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So far, all that she knew about him was that he had a peculiar name. She'd never heard anything like it--but at the same time, it came off her tongue naturally. Tristan. She supposed that her own name was pretty odd...Ember Phoenix. Two fire-related words strung together. But she'd never really thought about it. Fatin had gotten her situated a few days before, and she'd spent some time looking around the packlands. Her favorite place was the fairy ring, the spot that the two of them had walked by in her first day as a pack member, so it was there that she sat now. Springtime was nearly over with, leading into summer, a season that she didn't care a whole lot for. She loved seeing color everywhere, in the trees, in the grass, and in the flowers...and Summer ruined it. Summer meant that spring was over, that fall would be coming, and then winter. She really, really didn't like winter. A butterfly landed on one of the flowers that made up parts of the ring, and she watched it with interest. Maybe she'd find out that she had a natural knack for hunting, that she was really good at it. She wanted to show her new pack that she could be dependable, and this was the first step of many. She crouched down, staring at the swallowtail, watching its wings flutter. It began to eat from the flower and she took her chance, pouncing at it...but too late. She tripped when she landed, ending up outside of the fairy ring, halfway on her back. The butterfly flew over her head, caught a breeze, and fluttered off into the trees.
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[html] Tristan was a summer child. Spring offered unpredictable temperatures and weather, and he was glad they were nearing the tail end of it. Summer, to him, had always been better. This was also due in part to the fact as a loner, as he had lived for years, the summer brought more food, better weather, and longer days. Now, though, he was all too certain that the freedom of those many lazy summer days would change. He had people to protect, like it or not, and he was a part of something bigger then himself.
A muffled burst of noise pulled the burgundy male from his solitude. He had been half-asleep in the dappled sunlight of the wood, but his eyes both opened in an instant. Tristan had long ago forgotten what true deep sleep was. Pushing himself up, shaking the loose dirt from his coat, he trailed the noise to a nearby source. Ember was laying on her back, looking rather surprised. “Are you all right?” [/html]
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She had wandered for a time, but Ember had known that she would always return back home. She couldn't stand being away from people for too long of a time. She had once dreamed of life as a loner, taking care of herself, not having anyone to have to answer to...but that notion had passed when she'd turned back toward Bleeding Souls and seen the smoke on the horizonline. She never should have left to begin with. The quiet female stayed on her back when Tristan came into her line of sight, her muzzle pointing in his direction so he could hear her. "Ah...Yes, sir--I guess so. I just feel sort of silly, I suppose." Now that he'd already seen her blunder she couldn't exactly hide it. At least, she thought that he'd seen it. She couldn't even catch a butterfly; how pathetic. "Auntie helped me find a den...but it'll take a little digging to make it into anything" The soil was nice and soft, though, so she didn't see any problems there. Ember rolled over onto her stomach, rising slowly, shaking some of the grass out of her gnarled pelt. "I wish I'd brought my things from the city here with me...I had a brush."
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[html] “You don’t need to call me sir,” he said gently, laughing on the inside about the title. He had been without one for so long that the concept was foreign and sounded odd. He had not spotted her blunder, nor would he have scolded her for such a thing. Tristan nodded slightly to her comment of digging a den, and then smiled a little at the mention of bringing things from the city. “There’s one nearby,” he explained. “We’ll go there sometime.” It was too soon for him to leave the packlands for very long. They weren’t strong enough for him to feel comfortable with that proposition.
“What were you doing anyhow?” He asked, cocking his head slightly. [/html]
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She hadn't known about the city. She thought to explore it herself, but a moment later Tristan extended an invitation to her. She was already nodding before he'd finished speaking, agreeing. It would probably be better for them to go together--safer. She'd heard that Inferni had regrouped, and who knew where the coyotes had made their claim. Hopefully it wasn't in the city. "Sometime real soon. I guess I could wash in the river, or in the ocean, though..." That was a good idea. She wasn't very good at shifting yet, and it still pained her sometimes...but she really wanted to be clean. And that was the only way that she would be able to get all the way clean. Some good, nutritious food would help with her coat, too--she was most definitely malnourished. When he asked her the question her ears flicked back for a moment. She didn't want to say. "Hunting."
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[html] Tristan didn’t know much of Inferni, only that his sister was bound to them. That much gave him hope the coyotes would keep distance from their pack, but he did not trust to hope. She wanted to clean off, and seemed not to know of the great lake he and Fatin had found when they first came here. By this point, the flowers would probably be in full bloom. Only at her embarrassment did his smile fade slightly, though it returned quickly. “Come with me,” he said, turning and starting off down a worn deer trail.
They walked for a little while in silence, before finally emerging into a clearing. Further below them an abundance of wildflowers dotted the landscape, framing a lake. Tristan trotted towards the shore at an easy pace, and gestured towards the water as he went in just beyond the height of his paws. [/html]
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Ember hoped that she hadn't made him uncomfortable. She wanted to look presentable, in case she ran into any other pack members. And she did want to look nice for Tristan, too. But she figured that he'd already seen her at her worst, so she wasn't in too big of a hurry to find a brush. Just whenever he had time. She started after him, coming upon the lake. It was warm enough that she felt she could swim in it without getting too cold. She could go all the way in. The girl approached the shore , testing the temperature of the water and stepping forward into it. A bit chillier than she had expected, but not too bad. She sank beneath the surface, rolling around underwater, over and over before she came back up for air. "It's nice! Now that I'm in, it feels a lot warmer" She knew that they were supposed to be hunting, but couldn't they have a little fun first?
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[html] He smiled at her antics, moving into the water himself. The cold didn’t bother him much, and he waded out until he couldn’t reach the bottom and pushed forward, paddling along. Tristan turned back and hit the shore, opting now to sit in the shallow area where the water reached halfway up to his chest. He shook off, causing his raw umber fur to stick up wildly before settling with the weight of the water. “I’ll start your lessons today,” he said, pale eyes lifting as a bird cut across the lake. “The first thing you must learn about hunting is that it is done for survival only—there is no reason to hunt for sport. Doing so is wasteful and threatens the population of prey as a whole.” [/html]
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She put her nose down into the water, blowing some bubbles. In Storm there had been a river, but she hadn't had the chance to visit it very often. A lot of her childhood seemed like a blur, a mix of nothing but sad memories. The only good times she'd really had was when she had been around her family. Family was very important to her. She dipped her head under the water, swimming toward the shore again. It felt better now that she was wet--nice to get the ash and soot out of her toes. She came to around the same area that he was at, not too deep. But it came up to her neck, rather than her shoulders because of her height. "There's not a lot out there? What about rabbits? I see them all over the place" Maybe overhunting would be bad, though. If there were no bunnies to make more bunnies. "Because they have to breed? What about fish? I don't know how many of those there are...how many I could eat. Probably a lot"
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[html] He could have understood what her childhood was, save for one simple fact—Tristan had, very early on, left his. It had not been for any reasons outside of his own, which were not driven by a fault in the family. Very simply, he had been tired of his life and wanted adventure. In time, he had grown weary of that life. Perhaps that was why, in respect, he had settled here. “Yes, they need to breed. Over hunting will destroy the balance,” he explained, turning his eyes back to her. “Besides, if you eat too much, you’ll grow fat and lazy. Then you won’t be of any use to anyone.” [/html]
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"I like to run...maybe I can run it all off..." She said, frowning. "I've never seen a fat wolf before. And fish don't really taste that good. Not good enough to eat them all the time. Pilot really liked fish, so we had it a lot back in Storm. Some parts are good, but when you hit the bad parts you swear that you never wanna see the stuff again" Ember nodded, her chin dipping into the water. "But we can hunt something on the land today. Just thinking about fish makes me feel kind of sick..." She started to get out of the water, shaking her fur out once she was on the shore.
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[html] Tristan snorted, frowning. He was not used to the arguments of a child, mostly due to the fact he had little experience with them. The fact she tried to prove a point he knew was false and still babble on about a history he did not care about was exasperating. Still, he was trying to do his job—and he had, after all, offered to try and help. “Then you’ve done nothing but waste food and energy,” he stated blandly, turning and heading out of the water. The rust-colored male shook out his fur and sighed. “We are not going to hunt today. You have to learn how to find your prey before you strike.” Taking a moment to eye the area around them, he sat down and stared evenly at his ward. “Tell me what you see.” [/html]
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She didn't want to wait...she wanted to hunt right now. She took a few eager steps forward before hearing his reprimand, and her ears went back in minor annoyance. What was the point of hunting lessons, if he wasn't going to teach her to hunt? Hunting involved a wolf and some prey...but they weren't going out looking for prey? It seemed pointless.
Ember was about to protest, but changed her mind just as her mouth was opening. He was already talking again. She came back over to him and flopped down onto the sand dejectedly, taking a glance around at the surroundings when he asked. "I see sand. And water. And some trees."
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