Fishing was harder than she expected, and she figured this was going to be too. She regarded the jar with a disgusted side eye. She could barely hold it, let alone try to catch with it. It was dumb. But there were prizes, and she wanted the damned prizes. She barely knew what they were, but she still wanted the prizes anyway. Why? Because they were prizes.

Grumbling to herself, and holding the jar awkwardly in her jaws, the giant aurora-coloured wolf picked her way towards the area with the most amount of fireflies she could see. She plopped down with a grumble, and dropped the jar in between her paws with a huff.  Maybe she could get lucky here and get a few. How, though, she was absolutely uncertain. Maybe she could try to swat them into the jar? ‘As long as they live, right?’ she thought with a sigh, squinting in concentration at the fireflies. With another angry grumble, the wolf tried to swat the fireflies into the jar. She wasn’t sure it was any success.

This post 1/5

While this activity seemed like it could be based on physical prowess, Rags had spent much of the waning light of day trying to figure out how she could be successful without tripping over herself. Swinging a vessel around like some other wolves seemed to be doing was decidedly not in her forte, and her body was already stiff from digging.

So she had set up a trap. While other wolves flailed about, Rags set in front of a jar that had a small piece of honeycomb and some fruit set within it. She watched it closely, hoping that some fireflies would flit their way in along with the other bugs she had begun to attract. Spotting Lyra, who seemed to equally as frustrated as some others she'd seen, Rags softly called her over. "You could try a different method?" She suggested.

Attempt #1 - no companion

He was really enjoying trying to catch these fireflies! He bounded across the ground in search of more, his mother holding his bag as she sat within watching distance. He had spotted a most peculiar looking wolf, though at first he thought it had been a piece of the sky that had fallen on the island. But no, it was an honest to goodness wolf and she was mighty pretty! He noticed the other wolf that was nearby, and the bold little boy strode up to them, noticing they seemed to be having trouble. "Do you guys need help catching bugs? I'm real good at it, look!" He bounded forward and jumped up to try and catch some before landing haphazardly on the ground. "See? Is easy! Sorta..." He glanced between the two, tail wagging, "I'm Incendio, who're you guys?"

Attempt 2

Lyra grinned with satisfaction as she saw the firefly slam into the jar. It glowed feebly, shaken and unhappy, but it was in the jar. Now it just had to stay in the jar. But, it was only a single firefly, out of the small swarm that was near her, and she huffed in irritation at the bugs. Damned bugs; why couldn’t they just fly into the jar on their own? Blaah. Amidst her grumbling, she startled a tad when a soft voice called out behind her, and she whipped her head around quickly… only to blink in surprise. “What are you?” she blurted, absolutely tactlessly, eyeing the… wolf… thing with abject curiosity. It was probably one of the ugliest wolves she’d ever seen, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it. Floppy ears, a dry tongue, skinny, and the colors on her weren’t exactly the best looking either. All in all, she was very ugly.

However, Lyra’s outburst aside, her head tipped in ponderment of the words. “Different method?” she inquired. “How so?” she was certainly curious, especially if it led her to be faster, better, without as much effort.

Shortly after the question, her atttention was rivetted by a young wolf, barely old enough to be out of the den. And… bright bloody orange and black. The color pattern was actually quite striking, and she studied the pup with an intensity she usually reserved for threats, or for family in serious situations. It wasn’t too often she saw wolves similar to her in that they were… special in their coloring, and it was the first time she saw this combination. The pup was striking, and she had a feeling that would only grow as the boy grew, as well.

Her own curiosity prevented snarkiness at the boy’s assumption - albeit not a wrong one - and she grinned a bit at his excited jump. “I see, good job. It might help if you stay on the ground, though, and reach up like this.” to demonstrate, the wolf sat back on her haunches and lifted her torso into the air; still sitting, but now balancing upward. With a careful movement, she tried once more to swat at agroup of the fireflies, hopefulyl into the jar or near the jar so shecould scoop them in.

This post 2/5
1/5

"Apparently smarter than you," Rags quipped, narrowing her eyes at the other female. It had been quite a while since she'd faced such rude treatment, but it was something that she was used to. She tended back to her glass jar, happy to see that a few blinking fireflies had alighted inside.

The stranger was young, though, and she supposed that the outburst could be excused. Some wolves didn't develop sense until later in their years, and even then, she'd met some truly callous individuals. Maybe she was one of those oddballs who had her own strange religion or belief system that dictated how she viewed others. There were plenty of zealots flitting about in these lands, and they seemed to congregate here for the festival. Rags would just use this encounter to gather more information. "Try using something sweet to entice the flies in - no one likes a sour attitude," she said pointedly.

Another pup arrived on the scene and she cast him a warm smile. Spending time with Torin's children had warmed her heart, and she was always glad to pay attention to a young wolf. She carried her jar over to him. "Sure, why don't you help me out?" she offered, smiling encouragingly. He was a rambunctious little thing. "My name is Ragnheiðr. Who are you, little one?"

Attempt #2 - no companion

He glanced back and forth between the two women as they exchanged snarky words to one another. Not that he knew what snarky meant just yet but they sounded like Theta did all the time. He shook his head, not wanting to think about his bratty sister anymore. Every thought he had of her just ruined his mood and he was not going to let that ruin his fun at the festival anymore. He took a step forward as the star clad girl with the funny feet showed him a different method to catching the fireflies. He tilted his head as he watched her swat at the fireflies, and he wondered if he'd still be able to do that with his own normal wolf feet. He sat back on his haunches and did as she did, lifting his torso up and stretched his still short forelegs forward as he tried to swat down some bugs. Unfortunately for him, he didn't quite have the balance that adults did yet and flopped over onto his side with a dull thud. Well...that was kind of embarrassing. "Sure, why don't you help me out?" "Really?!" He exclaimed as he scrambled to his feet, his prior embarrassment completely forgotten. He peeked into her jar to see how many bugs she had, and nodded. "Okay I'll help! My name is Incendio, it's nice to meet you uh..Rage'n hider!" Okay, so he couldn't quite pronounce her name at all yet, but maybe one day..."When you said catch them with something sweet, do you mean with like...berries or something?" He glanced between the two, wondering if that would work or if there was something else. Incendio attempt 4 "Speech"

Lyra merely quirked an eyebrow. Clearly, someone didn't like being asked what she was. Alright then, no big deal. "Perhaps in this," she said easily, with little to no hesitation. "You still didn't answer the question," she noted aloud, almost lazily, glancing back at the wolf-thing .She didn't really care if it was rude or not; her intent wasn't malicious, but curious - albeit rude. She honestly didn't really care that much. "Are you one of those dog-wolf hybrid creatures?" she guessed. It was the only thing that she could think of to cause such features, especially the floppy ears. She'd never seen a full wolf with floppy ears before - that was absolutely a dog trait, leftover from the human's pets.

Lyra once again quirked an eyebrow at the strange wolf-mix. "No one's having an 'sour attitude' here, except perhaps for you. If you don't want to get asked when you look like some sort of wolf-dog hybrid creature, don't go out; the world and those in it aren't going to just ignore and pretend something isn't strange when it is. So calm down and stop being fussy about being asked a perfectly reasonable question, especially when there's plenty of non-wolf creatures here already." And to her - it was reasonable. She understood that many believed that such things were rude and impolite to ask; to her, that was just idiotic thinking. So what's better - asking the person forthright? Or whispering, guessing, and assuming behind their back? She would rather ask. It was a silly custom to refrain from asking about others anyway. "Regardless, thank you for the advice." As she spoke, she also used that time to focus on trying to swat some flies down.

With that, she switched her attention back to the pup, who tried her method... and failed, immediately. Wincing in sympathy, she realized that reaching up like that... wasn't the easiest. The balance and muscle it required wasn't too significant, but it was more than an average pup could manage. "Sorry, kiddo. I forgot how hard that was. You did very good with that; many adults can struggle with that."

She glanced back at the jar the hybrid-looking wolf was holding. "Hmm, this would have been a good time for some of the rotten or fermented fruit from the orchids," she murmured. "Too bad... Normal berries could seem to work though?"

This Post 3/5
2/5
1/5

"Speech" "You"

art by rainbowglaze123

Although Lyra's attitude still didn't sit right, she supposed that the other female was correct. It was easy to be provoked, though, when some wolves tended to look at her like you might some deer dung you'd mistakenly stepped in. "I am not a hybrid," she responded, trying not to sound too terse. "I have sustained damage to my nerves that affect my ears and other extremities. I get by alright, but it's not easy." She gave Lyra a brusque nod when she thanked her for the advice; it was a kindness, at least, to be recognized.

Luckily, Incendio was there to break the frosty mood. It was easy to be enthralled with a pup's antics - they were so delightfully innocent and everything seemed to surprise them. "Yes! A very good attempt," Rags agreed wholeheartedly, trying to encourage the boy. "Normal berries might work - you could chew them up a bit before putting them in to let the juices out. The sweetness would certainly attract a few fireflies!" A fat, lazy bee floated down into Rags' jar and promptly got stuck on a sliver of honeycomb. "And some other tag-a-longs as well."

Attempt #3 - no companion

He glanced back and forth between the two as they...argued? He didn't know. There was a lot being said and he couldn't quite keep up. Adults were weird. When they were done though they both praised him for his effort and he puffed out his chest with pride. He was doing well for someone so young, and when they made mention of using something sweet to entice the fireflies, he looked around to see if there were any berries Rags had mentioned. He spotted a Bush not too far off that had raspberries, so he bounded over to it and picked a few. They were definitely ripe and sweet, and he munched a few for himself before taking some back to the others. "Will these work?" He dropped what he had and took a few for himself to chew up. Incendio chewed a little on the berries before dropping them into his jar, after a few moments a few of the bugs he already had started to crawl onto the juicy mess. Turning his attention back to the task at hand, he waited for an opportunity to jump for me, but just as he was about to do so, they started to swarm around his head and he realized he had some berry juice dripping down his chin that seemed to attract them. Well...that was easier than he thought! Giggling, he slowly and carefully walked over to his jar and stuck his snout in before gently trying to shake them off. Well, mission accomplished! Attempt 5 "Speech"