Willow Ridge Itsy Bitsy

RE: Titan-You walked into a spider’s web. What’s that creepy-crawly feeling on your forehead?

After his earlier run in with Angier and Skoll, Titan was more determined to get answers out of somebody. Whether that somebody was Elettra or Angier the young silver hued wolf didn't care. He was ready to start his real training instead of being a simple herbalist. If Xetor wasn't going to help with anything and just keep shoeing him away from the medicine den then Titan would get permission from the leaders themselves to figure out who his teacher would be.

The dark wolf padded closer to the den hoping the packs second male wasn't around. The two dark males had gotten off on a rocky start, and things continued to be sliding downhill between them. However Titan continued to force himself to be good since there wasn't much a yearling could win against in an argument with an adult. Though he knew that he was fast approaching the size and experience that most adults had. Soon, he would have a real chance to prove his worth. Besides, he'd rather let @Skoll take out Tor. Maybe let him weaken the male first before he could have a go at him.

Sticking his head in the den, Titan wrinkled his nose as a tingly feeling flashed across his face. Pulling back to look at the giant spider web that he had just destroyed, Titan shook his fur to rid himself of the feeling. However, a giant foot long spider slides off his ruff and onto the ground. Titan jumps back and growls at the thing. Like hell he was going to let that thing wander off into the den. NOPE!

Pawing at the spider until it tried to gallop away, the dark Thorben chases it trying to pounce on the giant bug. It makes a clicking noise before trying to turn and attack him, but the heavy weight of the black wolf forces the arachnid to the ground before he mushes it completely into the earth. Sighing gratefully at the scary ass bug's death, Titan then pawed at its carcass before scenting the air once more for the second male.

Noting that Xetor wasn't around the den, Titan lifts his head to call for Angier and @Elettra. It was a short clipped call meant only for wolves who were close by to hear. Then once he was finished, Titan sits in place waiting for a reply so that he could meet the leaders half way if needed. His paws occasionally flick at the spider carcass as he wonders what in the hell he was going to do with it.

Learn from these streets, it can be bleak,
Accept no defeat, surrender retreat...

Elettra Archer felt so very restless as the days brought a bright light the showed of the brilliant colors of the foliage around them and as the nights brought a certain chill, shaking you up enough to allow you to know something much more harsh was on it's way. The Leader and the Mother felt she was as much prepared for winter's kiss as she could possibly be. As members rolled in to shield and protect themselves from the winter, Willow Ridge was strengthened, perhaps more strong now then it ever had been. At her command, she had both herbalists, scouts, guardians, hunters and teachers to her children - which all three of her youngest were growing quite largely and healthily. Though Elettra would scout her borders, search for herbs and take part in taking down small meals, it was mostly her members and her children which were her focus. With so many members and so many of them working hard, her main duty was to make sure they were doing their jobs and more importantly, then her youngest were cared for where her older litter was fully capable of caring for themselves and very obviously seemed to prefer it that way.

So when Titan's call nipped into the air within her general location, Elettra's response came quick with a low barking of her own in response that she was on her way. Already, at six months, both @Greer , @Castiel and @Deacon were nearly to par with the adults, if not some growing larger (like Castiel) and were well off at hunting a bit on their own. Though Elettra had intent to grab them something to further their practice with, she was content to stop this idea to meet Titan at the pack den. Her eyes from here would instantly shift to the large spider at his feet, her lip quivering. "Get rid of that." She grunts with an obvious disapproval to not only the creature's existence, but it being near her sleeping area, dead or not.

The sound of growls near the den should not have caught Sköll Archer's attention and it should not have actually made him abandon his little kickshaw of rabbit leg. He actually whisked it aside with a flick of his pitch black wrist; that was it. Done. Forgotten. Ears slicked back, eyes opened wide, tail held level with the length of his spine, head held low... he skulked through the willows, seeking cover wherever there were still leaves clinging to the ends of the branches. Only when he neared the den did he pick up on their presence. Titan's musk, along with a bi of scuffling and an unsavory crack of... something, and his mother's commonplace order of "Get rid of that."

The prince's interest piqued. Get rid of what?

His head peered around a tree not too far from where the two were standing. Nothing seemed too out of place, he found, as he stared to take note of how they were standing and what they could have been referring to. His ghost gray eyes had just finished looking over his mother's regal physique when his eyes landed on her paws then over to something dark on the ground that was neither attached to either wolf even apart of them. It was no meager snack either, but Sköll knew what spiders were, what they looked like, what they ate, but only a select few who could have possibly been scared of them.

What was surprising was the size of it. This one, whose leg span was an undoubtedly impressive length, was definitely one that he wanted to get a hold of, even if it was dead. That made it even better, with its spindly, stilt-like legs all curled inward all gross and grotesque. It was pleasantly disgusting.

He advanced forward as quietly as he could, trying hard to stick to places where he could maneuver about unheard and unseen. He was going to get that dead spider one way or another; he was sure of it. If only he could somehow snatch it while Titan and his mother weren't looking...

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

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

Titan hears Elettra's call just before batting at the dead spider once more. He really had no idea what to do with the thing. The only idea that came to mind was to bury the creature so that it wasn't out in the open for everybody tom see.

It wasn't long after that thought crossed his mind when Elettra appeared and grunted at the arachnid laying at the Thorben's giant black paws. Tossing his head in agreement, Titan then pauses in uncertainty. Where does she want me to put it? He wonders while looking over the shiny exoskeleton of the spider with curious eyes.

"So uhhh.. Where do you want me to... dispose of it?" Titan asked the regal before his nose catches a whiff of scent from another Archer lurking not too far away. Not reacting to Skoll's smell at all, Titan simply waited for Elettra's command before kicking the spider away from the den. It landed with a "thunk" as the hard parts of its shell hit some stones in the earth.

"Also... I didn't call you about this thing." Titan said quickly hoping that the leader wasn't too busy to stay with him. "I wanted to ask you about some healing practices. Or if you're busy then maybe ask about someone who could help me." Titan asked while looking towards the den and allowing his black banner to wave in a slow low friendly gesture. The dark wolf could only hope for the renowned healer could teach him herself.

She was uncertain, her nose wrinkling as she did her best to think up a few different ideas... Set it outside her borders for someone else problem? Throw it in the creek for the waters to take it? Bury it? It was a lot of effort over a spider and as Titan finally kicked it off to the side, her head rose, following it and thus, catching the newly scent of her son and passing of his shadow. "Skoll." The name snapped from her jaws as she then caught sight of him from the corner of her gaze. "Take it - and do what you want with it, but leave me and Angier out of it." His slinking about into the dead creature's direction puzzled her. Did he have nothing better to do with his time then to plot schemes with such a horrid insect? Ether way, she would make damned certain that she would not be a part of his plans, nor her mate whom he liked to torment so - for whatever reasons she had yet to understand. For a time, she had thought that perhaps her first born second born litter did not care for Angier because he was not their real father, but then thought against it... They had never even met their real father and Angier had done well to be there for them since their very birth.

Finally then, with a lip quiver, she turned her full attention once more back to Titan. "I had hoped Adelaide would have still been here for you..." He had mentioned the skilled teacher and medic to him before he had joined the ranks. Though since Deacon had went missing, not long after that Adelaide had went missing to in what Elettra had thought originally had been in search for her child. "Tell me what you've learned thus far." She then decided, finding herself sitting where she had once stood. Certainly he had been taking his time learning of the plants - what they looked like, what they did... but did he know what part of the plants to use? How to apply them?

(This post was last modified: Nov 24, 2014, 05:50 PM by Elettra.)

I don't know if @Elettra would know about lavender hyssop. Up to you I guess. Might be a learning experience for her too. He doesn't mention it, but Titan also does not know how to treat sprains or set broken limbs.

Titan's blue orbs finally shifted to view the form of Skoll as Elettra snaps something akin to a command out at him. The large Thorben gives Skoll an apologetic look though Titan wasn't even sure why he felt sorry for the Archer prince. Obviously Skoll had done something to El and Angier in the past that annoyed them or he wouldn't have been spoken to like that.

Looking over the spider once more with disgust in his own gaze, Titan wondered why Skoll might even want such a thing. What was it good for? As a pup I might have been scared of it... No.. I definitely would have been scared of that. Maybe others are frightened of such a large spider? He mused silently until Elettra's voice captured Titan's attention once again. She commented once about Adelaide, to which Titan gave her a small shrug. He hadn't known the woman at all, and he was rather used to pack mates up and abandoning the pack without a word. It had happened quite rampantly in Whisper Caverns pack.

Then the dark she wolf asked him what he had learned so far. Titan was a little hesitant in answering her. He wasn't sure if she would be glad or depressed by the amount he had learned. Finally though he decided to start by listing herbs.

"Ergot, hellebore, goldenrod, nightshade, lavender hyssop (the knowledge of this plant brought in by Kassander from outside Lore), scrub pine, solomons seal, black hawthorn, cowbane, amanita mushrooms, and arnica. I know how to find these herbs, where to find them, and how to identify them by taste, smell, and sight." Titan bit his lip for a moment trying to figure out what else he should tell her about. "I know how to use all those herbs. However, I don't know how much to dose wolves with, but I do know how to make a good poultice out of goldenrod." Titan finished before glancing back to the willow lady's medical den. The smells coming out of the den reminded him of Kassanders den back in Whisper Caverns. In a way the herbal tart of the air made himfeel more comfortable. As if he were among family and friends again.

It was to much surprise to Elettra that the young dark wolf before her knew much more about plants then she had originally thought. Not only did he mention a collection of plants he knew their uses of, he also went into explaining that he knew where to find them and how to identify them all by both scent, sight and taste. She was impressed to say the least and wondered of who might have taught him of these things. Perhaps there was a healer after all within the Caverns who had trained him a bit and he had come here only to further his knowledge. Perhaps even he learned a little bit here and there from each wolf in the pack or even, much as Elettra had done as a child on her own (though her parents did not prefer it), practice by trail and error by random flora she came across.

"The pack has been fortunate to not have had any major accidents in quite some time..." Of course, she would fix a cut or too here and there, adding a bit of a poultice to speed up the healing if the wolf wanted to. That, or simple things like headache, nausea, or sore limbs from a tussle or slip. Fixing broken bones, bad sprains, large wounds or even poisons had not been needed. When something bad happened in Willow Ridge it often it lead to death, or so the early spring and winter past proved such. "I'll be able to show you more on using the herbs, the dosage and more if something happens. I will make sure to call upon you then." The only real and best way to show him how to use his skill as a medic instead of just an herbalist would be to do it hands on. For that, he would need to wait. "Xetor, my nephew is also training as a medic. Morganna has also taken to collecting herbs. Perhaps you could work together?" It was a small suggestion she made, for whenever she was unable to spend time teaching him. He was new to the pack, after all, and making some allies who had your same interests could prove useful to Titan.

Finally then, she moves, walking forth to Titan and jutting her nose towards the den before she firstly slipped herself inside. Within the underground den site, dug out from the soft earth within the cave which made up the pack den, was a sight to behold. The area was rather specious, fitting for a few wolves other then herself as if someone needed to stay here and rest for a few days and also have visitors whilst Elettra treated them it was possible. Along the walls were dried out flowers, like lavender of calming nature and some few giant blazing star @Angier had found for her. The flooring was littered with furs and feather, including a coat of a black lynx which had been gifted to her by Sica, a former member of the pack. There was a wall with a small dug out to which all her herbs were cluttered and it is next to this opening she sat. From here she pulled out a collection of herbs including Wild Ginger, Wolf's Bane (or Aconite) and Skunkbush. "Do any of these look familiar to you?"

(This post was last modified: Dec 12, 2014, 05:57 AM by Elettra.)

Much like any mother would be able to do, Elettra was quick to call her son out on whatever shenanigans he might have been planning. Lurking about and sticking around just out of sight might have been his forte, but the Queen of Willow Ridge, he knew very well by now, was someone he knew better than to reckon with.

She didn't play coy or clueless; her command in the form of a simple enunciation of his name at the back of her throat and tongue directly hearkened for his utmost attention, "Skoll." His lanky frame froze and the stark black fur on the bridge of his muzzle threatened to wrinkle in both dismay and disgust at being found out. Instead of voicing anything of the sort, he merely gave a loud snort, emerging from the other side of a yellowing curtain of willow branches with his ears held respectfully back against his neck as he addressed Elettra, his mother, leader, and superior.

"Take it - and do what you want with it," she ordered with her typically 'snippy; tone, "but leave me and Angier out of it."

The dark prince shouldn't have even teetered on his stilt-like legs as he considered such an opportunity, figuratively laid out for him on a shining silver platter. Had he been any younger, on the cusp of his yearling days perhaps, he might have simply seized the moment and never looked back with that horrid arachnid in his mouth, but as it stood, he lingered a while as Titan and Elettra exchanged a few bits of information. Though as their conversation shifted onto other topics he wasn't particularly taken with - specifically Xetor and Morganna and whatever they were doing - he went ahead and snatched up his prize.

The spider tasted terrible against his tongue but he took care to gently grasp it between his teeth lest he wanted to possibly poison himself (if snakes, according to Skana's teachings, were dangerous without legs and spiders had eight legs, the theory of a spider being just as deadly somehow seemed tangible...) or destroy the "beauty" that was the startling sight of crunchy, curled up legs. He offered a quick <i>berrrk</i>-sounding woof as some sort of wordless thank you but, not too long after that, he was simply gone. As he had no other business to attend to then and there, he had other things calling to him and the most important of them all was the burning desire to find a good place to stash his terror-inducing prize.

(exit.)

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

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