ralliesprotests | Ainmhian IC Inbox

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?

More than one.

[Rowan is a little disbelieving, but decides to let it lie this time. There's no point in fighting her over it.]

Well, anyway, in that case you should have noticed that it's not exactly great hunting grounds. There're parks, but they're still covered in CCTV and shit, and there's always humans around. We could go out of the city, but it takes a couple of hours to get somewhere out enough to actually go hunting, so why should we? Most of us work some sort of job, the sept's almost self reliant on it's own property, and it's less messy to go down and buy what we need.

So yeah, probably none of us can hunt to your standards. We'd all be willing to learn, though. [Rowan would, anyway, and since they're most likely the only one Silent's going to be stuck with, they might as well make a good impression. And maybe learn some new skills too!]

[...there's not much to say to that. Rowan does have a point. And also: It will probably be harder than teaching a cub to hunt, but she got this? Hopefully.]

You should have enough sex to get lupus form back.

[Because while she can teach him how to hunt in glabro, even homid... lupus is just so very much superior.]

[Okay, Rowan's sex positive, and extremely open about it, but they would have least tried to be slightly less utilitarian about it.]

And if I do, you'll teach me? [They go for the easy option, the eager question, rather than trying to explain to the lupus that they can't just jump into bed with everyone. Gives them time to figure out how to phrase it, anyway.}

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