Snowforest Taiga living without you

being vague about location; somewhere between ankyra sound and whitebark stream. attn: @Stryx!

the blackbird hadn't meant to wander, and had he been given another option, he would have chosen it. by the time he turned to look for either parent, alsek had wandered too far for even a hint of the border to remain. it was evening now; his stomach grumbled with hunger, his cheeks wet with tears, as he sounded several pitiful cries for any of the known adults.

though only moments, alsek could have been convinced an eternity had passed by the time he settled for a nap. he whined himself to a light slumber within the confines of an abandoned den, ears and nose primed for any hint of his family's familiar scent.

She'd meant to return to the mountains, but after the encounter with the two boys and the mother before that, Stryx found herself in the lowlands instead. She wasn't certain where she should go next — back to the coast maybe, to check on the progress of the woman if she still lingered in the grotto? To the brook where she'd left the boys, to see how the dark-coated one fared in his craft? 

That's really why she lingered; if she returned to the mountains she couldn't return for these check-ins without burning more calories, and she wasn't eager to do that.

So she wandered. She hunted for a few hours, finding a skunk as her luck petered out, and then chose to let it escape without harassment. The last thing Stryx wanted was a good douse of that thing's odiferous glands even if she was in need of some food. The fates would provide for her eventually, she thought with a vague roll of her eyes.

As she journeyed through the taiga's forestry, the trees like spires cut from aventurine and swaddled in thin yellow light, she wasn't subtle. Her strides were purposeful because that's the attitude she always carried: as if she had somewhere to be, some work to be doing. The rest of her, from her lowered head to the lazy drag of her tail through the grass, spoke of her overall weariness. She paused and changed her route as necessary, but soon found herself surrounded by a dense copse with no way out.

That's when Stryx noticed it: like a bird calling between the trees, but far more familiar. A keen little sound, whining, making her lip curl at first. She stopped, sighed, and moved to intercept where she thought she'd find it again. The whine came again, but Stryx couldn't find anyone on the first pass — the third, the fourth — and when she stopped to rest in her search, the sound was gone.

But her gaze lingered on a slanting shadow off her flank, and the longer she stared at that section of forest the more clear it became. There was a hollow there. So, she moved towards it, sulking the whole way while her pond-water gaze turned sharp with interest.

the sound of someone's approach — unfamiliar, in scent — roused alsek from his light sleep. he remained still for a long moment, then slowly pushed his body to the deepest wall of his hiding place. the shadow outside steadily grew; having never experienced something of this nature, he relied wholly on lingering instinct.

alsek tried his best warning growl, something small and unthreatening. he yipped once, then again, and tried another round of growls assumed strong enough to scare away the intruder. 

his stomach rumbled once more, silencing the child's protest. adults brought food; maybe this stranger would have something to offer that could satisfy him until back at home. unsure, but willing to try, alsek slowly stepped toward the den's exit.

Something in the trees diverted her attention temporarily; a sparrow or something else small and frightened, and so for a few seconds her eyes traced the graze-line, the henge of dark branches. Her head raised briefly as she did this; then, when a sound emanated from the dirt a few feet away, her brow raised.

The woman sniffed, her snout wrinkling, and then set about striding towards the hollow again. She bypassed it and hoisted herself up the ridge in to which the hole had been dug, and appeared more interested in the forest — vanishing among the shadows. She came out a few minutes later, a squirrel hanging from her teeth, wriggling against the cage of her grip until it choked and died.

Thereafter, she descended from the ridge. Stryx stopped when a flicker of light caught on a wet nose, and she saw the subtle curves of a face nearing the den's entrance. She dropped the squirrel immediately and licked her muzzle clean, but said nothing. The squirrel — not as dead as it appeared before — kicked at the air and rolled to its tiny feet, but was too dazed to know how dangerous the situation was.

the toddler slowly emerged, allowing himself to be fully seen. there weren't any immediate dangers from what he could see, but the woman was still a stranger; he avoided eye contact, instead bouncing his gaze between the foliage.

there was something moving at the woman's feet. alsek knew that it was food, but wasn't sure that it belonged to him. eat it? he whispered after a short rehearsal. he took one half-step forward, his paws hovering with slight hesitation.

It was a small creature, somewhere in the realm of childhood itself, and while it was dazed and twitching at her feet Stryx had the unfortunate urge to crush it beneath her heel; she chose not to, mostly at the last minute, because the wolf child emerged and whispered something. Her ears spun forwards to listen, but there wasn't a repeated utterance. He looked young but healthy; shy, simultaneously bold with curiosity.

Stryx lowered herself to her haunches, placing one paw across the small of the squirrel's back and gradually leaning more and more weight upon it, so that it could not escape at first but also so that it gradually became crippled; she wasn't sure if it was okay to murder a morsel of food before anyone so young, so she did it gradually. The squirrel struggled a bit but eventually the life left it, as its lungs could not expand with breath, and it died against the dirt.

Sombrely she commented, It is food. Would you like it?

the blackbird inhaled and shrugged, then exhaled: ok. he crept forward at a steady pace, still wary of the stranger's presence. before leaving home, he'd slowly become more accustomed to eating whole meat, and so did not ask for the meal to be crushed.

instead, alsek hooked his teeth onto a hindleg to pull the thing away. he looked up at the woman, silently asking permission, before beginning the still slow process of breaking down the corpse. 

after a few minuscule bites, the blackbird stopped to listen. to nothing in particular, of course, but in an attempt to temporarily quiet his (apparently dangerous) curiousity. another glance was given to the woman and he said, water makes flowers grow.

As the child moved to take the squirrel, she lifted her paw. The creature dragged across the dirt, then he began to tuck in to the meal. It didn't take long before their eyes were drifting towards Stryx, and she feigned indifference, taking the time to measure the shadows and look around for signs of adults. Any wolf — young or old — knew the dangers of the universe. This one was too young to have been subjected to much, and without someone to guard them or guide them, that could be very bad. Stryx lacked visible compassion but she hadn't left yet, and waited there while he ate.

His little voice carried to her ears, and Stryx, with her expression just as bland as before, nodded her chin. Aye, it does. Sometimes fire makes plants grow too. Her eyes lingered on him. You probably don't know what that is, though. An afterthought.

A better option: Do you like flowers?

fire makes flowers grow? the sentence was difficult to say, but came after some stumbling. alsek didn't know what fire was to ask for more details, though he did hope that she would explain further. he nodded his head to her question, adding, flowers, flowers.

there weren't many of theme here, unless they were hiding within the greenery. alsek looked once over the landscape, already forgetting the meal in front of him, but could not find a single bloom worth plucking. he shrugged again; flowers?

She might've found him cute, except that Stryx didn't like kids all that much. They were disproportionate, lacked fine motor control, and didn't know enough to be interesting to her, but she knew how not to behave around them. It took focus to stop herself from rolling her eyes at him. If no other adults came around then it was her duty to keep him safe — or escort him home if necessary — and it was a task she was resigned to accomplishing. Maybe it wasn't far.

His mumbled commentary wasn't too important to her. He kept on repeating the same thing, and while Stryx wanted to roll her eyes she didn't. Yes, flowers, they're... pretty, and stuff.

But he couldn't find any. Stryx hadn't noticed anything valuable on the way through the area, but seeing him searching the dirt (and how pathetic he was) she took pity on his effort. If you stay right here and finish your food, I'll bring you some flowers. OK? She lowered her head as she said this, sliding to her belly so that she was sprawled at his level, and looking at him eye-to-eye.

flowers were very pretty, yes. alsek had begun collecting them while at whitebark, and now missed his small collection more than anything.. even his parents! assured that the strange woman would bring him something to look at, he nodded his head and continued picking at the squirrel. 

but he couldn't wait alone forever. he was conflicted between staying, doing as he was told, and going after her to help. would she still give him the flowers if he disobeyed? alsek didn't give himself enough time to weigh the options before walking excitedly in her path, chirping to the nearby birds.

She was on her feet while he nodded, and then walking towards the rise where she'd hunted for the squirrel. She cast one brief look down at him while he began to eat, figuring he'd stay put — and then moseyed in to the forest to see what she could find.

There were ferns; they were useless but curled curiously, so she plucked the end of one with her teeth. She spied some shoots by the base of one tree that could've been wild onion or garlic, so this she nosed at and then with some clawing, uprooted. It wasn't very big - the size of one of her toes maybe - and this she tried to gather between her teeth too, like a crocodile carrying its hatchlings. While doing this Stryx noticed a patch of little white flowers and was about to move towards them but, she heard movement.

The sounds of little claws on stone, and a belly dragging in the grass, made her stop and look over her shoulder. The boy was on her tail and making little noises towards the treetops. Sigh.

Stryx continued as if she hadn't seen him, moving over the rise and down the other side of it, leading the boy back to where the squirrel lay abandoned but on the other side. Here she placed the fiddlehead and the garlic, and looked around theatrically as if she had lost him and was bereft; however, her voice was stiff and dull. Oh, where have you gone, I am so worried, what ever shall I do...

the blackbird gasped and dropped his foraged goods. had he done something wrong to cause concern? here, here! alsek exclaimed. the two mint leaves were forgotten behind him as he circled back to the woman's front, now visible once more.

she'd dropped something before making the call. after assuring her that he was still there, alsek turned to investigate, thoroughly sniffing around the wild vegetables. they smelled different than anything he'd ever tried before, but in the nature of scientific discovery, he opened his mouth for a bite.

He came up beside her quickly, his little voice an irritant that would rival a hive of bees, and she wanted to scowl down at him but didn't. The thin whiff of mint hit her nose next, likely from his breath, and Stryx looked around for whatever he had foraged for himself. She turned to investigate the discarded leaves - gathering them to the rest of the assorted things - and when she turned back he was already trying to bite at the garlic.

Hey! She called to him sharply, her spine bristling. 

That is garlic, she explained in the next breath, tempering her voice whether he recoiled or not. Its hot on the tongue. Makes your breath smelly. There were other uses for it, but it wasn't like this kid could retain information so she wasn't about to go in to detail. 

Stryx sniffed around at the pile again, separating the fiddlehead from the mint, and then frowned down at both. Wait, this isn't mine. Where did this come from? She played up sniffing at the mint and then gagged, wrinkling her nose.

the toddler quickly retreated into submission. his ears folded back tight against his skull, his eyes widened with tears; alsek awaited further yelling, but was instead given mellowed tone.

she explained, and he understood why she'd yelled before. smelly? he asked, opening his mouth for a whiff, yuck. alsek hadn't actually bit into the garlic yet, for which he was glad. stryx's lesson would prove useful in the future.

their conversation shifted to the green leaves he'd brought. alsek's offering wasn't as visibly interesting as hers, but it did have its own unique scent. surprisingly, his new friend didn't seem to like it. 

the child giggled with increasing volume, then reached out to explain. flowers, n'agreen, smell too good. his paw motioned with each word, acting to further communicate his very good points. yes, it was green, and it smelled far too good for him to have not picked it up.

Her tongue dragged across her nose, not that it helped. She made a point to shake her head as if that might clear the scent, which it didn't. The boy's comments made her nod though. 

Smelly green thing, yep, you're gonna go far kid, she grumbled to herself. There were many uses for mint but she didn't know what to tell him, if anything would stick or if it was worth it at all. A good find. If you eat the garlic and get smelly, maybe the green leaf will fix it. Wanna try?

More likely, the flavors would mingle on his palate and make his breath quite ripe; but it wasn't an issue for Stryx, since she could escort him home (wherever that was) and let his parents deal with it (whoever they were). It was the perfect experiment. For now, the fiddleheads were forgotten.

sarcasm wasn't something that he understood yet. this was unfortunate, because snarky conversation would have added another interesting element to this thread. instead, alsek took her words at face value and decided that she was right; he was destined for greatness!

the proposed experiment sounded fun enough. having forgotten about his current dilemma (being dangerously far from home, at the mercy of an indifferent stranger, etc.), he was quick to agree.

first, alsek went for another bite from the squirrel. tasty. then, he went to the garlic to take two large bites before deciding that it was definitely enough. the taste was horrible, nauseatingly so, but he took one more for the sake of keeping his companion happy. 

to conclude, alsek took a leaf into his mouth and chewed, chewed, chewed, until that too became overwhelmingly gross. ew! he shouted, nasty, nasty.. wondering eyes looked up at stryx, hoping that she could explain what had gone wrong.

It was marvelous to watch.

The squirrel was a mess of red, stringy pieces. Then the garlic — she'd warned him about the taste and yet he took three big bites, impressive — and then the mint, which could've done a number on the boy's breath had there been more of it. 

He did not like the taste, and made that known pretty swiftly, meanwhile... Stryx was trying not to start chuckling at him. Amusement threaded through her, but she kept her face rigid and unimpressed, a cold mask.

Hmm. Here, try this, she nosed at the fiddlehead finally, and before he could take the pieces and chew on them she tried to explain: See how bright they are, and curly? They have lots of water in them. If you chew them, the water should help get rid of the taste. That or, they'll explode with all their contained pollen, but she had no idea.

This kid was much too trusting — she should probably get him home soon, she thought.

bright? — he reached for the sprout — curly? their lesson was very enjoyable, including the less savory parts. alsek followed instructions with only slight hesitation, taking the fiddlehead between his molars and biting down. 

the liquid kept inside spread through his mouth and dripped down onto his chin. he continued to chew with an open mouth, the scowl on his face indicative of the strange taste. alsek didn't know how to describe it; there wasn't much there for him to enjoy, but it wasn't.. bad.

after breaking the sprout down to a pulp, alsek spit it onto the ground. he couldn't taste any of the original foods anymore, but the new aftertaste wasn't much better. well, he said, well.. what could he say, really? he opened his mouth and shared a long breath for stryx to judge its effect.

Better? She offered with a raise of her eyebrows, a quirk to the corners of her lips. Then he exhaled. The heat of breath across her face wasn't too unpleasant, but the stench that rose from the child could've been compared to a compost heap; it was closer to the smell of a dumpster sitting behind a fine dining establishment: herbed squirrel with a fiddlehead coulis, stuffed to the bottom of said dumpster in a brown paper bag. It was, to be curt: vile.

Her eyes were watering but she didn't let her expression break. B-better, much better, Stryx commended, refusing to inhale while he was showing off his new-found superpower. She lifts her head to stare at the sky for a moment, blinking rapidly, taking a breath in through her nose like she's coming up for air after a long swim. Then she settles back to her haunches and regards him.

So, kid, Stryx started, wanting to ask him if this den was home, except she sort-of deduced the answer already. He looked young so he couldn't have been far from home, except there were no other adults around, and he was well marked as a pack beast. Someone must have been missing him. How did you get here? I bet there are plenty of flowers back home, right?

A moment later, Can you show me? It'd be easier to get him home by having hm retrace his route, so, that's the plan going forward.

sometimes, ignorance really could be bliss. alsek didn't know how bad his breath smelled which was probably for the better, because he would have been heartbroken to know the truth. flowers, mhm, he confirmed, happy to move on.

though moving on did mean confronting the ugly truth, and that was something he was much less interested in doing. alsek breathed a heavy sigh strong enough to shake his entire body, replying, maybe.

the scent trail was as good as gone, but hints still remained. stryx might have had more luck taking the lead with her presumed ability to properly track. nonetheless, alsek walked in the general direction of whitebark.

He seemed resigned against the idea, but then took to striding off, and she watched him a moment before reminding herself she was the adult and she ought to follow him. So, Stryx got up and followed after him. His pace was slow and he was easily distracted; plus the path did not seem very prominent, though Stryx tried to find traces of the boy's scent or any obvious trail so that they could travel swiftly.

To pass the time a little better - despite being much more accustomed to silence - she offered some light conversation. So, what is your name? Her ears twitched, and while she was focused on the terrain around them, she was listening.

we can fade this at any point, LOL

germanicus minimized the embarrassment of alsek's speech impediment, giving him the courage to speak difficult words without restraint. among them was his own name, which was said with the slightest hint of pride: al-thek. your name? he hoped that it would be something pretty and easy to say so that when he taught pele everything he'd learned today, he could properly credit the teacher.

Alright!

It wasn't an odd name to her ears, as she was accustomed to things that would make other people very confused; his name did not have any meaning to her, which was the oddity. Perhaps it was a language she was not versed in. I am Stryx, she offered to him in a rare moment of kindness, although her face remained stony and cold.

They would walk for a while yet, and upon finding the territory fringe Stryx would wait and see him safely across that invisible line; but when he turned back, if he turned back, she would be gone on her way.