Blackfeather Woods i blew a man away

@Shisu

astara had left the company of her mother and averna, preferring the quieter climes of the birch-studded copse outside of their rendezvous. in her mouth she carried a toad; it was still alive, and frowning, struggled against the soft mouth which carried it. astara held it closely between her tongue and tooth, careful not to puncture its body, yet not so gentle that its transport was pain free.

and in return, her mouth frothed furiously - a numbness crept from tongue to her throat, and her eyes watered. yet still, the girl refused to let go of her toy, and wandered as a drunkard might between dark boughs, aimless and unseeing.

"Oh geez." The white wolf was right, this forest is intimidating. While she visited a rather gloomy area near her old Pack, it was more of a swamp, then a hooded forest filled with blackened birds. She felt her fur rise when Shisu first arrived, it simply felt nerving. However, it was a home one had offered, and the female was going to try and not judge it by its exterior. 

But the interior was worse. It was so dark, she felt uneasy being alone. This was her new home though! She wanted to optimistic, and scouted a bit of the territory by herself. The darkness just means the more extravagant areas are harder to discover, and perhaps she could find an area to view the sky more clearly during the nights, "oh dear."

Her paws quivered anxiously as each sound made her nervously glance around. Shisu really should've brought someone to show her around. She almost let out a shriek as she jumped when the wolf spotted a moving figure, before realizing the silhouette was another wolf. There was further relief realizing it was someone smaller- a youngster... With a frog?

The frog seemed.. Struggling, but alive. She could not see the color of it, and did not know of the terrians natural inhabitants. She couldn't tell if it was poisonous, but Shisu did feel rather bad for it, "e-excuse me! Young miss!" she was the type who would even feel anxious around those younger then her. Despite the stammering, she had the courage enough to call out to the young one. Though now she isn't sure what to ask... Should the gray agouti ask how she is, or what's she is holding? 'Oh geez,' she didn't want to ask the wrong questions.

if left to her own devices, astara might have wandered deeper into the thick of the woods, until the trees were neck to neck, and she was wholly lost among their grim faces. instead, her meanderings were cut to a halt as a voice hailed her, and pulled her from her reverie.

for a moment it was as if astara was on some remote plane, beyond the reach of this realm - but that was just astara. she was quiet, reserved, and somewhat spacey - a flaw in her demeanor perhaps, or even more likely, simply a product of her strange environment.

thus the girl held shisu fully in her sights, studying her curiously while the toad languidly protested its abject prison. despite the fear emanating from the strange wolf, astara had none -- and not a shade of malice lingered in her indigo gaze as she looked upon the stranger, curious as to what it was doing here, and wondering if it might be here to play with her?

'Oh gosh,' she had no idea how to communicate with young ones, and it grew even more worrisome that there was no responds. Who were her parents, and more importantly where are they! Surely she simply wandered off. Was she a runaway? Nono, surely not. Shisu hoped that was just an assumption, for surely she'd hear the call of a search. Though if she is just lost... It's her duty as a fellow Pack member to assure her safety! The issue she could barely protect herself completely slipped her mind, the gray agouti wasn't the most reliable wolf.

This reasoning made Shisu calm down her anxiety just a bit, but there was still an issue. That frog... "Could I, uhm, see what you are holding?"

the stranger fretted. astara watched her, unblinking -- her tongue thumbing the squirming creature while she wondered why the sensation in her tongue was gone. it felt funny and she pressed her tongue against her teeth and the muscular legs of her quarry, waiting for some sort of neural response that never came.

any reasonable child might have proudly offered the toy for inspection, provided they had understood shisu's request; astara, having very little in the way of conversation exchanged in her life, just twitched an ear in response. she didn't understand the noise the wolf was making, so tilted her head dumbly while the toad rattled around in the cage of her little fangs.

"Oh dear.." Shisu was not sure on how to properly communicate, as sentences seem to fail, and she was met with silence. There weren't too many instances she had talked to younger wolves, in fact she couldn't remember a single moment, making this situation even more worrisome. The wolf had absolutely no experience, and there was no guidance on how to handle someone so young. She was at a loss. There were no mothers around that she knew to get help from, nor' would she be able to simply swipe the pups frog, being afraid to upset her. It was a worrisome event.

Well, if words did not work, Shisu had no choice. The best she could do was gesture her way through, having a rather frantic expression on thinking the best course of action to take. Lifting one paw, she tried to use her siamese point to gesture toward her pale face, pointing directly at her pearly white teeth. She hoped, that this unknown child would get what she meant, as the wolf then motioned her paw to the ground, 'please drop the frog.' There was a repeat of motions, but through all this, she dare not step closer. Shisu did not want to scare the pup off, but in return she could not see what kind of frog it was, and only hoped the young one would drop it in order for her to scoop it up.

it was not hard to decipher shisu's pantomime; astara's tilted head righted itself and she critically narrowed her eyes once she understood. no! her toy!  she clamped down on the toad harder -- an action that was met with kicking protest by the poor wretch trapped between her teeth.

astara shared nothing; not her food, not her sticks, and definitely not the live creature that made her mouth feel funny. lifting her head defiantly, the girl scowled at the very notion of handing over her prized possession.

perhaps it was her possessiveness of the toad, combined with shisu's tenetative mien (which astara certainly picked up on and would promptly take advantage of) that had astara so uncooperative; either way, it was evident from her own body language that the unequivocal answer was no.

The damsel was troubled by the pup's reluctance; eyes wandering toward the frog that seemed to be in a tighter hold. She worried for it, but worried for the pup as well, Shisu did not know if the frog had poison properties, she needed to get a closer look. Though her attempts were met unsuccessful, and now with more reluctance on releasing the prize. She was truly at a loss at what to do. The situation was not that bright in the first place due to being unable to communicate properly, but now she has to figure out some way to make Astara release the frog, via body movements.

"Oh my.." She sighed, giving a worried and anxious glance around. Maybe there was another way to make her drop the creature? If Shisu remembered correctly, pups had a rather short attention span, maybe if she directed her attention else where, the pup would let go! Her eyes glistened on the idea and the hope of such thought. Though as the gray wolf was unfamiliar with the forest, she would have to take a guess... She did not see something around that would suffice enough. Some type of field, or an interesting stick would work, she just hoped they would stumble onto something interesting enough. But would the pup follow? She dare not to leave someone so young alone. Shisu turned herself, facing the way she originally entered the area, and gave a soft smile toward Astara. She hoped, with a point of her paw that way, that the young one would take the hint to follow; she gave a slow walk, often glancing back to make absolutely sure she was following.

giving up her toad-toy, in astara's eyes, was tantamount to treason -- she probably wouldn't even have shared it with averna.. unless her mother intervened, as mothers were often wont to do -- in which case she would have eyed her sister with poisonous loathing, as if saying don't you dare touch my fucking toy you bitch.

yet it was not her sister or her mother that tried to coax the toad from her, but a relative stranger. astara harrumphed loudly to herself as the stranger exclaimed another 'oh my' and gave up -- or at least, astara thought she was giving up (and triumphantly thought, damn straight, this is my flipping toy anyways).

she followed shisu anyway; mostly because she assumed that shisu was going to show her something awesome and cool, and also partially, because astara had nothing better to do than creepily follow on the heels of blackfeather's newest recruit. that was how you made friends, right?

Shisu sighed in relief as the pup followed. She did not by any means, want to use violence. Such a thought caused her chest to tighten in anxiety, because by no means is she a fighter. The best could do was try to put Astara's attention elsewhere, but being one who had little contact to younger wolves, she struggled on what could be interesting. Soft blue eyes at times had wandered toward the movement of small critters on the forest floor, but she couldn't offer their life as a simple play toy. Even bugs were crossed from the list; making what could be a 'toy' very limited.

The thought of showing a plant had crossed her mind, but being unfamiliar with the woods, Shisu did not know what type of interesting plants could be here. She saw a few, but nothing that could be counted as beautiful and interesting, for they were simple herbs. Her thoughts interrupted, as for a moment her field of vision was clouded by a shade of black, "Oh!" she let out a momentary shriek of surprise as a crow had swooped down in front of the dame, swipping up one of the critters she had seen. "Oh gosh," she said, repeating a line often used; somewhat shocked on the experience. Her soft eyes held back the waterworks from the fear of surprise... The gray wolf could see the numerous birds that floated from the tree-tops, but dare not think one would come before her! Her shock momentarily made her forget there was one to witness her loud surprise...

in rare form, the girl followed obediently. she wondered where this adult was taking her; the more she thought about it, the more suspicious she became - what if it was a trick? averna did tricks. sometimes, relmyna did tricks too -- would this wolf try to trick her as well?

her gaze hardened, and resolute, the girl clenched the squirming toad harder. a flutter of dark feathers above caused the adult to lose her composure - heartlessly, astara watched; it was a weird reaction that earned shisu a critical stare.

and then a mean-spirited giggle pressed its way through long toad legs and frothy tongue, its author utterly unrepentant to how it may affect shisu.

A clutter of feathers sat before her, the crow mottled mid-flight as it shocked Shisu. Behind her she could hear the laughter of a child, but not one of innocence, she knew the pup was laughing at her fright. Those born in the hooded forest surely was used to the crows, ravens, and all their surprises, but she was not. The silver wolf was embarassed by this blunder...

In her embarassment she padded rather quickly past the bundle feathers; wanting to quickly forget this moment. Her paws roughly scrapped against the ground as she avoided the black leftovers. As the item was rather light, Shisu's movement made the feathers blow upward. Unaware behind she made the feathers flutter upward before falling down, she continued her goal to find something that can be counted as playful. Though at the moment she didn't want to look back, feeling her embarassed face was too shameful to look at the pup who mockingly laughed at her mistake of fear.

she drifted behind the shaken adult, her unfathomable purple eyes resting on the wolf's soft plumage, her surprised features -- astara knew, in many less words then, that this wolf was cut of a different cloth than she, or any of the hardened wolves in blackfeather's gloomy realm.

shisu quickly bade her exit of the scene, her quickly retreating heels issuing a small draft of wind that played the cluster of feathers - black plumes which swirled in tantalizing motions. astara instinctively lunged for them, the toad loosened from her grip as she plunged among the whirling pinions with her tiny white teeth flashing between flickering feathers.

After calming down just a bit, Shisu turned around to see if the little wolf was still following. She was momentarily surprised as the pup, well, was acting like a usual pup and tried to nip the air for the flock of feathers. She clearly brightened on seeing that the frog was dropped on the forest's floor, no longer being trapped between someone's maw.

Delicately walking back, Shisu would help cause the whirlwind of feathers. She would lift her paw up and down, up and down, but only for a bit. As Shisu got closer, her paw slowly stayed downward as she used her tail as the wind substitute instead. A simple tail wag can cause quite a hurricane, while the silver paw slowly... Slowly slides to nab at that frog. She didn't want to be too suspicous while grabbing at it. If she is able to get close enough, she can also see if the frog has poisonous properties. The female wolf just hoped she could completely capture it, so she could release it back into freedom.

the toad fell; a plummet to earth unhindered by the snap of black jaws. those black jaws were focused on the flutter of many black plumes -- and preoccupied, did not notice the subtle slide of an adult limb towards the stunned denizen until it was too late.

with a mouthful of scattered feathers the nightcub turned to shisu, all play draining from her features as she witnessed the female's treachery. judas! thief!

her jaw slackened and she howled in anguish as she sprung towards her toy -- but it was too late, as the toad was comfortably in the hands of the tricksy adult that had stolen it.

Shisu was almost giddy that she successfully managed to get him. The toad seemed weakened, that it yet to even hop away from her siamese pointed paw. She took the chance of Astara's distraction and the frogs weak state to inspect at its glands. It almost felt... Nostalgic, as morbid as it sounded. She spent a lot of time inspecting if certain frogs were poisonous or not with the Witch she once knew. Thanks to her, Shisu had an understanding to poison and venom, and this toad.. it's glands had poison. 

It was a relief though it wasnt extremely poisonous, caused irritation at most, perhaps illness of a weakened body. Looking at the anguished pup, she felt that the lass would not willingly come with her if she attempted to get medicine. It wouldn't hurt to ingest some to combat minor poison. Though she didn't know of any good herbs around

... During her moment of thought, and uncertainty what to do at the pups howl, the toad was quick scatter away. Into a bush it goes!

"What about feathers?" Shisu's nerves seemed to have calm, coming into terms that the one before was a simple young one. She felt not as nervous anymore through the small adventure to get the toad, but she knew the young one didn't feel the same relief as her. So, once more she thumped her tail at the feathers, hoping Astara would play with them once more.

for the first time in the girl's life, a semblance of true ire crept through her blood, its dark will instilled in the angry flash of her deep indigo eyes. she watched, doleful and simmering, as the adult flipped her toad over and prodded with thin claws at its bulbous throat.

astara had never been quiet in terms of her demeanor (though one could argue she was largely silent in comportment) and she struggled at best to contain the bile that rose in her throat; her toy! hers!

she could still the blade of injustice that compelled her no longer, and with a flash gave the feathers (and the adult standing between them) no further heed as the toad darted into the underbrush. no! she could not abide to see the toad slink off, not without her command -- and in a few seconds a cry of victory sounded from the rustling brush as the girl seized her still-living trinket.

she would not turn back -- no -- she had learned adults were not to be trusted that day, and with a sneaky glance slunk off in the hopes her retreat would not be detected. little did she know she was clearly visible in the underbrush, for shisu had the advantage of height and likely, with a simple glance, would have seen her sneaking.

Her face twisted into horror as the vain attempt to play with the pup failed, and instead she lunged straight to the 'toy' that lept away. Shisu thought that the nightmare was over... Oh she was foolish! It was clear by the vision this pup had re-captured the poor toad. He evolved so much to even have minor poison to keep some away, yet this one pup would rather have an irritated mouth then let her prey go! "Oh gosh..." What a poor life this toad has been leading.

If only this pup knew how the toad felt, maybe she would stop this horrendous play. Of course, Shisu had no idea on how to help in that manner, because she in no way knew how to discipline a puppy. She felt even simply lifting Astara by the scuff was too harsh. The feathers also proved to be useless, "Oh no..." what was she supposed to do!?

Shisu felt like she was on the verge of tears as faint droplets swelled in her eyes. In desperation, she mindless came forward to the bush and started to dip one of her paws in. She simply tried to 'fish' the pup out by hopefully swiping in the a grab, or even simply get the toad with her soft pad! It was easy to target since the pup was pretty open, thankfully. Desperate and out of ideas, she could only cry and fish.

astara had no earthly idea how the toad felt, and if she had heard shisu's internal dialogue (and then understood it) she would have laughed rudely in the she-wolf's face, for she was not concerned with the opinion of toads, or for that matter, strangers who thought she ought not to play with toads.

indeed, relmyna's night-cub was shaping up to be an unruly terror; blackfeather was her realm, and all of the denizens of forest her subjects. or at least, that was how astara believed it, for she had never been told otherwise.

as shisu fished around for her, the shrubs seemed to shake and quiver of their own accord. underneath their shuddering boughs of leaves astara rumbled, a low-pitched growl that filtered through the briarpatch and into the air. the more shisu felt around the more the girl darted from shrub to shrub, a high shriek of delight furling out behind her as she made a game of the adult's consternation.

Never having met with younger pups before, Shisu truly was lost on how to deal with the moment. Her soft blue eyes anxiously tried to follow the darting figure that she heard, but had trouble following along. She should've made sure that frog ran away instead of just letting it go, but how was she supposed to know that Astara would quickly go right after it? She underestimated her ability, and as the result was being played by the young blackfeather, "Oh gosh..."

There was no way she could forcibly take the pup out, and only stood in a stump while unsure what to do. The feathers were afar, and that was the only idea that struck Shisu's thoughts, but they already been played with... What else could she do exactly? She only chased after in a futile feat to get the pup to calm down, and in return looked quite silly. A plush adult chasing the pup in shrubs while crying? Surely anyone would make fun of her, including the crows that gave soft mocking caws from above. She didn't know what it was at first, and thoughtlessly looked up at the sounds of birds, but due to her distracted moment in the midst of a chase, her paws collided together. Going forward, the dame would slowly fall forward, she didn't know if the pup was there or not, but only closed her eyes to brace for impact to the bush.

it was a good thing astara could not talk, at least on shisu's behalf. had she the gift of gab she might have ruthlessly tormented the female for her timid nature, and then, after witnessing the spectacular faceplant the woman was about to indulge in, might have crowed victoriously about how painfully clumsy the she-wolf was.

a stifled giggle sounded, not too far from where shisu had managed to entangle her legs -- astara's small frame pulled out from a brake of tangled brier, toad in tow. she looked pointedly at the woman, who had been felled by designs other than astara's -- and then, without an offer of aid or concern, bolted back into the eldritch screen of thorns and bramble.

"Gosh.." She rubbed her dirty tear stained face on her paws while on the ground. Her snout felt immense pain by the face plant earlier, and to make it worse was the giggling of a pup who was enjoying her suffering. She didn't want to admit the pup was being a nightmare, and Shisu's first experience with young ones was definitely not going to be a pleasant memory. The wolf was desperate to find some good in this little one..

Adruptly, Shisu stood straight up and physically jumped in the direction Astara went. She thought play would work but she underestimated the young Blackfeather, but perhaps she can kill the wolf with kindness- a hug in particular! Though what sounded like a 'heroic' moment was just a simple move of desperation. Dirt clung to the white of her face, and pools of crystals dripped down. It was more of a sad sight seeing an adult sob over these rather.. Chaotic events.

the little imp had thought she had given that weird adult the slip - oh, she had thought wrong.

she just about slammed to a halt as shisu neatly leapt the brambles astara's small frame struggled to navigate; that feat of athleticism earned shisu a hardened, resentful stare. she kept her muzzle canted away in case the adult tried to snatch her toad again, but astara figured with all the crying the she-wolf was doing, she probably wouldn't be able to see well enough to try.

her tail flicked over her narrow body, haughty and straight -- and then the girl dodged down the briar-path again.

permission to pp, if too much can change!

Difficult. The situation was difficult, and Shisu had no idea that pups were such misfits. Her daydreams imagined cute, small whimpers begging for treats, not one that teased her so ruthlessly. There was so many questions, mainly who was the rascals mother, and gosh does she wish for their help. If they'd just, let go of the toad! It was wonders why they didn't drop it despite the obvious numbing affect that came from the toads minor poisonous glands. 

Shisu didn't want to be rough, and fretted on what could be done. She thought to just grab in a hug, but the pup was far to fast! That, and the tears blurred her vision. It pained her heart just thinking of doing this... But what else could she do? And, could she do it... 

She stopped, and rubbed her face with her paws. She would need to... Try! The poor toad was at risk, and despite knowing it may not hurt, she felt reluctant. It was what most mothers would do: grab them by their nape. And so Shisu lunged to grab! The silver dame felt her maw connect, but she felt the branches connect to poking her body. Such trouble, but she feared how the young one would react to this grab..

astara had been certain of her escape; the brambles would conceal her, and that dumb adult would be left behind -- she almost snickered at how easy it was to give the woman the slip...

her triumph was grievously short; a sudden grip at the back of her neck halted her progress, leaving the tiny demon limp and frankly, utterly shocked. her instinct to crumple was one thing -- but the gall it took to rope her in was something entirely different, and astara wrestled with shock to find herself suddenly curtailed, and with no way to fight it.

she didn't even notice the toad had been dropped: it was as if the jaws that closed around her neck were vice-grips, slowly closing her consciousness to gradual extinction.

for a moment, it appeared the lights were out in the girl's indolent indigo stare as she processed what had just happened.