Breaking Free (Open)

[Meesh]

(Sorry for the above, just table testing ^^)

Ebony smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry. River then, Perhaps I wasn't using quite the right words. Gosh, there are so many words!" he admitted with a chuckle. "It's hard to find quite the right one to use. I'm sure I'll learn which to use in time, though. I rather like these words" He half chuckled at himself.

At River's question as to where to find food, Ebony paused, trying to find explanation for his words. He didn't know what exactly made him so sure that there would be food, only that he knew that this Orchard had everything they needed to survive. Perhaps the knowledge came from wherever his name did- deep within the recesses of his mind as it developed, or perhaps fed through the tree into him. "Holes. In the ground" The answer came to him. "Food- prey- comes running out of holes, and if we're quick, we can catch it" he glanced around, thinking. "And I think some of the plants are edible" His eyes flickered, showing uncertainty. "I think?"

"Perhaps there's food beyond the Orchard as well. I'm not really sure" The feline finally admitted. "What do you think?"

[Deleted]

"You were," she assured him. "It might work for someone like Silva, but I'm about as young as you are, so..." She shrugged.

She listened as Ebony explained how to find food. Prey in holes waiting to be caught? "I have yet to find anything like that." But then, she hadn't been around for long. And as for plants...something in the back of her mind told her that plants were meant as a last resort type food. This wasn't quite last resort conditions. They were in full health and far from starving even if they were a little hungry.

"Let's see what we can find," she responded when he asked what she thought. "If we don't find anything, we can see what's outside the orchard."

[Meesh]

Ebony nodded. "I'll keep that in mind then" he replied, though still in a formal tone. Catching himself at it, he grinned again sheepishly. "The formal-ness will go away eventually, I promise" he assured the feline. "But alright. Let's keep on going. Perhaps we can find something that looks like food" he nodded in agreement to her words. "I'm sure we can do it"

A movement caught his eye and he turned in time to see a rodent dart past, towards one of the other trees. Ebony jumped, landing backwards on his rump. "What was that?" he said with wide eyes, kind of missing the fact that it was prey.

[Deleted]

She purred in amusement at his response and nodded when he suggested they keep going. "I know we can." What was the point of hatching newborns that couldn't take care of themselves? Surely they had everything they needed already to help them find and catch food.

She began sniffing around, but was distracted when her companion jumped and landed backwards. "Hmm? What was what?" Oh. Right. Maybe he found something before she could. "Maybe it was prey." She went back t sniffing, trying to pick each unfamiliar scent apart from the others. She was beginning to be able to pick out and ignore the scents of plants. Maybe, eventually, she could find something.

[Meesh]

Ebony nodded at her logic. "Alright then" he decided. "We can do this" He got up sheepishly from where he sat after the rodent scared him, shaking out his fur. "It probably was" he agreed sheepishly. "I'm sorry. It startled me, or I would have caught it" Seeing River sniff at the air, Ebony did the same, trying to pick out the rodent smell. It wasn't like plants. Warmer, and a little...muskier, he decided. But there were so may warm and musky smells around. How could he determine which was which?
Maybe he could remember what that rodent smelled like...? Ebony closed his eyes, trying to recall the scent that caught his nose right before the rodent darted out. Could he pick it out again? His eyes widened, opening. "Under that rock!' he said, pointing with his tail. "I think there's another one of those prey-things over there!"

[Deleted]

"That was probably the plan," she reasoned. "If you're startled, you're less likely to go after it. They're like us - they'll do anything to increase their chances of survival. It's how things work." Maybe she wasn't entirely certain of that, but it made sense to her.

She jumped slightly when Ebony called out, and it took her a moment to hear him exclaim that there was something under a rock. She stared at the rock, and then began to creep slowly forward, willing her paws to tread lightly and make as little sound was possible. She sniffed, catching a musky scent. Was that the prey? Maybe...

She continued to creep forward, and then around the rock, looking for the best possible attack point. There were two places big enough to stick a paw in, and she reached into the one on the opposite side of Ebony, hoping to chase the prey out from its shelter and toward him.

[Meesh]

Ebony nodded at her reasoning, eyes narrowing in concentration as he turned this new bit of information over in his mind. "That makes sense. I guess everything has a desire to live" he reasoned.
His eyes flickered in understanding as River creeped around the rock, eyes focused on the the smaller of the two openings. That meant the actual catching of whatever came out was up to him. Mimicking her creeping position- hindquarters down, tail out- he focused on the largest of the openings, tail flicking slowly from side to side.
River stuck a paw in. A panicked squealing came from inside the hole and a rodent dashed out, small and lean with a grey-furred body. Ebony reacted instinctively, leaping forward with claws outstretched. He managed to grab the rodent by its tail just before it escaped into the bushes. The rodent squealed and bit at his paw, causing him to yelp, but not let go. "W-what do we do now?" he asked his friend, eyes wide as the rodent continued struggling in his grasp. "It doesn't look very appetizing...are we just supposed to eat it?"

[Deleted]

She nodded as he agreed with her. There were a lot of things they found made sense if they thought about. Was that how truths were discovered? Bah, so much to learn...but she had time. She hadn't seen anything larger than herself that might hunt her. Silva didn't count because she didn't seem to be the type to hunt felines. Were all canines like that?

The plan worked like a charm. At least, the rodent had been caught. Once her paw was in, the rodent was out and zipping right to her companion, who had it trapped. But...he wasn't making the kill? Why? Did he feel bad for it? He shouldn't. It was prey. If it's meant to be eaten, it's also meant to be killed.

He asked what they were to do with it and commented that it didn't look appetizing. He did have a point. It didn't look tasty. It smelled tasty, though, and she wanted to eat! "We kill it, I suppose, and then eat it." She stepped toward the other feline. "Would you like to make the kill, or would you rather I do it?"

[Meesh]

River told him to kill it and he nodded, surprised that the answer hadn't come to him earlier. It was strange how his instinctual knowledge only came in spurts, and sometimes different ones from River. Was there a pattern behind it? That for some reason Ebony knew some things while River knew others? Perhaps it was because they thought differently- they were different people, after all. It was fun to logic things out, Ebony decided. It meant that you knew more about the world.

River asked if he would like to make the kill and he nodded, hesitating once before gingerly reaching down and nipping at the creature's back. It squealed once, then was still. Ebony's mouth watered at the succulent smell coming from the rodent, but he pushed it first towards River. "I got to make the kill, so you get first bite" he offered, nudging it with his paw.

[Deleted]

She had wondered, but he didn't seem terribly opposed to killing the prey. He hesitated, but went through with it eventually. She watched as it went still and blinked when he pushed it toward her, offering the first bite. Was it really okay? Well, if that was what he wanted...

She padded up to Ebony and the rodent and took a small bite. It was a weird sensation - tearing into flesh - but it was actually pretty good. If this was her primary source of food, she could live with it easily. She would have to learn to hunt alone at some point, but - somehow - that didn't seem like a daunting task.

"It's good," she spoke once she swallowed the bite. "Go on, try it."

[Meesh]

Ebony flicked an ear, nodding at her words and bending down to tear off a piece. It was..interesting. Not at all what he expected food to be like, but he liked it. Warm and juicy. He could live with this. "It is good!" he replied as he swallowed his piece, nudging the rodent back over for River to take another bite. "Different than what I expected, but I like it" His tail flicked in satisfaction as the spotted brown feline added with pride. "We did a good job catching it! I wonder if all prey is this small..." he mused. It would be interesting trying something like this on a larger rodent. Hm...did anything hunt felines? He hoped not.

[Deleted]

She watched as he took the first bite, waiting to see his reaction. She purred when he said it was good and took another bite when the prey was offered. Had they been any bigger, there would not have been enough of the small creature to go around, but they were small and newly born, so it would at least keep hunger away for a short while.

When he complimented their catch, she nodded. "Nice and effortless." She shook her head when he wondered if all prey was so small. "I doubt it. Silva would never get enough to eat." The large canine would have to hunt non-stop and still go hungry, she imagined.

[Meesh]

Ebony chuckled as he imagined Silva trying to eat these tiny creatures. "They'd hardly be a mouthful for her" he replied with a chuckle. Now that they were finished eating, he moved to a sitting position, licking at his fur to smooth it down. Again, the washing was purely driven by instinct, which he mused may be very helpful in the future. Where did instinct come from?, he wondered. He had been born knowing his name and how to survive in the world, but shouldn't newborns be helpless? He turned the question over in his head a few times before deciding it didn't matter. Perhaps he would discover the answer in his travels, but in the meantime, he was glad to have it.

"What will you be doing?" he asked suddenly, surprising himself. "I mean, now that we're both born, I guess we can't be eating and sleeping for the rest of our lives. What are we supposed to be doing?"

[Deleted]

River laughed. "She could probably swallow them whole if she wanted, alive and everything. Maybe it'd work. She could sit in the shadows under some tall bushes and keep her mouth open. The rodents would think it's a cozy den, and by the time they learn otherwise it'd be too late! ...Not a bad strategy, actually, but I don't know that I have the patience to try it."

When he asked what she'd be doing, she blinked. What would she be doing? "...Exploring, I suppose. I want to see as much of this world as possible. Maybe see what's out there for me. I don't know. If we're alive and out on our own, I suppose we're free to just do what we want." She looked at him. "What about you?"

[Meesh]

Ebony chuckled as well at the image. "It would work fine, unless she had to sneeze" he replied, almost giggling at the image of Silva sitting patiently with her large mouth open, waiting for some small animal to walk in. "Plus, someone her size would just have to sit there all day to get enough food.That'd be hilarious though" Perhaps it was a paradox. Silva was big enough for the trick to work, but at the same time, so big that she wouldn't get any decent food out of it. Ebony and River would have gotten plenty to eat that way, but they were too small to successfully fool any rodents. Ebony didn't share his random musings with the female, however. Perhaps he'd just think about this on his own, but for now, it was just pointless rambling.

He nodded at her answer. "That makes sense. And..I haven't thought about it, to be honest" he considered. "I'll probably explore as well, at least until I find a nice place to settle down in. But I'd like to see as much of the world as possible before that!" He looked past River to the gate which separated the Orchard from the rest of the world. What would it be like to cross it?