Cedarwood Forest Applejack

ooc: @Nineva dated 10-24-15, afternoon. Response to Ken's Halloween RE: "You've discovered an orchard of apples! The ones on the ground have fermented and you start to feel a little tipsy!"

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Kenelm winced as he padded along; by all rights he should probably not walk this much while his leg was still in recovery, but if he to sit still much longer he might just go mad. He needed to move, to get out and about and do something that didn't consist of eating or napping or talking to whoever happened to come by seeking conversation. Besides, this little excursion would be educational for him; he was learning the layout of part of the territory, and no matter what role he elected to pursue that sort of knowledge would be invaluable. His travelling eventually led him to the borders of Grizzly Hollow - borders he readily crossed with only a moments hesitation. His poor leg had been through harder travel than this, and he was near enough to his new pack that help wouldn't take long to come by should he howl. It would be wise to learn some of the surrounding territory as well as his home territory, and maybe out here he could be alone with his thoughts for a moment without having to fear that someone else would come along wanting to chat him up. He didn't mind the company, but some thoughts weren't the sort he was comfortable with sharing - particularly those that revolved around his less than happy upbringing in Spirit's Gambol, as these ones did. By all rights he shouldn't be focusing on that part of his life at all; it was behind him, or should have stayed there at any rate, buried with everything else under a thick layer of ash and soot. Knowing that chapter was over didn't stop him from revisiting darker portions of it at random intervals; most frequently his thoughts centered around the leadership of the pack, around questioning how much they had lied and cheated and schemed for the sake of keeping the rest of the Gambol cowed like so many tremulous little fawns. Had @Cathair known that their version of the nameless spirit was a hoax? A mockery of the true spirit of the wild, created to keep everyone blindly obedient? He had been friends with Malkhaz, and as royalty Malkhaz would certainly have known the truth... Kenelm's nose twitched; the sickeningly sweet scent of decay that greeted him broke through the barricade of his dark thoughts, drawing his attention at last back to his surroundings. Somehow, he had managed to stumble across a small wild orchard, and apples in varying stages of decay lay strewn across the ground. Their fermentation was what had startled Kenelm from his musings, and the former scout couldn't be happier to see them. He knew very well what happened to creatures that ate fermented fruit; he'd seen his share of rabbits, porcupines, and squirrels dance drunkenly about after getting into rotted pumpkins. He had even once seen a doe stumble and fall repeatedly after eating a few fallen apples like these ones, tossing her head wildly about as though she was half-mad. Fermented fruit was a drug, plain as day - possibly a drug that could help Kenelm stop moping quite so much and forget the ache in his leg. The greyish man settled in on a bare patch of ground beneath one of the apple trees and grabbed the nearest apple, his nose wrinkling at the stench of it. It tasted raw and the texture was appalling, but perhaps after it had had time to circulate through his system that wouldn't bother him quite so much...

(This post was last modified: Oct 25, 2015, 09:24 PM by Kenelm.)

With ash on the wind, I move forward...

Let's Cause Some Chaos

By her nature, Nineva was a busy little thing. Well, not so much little anymore. Having grown rapidly since joining the Hollow, she was beginning to rival the height of the adults around them, with still plenty to gain. It had been clear from birth to her family that she would become a powerhouse as an adult, but this had not been obvious to the princess herself, and she found herself quite shocked and even at times abashed with the turn of events. Her mind often wondered, how big had @Korrin and @Rose gotten? How tall did she stand in comparison to @Ash?

She didn't like to think about it, and so she often chose not to. A large part of her wanted to return to her family, hopefully with @Narimé and Yuka returned safe and sound, but an even larger portion of her heart was still firmly rooted to the Caverns. She had yet to learn how to reconcile the two of them, and so denial was still her go-to choice regarding the entire mess. This only threw her that much more deeply into her studies, whether it be learning tracking techniques to practicing medicine under the watch of @Titan or @Veho, or simply following along after @Rook to observe the differences in leadership between him and her parents. Always she was undergoing some sort of venture, and never did she like to be alone with her thoughts.

Often, too, did she make time for Kenelm, the man who had not only saved her life, but made her respite here within Grizzly Hollow possible. The girl had grown very attached to him during their time together within the pack, seeing him as another older brother (the best kind of familial relationship in her eyes) while still retaining the nickname of 'uncle kenny' for giggles and as a nod to their shared efforts long after they had been found out by the alpha. Today, she had decided to set aside time for him, but when she approached the den where he often rested, she was confused by his absence. Certain he was only nearby, it further perplexed her to follow his scent trail so far away and even outside of the territory. When finally she found him, the smell of him had been all but drowned out by the sickly sweet smell of fermenting apples.

The girl had never before come across such fruit before, and while she could place the smell of decay, could not know that they were not meant to be eaten as such. Especially when she witnessed Kenelm take a solid bite out of one. Enthralled, and wanting to follow in her role model's paw prints, she eagerly nosed a nearby apple before taking a bite. The taste was overpowering, but she forced it down all the same, unwilling to waste what she had taken part of. With juices splattering her paws and maw both, she finished off the rotted morsel quickly. Despite the length and height of her rapidly growing frame, she had not the weight on her to resist the effects of the apple's pulp, and already she began to feel off kilter. Without thinking, the young lady went for another apple.

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

After the second apple, the flavor was less off-putting and more... a reality. An existence that he could either accept or rail against in a display of supreme futility. Kenelm decided to just accept it. That required far less energy and effort, and after four... no, three... no, no, it was four, the third one he bit down on a core and scratched the roof of his mouth, so this was the fourth one. It was actually beginning to taste rather lovely. He was reminded of those nice, plump, juicy blackberries in... in Blackberry Fields, naturally. The redundancy of the thought made him chuckle to himself. Blackberries from the Blackberry Fields, and... and... and hadn't he gotten gouged up over a gouged-up elk? He chuckled again and reached for a fifth apple. These really were quite good; no wonder squirrels ate so much rotted fruit. He felt... fuzzy. Warm-fuzzy. And he was so light that he might bounce away if he tried to get up too quickly, and what a sight that would make, eh? Thinking about himself flipping lazily through the air made him laugh either more, and he rolled over onto his side as an entirely undignified snort left his maw. Oh, this was too much fun! Why didn't more wolves eat these silly things? He couldn't even remember why he had been upset before. What was the use of being so dreary about something way, way, way, waaaay, waaaaaaaaaaaay in the past?

With ash on the wind, I move forward...

Let's Cause Some Chaos

Her head felt light, almost surreally so, as though she weren't really here. She wasn't quite sure whether she was enjoying it or not, but could hardly focus on the conundrum regardless. Her thoughts were shortened as the buzz consumed her, and her unfocused eyes settled upon another apple a few steps away, and could only think to try and ingest it. It did not occur to her to be worried about her state, nor could she relate its occurrence to her consumption of the fermented fruit, and so she only acted on each initial thought that entered her hindered mind.

Her jaws snapped at the targeted apple, but with each attempt she only pushed it farther away from it. After a few failed tries she stared stupidly at the object, unable to understand that she was missing and bumping the morsel with her nose rather than capturing it with her teeth. No, it was rather certain to her that it was running away. A growl fled her jaws as her tail snapped upward to come level with her spine. How dare her food disobey her! She threw herself at it again, growing more and more brisk with each attempt. Yet still it escaped her each time, and her ire began to skyrocket, until suddenly her concentration was broken by laughter.

Abruptly she jerked back, muzzle pulled against her chest instinctively as her mismatched eyes looked wildly about her. When finally they located Kenelm, who also lay beneath the fruit-bearing tree, she was prompted to wonder when he had showed up. The girl relaxed as she watched him for a moment, noting how incredibly happy he seemed to be. She wanted to know what was so funny! With a gleeful bark she alerted him that she was coming, and then took off at a sprint, launching herself not just toward him, but then atop him in something of a tackle. It was the same move she would have pulled on @Korrin or @Rose, playful tussles that seemed to have happened an eternity ago they were so distantly placed in her fog-ridden mind.

Something heavy landed on top of him rather suddenly, driving the air from his lungs in a sharp yelp and stunning the already very inebriated wolf. In his drunken state, it seemed most logical to Kenelm to roll over and try to squish his attacker, since they seemed small enough to get stuck under him. Only after he flopped over and tossed the little creature free did it belatedly occur to him that he wasn't really heavy enough to squish anything bigger than a rabbit. Still laying on his side, Kenelm craned his head back and around to see who was after him, or at least try to with his eyes refusing to focus on anything for more than a couple of seconds at a time. Uh... it looked like there were two... No, no, no, there was one there, another wolf, a young one... Oh! Little Nineva! Right, how could he not recognize her? “Hey, Nin,” he said with a dopey grin. “Wha're y'doin'ere?” He didn't quite remember bringing her along... then again, he didn't remember much of anything at the moment. Everything was a nice, warm, fuzzy blur around them, but he thought maybe she had shown up on her own. Had she followed him all by herself? What an adventuresome little tyke!

With ash on the wind, I move forward...

Let's Cause Some Chaos

His cry should have pierced her ears, but the sound seemed oddly distant, as though something were between his muzzle and her ears to blockade it. She turned her face to look curiously at him, hadn't he known she was coming?, but then suddenly she was being tumbled through the air, landing a bit roughly on her own side. Stunned, she could only stare up at the vivid autumn sky and wonder what the heck was going on. Had she done something wrong? Or was he merely playing back? She was confused, and that made her upset.

Then he looked back at her, and the recognition that lit his face sent her tail wagging. With a few scrambling flops she managed at last to right herself once more. She assumed a playful position, though her rump remained solidly on the ground. Her chin pressed against the dry grass between her outstretched forelimbs and her tail whipped wildly behind her.

"I was followin' yuu!" she answered, briefly registering that it sounded within her own ears that she was being quite loud, but the thought was swiftly dismissed. "Kenny-elm. These are like. Thebestfoodsever. Watchu doin keepin em to yerself, eh?!" This better not be a place he came to often without her!