Walk | Talk | Think "Where's your boyfriend?" The cat's casual tone interrupted Calli's concentration as she sorted the contents of her herb cache. Seated at the back of her den, things had been quiet and peaceful and perfect for adjusting the collection of plants that she had been focused on gathering into something cleaner and more organized, but she should have known the quiet would not last. She did not, after all, live alone. "Jak's not my boyfriend," the black and grey healer clarified, her brow furrowing slightly with irritation at having to repeat herself yet again, "and I'm not keeping track of him." Though Callisto refused to look at the cat, the pitch black feline grinned and let her tail sway mischievously. "Aw, you're using nicknames now," she teased further, allowing her head to tilt to the side as if in admiration of the twisted relationship the healer and her timid lover possessed. She had long ago accepted that they both were tolerant of the parts they played in...whatever they were, but she could not stop herself from wheedling further to identify and place a name with what that actually was. "That's cute. I'm almost jealous." "Shut up." This was not a conversation Callisto wanted to have, nor was it something that she felt she could tolerate for long. Her patience felt intact for the time being, but with the cat it tended to fall apart fairly quickly every time. "You don't even have a name," she countered, though she stopped herself and her sorting as she gave it more thought. Or does she? Callisto's brow rose on one side as she turned her head enough to peer sidelong at the cat. "Do you?" "Hmm." Thoughtfully the cat paced there just outside the den's entrance, considering her answer. Life as a lone cat was dangerous and made it difficult to form relationships in order to need one. Maybe she had had one when she was younger, but it no longer seemed to hold any significance. "No, not really." Callisto shook her head slightly and attempted to get back to sorting her plants while she tried to speak, "Well, naming things creates attachment so--" "What kind of name suits me?" The feline interrupted without a worry, thoughtfully turning her back on the den - and the glaring wolf seated within its dark back corner. "Maybe something flowery and exotic." Her tail tip twitched excitedly as she considered her options, feeling rather energized by the whole thing and smiling as she thought about it. "Or crude and suffocating," Callisto offered, her tone flat and irritable as she continued to glare the cat's way. "Like a weed." That seemed to suit the annoying little cat perfectly. "Hmph. Oh, maybe something dangerous." Callisto nudged a completely sorted pile of plants back into the corner she designated it belonged in as she listened to her unwanted companion's newest suggestion. Dangerous? Her thoughts were never very far from her plants, and immediately she began thinking of those that fascinated her most, the ones that were dangerous if handled incorrectly. "Nightshade." "Nightshade?" The feline turned her head to better listen to Callisto behind her as she considered this new suggestion. Dangerous, indeed, but did it suit her? Her expression soured, deciding that, no, it did not, or at least not well enough. "No. Too plain. Wait, doesn't it have a different name? Belladonna?" That was right, was it not? She was sure she had heard Callisto refer to it them both at one point, interchangeably at that. Belladonna. That did have a nice ring to it. The cat smiled a toothy grin. "I like that one better." Seeing that the conversation was quickly going out of her control, Callisto rose from her seated position inside the den and strode outside of it, causing the cat to quickly, almost instinctively, put some distance between the two of them and turn to give the wolf her full attention. "I don't," Calli countered with finality, having made up her mind on the matter. "You're Nightshade." With a stubborn look, the cat refused to back down and continued to argue against Callisto's choice in names with her own, and neither appeared ready to budge on the matter.

Jakart eyed the bulbed plant and again paced alongside the game trail he found himself on. This fern was unknown him, but with a dozen or so of bright red bulbs bristling outward from the drying stems he knew that it's value would eventually be lost once winter rolled around. Of course how valuable he didn't know, the plant as a whole was everything that would be desirable to a healer in his opinion. It was bright, prickly with needles as sharp as a cactus's spines. The only real problem was bringing it to the healer he had in mind. But first he would have to remove it, prickly bots and all. Most of the root structure had already been clawed away enough for him to venture another series of tugs with his muzzle, Jakart tasting the dirt and saliva of his previous attempts as his fangs drew around the roots. It took him a few moments of tugging but with an audible snap after twisting his muzzle back and forth the plant was freed from the soil.

That was about as hard as cleaning between the ribs of a kill, Jakart putting his prize off to the side of the trail. The bulbs were each trimmed to where he could stack the stems on top of each other, occasionally receiving a poke with for his trouble. Jakart fumbled a few times as he tried to snap them all up, a frustrated growl the only noise he made upon his success. The Fern Gulley indeed, the lands contents not so easily given up without a little patience and blood. With a grunt Jakart would make his way up the creek after reaching the middle of the gulley. Callisto's den was up ahead, and as he got closer he saw the she wolf and the cat were at it again. A mumbled greeting was given, Jakart simply striding up to Callisto and depositing the herbs at her paws. The wolf scratched an ear with a hind leg as he reclined onto his haunches. She seemed better about the personal space between them, ever since she had told what had happened to her. Jakart gave an involuntary whine and looked at the cat before returning his mismatched gaze to the healer. "Found a bush of these. To bright not to pass up."

Walk | Talk | Think Back and forth the cat and wolf argued, neither giving ground while the conversation continued to grow more heated by the minute. With as often as they fought, Callisto still could not fathom why it was the cat had not yet left, and wished not-so-secretly that the feline would get tired of her stubbornness and take her leave. The creature had been nothing but a nuisance since she had shown up, disrupting the peace and quiet that the healer enjoyed above all things, but nothing seemed to work. If the cat ever decided to leave, it would be by nothing short of a miracle. Although distractions from their current conversation were a little more likely and currently in the works. The cat spotted Jakart before Callisto did and immediately called attention to him. "Ah! Look, here's your boyfriend. He can break the tie for us," she said, a challenge clear in her tone as she smiled almost smugly in the healer's direction before she rose to her paws, spindly tail waving, and greeted the grey male. "Hey Loverboy, we need you to settle something for us and say which name is better," the cat explained, getting right to business and addressing the argument he had had the misfortune to walk in on. Callisto, in contrast, had fallen silent, a look of puzzled confusion and focused attention etched across her furrowed brow. She had been irritated as she turned to look at him, but the moment she saw Jak - and the plants that he toted along with him - the argument she had been so heatedly in the middle of suddenly lost its importance. Was that...was that what she thought it was? Could it be the plants she had run out of, the thistles that Maximous had offered to her a year ago, that she had been unable to procure for herself? She was so surprised, at first she could not speak, and only after the cat had hushed up did she manage to find her words, asking with utter disbelief, "Where did you find that?"

Post is M for language

A sigh left Jakart as he settled his leg back against the ground. The two females in front of him were arguing about a name or something but the few needles that stuck in his mane were starting to irritate him more than the bickering. The careful rending of the plants roots hadn't been clean, a few marks beneath his fur starting to be irritated. It was always the small plants that itched the most. The felines words now tore his attention away from his scratching. Boyfriend. Now there was a thought, even as a nervous chuckle left him Jakart could only stare at Callisto to gauge the effect of cats words. Something about deferring to him to give the result of a contest, the word 'Loverboy' being used to describe him caused the grey wolf to fidget where he lay. His and Callisto's relationship wasn't like that at all. Everything between them was all... mutual. Callisto however seemed entirely unfazed, as she had such good practice by this point it seemed, and was instead intently staring at the herbs he'd brought back.

"These?" Jakart looked at the bristly red burrs. "They were ummmm," He looked around over his shoulder, mismatched eyes searching for where he'd been. Down in the gully everything looked the same on the hillside, but he had a general idea of where he had found them. "They were... see that little cut in the hillside below the ridge?" There, he was certain that was where the game trail was, muzzle pointing straight at it. "Back in there, prey path. Hasn't been touched like the other bushes with all their leaves gnawed away." Jakart looked at Callisto expectantly. "They poisonous?" Red was a pretty potent color when it came to certain prey that were unsuitable to be eaten. Did the same apply to specific plants? Jakart looked over at the cat. "Belladonna by the way. Nightshade is a strong name. Belladonna is for pussies like you." A wink was given at Callisto. Jakart was never one for spicy language but when regarding the cat he knew Callisto would be appreciative.

Walk | Talk | Think While she had initially been more interested in enlisting Jakart's help in gaining some favor for her name choice, the cat did not immediately recognize the plants that he carried until Callisto brought the conversation around to them. Curious, the feline gave the plants another look and her ears instantly perked, a bright, knowing light entering her pale gold eyes. She knew these plants. She had been given some to watch over nearly a year ago, had made it her mission to ensure that Callisto had them and kept them and took them regularly. They were important, significant, and damn hard to find if Callisto's failed efforts were any indication. And yet here they were. Looking at them more closely, Callisto raised a grey paw and carefully nudged the pile of thistle plants, inspecting them as she did so and making mental comparisons to the thistles she had had the previous year. They did look similar, smelled similar. These had to be the same ones. The expression on her face remained puzzled as she lifted her silvery blue gaze up from the thistles to follow the direction that Jakart indicated they had been found, trying to log the location away in her memory. She was not sure how good it would work - the locale would have stuck better if she had walked that way herself - but it would do for now. She could always make Jakart take her to the exact spot later. Though the plant held great significance for her, it seemed to have less meaning to him, or at least in a known sense. The question he posed clued her in that he likely knew nothing about its uses and properties, and in a way she was glad for it. At least she knew he had not brought it to her as an indication of what he expected later on. Everything was supposed to be on her terms, and she was not willing to compromise on that yet. "Not poisonous," she answered as she fixed the stack of plants so that the pile was orderly again, "just elusive." She still could not quite believe his dumb luck in finding the plant, but it hardly mattered. She was now ready for the next season, and carefully Callisto gathered up the plants in her jaws to carry them into her den to be added to the cache. The cat watched the healer travel away, eyeing the plants in her jaws with a curious twitch of her nose. Yep, those were the same plants as far as she recalled. Unable to help it, her lips spread into a wide, mischievous grin as her tail swayed and she turned her golden eyes back on Jakart while Callisto disappeared into her den. Oh, what a smart boy. "You'll be glad you've found those," she commented almost conspiratorially, looking sure of herself as she nodded her head. What good standing she seemed to be working up toward with him, however, did not seem to stick. He answered in her favor regarding the name choice, but his reasoning painted her in a poor light, enough so that her grinning look became sour. It helped nothing that she heard a short, sudden laugh from inside the den, and a little irritably she glanced toward the shadowed interior of the residence though she could not see its inhabitant. "I still like the name," the cat - now christened Belladonna - answered indignantly, and left before either could take away her small victory. Betraying nothing of the sudden humor she had found with Jakart's response to the feline, Callisto stepped out of her den and back among her company just as straight faced and serious as ever. Her gaze followed the retreating form of the dark cat before it shifted toward Jak and settled on him. "I'll need you to take me to where you found that later," she informed him, posing the statement with finality and less like a question of doing her a favor. "I'm still organizing right now, but I want to know exactly where they're growing." And maybe see if she could locate some more thistle plants on her own too. She was the one who needed them, after all, though maybe he benefited from them too.

Callisto had informed him that no, the plants were not poisonous, which was good as he could've sworn that a teeny bit had gotten into his mouth when digging them up. The dryer and dead bulbs had crumbled away at his touch, and he imagined that inhaling them wouldn't have done to good for his health if they were poisonous. But the 'elusive' bush and or cluster of the herbs seemed to please Callisto, even as she picked them up to store away. The cat, Belladonna, as she was now named, had spoke of him being glad to have found the herbs as the feline rapidly prowled out of sight after being insulted. Jakart was glad to have found the plants, Callisto seemingly even more so judging by the surprise on her muzzle when he had arrived.

A sense of guilt overcame him. He wished the cat well even if the insult was somewhat desired, it having elicited a sharp laugh from his once mate. A rarity, though she hid her good spirits well when coming out of the den. Callisto spoke of having him take her to where be had pointed out later, Jakart giving a simple nod. Curiosity was starting to bubble up within him, the male shifting on his paws. "What are the plants for? Seems to put Bella in a snip when you went inside." He tilted his head slightly and stood with a shake. The damn needles always seemed to remain no matter how much he tried to rid himself.

Walk | Talk | Think In an oddly succinct manner that was somewhat uncharacteristic for him, Jak nodded his head in understanding of the request she had made. That was good. No argument, no wheedling out of the task. It meant she would finally get to see for herself where it was these damned elusive plants grew and hopefully log the location away for later, when her stores began to run low and needed restocking. She doubted it would be too soon - what Jakart had brought was substantial enough - but given her history Callisto was cautious and wished always to be prepared for foreseeable problems, unwanted litters among them. But...it was Jakart. He never seemed to lack for a question, particularly those thorny ones that were always so challenging to answer and especially the ones that Callisto did not want to answer. Rather than leaving the plant's significance to her, the trained healer, his endless curiosity made him ask what it did. The neutral expression she wore darkened suddenly under an irritable frown, her ears threatening to fold back against her head as she felt her agitation spike. He just had to ask that question, didn't he? Of course he did. She was half convinced it was his purpose in life, to question everything no matter how uncomfortable or difficult the question was. How did someone even go about explaining that, especially to the one wolf that, since she was being honest with herself now, would be involved once the plants were used? She was silent as she deliberated, warring with herself until she finally sighed exasperatedly and dived in to a blunt explanation. "It's a contraceptive," Calli stated informatively and still somewhat irritably, "it's the contraceptive I took last season. It stops a female from getting pregnant." He had not known, though, that she was out of them, or that her season was nearing right around the corner. It had to be just coincidence that he had found them and brought them to her now without even knowing what they did. It was a strange, questionable coincidence, and Callisto was unsure whether it was right to tell him the plant's purpose. Would he be able to think of anything else when he saw her now? It made her uncomfortable even to think of it. No matter how timid and shy Jakart was, he was still a man with a man's desires. Her discomfort grew, transforming into a new worry as it did. Would he still be able to control himself, knowing what he did now, when that time finally came around? Realizing the position she could very well have just put herself into, Callisto drew a step back, feeling her anxiety begin to rise and slowly begin to consume her. It morphed the look on her face, stealing away the irritation and replacing it with something akin to paranoia and uncertainty. And anger at herself for walking right into this. "I shouldn't have..." she began to say, shaking her head as she retreated again another step, unsure what she was doing. This whole situation that she had created, the potential danger she had just placed herself in, made her immeasurably uncomfortable and agitated, and being here no longer felt like something she wanted to do.

When he saw Callisto's expression change Jakart knew that something was wrong immediately when she frowned. Already his ears flicked back a little against his skull as the she wolf just stood there for a moment as if in deep thought. Whatever was going through her mind eventually surfaced in a very unexpected answer. The herbs he picked were assumed to be something for indigestion or a simple headache, never could he have thought that Callisto would want such a plant to be in her stores. A contraceptive. To prevent pregnancy. As the end of last winter came to mind and the intimacy they had shared surfaced up a sense of fear over came him. Was she thinking of her time in the cavern being defiled by an unknown male? Was that all she thought about when mating and it's similar topics came up.

Jakarts maw immediately dried at the sense of anxiety, compounded by the fact that Callisto had taken a step away from him. No no no no, she shouldn't have to feel such a way around him anymore. But whatever twisted thoughts of him she was thinking to cause her to be cautious resulted in another step back. The grey male began to step away, ears pinned and tail tucked in fear. With a moment given to recall how quickly he had left when first showing the healer upon arriving at the gulley Jakart enacted a similar solution to his friends worries and quickly bounded away. Never would he hurt her, and as his paws carried him away she would hopefully be assures by that the faster they parted ways.

-Exit Jakart-

Walk | Talk | Think She was torn, indecisive whether she wanted to retreat back into her den - a small, confined space that she would be cornered in if worst came to worst - or dart off into the Gulley - that Jakart likely knew better than she did. Either way, Callisto felt cornered, not so much by anything Jak had done but by her own fears, fears that she could not shake no matter what she did. She hated feeling this way, hated feeling so cowardly that all she wanted to do was run and hide and keep everyone at a distance. It helped nothing to see the worry and anxiety written so clearly across Jak's face, looking hurt and fearful as his ears folded and tailed tucked and he too began to retreat away from her. Not a word was said as he turned tail and ran, leaving her staring, confused and uncertain, outside of her den. She stayed there a moment, contemplating what had just happened, feeling dissatisfied with the whole chain of events. Scaring him off had not been her intention, even if she had been thinking to herself that she was uncomfortable in his presence, but neither could she say exactly what could have made things better. It was just, over all, another bad situation. With a heavy sigh, she hung her head, staring around her in the quiet now offered with her company gone. She no longer felt fearful but her discomfort remained, making her long for a way to make it go away. With nothing else to turn to currently, she turned and retreated back into the dim interior of her den - casting a careful glance over her shoulder as she did - and tried to put her mind back to work organizing the contents of her herb cache. -End thread-