Heron Lake Plateau to the door, in the floor

Tagging @Fire!

The recent drama that had gone down was only mildly acknowledged by the boy. Of course, he knew it was important and he should be paying more attention to the inner pack conflicts but, on the surface, things seemed to be trundling along just fine within the Plateau and so Lucca just assumed all was well. That one-eyed guy had disappeared, Towhee and the blonde girl had returned looking a little banged up but otherwise okay, and — most importantly — the newest litters had arrived!

And that meant he had a task to do.

Sure he wasn't as suave as Tegan the budding pack recruiter or as feisty as his warrior sisters, but Lucca had developed both the patience (and physical build) of a rock. He could sit and watch the herds of geese lounging in the Plateau's lake all day, and was slowly learning which ones were easy targets and would be a good meal for both mother and pups. He sat on the banks of the waters, ears pricked as he peered at the birds attentively, orange eyes flicking back and forth between each foul as he sought out his would-be prey.

Ever since everything had gone down in flames with Siarut and Sunny from Morningside, Ceara had been noticeably spiky.  She'd been avoiding nearly everyone, and took great measures to veer around any fresh scent trails.  

She had been humiliated. It had not only been once but twice, and she was done trying to impress boys (and girls) that didn't want to give her the time of day.  She wasn't desirable.  So what?  There were only a handful of wolves who gave a shit about her, and that was all she'd needed.

So she was trying to convince herself, anyway.

The flamecloaked Epsilon had just finished marking the borders and was headed to the lake to dip off when she saw the form of the boy crouching in the distance, watching the waterfowl.  It was someone she did not recognize which caused her brow to quirk — she had smelled him around, but there were few that the busybody hadn't yet met — and she lowered herself and stalked up next to him.

There was one goose that seemed to have trouble taking off from the water — when another startled it, it unfurled its wings in preparation for flight but only awkwardly flapped twice before settling again, one wing left untucked and dragging lazily through the water. Lucca narrowed his gaze as he watched it, ear tips almost quivering from the focus he was exerting. He shuffled forward a little, not even realising the red-cloaked being come up behind him until he began to lash his tail.

When it very suddenly came into contact — hitting whatever part of her was closest to his tail — with the girl that had snuck up on him, Lucca let out a holler of fright and spun around. Upon seeing a girl, he let out a second, softer yell before regaining his composure. Damnit, be cool. "H-hi!" he stammered, glancing back at the now honking fouls that had scattered to the opposite edge of the lake. Curses.

His tail whapped up against her and her expression fell flat before she realized as he screamed that he probably didn't know she was there.  She didn't know how she could be so sneaky and silent when her pelt practically screamed "I'm here!" but hey, she'd take it.

It seemed as if she had frightened him, and her ears fell in response.  Didn't mean to startle you, she offered, and then swung her nose in an arc towards the geese that had fled from the pair.  I just saw you watchin' the geese and thought it was pretty cool.  Did you see anything?

His stuttering reminded her both of Nevouku (ugh, fuck) and Sunny Morningside (ugh, fuck) and she didn't care for it much, but packmates were at the moment given more leniency in this regard.

She seemed apologetic for frightening him so, and immediately Lucca was horrified. No, no, he wasn't scared! She didn't have to be sorry! He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times as she spoke, trying to force words out but his body wasn't cooperating. He gave up after the moment passed, resigning to the fact that the girl would most likely just assume he was a scaredy-cat then.

He did follow her gesture towards the lake once again, however, and that's when the boy finally choked out, "yeah!" She thought he was cool? Or that the birds were cool? Either way, a beaming smile made its way onto his features as he finally chilled and got a good look at the other. Her fur clashed with the monochromatic aesthetic that most of the other wolves on the Plateau bore, but in a good way. He had never seen fur so vibrant — even more so than Colt's or that blonde girls'!

"Oh, uh, one couldn't fly," he said, glancing back at the flock, realising with a start he had lost sight of it. Why did geese all have to look the same? "I was gonna hunt one for the new babies," he added before frowning. "I, um, dunno if they will like geese, but Raven might!"

She looked him over as he gawked (in general, at her, whatever).  He had a nice, thick pelt with that same gunpowder grayscale that Sunny had boasted with roasting orange eyes.  One thing that she definitively did not see was that single black stripe — mistakenly, she assumed him to be an outsider.

Maybe I can help.  She shrugged, the side of her lip quirking up in a kind of grin.  I'm pretty good at hunting.  Maybe you can teach me how to single him out.  She turned her gaze towards the flock now, eyes narrowed.  Yeh?

Her offer to help was acknowledged with a toothy grin and enthusiastic, "sure!" before he mentally scolded himself. No, act cool! He waved away his excitement only seconds prior with a casual shrug. "I mean, if you want." The boy hadn't had much experience hunting and his last big hunt with his siblings had been a momentous failure, so teaching her a thing or two would be a miracle in itself. The chance to work with someone who was even just pretty good at hunting, however, was something he wouldn't not jump at. "I can do that!" He doubted it inwardly, but she didn't need to know that.

Getting to his feet, the boy dipped his head in a ladies first sorta way before moving to walk next to her.

He motioned for her to lead, which she found amusing if she were going to learn anything from him.  She did not have eyes in the back of her head, but perhaps she'd end up surprised.  She began to stalk towards the geese, which had now settled on the other side of the lake, and she made sure that her paws did not disturb the water as she did not want them to remember their presence.

As they got closer, she turned to look at him, one brow quirked up in a silent "Well, what now?"

He lumbered beside his pack mate, gait slow and almost haggard in a way despite his youth — a contrast to the light, calculated steps of the red-haired female. He, too, made sure not to touch the water, however. The one they were hunting wouldn't be able to get very far with a bum wing, but it would be much easier to find him if they weren't all panicked and...the realisation struck him mid-thought. Wait a second, it would be easier if all the others flew away! Process of elimination, right?

As they came nearer to the flock and the girl cast him a questioning glance, Lucca flashed her an excited look. The fun part, came his wordless answer, before he suddenly raced into the shallows with a series of barks and snarls. As expected, the geese erupted into their own chorus of alarmed honks, the vast majority taking to the air in a flurry of feathers and water. The Blackthorn charged in as far as the depth of the lake would allow, gaze eagerly scanning the chaos for sight of the injured bird.

Wait, what?  Wasn't the whole point of this to, you know, not scare all of them off?  But wait — if there was an injured one, maybe it couldn't fly.  She darted in the water after him, punctuated the air with her own yips and snarls, and it was not long before she caught sight of the injured bird. 

She knew how a young boy's pride might falter; she darted close but pretended not to see it, waiting for Lucca to point it out (or grab it) instead.

Rolled in tabletop and the dice gods were nice to Lucca :')

While not as cocksure as his brother, Lucca did indeed have a proud streak. It had been chipped away at slowly but surely since his puphood, as most of his attempts to do...well, anything usually ended in failure. But, if anything, the Blackthorns were a stubborn persistent bunch. He loosed a cheery laugh as he heard his pack mate join in on the ruckus they were causing, glad she was quick to figure out the reason behind his sudden battle charge.

Oblivious to the kind gesture of her allowing him to spot their target, Lucca did a quick reconnaissance of the few lingering birds before letting out a bark as he suddenly saw the fowl - its tell-tale injured wing flapping uselessly by its side. Hurriedly, the boy leapt towards their prey. They were still in the shallows here, and he wasn't about to allow it to go any further in towards the lake's centre. "Got him!" he shouted, throwing his bulk onto the (admittedly small) creature to secure it in place for his companion to do the honours.

good because you know you're really mean to that boy

The waterfowl stood no chance against the two hungry wolves, and her jaws found its throat easily as Lucca held him down.  Once it had stopped its squawk and struggle, she doused her face in the water to clear it of the blood, and she re-emerged with a wide grin.  Good going.  Give ourselves a pat on the back.  But wait, wolves didn't do that.  Where did that saying even come from?

Oh well.  You've got a good eye, you know, to be able to see him from all the way back there.  You could really do well as a hunter.  She averts her gaze as her ears splay and flatten, but the smile is still there.

egads finally A REPLY! We can wrap this up in the next post or two if you want! <3

His pack mate made short work of the creature, its cries rendered silent and flapping about ceasing as she clamped down. He remained where he was with their kill pinned beneath him, orange eyes staring down at it as if it would suddenly spring to life again and fly away. Her congratulatory words were enough to tear his eyes away from the bird, however, and he looked to the girl with another beaming smile, feeling a small flutter of pride for the both of them in his chest. He would have taken her statement literally were it not for his very important duty of holding the goose in place.

Her second compliment caused a rush of heat to rise in his cheeks, and he looked away just as she did, though he was unable to wipe the bashful grin off his face. "Oh, th-thanks!" he said awkwardly, facing her again. "You're a good hunter, too!" he exclaimed, looking down at their kill with a giddy laugh. "I mean, you got him good!"