Wild Cherry Orchard cause you’re here, you're watching me

RE: Some kind of blight seems to be affecting the berries of the lore; what is normally ripe this season is rotting dead on the branches and the ground.
AW! Late morning, broken clouds, 41F/5C

He had woken up earlier than usual, maybe an hour or so, but given that wolves don’t wear watches it was hard to tell exactly. He had done a quick border patrol and had tried to seek out @Vanadis but had been ultimately unsuccessful in that regard. They were about halfway through her pregnancy and had still yet to really work out the kinks of what was going on between them. It felt like they had fallen back into old routines but also felt awkward and wrong to not talk about things. But, he didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to break the fragile bubble they currently had.

All of these things had been heavy on his mind and maybe that’s why he had regressed to no longer sleeping well. Tossing and turning during his naps before giving up and trying to keep busy so his mind would go quiet. Today he had decided on what was ultimately just a fetch quest nobody had asked him to go on. He had remembered during her pregnancy with @Archer and @Eros how Vanadis had sometimes had a craving for cherries, and so he thought he might be able to surprise her with a batch in case her cravings might be the same.

Instead of the field blooming with the first crop (which were admittedly too tart for his taste until later in the warm months) he had wrinkled his nose in disgust. There were no cherries, at least no edible ones. Instead they hung from trees and littered the ground in various rates of decomposition. He couldn’t bring this home to her.

With his quest in the mountains completed, Jadon had begun to explore what was beyond. Additionally, with the weight and burden of his past finally removed, he was free to move on with his life and think about the future. The clear and obvious choice would be to settle somewhere. Perhaps to return to the cove and offer his assistance, if they would still have him.

However, Jay couldn’t deny a feeling, a pull towards something more.

There was so much land out here, and limitless possibilities. Did he really want to just settle for some pack, with an already established history and customs, if he could potentially be a part of building something new? Founding a pack would not be easy, but he was making new acquaintances. The possibility was there.

There was plenty of time to work on that, though. The weather was warming, summer would be upon them soon, and life would be easier. The warmer weather didn’t appear to have done some of the plant life any favors though, for the crop of berries he’d stumbled upon were.. definitely not edible.

He tried snuffling through the brush, searching for even a tiny bit that’d gone untouched, but so far, there was nothing. Only the stench of fruits in various states of decay. Unfortunate, but he would make a note of this place and try to return later.

Hope it's okay if I throw Jacy in here?

He knew he really shouldn't be out here wandering. The last time he left he'd taken forever to come home and worried everyone. He didn't mean to, and he didn't want to worry his mom again, but he couldn't help but let his paws carry him beyond their borders to find his dad. Even though Eros told him Vayko wanted to be gone, that he wasn't coming back... he had a hard time believing it. He needed his dad to tell him that to his face. Needed to know why.

Jacy didn't mean to follow Viorel, but when he came across his scent he did. He worried that another one of his family might be leaving him and he would be damned if he didn't get answers this time. He picked up his pace, determined to catch him, when he found the leader had stopped and was staring at a field of rotten berries. A little beyond him was another wolf snuffling through the growth. "What happened?" he asked his uncle as he came up next to him, eyeing the stranger even as he glanced at the downed fruit. His nose wrinkled.

"Speech" Thought

The leader had been thoroughly sniffing one of the nearby patches when a stranger entered the orchard. He gave the man a quick glance over, Male, alone, young , healthy, but not obviously aggressive and there was quite a bit of ground between them. The sale and pepper man gave a friendly woof to greet him, before turning his attention back towards the cherries.

Disgusting.

But the stranger, who Viorel lifted his gaze to look over on occasion - in case his first observation had been off - wasn’t the only one who had joined him. Looking towards his nephew who was rapidly approaching his first birthday and would become a full fledged member of the pack, he offered him an exaggerated grimace. Shaking his head he responded, ”I’m not sure, normally this time a year there is at least a few that can be eaten but this is vile.” But, he didn’t like to leave youths without an answer so looking across the field he called, ”Ever see them look like this before?” Maybe this other man was more educated in agriculture than he was.

Viorel had always been more brawn than brain - but he would never tell you that.

Somewhere else in the fields, Jay became aware of the presence of another. A scent carried by the wind that wasn’t rotting fruit, or a flash of dark fur at a distance that seemed to be engaged in the same search he was. Save a quick greeting, there was little else exchanged between them. And for now, the wanderer was content to let it be at that. He hoped perhaps he might find a patch of fruit, saved from whatever had afflicted them, which he could share with the stranger as a token of friendship or goodwill.

But he hadn’t any such luck. Then, from the corner of an eye, Jadon witnessed a second individual come into view, heading straight for the first stranger. He watched while trying to make it look like he wasn’t as the two greeted, and exchanged words.

Clearly, they seemed to know one another, which begged the question if they were part of a larger group. It came as a bit of a surprise though to hear a question posed, louder, like it was directed at him.

”No sir, I.. have not.” It felt odd to speak so loudly, to nearly shout at another, but the distance required it.

For a few moments, he considered approaching to a distance more suitable for conversing. However, Jadon couldn’t help feeling like he could be intruding, and would choose to change his path so that he could just quietly slip away and leave them to their business. Just in case the two had more important things to discuss than rotting fruit.


--Jay's exit ^^

(This post was last modified: May 07, 2024, 02:21 PM by Jadon.)

aww, Jayyy

Viorel was quick to explain the fruit was usually edible, that but Jacy could see no evidence of such. His nose remained wrinkled as he surveyed the land, and the stranger, who seemed taken aback by Viorel's posed question. Jacy's brow furrowed at the response and then swift exit. He looked to his uncle, confused.

"That was weird," he said, even though he had no experience with strangers beyond their borders. Not like this, anyway. He didn't think they'd been weird or anything. Maybe the smell was too much for him? Jacy was certainly tempted to follow his lead and go home.

The stranger answered quickly, and politely, and then almost immediately took his leave silently. Yellow eyes watched his path through the cherry orchard until he could no longer clearly see his form. He might have shrugged it off as the other wolf being antisocial until Jacynth said something - echoing his own sentiment.

Snorting out a laugh, the man nodded his head, ”Yeah, between the rotten fruit and whatever that was, there is a lot of weird going on here.” And he didn’t think that he liked it very much. Turning his attention back towards the decaying blooms, his muzzle wrinkled once more.

How was he supposed to bring something back to Vanadis if everything here was behaving so strangely? Wondering aloud he mused, ”Maybe we can find something that might be edible if we look hard enough.” He didn’t wait for his nephew to answer him before he began to stride forward, examining each tree closely before moving onto the next. So far this was a big bust. He really didn’t want to have to return to the pack territory without something to show for the trip.