So his last attempt at making a tasty alcoholic beverage had failed miserably. It had been a beverage in that part of it had been liquidy, and it had certainly been alcoholic, but in no way, shape or form could he say it had been tasty. And the thick scum he'd had to pry off the top with a stick had been rather off putting. So here he was drinkless and ready for round two.

Lazily Jupiter drug his fruit filled bucket to the next closest tree. The bottom of it scraped and jumped across the ground as it rolled over rocks and sticks. One bump jolted the bucket hard enough to spill a couple pears out onto the ground, forcing Jupiter to stop and amble after the runaway pomes.

He wasn't in a hurry for much of anything so his thoughts were everywhere but the task at hand. How much thought needed to go into fruit collecting anyway? He was itching to take his cart and go, but he knew Tyrian had plans in the works and he wanted to be around for the raiding.

Before the winter snows came, Aslatiel decided to make one last trip for fruit. Pip didn't eat much, but she would need to eat all through the snowy months. Aunt Iolaire had taught her how to dry fruit so that it would last rather than rot. Anything that she collected today would be added to that stash of dried fruit so that her little bat wouldn't go hungry.

The small girl filled her basket full of apples and pears, searching the ground for the least bruised fruit. Every once in a while she could reach one still in the trees, but it was rare. When a nice, plump pear came rolling her way, the child uttered a small sound of wonder, but picked went to pick it up. She almost bumped heads with another wolf as they both bent for the same fruit. Lavender eyes went wide and she took a few steps back. From behind her, a pair of snow leopards, male and female, raised their heads from their resting spot in the grass. She wasn't allowed to go anywhere without an escort.

"Who are you?" Tilting her head with the question, the diminutive child seated herself beside the half full basket of fruit. She'd never seen anyone else here before, let alone anyone collecting just like she was. "Do you need help filling your cart? There are still some apples in the tree over there, but I can't reach." He probably could if he tried. The girl was always interested in meeting new wolves too, so if she could help him, maybe he would tell her about the world out there.

Not too long ago he'd come nose to ass with a pup in this same area so it shouldn't have surprised him to suddenly find himself nose to nose with another one. But it did. He'd only had eyes for the pear so the sudden appearance of a small bug-eyed child caused him to jump. That he'd been startled by a child irked him so his wide eyes quickly narrowed to annoyed slits. He reached out and slapped a paw over the pear they'd been going after, and then used his claws to pick it up and chuck it into the bucket.

The girl made herself at home beside his bucket and began to pepper him with questions. His aggravation turned to tepid alarm as she voiced her willingness to help him collect. Ha, no. That was a bad idea. The last thing he needed was to get caught putting some stranger's kid to work collecting fermenting fruit. "Listen, kid..."

Actually, you know what? Fuck appearances. If the little gremlin was willing to collect shit for him he'd have to be stupid not to cash in on the free labor. "Yeah," he said slowly. "I do need help collecting. How about you get what's on the ground and I'll work on the tree?" He was already planning ahead. If she picked up all the good fruit on the ground maybe he could then toss her up into the tree. Was that irresponsible? Sure, but so was letting your gremlins roam freely in rogue territory.

At first it seemed that he was going to turn down her offer, but then he agreed and asked her to get the fruit on the ground while he grabbed from the trees. The small girl nodded and set to work collecting fruit for his basket. "Who are you? And why are you collecting fruit? A lot of the wolves that I've met haven't liked it much." A pear in the bucket. An apple in the bucket.

Asla continued speaking, her voice soft. "I'm Aslatiel and I'm collecting fruit to dry for my bat over the winter. My aunt taught me how to preserve it so my bat wont starve." An apple, a pear. Ooh, that one had a worm in it. The girl chucked it away, making sure to inspect every side of each piece. "My aunt Iolaire also makes this weird stuff with fruit and honey. My brother's and I aren't allowed to have any, but I like to get fruit for her anyway." Her own basket was already full. She would have either Bast or Enki carry it back.

With the fruit beneath one tree already sifted through, Asla moved on to the next. She brought each piece back and put it into the basket. With two of them, they were filling it up rather quickly. After having shared her intentions and curiosities, the young child was happy to work along in silence. It was nice just spending time with someone that wasn't her family or packmates.

She was a fast little worker bee and Jupiter was immediately glad he'd taken her up on the offer as he watched her zip around the tree chucking fruit left and right. This was perfect, honestly. Now he could reduce his speed to a mosey and let her do all the work. Maybe he should keep an eye out for loose gremlins more often. This one, at least, was proving to be very useful. She was quite the chatterbox, however, which would have been more of a negative in his opinion if she wasn't such a fast sorter.

"Your aunt sounds like my kind of lady." Fruit and honey? She had to be making some kind of drink; and the only drink worth making had alcohol in it so he had to assume she making something alcoholic. "I'm Jupiter and I'm collecting fruit for the same reason your aunt does, probably. If not I take back what I said about her."

He gently tossed an almost too soft pear into his bucket and then eyed the girl's. She had an awful lot collected for an animal he assumed had a stomach the size of a grape. Unless she intended to give the bulk of it to her aunt, in which case she was an awful lot nicer than Jupiter. Teasingly, he asked, "What kind of big ass bat do you have that'll eat even just half of what you've got there?"

Asla shook some branches, sending fruit falling to the ground below. She couldn't get to the end of each branch, so this would have to do for now. Ears perked as Jupiter spoke of what he planned to do with the fruit. "My aunt has jars and jars and jars of the stuff. She says its for adults, but she let me have a sip once. It was gross." Too young to appreciate the finer things in life, Aslatiel had spat out the mead and swore that she'd never drink it again.

Laughter bubbled up within her as the blue gent spoke of a big ass bat. "She's very small. Looks like a tiny dandelion puff, really." Reaching out as far as her foreleg could extend, she hooked an apple with her claws and pulled it back to her before dropping it below. "Most of this will go to my aunt." Io would appreciate the fruit and would put it to good use. Plus, she knew that some members of the pack liked to eat fruit. They could put it in cold storage or dry it to eat later. Either way, she didn't have anything better to do with her time today.