Winter proved to be her least favorite season very quickly.

Spiderlily forged through a snow drift with flagging enthusiasm, feeling her lungs protest her every motion. It was a special kind of awful, but she was damn hungry. And, well, she wasn’t about to ask any of her siblings to go out and find food for her. Or any pack member, at that. She was proving something to herself, forcing herself through the snow to find a snack.

She squinted against the bright white, eyes desperately trying to pick a shape from her surroundings. Nothing, not that she could pick up, and her nose was too clogged to catch any sort of scent. The slender adolescent let out a snotty ugh that drew out into an aggrieved whine as she flopped onto her haunches. It wouldn’t hurt to catch her breath, right?

Skill: Seer 1/5

Where the fuck did all of these kids keep coming from?

Okay, maybe being the weird hermit living in the mountains has backfired. Maybe avoiding people isn't super good for him. He's been talking to himself more and more, consulting the bones and the spirits whenever possible, to the point where he's spending more time outside the packlands than in. He's been quiet, too quiet, and he's fairly sure he's fallen out of everyone's minds. It might be easier that way, honestly, to disappear and be forgotten.

Maybe then he'd stop being such a fucking disappointment.

But moping aside, whose child is this? He supposes it's... one of the people he talked to like twice. Fuck. Names elude him. But she's out here, blowing snot bubbles in the snow, and he holds back his disgust. "The Five help those that seek it," he calls as he keeps his distance, somewhat. If she's got a cold, he doesn't want it. "And I hope you're not seeking trouble. The demons answer to that readily."

Her tongue slithered from between her teeth to curve over her nose, a probably gross attempt to stop its consistent flow. Spiderlily stared at her own legs in a mix of anger and loathing, willing her body to just work with her for once.

One of her ears twitched at the voice rising from nearby, but never too close. Her head swung, catching the stranger’s gaze before she looked ahead again.

I’m trying to find something to eat. Not trouble. Or demons. Her voice rose in a slightly raspy tone, the dark coated teen rising to her feet with a flick of her tipped tail.

I want to catch something. It was spoken like a challenge, as if daring the man to stop her from trying. A tickle bubbled in her throat, and she forced it down with a swallow.

She's definitely a mess, but Dimitri figures condescending to her is going to get him screamed at. Instead, he decides to keep speaking to her as if nothing is wrong, as if she's not a gross pile of snot right now. "Ah, so a very straight-forward task." He stretches, not drawing closer in the slightest.

"Have you any idea of what you seek?" This girl should be big enough to at least catch a rabbit. A deer... Then he might have to get involved.

Spiderlily watches him. She watches his eyes, watches the way he looks at her, and she feels a burble in her chest that tastes like frustration. Everyone looks at her like that. Like a dying baby animal, no matter how much they say they don’t. She wants to spit, but doesn’t.

Anything I can run down. She says after a moment of eyeballing, swallowing down that thing that tastes like resentment of everything.

I’ll take a shrew at this point. Its half mumbled, as she’s steadily turning away to start her slog through the snow once again.

Skill: Hunter 2/5

Dimitri nods, glancing at her legs. She's small, runty even, and given her age and inexperience, he ought to help her against something greater. Instead he glances out across the land. "Stamina is one of the gifts the Five give us," he says. "All you need to do is run longer than the target can. And prey animals don't have that much energy." He stands, stretching. "Wolves also hunt as a unit. Larger prey needs teamwork. How would you like to take down a deer?" He gives her a slight smile. Hopefully this could be encouragement for this girl he doesn't know well. Given the bitterness in her voice, it seems like she needs it.

"I can teach you the secret, and then you can tell your siblings how you did most of the work."

She nods. Of course, the Five gifts them stamina. Not her, for some strange reason, they’d gifted her a body that never quite wanted to work, and told her to deal with it. She sniffles wetly, ducking behind a leg to cough at the phlegm in her throat.

He offers a deer. She chokes, briefly, on her own spit and stares past her leg in disbelief. That was..

You’re serious? It erupts from Spiderlily’s lips before she can stop it. Never before has anybody asked to hunt more than shrews with her, not that she’s ever asked in return. She’s too sick most of the time. A ferocious grin breaks across her features.

If you’re serious, then hell yeah. Don’t tell her dad she’d cussed, though.

"Of course I'm serious," he says casually, lifting out his hind leg in a long stretch. "You seem like you can handle it. Like, that's just a cold, right?" Or allergies or something... "I mean, your jaws work. And that's you really need. The deer we hunt are the ones that are already injured or sick or old. You just gotta be patient and smart about it." He gestures with his head for her to follow, then heads off towards a deeper part of the woods. "And this time of year? Bucks will just be done with rut. There's bound to be some still injured from their fights."

He remembers learning this himself ages ago. It's one of the few wolfy things he's good at-- killing deer is slightly different from killing people, since most of them don't talk. "The plan is simple. We approach from behind. We go for the legs. Deer aren't good at kicking, but they're nasty at headbutting. If you stay behind, it's easy to wear them down. It's all strategy. You understand?" He can already pick up the trail of a deer, but will this one be a good target? He's not sure.

Spiderlily bobbed her head in an overeager manner, almost knocking her own damn self over when the exuberance knocked her equilibrium off.

Yeah, just a cold. That’s totally all it was, she was sure. She could absolutely hunt a deer, could show to her family that they could worry less about her, could let her go it alone more often without the worry that she’d keel over somehow. Courage licked at her chest like flames, and she trudged along behind Dimitri, doggedly listening to every word.

Stay behind. Go for the legs. Don’t get headbutted. Got it. She repeats, gaze focused. She can’t smell right now, or really ever, but she can see damn well enough to make up for it in her eyes. And if she couldn’t, well, she wasn’t going to tell this adult who was going to let her hunt a deer with him that she couldn’t smell anything. That was a weenie move, and she wasn’t a weenie.

Rolling 1d20: 12
Success

Dimitri nods and leads her deeper into the territory. The girl's got spirit; he's sure she'll be great at this one day. And if she messes up? Well, he's gonna encourage her. He's doing great at this "try to be a member of the pack" shit! He's getting a good grade in being a friend to his packmates! This might make up for the drug-induced isolation he's been under, trying to get his demons under control!

His tracking isn't the greatest, but they're good enough to see hoofprints in the snow. He leans down and smells the trail. "Fresh enough." He nods and leads her along the path, and sure enough, they eventually catch sight of the old buck with a broken antler and a massive gouge in his shoulder. Dimitri keeps low, whispering just loud enough for Spiderlily to hear.

"I'm going to circle towards that way. You stay here and wait. When you see me in position, that's when we lunge. It'll probably be a chase, so be ready to run." He nods and starts slinking towards the other edge of the buck.