Blackfoot Forest All the plants in the world, it’s a party.

For @Wraen, if it needs moved I can do so.

Elixir traveled farther from her band, even though she kept doing this she hoped to bring more to the table for them later. This time around she was hoping to learn more about the plants that were growing around them. If she could gain some of that knowledge maybe they would be grateful.

Her paws led her into a darkened forest, the sun only leaking through the trees every so often. This was scary only for a bit as she understood forests were supposed to be darker than if she were anywhere else. Her floppy ears stayed perked as she walked, hoping to find someone to talk to.

Wraen had been a little wary about returning to the Blackfoot forest after her previous encounter with it's grumpy resident, but, when after another day-long scouting and hunting in the valley, it was clear that she would not return home by sundown, she decided to take her chances and have a rest there. The night was uneventful, she woke up few times to the sound of screeching birds and horrible screams of foxes, roe deer passed nearby barking in an odd voice, but not a thing that would cause unrest in her. Morning arrived with hunting opportunities - mice were abundant here and she ate herself to the brim.

She was gnawing lazily on some bitter roots to ease the stuffed feeling in her belly and was thinking about various little things, when the sound and smell of an approaching wolf made her stop and listen. A head turned to the side slightly and a huge wolf-dog came into her sight. Must be a relative of Bernard's... Wraen thought and immediately wished that her friend was here now to offer the neccessary backup for the discusssion to come. For now she remained hidden from the other's side, peering through the low branches of a spruce tree.

As Elixir pranced through the darkened forest she thought she caught the whiff of a wolf but put it off as another scary aspect of the forest. Her lips were full of slobber as she heard mice scurrying and deer nearby, her tummy was rumbling to add to the signs of hunger. With a sigh she lay on the cool floor of the forest, not letting her guard down though. 

Scanning the area she became more and more anxious. Her body sort of shaking she felt as though she was not alone here, she wanted to pace as she did when she didn’t feel comfortable. Pacing was almost like her coping mechanism to get her through a tough time. “I-I-is someone there?” She said at a high whisper scooting back against a tree so she would just have to watch her front. She thought she would be able to handle the forest, but maybe not.

Perhaps the philosophy of "I am the worst thing you will meet in this forest" really did work - the dark wolf-like creature Wraen was spying on through the low branches of the fir-tree, seemed to lack confidence. Which - in part - was a good thing, because, if she decided to run off, the stranger would most likely not follow her. But dashing away was not an option, because the clearest past lead straight to and past the dark wolf, the opposite side of the forest being like thickly over-grown jungle.

Wraen deliberated for a moment and then stepped out from her hiding place in plain view. She was going to win this game with confidence. "Yes? Is there something you wanted?" she asked, giving an impression of person, who is greeting another on her doorstep.

After a while of silence Elixir was sure she was alone now and calmed down... sort of. Her eyes were shooting around staring at anything and everything that even attempted to move but she had moved a ways away from her safe tree. 

The next minute a wolf emerged from the darkness where it was pretty well hidden from view, as it was darker in color. Elixir’s eyes widened a bit before she took one giant step back for comfort measures. The wolf spoke with a confidence that Elixir failed to keep on hand for situations just like this one. It seemed as though Wraen was the big cat and Elixir was the mouse at this point.

with some hesitation Elixir managed to speak, “I...uh.....um... was out trying to gain more knowledge to share with a band im in. I want to be able to contribute even though I’m not a good hunter.”. The sentence seemed to blend together as she said it almost as fast as she could. Her heart was racing as she stared at the wolf waiting to hear it say something else.

"If you are not a good hunter, you won't last long," Wraen stated bluntly, then looked the odd wolf up and down with a critical eye. And somehow this one had lived up to adulthood - either she was underestimating her skills or the group provided for her well.

"My suggestion is to learn fast," she finished, turned her gaze away and yawned. "What have you lived on so far?"

She nodded, “I’ve lived on small things. Like rabbits and such. Birds.” She looked at the mysterious wolf and then down at her paws. The wolf was right... but she could be taught, from Grezig or Kavik? She only hoped. 

“What brings you out here?” She turned the questioning into the other wolf. She didn’t want all the attention on herself since it made her nervous. If there was one thing to avoid it would be to show nervousness around other wolves even though she wasn’t good at hiding it, she tried.

"That is, what will keep you going 90% of time," Wraen commented, being an experienced trapper herself and preferring small game always to the big one. The latter took a lot of effort and could be dangerous. With rodents, lagomorphs, avians and occasional reptiles and amphibians you could be sure that the worst thing that could happen to you was not catching them.

"Scouting, hunting, doing other important stuff for my pack," she summarized all of her activities that had led her far away from home and took the opportunity to ask another question, "Are you with a group - or are you on your own?"

Elixir nodded to agree with the woman. Strangely enough, the woman of the shadows provided her with some good information so far. The tenseness that had once pulled through her had now subsided. She stood Softly on her paws, and gave a gentle look. 

“I have a band but I have traveled from them to learn about plants. So far I have been studying the looks of them. I hope to bring that back to them and provide them with more information on what plants are safe and what isn’t as we travel to our destination to settle.” She gave a whole story, probably not necessarily what was needed but it sounded okay in her head. The wolfdog looked around at the flora beneath their feet and then back at the wolf standing in front of her.

"And how exactly can you tell, if the plant is good or bad by just looking at them?" Wraen asked, slightly confused. She had never been a keen botanist herself, but she was pretty sure that the only way of finding stuff out was by direct experiments. And her mom's warning of "all plants are edbile - some just once" was still fresh in her memory. 

"And what plants are you interested in - medicinal, edible, poisonous?" she ventured further.

Elixir furrowed her brow, that was a good question. “I’m not sure, testing them I guess. But if you know the looks after you test them then you would know how it works and if you could use it or not. Not every plant looks the same, some do but not a lot do.” She stated. Though she didn’t have a lot of knowledge about plants, she was slowly gaining some.

”mostly edible so I guess that could include some poisonous so you don’t eat them.” She again looked down at some of the plants around them. Figuring out what plant to eat and what not too would be hard at first. The smells maybe ? She sniffed at them, hoping to be able to tell a difference

At the next statement Wraen lost it a little, not gaining a clear image of, how exactly this wolf learned about plants, but she decided not to push the matter further, because at the end of the day - who cared.

"Hmmm... I know some useful stuff about plants," Wraen said after a brief pause, contemplating what and how to offer it. "But knowledge is not for free. I will want something in return," she paused here, letting this sink into the other wolf. "For every plant I show you, you have to tell me a story. Does it sound fair?"

Elixir pondered at every pause, what did this wolf want from her? It sunk in that a story for information about plants.... would it be fair? If she let this wolf know about everything in her life then why not let everyone she comes across know about it? 

The wolfdogs ears pinned back as much as they could. She wasn’t comfortable with the idea and let silence fall between them for a few moments. The knowledge would be useful but what if the wolf could blackmail her somehow. After the few moments had passed her decision was made. “I guess that seems fair. Life stories I assume is what you want?” Elixir was still guarded but her ears relaxed. Her question wasn’t entirely a question, sort of rhetorical.

"Not neccessarily - funny, extraordinary or mysterious events will do. Or fiction. No need to pour all of your life's events on me," Wraen replied. Though she was usually curious about the lives of others, she did not pry, if they weren't willing to share. As in this case. 

"I can tell you about famine foods," she placed her offer on the table. "And you - in the meanwhile - decide, what you want to share."

Elixir felt a little relief as the stories she asked for didn’t have to be real and could be anything Elixir wanted them too. Elixir’s never told any stories before but was sure she could make some up or even throw in some realness with some of the fake stories. 

“Alright, I’ll start thinking while you talk. Then when you’re done I’ll tell you the story I have?” Elixir suggested. Now it was a fair trade, a story for important information. Something she can take back to her band and share with them. She looked around at all the plants wondering what information the wolf was withholding for now.

"So - the name "famine food" pretty much sums up, what it means," Wraen began, the details of the story clear in her mind, but struggling a bit to find the right words for introduction and going over to the subject. 

"It is something you eat, when you are desperate and want to die later than sooner," she went on, "they are not very nutritious, but they fill your stomach, keeps it busy and the ache away, until you get lucky and find something more useful."

"These blueberry bushes are good for that purpose," she pointed out to the ones nearby and found that they had ripe berries as well. She plucked a few and after two chews swallowed them. "Sorry - the berries are edible, but hardly present during the winter. Where was I... oh..." she pawed at the moss, "this works well for a while and - old wolf's scruff - it's kind of furry looking plant that grows on trees and hangs down. Reminds you of unkempt fur."

"And though it is not related to plants - picking up, whatever deer leave behind, is even better than plant matter. Of course, there is a possibility that, where there are droppings, there are huntable material around as well," she finished.

Instead of thinking about a story to tell she took in everything that the wolf had been saying to her. It was important information, if she wanted to help out her band. When the wolf was talking all Elixir was doing was nodding and taking mental notes of what was what. As she took a bite of the berries so did Elixir, they were good but she was right they would need another food source too. All of what she said was useful to her, Elixir wasn't sure if she could do the same for the wolf with her stories. 

After the wolf was done a few minutes went by as the wolfdog thought about what kind of story she could tell. As many went through her brain one stood out, one that she remembered her mother telling her before she was ripped away to be sold. "Well a story for important information, that we agreed on." Elixir said before she began with her story. "This was a story told to me by my mother before I had to leave her. I hope it suits your fancy." she began with a little introduction to the story with some background.... your doing great you got this, Elixir thought. "Theres a legend that says every year a wolf goes wild. By wild I mean on the full moon when we are celebrating and doing whatever we want, one of us goes into the woods never to be found again. While in the woods this wolf turns half human and terrorizes other humans. It's never been found out how or why this happens. It also has never been found out exactly how this wolf is chosen." Elixir took a few breaths in between every couple sentences but for the most part she was excited to tell a story that her mother had told her. "And so I'm just saying when the full moon arrives, watch your friends and family closely and don't let them go into the woods alone." she ended it and then thought, I nailed it!.

"My mom told once that on some occasions not all wolves in the forests are exactly wolves," Wraen commented, drawin paralells with something Osprey had mentioned a long time ago. Humans, however, was a foreign concept to her and, though she did not ask the girl to clarify the matter, she imagined them being something of a cross between a bear and a hedgehog. Living in a tree.

"Speaking of madness - do you know henbane?" she  asked. "Mom was not a plant-master either, but she said that there were plants, who could drive you mad. This one, included, though, I have no idea, what this one has to do with hens."

Elixir nodded, agreeing to what Wraen said that her mom had told her. Maybe it was true or maybe it was a folklore either way it wasn't as if she wanted to find out for herself. Hopefully she wouldn't be the one to find out for herself with a personal experience. The wolfdog shook the thought from her head and listened as Wraen spoke about henbane, she shook her head no as she had never heard of that name before. The plant seemed familiar but never the name. Though she seemed to know a lot about plants, the dark wolf didn't give herself credit for it. 

A chuckle came about when Wraen said she didn't know what it had to do with hens. "I don't think I know either." Elixir said looking at the plant. It's not like it looked like a hen. "Just to clarify, if you eat it you'll go insane ? Like have hallucinations?" she asked cocking her head, it didn't seem like a good time. Hopefully no one she was close to would ever want to eat it or mistake it for something they could eat. After Wraen clarifies her question then Elixir would tell her a good story, better than the last. A personal one.

"Insane? No idea, have not tried it myself," Wraen shook her head. "Though this would explain the origins of those "mad wolf" stories. Say, it is not full moon that affect them, but simply a plant they ate by accident or... for purpose. Or the stomach contents of deer or other ruminants. They eat all kinds of plants."

She sat thinking about purposefully eaten poisonous stuff, recalling another tale her mom had told, when she had met actual... wookings? Or something like that? They had found their way to get high by eating mushrooms. Except Wraen could not recall which were the ones to blame and therefore... "On that matter, I suggest you avoid all mushrooms as well. Some can be deadly, even when you eat a little bit. Mom told me that too."

Elixir nodded frequently. She was right, it could be plants that they ate that made them do crazy stuff and then stories were passed down about it and then the stories got out of hand. Her head cocked to the side, that was a mouth full in her head. 

When Wraen has suggested not to eat any mushrooms she nodded with a disgusted look on her face. “They don’t look appetizing enough for me to even try.” The wolfdog said as her tongue fell out to intensify the drama. Mushrooms were one thing that never looked good enough to eat and even if peer pressured she would never have the audacity to even take a lick of it.

“Have you ever seen a human?” She asked. For her this wouldn’t be a story but a mere dip into Elixir’s world before Teekon. If Wraen said no she would describe them, how she knows them anyway, for the other wolf had given her two plants so far and she hadn’t returned a story yet. She waited for an answer anxiously.

"For me neither," Wraen had never got used to the smell of the mushrooms - it was so odd and peculiar that it raised natural suspicions in her. But deer seemed to like them a lot, in autumn especially and she recalled her mom telling on passing by a herd during that season, that those odd plants were the reasons, why the deer got nice, round and fat. 

"Hoo-what?" she asked curiously, because she was blissfully innocent of a life form called civilization beyond the wilderness.

Elixir was glad they had one thing in common even if it was a hatred for the same plant. Her reaction to the wolfdogs question told her everything she needed to know. Elixir felt like running her paws together in an evil way but held herself back from it. She took a deep breath ready to delve into her own past, not like it would give away anything, but give this wolf some information that could be helpful to her in the future. 

“Well, humans are two legged creatures. They are not nice by any means. Obviously if you don’t have four legs you have to be upset about losing your other two.” Elixir jokes and chuckled for a moment before speaking again. “Anyway, they have fur but only on their heads and occasionally on their faces. The fur isn’t like ours either. They talk in a different style than us and they surely don’t like us. They hunt us and they trap us, all for something that is long and green that they exchange.” Elixir thought back to the Market and about when she was sold. Telling the wolf about the humans was the least she could do, if it saved her life one day she would feel better about her past.

Elixir's intention of telling about humans and thus giving a fair warning to Wraen was a good one, but a little pointless as well. Having never seen or met any she could not draw he exact mental image from the vague description she was given. She felt just the same way one clueless person feels, when another tells them about the beauty of football.  All you can do is smile, nod, express all the "ah"s and "oh"s in the right places and try not to show that you had hardly understood a thing.

"Long and green? Some sort of elongated frogs?" she asked, which was the closest thing that was green that came to her mind. "And they must be very hungry then to hunt us. I mean I have heard that even our own kind are not above eating other canids, when it's famine." Then it occurred to her that - perhaps - these "hoo-mans" were just the same imaginary things as those werewolf beasts were. 

"Though... they do sound like mangy bears. They can walk on two legs, if they wish. And mange does away with the fur. Are these hoovers very itchy?" she asked, playing with the mental image of naked bears in her mind.

Elixir shook her head when she mentioned 'elongated frogs' and then chuckled in her mind. "it's paper, it means something to them. They kill us sometimes to eat us but mostly for our pelts, our fur, to put on their floor in their house. They're ungrateful." she said trying to help the dark wolf understand what kind of personality the humans have, if anything when she came around one and she didn't realize it by looks surely the personality would stand out. Elixir had a pleading look on her face as she was trying to help her almost as if it was do or die, but for her it felt like it was do or die. Wraen mentioned if they were mangy bears, and well.... she couldn't say no because the only thing she didn't see wrong with that picture was that they didn't have long teeth. 

She took a small breath to regain her composure. "I'm not sure but I don't think it's a mangy bear, they don't have long pointy teeth, they have teeth that are dull. They wear things like if I were to put grass around my waste everyday and walk around, thats what they do." she pondered what else she could let her know about them. It was harder than it seemed to even describe one, they were just mean. Plain and simple.