Carving Lessons

[Claudius Aston]

WC: 307. Wanna make the hunting super quick? B) Maybe they could find a raccoon?
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[/html] Hadley was a quick, quiet, and patient learner and Claudius liked that – not just because Hadley reminded him of himself, but also because these were fine traits for a student. He didn’t mind that Hadley didn’t say much; Claudius didn’t always have a lot to say, either, so he could have easily been construed as a creature of few words. He felt as though he understood the dog’s motivations a bit, or at least could guess at why he did things the way he did. He felt a sense of kinship there.

They were silent as they retracted their steps to the village. Claudius led them to the Great Hall and the two deposited their wares before turning back again. It seemed as though Hadley was waiting to see what Claudius would do next, so Claudius took a breath to explain.

“I-I’m no-ot… profi-i-ci-e-ent… enough… a-at hunting like… this,” he explained, gesturing to his two-legged form, “so I’ll sh-shift… into… my halfway-a-a-ay… form… to hunt… and the-e-en… once we-e-e-‘re… done… we can… shift back… unless you’d ra-a-a-ther… stay… this... way.” Claudius didn’t mind either way and since it was a personal choice, he’d leave it up to Hadley. Claudius preferred his Halfling form for hunting, especially because it felt easier to shift halfway than all the way down to his most basic form when only for a short time.

Claudius took a few steps away and concentrated on the change. His bones began to move, break, and reform and his muscles stretched and twisted into new positions. He felt his ears twitch as the muscles, sinews, and tendons around his neck changed and his stretched to accommodate more muscular shoulders. Once the change was complete, Claudius shook out his neck and grinned at his carving/ hunting partner. Suddenly feeling competitive, he took off, hoping Hadley to follow. [html]

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