Red Fern Forest Obscured Memories

It was so... red here. So oddly, oddly red. Everywhere he looked, red greeted him. Never in his wanderings had Quinn encountered this much red fauna. There was scarlet and crimson, and burnt oranges that neared red. And that fern, the one right there... it reminded him of those red birds. The ones who usually stood out quite a bit.... Cardinals! That's what they were called. Well, they certainly wouldn't stand out here. No, they'd blend in quite well. Red...

Quinn didn't have a high opinion of red. Or much of an opinion at all. After all, what was the point of of forming opinions about colors? It was silly. Pointless. And yet... so much red here. Red like... the color of freshly caught prey. That was always nice, he thought. Red seems pretty okay. Red like... those red flowers that popped up here and there. Not much of an opinion on those, either. Flowers, they existed. Not much other than that to be said of them. Hmm... what else? Red like... like...

Red like teeth crunching down, red like blood soaking fur, red like pain and fear and terror, so much terror, this was a mistake, a mistake!

A deeply troubled breath escaped the lone wolf, and he decided perhaps red should remain just a color, no associated meaning. Quin took in his suddenly defensive and terrified posture, and straightened himself up. Cowering at memory, at nothing... What was past, was past.

He took in the scents in the air, the air that was now. Now, and not then. Then was long ago. And then his posture again stiffened, though this time   his tail was high, his ears forward.

There was a wolf near.

It felt weird to be used to a place so spectacular. Normally, she'd have been many, many miles away by now, since the first time she discovered them, and they'd be nothing more than a spectacular (and very well-documented) memory. But now she had the opportunity to come here whenever she wanted, and while each time she was able to find a few new interesting things - sights, smells, sounds - it hardly compared to that first WHOA.


Rue wondered if this was what it felt like to be bored. If it was, she hated it.

Fortunately, the girl was not a creature of idleness, able to let herself just waste away, and at the first itch feeling in her paws had promptly decided to find some way to entertain herself. Just because she was in a pack now, like a proper grown-up wolf, didn't mean she had to forget all those ways to have fun on her own! Ruenna was, after all, her own best friend, probably the only wolf to not only put up with herself 24/7 but also never tire of it.

There was a chunky, straight piece of branch poking out of one of the trees just above her, a little too high to just reach and grab. It was stumpy, as though someone had come along and snapped half of it off, leaving just a blunt branch-arm sticking straight out, leafless and useless. The tree itself wasn't in great shape either, starting to look as though it were dying. She was staring at it, studying it with an intensity that a simple piece of wood didn't really merit, and as such the Tainn had completely missed the fact that she wasn't alone. Ruenna was on a mission.

With a sharp inhale and then a grunt, she jumped up, latching her teeth into the branch - which was probably around two inches thick where she grabbed it - and then promptly let her weight drop as she held tight. The only result was the sight of a wolf dangling from a branch from her mouth. "Mgghfflfmmfg!" she cried out indignantly, finding the ground with her back legs, placing her front paws on the trunk of the tree to better balance herself. Already the saliva was beginning to build up. With a warning growl to the stubborn piece of wood, she then yanked down again, using her forepaws to brace against the tree for extra power, but it did no good.

Not that she was the giving-up sort, of course. Rolling her shoulders best she could under the circumstances, Rue tightened her grip and got ready for round three.

For a second after detecting the smell, he just waited defensively, his stressed mind coming to the conclusion that any wolf nearby would clearly being waiting to attack. Something would lunge out of the red fauna at him, trying to turn him just as red. It took perhaps a minute for rationality and reality to reassert themselves in his mind. His defensive growling ceased, and he inwardly scolded himself. Clearly, the wolf was not after him. Why would it be? He hadn't done anything to offend anyone around here ...yet.

Actually, he was sort of... curious. What were the wolves around here like? Perhaps no simple generalization would be able to be made, but still. Meeting a wolf would help him better form a picture of the area he had stumbled into. So, still somewhat defensive and tense, he moved forward towards the wolf scent he detected. As he got closer, a strange sound reached his ears. ...what? What was that?! He'd never heard anything like that. Ears perked forward in curiosity, he cautiously walked closer.

And then proceeded to stop. And gape at the sight before him. What? No really...what? And why...?

There was a wolf hanging off of a tree branch. He blinked rapidly. Still there. A wolf, hanging off of a tree branch. Quin repeated in his head this many, disbelief echoing in his mind. Perhaps one of the times he repeated it he would finally reach an understanding. But nope. No understanding gained. No understanding gained at all. Really, it made no sense! And now the wolf seemed to be even more determined to do... whatever it was doing trying to do! What was this wolf trying to accomplish?

"What are you trying to accomplish?!" He wondered loudly, accidentally speaking his mind. Ah, he hadn't intending to actually ask. But maybe the wolf would indulge his question? At this point, Quin really wanted to know how this wolf was rationalizing its simply bizarre actions. Being confused to the point of gaping like a... he had no comparisons. Nothing to compare to this. In any case, gaping like he was doing at the moment was not a flattering look on him. ...He really needed to know why.

Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

Having tuned out everything except herself, this tree and her mission, it wasn't until the witness to her efforts spoke out loud did she realise that there was a witness at all. In response, Ruenna froze. Since she had been in the middle of another full-body tug, this left her looking momentarily like a slinky in the process of being shaken out, a strong curve in her spine. It was kind hard to look around with a tree in your mouth, and it didn't yet occur to her to let go, so instead she just looked at the man with one wide eye, and slowly inhaled through her nose.


Awwwwwkward. Making sure that her hindpaws were firmly on the ground, Rue carefully let go of the branch, her teeth and jaw aching from pressing them into the bark so furiously and testing their fortitude. Suddenly conscious of the slather all over her mouth, she licked her lips as she turned her head to look at him, and only then really processed his question.

Blinking, and still stood upright with her forepaws up against the tree, head only inches from the branch she'd been hanging from, she looked between the wolf and the toothmarked, saliva-drenched branch, like what? What's so weird? Why are you looking at me like that?


"... I want it."

Well, he considered. That explained it. ...not. He stared. The wolf... she, the voice sounded like a she, looked ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Even now that she had let go off it, she looked ridiculous. There was no other way to put it. Well. He supposed there were always synonyms, but nothing that would mean anything else. And her 'explanation' didn't help to clarify anything.

She wanted it. Wanted... what, exactly? Quin thought over her actions. Did she want... the tree? It was entirely impossible, but such a task might appeal to this seemingly crazy she-wolf. Perhaps by grabbing hold of a branch and tugging she hoped to manage to uproot the whole tree with her weight. Mentally, the picture formed in his mind. A comparably tiny wolf, dangling off this huge tree, tugging back and forth with all her weight, and then slowly the tree began to topple over... Slowly... slowly. And then... squish. It would not work out well.

Quin shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Apparently, craziness was infectious. Maybe there was a more rational explanation to her actions. He tilted his head at the branch, assessing it. He even stood up briefly on his back paws, before gravity pulled him down. No... there was nothing. No squirrels, no bird nests, not even a shiny thing. Nothing to make this.... absurdity... make sense. It was just a branch.

Maybe she really was trying to take down the tree? Surely not...? Even if she was, surely that branch would break before she did so.

Whatever the case, whatever she wanted to gain, he wanted to know why more than anything else. And so he asked, just as baffled as before, "Why?"

What? Had she turned into a badger or something? What was he staring at? Ruenna just stood there, looking between this guy and her branch, and wondered what else this could possibly look like to warrant just a look of extreme confusion which was bring thrown her way. What?! She'd been minding her own business (for once) so what was his problem? It wasn't like she'd shoved her branch-snapping in his face! It wasn't her fault if he was small-minded and couldn't see what was totally obviously going on!

Another wolf might have shrunk under the weight of his judging, bewildered staring, but Rue was shameless.

At least he finally managed to put his shock and awe into words, but by that point it was clear that each wolf quite firmly thought the other was either bonkers or as thick as a plank. "To play with it," she replied slowly, as if explaining the obvious to a child, because... why else would she want a branch? It was a piece of a tree, she could hardly eat it. She wasn't a beaver or a bird, so she wasn't gonna make a home with it. What else could a wolf possibly want with a length of wood?

At this point, in Quin had been thinking clearly, he would have surely realized the object being spoken of. He had already checked the branch, and had seen there was nothing else there. That only left the branch... and, if one was particularly odd, the tree. Alas, he had already committed to the idea that this wolf was indeed particularly odd, that it must be the tree. And so, he reacted to that statement with just as much bewilderment as before. After all, who had ever heard of a wolf that played with a tree? Certainly not Quin.

He stared blankly. Not that the staring was anything new, it seemed to be his normal state of being when near this wolf. Play? With a tree? How...? Maybe this wolf that a tree could be tossed around...? Somehow? Perhaps she had reached the point of believing she had super-strength... No! Of course not. Surely she wasn't that ridiculous. Maybe she was trying to play tug-a-war with it and the ground...?

He should never have went to investigate. It would've been best for his mental health if he had stayed far, far away. Now his curiosity could not be stopped. Quin had met wolves that had played with sticks before, but never one that wanted to play with a whole tree. And so, yet again, he asked another short, baffled question. "How...?"

Some intervention was going to be needed at some point. Rue hardly minded having an audience, nor being judged, but the way this guy was staring made her feel weird. She would gently shoo him away, she decided, if he wasn't able to broaden his mind enough to accept that some wolves were still able to have fun. Maybe he just didn't understand the idea of games and silliness, which, while deathly sad, wasn't technically Rue's responsibility to solve - even though she would totally make it her responsibility anyway.

And so, when he was able to stop having his mind blown long enough to utter another one-word question, Rue just grinned. That implied interest, engagement, something she could work with! "Well," she said, energy quickly seeping back into her previously-just-as-baffled manner, tail starting up its usually enthusiastic rhythm, "you come over here and help me, and I'll show you. I don't think I'm strong enough to break it by myself anyway." Maybe she'd share her original plans for the branch, but now that there was more than just herself, she decided she was very much in the mood for games-for-two.

Him? Help this... He searched for a word. Preferable a polite one. Quin didn't think lunatic sounding particularly like a compliment, not to anyone. Well, unless one was a lunatic... which this one was. Anyway, how could he help to break a tree? It was impossible. Completely and utterly impossi... His brain abruptly caught up with the wording. Break the tree? Wouldn't that be worded a bit differently? Breaking tended to apply more to...

Once more he stared at the wolf, but this time with some comprehension. Not much more comprehension, but still. A little was better than none. She wanted to break the branch. Obviously. Not the tree. Who in the world would possible think that breaking a tree would ever be a conclusion reached by any wolf? Not him, definitely not him.

Still, a bit silly to want to break a branch. Not as silly as a tree, but still... This is where Quin interrupted his thought process and told himself to forget the tree, please. It was a ridiculous thought in the first place, and he was not the wolf to entertain ridiculous thoughts. ...Except for the last couple of minutes, when he did just that, gaping like a fool the entire time. ...at this other wolf. Who, while was probably a bit childish, wasn't crazy like he'd thought. Well, not that he'd seen yet. She still could be... In any case, he'd be gaping at her for awhile.

She probably thought he was an idiot, really. She also might be right, considering. Whoops, indeed. How in the world was he supposed to make it up to her? Perhaps she'd never know his exact thought process, but he would. Oh. Well, it certainly wouldn't be wrong to help her, like she'd offered. That'd probably make up for it.

Quin eyed the branch, then winced at the saliva he could see on it. Not... the most pleasant of things, no. But... he would, of course. For...his honor? ...She'd never know. He could walk away now and probably never encounter this wolf again! It was a stick! A silly, silly stick! But... he had to, really. It wouldn't be right.

Stubbornly he committed to the idea and forced the words out before he could change his mind. "How would you like me to help?" Still, his agreement was laced with uncertainty, words uncomfortable, and he glanced away at the sheer awkwardness of it all.