"Sure... you're welcome to stay..." Reed's awkward fidgeting stopped immediately as her face twisted into the biggest of smiles. "Oh, I won't be puttin' your wings in my mouth. Don't worry about that. I learned its best to let the professionals handle their own wings from my buddy Pip." Boy, the way that her little bird companion had screamed at her in 'SQUAWK!' had been enough to wonder if he really might use his sharp beak against her. She'd never seen him so angry before! All she wanted to do was give him a bath! The firmness of their warning look was missed by Reed. She tended to miss social cues often, or misunderstand them.
The touch to the shoulder, however, she didn't miss. Her emerald gaze sparkled as she quickly realized there was a new best friend coming soon to her list of friends. She'd done it. She'd won the heart of another. It had to be that monster hunter title. While she smiled and added (mentally) another friend to her list of many, she watched as Larkspur began to mess with the rocky dirt at their paws. It wasn't until they tried splashing water on the soil that Reed realized they were going to use their magic again. She leaned forward as she watched, head quickly shifting from Larkspur to the soil to see if there had been any effect. None, unfortunately.
"That's ok. That means we're sleepin' under the stars tonight, then. I tell you what, I'll take watch through the first half of the night, and you can take up watch the second half to the mornin'. It won't be the most restful sleep, but it'll be sleep. Maybe up against that boulder over there?" She lifted her paw to motion at a large mound that wasn't quite a boulder, but wasn't exactly flat terrain, either. Unacceptable for a den, but perhaps acceptable enough to rest near? "Might be a good spot to watch the river from, too. We still 'aven't checked all three needs off the list yet."
The corner of the brown wolf's muzzle quirked up, pleased that they were able to soothe whatever budding nerves had started to begin bubbling up out of her head. Reed seemed to be a generally nice wolf so far, a little noisy and boisterous compared to Larkspur, but that description could easily encompass a good majority of the world, and they didn't hold it against her in the slightest. Good, no more wing nibblers - their feathers itched just thinking about that particularly short-lived travel buddy.
What a weird sleeping habit to have.
"Ah, that means you're one paw ahead of some wolves then, darling," Larkspur chuckled, eying the hardened group with distaste as if they'd been personally attacked by its state. How dare this colorful in-between refuse them the pleasure of growing more plants? Sleeping uncovered was... a not very appealing idea to the winged wolf, who already felt more vulnerable than usual with the mangled and tattered state of their wings. They absently stepped closer to the only confirmed friendly face in the area at the prospect - what an incredible feat of trust this would be. Spending the first night alone with someone and praying they were as nice as they seemed and wouldn't let them be devoured by the first freakish creature to potentially rise from the rocky slopes.
"That works for me," Larkspur agreed - and honestly, they wouldn't be sleeping too heavily anyway. The watch system worked out the best for the both of them. "Yeah... that should be a decent enough cover. And if we toss some berries near the water-side, hopefully we'll attract.... whatever kind of prey lives in a place like this."
They looked out a bit doubtfully - this was why they stayed in forests.
Reed's short tail wagged at it's end when Larkspur agreed to let Reed take the first watch. Her new best friend trusted her enough to put their life in her paws. She would not let them down! "Good idea!" Reed declared. At the mention of berries, she shifted over to the bushes Larkspur had grown prior and picked a few, holding them in her cheeks as she tried not to squish them. With the berries secured (and covered in slobber) she walked down the edge of the river to a spot they could watch easily from the makeshift not-boulder up on the hill. There she spat them out with a "Pblegh!" and watched as some of them rolled down into the water. A few had remained on shore, snugged up against rocks that they had stuck to with her drool. Maybe it would work. "I got a few!" she called out to Larkspur as she closed the distance between them once more. "I don't know if it's enough to tempt somethin, but maybe? Not a lot out here to eat, could be as hungry as us." Sound logic, she figured.
Reed made her way up to the spot they had chosen and picked out a perch that seemed soft enough to sit on but not too soft to fall asleep on. She didn't want to have to fight off such an evil temptation with such an important responsibility ahead of her. While Larkspur settled in, Reed scanned the area to try and pinpoint any possible blind spots others might be able to sneak up on them from. Above them was one. Across the river was another. Luckily, both herself and Larkspur were brown and could potentially blend into the terrain at night. As dusk settled, Reed kept her eyes out to see if any prey took the bait, or if any predators might be lurking in the area.
Perception roll to see if Reed sees things!
Success: Sees something in the distance as dusk settles
Failure: Does not see anything
Other roll to see if thing is good or bad!
Success: If Reed sees things, she will see a good thing like prey!
Failure: If Reed sees things and fails this roll, the thing she sees is evil and lurking
Character Diceroll 1: Success Diceroll must be above 500 to be successful.
0 was added for Perception.
521 was added for Level 2.
0 was added for A. No Enchantment.
0 was added for A. No Buff / Penalty.
Character Diceroll 2: Success Diceroll must be above 500 to be successful.
0 was added for Other (always roll level 2).
530 was added for Level 2.
0 was added for A. No Enchantment.
0 was added for A. No Buff / Penalty.
Larkspur nodded, satistfied by the efforts they saw and started to settle down their temporary rest-spot. They lowered themself down, tucking their legs beneath themself. After a moment of mental deliberation, they opted to leave their wings out rather than seal them - it would feel better on their scratched skin for the spots with missing or damaged feathers to get some fresh air, and it would keep the remaining feathers from getting crinkled. Well, that and Larkspur personally didn't like the risks involved with sleeping any less prepared to flee than they already were - if somethnig that was too big for Reed showed its face, Larkspur appreciated at least having the illusion of security in their wings benig out and primed for flight.
"I suppose I'll leave you to it then," the chocolate wolf said, suppressing a yawn that tried to break free. The nap they'd been on the verge of taking earlier returned to mind, weighing down their body in an annoying but somewhat welcome sleepy feeling. "Wake me up if you need help."
And with one last, fleeting and faint concern for their safety in this place without trees, Larkspur fell asleep.
Night settled over the lands and brought with it a briskness to the air. Perhaps it was Reed's imagination, but it felt like the winds grew stronger as the night grew longer. Above, the sky was overcast with stars sprinkled in between the dark clouds that stretched across the sky. There was little sound outside of the running river as the night shifted into the early hours of the morning where even those who were nocturnal began to settle down for the day. Reed called this time of day the in-between.
Reed struggled to stay awake. Saying you were going to do something and actually doing that something were two very different things, one much easier than the other. In truth, Reed was exhausted from the happenings of the day, not to mention her past moon of travel. She was a burly wolf, and with a guard layer to help keep the salt of the seas away from her finer undercoat, it meant that the heat and the walking got to her more than it might others. She fought away the soft lullabies of rest, however. She kept her mind busy instead of letting it fade and drift off.
'Eleven, twelve, thirteen,...' she thought to herself as she counted the boulders scattered about the bank of the river. She tried to keep an exceptionally close eye on the berries, but she'd lost track of exactly where they had been pretty much as soon as darkness fell. Oops. Just as she was moving her gaze along the riverbank, using the glow of the moon on the waters in the river as a backdrop, she saw a figure outlined in dark shadow.
Suddenly, Reed wasn't feeling so tired anymore. She focused her gaze on the shadowy figure as it slowly picked along the edge of the riverbank. Slender legs, thick body, slender neck and a narrow head. It looked to be some sort of deer, but it's size didn't make any sense. Reed expected a deer to look smaller at this distance, but this one looked really small. "Hey" Reed whispered at Larkspur, her tone hardly audible with how quietly she spoke. Then she remembered Larkspur's words. "Wake me up if you need help". Well... she didn't need help exactly. It would be nice to have, but she didn't need it, so she shouldn't disturb Larkspur, right? Had she already woke them up with her first whisper? She didn't dare take her eyes off of the shadow to check, afraid that if she did, she wouldn't find the creature again. With careful, quiet steps, Reed crouched and moved down the river towards the small deer creature.
Larkspur had never intended to truly sleep, not while they rested in such an exposed area without even the benefit of being able to quickly fly away. They hadn't even settled down for a restful sleep, ears still mostly pricked for the slightest sound of danger. So when Reed's whispered voice became pointed, sounding like proper words, cobalt eyes immediately peeled open and locked on the bob-tailed she-wolf sitting in front of them. They immediately lifted their head, uncrossing their forelegs from their resting position and lifting their wings as if in preparation to defend themself.
They almost asked they were defending against, before following the other wolf's gaze to the river. They suppressed a relieved sigh, shifting to push themself to their paws and crept their way toward Reed, sinking down carefully to keep from startling the prospective prey.
Hmm... there are a few ways we could go about this, Larkspur mused, half-way to reaching the larger wolf's side. The traditional option might be for the best - striking off to the side and snapping at the creature's hocks, though attempting to circle around it would be... annoying. And without their ability to properly suppress their wings, Larkspur just knew their stalking would be off. It's awfully close to the water where the soft soil is. And Reed is bigger than I am...
They had an idea - they could easily identify the whispering signature that they knew as brambles though they weren't sure if they should execute it. They didn't use their talent for this sort of thing often, it felt... disingenuous to their hunting abilities. And also cruel to the poor plants being forced to grow with less than their best interests in mind so it could easily go poorly.
The growling of their stomach reminded them however, of how hungry they were.
Let's hope I don't ruin this for us, they sighed in their own mind.
---
Text. Speech.Thoughts.
Larkspur attempts to use their powers to grow and ensnare the deer with bramble bushes to make it easier for Reed to catch
Success: Larkspur manages to get the brambles to wrap around the deer's legs and hocks, tangling it up so it can't escape
Failure: They startle it into backing away from the river and further away
Character Diceroll 1: Fail Diceroll must be above 500 to be successful.
0 was added for Arcana.
497 was added for Level 2.
0 was added for A. No Enchantment.
0 was added for A. No Buff / Penalty.
