Hoshor Plains Curiosity killed the cat... Good thing I'm not a cat!

Peony had recently gotten the okay to go out and meet some other pack members, and of course, she jumped at the offer. By which, she actually jumped off the ground and almost fell at the impact she suffered when gravity kicked in. But now, wandering around she couldn't see anybody nearby. One would think that on such flat land many wolves would be visible at only a simple glance. She was incredulously mistaken.

Padding around practically silent was one of her skills she had at least partially managed to hone while in the wild, now she pushed the trait out of her mind as she simply wandered around. If nobody could see her, maybe they could hear her instead, right? Letting her fiery eyes scan the terrain, Peony strolled along. 

What if she had accidentally wandered off of Kaistleoki territory? Peony had previously been introduced to the border, she had tried making sure to remember the whole border earlier but she could still have missed it. Ears pressed against her head, Peony silenced her ever-moving feet as she turned and crept back the way she had come. Maybe she just had to go back... somebody could be there now. That was what she willed into her mind as she trecked back across the barren land. 

Syrma's path meandered, simply trusting that Spica's was doing the same not too far away. Lately her twin had been working on her hunting stuff a lot which was good and all but Syrma's interest on it kind of came and went--granted, she liked when it was there, she just had to figure out how to make it stay always. Such was true for a lot of things. She wasn't really that fond of the places made up of their current home, so kind of struggled to get into a good routine that actually interested her long enough to do anything with.

Nothing was catching her attention until she inadvertently stumbled across the fresh trail left by Peony. Since the juvenile didn't recognize her as a familiar face yet, or even any face, she decided to follow it with her nose skimming low to the ground--seeking any further clues. While not a meal, maybe it could at least be better than absolutely boring. Syrma just wanted anything but that... so she trotted lightly after her, unaware that soon, she would catch her doubling back along it too.

She kept her eyes peeled, but didn't quite know what she was looking for. When she finally spotted the other wolf, she gave a little start, and stopped in her tracks to watch her come.

On the way back Peony had recollected some of her tranquility previously lost at the fear of accidentally leaving, now back to her cheerful sense. Traveling back had eased her nerves enough that when she noticed another wolf, she had no trouble assuming it was a pack member. "Hi! Oh hello!" the russet girl shouted over to the lone wolf she had spotted, back to her bubbly ways. 

"I'm Peony! Who are you?" the young one questioned with a wagging tail when she was in an acceptable hearing range. Her fiery eyes scanned the wolf, searching for any clues of who they were. Had she already met this wolf? Was she making a fool of herself? Until she realized a distressed look etched in the wolf's brow, this wolf did not recognize her. "I'm sorry did I startle you!" the colleen assured, worried she may have made a bad impression just by existing in that moment. Then she took a step back and sat down, making sure the other knew they were in no danger.

Before she could poke along any further, the stranger was all friendly and absolutely ready to go at a level that she was surprised to see. Syrma's bright eyes were a little bit at first as she listened, half taken aback, but it all started to settle into place by the moment. Packmate, check, her nose said, and such a reception as that had definitely not been unwelcoming. This was a very real  opportunity for something not boring, hopefully! She could go with this and was determined to try to pull it together. I'm Syrma, she said, suddenly straightening out her stance as if to help get her uneasiness to loosen up--and more importantly, get away from her.

A little! she yapped, because of course she was startled at first but it was fine--she had it under control. Juuust because I've never seen you before! Are you new? she tilted her head. So are you doing anything? Like... tracking something...? the juvenile asked, leaning forward a bit to sniff a bit towards her way even more now that she had a good chance.

Now that Peony had a name to go with her newfound company she got more excited. Syrma had also asked a question, of which Peony didn't really know. Answering as closely as possible Peony spoke, "I umm.. guess I was just looking for somebody or something to do." It was true, Peony got easily bored and often enjoyed keeping herself busy, especially when others were involved.

Being as extroverted as she was, Peony would do the most dreadful of chores as long as she had someone with her. Whether they were helping or just keeping her distracted. Think back to what else the wolf had said Peony realized she had skipped over an entire sentence, lost in her memory. Are you new? faintly appeared in the back of her mind, there and then gone. "Oh wait! Yes, I am new!" she affirmed with yet more positive vibes, though she doubted that her cheerfulness even had an off button. 

"Were you doing anything? I would be very grateful if you allowed me to join!" Peony exclaimed. Syrma would never know she was mostly just quoting her mother (shhh that's our secret) and Peony had no idea why 'mature' adults spoke like that. She said it anyway, the only thought bouncing around her mind being Ooh look at me using big words! 

The red-and-white wolf seemed about to burst with excitement, and as she heard more, Syrma started to relate to her in some way. She was often on the lookout for something to do, something interesting to stick her nose into--it was a large part of how she spent her day, if not getting into some sort of business with Spica. Without her sister at her immediate side, though, she probably wasn't as bold and cheerful as she could be right away, especially towards a new face.

But that was about to not be the case. Already, Syrma was starting to get more comfortable with the company. She wouldn't be a stranger for much longer, after all. Well.. I was trying to look for something good to track... but I can't get anything so far, she huffed, glancing away before she returned to Peony. She was irritated at the lack of leads, and her attention span didn't want to exhaust itself on a fruitless hunt. Maybe with help, she could change that though. She was keeping her options open, after all.

Spica's been working on her hunting lately, so I want to help. the juvenile informed her for context. Spica's my sister, she chuffed, as to why it was especially relevant. She wasn't sure if she could commit to being a huntress herself.. but the hunt was often a good way to do something that wasn't boring, so maybe it was worth an attempt.

"Oh..." Peony voiced, allowing a couple of beats of silence to envelope the two before speaking once more; "I'm not the best at hunting." This was very true, Peony had to base her actions off of her vision and hearing (mostly). Her lack of smell left her at a loss for hunting skills, which all saw as a good feature. Still though, she had been accepted even with her issue, so Syrma deserved to know as well.

"You see... I can't smell. Like umm what was his name? I can't remember! Hieronymous!" the young one explained to her company. "I can hear very well though!" the girl said enthusiastically. "I'm not completely useless." she mumbled with much less excitement while turning her gaze to the ground. "I could try though!" Peony was more than willing to try, even perhaps glad to try hunting. With her eyes glued back onto Syrma Peony's tag shot back into action, this friend would help her find something fun to do.

The bright-eyed youth wasn't going to be picky--who cared if Peony wasn't that good of a hunter! The can't smell thing probably severely complicated the matter, sure, she realized, but if nothing else Syrma would be better off with any other company since she didn't have that great of a clue what she was doing, either. Two heads, better than one at least--even if they had one good nose between them. That was going to be her plan. Oh well that shouldn't matter that much, I hope--I can do the smelling then, she decided, not that she boasted magnificent skill in the matter. She did have a nose that worked so she banked on that getting them both through this somehow.

But I also.. I'm not that good of one yet either. I don't know what I'm doing that well so... the girl muttered, kind of helped by a roll to her narrow shoulders. I just know we gotta find something first before anyone's huntin' can happen, because no matter with or without the skill, prey was going to decide if they even had anything to work with first. Where should we even look next? she frowned a bit, though not at Peony. It was the situation that she was focusing on again, steadily.

"I know what to do. I just haven't practiced much! I can teach you what I know! Or at least try..." the russet girl exclaimed with as much excitement as before. As the other asked where to start, Peony's tail began to wag. "Just sniff the ground. Try to find any smell that could be food! Like a rabbit, or raccoon, or even a bird!" the girl said, giving some pointers. "Then we go in that direction!" she reasoned positively. "I'll help any way I can!" Smiling, the lady nodded at her friend; she was ready.

She bobbed her head, and accepted Peony's side of it quite readily for she was still believing that between the two of them, they could achieve something. Plus, even if they didn't manage anything, there was a part of her that came grateful for the company and sure, she wasn't Spica or her mom or anything already established on her lists of Favorites, but Peony seemed like a good friend to have so far if she was this willing to help out! Syrma couldn't argue with this.

Taking her pointers to heart, Syrma had to get back to focusing. She pondered the creatures she had mentioned--bird, rabbit, raccoon, and tried to remember how to smell for them exactly. She thought about smells that reminded her of them, or where she had smelled them before... Well... when I was sniffin' around earlier, I found this spot with lots of bird feet prints in the snow, she revealed because now on second thought, maybe it had been something they could go off. At time of spotting, she had been quick to write it off. I left it 'cause I can't fly and didn't see any whole bird then but.. would they be back yet maybe...? she asked as she started walking vaguely that way. 

Rabbit sounds best, like mmm something nice and warm.. but... she sighed a little, feeling her hopes wanting to be dashed ahead of time before failure could get there first. I haven't smelled a fresh one like all week, she griped, which might've been an exaggeration. I don't think they like the open plains as much as the woods by the river before... she also mentioned as she picked up a slow trot to move along, her nose down and sniffing intently as she carried it on. She missed the riverside too, so likely, some of her feelings stemmed from there, and they mixed neatly with her irritation for no fresh, easy trails to go on.

Hunting was hard work.

"The birds may have come back. But I'm not positive." the girl mentioned at Syrma's response. Nodding at the other's remark Peony confirmed "Rabbits like shelter, too smart to stay around here too often! We would be lucky to catch one here!" Though she had to admit, rabbit did sound the best.

Following Syrma wherever she went Peony kept her ears and eyes alert and her footsteps light. Carefully, she sped up and came beside her friend, soundless. Whenever she heard something she simply hit Syrma's tail with her, keeping her speech to a minimum, as she turned her head towards the noise. So far, they hadn't found anything.

If you want, you can just assume I pointed something out to you and it turned out to be an animal. PP as you wish!! <3

Her ears tipped up tall, soaking up the explanation and enthusiasm that gave her pretty good hope--first about the birds, next about her suspicions that they really needed to ditch this boring plains place if rabbits didn't even like to live in open places like here. How disappointing was that! But, something to complain about later in a different setting.

She picked along carefully, attempting to mimic her best sort of focused hunter with a careful nose-first approach. There were some bits of stop and go because Syrma had to think about it, and which way to go next exactly, but she made pretty good progress for forward given her inexperience and wobbly interest in the first place. But, everything eased to a slow stop when on the snow ahead, she saw some motion and flared her nostrils in a sharp exhale--was it something!?--a distant streak of grey, bird sized, against the snowy backdrop of the plains.

It went along, head down, pecking at specks on the snow--but the girl didn't know that much yet. She just saw something move, and it wasn't completely gone yet. What would happen?? Could they do anything about it? Hunting small mammals was more reasonable for her.. hence her lack of actual interest in bird footprints until all else absolutely failed her.

Syrma's eyes got big.. conflicted about how to proceed when this was the first actual living prey-item snack out for her all day and of course it could fly.

The pair moved on pretty quickly for unexperienced younglings, adults could have already caught a whole meal but it didn't matter to Peony. Movement ahead caused a pause and Peony tapped her companion with her tail but it seemed her friend had already spotted it. It was a bird, small and grey; a puny thing to call a meal but something to hunt nonetheless.

Quieting her footsteps Peony took the initiative and crept forward, stopping when it looked up and slowly moving towards it when it went back to it's scavenging. Before she had left, Peony had pointed in the other direction for Syrma to go, together the two could encircle the prey and trap it. Hopefully blocking all escape methods.

When Syrma's newness at this had made her unsure of handling the next step, seeing Peony's initiative helped her ease into where she needed to be and though it came without a word, the juvenile was learning. A lot of running, exploring, and romping with her sister as least made her reflexives very good--once her focus was actually behind the motion. She still had a lot of blanks to fill in.

But all of it came with the territory and practice like this was valuable to the young wolf. She watched Peony, and the prey, as carefully as she could, mustering her best studious efforts. Now with something akin to a chance, she thought it almost came easier. She followed Peony's point of a direction, and went that way--slowly, carefully as she could be but ugh, this was really not something she felt very good at, as evidenced to the furrowed scrunch of her entire expression... but she really was trying to make this happen, or rather for now, nothing happen except she find a better position.

She kept creeping on these delicate, antsy footsteps until there was another signal from Peony--or the bird did any different but surprisingly, it did not. It only kept pecking along at whatever, making Syrma question what and why exactly it failed to notice their looming company, or for how much longer the distraction would outweigh them. Maybe they had more of a chance? She was being awfully careful about everything so not to disturb something that almost looked like.. luck?

Rolled for it:
Will the bird spot Syrma and Peony and try to fly away or will it stay clueless?
Odds- Fly birdie fly, Evens- (maybe) Bon appetite
17. You can roll to see if Syrma catches it anyway :)

Syrma took the other side, both stalking forward as gracefully as they could manage. The youngsters padding almost silently across the soft snow, flakes clinging to Peony's underbelly as she crouched and made herself less visible. Slowly making their way forward the bird had no idea of the hunters presence until the pair wasn't but a foot or two away.

Glancing up the fowl spotted not one, but two creepers and began to fly off. Peony shot after it but only managed to catch a feather, inches from her meal she dropped back to the ground. The only hope being that Syrma had a better chance than the russet girl and managed to catch the floating meal.

she rolled a big ol failure in discord of course lol!

The young girl gave a start when the bird began to take wing. Ah! She was closer after Peony's valiant effort that it still slipped by, so she made her attempt just at the second that looked about right. Syrma jumped after it, reaching her paws and snapping her teeth. She got close enough to fumble the bird a bit with all of her reaching, but she was never able to get a good grab on it, or any actually effective hindrance; the bird was able to right itself, and fly away from them in a big hurry.

AUUGH, she complained as she got her feet all back on the ground with a little 'ummpf' noise to boot. She wasn't happy with that outcome, and huffed quite openly about it as she watched the bird continue to leave the area entirely--and for very good reason with these hunters afoot. Syrma's shortened fuse by earlier failures wasn't leaving her a lot of space to tolerate this, or attempt again right now. She griped some more a bit, but that was that. She had to accept it, bummer or not. Well that sucks. Maybe we can try again tomorrow..? she suggested as she returned to Peony with a dejected sigh, ready to move on and do something else that wasn't going to just flop entirely--like maybe nap it all off, honestly.

Peony watched as the other struggled to latch onto anything to secure their meal before flopping to the ground, nothing but loose snow following. The other seemed quite bummed out about the failed hunt but Peony refused to let a hunt put a damper on her chipper mood. The yearling simply shook the snow from her pelt and glanced at the other. "The best advice I can give concerning hunting is that failure happens. You won't end up with a meal every time!" 

The russet girl exclaimed, a sheepish smile gleaming towards the other. "Have you ever asked your parents, or any adult for that matter how many times they failed to catch something?" Peony questioned with a hint of amusement in her already joyful voice. "Don't bother, it's too many to count!" she said as she giggled a bit. "Tomorrow we can try again, and hopefully we will come back with a meal!" Her voice laced with hope and enthusiasm as her shy grin turned to that of obvious glee.

She listened begrudgingly. I know, but it's been alotta flops lately and that's making it hard to like it any I guess... she groused, but did accept it in the long run. Success was no guarantee, or right, even. Such was life, as the rest seemed to affirm. Failures were just part of the territory.

Syrma almost considered how Peony said parents, implying there were more than just her mom maybe, which threatened to distract her. However, she was already onto the next thing, hopeful that tomorrow would be a better chance. Yeah, let's hope. I should get back to my mom soon anyway. See you then maybe yeah?? she asked, and hung around for any lasting farewells before parting ways with her chipper packmate--off to rest, or whatever else Speedy or Spica were doing, most likely.

Peony could tell the other was still a bit upset about the hunt's failure but seemed to accept it in the end. The girl stayed silent and allowed the other to speak, nodding to show she understood. It wasn't unnatural to go some time with poor luck concerning hunting, it's happened to her plenty of times. "Alrighty! Of course, see you soon!" The bubbly yearling sing-songed as she nodding in farewell and walked off, slow enough to hear anything that might be said to her during her departure.