Heron Lake Plateau Burning Sun

The sun above was hot through the clouds above, bearing down upon the furred male that was making his way through the territory. Holding in his jaws a poor rabbit that had been unlucky to meet him. He was headed for the cache, this time hoping he would not get nervous and hide if he came across anyone like last time.

Niamh had not forgotten about the warning Towhee had given her, about being out in the heata and how it could cause a sort of sickness. So after tending to Screech and leaving him to chew away at a small, scraggly rabbit she'd caught earlier in the day before the heat had hit, she made her way toward the lake and dipped herself in, allowing the water to soak into her pelt to cool herself down. She drank, as she remembered that that was another way to ward off heat sickness. Once she figured she'd be good to go, she left the water without shaking her pelt dry so she could stay cool longer. 

She caught the scent of another packmate- one who'd been there as long as her- if not longer, she wasn't sure...But she hadn't crossed paths with him much. She got the impressiont that he was terribly shy, and probably had a bit of social anxiety...But it couldn't hurt for her to try to get to know him, right? She was tired, weary from the continuous task of hunting and taking care of Screech as well as fulfilling her role as Gamma. She was still exhausted from worry, following her fight with Ceara...She wasn't sure what would happen, but she did want to track the epsilon down before she could do any damage to Niamh's reputation. 

She came across the shy Nevouku first, though, and nodded to him congenially when she caught sight of him. He had a rabbit, and the sight of it made her stomach twist. She'd fed Screech, but not herself, so she had to try, visibly, to hide her hunger. "Hey dude," She greeted softly- not quite remembering the name Towhee had told her for this guy, but wanting to at least appear friendly.

Nevouku held the rabbit as he went along, and paused once he saw someone coming. A female, but not Ceara. Not this time, at least. He dropped the rabbit, and replied. "H-Hey" he said back in answer, going along to a pause. The cache was near, and he still planned to drop it in there. For now it was on the ground. "Wh-What are you doing round h-h-here?"

Niamh's eyes followed the rabbit as it dropped, but she reminded herself not to be rude, or expect him to give it up to just anyone, so she looked back up at him. She remembered him now- this was the one that Towhee had told her about. He was definitely the one she'd said who stuttered, and made it hard for her to read his lips. She wanted to say his name was something along the lines of Nevoko, but she couldn't be sure. Between Towhee's garbled speech, and there having been a fair amount of time that had passed since he'd been mentioned to her, her memory couldn't recall the name exactly. 

"Just lookin' for some grub." She said, and made sure she didn't look down at the rabbit, as she didn't want to imply anything. "On my way to the borders, anyway. Hoping to catch a bit of something either before or after my patrol." She said. "You seen any other tracks?" She asked, as he'd obviously had a bit of luck hunting.

Nevouku shook his head. He had not seen any other tracks, or at least hadn't really paid attention to finding any other tracks. And he couldn't leave anyone hungry, he was most kind to basically all others. So, he put the rabbit down, having caught how her eye had followed it. "I-I can find another for the cache. Just o-one rabbit" the nervous wolf said.

Well wasn't he just a bleeding heart- and Niamh felt bad that he offered, now, even though she was ravenous. Wanting to meet somewhere in the middle, she took a step forward, but then stopped herself. She'd thougth maybe she could scarf that one down then and there, and then make her proposition, but decided that if they weren't successful, he'd be down a rabbit. 

"How about this...We bury this one, somewhere around here, then we go looking for another one together?" She asked. It'd be practice at hunting with another wolf, which would generally make their success rate higher, or so she figured. And if they caught nothing at the end of the day, at least she wouldn't have taken his meal from him.

Nevouku nodded, picking it back up to get it to the cache. "It won't exhaust you will it? Y-You're hungry, aren't y-you?" he asked, voice laced with concern. If she were to get exhausted while hunting, something bad could happen. And he didn't want that, he would feel responsible.

Nevouku made a solid point- Niamh was exhausted, but she wasn't willing to take the meal just yet, so she shrugged. "If I eat that now, I won't get the energy from it 'til later anyway. Plus I'll have a weight in my stomach that'll cramp if I run too much, heh," She said. Though it was likely she'd still be able to outrun a rabbit after having eaten, she came up with the excuse simply because she'd rather not take his rabbit, lest their hunt together be unsuccessful. "C'mon. Let's get this bad boy buried and go find us something fresh," She said, hoping he'd go for it, and not insist that she eat.

He still did not want her to go hungry in case they did not succeed in catching something. "R-Right" he said, and then he got to digging and burrowing under the dirt. Nevouku got the hare down under the dirt of the cache. "So, wh-which way should we g-g-go?" he asked to her, not exactly sure which was they should head.

Niamh pondered for a moment, when Nevouku posed a question. She glanced around, and after a moment's consideration, she nodded toward the Northeast. "Let's go for partridge," She said. "There's lots in the thicket, and they're not too hard to catch. They huddle in groups, so we might actually both get one if we're super lucky." She said. She began to lead the way once the rabbit was buried, but just in case her partner was new to the game of hunting birds, she glanced at him with a small smile. 

"You ever hunted birds before?" She asked, hoping that he had some experience- but obviously, if he didn't, the chase would be more than a game than anything- and she was always up for that.

Nevouku guessed they could go one of those. He had hunted birds, and nodded to the question. Ducks, once. He hoped that they could catch one each, he didn't want her going hungry and after this he would no doubt want to have a little too. "Which way? You point, I c-c-can lead" he said.

Though he seemed a bit shy, it looked as though Nevuoku was warming up to her as he volunteered to lead and she bobbed her head, holding back and gesturing toward the borders which were shrubby and grassy, an ideal hunting ground for partridge and grouse. "Just toward that way, fearless leader," She said, allowing him to take that direction, and she'd follow behind. If they got off course, she'd simply point him in the right direction again- but it really wasn't too hard to keep in a straight line. 

"So you going for the hunter trade?" She asked then, wanting to fill in the silence a bit with polite talk. He definitely seemed keen on it- and obviously he was doing alright for himself while off hunting on his own.

Nevouku went the way she suggested for him to go. As they went along, she spoke and he answered, "Y-Yes. I've done hunting before. I w-wasn't so great last time...but I'm getting be-better." As they went, he saw some movement and got down. There was their first. "You s-said they are in gr-groups?"

So he was working on it, which certainly wasn’t a bad thing. She herself considered it- and she considered taking a specialty in birdhunting- but birds weren’t as helpful for the pack a whole as deer or other large herbivores were, so she’d reconsidered. 

To his question, she nodded. ”Seem to be. They kind of huddle together. They’re brownish, and like to hide as long as possible before they take off into the air- and they’re kind of loud when they fly.” She said, referring to the loud beating of wings whenever they took off.

Nevouku glanced around, and then he started seeing other movement. There was indeed others. "Y-You go for one, I will g-go for a-a-another" the male said, seeing if she agreed with him. It was a sound plan, and there were so many.

I rolled for Niamh’s hunt, and she got a 2 out of 3, so in my next post I’ll re-roll to see if she can take the bird down.

Niamh nodded silently at Nevouku, and regarded the birds huddled together on the ground. With their tawny plumeage, the partridges would have been impossible to spot in tall, dry grass- but against the green, they were fairly visible.

Giving her hunting partner one more nod, she squared herself up and launched herself forward. The partridges beat their wings furiously to get into the air, and Niamh had to make a leap for one. She caught the bird by its tailfeathers, but they came loose and she came back to the ground with a mouthful of feathers. Without those tailfeathers, though, it wouldn’t be the best in the air, so with her head tilted back and watching, she trailed behind it, waiting to see if it would fail and come back to the ground.

Nevouku waited for her signal back. Then he himself was off, and he was running down the prey. He went for one of them, and it bolted. He managed to get a nip at one of it's wings, clipping feathers and making it stumble. Yet he too, stumbled. He had one more try, he knew that for sure if he could score this bite.

I got a 2 as well haha. Gonna reroll as well

Rolled a 1- no bird for Niamh.

 

She ran beneath the bird which struggled in the air, beating its wings furiously- but obviously, she hadn't managed to pull out enough tail feathers to make it impossible for the damn thing to fly. It was able to pull away and tag along behind its friends, and eventualyl, Niamh slowed to a stop, cursing softly under her breath. It didn't pain her to badly to miss a bird- after all, no wolf had a perfect hunting record, and birds weren't exactly the easiest thing in the world to catch anyway. Any other creature could run- as could a wolf...But birds could fly, giving them an advantage beyond wolves completely. 

She turned and moved back toward Nevouku, hoping perhaps that he'd had better luck with his bird- though he too was tailing one that he'd injured, but hadn't quite managed to bring down.

According to tabletop, he got a bird!

Nevouku continued on closing in. The clip had staggered it enough, and soon his fangs fell upon it. Using his weight he threw down to the ground, pulling it down by the neck. And just like that in a few seconds, the deed was done. The bird was now to be food, and he stood proudly over it. He looked, and felt immediately bad that Niamh had missed hers. 

As she came over, he dropped it before her with a light smile. Nev felt bad she had missed her catch. "I'm not r-really hungry..."

The lucky dude- apparently Nevouku's injured bird hadn't been able to get away, like hers had, and he'd managed to bring it down. As per their agreement earlier, he offered her the bird, which she accepted, giving him a grateful nudge to his cheek as she did so. Since they'd caught something new, she would eat the bird. Had they caught nothing, she wouldn't have gone back to his cache and taken from it- it just wasn't the way she worked. She still had enough energy to hunt, even though she was pretty tired. 

"You gotta show me your technique sometime," She commented, as she made short work of the bird. Niamh was used to hunting birds, so defeathering one and wolfing it down was no problem for her. In no time, all that remained was a pile of feathers and little bits here and there that were more bone than meat. "Thanks, buddy-o."

Nevouku watched, and while he was not hungry just watching her eat was making him so. So he glanced away from Niamh, trying not to get hungry. In response to her thanks, he stumbled over his own words, "Y-You're welcome." He felt nervous, as he always did around others and just rather sat there. "I-I learnt from my-" He paused, and looked to the ground. There he was again. Thinking about her, his duck hunting mate.

Nevouku began to explain who taught him his bird hunting moves but stopped himself, and she could sense the shift in his demeanour. He seemed to curl inwards and become insecure, but Niamh felt it'd be better not to question him. Obviously, at least for the time being, he wasn't ready to talk about whoever it was that'd taught him how to hunt birds. And given that they weren't terribly close, she didn't figure she was the one he should talk to about it- nor did she feel really up to the task of having someone she herself wasn't 100% comfortable with offload all his feelings on her. 

Instead, she gave him a small smile. "Well, they done a good job. I really like bird hunting, myself," She said. "But some days are better than others. Kind of same with every other kind of hunting I guess...But I like to collect the prettiest feathers, so maybe that's why I like it so much." There- she could keep the topic on birds, but steer it away from whatever it was that set him off. At least, all she could do was hope that that tactic would work.

Nevouku did not think more on that subject. He passed it over, pushing it back. He sighed, a bit shakily in fact as he did. She spoke, and he lifted his face up. And almost right away, the sad face was gone and he kept a smile back. Niamh managed to get a smile out of him. 

"They did, they did do a good job..." He smiled fondly at the times they had done so. He froze up when she mentioned collecting feathers. 'make a den here, lace it with feathers', 'they're really soft'. He shook his head, and hadn't realized his face had somewhat seized up into a smile. "Y-Yeah. Pretty feathers."

Niamh was relieved that her mild distraction had worked. The last thing she wanted was for Nevouku- who already seemed to be a nervous and fretful wolf- to have a meltdown on her. Still, he wasn’t a bad guy, or a bad hang. He obviously had some moves when it came to hunting birds, so they already had one interest that they shared. 

He was smiling, even though he still looked a bit tense. Not wanting to push her luck, though, and instead end things on a good note, she licked her lips and stood up. ”Well, thankya again, Nev,” She said, hoping the abbreviation of his name was cool with him. It actually sounded quite close to the pronunciation of her own name, but she didn’t mind.  ”But I gotta get back to business. Catch you around, yeah?”

Nevouku could only nod, he was glad to have helped her. But he was very worried that if he said a single thing, he'd break apart then and there. And that would be no help at all, now wouldn't it? Instead he kept on his smile. Till she said that she had to get going to get some stuff done.

"A-All right, yeah yeah. Catch y-you around then" he said back, trying to keep it together.