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There were times when Naniko wanted to be alone, by herself without anyone there. Mostly whenever she was working with herbs. But today was one of the days where she felt exactly opposite of that...she just wanted to be around people. She'd been working by herself for the last few days, making some new medicines and stockpiling them for pack use. It was about time for a break.
She carried her backpack with her, slung over one shoulder. She'd needed it, so that she could carry all the medicines that she had brought with her. There was just too many jars for her to carry in her arms. The alabastor wolf had been thinking about checking in on Phoenix and bringing their pack some extra medicine just in case--she'd discovered on her last trip to Storm that they were without an apothecary.
She stopped when she reached the borderline, unsure of whether to continue. The pack was heavy, so she set it down on the ground beside her as she waited.
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The sight of the familiar white wolf was enough for Pilot to forget what he was originally doing. A smile crossed his lips, and on two legs, he made his way down the sloping hill and towards the Clouded Tears Lehrerin. "Good afternoon, Naniko!" He called, raising a hand in the air, even though he would shortly be down the hill standing next to her. His grey eyes fell to the pack that she had brought with her – it looked bulky and weighted down with something inside.
He brushed his hands on his thighs, as if wiping away any dirt (he found this to be a new habit of his), before offering a hand to Naniko. "It’s good to see you again", he offered, discreetly yet unconsciously running his tongue over the piece of metal on the inside of his lip. "You pack light, don’t you?" He then joked, nodding towards the bag.
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She wasn't sure who would come out to meet her, whether it would be a leader or a subordinate. It didn't really matter, as long as it was someone that she could trust with the medicines. They were some pretty strong drugs here, and she wanted to be sure that they wouldn't be abused. Maybe Dierdre would come along. Naniko knew that the girl had come to Clouded Tears looking for her a week or so before...but she had just missed her.
Naniko looked up when she heard her own name, spotting the other white wolf. She remembered him, of course, he was her adopted-sister's mate. She wasn't exactly kin to Dierdre, in the sense that they had never become truly close...but both of them had been raised by Physe, so it made her feel a certain obligation to the girl."Hello, Pilot! How are you doing this fine day?"
She grinned at his joke, looking down to the backpack as well. "Well, it's a special trip--I had to bring lots of things this time. Can I come in for a bit?"
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"I’m doing just wonderful, actually. I’m glad that the weather is starting to get a bit nicer, even if there are still some colder nights." His eyes looked towards her bag once again, as if he had x-ray vision and was scanning its contents. Instead, he wondered what sorts of goodies Naniko had decided to deliver to Storm. He figured it would be more medicinal things for Phoenix’s condition.
"And of course you may come in. It’s hardly suitable for anyone to turn out someone who’s been so kind." He grinned at her, before bending to pick her bag up for her. It was quite heavy – Pilot almost dipped forward because he wasn’t anticipating the weight of the bag. "Want me to get this for you", he asked, though he held it out in case she decided to sling it over her own back. "I can walk with you to wherever you’re headed", he added too, ear twitching at the sound of a bird overhead.
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She had double motives today, that was true enough. She had been wondering how Selene and Kansas were getting along. She'd seen Kansas a few days before, but hadn't seen Selene in a few weeks...which worried her. She hated to think about it--what if something had happened to her sister while she'd been away? She frowned as she thought about that, biting her lip.
In a moment Pilot was speaking again, though, and it drew her out of her thoughts. "Thanks! I'd really appreciate the help carrying it. It's not too far away from home, Storm, but the bag is pretty heavy" Hmm. Now for the "where" part. "I'd like to go to the pack den, if that's okay. I think that would be the best place to put all of this." They started to walk and she began to talk again. "I brought some things for Phoenix, along with some stuff that I thought you guys could use. I've been trying to make some stronger medicines, using different ingredients...and so far they've been working. I found out last time that you guys didn't have an Apothecary--so I thought you could use some of them"
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Pilot slung the bag over his own shoulders as the two began their journey to the pack den. Though many had started to move back to their own dens, the large cave, where the entire pack had stayed while the avalanche had devastated the northeast, had become a familiar place for all the wolves to gather. To store these medicines there would be perfect, so that all members had access to it. He wondered how much and of what she had brought, since the bag had significant weight. Either way, he was grateful that she still had their wellbeing in mind.
"The pack den isn’t too far a walk from here. Thank you for dropping these off. I’m afraid it doesn’t seem as if Phoenix has fully recovered, so hopefully these new medicines will help him out. It’s almost as if he’s having some sort of a relapse." He was worried for his friend and leader, but Pilot had faith that it would just be a matter of time until he was good as new.
"Oh, yes. The apothecary. I wanted to ask you about that, Naniko. I was hoping that I might get some help from you. See, I wanted to try and become the apothecary for Storm, since it seems like we’re in a need for one. And after all, I don’t want to keep stealing you away from Clouded Tears", he joked with a smile, shifting the shoulder strap of the bag. He could already tell that they were drawing nearer, and it wouldn’t be too much longer until they could sort out the medicines in the pack den.
"I’ve already found a book in the city about some medicines that I’ve been reading about, but I was hoping you could offer some more advice."
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There were certain things that you could do to make medicine stronger...changing the area of the tree where you got the bark from, picking the plants at different times in the season. There was a big difference in the drugs, even when the plants themselves were dried up. A plant that grew in the Spring was much different than one that grew in the Fall, even if it was the same species.
"Really?" She asked sharply, looking at him as they walked. "That's strange. I thought that it was all gone. There's garlic in the bag, though...maybe that'll help him again. If it doesn't...well, we can try something else." They could try the garlic first, because that was what had worked before. She listened to his next words, considering them for a little while before answering. "I don't know how good of a teacher I'd be...because I've always worked alone. But I am able to teach pups how to read. I don't see why I can't teach you how to use herbs. I've just never thought about teaching someone that before is all. But sure. I'd be glad to see Storm with a strong apothecary"
One of the main things to think about with being an apothecary was actually helping the patients. First you had to learn about everything, and then apply it. It was hard to get the knack of at first, to identify the different things that were wrong with the creatures, but after a while it became easier. "I'd recommend practicing on lower animals--that's what I do. Birds of prey, opossums, deer, squirrels." But she was probably getting ahead of herself...that would be in the future, a long ways away. "We can go through the herbs I have here, if you want. If you have some paper, I could make you a list of what each one is, and its uses?"
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Pilot grinned in anticipation. He was happy that Naniko had at least agreed to try and offer some help. He nodded at her idea, happy to put his writing skills to the test. He guided them towards the cavern, and grinned when he discovered that it was drawing closer and closer. "That would be wonderful, Naniko. I’d appreciate any help at all. I mean, I’ve started reading some things and I went and gathered the plants I could. The only thing is, most of them don’t grow until the spring, so it’s hard to find the things in the book. When I was younger, I was raised living on plants. I know a lot about them, but I’m just not sure about their value when it comes to medicine. The list would be great."
He ducked his head, for they had reached the den, and he entered the place that had temporarily been the spot he had slept for a month or so. Moving over to where Phoenix had been sleeping as he recovered, Pilot kneeled down next to the other jars of medicine that Naniko had given them. There was still a bit of the rub left that Naniko had advised Dierdre and Pilot to keep slathered on Phoenix’s chest. It had worked in the end, but clearly not enough to rid him of the sickness entirely.
He waited for Naniko to settle down beside him before they opened the bag. After all, he wasn’t sure what the jars and medicines inside would be.
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Getting a good supply of plants sometimes took a while. You had to start collecting, then find someplace to store them at. It would probably take him a little while to get really into being an Apothecary, because it took a while to get up a dependable supply of each herb from the different seasons. Naniko had enough that she could give him a fair amount of each one, but those would run out soon enough.
"Raised living on plants? Wow. I don't know if I could have survived--you don't look skinny to me!" She looked him over. "But I suppose you eat other things now? Hmmm. I wonder. You can get protein from things other than meat, I've heard...like from certain kinds of nuts. Did you eat a lot of those?" She was genuinely interested; she had never heard of anything like this before. They reached the cave and she followed him in, sitting down beside him and the bag. He pulled the drawstring and opened it, and she reached in and took out a few of the jars, setting them on the ground.
"They're basic herbs--probably some of the same ones you've got--but I've added a couple of other elements to make them stronger. I found that different parts of each plant can have either a stronger or weaker effect, so I looked for the strongest part of the plants and mixed them together to make Super-Herbs." She wondered about where she'd get some paper to write things down, though...she hadn't brought any of that with her. Or anything to write with, either.
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Pilot couldn’t help but laugh. Sure, he wasn’t so thin now, but his arrival to Bleeding Souls was a completely different story. Pilot had been very thin, weak, and generally malnourished. For him, though, it all seemed normal. He had no idea just how different wolves naturally dined from squirrels. "Oh yes, I eat many other things now. Especially meat. It was weird at first, but I think instincts kicked in. Though I still have a taste for plants. I just realize now that there isn’t a whole lot of nutrition in them for a guy like me." His grey eyes searched the jars curiously. "And nuts, yeah, we had plenty of those." Naturally, considering his family was all squirrels.
He looked at the different textures, colors, and smells as she placed various jars on the ground. Their lids were tightly screwed on as to not lose any of the contents, and he was even sure he could make out a few words scribbled on their tops. Peering back towards her bag, he listened closely to her words. He hoped, after all, he would be able to learn as much as possible in reasonably the quickest amount of time. "Do you have any paper?" He asked Naniko, though he doubted it would be in the bag with the rest of the medicines. If not, it was no matter. Pilot could simply try and memorize the different herbs – it would help him in his study and knowledge of medicine.
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you calm the storms, and you give me rest... [ooc] xD I think I'll just say something like "she listed the herbs for him slowly, until they went through the entire store in her backpack."...so I don't have to find herb names o______o [bic] ...you hold me in your hands, you won't let me fall.
She was really glad to be able to help someone, especially Pilot. He seemed a lot like her, in a couple of ways. Both of them had an interest in herbs and in helping people, and both of them cared a lot about their packs. Naniko would always be grateful to Laruku for taking her in when she'd had nowhere else to go. Iskata had been the one to bring her to Clouded Tears, and she'd had to argue with the alpha to let her keep Naniko there...but in the end Laruku had agreed to it. That was what mattered. Now Iskata was gone, but Laruku was still there. She had lost the mother figure in her life, but had gained another; Soran had returned to the pack only a few days after her mate had come back. She was as surprised to see her mother-in-law as the wolf had been to see her--excited, too. Thinking about it made happiness well up inside of her, putting her in a slightly better mood than before. "No--I didn't think about it before I left...hmmm. I can always just tell you them now, and then come back another time with some paper? I'd love to visit Storm again sometime soon" They were neighbors, after all.
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