Dead Empress Backwater images of broken light

Random Event: Valentine's blind-date match-up, for @Clover!

After bidding his father good morning as the older wolf opted to rest, Auburn set out to better explore the new territory. His younger body was able to stay up for far longer stretches, and he certainly took advantage as often as possible. The young wolf had not yet experienced what they here called a 'backwater' before. It was fascinating even with a layer of ice and snow, and he could only imagine what wonders would show themselves after spring came to thaw the land.

His venturing caused him to happen upon a den that was clearly kempt and smelled of dried plants, promptly drawing his attention. Without thinking, he poked his nose into the den's throat and gave a sniff. Empty, meaning plenty of room for him! Auburn dove in, and promptly began to peruse the stores, muttering names under his breath as he took in and examined every specimen.

Fresh from a brief border patrol to make sure it was properly maintained after the arrival of a plethora of young faces, Clover had set course for her infirmary like she often did. With the new arrivals she was less inclined to go out searching beyond the borders for herbs or to explore, wanting to be within earshot should any of them require assistance from either her or Vi.

An unknown scent around her den had Clover picking up the pace, her first thoughts focusing on whether someone needed her help as a leader or a healer. With short but quick steps she made her way to the mouth of the den, having expected to see someone waiting at the entrance, but instead coming upon a wolf quite obviously perusing through her stores. Had it been a fellow Backwater wolf she would not have minded, but this was one of their many visitors - one of the older ones - and she felt a small prickle of discomfort under her skin at the... well it felt a bit like an invasion of privacy.

"Can I help you with something?" Her voice was a bit more terse than her usual friendliness, but she kept her facial expression smooth with simply a single raised brow. She stood at the mouth of the den, amber gaze firmly locked on the other wolf, waiting for an explanation.

A voice broke through his focus, pulling his green eyes briefly toward the den's opening. He saw just her jaws from where he crouched, and failed to pick up on the tension in her voice. He looked back to the exemplary stores as he answered her amiably.

"I'm alright," was the simple truth, but each breath hinted at the answer for a question he wanted to ask. Who tended to all of this? It smelled strongly of her, the perfume leaking in almost indiscernible from the scent of the air itself within the den thanks to her time spent here.

"Did you gather all of this?"

His response assured her that he was not in need of any assistance from her as a healer, but at the same time he appeared to not have gotten the tone of her words. While not wanting to be rude to their guests, Clover did feel the need to assert herself just enough to get him to leave her precious stores alone. At least he did not appear to have any ill intentions, nor seemed to want to purposefully mess up her infirmary from its heavily calculated layout.

"I did, as the resident co-leader and healer it's my job to maintain the infirmary and keep it well stocked." She stepped further inside so he would be able to see her face, and though her expression was pleasant enough, it lacked the usual warm smile she often wore.

"If you would like to learn about anything specific I'll happily take the time to teach you, but it is considered rude to peruse through medicinal stores without asking permission first." Clover gave him a pointed look then, which would be his only warning. Not that she'd resort to violence, but if needed she would certainly use her position as a leader to assert a firm boundary for him that he would be smart to not purposefully cross.

(This post was last modified: Feb 24, 2023, 05:57 AM by Clover.)

Infimary, she called it. That made sense! But it also made her next point all the more confounding for Auburn. He turned to look at her, green eyes blinking as he processed what she was saying and came to understand he'd misunderstood her intentions. His ears leaned back, and while he couldn't understand how something like this could be considered private and be possessed by another wolf, he was familiar with the shame of being corrected for doing something he hadn't known was socially unacceptable.

Yet another unwritten rule to puzzle out and try to commit to memory, he guessed. Auburn looked back at the plants and backed away from them, unsure if this would be enough or if she wanted him out of the den altogether. Not knowing made him freeze up, and he couldn't bring himself to look up at her face again. The first place his father took him, and he was making trouble.

"I'm sorry," he offered quietly, and considered also stating that he didn't understand, but bit his tongue instead. In his experience, most wolves didn't care about that particular distinction.