Lost Creek Hollow "what did the fish say..."

"What did the fish say when he swam into the wall?"
Damn.

Not sure if this should be labeled pack activity yet, but this is just Ilya reporting her findings to @Mordecai (:

It had been some time now that the scrawny, malnourished fae had joined the ranks of Lost Creek Hallow, and she was a new wolf by now. Her starved frame had filled out, and while she was still rather thin it was due mostly to the build of the breed. Her long fur was shinier and much nicer looking, she was able to keep it much better than she did when on the move and the amount of nutrients she was receiving didn't hurt. She was finally training now. Ilya soon wanted to begin sparring against other wolves. She seemed stronger, somehow, even though her fur disguised most of her body. She still wasn't the strongest wolf in the pack, but she was stronger than before. She secretly hoped that Mordecai had noticed, but she wasn't sure what he might think. 

She kept hard on the trail of the alpha, hoping he was in fact in his den where her nose was taking her. She padded quickly and excitedly, but still somewhat nervously. She had practiced what she'd say to him the whole way from the beaver dam and felt she was somewhat prepared. When she arrived, she lowered her head and let out a low greeting bark to alert him of her presence and wish to speak before presenting herself.

"It's Ilya," she barked, wagging her tail a little as she grew both excited and anxious to tell him of her news. "I've discovered something upstream the Mudminnow river that I'd like to inform you of," she stated and then waited patiently for him to respond.

sorry this took me ages to get to!

Truth be told, Mordecai wasn't much for dens. If it hadn't been for the change of weather in the past few days that had prompted him to find something a little more sheltered, chances were he would have been found roaming and lounging out in the open. But as it were, autumn was progressing quickly towards winter. The days were noticeably shorter now and that lack of light had prompted the trees to fully shed their leaves where it mattered. That change of the season stirred quite a bit of mixed feelings within him, though it was nowhere near as bad as he had anticipated it. Like the sliding change of the year before, it seemed — at least so far — that they were in for a mild winter.

But he didn't hold his breath either.

He had been a few steps short of emerging from the den when a bark came, followed by the feminine lilt of Ilya. His head poked out first as though to check the clearance, and then the rest of his body followed as he came out into the crisp air of the day. Her words had already gained his attention and he wondered just what her discovery was. "Hello Ilya," he murmured with a wave of his tail, "what did you find?"

Don't sweat it lol

Ilya dipped her head again respectfully when Mordecai answered, then straightened herself back up. "Good evening," she responded calmly, giving him a friendly smile. She could feel her tail swaying slowly with excitement of something to inform the Alpha of, but refrained from sounding too eagar.

"There's a beaver dam upstream the Mudminnow river," she reported, tilting her head. "I discovered it while I was recording rainfall using the height of the river. The amount of rain we had and the height of the river made no sense," she explained. "It's rather large, and it's currently inhabited with beavers so I didn't see it fit that I try to destroy it own my own..." she paused, then added, "Well, our own. There was a young female from Jade Fern Grove at the river and she went with me to check it out." She stood silent as she waited for Mordecai to respond to the situation, her ears perked and tail stalled a little, but she stood still and straight.

Ilya didn't hesitate before launching into an explanation, which Mordecai found interesting. Using the height of the river to measure rainfall? It sounded incredibly foreign to him, but he wasn't about to knock it either. His brows furrowed as she continued on and he admitted to himself that he didn't have the slightest clue just how that would affect them.

"What does that mean for us?" he asked. As far as he could tell, the river was broad and had many branches to it, though he had hardly explored it in depth. Perhaps more interesting to him was the mention that someone from the Grove had gone along with her, though his meeting with Scimitar had been some time ago. It did not surprise him that the wolves from there would be branching out and exploring nearby.

Ilya shrugged, weighing her responses with delicacy. "I'm not sure of the weather here, but if the main branch becomes low enough the rest will freeze. I know we're close to the mountains, I'm sure it does get rather cold in the winter." The black fae thought for a moment on what Mordecai was thinking. She watched his expression change; a bit of confusion and perhaps even judgement had spread onto his face. She wondered what he was thinking about in particular, but didn't ask and didn't study his expression. She simply looked into the forest a moment and waited his response before speaking again.

"The dam is too far upstream to be a useful water source to us, at least in my opinion. But it is your call, after all. If you'd like to check it out for yourself, I'd gladly show you where it is. You and Harlyn could decide for yourselves," the she wolf added, not hastily, but also pointing out the dams potential. She personally still believed it was too far away to be useful, but her opinion was one of many.

What more she brought forward did, in fact, stir a bit of confusion in him. He couldn't have claimed to have much experience with beavers, though he was aware of what they were good for. They tore up the scenery and barred off streams. Beyond that the best anyone could have done to sum up his consideration of them was better off scribbling hastily across paper without making any real sense. And rightly so, that confusion displayed itself briefly through a momentary splay of his ears before ultimately settling on indifference towards the situation.

He opted to go with the latter of her suggestions.

"Couldn't hurt to check it out, I reckon. Lead the way." If nothing else, the venture would be a nice jaunt. If Ilya thought it wasn't particularly likely to affect them, he wasn't sure what the commotion had been about in the first place. But then again, given the bread crumb trail she had left him thus far, he was inclined to wonder if she wasn't building up towards what neglecting to investigate it would bring.

I'm not sure if you want to go ahead and power-play Ilya and get her to the water or if you want to write out the walk there. I've left it open for you decision. (:

Ilya dipped her head. "Of course," 

She turned, beginning back towards where she can come from, only using her nose briefly to remind herself of the trail. She wait for Mordecai to fall in beside her, as not to leave him behind or stray too far ahead. Her tail swayed back and forth as they walked, she was content with her discovery, even if it was not all that noteworthy. 

The journey there was not all that long, but it was far enough she thought. Her biggest concern was the smaller streams trailing from Mudminnow, she personally felt no reason to keep the dam around. The only thing it would do was dry up their end of the river and create a large water source too far away to be any use. She couldn't decide if Modecai felt the same way, overall she felt as though he had no care of the situation at all. He had wanted to see the dam either way though, so to her this was a success no matter what he decided in the end.

They eventually reached the end of the forest, and from here they would only have to follow the shrinking river in order to find the dam.

I'll see what I can whip up here as we go along. :)

As silence lapsed between them and she led the way, Mordecai took the time to allow his attention to shuffle about the forestry around them. The woods were quiet and deep where they were and in the minutes that elapsed he found nothing entirely out of place. There were signs that the pack had come to settle well there, but he also knew that even the Hollow had niches that he had not paid obvious attention to. But he had always been keen on leaving some secrets to be found later, and they were farther and farther from the leisure days of spring and summer.

They happened upon the borders where he idled for a moment, pausing to mark a fading marker along the ever-shifting claim. He caught up with her easily, though she was observant enough not to go leaving him behind. Not that she would have been hard to track down and keep up with either, but he appreciated the gesture all the same. It wasn't too difficult to make their way eastward towards the winding and bending tributaries leading to the river either; all they ever had to really do was follow the network of waterways there.

And as they went, he looked upon those waters for some sort of marked difference, the largest of those being its departure from the higher banks where the water had cut into the earth. Other places it didn't seem to have made a difference, but the land more or less rolled right down to the water. It was along some offshoot of the river that would wind down into those vast creeks and streams that he did notice something — the work of beavers.

"Looks like they've travelled pretty far to find the wood they want," he said, breaking the silence.

The damn couldn't have been much further, he supposed.

"Hadn't thought of that," Ilya responded, flicking her tail with wonder, ears perking. "Perhaps there was something closer that I didn't see," she shrugged. She walked on, thinking a little bit.

Ilya's blue eyes narrowed as they walked, and she glanced into the water every now and then. Every time she looked, she noticed her reflection, and she did her best to ignore it. The pink scar under her jaw was easily seen from the angle, and she despised seeing it. But every time she looked away, she wanted to look back at the rushing water, getting lost in its beauty.

She huffed, looking away for good.

"It isn't far," she commented, looking on. The landscape sloped a little, but she could smell the fishy scent of the beavers, she assumed Mordecai could as well. She wagged her tail a little and looked to him, hoping to spark up a little bit of conversation. "Have you ever actually seen a beaver dam?" she asked, padding beside him. "I saw one last year, I believe. They're quite incredible. I've never actually thought about them having to build it but, well, it's amazing," she couldn't help but ramble a little, but she black fae was somewhat taken back by the beavers. Hell, the most she'd done was dig a hole for a den; it was a nice den, mind you, but nothing compares to dragging around trees.

Further along in their travels, he too picked up on the pungent smell of the beavers. It was more than just that too, he smelled the damp wood and the upturned earth. There were other, less interesting smells that came with that as well but he didn't connect the dots as to what they were. Nor did he keep attention to the path ahead of them as Ilya dropped in beside him, once more stirring up conversation between them.

"I've seen a few of them before when I've travelled. Actually used one to cross a stream like this," he said, smilingly fondly at what had been a rather uncertain decision at the time. "To be honest, the beavers hid from my companions and I until we started across the top of their home. Guess they didn't appreciate us trying to take a shortcut." What was worse was that Mordecai didn't know which end of the beaver he cared less for. They had weird tails but a mouthful of awful looking teeth. Not practical to go after a wolf for, but still enough there to teach them a lesson if they were to get a hold of them.

Something in the distance grasped at his attention then, and he raised his gaze to better look at it. "I think that must be it up there. I'd definitely say the beavers have been busy with it." It was much larger than what he imagined and more importantly, he had no idea how it was holding back the water without bursting into pieces or flooding the surrounding territory. There was just enough flow, for now. Instinctively he pushed ahead to take the lead, more than obvious in his curiosity of what it looked like up close.

The black fae smiled, chuckling a little bit, as Mordecai spoke. "I'm not sure I'd want to walk across one," she responded, jokingly. When they reached a higher point in the landscape, the dam became in view. Ilya perked her ears.

Mordecai instinctivly took the lead, and the lower-ranked female had no arguments over it. She quickened her pace to keep up with the male, but stayed behind him to stay out of his way. "The water is starting to pool on the other side," she commented, nodding to the fuller side of the river. It was by no means a lake, but the water on the other side appeared higher and a bit wider than the side on which the two came from. The dam was obviously new, and still in the process of being built, but she assumed beavers were fast builders and would have the river blocked off sooner than she would think. She watched Mordecai examine the dam, and sniffed at the ground, taking in the fishy scent of the beavers and the thick scent of mud. "Nasty creatures," she muttered, her nose scrunched in a dissapproving manner. 

Her words went with what he saw ahead of them, though his steps came to a halt well outside the proverbial grounds he considered theirs. The pooling was a curious thing to see, leaving him to wonder briefly if that was how lakes had been made over time. It would not have surprised him if beavers were such craftsmen of the scenery around them, but the notion also struck him as foolish. As such, it fled him as he dared to take a few more steps, only to startle one such beaver away from the nook he had made for himself. The creature scurried away, chittering and carrying on.

"I'm sure they think the same of us," he murmured, watching as it disappeared through the brush and headed towards the dam. "Either way, they know we're here." With no point in trying to make a quiet approach, he pushed on ahead towards the structure curiously. It was obviously well constructed in order to hold back the water, but he noted that it also allowed for it to pass through minutely. It wouldn't have done the beavers any good to completely block off the flow; the surrounding lowlands would have flooded and turned their housing into a raft. Or so he assumed.

"What do you make of this?" he asked.

I hope Ilya's ramblings aren't too obnoxious. They're my favorite thing about her character. She knows a lot but she's pretty horrid at applying her knowledge to her surroundings and then communicating them to others. She's a smart wolf who just can't exercise her knowledge effectively. (:

Ilya found herself holding her breath while she stared at the creature. It was only when Mordecai startled it that she remembered to breathe. She looked back to her alpha, shaking her fur out to focus herself back on the situation. 

At his question, she found herself staring at the blocked off water. While not a lot, she figured it would grow. Obviously it would still let water through, but she couldn't quite decide what would happen with the river downstream the dam. She sat, trying to map out the tributaries that flowed from the river in her head. She hadn't explored too much of the territories, and only noted a few of the cleaner streams that Luke had showed her, and in truth she only assumed that they came from the muddy river. She looked to Mordecai, a bit uncertain in her thoughts. 

"Well..." she began, her bark only a murmur as she pieced together her thoughts. "I'm not seeing any pros of keeping it," she replied, her gaze scanning over the area again. "The beavers smell bad, for one," she let out a subtle joke, but in truth she found their stench highly unbearable, and disliked every step they took closer to the dam. "But the water source they're creating is too far to be useful, and the Mudminnow River is too dirty to be a reliable source of water anyway. The rest of the river will freeze faster since there will be less water, but as far as I'm concerned they'll freeze over anyway," she shrugged, still staring. Truth be told, she wasn't even sure if she was being useful to Mordecai at this point, she was just thinking out loud. The black fae let out a huff.

 "Truthfully," she looked back towards the superior male, "I just don't see any reason to keep it around. The smaller streams will dry up and those are the cleaner of our water sources that run through our territory. And in the warmer seasons those will be dry enough as it is. I just feel like there are risks behind the dam that I'm overlooking due to lack of experience with them."

not a bother at all! feel free to respond once more after this, i'm gonna give it a couple of days to let the others reply if they want to.

tagging: @Luke @Harlyn @Andalusia @Misty @Numa

Turning an ear as she spoke, Mordecai took what she said into consideration. Bit by bit, he saw the reasoning that she had for disliking it — really, the dam seemed more of an eyesore at first glance — and weighed his options. By the time her voice had ebbed away and left them to listen to the faint run of the water, he felt as though he had reached some sort of conclusion.

"I think the river is more important than you think," he said, though nothing unkind laced his words. "But you're right about this blocking the flow of waters. It wouldn't be good if our own streams that branch off from here dry up to nothing. Probably wouldn't be good if this land flooded itself over the winter either." All he could see coming from that towards the spring would be a gradual shift to something much more marshy or swampy. Neither of those he particular enjoyed, but the premise of them having to shift their grounds to better include water did due to inaction sat with him as the larger of two evils.

"As for getting rid of this... I think it might take more than just the two of us," he concluded, turning his gaze to study her response. It lingered for a moment before he cast his muzzle skyward and back in the direction of their home. They were far enough out that he felt the necessity to simply summon the wolves to rally to them. Whether or not they were within earshot, well, that was another story. Once they did arrive though, then the real work would begin. Mordecai didn't have the slightest clue how to begin, but it couldn't have been that difficult, right?

Alright! Should we just make a new thread then, as not to clutter this one? Or should we just leave it here?

"Perhaps it would be easier to eliminate the beavers," she suggested, glancing back towards Mordecai. "I mean sure we could destroy the dam, but if we could kill off the builders or just chase them away, nature will do it's own thing and the dam would eventually crumble on it's own." She made a good point, but the beavers would eventually become hostile anyway. To chase them off first might save them some heartache later, but truthfully she wasn't sure of the creatures strength or capabilities. When she offered the idea it was more of a question, than a plan, and she hoped that Mordecai would have a better solution in the future. 

Ilya nodded as he mentioned that the river was more important than she thought, and while she did understand what he meant she still felt that it was too nasty. But then again, she was a little too picky for someone who would soon be enduring a northern winter. She listened to him again, nodded, and looked back towards the dam. She waited as he let out a loud howl, signaling for the other wolves to come. Now it would only be a waiting game.

Late to the party!

He came when he heard the howl, his eyes sweeping across his leader and packmate, to the dam and the waters it was starting to contain. He could not guess for what reason Mordecai had issued the summons. There was nothing particularly novel about a dam or the creatures that built it. The blue-nosed wolf had seen plenty, and found them to be good hunting grounds for all sorts of small and big game that came to rely on the waters and plants. Good fishing too.

"So," he smacked his lips. "What's up, guys?"

guess no one else is going to reply to this ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As several minutes ticked by, the ambient din was dotted with the chatter of the beavers nearby. They were aware of the wolves that dared to encroach their area and watched from afar, uncertain of the intent that lingered behind their loitering. A certain restlessness dared to settle in Mordecai, but it was dashed when Luke had come emerging from the surroundings to join them. But none followed in his wake, leaving Mordecai to assume that the others had remained out of earshot.

And so, he did not waste time in bringing his beta up to speed.

"Ilya found a beaver dam," he began, "and it would seem that it's doing a fair job of blocking the stream here. Figured we may want to take care of it before it cuts off a portion of our water at our end any more than it has." He brought his gaze around to look once more at the twisted construction ahead of them. Three of them would make such a job difficult and Mordecai wondered if it could be done. "You favor the water Luke, what do you think, see anywhere we could start pulling some of this apart?" Chasing off the beavers was another matter in itself, but that would come naturally. They'd scatter once they realized they didn't stand a chance again the wolves.

Assuming they didn't get overwhelmed by the beavers, anyway.

The black fae's tail immediately started to wag at the mention of her name. Even without the second alpha here to help make decisions, Ilya felt important and useful to be standing her discussing her discovery. Being out of a pack for so long, and truthfully never feeling truly wanted without lust thickening the air, she was ecstatic to be making decisions with her pack mates. 

She looked to the river and the small pooling body of water where Mordecai directed Luke's attention. She could see the beavers eyeing them with a suspicious gaze. She simply stood a bit taller and kept her own eyes on them, making sure they didn't move in while they were unprepared. Without turning, she perked her ears and listened intently on the conversation, not willing to miss anything and risk having to ask what was going on.

No other creature could create and maintain its own habitat in the manner of a beaver. These sizeable rodents were masters of their craft, and the construction of their dams was nothing short of incredible. Luke stepped down into the stream and contemplated the wall of stick and mud. Nothing stood out to him as a weak point and indeed, no small amount of effort would be required to dismantle it. He reached for a branch that jutted forth and clamped his teeth around it, giving it a good tug.

"Ha, I think we got our work cut out for us," he said as he released the branch, which barely gave at all to his pressure. He tried a few more sticks, and even went so far as to paw at some of the mud, but the dam was solid. "I don't know if this thing has a weak spot. I say we just tear at it and see how it goes." Short of another solution, he latched on a stick and started to tear at it.

Following Luke's lead, Mordecai traveled with him to the point where beaver construction met the flow of water. The water itself was sharp and crisp, but not breathtakingly cold like he anticipated as he moved to wade out further; the beavers scattered with mismatched chorus at their collective approach. Mordecai himself did not take immediate action to begin pulling at the well constructed mess of branches and other assorted items. Instead he surveyed as Luke tentatively reached out to grasp at one, only for it to bend back as though it possessed some stubborn element all along. He huffed with amusement and was also not surprised — if the beaver dam were to come down easily, it would have already done so.

Bringing his gaze around to look at the structure that towered above him in the waterway, he pondered whether or not it would have been easier to start from the top. "Something's gotta give eventually," he surmised as the blue-nosed beta began grabbing at another stick. "You see anything, Ilya?" he went on to ask, grabbing a modest limb to tug at himself. It had no give, but he did not relent pulling at it until it snapped off soundly from the dam. He dropped the broken piece into the water, and moved to grab another.

I hope this is alright, I was thinking a small scuffle with the beavers but I left it widely open if no one is in the mood for that :p feel free to respond as you feel

The gamma had paid close attention to her two superiors as they discussed the dams fate. They both tested to see exactly how sturdy it was and where they could begin their demolition project. But she had lost her focus on the brutes as she noticed an increasing amount of toothy creatures advanced. She had meant to move towards the dam with Mordecai and Luke to test branches as well, but she only managed a few steps before they began to make her anxious.

Ilya appeared calm, and inside she was; but upon seeing the beavers become fully aware of the situation she became on edge. The black fur along her neck raised slightly, but she in no way appear hostile towards the creatures. She remained watchful on them until Mordecai called her name, bringing her back into reality. 

"What do I think...?" she repeated him quietly, snapping out of her thoughts and thinking his question over. Her ears flicked and she looked back out over the dam and around at the numerous creatures. "I think that they don't like what we're doing," she stated, padding slowly closer to the two. The beavers made no advances, and Ilya watched them even as she walked. To her, they appeared to want to defend, but they could just as easily have accepted the situation and simply be observing now.

He managed little more than splinters and small bits of broken branches, grass and mud. None of which had any impact on the dam's integrity, and surely the beavers looked on and laughed. Except no, maybe they were not laughing, maybe they were brewing to think their hard work may be undone. With the coming of winter, they needed the water levels about their lodge to remain high in order for them to survive; they were not about to stand idle and let the wolves take that away from them.

Luke hummed as he regarded the large aquatic rodents. They watched for now, and so he went back to pluck more at their dam, aware that he may need to shift his teeth from wood to wood-chewer.

up to you!  i'm open to whatever. :)

As he snapped yet another limb short of actually doing any real damage, Mordecai heard Ilya's voice carry to him.  Above it however was the chittering of the beavers that were beginning to amass on the dam above he and Luke.  He left her statement to linger, though his tail gave an amused wag as he grasped a stick that had a little more give to it.  Perhaps a newer addition or repair to the dam, Mordecai had no idea whether or not he could free it easily.  He wheedled back with it, pulling it along until it caught on something else.  He tugged at it, but it would not come any further.

From the few steps he had taken back with the long limb, it also gave him a chance to survey the rowdy group of aquatic rodents that were chattering at them.  He eyed them cautiously as he gnawed at the branch, almost inclined to drop his current task to give them chase.  But chances were they'd have him figured out along before he could clear the bank and surge atop their veritable fortress to give chase.  Provided that they would give in to let him chase them that was — the beavers were just as likely to come dropping down on them once they pieced together what sort of damage the duo of wolves were doing to their home.

"Just let us know if they're about to drop on us," Mordecai said through a mouthful of wood.  His hold on the branch turned sharply into jerking and pulling, as his intent was to free the longer piece he had discovered.  He thought that if he could just get this one loose... maybe others would follow.

Let me know if you'd prefer something else and I can change it <3 feel free to play the beavers yourself as well 

 

Ilya listened to Mordecai make a light comment on the situation; perhaps it was only her who found the beavers to be a threat. She nodded in agreement, showing that she would keep an eye out. Both of the wolves appeared to be struggling to get a grasp on a weak limb, and the small female tried to eye out something from up above. Mordecai grabbed hold of a long branch and was able to pull it out a bit more. Her tail wagged at the sight, although her excitement was damped as he struggled now to yank it free completely. She watched as he viciously pulled at the limb, her focus now on her alpha rather than the beavers.

A sharp pain broke free in her hind leg, about her ankle. A loud yelp sounded from the black wolf's jaws and she yanked it free from her attacker, spinning and turning to see a single brown beast. She snarled and took a step back to brace her stance as she held her hind leg slightly up in pain. She lunged her head forward, snapping back at the creature in response to it's own attack. Blood leaked into her mouth, and the creature made a horrible noise as it flailed about. Using all her might on the heavy animal, she flung it to the side, letting out a howl to signal to her alpha and beta to be on guard now, as this may not have been the single beaver. 

The going was not easy; the branches did not break from themselves or the mud surrounding them without a lot of heaving on his part. The work was exhausting, and discouraging, that so much energy would be spent to scarcely free a trickle of water from the dam. Even from the top working down, progress was slow at best.

He had just set his teeth in another branch when his packmate loosed a pained yelp. His head snapped up to see Ilya snarling and lunging at a daring beaver. She seized it, drawing frantic squeals from it, before giving it a fling to the side. Luke's brows pinched, noting the way his packmate favored her injured foot. He looked to Mordecai with uncertainty. It seemed to him they needed the full presence of the pack to make any progress on the dam, and to guard from the beavers, whose sharp teeth could lacerate them with ease.