Satisfied with her answer, Rivia perched her front legs on a limb and reached for one of the fruit with her jaws. The hard pod that hung from the branches was easy to break from it's place. She placed it at her feet to free up her mouth to call down to @Sabine. "Look out!" she warned, before pushing the fruit off the edge to fall down below. Confident it would be just fine on impact given how solid the outside was.

Rivia returned to the boughs at the request to gather some leaves. Those she surely couldn't let fall to the ground. Instead she gathered a decent mouthful and oriented herself half over the edge of the treetop to calculate her way earthward. Sharp claws and keen muscles guided her down the tree with ease. Dismounting from the trunk with a push of her hind legs, she brought her bounty to Sabine. "H'reyougo," she mumbled through her mouthful, placing the leaves down at her feet.

Turning from her she traced her steps to locate the fruit that she dropped. She clasped her jaws around the pod and bit down on the seam in order to crack it open. A pungent citrussy scent filled her nostrils abruptly, reeling her head back in displeasure and sneezing.


+5 Explore a new territory and find something useful (2/2) - Outlaw; double xp

— stormbreaker

catch me by the sea

and let the tide take me to the deep

⚓︎
    Working another chunk of bark from the base of the tree, Sabine bounced backward at Rivia's warning, eyeing the sky for falling fruit. She spotted it and watched as it thudded heavily into the dry terrain. Sabine's eyes widened. "Damn," she said, shocked at the impact, "That would have hurt." Chuckling, she went back to the bark, removing it completely and gathering it with the piece she had collected moments prior.

    She waited for @Rivia to make her way back to earth, her own mouth full of two sizable pieces of bark. "Thanks," she said, her words muffled. The lynx secured the leaves amongst the bark, adjusting them within her jaws so they could be as comfortable as possible; though, how comfortable could a mouthful of vegetation really be? Sabine turned to Rivia just in time to see her reaction to the hard pod. "Careful," she laughed, "They're strong!"

    Drool poured out the side of her jowls and she tried her best to position the herbs so she could close her mouth enough to at least contain her saliva. "How do other herbalists do this?" Sabine mumbled with frustration, genuinely curious. Back home, her mother had a unique basket she carried that had been weaved in a distant land and washed ashore. Something with opposable thumbs had put a lot of work into it.

+5 Collect herbs (2/2) - Medic *double xp*

Any inclination she had to try the fruit had diminished when it attacked her with that smell. She rubbed her nose and expelled a sharp exhale to clear her nostrils. Dissatisfied with her finding, she punted the pod from her, watching it bounce away and get covered in dirt. "Gross," she dismissed, turning to Sabine who now had a mouthful of items preventing her from speaking clearly.

She hummed and stared at @Sabine in thought to solve her problem, but came up short for an immediate fix. "Calypso carries her stuff in turtle shells," she commented, thinking back to anyone else she had seen with carrying receptacles. "Maybe you can see someone about making a pouch out of large leaves?" That seemed to make the most sense to her. But she wasn't a medic and had no reason to carry a bunch of items from one place to another, so she probably wasn't the best ideas man.

"Here - give it," she requested, offering to lighten the load from her mouth. "Why don't we take this stuff back to your den and figure out something for you to carry more. Then we can come back and find that.. senna stuff or whatever it was." Her head was tilted as she gave the idea, wondering if she'd go for it. At least they weren't leaving entirely empty-handed. "What do you think?"

— stormbreaker

catch me by the sea

and let the tide take me to the deep

⚓︎
    Instead of accepting Rivia's offer and handing her the supplies, Sabine lowered her head and set them in a neat pile on the ground before she elevated her gaze back to her companion. "Really?" she asked, blinking as her head rose. That was nice, like really nice. Not that Sabine didn't think @Rivia was nice, but that offer was kind, generous even. To carry the load, the herbs Rivia didn't even need... To help Sabine find a better means of carrying her supplies, even going as far as coming back to this desert to help her find what she actually needed. Sabine clenched her jaw, nearly fighting back tears. It had been so long since someone, anyone, had been, not just friendly to her, but good, considerate and helpful.

    Sabine drank in a deep breath, her brows knitting together. "Are you sure?" she questioned, glancing down at the pile at her paws. Did Rivia mean to really carry it for her? All of it? That didn't seem fair if that was the case, but also, Sabine felt weird even contemplating it. They were her herbs, she should carry them; though, Rivia had offered, was it then rude to turn her down? Damn her racing mind of questions. The inner turmoil did not leak out onto Sabine's expression, not too much anyway. Not more than it already had at Rivia's initial offer. "If you have something better to do or more important or..." Sabine trailed off, trying now to just shut up.

Rivia was actually surprised to see @Sabine's shift, seeming to doubt her motives. She tilted her head down at her with furrowed brows. "Yes," she said shortly and surely, staring at her in silence for a moment.

"If you have something better to do or more important or.."

"Use me and abuse me, Freckles. I'm all yours today." She cut her off, leaning down to take the pile. "Besides, all my other girlfriends are busy," Rivia teased before taking the leaves and bark in her mouth. With no more room for protest from her, she turned on her heel and began to trot with a sort of cocky strut back to the winterhold.

exit rivia

— stormbreaker

catch me by the sea

and let the tide take me to the deep

⚓︎
    Rivia didn't leave any space for argument from the lynx; though, a mention of other girlfriends did caught one of her pointed ears to twitch. Surely it was a joke, but still, Sabine wondered. Clearly, @Rivia knew another healer or at least another that collected and gathered herbs. Calypso she had said. Curious, did Rivia not trust the other cat to tend to her wounds or did Sabine just get lucky when she stumbled upon her trail that day?

    After a moment's hesitation, Sabine trailed on after the larger woman, scoffing until she caught up. "What spells or siren song did you us on those poor girls, Sea Witch?" she teased, clearly insinuating Rivia couldn't get a girlfriend any other way. She laughed and picked up her pace, leading the way now back to her own homestead.

exit sabine