Phoenix Maplewood That's the Spirit

<3

Today, the girl was on a self-assigned mission, something she felt had to be done. It had been too long since she'd had some quality time with her sister and she would make up for that today, her present held gingerly in her mouth. While @Citali would likely appreciate the gift, Nochtli certainly did not appreciate the taste of dirt. Honestly, how the medic relocated plants like this, she could not understand, but she did it anyway because she wanted to help with expanding the den.

Upon arriving at the garden, her bright eyes roved the location, looking for her now long-time companion. Shhi'aaaa." Oh yes. That sounded highly intelligent. Was she even around? A sigh left her, setting the hard-to-find herb on the ground in front of her, gagging as she fought not to ingest the dirt left in her mouth. The plant was intact though, and that was what counted.

Deciding she would wait for her friend, Nocta settled down to lay on the ground, during which she tried to clean her mouth of the earthy taste.

She'd excused herself from weeding and otherwise tending her garden to clean up by the stream. It wasn't too terribly far from here. Just a quick jaunt in that direction and the trickling sound of water greeted her ears with pleasant burbling. Eventually, she’d carve a trail from here to there that was easy to follow, but for now she contented herself by the river and groomed the clumps of dirt from her fur.

For all sakes and purposes, she’d considered her garden well taken care of for the day. The sun was growing hotter as the day progressed, so she’d pick back up again in the morning and see what needed to be tended to. Nevertheless, after she’d washed off her paws, she felt content to return to the garden to oversee it. Her chest swelled with pride. Yes… This garden would be sure to thrive under her care.

She found her Amazon sister resting within the weeds. With curious blue eyes, she neared the dark female and glanced down at her. "Eh-hem,” she murmured, clearing her throat to rouse the wolf from where she lay. ”I didn’t expect to find you here.” She didn’t expect to find anyone anywhere, but it seemed her garden was a popular location amongst pack members. Perhaps it was simply because this area was one of the few places where she could be consistently found.

Weeds. Grass. Truthfully it was all the same to her. She didn't know the difference, leaving that knowledge to Citali whose toes she most certainly did not want to step I when it came to such things. She knew her friend was particular about things and while she was a superb medic, she did not have a lot of patience for those who didn't know the the difference between a dandelion and a... not-dandelion.

But there were some things that Nochtli knew, that she had retained from Cita's explanations. She knew that what she had brought was a not-dandelion; in fact, it was Marigold. She remembered Citali talking about it before and had been so delighted to find it that she'd uprooted using the methods that her friend had taught her and hauled it to the blossoming garden.

"You don't expect people to look for you unless they're bleeding out, Cheetah. I enjoy your company, I missed you, and I brought you a Marigold." Her tail beat the ground a few times, accompanying the smile on her face as she said everything in one fell swoop in a matter of fact tone. "Your garden is coming along nicely." Much better than it had fared in the permafrost of the Ridge and no doubt, the medic had to be pleased.

Looking more closely, she noticed her Amazon sister had brought with her a plant. Citali's eyes immediately brightened as she listened to Nochtli talk. Her mind was instantly distracted as a look of confusion rolled across her face. "Well, if they're bleeding out I would hope they're not looking for me. A howl would do. Physical activity would only increase the heart rate and lead them to bleed out faster." It was common sense, really. Frivolous activity of any kind was frowned upon while you were dying.

Her sense of humor was extremely lacking to the point of its non-existance. No matter, the mention of the flower caused her to look upon Nocthli a touch differently. "I do hope you'll excuse me, Noctagon. While this gesture is extremely flattering, I'm not exactly a lover of females, so I'm afraid this won't work out." Her garden was coming about nicely, but it seemed as though Nochtli's advances needed to be properly addressed first.

She merely grinned, obviously entertained by how literal Cita was. At first, it had been a little off-putting. Nochtli couldn't honestly remember if they'd gotten along right off the bat but knew that at some point, she had started to understand the way the Medic thought. That understanding had amplified exponentially once the two were suddenly lone wolves together and refused to separate. They'd been through a lot and Nochtli was happy that things had happened the way they had. If not for Tyrr being a complete idiot and abandoning them, perhaps she and Cita would never have become such close friends.

An outright laugh now as Citali turned down her 'advance', tail thumping against the ground in her amusement. "Oh, stop it. I know you have feelings for me." A jest that would be obvious to others was shot down by Nochtli herself to assure the mocha medicinal magician that she was playing around. "I'm kidding. I remembered you telling that Marigold could..." She reached for the memory, one eye squinting shut as she racked her brain. "Help keep wounds from getting infected. Wasn't sure if you had any yet so I brought it for your garden."

Nochtli laughed!? How dare her. The female spoke and Citali immediately replied in her personal offense. "I daresay such ideas are absolutely preposterous! I can not fathom – Oh." Nochtli was kidding. Evidently she'd missed any tone of jest within her Amazonian sister's voice. She explained instead that the flowers were merely a gift. At such a point, Citali visibly relaxed and moved to take the plant so she could care for it properly.

She shifted the flowers to her own mouth and moved to deposit the plant in a part of her garden that was exposed to the sun. Marigolds preferred full sunlight and soil that was not overly moist. The environment here would be perfect for that. She only hoped she'd transplanted it in time before the roots dried out and began to siphon the plant of its properties.

Citali made quick work of it, digging and toiling in the soil before she dropped the roots in and covered the base of the plant. It stood a little crooked, but she assumed it'd straighten itself out eventually. "Mm. Marigold is useful." She picked up a rock and placed it beneath the stem, propping up the plant so it stood full mast. "I hope it wasn't too much trouble for you to find."

Her smiled remained, as did her amusement. She knew Cita was a literal creature and this, she did not mind. The sudden tension in her friend drained away as quickly as it had come as she moved to care for the flower, Nochtli's bright eyes following her across the garden. In the silence, the dark girl took once more to licking her fur, ridding her mouth of the last few remnants of earthy grit. It was not a taste she enjoyed, nor a texture, and she was not sure how the medic could stand it. Then again, herbology was practically Citali's calling and she supposed it was an acquired taste. Literally.

"Not at all. I enjoyed the challenge." It had been something new and while not quite exciting, it had kept her busy and useful at the same time. Nocta had been through quite a few flowers before she found the right one, and even then, she'd observed it long and hard to make sure it had been what she was looking for. "What made you get into healing, Cheetah?" She asked suddenly, paws tucking under her chest. It was not something they had discussed before, and as their friendship aged, Nochtli felt it was something she should know, if only to learn more about the mocha female.

She admired the transplanted marigold for a moment before she decided it wasn't quite standing straight. Citali adjusted the rock at it's base, shifting the angle a bit until it stood tall and proud. There. That was much better. Now it didn't appear as though it was slouching... Hmm. Perhaps something more might help it look less sad until the roots took to the soil and it learned to stand on its own.

Her thoughts drifted even as Nochtli spoke. A bit absent minded, Citali "Mm,"'d in all the right places until a question was followed by her name. She lifted her eyes then, trying to bring her attention span with them as she considered her reply. "It was the most interesting, most mentally stimulating option available." Healing was something of an art, but it was the science of it all that fascinated her. And the studying. And the problem solving. It kept the mind sharp and was just as valuable a skill.

"And you?" she asked in return. "What of your passions?" Nochtli was intended to be a counselor, but with their new home she could be whatever she so desired. "Will you chase them again or seek something new?"

Mentally stimulating was definitely understandable; While Nochtli did not thrive on mental stimulation, nor too did she thrive on bloodsport, besides hunting of course. Citali had always seemed to enjoy her chosen path and for this, Nochtli was happy for her, tinged with a touch of jealousy as well. But she was not expecting the question to be turned around on her, ears splaying to the sides of her skull for the moment as she thought. Her answer would not be as concise as Cita's, but only because she had trouble with the answer herself.

"I'm not sure. I thought counseling was what I wanted to do, and maybe it still is, but I guess I'm still a little frustrated with how the whole thing with... Tyrr blew up in our faces." She had tried counseling the boy, tried to get him to see reason but he had practically ignored her on each occasion, though especially the last. That had been when Nochtli had decided enough was enough and simply left the Ridge. "Have you ever felt like you weren't good at healing?"

She was not a counselor. That was not her specialty. She had a bit of a green paw, perhaps significantly more so than most, but it was nothing she boasted about unless another wolf challenged her in that area of expertise. Still, she had a feeling something was weighing upon Nochtli's mind that she would be forced to listen to. Sympathy was not her strong suit. There were better wolves for this. Citali could not pretend to be any kind of good at this sort of thing.

And of course, when the emotional floodgates opened, Citali was swept away in it. She pinned her ears upon the flat of her head as Nochtli spoke and questioned her own abilities towards something she was good at. "Forget that tired wolf, dear. He's in the past. It's over. There's nothing that can be changed. It simply is. Or was. However you wish to look at it." It was her way of saying, "Suck it up," and "Get over it." There was no sense in dwelling on the past.

As for her dark sister's second question. "No. Never." Again, she wasn't the best wolf for this. "You win some. You lose some. You do better next time." She shrugged. That was really all there was to it. Then again, her emotional attachment towards anything was slim to nonexistent.

As good of a friend as she found Cita to be, sometimes she forgot how unemotional the Medic could be. Nochtli found no fault with this, however, as it served as a nice kick in the ass. Why was she still upset over it? Just because Tyrr hadn't listened didn't mean she hadn't given good counsel. There were reasons that the two Amazons Amazons worked well together and one of them was because they balanced each other out, for the most part. Perhaps not the best advice but absolutely what Nochtli needed to hear. "You're absolutely right," The Fire sister confirmed, though she was doubtful that Cita didn't already know that.

Letting the subject drop, she examined the other's work with a smile. "What's that one?" She rose to her feet and moved to indicate a plant already firmly in the ground, careful to not disrupt it. "And what does it do?" While she wasn't one to heal or anything, a basic knowledge couldn't hurt, especially with how much she traveled by herself.

A compliment fled from Nochtli's lips and Citali beamed. "You're absolutely right." Of course she was. Emotions. Worry. Doubt. Fear. They were all things that held wolves back and tried to convince their psyche not to try. Caution, she'd argue, was more instinctual and therefore different, but that was not the present subject and not something she felt the need to vocalize in the moment.

"Different packs require different trades," she supplied instead, resurfacing the topic for a moment. "To counsel properly, the counsulee must be open to counseling. Tyrr was not. No wolf would have been effective there, no matter how skilled. However, if you're doubting yourself here perhaps the opportunity to explore an alternative career choice might be wise. I haven't seen much conflict that requires your skill set as of present, but that doesn't mean the need might arise in the future. One can never be sure. Regardless, whatever you decide to pursue here is up to you."

Enough of that. It was time to speak of other things. Her garden, for instance, was something she could go on and on about for an excessive amount of time, and might have if she did not wish to save her voice for only the most absolutely necessary of things. As for that plant?  "Yarrow. A necessity for every herb garden. Excellent for inducing vomiting in the case of consumed poisons. I don't recommend consuming that one on accident." However, she'd been tempted to prescribe it a time or two out of spite...

-slowly gets caught up-

Cita continued speaking and the simiarly aged girl listened with rapt attention; There was another point there; perhaps she was simply doubting herself because, so far, there hadn't been a single situation that had arised that needed counsel, from her or anyone else. She was getting rusty, surely, and her focus had turned to hunting and tracking prey recently. The tip of her tail twitched thoughtfully but whatever thoughts were churning in her head, she simply nodded to the brown-shaded female, accepting what she said and the advice that she was giving. Perhaps Nocta could even go to Saena and ask her what was needed, hoping to find a new passion, especially if it could make her even more useful to the pack. With their numbers so few, she needed to do as much as she could for them, as they did for her.

They moved on.

'Yarrow'. An interesting name, no doubt about that. She was both surprised and not surprised that a plant could induce such a reaction, curious to know whether or not Citali had ever had to use it. Probably, if the patient had ingested something that they shouldn't have. Thinking along that line helped her understand how Yarrow could induce vomiting, as some plants were poisonous, and perhaps the plant Cita explained was too, in higher amounts. "What do you use for basic injuries? Like cuts or shallow wounds?"

She explained the yarrow. Nochtli seemed to soak it up, but truthfully Citali didn't expect her to remember. A lot of plants looked similar, but held different properties. It'd taken her a while to adjust to the fine nuances of their differences in order to be able to tell. Then again, this was also a passion for her and a large part of her identity, so she was determined to excel in it.

Nochtli's next question was an easy one. Cita laughed. "The marigold you brought would help with that." Funny how her dark sister had brought the very thing that would cure the ailments she asked about. "Any other questions?"

The sisters chatted for a while, catching up on their easy conversation about plants, life, and everything else. It was good to catch up. Truly it had been too long.

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