Turkeys are better than teenagers

Maybe @Tannis?

There is a full moon

She had no destination in mind when she left, other than away. She had to get away. Her head raced round and round in circles and her feet followed more often than not. She had rounded back on the lake at least three times before a shake of her head the pounding of her heart turned her about again. No, no, no. The sun had climbed high and set several hours ago and still the bumbling woman had not stopped. Once she figured out that if she followed the slope of the land down she did not come upon the lake again.

Even with a wolf’s marvellous night sight, she stumbled in the dark as the ground levelled out. The skinny half winter coated hare was barely enough for a travelling wolf to survive on but she had managed on far less for so long the grumble of her gut was easily pushed aside. The way her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth however was not so easily dismissed as he nose twitched catching the breeze and searching for any hint of water.

Finally the tell-tale sound of water running over rocks could be heard and she moved towards the sound until she stumbled on a clearly marked border. The scent of regular traffic was a clear warning to steer clear but she was oh so thirsty! She wandered first one way along the invisible line and then back the other, her head rising as if a physical barrier held her back at chest level. She sighed deeply before lowering her head to sniff at the dirt again and turned away. She would rather go thirsty. She wasn’t desperate enough to go crossing borders yet.

<3

Tannis Andreas, at this time of night, had also been left to the whims of his penchant to wander. Along the Plateau he slipped away in the night, creeping about on his elbows and heels as he slid down along rocky inclines. Tried as he might, it was just no use in trying to make a quiet getaway in order to hold a proper moonlit vigil over the borders. His pads and nails scraped across the smooth stone and his tail, which he wiggled to and fro for the sake of balancing, sent several small stones and tiny pebbles over the edges of their resting places. Only once he was closer to the ground did his steps finally grow quieter, so that the only sounds that came from him was the rhythm of his breaths.

He had been so focused on where he was placing all four of his feet that he had not even come to realize that he was not alone... that someone was not too far away from where a mountain-borne waterfall was cascading down the craggy side of the Mountain of Dire - just one of many starting points where the Swift River began. He went along with his nose pointed towards the ground and his eyes fixated on every shadow that the moonlight cast on the ground. In fact, he did not even notice her walking about in front of him until he had a mind to actually look up.

The instant his eyes blinked once upon seeing her, his mind immediately cried out in recognizing the canine-like shape, "STRANGER! DANGER! Lay aside, Tannis! Hide!" He must have jumped a whole three-and-a-half feet off the ground, his willowy body leaping back like a household cat's would in finding out that the "dead" lizard they had caught was, in fact, not dead at all. An unceremonious scrabble of stone and dirt was the sound of his fight-or-flight response kicking in; his tail spun about in circles and he desperately rolled away from her before being able to find his legs beneath him.

Tannis had managed to back up a good distance away from her and had pressed his back against a sizable crooked sapling when it occurred to him that he was the one who ought to be safe on Phineas' pack lands. Not her. And if all the typical customs were to be followed, he had the higher ground and if he so wished it, he could send her away. Well, if he was able to, that is...

Showcasing a set of clenched teeth made him look like he was giving her an apologetic grin. Had he been human, he would have been wringing his hands through a pair of leather gloves while begging her not to hurt him. As it stood, he stared rather dumbly and wide-eyed at her, suddenly all too aware that social interaction was quickly becoming inevitable. If he could have helped it, he would have done all he could to prevent his throat from feeling like it was going to close up on him; instead, as the adrenaline and shock came over him in hot flashes, he bowed forward in a coughing fit.

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

@Tannis <3

 

Samhain
is he dark enough?

Her thoughts had finally found a chance to catch up with her, the sting of complete and utter betrayal threatened to slice her throat open and make her fragile heart explode in her chest. No. No. Wrong wrong wrong. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts she hadn’t noticed the other wolf approaching until the scattering of pebbles and the scrambling of paws fell on her ears, rendering a similar impact to a physical assault. Too close, too close! her heart hammered in her ears as her flank hit the earth with all the force of a fainting goat. Pale paws curled up against her stomach and her forehead came to rest against a protruding rock, her usually exposed throat partially obscured by the way the rock made her chin tuck.

Her momentary paralysis was overcome by the time Tannis had recovered himself. She wanted to gather her legs beneath her and run, but she wasn’t quite that brave. A shimmy of her rump allowed her to inch away from the rock. A dull throb replacing the pressure where she had knocked her head but she couldn’t quite gather enough air in her lungs to whimper in her distress. Shallow breaths left her chest physically heaving, and as the other wolf began to cough she physically shook, her lips pulling tight to reveal the tips of her canines in the moonlight.

Wide eyed she tried to keep the other wolf in her peripherals, while trying to not be mistaken as openly staring. A broad pink tongue made a quick pass over her nose, and when it looked like he was going to take a step closer she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and stammered just above a whisper. “I’msorry, I’msorry,I’msorry!”

As if it would make any difference. There was nobody left to notice she was gone.

A few loud hacks and the clearing of his throat had left him panting where he stood, and once the woman before him had called out a string of  whispered "I'm sorry's", Tannis had to brace himself. He was not the only one who had been startled, but she had also been subject to something he was all too familiar with. That incessant need and want to apologize for whatever had been done, even if that particular something was not entirely one's fault. In this case, he had accidentally startled her and, yet, she was the one who was sorry.

He grimaced as he laid eyes on her, looking her over as her eyes were closed tight and she mumbled her apologies from her place on the ground. The corners of his mouth turned downward, but when he noticed where she had landed, he hurriedly came running over to her. Quick steps were never a good idea however and, even on the level ground, he lost his footing, planting his chin within inches her own nose with a muffled "oof!" as his rear remained in the air. His forelimbs were folded to his chest and he scrunched up his nose.

"I am SO SORRY," he winced, leaning his rump to one side so that he sprawled out on his right side next to her. He didn't make any move to get up just yet, just waiting for the soreness to stop radiating from his chin and the underside of his muzzle. "I didn't- I didn't see you there." He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly with one raspy wheeze, "I didn't mean to frighten you."

Ever so slowly he tried to prop himself up on his elbows, so that he could still take a good look at the stranger, "Are you all right?" His eyes went to the rock beside her forehead and he made a face that suggested he had known just what kind of pain she might have been in, "You... You... It looked like you might've knocked your head pretty good."

@Tannis
 

Samhain
is he dark enough?

Samhain didn’t even flinch as the guardian tumbled towards her, fully expecting it to be followed up with an attack. When it didn’t come, tremors of nervous energy made her limbs twitch like she was having some sort of convulsion. This was torture of a new kind but she still couldn’t bring herself to think that she didn’t deserve it. As he spoke to her, her eyes slowly opened, their drab colouration disguised under the shadow of her head and the moonlight. For all that they weren’t some startling shade of blue or green, or even gold, they were perfectly functional and she had long ago supposed that would have to be enough.

Are you all right? It was that question alone that stole the breath from her chest. The seconds ticked by until her head began to go fuzzy and stars started dancing across her vision. The panic built in her chest until she remembered breathing was a necessary part of survival and she gasped like a woman saved from drowning. Her head though throbbing, slowly lifted from the dirt as she rolled onto her flank to face the stranger, ears folded back and her chin rested in the dirt.

She gave the rock a sideways glance, her eyes opening wide enough to see the whites when she realised just how large and sharp the offending object was. It was a miracle she hadn’t split her head wide open like the fruits her brothers used to fling from the cliffs. They had threatened more than once to send her after them in the same fashion and so she had stopped going to watch them. It never occurred to her that perhaps that was what they wanted in the first place.

There was a stinging at the corner of her eyes, a tightness in the back of her throat, and had she been a human her eyes may have taken on the glassy look of someone forcing themselves to not cry. A short stuttering breath was taken before she slowly formed a single worded answer to his question. “No!” She wasn’t all right at all and a bump on her head was the least of her problems.