Dead Empress Backwater From A to zebra to the worms in the dirt

For once the dice gods give Archer their blessing

Archer watched the nasty smelling plants being rubbed into his brother's fur and as much as he hated the stench, he wished he'd had the idea first and talked Eros into it. It was exactly the sort of thing he'd get his gullible older littermate into.

He should have expected it, really, knowing his brother's heart of good intentions. Archer yelped when Eros came at him, dancing to the side and tumbling away to avoid being anointed as well. "Stay off!" he shouted, scrambling around Clover's legs to use her as a shield - while keeping an eye on her front paws, in case she decided to take Eros's side. He'd somehow managed to avoid the sneak attack; he didn't want to get ganged up on. "I don't want to be stinky!" he said, fur fluffed up and ruffled as he stared at his brother between Clover's legs.

[size=x-small]Archer is very haggard and thin; it is obvious he is not doing well.

Archer was quick to twist away from him, clearly not happy about something. The answer came soon enough, but Clover's laughter encouraged the silver-eyed youth's pudgy sibling. With a wicked grin, Eros gave chase, trying to twist around his other mom's legs in order to reach. A mad cackle fell from his stubby maw, and his whole body wriggled with mirth.

He was so gonna get him. Archer was gonna stink so bad.

(This post was last modified: Jan 03, 2022, 08:26 PM by Eros.)

Archer managed to escape his brother's initial attack, and within a blink of an eye he was behind her front paws, peeking out like a young fawn would between its own mother's legs when it got scared. She decided to stay where she was, not making any attempt to move or give either boy an advantage, wanting to see how Eros would take the new challenge. If she got some of the bitter smell on herself, well, she could always go and wash it off, or rub some sweeter-smelling flowers over the patch to make the scent less intense. But the two boys wouldn't know about that just yet.

She chuckled softly as the two boys danced around her legs, watching with delight at the happiness in Eros' eyes. It was nice to see them having so much fun with each other, and while it made her miss her own siblings, she thought back to those days with a warm feeling in her chest. And it seemed she wasn't the only one enjoying the display, as her ears picked up the cackling of the crow above where it hopped excitedly as if it was egging on the two boys to keep going. She felt her tail wagging in the dirt behind her as she watched the two boys play around her legs, simply happy to watch them for a bit instead of directly interfering.

Archer Valle

To Archer's great dismay, Eros continued his pursuit instead of listening. The boys danced around Clover's legs, Archer trying to escape his brother and using her as a meat shield while Eros cackled. Archer pranced backwards, glancing wildly around him for some sort of escape. He quickly jumped on the rock that Clover had used to mash up the stinky plant, hoping to scramble out of his brother's reach.

The sound of the crow cackling from above them drew Archer's attention and he growled at it. Bad enough that Eros was trying to coat him in nasty mashed up plant, but now a bird was laughing at him. He looked back down at his brother. "Stop it!" he shouted. "I don't want it!" Archer looked desperately at Clover, silently begging her for help even as he kept half an eye on his brother and prepared to continue his flight if need be.

[size=x-small]Archer is very haggard and thin; it is obvious he is not doing well.

Eros couldn't manage to catch hold of him, and he was starting to lose some of his bug-cover from bumping up against Clover's legs with each attempt to craftily dodge after his brother. It wasn't worth it anymore, and he grudgingly slowed. Fine.

"You're gonna get eated."

It was a simple truth, he thought, putting his nose up in the air with a soft hmph that said see if I care when you DIE.

It seemed the two boys finally came to somewhat peaceful terms, and she carefully stepped away from them both so they were no longer a tripping hazard. "The smell will last for about a day or two, unless you wash it off with some water," she said to Eros with a knowing look, hoping her vague hint would be enough to let him know that he would have more opportunities to strike if he so decided.

She moved over to the remaining bundle of skunkbush, glancing momentarily at the crow which was still softly cackling down at them. With the two boys in tow she'd likely leave it be for now, but if it was still around later she might decide to try and figure out exactly what it wanted. Perhaps she could make a friend with it.

"The two of you are welcome to come with me to my den, I'm doing a bit of restocking and reordering of the herbs." It likely wasn't the most interesting of things to the children, but she still wanted to offer them to join her if they wanted to see what she got up to most days. Of course, Eros was more than welcome to go terrorise some of the other pack members with the stench on his fur if he so desired.

Archer Valle

It seemed his protests finally made it through and Eros relented, sniffing. Archer hesitantly hopped back down, careful to keep Clover between him and his brother in case it was a ploy. "There's not that many bugs anyway," he grumbled, shaking himself free of the thought of having sticky, smelly plants all over him. Gross.

The crow was forgotten as the youngest Valle watched the other two wolves. His nose wrinkled at Clover's offer and he shook his head. That sounded boring. He was more interested in keeping his brother from making him stinky. In fact... "Hey Eros," he said, "Why don't we go find Margo and see if she wants to be stinky?" Watching his littermate chase around their sister seemed like good fun. Maybe he could convince Eros to get their Da stinky too.

[size=x-small]Archer is very haggard and thin; it is obvious he is not doing well.

Eros wasn't necessarily certain what restocking and reordering entailed, and that perhaps explained why he was more hesitant about refusing the offer. In fact, he had started to happily nod before Archer spoke up, giving him a different option. One that was very tempting... He looked between them both for a moment, before finally being able to make up his young mind.

"Can I help tomorrow Ma?" he asked with a wagging tail, angling himself toward his brother.

"We gotta save Marg from the bugs."

(This post was last modified: Feb 04, 2022, 07:19 PM by Eros.)

Eros seemed to consider her offer for a few moments, but Archer didn't give it a second thought as he proposed a devious plan. She grinned again, happy to see that they wanted to go and play with Margo, even if it was involving trying to rub the strong scent on her, but it would do them all some good to spend time together.

"Of course Eros, you're always welcome to stop by," Clover said warmly, doing her best to hide her chuckle. "You two have fun," she said with a wink, before picking up the remaining skunkbush leaves and moving off towards her den. She'd make a return trip for some of the skunkbush berries, and afterwards perhaps see what the crow wanted if it was still hanging around.