It was another cloudy day, the steely gray lumps in the skies threatening to bring rain sooner rather than later. All the same Leaf had invited her sister Magpie to join her in a land that neighbored Avalon. While Leaf adored both the Range and Orchard, it was nice to step into some unfamiliar territory and take in more of the world with her own eyes. And what a strange land this was! Rather than the overgrown fields of the range a large stretch of land lay before her. The grass here grew in sparse patches, sections of dirt mixed in with the path. Sections of soil were darker than others, almost as if it had been stained with the destruction of the past. Bloody battles once raged… Evidence of the fights humans once had still littered the battlefield. Debris and old hunks of metal were scattered about in various sizes. Even the occasional bone, bleached from the sun, could be seen here and there. Leaf’s gaze flicked over the different items scattered about. Such strange things… though she didn’t doubt they had their uses. The yearling would come to a stop in a relatively “clear” section of the battlefield and sit, lifting her head to the sky. She hoped that Magpie would come and join her. Leaf adored her family, and the chance to spend some time with her siblings was always welcomed. And besides, she had a story to tell her sister! Like herself, and most of their siblings, truthfully, Magpie had an interest in hunting, and boy did Leaf have a story for her! Maybe she had seen the very chonker that Leaf had encountered? She supposed that was likely, considering she had encountered the beast within the orchard. If it came back she’d have to tell Corbie, but man, it had been a blast trying to get ahold of it! Would retelling the story be even more delightful, Leaf wondered? Well, it would if her sister showed up! ---- Word Count: 332 Words Total Word Count: 332 Words "Speech," 'Thought.'

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The wound that ran across her left brow had closed with some assistance, and now left an angry puckered trail that wrapped around to the back of her skull. Likewise, the paw shaped burn on her left hindquarter had healed, leaving behind skin where fur should have been. It was fortunate the girl wasn't vain, if anything, it only added to her wild appearance and that suited her just fine.

Ghoul still didn't like her wandering too far from home, but she had snuck out with her mustelid companions and headed towards the plateau. It wasn't too far, really, and the wide-open spaces could leave her some room for tracking down herds that she might be able to talk the rest of the pack into hunting if she was lucky. What she hadn't expected. was for someone to call out. A dark ear turned, and her head whipped in the direction the call had come from, her scruffy tail whirring at her back as she jerked to face a new direction. She couldn't quite see over the grass so it would take her some time to get there, but the girl was nothing if not curious and determined.

She bounded through the grass, occasionally jumping higher to try and catch sight of whoever had called out. Were those ears in the middle distance? She tried to employ her nose, but they must have been upwind. How annoying. She paused for a moment to try and balance on her hind legs, wobbling this way and that before tripping over her honeybadger that turned towards her with a grumble. She reached out to bap her nose and poke out her tongue. No need to be so serious all the time.

Dusting herself off with a shake, she continued to bound on before her hind foot caught on something unstable (who left a helmet there?) And she went cartwheeling through the grass before crashing against something solid and warm with an Oof and a hasty apology as she tried to find her feet. "S-sorry!" She spun in a circle looking to see who she had hit. "Didn' see what I stepped on!"

"speech"

-691/1500-

Magpie would never turn down an invitation. She just might be a bit late. Still now that her new treasure had been secured it was high time she get her butt over to the neighbouring land. Double checking that she'd hidden her prize well enough for now Magpie nodded and headed out to meet up with Leaf. Not that she didn't get distracted nearly every five steps once she'd gotten to the plateau. It was honestly Leaf's fault for forgetting how much Magpie loves to hoard. And so many things here caught the meagre sunlight in such a way to also catch her eye. Which definetly didn't make her even more late as each new item she found she had to compare with what she'd already snatched and weigh what she was willing to leave behind or swap and what she absolutely couldn't bear to part with. Things like the fact she'd have to carry it all and was making her sister wait were not factors. One of these days she needed to get herself a satchel or something. By the time she could make out Leaf on the horizon she was carrying half of her new hoard and kicking the other half down her path.

And by the time she kicked her pile of items over to Leaf? Well someone else had already arrived! It wasn't as if Magpie had never seen a more colourful wolf before. There were a small enough number in Avalon but the pack wasn't exactly busy and to be fair Magpie had never seen a green wolf before. Small though? She's seen small, there was a pair of older women kicking around Avalon who were pretty tiny, maybe not this tiny but once you had to tilt your head all the way down to see someone that became a lot harder to judge. So Magpie stared for a moment, and then a grin spread out across her face. "You didn't tell me we were inviting company!" Magpie looked to her sister, having missed the whole tripping over her thing. "M'Magpie!" She chirped a little too loudly in greeting. Then she set about organizing her pile of items. Three faded and rusted bullets, a handful of grenade pins that luckily hadn't been in any grenades when she found them, a black infantry helmet and oldest of all a green with age chunk of a bronze armour piece though which one was impossible to say now. Not that Magpie knew what any of it was. "What's the plan?" Magpie asked once she was satisfied with her collection and settled onto her haunches. No doubt she'd be more than delighted once she learned what Leaf had in mind but honestly she would have been happy doing most things with her sister.

MAGPIE'S SPEECH

WC: 464 (1155/1500)

Lineart bylocaltanuki & coloured by Bunni

Leaf had been caught up in her musings, a pleasant smile on her lips as her tail flicked back and forth in thought. Maggie should be along soon, and she was trying to think of the best way to go about telling her tale about the creature she encountered. Instead, the sudden sound of noise and a body crashing into her startled her into becoming more aware of the world around her. Leaf’s head snapped up, gaze falling on the green girl that had fallen against her. The other wolf was quickly scrambling to her paws, spinning to face her as she apologized. Leaf gave a wave of her paw, a light hearted laugh escaping her maw. “No harm done! I just wasn’t expecting to meet anyone else.” The other girl wasn’t hostile, and there was no reason to be mean in response. That wasn’t what Avalon was about anyway. And the other girl was unlike anyone else she had seen in Avalon. Tiny, her green so vivid. She was really pretty, Leaf thought. The color reminded her of the life of the plants she coveted.  “My name is Leaf, by the way. I’m a member of Avalon.” She gestured in the direction of the pack, catching sight of her sister as she did so. Ah perfect, Magpie was here! Her tail wagged back and forth as her sister settled with her things beside her. At her comment, Leaf laughed. “I didn’t know I was! But…” Her gaze flickered to the green girl. “All the same, if you’d like to hang out with us for a bit you are more than welcome to.” She offered. Her gaze flicked to the items Magpie had gathered. Ah neat! Her sister was making use of the items here. Heck, maybe they’d need to come back here again. It looked as if there were hidden gems all throughout this land. But first, the reason that they had come here! “Well, I was going to have us explore while we shared some fun stories.” She grinned. “Specifically hunting ones! I know of our siblings, we pretty much all expressed hunting as interest.” Her gaze flicked to the green girl. Did she like hunting too? “...and speaking of, you guys wouldn’t believe the thing I saw in the fields of Avalon. It was really big, about as big as I am, but it was a prey animal I think.” Leaf’s eyes were shining as she recalled the beast. “It was covered in reddish brown fur, with a really wide nose and curled ears with tufts on the ends. It was rooting through the fields, digging up whatever was growing as it grunted.” Leaf wiggled. “But when it saw me coming for it, it squealed super land and began taking off. It was fast! I tried to keep up with it, but it outmaneuvered me easily. Before I knew it, it was chased out of the territory…” Leaf arched a brow. “Have you guys ever taken on prey that big?” --- Word Count: 503 Words (1,658) "Speech," 'Thought.'

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