Bramblepoint steam machine / too long

The strange scent she had noted at Bramblepoint with Towhee the day they had sparred was upon her mind. Alya had not found the source of it that day, but Hydra was determined too. She left Moonspear with the intent to return swiftly, hopefully with whatever that strange scent had belonged to. She had raced to Bramblepoint and slowed upon her arrival there, panting due to the particularly warm weather this Spring morning had brought. 

Her nose was pressed against the earth. The scent was strange as now and then it disappeared entirely. What she did not know was that this was due to the creature being a bird with an injured wing that could not keep in the air the entirety of the time, but tried. She found a bloodied feather and sniffed at it, hot on the trail of the avian creature but uncertain as to what, exactly, she would come across. She had hunted birds plenty of times but had little luck in catching them. 

WHAT DOES THE @Phox SAY

Raven had escorted Phox and @Towhee out to Bramblepoint, keeping a reasonably close eye on both. She did, however, allow them to wander a bit now that they were getting older and more curious about the world. So Phox did just that--he wandered away from both Towhee and Raven, eventually coming across a stranger and his curiosity outweighed any inhibitions he might have had about speaking with such stranger.

At first, he signed -Hello,- but he quickly remembered that not everybody knew what that meant. "Hi," he spoke, his voice quiet and uncertain. "Whassat?" Fidget asked, eyeballing the thing on the ground that the stranger was sniffing.

Another scent distracted her, and her head lifted up to regard the male that approached. He smelled familiar, and Hydra was able to identify the scent of Raven and Towhee upon him. He was from the Caldera, then... and he looked to be the same age as Towhee, which meant they were likely littermates. She nodded to him in response to his greeting, a mute hello, before he asked a question. It's a feather, she informed, though I'm not sure what sort of bird it belongs to... she frowned at that. Hydra didn't think herself an avian expert, but she certainly knew of the local birds—geese, duck, hawks, osprey,  owl...this feather belonged to none of those things.

Unlike Towhee, Phox was rather friendly when it came to strangers. In fact, he liked meeting new folks. (Oh, how his mother would have hated that.) "Feather," he repeated, having gotten better lately with his T pronunciation. The stranger explained that she'd found a feather, but not much beyond that. She seemed curious about what bird had lost its feather, which was a little curious in itself.

"Think he wants it back?" Phox asked, unaware that his question might be taken as a joke. "Can he fly without it?" Feathers certainly didn't seem a whole lot like fur, even though birds had a lot of them. They were stiff in the middle, and Phox wondered if feathers were more like a million little tails stuck to the bird's body.

Hydra, as someone who also could take things literally, did not snort at the inquiry. She did think the child was a bit slow, though—Hydra did not remember the days when she asked the very same type of questions. Her eyes peered over the boys shoulder, wondering where his guardian was simply for the sake of taking it off her paws. But they were nowhere to be found. Her eyes fell back to him, I don't know, did birds want their feathers back when they lost them? Well, she never cared enough to find out about that particular question. As for the second, One feather would not effect a birds flying, I don't think, she shrugged, not at all committed to her answer with the chance she was wrong. But there is blood on this feather. So perhaps it cannot fly well because of that, she informed. Smell the feather, she instructed without missing a beat, not thinking the child would say no to this, and tell me if the smell is at all familiar to you. If the kid did say no, well, Hydra would just go on her own way. What she did not have time for was an unhelpful child.

You get #100!

Phox pondered that. Sure, a chunk of his fur missing wouldn't incapacitate him, but it sure wouldn't be pleasant, either. Especially considering there was blood clinging to this feather. Something about that didn't seem like it was going to end well. At her instruction, Phox smelled the feather. "Smells like bird," he replied. But really, he couldn't distinguish it from other generic bird smells. He was still sussing out how to distinguish the smell of vole from shrew, and those were animals he got up close and personal with on a regular basis.

"Think it's dead so we can eat it?" Phox asked, subconsciously changing his pronouns to less personal ones. Eating things was one of Phox's favorite hobbies, which was probably apparent by his pudgy looks. He had a little bit more than the usual puppy fat.

omg I AM SO HONORED! 'grats!

 

Perceptive, came Hydra's deadpan response, though she could have meant it in earnest. Hydra peered at Phox at the inquiry, and looked at the spotty blood-trail the thing left. The blood was not brand new... Maybe, she offered, but if it's not, we can kill it, she wondered if that would appeal to the wolf before her. She felt like Towhee might appreciate the offer, but this was not Towhee. The similarities were vague but present enough for Hydra to imagine they could be related. It definitely made sense. Hydra did not think that other wolves within a pack could produce except for the alpha male and female... likely their parents. Then eat it. Eating it seemed to be the thing that excited the young stranger to begin with.

So, taking a few steps forward and following the strange trail, she looked back over her shoulder and inquired, you in?

Phox liked the idea of killing it. Even though he wasn't a rage-fueled killing machine like his sister, he was a hunter, and killing anything for food appealed to him quite easily. The stranger offered to let him join her in the quest, and he hesitated. "What's your name?" he asked. He would certainly feel more comfortable following her around if he knew who she was.

"And I can't be gone long. Rave's gonna be lookin' for me." Sure, she allowed the pups more and more freedoms as they got older, but she always rounded them up before it got too dark. Phox would answer her call as soon as she inevitably asked him to come back.

Hydra, she returned, not thinking to ask for the boys own name in her own readiness to get a move on. Rave—Raven, she deduced—was his mother, too it seemed. You related to Towhee? She asked next, tail waving slightly. And after another beat, she said, if it's not close, we can head back. We'll trail it for a little bit, she offered. Given her high opinion of Towhee, she allowed this, though she had humored calling him a wuss for relying on the rules. Hydra, as a child, ran away from those.

The name rung a bell, and Phox recalled that Towhee had mentioned the name at one point or another. This was confirmed with Hydra's next question, when she asked about Towhee. "She's my sister," the Omicron replied. He had no reason to be paranoid that she knew Towhee, considering his sister had already mentioned Hydra. He let her lead the way, considering Hydra had found the bloody feather.

Cool, Hydra retorted. Her opinion of him went up due to her personal bias toward the handicapped cub. And on that note, Hydra sprang into action, seeking whatever she had smelled and glancing to the nameless wolf whenever she sought additional assistance. What avian critter this belonged to exactly she hadn't the slightest idea... it seemed that now and then, the bird took off and was able to fly a bit before it landed again. Still though, there was no visual sign of it other than spattered blood-drops.

*inconveniently cuts short*

Hydra led the way, and Phox kept his nose, eyes, and ears open for any sign of the bird. He was eager to find it, though he was more eager to eat it. He followed in her footsteps, occasionally stopping to smell a droplet of blood. Whatever kind of bird it was, Phox wouldn't get the pleasure of learning about it today. Raven's call went up, and he instinctively swiveled his ears toward the sound.

"Gotta go!"

As they searched, a howl tore through the air. Phox was quick to bid her adieu after, and she looked to him and nodded as he departed. Hydra was too bent on her task to give him a formal goodbye, and for the rest of the hour Hydra continued to track this critter. In the end, she found the thing but could not see it to learn what it was—she stood on her hinds and barked hellishly at a tree to get it to show itself, but for naught. The thing could be dead up there... and something did smell foul. She huffed, and felt disappointed she would never know before she turned and headed home.