Dragon's Blood Grove

Ricin is out exploring. Again. After meeting Duchess, the pup had realized how much he has missed traveling. Today he has decided to check out the grove that he had passed through to get to the bay. The rain is steady, causing his light blue fur to stick out at odd angles and gives him a comical look. As his paws hit the desolate landscape of the strange grove, Ricin feels an involuntary shudder race long his spine. It seems unnatural, the way the grass stops abruptly, giving way to a barren landscape. Everything, even the air, feels hotter here. The warm rain has turned the exposed dirt into mud and the blue pup has to be vigilant to avoid large, murky puddles that seems like they could him whole. As he makes his way further into the land, Ricin finds it is slow going as he has to focus on each step and every step he takes.

"Speech"

Location: Dragon's Blood Grove

Duchess was slowly retracing old steps in Auster, honestly wondering if she would ever return here again. But it seemed now that everywhere would remind her about her happy days or times with Indigo. Whether it was the most southern lands of Auster, or the most northern of Boreas. She never believed there would be a brighter day for her. Indigo had given her life again, and she had completely shattered anything that was good.

When she looked up from her stroll, she hadn't even noticed walking into the arid lands here in Auster. She too had traveled only in passing through the grove, but never stopped to see what if anything the land had to offer. In her distant view, she spotted the large blue boy she had met recently and she couldn't help the smile on her maw which was a rare true occurrence. Approaching him she called out quietly, "Hello again, Ricin."

"Duchess"

Ew. Mud! Ricin shakes off a dirty paw when a familiar voice calls out to him. Head snaps up and a huge smile appears as he catches sight of Duchess. Mud completely forgotten, the large pup bounds over to her happily. His tail wags lazily as he greets his friend, “Hey Duchess! Did you come to see the trees that bleed too?” The smile he wears is huge as he cast his gaze over to one of the large trees that give this place its name. He moves over to the closest one, eyeing the strange bark and tall limbs that reach up toward the sky. Looking to the purple lady he asks, “It… it’s not really blood… right?”

Uncertainty laces his words, the tales he had heard of trees that bleed seems highly unlikely to the pup but he stills needs to see for himself. Surely, the trees do not live on blood; he just needs to poke one so he can tell everyone how brave he was to go stab a tree. Duchess has quickly become his friend and he doesn’t mind her seeing how truly scared he is of bleeding trees. He asks, “It won’t hurt it if we poke it, right?” Crimson eyes turn back to inspect the tree as he bites his lip.


"Speech"

The excitement of the boy easily rubbed off on Duchess, her smile came easy at his appearance and energy. That first meeting where she was sad was hopefully long forgotten, or at least not on the mind of the pup.

Duchess followed as he went to inspect one of the trees. She had also heard of the trees in the grove but had never experienced herself. She spotted marks along the bark around another side of the trees, calling for Ricin, "Look right here." Her front paws went up on the tree, stretching to point out the thick, syrupy drips that had fallen from the tree a while ago. It was hard to the touch, but she wasn't going to go ahead and taste it. "It doesn't look like blood to me." She assured.

When he asked if it was okay to poke the tree, Duchess sniffed at the bark lightly before pulling her claws across the surface on her way down off the tree. It started oozing red resin, and left a residue on her paw from cutting it open. "Sticky." She stated with joking look of disgust, but she wasn't worried about running to water to wash off her paw.

"Duchess"

The purple lady follows him as Ricin moves toward one of the strange trees. As he asks about if they really bleed, Duchess moves around the trunk and points to a spot. The blue pup quickly appears next to the smaller wolf and scrutinizes the dried red stuff. Crimson eyes narrow as the pup turns his head from side to side, trying to figure out what this thick red stuff could be. Ricin nods at Duchess’s assessment and says, “It’s so weird.” Then the purple wolf sniffs the bark and pulls her claws through it. WHOA! The light pup jumps back a step as the thick, viscous fluid oozes slowly from the bark. Duchess jokes about it being sticky and Ricin, needing to know exactly what this stuff is, moves forward to poke his nose into the middle of it. He tries to sniff the stuff and instantly regrets it. Some of thick, sticky stuff goes up one of his nostrils and Ricin jumps back, hollering, “AH!! IT’S ATTACKING ME!!” Ducking his head, the pup tries to use his paws to get the sticky stuff off but only ends up spreading it across his muzzle. He sneezes and shakes his head until the nostril is cleared. Looking to the purple lady, he says, “Well. It smells horrible.” The goofy smile that rests on his face adds to his comical appearance as the resin now coats his muzzle and paws.

"Speech"

Duchess jumped back as the pup thrashed around from touching the sappy resin from the bleeding tree. She had almost stopped him before he got too close, but didn't see any harm in him inspecting it closer. She didn't think he would actually touch it.

He hollered really a bunch of nonsense but Duchess at first was worried that he was actually being harmed. That turned as the pup was able to get the thick texture out of his nose. Duchess relaxed and smiled back at him when he was mostly better. Putting her paw on his shoulder, she instructed, "Come on, lets go wash you off."

"Duchess"