Oak Tree Bend King of Fools

@Vera

It had only been a short amount of time that he had been in the pack but Florence was already beginning to like the lands in which the pack lived in. The floor beneath his feet at the moment, was bathed in a soft moss with the gloominess of thunder clouds threatening over head, warning Florence to find shelter in the den soon otherwise he would become drenched. Florence considered this for a moment but he was quickly distracted by a voice calling out to him head lifting from studying the moss at his feet to see Vera's pristine tail darting around the angular stones of the new den. Chuckling softly at his Scout's excitement of exploring their new home, Florence lumbered towards her location with the intent to see just what had gained her attention and see what she wanted to show him.

Rounding on the corner he had seen her go around, he was perplexed for a moment to see she wasn't in sight. Had she actually gone into the den when he wasn't looking? Normally he was quite keen sighted, in order to spot injures others were hiding or finding difficult to find herbs.

He soon found out that she hadn't gone into the den. Quite the opposite actually, as a great cry was heard and a small body landed on his shoulders, its weight setting comfortably on his back. Letting out a breathy laugh at what his friend had done, he turned his head to look at her from the corner of his amber eyes. "A great war cry Nix Delibo and had I been a rabbit, I surely would be dead from it's ferocity." It was something Vera liked to do, getting on his back because she liked the height and smirking at others whenever they saw the oddity of the small white woman on top of the large dark male. She must have found a spot of the den she could scramble up in time for her to leap off it and then land on his shoulders, because there was no way she could get up from the ground.

(This post was last modified: Jul 19, 2014, 10:44 AM by Florence.)

The diminutive ivory she-wolf had been exploring her new home, and with her explorations she had found out that she could scramble up the angular rocks where the main den was dug and look from a high height at Oak Tree Bend territory. It was breathtaking, seeing it from so high up, rather than her usual low-to-the-ground view. She had noticed the gathering of dark clouds above, marring the beautiful blue sky with their dark, heavy masses. Maybe there would be a huge storm later on?

“Florence!” Vera yelled out when she saw his large dark form near the den, his head lifted up into the air. Darting towards the den, she leaped up onto the rocks and climbed her way to the top, crawling to the edge where she could look down at him. She had to stifle a giggle at his baffled expression at not finding her there, and before he could look up and see her she dived from the edge with a fierce battle cry, landing squarely on his broad and muscled shoulders.

She heard him laugh as he turned his head to look at him, an amused twinkle in his orange eyes. He knew that she loved to sit atop his shoulders and look down from the great height, smirking at anyone who stared at them quizzically. It was an interesting to see: a tiny white woman sitting on top of a large black man, just walking around leisurely as if it was a common thing for them, which it was. A bark of laughter burst forth from her ivory muzzle at his compliment. “Yes, the rabbit would have been slain instantly, but you, my big bad Fero, are a much harder target to slay, though I could have if I had chosen to do so.” Grinning widely at him, she playfully batted at his ears with her paw, loving the feel of the fuzzy fur beneath her paw pads. The clouds above were long forgotten in her sudden burst of playfulness as she sat up straight, waiting for him to start moving around so she could see everything from her new vantage point.

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At her bark of laughter and her comment that he was much harder then to kill then a rabbit but it was still viable made his chest rumble much like the faint noises that were happening in the distance. "But you would not do such a thing. You like using my height to your advantage far too much." And use his height she did. Along with liking to sit on his shoulders and her fondness of siting between his legs when he was standing, Vera like to 'fight' his tail, nipping at it and growling. She also liked to cuddle up to him when sleeping.

Moving forward with long strides, Florence glances up to he sky and thinks they have enough time to explore a little more, to Vera's everlasting delight. Vera loved to explore news things more then anything, expect for perhaps his company. Florence's face softened at the memories of her growling defiantly at other wolves if they so much as looked in his directions, her jealously and paranoia turning into a fierce protection that had grown from their prolonged exposure together. Most of the time, Florence didn't mind as long as no one was hurt. But more often the not, Vera would take a kind gesture as something else and he would have to grab her by the scruff of the neck and hold her until she calmed down, much like father trying to calm a pup.

But Florence understood, often glaring over Vera's head when he felt another wolf was being too overboard in expressing themselves to Vera or if they were too close for his liking. Due to his size, they always backed down.

Vera giggled. Yes, he was right, she couldn’t slay him for any reason. The height that she could use, the warmth of his fur and his enticing tail was too much to give up for the joys of slaying him like she would a rabbit. That didn’t mean she didn’t imagine it though. “You know me too well,” she said, making a funny face at him while poking her tongue out cheekily.

As soon as Florence started to move, her ears pricked up and her tail swung circles as she gazed upon the land from her newfound height on top of his shoulders. It was amazing, looking down at the ground from so far up, and she couldn’t believe how her larger companion could deal with being so tall and have so much distance between his face and the soil. Not that she was afraid of heights, no, not at all, but she was so used to being close to the ground that seeing it from so high up was something new for her.

She was silent for a few minutes as she sat atop Florence, scrutinizing the forest floor for anything interesting or useful, like a strange looking stick or a herb that he could use. An excited bark escaped from her maw when she saw a bush with green leaves, white and yellow flowers and red berries. She knew that bark could be used to help relieve cold symptoms, and the berries helped for toothaches, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember what it was called.

“Over there by the mound of dirt, the white and yellow flowered bush with red berries on it, ah, I can’t remember the name of it, but we can store that with all of your other herbs!” Vera woofed enthusiastically, steering Florence in the direction of the bush.

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"It is skunkbush Vera," He reminded her kindly, smiling as she directed him towards the bush by jumping up and down on his shoulders. She often forgot the name of things, in her excitement to get her words out, and so Florence often was left to guess what she meant with them. He did not mind though, in fact he thoroughly enjoyed trying to guess what she was trying to get across, sometimes teasing her for her fast words and faster brain. ”And yes, we can store it with my other herbs. Or even make a small cache nearby.” It was always ‘we’, with the two of them. It was never simply ‘me’ or ‘I’ when they were together, which they almost always were anyway. On their journey, many had thought them strange to a great degree, the small, tenacious white she-wolf with a quick tongue and quicker temper friends with the large, lumbering he-wolf who was often thought dumb because he was large and hardly spoke, leaving the words for Vera instead.

Oh but how quick Vera was always to defend her friends’ ‘slowness’, snapping at wolves who so much as implied that her dear friend was dumb when in fact he was quite smart. Florence often had to pick her up by the scruff so she wouldn’t bite them and wait till she had calmed down enough before putting her back down. No wolves they meet after such an incident ever claimed against Florence’s brain capacity again.

Rolling his shoulders, the healer in training tilted his head to glance back at her in question. It was a simple gesture, a silent ask if she wanted to go to ground while he studied the plant closer. He honestly didn’t mind having her up there, her weight barely a nuisance to him but it occasionally made it hard to manoeuvre with her up there.

(This post was last modified: Jul 19, 2014, 01:09 PM by Florence.)

She mentally face palmed at Florence’s reminder of the herbs name – she repeated it in her mind until she was sure to not forget it again, scrunching her nose as she did so. It annoyed her to a great extent when she forget things like what an herb was called or where something important was, or even the name of another, but it couldn’t be helped. Her mind was just a whirling mass of colour and took a while to process everything completely. Unlike her larger companion who could practically memorize anything instantly, that was one talent of his that she wished she had.

Vera nodded enthusiastically as he spoke. “So if we’re ever raided we will always have an extra supply of herbs!” Her jaws were open in a wide grin; she always loved to overcome possible future challenges, even if they would never happen, but it was mainly just working with Florence that made her so happy. To be with him was the greatest thing even, and when apart from him for long periods of time it was like she was ripped in half, unable to function at full capacity as she was not fully there. They were like one being in two different bodies, and worked best together.

Lost in thought, it took her a few moments to realize that her larger companion was silently asking her if she wanted down, and with a sheepish grin she elegantly (at least in her mind it was) slipped down from his shoulders down onto the damp earth, excitedly nosing the herb… Skunkbush. It was an odd name, but then again it did smell bitter, especially when the leaves were crushed. She glanced back at Florence, a curious look on her dainty face. “How much of it do we need?”

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There is a moose carcass that has been scavenged by coyotes nearby. +15 Health

Florence chuckled at Vera’s farfetched idea about being raided by other wolves or animals. He waited patiently for her to get off his shoulders, not minding it took her a few moments to realise his silent question was there at all. The thought of ever leaving her or her leaving him behind forever pained him slightly as she slipped of his shoulders, as it always happened when her slight weight left his shoulders. To be parted from her whenever she had to do her duties and he could not follow…

”Well, I was thinking we could leave it as is and put the cache nearby. If the bush is well looked after, we can have an unlimited supply of the berries which we can also use to plant and grow other bushes for the bark.” It was some of the most words one would ever hear from the quiet man but it got his idea across. Not to mention distracted him from his thoughts”We could use it as a marker for the cache too, so it will be easy to remember where it is. Though we should take some back with us, for the pack…” Beginning to mumble under his breathe, trying to figure out just how much they would need to take back to the pack while still leaving enough on the bush to promote more growth and spreading of its seed by birds and other animals.

Pacing nearby, he soon found a good stop to dig a cache. A small rock, half set in the dirt was quickly worked out of the ground and the hole it left easily deepened. The rock would serve as a secondary reminder of where the cache was, after the skunkbush. ”Vera? Could you bring over a few twigs from around the bush?” He asked absentmindedly as he dug the hole. A few twigs could be used to hide the cache, instead of filling it over the top.

(This post was last modified: Jul 19, 2014, 01:47 PM by Florence.)

Vera nodded and brined at her larger companion’s wise words. He was always the one to come up with the brilliant ideas whereas she added small details here and there that he may have forgotten in the larger picture. It was a solid plan, leaving the bush so it could continue growing and harvest the berries when they came in season, while also letting birds spread the seeds so more could crop up around the place, essentially giving them an almost unlimited supply of it. The bush was especially useful during and right after winter when wolves were more likely to catch colds, and having a large supply on hand was better than having to brave the weather and go search for it.

The diminutive ivory she-wolf had been nosing around the area, searching the immediate foliage for any traces of further Skunkbushes around, but her examination was stopped when Florence idly asked if she could give him a few twigs that were around the bush. Snapping to attention she darted towards the base of the bush and snuffled in the dirt, appearing a few seconds later and proudly holding the mouthful of twigs she had found, quickly bounding over to her larger companion and setting them beside him as he dug a hole for the cache.

While watching him dig the hole, she looked around, almost dreamily, as she waited for him to finish. But when her eyes landed on a moose carcass nearby her ears and tail shot right up and she pranced enthusiastically over to it. The smell of coyotes was all over the scavenged carcass, but they had left enough to feed a fair amount of wolves. “Hey Florence!” She called out. “Once we finish the cache and grab some of the berries and bark, should we also take this moose carcass back to camp?”

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Once the hole was finished and Vera had brought the twigs he had requested, Florence lifted his head up to glance around for some other herbs that he could place in the cache. But he was distracted by Vera exclaiming that there was a moose carcass and bounding over to the carcass of the dead animal. ”Yes, we should.” He rumbled softly, eyeing the carcass and wondering how they could take it back. It would be easiest if Vera took the berries and bark while he dragged the carcass back for the rest of the pack. But he couldn’t assume anything, for Vera liked to be stubborn and knowing her, she might want to help with dragging the carcass back to show she wasn’t some weak little wolf.

”Do you want to grab some of the berries and bark Nix Delibo?” As he stepped towards the carcass, he spotted another skunkbush and a small smile found its way onto his maw. This one wasn’t as berry heavy as the other, its white and yellow flowers swaying lightly in a small breeze that came through. It would do well to have so many of the bushes around, as colds were common and toothaches were not something that was pleasant. The breeze also carried the smell of rain coming, reminding him to look up and see the dark clouds had not dissipated. Instead, they had grown darker and looking like they were ready to drop a large amount of water on their head in any moment. ”We should hurry. The storm is coming in quicker than anticipated. Grab the berries and bark and I will get the carcass.” An order on his tongue was foreign to Florence but it didn’t mean he couldn’t give them. He simply didn’t like the look of the colours in the clouds above, they warned of a possible hail storm if they weren’t careful. Leaning down to grab the leg of the moose, Florence begun to drag it back towards the den where the pack could feast on it.