Jars, Jars, Jars
Firefly catching
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.
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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
Attempt 2
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.
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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 |
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?"
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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 |