Sun Mote Copse beware the jabberwock, my son!

She roamed the rendezvous site today, the pounding sun making her restless. Sugar wanted to find somewhere cool and shady to sleep, yet there was nothing for it in this heat. Still, she sought respite, and tried to find it in some long grasses growing at the clearing's edge. There were some pretty purple flowers here and there, though she brushed past them. She wedged herself down among the roots of the swaying grasses and managed to drowse.

When she woke some amount of time later, Sugar was thirsty. She unfurled from her nesting spot, then prepared to head back toward one of the small offshoots of the nearby river for a drink. She noticed the flowers this time. Despite her thirst, she paused to sniff at them, then bent down to uproot one; she had learned this would prolong the flower's life versus clipping the stem with her teeth. It took a few minutes of digging, though eventually she plucked her prize from the earth and strode forth into the shorter sward in search of @Weejay, who loved flowers.

Sugar hadn't gone far when she realized there was a strange tingling sensation in her mouth. She slowed, then stopped, setting the purple blossom on the ground. The odd feeling grew worse, a burning now, reminding her of when she'd eaten a bee a week ago. Abruptly, her stomach rolled and Sugar retched, right onto the monkshood at her feet.

Title from "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll.

Crow had been running this way and that, peeing on anything he could point his wiener at. When he heard Sugar make a weird noise, the young Blackthorn made a beeline toward her. He wasted no time gobbling up whatever she'd just spilled at her feet, making overly audible smacking noises that would have set Starr reaching oh-so-quickly for her noise-cancelling headphones. If Sugar's vomit tasted gross, Crow didn't even notice. In a matter of seconds, he'd ingested her upchuck and the flowers, including the dirt that was attached to them.

His stomach rumbled for a split second, then he burped loudly, breathing it out in Sugar's face. Wow, Crow was turning into a real dick.

Crow rushed up to her and Sugar gave him a stricken look, tears pricking her eyes so they looked like glimmering black pools. She hardly paid attention as he helped himself to the puddle of sick and its deadly contents. Both her mouth and her stomach were on fire now. A confused whimper escaped her, hindquarters dropping to the ground as she curled around the pain writhing in her belly. There was no warning before she suddenly messed herself, a puddle of diarrhea spreading underneath her and soiling her entire posterior.

And just as suddenly as the symptoms had come on, they started to lessen. Unbeknownst to her, Sugar had only gotten a very minute dose of the toxins from the aconite's roots. But what about her brother? Even as all the unpleasantness began to pass (save for the stench, which would likely linger even once she cleaned up), she looked to Crow. Another thin whine escaped her as she instinctively sought comfort from her litter mate.

Sugar shat herself. Ew, girls were so gross! He opened his mouth to tell her she was gross, and without any warning, he was projectile vomiting the contents of his stomach. Yeah, girls were the gross ones. Keep believing that, buddy. This was one of those times that Crow would look back on (assuming he survives this ordeal) and think, "Oh, that was the time I learned not to eat random plants, especially when somebody has already tossed 'em up once."

Now his stomach was pretty much on fire, but thankfully he didn't seem to be shitti—wait, nope. Just kidding. At least he got a little bit of warning this time. In a flash, he was hunched over, adding his own unpleasant shits to all the wonderful smells around them.

Rather than offer comfort, Crow provided further contributions to the mess. Sugar moaned as she watched him explode from both ends at once. She noted the crumpled blossoms in his upchuck, still heliotrope despite being coated in bile. Although she didn't register it right then, she would later associate this terrible episode with that nearly violent shade of purple.

When it seemed Crow had emptied his body of all fluids, Sugar finally found her voice and she croaked, "You okay?" The words had barely left her mouth before she thought to call for help. "@Elwood! @Finley!" the tiny pup wailed. "Help!"

The pups had become increasingly more independent since moving to the rendezvous site, and they weren't always under immediate adult supervision. Usually, that was fine; they tended not to get into too much trouble, so Elwood didn't stress about it. But when he heard Sugar calling for him with a note of panic in her voice, he instantly wished he had been keeping a closer eye on his children.

He hastened over from the other side of the rendezvous site -- luckily, he hadn't been far -- and was hit with the smell from yards away. "Oh, shit," he said; the phrase took on multiple meanings as he realized what was happening. It appeared that both Sugar Glider and Crow had gotten very, very sick, and a cursory glance revealed that the culprit was some sort of plant, judging by the piles of half-ingested petals and vomit.

"It's okay," he said, "let's get some water." That was the first thing he could think of to hopefully continue to flush the toxins out of the pups' systems, as well as clean the puke and poop from their fur. He started attempting to usher them towards a nearby stream, hoping that they would be able to walk of their own accord but also preparing for the worst in case they couldn't.

Crow still felt like (and smelled like and looked like) shit, but seeing Dad here lifted his spirits a little bit. He said they should go get some water, and Crow nodded, thinking that would be a nice way to cool off his butthole and settle his stomach. Begrudgingly, he moved forward toward the stream, hoping that his body was done spewing from both ends for the time being.

The sight of their father caused a heartbreaking cry to spill from Sugar's lips, although it was a noise of relief. Mindless of her mess, she rushed toward Elwood, pressing herself against his leg. When it moved as he guided the pups toward water, she still clung closely, drawing comfort from the occasional brush of her dad's leg against her ribs.

They approached a stream and Sugar waded in eagerly, further soothed by its cool, liquid touch. She immediately sprawled like a sphinx, letting the current cleanse her soiled fur even as she lapped mouthfuls of clean, fresh water into her mouth. It had ceased burning by now, though she still drank compulsively, until her belly felt stretched with it.

A big sigh escaped Sugar as she adjusted her weight, sloshing as she did so. Her black eyes found Crow and Elwood and she smiled weakly at them. "That stinked," she opined, wrinkling her nose.

Elwood was thankful when the puppies shuffled along with him towards the source of water. He would have picked them up and carried them, if he had to -- even though they were getting a little big for that, and they would likely taste horrible, it would have been the easiest and quickest way to get them to their destination if they were incapable of walking. But with Sugar Glider huddling against his leg and Crow moving of his own accord, they made it to the creek without incident.

"There," he said as Sugar submerged herself. He suspected that Crow wouldn't be far behind her. Sugar was already lapping at the water with her tongue, but he still gave them verbal guidance. "Take a good, long drink to rinse your mouth out." Removing the sludge from their coats was also a priority, but first and foremost, he wanted to make sure that whatever that plant was, it was out of their bodies.

Crow rushed to the water, plunking in butt-first (to cool his still-on-fire butthole), and amazingly, it worked. The sensation was immediate relief, and he let his whole body sink down so he was laying in the shallow water, which came up about halfway up on him. He bit at the water, guzzling it down as quickly as he could. Already, his stomach was feeling a little better, a little cooler.

The Blackthorn then let out a loud, obnoxious burp, which brought a tiny amount of bile up into his throat, which he coughed up into the water immediately. Yuck. His fur was still a mess, but at least his innards were feeling better.

No sooner had Crow burped than Sugar did the same. Just like him, she brought up more than just trapped air: a mouthful of water tinged with sour bile came gushing out of her too. The mild current washed it all away fairly rapidly and the pup smacked her lips lightly, feeling all the better for it.

She just stayed there for a few more minutes, basking in the relief, and her mind wandered back to the purple flower. Although Sugar was young, she could certainly see the connection between it and what'd happened to them. She shuddered. She would never go near another purple flower if she could help it, even though she'd handled many other kinds and never come into any harm.

After a while, Sugar pushed herself to her feet and waded to the shoreline with a sigh. She shook out her coat, which was still streaked with brown on her underside, though the creek water had washed away most of the filth. Almost immediately, she felt the relentless July sun beating on her back and she crept sideways, seeking a shady patch, and flopped down with another, longer sigh.

Elwood felt himself relax as the puppies drank and washed themselves off in the cool water. He hadn't been overly worried, although maybe he should have been -- his slight lack of concern could be attributed to experience from raising a grand total of 14 children (plus a couple extra Redhawks) and he knew that kids would get into things. But he didn't have much knowledge about plants, and that's where the small amount of fear did come from; how toxic was what they had eaten?

They seemed to be okay, though; they both burped, expelling air, water, and bile into the creek. That was fine, right? And they had been willing and able to move to the source of water of their own volition, which was good, too. They appeared to be tired, which Elwood noted as Sugar stepped out of the stream and lay down in the shade. He moved towards her and lowered himself to his haunches, still keeping an eye on Crow in the water.

"What did you guys eat?" he asked; they wouldn't be able to name it, but if they could describe it, that would be helpful.

Since this has been hanging out a bit and I'd like to use it toward a trade, I thought I'd go ahead and kick it toward a conclusion! :)

She still felt a little poorly, though not nearly as badly as just ten minutes ago. She looked at Crow, hoping he was doing better too. He was still lounging in the creek, apparently loath to extract himself from the soothingly cool waters.

Sugar was just about to take that nap she'd meant to take in the first place, before the nasty business with the purple flowers, when Elwood posed a question. "Purple flowers," she replied in a quiet, sullen voice, clearly resentful of these traitorous blooms. Sugar let out yet another sigh.

She curled into a ball then, closing her eyes, only to crack one open in case her dad had any further questions. If not, Sugar would give herself over to the rest her body was now demanding.

<3 I'll archive!

Sugar provided only two words in response to Elwood's question: purple flowers. His brows knit together in thought. He would have to make Finley aware of what had happened, and would certainly keep an eye out for the offending plant. He doubted he would have to worry about Sugar Glider and Crow tasting any more purple flowers in the future, even with Sugar's affinity for plantlife. It might even be worth mentioning to Eljay in order to get the medic's professional opinion -- but Elwood would have to judge his son's demeanor on a given day before doing so.

These musings tumbled about in his mind even as both kids seemed ready to take a nap. Likely, it was just exhaustion from the whole experience, but Elwood kept watch over them carefully until they woke and he escorted them back home.