Phoenix Maplewood Hunting

Lunar trotted through the forest following the scent of a chipmunk. Most small mammals were dormant this time of year. She had learned how to find burrows at White Moon,the small creatures were often what got her through the winter. As an omega she hadn't been given a ration of the caches at mealtimes even if she'd helped to kill the animals in it. She tread carefully,her weight balanced on her toes to not alert the sleeping rodent. She soon found the scent to be stronger and spotted a small lump in the snow, she dug down quietly and slowly. Spotting the still hibernating creature,she killed it swiftly and painlessly. She ate the frozen roots and berries the chipmunk had stored having gotten used to an omnivorous diet. The wolves here though might not be so she scooped up the still warm body and trotted away with it hanging from her jaws. She planned on sharing it with whoever she came across. A sort of peace offering to her new pack.

He had to remember them or he'd risk frustrating Spring even more. As long as he had something to remind him then it should be fine up until he loses that reminder. For now he decided to take a little stroll around the territory. No one said that he had to work hard all day long. Breaks here and there should be fine.

Along the way he came across a wolf who seems to be finished with a little hunt. Esaro wasted no time in approaching. At first he believed the female to be Laika but as he got closer there were facts that said different. This female seemed to be smaller than most but that wouldn't stop him from introducing himself.

"Hey there!" He called out trying to get her attention. "I see you caught something, what is it?" he asked. He had a friendly look on him obviously he wasn't expecting any danger from her.

Lunar jerked,dropping the rodent as she did so. She studied the male as he approached,he was larger than her by quite a bit. He seemed friendly,but then again she'd seen that approach before. She backed a safe distance from the chipmunk,signalling that she wasn't going to fight for it. She kept her eyes down,and her stance submissive. She wasn't sure how things worked here in this pack but she had no doubt he was above her in rank. Where she came from omegas weren't treated too kindly. She was an Iota technically now but she still expected the same treatment. "It's chipmunk,"she said softly wondering if she should have spoken. He was a peculiar colour but most of these southern wolves were. He seemed to be a mixture of brown,gray,black,and white. Maybe if she stayed back he would just take the chipmunk and wouldn't hurt her.

Esaro had never seen anyone be afraid of him which felt wrong to him. The female was submissive, Like the fight was already over before it has began. Seeing how she dropped her chipmunk and left it out there, there was no doubt that he needed to fix her vision of him since she hasn't gone back to get it. Esaro was no where near dangerous nor had the skills that would make him a threat. He definitely didn't want to be feared.

So what he needed to do was prove to her that he means no hurt and wasn't going to demand anything from her. He sat down where he was at, showing that he wasn't going to go for the chipmunk. "Um, you dropped your chipmunk." He said as he tilted his head, wondering if she would go back to take it.

Lunar cocked her head to the side in confusion. Why was he being nice? She crept forward slowly watching him to make sure it wasn't a trick. When she got close enough she sat across from him. "You can have some if you want,"she told him as she took a bite of it,"I don't eat much." She was rather small and could only hold so much in her body. She was wary as she leaned back from the chipmunk and studied the wolf. "Why are you being nice to me?", she asked.

"No thanks." He wasn't that hungry when she asked if he wanted a bite. But a chipmunk wasn't really going to make a much a different if it was shared. What was really confusing is the fact that she was being cautious and not only that, she did ask why he was being nice. So he answered with a question "Isn't it normal to treat others nicely?"

After a moment he continued. "I'm Esaro. What should I call you?"

He didn't understand what made the female be as she is. The only bad experience he was put through was getting chased out of his old pack. His family was killed but that was only a few days ago. Out of all that he has never been mistreated before, so it was likely that he would never understand the female before him.

Things were really different here it seemed. Esaro seemed nice enough and she shrugged when he didn't want any of the food. She ate the rest and licked the blood from her maw. When she heard Esaro ask for her name she smiled at him,"I'm Lunar Eclipse. You can call me Luna though." She pondered his question for a moment,no it wasn't necessarily normal to be nice where she came from. It was more along the lines of what rank you where that dictated your treatment. She honestly hadn't expected any kindness here. The alpha who she'd come to learn was called Reek had seemed particularly rude and aggressive but she would never say so. The female she'd encountered, and still didn't know the name of,was wary of her. "No it's not normal. I like you,"she told him honestly,"you're nice." It was rare enough to find a wolf who was kind and she was happy at least one person here was.

Calling her Lunar Eclipse would have been a mouthful. Even if she didn't offer a nick name he would have given her one. The Name Luna was much easier to deal with and that was what he was going to stick with. "Alright, Luna, It's nice to meet you." He said with a grin. She seems a little cautious but he was happy with the fact that he and her were slowly becoming friends.

Luna said she liked him because he was nice. Esaro did find that normal. What he wouldn't understand and would cause problems for him is if someone said they didn't like him. If that was ever the case with anyone he was sure to stick to them until they became friends with him.

"I don't see how it isn't normal. It's better to have friends, like you have to be nice if you what friends right?" He said, still not understanding that there  could be a lot more mean wolves out there than he could imagine.

Should she tell him? It was likely this wolf wouldn't understand her life at White Moon. He was too nice to have gone through being an omega. Most omegas she'd met were like her,nervous and scarred in some way. Others were worse if that was possible,mute and incapable of being around other wolves. She decided to keep it to herself unless he directly asked why she was so cautious. "I suppose it depends where you come from. But I'd like to be your friend,"she told him. If she was too forward she didn't know it. She'd never had permission to speak freely before and wasn't familiar with socializing. But still she had never had a friend and it would be nice to have one.

He had never really thought that wolves would be different compared to what he knows. It was his belief that told him that no matter where he goes there will always be friendly wolves. So far the idea has been proven right. He hasn't encountered anyone hostile and doesn't expect to be betrayed again. As long as he was friends with everyone, nothing bad can happen can it?

He got up and approached her up until he was a meter away from her. "Didn't you know? We are already friends!" He said with a smile. All it really took was the share of names for him to consider being friends. The next thing he wondered about was what were her abilities. "Can you tell me what you are good at?" He asked. He tilted his head with a curious expression. He counted on comparing her with himself and the others to see where the skill levels are.

Lunar tensed a bit as he got closer but she didn't think he would hurt her. Old habits die hard she supposed. What am I good at? I know healing but not much,just what we knew up north. There weren't many plants there and if you got severely injured or sick you were lickely to just die. That was one of the many laws of the north, to put those severely damaged out of pain. There were many plants down here and she wanted to learn,but mostly she wanted to be a midwife. She was good at it. "I suppose my best talent is hunting"she told him,not bothering with healing. She had already proved her ignorance at the border.

So Luna's skill were within hunting which was similar to Laika who also claims to be a hunter. Everyone in this pack already has skills in something useful. As for Esaro, he hasn't proven himself to have talent in any domain. Sure he wasn't talented but did that mean he could never be as useful as the others? If it was the case he would be doomed to fail at keeping his promise.

"Hunting huh. There is no doubt that you are useful here, unlike me. I haven't found anything I'm good at yet." He said, as usual he was honest with himself and to others. "But, I'm sure if I work hard I'll find my place." He said in an encouraging tone. Esaro had the will to try his best. He won't be giving up anytime soon that's for sure.

"Hey,don't say that. You're good at something. Everyone is,you don't have to be a hunter or a healer. You could always become a chronicler or a mercenary or a naturalist or a scout. You've got lots of options. I can't hunt that well anyways,just small animals,"she told him. She didn't like Esaro thinking he didn't have any talent. He might just not have discovered it. He was useful and it was more than use that made a good pack member.

Everyone seems to overestimate him. He was sure that they wouldn't say the same after seeing what he can really do. He saw how good the others are, there was no way he could match their skills. If he ever tried to catch up they would likely be farther ahead. He still had hope he could become useful but he currently wasn't there yet.

"My options doesn't really matter, Everyone is better at what I could ever do. My only hope is that with what I have I could still end up being useful." This was his vision of how things are. It remains uncertain that he could really stay here. He still needed to see if the Alpha would give him the chance.

Lunar's ears drooped in sadness. That was sad that he thought he wasn't good at anything,your skills didn't account for how useful you were.She moved closer hesitantly pushing her head against his shoulder to nudge him. "If you think like that you'll never become good at anything. You have to want to learn,to believe you can learn if you want to find a skill. Besides you're good at something. You're a good friend,"she told him as she scooted away.Suddenly a thought came to her but she didn't know if he would agree. "I could teach you how to hunt. Well only small animals I can't hunt anything very large on my own,"she offered.

He found it normal for him to be a good friend. Wasn't everyone good at being a friend? That's the impression he had here since everyone did seem friendly. Luna referred that it was Esaro's state of mind that was stopping him from getting better. But Esaro was always doing his best, He tries really hard but the problem was the result of it all. It still just wasn't good enough compared to the other who do the same.

"I do try my best all the time but it really isn't enough. It's like I really am missing something everyone else has." Perhaps those with talent just didn't understand. Maybe the misunderstanding that he had hidden potential was keeping him on everyone's ok list. 

Luna offered to teach him about hunting small prey. "[b]I can still get better even without true talent right? If you don't think it would be a waste of time then I will accept that offer." [/b]Esaro could always use someone's teachings, It was the only hope he had of boosting his skill a little. Even if it's just a little that did mean he became a little more useful.

Lunar shook her head,she wasn't talented it had taken her a year to become a good hunter. It took practice not talent. But she nodded in response to his question,"Anyone can learn. You have to practice a lot. Its not a waste of time." She was determined to prove to him that he could be good at something. "Follow me,"she told him as she set off into the forest,forgetting for a moment that she was low rank and shouldn't be giving orders. Playful as they were, she could get in big trouble for that. She had relaxed around Esaro though and it didn't even cross her mind, he hadn't acted like a higher ranking wolf towards her.

Ooc:we can either do the hunting lessons in this thread or start a new one if you like

Luna was quite eager to get started with the lesson. She was willing to teach him and that was good but he wasn't ready yet. There were things he needed to do first. Like meet the Alphas if they have time for it. He felt like he needed to introduce himself to everyone before starting lessons.

"Um, hold on. I don't think I'm ready yet. I still need to make sure I introduced myself to anyone I haven't met." He said, trying to stop her. "We can start tomorrow if you like." He suggested. After that he decided to it was time to continue his search for other members. "Well, see you tomorrow right?" He wasn't exactly giving her the choice but before leaving he waited for a final response before taking off.

Starting another thread would be better :P

Lunar stopped and turned to face him,"Sure see you then." She could tell that was all he had been waiting for and so she turned and loped off into the woods. She had found a tiny den beneath the roots of a tree,and had decided to stay there. She knew hardly any in the pack and wasn't that concerned with introducing herself. She'd rather not have another talk with Reek. His mate was injured last time she checked and she didn't want to bother either of them. Most of the others were mourning another wolf in their ranks and she stayed away out of respect.