anything but dry

For @Tesla.

October 19th; Afternoon; Light rain; 46° F/8° C

An ideal afternoon for the five-month-old cub that was Sköll Archer consisted of mud, rain, and a sky full of clouds. For most of the summer the sun beat down on him with a warmth that easily sapped his energy; and, as the seasons had begun to change and the rain had started to come down in never-ending sheets, the young prince found that he had a preference for cooler weather. Though, a part of him did suspect that his affinity for the cold and damp had sprung up from discovering the delight that came from playing in the mud the first time he wandered outside of the den by himself.

Choosing to keep moderately close to Angier and Elettra's markers, the gangly boy made his own path through the willows, his paws stamping about in the drenched grass and sending droplets of rain and silt into the air. If the boy had not been using his eyes, he could have sworn that he was treading along a nearby shoal; though, as much as he knew, the only body of water he was aware of was Heartleaf Creek - which he and his siblings had been instructed numerous times to stay away from. Sköll smirked to himself. He never knew why the adults stressed themselves so much over him and his whereabouts... At least he generally kept well away from the creek, and that alone should have made them grateful for the level of vigilance he generally kept when adventuring on his own.

Today, the Archer was on yet another mission: instead of snuffling about for something to play with, he was searching for something to bring back to his mother. Something that would make her proud to have a son like him.

His leathery black nose lowered into the grass but with a shake of his head and neck, he had to let out a snort to rid his facial features of the water that had intruded his ears and nostrils. Righting his skull he wandered along through the yellowing grasses that, after several miles, rolled into the vast expanse of land that was Hush Meadow. It was quiet here aside from the gentle swaying of the trees and the rhythm of rainfall, and the boy also discovered that he was... comfortable with it all. His ghost gray eyes swept across the panorama that laid before him, his nostrils flared and the chill in the air invigorated him to push onward. Angier had recently educated him about the uses of hellebore and if he was to make himself useful to his mother and the pack, he should think about gathering a few sprigs of it. One good glimpse of a wilted specimen had been enough to motivate him.

Starting to search around once more, his tail went up in the air as his head went down, sweeping across the blades of grass while trying to pick out the scent of what could be a withering hellebore stalk.

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

• i suck<3

There was not enough grass in this meadow to calm his stomach. His nerves had gotten the best of him these past few days, and his blood pressure rose dangerously whenever he caught that scent on the breeze. When his courage rose he would pace along the edge of the border, his sense of entitlement drawing him ever nearer. But then a breeze would role by and he would find himself reluctant and his eloquence lacking. I'll try again tomorrow, he told himself as he took a step back, his head dipping low to the ground as he quickly scrambled back to the safety of the unmarked lands surrounding the ridge.

But many tomorrows had come and gone and still his plans were not yet good enough, not ripe enough. He was doubtful and he was scared of his doubt, though that much was hidden from him by the eclipsing shadow of his ego. So instead he just wondered at his indigestion and convinced himself that he thought best when there was something he could chew on. He would have preferred meat, but the rain had driven most of the creatures inside. He wished he could be inside. He laid his head down in the soft mud, and his ears fell backwards... and then one forward again. He heard something. Some whispering grasses in the gentle rain.

Just as he picked his head up, though, he saw the flash of a tail and it's accompanying rump as a young wolf wandered right by him, intent on something. Tesla stood up, perplexed by this behavior and overfull of anxiety. "Oi!" he barked, hoping to grab the kid's attention. "You!"

activity may be unreliable as i am in the middle of finals

Look Out!

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +7 Health

Two harsh barks in the form of words made the boy's head shoot straight up from the drenched grass in confusion. Who or what was that? His nose scrunched up and his head canted to one side, spying a moderately-sized man to his right. The youth took a step to the side, turned all the way around, and sized him up. An ugly sneer, his now characteristic facial expression, was quick to mar his usually cunning facial expression.

"WHAT?!" he spat back, his hackles starting to rise at the base of his neck. With the way Sköll perceived things right off the bat, this rogue - this peasant - had no right to address him in such a way. He snorted in disgust, eyeing up the tawny brute from his muddy paws all the way up to gray-masked face and dark ears. If anything, the man should have had the decency to say "excuse me" or "young man, stop!"

Without even waiting very long, he barked at the man, seemingly both mocking and mimicking him. "Oi, what?! Oi, yourself!" He was careful to pronounce his words properly; he was dependent on his enunciation skills now more than ever to make him every inch the prince he believed himself to be. "Didn't your mother ever teach you how to speak?" he hastily questioned, his soot-black chest puffing up in self-regard. "I am a prince, Sir, and you ought to address me like one."

The plume at his back, while it had initially waved in curiosity, had grown still. His white lips lifting ever so slightly the more he stared his caller. Didn't the brute ever think to realize that he had been in the middle of a very important mission? "What do you want?" he tried again. "My time is precious."

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away