Gathering: Rain and Shine

Rain and Shine

A loud creaking of the library door indicated the departure of Jude, who was, as per usual, on closing duty. He stifled a yawn, rubbing his eyes before lazily turning the key in the lock. A first droplet, then another- and soon, the Moxyn was soaked as the clouds above showered his quaint little home town in fresh rain.

He hummed appreciatively, tilting his head back and padding into the libraries’ courtyard to feel some more of that relieving cool. Due to a malfunction in the libraries heating system, Judes office had been severely overheating the last couple days, and this was a very welcome reprieve for the fluffy Lunerestian. Knowing that his fabric wings were too soggy to fly home anyway, Jude decided to use the opportunity for some long overdue supply gathering. He had been cooped up and drowning in paperwork these prior weeks, which left him with a busy mind and empty alchemy cabinet.

They let their gaze wander, mulling over the possible resources to be found given the recent weather and, of course, the local flora. Settling on mushrooms being the easiest to find this season, Jude set off to a promising looking mix of shrubs and bushes in the east. They gave a courteous nod to two Moxyns passing them on the gravel road before taking a turn into the thicket. Within minutes, Jude was reminded of the reason he had avoided gathering for this long. His ears and wings got stuck constantly, catching on low hanging tree branches and the like. Quickly, his usually soft and velvety fur was lathered in mud and leaves. Jude let out a yelp of pain when he accidentally tore out a few tail hairs by trying to take a shortcut. Now seriously stuck, the clumsy librarian grabbed his tail with both paws and gave it a firm tug.

„Oh, come on, now!“ He coaxed, as if he could free himself from sheer will alone. As always when he got a bit restless, the ground around Jude began sprouting mushrooms of all shapes and sizes, though they were only an enchantment. Regardless, it appeared that his mushroom step had attracted a visitor. As soon as Jude turned to try tugging himself out from a different angle, he ended up staring into a pair of curious amber eyes instead.

„N-need… help?“ The wolfish creature murmured, its ears twitching curiously as it seemed to sniff the air around Jude. The Moxyn, who had been frozen in shock, slowly relaxed, realizing that this was a Timberwulf. A relatively harmless forest dweller, if he recalled correctly. He nodded, pleasantly surprised by the others’ intervention.

„Yes, if you can…I don’t know how I manage to get stuck like this all the time.“

The Moxyn responded, his ears flicking in embarrassment. He watched as the timberwulf carefully chewed on the branch that his fur had twisted around, avoiding Jude’s tail. The Timberwulf spit out a few wood chips and nodded in understanding.

“It’s hard to untangle. Easier to chew off.” The creature explained, tilting its mane and showing off a bunch of branches stuck in its own fur, seemingly from all kinds of trees around. It appears as though the timberwulf does not bother to pluck out the remaining wood pieces, leaving them in its mane instead…

“Oh, I never saw it that way. Well- thank you.“ The librarian hummed, genuinely surprised as he stretched his limbs to test if he truly was freed once again.

“Usually, they don’t grow here.” The grumble of the timberwulf interrupted Jude’s thoughts. They followed the creatures gaze to the sprouting mushrooms below, a sheepish chuckle escaping them.

„Ah, those are just an enchantment, I’m afraid. But, wait- do you know where they grow?“ He asked, raising his head to sniff the air again. The timberwulf seemed to consider the Moxyns words for a while, as if debating wether or not to be truthful. It nodded, mumbling something that sounded roughly like ‚can’t eat enchantment‘ to itself.

Before Jude had any time to explain the nature of their enchantments, the wulf had already leapt forward into the thicket, accidentally causing a couple tree branches to snap back right into Judes face as they hurried after it, deeper into the woods.