Firefly Glen this just in

The Glen was a lot better than the rock; it was a bit more like his previous home. Charles had been heartily received by Leta and he'd decided to stay here so that he could help Leta stay out of trouble. She needed someone to watch her back, after all. Charles hadn't yet met any of the other wolves who lived in the Glen, but he hoped that he'd get to meet some soon so he knew what sorta wolves he was living with. Wasn't Meerkat here, too?

Once unfortunately side effect of this new pack was that there weren't a lot of food cashes, and Charles was huuuungry. He was out trying to find something today, but so far he had caught nothing. Charles had always been pretty bad at hunting, though mostly because he hadn't really been taught. He had always just looted the caches back at Easthollow and he also didn't eat very much. As far as he knew, it'd never gone noticed.

Today, Charles used the last hours of daylight to try and track down a squirrel. He followed its scent, hoping that he would find it soon... Even though hope was slim that he'd be able to catch it.

In the wake of the incident involving a badger, Bronco had sought medical help from Fennec, but otherwise continued patrolling the newly established borders as per usual, as did many of the others who had chosen to move from the mountain to the Glen. The majority of them were somewhere handy to being his age- which he liked. It was also much less climbing and picking his way over rough terrain, which was a bonus as well. The one silly drawback to settling in the Glen, was that he no longer slept in a den that was basically a bed of mica dust. Already, the soft dusty sheen from his pelt had disappeared. 

He was on his way toward the borders when he caught sight of a figure who was familiar enough that he wouldn't dispute his right to belong there, but he also knew very little about the young male, apart from the fact that he, like Leta, had come from Easthollow. He was somewhat gawky in appearance- with big eyes, a narrow muzzle and large ears, which made him look somewhat coyote-like. He was tracking something, and Bronco licked his lips. Maybe it was something they could share!

"Whatcha trackin'?" He chirped, as he approached.

When someone approached, Charles froze and stared at them. He didn't seem very threatening, he soon found out. A little scruffed up around the nose, just like himself, but he didn't look ferocious or anything. Not like their crazed leader, anyway. Charles thought back to his run-in with Osiris glumly and with some bitterness, but he decided to put it aside and focus on this guy, who wasn't Osiris, thankfully. He asked what was on the menu, and Charles said, Fluffy tail tree rat. He grinned at that, and mostly he forgot the word for squirrel, but he decided to make the best of it. Wanna join?

He grinned wolfishly when Charles described his quarry which naturally interested him. What canine didn't love to chase, corner, and then get nattered at by a 'fluffy tail tree rat' as Charles put it? "I'm in," He said, with a nod, and started to zigzag this way and that through the dry, crinkling and yellowing grass, through the fallen leaves, sniffing here and there for a scent trail. But the thing with squirrels was that they only really came down to the ground when it was absolutely necessary- which meant that as much as he tracked along the ground to try and find a scent, it was always just as likely he'd actually spot one in a tree first.

His pack mate said that he was in, and Charles looked excited about this. As they continued to search, Charles could not help but wonder, You ever catch one? Charles actually had never caught one himself. He'd seen someone else catch one once and that was the only time he had seen one up close. He sniffed as they came to a cross roads and then took a right turn. This way. Of course, he too knew that odds were slim. But he was hungry and he was being driven by hope right now.

He snuffled along, glancing up every now and again, and swivelling his ears about to see if he could hear the scratching of little nails against bark, or the chattering of a squirrel who'd spotted them, but heard and saw nothing yet. He knew that as soon as they did find a treed squirrel, they'd likely get scolded- but it was still great fun circling and barking right back at them. 

"Me? Nah," Bronco answered, with a bit of a sheepish chuckle. "I'm not really built for speed, I guess," He said. And while he could catch small prey like rabbits and weasels, he found squirrels more difficult because they liked to stay close to trees, where they could easily get out of reach. "Have y-" He began to ask the same question in return when Charles indicated a direction, and with renewed interest, he began to trot after Charles, scanning the area for any sign they might find one.

Mind if I pop in?

It had only been a couple of months since leaving her family back in EaglePeak, and ever since then, the night raven had spent her entire time being a lone wolf. Now, with the welcoming arms of her new leader, Osiris, Lunaria was now a wolf belonging to the glens -- not the mountains she was used to calling home, but still comfortable nonetheless. Ah, being in a pack again felt strange, though certainly not in a bad way. She just felt a little rusty....

A lot of wolves here were individuals the femme had yet to meet or even talk to; it's about time that was fixed. Along with polishing her hunting skills, one of the dark woman's missions was to become well acquainted with her pack members as much as possible. Conveniently for her, the raven spotted two assumed Glen wolves in the distance and turned to approach them, emitting a soft chuff to announce her presence.

nope, welcome :D

Charles was built for speed, but unfortunately he still wasn't a very good hunter. Theoretically he might be good at it, just like he theoretically was good at fighting or at least dodging but in practise he'd just stand there frozen like an idiot. Charles effectively dodged the return question by changing direction, glad he could avoid having to say 'no, I suck'.

He was actually pretty focused on the trail -- the scent became thicker -- when he heard a sudden chuff. Charles visibly startled when he heard it and suddenly noticed her. Woah, lady! Why'd he keep getting so focused and then being startled? Charles quickly composed himself and said, What are you doing out here, popping out of nowhere? He grinned at her, already over his initial shock, though his heart was still hammering in his chest.

WC: 306

Like Charles, Bronco was startled by the sudden sound Lunaria made- for he, too, had sunk his focus into tracking down the squirrel with fierce intensity. He wasn't sure what it was about squirrels that drove him absolutely bonkers. Maybe it was the fact that the little creatures were so hard to hunt, despite the fact that if he caught one, it'd take no more than one snap of his jaws to finish the little creature off. Maybe it was because they could climb trees and get out of reach. But he suspected that the thing about squirrels that invigorated him the most was just the fact that the little, bushy-tailed creatures had the sheer audacity to scold him whenever he so much as passed by the tree that one perched in. It was like they thought they owned the forest- and Bronco found that to be an invitation to be chased, hunted and terrorized. It was only fair, right?

His surprise melted away quickly though, and he paid little attention to the way Charles addressed the stranger as he could understand the sentiment. Maybe he and Charles were more alike than he'd thought, when it came to hunting squirrels. He was quicker to pass off the surprise though, and gave the turquoise-eyed stranger a smile and nod of his head in greeting. Her scent was mingled along the borders, so he assumed that this was simply a new recruit.

He chuckled, and sought to soften Charles' accusation by gesturing toward the branches above them. “We're not on the tail of a squirrel, you just surprised us a bit,” He said with a bashful tone. “Wanna join us?” He said, though he cast a glance in Charles' direction as well, to make sure that the leader of the hunt was also fine with the additional company.

As Lunaria edged closer, it was obvious that her appearance wasn't expected soon enough seeing as both wolves were startled. 'Ha HA! My prowling skills must be improving then!' -- a victorious thought that made the raven grin to herself rather mischievously. She'll take note of this for later use when tracking down prey.

When the two wolves turned around to glance at her, her glassy eyes widened ever so slightly in suprise of one face in particular. His pelt resembled earthy soil peeking out of sparse snow, and with the exaggerated ears and slender facial features, Luna could've sworn he was a coyote. Mabey he was -- but if so, why did he smell like a wolf? 

"Popping up out of nowhere to bother others seems to be my specialty nowadays. It is how I met my new alpha afterall..." She joked lightheartedly while coming to a halt, briefly recalling the events from a few weeks ago while introducing herself as a new pack member to the two.

Luna briefly bowed her head to them both in greeting before turning her gaze towards the fellow with scars along his mug. A squirrel, huh? Not the expected meal of choice for two grown wolves -- maybe they were using it as target practice? "I'd love to crash your hunting party--" still, the huntress was far too intrigued to refuse the offer, and ended up accepting Bronco's invitation regardless. "That is, if you'll let me?" Came a follow up question upon seeing the boy's whiskey gaze travel towards his partner. It could be assumed her "Party crashing" was ultimately up to him....

She looked victorious at first, possibly she'd been sneaking up on them on purpose, and Charles was kinda glad for that. After how his hunting partner more or less corrected his brusque surprise he was glad that the target of his words wasn't insulted at least.

The look she gave him didn't go unnoticed to Charles. He wondered what that was all about. Instead of getting awkward about it or glossing over it, Charles decided to keep the mood airy. Hey, no worries, I know I'm ugly, he said with a toothy, sassy grin. His mother had told him that often enough in his life, after all. And though it was a painful subject it was better to joke about it than be upset about it. He couldn't help but think about what Draper had said. Was this because of his big ears and slim nose?

His packmates had both decided already that she'd join in. Well, alright, I'll allow it. Another joke, because obviously Bronco had already approved it and Lunaria had already invited herself, and he didn't want to just lamely say 'yes'. I'm Charles, by the way, he offered as a peace offering while he continued the tracking.

wc: 248

The young, dark female seemed quite pleased with herself, but he didn't perceive it as arrogance, and he was happy to admit that he'd been caught by surprise, as he was not a terribly proud wolf. She confessed that she'd surprised the alpha too, and he assumed that she was talking about Osiris. It seemed that stealth was potentially a strength of hers- which might come in handy for hunting if she was any trick at getting as close to prey as she'd gotten to them. Likewise, Charles was also keen to forgive her for the surprise, though he found the self-deprecative comment Charles made with regards to his own appearance was a bit off-putting. He was a bit gawky, with his ears so big and his face to pointed, but Bronco wouldn't have called him ugly. Fortunately, it seemed like Charles was joking- or at least that he was quite used to referring to himself as being unfortunate in the looks department as a means of breaking the ice, so Bronco chuckled, and brushed his shoulder lightly against the male's tawny one.

He, too, nodded, and allowed her to join with them. “I'm Bronco,” He said, deferring to Charles when he introduced himself first. He was the leader of the squirrel hunting party after all, and he didn't want to step on his toes. “Let's see if you can use your super-stealth skills to spring up on a squirrel,” He said, gesturing for her to join them.

The dark femora couldn't help but blink with a tilted head when Charles proclaimed himself as 'ugly'. Now, where'd you get that idea? Of course, he didn't have the appearance you'd find on your average joe, but by no means did she find it unpleasing; rather, it was eye-catching because of the fact it stood out. "Just because you've gotta different look to you doesn't mean you're ugly," She said with equally playful energy, grinning while giving him a harmless smack on the shoulder (which might've been too hard...) with her paw. "Better to be unique than feeling plain-looking, why, there's no fun in that at all..." 

After closing the distance between the two, Luna shifted a bit so she could walk a few feet ahead of them, stopping carefully and sniffing the air for any tree-bound rodent they claimed to have found earlier. "My name's Lunaria; Luna for short if it works for you better. Nice to meet you guys..." It was noticeable that the raven's once upbeat tone changed into something a bit more formal -- after all, she was a stranger to most if not all of Firefly Glen. Even a chatterbox like her can get clamed up around strangers if the air was awkward enough.

At Bronco's invitation to finally join them, however, a playfully smug grin slid on Lunaria's face -- coupled with tail wave and a competitive gleam in her teal eyes. "Guess I have no choice but to show you what I'm made of then, huh?"

Aw shit, seemed she turned stuff around all serious-like. Charles would've preferred everyone just use Bronco's tactic and laugh it off. He hadn't meant to go and make stuff serious, honestly, and he especially didn't wanna seem like he was angling for compliments. Because he wasn't. Because he knew he was ugly. He'd heard it enough in his life to know that it was true. Nobody needed to pretend on his behalf. Charles knew how these kind of things went down though, and he wasn't about to argue about it. Instead he just light-heartedly shrugged with a grin, as if it wasn't a big deal to him anyway. He was pretty good at lying, anyway; his mother had often demanded it of him.

On to the matter at hand, Charles nodded as Bronco and Lunaria introduced themselves and the invitation to join was made formal. Great! Let's get this little tree rat! he said, to emphasise that before, he totally said fluffy tailed tree rat because it sounded funnier and not because he totally hadn't known the word for squirrel. He repeated the word in his head a few times, hoping it'd stick this time. Why was he so bad with words? It seemed to come so much easier for everyone around him.

wc:322

There was almost a punitive nature to the way that Lunaria schooled Charles on his self-deprecative claims, which he thought was charming. It was nice to see that she felt quite adamant about helping build him up, and it didn't seem like she was willing to take any more nonsense about him thinking he looked ugly. The response she got from the young wolf was simply calm, quiet assertion that he was, in fact, quite comfortable in his own skin, and he didn't even need to speak those words out loud. He was beginning to like these two- Charles for how he was so natural and authentic, and Lunaria for her courageous, empathetic spirit.

Lunaria was, though, much more noteable to Bronco in how pretty she was- and when she strode forward to lead them he felt his jaw drop slightly, though he told himself not to gawk. There was something incredibly alluring about her confidence, and about the bright azure of her eyes which sparkled when she accepted their challenge. He felt himself blush a bit, and Charles was quicker to respond than he was.

So he began to move forward, straying from the other two a bit to try and see if he could spot one up in the trees, or catch a scent trail on the ground. He wanted to be the one to pick up on the trail first, or to catch a glimpse of one so that he might impress Lunaria, who also seemed quite keen on winning the challenge herself. He knew very well that once a squirrel was treed, it would be next to impossible to get down- but it didn't stop him from figuring that they may as well give it a go anyway- and he'd be lying if he said that he'd never spent at least 20 minutes circling the base of a tree and barking at a squirrel just because he could.

An excitable grin appeared on the raven's face when Bronco began walking towards the tree ahead of them and Luna, being the competition freak she was, wanted to bound off just behind him to see if she could get to the tree first. But the dame had to force herself to calm down -- she knew these types of things couldn't be rushed when hunting smaller, faster animals. Instead, Lunaria sniffed the air once again to see if any lingering scent trails came off that tree just ahead and, if so, the trio would have to devise a plan on how to make the catch as a group -- because these pesky morsels were a pain in the tail to catch alone. After making a few steps closer to the tree, the raven's steps became lighter as she slunked forward into a more crouched position. Her plan was to make as little noise as possible and focus on any sudden movements that might tell them where a squirrel was hiding...

It soon became apparent that Lunaria was the pro of the group, considering the way she sniffed the air and then moved to a more crouched position. Charles knew very little about hunting, honestly, let alone hunting squirrels. He was willing to give it a shot with these guys though. The very best thing about hunting squirrels was that if you didn't succeed, literally nobody would give you shit for it. Well, maybe douchehats like Osiris would, just 'cause they could, but that was an exception rather than a rule. Nobody expected you to catch it, so if you actually did catch one, that just made you a huge hero.

Content with the low stakes, Charles followed Lunaria's example and he lowered his position. He exchanged a quick glance between Bronco and Lunaria and kept his eyes on the trees. After a little while Charles saw a sudden flash up in the trees. There! he hissed beneath his breath, actually feeling kinda excited. He probably had never felt this excited about hunting in his life. He wasn't really sure what to do next, since it was up in the tree and not actually on the ground, but maybe it hadn't seen them yet and maybe it would somehow get to the ground?? A guy could hope, at least.

I rolled the dice and it told me to let him act like Dug from "Up" sooooo <3

He slunk forward, like a somewhat bulky panther, doing his best to blend in with the other two who were definitely more built for stealth than he was. He trailed behind a bit, but noticed quickly when they both seemed to be drawn toward one tree in particular. He paused as they did, and tipped his ears forward- while they hadn't been scolded yet, he was sure the squirrel probably wouldn't take long to spot the wolves. Still- while Charles had singled it out and now watched it with the intense gaze of a pointer, Bronco wasn't sure what else they could do. It was too high for him to reach. But he didn't care. 

The squirrel still hadn't stopped chewing away at whatever it had in its little paws and Bronco did his best to be patient for as long as he could, but the fact remained that he simply couldn't remain calm for long. This was a squirrel. Squirrels were exciting. 

At first it was just his tail that began to wag, but it wasn't long before his whole hind end began to wiggle, at which point he was practically launched forth by the ambition he could no longer restrain, and he lunged toward the tree's trunk barking, yipping and making all sorts of high-pitched, excited noises which prompted the squirrel to begin scolding him with its high chatter- especially when his surprise made it drop its pine cone. Like an untrained mutt, Bronco continued to bound around the base of the tree, circling even as the squirrel did everything it could to stay out of his sight.

While he hadn't been able to offer his packmates food, at the end of it all, at least he has served to provide some entertainment. They would continue along, searching for more of the tree-bound rascals, each taking a turn in harassing it until eventually, they split off to find a meal in earnest.