Nomads Pass Who's Gasoline?

Are you deranged like me? Are you strange like me?

Naira Tainn

As ragged paws pushed her aching body up the final few steps to the top of the mountain, a familiar valley stretched below, but it wasn't one she could quite place a name or time on. Her brows drew down with familiar worry, she knew she had become a burden but just on who she couldn't quite place. With a click of her tongue she moved forward, not quite knowing where she was going, but not quite remembering where she had come from either. Her once lush coat was dull with age, bright eyes beginning to cloud. Every step was a chore but it wasn't a challenge she was willing to back down from just because it hurt a little. Something in her heart told her this was where she was meant to be.

There were two paths she could take, one would go down into the pass, still gently lined with grass, but why would she think still? The other went up along the line of the cliff and would give her a better overview. Although somewhere in the back of her mind something kept whispering Sage, cougar, danger, she gave her head a small shake. She didn't need plants and there was no cougar on the breeze. She would take the higher path.

So preoccupied with where she was placing her feet, she didn't catch sight of the other wolf until a swirl of wind hit her full force, snapping her head up in a way that left her neck aching. Golden fur catching in the afternoon light caused her tail to wave and a name to leave her mouth at barely a whisper. "Kano?" but that couldn't be right... "We looked for you everywhere..."

Wrong. Danger. Wrong.

I'm meaner than my demons

Eurus

It had been harder to dodge her brothers than she had expected, and more than once, Boreas almost had her cornered. But his weakness lay in his perceived superiority, as long as she let him think that he was the clever one, she would always manage to stay a step ahead. She didn't know if this was the mountain her parents had spoken of, or if the gnarled woods below would be the tangled keep in which they were born but something about it felt right, the old gnarled tree in the pass below, the darkened woods to the west and she had already travelled through the blood-stained ferns. This had to be it.

The shuffle of paws behind was met with little more than a flick of her ear. She would expect the pace to be far more frantic if they wished to catch her unawares, if they were stupid enough to let themselves be heard in the first place. It was only a familiar name whispered, one that had almost been forgotten in the months since they departed the bloodwood that caused her head to snap around, golden eyes resting on the speaker. Her heart may have skipped a beat if it was known to partake in such folly. "No dear, Eurus. But you must be Naira, no?" There was a stiffness to the yearlings shoulders, a sharpness in her eyes. There was nobody else it could be.

Don't lie to me.

Lighting matches just to swallow up the flame like me?

Naira Tainn

Eurus. As though summoned by the utterance of the name alone a chilled wind roared in from the east, coming through her summer coat, promising of a harsh winter to come. A rumble started to ring in her ears and it felt as though the earth itself was lurching under her feet, but was it? The mountain was known to grumble and shake but this time she wasn't entirely sure it wasn't just all in her head. Her toes dug into the stony earth, the familiar chill helping to ground her and drag her back from childhood ghost stories... But how did she know her name? For a moment she considered lying, but something in the yearling's stance told her that that would be a terrible idea. "Yes."

She allowed the word to hang in the air, her age-addled mind slow to catch up with the events that were unfurling. There was a wolf, that looked like her brother, who knew her name. Her name was one that she had heard as a child herself - the fearsome mother of her grandmother, who tore across the tundra exterminating the unworthy... She had even driven her own daughter out, and for what? The colour of her pelt? Because it had been a bad year and her pale coated siblings hadn't made it... "Eurus is a very pretty name, but it's perhaps one you might not wish to utter north of here..." She was digging, rather clumsily, but she had to know.

I'm bigger than these bones

Eurus

The rumbling of the mountain was not in Naira's head but the yearling didn't stumble like the old wolf, didn't scrabble for purchase or dig dull claws into the stony ground. The wind braced her against the worst of it anyway. She might have smiled at the older wolf, if her face knew how to move in such a way. Naira seemed to rally her senses, surprising - given the state she was in, you could practically smell the illness rolling off her now, the deaf ear so much more than anyone might assume at a glance. All the signs were there, the shifting eyes and seizures, disorientation and the stiffness that was probably written off as old age - no doubt she had suffered through bouts of aggression that were otherwise brushed aside as a relic of her prickly past. How long had she suffered? There was no coming back from this, but still she tried. Oh she tried so hard, it was almost commendable. Wasn't it cruel to continue to allow this to drag out?

Eurus was hearing her speak, without really listening, her eyes narrowing as she thought three steps ahead of where they were right now. Of course the words registered and her response was coming freely, this had already played out in her mind moments ago. "It's a family name," she responded to the compliment flatly, "but I'm sure I can do it justice..." The latter comment did bring teeth to bare in what might pass as a grin if there was any of the gesture in her eyes. She was already bored.

There is a rabbit's nest nearby. +1 Health

Do you call yourself a fucking hurricane like me?

Naira Tainn

A chill passed down the old wolf's spine as she considered the other's not quite smile. Did that mean a judgement had been passed against her? Well, she supposed she had it coming, she was meant to return home before Treyah and Reiko had been born... but, did that mean they had her son? For a moment she might have thought her heart had stopped, but the resounding thud of another beat radiated from her ribcage and she dared to step in closer. "What do you want?" She finally cut to the chase. "Why are you here?"

Her hackles rose defensively as her chin dipped low. Again the earth seemed to shudder beneath her paws but this time she paid the movement less mind. Was this really something worth wasting breath on when she could beat the answers out of her? Was the girl just playing mind games or could she back up her words with more? For a moment the image of Treyah pushing her down played through her mind, her joints buckling in her advance but she was too pig-headed to back down now. She didn't account for the movement of the mountain and she faltered.

What was the price going to be this time?

And all the kids cried out, "Please stop, you're scaring me"

Eurus

What do you want? The not quite smile hadn't moved from her face, she could almost smell the panic in the air, Why are you here? She almost wanted to click her tongue and sigh, Because I cannot be contained. But the words never left her mouth. Instead, her eyes only narrowed further as the lumbering senior tried to look intimidating, unable to even walk in a straight line with the way the earth swayed underfoot. Finally, she turned to face her grandmother, legs splayed wide and her own chin ducking defensively. If she continued on her current course she'd never meet the yearling, who simply wanted a better view of the show that was about to unfold.

You see the thing is that rocks may seem solid but that doesn't mean they are immovable. Eurus had almost stumbled clean off the edge of the cliff herself just moments before this encounter took place. The earth and smaller rocks that held the large flat boulder Naira was about to step on must have had its foundation washed away with the most recent melt, or perhaps her memory really was so bad that she didn't remember it.

The girl's eyes were warming with genuine mirth. Just one more step.

Pointing fingers 'cause you'll never take the blame like me?

Naira Tainn

The girl wasn't moving, or she was - at least she had turned to face her now but it wasn't enough to wipe the smile from her face... If anything it was growing slightly scarier as it took on a more genuine edge. What on earth was the girl thinking? Why wasn't she moving to take her head on or scampering back down into that cursed forest? The earth had seemed to still for now but she expected at least one more aftershock to come. And there it was, or was it? She had expected to meet solid ground but instead, it pitched her dangerously close to the edge of the cliff, pure terror painted clearly on her wide-eyed face as her legs buckled and dull claws scrambled to find purchase on the unforgiving stone, and then there was nothing.

The air began to rush around her body and she didn't dare to open her eyes. She had always thought it would end something like this. Her battered body struck a protruding rock as she fell, a yelp ripped from her winded lungs as she continued to tumble until finally she was still again and everything ached. Her eyes cracked enough to look up and see the golden wolf pulling back from the edge of the cliff. She wouldn't come down here. Nobody would know where she was or what ever happened to her.

Her legs were shaking as she tried to gain some control of her body, her eyes falling on the lone gnarled tree, a cold empty den at its base.

I can't help this awful energy

Eurus

She couldn't be sure if this was actually happening right before her eyes or if it was just her vivid imagination running away with her again, the white eyed stare and teeth covered in favor of a terrified frown, the worried whine that she was sure Naira didn't even know she had made punctuated by the frantic drag of claws on rock before there was silence.

She casually stepped towards the edge of the cliff, knowing what she would see from the thuds and the sharp yelp that echoed off the walls of the Pass as Naira fell, but she wanted to make sure it wasn't just in her head, some elaborate ruse created by an overactive mind. There she was, sprawled across the stony ground, no sign of movement from this high up and it never crossed her mind to go and check on her. Nobody survived a fall like that, not even Naira.

It was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders only to be replaced with a crawling anxiety. Now what was she going to do? Where was she going to go? Her brothers couldn't be that far behind and once they caught her they would drag her kicking and screaming back home... but hadn't she smelled of others?

Well my heart is gold and my hands are cold

Naira Tainn

With the looming wolf gone from above, Naira did her best to catch her breath but it was coming far faster than she would like. If she was going to go it wouldn't be out in the open like this, she knew that much and so she rallied what little strength she had left to begin to slowly drag herself towards Mapplethorpe's tree. Her teeth gritted as she tried to ignore the heavy scent of blood in the air, knowing that alone would be enough to draw in the cougar that had reclaimed the mountain or possibly even a hungry bear. She almost laughed at herself, her vision was going black around the edges and she was worried about what might happen to her corpse? Pah!

Or was it? The darkness was like a warm embrace, the familiar scent of old wood and earth like a balm to her wounds, the tree trunk sheltering her from the worst of the wind that whipped through her old home. Her back end was dragging as she did her best to curl into a ball, a low whine betraying the level of pain she was in but she didn't bother to lick her wounds. She was just so tired. She allowed her eyes to drift shut, a small smile crossing her face as she whispered, "There you are..." and then she was still.