Making a Pest of Himself at Lunchtime

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

If you come into the dining hall in the afternoon, you may be accosted by a hyper werewolf bearing a set of pamphlets. Ever since his meeting with Professor Shiyal, Less had been trying to drum up interest in his hunting trip through direct interactions with students. After a humorous hour of practicing his pitch in the dorm room, he had decided that maybe writing everything out would be a better idea. The pamphlets he eventually designed were poorly-spelled as usual but clearly stated his intentions to go out hunting for large game, probably deer.

For those who think they can avoid him, he had opted to stand right in front of the food.

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne walked into the dining hall intent on getting something to eat. Walking up to the food, she noticed Less, raised her hand, and said, "Hey Less, what are you doing?"

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

Less Than Beta waved back at her with his free hand. "I do not know how many people saw my bulletin, so I am talking to students personally. Do you want a pamphlet?" The latter sentence was asked with a wistful tone and the thrusting of a piece of paper in her direction. "We're going hunting in the forest."

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne took the pamphlet to look over it, but said, "Um. Well, I'm not a hunter. I don't know how to use any weapons to hunt. Plus it's not like I own any. And recently I had trouble in the forest, so I don't think it's a good idea at this time. Maybe in the future, though if you need help anything else I would be glad to help. I'm sorry that I couldn't go on the hunt with you, I would just be worried that I would cause problems if I went."

[Michelle Wilcox]

When Michelle came to the dining hall, she tried to shove Less out of the way so she could get something to eat.

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen was very hungry. She didn't eat much earlier and had her mind set on some good sphaghetti. She found Less talking to Mellianne and giving her a piece of paper.

"What's up?" she said to both of them, taking a sheet of paper out of Less' hand and reading it.

"Oh, goodness. More forest stuff. Sorry, Less. I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon." Kahlen gave a weak smile, remembering the trouble they almost got into. She wasn't keen on meeting up with the professor in the woods again, especially by surprise.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

"Hm? Did something happen there to both of you?" Less asked. He handed a pamphlet to the person who had shoved him without looking to see who it was. "You'll be okay, though; Professor Shiyal insisted that he meet with the group to make sure we know what to and what not to do. If there's anything really bad there, he'll tell us."

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Well, it's a long story," Kahlen said, making a face. "We were just inside the woods when a branch fell down, a weird noise was made, and Aurora ran away."

Kahlen folded the pamphlet and put it in her bag. "Besides, I'm not much on hunting, nor would I have any reason to go. Thanks for inviting me, though." She grinned and went to grab a tray.

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne blushed. "Um, well, the two of us plus Aurora are sorta the reasons that the new rule about needing to ask a teacher before going into the forest. So, I don't know about Aurora, but Kahlen and I are a little...jumpy I guess the word would be...when talking about the forest. Though I don't remember much of what happened." She smiled. "But when I get better at survival stuff and learn how to use a weapon, I might join you on a future hunt."

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

Less looked a little downcast. "Okay. I'll find some activities we can do later, then. Do you two like to make things?" He glanced about to look for anyone nearby he could foist a pamphlet on.

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne tapped her finger against her cheek. "I don't know, it depends on what kind of things you are talking about. Like making food, I'm not very good at it."

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen gave Mellianne a sidelong look. "You really were out of it, weren't you?"

Kahlen poked Mellianne. She walked over to the serving area and grabbed a plate of spaghetti and some tea. She returned and sat at the nearest table to where they were standing.

"Sure, Less, I like to make things," she said.

(I've changed the assumptions I made.)

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne shrugged. "Well, the backlash of my water sphere being destroyed made me extremely dizzy and gave me a horrible headache. I was lucky it wasn't worse, or I would have been out of it for much longer, maybe even fainting first. I'm glad I remember that night at all."

[Damien Griffiths]

Damien shuffled in, stifling a yawn. He hadn't slept very well thanks to odd sounds coming from the neighbouring room, even after he'd finished typing up a short essay late at night. On top of that, the weather was ever so slowly cooling down. He saw Less and the two girls, apparently with some kind of papers in his hands.

When he approached, and heard things about the forest, he remembered Less' invitation for a hunt on the Bulletin Board. Groggily he shuffled towards the group, waving at Less to notify him he was here.

"Hullo, people. You trying to scout people for your trip, Less? I saw the ad on the board. And no, before you ask, I'm not coming. I'm no hunter, and I don't think I'd like killing things. Especially with Verin in my suite to tell me I smell of blood afterwards." His cinical attitude was mostly due to lack of sleep, the rest being natural but usually kept in check.

"I'm just gonna grab some food, Something hot to wake me up good." He smiled a bit, seeing Les' slightly sad face. " 'M sorry, really. I think there'll be others who want to go, though." He hoped it would cheer him up, Less with a smile was a lot cuter than Less with a frown.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

Less sat down next to Kahlen, though he was careful to make sure he could easily jump up and accost any students who happened to come near. "Things like crafts. Awls, frames, weaves for drying or smoking racks. Usually we use bone, but there is a lot of wood here. Can you carve?"

He turned to wave at Damien. "Maybe we all can do other stuff afterward, then?"

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

((Sorry, Marie. I've gone back and fixed my post, if you want to fix yours.))

Kahlen finished chewing and cleared her throat. "Well, I like to do crafts things, but I have no experience with carving."

She didn't usually have much time for anything but dance back at home, but Kahlen used to do crafts as a kid. She felt rather bad for Less that no one wanted to go with him, but many of the students didn't seem to be the hunting type.

"I wouldn't mind learning, though, if you want to teach me," Kahlen said cheerfully.

[Damien Griffiths]

"Oh, sure. Fine with me." Damien trudged off to get something warm, preferably hot. Tea it was, and some chicken nuggets. Those were good. Food on a tray, he flopped down at the same table as the others and started slowly scarfing up his food, if such a thing were possible. People often seeing him in here might have noticed that he always got tea, and drank it way too early to be cool enough to drink quickly.

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne grabbed a hot dog, fries, a small plate of salad, and a chocolate bar than sat down on the other side of Kahlen. "Awls? What are those? And, I've never carved before, though if it doesn't require it to look fancy or anything like that, I should still be able to help with putting the other stuff together. Though you might want to ask someone where the best place to do that stuff would be."

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

"Carving's pretty fun as long as you're careful not to cut yourself. I haven't done any wood carving since wood's too valuable to let pups mess with, but it's not like we don't have a lot to practice on here. Just a second." Less got up to grab a bowl of soup and set it down in front of Damien, since the boy was acting sick. "Awls are tools used to put holes in leather so that strips of leather can be woven through them. They're fairly easy to make, so good for starting carvers."

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Sounds fun," Kahlen said, quickly swallowing a bit of her spaghetti. She hoped her habit of trying to talk while chewing wouldn't annoy anybody. As much as she tried to change this, she always was eating when she wanted to talk.

"I suppose your going to use what's left from the animals you hunt for the crafts?" Kahlen was under the impression that Less wouldn't waste any part of an animal.

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne hit the palm of her hand with a fist. "Ah. I've seen those before. I just didn't know the name of it. And what are you planning on making with the hides? Or are you going to what to see what kind of animals you kill first? Also, does your pack treat the hides to make sure they don't fall apart on you, or would that be hard to do where you live, and therefore don't do anything to the hides before making things with them?"

She didn't mean to sound nosey, she was just trying on planning ahead on what she would need to look up to help Less out. He was so cute, like a puppy, she couldn't help but want to help him out as much as possible.

[Aurora Lumina Robinson]

Aurora entered the dining hall late, idly rubbing a few spots under her dress where her cuts had been cleaned and bandaged. She had a sour expression since it hurt to move her left arm too far, which stretched the skin on her left side and disturbed the largest of the gashes she'd recieved in the forest. Not feeling particularly hungry, nor in the mood to carry a heavy tray, she lightly picked up a few items, sticking mostly to sweet fruits and a pudding cup.

"Hi!" she said as she joined the rest of the group. The sourness mostly disappeared when she saw everyone, replaced by her seemingly bottomless cheer. "Talking about Hide and Seek?"

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Hullo!" Kahlen said as Aurora joined them at the table. She noticed Aurora was moving a bit stiffly- probably as a result of the adventure in the woods.

"Feeling alright?" she asked. "Not really. We're talking about crafts."

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

"The parts will be split among the students who come, but if there's anything they don't want then I'll be using them as well. I'll be using the skin myself, of course; the main reason for the hunt is that I need to make some clothing that will stay on even if I shift forms." Less paused to waved at Aurora as she entered, then continued. "We usually just strip off any remaining flesh and fat and put it on a rack to dry. The latter is assisted by keeping the den warm with a fire. Silver girl, do you hunt at all?"

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne nodded. "I assumed that you would be splitting the parts from the paper. Though you might not get many takers for things beside meat, unless some of more...hmm, not sure how to describe them, but generally the human hunters will probably only want meat, the non-humans are more likely to take the other parts as well as want meat. And you should really ask a teacher where to take care of the rewards of the hunt, there are certain rules on where fires are allowed, and I do not know them."

[Aurora Lumina Robinson]

"Oh, I'm Aurora. I guess I never got to tell you my name, I'm sorry." She blushed cutely. The initial moment of embarrassment over, she contemplated Less' question. She tried to recall where she'd heard the word 'hunt' used before. She'd had a Mrs. Hunt in her elementary school, but the most obvious application was her mother telling her that she would need to leave and never talk to her again, or her father would hunt her down. Her mother had been very sad at the time, so she hadn't pressed the issue, but she never learned exactly what it was. But it was obvious that only bad people did it.

"Of course I don't hunt, silly." Her thoughts right after were about why Less would ask her that. Maybe he thought she was a bad person? "Why would you ask me that?"

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

"Not a lot of people seem to want to go with me..." Less muttered to himself. "I'm Less Than Beta of the East Tundra pack." He handed her a pamphlet as he greeted her. Feel free to laugh at the spelling and grammar errors at your leisure. "I'm planning a hunting trip in the forest in a couple of days, and I need other people to help with it. We're probably going to be going after deer."

[Aurora Lumina Robinson]

What? "Why are you hunting a deer? Did it do something wrong?"

[Damien Griffiths]

Damien was... mildly surprised when he saw the bowl of soup put down in front of him. He raised an eyebrow to Less, inquiring why he was getting soup he didn't need. "I'm just a bit tired. I really don't feel like soup, Less. I don't even like the stuff."

All the talk of hunting reminded him of an unfortunate event, when he was about eight years old, and had stalked the neighbour's cat and more or less devoured it. Having a digestive system that could process everything flammable under a few thousand degrees wasn't the best circumstance to teach a child what not to eat.

On the other hand, he had to resist snickering at Aurora's apparent ignorance of some things.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

"I need a large piece of animal skin for a project, and deer's the most likely prey due to availability and ease of the hunt. Moose and bear would be too dangerous, especially for people new at hunting." Less took a moment to grab himself some fish sticks and some mashed potatoes loaded with butter. "Anyone who helps will get a share. I daresay some of the students could use some better food than this muscle meat they serve us." Like any good predator, Less considered organs to be much more valuable than muscle.

Twisting around to face Damien, he added, "It's good to eat a lot when you're tired, but okay. Don't wear yourself out too much."