White Fir Notch And I say, Timber!

Re: Ryker, a beaver is felling a tree nearby. Watch out for the falling tree!

Ryker wasn’t feeling tired at all tonight. For what reason, he wasn’t sure why but he just wasn’t. It might have to do with the fact he felt like running around and playing but no one was awake to play with, not even his normally energetic sisters. So for once, Ryker felt like exploring away from the den and so it was decided that once he knew everyone was asleep, the boy darted out of the den and begun his quest for something to do.

He knew it wasn’t a good idea to go out at night, having been warned to always stay in or very close to the den during the night unless an adult was with him. But Ryker felt bold this night and wanted to branch out further, to wander away from the den and see what the night held when everyone who was awake during the day was asleep and to see what came alive at night.

There were certainly new sounds that he rarely got to hear but of course, his eyesight didn’t improve at all during the night. In fact, it seemed even a little worse.  But he soldiered on through it, wanting to explore. He found that what he lacked in vision, his hearing was impeccable. So it was the sound of something...chewing? that caught his attention and and without thinking, Ryker hurried right for it, wondering what it was. It was something he had never heard before and with his young puppy curiosity, the thoughts of it being anything dangerous flew out of his mind.

Trying to focus his sight, he saw in the little light he had a lump near the base of what he guessed was a tree. What was it doing? Was it...chewing at the tree? But why? He blinked at straining his eyes to see it, wondering what the creature was and not focusing on the possible danger he was in.

The creature he was trying to look at was a beaver and had decided to take down a tree that it was currently sitting before it. It didn’t notice the small pup nearby and even if it did, Ryker posed no threat to it. It continued tin its attempt to topple the tree and was triumphant when the tree begun to fall.

Towards a still oblivious Ryker.

(This post was last modified: Oct 14, 2016, 05:15 AM by Ryker.)

The small yearling trudged through the undergrowth, the light of the day had died out long ago, leaving the Notch in the safety and comfort of the night. Brown eyes flicked around, taking in the quiet scene as the herbs clamped gently in the girl’s muzzle filled her muzzle and drowned out any other scent her nose could carry. The night was a beautiful time to be out, serene, quiet and peaceful. Sylva had always had a special place in her heart for this time of the day, all those days as a pup she had spent beside the river with her father, safe and secure.

Though, soon a low but constant noise broke through the silence, Sylva’s ears perked toward the side, the direction that it had been coming from. Pausing, she started to make her way through the brush, curious now to what had been the source of the noise, and if it posed a threat to her pack.

After a few moments, the noise grew louder and Sylva squinted, there nearby sat a squat figure gnawing away on the tree’s base. oh...a beaver...noth- Her train of thought got cut off as a small and very familiar shape stood near the beaver as it worked. Sylva squinted, as it dawned on her who it was. She spat out the herbs as the tree started to lean, panic flaring up as the oblivious pup refused to budge, her paws churned up loose dirt as she darted forward yelling “RYKER!” the tree falling as quickly as she could run, she shoved the furry spawn of @Gent and @Raela out of the way just as there was a loud crashing noise,and a loud and pain filled yelp.

ThoughtDialogue

Note to self: Lucia is 5 months old.

It took very little to stir young Lucia from her sleep. When @Ryker departed from her and @Aleris' side, the lack of extra warmth and the solidarity of his side pressed against hers roused her within moments. Blinking away the sleep, the child took her time in deciphering what exactly had woke her. When it was determined that it was her brother who had gone, she wasted no further moments and bounded after the boy.

She stalked behind him, interested to see where he would go. What did he think he was doing, exactly, disobeying their parents and sneaking off in the middle of the night? It wasn't very Ryker-ish. In fact, that was her niche!

Too busy watching him, Lucia didn't notice the gnawing or realize that there was another creature at all until the sharp cracking of the tree's sinew twisting and ripping apart filled her ears with sudden cacophony. Startled by the roar of it all she yelped and stumbled backward. The girl was in no danger of being hit by the trunk or even a branch, but there was no escaping the canopy. It was just a rush of black and then she was buried.

She thought she heard something else, too, amongst the thunder of the tree's landing. When the world was silent once more, her eyes squeezed tight and shoulders hunched against what she'd been certain was her death, it took Lucia a moment to be certain that she wasn't dead. Upon realizing that she was very much okay, it was not relief that swept over her, but rather panic: had Ryker been hit?

With sudden ferocity she began fighting her way through the leaves and thin branches, climbing over and under larger ones.

"Ry? Ry!" she called out, desperate to find her brother. If he had gotten hurt, and she had just watched, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself.

Suddenly, there was a shout and Ryker was being sent tumbling head of heels as the sound of a crashing roar echoed in his ears and throughout the forest. The beaver, in panic at the scent of wolves, skittered off deeper into the woods, most likely heading towards the closet water source. As his brain tried to sort out what had happened, he realised with a sickening feeling Sylva had pushed him out of the way and was now under the tree.

"SYLVA!" He called out, trying to figure out where she was as the branches covered up a good portion of the ground and with her dark pelt, it was difficult to pick her out. It was than, as he tried digging in the branches and leaves to look for his elder pack mate, he could hear his sister, Lucia calling out for him. Had she woken after his leaving and followed him? His heart sunk even further at her panicked yelling of his nickname. He began desperately digging in the branches for her instead. He had to find them both but Lucia had become his priority once she called out for him.  

"I'm fine Lu, I'm fine!" He cried out to his sister, panic coursing in his veins as he tried to find his sister, his legs becoming bloddied as sharp twigs cut at him. What if he didn't find her? What if she was caught under a branch and hurt? What if he had killed both Sylva and Lucia? Ryker couldn't live with himself if that was the case. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself. "Lu! Keep talking!" He shouted at her, thinking that if she spoke, he could pinpoint her quicker. Which meant they could help Sylva quicker.  

Deep down, he knew Sylva needed the help more, as he had heard her yelp ring in the air but Lucia was his sister. He couldn't leave her to potentially die because of his obliviousness.

"Please, please just hold on."   He whispered, his breath hitching and his eyes filling with tears as he kept on searching through the branches for his sister. "Please, just hold on a little longer."

@Gent @Raela and the rest of WFN, feel free to still join in if you want!

(This post was last modified: Dec 02, 2016, 01:32 PM by Ryker.)

If/when they find her for future reference, if they get to actually seeing her leg, it's pinned under a branch of the tree, not a thick one just the pain keeping her from trying to move it.

Pain, that's all that shattered the ebony wolf’s nervous system, sending it into overdrive as wave after ripping wave rushed up through her body. The girl groaned once as branches enveloped her in a loving caress. Stiff twigs digging into her pelt. While sometimes the girl hadn’t ever minded the close feeling, this time though, she couldn’t think of anything but Ryker’s safety and the rising pain from her rear leg. The girl strained her ears, she heard something muffled, Her heart beating even quicker now that she faintly recognized Lucia’s voice.

The girl tried to shift, she had to make sure they were both ok, but the moment she tried to move,a new and fierce wave of pain shot through her body and caused a pain filled yelp to escape, she wasn’t going to be much use right now, black starting to fill the edges of her vision as she tried to call out “R-ryker!? though in the end it came out as nothing more than a pain filled squeak, her heart racing, her breathing coming in shaky gasps as she was forced to lie there, her vision filled with nothing but twigs and leaves, if she was gonna die, at least it eb where eh belonged..with the trees ironically. Though the dark humor never crossed the girl’s mind as another wave of pain pushed her into the sweet release of blacking out.

ThoughtDialogue