bottlecaplogs | April Catch-all

Laios isn't too surprised to hear that from Firepaw. The hassle of wrangling a duck would be a waste of energy for a cat when smaller prey are just as abundant. Still, he smiles at the thought of getting to treat his teacher to something new. "I haven't had any in a while, but it's pretty tasty, especially roasted. Humans like to hunt them a lot. Not always to eat, but most times."

His own words give him pause. He's had duck before—roasted, braised, boiled in a soup—but certainly never as a fresh catch. It's been on the back of his mind for a while now, to really taste beyond what an ordinary human could. The city may have had an assortment of cooked foods and baked goods, delicious in their own right, but that hardly satisfied his innate curiosity for something more. Why else would he be here, if not to embrace what he had become?

"Ah, got it. Focused on the target, but attentive to my surroundings," he hums back, stalking around just a bit more. Then, he stops again, lowering himself even further before lunging ahead and landing with a slight stumble. He laughs at himself, the rush of the movement alone making him feel elated. "Definitely harder than it looks!"

Firepaw himself has been enjoying the cooked food in town - especially since Littens can taste a lot of flavor notes that cats can't - but most of his meals have been hunted since he got here. He craves blood, and eating cooked meat feels a few steps away from eating kibble.

"That's a good attempt, though!" Firepaw hops over to where Laios landed, and touches his nose to the Boltund's flank, mostly to make sure he didn't injure himself at all. "I haven't seen dogs hunt very much, but... cats jump on their prey to keep it still so we can bite their neck, and I think dogs grab their prey with their mouth and shake it. So don't worry if your pouncing isn't perfect, the first bite is what matters. We should still run through it a few more times, though, just to get the practice in."

"Heh. Thanks," he replies, clearly chuffed at his little accomplishment. He glances back when he feels Firepaw's nose, smiling fondly before nodding once again. Practice makes perfect, or at the very least, better than where he started. "I'm realizing studying how dogs move can only get you so far. Actually having the right anatomy for once puts it all into perspective."

He loosens his stance for a moment, allowing himself to stretch before getting back into form. "Agreed. The neck is always the sweet spot, otherwise it could get messy." He shakes his head a bit, side to side, mimicking the prized hunting dogs from his childhood. Briefly, Laios wonders how they must have felt, being under the pressure of their handler. Out in the fields, it was always instinct over fear, drive over anxiety. Now it was his turn to channel that feeling.

As he moves about again, he spots a heft enough stick to act as a stand-in. Eyes honed in, Laios approaches steadily, moving each paw ahead carefully. Then, he lunges forward again, mouth wide open before closing around the fallen branch with a solid Bite. But, underestimating his own ability, he manages to snap it in half quickly, unable to test himself fully. Disappointed, he looks over at Firepaw with a frown. "Hm. That's also taking a bit to get used to."

Firepaw winces visibly, taking a startled step backward as Laios snaps the stick like it's nothing. He's stopped thinking of himself as other from the Pokemon here quite as often, but sometimes his cat instincts come back in full. Dogs are dangerous, that could have been me.

But Laios is friendly, and not a vicious dog. Boltunds are different. Firepaw shakes himself off, and pauses to lick down his puffed-up fur.

"You could try practicing on the meat they serve in the market, but you shouldn't make a habit of playing with your food." Or at least, the older cats always called it kitten behavior. "Maybe we should just go look for prey, and see how well you manage."

Too busy pawing at his tongue for any loose bits of wood, Laios just misses Firepaw's initial reaction. While his bite is far from unique, the power behind it still throws him off each time. A reminder that he isn't just a dog, even if it sure felt like it.

Tilting his head as the Litten straightens out his fur, he almost forgets himself until the realization hits. He thought he might have looked a bit silly, but to a small cat, that might not have been so endearing. "That snap was a bit loud," he mutters into his paw, mostly to himself as a reminder. Luckily, Firepaw cuts through some of his embarrassment.

"Hm. Maybe with a leftover bone or something. I don't like wasting food either," he agrees, ears flicking up at the second part. "Oh! Then, I think—," he pauses to lower his nose closer to the ground, "—there might be something a little more east. It's... musty?" He's going to have to bump up his scent descriptors.

Firepaw lifts his head to sniff, and opens his mouth so he can taste the scents better. A lot of bird Pokemon smell musty - birds back home smelled mostly like seeds, and dust. But he has to admit that Laios's nose is a lot stronger than his, and he's having trouble picking the scent out amongst everything else. He also... doesn't know what 'east' means, even after spending months around humans.

"Let's follow the scent and see what we find." He lowers his voice, "Just don't pounce until I twitch my tail - I want to make sure it's not anyone from the city first."

He's starting to get pretty good at picking out Akechi's scent, for example, apart from any other Rookidee. And especially when there are exploration quests up on the board, he doesn't want to make any fatal mistakes.

Laios closes his eyes, lingering on the scent for a moment longer. It's strange, how overwhelming it could still be at times. A human could never have the luxury of knowing what it felt like, and yet, here he is, trying to sift through the dense smells of grass and trees for what would be his prey.

Prey. As if moving on instinct, he lifts his head up to point toward the direction he wants. He doesn't move to look at Firepaw, instead briefly glancing over as he explains. Quietly, Laios responds, "Alright. I'll wait for your signal." He could appreciate the Litten's cautious approach; better to be safe than sorry when it could be hard for Laios to distinguish between friend or foe.

He adjusts his stance again, lowering himself before moving forward. Each step is taken carefully, but he starts to pick up his pace once he finds his rhythm. As the scent grows stronger, he can feel his heart begin to race, until finally, he stops, eyes growing wide. There's a small watering hole up ahead, with a mix of various Pokémon, though mostly birds, just as expected. He swallows, looking over at Firepaw fully this time. He doesn't speak, but his expression is ready, waiting for the call.

Firepaw watches the gathered Pokemon carefully, focusing especially on the Rookidees he sees. But none of them smell familiar, and the newcomers haven't had much luck befriending wild Pokemon anyway. The rest of the Pokemon will scatter once they move forward - that would be intimidating for him, but chaos seems to be part of the dog hunting strategy.

Plus, he spots a few Duckletts, which should be easy for Laios to catch.

Once he feels satisfied, he glances back at Laios and twitches his tail purposefully.

The anticipation swells as he scans the area. His heart is still pounding, the urge to give chase growing at the sight of small Pokémon in front of him. Laios could feel the instinct start to kick-in, but he has enough willpower to wait for Firepaw's signal. Only then does he finally make his move, dashing forward quickly. The smaller rodents spot him first, darting away from view. A few of the birds are next, flying up and away as he gets close. Then, he begins to bark, loudly and deliberately, to scare off the rest.

Luckily, most of the Duckletts take to the water, but he sets his eyes on one straggler just as it gets into the pond. He jumps forward, teeth barred and aiming for the neck, only for the Ducklett to turn toward him with a Wing Attack. He startles, unable to stop the motion as he bites down onto its wing, the crunch of it making him wince.

The Ducklett thrashes against him in the water, desperate to pull itself away from his grip. Laios, meanwhile, whips it around with a few uncoordinated splashes, unable to hold the Pokémon hold down for long with his paws. As it starts to spray him with Water Gun, he can only bite down harder. The squawking starts to grow louder, and he responds back with frustrated snarling. Don't let go. You can't let go. You're so close. Then, as if tapping into instinct, his body starts to spark, emitting a soft glow of light followed by a bright burst of electricity.

Suddenly, his jaw loosens, enough for the Ducklett to slip out in a daze. It stumbles slowly away from Laios, too weak now to do much else before the shock wears off on him. As he comes back to himself, he immediately lunges again with another bite, this time hitting exactly where he first intended. Teeth sinking into the Ducklett's neck, he lets the warm taste of copper fill his mouth before letting his prey drive take over. He shakes his head side to side until the Pokémon's body goes limp, the exhilaration of it all finally hitting its peak.

His ears twitch as he quickly looks back toward Firepaw's direction. Suddenly, his eyes grow wide as he feels that same urge he did at that start, only this time, he stops to let it pass with a few deep breaths. Then, his tail starts to wag, and he begins to trot over, excited to show off his catch. It takes another moment before he's willing to drop it to speak, though. "H-how's that? Now you can finally try it!"

Edited (just a minor edit) 2025-04-19 07:35 (UTC)

Firepaw flinches again when Laios makes impact, although it is exciting to watch. He hasn't been able to convince anyone else to hunt with him, so there's something satisfying about getting a front-row seat to something that feels somewhat unique to his old life. Even if the danger signals from watching a dog hunt are going to take a while to get used to.

But he bounds over once Laios seems to have calmed back down, tail held high and twitching eagerly at the tip.

"That was great!" He cheers, "You looked like a natural out there. How does it taste?"

"You really think so?" Laios asks, ears perking up almost immediately. That's certainly high praise, and from an actual hunter no less. It's almost too hard to fully contain himself at the mere thought, but somehow he manages to channel it all into wagging his tail, which somehow seems to be going even faster than before. Then, all at once, his eyes grow wide at the sudden realization.

"—oh! I got so caught up in the moment, I didn't even think about that!" His ears go flat in slight embarrassment; that is one of the main reasons they're here, after all. Still, he licks his lips slowly, savoring whatever remnants might have gotten stuck in his teeth. "It's... tangy! Maybe even a little sour, but not in a bad way."

"The breast should have an even richer flavor, though." As he says this, he flips over the Ducklett onto its back with his paw, but he seems hesitant to dig right in first. In the dungeon, this would be where the prep work started, a crucial step for any human now rendered unnecessary to a dog and cat. "Do you want to try a bite?"

April Catch-all

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cw animal death, blood

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