Cedarwood Forest [TfT] Porcupine Quill

Tit for Tat, This or That

Seems like a porcupine must have got in a little bit of a tussle, as one of it's long quills has been plucked straight from its back and now lies in a pine needle pile. How strange!

For @Amaryllis
Warning: Language

An inky colored maw gaped wide open, flashing a full set of pearly white teeth, while a pink tongue curled back against the roof of his mouth. Snapping his jaws shut after his yawn, Blitz peered out at the outside world from the confines of his own, private den. From here, he could see that the sun was low in the sky, an obvious ZEITGEBER to all animals, that it would soon be time to retire. But he didn't care. The onset of night meant that most of the pack would soon be asleep. Which in turn, meant less of a likelihood for a run in. Which was just as well, too. Despite the months that he had stayed here, despite the adjusting to these foreign, foresty surroundings, Blitz was still, rather antisocial when it came to his pack mates. With the exception of course, being his family. He was still homesick, still dead set on getting back to the coast. And he did not need the locals getting in his way. So he had deliberately selected his den a healthy distance from the main one, as a silent signal of his wish to be left alone.

Deciding that a late evening stroll and a stretch of his legs couldn't hurt, the sooty male exited the narrow hole that lead to his private retreat. Shaking out his pelt, he breathed in the cooling air, relieved that he would not have to deal with the increasing daytime heat for at least another fourteen hours. Quickly making up his mind to head down towards the river, for a try at some late night fishing, Blitz padded off silently in that direction. Pausing only briefly to sniff at a tree, or to let the stray cluster of branches comb through his dark fur. In the dying light, he was easy to miss, save for his vivid green eyes, almost acid like. But then again, so were other elements too.

What felt to be an ordinary pile of pine needles rustling comfortably under his paws, turned out to be not so innocent after all. As he shifted his weight from one front foot to the other, preoccupied with investigating the old scent of a chipmunk, which was now likely safely tucked away in the tree above him, something poked at his pad. "What the hell...?" He blurted out, taken aback by the sharpness of the object pressing up against the rough skin of his paw pad. Craning his head down, lo and behold, was a completely intact quill of a porcupine. Laced with patterns of vivid blacks and whites, he could see how it would so easily be missed amongst the pile of pine needles. Luckily, the deadly spear had not pierced through the bottom of his foot; only had pressed up slightly. Drawing his paw back, the wolf scowled. "Ya little fucker. How tha hell you wind up here, eh?" And where was it's owner...what had happened to it? He glanced around warily. He couldn't very well just leave it sitting out here for someone else to step on, especially with pups in their midst.

Nineva moved through the forest with little intent, merely enjoying the dusk hours and the changes it brought to the forest as the zeitgeber worked its magic on the many animals living within. She was feeling a bit restless, and certainly not at all ready to hunker down for the night. Her mind entertained the idea of tracking down @Tomen and convincing him to go on a little late-hour adventure with her. While mulling it over, something cropped up to momentarily distract her.

Blitz's voice bounced about the tree trunks and over the growth to land in her gray ears, her attention drawn by the content. What would make a wolf cuss so? With a small frown she made her way to him in order to investigate. The dark pelted man was a wolf she had yet to directly interact with, but that wasn't much unusual ever since Kenelm had disappeared, for varying reasons. She supposed that was something she needed to begin to work on, and why not start now?

When the man was in view, she saw him staring down at something, and it was difficult to discern with her one good eye exactly what. So she got closer.

"Is that a porcupine quill?" she asked him, tail beginning to wag as the boon made her smile. "That would be pretty useful in the infirmary. I'll take it to @Veho."

(This post was last modified: Jun 21, 2016, 02:24 AM by Nineva.)

The rain had let up hours ago, for which Amaryllis was grateful. She did not wish to spend the entire day either constantly wet or sitting out the day in the infirmary den. Out and about again, Amaryllis caught the scent of a wolf she had yet to meet yet, one of the newcomers who wasn’t quite new but was certainly someone new to her, mixed in with the scent of the young girl from weeks ago, when they’d met at the borders. Drawing closer, she heard the wolf cuss, which made her frown slightly and speed up. What would make him cuss so? Were the two fighting? But there were no noises of scuffling so maybe he’d injure himself?

Drawing closer, Amaryllis felt relief upon finding nothing was amiss and the two were simply staring at something underneath the male’s paw. Amaryllis wondered what it was to capture their attention so much.  

Letting out a chuff of greeting to the two as she stopped a few feet away, Amaryllis allowed her eyes to wander over to the item the male was distracted by; it was a quill from a porcupine. What was that doing there? Had the porcupine shed it or had it simply been damaged and thus fallen off? Swivelling her ears around when Filae –hadn’t someone mentioned her name was actually Nineva at some point? - spoke, she had to agree. Veho might find it useful in the infirmary. But if the male wished to keep it for himself, she wasn’t going to push it.

“It’s a good thing it didn’t go in his foot or he might need to see Veho,” She said lightly, almost jokingly. “They can put a wolf down for a few days, if they’re not careful. Not to mention they can be somewhat hard to take out if you're not careful.”

(This post was last modified: Jun 21, 2016, 02:47 AM by Sahalie.)

Some time had gone by now, since the day Namid, Vesperito and Cernan had arrived at the borders of Grizzly Hollow for a family visit. While overjoyed to meet and mingle with her extended family, not everything had exactly went according to plan, for the now grown Lake Princess. Veho and Oula, who were both wonderful wolves in her eyes, simply did not have the room for another fully grown wolf in their ranks. And with pups of their own on the way, they would be extra busy. Neha, while initially disappointed, had been understanding. Her own parents would give birth to her brothers and sisters soon too. As a yearling, she couldn't expect everyone to go out of their way and dote on her. However, the leaders of Grizzly Hollow had offered her the choice to stay, wondering in and out of the territory as she pleased. As Veho's niece, she was allowed free pass. Not being one to turn away such a golden opportunity, she had eagerly accepted. The following weeks she had spent exploring, familiarizing herself with the heart of the forest, and the areas surrounding it. She also of course, paid close attention to the flora native to the area, identifying them and keeping them to memory.

She gave Uncle Veho his space, knowing that he had a pack to run and a pregnant mate to look after. She only ever sought him out if she was truly stumped on a herbal or medicinal related question, or needed him to confirm the identity of a new plant she had discovered. It had not taken the light agouti colored teen long to realize that her Uncle would not be able to provide her with the attention she needed, to train properly to become a healer. This left her with a dilemma. Where would she go next, after she was done here? And who would teach her? As much as she would have liked to go back to the mountain, to stop in and pay her newborn siblings a visit, Namid's knowledge of the medical field only went so far. Perhaps a quick stop back home wouldn't hurt after all. Her Mom or Dad may know of another pack in which there was an experienced healer. Plus Cernan was probably fretting over how long she had been gone.

A smile bloomed on her lips at the thought of her larger brother. She hoped that this year, his luck would start to turn. Instead of being tucked inside a den as the sun had begun to set, the aspiring healer was on her way to investigate the river that flowed through the center of this territory. It was a far cry from her own personal swimming pool back home, but who knew what surprises it might hold for her? But, those plans had to be put on hold. Somewhere off to her right, in the distance, she heard a voice swearing. Brows knitting together, she frowned as yet a second, lighter voice pitched in. What was all this about? Curiosity pulling her forward, Neha arrived shortly after Amaryllis. True to her bold nature, she pushed herself right into the mix (but not rudely) to see what was going on. She sent a stern look to the black male, the one who had cussed. "There ain't no need for that language around here." She stated, almost chiding him like an adult would a child. Then when she heard the two other females mention a porcupine quill, she glanced down. Sure enough, there it was right at their paws. "Cool! I've never seen one of these up close intact. I'm sure Veho could find a use for it." Neha wasn't set on competing about who got to take the quill back, or what to do with it. She was just happy enough to see it up close, while doing some social mingling.

Neha can often be found close to Aleister's side and therefore may appear in any of his threads.

Great. Just great! No sooner had he found the porcupine quill, did the sound of approaching pawsteps reach his ears. Those dark audits pivoted back, threatening to flatten down against his head. A shift of his optics showed that it was only @Nineva, one of the younger wolves in the pack. His voice echoing throughout the dark had likely given him away. He withheld a sigh. "Ya, seems to be. I have no need for it, so help yourself." A chuff in the distance, now coming closer, alerted him again.

More company. How wonderful. This time it was the silvery colored female with a scar on her face, whose name he had not yet acquired. Shortly behind her came another female, of pale agouti coloring, but younger in age. Blitz held back a cringe. What was this?! Was the whole damn pack coming out of the woods just because he had nearly stepped on the shedded quill of some rodent? "First time I saw one myself. Couldn't see the darn thing among all the pine needles." He grumbled towards @Amaryllis, ignoring the statement that he would need medical attention from Veho, if the quill had pierced his skin. He could take care of himself just fine, thank you very much.

The chastising from @Neha received a less than friendly attitude on the males behalf. Who was this girl anyways? He had never seen her around, and she did not smell completely of the pack. As if deliberately ignore what she had just said, he without shame, sent her a retort of his own. "And who the hell are you, to talk to me that way, missy?" His flashing green eyes narrowed, irritation written across his handsome face. "From what I gather so far, you ain't even part of tha pack. So shut it." Blitz was unaware that Neha was in fact, Veho's own niece and here by invitation. But even if he had known, that would have done little to change his attitude. With a grunt, he turned to remove himself from the cluster of females, sick of them already.

Yes, one thing she had noticed about Blitz from passing him here and there was that he never really seemed happy. Having tentatively labeled him as a grumpy thing already, his less-than-amiable body language went unacknowledged by the girl. It was just who he was, she thought to herself. His approval of her claiming the spine was met with a small smile, and she leaned forward to carefully pick it up and hold it betwixt her teeth. She was sure to do this long ways, with the points sticking out either end of her muzzle so that she did not accidentally stab any part of her mouth while transporting the devilish thing.

She'd only just lifted her head when @Amaryllis joined them, yet another wolf Nineva knew very little of. Unlike the sea-born other, however, the yearling had noticed that she often held a smile and possessed a rather warm demeanor. Her scars reminded her of @Yuka, earning the woman a few more brownie points with the Caverns heir. At the Azalea's jest, Nineva smiled around the quill.

Just as swiftly, yet another soul entered the scene, and the agitation at being swarmed was quite clear upon Blitz's features. Served him right for hollering so loud, Nineva supposed, and her smile only grew. This one was Veho's niece, the Hervok girl remembered, a royal guest within the Cedarwoods come to study under her uncle's tutelage. This one, Nineva had actually been meaning to seek out and befriend, seeing as the girl was around her age. The first statement out of her mouth only confirmed that the grayscale girl absolutely wanted to get to know her better. Matter of fact and lawful, the words gained Neha Nineva's respect.

Then suddenly, things weren't so friendly at all, and for the first time during the encounter, Nineva's ears leaned back and her lips drew downward in a scowl as Blitz became unnecessarily aggressive with his words.

"She's a guest," the yearling scornfully countered, porcupine quill rolling upon her tongue as she spoke, "which is enough to earn some manners out of you."

Skipping with permission.

Who the hell was this sourpuss?! Triangular ears fell back against her delicate crown, honey brown eyes widening first in disbelief, then narrowing distastefully. What a brute! Did he not know that she was the guest of honor in this pack, and a niece to Veho? Pursing her lips, she was about to speak when the silver toned, larger female quickly stepped in. Neha remained silent, eyes stony as she stared down the dark male. "Apparently that fact was lost to you. So sorry you didn't get the memo." She replied shamelessly, in typical outspoken Neha fashion. 

Promptly turning away and honing her attention back towards the group, was enough of a sign that she was done acknowledging Blitz in any sort of manner. To further engage with him would only be a waste of her time. Nineva on the other hand, was sent an appreciate side glance out of the corner of her eyes. She couldn't have belonged to either Veho or Oula. The silver hues of her fur were no match, and neither alpha had blue eyes. "Don't poke yourself with it, 'kay?" She cautioned, although had no doubt the larger female knew what she was doing. "Nineva was it? I'm Neha Vuesain...I'm here to study healing under my Uncle." She backpedaled a few steps, making room for her to duck out from the low hanging branches of the pine tree. The lake wolf was more than happy to accompany a fellow age mate back to Veho's den for a quick drop off of this find, and just checking in like any decent family member did. Not one to ever deliberately exclude others, she peered back over her shoulder silently but warmly at Amaryllis, who had been quiet, to see if she too would accompany them or go on her own way.

Neha can often be found close to Aleister's side and therefore may appear in any of his threads.

Bah! He had quite enough of these two young, know it all females. It was bad enough to have a member of his own pack chastising him, but it was an entirely new level of insult when the guest chimed in with her own sarcasm. A sneer carving onto his handsome features, he rolled his icy green eyes. "Pha. Well excuuuse me. I didn't know lil miss high and mighty was so privileged here." He snapped with a click of his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

Blitz was normally quite patient and soft around those of the younger, fairer gender. But today seemed to be an exception, or either these native wolves were really starting to rub him the wrong way. As far as he was concerned, in all of his distrust and paranoia, anyone associated with this particular pack was not to be turned a blind eye. Which ironically, he was miserably a part of. As the girls turned to ignore him and chit chat among themselves, he huffed in relief. Good...let them take the damn quill to their reigning king. He had no use for it...nor for a sore paw, for that matter.

Deep in his chest, he grumbled incoherently to himself. Turning his back on the trio, he began to slink away in the exact opposite direction. He had come out at night in search of peace and quiet, and got the exact opposite. But maybe it was not too late to save the night yet. Shoulders hunched, head aligned with his spine, his body posture advertised to all, that he did not wish to be followed. His paws took him naturally in the direction of the river, the only source of water in this stuffy forest. Maybe there, with those trickles of familiarity flowing, he would find the solace he craved.

-Exit-