Jasper Rocks Rain rain, flood away

All welcome, though special call for @Oula !

The rain was coming down like there was no tomorrow, causing the grayscale woman’s coat to become soaking wet as she weaved through the trees. She had been doing a simple early morning border patrol when the rain hit. She had preserved in the rain and finished her patrol and now was planning on heading back to her den to have a short nap before heading off again. She briefly wondered if she should check on the Infirmary to make sure it wasn’t flooding. It was near the river and it wouldn’t do if the small cache that was near it got washed away, even if it was still a good distance away from the bank so Amaryllis changed her course towards the cache.

The cache was fine when she arrived there, still in one piece and when she ducked her head down to make sure there was no water flooding it, all the plants within were perfectly safe. None had been disturbed since her last visit a day ago and they were still relatively dry. She sighed when she noticed some black hawthorn had been placed near the front of the infirmary, getting somewhat wet as the rain continued to pour down from the heavens. Amaryllis gently picked it up and took a few more steps into the den, pausing to shake out her out before placing the hawthorn well away from the entrance, near the back.

May as well stay here and wait out the rain, Amaryllis thought as she turned back towards the entrance. At least till it lightens up. Settling down on the floor, Amaryllis rested her paws between her front paws and closed her eyes, deciding to pass the time with some shut eye.

Oula had spent much too long sitting around, tending to the pups. It was undeniably fun, but she could feel the influence of idleness in her stiffened joints, the few too many gifts from well meaning subordinates rounding out her curves just a little bit too much. Finally the cubs could take little bits of softened meat, and not so dependent on her milk she could finally scrape out a bit of freedom. Leaving the little Maceios in @Veho's care, Oula went to run along the riverbank. She chased a doe that dared to dart across her path, simply enjoying the quick pulse of her heart and the stretch of her limbs as she ran. The pattering of rain across her back was almost welcome, cooling the skin beneath her creamy summer coat.

Winded much sooner than she would have liked, Oula slowed to a trot and allowed the doe to gallop off into the brush. It seemed the deer had inadvertently lead her towards the infirmary, and Oula's angled eyes locked on the silvery plume that protruded from the den, swaying this way and that before vanishing into the earth. She didn't spend much time staring at her packmate's backsides, and there were several wolves the monochrome tail could have belonged to. Small brown ears atop her head twitched with curiosity, her pale paws pressing fast into the soft, muddy earth as she drew closer to the medical den.

Oula lowered her head into the infirmary, breathing the air thickly perfumed by herbs that also carried Amaryllis's scent. "Amaryllis," She said suddenly as her eyes met the scarred woman tucked between twigs and leaves Oula had no hope of identifying. She wasn't sure why it surprised her to see the woman at this end of the territory. Veho was nowhere around, nor was Pip, who often napped within the ward. "Are you well?" She asked, "Veho is back with the pups... Shall I fetch him?" She added, in case something was the matter that required the healer's care.

Oula’s voice floated in to the infirmary, causing Amaryllis to lift her head. The leader looked somewhat surprised to see her here and Amaryllis wondered if she thought she was injured. Amaryllis shook her head, smiling at the other woman. She felt a little tired and felt what could be a headache coming on but that was nothing a small nap couldn’t fix.

“Oh no, I’m fine Oula,” She assured her leader, understanding why she might think her injured if she was laying in the infirmary. She’d think the same thing, if she had seen someone lying on the floor of the den. “I just did a patrol and thought I’d check in on the infirmary, to make sure it wasn’t flooded or anything. And I was going to take a short nap, to rest up a bit and wait out the rain.” Amaryllis hoped Oula didn’t mind if she used the medical den as a place for a nap.  If it wasn’t allowed, she would certainly leave and find her own small den, which was situated closer to the main den then to the medical den. Raising half up to stand, she opened her mouth to speak.“Is there anything you need? I can – ACHOO!” The sneeze caught her off guard, causing her to jump slightly and sending all sorts of leaves and sticks flying everywhere. Sniffing slightly, Amaryllis looked around the den with somewhat abject horror.  

The den had been neat and tidy before, Amaryllis and Veho having worked to organise the herbs for easy finding, in case of emergencies. But now everything was scattered all over the place. Amaryllis stared at the scattered plants and the look on her face was of absolute guilt. Was she coming down from a cold, from being in the rain during her patrol? Turning towards Oula, the woman laid her ears back with her tail between her legs, her head lowered. "I'm so sorry for messing it up, I have it cleaned up in no time, so Veho can stay with the pups and not worry about it."      

@Amaryllis typed on my phone, sorry if anything is wonky!

Oula nodded as the silvery woman explained herself. The steady drizzle was indeed a risk to the delicate herbs tucked within, and Oula was impressed with Amarillys's consideration of it during an otherwise routine patrol. "Good thinking. I'm glad to see everything is in order, then."


Oula had begun to shake her head at Ama's question when the scarred woman's features suddenly shifted, her words cutting off mid sentence in a warning that was much too short for Oula to do anything besides jump and close her eyes. She found herself in a zephyr of a different sort, leaves and sprigs of all sorts flying around the den. Eyes clamped shut until the dust settled, Oula didnt even notice the mushroom cap that had landed on her head like a miniature hat.

Oula smiled kindly, trying to dispel the nerves evident in the womans posture. It was obviously a freak accident, there was nothing to be ashamed of. "It's alright, could have happened to anyone. Here, let me help." she said, reaching down to scoop up a bundle of... Twigs? Oula stopped, head stooped, as her sage eyes drifting around the den before settling on Amaryllis' pale yellow irises. "Err, do you know wha' theese arre?" she said around the twigs clamped between her teeth.

A young deer has been separated from the rest of its herd. Hunt Opportunity

Amaryllis had already been resting in a spot clear of herbs, she wasn’t stupid enough to lay on the actual plants but there still had been some close to her when she sneezed so the plants that were closest to Amaryllis when she sneezed had blown all over the place. Thankfully, those further away were only slightly jumbled so she got to work at organizing the ones that had been blown far away from their original spot.

When the mushroom cap landed on Oula’s head, Amaryllis tried to keep her laughter down, knowing it surely wouldn’t do to laugh at her leader for the mushroom cap she didn’t seem to notice. Clamping her maw shut, she looked away in order to start organizing the scattered plants, watching where she placed her paws so not to accidently stamp on a plant. But her attention was turned to Oula again as she asked a question around a mouthful of twigs.

“Oh, those are Black Hawthorn branches.” She answered offhandedly, turning to glance at them for a second before turning back to the mixture of flowers and leaves she had near her paw. They were lavender hyssop flowers and the leaves of the hawthorn plant Oula was holding. “I found some loose ones not long ago, with sparse thorns so I broke them off to get the leaves and flowers off them.” Carefully separating the flowers and leaves, she scooped up the leaves and deposited them a small distance away. “You can put them with the rest of these Hawthorn leaves, the leaves and flowers are supposed to help with chest pains and poor circulation. I’ve heard the berries are the same as well, though I’ve only ever used the leaves and flowers.”

The Lavender Hyssop was placed carefully next to the hawthorn, Amaryllis already searching for her next target to fix up. The next thing to be picked up were salmonberries, something she didn’t recognize but knew had to be safe if they were in the infirmary. They wouldn’t have been put in there otherwise.

@Amaryllis

Oula's small roundish ears stood high on the crown of her head as she listened to the scarred woman's explanation of the usages for the twigs she carried. Black hawthorne, good for pain. She would try to remember that, but finding and identifying foliage in the wild was much different than seeing it neatly -- or rather not so neatly -- picked and pruned, set aside in a medical den. As Oula leaned down to gently place the sprigs with the rest of the hawthorne, the little mushroom that had settled on her head tumbled off and rolled down her nose onto the ground. Oula chuffed, slightly startled but mostly amused. 

"Now where did you come from..." She murmured to herself, gently lifting the mushroom by the edge of it's dome-shaped cap. She glanced around the darkened burrow, quickly finding a small stash of the fungi tucked besides a rock and placing the mushroom with it's brethren. 

"You seem to know quite a bit about plants," Oula said conversationally as she scoped about the small space for anything else out of place, her nose brushing over the damp dirt, "Were you a medic?" She asked, eyes flicking towards the smaller female in a curious fashion. 

Let me know if you want anything changed @Oula !

“It was the role I had in my old pack, as well as the one I hope to expand while I am here.” Amaryllis explained carefully, a small smile on her face. “I want to be able to help others and I figured being a medic would be a good choice.”  She turned towards the other woman, looking somewhat apologetic. “Though, I wish to apologize to you. I wasn’t able to be there to help during the birthing of the pups and though I’m sure you were in Veho’s capable paws, I still feel terrible. I was on the other side of the lands, trying to take shelter from the storm that had struck so suddenly.”

Amaryllis truly did feel terrible about not being there, during the birthing, only finding out soon after they had been born on that stormy night. What if Veho hadn’t found her? What if the others hadn’t come and the new parents had needed the help? But both Oula and the pups were fine, though the only pup she had meet so far was Ophelia and she seemed like a energetic little thing.

Which reminded her...

“I have a gift, for yourself and the pups.” Better to end on a happier note, she thought then a sad one. Plus she’d been meaning to give the scale to them since finding it. “I found a fish scale last week, it’s very colourful and a fairly decent size so I thought the pups may find it interesting.”

Oula listened as the scarred woman explained it was her role in her old pack, wondering what it was that caused her to leave. Oula shook her head at Amaryllis' regrets at not being able to help in her pup's birth, "No apology needed. I'm just glad everyone made it out of that safe and whole, it caught us all off guard. Taking shelter and waiting it out was the right thing to do, I wouldn't expect anyone to risk their lives for my sake." She told her subordinate. If one of her members had gotten hurt or even killed in trying to help her, Oula wouldn't have been able to live with herself.

"Oh?" Oula said at Amaryllis's mention of a gift, curious just what it could be. A fish scale? "Why thank you, that's rather kind of you." She said with a smile at Amaryllis' offer. "I'm sure they will find it quite interesting. I don't think any of them have seen a fish yet," She said with amusement. It would certainly be a curiosity to the children.

"Well, it seems everything is back in order here..." Oula said, nose nudging a mound of chamomile buds into a neater pile just for the hell of it. Her sage green eyes glanced out into the grey drab of the outside world that she had temporarily forgot existed. "If only this rain would clear up," She said with a sigh.