Jilaiya had left her distracted bodyguard back at the abandoned burrow which the duo had decided to claim as their resting spot for tonight. Instead of tending to the much needed den, the pale female scampered off towards the enticing forest in search of any herbs she could experiment with later on. Her fiery eyes scanned the ground for any plants that could be useful, but she only found dead leaves and broken twigs scattered amongst the forest floor.
It was a pity she didn't find anything useful, Amaimon would have been the oh so perfect test subject. The female let an irritated sigh come slithering out of her mouth just before she noticed the small mushrooms crowding around a fallen tree's roots. She had eaten shrooms similar to these back at Kosrak once, though she had to admit her memory was a bit hazy of that night. Jilaiya stood over the fungus contemplating whether or not she should eat one. One bite wouldn't hurt, right?
Rickon was the type to follow his nose when he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself next; and if he was being real honest with himself, then he almost always wasn't sure what to do with himself next. Still, he seemed to get by well enough— though this is still up for debate— and living by the mantra of "when in doubt, follow your snout" hadn't proved disastrous for him yet, so he would keep up the habit until it did.
That day, the thickening aroma of a looming weald drew him in. The vast array of plantlife was astounding to him, as a boy from the trenches who wasn't quite use to all the cushiony things that came out of soil. His pads were more used to hard gravel and steaming rock, not grass and tender loam; but he was appreciative of it all the same. Ahead a pale figure seemed to sniff at one such interesting and new thing for the spring chicken, and he hung back to call out to her. "Those any good?"
Her head shot upwards towards the dark furred male, his features handsome but not extraordinarily so. "Dunno" she answered truthfully before focusing back on the mushrooms. They didn't look that appealing, nor did they smell that great, but they were something new and something different and Jilaiya had always been fond of strange things.
Her attention shifted back to the stranger, her tail giving a friendly and inviting swish. "I'll try one if you try one" she suddenly and unexpectedly offered, her eyes silently asking do we have a deal?
Her eyes, like apricots glimmering in the light that reached them, fled to Rickon as he called out, and he wagged his tail in hopes that she not be put off by his forwardness. She didn't seem inclined to shyness however, as she answered him readily and then further offered to experiment with him. Luckily for the both of them, neither wolf seemed partial to ignore the presentation of something new. "What are they even?" he asked, coming up slowly to her side, and lowering his head to catch a whiff of the fungus himself. "I've never eaten a plant before. Well.. grass, once," he amended quickly, glancing up at her sidelong from his crouch.
The man slowly found his way to her side and Jilaiya shot him a quick smile before turning her attention back to the fungus.
"Mushrooms is what they're called" she announced while leaning down to pluck one from the earth. They appeared similar to the one she had eaten at Kosrak, so Jilaiya naturally assumed they would have a similar effect. "Grass" she repeated after him, dumbstruck on why he would do such a thing. "Why would you wanna eat grass?" she asked, her tangerine orbs wide with curiosity.
He recalled hearing about mushrooms, knowing only that they resided in the wet caves he had ventured through back home. He wasn't sure of its uses (or detriments), so he was pretty neutral on the trying-in scale. Sniffing uncertainly, he raised his brows at her as she asked why he would eat grass— which he thought was normal. "Well I had a belly-ache, right, and somethin' in me just wanted to eat grass, so I did it, an' I... felt kinda better. It was weird."
He looked back at the mushrooms. Since she knew the name of them, maybe she knew what they did. "Y'know what happens when you eat wunna these?"
So grass had rid him of his belly ache? Jilaiya never would have guessed something so simply could cure anyone, but she supposed it made sense. Common herb cures a common issue. "I'll have to remember that next time my stomach hurts" she said more to herself than him.
His question made her think back to the night when she had eaten these before, but other than memory loss she couldn't think of any symptoms. "Uh, I don't know actually. I tried them once, can't really remember what they did though."
She said she didn't remember, which seemed reason enough to Rickon to be unafraid of the plant's side effects. She obviously hadn't perished, and if she couldn't even recalled what had happened, then it couldn't have been too bad, right? Without commenting further, he bent and plucked a single mushroom cap from its earthy base. He chewed it up, smacking loudly and grimacing as the taste of the soft, disgustingly bland fungus hit him harshly.
"Eck!" he barked after swallowing, letting his tongue— peppered with mushroom bits— loll uncomfortably out of his mouth. Rickon licked his chops, forcing back what was left in his mouth and then giving his head a rough shake. "That was awful... and I eat a lot of carrion," he laughed. "What's your name, anyway?" he asked, a little belatedly. "I'm Rickon— yer resident daredevil and try-er of anything."
i am so sorry about the wait D:
She watched as he bravely decided to eat one of the little shoorms and a laugh erupted from her lips as he clearly did not enjoy the taste. Staying good with their deal, Jilaiya quickly ate the fungus and prepared for the vile taste to fill her mouth but she instead found them to be quite good.
"Awe come on they aren't that bad" she teased before picking up another and downing it after a few seconds.
She smiled as he introduced himself and she quickly followed with her own name afterwards.
"Jilaiya" she said with a dip of her muzzle and a sway of her tail.
"Try-er of anything ehh? I'll have to keep that in mind in case I come across any other interesting herbs."