let's do this thang! sing the title to the tune 'ridin dirty'. predated to the 21st

Dirt, dirt, dirt. Skye was being here a lot, she noticed - she was in the dirt yet again, checking on her plants. One of them was wilting - tsk, tsk. You shouldn't wilt, planty. She peered closer and saw that it was browning and yellowing - no doubt losing a battle to the snow. Despite Skye's many attempts to feed the plants with peels and spray them with water throughout the day as well as clearing out the snow, some of the plants were still dying. She talked to them every day, but it was no use - some plants just weren't strong enough.

She had dug up a few worms - it was the winter, and the worms weren't plenty, but she had enough to distribute nutrients throughout the soil. She let the worms loose in the garden and saw them as they, seemingly delighted, burrowed into the snow-free dirt and made the garden their home. The worms would eat through the dirt and wiggle through it, and worms were good for gardens. They made them more healthy.

She looked up as J'adore spoke. She wasn't startled by his presence; on the contrary, she had known he was there for a while. She had just forgotten - immersed in her work. As he asked why she didn't take them inside or burn a fire around them, she replied; "Inside, there isn't enough light, although I could probably build something..." She thought on that for a bit - maybe after the winter, she would build a sort of greenhouse to protect her precious plants from being destroyed. She then listened as he asked why she didn't build a fire around them. "That'd be bad," she said immediately. "A fire would dry out their leaves and make them dehydrated; there's also the possibility of them catching on fire and burning up. And if the fire spread to Thornbury, that'd be bad as well." No, there were too many risks in that plan to build a fire around the plants, although she did wish she did have a magic heater that would warm, feed, and water the plants for her.

Skye shrugged at his offer for help. "Press these into the dirt," she said, handing him a few rotten banana and apple peels. She then began to show him how, pressing them into the dirt. She shook her head when he asked if there was a scarecrow - she didn't have one, but maybe she would make one later. This J'adore was full of good ideas.

A scientist that had a garden and made it live in the winter by lighting fires? Skye would have to ask her father about that, perhaps - he was as close to a scientist as she could get. Or maybe she'd borrow a book from Halifax and find out what there was to know about gardening from there - she was sure the humans had plenty of knowledge about pants and how to keep them alive, seeing as how they had gardens when they were still alive. She was sure that they'd have lots of secrets and hints about how to keep their gardens - and hers - in good health fro the winter. After all, they had technology and things like that - if they could figure out how to fly, go to the moon, and drive around in 'cars', she was sure that they would be able to find out what made plants grow and help her harness that to help her own plants.

As they both pressed the rotting peels into the dirt, J'adore had something to tell her - he said that he would create a scarecrow for her garden if she liked. She turned to him and smiled. "Thank you, J'adore," she said. He was the first to help her with keeping her garden in top shape - others helped sometimes, but never did they make an offer like that. She continued to press the peels into the ground. Today was one of the days J'adore was visiting Valinta - Skye wasn't sure what Shawchert thought about that, but she didn't mind too much. As long as nothing bad came of it, Skye was the rather lax co-leader.

"Maybe," she said. "I'm not sure if the ones that still exist work, however. I'll just have to wait for the spring, when the sun comes out and all the plants blossom." She couldn't wait until the clouds parted and the sun came out and her plants, all grown and green and big and beautiful, produced flowers and berries of their own. That would be the day all of Skye's hard work paid off.

Skye nodded at J'adore's mention of chimes scaring away birds. She knew that was true - she had read about birds being scaredy cats and the such, and were easily afraid of noises that weren't familiar to them. She didn't want birds to come during the summer or spring and eat all the berries in her garden that would undoubtedly grow - she wanted the berries and flowers for her pack, and nothing more. She would have to look for some chimes, or help J'adore look for some later.

The subject suddenly changed, and it was like J'adore had read her mind again. Trying to shake off the unnerving feeling that he somehow could, she shrugged. "I haven't spoken to him about it yet," she said. "I don't know how he'd react." It was true - although Shawchert, the leader of the pack of Cercatori d'Arte, was a good wolf, kind and gentle, he didn't like outsiders or trespassers very much. And even though Skye said that it was alright for J'adore to visit Valinta from time to time, she wasn't sure if Shaw would like it much, since J'adore was from another pack entirely. He was also hanging around a lot - she was sure he wasn't dwelling too far away from the borders if he could just pop in like this so quickly.

Skye frowned. No, he wasn't doing anything particularly wrong, but he was from another pack, and this was claimed pack's territory. She didn't want other packs to start thinking that Cercatori d'Arte was full of pushovers and that they could stroll across the borders whenever they liked - the memory of that coyote that had fought her and then run away stayed fresh in her mind for a long time. She didn't need another one of those, and no doubt they would come if they thought her pack was weak. But she had given him permission to stay in the pack for a while, although she had to talk to Shawchert about it - putting it off wouldn't help in the least.

As she continued to press rotting leaves and peels into the ground, she heard his next words...get on the wrong side of him? She glanced at J'adore. "If you do get on the wrong side of him, you'll have the entire pack to worry about," she warned. She knew where his mind was leading - his eyes showed it. If he was considering fighting the alpha...he was going about the entire thing the wrong way. He wasn't going to fight him - but if he did, Skye would be behind her friend all the way. She wouldn't want to fight Valinta's mate and best friend, especially not while the dancer was pregnant, but if J'adore caused trouble...her pack came first.

"And he most certainly can chase you off," she said dryly. "He can chase you off for eating an apple if he so chooses to - he's the alpha of the pack; your being here is a privilege." She didn't want to be so sharp to J'adore, but if he couldn't understand that the alpha of the pack could do what he wanted to, and that this was his land and not J'adore's, then he wouldn't be able to stay here for long.

lalala~ want to finish this up soon?

Skye turned back to the dirt and shrugged, finishing pressing the peels and now working on spraying the plants with water. To be honest, she wasn't sure how Shawchert felt about it - he seemed a bit off-color lately, but whether that was due to the weather, the recent drama, or nothing at all, she wasn't sure. It may have something to do with J'adore, but she had to ask him about it, first - and that had to happen soon.

"You don't have to walk around and say anything - just don't start a fight and you won't have one," she said. She knew Shawchert well enough to know that as long as J'adore didn't create any trouble, he wouldn't chase the man out of the pack or start a fight. She wasn't sure J'adore's intentions, however - he kept bringing up fights, as if one were inevitable and they were the only solution. If worst came to worst, she was sure that she'd be able to prevent a fight - but the only way to truly prevent a fight was to be calm and relaxed and not on edge. Besides, she didn't want J'adore to walk around saying that Cercatori d'Arte had scarred an AniWayan that would be a father - that would no doubt cause a war. Her head grew fuzzy, and the worrying in the pit of her stomach increased. "Just don't start a fight," she said again.

She looked down proudly at her plants, then back to J'adore. "That's about it for gardening," she said. "Thanks for helping me." She was glad that the man had helped her, and grateful, too - she would talk to Shawchert soon and mention his helpfulness as well as Valinta's child.