Sun Mote Copse meta quandary

Sequoia had, for the most part, kept to herself for a couple of weeks. Did wolves even measure things in weekly increments? Let's ignore that meta quandary for now and use it for the thread title! The honoree had done her best to keep the borders secured while Wildfire was dealing with being pregnant and navigating whatever it was she had with Eljay. Sequoia had no reason to dislike him, and she was excited to have a batch of puppies to dote on. She hadn't really talked to Kiwi about any of it... it felt like the two of them were less close than they used to be, but maybe she was imagining that.

It was cold out, and it had been snowing off and on all day. Sequoia took it upon herself to find something to eat, and she eventually managed to catch a small rabbit, which she was currently scarfing down.

Sequoia might have felt like they were growing apart, but Kiwi didn't have any such notion.  She and her friend hadn't been talking quite as much, and Kiwi had been hanging out with Clover quite a bit, but she still thought of Sequoia as her go-to.

Which was why, when she saw her friend eating, she made an immediate beeline for her.  Hey!!!!  I'm super bored, ugh.  Are you doin anything fun?  After eating, of course.  She waited semi-patiently for Sequoia to finish chewing or whatever!

Sequoia was halfway through the last bite when Kiwi appeared—preceeded by the dark indigo that was her scent—and the piebald girl was quick to swallow the rest of her meal with lightening speed. Gulping down the final morsel, the honoree shrugged. I wasn't planning on anything in particular... you got any ideas? she asked. Trigedasleng had mostly fallen to the wayside, and she spoke in the plain ol' common tongue these days, even with Wildfire and Kiwi who knew the other language quite well.

Maybe they could terrorize one of the newer members of the Firebirds or make some Colossal Plans for the warmer months. Or maybe they could just kick back and do normal boring friend things. Even that sounded fun to Sequoia.

Kiwi thought about it for a moment.  She hadn't really come up with any yet (hence the boredom) but she was sure there was something they could do.  Oh, wait, hold on.

First, I gotta tell you.  Mom wants me to lead a hunt!  Kiwi smiled, unable to contain her excitement in it.  She was so darn proud that her mom was aware of how much responsibility she could handle.  Do you want to help? Obviously Kiwi would lead it because she definitely could, but it would be awesome to have her best friend's help setting it up.  She was a tiny itty bit nervous how some of the rest of the pack would think of her as lead, and she knew Seq would have her back.

Lead a hunt, wow! That's awesome! Sequoia exclaimed. I don't know if I'd be of much help, though. I've never been a particularly strong hunter. She wasn't sure why this was, exactly, but it had always been. Opalia and Dacio had been better at hunting than she ever had. Sequoia's heart had never really been in it when it came to hunting. Still, she didn't want to let Kiwi down too much by outright refusing.

Maybe you could give me some pointers before? Then I could be useful? It wasn't as though nobody had tried to teach her before, but maybe Kiwi had some tricks up her sleeve that had never surfaced in the past.

Kiwi nodded.  It was totally fine if Sequoia wasn't up for doing a big part of the hunting - though she could definitely give pointers on that.  Sure! A lot of it is before stuff too though.  Finding a herd, planning how to do it, and who's gonna be helping.  she frowned.  I wonder who here can hunt? I feel like Niamh would be good, and Colt since he's so old.  Do you know if Wraen is actually any good? Sequoia knew her friend better than Kiwi did (another subtle spike of jealousy there, but she was careful to try and keep her question neutral).

Sequoia had never considered all the planning and rallying that needed to be done before the actual hunt itself, but it made sense when Kiwi started talking about it. She mentioned Niamh and Colt, whom Sequoia knew only surface-level details about (names and appearances). Seq thought to suggest Wildfire, but then she recalled that the alpha was rather tied-up with being fat and pregnant.

There's also Maia, Epic, and Clover, Sequoia added. She didn't know if any of them were good at hunting, but surely it wouldn't hurt to have more bodies out there helping. Maybe we should just ask everybody and see who wants to join in on it?

Yeah, Clover definitely! Her other friend had to be a good help.  The other two she was less sure on, but she shrugged.  Can't hurt to let some try too, the more the better.  Maia would probably be too slow to keep up and she somehow didn't think Epic was serious enough to really help take down a big kill. 

That's a good plan.  But not mom or Eljay.  He should be watching her.  Besides he would probably be pretty useless too with how scared he was of everything.  The new pups will be here kinda soon, so it won't probably work.  She was excited, but it was a bit of a bummer her mom wouldn't get to actually see her lead her first hunt.

Sequoia's head bobbed in agreement with all that Kiwi was saying. There were other wolves around who could help, but her brain was drawing a blank. Maybe she needed to get better about knowing her constituency. Hello, ten-dollar words! The mention of new kids brought a bubble of happy into Seq's chest. She was both curious and excited for Wildfire's next batch of kiddos. The honoree could only hope that she would get along with them as well as she'd gotten along with Kiwi.

That brought her train of thought to wondering what her own littermates (or even older siblings) were up to these days. She imagined they were still back at the cliffs, probably doing normal things. Portia was probably schooling them on nature stuff while Dio was doing his dad thing. It was bittersweet that she wouldn't get to meet her younger siblings this year, even though she silently vowed to love them from afar.

Awesome.  She'd known she could count on her friend, and she pressed her side up against the girl's in a quick hug before she started to walk.  Want to go check for herds? It's kinda early but we can see what to look for.  I can show you!  Kiwi only knew a bit, things she'd learned from Nomi and her older siblings while watching the adults hunt.  It was enough however that she felt like she had a leg up.  She could definitely have some fun, and it would be way better than sitting around here bored all day.

we can wrap or continue, your pref!

Okay! Sequoia agreed without any hesitation. She was happy to let Kiwi lead this adventure. In fact, there were very few times when the two disagreed (the exception seemed to be Bat). Besides, Kiwi knew more about hunting and tracking down herds that Sequoia could even fake her way through. Letting her bestie lead the way, the honoree followed, ready to learn what she could from her slightly-older mentor.