Sea Lion

I sing a different song of how the wheres and whys of now all prove I don’t belong.
He was cold, he was hungry, caked in mud with twigs clinging to his clumped up dirty fur. He was tired and wanted to sleep but he couldn’t find anywhere dry to lay his sleepy head. Had he been older and more experienced with harsh weather and the conditions they left behind, he would have known that walking through the wet mud was a bad idea. Elliot Moon was just a boy though and little boys don’t know all that much about such big worlds. Little boys were naïve and the world was cruel. The swarthy, filthy child had stumbled into a particularly dangerous situation. His right paw was stuck in the muck and his left was sinking fast. The more he struggled, the stronger the mud held. The more it held, the more he struggled. It was an endless cycle and he was starting to panic, his thoughts all jumbled as he tried to pull himself free from the cold, wet hold.

He yelped and barked, dull orange eyes that were once so bright desperately searching for someone to come and find him, to help him so he could leave. He didn’t like it! He wanted it to just let go! But it simply wouldn’t, the almost sentient mud’s suction was as stubborn as a mule. Elliot barked again. And again. And again and again until it just became a continuous string of calls, panicked and tired against the silence of the Red Fern Forest. For the second time in the Moon child’s life, he was at the mercy of nature. All alone. <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:11px; color:#7e0b46">

(This post was last modified: Nov 09, 2013, 04:07 AM by Elliot.)

The trail the boy had left behind led her from the borders. It wasn't so strange for children to wander─she had certainly done her own fair share before ending up at Phineas' doorstep─but it made her no less anxious. They were each still so young in her eyes, and at such a tender age it was worrisome to think of what twists and turns the world would offer them when they did stray. Though she'd never known the dark child who had become one of them, Lucero's gut twisted as she paused to glance backward at the disappearing hills of the Glen, considering that she'd personally never known Hypatia or Kyros to leave the territory. In a bout of concern and brushing off the notion that boys would be boys, the leader hit the road as quickly as her limbs could carry her.

Red Fern Forest had all but lost its scarlet, summertime beauty. Weathered by the recent onslaught of heavy rains and autumn cold, it looked nothing like it had the last time she'd been there (which was unfortunate, because she didn't recognize her way around), and it didn't take her long to realize that the thick slicks of mud that covered the forest floor hadn't held Elliott's scent. Muzzle to the sky, she searched for any sign of the boy, finding with dismay that there was none. Her brows furrowed.

Pressing forward with teeth gritted in determination, Luce was caught dead in her tracks by a...horrible and heartening sound. A bark, or, rather, a series of barks, tempered by the forest's vast expanse and the rustling of the wind, met her triangle ears. Wide, golden eyes scanned every inch of land and every horizon in sight for the boy─so she eagerly assumed─and eventually the ash-stroked girl found him. Belly deep in mud, which covered nearly every inch of his sable fur, he was a pitiful sight, and her own paws slipped and slid as she carefully made her way closer to him. A high bark of her own echoed through the air, to let him know that she was here and on her way.

Lucero approached Elliot with finesse, her wild yellow eyes bright with reassurance. She was going to help him, but she was aware he didn't know her and might be apprehensive to her rescue efforts.

"Elliott, are you alright? I'm gonna get you out of here─"

I sing a different song of how the wheres and whys of now all prove I don’t belong.
He sunk further and further, feeling the wet muck creep higher and higher up his legs. Just how far would he sink down? Would it ever stop? Would he be swallowed up whole and left to rot? His heart thundered as he desperately struggled, trying to fling his body side to side in an attempt to work himself out of the mud. He was burning up energy quickly; each thrust and tug was becoming a little less powerful until, finally, he looked like he was doing naught but barely swaying to side. He was so, so tired. At this point, he was sure his barks had subsided completely, his mouth slowly opening and closing.

But then there was the bark of another. High pitched and alert. Elliot’s ears pricked somewhat, his head swivelled to the direction of the sound. The muck ridden boy caught sight of white fur and for a moment he thought it was Athena. He wanted to growl, to tell her to go away and that he was actually fine but when whoever they were spoke, the Moon child knew it wasn’t his mother. A fluttery voice, one he could remember from the meeting. The lady with the yellow eyes? He knew the face, but not the name. Oh God, had Magnolia Glen noticed he was missing?

<b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:11px; color:#7e0b46">“Please,” he whined, his ears folding against his head as he, once again, summoned the energy to desperately tug, <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:11px; color:#7e0b46">“I—I’m really stuck.” At this point, the cold was beginning to thoroughly chill him through to the bone. His winter coat hadn’t come through yet and the nip in the air matched with the wet mud was just a little too much for the sooty boy. <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:11px; color:#7e0b46">“It’s really cold, too,” he stressed. God forbid he catch hypothermia.<b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:11px; color:#7e0b46">

(This post was last modified: Nov 09, 2013, 04:07 AM by Elliot.)

She watched from a very short distance as the boy's orange eyes searched for and fell upon her, the late autumn wind slipping with a chill up her back. Please, he pleaded, and it was plain to see he was stuck. How long he had been there was concerning, but her priority was to free him from his mucky chains. Without hesitation, the long-legged girl slipped and slid her way closer to him, extending her muzzle to give him a gentle sniff while getting a closer look at the extent of his situation. Sweeping her tongue over his crown to soothe him"I know it is dear, I'm sorry," she cooed, digging some of the thick muck away from his body with a fore paw so she could hoist him out.

"I'll have you out of here in no time, and we'll get you warmed up..." It more fortunate than a relief for Luce to have found him when she had. Out here, there were worse things waiting to swallow up a young and vulnerable thing like him than a harsh chill. The dark child was cold to the bone, frightened, and she knew very well what it was like to be wet, scared, and alone. "Ready?" With diligence and gentility, paws planted firmly in the mud, she parted her wide jaws to grasp the flesh of his nape and with a weighty tug she pulled him free. There was hardly a dry spot to be had beneath the towering trees of the archaic forest, so she settled for a patch of dead ferns and it was there that she set Elliott down.

Instinctually, Lucero nudged and sniffed as any concerned adult would before casting her golden gaze upon his muddied face.

I sing a different song of how the wheres and whys of now all prove I don’t belong.
The lady drew closer and Elliot wriggled around in his muddy prison, absolutely desperate to be free from its cold, wet clutches. He wasn’t as strong as a pup of his age and size should be and, frankly, was a little on the skinny side. He found it hard to eat these days. That, and he had no desire to do such a thing either. Through all his worry and fear, the soothing lick from the lady quelled his soft whines and instead he remained silent, shivering as the cold was finally starting to truly get to him. A white paw reached towards his skinny body, shifted some of the muck around him as she made a promise of getting him out and, more importantly, getting him warm.

It was as if the boy had never been warm in his entire life, the way he wriggled about in the mud. He could feel it loosen around him, mostly due to the white lady scooping it away from him. With a soft question about his readiness, his eagerness to get out of the trap was apparent as his muck ridden tail slowly slid across the surface of the mud like some sort of grotesque snake. <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:11px; color:#7e0b46">“Ye—yes,” he nodded, resisting the urge to whine again. He felt teeth against his nape, a familiar sensation that he would’ve protested about being too old for if it were any other situation, and then his body being lifted. He tried to kick his legs, his claws dragging through thick, soupy mud and then he felt the wetness release him. There was a strange sound that game from the mud, a gurgling shluck noise that announced he was free from its cruel grasp.

He was then carried, not too far away, and set down on a patch of dead ferns where he simply folded down, shaking and shivering, unable to hold back the shaking that wracked him. The white lady sniffed at him, gently nudged him with her nose and he caught her eyes with his own. He tried to silently plead with her. Please don’t tell anyone about this!<b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:11px; color:#7e0b46">

(This post was last modified: Nov 09, 2013, 04:06 AM by Elliot.)

He shook and shivered, quivering, and in a bout of sympathy she felt her own skin prickle. When their eyes connected she was unsure of what words his silent gaze spoke, but she was quick to infer that the gist of their message was that he didn't want to be in trouble. A gentle grin tugged at both corners of her mouth. "Don't you worry, everything is going to be okay now," she cooed, nudging reassuringly once more beneath his chin; she would make sure that it would be. She was less concerned about whether he should or shouldn't be out here than she was about warming him up and and making the seemingly dreadful experience as minimally traumatic as possible.

Lowering herself to the ground beside him, Lucero wrapped her lithe frame around the curve of Elliott's back, shifting her weight and wriggling in as closely as she could. Her long fur, now thick and plush for the coming winter, overlapped the muddy black of his own coat. She'd never been close enough to the boy to notice that he was a bit thinner than the other children, but it was apparent now as she ran her chin along the barely distinguishable prominences of his ribs. What was his story? As she tended to him in a motherly way she hadn't previously considered she was capable of, Luce felt a hint of guilt creep into her heart. Elliott was an orphan, introduced to Magnolia Glen by Phineas himself, but she'd been so wrapped up in caring for Borlla that she hadn't made the effort to know him, and other newcomers, like she should have.

When he was warm and more comfortable perhaps they would have a chance to talk about what happened today, and maybe she could make up for lost time. Until then, she remained nestled around him, tenderly working to clean the muck from his crown and face.

blech, these are all so short. i'm sorry!

I sing a different song of how the wheres and whys of now all prove I don’t belong.
The woman gently nudged beneath the muddy child’s chin and he squeezed his eyes shut for fear he may cry. He didn’t want to look weak and helpless; he didn’t want to look like a lost cause. He wanted to be big and strong and have everyone want him. Elliot was tired for being cast aside, of being different. He simply wanted to be normal, to live a normal life like Hypatia and Kyros! With a family and a home! The white boy brought a burning sensation to the swarthy boy’s throat, an acidic burn that threatened to spill out past his lips. He swallowed thickly. That boy may be missing a portion of his leg, yes, but at least he had a family. At least he still had his sister.

He opened his eyes to the feeling of soft warmth as the woman with the honey eyes pressed against him, soothing him as her chin ran across his side. Swallowing the lump in his throat once more, Elliot wriggled a little closer to her to warm quicker before he lowered his head to rest it upon his mud caked paws. She began to work on cleaning him up, removing muck slowly but surely, and he made no effort to protest. He welcomed it, in all honesty. It felt nice to have someone care for him, to check he was okay and do their best to soothe him. His eyes fluttered slightly, his head tilting slightly as a quiet question escaped him. <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:11px; color:#7e0b46">“What’s your name?”<b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:11px; color:#7e0b46">

Look Out!

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +7 Health

The time the pair spent on the fading fern-adorned floor of the forest passed slowly and, for the most part, quietly. The steady beating of her heart thumped against the walls of her chest and sides, against the body of the small boy whose shivering resonated against her ribs. Eventually he would wriggle closer into her warmth and in response she wrapped her lithe frame more tightly around him. As young as she was, the feeling of motherly concern that Luce felt was tender and novel. She had no recollection of what it was like to be on the other side of such an encounter─to be the child who was taken care of; but the absence of such memories from her life didn't sour or hinder her ability to tend to the child beside her.

Here and there Elliot would shift around or nuzzle closer, and she watched him with thoughtful eyes. What was in store for him? Was there a reason he'd left the Glen behind today? Her ears flicked backward at the notion that he was without a mother, a father...a blood family of his own. What unfortunate circumstances had befallen the coal hued boy. As his eyes flickered upward to her, Luce's own gaze met his own, searching the warm depths that churned with something deep she just couldn't put a finger on. He might be exhausted, but there was so much life in the Moon child's eyes that it sent a shiver down her spine. With soft words she met his inquiry.

"Lucero," she smiled, "but you can call me Luce."

{end}

(This post was last modified: Dec 31, 2013, 08:05 PM by Lucero.)