Lost Creek Hollow I'm so grateful and proud.

The sparse light was reminding her of winter-time, which soured her mood a little bit. Winter was pretty; she liked the snowscapes it created, she liked the look of icicles and the glittering of everything. But the cold had been very difficult for Ibis. She worried that the days would get short and cold again, and the frost would return. Nobody had really explained how the seasons worked to Ibis - so she looked at the cloudy sky with skepticism, trying not to let the vague chill in the air displace her positivity.

As she began to explore more and more of the territory, Ibis grew a little more confident in herself and her place among the wolves here. She spent some time gathering pretty plants — a nearly perfect fiddlehead from a bright green fern, a small daffodil with strong-smelling pollen, and an assortment of the weeds she was so thoroughly charmed by, all came in to her possession. She carefully wrapped these things in a large leaf, and touted that around with a soft grip of her teeth.

Before long she became aware of the familiar scent of her father. Ibis became easily distracted by his apparent presence; she picked up speed to a more enthusiastic trot, and came upon @Terance doing --- well, she didn't know initially, but she was very happy to see her dad.

oh terance was doing nothing important. he and @Treason had just done a little bit of hanging out and a smaller amount of leadership discussion (nothing crazy, just about ranks and what not), and so now he was on his way to the borders. back to business. of course, his daughters scent had pulled him off course, so while ibis was looking for him, he was looking for her! wonderful. 

she found him first, of course, with all her mother's keen observation skills, though it didn't catch him off guard. "little bird," he barked in greeting, mirroring her trot to greet her with an enthusiastic nudge to the shoulder as well as a few licks to the head. she was so small. terance sometimes forgot that, as big as she had grown, she was quite petite. inwardly, he wondered if his and treason's children would share this trait with ibis, or if they'd all come out monsters like treason and terance themselves.

ah, ooo... sorry, treason, that doesn't sound too pleasant comin out. 

when terance stepped back, he looked upon his daughter with a curious tilt of his head. "what do you have there?" he asked her, tail waving her general enthusiasm and joy.

click! for reference

Her father noticed her almost immediately, and she smiled around the wrapped gift in her mouth. She was overjoyed to have time with him all by herself - no Treason, no strangers, just Ibis and her dad - and her tail waved triumphantly behind her when he used her nickname. Forgetting for a split second that she held a bunch of herbs and flowers in her mouth, she tried to speak - but it was a mess, so she had to (carefully) place the bundle down.

Hi dad, I brought some things -- she got partway before licking her lips, trying to get rid of the weird flavor of the leaf on her tongue. It was sort-of spicy, and she didn't particularly like it. Without her teeth to keep the plants contained, the leaf unfurled and her assorted gifts spread out between them. Flowers for you an' Treason, and some pretty things, she motioned between the daffodil and then the weeds, and would've continued but for some reason her tongue and lips were starting to burn, like she'd just eaten some hot cheetos. She smacks her lips and murmurs, I thought you could decorate for -- um, when Treason, um, y'know -- her ears fanned around a bit, when my liddle brother n' sister are here.

The more she spoke, the more her mouth burned; she began to slur her words together, and noticed that her tongue was starting to get inflammed; what the heck?

truth be told, terance was almost positive treason would just shrug at the flowers in a 'what do you want me to do with those?' kind of way... but, maybe he was mistaken. either way, he appreciated the gesture, and he'd at least fight treason on the letting him put them around the den... even if it was just a few. 

terance smiled, tail wagging, as he dipped to sniff at the thing. he was not one to notice if something smelled off so... he didn't comment. instead, the leader straightened up and nudged his little girl's cheek. "thank you, ibis, i'm sure they'll look great in the den," he said, only to begin to frown as she spoke again.

"are you alright??" he asked, trying to keep the franticness out of his voice. the sentiment she'd shared about her little brothers and sisters went a little underhand as terance was instead trying to figure out why she was suddenly slurring her words. regardless of her reaction, terance was now concerned enough to tilt back his head and howl for @Gannet, making sure he knew it was urgent.

Terance was good at hiding his concern until things shifted, and even Ibis could feel it. The burning of her lips and tongue seemed to only get worse. She could still breathe but had to focus on using her nose rather than her mouth, and a part of her worried that the burning sensation might somehow move down her throat if she swallowed too hard. The girl's face dropped towards the dirt and she began to pant open-mouthed, causing an ugly line of collected saliva to drip from between her teeth.

My mouf sun f'eye, she murmured around her swelling tongue. She looked to her father with surprise when she heard her own voice. She coughed, tried to spit - but the movement of the saliva through her mouth did exactly what she feared. She couldn't help but swallow the lump she felt in her throat and soon the burning sensation was traveling to her gut, which felt like it siezed instantly. She coughed a few more times and let out a little groan, but couldn't speak anymore.

Gannet wasn't used to being summoned, but as soon as Terence's voice rang out, he was running. His off-kilter gait was more than adequate to get him there quickly, and he took in the scene instantly with calculated calm.

What happened? he asked, before turning his ears back. While he waited for an answer, he immediately moved in close and slowly, methodically, began to groom the fur of her throat. The presses went along the throat and towards the base of her chest. He instinctively felt the best thing would be to, right now, prevent any panic she or her throat muscles seemed to be undergoing from making things worse. He didn't know why, but her stance and breathing made it clear something was wrong there.

gannet came quickly, thank god, he must've been nearby. that, or he just seriously sprinted across the territory. either way, terance was grateful for his arrival. "she had some flowers in her jaws -- i think her tongue swelled up, i can't understand her very well right now, i think it hurts," terance explained the best he could, motioning to the bundle she had brought over to him. maybe it was something she'd had in her mouth, that made a lot of sense of terance... oh, no. terance tried not to panic, but the alarm he felt made the fur along his back bristle. 

he did his best to be patient as gannet looked her over.

Having her dad call for help made her feel terrible; mostly she felt bad for disrupting his day, and whoever came to help her — she felt stupid, but above all Ibis was starting to panic. Her mouth was stinging and the sensation was reaching down her throat, hitting her belly, causing a bloom of achiness there — all of it was unpleasant.

And then Gannet was there; she wanted to apologize immediately upon seeing him. He began to groom at her throat and Ibis felt herself blush, but she was already pretty flustered from the strange situation. Terance explained that she'd been holding a bundle of plants, and that reminded her of all the pretty things she'd brought.

She didn't dare speak, because then she might swallow more of her burning saliva and make it worse, but she motioned at the pile and then moved towards it, kicking it apart with a frenzied few motions of her paws. Nothing in the bundle looked nefarious or spikey, but it felt like she'd been stung by something - many tiny somethings - and it wasn't abating. The pile scattered across the grass, and the broad philodendron leaf that had been surrounding the gift began to curl up, almost like it wanted to be found.

Gannet could never have known what caused the reaction, neither what it was called nor how to truly fix it. But he did have two things that would become invaluable to him as he continued on with his chosen trade - an extremely calm demeanor and a strong trust in his own instincts.

She needs water, he said with an assured look at Terance. He then indicated she should follow, allowing his side to ride against hers as they walked to the nearest spot.

He felt it had to be the answer. If her mouth was hurting and her throat as well, then water would hopefully soothe and clear up some of the trouble. She wasn't choking from what he could tell, and hopefully wasn't poisoned. Gannet wasn't sure how to make another wolf throw up if the latter was the case, though he filed away the question as one to ask as soon as possible.

terance had no idea whether or not gannet knew what was wrong. he had to assume the man did, or at least kind of did, and if not then he could maybe just figure it the fuck out. he fucking better! terance regretted in this instance not recruiting more healers. but, to be fair, that wasn't entirely his fault. it seemed all their healers were just... killed. or they left. maybe that was just bad luck, terance wasn't sure and he sure as hell didn't have time to ponder it now. 

she needs water. of course! terance could get her water. "the creek is right over here," he said with a few quick nods, ushering ibis along with him, ignoring the flowers that she was currently motioning too. how was he to know the issue? gannet didn't seem concerned by them.

Gannet moved to the water, and before she could do much of anything she was being herded over. It was probably best that she obey her superiors in this matter since she had no knowledge of plants, besides the fact they were beautiful and sometimes smelly. The pile of flowers was forgotten for the time being, and the leaf that wrapped around them, while she plunged her whole head in to the water and took big obnoxious gulps.

It soothed her lips a little bit, but sent whatever substance had been burning at her throat further down in to her belly, and then she let out a gasp of pain - still under the water mind you - and reared back with a splash, gasping at air and coughing, while water dribbled down from her cheeks and chin. She gagged a few moments before getting a proper gasp of air, and then felt an overwhelming need to vomit — but didn't.

They reached water soon enough, but before Gannet could warn her to not actually drink, she'd already thrust her head in and begun gulping. Gannet frowned, but at this point, there was nothing he could do. It what was causing it was poison, then she'd have ingested it, and he didn't have the knowledge to force it back up. But just like instinct had told him rinsing an irritated mouth was a good call, it told him drinking.... might have been a bad one. This was punctuated by her reaction.

He'd done all he could. Gannet looked at Terence, still frowning. There's no one else? he asked, clearly troubled. Perhaps she'd be fine, perhaps not. He'd done the extent of what he knew. If the outcome was 'not', then they would need another, because Gannet wouldn't be able to do much.

terance watched a little anxiously, unsure exactly what to do and positively concerned for his daughter. gannet seemed sure enough, that was, until he asked terance 'there's no one else?' which prompted a fire to burn through his throat, holding back an intense anger that would only end poorly for all parties. so terance forced it down, but the fact that gannet had helped without seeming to have a clue was entirely infuriating -- and the poor alpha hadn't been aware of gannet's lack of information until right now, when ibis still seemed to be pained and gannet completely out of ideas. 

"there's no one else," said terance through gritted teeth, glancing back down to ibis with concern draped across every inch of his features. he couldn't quite remember if mona was a healer or not, either way, she would be tied up with her pups, so it didn't matter much. if it got worse, terance would bring her next door to easthollow. 

he reached to nose ibis gently, forcing non-present calmness into his voice. "is it worse, ibis?" he asked her, expecting a head shake or nod,  "i can take you next-door to our allies at easthollow if it is -- they have healers, i'm sure." he hoped.

Thankfully the water was working, even if she'd gone a little bit nuts with the effort. While it dripped off of her face and made her look frightfully messy, it had also soothed whatever irritation had been affecting her. Her lips still tingled, but didn't burn. Her stomach was a little bit upset regardless - and maybe that would take time to pass - but her tongue would stop swelling pretty quickly. It would be about an hour or so before the swelling died down enough for her to talk though. She swallowed again, and again, and then dipped her head over the water to take some small mouthfuls as if her momentary panic hadn't happened yet. 

Everything seemed to be okay; her heart was a-flutter from the excitement of it all, but in the end Ibis hoped she'd never repeat that situation again. She looked at her father and shook her head — no, not worse. And then she looked to Gannet and slurred, Dankoo Gah-nay. Hearing herself though, she felt suddenly very stupid - and went quiet again.

Gannet didn't read the anger in Terence's tone, nor would he have known what to point the cause at. He'd been called and come to help best he could, but he'd been clear in his search that his own knowledge was miniscule. He wished he wasn't all they had.

Thankfully, Ibis's choking seemed to calm down. The fact that she managed to reply was encouraging, and he smiled, glad she was okay. Can you show me the plants? he asked, when you feel okay? he wasn't going to have her show him right now, and he gave Terance a quick nod of apologetic departure. I'm going to go check the other. They'd left it where anyone could pick it up, and he didnt want anyone touching it until he'd had the chance to determine what it was and what was wrong with it.

my badd D:

terance nodded as gannet left, still a little angry but much less now that ibis was looking better. maybe gannet did, secretly know what he was doing -- not that it helped him very much. he bent to gently nudge his daughter in any last bits of reassurance that she needed, and offered a quick chuff to gannet as he left, "thank you." he was unsure if he meant it, harboring some ill feelings still (as terance did), but overall the politeness was still there.

Ibis smacked her lips and dragged her sore tongue across her snout afterwards, testing to see if she was really getting better as fast as she'd have liked. It would be a few more minutes before the swelling really went down enough for her to talk - and in that time Gannet had voiced his questions, which had Ibis nodding. She nudged her father as he affectionately brushed at her coat, incredibly thankful that both of them had been present to help her in her time of need.

She moved away from the water and towards the plants again, but was cautious about touching any of them. Most of the flowers and grasses had tumbled out from the larger green leaf that she'd used as a wrap. Gannet was already inspecting it - and he didn't appear to notice anything amiss, but didn't look very enthusiastic about getting close either. So Ibis huffed softly to get his attention and began to lead him on a tour of the various patches she'd found along the way.

It would take a bit for her to lead him alllllll the way back to the start, where she'd plucked the big frond from the low bush with its colorful flowers, but she paused by it and chuffed to him -- this! this!

Gannet had moved to depart without Ibis, figuring she would need some time to collect herself with Terance. Instead, she seemed keen on coming with and to have regained some of her zest rather quickly!

A few things he recognized in the bundle to be harmless, and those he moved aside. The rest he did not pick up with his mouth, but buried, marking the spot so that he could come back to it later.

He then made the rounds with her, listening appreciatively as she went over all that she'd collected. He talked a bit about what some were and touched a few gently with his tongue, but felt no ill effects. Not these.

On the last, he approached and cautiously, as before, touched his tongue to a leaf. Immediately his nose wrinkled as he felt the tingling, then slight burn, light up. This, he said, then turned and spit in the grass. It's bad.