A lesser known fact about the eccentric healer was that she employed traps outside of the heart of the pack. Nothing particularly intricate--she didn't have the appendages unfortunately--but the occasional mix up of pits and tied baited vines (aided by a crow usually) meant she never had to spend time hunting. Maybe that made her less of a dire wolf, but there were a lot of things Sully felt she was missing compared to the average wolf anyway, so. There, hypothetical arguer. It did mean, however, that she had to use breaks to check on them and sometimes fix those that had been destroyed, and now was such a time.
Sully was exhausted. Between the alliances with the Raiders and the Iron Hides and the trickle of new recruits, it felt like a never-ending conga line of quarantining the new blood, checking up on older patients, restocking the herbs, and cleaning up everything afterwards. It was disgusting work sometimes, but it didn't bother her; the work was fulfilling and (more importantly) busying, which was all she could ask of it, even if interacting with other wolves was her weak point. It was draining, though, and her paws dragged as she walked when she wasn't careful. After pausing to grab a drink from the river, Sully began the rounds.
Typically Sully walked the circuit every two days or so, and she made efforts to mask her scent through both water and mud alike. Caked as she was, she always wryly thought about her name. Truly, she was Mudsullied on these excursions. The first trap was still there by the hybrid plant she had been trying to nurture. That was the one that had let her catch two rabbits in one go not so long ago, thanks to the plant's sense-dulling nature. She let it be and moved on to the second, and the third. Destroyed and untouched. Sigh. The sun moved onward as she redid the second trap, but there was nothing to be done. It was at the fourth and final one, a pit in the middle of several large gnarled roots, where she found something...interesting.
Normally when preyfolk were caught in a trap, they were either angry, or frantic, or unconscious, or dead. Or sometimes stolen before she got there. But the creature trapped in her pit was confusing for two reasons.
One: It was a bird. A crow to be exact. Its leg looked a little wonky, but it should have just flown away regardless, not just stay there resting on its back.
Two: It squawked a laugh when it saw her.
"Oh!" it said. "A visitor! I think this is too small for you, though."
Mudsullied Jackal blinked.
"I mean, I suppose you could dig at it some if you wanted to join. It's very cozy down here..." The crow sighed pleasantly.
"This is a trap," Sully said dumbly.
"Is it? Welp, you did a great job catching me, then!" the bird said with a celebratory wiggle. "I went right in for those berries in that bushel up there, only I didn't realize how high those roots went, and my leg went pop when I flew over, and I tumbled and tumbled right into the hidden hole like it was a mouth...It hurt quite a bit at first. But down here, it's very shade-y at least! I had a nice nap."
"You had a nap."
"A dirt nap you could say," the bird said with a cheeky smile. "You look like you did, too."
"Yeah. Well. That's nice, I guess." Sully had no idea what to say to it, she was too tired. "Could you get out now?"
"Could I? Hmm." The crow shifted its weight to one side and squawked again, this time in pain. "Oh, yeah. I think I landed on my wing when I fell in. That's right. Well, left, technically. My left." It didn't seem all that concerned. "Good thing you've come to save me, right?"
Sully looked down at it and wondered why she always found the weird ones. "Luckily, yes, I can't eat you. Boss would eat me if I did. So. I guess?"
The crow beamed. "Wonderful~ Whenever you're ready, then."
Sighing through her nose, Sully stretched her head down and gently plucked the crow out, placing it on the ground on its better side so she could speak. A thought had occurred to her. "I could patch you up back home if you want," she offered. "I'd just like one of your feathers as payment."
"Just one?" asked the crow. "Sounds like a deal, miss~ Take it off me when we get there. You can call me Lavender Starlight Dreams, by the by."
Sully inwardly raised her brows, but again she didn't have the energy to ask. First Star Milk and now this? Ha ha, funny. "Sure thing, Purple Toes," she muttered before picking him back up to bring to The Crows.
(wc: 823)