Redhawk Caldera We rob banks

Wildfire dragged an old leg bone from the nearest stockpile, carrying it awkwardly toward the center of the clearing. There were still strips of dried meat clinging to it, which she gulped down readily. The pup then threw her belly to the ground and began chewing on the long bone in an attempt to get at the delicious marrow inside. As she worked on it, her amber eyes flitted about the clearing before focusing on Lake Rodney in the distance. Nobody else was here, so it was peaceful and relaxing.

But then something moved at the clearing's edge. Wildfire froze, dropped the bone and sat up straighter to peer at it. A smile appeared on her face and her black tail thumped. She jumped to her feet, abandoning the bone momentarily as she raced to intercept @Raven and see what she was doing, skulking about the edges of the rendezvous site.

Since Tiger's passing, Raven had busied herself exploring around her homelands with renewed purpose: learning about plants and some of their medicinal qualities.  She buried her grief for the loss of her friend in the intensity with which she sought to build on Tiger's teaching.  The white wolf had managed to impart quite a bit of rudimentary knowledge in the short time they'd had together, and Raven did her best to remember it all.  For now, she spent most of her time simply trying to find more of what she had already learned about:  marigolds, snowflowers*, nettles, chicory, and various types of berries.  Occasionally, she would happen upon an interesting plant she didn't recognize, and being the bonehead she was, she would chew it to see what it tasted like and if it did anything -- unaware that this was the very thing that had killed Tiger, of course.  Fortunately, the only harm that came to her was a lingering nasty taste in her mouth.

She was a tired mess when she returned to the clearing where her family hung out.  Berry juice stained her face, chest, and paws, its purplish hue visible even amidst the darkness of her fur.  Burrs, twigs, and a variety of other small forest detritus littered her coat, and she stank vaguely of skunk.  In her mouth, she carried a few limp, wilted plants that tasted like crap.  

She saw Wifi long before she herself was spotted, for her aptly-named sibling glowed like a vibrant autumn leaf in the warm sunshine.  Her tail waved and she smiled as Wifi came bounding toward her, and she spat out the nasty plants she carried in order to leap forward and nip her sister playfully on the chin.  Wildfire was one of the few things that truly and genuinely made her happy anymore.

*Snowflowers = Queen Anne's lace.  Since Queen Anne and lace are both very human things that a wild wolf couldn't possibly know of, I came up with a more realistic term for the plant.

When she came within a few feet of her sister, a strange odor hit Wildfire's nose, causing her to scrunch it. "You smell... funky," she said lightly, then laughed quietly when Raven bumped her chin. She swiped her sister's muzzle with her tongue, picking up some traces of berries and greenery that lingered in her mouth. She opened and closed it a few times, her amber eyes moving from Raven's face to her untidy black fur smeared with various stains. She chuckled again.

"What is that?" she asked, pointing a red toe at the plants her sister had just dropped. She leaned over to sniff them, nose wrinkling all over again. Straightening up, she found her sister's gaze again. She wondered if this meant Raven was well on her way toward a Naturalist apprenticeship. Or, by the looks of it, she might be leaning more toward a Healer's path. Wildfire felt a sudden pang when she remembered how Tiger had brought her yucky plants to help her feel better.

Raven giggled and shrugged at her sister's observation, knowing all too well that it was true.  "I like smellin' funky," she said with a grin...although she really did reek a bit more than she liked.  A quick, vigorous shake of her fur cleared it of most of the junk that clung to it.  When Wifi pointed at her wilted, decrepit-looking collection of plants, Raven felt a brief, fleeting dull pain in her chest as she explained, "Tiger was teachin' me about special plants an' flowers before...um..."  She paused for a beat, her eyes falling to rest on her sister's paws for a few seconds before she continued.  "She tol' me these flowers can make sick people better and make affections go away."  

She grinned up at her sister, wondering what Wifi would make of that.  As an afterthought, she added, "If you get hurted again, I can maybe fix you!"  She remembered that her sister was a newly-minted warrior, and the thought of someday helping her made Raven feel all the more proud of what she had learned.

When Raven mentioned Tiger by name, Wildfire's heart squeezed again. That answered her question, though; her sister was definitely pursuing the medical profession. With all the Warriors and Wardens popping up around the caldera, the pack definitely needed a Healer. The red pup's dark tail waved, a bit harder when Raven promised to patch her up in the event that she got hurt again. Seeing as Wildfire didn't even require a second party to sustain injuries (she could be such a klutz!), this was definitely good to know.

Speaking of which, she had managed to scuff her hip earlier today by running downhill too fast and losing control. "Can your plants help with this?" Wildfire wondered genuinely, turning broadside so Raven could see the scrape on her right buttock. The fur had been shorn away in the impact and the exposed skin was not only torn slightly but also bruised bright red. Like a baseball player sliding roughly into home, she had managed to give herself a strawberry.

The angry scarlet flesh that peeked out of her sister's red fur looked painful, and Raven's face turned down into a momentary frown of concern.  This look was shortly replaced by a subtle expression of wonder, though; Wildfire hadn't mentioned how she got hurt, so Raven naturally just assumed she got it in the line of her new warrior duties.  Her sister was so bad ass. 

She began to pilfer through her small assortment of plants, thinking back on her lessons with Tiger.  It was hard for her to remember everything, but she could recall some of the basics.  Her eyes came to rest on the chicory -- which, with its bright purple flowers, had been one of the easiest to find and collect.  She had quite a few of those in her rumpled little bouquet.  She remembered Tiger telling her something about chicory being good for wounds when they were chewed into a mush, so she pointed to it and told Wifi, "I think this'll halp."  She wasn't sure if she was supposed to use the leaves or the flowers, so she just crunched up a bit of both.  Her lips curled involuntarily and her face screwed up into a very sour expression as she commented through the mouthful of green paste, "Ugh dis tests nasty."  Wordlessly, she gestured at Wifi to lay down so she could apply the poultice to the wound (and get that shit out of her mouth ASAP).

Post #300 for sister! :3

Raven looked at the minor wound, then consulted her bundle of wilted plants, choosing a spray of purple flowers. As a Naturalist (not to mention a sister), Wildfire was very curious about Raven's pursuit and asked, "What're those called? They're pretty. You're gonna—?" Before she could even finish her sentence, her sister jammed the flowers, stem, leaves and all into her mouth and began chewing it. Wildfire scrunched up her nose and giggled.

She nodded at Raven's comment, knowing full well how awful it could taste and not looking forward to having to swallow the stuff herself. Before she could start really dreading that, Raven gestured for Wildfire to lower herself. A quizzical expression drifted across her face but she did as she was told... except that she settled on the wrong side, hiding her contusion from Raven's view. She thought she was going to have to consume the paste, just like Tiger had made her do, rather than have her litter mate apply it as a poultice.

300?!  Good grief, woman.  I only just hit 50, lmao.  You're a beast! :D

The sharp, bitter flavor of the green plants was absolutely revolting.  For a moment, she found herself reconsidering her choice of trades.  If she had to deal with this all the time...ugh.  She didn't know if she could do it.  She continued to chew, though, stems and leaves sticking out of her mouth, working what she could into a lumpy paste between her teeth.  A few times, she had to swallow back the urge to gag.  While barfing all over Wifi might be hilarious, she didn't think it'd help her sister's injury much.

After a moment of confusion, Wifi figured out what Raven wanted her to do and she laid down on her side.  But it was the wrong side.  Raven gave her sister a look that very emphatically said, Really?!  "Mff!  Tu'n offa!" she ordered through the wad of barf bait in her mouth, gesturing wildly for her sister to switch sides. 

Congrats! ♥

Wildfire blinked when Raven offered an emphatic but garbled instruction. She didn't understand at all at first, though fortunately her sister gesticulated, making things rather clear. The red pup's face knitted into a quizzical expression but she did as she was told, flopping onto her other side and exposing her cut. She looked at it questioningly, then back to Raven's face, wondering what exactly was going to happen next. She appeared just about ready to barf into Wildfire's open wound...

Just had a wtf moment because I could have sworn I replied to this a day or two ago... @__@

Wifi was staring at Raven like she was nuts, and who could blame her?  The black pup was garbling out orders around a mouthful of chewed-up weeds, eyes bulging, arm flailing, and face practically turning green with disgust.  Wifi finally got the idea and turned over, exposing the abrasion on her hip.  Raven stood over her and, after a few deft motions of her tongue, plopped the warm mass right onto the wound.  A few gentle laps of her tongue spread the poultice out over the whole scrape.  

She stepped back spat a few times, accompanying it with several ughs, then sat and looked at Wifi.  "Tastes like shit," she said, just in case it wasn't obvious enough.  "Tiger tol' me this helps with infamation and swelling, and I think pain too..."  

It's a glitch in the matrix!

For a moment, Wildfire thought Raven was barfing right onto her cut. She flinched and almost stood up in protest. But then she realized that her sister was applying the mushy paste to her wound on purpose. She remained very still, watching as Raven spread it evenly over the entire abrasion. She still looked utterly perplexed, though her expression had nothing on Raven's.

Wildfire giggled as Raven swore and sat back. She then bit her lip when Raven mentioned Tiger. She wouldn't stay she understood how it worked, yet she trusted the vicarious knowledge passed onto her sibling. Hell, she might have been envious, if not for the fact that it required chewing disgusting leafy greens...

"How does it work?" the youngster inquired, bending slightly to look at the poultice. Her nose wriggled at the dull, pungent scent. "It feels kinda warm and wet," she reported with a twitch of her lips. But already it was cooling in the air and it felt sort of soothing.

This was Raven's first time "treating" a wound, and she was nervous.  What if it hurt?  Made things worse?  What if Wifi started rolling around and screaming in pain?  What if it ate her leg off?  She was tense as she stared at her sister, amber eyes flicking from Wifi's hip to her face and back again.  It didn't seem to be hurting her, though, and when Wifi leaned forward to ask how it worked, Raven felt a sense of relief.  

"I dunno," Raven confessed with a shrug.  She really didn't know how it worked, she only knew what it did.  Tiger hadn't had time to teach her more than the bare basics before her untimely death had left Raven to continue on alone.  "It's s'pose to keep affection out, make it heal faster...I think.  And hurt less?"

Raven confessed that she didn't know the magic behind the plants. Wildfire nodded to indicate she understood. Tiger probably would have shared all her knowledge with Raven if she hadn't died so abruptly. The little redhead frowned thoughtfully, then shook her head before she could get too sad about it all.

"Where do you find them?" she asked next. There were so many different types of plants in the world, neither wolf could possibly hope to keep track of them all. But perhaps the ones Raven used grew in certain places or conditions, so she always knew where to look for them. The young Naturalist's curiosity was piqued. "What're you gonna do with the rest?" she added, glancing at the remaining wilted stems.

Raven smiled at her sister's questions, pleased that she actually seemed interested.  She was so used to admiring her siblings that she wasn't accustomed to having the same attention paid to her, especially since what she did wasn't nearly as exciting and cool as being a warrior was.  "They're all over," she answered.  She hadn't really done anything special to find these ones; they were all within easy distance of the clearing in which the two sisters now sat.  She pointed at a stray chicory flower that had fallen from the cluster she'd chewed up.  "Chicory is easy 'cause of the blue flowers.  See?"  Next, she pointed at the snowflowers that still lay in a neat little cluster.  "And these too.  They're the only ones that have flowers that look like that."


When Wifi asked her what she planned to do with them, she shrugged again.  "I'unno.  Mebbe find a place to keep 'em till you bang yourself up again."  She grinned at her sister.  Wildfire was a clumsy pup, for sure.  Gesturing at Wifi's hip, she asked, "Is it helping?"

I'm sitting here writing and Audrey (my niece) keeps coming up to me to see what I'm doing. So I'm trying to teach her my name and I asked her, "What does the kitty say?" She's slowly meowing at me, haha. I love her. <3

Edit: I'm adding a conclusion!

Raven explained that these plants were common, thus not difficult to find. Wildfire took a closer look as her sister pointed out their unique characteristics. The blue flowers were called chicories and the white ones... Wildfire couldn't recall what Raven had called them. They looked pretty distinctive and the would-be Healer verbally confirmed that. Wildfire knew she'd seen them before and could likely locate more if necessary.

The dark pup said she might put the leftover plants aside for later, which caused a figurative light bulb to pop up over Wildfire's head. "Hey, what if you put them in the badger den?" she proposed. "Maybe you could put all the plants you find there, so you have a bunch close by." Wildfire grinned, feeling rather innovative, then bobbed her head at Raven's question. "Yeah, I think it's working! Thanks, Rave." She leaned forward to give her sister a sloppy, thankful kiss to the cheek.

"Let's go get a drink," she suggested in the next beat, knowing Raven would likely want to get the last of the yucky taste out of her mouth. "Race ya," she added, laughing as she took off without another word, knowing full well that Raven would outpace her easily with those long legs of hers... that was, if Wildfire didn't trip and fall on her face first!