The Bristle Hollow

The Bristle Hollow is the training hollow located by the Apprentice's den. Mentors occasionally take their apprentice's to learn how to hunt. This prickly hollow also contains a small stream where apprentices can learn how to fight and hunt in the stream.

She'd gotten a little lost having meant to end up on the prairie she'd some how found herself in a hollow, she could hear a small stream and the hollow was strangely quaint and comforting. Upwind of the wolf she didn't know he was there too busy wandering down to the stream for a refreshing drink, she often got overheated after running thus often quenched her thirst. However something changed that caused prickles to run down her spine, lifting her head and swiping her tongue over her wet lips she looked around quietly. Finally spotting the wolf she jerked into the stream with a loud splash and quickly scrambled up onto the other side of it, if a wolf attacked her she'd have no way of defending herself apart form fleeing. The wolf seemed young but well built and able to catch up with her which didn't help her situation one bit. Not quite sure what to do she stared at him frozen, quite clearly nervous and frightened but at the same time she was determined to survive and if that meant playing dirty then she would.

She watched closely as the young wolf growled, admittedly the growl was a mix of terrifying and cute as she could swear she could hear the faint reminisce of a puppy growl in there somewhere. Watching him closely as he bounded over to the stream and attempted to jump across only to fail and end up half way through the stream with a splash louder than hers. Without thinking the muscled red fawn dog padded quickly down the short sharp bank and back into the water "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly wondering if he'd need help getting up out of the water and the steep slope temporarily forgetting he'd been charging over to theoretically attack her. The kind part of her nature was telling her to help despite the consequences, she wasn't strong enough to grab him by the scruff and drag him out so she'd do her best to help him however she could

Walking with him to the steep slope she got behind him and helped push him up onto the dirt, once he had a secure foothold she let him go and backed up a few steps before bouncing forward and jumping up as high as she could. Managing to land on a mostly flat patch she scrambled to her feet and looked at the male wolf quietly. He began speaking damanding she must know where about she was, sure she did she was in a bristly hollow. She didn't quite understand what a clan was but she supposed it was another word for pack or something, a bit muddy from scrabbling to her feet the warm sunlight hit her short furred coat warming her muscles pleasantly. Blinking at him as he informed her that she was lucky he'd found her and not another one of the other members of his pack or they would have torn her to pieces. She wasn't sure if that was true or not so she decided to ignore that part, bristling a little when he inferred that she was planning an invasion the gutsy greyhound retorted "I am not! I have no interest in that, I came here to get away from a freaky dalmatian" the female greyhound was not part of any pack and had no interest in planning in an invasion she just wanted to wander and hunt like she was free to do so

Tilting her head she shrugged "I'm a Stray not a house dog, I was never a house dog" her words became some what cold and almost bitter, she had no idea what the world was like for this wolf but she could see in his gaze he believed she was soft and weak because she was a dog which made her narrow her gaze a little "I come from a place where if you dont' win the race you've been put in you don't get fed, in summer they put muzzles on you so you cant bark but that means you can't pant to cool yourself off" wondering what else was going on in the wolfs head Delilah was very lean and delicately built compared to the shaggy wolf although due to her short fur it was easy to see how muscled her body was hinting at the athlete that she was. Her jaws parted to let her pink tongue loll out of her mouth while she panted, the heat of the greenleaf sun felt keenly despite the trees giving her some shade. "Going to chase me off still wolf?" she asked her usual gutsiness shining through firing up her determination.

The wolf foolishly suggested attacking them when they took it off "I saw what happened to dogs that did that" she didn't go into details, a little amused at her words she snorted a little. So she was interesting now hm? well she supposed the wolf was just as interesting after all she knew next to nothing about the wolfs pack or how it ran although if he was still suspicious she couldn't see him telling her anything about it just in case. When his gaze locked with hers she fixed on him in return, the determination still giving her the gutsiness to not give in and do her very best. The question for her name was a little out of the blue, it struck her with surprise, the way he'd first greeted her had not given her any inclination that he might be curious as to what she was called. Not expecting it she recited her full Registered name by mistake "Hey There Delilah" realizing what she'd said her ears flicked back in dismay "Erm Delilah is what everyone called me. whats yours then?" that and goldie and golden girl due to her mother as well as her own pale gold looks. She didn't know what kinds of names wolves had, were they just as ridiculous as race names? at least she'd gotten a fairly decent race name, a kennel mate's name had been 'My nanas got no teeth' poor lad had been the laughing stock of the kennel for a while before someone else showed up with a worse name.

She sat down comfortably as he spoke listening with a little amusement as he announced proudly that he was named Heavypaw and was training to be the best warrior in windclan. When he asked about the silly names she laughed "I used to be a race dog, in races every dog has to have a completely unique name so the humans get inventive" heavypaw admitted that there had been some rather unique warrior wolf names and she could pick up quite easily that he felt a little embarrass "Your name sounds strong, its better than a kennelmate of mine his registered name was My nanas got no teeth" the fiery determination and gutsyness was settling down and that allowed some of her kindess to come through. There'd even been another called that's hunting pink, humans honestly thought up of such weird names, although she was a little curious as why he'd been named what he had but she kept it to herself telling herself that'd be rude to ask. "Whats it like living in windclan then? How does it all work? I've never come across a pack before let alone a clan" she couldn't help the curiosity surrounding his pack, how did it all work, what ranks did they have did they sort out who did what? She'd smelled the scent markers when she'd trespassed but hadn't known those meant keep out to her they'd just been interesting smells as she continued on. Surely being in a pack was much more interesting than spending most of your life in a damp cramped kennel that echoed with the barks of all the other dogs around one.

Grinning as Heavypaw divulged some information about some of the strangely named warrior wolves she settled in to listen contentedly as he explained. His company had gone from possible threat to almost friendly and it was quite welcome, she hadn't had much to do with others. Most of the strays on the streets weren't that keen to make friends. The information that came out of his mouth was amazingly interesting, they all worked together to ensure the clan survived. Elders were well cared for and Queens? that was something new and different to her, dogs that were too old to race or dogs that hurt themselves were killed simple as that. QUeens where she came from were bred and bred and then discarded themselves, the information about Leaders and deputies interested her as well. In fact it was all amazing to hear about and was enough for a small part of her to want to join to be part of such a healthy well functioning group like that especially after what she'd been through. At the mention of starclan she frowned a little "Starclan? Whats that Heavypaw?" did that mean they believed there was a pack in the stars? She'd guessed that windclan was named because their territory was quite windswept "What are the other clans called? Do the clans have different abilities to others?" questions about this new way of life tumbled out of her mouth before the dog could really stop them. It sounded like a big family where everyone cared very deeply for one another which sounded like something she'd always wanted but she was heistant to dive right in especially as she'd only discovered freedom recently perhaps she'd travel for a while and then if she felt the need she'd join this clan of his but she'd keep that quiet for now because she didn't even know if they'd accept dogs in the first place!

Brightening up a little as he agreed to take her to one of his favourite places to go she shot him a slight look when he mentioned be light on her feet. Of course she would be, it was her kinds nature to be light on their paws unless of course they were lucky enough to be pets. Going out of her way to be even more light stepping than usual she carried her tail with a slight curl in it, following him down the steep slope across the stream again and through the exit of the bristly hollow she wondered where abouts they were going. Obviously she should not be trusting this wolf she'd just met one measly bit, however she was fairly certain if he'd truly meant her harm he wouldn't have told her about the clan he was a part of. so she allowed herself to trust Heavypaw and let him lead the way to wherever it was he chose
~Lost Plateau~