Heiress Loch five second rule

@Serach
RE: Spieden, you eat something that gives you a stomach ache.

Despite the darkness of the forest, the thick canopy of the copse blocking out the noon sun, something on the ground right in her path stuck out enough to catch Spieden's eye. She wasn't even sure what it was before she scooped the small, stinking, fuzzy heap into her maw. Cracking the bones and brittle skin with her molars it was down her gullet in one swift motion, before anyone would even have a chance to take it from her. It was the second nature of a scavenger, learned from living with those who would take from her, which she hadn't yet unprogrammed now that she was living amongst those more civilized, who allowed her to plenty enough to eat. She wasn't starving, far from it as evidenced by her rounded sides, and the aftertaste of whatever rotting critter she had just eaten lingered in her mouth to remind her of her bad decision.

The foul taste unfortunately wasn't the only curse of whatever it was that she had eaten. As she kept walking, her stomach seemed to be twisting itself into knots as it tried to decide if what she had stuck into it was actually food or not. She thought that if she kept ignoring it, it might go away, but with each step the pain increased. Her stride shrank to a scuffle, which turned to a crawl. Eventually it hurt enough that she just stopped and laid down, panting and hoping that no one had seen any of that. While she was afraid a cougar might find her in such a state and decide that she looked like an easy target, she equally didn't want to go crawling back to the pack and have them think she looked like an easy target as well.

I'm so sorry, I didn't get the alert for this. >.< @Spieden

Serach had avoided heading south of Oak Tree Bend's territory ever since his uncle @Ruiko had found him making a fool of himself in the mud. His uncle had told him that nothing lived in the mires and swamps of this part of Relic Lore, but every once in a while, Serach found himself looking south and wondering just what lay beyond the murky mosses. So when he discovered Spieden's scent trail where she had passed through the borders and headed south, he couldn't help but let curiosity get the better of him. Was there something that she knew that he didn't about what lived down there? With only a second's glance to look around and ensure that Ruiko wasn't watching him, he decided to follow.

She didn't make it as south as he had, but he still found the bare trees eerie. Fall was supposed to be a time of brilliant autumn colors, but there was little of that here. The longer he ran, the more anxious he got, and more than once, he seriously considered turning around and just asking Spieden what she was doing when she returned. But even as he debated with himself about turning back, he continued on, the scent of his pack mate growing stronger with every step until she herself came into view.

At first, he wasn't entirely sure it was her. Her dark fur blended well into the mossy ground, but the scent in the air and on the ground didn't lie. What was she doing? "Spieden?" he called out tentatively. Slowing to a walk, he cautiously took a few steps towards her. "What are you doing?"

Intent on keeping her stomach contents down -- a decision she was steadily starting to reconsider -- Spieden didn't notice the soft sound of paws padding towards her. She groaned and pressed her chin into the cool earth as a distraction from her inner grumblings, and was completely caught off guard when a voice called her name. The voice was cautious, but she was still alarmed by it's unexpected proximity.

Immediately Spieden leapt to her feet at a speed surprising given her size, whirling in an ungraceful pirouette to face whoever it was. Nervously glancing over the wolf, she quickly recognized them. Serach, one of the pack's yearlings. He didn't look like he meant her any harm, but she couldn't help shrinking back as he moved closer. He asked her what she was doing, and her mind spun as she tried to figure out if it were some sort of trap. Perhaps she wasn't supposed to be over here, or maybe lying on the ground. Perhaps it was ridiculous to think that someone might have a rule about where someone could be, or what they were allowed to do there, but it wouldn't have been the only ridiculous rule she'd ever heard.

A few quiet moments followed as she stared at Serach, normally fiery eyes a bit unfocused and glossy from the roiling in her gut. "Nothing. I wasn't doing anything," She breathlessly huffed after realizing he probably wanted an answer. "Am I not supposed to be out here?" She asked, a crease of worry on her brow joining her distracted expression.

"Whoa!" The boy yelped and stumbled backwards as Spieden jumped to her feet in a hurry. Serach's yellow eyes grew wide and he stared at her, not sure what to do next. She had backed away from him, and while his instinct was to move closer, her alarm had set him on edge. So instead, the two pack mates stared at one another. The older wolf was the first to break the silence, her response causing Serach to tilt his head to the side in confusion. "Whaa?" he tripped over his question, his lips moving silently as he struggled to find the words. "Whaddya mean? I don't care, you can go wherever you want to. My uncle @Ruiko told me I shouldn't come here, but I think he just hates the mud." Realizing that he was babbling, the yearling shut up. Why in the world would she think she wasn't allowed to be here? Besides, pretty sure Triell would send somebody more important than me to tell her if that was the case. Shaking his head, he continued to look at her queerly.

Now he had followed Spieden here because he had found her scent trail. He had been focused on tracking her, but now that he had found her, his nose instinctively was taking in other scents around them. One in particular made his brow wrinkle. "Ya smell that?" he asked her. "I think something died." As a wolf, he had no qualms about scavenging, but this time, he was more than content to let that particular dead creature alone.

@Serach Oooops so sorry for the wait >.<

Just as much as he had surprised her, it seemed like she had done just the same to him. She stayed still as she waited for him to right himself, expecting some sort of retaliation that never came. She couldn't help the prickly feeling across her skin of hair standing on end, and tried to think back to her interaction with what must have been this boy's brother, Sceral. He had been polite, if not kind to her. Especially considering she had been rudely sticking her nose where it didn't belong at the time, inadvertently intruding on a memorial of their deceased mother. Maybe his sibling would be equally forgiving.

Mud? Spieden winced, not bothering to check so that she wouldn't call attention to it, but suddenly noticing the muck that was clinging to the fur along her elbows and belly. Too caught up by the war raging in her belly, she hadn't paid any attention to just where it was she was laying down. She was trying to remember which one uncle Ruiko was, and hoping that whoever he was, he wouldn't mind her bringing home some of the aforementioned mud.

"Hrmm," She grunted, glancing around as if she were actually looking for the off stench. It was all a ruse, though, since she knew exactly where that awful thing was. "Yeah, now that you mention it, the smell is giving me a stomach ache..." She half-lied.

Serach's brow continued to furrow, his lips pulled back in a look of disgust. It was too late for him now, he glumly realized. That smell wasn't going to go away for quite some time. He doubted shoving his nose into a bunch of flowers would override the powerful smell, even if there were still flowers in bloom this time of year. It wasn't all in his head either, Spieden seemed equally disturbed and at the mention of the onset of a stomachache, the youth's eyes grew wide. It was bad enough that this place smelled bad, but he had no desire to want to deal with his pack mate's vomit either. "Well if you're going to be sick, don't do it on me," he half instructed, half pleaded.

Instinct was telling Serach that it was time to go home, but curiosity was nagging at him. He had smelled a skunk once, when he was younger, but this was so much worse. Frankly, he wanted to know what it was, if only so he would avoid it in the future. Gingerly, the boy lowered his head to the ground, careful not to outright stick it into the mud. Sniffing, he began to move back and forth, stopping only to ensure that he was on the right track. "What do you think it is?" he called back to his pack mate. "I want to find it, so I don't ever have to find it again."

Before he could move on, though, his senses lit up like a scoreboard. Suspiciously, he narrowed his eyes and took a cautious step towards her. He should have noticed immediately - the smell was strongest when he was close to her.

xD I'm sorry Spieden is such a gross pig! Also probably don't read this while you're eating lunch

Spieden grimaced at Serach's request that she not barf on him. She hadn't been planning on it, but if he kept poking and prodding about looking for the stupid thing, she might seriously consider it just to get him to buzz off. She grew increasingly anxious as he sniffed about in the mud for the smell. Problem was, he'd never find it that way. Well, at least not with the vile thing "safely" hidden from discovery in her stomach, he wouldn't. She had no idea what compelled him to look for it, but she was determined that he would never find out. She would never be able to live down the shame of it. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like her innocent charade would last for much longer.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked, suddenly alarmed as he rounded towards her, his suspicion evident. She leaned back as if to put as much distance between him and the awful reek she was emanating. Spieden began to speak with increasing irritation, with her tail lashing to and fro above her back. "What, do you think I have it? Why in the world would I-" Suddenly, she stopped mid sentence. She gulped a few times, seemingly trying to keep down whatever it was. Then, unceremoniously, she released a horrific, noisy belch, unleashing a Pandora's box of stinky rotten stench.

He should have known when he first found @Spieden that something wasn't quite right. She had been acting kind of cagey and suspicious and the rotten smell was impossible to ignore, especially when he was close to her. Serach was not particularly surprised that she reacted defensively, but it only made his brow furrow and his eyes narrow even further. Nothing to hide? Not likely, he thought as he took another step towards her. His packmate's irritation with him was clear, but Serach was not going to let the issue drop. So he ignored her tail thrashing and continued to move closer even as she continued to pull back from him. "What'd —" he tried to speak over her, but the older woman's own sentence was interrupted by what was possibly the most disgusting belch that he had ever heard. His refusal to backdown came back to bite him in the nose right then. The stench invaded his nose mercilessly, causing the boy to nearly trip over himself as he stumbled backwards - anything to put distance between himself and his packmate. "URGGH" he yelped, skipping backwards over the ground, batting angrily at his face as if the smell was a physical thing he could fight away.

"DISGUSTING!" he yelled, his sides heaving as he gasped for a clean breath. "What's the matter with you? Is your nose broken or something?" he accused his packmate angrily, his suspicious stare now a full on glare. He could understand being hungry, but he couldn't imagine being so desperate as to scavenge what had surely been a mostly rotten carcass. That said far more about Serach's relatively sheltered life than it did about Spieden, but in that particular moment, he wasn't aware enough to realize it and have any sympathy for her.

@Serach If you'd like, you could wrap it up? :)

Spieden was absolutely mortified. Surrounded by a cloud of the evidence of her own poor decision it was as if even the universe was punishing her. As if that wasn't enough, not only was her cover blown, but she'd totally made a fool out of herself and had to face the revulsion of her packmate. A sheepish wince crossed her face, which quickly curled into a grimace as Serach angrily snapped at her. Even if it was disgusting, she didn't think she deserved to be yelled at by the boy. Her first instinct was to defensively lash out. But she knew better than to snap back at a packmate, and so she instead just shrank down upon herself. Maybe something in her was broken, but it probably wasn't her nose.

Her ears crumbled down against her neck as her grey flecked tail curled itself under her belly. "Maybe it is broken!" She grumbled with a dash of sarcasm. If she had feathers she would have ruffled them like an agitated bird. Instead, she clacked her teeth and glared right back at Serach. She tried to think of some sort of witty retort, but nothing came to mind. It was probably for the best, as it wouldn't do well for her to be seen getting into squabbles with a yearling. A few seconds drifted on as she continued to glare. Finally, she exhaled a huff and leapt out with a speed surprising given her large size. She quickly brushed past the yearling, dashing through the muck and leaving Serach behind with nothing but her rotten squirrel breath for company.

His lips curled back in disgust, Serach was not the kindest looking beast right that moment. That was not lost on Spieden, and with some amount of internal satisfaction, the yearling watched as she cowered. She was still defiant though, snapping and growling right back at him in turn. The foul smelling vomit she had expelled lay on the ground between them, both the visual and the smell causing Serach's own stomach to turn queasy. Even if her nose was broken, his certainly wasn't! Her sarcasm was not lost on him, and in response, he lashed his tail back and forth angrily. But there wasn't time for him to respond, and she didn't seem inclined to lash back out at him either. Instead, his packmate took to her feat and darted past him, skipping over the offending bodily excrement in the process. Too stunned at her abrupt departure to take after her immediately, the youth watched her go. Soon enough, he lost sight of her. Shaking his head in disgust, he wrinkled his nose one last time before setting off after her. Although not was he was initially expecting, he had found what he was looking for.