relaxing and enjoying the cool water. He watched the other boy for a few moments before remembering what had brought them to the forest in the first place.

"So what do you wanna hunt anyway? If we go a little deeper I think there should be some deer,"

"Sounds great. It's going to be hard to run because my clothes are all wet now, though." Cale sighed, the water might of been a bad idea. His wolf jumped out of the water and shook off the water, making it spray in all directions. Cale glared at the wolf, and growled. "Show off..."

Cale pulled himself out of the stream and tried shaking off, to no effect. It just made his hair look bad. He leaned against a tree, trying to warm up in a small ray of sunlight.

"No rush," Animal laughed, shaking his own fur out as he stepped from the stream. He sat down in the grass and scratched behind his ear with his large canine legs. "If you wanna dry off, we got time," he offered, "Come to think of it, I don't think I'm really hungry enough for a deer." Animal lay down in the grass, scratching his back in the dirt.

((Sorry its so short. Started a new job recently, been really busy.))

"Okay, well, once I get dry I'm up for a deer hunt. Do you want to cook it later or eat it raw? I was thinking we could cook some for the others and see if they like it." The sun was doing its job, and Cale's clothes were drying somewhat quickly. It felt nice having the sun on him after taking a cold bath in the stream. He sat down and leaned back on his wolf, who growled a bit but had to deal with it. It was about midday now and the sun was in the middle of the sky. Cale hoped the hunt would last until night, he loved hunting at night. He also loved the feeling of a forest when the sun was setting.

"So, I've been wondering... What did you do before you came to the institute? I ran away from home, so I don't have much of a story. I love listening to other peoples stories." Cale stretched and yawned. The warmth of the sun made him tired, but he was ready to hunt as soon as he dried off.

Watching the other boy yawn produced one in Animal as well, and he stretched out in the grass and rolled onto his back. " I don't know, there's not much story really. I grew up at an orphanage till I was, and I ran away. I spent a few years on my own, before I found a pack of wolves when I was about 8," he said, thinking back to his childhood.

Finding his pack had been the best part of Animal's life thus far, but finding the Xavier Institute was almost as good. In time, they would likely trade places in their importance, but that would take time. He missed the pack a bit, but it had been time for him to move on. "I wasn't technically the Alpha of the pack, but they always kind of knew I wasn't a normal wolf, so they treated me basically as an Alpha beta sort of mix... occasionally my rationality and human intelligence put me in charge... but I was always a bit of an outsider still. I decided my human side needed human interaction, and Xavier ended up finding me," he explained.

He stretched once more. "Kinda boring, I know," he laughed.

Cale looked at him, his eyes wide. "Woah, so do you know what happened to your parents?" Before he gave any time to answer, Cale changed the subject. "Man, I've always wanted to live with wolves, but you know, as a wolf. I hate the fact I can't keep up with wolves, and I always felt bad when I caused them to lose prey..." Cale noticed he felt warmer, and he checked his clothes. Finally dry, and just before sunset.

"You ready to hunt or what?" Cale jumped up and stretched. This was going to be his first hunt in awhile, and he felt confidant. He was not going to slow anyone down.