[P] out of luck until you've gone duck

[Carya Aston]

Carya is wandering near the Black River Reserve with her stallion.
WC: 414

She took a few moments to saddle up her stallion, and gave him a pat on his back. Her horse gave a small snort towards her, and she smiled, putting his bridle on and letting him adjust to it, before she lead him forwards a few feet. The wind suddenly shifted direction as she climbed atop his back, and his form shifted towards the wind. A sweet smell hit her nostrils, and while it wasn’t alluring like it should have been, she found it somewhat attracting to her nose. It smelled like berries and like spring. If there was even such a smell. Fresh rain that hit the ground and was mixed with that of fresh berries and spring flowers.

Closing her blue eyes she tried to turn her horse to the left, and instead, he whinnied and pulled to the right. Carya over-corrected, and got thrown from the saddle, his form taking off in the direction the wind blew from. Furrowing her brow, she called after him with a nervous tone. Hey, what the hell?! She purposely yelled after her stallion, but then regretted her decision. Dusting off her legs as she rose, Carya followed his tracks that went closer towards that sweetening smell. Taking a deep breath, she almost smiled at the pure euphoria from the smell in the air.

Upon coming out of the clearing, she neared the Black River Reserve, and slowly took in the flora that was surrounding the area. There was lots of deer, and other various small animals that came out to smell the pretty, yet tall flowers, her ears pricked up on her skull as she admired the blue hues of the trio of flowers in front of her. They were tall and they were so pretty. Where had they come from? She was curious, momentarily before her hands found the base of the flowers. Carya forgot about her horse.

Flickering her ears on her head, she heard the whinny and a blissful thought of forgetting about her horse, was more or less, less worrisome now. She smiled and clicked her tongue at him. Having him not budge very much, she approached him and grabbed his lead leading him towards the water. Perhaps a drink, on our adventure? She smiled, ears remaining pricked.

What were these strange flowers? Where had they come from? All the thoughts about where and what they were, bounced around in her mind. This was certainly going to be an interesting day.

[Blondie]

Blondie had been roaming the strange flowers for about an hour, though she didn’t realize it. She’d ended up there on accident; the wind had shifted and tickled her keen nose with their sweet scent in the middle of a mid day nap, and the rest was history. The dog looked a bit like a bumblebee, listing lazily this way and that to sample each plant’s scent. Her muzzle had a fine coating of pollen from getting a bit too friendly with the flowers once or twice, but it didn’t make her sneeze the way she normally would and she didn’t feel the need to wipe it away either.

In fact, the female had been almost totally enamored with the plants until a thundering of hooves woke her from her stupor. Her hand was still gently grasping one of the velvety petals as she spun to watch the flash of mane and tail pass by, but strangely she didn’t feel much impulse to investigate until she noticed the animal’s owner traipse after it. While normally Blondie didn’t much care to seek out the company of strangers, she suddenly felt compelled to do so. The other luperci smelled female, and didn’t pay her any mind as she passed by. Whether Blondie was just well hidden among a thicker patch of the multicolored flowers or the other visitor was just preoccupied with them as well, that was a mystery.

The dog lazily left her little cove of plants and trailed after the other female, hands reaching out to brush against any of the stalks within reach as she did so, and watched as the horse all but ignored its owners attempts to get it to move. In an almost surreal break in reality, a tawny doe crossed her path without even flinching. The deer’s huge glassy eye watched her carefully as she parted the brush and disappeared between a pair of especially huge flowers. For a second Blondie lost herself in the moment, as if her eyes and ears were full of dandelion fluff, but a sudden burst of clarity brought her back to earth. Her stiff ears swiveled as much as they could toward the horse and owner, feeling overly curious and friendly.

“A drink sounds nice,” she called, with an uncharacteristic tail wag.

[Carya Aston]

<3
WC: 292

She had surprisingly missed the other female, her ears flickering on her head and she watched the female who seemed….entirely dog, and had a different face and ears than anyone else she had ever seen. Normally she would have questioned why she was following her, but then, Carya found herself instead leading the horse to the water, watching behind her and smiling broadly at the other blonde dog. Come join us. Whether it was because of the plants, or not, she wasn’t quite sure. Carya was generally a nice Lupreci but since she happened into the flowers, a sudden calmness over-came her body.

Was this what it felt like to do drugs? A momentary thought that flickered back to the dog that trailed behind her and her stallion. She offered a hand out to Blondie once they landed at the water’s edge. I’m Carya Aston. Another small smile, and a gentle wag of her tail, ears pricking up on top of her cranium. Those plants are certainly something, aren’t they? She admired, and admitted to the other her absolute engrossment in these plants.

Carya Aston was now officially stopped dead in her tracks, watching her horse drink like it was the most interesting thing on earth, her body felt relaxed, and she honestly felt like she couldn’t get enough of the smell of those taller plants. Perhaps we can go back after a swim? Maybe take a sample. More to herself than to anyone else, at this point. Partially she forgot that the other dog was there, but she snapped her azure eyes to her, staring at her for a moment too long, before adverting her eyes to the water.

Kneeling down, she splashed her face with the cool water, and grinned.

[Blondie]

Blondie gladly took the other female’s hand and waded into the water. Normally she’d have winced from the shock of the sudden cold creeping up her legs, but at that moment everything felt oddly warm. The sun beat down on her back harder, the breeze caressed her short fur like a loving mother’s touch, and even the water which she knew to be positively unpleasant felt like she’d just slipped into a bath. She let the wolfish luperci guide her further into the water until it was up to her hips, which wasn’t all that deep considering how much shorter she was, and while she was aware that she was being spoken to it all felt very fuzzy in her ears and she didn’t quite have the right words to respond just yet.

The dog turned around and watched the horse at the water’s edge, how he drank the clear water for longer than seemed normal, and the way his ears relaxed to either side of his cranium as if he was feeling the effects of the flowers too.

“Let’s swim…and then maybe we can go, um, check out them flowers more,” she murmured, unaware that the other female had said exactly the same thing, and abruptly turned away from the beast and back to her newfound friend. Friend? She pondered the idea for a second. They hadn’t even known each other’s names until five minutes ago, but it also felt as if Blondie had known this luperci her whole life. There was an odd kind of comfort between them that she hadn’t felt in a long time, and it was so pleasant that she wished she could take that feeling and wrap herself in it like a blanket. Without waiting for a response, Blondie took a few quick steps farther into the water and dove under, eyes squeezed shut but nose full of the cold liquid. When she resurfaced she was momentarily blinded, though instead of focusing on the awful feeling of inhaling so much pond water up her snout, all the dog could think of was the silky mud at the bottom of the water and how it squished up between her toes. She shook her head, flinging droplets in every direction. “Oh, and I’m Blondie,”