Rasha had gotten well and better and now that their mother had backed off just a bit- probably more due to the frustration of of Rasha exceedingly throwing themself at death's door- Rasha was free to finally roam more of the pack. They were a little shy by nature and hadn't really made any headway into making many friends. It was easy to be overlooked when being smaller than a porcupine.

They were able, however, to learn to compensate for their small size by finding creative ways to hunt. Today was one of those days. Rasha had started to gather supplies: sticks, stones, some makeshift grassy rope and some of strips of animal hide and fur- all crudely made and spun. There was bait, which was really just harvested seeds and berries where Rasha could find them. It was rudimentary and simple, a first or third attempt, not well practiced nor well learned. Her paws were coated with fresh soil and her paws damp with sweat from the effort.

Rasha had plotted out and followed prey, mostly unnoticeable or not considered a threat due to her size. She picked out a path and a spot for the trap. She was careful to clean off and mud up to at least mask the wolf smell as best as she could- which even at her best wasn't very good yet and consisted of a few herbs stamped into mud. She had all the parts, now her brain worked over the how and the when. She had a notion of dusk, which gave her some time before she needed to be setup and out of the way. She had the where nailed down to a common rabbit trail she had found through the grass. Her best idea so far was to do some sort of bait and snatch. But she would need to be able to make a trap that could snatch up a rabbit, but not her in the process... if only she had some help.

WC:334

The days seemed to pass slower and slower lately. Ivy didn't know what was up with that, but all he could really do was... his best? Or something like that. How long had it been since he'd seen mom? He was starting to miss Alfrún more and more as the days went by. It was also getting harder to sleep without here there, singing them off at night. Ivy hung onto the words he could remember, and clutched the melodies tight to his chest. The boy would learn in time that she really wasn't returning, but for now? It was less that he didn't know, and more that he didn't understand. How do you explain death to a child?

It wasn't a bad day to wander away from his siblings. Really, Ivy wanted to get out and explore, and see more. Heck, maybe he could even pester Álarr to take him out to find more herbs. Anything to have something to do. The hot summer days were just too frickin' sleepy! The issue with getting uncle Álarr to take him out, though, came from finding him. Grumbling to himself, Ivy wandered through the Knolls. Why were adults so busy? Frickin' boring. The young child wanted to explore.

It wasn't long before the small girl caught Ivy's eye. Her colors were bright, like some of his siblings... but she wasn't one of them. This wasn't a girl he'd seen before, and Ivy was massively mis-judging their age. No, she was more put together, not all floppy paws and weird angles. The blue lad made to close the gap between them, watching her curiously. Was she... building something? With an awkward, lolloping trot he approached her, staring somewhat openly at what she'd created. "What're you doin'?" The boy questioned, though his tone wasn't necessarily accusatory. Ivy was wildly curious, and he couldn't help himself.

"Speech"

WC: 312
Total: 646

Another wolf- no wait that was actually just a pup and not a full grown wolf, despite their proximity to Rasha's size- lolled over and asked what she was doing. She shushed him quickly, quietly and tossed him a look that wasn't unkind. "I'm working on building a thing to catch animals. It's too hot to be running around after them and I'm not really big enough to take down a whole lot on my own." She looked over the path, double checking that the line matched up. "You see, over there is where animals like to run up, so they've stomped down the grass. I'm hoping they use this trail today."

Rasha moved towards the trap- or rather where the trap would be eventually- motioning for the other to stay back for the simple reason that he hadn't masked his scent over and then for sure the animals would smell him and all run off before Rasha could catch anything. "So I'm gonna put something here and when the rabbit or whatever comes to nibble it, a trap will snatch it up, or crush it or something, then I can eat it." Rasha made her way to the other wolf, not sure if her idea was coming across clear or not. Even to a pup, she hadn't ever had much company, so she was kind of just monologuing like she was used to doing alone. "Problem is, it's kinda hard to do yourself and I don't wanna snatch myself up or crush me or something."

Rasha gave the other wolf a keen eye-over. He was a pup, yes, but he could still help in some capacity, she thought. "If you wanna help, go rub some mud and stuff on you so the other animals can't smell you. I'll give you some of the food if it works out in the end."

TWC: 958

She shushed him, and Ivy's brow furrowed. Okay, okay, no the gaze that she gave with the look made more sense. Ivy took a singular, slow step forward. She was building something to catch animals-- oh, to catch prey! It was like hunting but easier. Her plan was coming together before Ivy's eyes, and he nodded once. Okay, that seemed to make sense. The girl with the spacey fur wanted him to wait, so Ivy would. He peered carefully at her, watching as she worked. Rabbits were fast, but maybe one would come to nibble from the trap. A rabbit, a hare, something that size seemed like it would work. Still, Rasha didn't want to smoosh herself in the whole setting up process, and Ivy nodded. Getting smooshed would probably make the whole being a wolf thing a lot harder, if he had to guess.

"D'you think it'll work if something bigger comes to do the nibbling? I 'unno like a deer or a sheep?" Ivy was concerned. It wasn't a combative question, simply one that came as he considered the predicament they could potentially be in. Still, her offer seemed like a fair one. If he helped, she would share the catch-- sure. Ivy didn't have anything better to do, and hiding his scent was something that had never even crossed his mind when it came to hunting. Maybe that was why he sucked so much at catching birds. He'd have to keep that in mind for later.

The pup bounded to the nearest muddy puddle, careful not to make too much noise. No, wouldn't want to throw off Rasha's plan before it even started. Vigorously he rolled in it, coating his blue and black coat densely in mud, catching sticks and other assorted foliage in the thicker bits of his pelt. Ehh, nothing that wouldn't wash out with a swim... probably. With his tail wagging, Ivy returned to his compatriot. "A'ight, how can I help?" His gaze was keen, voice holding a confidential sort of tone as he approached. Right, wouldn't want to make too much noise and scare away any potential prey.

"Ivy"

WC: 355
Total: 1313

The young pup watched as she made her trap and after a while of watching quietly, asked if it would work if something bigger came to eat. Rasha gave her trap a critical look for several moments, humming in thought to herself. Finally, she turned to the pup, "No," she said with finality. "They'd just break it probably."

The other then went and rolled in the mud before bounding- quiet bounding- back over and asking how he could help. Rasha nodded, and went to the brush to pull out a sort of poorly made basket. She'd tried to weave it with some grasses, but many snapped more than they bended around each other, so none of the wefts were even and the basket had nobby bits sticking out here and there at irregular intervals like an animal with too many elbows. Still, for lack of thumbs and better awareness, she brandished it proudly to the navy pup, "This is a basket. We'll prop it up, I think, and put some food under it... and when an animal comes we... unprop it up somehow... without getting too close." Rasha hadn't sorted out all the details yet, but they could burn that bridge when they got to it. She went back in and grabbed the small amount of roots and berries from the orchard. "This is the bait. There's not a lot, so hopefully deers and stuff will decide it's not worth it." Rasha dumped the food into the basket where several fell out through the gaps, but she pedaled the makings of the contraption over to The Spot and got ready. "Okay so if you can find a big stick and prop this up with me, I'll put the food under it and we can wait."

WC: 295
TWC: 1608