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Post by Sigh on Dec 19, 2020 17:28:13 GMT
violet The still-thick canopy prevented most—but not all—of the light drizzle from reaching the forest floor, but Violet's coat still felt heavy with moisture. She hazarded a stern glance at the gray skies above; the dark clouds just visible through the curtain of leaves above her did not cower under her gaze, unsurprisingly. With a sigh at the futility of cloud-glaring, Violet shook herself to dislodge some of the rainwater from her fur and carried on her way. Spider, one of her youngest, had been eager to show her something, although he had had some difficulty describing what, exactly, it was. The fact that he hadn't brought it to her also warned her that it might be something large, or maybe even something that was part of the landscape. Did a tree fall down somewhere? she pondered. Maybe I've just been in this forest so long that fallen trees seem mundane at this point, but I suppose they might be novel to Spider. For all his caution, he is still curious. A smile graced her features at the thought of her son; it was a common expression on Violet, as she had mothered two litters and was brimming with pride over both of them. As she continued walking, another thought occurred to her, turning her smile more sardonic. Knowing Spider, he probably just didn't want to touch whatever it was. There goes my one hint at what this something might be. As much as she admired her son's caution, especially considering the more daring streaks present in most of his siblings, she worried that he spent too much time in his head. One of these days he's going to be so busy thinking instead of doing that he loses track of his own tail. Still, Violet wasn't too worried, for the moment. Spider was still young, and the rest of his siblings gave her enough trouble without him adding any extra. And it wasn't like Spider didn't make her life interesting in his own way, either. After all, the closer she got to whatever it was that Spider wanted to show her, the more her own curiosity grew. What had gotten him so excited? 363 | Kaeldra hope this is what you had in mind!
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Post by Kaeldra on Jan 5, 2021 0:13:18 GMT
Spider || Tom || 7 moons Spider pranced ahead of his mother, glad to have gotten her attention to himself for once. He loved his siblings, certainly; they along with his parents were the only cats he trusted wholeheartedly, knowing he was safe with them. Still, he treasured his one-on-one time with Violet. And what a find he had to show her today! The little tom couldn't wait to see what she thought, and maybe get some answers to the questions buzzing inside his brain like bees.
The orange tabby skipped through the grass and over puddles left by the earlier downpour, eager to get to get to the spot where he knew his discovery would still be waiting. Violet followed at a more leisurely pace, and he trotted back to her every so often before dashing off again. In the back of his mind he worried that maybe by the time they reached their destination, the strange object he'd found would be gone. He had no idea how to explain it, and wanted to know if his mother had ever seen one like it before. If they didn't hurry up, he may never get his answers!
Despite his worrying, they came to the little clearing soon enough. The lump he had found earlier was still there. It was bright pink in colour, and the material was unnaturally shiny. One side of it was torn open, but the cut was very neat, and there were jagged little teeth on either side of the hole. It looked like there were some other things inside the lump, and Spider was dying to know what they might be, but at the same time its alien nature concerned him. Best to bring his mother along first for safety.
"There it is, mama, look!" Spider gestured animatedly with his tail. "Do you know what it is? Is it some Twoleg thing?"
ulla
Sigh Apologies for the wait on this one! The holidays were busier than anticipated ;; I hope this is satisfactory~! In case you couldn't figure it out from my (very vague) description, Spider found a backpack left behind by a forgetful child Maybe something interesting is inside, too~
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Post by Sigh on Jan 7, 2021 15:24:36 GMT
violet Violet eyed the strange garish object with a mix of curiosity and apprehensiveness. The color alone was somewhat disconcerting, a lurid pink that she struggled to recall seeing before even in the most colorful flowers. If she had any memory of such a color, it was from her days with her housefolk, but even that was a stretch. What if it was dangerous? She lowered her head to sniff at Spider's discovery and was met with a whiff of overwhelming and diverse—but distinctly twoleg—scents. If anything, this new information offered more questions than Violet had already had. Still, she had enough to go off of that she could answer her son's question with relative confidence. "Hm, it certainly seems to be some Twoleg thing," she meowed, shifting herself ever so slightly closer to the object. "Have you noticed any Twolegs around?"The question was two-fold. For one thing, Violet was genuinely curious about how recently the object had been placed or left here; for another, she was curious to see how Spider approached the problem. Sure, Violet could just take a sniff around herself, but it was always more rewarding to see her kits do these things themselves.
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Post by Kaeldra on Jan 7, 2021 21:22:39 GMT
Spider || Tom || 7 moons The little tabby watched with wide eyes as his mother fearlessly approached the object, giving it a careful sniff. He could see gears turning behind her eyes, and wondered if she'd ever come across something as strange as this before. On the one paw, he hoped she had, so she could explain to him what it was. But on the other, he sort of wanted to be the one to find something new and figure out what it was by himself. He was the smartest of his littermates (or at least he liked to think so) and he'd be able to impress them by telling them all about this strange thing. He just had to learn it first.
Violet gave nothing away as she studied the lump intently. She didn't seem to immediately recognize what it was, but he couldn't be sure she wasn't just testing him. Either way, Spider straightened up importantly, determined to puzzle it out. At least he'd gotten the Twoleg part right already!
"I didn't see any when I found it," he mewed thoughtfully. "But Flare brought us here to play a few days ago and this wasn't here! I came back to find one of the acorns Gale was playing with -- he won't stop talking about it -- and it had just appeared!" Spider lifted his nose to the air, trying to remember what he'd been taught in their training sessions. As he drew the air over his scent glands, his brain whirred.
"I don't think it was left here today," Spider said without much confidence. The twoleg scent hanging in the air wasn't that strong, but could it have just been washed away by the rain? He met his mother's eyes, hoping she would give him a hint.
ulla
Sigh
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Post by Sigh on Feb 7, 2021 20:44:36 GMT
violet With a faint huff of laughter, Violet paused to scent the air herself. Spider's answer had not been the most confident, and she wondered whether he was truly unsure of the scents themselves or if he was just doubting his interpretation. Considering that Spider had never been one to lack for confidence, Violet would stake her bets on the former. If anything it seemed like he had too much information; as much as Violet appreciated her son's dedication to thorough investigation, she dreaded the day when his calculations took a second too long. Still, as shaky as Spider's admittedly vague assessment had been, it was not incorrect. Violet exhaled and met her son's eyes with a smile. "Well, you're not wrong," she allowed, a teasing note entering her voice, "But can you be a little more specific? How does it compare to Flare and Gale's scents? Does anything else here seem disturbed?"As she left Spider to his investigation, her gaze drifted back to the strange object—or pile of objects, rather. As much fun as she was having with her son, Violet knew better than to meddle with strange twoleg contraptions. It didn't seem dangerous, but neither did a monster until it woke up. Would it be wiser to leave it be or do something with it? Knowing what other creatures made their home in the forest, it was unlikely that whatever-it-was would stick around for much longer, one way or another. A little longer can't hurt, she mused, It's not like he's ever likely to see something like this up close again.264 | Kaeldra I'm so sorry this is a billion years late
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Post by Kaeldra on Feb 10, 2021 6:13:55 GMT
Spider || Tom || 7 moons Spider pouted a little when his mother laughed at his guess, though he supposed he hadn't given much of an answer. As she prodded him for more specific info, he inspected the object again, as if trying to will the answers to come to him by magic. The little tabby squinted at the lump, then drew another breath to scent the air.
"It smells weird," he wrinkled his nose at the scent. "Flare and Gale are more forest-y smelling, this is more like the weird shiny boulders in Twolegplace," he said, though he figured his mother would be looking for more than that. They'd already confirmed it was a Twoleg thing. "It smells kind of like berries, but I think they might be gone now," he added, picking up on a strange fruit scent that he'd never encountered before, faded nearly to the point of disappearing. Then his gaze swept the small clearing again, looking for clues. He'd been so caught up in finding his mother he hadn't taken a good look at the surroundings.
"Oh! Look over there!" He bounded over to a patch of muddy earth, skidding to a stop where a collection of sticks and small rocks was strewn about. They seemed to be laid very deliberately in the soil, definitely not just a case of the wind. The sticks were all about the same size and crossed over each other, with the stones filling in some of the empty spaces in between. "Maybe this is a clue! It smells a little like twolegs too, I think they put them here!" Why on earth twolegs would do such a thing, he had no idea. He tilted his head curiously at the debris. "Are they leaving markers so they know where to come back to?"
ulla
Sigh No worries! Life happens. I'm just sort of making this up as I go so I hope this is alright! Let me know if there's any specific direction you want to go or we can just keep winging it~ Glad to have you back <3
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Post by Sigh on Feb 12, 2021 23:30:24 GMT
violet The thing about twolegs, Violet mused, was that they were incredibly unpredictable. Even after living with and among the strange creatures for most of her life, including her formative years, she would be hard-pressed to ascribe any meaning to their patterns of behavior—or lack thereof. Why did they stand upright? Why did they think it was appropriate to feed their pets dry, tasteless pellets? Why did they leave strange pink objects and meticulously arranged sticks and stones in the woods? Violet had long since given up on finding any meaningful answers to such questions, especially now that she interacted with twolegs so rarely. But perhaps that is a lesson better understood one one's own, she thought, considering Spider's confusion. Just as she had no answers for herself, she had no answers for her son; as much as she wanted to be or at least appear to be an omniscient fount of knowledge for her kits' sake, there was only so far the illusion could extend, and it would have to break sooner or later anyhow. It's good for your kits to know that their parents are not infallible, she tried to reason with herself, but that doesn't make it any easier.As much as Violet tried to keep her internal grumblings to herself, she was sure some of it came across as her features furrowed in confusion not unlike her son's. "No one knows why twolegs do the things they do," she admitted, finally, padding over to the strange assortment of debris that had drawn Spider's attention. "Good catch, though; I hadn't even noticed there was more to see here apart from that pink thing!" Hopefully the praise would soothe some of the dissatisfaction at his unanswered questions. Still curious herself, Violet sniffed at the strange arrangement on the ground. It was too faint to be sure, but even disregarding the placement of the sticks and stones, there might have been the faintest of twoleg scent lingering on the debris. There was a much stronger scent carried on the wind, though, and Violet jerked her head towards it, straining her ears to see if she could hear anything. "Spider," she whispered, urgently, "Do you smell that?"367 | Kaeldra I'm happy to keep yes and-ing this if you are! Whatever's showing up could be kids finishing a game of tic-tac-toe, a raccoon, a roomba...the possibilities are endless
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Post by Kaeldra on Mar 4, 2021 0:01:02 GMT
Spider || Tom || 7 moons Spider deflated a little at the lack of answers, but he supposed twolegs were bizarre enough that it made sense. Even his mother seemed upset, contrasting her usually relaxed temperament. He supposed it must be frustrating, not knowing so many things about twolegs even after living with them for so long. He did puff out his chest a little at Violet’s praise, though he was still disappointed they hadn’t solved the mystery. Perhaps he’d have to file this information away and come back to it another day. He wasn’t particularly interested in twolegs, but their erratic behaviour puzzled him and he wanted to know why they were so strange.
A breeze swept into the clearing, carrying with it a much stronger scent that overpowered the fading traces of twoleg. Spider nodded furiously and stared in the same direction as his mother, trying to identify the unusual smell. Before he could begin to figure out what it was, a round, grey creature with a black-striped tail bumbled into the clearing, and something clicked inside the young tom’s head.
“That’s a raccoon, isn’t it?” He hissed under his breath. As he did, the creature looked up at him with small, shining eyes, and Spider felt a thrill of fear pulse through him. He reminded himself that his mother was here, and he hadn’t been doing too badly at their fighting lessons recently either. There was only one of them, which made their odds a lot better. He glanced nervously at Violet, every nerve in his body telling him to run as the raccoon ambled toward them but not wanting to disappoint her by seeming scared. “Why is it coming this way?”
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Sigh And now it's my turn to apologize for a super late response! Midterms be wild. Sounds good to me! I'm still learning how to improvise on the fly so it'll be fun to practice
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Post by Sigh on May 4, 2021 22:54:38 GMT
violet Oh dear. A sharp spike of panic ran through Violet's body, and she forced herself to remain still. Still, her ears flattened instinctively against her head and she knew that her tail was flicking in agitation. At least she wasn't trembling; fear was all well and good—and a smart response, in many cases—but terror was not something Violet was particularly inclined to inspire in her son. His initial response to the raccoon seemed to be curiosity, after all, rather than any sudden move to flee. I do hope he has the presence of mind to be a little afraid, though, Violet thought in somewhat panicked absentminded consideration. Bravery is good until it gets you killed.As the moment inched forward, Violet considered the creature before them. It was fairly large, a size or two bigger than Violet herself, not to mention Spider's younger, more diminutive frame. It's proportions were completely different, though, snout too small, body too bulbous, paws too...not paw-like. It's body language was not entirely foreign, however, and she recognized the curiousity in the raccoon's twitching nose. She mirrored the action herself, scenting the air around them again for any more insight into the situation. As far as she could tell, the creature was alone—good news for her and Spider. Still, a lonely raccoon was not necessarily a peaceful one, and Violet imagined it would be in their best interest to leave as quickly as possible without provoking pursuit or worse. "Let's not stick around to find out," Violet hissed to Spider as quietly as she could—not that they hadn't already lost any semblance of stealth. The raccoon was unlikely to understand them, though, and she was satisfied with how steady her voice had been; no need to alarm either her son or their visitor. "I'll draw its attention," she continued, "When I do, you run. I'll be right behind you." Without waiting for a response, Violet took a step forward, foregoing any attempts at subtlety. Hoping that Spider hadn't developed any particular self-sacrificing streak, she hissed in the raccoon's direction.
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Post by Kaeldra on May 5, 2021 21:26:00 GMT
Spider || Tom || 7 moons Spider watched with big eyes as the strange creature ambled steadily toward them. He had never seen a real raccoon before, and it was somehow a lot bigger than he had anticipated. While they still had the advantage, and it didn’t seem overly aggressive, he wasn’t particularly keen to find out if that would change. He’d leave the raccoon-wrangling to his brothers.
His mother seemed to have a similar idea, giving directions under her breath, and Spider listened intently. As much as he wanted to be brave for her, he was glad she thought they should leave, too. He wasn’t thrilled that she planned to use herself as a lure -- surely they could outrun the thing if they just sprinted fast enough? -- but trusted that she knew what she was doing. He would keep an eye out, just in case. Despite his reservations, if it came down to his mother’s safety, he’d be willing to give the raccoon a few swipes.
Spider bunched his muscles as Violet took a step forward, and when she hissed he hesitated for a heartbeat or two before launching himself toward the undergrowth. He couldn’t stop himself from glancing back as he ran, and wasn’t watching his paws as closely as he perhaps should have been. He had forgotten about the mud; he plunged straight into a particularly bad spot of it and sent it splashing about spectacularly. Spider stumbled for a moment to regain his footing. Pelt burning with embarrassment and hoping he hadn’t drawn too much attention to himself with that display, he leaped away in the direction of the trees once more.
ulla
Sigh One day we’ll finish this thread! xD
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Post by Sigh on May 5, 2021 23:40:25 GMT
violet The creature's sniffing snout swung towards her, and Violet held her ground. She obviously had its attention, but neither of them moved any closer to the other. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of orange fur, and—tracking the movement of the raccoon's eyes in pursuit of her son—took another step forward, hissing again. The raccoon's attention recentered on her, and although it did not approach, Violet saw it's dirty gray fur start to rise. Well, that's not good. She lowered herself closer to the ground, belly brushing the damp underbrush. A strange squelching noise sounded from behind her, and at first she thought it was something she had done. But no, her fur and paws were mostly dry, and the sound was distant enough that it likely came from something else—presumably her son stumbling into an inconveniently placed patch of mud. Oh, Spider. We'll have to get you all cleaned up later. First, though, they both needed to get a safe distance away from this creature. Violet weighed her options. Fighting was likely a bad idea; the raccoon was larger than her, and she did not want to rely on her son for backup, especially after telling him to flee. Her best choice would be to flee herself, but having stepped closer to the raccoon, she was concerned about getting away unscathed. While the size difference would be an issue in a fight, it would likely make Violet faster. The question was, then, whether her opponent would be able to get a strike off before Violet was out of range. But what choice did she have? The longer she lingered here, the longer she abandoned Spider, the more opportunities she gave the raccoon to attack. Her own window of opportunity was closing as the seconds dragged by, and Violet finally tensed her legs in preparation. Now or never, she thought, and twisted her body away from the raccoon, lunging forward and sprinting in the direction she knew her son had gone. Her paws pounded against the dirt and grass and leaves of the forest floor as she heaved her body away from where they had found the strange twoleg object—had that only been a few moments earlier?—and towards what she hoped was safety. After what felt like a moon and a half, Violet slowed her pace and let her senses flood back to full attention. She and Spider had set off in almost the same direction, but he wasn't in her immediate vicinity— ah, there he is. His familiar scent flooded her senses, and she turned to pad in his direction. It didn't take long to find him, after that, but the sight he presented was somewhat pitiful: body scrunched in embarrassment, covered in mud...but safe. Violet hadn't realized how worried she had really been until she felt her heartbeat begin to slow, gradually returning to its normal pace. "Well, that was certainly exciting, wasn't it?" she said, attempting to lighten the mood.
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Post by Kaeldra on May 6, 2021 21:29:28 GMT
Spider || Tom || 7 moons Spider waited in the shelter of a thorny bush until he caught his mother’s scent as she approached. He crawled out to meet her, feeling and looking rather like a bedraggled kit instead of the strong forest cat he wanted to be. Flare wouldn’t have jumped right into a mud puddle, he frowned, then reconsidered. Well, maybe he would. But he would have made it look cool. The mud caked his pelt, and he shivered when a breeze cut right through his damp fur. Still, he was glad they had escaped unscathed -- aside from his pride, at least.
He couldn’t smell the raccoon coming after them so he figured he could get away with being a little petulant.
“Exciting for the raccoon, maybe,” he huffed, licking at his chest fur and recoiling at the unpleasant taste. He’d have to find another way to wash it out; he wasn’t in the mood to eat half the forest floor getting himself clean. Giving up on that for the moment, he turned to look at Violet. “Isn’t it dangerous to let it stay around here? What if it finds the den? Maybe we should get dad and Flare and chase it away for good...” he started thinking out loud, worrying about the creature getting too bold from its victory today.
He imagined going out to explore with Gale and Melody and being greeted by that odd-looking creature, small beady eyes tracking their every move. Even with the three of them, he wasn’t foolish enough to think that they could take on such an enemy without getting a few nasty scratches in return. His mother’s response to the raccoon’s approach had confirmed that much. So that left only one course of action.
“Can you teach me some more fighting moves?” He asked hopefully. They had gone over a few simple maneuvers so far, but Spider wasn’t very confident in any of them just yet. ”That way if it comes back, I can help you and dad and Flare teach it a lesson!”
He leaped to his paws, suddenly eager to start. That raccoon wouldn’t even see them coming.
ulla
Sigh
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Post by Sigh on May 6, 2021 23:34:01 GMT
violet Violet grimaced sympathetically at Spider's attempts to clean himself. She did not envy him; being no stranger to muddiness herself, Violet could empathize. All things considered, though, a little mud was not such a bad outcome, and the mud really was the worst of it, if Spider's petulance was any indication. Would that be the case going forward, though? Sure, they had gotten away unscathed this time, but what if Spider was right? What if if the raccoon came looking for them, or even just remained near enough to the area that they ran into it again? In spite of the threat the creature posed, Violet was hesitant to resort to violence; it had never been her first instinct, and even though she saw the necessity in it on occasion, it still made her uneasy. Adding to her discomfort was her son's readiness to jump to such a solution. Not that such a response spoke ill of him—or of her mate or other children, who she was sure would have similar inclinations—but it was such an unfamiliar train of thought to Violet. Was there really no other choice? "I think I'll leave the combat training to your father," she finally sighed, after a moment of silence. Just because Violet felt reasonably confident that she could hold her own against another cat didn't mean that she had a wealth of confidence in her abilities to pass on her passing knowledge to her son. And that was without considering her own, unconventional hangups about violence. She was still Spider's mother, however, and had a few tricks in mind. "There is something else I can teach you, though."She glanced around the area they had stopped, pausing to scent the air again. They were safe, as far as she could tell, but it wouldn't hurt to get a little further away. "How about we keep moving for a little, first? I'll race you to that tree you found the other day—the one with the piece of bark that looks like a vole? Let's go!" And she was off, running deeper into the woods, away from the raccoon and the strange twoleg contraptions that had lured them here in the first place. Stamina, she thought, racing through the trees for the second time that day, Is just as important as knowing the right moves in a fight.
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Post by Kaeldra on May 7, 2021 1:22:58 GMT
Spider || Tom || 7 moons It was fairly clear before she even spoke what Violet’s response would be. Spider supposed it made sense; his father was the more experienced one when it came to fighting. That didn’t stop his tail from drooping in disappointment, the adrenaline that had been thrumming through his veins dissipating. He would be sure to follow up on that, pestering Jay to teach him something useful, specifically for driving off raccoons. But for now, it seemed his mother had other ideas.
Spider’s ears pricked up at the mention of another type of lesson, curious as to what she had in mind. Maybe tracking? As he watched her scent the air, he imagined trying to track something in this damp weather would be rather difficult. But if she thought it would be useful, he would do his best.
Then came the unexpected challenge to a race, and energy trickled back into his limbs. He knew the tree Violet was talking about, a tall birch with a whorl in the trunk that Spider had sworn up and down looked just like a vole. He nodded, leaning back onto his haunches in anticipation, before launching forward into the trees at her cue.
The first few fox-lengths were easy, and Spider was confident he’d beat his mother to the goal. It was like he was flying, and he relished in the feeling as he leaped over fallen branches and swerved around trunks and bushes. But he had forgotten just how far it was between the tree and where they had started, and his mud-logged fur weighed him down more than he was used to.
He kept pushing, determined to win, though his muscles had begun to ache in protest. Spider lost precious seconds as he stumbled over a stray tendril of bracken. Then the tree came into view, and the orange tabby gave one last burst of energy. It was too late, though, and he watched as Violet sped forward to reach the trunk ahead of him. Slowing to a trot, Spider joined her and took a moment to catch his breath.
“I would have been faster if it weren’t for my wet fur,” he said, feeling the need to defend himself, though the run had raised his spirits and he didn’t really mind that she had beat him. Somehow his mother always knew what to do to fix his sour moods. Spider glanced around curiously before continuing, “So, what were you going to show me?”
ulla
Sigh
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Post by Sigh on May 8, 2021 0:18:56 GMT
violet Taking in her son's still messy but less dejected figure, Violet felt satisfied by her distraction. It wasn't intended entirely as a distraction, of course; she really did hope for Spider to glean a lesson from this whole experience. More than one, really, but she hoped that don't mess with raccoons didn't need to be driven home any further. She spared a moment to assess her own state as well. Violet wasn't elderly by any means—if anything, she was in the prime of her life, physically—but there was something to be said of the boundless energy of younger cats. Did I really have that much energy when I was younger? she wondered. Probably, but there was no way for her to recall and no one to remember for her. Regardless of the differences in energy between her and her son, Violet had still made it to the tree first. Maybe Spider had been more disadvantaged by the mud coating his fur than she would have expected, as he suggested. "Well, I would have been faster if I had the ridiculous amounts of energy that you and your siblings seem to have, so I suppose we're even," she meowed teasingly, bringing a paw up to her mouth to dislodge a piece of dirt between her claws. Again she was reminded of the ease with which she could clean herself while her son was muck-ridden. Perhaps we should get that sorted out sooner rather than later, she thought, But first, a quick lesson.Satisfied that the troublesome speck of dirt had been dislodged, Violet rose and started to pace, circling around Spider. "When we train and play, keeping both sides on even footing makes for more fun." She swatted lazily at her son's tail, more to keep him on his toes than to spark any real tumble. "In a real confrontation, though," she continued, "You will not always have the luxury of fairness." Another circle traced around her son, another lesson to impart. "So when you're at a disadvantage due to, say, a muddy pelt, it's in your best interest to figure out what disadvantages your opponent has to contend with."She ceased her circling in front of Spider, coming to a full stop before posing her challenge. "So, tell me how well you and I would be matched Spider. And..." A twinkle danced in Violet's eyes. "It's important to make these judgements in the middle of the action. No need to catch me, just keep pace." This time, Violet didn't run with the same intent of gaining distance; rather, she darted into a patch of underbrush, hoping to circle the area in such a way that would keep both herself and her son moving, allowing him to work on his multitasking without straying too far away. Let's just hope I have the energy to keep this up for long enough, she mused, conscious of her already well-worn muscles.
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