Sacred Grove Duck, duck, wolf?

For @Latif Random Event: Enoki, you come across an orphaned baby animal.

It had been months since the magpie last found herself trudging through the awe inspiring Sacred Grove, a piece of her almost expecting to catch a familiar flash of white lost in a sea of black fur hiding just behind the next tree only to be met with nothing once said tree came and went. It was a small let down to say the least, but the woman's reason for revisiting this place had not formed itself around encountering familiar faces, albeit the idea was not dismissed as something unpleasant should it happen. No, like the day she had ventured beyond the marsh and along the thinned beginning of Cedarwood Forest; where she managed to rescue an interesting fellow, Enoki Ashrelle was back at it again in search of the opposite sex to potentially fill the gaping hole decorating the male ranks.

The sound of flowing water trickling over rocks finally coaxed the loyal subordinate to abandon her fruitless search for the time being as an arising dryness when she attempted to swallow reminded her it had been some time since her last cooling drink. Padding forth over the soft humming ground, amber irises diligently surveyed the undergrowth for signs of other canine life while making her way toward what appeared to be the hub of the creek as it branched off into three different directions. Content that nobody was around to sneak up on her; spare the rare chance @Triell was lurking and thought to spook the magpie, obsidian limbs took a couple steps into the coursing water, head lowering to allow the surface of her tongue to lap up the refreshing liquid. Serenity was short lived, though, as a sudden form of dull yellow and brown manifested just a few inches shy of her snout. A soft peep causing Enoki to open her eyes and rear her head back to watch the little duckling paddle contently around her limbs.

Rounded ears cupped forward as her head gave a slight tilt to one side, brows furrowing curiously. "Where did you come from and where is your mother?" Looking right and left there were no signs of any other ducks in the area, further perplexing the two toned female. It looked like this poor thing was now an orphan.

@Enoki

The scenery around him had begun to change, but that was to be expected when one was traveling. He had seen the mountain from a ways away and had marked it as his destination. So slowly but surely Latif had made his way to it. He had unknowingly bypassed some of the packs that had scattered the area so was completely unaware of their presence. Now though with his paws on the soil he felt the slight hum that came from the ground. It made his pale fur prickle slightly and with a confused look he cast his gaze to the surrounding area. There was nothing that he saw and he he sure couldn't here anything that could be the source of this feeling. It wasn't uncofotable in fact it was the opposite and he figured if he saw some sign that this feeling wasn't a good thing then he would just leave. Their were other ways to get the mountain.

Cinnamon ears twisted here and there as he listened to the birds as they carried on with their lives. The growing sound of water though was the one that caught his interest. His mouth suddenly felt dry and the thought of getting a drink had him licking his lips. Some nice cool water would be wonderful after all the walking he had done. Humming happily at the thought he folllowed the sound slipping around trees until the glistening liquid came into sight. Without ceremony he loped up to the edge and began to drink, eyes closed. It was cool and refreshing, just as he had imagined it would be. It wasn't until he had taken a few swallows that his fur along his spine began to prick unpleasantly that he looked up to realize that he wasn't alone. Feeling taken aback he quickly took in the sight of the other multi-hued wolf and the duckling that swam at her paws. Blinking Latif did a double-take an extremely surprised and confused expression crossing his face. Their was a duckling. Swimming around a wolf. A duckling.

Why is there a duck swimming around you? The words came out before he could stop them. It was a honest if rather blunt question but he couldn't help it as he watched the small creature swim. Did it think that she was its mother or something?

@Latif

Not shortly after the words had fallen from her lips a rustling in the undergrowth upon the opposite shoreline caught the magpie's attention. Bright amber eyes shifted themselves from away from the duckling; still content on performing repetitive circles around her legs, and toward a pale coated wolf that suddenly emerged from the vegetation to lap eagerly at the refreshing liquid similar to how Enoki had only moments ago. Albeit it didn't take the stranger long to realize he wasn't exactly alone by the water's edge, his facial expression mirroring that of her own before a blunt although acceptable question in regards to the duckling spewed forth earning him a shrug of Enoki's ivory painted shoulders. So much for keeping this incident a secret.

"Er, I honestly don't know. I think it's an orphan." Another quick glance left and right for signs of its mother before her gaze settled on the pale stranger. "I haven't seen its mother around anywhere." What a stroke of sarcastic luck it was that while out and about searching for applicable male candidates for Willow Ridge she managed to become a lost duckling's new mo-- hey wait! For a swift second the woman's eyes widened a fraction in realization that standing across the small strip of water was a indeed the type of wolf she was searching for. Her attention soon faltered, though, as another peep escaped the tiny duckling circling about. This time the cry sounding more urgent and causing the female's maternal instincts to twinge internally.

"Oh god, I think it's hungry. What do ducklings even eat?!" For a moment the points of her ears brushed against the back of her skull, a look of total loss settling upon her feminine features. Did they eat little pieces of meat like a wolf cub did? The small bill on its head didn't look capable of eating meat. Maybe it ate twigs! Surely small twigs were its normal food source!

@Enoki

This situation baffled him. There was no other way to describe the way the little duckling was obviously attracted to the other wolf. Didn't it realize that she was a predator and it was prey. Something that they or at least he had thought about munching on one of its feathered brethren. Which lead Latif to another question. Was she going to eat it? Because what else was she going to do with it other than take care of it? If they left it to its own devices it was going to die rather quickly especially if it didn't stop its peeping. It's cute little peeping. His mind blanked at the thought and his ears flicked back. He thought it was cute?

Thankfully the women spoke up pushing his disturbing thoughts aside for a brief moment as she reveled that fact that it was likely an orphan. Oh, jeez. His tone was filled with dread and then his gold eyes swept the area searching for the form of a larger duck, potentially female. If its mother was here they could return it be on their merry way and he wouldn't need to think about it again. That wasn't the case though and Latif knew without a doubt that if he left the little thing alone now, if she didn't plan on taking care of it, he was going to end up taking it along with him. His body shifted away as the speckled duckling began to peep insistently at the women. He stared wide eyed as she guessed at its complaining and internally he began to panic. How would he know? He didn't watch ducks eat? He tried to kill them!

Forcing himself to calm down he took a deep breath. Maybe we should just gather a bunch of stuff together and see what it eats? Because I have no clue as to what ducks or ducklings like. Her previous expression had all but told him that she wasn't knowledgeable in this either and searching for random things was the only thing he could come up with. Would it eat a leaf?

I'm so sorry in taking so long to get a reply up!

Sadly; nor should she have expected the fellow predator to know how to nurture another item in their menu, the pale coated man was equally at a loss in regards to feeding the speckled duckling that would not quit its obsessive peeping. Of course he did offer a sound piece of advice in that they should just gather what they think it would like and whittle down the selection process until they had a winner. "Well we best get to work then." Smoldering amber eyes settling on the face of her companion in this situation whom unknowingly signed up to help. It couldn't be that hard to find something, could it?

Returning her gaze to the duckling swimming around her legs a soft smile appearing on her inky lips. "Don't worry, we'll find you something to eat." Stepping back and out of the water Enoki pursed her lips in thought pondering just where to start her search for something edible. Eventually her roaming gaze settled on a promising bush and the piebald female padded over, awkwardly clasping her jaw around a protruding branch almost bare of leaves and began to tug on the vegetation until it gave way, but not before an awful sour taste invaded her mouth from the stripped away bark made by her teeth. Ignoring the urge to release the small twigs from her grip she trotted back over to the now extra loud peeper and gingerly placed the twigs in front of it, lowering herself onto her belly to watch its reaction.

Curiously the little thing waddle out of the water to investigate only to resume its peeping. A look of disappointment settling on Enoki's features. Clearly this wasn't what it liked to eat. Perhaps @Latif would have better luck in finding something.

OOC: Pssh your fine and sorry for the rambling post. @Enoki

It was almost a comfort to know that his companion was also at loss about this situation. It made him feel less incompetent. But then again that knowledge was what would make this easier for them overall. His ears tipped back a bit as he found his gaze lingering on the duckling. Poor thing. Here it was hungry and in between two wolves who had no idea what they were doing. At another time he might have laughed at the absurdity of the whole thing. The multi-hued women in front of him agreed to his suggestion that they get their tails moving then and Latif couldn't help but nod grimly. Hopefully they could find something for the insistent duckling to nibble on.

With a glance around he tried to pinpoint something that would be edible to the speckled duckling. There were leaves, sticks and other various plant life. He began to pad over to one of the shrubs to investigate when a thought hit him. What was the one thing he knew for certain about ducks? They liked water. Did that mean that maybe, just maybe they ate something in or near the water? His head whipped around sharply so that he could look at the water, eyes narrowing in concentration. One ear twitched as he heard the snap of a branch but he didn't look to see what she had found.

Carefully he moved to the water's edge to peer in it. There were rocks in it but he wasn't aware of anything that would eat them. What he did see was some kind of plant though. He wasn't quite sure what it was though. It was floating on the surface clumped around a different larger rock. Walking into the water Latif grabbed a mouthful, unintentionally grabbing a bug as well. The plant was a soggy mess in his mouth and he grimaced. While his ears went back at the slimy texture. Water dripped from his muzzle as he made it over to the duckling to place his share near it. Hopefully it wouldn't like it because he didn't want to have to carry that stuff around.

Watching curiously the duckling made its way to his offering and eyed it. Then it noticed the bug and Latif's eyes widened as the duckling all but dove to grab the insect that was desperately trying to get back to the water. I guess it likes bugs. He commented with a short laugh. Then if he thought its peeping had been loud before the duckling began to peep at them more earnestly and he could all but image it demanding that they find more.

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +10 Health

Smoldering amber eyes shifted their gaze from the peeping duckling and onto the approaching form of @Latif as it now became his turn to try and decipher the mystery of what in the world the little baby ate to survive. Brows furrowed slightly, the magpie inspected the soppy green vegetation clamped between the man's mouth and offered a brief expression of sympathy catching the grimace that contorted his ivory and light gray facial features while he trotted back over to them. Immediately a sense of anxiousness filled her veins as he placed his offering before the duckling, her head lifting in anticipation waiting for a decision.

The world seemed for the longest time to halt mid rotation during the expanse of time it took for the duckling to properly investigate the aquatic plant life, but a ray of hope illuminated behind Enoki's eyes when a bug crawled out from beneath the vegetation and like a bat out of hell the duckling gave chase, immediately devouring the insect before it had a chance to touch water again. With a laugh of her own their dilemma was solved under the conclusion it was bugs that made up its source of food, the increased volume of peeps afterward adding more verification. "Well at least we figured it out!" A small grin appeared on the patchy woman's inky lips, attention drifting from the peeping baby to that of Latif. "Now we just need to figure out how many bugs we need to quite its peeping." And if they were lucky, possibly find the missing mother in the process. Rising to all fours, a contemplative hmm was uttered quietly as she thought out the best method to gather such a large quantity. Trekking back and forth with a single bug each time would take far too long and as much as her maternal side was putting in work, she had more important things to attend to and eventually would need to return to the Archer kingdom within the willows.

(This post was last modified: Oct 10, 2016, 09:14 PM by Enoki.)

OOC: Sorry about the post and slowness ^^;

Latif was happy to have that problem solved and that it didn't involve carrying more of the mushy green plant. For that fact alone he was grateful. Sure one problem had been solved but now they had another one. How were they going to get all the bugs that this little duckling needed to it? Its not like he was going to chase bugs up and down the stream all day. That's true but I think the better question is where are we going to find them? I doubt that the bugs in the water will stick around if we start chasing them around. He responded back with a thoughtful expression.

If only he knew the area better he might be able to come up with something that would help them more. His gaze fell on @Enoki as he realized that she might know this area better than him. Of course he might be going on a limb thinking that but he was pretty certain considering the scent of other wolves clung to her multi-hued pelt. Do you know of any bug hot spots in the area? I'm still rather new around here. If they took the duckling to an area like that they might have a better chance at finding more bugs in a bigger bunch for the duckling to chase around.

Hopefully while they hunted for bugs they would find the peeping duckling's family. He was sure that it was annoyed that the wolves in front of it were being rather slow on the uptake. But at least the two of them were helping and hadn't you know chomped on it instead.

Super sorry for the slow response!

Enoki pursed her lips in thought as she pondered the man's questions, a thoughtful hmm escaping her as she did so. @Latifposed an honestly good question and one that the magpie wasn't quite sure how to answer. Like himself, she was a creature built to eat things larger than a mere bug. Much larger. Sure as a pup she found herself dining on the squishy things, but now she was an adult and had a much bigger appetite to sate unlike the duckling swimming about their legs. Clearly scanning the water for the swift little things wasn't the best answer either.

Still mulling over a possible answer, her attention was grabbed again when he posed another question. One that was slightly easier to answer than the last, but still not something she was an expert in. Removing her smoldering amber gaze from the fuzzy orphan, Enoki took a moment to glance around their surroundings, eventually settling her gaze on Latif. "I've lived in this area for awhile now so I'm familiar with the terrain, but I can't really say I know of any bug hot spots. My best guess would be to look for an old moldy log or something. Bugs like to hide in places like that don't they?" A brow lifted curiously. "If we can rip apart some of the soft bark maybe we'll get lucky and find a treasure trove." One could only hope that would be the case, but it was a better plan than not having one at all right?