Blacktail Deer Plateau First Hunt

Fireblaze prowls through the woods on her first hunt since joining the pack. Something rustled, and Fireblaze perked her ears and scented the air, in hopes of finding a squirrel or rabbit. What she smelled was better. A rabbit burrow, full of bunnies, with only one escape. The front entrance.

Fireblaze stalked up to the entrance, and wondered how she would get them out. Then, she had an idea. She stuck her nose into the burrows entrance, sniffed for a heartbeat, then barked. A commotion stirred in the burrow, and a rabbit, fat and healthy hopped out, straight into Fireblaze's mouth, (basically) where she chomped down.

The she-wolf set the rabbit down, and waited for another. She barked again, and two small, fragile bunnies race out, one after the other. She stepped on one with her front paw, but the other got away.

Wow, she thought. This is what it feels like to hunt for a pack.

Feeling restless, Peregrine decided to leave the rendezvous site for the first time in weeks. "I won't go far," he promised aloud to no one but himself, as everybody else had already taken off for the day. "I just need to stretch my dang legs," he muttered as if making excuses to that same invisible listener. Then, with a surreptitious glance around the clearing, he slipped into the trees.

Almost immediately, he stumbled across an unfamiliar black wolf raiding a rabbit warren. The Alpha male's head cocked to the side as he studied her from behind. Blue Willow and Atticus had mentioned a small influx of new recruits in the past few days; this must be one of them. Peregrine idly wondered why the plateau seemed to draw primarily dark wolves.

"Hey," he spoke up after a moment, striding up alongside the stranger. Despite his broken foot, he carried himself dominantly, so the she-wolf could make no mistake about his identity. His blue-green eyes watched carefully for her reaction to his presence.

Fireblaze's spine stiffened when she heard the new voice. She whipped around, trying to assert her position, but fear welled up in her eyes. She dropped the rabbit she had caught.

This was a male, most likely alpha, who appeared to have a broken leg. She then realized that this must be Peregrine. "Peregrine," she stammered. "I am Fireblaze, your newest member. I was hunting for you, for I heard rumor you had a broken paw."

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The she-wolf looked like she might be preparing to assert herself but she quickly deflated when she looked at him and recognized him for what he was. Peregrine arched his neck a bit more severely and thrust out his chest a bit more. His paw might be broken but he was still the top dog here and wouldn't stand for anything less than perfect submission from a brand new subordinate.

When she said she was hunting for him, his ears tilted forward slightly. "Oh, yeah? Are you a hunter by trade?" he wondered, then nodded his head. "Yup, I'm Perry, the Alpha male. Nice to meet you, Fireblaze. How long have you been here?" He hated that he didn't know these things firsthand but it would be a while yet before he could resume his border patrols.

Fireblaze was astonished that he wasn't more aggressive. She realized that she should say the truth. "No, I'm not hunting by trade this time. I have been in the territory for a few hours, and I have been hunting with a new strategy for about an hour I think.

She sniffed around the warren again, hoping to show Peregrine her new strategy.

Her response made him blink. He decided not to pursue it just now. The fact that she was so new made him feel a bit better. Even if he couldn't recruit followers himself, he could make an effort to intercept them as soon as possible after their recruitment. His dark tail twitched, then grew still in an arch over his hips.

"What strategy is that?" he questioned, then fell silent. It seemed she would answer him by showing him.

Fireblaze blinked at him, thinking he was tricking her. But then, since he was a loyal pack leader, and she knew she could trust him, she showed him.

She walked up closer to the hole, put her head in to sniff, then barked. Quickly, she pulled her head out. Just as she did, and plump rabbit hopped out. She grabbed it by the neck, and shook, until it went limp.

"Tadaa," she said uncertainly, not knowing if he would approve. "It is a good way for injured wolves to hunt for themselves."

He watched her silently, wondering about her tactic. When Fireblazed barked and a rabbit almost immediately leaped out of the hole, Peregrine was utterly nonplussed. Any healthy rabbit would know to huddle deeper in its warren to stay safe. The fact that it had jumped out into the open instead meant that something wasn't right with it.

"I wouldn't eat that if I were you," Peregrine said. "A healthy rabbit will have survival instincts and move deeper into the ground at the first sign of a predator. That thing practically jumped right into your mouth. It must be sick or something. It might even have rabies." He eyed the slain hare dubiously.

Shifting his weight, the Alpha male sat carefully and added, "I don't think it takes a lot of skill to stand over a hole and bark anyway. How are you at actual hunting?" Perhaps he was being a bit blunt but if he hurt Fireblaze's feelings, she would just have to grow a thicker skin. Peregrine didn't coddle anybody and, if she was going to live here, she would definitely have to learn to get used to him.

Fireblaze was amazed. "M- my father taught me this tactic before he was shot. I always used it, and I never got sick. But I am also pretty good at hunting."

She thought about what he said carefully. "Did you just give me advice?"

"And it worked?" Peregrine asked incredulously. "Man, you must've come from a land of really stupid rabbits," he remarked, shaking his head lightly. "That, or maybe your breath smells like carrots."

Fireblaze's question stumped the Alpha male. He was beginning to wonder if she was a bit... daft. Why would Blue Willow or Atticus accept her if that was the case? Either they hadn't picked up on it or she was just making a bad impression.

"I guess. I'm not sure what you mean." He paused and cleared his throat. "Anyway, have you considered what sort of trade you might pursue here? Like Gamekeeper, for instance?"

"I'm sorry I said that," Fireblaze mumbled. "I was just amazed, because I know not many leaders do that." She walked away slowly, tail swishing against the ground, and head bowed, until she got to a tree.

"Maybe I just don't know how to hunt, from being in captivity a year ago, my mom and dad dead. I wish I had a mentor, or family."

Fireblaze kept alluding to tragic events in her past and Peregrine supposed he could take the bait and ask her about them. It didn't really interest him at the moment, though. He wanted to get a feel for her skills and what she could do for the plateau. The past was in the past but if she was to have a future here, she would need to contribute in some manner.

"I could help you sharpen your hunting skills, though I won't be at full capacity for a while yet," he replied, pointing his dark muzzle at his healing paw. "And I'm not sure about other leaders but here's what you need to know about me: I can be a dick but I try to keep it cool between pack mates. I won't tolerate laziness in my ranks, so if you don't prove yourself useful and fast, I'll punt you to the curb without blinking. I may be an invalid right now but I'm still the master and commander of this pack. This is my home, after all, and these wolves are my family."

He licked his lips and peered at her, wondering what Fireblaze would make of this brief speech. Peregrine then glanced into the woods for a second before looking back at her. "Tell me some more about yourself. I now know a little bit about your past but tell me what you want to get out of this pack. What does your ideal future look like?"

"I just want to make my way to the top. I've been through things most wolves won't go through, so I want to prove I can be just as good. I'm fast, and strong, and with a pack, I could help. I might want to be Gamekeeper, whatever that is," Fireblaze said. "You won't be upset with my skills.

"Tell you what, I'll go hunting now, since its sundown, and you can see how I do. Deal?"

When she mentioned making her way to the top, Peregrine's ears slid backward a few notches. "There is an Alpha female already," he reminded her, sure she would be aware of that. Theoretically, Fireblaze could attempt to challenge Blue Willow... but Peregrine and likely the entire plateau would back up the Healer. Fireblaze didn't stand a chance.

"That isn't to say you can't climb high," he added after a pointed pause, turning and motioning for her to proceed. "Sure, go on. Show me what you've got."

"Ok. Before you go, though, I don't mean make my way to Alpha yet, unless I can. I mean to Beta female. o rest, I'll find you some food. Oh, and if you would sniff that rabbit over, that would be great," Fireblaze said.

She walks off into the forest, nose to the ground, to pick up a scent.

Peregrine didn't have time to reply before Fireblaze wandered off to hunt. He meant to follow her but made a snap decision to stay here and wait. He felt a little disgusted by what she'd said. Of course she couldn't become the Alpha female; the best candidate was already in that position. And he just couldn't bring himself to view her deigns on the Beta female rank as ambitious. She came across as power hungry and it left a bad taste in his mouth. She really didn't impress him at all.

Sighing, Peregrine flopped to the ground to await Fireblaze's return. He supposed it wasn't a requirement that he like all the plateau's wolves personally but this was one of the first times something like this had happened. As he lay there, he kept wondering what had possessed his fellow leaders when allowing her into the ranks. Well, it wasn't like she was disrespectful or even mean. Perhaps Peregrine was just being a judgmental dick.

Fireblaze sighed when she was out of hearing distance. I have a weird feeling, she thought. He just doesn't like me.

She had to focus. Fireblaze was on a mission to prove herself worthy of the BDP. Smell, she thought. Smell. Then she picked up a healthy rabbit scent. She stalked through the undergrowth as quietly as possible. Eventually, she found it, stark white.

Fireblaze pounced, landed on the rabbit, and snapped its neck, with a satisfying crunch. Thank you, she thought to the sky. For this and all the other animals lives.

She walked closer to the clearing where her and Perry had been, still carrying the rabbit. She dropped it, and found a mouse burrow. One mouse was scurrying towards it. Fireblaze crept up on it, pounced, and killed it quickly.

She took the prey back to the clearing, where she found Perry. "Perry? What are you doing? Sorry if that sounded rude."

He didn't mean to fall asleep, yet Peregrine was drowsing when the scent of fresh blood roused him. He lifted his head and blinked blearily at Fireblaze as she walked back onto the scene, a dead rabbit clutched in her maw. Before he could open his mouth to say something, she dropped the carcass and made quick work of a scurrying mouse. He blinked and swallowed. Something about her impeccable ability to capture small animals made him feel uneasy.

"Um..." he answered when she asked him what he was doing, "I was waiting for you to come back." With a grunt, he pushed himself back into an upright, seated position. "Good job," he added simply, trying to tally her kills in his head and growing all the more perturbed for reasons he couldn't quite place.

"You know, I was thinking while you were gone. It's good to be ambitious, I guess, but admitting to me that you already have your sights set on my leadership ranks doesn't sit right with me. Tell me why you're so interested," Peregrine said, his arresting eyes fixing on Fireblaze's dark face.

Fireblaze was shocked that Peregrine was still there. He asked her why she wanted leadership so badly. "When I was born, I was in a pack, over the mountains. The pack had no pups or jueveniles. I was always ranked lowest. When we had rank shuffles, even though I was almost always active, I always stayed where I was. Eventually, my mom and I left, and so forth. When my father died, I was a loner, and all of the border patrols snarled at me. I just want to prove that a past loner can be just as good. I don't want leadership, and I am not power hungry. I just want to prove my mom right."

When Fireblaze finished explaining, Peregrine asked, "Why were you always the lowest? There had to be a good reason for it, surely? Did you behave as the lowest member of the pack?" he pressed. "If you don't want leadership, then you don't want to be an Alpha or Beta then," he continued. "And prove your mom right about what?" he finished, sounding a tiny bit exasperated and waspish.

"I just wanted to prove my mother right, that loners are just as good as pack raised wolves. I was always the lowest, because I was always the youngest. It was my family that started a pack, and we kept it family only. I had sibling, and they're out in the world somewhere now.

"I was last born in the pack, and the Alpha male was a sibling, Trick, that hated me. He never moved me up. My mom said that a loner could be Beta or Alpha, (I don't want to be Alpha, though. Not with Blue Willow as Alpha female.) and she said someday she would be one of the two, but she never got the chance." Fireblaze said.

"Oh," he said simply. He didn't understand why or how she'd decided to pit pack wolves versus lone wolves in her head but he wasn't about to pick her apart for it. What did it matter to him?

Yet her failing logic compelled him to ask, "How can a lone wolf have a rank at all, since it doesn't even have a pack?" He was almost afraid of her answer, sensing that it wouldn't really satisfy him.

"My mother wanted to join a pack eventually," Fireblaze said. "She said someday, when we escaped, she would get there with me."

Fireblaze sat upright. "Now, I want to finish what she started."

"Ah," he replied, then eyed her when she sat upright and declared her purpose. "Well... good for you, I suppose," he added with a switch of his tail. Peregrine scrutinized her a moment longer before relaxing his face.

"Hey, I'd better get back," he told her in the next breath. Although he had no compelling reason to return to the rendezvous site, he definitely wanted to be on his way. "See you around, Fireblaze," he bade her farewell, giving her a last look before turning and shuffling back in the direction of the clearing.

Last post for me. How do I archive? PM me please.

"Ok, bye. See ya later."