[Open] Nothing so strong as gentleness

[the_effect_she_has]

WHO: Katniss, a baby wolf, and you.
WHAT: Katniss finds a baby wolf in the forest, and brings it back to Skyhold, and begins to raise him on her own.
WHEN: All during Drakonis
WHERE: Forest outside of Skyhold, inside Skyhold.
NOTES: Welcome to Katniss's specialization reward, aka Ranger. Warning for wild animal death.

Closed
The forest was starting to come alive again. It was still cold, of course, with patches of snow everywhere. The temperature was just starting to warm during the day, to where you couldn't see your own breath. There was the start of flooding in the lower parts of the forests, and in some of the caves, carved out of the mountains themselves.

Katniss's boots sunk into the soft, frozen muck slightly, as she made her way through the trees, up the side of the mountain. Today was not a day for rabbits, or even snofleur. The wind was high, and she had seen geese flying across the sky again. She could get a few decent birds for the kitchen, and more than a few for the refugees. She tilted her head to the sky, breathing deep, closing her eyes to feel the sun on her cheeks.

That's when she heard it - the soft whine of something that sounded like a dog. She frowned, worried that some mutt had wandered up the hillside, and gotten caught in one of those damned bear traps. She stepped through the bushes, and made a soft noise of shock and pain. A wolf mother, and her pups, all dead from their burrow being flooded. But she had heard a whine ...

There! Crouched yet to his mother, whimpering. Katniss moved close to the pup, who looked at her with scared golden eyes. She crouched down, taking out a piece of meat, and leaving it down for the pup, before backing away. It looked half starved and cold, and it reminded her ... well, he reminded her of herself, she supposed. All alone, out here, and he had no idea how he was going to make it.

And just like that, Katniss's decision was made for her.

Open

Which was when Katniss brought a wolf into Skyhold. She figured, hey, she already brought in a grouchy horse and a demon cat. What was one small wolf?

All right, one small wolf that would grow into a full-sized wolf, but you could train wolves, right? The Emerald Knights did it. Of course it would have been helpful if the Chantry hadn't killed all of them and probably burnt all the damned records that would teach Katniss how to do the same, but she'd learn.

For the little guy's sake, she'd have to.

So for those looking for Katniss during Drakonis, they'll find her mostly in the courtyard with a young wolf pup. Feeding him warm milk and small bits of meat, running him around the yard, or just sitting there with the wolf curled up against her, sleeping. Mostly, you'll find her trying different ways to train him as a companion, and not as another one of the not-so-adorable lapdogs running around the camp. The amount of success she has? Really varied on the day.

Comments

[aestimo]

She's not actively looking for Katniss, per say. She merely wandering around the courtyard, trying to see what she can possibly do at the moment. Tensions have been so high lately that it seems no one has a friendly face. It's either yell or get drunk and nothing in between. While Emmie does advocate a useful way to disperse anger, she'd really wish that people would just calm down and think rationally.

She's on her way toward the Tavern when she spots Katniss and her adorable ward, and immediately Emmie's heart melts. She's normally a cat girl, preferring the feline species over that of a dog, but it's something about the wolf that draws her in.

She approaches Katniss carefully as to not frighten the pup. "Where did you find this adorable creature?"

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss looked up at the question, and seeing that it was Emmie flashed the other woman a quiet, shy smile. At the moment, she was trying to teach the wolf pup to come to her when she whistled. It was something of a ... mixed bag of success. He was looking at her, knew that he should be looking at her, but wasn't quite sure what he should be doing.

Hands on her hips, she stood and shook her head at the little fellow, "Out in the forest -- his entire family had been wiped out by some of the early flooding. I couldn't leave him out there on his own so - here we are. Wolf and woman."

[aestimo]

"The poor thing," she responds, frowning slightly. She knew it had to be hard for the little wolf to come to a new place, leaving everything it knew behind. It was much like a lot of the people here, in a sense.

"Have you named him yet?"

[the_effect_she_has]

"Not yet. There's not a lot of elvish words for 'whimsy' after all." Was Katniss's response, before the pup finally got the message and came over when she whistled. She grinned, and gave him a piece of meat, stroking his grey ears.

"Knew you were smart."

[aestimo]

"Whimsy, hm?"

Emmie knelt down near the pup, reaching out to pet him gently. "Lubie?" The word sounds definitely Orlesian, and it was the first word that popped into Emmeline's head. "It means whimsy. Still masculine, but endearing enough for a pet's name?"

[the_effect_she_has]

"For now. He might grow out of it though."

She made a face at that, "Lubie? Oh, absolutely not. I need something that will strike fear in our enemies, not make them go 'awwww!'" She thought about that, "Do you think Venatori go 'awwwww'?"

[middle_of_calibrating]

He doesn't do it often, but every once in a while Garris does look for Katniss, just to see if she wanted to get some shots in or to see how she's doing with the hooks. Today wasn't any different. Save for the little bundle of fluff yapping at her heels.

With how much he's traveled, he knows a wolf when he sees one, even when it's a pup and nothing but big paws and fur. It's cute with how it rolls around, making little noises, but obviously that was not what Katniss was trying to get it to do.

"Well he looks like he's having a good time."

[the_effect_she_has]

Since she what she was trying to do was to get him to jump up next to her, and he kept falling down on his fuzzy little face, it was pretty hilarious even as he panted at her.

"Oh, he's having a great time. Except for the fact that he's having some issues with doing ... larger wolf things. But he'll grow into them."

[middle_of_calibrating]

"Well that's generally how it works." If such a small thing could do what an adult could do? Well they would be in trouble wouldn't they?

"Have you established an action and reward kind of system?"

[the_effect_she_has]

"Generally speaking, yeah." So it was good he couldn't do that he couldn't do all those things, just yet.

"Yes. He gets a bit of meat when he does the right thing. Not all the time - I don't always want him to expect it." The wolf pup yipped, bracing himself on Katniss's knee, before backing up to leap up.

[middle_of_calibrating]

"Smart. Course always reinforcing the things he does right with praise can be reward enough." Putting his hands on his hips, Garris watches with interest as the pup attempts another go. "He's persistent, I'll give him that."

[the_effect_she_has]

"Naturally. We all blossom with praise. I'm sure you're no different than I." She smirked up at him, just as the wolf pup finally made it into her lap, to which he got said praise, and a stroke between the ears as well.

"He is at that. Hmmm. I'll need to look into that. Might be an idea for a name."

[middle_of_calibrating]

"Sure. So long as it's praise coming from someone I don't mind it coming from." Course being hated by certain people was a thing as well. Either way, Garris smirk back, clapping slowly when the pup finally makes it.

"A name? ... Persistence?" It wasn't a bad idea to name it something referring to that. "Have you considered 'Dragon'?" He's half teasing. That would trip a decent amount of people up.

[the_effect_she_has]

"Well, then I hope you don't mind it coming from me." She stated wryly, as she continued to stroke the wolf. The wolf then curled up on her lap, clearly exhausted from his efforts.

"Yes, something like persistence, in the elven tongue." She paused, before she laughed, "No, I haven't, although I am sure that would have more than a few people's eyes goggling."

[middle_of_calibrating]

"Oh I think I'll enjoy the praise you'll give me. Just have to wait for when that happens, yeah?" He says, his smirk turning into more of a half grin as he watches Katniss and her pup. It was cute little thing.

"Whelp I don't know much elvish so can't help you there." Her laugh is infectious, and Garris finds him laughing along. "That would be worth it just for that. But whatever you think suits him."

[the_effect_she_has]

"We'll have to see that." Katniss stated, her own smile quirking up at the corners. She stroked the wolf's ears again.

"I'll have to think about what really works for him." She stated, as he looked up at her, with bright yellow eyes.

[el_tybs]

Considering he has a chicken for a pet right now it isn't like Sam can say much on strange pet choices, but even so seeing Katniss with a wolf pup was certainly interesting. It seems to like her well enough, judging by the way it's rolled onto it's back in it's sleep next to her leg.

"Katniss, where did you get... that?" Was it a boy or a girl?

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss looks up as she and the pup are making the rounds of the courtyard, stretching the wolf's legs and getting him out so he can mark his own territory. The wolf pup yipped as he bounced around Katniss's legs, then came around to yip at Sam.

"I found him in the woods." She stated, looking down fondly at the pup, who looked up at her, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

[el_tybs]

He's not quite sure what the yips are supposed to mean, but it's rather adorable. Smiling widely he slowly crouches down to squat on the balls of his feet and lets one hand hang out for the pup to sniff - course he's watching to see if it'll bite, too.

"You just found him? ... Does he have a name?"

[the_effect_she_has]

The pup goes up to sniff Sam's hand, before he nipped it lightly, tasting Sam, before giving him a lick and giving his hand a bump with his wet nose.

"His mother and siblings died because of the flooding up in the mountains." She whistled at the pup and he turned his head towards her, ears perking up. "And right now, he's just pup. I'm trying to come up with a proper elvish name."

[el_tybs]

"Do I taste good?" He's amused at the nip, feeling the pricks of its teeth in his skin, but nothing too painful or worrisome. At the lick and bump of its nose, Sam reaches in a bit further to lightly scratch his knuckles along the pup's neck.

"That's rough. He's lucky you found him then. On his own I doubt he'd make it, and I don't think many would take a wolf in." He's a cute little fella though, and Sam cannot help but tilt his head a bit, mimicking the pup a bit. "What are usual proper elvish names for a wolf?"

[the_effect_she_has]

"He always does that. Chews on it first to test his teeth and then if he likes it he licks it." She shakes her head, amused. "Like he's taking possession. He did the same thing to Buttercup -- I thought the demon cat would take his nose off."

She nodded her head soberly, "We orphans have to look out for one another. Besides, I learned from the Inquisition. They took me in when no one else Rwould." She blew out some hair, "Oh you know, Foxglove, Revan, Fenrir ... names that are something, mean something, or are shortened from something else."

[el_tybs]

"Oh, well I guess I belong to him now. He's chewed and licked me." He gives a small huff of a woof at the pup when it yips at him again, then gasps playfully when it sets its paws a bit ahead of itself and leaned back, wagging its butt.

"Foxglove?" he asks, looking up at Katniss with a raised brow. Not a bad name, but for a wolf pup? No judgement though. "So like Ironbark?" Heh.

[the_effect_she_has]

"Yes, now you are his official chew toy." Katniss said with a completely straight face, even as the wolf wagged his long tail.

"Foxglove." Katniss shrugged, "I can't make these things up." One corner of her mouth twitched up. "Yes, like Ironbark.... which I will not use, thank you."

[el_tybs]

"Well that is a very important role." A pause. "Course he better not come finding me in my room and chewing on me. I do like my sleep."

Ah, he got you to smile, Katniss. "Why not? It's so fitting!"