ORIGIN - Wolf on a Stick

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Jayberry panted, flattening her ears and closing her eyes as she tried to hide her pain. She was willing, if reluctant, to show her weakness to Papa. He was family, after all. But Oliver wasn't. He wasn't a Bloodberry, wasn't a family, and so she wasn't willing to show him her pain.

It was only Oliver speaking of warmth that made her realize how cold she was, tremors shaking her muscles. And she could have cried when the other began to drip water into her mouth, tongue flicking out to drink it desperately. "Thank you," she murmured between swallows, and then she looked up at Papa with something like horror as she gasped, "Papa!"

@Blueberry @Oliver

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

"Why didn't she kill you?" Oliver glanced briefly over his shoulder, fixedly, at Blueberry for a moment. The look was one of blank, slightly worried bewilderment, but to his credit he quickly turned his attention back to the wounded wolf.

He hauled himself closer to her, spreading one wing half-over her to offer warmth, even as he called upon his magicka again to attempt to raise the ambient air temperature to something more likely to assure Jayberry's survival.

"...Kill me? Why would she do that?" He sounded quite confused, and simply focused on his magic for a moment afterward, nearly forgetting the ongoing conversation. His concentration was intense.

Oliver was not a master of magic by any means, and it took a lot of effort, until he was near-trembling with gritted teeth. Think of heat, think of the hot caves and their warm wind... By tiny increments, the air began to warm around them, and Oliver at last slumped a little.

"I can try to close the wounds, I just need-... some grass, or... or vines," he offered weakly, looking back over his shoulder at Blueberry. The expression was both hopeful and pleading, as if Jayberry was his friend, and Blueberry the stranger, rather than Oliver offering help to them both. He seemed to have a bit of a lack of the common ideas of gratitude and so forth, almost as if he'd be immensely grateful merely for Blueberry to get him some grass with which to save his own ally's life.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Blueberry

Blue let out a chuckle. This poor bird-creature had no clue. "We are Bloodberries. We take and attack and kill as we please. Family is all we need." He replied shortly, feeling the air warm up. Of course, she would be cold. Oliver was helping.

Vines. Grass. Something that Blue could make. He thought of Eridanus, of the vines he saw there. He thought about the vines he'd always been able to summon before and focused on getting them to come forth another time. They came, but only a few. And they seemed a little weak. "Will these work?"

____________________
"Hear my war cry"

Tags: @Oliver @Jayberry
Notes: here

Jayberry eyed Oliver, praying that the wolf-bird wouldn't be frightened off. She loved her father, really, she did, but he didn't have much tact.

Thankfully, the wolf-bird didn't seem frightened away, and even moved closer, his raised wing offering her some warmth. She relaxed even further when the air began to warm, with a relieved whine. Oh, the heat felt so good.

She allowed herself to rest, feeling father's magick in the air.

@Oliver
@Blueberry

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

Oliver paused, considering Blueberry's words--and the offered vines. His words tumbled out naively straightforward, gentle and untouched by any real emotion, bar quiet kindness.

"...I'm not sure what a blood-berry is, but you don't look like a berry? And those should be fine. Killing's not nice," he added, matter-of-factly. "It's kinda sad we have to kill to eat."

Carefully he turned, making his way to the scraggly vines. He continued to speak, glancing at Jayberry--trying to gather up some of his magicka reserves as he did so. "I'm gonna try to close the wounds, a little, but... You have to either take them out once the wounds are kinda closed, or get someone who can keep plants alive. 'Cause you don't want 'em to die in there. It's going to hurt," he added, apologetically. "I'm sorry for that. And then if it works I just... need to try and give you strength. With magic."

Quietly he took the vines into his wing-claws, and then turned, half-hopping back to the black wolf. He laid the vines cautiously over the worst of her wounds, and then bit by bit he focused, tapping into the natural energies around him, and his healing gifts.

The vines twitched, but that was it, and Oliver sighed through his nose. He continued to try, his wing-arms trembling, a wince of intense concentration on his face.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Blueberry

Blue snorted. This wolf was a dense weakling. "We call ourselves bloodberries because my family and I all share the names of berries." He paused, trying to find a way to answer the wolf-bird without making him run. He knew how to heal Jayberry. "We kill because my mate went through hell. In that hell, everyone hurt her. Only I was there for her. She is now out of that hell, but she wants revenge. And so we help her with that revenge.

@Jayberry

The wolf couldn't help but to snort at Oliver's blunt and naive comments - killing's not nice, and that neither of them looked like a berry. He was naive, and kind, but she considered him a friend. Hopefully father and, hopefully, mother, would consider him an ally, so they could keep him around. After all, he was playing a part in keeping her alive. Besides, it was kind of nice having someone like him around for once.

She licked her lips as he spoke, and nodded. "I think, I think Mama will be able to get them out." she licked her lips again. The wolf grinned at Oliver, shaking her head slightly. "Don't apologize." she listened as father explained Mother's story to Oliver, ears flicking back sadly.

@Oliver @Blueberry

"She speaks." 'She thinks.' She does.

Oliver hesitated, exhaling with weariness. He was a gentle, kind creature but he was no milquetoast, and when Blueberry made this domineering statement, Oliver glanced sharply up at him. It wasn't a hostile look, or reproachful. Instead it was concerned.

He chose his words carefully, this time, though they still seemed to come from the heart. "As long as they're the people who hurt her, I guess. I'm sorry that happened to her, though. But it's not nice to do the same thing to other gembound, then. It'd still be wrong--" He cut himself off here, trying to focus on summoning together the threads of plantfiber to bind Jayberry's wounds.

Finally, the plants began to move. This time, however, Oliver felt a strange stinging sensation Huh, that's new and then a sharp pain. With a yelp he jerked both claw-hands back, ear-tufts flattening back as he realized he'd grown the little sprouts through his own digits, instead. He held them up to the light, wincing, looking at the greenery happily twining out of his "fingers."

"Ouch," he said, mournfully.

At least it put a stop to the morality lecture, though.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Blueberry @Jayberry

Blueberry snorted. THis wolf, however much he helped, wouldn't stick arpound them for much longer if Blue had anything to do with it. He was naive and simple and kind, something that didn't belong with the Bloodberries.

However, he couldn't even seem to help. "What are you trying to do, Oliver? Attach yourself to my daughter through plants?"

____________________
"Hear my war cry"

Tags: @Oliver @Jayberry
Notes: here

The she-wolf was relieved that Oliver was not scared away by Father's matter-of-fact statement, choosing to stay and attempt to tend her wounds. Father seemed to have very poor timing, she thought, ears twitching back. If only he could hold his tongue for a few hours more.

Her ears twitched to Oliver, then, when he yelped and jerked back, and she couldn't help a wheezed laugh as she saw what he had done, straining out a low, somewhat teasing, "Practicing?"

@Oliver @Blueberry

"She speaks." 'She thinks.' She does.

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