Wild Rye Fields the run and go

For @Reyes only - was given permission to start the RE <3

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RE - Reyes, you stumble upon a baby bird that has fallen from its nest...
{ or, in this case, two baby birds <3 }

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It was cool that the Rye territory went all the way to the forest line. The forest here didn't seem to be as paludal as Hearthwood's territory, but it was still nice to see trees. She walked along the scent line, peering out into the treeline to check if she could see anything interesting going on. The golden fields were nice and all, but there wasn't all that much to see, unlike the woods. She missed her pack badly, but as time went on, she became more and more scared that she would be in trouble if she returned.

Maybe Inna would be so mad. Maybe Uncle Cloud would scold her. Maybe Ayti wouldn't play anymore.

What if they never even let her back in? What if Theo hated her and didn't even want her anymore? What if everybody forgot she even existed? What if, what if, what if...

Her breathing picked up, on the verge of panicking, when she was snapped out of it by an odd little noise. Small chirps and squeaks sounded from just on the treeline, and Ris' silver eyes flicked over toward the sounds. It sounded like a bird, but a tiny one. Maybe birds had babies like wolves did? Maybe it was a puppy bird.

The tawny girl calmed her breathing before padding over to where she'd heard the noises, which shushed when she began moving. It wasn't hard to find the little, gray, feathery thing. The bird puppy was laying pitifully on the ground, trembling and tiny. Too small to use its wings and fly up in the air like the bigger - noisier - birds.

Risaela didn't hesitate much before lowering her head to nose at the bundle of feathers. It made no noise under her touch, and she frowned slightly. It appeared that she and the bird puppy were in the same boat - lost and away from their families. Pity rose in her stomach and she crouched down over the shaky baby, giving its head a few soft licks to groom its feathers. It didn't move away - it was likely very injured, though she didn't think of that - and instead just lay there, trembling as the girl tried to help it.

For anyone who was wondering, Reyes definitely wasn’t sulking – but it was a damn near thing. He still patrolled the borders; something smelled a little off there, though the large wolf wasn’t certain if it was because Inna and Lorcan had been hanging around the borders like buzzards around a wolf’s kill, but frankly, he couldn’t bring himself to care enough to venture out. The run that had run into Lachesis had done him some good, but…

Until things were settled with Askan…

The wolf huffed softly, forcing the thought from mind as he turned in and away from his patrol. While Reyes wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to do with his time just then, he was certain he’d find something…it just happened a little quicker than he might have imagined. He came upon a puppy, quickly realizing it one of Jessie’s litter, and might have considered letting her be had he not also noticed the little grey fuzz balls she was poking at. Silver eyes widened and the large wolf trotted over. “Don’t put that in your mouth!” he rumbled – shit, she could choke, trying to eat something like that.

And, well, frankly, he didn’t want to see a baby bird get eaten either, but Reyes wasn’t about to say so out loud.

REYES | Dead man walking.

The child was too wrapped up in her job to groom the bird puppy's feathers to notice that someone else was in the immediate vicinity. Except for when he spoke, of course. The tawny pup spun around quickly, moonstone eyes widening as she tilted her head up to meet the gaze of the newcomer. They widened further when she noticed their color - almost an exact mirrored image of her own. She had never seen another wolf with silver eyes like hers, and it struck her speechless for a heartbeat or two.

But then she blinked and shook her head, deciding to first address why he'd barked at her in the first place. "N-n-not in mah-mouth." Because she was just trying to care for the little thing - she wasn't going to eat it or anything like that. That'd be super, duper mean! "Need-a he-help it. You he-help?" The pup didn't really wait for a response before she turned back to the baby bird and licked gently at the feathers on its back.

Now she could focus on the fact that his eyes were the same color as her own. "W-w-we-we ha-ave sa-same eyes!" she chirped, offering the black wolf a genuine grin from over the bird puppy's back.

“Good.”

At least some of these kids had their wits about them. Which wasn’t to say any of them were dumb, not specifically, but hell – he had to wonder what Cottongrass was like when he was no more than a little cotton ball. Shit, Reyes might have put a baby bird in his mouth at that age. Adventure knew no bounds, and his poor mother had her paws full. And Risa, well… Yeah.

The gamma plopped his thick haunches down near the girl and the birds, watching as she licked one of the little grey creatures. He might have commented, but the girl had changed topics dramatically, commenting on his eyes of all things. He snorted, raising one brow as he stared down at the pup. “Guess so, chica. Moon eyes, Mama called ‘em.” His tail thumped once before he glanced back to the pair of fallen birds, giving them a considering look. Now that no one was touching them, they were waddling around, and-- Well, they actually looked pretty okay. Their feathers looked okay. Nothing was sticking out at weird angles. Might have fallen, but clearly didn’t land too hard. And the time was right…

“…think the birds are okay, kiddo. Learnin’ to fly, an’ all that. They fall a few times first. They’ll get up, though.”

REYES | Dead man walking.

'Moon eyes, Mama called 'em.' Ris had to wonder, for just a moment, if her mother would have had a specific name for the color of her eyes. Maybe she would've called them moon eyes, too, in time. Maybe something completely different. But Ris could get where the big wolf was coming from - his eyes, especially, looked like moonlight. They were quite pretty, but the child didn't think he'd want to be called pretty, so she didn't voice that particular thought. Instead, she just smiled and let her own tail thump lightly on the ground, copying the dark wolf without much subtlety.

"Firs-first moon wolf I-I seen," she tried to articulate, in an attempt to get him to understand why she'd brought up the topic of eyes. That she had thought she was the only wolf on earth with her specific eyes - that it made her feel alienated, though she had no way of knowing how on earth to tell him that. It seemed like most wolves on earth had green eyes, in her opinion, so it was nice to see someone else with silver orbs.

The man assured her that the bird puppies were fine, and that they were learning to fly. Which made sense, because adult birds flew all over the place, and their puppies probably would have to do that someday, too. The silver pup bounced to the other side of the birds so that she was facing Reyes, and dropped her chest to the ground in order to survey the chicks closer. "Bird p-puppies 'kay," she said, testing out the words on her tongue as she glanced up from her position on the ground to meet the older wolfs eyes. Her tail swayed a bit, and her cheeks squished with a grin.

"I R-Rissy," she introduced, having never formally met this guy before. He seemed nice enough, though.

Moon wolf.

He kinda liked that. Sounded a lot more poetic that what he’d said. Sounded like something his mother would say, honestly. So he hummed, agreeing silently, and hoped the young pup could pick up on some of the more subtle, unspoken language. Talking just for the sake of filling up empty air wasn’t really his strong suit.

Thankfully, the girl seemed to be pretty interested in the fledglings. Reyes briefly wondered if they belonged to Party Owl (and if that really was Party Owl who’d made a botched attempt to scalp him earlier in the season) – they were pretty big, as far as baby birds went, but he’d never actually seen an owl chick before. “Hm? Oh, yeah. I’m Reyes. Rey-es. But you can call me Rey if y’want.”

Given the girl’s stutter, he wasn’t sure if two syllables was too much to ask. Wasn’t like he minded the nickname, anyways. His tail continued to sway behind him as he watched the girl. She wasn’t so bad. “You wanna keep watchin’ ‘em? Not sure they’re gonna fly with us here. Stage fright, and all that,” he chuckled softly, leaning down to boop her shoulder blades gently with his big black nose.

REYES | Dead man walking.