Armada provided lots of different materials for Wren to focus on, but she left the experts to their crafts. She worked on a trap to wrangle some game fowl, wishing she had bait of some kind to lure them in. It'd be a waiting game with no grains but she had dug around and found a few acorns underneath and near the trees. She barely had time to put it together when she sniffed, catching wind of the alpha's smell. He was coming closer. With her back to him, she leaned down and tried to hook catgut around a stick. It had worked a lot of times, and she would continue to use the trigger trap until it was phased out. "Sirius" she greeted him in passing, just in case he was walking by. He hadn't liked being called 'sir' but surely just his name was informal? He was their leader. What else would she call him? He was older than her too, so 'sir' seemed fine. Though maybe being reminded of his age was not the way to go either. She tried to keep alphas at arm's length these days, considering what had happened with her own. She was fine with it being a casual acquaintanceship. "she speaks" 1/3 craft snare 0/3 use snare (pheasant)

The Warlord took to scouting the woods with regularity. The heart of the pack was well protected, with the natural walls of the mountains looming around them. The woods in contrast were far more open to the world. With how new the Armada was, he felt it was important to keep a steady trail of his scent about the place. He had caught the scent of Wren, but he didn’t pinpoint her exact location until she called out to him. He moved through the trees and found her, a contraption of some sort before her. “Good morning, Wren” he responded as he came to a stop beside her and gave her an affectionate nudge to her side. “What are you building?” "Speech"

It felt odd to let another alpha nudge her in a friendly manner, after her pirate king. She felt a trickle of embarrassment, knowing her feelings for her old one were always going to be unresolved. Sirius, however, was older. Much much older, and she didn't look at him that way. He was sorta like... A father figure type, if she was being honest. But did her pirate king do the nudging because he had liked Wren? Or had it just been friendly? She moved on. "I'm making a snare to catch some prey" Wren replied to his question, gesturing to the catgut. She quickly told Sirius what she had told Basilisk and Gimli upon a time. The snare would snap the neck of the prey and catch it, suffocating it "I think pheasant are still here, so I'm hoping for one of those." Or did they migrate? She didn't really focus on game birds before. It was always fish this and fish that. She proceeded to wrap successfully, letting the stick touch the ground as she inspected her work so far. "she speaks" 2/3 craft snare 0/3 use snare (pheasant)

The Warlord didn’t often bother with smaller prey. Having a large pack to feed left him dictating his time to larger beasts any time he went hunting. But a pheasant would be a nice change of pace. “I wonder if you could modify it to catch them live.” He mused, more thinking out loud than anything else. “Your snare might be an easier way to catch prey for our pens when they are ready” he leaned forward and looked over her contraption, studying it as he considered what modifications might allow them to ensure something small like a pheasant without breaking their necks. Once he was done he leaned back again, giving her room to work. “Do you have a lot of experience making snares?” he asked. It was always good to know what his wolves skills were. "Speech"

"I already made a medium-sized pen for sheep, but I could later do the same for the small game" eggs were not nutritious to wolves, were they? She felt it odd to eat the eggs the birds lay, but she also was aware that the feathers and down were good for crafting and bedding. Alas, she had no experience to trap game birds live. She shook her head. "if you have a suggestion, I'm all ears. I was just going to pluck the feathers and down for my own bedding and give the meat to the cache." Dry it out, it'd keep longer than larger prey. That needed to be eaten right away usually. "Actually..." her face burned with embarrassment "I've never used traps before Boreas. I always hunted in groups, fished, or chased prey around. I don't think I like this new way but it yields better than other times" She finished making the trap and rose to all fours. She glanced around for a thick, less wolf-heavy scent area to place it. "she speaks" 3/3 craft snare 0/3 use snare (pheasant)

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“Go ahead, I was just thinking for the future” he explained, offering her an amused smile. He was always looking for ways to improve the Armada. He would likely play with her trap later if she let him. Looking for ways to modify it for live catching. If he planted some around the areas with the prey he was looking for, it might be a much easier way to live catch later. “Self taught? Even more impressive” he remarked as she explained how she used to go about it. A mixture of different tactics was useful, and it was good to hear she was versatile. When she got to her feet and started to look for a place to plant it, the Warlord pointed at a patch of grass. “Perhaps here?” he suggested "Speech"

Their alpha here, Wren turned back to him as she completed the trap. "If you've wolves to spare, I could use some help trapping a sheep or two?" The brunette didn't directly ask, since it was his choice whether to assist or not. She didn't know who was a good hunter or not in Armada. She literally kept to herself sometimes, venturing out to work like right now "but I can't take all the credit; I did see one wolf make a fish trap. But I haven't accomplished that yet... I prefer my paws to fish traps." She trailed off at his suggestion, giving a nod of approval. She approached and placed the trap before skirting back to Sirius. Making sure to cover her tracks and place acorns around the snare, she backed off. Now, like with countless other wolves, it was all about waiting to see what would happen next. Would she make a fool of herself in front of Sirius, or would she succeed in deeming herself worthy of being a Stalker? It wasn't like a Fisherman but also was. She was secretly pleased Armada's alpha was impressed with her skills. Maybe this would be a good thing down the road. Proving herself more, and all that. "she speaks" 3/3 craft snare 1/3 use snare (pheasant)

The Warlord considered her question as she placed her trap and made some effort to cover her tracks and bait it. He stepped back, giving her more room to work, before moving with her back to cover. They would hunch down and wait to see how the trap worked. The Warlord could see how this trap could be left unmanned as well, but biding his time allowed him to observe its workings. When he spoke next, it was in a hushed tone. “Take Mortis and Keahi” he decided. “If you haven’t met them yet, Mortis can be found in a tree house just to the north of the entrance into these woods.” He directed her, and then fell silent. She’d only need to find Mortis, he’d be able to introduce her to Keahi. "Speech"

She nodded. Her eyes were on the snare, the fluttering of wings causing her attention to drift and focus. Wren hunkered down against the earth, letting the snow swallow her up and hopefully give her cover. Sirius would be harder to hide. She had a fleeting thought of throwing him at the pheasant that came into view, pecking and scavenging. The thought was amusing. Sirius would easily flatten the bird. She withheld her snort of laughter, watching as the prey closed in on the acorns. She had tried to grind them and sprinkle the dust. She flung herself forward when she heard the snap of the snare. The pheasant struggled wildly in the brush. She closed the distance. Mortis had been talked with, but Keahi was someone new. She hoped they'd be able to help her with her task. But first, the pheasant. She needed it dead. "she speaks" 3/3 craft snare 2/3 use snare (pheasant)

Silence extended between them as they waited for the peasant to take the bait. The Warlord was settled into the grass, his great height hidden by his crouched position in the undergrowth. The companionable silence was easy for the Warlord as he watched the trap. The sound of scuffing and the click of bird talons against the grass announced the presence of the creature they hunted. The Warlord kept shallow breaths as he watched, and waited, until at last there was the [i] snap [i] that indicated the snare had been disturbed. The struggling pheasant could be seen above the grass as Wren raced from her hidden spot, and towards the prey. The Warlord followed at a slower pace, seeing how the creature wasn’t instantly killed. A little less pressure, and it might be perfect for his use. “A good day's work” he praised her. ‘Do you mind if I take your snare for a day?” "Speech"

The struggling bird met her teeth. Licking blood from her lips, along with a few feathers, Wren glanced at the alpha as he requested her snare. She shrugged. "You can take it" she unhooked the pheasant from the trap and brought it to Sirius, depositing it before him "I used some catgut I found on your land, so this is technically yours." She did not mind, considering she had used it in pursuit of hunting for the pack. And she also did not mind Sirius taking it for his own use. "I can always make more" she added, bending to pluck the pheasant from the earth "you can add it to the cache, so some else can use it!" she added brightly, flashing him a grin. Just make sure the wolf knew what they were doing, using it. She'd hate for it to break. At the end of the day, Sirius and Wren would part. She'd take her pheasant back and pluck it, placing its hardy and soft feathers in her den. If he used the snare for anything else, she didn't really care. But the man had expressed trapping live prey. /end "she speaks" 3/3 craft snare 3/3 use snare (pheasant)