Fairspell Meadow Nature's Juicebox

Berries weren't his favorite.

Or he told himself that, since he didn't know which he could eat and which would leave him dead. So he decided he didn't like them since it made it easier to pass the bushes without feeling like he was missing out. His stomach made sure he felt that way, though, as it groaned and begged for something to do. 

Pepper did his best to ignore it, though he kept an eye out for anything he did consider edible. Surely something would be eating the berries. In turn, he could eat it. But nothing seemed to be out right now. 

If he would've known food would be such an issue, he might have reconsidered leaving his family behind. He would've ultimately come to the same decision to leave, but he would have considered it longer. 

The fox was quick, both appearing and disappearing out of seemingly nowhere. It dragged with it a branch containing a few of the red and purple berries. Pepper thought he hadn't been noticed. 

Fox wasn't a favorite of his, but there was a decent amount of meat and catching it solo wasn't impossible. 

His nose hit the ground as he moved toward the bush the fox had vanished into. Chances were it had a burrow there, which he could dig out or wait on the small canid to leave. So he did just that, careful with his steps to stay quiet. He sat, and he'd wait, knowing the varmint would eventually expose itself, probably for more food.

yeesh im slow mb

Envy went far, each time she'd spill from the plains of Yellowstone she'd go a little farther. This trail of hers was an important milestone, and one she'd been crafting since they'd made the mistake decision of allowing her to shelter with them and provide her services. Services she hadn't gotten to do much with, much to her distemper.

It made her restless, aching to occupy herself. This one never could sit still. She never was one for midwifery, but it seemed that would be her most important task going forward... and that was naught but an occasional tea for an ache or a bug. Nothing of bloody glory, or of difficult challenge. Not yet, at least.

Regardless of her disinterest in the idle aspects of being a healer, she had beat it into her little brain-cave that things had to be perfect. She had to be stocked, she had to be informed. That was partly why she trailed out here, so far away. Believe it or not, not all herbs grew in the same places, and so she had to get her steps in.

The air here stunk of fox, and she quickly perked up. What harm was a little detour, to ravage one undeserving fox? She itched with the desire to practice, for who could condemn her out here?

She followed the scent a little ways across the meadow, tacked onto the trail and woefully unaware of the rest of her surroundings. Laser focus. She would not realize until she was in sight that another was lingering at the opposite end of this tunnel. She crooked her head at him, a larger man, yet there was an air of desperate hunger to him, evident in the slightest show of ribs beneath fur and well... who would hunt a fox? She did not come across others with her hobbies very frequently (really, ever), so that was the only logical explanation. That, or he was just y'know, sitting there, minding his business next to a foxhole.

Still, how strange it was, to be the one who wasn't starving, for once. It filled her with the vaguest shiver of superiority.

Would he move? Would he speak? Was he defensive of this quarry? She did not make room for caution where it might've been warranted. No, this was her usual bold-faced confidence.

Hey! You hunting this? She yips, tail thrashing behind her.

Really? 

The wolf couldn’t believe he let himself he invaded like that, without the slightest clue. How long had he been staring at the hole anyway? Did he zone out or something? 

He felt something cold and wet on his paw when he turned his head. In the time he’d been sitting still, a considerable rope of drool had formed in the corner of his muzzle, almost touching the ground. It’d broken off halfway and was now laying across the top of his front paw, frothy, and disgusting. 

He quickly licked his lips, severing any remaining ropes. Cleared his throat. 

He was a little displeased with the female, which would be evident in his intentional lack of enthusiasm, which he tried his best to exaggerate to a manner that some may consider parody. Flat ears, still tail, narrowed eyes. The blank stare was there regardless, but fitting for once. 

”Was,” he started, now turning back to the hole. ”Probly ain’t comin’ back out on account of all the noise.” 

Her noise, he wanted to add. Not his. 

Realistically he knew he was in no shape to win a chase against an animal—a fox, no less. And especially not in the heat of the sun. Not with his thick coat.

sorry for a weak spree! I'm available all day tomorrow so I'll catch you back, I gotta pop away here for a bit.

Mm, you never know. She begun to dig furiously at the tunnel opening on her end, staining pale forelimbs with muddied earth, and doing very little to unveil this elusive fox.

She gave this act up quickly, letting out a puff of frustration. Maybe if he hadn't chased the bloody thing into a hole in the first place, she'd have had a toy for the afternoon.

Well, next best thing, she supposed—she couldn't exactly operate on him, tear him apart and stitch him back together like she'd initially intended to do with the fox, oh no, that was a fight she was a far cry from winning; but something beckoned her to stay. Be it boredom, restlessness, a hunger for socialization, a sheer desperate urge to be a pain in the ass. Who knew? Not her! She followed her whims without question or moment of thought.

The scrawny wretch would slowly rise from her haunches, inching closer and closer, like a coyote stalking a carcass, waiting for the wolves to leave.

He kinda looked like one, all hunched over, heat-beaten and still, aside from his eyes, which followed her with every step and bore a look of displeasure. ...You could always camp here all night. Wait for it ta' pop out... I hear foxes can go a couple days without food... What about you? She crows with a gleam of taunt in her uncanny red eyes, halting her advance and skittering around the bushes without pause.

He was the toy, now, in place of the would-be carrion. 

All good! I should be free as well :3

The large wolf’s expression remained flat, even when fresh dirt had been excavated and flung back onto his pelt. 

She wasn’t going to dig it out. Seemed she knew it, too. 

The wolf knew that any chances of ever seeing that fox were gone. Thing would probably rather die of starvation than become food for something. 

He wanted to be snarky when she finished digging, though chose to leave it alone. He didn’t need an enemy right now. 

He couldn’t be bothered to engage in her antics, and only offered a half-hearted stare as she circled him. 

”Oh, we’re well past a couple, darlin’,” he said in reply. Pepper wasn’t used to going hungry. He was a good hunter when fed, and so his pack always stayed vigilant on getting him what he needed. 

”You got a reason t’ be pesterin’ me, or is that just what ya do?”

He asked if as a genuine question, but also a warning. Not that he was in any shape to follow through on anything. But he thought she should know.

I am so sorry for my lateness, my life is incredibly chaotic at the moment but im still here ^^

She teetered on her paws, eyes rolled up to look at the sky as she danced with her thoughts a moment. S'pose not. You're just here, in my path, chasing a fox I tracked into a hole. She'd shrug, and ogle his frame a moment more.

I could get you a rabbit, or a fawn, or somethin' like that. Y'look like you can hardly move. She puts the offer into the air, though its clear her service isn't free from the tone she takes. I'm also a.... proprieter.. of other things. Could bring you a lil somethin' to knock some wind back into your step. She grinned, and sat down on her haunches aside him, a risky move, and one lacking in the caution that was warranted in the face of a stranger.

But she thought herself untouchable.

Any interest? She queried, she knew well the vicious drone of hunger, how weak it made the mind. It wasn't often that she was offering to hunt for someone else, typically she got a kick out of having others do it for her.

Totally fine!

He raised a tawny brow. She tracked? Doubtful. Or maybe she did, but he was here first. 

He did consider her offer, though. He was hungry, in no real shape to track something down on his own. But he didn't want to owe her anything. What would she even want anyway? Help with something? More food? 

He did need to eat. And the other thing she mentioned intrigued him. He'd bite. 

"Sure. Why not. Doubt I'll be catchin' a fox today, anyhow."

It couldn't hurt to entertain this conversation. He wouldn't owe her anything for listening.