The Wildwood A cure I know that soothes the soul, does so impossibly.

@Clover

Marguerite never truly cared about being alone. In fact, under most circumstances the girl found that she preferred it. When she was alone she didn't have to pretend to be someone else, she could just be herself! Acting all the time was hard, and the amount of effort she put into casual conversation often left the Valle feeling exhausted. She wondered if other wolves felt the same way or if there was just something wrong with her. None of the other pups seemed to act like someone they weren't though, so it was probably more of an issue with Margo than it was a universal experience. She wondered why she couldn't just be herself around them, and why the idea alone made her stomach feel all messed up and made her want to cry.

When she's alone she can act like herself, but that didn't mean Marguerite didn't often find herself feeling lonely. Today was kind of one of those days, so the young girl decided to go out and find something to do. She didn't have to travel too far before she'd felt comfortable enough in the fact that nobody else was out here and she could do what she wanted. Margo soon after started ripping little pieces of bark off of the surrounding trees and placing them in a little neat pile nearby. To any outsider looking in it might look like the young wolf had lost her mind, but there definitely was a method to her madness. Marguerite Valle was pretending to be like her mother, well educated in all things plants and able to heal almost any injury with just the recourses around her. It was something that the girl had always admired about Clover, but never really wanted to bother her about. It was fun enough to just pretend though, so that's what the girl decided she'd do.

Clover figured it would be best to check up on her daughter, see how she was doing now that Violet had left with one of Clover's own siblings to learn amongst those of her birth family. She wasn't sure how it would affect her remaining two children, but hopefully with each other, plus the boys and even Hazelnut, they'd be okay. She sniffed out her daughter's trail, following it beyond the pack borders at a casual walk, not terribly worried. The children were all now old enough to begin wandering about on their own, and in fact she even wanted to encourage it. They needed to be able to rely on themselves sometimes, and smothering them at home would just lead to disaster later on.

She walked up on an interesting sight that had her smiling warmly. From a multitude of trees, pieces of bark had been ripped off around head-height and then placed into a pile. Clover could only guess she was collecting the bark, and from what she could see some of the trees had bark that had some medicinal uses, while others were just regular bark. Stepping forward with a low woof, she regarded her daughter with a fond expression. "I see you're busy today. What's all the bark for?"

Margo, having previously sworn that she was out here all alone, couldn't help but jump a little and let out a small squeak as the melody of her mother's words reached her ears. "Oh, h-hi momma.. mom.." she corrected herself. Only babies said momma, and she was nearing a year old now. It was time to leave momma in the past and make room for words that adults used, like mother and mom.

"I'm.. er..." playing pretend. Wasn't that also something that only babies did? "I'm collecting bark so that I can... can examine it." Sure, but for what purpose? Marguerite could feel her face begin to flush. Hopefully her blatant lie wasn't too obvious, but moms seemed to always be able to tell when their children were lying. It was like they were psychic or something.

Vultures are circling something out of sight. Hunt Opportunity! +5 Health

A burst of warmth radiated through her body at Margo's term of endearment, even as it was corrected to a more formal form. No matter what word was used, Clover would always cherish her children and how they regarded her, and it was only a touch of bittersweetness at the thought that she was growing up and one day would no longer rely so much on her. But that was in the future, and she would appreciate each and every day with her children, as well as the other pups in the pack as though they were her own.

"It's a good time of year to harvest some bark," Clover said as she stepped closer, eyeing the pile to see exactly which bark variants Margo had gathered. She could hear and see the tinge of what seemed to be embarrassment, but decided to pretend as if she didn't. Her daughter was very in tune with her emotions, sometimes a bit too much, but that wasn't always a bad thing. "Ah, I see you found some redcedar!" She continued with a grin and a couple wags of her tail. "It's very good at helping keep infections as well as biting insects at bay." If she could focus on the good Margo was doing, perhaps that could tempt her daughter out of her shell a bit more.