Wolf RPG

The dark alpha was left feeling subdued for now. Sore, head-achy, tired, but relatively mellowed for the standard set by few days. Today, a long, muggy afternoon had resisted her every step of the way so far -- with the heat most troublesome for all of the hours of daylight. Eventually that had pushed her to just go nap somewhere but even that hadn't really been restful. Now, relief was coming in the form of a firefly-littered dusk and she wasn't left with much energy to partake in it. She lingered at the edge of mountain's forested band, careful to mind the ground underfoot as she milled along, vaguely looking for signs of traffic nearby.

The her paws from the chase down the mountain were still healing, and she had not exactly been as gentle on them as she should be. It, and all of her other vague aches, pains, bruises and static shock, were easy enough to ignore thanks to her aggressive heel-turn straight into heat. Besides, she was far from the worst off here. Floki had been dropped off the mountain, Heldi rolled, Charon's cheek sliced, Dash gone missing, and that was only the very beginning of it. She grit her teeth just thinking of them, ailing, and her, unable to aid them notably from right here and now.

But it would just take time, she hoped.

After having heard of the incident, no doubt more had participated in the hunt. so he went around to check on everyone. And with @Pyx's help, who surprised him with her knowledge, he could achieve so much. As could she. Maybe he would have someone to teach him, and in turn he could teach her about poisons. "Yes, wouldn't that be fun. Showing her first hand." He suppressed a growl at the voice. He couldn't let anyone learn of that side of him.

Judas came across his alphess, Amekaze. From the angle he saw from, she did not look to be in pain. Yet he kept silent, now taken in by the fireflies around. Like the stars had come settle close to the ground. "A beautiful sight" he murmured, gazing at them. Even his evil side was taken in awe.

She found she wasn't going anywhere fast. Motivation ran pretty thin although she knew better. Covering ground and feeling poorly took a lot of effort and in truth, she was able to settle well enough here for now. A short rest could not hurt much.

The sound of his voice distracted her from everything. She then focused on the familiar coywolf, and for a half second, less intently on internalizing all of her aches. "Truly," she quipped back, albeit quietly. It had taken her a beat to realize what exactly he referred to, even as they blinked not so far from her nose. Her tail hung slack at her hocks and she mustered a small wag of it at the next thought, because scattered focus or not, she was happy about the regrowth. "Made better by a backdrop of green, finally." She watched one firefly drift lazily on quiet early evening air.

Judas watched them buzz by, blinking here and there. He could imagine them way up in the sky, or he could imagine the ground being pure black like the night sky. He rathered the first option more. "Yes. It's almost as if the night sky has me with the Earth...Except it isn't night...And stars don't move." His nose wrinkled as one flew right over it, it's buzzing wings making contact. 

Judas agreed on that. The greenery had recovered after the locust swarm came through. A lucky break for all the wolves around. Those that still lived. "I heard there was a hunt" he said, flipping the subject. "I'm going around to see if anyoe needs attention." Even though he wasn't officially medic, nor had much medical knowledge, he could always hope Pyx was near. Or try it himself.

As he spoke, she mhm-ed softly with a slow exhale. The earth, the skies, the stars -- even these seemingly inconsequential fireflies. Her thoughts were pulled in many different ways suddenly, torn between the finest of details to the greatest picture of all. She wanted to feel it all, and know whatever she could. She was frustrated by this, suddenly, and bit it back down before it could find a place to escalate in her tired, aching head.

When he brought up the hunt, she found herself grounded in the reality of that mess. She did not know how much he knew already, or from who's point of view he had learned of it all. The hunt itself was just the beginning of that whole event, surely with each Moonspear wolf there having a different perspective on what had gone down based on the sheer volume of things going wrong there. "There was. We brought back a ram, so it was not fruitless in the end." she grated at the memory of it all. They had brought back more injuries than prey, too. "Who have you seen already?" she asked. She was leaning her weight off her worse side, the right, ever so slightly.

The nighttime of Moonspear was seemingly buzzing with life. As dusk fell, Pyx found herself itching to head out for a walk. She'd spent the morning busy but the heat had forced her into shade and relaxation before long. She was well-rested, decently fed, and in a good mood. After meeting with Floki and Judas, she felt that she had a new purpose to her life. Charon had said that Moonspear didn't have many medics and Judas had seemed impressed with what knowledge she had shown him. She enjoyed the activity so much, there was no point in not pursuing it. She was hopeful that perhaps Judas might teach her of poisons too, once she knew him better. Nefarious purposes did not cross her mind, she was interested in keeping others away from them and simply having the knowledge.

She was making her way through the land, a bounce in her step. She wasn't headed anywhere really, just wanting to be out and about as the sun slowly set. Perhaps she'd explore more, or meet other wolves. She doubted she was the only one who had avoided the heat of the day with naps and shade. As she moved, she watched the fireflies come to life and lift from the grass. They danced drunkenly in the air, seductively flashing their lights for each other. She had paused to watch when she caught the sound of voices. She turned, ears cupping towards the noise. 

She hadn't spoken with Amekaze directly since her joining, but Judas she had seen only the day before. She stood, undecided if she should approach or head off on her own way. A gentle breeze, thankfully lacking in humidity, blew against her taking her scent with it. She would be noticed before long, but would judge if she should approach by the reaction. If she was not invited she'd merely continue on her way and connect with the others at some other time.

So, they had brought back a ram. He assumed that they cached it for later, since he hadn't seen any ram. That made his tummy grumble, as did the voice in his head. "Floki told me all about it" he replied. Which was a bit of a lie since he hadn't told Judas all about it. Just some things. 

He was so intrigued in the fireflies and his goal of going around and asking about injuries that he hadn't caught the presence of the other. "Did you get injured? I may not know much about herbs, but I can try." The alphas, in his eyes were top priority. And this could show his worth in herb knowledge.

Floki. Her expression set tightly. His injuries -- his potential sacrifice to the pack as a whole, was something that was bothering her, and something she was maintaining a distance from and hearing about mostly secondhand. Charon was closer to his brother's healing than she was. She'd not heard any bad news on his behalf, at least, so assumed it was going as well as it could for him right now. She was doing her best to send him healing vibes in the meantime. "A lot happened there," she slid back her ears as she confirmed this much, but noticing a scent on the breeze distracted her soon after. "It is cached, I can show you where later.. Getting most of the injured pack back in the rain took a lot of the energy, and we did not get back until very late.." she elaborated, and squinted soon after. Word didn't spread around the pack as effectively with many of them trying to mend.

He'd probably picked up on her well enough, so she assumed by his asking, though. "Ah, well.. there was lightning. I do not know if Floki had much to say on that, he was not so close to it when it struck and having different issues. I was," she said, watching him carefully to see if this was something he knew about already because she did not want to be unnecessarily wordy. She was choosy with her details and how they specifically related to her though since she was struggling to identify all of her issues, and which ones were her worst. On the edge of more details, she thought she heard something from nearby and glanced that way, curious.

Amekaze's head turned toward her and she felt it would be rude not to say something. She headed slowly over and stopped a few body lengths away. She dipped her head politely to Amekaze. "Greetings to both of you. It's been a little while since we last spoke Amekaze. I hope you are well." Her eyes turned back to Judas and she greeted him as well. "And I promise I have not been following you, Judas." She chuckled lightly in a friendly way, tail waving apologetically to show that she meant no harm. There were plenty of places for her to go in the pack territory, but her and Judas had seemingly had similar paths for the past two days at least.

"I was just out walking and heard your voices as I went, I'm not interrupting am I? I can head back out if so. It's a lovely night and I wouldn't want to impose." She glanced between the two, ears cupped forward. She was thankful she hadn't run across Amekaze and Charon and itnerrupted a lover's conversation. She'd likely have just kept going if that had been the case. Charon was an intimidating male, she didn't want him cross with her. Amekaze seemed a kind wolf, but she didn't want to upset her either. She wasn't sure of where Judas stood in pack ranking though, and wasn't sure if she was interrupting pack business she should not be privy to. Her expression was friendly as she wait for an answer, willing to do whatever was wished of her.

A tingly feeling went up his spine. He knew what lightning could do. Start fires, hit the ground with explosions. And if it ever hit one directly, bye bye to them. That he learnt from some old wolf he'd passed during a lightning storm. Then fed him some poison, but that didn't come to mind at the time.

He was glad that there was some ram cached, though. Yet worried, cause he could not see any injuries on Amekaze, not noticing how she shifted her weight. He thought it was something else, like the lightning making her partially blind or something. "And you? Any injuries on y-"

He cut himself off as a rather friendly, familiar voice arrived. Pyx, just who he needed if Amekaze was indeed injured. He held a glint of a smile upon seeing the helpful knowledgeable wolf. "Pyx! Right on queue. I was just about to ask our alpha if she had any problems." He turned his face back to Amekaze, awaiting an answer. He wondered if she were to be there everytime he thought of her coming to his aid. That would be both helpful, yet annoying after a while. He quickly dismissed the thought.

Any injuries, he asked, as anticipated although it did not mean she had a concise answer prepared for him either. Thankfully, Pyx's appearance on the scene steered things aside just briefly enough for her. "Pyx," she chuffed. Ame waved her tail gently as the greetings came. She wasn't feeling interrupted by anything, so she was plenty free to join them if she so wished. "Well enough," she answered back, noncommittal, although glanced curiously between them when she'd remarked about not following him. He seemed quite accepting of her company, too. She'd take that as a good enough sign.

Problems was a stinging way to think about it but she'd answer well enough. "Soreness.. in general, ringing ears, some notable headaches too," she listed with a frown that she was trying to not let turn into a scowl so soon. Weakness weakness weakness each factor shrieked and this was even without addressing her sheer exhaustion -- which she did believe was her fault.

She'd angled the right side of her head ever so slightly towards Judas so he could see the small patch of missing fur beneath her ear yet above her eye that she couldn't rightly identify the cause of. There was no clear wound beneath it, just bruising from when the electricity's heat mainly conducted through the rainwater didn't concentrate its energy enough to finish the blister it had almost started -- but she did not know any of this. She'd been left to wonder if it had happened in her fall or sooner or if it was from a combination of events. Amekaze couldn't tell, or even remember the exact sequence of things in that moment, and just knew it was there even if it was small and probably not worth noting. "At some point, I had lost my footing. I think courtesy the lightning or just after. Details are iffy still. Everything burned in a strange way.. and I swear I can still taste it," she detailed, licking the backs of her teeth as she did despite the continued frown. She glanced from Pyx to Judas again, trying to discern what they were taking from this and how she was going to handle further questions.

She waved her tail at the warm greeting from both wolves and smiled in turn to both of them. Her ears perked as Judas mentioned she was just in time. She had missed the first half of the conversation, did not know that Amekaze had been with Floki on Nocturne Summit. Her eyes swept over her alpha, looking for any obvious injuries. She noted none and focused her eyes on the female curiously. Her mind began to spin as the female spoke of soreness. She didn't directly know of anything that could help muscles soreness as far as herbs. Heat certainly would, though. If she could sun herself on a nice warm rock for a while, not long enough to over heat herself, though. That is if it was muscle soreness. Raspberry leaves could again be used here, they'd help with the soreness and the headache for a time. It wouldn't cure it though. She thought the headache probably came from strain, and when she heard that the injury had involved lightening she exhaled softly. Amekaze had been with Floki then, and had her own tumble.

She winced as the other spoke of tasting it, that details were fuzzy. The most likely cure, as far as Pyx knew would be time. Though raspberry leaves and the heat could help soothe. Pyx was clueless for ringing ears, though. Was there a way to heal that? A better wolf than her might know. "Well," She glanced to Judas momentarily, still feeling some lingering sense of needing to answer to him first in matters of healing. She continued after a moment though, knowing it was just leftover from thinking he was the medic. "Raspberry leaves might help, for a time. A smaller amount than we gave to Floki." She said the last to Judas. "It would help with the headaches when they came certainly, would ease the soreness for a little while but it wouldn't root out the cause. Heat would help your muscles too, if you could spend an hour or so laying on a flat rock in direct sunlight. Mind you don't get heatstroke, or overheated, but just enough time to warm the muscles and soothe them. I don't know of anything for ringing in the ears, save time." 

She smiled apologetically, glancing to Judas. "This is the extent of my knowledge for what you have said." She hoped this would be good enough for both of them, though it wasn't a certain cure.

Judas examined the small patch, being careful not to enter her personal space. He was unsure of what it was, as it had no wound. It mystified him. Not something to worry on, if there was no wound. That's what he thought. He went on examining as Amekaze kept on talking. The ringing of ears he understood, from the thunder no doubt. What would be used for that, he believed it was just like a headache but in the ears. So whatever was good for headaches...

He shot her a look as if to say 'you got this' when Pyx glanced at him. And she certainly had it. "What do you think would be best for headaches? We could use it for the ringing ears" he threw in after Pyx listed things that would be good for the alpha. All he was good for was poisons, not the health plants. "Just an idea" he added with a small shrug. What a way to make them confident on his knowledge of things. "I'll stay here with our patient, you get the rasberry leaves. Since I have no idea what they look like. Sound like a plan?"

They took what she gave them, and she watched the thoughts and ideas begin to take shape between them. Pyx piped up with some good points, which she took careful note of as she especially fancied the simplicity of sunning herself. Raspberry leaves, too, interested her albeit for a somewhat different reason. "The sun soaking is a good approach, I like it. I intended to wait and see how time treated some of these issues, it is not anything.. unmanageable," she nodded; rest was often the best for anything. She had just not been very attentive to that need. "If some of it does not get better, then I will worry more," she added, namely the headaches and ringing ears. Otherwise, worrying over it was the last of her intentions right now. 

"Have raspberry leaves been easy enough to get here?" she asked, curious even as Judas had intended to send Pyx off to get the leaves in question. "I do know.. feverfew is used for general pain as well as fever, so I wonder if it may have an affect on a headache. But I have not been able to find any here lately. It used to grow well along some of the small creeks," she mentioned. She had theorized that it had not grown back in yet after the locusts has stripped all the brand new spring growth or maybe now was just not the right time of the season for the little white flowers to flourish properly.

Judas's interjection helped her along in listing things Amekaze could try. Once she was done the male suggest she head for the leaves and she rose to do so, but was interrupted by Amekaze herself. Pyx nodded, smiling softly at the female's response. "Sun soaking is good for many things." Relaxation helped the body to heal, and what could relax one more than a nice warm rock under the sun on a summer's day? She spoke of waiting before seeking treatment, so Pyx stayed her paws for now. She wasn't going to attempt to force healing on anyone.

At her question about herbs Pyx glanced to Judas once more. She'd not had time to collect much herself, but she knew that there had been some in the cache they had been near when helping Floki. "There was some in the cache, that I know for sure." She said, not exactly answering the question. "I haven't had the time to truly go looking for collection purposes. I think I've smelled some on the wind though...but that's not entirely helpful. Have you smelled or spotted any raspberries, Judas?" Feverfew Pyx had not heard of. She logged away the knowledge with interest, aiming to have someone point the plant out to her should it ever start growing again. Perhaps her pack had simply had another name for the plant, she wouldn't know until she saw it. "It'd be no trouble for me to dash off the the cache if I can't find any closer." She offered.

The mini-quiz on raspberries surprised him. He never thought of raspberries being medicinal. In fact, he steered clear of berries most of the time, seeing them as only food for small critters. The only way he would eat one was if it hadn't properly digested in a critters stomach. Added a flavor he highly disliked if he ate the stomach. But he knew what they looked like, at least. Or, he thought he did.

"Raspberries...little red ones?" he asked to be sure. "I will go check...Or..." Judas turned his head toward Pyx. She obviously knew what they were. And before he could suggest her to go, she already offered. His tail flicked in silent thanks. "I've never used berries. Maybe you could? If you need help, be glad to offer my assisstance." It felt a little weird saying that, offering himself to a wolf. Especially since the voice in his head did not agree with it, shouting curses he had not used in some time. And it seemed he hadn't needed to ask at all, as Pyx offered.

Back in her homeland, she had only ever learned of the very basics regarding herb use. In a clan of wolves with a tendency towards battle, it was easy enough to catch a few tricks here and there. However so few took it further than that. Ease the pain, stop the bleeding, stave off the infection.. simple, easy, and often only using a few select herbs or ones that were commonly found so that stocks never needed to vary very extensively. Her honored mother had planted a few more seeds of interest towards the more obscure types of  before she had eventually left, and then here in the Teekon, encountering various healers over her many moons had helped polish off a bit of what she knew. It was listening intently to them that often seemed to give her the most fascinating of viewpoints -- times like this moment here and now, with her ears cupped towards them both when they spoke in turn. Somewhat, she coped with it better when it was less about tending to her issues and more about learning whatever she could.

On raspberries, she too shook her head softly. She'd not seen any recently, despite knowing they liked bushy places with moist soil, so had nothing to contribute beyond that and watched to see how this sorted out between Judas and Pyx. Overall, she was not in a hurry, nor was she intending to go anywhere. She'd already planned to wait out her aches and pains because that was what she did. More than that, she was concerned about how her packmates were healing and if they would be left with permanent damage.

She was only asking about raspberries for the simple fact that where there were berries, there would be leaves. It was simply easier to spot and smell the berries themselves. She frowned as both wolves with her said that they hadn't seen them. Judas offered to check and she thanked him with a smile, but shook her head. He offered his assitance though and she nodded. "I may need it for restocking, but for now I think the cache would do. I was only looking for the berries because they're easier to spot than the leaves themselves. There must be some supply of bushes somewhere, if there were leaves in the cache." She paused to think on it a moment, weighing the option of looking versus taking what there was in the cache. She couldn't remember how many there had been...the cache had been rather messy.

She shook her head, silently, dismissing the idea of hunting for the leaves now. It was growing dark, she'd likely not be able to spot them unless she was right on them. It was unlikely she'd get lucky enough to catch the scent of the berries on the wind. "The cache it is, then. I only hope we've some left. I'll run and fetch you some, Amekaze. It'll provide a small amount of relief for a time. Get you a good night's sleep at the least, which will help you heal." She looked to Judas again and winked happily. "Back in a moment!" She waited a second or two to be sure the alpha wouldn't disagree with her fetching the herbs but turned her body to dash away.

Judas nodded after Pyx decided on the cache. "We should go on a large stockpiling search tomorrow." It was a sound plan. He needed to get the lay of the land, and what Amekaze said about one of the herbs called feverfew. Something to look out for. If he knew what it looked like.

He turned to face Amekaze. "She is quite good at this medicine thing, isn't she? Better than me, that's for sure. I plan on teaching her poisons, if she does not know of them yet." Judas glanced over at Pyx, a sense of admiration glinting in his eyes. Something that he rarely had. A question popped up that he felt he should ask. "Are there any others in the herbal area?" If there were, that would make his stockpiling run much more easier.

Ah, their stocks. Dismal, after the locust swarm and Thistle had left their ranks to vanish off to parts unknown, she was certainly going to support any efforts to rebuild them. "Right. There is no rush. I will survive," she smirked subtly. "Thank you." she offered as Pyx took her own path away from them, off to retrieve her leaves from the cache. Ame was thankful, even if it felt almost like a luxury to have this available; she was not used to it.

Judas' words made her nod. "She is. I am impressed. Seems.. very quick to learn," the dark alpha surmised with a thoughtful look. "The thrall claims to know about some herb uses. Poisons, too, but I have not yet picked her brain about it, so I do not know what all she does know exactly.." she said with half a shrug. It could all be a bluff for all she knew. Amekaze knew the female was not comfortable with her so was not likely to go spilling any information anyway since she had never really been very secret about her opinion of her. But she was not overly interested in really getting to know the thrall lately anyway, potential for new knowledge or not -- not with Pyx and Judas showing so much promise.

"Very quick to learn." A trait that showed promise in everyone, he thought. He believed himself to be quick to learn. Until it came to how he changed his ways. That had taken longer than expected. He still hadn't quite gotten the hang of everything.

His ears went slack a bit when she spoke of her knowing poisons. That was his part of teaching her poisons out the window. "Really? Well, I'm sure there is some she does not know." If not, there had to be something to teach back to her. And as it would seem, the alpha did not know much about her either. Some investigating would have to be done. "I might ask. But another time. For the time being, why don't you tell me what happened in the hunt? I did not get as much as I needed from Floki to fully understand the situation."

Regarding the thrall, Amekaze preferred to keep her at a distance considering how she felt about that whole matter. She rolled her shoulders. "Most likely," because she was already well on the track to favor Judas and Pyx over the thrall, anyway. However she would potentially help them benefit from her if she could -- since Ame had yet to really peg a usefulness onto having kept the thrall in the first place.

On the hunt, she blinked slowly and sighed. She didn't really want to detail it, but he deserved a clearer picture of it if he was bound to help anyone mend. "Well, long story.. and with slightly different views I am sure. It was storming and we rallied on two dueling rams. The moronic Redhawk alpha male... literally leaps down from a cliff above, out of nowhere, and sends one of the goats tumbling into our pursuing wolves and spooks the other one off. Many were tangled up in that for various reasons -- slippery ground, an ungulate falling on them, you get the point." she grumbled. Honestly she had not seen it all. "Some of us split to continue after the ram, others to run down the Redhawk -- which was where I went after another one of them arrived too. During that chase, the lightning struck very nearby and the Redhawks fled during that, which did grind things to a halt for those of us still pursuing."

There were a few bits here and there that she could probably detail better, but she watched Judas to see if that cleared things up enough or not.

Judas remained silent as she spoke. From what he gathered, another pack intruded on the hunt and messed things up. They had gotten one ram, though. That's what Amekaze had told him earlier. So he assumed the other had gotten away. Occasionally a light of a firefly drifted by and caught a quick glance, but his ears cupped to his alpha to listen. She soon finished retelling the events from how she saw them.

Judas felt the same words he had said to Floki, but this time held them back. It was one thing to reprimand a beta and get lucky without any shouting back. It was another thing to reprimand and alpha for stupidity in hunting during a storm. Besides, there had been a famine. They were desperate when the opportunity had arised. "These 'Redhawks', they are new to the big picture I see. I'm guessing you are not in good terms with them?" Both sides of him were curious, but for completely different reasons. He cast a glance around. Was Pyx done yet? Did she need help sorting through the pile of dead leaves?

It had been the potential for a great meal -- two rams -- after so long of having nothing at all that had been the drive to hunt despite the conditions. Plus, she had been confident in her wolves and their ability to hunt on a mountainside save for everything except Peregrine's intrusion. The lightning had just been the salt in the wound to really ruin everything even more. Bad, bad luck.

"Somewhat. A lot of it is old noise. My former pack had history with one of them that was ugly. They were the parents of a wolf who lived here months back who was close to Floki and Charon, which all parted on bad terms too. We typically all keep away." Which was true, and the way she liked it. She wanted nothing to do with any of the Caldera wolves.

Judas was conflicted as to whether find this as comforting news or vigilant. Part of him was comforted. The other would be on the lookout for any of these 'Redhawks'. "So, if we ever see any near the pack borders, I suppose it wouldn't be time for having a nice chat with them, yes?" A perhaps obvious answer would come to this question, unless these wolves were more peaceful than first thought.