Ravensblood Forest Thinking out loud.

@Charon Up for Naturalist Trades. Huzzah!

Being in this area a lot of sightseeing had to be done. It wasn't only the coast with the lumps of fat that was interesting to see but also the huge trees she heard her father speak about. The sequoia trees were also great for expanding her knowledge on botany. It was said that their bark is fire resistant. How wonderful! Unfortunately these trees are really rare. Still the she-wolf really liked to study them. Her white fur had grown thicker now the winter was finally settling in. Her paws carried her into the Ravensblood forest. Her tail waving behind her in a friendly matter as it always did.

It didn't took very long for Scarlett to find one. She walked around the one she found first and then stood up against the tree. Her small paws against the strong bark. She looked up at the height. She felt like a really tiny puppy by standing next to it. Her nose sniffled over the bark with interest. Scarlett then lowered herself on her fours again and moved to the small hole between the roots of the tree. Inside some of the life rings were visible. The white lady tried to count them, all she could gather was that this tree was really old. This was something she expected already. Her nose couldn't stop smelling the tree. There were so many interesting scents scattered over the bark and the little entrance she was standing in.

It was always useful to know what kind of wildlife was connected to these trees. Maybe the animals that were attracted to it had long been gone because there were so few of these trees. Her curious mind wondered how these trees could grow so big compared to the other types of trees. Scarlett assumed it took many many years and special circumstances for the trees to be how they are now.

Thanks for starting! I just kept vague what happened in the thread with Levi, since we hadn't finished it yet. :)

Charon, now three and a half months of age, had taken to exploring more recently. He was growing up a fairly independant child, considering he only had Thistle and Ragnar in the world, and the rest of their very small pack. Since Ragnar and Thistle had a pack to lead, they didn't always have time for Charon, so he had learned many times to entertain himself. He didn't know any better. Usually he tried to tug Levi along, but it was hard to motivate his brother to do anything and truthfully, Charon was too afraid to lose Levi to take him outside of the pack's territories anyway.

Today, Charon had gotten to exploring a forest in the nearby area, near the coast. Stavanger Bay had plenty of forestry too, so it wasn't all new to Charon, but he still liked the thrill of adventure at seeing this new place. From a distance, he had seen that there were giant trees in this forest, and that was what had lured the youth in there, searching for the trees that loomed over all others.

Once inside the forest, this quest turned out harder than he had thought beforehand. He couldn't really see the large trees anymore now that he was inside of the thick forest, and all he could do was take on a general direction, figuring it was somewhere along this area that he would find the trees.

It took much longer than expected, and it was luck rather than logistic overview that made Charon find the large trees in the end. He hid behind some other trees when he saw that there was another wolf staring at the tree studiously, afraid they might mean harm. He watched for a moment before recognising the wolf in question. He didn't remember her name, but he knew she had come to the pack's borders once. "Oh, it's just that wolf," he muttered to himself as he stepped towards her, and then he looked at her inquisitively. "What're you doing here?"

Of course! :) All good! :D

As the female studied the tree closely for scents, her mind was so busy with it her guard was let down. There tree was so old, and the higher she reached the more different scents made paths on the bark of the tree. Squirrels had make this scent paths. Oh how Scarlett wished that she had the ability to climb up and check out all the wildlife in the trees. It would be so good for her studies. When she heard the judging voice she lowered herself on all fours. Her red eyes fell down on the pup she met before. Charon was it? His curious coat pattern made her remember. "Oh hello," she greeted with all the politeness in the world. Her white ears popped up on top of her head instead of defensively falling back.

She trotted closer to him. He had grown since the last time she had seen him. Which was only natural if he was a healthy pup. By the looks of it he was. "You are exploring these woods too, I see," she returned with a smile on her face. Her tail wagged. "Perhaps you like a little lesson? Or are you too old and strong to be lectured?," she inquired with a soft chuckle. She remembered how defensive the cub had been last time. The albino wondered how the male would behave now. As a pup wolves had a free pass to do anything. Now the young male was a juvenile and he might got more lectures now on how to greet strangers. Scarlett was not that convinced by her own thoughts. Charon had greeted her in a rather rude manner.

"To answer you question. I am exploring myself. I happen to have great interests in weather patterns, plants and wildlife. Wolves spoke about the giant trees and I figured that I should gather information about them. This way I can teach the youngsters of my pack about plants. You must always keep learning." If she stopped exploring she wouldn't have found the lumps of fat on the beach, and the beach itself. Nor she would have found the hot springs. It was all for her general knowledge of Teekon Wilds.

Charon almost felt a little guilty when the female greeted him with all the friendliness in the world, whereas he'd been really rude to her. He burrowed his guilt and shame, however, when she asked him if he wanted a 'little lesson' or if he was too old and strong to be lectured. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she was still talking to him as though he'd just slid out of his mother's womb, and Charon felt offended. He raised his head and tail, although he was still smaller than her, displaying that he thought he was better than her as best he could. "Don't talk to me like that!" the youngster huffed, and he stared at her, daring her to do it again.

However, when she started to talk about her interest in weather patterns and the like, Charon's guard fell a little. "You?" he said, surprise clear in his voice, and his tail dropped to a more neutral level. She went on to explain about the trees, and he looked up at the tree. He just thought it was some giant tree, and was fascinated by it for that reason, but he never thought that it could be a special tree. "What's so special 'bout this tree? 's It magical or something?" Charon looked back to the female after he asked his question, curious for the outcome of the question.

It seemed that the manners of the young man hadn't changed a bit. He was still as fierce as ever. It did gave him an interesting spirit to be around. It was so different from sweet Néa and Maera. Her red eyes fell on his dotted coat and then back to the tree. Scarlett looked skeptical when the pup was so baffled about the fact that she was going for a naturalist trade. Was that so strange? Apparently it was. Talk to you like what? Also I don't think I've ever caught your name?

The small white was pleased to see that she had spurred some interest with the teenager. Her lips quirked up. It might be magical when you think about them. These trees don't appear out of nowhere. They need to grow. Each year a bit taller. With these trees being so big it means they are really, really old. This particular tree might have seen generations and generations of wolves grow up. Seen is a figure of speech here. For all these thousand of years they managed to survive, we live only a decennia, so when you think about it in that way it is really magical.

When the female asked him how he didn’t want her to talk to him, Charon just rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. She obviously didn’t get it – whatever ‘it’ was. He didn’t explain, but instead said, in response to her saying she hadn’t caught his name, “You didn’t ‘cause I didn’t give it to you.” Then, after a brief pause, he added, “Charon.” He wasn’t entirely sure why he gave his name, but he supposed that part of the reason was because he wanted to become a Naturalist and if this female was going for it, then maybe she could teach him a thing or two; which she probably wouldn’t if he continued to be overly rude. He didn’t know her name either, but he didn’t pry, because he didn’t want to seem too interested, but secretly hoped she’d give him hers now that he had shared his.

Charon wasn’t sure how much a ‘thousand’ was, nor a ‘decennia’, but he supposed that they were really long periods of time. The tree wasn’t really magical, then, it was just really old. “Oh,” he said, slightly disappointed. “Does it do anything ‘sides being old? Like… Anything a Naturalist should know?” Charon peered curiously at the tree, then at the female, trying not to sound too interested (even though he was).

Sorry for the late response but my head was full of germs so I couldn't think that well. I did not stick tampons in my nose btw. xD

The red eyed female bobbed her head as saying without words 'Nice to meet you'. Scarlett decided to be polite and return her name to the other wolf. "I'm Scarlett from the Duskfire Glacier Pack," she returned. Her red eyes turned to the trees and scanned over them. "Well, the old wolves before us thought they kept spirits but it doesn't seem that is true." Scarlett then nodded. There were a few facts she knew about the trees.

"Well the cool thing about these trees is they bark resist fire. Fire plays important role in the life of sequoia. It clears the ground from competing plants, facilitates opening of the cones and release of seeds to the enriched grounds with minerals required for the growth of new seedlings," she spoke. Scarlett was surprised how wise she sounded in that moment. "So when there is a fire in this forest you do not need to worry about these trees. You might even be able to hide in them during a fire, but then you have to be careful with the smoke. Maybe it is better to run."

No problem! Hope you feel better now. I have a cold too, bluh :C

Charon knew a fact or two about words and their meaning, and so he instantly said when Scarlett gave her name, "But you're not red!" He said it more shocked than intended, as though it was simply impossible for someone to be named after a colour if they were not said colour. "That's weird, to be named after another name for a colour that you're not, isn't it?" He looked to Scarlett for guidance, as though he really expected her to call herself and her name weird.

"Spirits? That's sooo cool!" said Charon, completely ignoring the fact that she had just said that the spirit-story wasn't actually true. If it sounded really cool, then it was better to assume it to be true, in Charon's world.

Then Scarlett went on to tell him about how these trees resisted fires and how you could probably even take shelter in them if there was a fire. Throughout the story, Charon occasionally flung in some "Really?"'s and "Wooow, cool!"'s. He wondered if you could take the bark of the tree and make a den out of it, and have a fire-resistant den, but he didn't voice that opinion. Charon had never been in a fire, so he didn't know much about them, but he knew they were deadly and dangerous, and therefore not a thing to be messed with. Oh, and sometimes dragons threw them at you, which was also something not to be underestimated.

When Scarlett finished talking, Charon just stood and looked at the tree for a while. "So why didya come to see the tree, if you already knew so much about it?" As an afterthought he added, "'s It because you wanted to just see it for yourself 'cause if it looks cool being huge from afar, then it must be cool from close up? That's why I went here."

Awww sorry! Get well soon!

Scarlett chuckled and quirked up her lips. "Well If you haven't noticed my eyes are red," she spoke. He may not have caught it because the high trees kept the minimal sunlight there was away from the ground. But if the light would catch her eyes it would be clearly red. Bloody red. She herself was a mutation of nature. Making her life extra difficult. But she would survive. He had learned to do that and had the mindset to so so.

"That is what the previous wolves thought but I am not sure." She knew her and Charon didn't got off on the right foot last time. But with the interest the teenager showed her now she was sure that she at least done something right. A smile tugged on her lips. "Oh yes that is totally the reason," she hummed. "I wanted to inspect this cool thing up close," she hummed. A broader smile tugged on her lips.

"You are lucky though. I have to travel a lot. I'm from Duskfire Glacier, very far form here. But if you are ever at our border I will show you the cool glacier. It is really something a naturalist should know about," she hummed. Charon would probably be a bit older for that. She wouldn't want him to travel all alone to just see the Glacier. It would be dangerous even. "How is your bother?," she then asked.

Charon hadn't really taken a close look at Scarlett's eyes yet. When she said that her eyes were read, he squinted his eyes and stared at Scarlett's eyes to verify this information. "Oh yeah, they are!" he said. Charon hadn't ever met anyone with red eyes yet (well, except that other time he'd met Scarlett, but it was a while ago in his short life). "That's pretty cool. I never saw anyone with 'em before!" Scarlett was slowly beginning to become less of a stupid, boring dork and more of an interesting wolf.

Scarlett confirmed that she had come to see the tree because of wanting to see how cool it looked up close, just as Charon had suspected. The memory of how he hadn't liked Scarlett last time they met was beginning to fade, slowly being replaced with the cooler tidbits of Scarlett the wolf in Charon's mind.

Duskfire Glacier. Charon blinked and said, his voice filled with surprise, "You live on a glacier? Isn't it like, super cold??" He had only seen them from afar and others had told him what they were, but Charon had never seen one up close. He did, however, know what snow and ice was like and imagining a whole mountain made out of ice seemed like a tough place to live.

When Scarlett asked how his brother was, Charon tilted his head as though he wasn't sure. "I dunno. He's real quiet-like. I guess he misses our lost family." Levi hadn't got much better since they had met Scarlett at the borders; but at least he was still around, which, considering his family's track record so far, was a big thing.

Cute this. :D

Scarlett felt herself get a bit embarrassed as the pup came closer to her. Her ears fell back in a shy way, not an aggressive one. A quick smile tugged on her lips. "You think it is cool?," She asked. "I don't like it that much. My family wasn't nice to me about it," she ended in a whisper. Not that this teenager wanted to know her troubles she was sure of it. She slowly sat down and then looked at Charon. He wanted to be a naturalist. She could always give him an extra lesson about wildlife.

"Sometimes animals are born with an extra set of colors. It is gods way of telling the other animals what it would be like if you didn't get the colors you should have. I'm sort of an albino. My eyes should be another color, for all I know my coat is truly back. But because I have no pigment in my genes, which means no color, my fur came out pure white and my eyes turned red. Everyones eyes are red except then a color is laid over it. With me that didn't happen. I've been tested quite a lot. Mean family, bullied and living on my own. But I am strong that I did survive all of this. Keep this in mind. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," she spoke in one go. "Albino's are quite rare actually. So you are lucky to talk with one, young man," she joked lightly to keep the mood light.

"I do live on a Glacier," she smiled and then thought about her new pack. She loved it there. "It is super cold, but I am used to it. You need to have a sure footing to live there, definitely. And it is not all cold. We have some part of the woods, where my den is, and there it is not as cold as you might think. We do have year round show though," Scarlet spoke. The pale wolf licked her lips and watched Charon. "Aw I'm sorry to hear. I bet you miss your family too. But it is good to remember them," she assured.

:D

Charon didn't really understand why anyone would dislike someone else's eyes. What did they care? Charon wouldn't mind if all of his family was albino, if they would all just be here instead of gone. "That's stupid of them," Charon said, already disliking all of Scarlett's dumb family. No one should be picked on because of something they couldn't even help.

He listened as Scarlett told about being albino, ears perked forward attentively. He imagined what he would look like with red eyes. Probably pretty cool, too. He imagined being able to shoot lasers out of his red eyes; oh, man, if only he was albino!

The theory was kind of difficult to understand, but he tried to remember it nevertheless. "Do your eyes shoot lasers??" Charon blurted out, unable to help himself. He did not look embarrassed about his question, though, just kept staring at Scarlett and her awesome eyes curiously. It would be sooo cool if they did, though they probably didn't, really, because he had never met anyone who actually was able to shoot lasers out of anything, let alone their eyes.

Charon listened as Scarlett told him about the glacier. He wondered if some day he could visit it; maybe, if he would be bigger and able to travel further. He nodded as he listened to the story.

"I do miss my family," Charon said when Scarlett suggested this. He squinted his lips and looked up at her sadly. "I wish they were still here instead of gone." But they weren't, and they were probably never going to come home. "I wish we could trade your stupid rotten family for my awesome one and make your stupid family gone and my family still here," said Charon, while he tried to remember his family. Charon remembered that Kevlyn looked like Levi, and that Liyaní was black with white toes, but he needed others to remind him that his mother was white at all and, thinking of it, he didn't really remember what his father looked like. He guessed that his father looked something like Kevlyn and Levi.

Scarlett slowly curled her lips into a friendly smile. "They just put importance on difference things," she explained. She couldn't really talk bad about them. They could have killed her at birth when she was a helpless baby. Still they gave her a chance to survive. She was grateful for it. She believed highly in those type of things. Maybe one day would be an unfortunate end for her but at least she lived. Scarlett felt in the prime of her life so she hoped one of the main goals in life would happen to her.

Scarlett chuckled softly when Charon asked her about her eyes without shame. "Yes, yes they do," she spoke, amused. "If there is a prey running I can kill them with my super laser eyes," she nodded in all seriousness. Her tail wagged softly as she looked to see what his reaction was. Luckily there was not much prey around that she could prove her laser eyes. "They only work sometimes," she then admitted. "I need to really believe in them."

Her mood changed into that more of a compassionate one. "I do not know what happened to your family but I am sorry. Aww that is super sweet. But I do have a new family now at the Glacier. It is a nice pack. I feel at home there," she admitted. Scarlett licked her lips. "Anything else you like to to know for a future naturalist?," she asked then?

Charon didn't understand how Scarlett could talk so positively about her family when they had been really mean to her. He didn't pursue the matter any further though, because he didn't even know them and so it mattered less to him what Scarlett thought of them. He was mostly just surprised about it, but decided to let the matter rest.

As Scarlett told him about her laser eyes, Charon's eyes widened. That was just so cool! Would it really be true? He wished he had laser eyes! "That is so cool!" was the only one of those thoughts that Charon shared, though the rest of them were pretty obvious from his intrigued staring.

Well, at least Scarlett had a family in her pack, that was good, Charon supposed. He didn't further talk about the matter, though feeling a little sad about his lost family (but grateful for Levi). She asked if there was anything else he needed to know, and he looked thoughtful for a moment. "Uhmm... I dunno. I'm just starting out, so still learning what's up. Thanks for teaching me about the giant fireproof trees! Do you know anything about weather-predicting or star-stories?" Charon looked at Scarlett, hoping she had something more to share, although he was also eager to get home and tell Levi about Scarlett's lessons.

Scarlett smirked lightly when the pup believed that she had laser eyes. For now it wouldn't do any harm. Maybe she would tell him the next time that her laser eyes broke. Who knows how easily the young male believed in that type of stuff. A soft chuckle came from her lips. She was pleased to see that the freckled male was warming up to her. In the beginning she had the feeling the young pup was not fond of her. But now, they were starting to get common interests and topics to talk about.

"You are very welcome," she nodded. "I do know about weather patterns, not so much about stars. From the top of the Glacier you can study the clouds and the weather down in the valley perfectly. But Duskfire might be a bit too far. How about I return to Stavanger Bay another time and explain it to you? Would you like that? Because now I really must return home. I am the caretaker of our pack. So I need to teach the other youngsters how to hunt and the ways of nature."

The red eyed female glanced over the young male. "Maybe we can meet in the middle one day, if not I will come to you for another lesson. Deal? Oh! And, the Otatso Wetlands are amazing for a Naturalist like us. Too bad you are so far away from it all! I would offer to walk with you too it. But I don't know if my alpha allows any visitors. And I also don't know how you would feel for a long trip away from your brother."

Charon was excited to find out that Scarlett knew about weather patterns, too. He would love to visit her glacier sometime, although he didn't know how far away it was, exactly, and if it would be doable for him to make the trip. He had so far only visited territories near the Bay, and he didn't think that Ragnar and Thistle would let him go on a faraway trip just like that. Maybe they would allow it if he would take an adult along, or maybe it would have to wait until he was a bit older.

"I would love to visit," admitted Charon, "Buuuut I'm not sure if Ragnar 'n Thistle are gonna let me go so far." Even coming here was a bit of a stretch of the rules, because Charon was curious and liked visiting other places and exploring. The thought of the adventure of visiting Scarlett appealed to him, but he didn't think that he would be allowed until he was older.

"So it'd be cool if you could visit me again. Or I can come over sometime when I get older." Charon looked over his shoulder and then turned to look at Scarlett again. "There's also this island, but I dunno if it's easy to get there. I always imagine you can see the sky really good from there, 'cause there's just water everywhere around you!" He hadn't come close to the island yet and neither had Charon really done much swimming in his life yet, but he thought that it would be a good thing to check out; maybe with Scarlett.

Scarlett smiled at the excited wag of the boy's tail. It showed how eager he was for another meeting. The female did know it might be too much for Charon to travel all by himself. She wouldn't want to be responsible for that. Lots of things could happen. "Yeah there is much to see on the other side of the mountains. But maybe when you are older indeed. I would hate it for you to get injured." The red eyed female glanced at the spotted youngster and thought about their options. She could also maybe ask permission of Charon's alphas. Although they might need to know her better. Levi did know her. Maybe he could help, if he started talking that is.

"Well I might come here again, just for you," she hummed. "I heard about an island too, but to an island you need to swim. The salt water isn't always calm and nice," she spoke. Scarlett wasn't even sure how long the swim was, nor Charon could make it. The island did sound like a good place to watch the skies. "I'm not a big fan of the salty waters tho. They are... different. You know what? I will ask our alpha if we can have guests. If he allows it, I will return to you. Then I will talk to your alpha's to see if they might allow me to care for you for about a week or so? Maybe two? And then we can explore the Glacier and the wetlands! All those type of stuff. You might can prepare them for me. Or tell them the trip is educational etc."

It might work, but it would take some planning. She was close to having her caretaker trade, so that might help convince the alpha's. Who knows.

I actually like this idea xD

Thanks for the thread! ^^

The mountains seemed so far away; he had never been to them, let alone on top of them. Being someplace on the other side of the mountains seemed like a strange and unattainable place, somewhere he'd never be. Well, maybe when he was older. The thought of going along with just Scarlett seemed kind of scary to Charon, even though he would like to see the glacier. It would be funny to stay there for a bit, and try to walk on the icy surface of the ice mountain. Maybe he should ask someone from the Bay along so that it wouldn't be just him and Scarlett, since he didn't fully trust her yet.

"I'll practise swimming for next time you come over," Charon said with a grin. He hadn't ever swam yet, even though he and Levi had played in the salty water. It wasn't very nice to get the salty water in your mouth, but otherwise it was okay. Scarlett didn't sound like she really wanted to go to the island, but maybe he could persuade her next time.

Then she said she might ask her Alpha to see if she could have a guest, and talk to Ragnar and Thistle to see if he was allowed to go with her. "I guess that could be cool," said Charon. He sounded a little hesitant, mostly because he still felt a little frightened going with just Scarlett (not that he'd ever admit that, of course). Well, he had some time to get used to the idea anyway, since Scarlett first needed to get all the way home, and then she would have to ask her Alpha and return here.

"Anyway, I guess I'll go back to the Bay now," said Charon, reminding Scarlett that she had said she would leave. "Bye, Scarlett!" And with those words, the young pup darted off in the direction of Stavanger Bay. He hoped that Ragnar and Thistle wouldn't notice he had gone off on his own again, but figured it was probably okay.