Dawnlark Plains Sang the jelly bean prayer

This is a private pack activity for members of Phoenix Maplewood only. @Spring @Esaro @Shreya @Grace @Laika @Casmir @Desna (and @Chosovi once added to the ranks). No obligation to participate, I just wanted to do something Easter-y. :) It's mostly a free-for-all so post as many times as you like and as you see fit to enjoy this activity, just make sure to gives others a chance to participate as well! I'll only archive it once it seems to be winding down, and I'll post intermittently as well. :)

In the early dawn, with a hankering for eggs, Saena summoned her wolves and led those interested in joining her through the woods and past the moraine until they opened out onto the vast Dawnlark Plains. From here, she could see the charred eastern slope of Redtail Rise. Beyond that, a faint outline in a misty haze, was Nova Mountain. The grass was laden with dew and glimmered in the early light and the air had a fresh, light quality to it that only spring could bring. It would be one of her last forays out into the world before the birth of her children and she intended to enjoy every last minute of it without allowing her nightmares to ruin her mood.

"Spread out," she called light-heartedly, and had she a tail it would've been wagging for the first time in days. "We're hunting for eggs! Quail eggs, pheasant eggs, there are loads of ground birds here and, therefore, loads of eggs." There would be enough for every Phoenix wolf to eat their fill, they just needed to find them, but the birds of the taiga weren't too smart for the hungry wolves. They knew the sorts of hiding places quails and pheasants used and they would scrounge up eggs eventually.

Saena dropped her nose to the ground, sniffing heavily as she waddled westward in search of hidden eggs.

Eager Esaro was ready to follow Saena out there knowing that she had something good planned. She seemed to be in a good mood so he just assumed. Once they got to the location the Alpha gave the orders to search for eggs! Esaro jumped up to move and start going somewhere but stopped very shortly afterwards. He started looking around at everyone. "Um, what do the eggs look like?" He asked to any listening ears.

Out all his years as a wolf it was possible that he has seen one before but he was just uncertain. He was ready to move and search and everything possible but he didn't know where to look for the eggs. So he ended up moving in circles as he tried figuring it out by watching what everyone was doing.

Spring followed Saena, alongside of the group of wolves who had wanted to go.  It was still pretty early, so Spring did her best to keep her eyes, bright, wide and alert, but they constantly drooped... so that somewhat worked.  As the group finally reached Dawnlark Plains, she could see some charred land in the distance.  That got her attention... had a fire hit it?  What had happened there?  Maybe Saena, Shreya or Laika would know.  Maybe she’d ask Saena later though since her Alpha had lived in the Teekon Wilderness longest to her understanding... if it made sense.

Spring listened as Saena explained that they were hunting for eggs.  Hmm... that’d be fun.  Spring hadn’t scavenged for eggs, since... well that made her think.  Suddenly the thought pieced together in her mind.  Well she hadn’t been searching for eggs, since her travels with Laika, so almost eight months now maybe?  Her thoughts quickly vanished, when she heard Esaro ask what eggs looked like.  She smiled, but she frankly wasn’t surprised that the boy didn’t know, but he could always learn.

“Esaro.  Eggs are the round things that bird’s lay.  They’re the little blue, brown, reddish pinkish, water or speckled oval things that are in bird nests.”  Spring did her best to explain simply.  Not getting technical or anything like that.  If she had been talking to another experience healer maybe she would have gotten into the biology/anatomy of the egg, Spring had always had a special interest in anatomy, along with healing.  Plus Esaro was her apprentice in a way for healing, so she highly doubted he would even have the slightest clue of what anatomy meant... yet.

Spring turned her nose to the ground, taking in the scents that layered it.  Birds.  Lots of them.  Well, that was a good thing, since it was Spring anyways she was sure there would be some eggs nearby.  Her golden brown eyes observed every nook and cranny of the land laid out before her, feeling extremely determined to find the perfect egg.

Love the easter theme Chelsie.  Nice idea.  :)

This is adorbs. ^__^

The old lady toddled along behind, being a lot stiffer than the rest of them, but she persevered in their little journey and was quite content with it. Given her age and the coldness of the season, she spent most of her time in the centre of the territory, but there was no harm at all in heading out with a bunch of other furry bodies on what turned out to be an egg hunt.

It was strange to think that the unborn creatures pushing out against the slim form of their Alpha were in fact Shreya's own great grandchildren — for Reek's actions had distanced her from that little family somewhat. But she was looking forward to the puppies regardless, and it was good to see their mother in much lighter spirits than when last they'd met.

An egg hunt, hm? Let's see what this snotty old snout can do, she called out good-naturedly to Spring and Esaro, both of whom she very much liked. Then she pressed her nose to the damp grass and got a-sniffin'.

It was a welcome distraction. He benefitted greatly from anything to busy his mind and his paws these days as he continued to work through his issues and ground himself, and scavenging together as a pack was a step toward integrating as well. Yet, the white wolf was not prepared to delve into the social game as he once had, and so as the wolves spread out he went in his own direction, albeit one not far off from the line Saena herself took.

Luke was a fisher, his expertise was in pulling food from the streams. He had eaten eggs, but was by no means a master at finding them. Fortunately, the area was plentiful, and he soon blundered into a nest by following the winding tracks of a pheasant hen. Seven eggs were clustered amid the grass and brush, and it was by shoving his snout into the tangle that he felt their smooth, round surfaces touch his nose.

He woofed, yipped, barked and could not help but wave his tail as he celebrated his find. It was such a small thing and yet, he felt powerfully the happiness that such a small success could bring. He proceeded to pluck and push the grass around until the nest was exposed to his admiration as he sat back and gazed upon it.

eggs. weird. yet Saena seemed happier than she had in weeks, and so Casmir was all too happy to oblige. when she called for her wolves to join her, the boy trotted to join the little party that had formed. he arrived in time to hear someone literally ask what an egg was -- biting back scathing words, the Mayfair boy hid a mocking grin and instead focused on the frisking of a pale man. 

noticing that he had been the first to find an egg, Casmir decided immediately that this was a competition. he loped into the grasses, muzzle lowered, nares flared. it wasn't long before he came across a creamy orb himself -- he barked once and mouthed it gently between his jaws, carrying it proudly to the place he had decided he would pile his eggs.

Grace had followed Saena and the rest of the pack carefully, not understanding what was going on. However, the skittish yearling pushed through her fear and kept to the back of the group. She saw some she knew, others she didnt, but approached no one. If someone wanted to speak with her, they would find a way. The russet and faded black female kept her wary golden eyes moving, always checking their surroundings. Ears swiveled atop her head, perked to their limit to pick up as much sound as possible. When they finally reached  place the alpha seemed content with, Grace felt her heart leap. Eggs? She often had to hunt and pick scraps with her mother, and eggs were among the first thing she'd been taught to find: something easy to find that was even easier to scarf down and hide from others. She set off in a direction with her head nearly to the ground, jaws open to scent prey quicker and more accurately. When she saw a rather lost looking Esaro, she could only smile and remember his kindness. She made her way closer towards him as she searched, resolving to ask if he wanted help if he hadnt progressed by the time she got to him.

Saena had not the faintest idea what an egg smelled like, but she still attempted to find one with her nose. As a hunter and a wild carnivore, searching nose first was a habit she found difficult to break. She would have no luck finding eggs in this manner, however, and by the time Luke and Casmir had both uncovered their first eggs, she was still searching fruitlessly.

The alpha female was drawn to the Bluenose's whoops of celebration, however, and soon her attention shifted from finding an egg of her own to stealing one of his, since he had several from the looks of it. She grinned lazily as she sauntered nearer and, when she thought Luke would least expect it, surged forward to snatch an egg from the clutch he had uncovered. She pranced away immediately, surprisingly light-footed in spite of pregnancy, with an egg hoisted playfully in her jaws. Her eyes slid back to watch him, certain he would come after her, whilst her ears panned playfully to the rest of the gathered wolves in the event they attempted to join in her festivities as well.

Esaro nodded. He seemed to have understood a little from what Spring told him. He saw a nest before but never an egg in them. So that meant what he needs to look for are bird's nest. But normally wouldn't they be in trees and not on the ground? After seeing everyone searching the ground and finding some he realized he was wrong on that point. He started to wonder what a ground bird would look like. He noticed he was wasting time trying to figure out stuff when he should be looking like every one else.

He started searching and very shortly he notice a nest in a tree. He wasn't sure if there were eggs in it but he wanted to take it down. He stood on his hind while placing his front paws on the tree to keep himself balanced. But he was just out of reach when he tried to jump the rest of the way in order to snap his jaws at the nest. This was going to be difficult on his own so he decided to ask someone close by to help him. The closest was Grace.

He stayed where he was against the tree and had his head turned to face Grace. He already had an idea in mind and decided to ask if she would help him. "Hey Grace, do you think we can get that nest up there if you climb me?" The idea was the use himself as a ladder but he had no idea how difficult that would actually be for the both of them. It was just a random idea in mind and he just thought that it could work.

Grace watched around her, giggling as she watched Saena. She was tempted to change course and follow the alpha, but then Esaro called to her and her golden gaze turned to him. She limped her way towards him, squinting at the birds nest up in the tree and coming to a halt beside him.
              "I might be able to...."
She wasn't sure if she'd be able to do this with a hindered leg, but the russet she wolf wasnt about to admit it. She would need a good deal of help and guiding, not that such things had stopped her before. Approaching Esaro, she gave him a slightly worried look to be sure he was ready before placing her front paws on his back. She tried lifting her bad leg up, but it just wouldn't come high enough to be on Esaro's back; she'd have to use the other one to get up while her bad leg held her, not something she was confident in. Too late now! Taking a deep breath, she shifted onto her bad leg and whimpered slightly in discomfort. Despite being fully healed, her hip joint often ached when she used it too much, stressed it the wrong way. Pride pushed her forward though, and she kept going. Slowly, gingerly, she lifted her functional leg up till she felt Esaro's fur on her pads. Hoping she wasn't too heavy for the similar sized wolf, Grace hauled herself up the rest of the way onto his back. She took no time to steady herself, wanting to take as much weight off his back as possible right away, and unsteadily reared up to put her front feet on the back. Her left leg trembled and rocked, threatening to give out at any time. She hooked her front paws over the branch just as her leg gave, wincing and clenching her jaws. She tried pulling herself up, but only got her chest pulled onto the branch. Just before she started to panic, though, she saw the nest that Esaro had sent her for. Four eggs were nestled into the bracken safely, no parents to be seen.
                        "The nest is full Esaro!"
Though her voice was excited and she'd lost the sense of panic, she still faced all the problems of getting up, getting the eggs, finding a way to get the eggs DOWN, and getting herself back down all without breaking anything: egg or bone.

what the heck? Cas stopped searching for eggs as he turned to stare at the spectacle of some little she-wolf clambering onto Esaro's back and hollering about a nest. what even? he glanced around incredulously -- was anyone else watching this craziness?? maybe not. suddenly bored, Cas chuckled to himself and began to lope slowly through the grasses again, searching for the creamy orbs once more. he was gonna win.

Oh it was all a bit silly for Shreya to join in the egg hunt when she was surrounded by much younger snouts and much swifter paws, but that didn't stop her from taking part. She sniffed around obligingly, and almost found one before her trail was waylaid by one of the others. The best part was when she saw Grace climb Esaro... which allowed Shreya to enjoy a little in-joke, having been around when Esaro had imagined a similar but reversed scenario. The old thing paused in her hunt to watch the shenanigans, lightened and amused.

Step by step Grace made her way up onto his back. Esaro did his best to hold still while she was putting her weight on him. He had braced himself to get her whole weight but strangely she was much lighter than he imagined. That was until she actually managed to get completely on him. Now it was a real challenge to hold her, however he was able to hold well enough to not collapse under her weight but it did take him by surprise. Esaro was completely concentrated on holding still and steady while Grace went for the eggs. The hardest moment was when she stood on her hind legs on him. He barely held but suddenly he had no more weight on him.

Esaro turned around seeing a little more than a pair of dangling legs hanging from a tree. Very quickly his attention went to the nest and Grace. "I think you can reach it, just grab the whole nest." Then came the way of getting her down. It wouldn't be easy to get under her hind legs so she could stand again. She was up too high and Esaro wouldn't be able to use the tree to help him. Grace was going to have to fall. Esaro was already willing to be a pillow to help her landing. He worried that she might get hurt and it would be his fault. "Try to fall onto me. It's okay if the eggs get broken but I don't want you to get hurt on the way down." He said while trying to get into the place where she would fall. The logic went if she could fall on him it would be softer and closer than the ground.

Grace snatched the nest, her excitement ending here. Her mission, as far as she'd planned, was to get the eggs. Well, here she was, eggs in her jaws.... And stuck in a tree. With a bum leg, she had very few options of getting down. As Esaro said, falling and using him was the best- and safest- option; the red and black yearling wasn't willing to just drop down. Such would certainly hurt them both, wouldn't it. Looking at her paws, her thick black claws digging into the bark, gave her an idea. Perhaps she could grip the tree as long as possible to slide down, take even some of the fall away from Esaro and his back. She shimmied backwards and shifted her weight towards the trunk of the tree. With only three paws, the near impossible act of climbing was even more unlikely to come to Grace. She dug her claws in as she began to slip, her anxiety hitting her full on, no longer having a choice of going back now. She managed to cling to almost halfway down, but soon felt herself falling backwards. She figured to herself that her left side was already messed up,and tried turning to that side. She screwed her golden eyes shut, hoping Esaro broke her fall....

The sounds of some kind of excitement distracted Saena from prancing around with one of Luke's hard-won eggs and she turned to watch, slack-jawed, as Esaro and Grace attempted a stunt that ought to have been impossible. In fact, Saena knew that climbing a tree was literally not possible for a wolf, yet somehow Grace managed to not only climb atop Esaro without breaking his back but got herself stuck in the tree as well. She didn't notice that her jaws had literally fallen open until the egg splattered against her paw, mucking it in a mix of yolk and clear goop.

Understandably mistrustful of Grace's otherworldly ability to climb wolves and trees with a bum leg, Saena frowned, then turned her head and muttered for only Luke to hear, "get a load of these idiots." She knew Esaro was naive beyond belief sometimes, but she encouraged the man to improve himself and focus on something that would build his confidence. Unfortunately, he had a spectacular habit of letting others down, and his plan made him look like a total fool. He was somewhat harmless, at least, or so Saena believed. Grace, on the other hand, was someone Saena intended to keep an eye on, because now she was doubtful that the bum leg really was a bum leg, and was questioning quite seriously whether Grace had lied about it to get into the pack on a pity vote.

Putting these thoughts from her head, the alpha female bent her head to lap up what she could of the egg, shooting Luke and whoever else might be nearby an incredulous look in the process.

Perhaps admiring the eggs was the wrong course of action; before he knew it, Saena had come in and snatched one, frolicking off with the thieved good, leaving Luke to scoop up two as gingerly as he could and chase her down. In doing so, he was brought to the spectacle that had everyone else staring, and he peered up at the most ridiculous sight he had ever seen. How one wolf managed to climb and balance on the back of another such as to be able to then climb into the tree and manage to get stuck like some kind of cat-wolf was simply beyond him.

"Uh-huh..." he garbled around the eggs as Saena made her sneering comment about it, and he glanced at her curiously. It was a wonder to him that she harbored wolves she did not seem to have any respect for. Pushing that thought aside, he lowered the eggs onto the ground and carefully cracked them open, lapping up the uniquely flavored snack that they offered.

Spring continued to search for eggs, still having zero percent luck.  A smaller tree caught her attention, one that seemed to have quite a lot of leaves in fact.  Spring quickly approached.  Standing up on her hind legs, while leaning on the tree for support.  She was just barely able to reach the first leaf covered branch with her nose and maw.  She began to nose some leaves away and then uncovered a jackpot of three good-sized eggs bunched up together in a nest.

Carefully, Spring grabbed the edge of the nest and slowly sunk back to the ground, eggs and nest still intact.  She padded a few feet away, then laid the eggs down.  With a happy grin settled on her face, as she felt very accomplished with her decent find.

Esaro had questioned the actual difficulty of what he asked Grace to do but he was surprised that his idea in the end was working well enough, kind of. He was completely focused on Grace. She was clinging very well on the branch but it must have been hard to hold for long. When she was slowly going down he got a bit scared as if she couldn't hold anymore. He thought of trying to help her stay up there longer instead of letting her fall. He pushed up to stand on his hind legs and then aimed to hold onto Grace with his fore legs. He was going to try to assist her but before he could do anything she was already falling.

Esaro ended up landing backwards onto his back and then very shortly Grace landed onto him, knocking out all the air out of him. Nearly at the same time an egg had escaped the nest Grace had hold of and fell onto Esaro's head, breaking on impact. Out of all the possibilities his chosen words that he spoke while completely out of breath were, "Are you alright?" Although Grace was finally down with most of the eggs, he was going to need to recover before celebrating their miracle in obtaining the eggs. The contents of the egg was running down onto his face, forcing his right eye to close for it's safety. He would try to shake it all off but it was more concerned about Grace than himself.

Grace was lucky Esaro was there to ease her fall, though she still felt her body scream in protest. One egg slipped through her jaws and went for her brown friend, another escaping through the other side of her mouth. The other two stayed firmly in her mouth throughout the fall, amazingly keeping intact. So much for a full nest.... She couldnt move right away, having to steady her vision first and figure out what way she was even pointing. Once she had that sorted out, eggs still grasped firmly in her jaws, Grace rolled off of Esaro. She whimpered in pain, nose instantly going to press into her bad hip. It was warmer than the rest of her, obviously not happy with the rough treatment that joining a pack had introduced to her. First hunting big game, dragging it back, and now falling from a tree? The little yearling knew she never would have done such things if shed stayed with her family. She stayed laying on her side, panting slightly but giving Esaro a triumphant golden gaze after she'd caught her breath.
      "Tfoo surfifed!" 
She tried giggling a "two survived" around the two medium sized eggs she held, but her response was muffled and hard to understand. A hawks eggs, but Grace didn't know what birds laid which eggs: they were all yummy to her nonetheless. She placed one at Esaro's paws, albeit a little covered in drool, and put the other one between her own. She had to spend a moment spitting out debris from the now shredded nest before breaking into the egg with a few claws. She'd tried to make a hole in the top to simply lap out the fluid, but the shell shattered, the oozy innards gooping up her paws. Oh well, it was still good! She lapped up the egg from her paws, tail wagging behind her, and shot another thrilled glance at Esaro. Amazingly, she'd ignored the jeers from the other wolves. Noticed, yes, felt bad, yes, but ignored all the same. She'd had fun, even if she would be teased about it.
                       "That went better than I expected."

Cas caught Saena's gaze as she passed it over her wolves -- like, what the heck? how was what esaro and grace accomplished even possible? then again, the boy thought pregnancy was passed by a virus, so he sort of accepted it as a reality and set about gathering his own eggs. he was intrigued by the promise of a low bush and paced toward it, somewhat still distracted by the two climbing wolves, but upon moving his muzzle into the feathered boughs, he discovered not a nest of unguarded eggs, but a hive of protective bees.

"ow!" Cas yelped as the nearest insect sacrificed himself for its hive, plunging its stinger into the top of the boy's muzzle. ears folded, he scrambled away and then looked around sheepishly as his nose began to swell, hoping no one had seen.

Shreya was too distracted by Grace and Esaro's antics to notice what was going on elsewhere, including a young man with a rapidly swelling nose, but her chuckles of amusement cut off when Grace fell. She trotted over to make sure the pair were alright, and it seemed they both were. A creative achievement, she congratulated them, still amused, then padded off to find... ah, an egg! Right there among the sunlit leaves. It must've fallen from the nest Grace and Esaro had been going for. With a little chuff of triumph, the old lady picked up the egg delicately. Success! It totally counted...

Gonna wrap this one up since there's a good IC opportunity and it seems like a good place! I'll archive in a few days, so feel free to get last posts in!

Well, no matter what she thought about their unnatural antics, Esaro and Grace managed to salvage two eggs. For that, she chose to look away and let herself forget she'd seen such a strange thing. Luke seemed to agree, and the rest of the pack was silent on the matter except Shreya, who congratulated the pair. If Saena was in a more chipper mood, she might've followed the elder wolf's example. As it was, she was in a pretty awful mood of late and chose to say nothing.

That is, until her ears pricked at Casmir's uttered "ow" and she turned to see him backpedaling from a bush. At first the Alpha female assumed the coltish black Mayfair had simply jabbed himself with a branch, but within seconds there were bees emerging from the bush and she knew their time was up. "Egg hunt's over," Saena hollered, backing up as quickly as she could with a heavy pregnant belly, "time to go! Quickly now!" With that, she turned and began an awkward waddle-run toward the maple wood, hoping her wolves would heed and follow quickly to avoid being stung as much as possible.

good going, idiot!! Casmir shouted inside his head as the bees began to swarm out of the hive in a threatening fashion. Saena caught wind of what was going on and ordered her wolves home, and Cas followed close behind her, too preoccupied with the bees to laugh at her waddling run. this was all his fault -- he'd blundered and ruined the hunt. 

but at least they'd gotten eggs! he resolved to come back and collect some of them for the caches -- no sense letting food go to waste.