13th of Fall, 513 AV
"Max," he knelt down and stroked the black dog's fur. "Do you know what bad dogs get for dinner? Absolutely nothing." Despite all of his hushed discipline and disappointed looks, the dog seemed -- and was -- totally oblivious. He smiled, wagged his tail, and licked Caesarion's lips. In the past month, the Ravokii had been alone. He'd lost all forms of companionship -- Lheesi had went back to Ravok, and Aoren had left Syliras, not even saying goodbye, and rightfully so. It was a bad break-up, to put it lightly, though the days that followed were of great reflection. He'd become closer to his animal friends, and he felt he'd become closer to the world. All of the disappointment and ridicule of summer had been washed away with the autumn leaves. This was a good season to get his life whole again, from all of the pieces. "Aw, Argos," he laughed as the large dog jumped over him and started to lick his nose. He hated it when Caesarion gave Max too much attention, especially because Argos was the good one. "Hehe, stop it, I'm trying to make money here," he continued to laugh and smile as the two dogs overwhelmed him with their primitive affections.
A realization struck him, however. The sky was beginning to go dark, and he hadn't met his quota for the day. He told himself he'd get out of his bad, lazy habits after what happened with Aoren. Part of that was knowing when to quit playing and start working. He shoved the two dogs off of him, both of them rebounding, unscathed. They were far too domineering to whimper at their alpha, and both of them knew that too much play meant too little food. In order to keep Caesarion healthy and alive, both of them had quite often gone hungry. The hunting days were their opportunity to eat more and go wild. "Lay down," he commanded them, and they listened. A dear was passing through, and he couldn't let them get too excited and run it off. The Ravokii knelt back down, and waited patiently for the beast to make contact with his eyes. He knew that the dogs might intimidate it, but they seemed anything but hostile in their current state; they were laying down, as if asleep. The animal's eyes glimpsed at Caesarion's, but that one dosage of contact would keep it from looking away.
The Ravokii began to speak, in a calm and gentle voice. "It's okay," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you." The more the repetition, the gentler he began to sound. The animal backed up a little, but continued to stare into his eyes, mesmerized by his piercing gaze. He seemed a more kind and generous human than it'd ever seen. Shortly after, it began to hear voices speaking inside of its head. It couldn't understand them, but it enjoyed them. It was both confused and excited, calmed and lulled. Moments later, memories began to flash in its head, and it became distracted. At this point, Caesarion whispered for the dogs to leave his side. This was how the hunt began; it had to be soothed into unawareness of its surroundings. The two dogs had begun to circle around it, ready to swoop down from both sides. "It's okay, it's okay," he kept saying. And the deer would continue to believe that until, eventually, it'd see the hunters lunging for it. It began to dash, but pointlessly; they'd closed too much distance, and had surrounded it. Argos leaped onto it and locked in around its neck, fangs breaking into the creature's skin. With whatever a voice it had left, it would wail and cry, struggling to break free. Max bit into its side, holding it down as the other dog bled the life out of it.
It'd still be a while before it was dead, though. Caesarion had to ensure that it didn't manage to break free, or hurt one of his companions. So, he walked over to the creature and proceeded to beat it across the head, picking up a stone from the floor in order to quicken the process. "I was just kidding. It's definitely not okay," he spoke, continuing to batter against its skull. After not too long, the erratic movements, the twitching and wailing would end, the battered and bloody head of the deer engraved in his mind. Argos began to lick the blood off of his fur, and Max started his obligatory huffing and gruffing noises; a show of his excitement. "Ugh, now I just have to carry it back," the Ravokii whined. It was certainly the worst part of the day. Aspiring hunters generally didn't expect they needed a lot of upper body strength, but it was a necessary virtue.
He continued to work his way back to the outpost, with his two dogs wrestling and playing around as they followed. The buggers were way too fast for him at the moment, and they had the cognition to avoid all of the stupid pits, branches and generally pointy things all around the pathways. "It's getting really late," he said to himself. "Guys, if you notice any murderous beasts then be sure to let me know." Really though, this profession could become extremely intimidating when the sun had set. The simple fear going through him when night washed over was often enough to make him consider quitting. "Ugh," he groaned. He knelt over for a moment, trying to relax his body. Lately, his meals hadn't been nearly healthy enough for him to support this sort of weight. "We're almost there, little guys." Speaking to his dogs often re-assured himself. More re-assuring was the signpost that led into the village, looming over him at the end of this group of trees. He stood back up and trekked through, and emerged safe and sound, though also quite dirty and exhausted. He'd most certainly need a good meal and a dip in the river when all was said and done.
