ralliesprotests | Ainmhian IC Inbox

[Would it, though, if the other person is Rowan?]

Okay! [They sound fairly excited about the compromise though - and they are. They've never hunted deer before, this should be fun!] You seem to know the area already, so why don't you lead?

[She absolutely expected to lead - she's not alpha material in any shape or form, being metis, but as a Red Talon she would obviously lead a hunt if the only other candidate is a Weaver Shagger.]

Sure.

[She crouches down and then goes on all four, and if there'd been any questions about which side of the wolf-human binary she was raised by, it would be going out of the window now with how she's moving, face close to the forest floor, only sometimes coming back up on her hind legs to cover some distance until she's found an interesting trail.]

Here.

[Rude.

Rowan follows her on two legs, more than a little awkwardly. They have no sense of how to walk in the forest, and their steps are in no way softened, but they do at least make a show of smelling the air. Or rather, not really a show, there are interesting smells here, now they're in glabro to sense them, and they wish they could change chrinos, or maybe even lupus, to get a better grasp on them, but since that's not an option right now, they'll have to make do.

When Silent indicates that she's found something, Rowan trots over and crouches beside her, copying the way she scented the ground and feeling even more awkward about it, but doing their best not to show it. If they just copy her, maybe they can get away with it.

And they can smell something, just... lots of somethings. Which is the one that she's actually interested in? Hopefully if they get going, they'll be able to figure it out.]

Seems good to me! Shall we go?

[She looks at Rowan, and then just gets going, soundless on the forest floor in spite of this awkward humanoid body. She had to deal with a too-humanoid-for-comfort body for the first decade of her life, she can deal now. Crinos is how she learned how to hunt, she can cope with Glabro.

What she's having trouble with is the loud homid behind her. She stops after fifty metres or so and glares at them.]

Walk quieter.

Am I that loud? Sorry, I'll try. [They hadn't even noticed.

And they do try. For a couple of steps, they place their feet ever so carefully. And then they forget and it's taking too long, and soon they're back to normal, just trying to concentrate on getting through the forest without getting too caught up in the trees.]

[...sigh.

She stops and turns towards them.]

Are you vegetarian?

[What? Where did that come from?]

No? I mean, for a hot five minutes when I was a kid, yeah, but not since then. [????]

Then how are you that bad at hunting?

[Because if they're this bad, they must be living off things that can't run away, aka plants. In other words, a vegetarian. Is someone else feeding them like a baby?]

Because I live in a city. I do all my shopping at Tescos, and there isn't anything to hunt if I even wanted to. [Damn, and they thought they'd be able to get away with it.]

I've been hunting with Walkie Talkie once or twice. She's our lupus. [With a tinge of pride, because Walkie Talkie's awesome, and, look! They have a lupus in the pack! Totally know what they're doing.]

[There's a lot of things that she could respond to that, there's so much to unpack. In the end, she settles for:] Your lupus lives in the city and doesn't go out, too?

She goes up to the heath sometimes, but it's still within the city, so it's not the same as what you have. Oh, and she did get to spend half a year with a Black Fury sept, so she probably learnt some more then too. But she's great! We did our rites of passage together.

[She has heard about city lupus.

The pack used to have one, long before her time, and her Talon packmate said a thing or two about her. Some good things, but all in all what she's heard doesn't inspire much confidence in her that this lupus Rowan knows is actually 'great'. Just capable at times.]

So nobody in your pack can hunt properly?

[Walkie Talkie is the best, and Rowan won’t hear a word against her.]

We don’t have to hunt to survive, if that’s what you mean.

But can any of you hunt at all?

[How bad is Rowan really at this? Has really nobody taken the time to teach them?]

What about your Elders?

[Rowan scratches their cheek, thinking.] Well, one of them took us out to Epping Forest as cubs for the night so we could learn to use lupus form, but honestly we didn't do much learning. [Or really spend all that much time in lupus.] And our Master of the Rite is one of the other lupus', but honestly I've no idea if she can hunt or not.

[They shrug.] What would we hunt, anyway? No one wants to eat anything that lives in London.

...Because only humans live there?

[Well, humans and their pets. And pigeons. They could be hunting pigeons? She knows human children's hunting instincts seem to rear their head out of the instinct-less depths when confronted with pigeons.]

Nah, you get all kinds. Pigeons, rats, foxes. But if you're going to eat a London pigeon, you might as well just grab the next bin and pour that down your gob. Less effort, same amount of gross.

So city animals are as full of garbage as humans.

[Huh. Well. It does make sense; humans dictate the surroundings. So everyone living in those surroundings would be influenced by them.]

[R U D E

But also sadly true.]

What did you think they ate? [Literally rubbish, in this case.]

I prefer to not think about cities at all.

[And that includes the animals in them.]

Not at all? [That's such a weird way to be. Rowan is always wondering about the forests and the wilderness and what it'd be like to live there. They're pretty sure they'd never want to leave the city - not permanently, anyway, but the idea still seems exciting.]

There is no reason to.

[Regretfully, they exist. That's the most that there is to think about them.]

[Rowan tilts their head, confused by the reply.]

You're not curious about them at all? Have you ever been in one? Not this one, I mean, it barely counts. [It's such a foreign concept. They're well aware that some people aren't quite as nosy as they are, but surely everyone has at least some sort of drive to discover new things.]

They are loud, they stink, and they are riddled with Weaver and Wyrm.

[What's not to be disgusted by.]

[Yes, but that doesn't answer the question.]

So you have been to one, then?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject