Since the pups had been born, Ghoul had been spending a surplus of time in the willows. Cricket insisting the den be dug beneath a willow tree, he couldn't say to the girl. Her wide eyes and little wagging tail melted his nearly nonexistent heart every time. And because of this new home, he was forced to listen to the scurry of squirrels running around. Back and forth, up and down, not a single care that there were wolves living beneath them. Their constant chattering was like nails being dug into his ear drums. Having had enough of the commotion, he set out to get rid of the little vermin. With his new companion clinging to his coat, he searched the grove for a younger willow. Their branches would be more pliable than the older willows with stiff boughs. Near the outskirts of the grove, his search was complete. "Help me cut some of the thinner branches," he instructs the loris who holds a sharpened stone in one of its hands. Though the animal is slow, she is diligent and thorough. Moving from his back, up his neck and over his head, she hangs onto the thin branches. Slicing a few them of them until they separate and drop to the ground. "Good, I think we can use these," Ghoul comments with a smile as the loris makes her way back to her position on his back.

1/3 - Craft a trap
0/3 - Hunt an animal with crafted trap

Marrow

Marrow had yet to decide how she felt about the summer's this far south. The heat was sweltering but at least her pale coat helped to reflect some of the sun. Even so, she soon found herself needing a retreat and she about shouted the Spirit's praises when she saw a forest up ahead. Marrow ducked beneath the cool, shady branches and flopped down on the grass. Her stomach growled. Her scavenging had yielded few results in the more arid parts of Boreas. Running low on energy also made it difficult to nail a successful hunt. What a pain… maybe if she just rested…

Chittering caught her attention and she looked up to see some angry squirrels. Oh for fucks sake…. grumbling to herself she got up to move, soon hearing a voice up ahead. Curious she wandered over to see a pale male and his companion doing something with willow branches. Oooo were they making something? "Hello, there. What brings you out this way? Gathering crafting supplies?"

Ghoul is inspecting the slim and pliable branches as the loris begins to peel off the larger off shoots and leaves. They would need the branches to be unnoticeable once they were setup or they would never work. Busy tinkering away, he senses someone approach. Protectively moving his body to protect the companion that looks up at him with wide eyes, he turns to look over his shoulder at the stranger. Once he sees that she isn't ready to attack him, his fur smooths and his shortened tail even wiggles a few times in the grass. "My family and I reside in this area. You?" Ghoul answers simply, ruby gaze lingering on the young girl for a moment before turning back to the task. He lifts a paw and points at a branch with some missed leaves. "My loris and I are gathering some tree limb ends to use for some squirrel traps," he lifts his gaze to motion his muzzle toward the trees around them. From this distance, their chittering is loud and frequent. "Figured they would make for a good snack and might shut up if they see a few fellow squirrels dead," Ghoul's lips turn up slightly into a dark smirk before he moves his gaze back to the loris who is holding up another piece for him to inspect. "If you'd like, you can help. Once the pieces are cleaned up, they need to be soaked for a bit so the ends can be fashioned together easier," he points a another paw toward the stream that trickles a few feet away.

2/3 - Craft a trap
0/3 - Hunt an animal with crafted trap

Marrow

The pale man explained that he and his family lived in this area and when he asked about her she shook her head. "I don't live anywhere, was just passing through. Looking for a nap and maybe a snack." Marrow's eyes flitted up to the chattering squirrels that were denying both her need for a nap as well as making themselves properly available for snackage. The man mentioned he was gathering limbs for squirrel traps and her eyes lit up at the idea. A trap?

She grinned as he offered to let her help. "Oh, I'd love to!" She eagerly snatched up a thin limb, looking between what the loris had done and her own untouched branch. With her sharp claws she began sheering off the leaves and extra little branches. "Do you do lots of traps? Do they work pretty well?" The wheels in her head were turning. If she could craft traps that would ease the burden of hunting as a lone wolf and maybe she wouldn't have to keep enduring these bouts of long hunger. "Have you ever used one to catch larger prey? Like prey that would be hard to take down by yourself?"

He nods in acknowledgement of her comment. Loners were not uncommon in the lands across Boreas - some of his own siblings were considered the same. Could he make that better for them though? Could he provide a home like his mother had? Thoughts like these pass through his mind as he helps the girl, ah... Her name! "I'm Ghoul, and you?" His ruby eyes settle on her as she excitedly helps his companion strip the spindly limbs of their branches and knobby ends. Once all the limbs are soaked and prepared, he hands one end carefully to his loris and holds the middle firmly so she can tie the ends together in such a way that if an animal were to get stuck on it, the loop would tighten the more they struggle. An ear turns to the girl in the meanwhile as she asks questions about hunting and traps. "I wouldn't say I do lots, but I have done them in the past. If they're done correctly, traps are effective tools if you don't want to run," he hands another piece to the loris so she can tie it while handing the finished piece to the girl so she can inspect how it's been tied. "Larger prey trap take more work. I've successful used pitfall traps which are good for one or two larger prey, but they take a lot of effort and time, more than running after them. I've also done snares. If those are done right, they're not as much effort and you can catch quite a few if you're lucky," Ghoul thinks on it a moment, trying to remember what all he's done. "I don't believe I've done much else in the way of traps, but I've heard that if you can weave a basket a certain way, you can catch fish with it," his shoulders shrug as he helps his companion finish a few more squirrel loops. "Ready to try these out?" Ghoul questions, nodding his muzzle over toward a log that had clear signs of squirrel recently.

3/3 - Craft a trap
0/3 - Hunt an animal with crafted trap

Marrow

Marrow continued to work on stripping the smaller branches and leaves off the main one. She was starting to get into a rhythm, using her paws to hold the stick down she'd turn her head and use her teeth to snip off the smaller branches. Then she'd roll the stick and do the next site, working til she had the whole thing clean. As she worked she listened to the man, Ghoul, explain his experience with traps. He stated that he hadn't done a lot of them but that he'd had success with pitfall traps for larger prey, as well as snares.

His companion handed her the finished trap to inspect and she eagerly, yet delicately took it, looking it over and trying to make a mental map of it so she could try and make her own later. He asked if she was ready to try it out and she nodded eagerly. "Yes, let's get one of those little bastards."

Ghoul finds the girl's enthusiasm humorous. They were just squirrels after all, but she was young so he could understand. He had been an excited youngster once too (not that he was ancient old either, but we get the point). Leaving his companion in the tree to sleep or munch on leaves, Ghoul grabs the snares and moves over to the log that the squirrels used frequently. For now, the rodents appeared to be hiding or elsewhere which was fine. It would take time for them to setup and get to a hiding spot anyway. "You'll want to pay attention to where you notice their claw marks," Ghoul starts as he points his nose toward the bark of the log. "It's best to attach the snare to a stem so there is something sturdy to hold the squirrels in place," he begins to position one of the snares against a branch. "And placing it where you know the squirrels will run will make it easier to catch them faster," he adds on as he completes fastening a snare to the log. "The idea is that the snare blends in with the surrounding log that they don't see it and it is just big enough enough for their head to fit through but not the rest so as they keep running, it'll hang them," Ghoul says as he sticks a toe through the snare to motion how it will catch the squirrels.

3/3 - Craft a trap
1/3 - Hunt an animal with crafted trap

Marrow

Marrow trotted along after Ghoul as he grabbed the traps and meandered over to a large log. He set the traps down and began to explain what she should look for when setting the traps. She nodded as she listened, eager to soak in the information so that she could lay traps of her own later on. Marrow took one of the traps and also tried to position it on the log, near where a hole existed on the side of it. She watched Ghoul as he worked and then tried to mimic his movements and process.

"Makes sense," she stated as he explained how it was going to work. She hoped that by having it near an opening where the squirrels might naturally seek to hide they might be more likely to run through as they were chasing each other. Unless there was going to be bait of some kind. "There, how's that?"