Windsong Fjord Stop To Pretend

He could barely keep his head above water as he kicked his legs through the freezing water. He had struggled for hours (or maybe minutes?) in the icy waters, the banks of the water too steep for him to climb. He was tired and growing sick of the water, but Tumblebelly had a Will strong enough for him to continue. When he was just about to call it quits he saw it: a fallen tree, half submerged in the water. He didn't care that he wasn't really good at the whole climbing trees thing, because the idea that he didn't have to be in the water any longer was too good. Approaching the tree, the boy hauled himself up and out of the water.

Was he colder in, or out of the water? Tumble trembled, clinging to the tree like a sad, lost kitten. He was, sort of, and maybe even worse off. The large gash in his head had mostly clotted, but still made him look more like a bloody, possibly half-dead sort of wolf. Those sorts of things could be fixed later, because right then he had to remember how his legs worked. For a flash of a moment he thought they stopped working, but wiggled his toes and relaxed. He was just exhausted, and needed to find a dry place to warm up before he went back to whatever it was he was doing.

On unsteady legs, Tumbles rose. Front legs first, he tried to get a hold on one of the branches, then kicked off. Crk-- His heart leaped first, his body second, as he climbed the tree (and by extension, slope) before it cracked and fell to the icy waters below. He hit the ground, trying to put all of his weight on the ground below him.

Peeking an eye, the boy grinned. Ground! Sweet, sweet ground. He was shivering, and he was tired, but above all of that he was victorious! "H-HA!" he shouted at the water.

Now where the heck was he?


@Sahalie

Sahalie usually avoided the fjord if she could help it. The northlands were frustrating to the girl: either they were too flat like the lowlands or they were too steep;The well-timbered woods to the west, the jagged and dangerous Palisade, and the cliffs of the Fjord. The region was either likely to bore you to death or kill you—or, alternatively, bore you to death so much that you stopped paying attention and fell straight to your death off the edge of a slope. But the prey was thin up by the Monadnock. There were too many wolves too close, for besides the very full, very desolate rock there was also the Rye wolves very close by and another pack just a little bit south and they were all much more strain than the stark ecosystem could bare. So here Sahalie was, trailing the scents of a group of deer that had wandered out this way. It occurred to Sahalie that they had probably come this way after they caught wind of her following and hoped to lose her out here in the rugged land where her short legs struggled to traverse, but she puffed her cheeks out and kept going.

A loud shout caught her attention, echoing through the birdless forest. It was a different sort of sound than the howl that gave the Fjord its name, it was the sound of a wolf, but it was not coming from the forest. It was too far away—

Eyes widening, she trotted along on of the tree-lined trails than wandered towards the edge. Sahalie was not far up the canyon, and as she peered down a hundred feet towards the frozen, churning waters she was able to pick out the vibrant, yet sodden coat of a— She stopped trying to process what she was seeing, because with a start she realized: he had been swimming in the waters! Or something. He was wet. "Oh my god," she breathed.

Thoughtlessly her paws found the path that would carry her towards the brief, rocky shore of the barely frozen, unpassably large river. By the time she reached him she was basically out of breath. The man looked awful: deep shivers wracked his spine and the blood on his head was basically clotted by virtue of the ice waters. But he was smiling, so maybe he was okay? Sahalie had no qualms about him, and even if she had it wouldn't have stopped her from doing what must be done.

His body was surprisingly small as she pressed herself against him. He was small for a man, but at least it made him easier to heat with her own amble weight—that she was still trying to lose, but at least it was useful here. "Are you mad" she breathed, feeling her own coat start to soak. "You're gunna freeze to death oh my god. Shake yourself off. Now."

There is a moose carcass that has been scavenged by coyotes nearby. +15 Health

He'd been all sorts of tired before. There was the good tired, which he usually got after a good run, and the lazy sort of tired, which he got when he didn't feel like doing anything. He'd been plain tired-tired, which was tired after you did a bunch in one day, and then there was this sort of tired. Heck, he was so tired he couldn't even think of the right word to describe his tired. But he was safe, he was alive, and a little bit less soaking than he'd been. In his trembling state he couldn't quite decide whether he was less cold out of the water than in, but thankfully he wasn't stupid enough to jump back in the water.

Falling back in would have suited him more. Which, with the dark stranger suddenly bursting through the brush, he almost did. Having never experienced such random closeness from a stranger, Tumble just stared at the girl with wide, confused eyes. "N-no I'm n-not?" did he look mad? He didn't particularly feel mad. He was relieved and happy to be out of the water, but definitely not any sort of angry.

Then the girl went on, and started to make more sense. He felt a little bit better knowing that she wasn't just sticking to his side for the fun of it, but still was flustered and confused. "I a-am?" Tumblebelly, having lived in tepid, mostly-warm temperatures, had not heard that you could freeze to death. Still, the girl was telling him to do the whole shaking off thing, and she probably knew better than him.

Most wolves did, anyways.

Tumble shook his head first, and did it very slowly because that hurt a bit. Not in the singeing sort of way that it had when he'd been burned, but in a dull, achy sort of way. He tried his shoulders, which wanted to move less than his head, and his hips even less. The little short tail seemed to move alright, having not struggled through icy currents like the rest of him had. Tumblebelly whined and gave the stranger a pitiful, apologetic look. He tried the shaking thing again, though knowing it looked more like he had no idea what he was doing.

"I c-I can- can-t-t," he whined to her, "I'm t-t-tired."

The cold was already seeping into his mind. He was delirious. Sahalie remembered the pull, the exhaustion of being cold but she had never stayed out in a blizzard long enough to succumb and she had never jumped into any water in the middle of the winter. The man didn't even know he was cold! It would have been rather funny if the wolf situation was not so dire and Sahalie couldn't feel her heart beating so rapidly in an attempt to warm him. Quickly, the girl wiggled back to give the man some space, not looking to be thwacked in this face by his fur or his head as he shook. Since her own dark fur was a little wet, Sahalie herself did a little shake, waiting for the man to do the same.

His attempts were pitiful. She whined. "Uhm, uhm," her mind raced. This man needed warmth and he needed it fast, but the wind in the cavern was so strong that it would surely whip everything away. They needed to get away from here, away from the stony shores that would sap the warmth right out of his paw pads.

"Uhm," she said one last time, looking at the man uncertainly before basically throwing herself against him—uttering a ferocious little huff as her body connected with his—pressing closely against him and rubbing her body against his, weaving around him like a house cat asking for dinner. She hoped that this method, as crazy as it seemed, would sponge up some of the water that weighed him down. He needed to be dry. Sahalie stepped back and shook herself again, wringing herself out, and pushing herself back against him.

"Do you see anywhere we can go? Like a cave? We need to go somewhere safe and enclosed."

He wasn't really certain what he was supposed to be doing and the girl seemed about as lost as he was. She said her uhms and he just waited for her to tell him what to do next. She seemed awfully worried, and enough to do that weird... rubbing against him thing. Tumblebelly never really cared about his own personal space, but the girl was taking it to a completely new level. He tried to be still as the girl pressed up against him, which helped make him both dry and increasingly concerned. Still, his best option felt like putting his blind trust in the weird girl.

Then he was given more instruction -- sort of. "Uh," he tried to get a good look around, but it all was a mess of whites and browns and greens. Did she realize that he'd spent most of his morning -- maybe longer, because he suddenly realized he couldn't remember how long he'd been splashing about -- in the water? Maybe not. Maybe she was more concerned with doing her weird wolf-shaped sponge thing. He needed to stop making excuses and try to find someplace safe and enclosed, if only so the girl would stop rubbing up on him.

He mustered up the strength and got up, deciding he'd find a cave or a den or something the only way that he ever found anything: by picking a random direction and heading that way! "St-stop-p mov-moving," it was his turn to give the orders, and his turn to lead them both to safety!

Just as long as his legs would do the whole working thing.

They weren't.

Everything hurt, and although he went slowly, he went. One step at a time, they'd find somewhere and he could celebrate his... not-freezing-to-deathness.

Tumblebelly had hoped that a little bit of movement would make him feel a little bit better, but instead he just felt cold, inside and out. The stranger was there to help, and although a bit strange, her intentions had to be good. They weren't bad, by any means (at least not that he could tell), which automatically meant that they were good. It wasn't long before his tact worked, because ahead he saw a small opening in the ground: a den.

He didn't ask her if it was okay or not, because it seemed to fill her two requirements: safe, enclosed. Tumblebelly left her side and quickly darted into the hole without bothering to inspect it. Luckily for the both of them, it was empty. Crawling as far back as he could, the injured boy huddled against the dirt.

At least the task gave him something to focus on besides trying to fall asleep, shivering where he lay against the ground. The man didn't have a real sense of urgency anymore, but his head bobbed about, attempting to scan the woods and the slopes. At least he was trying. The moment he ordered her to stop she stood paralyzed at his side, not jumping away to give him some space in case he was going to keel over at some point. His movements looked slow and pained but she was grateful that he could move at all. The water was beginning to soak in between her double coat and it was enough to chill her to the bone. As he wobbled away like a newborn calf Sahalie paused for a minute to shake herself off again. It did not feel satisfying, but her coat was probably a little less wet.

Gradually they made their way up the slope and somehow neither of them slipped on all the pine needles littered on the path. Moving as slowly as they were the girl had some time to catch her breath, though in her chest her heart still rattled the bars of her rib cage. The den the man found looked deserted, but it had probably belonged to a bear at some point the mouth was so wide. Whatever bear had carved this had chosen not to return to this hole to hibernate and she was glad. The man gave the hole no such consideration and he was already inside. Sahalie wiggled her way in after him, pressing her belly against the hard-packed, frozen ground.

But at least there was no wind in here.

"Roll around," she demanded, "Gotta get as dry as you can." She remained closer to the entrance, hoping her small body could block any of the breeze whistling outside their den. "Are you feeling any better? God, what were you thinking?" Swimming in the middle of the winter was absolutely insane. "Is your head alright?" The wound on his face was not bleeding freely but it looked fresh and deep. The girl was no medic, though, so she could only hope that it was not too deep and that the bath he had just took was a good washing.

(This post was last modified: Jan 29, 2017, 08:28 PM by Sahalie. Edit Reason: cos tumble's wound is BLEEDING not BREEDING )

Tumble groaned. Not in the 'I'm tired of this' sort of groan, but more in the way a child would when they didn't want to do something they were being told to do, but would do it anyways. So the boy began to roll around. At first without much heart into it, because he was doing something he didn't want to do. After the first few rolls, he realized that he actually loved rolling around, and did so with a little more enthusiasm. Dirt and debris caked his pelt, but those were little problem compared to his probably much bigger problem.

Although rolling around had him a little bit winded, he did feel a little bit better. Still cold, but maybe not to the bone. His shivers had settled for the most part, though came back intermittently. "I didn't go swimming on purpose! I'm not that dumb," he decided not to admit that it hadn't exactly been the first time he'd taken the plunge into freezing waters. Back home was different, the water might have been cold and the sun would have been warm. "I fell in," and then much quieter and in a much more uncertain tone: "I think," he tried to remember how he'd managed to find himself stranded in the middle of the water, but couldn't come up with an explanation. He shivered. "Okay, I don't really remember how I landed in the water, but I'm pretty sure I have a good reason," Tumblebelly had lots of good reasons for lots of things.

His head? Was something wrong with his head? His eyes crossed as he tried to see what was wrong, but couldn't see much past his nose, which he licked a few times for good measure. "I'm okay, really." he thought he seemed pretty sincere. There was a second of quiet awkwardness, "But uh, you know. Thanks. For, you know. Your help?"

And then it was time for the big question. Quite possibly the biggest question he would have asked all year. Tumblebelly scootched closer to the girl, his head low. His words were quiet and his voice a little bit ashamed. "So can you... like, really freeze to death?"

The rolling was able to rub enough warmth into him that he started to regain consciousness. He was able to speak without the shivering stutter, now, which make him a lot easier to understand. Apparently going into the water had not been his choice, which was a relief because hopefully as cognitive ability was restored to him Sahalie would not have to worry about him doing any other stupid things. He would be okay, probably.  When he said that he didn't remember just how he had gotten into the water her eyes lifted to the crusted blood on his face. Sahalie had been bonked hard enough to throw her mind into a daze, but was it possible for a wolf to get hit so hard that they lost all recollection of what happened? Her little mouth scrunched up as she listened to him, not exactly convinced that there would be a good reason.

"It's no problem," she chirped wagging her tail and, over all, feeling glad that her assistance was appreciated. Though it was a bit odd that the man was so uncertain about it, like he wasn't sure if what she had done was helpful. Awkwardly he was inching towards her and her golden eyes blinked back at him."Uh yes," she said underneath her twisted eyebrows, "You absolutely can." How did he not know these things?

"I remember one time," her voice lowered as if she were telling a ghost story, "I looked into the river and I saw all these fish just frozen where they were. Suspended in the ice. They weren't alive." It was a chilling sort of sight to see, but that was just how the winter was. She wondered if all the fish died in the winter and more were spontaneously born or if there was a way for the other ones to survive. As far as she was concerned it was this cold everywhere. There was no where for the fish to go to escape. 

"So like, you don't remember going into the river?" she peered at him more closely now, noticing that under the dirt and with a dryer coat he'd have a handsome, golden coat like Kyna's. It was weird to look back into the face of a wolf as small as she was, especially a male. Most of the ones she knew were just so large. "Like. Do you remember anything else?"

Not only could he, but he absolutely could. "What?!" he said, louder, and not any more convinced. "I thought it was just something old wolves said. 'Get in here, you'll freeze to death!' or 'I'm so cold I might freeze to death.' I didn't think..." he trailed off, and still wasn't really certain that she was telling him the truth. But then the girl told him of dead-frozen fish, so grew silent and contemplated his own morality. Had he just almost died?! He wasn't ready to die just yet! He had a lot of things to do!

He could not for the life of him remember what things right then, but Tumblebelly was more than confident that he would remember. Eventually.

"Uh, well..." he took a moment to think back of the moments before falling into the river. They weren't really there, so he tried to think back a little bit more. "Oh! We were... going... somewhere. After we left the island," how had they even gotten off of the island? Certainly they hadn't tried to swim! That would have been silly. "I don't think we were going anywhere specific, just going. My friend," he cut himself off and tried to remember her. She had been huge and white, but the name wasn't coming to him. His stomach sank, but he continued with his story, "She, uh, told me there were places other than the island, so we left. Me and..." more trailing off. His head was hurting now. "Me..." he counted himself, that was one. Then the second wolf, the one that had been with him. That was... "And..." Not this stranger. A different girl. The eyes were the same, but the other one looked a lot different.

It took him a good moment to figure out that his plus one was not with them. Tumblebelly began to panic, "And!! And her!! My friend!!" She was out there. She had to be. They'd been traveling together, they both must have slipped into the river. It only made sense that way. "Did you see her?! She's a better swimmer than me, you had to have seen her," he was begging. "She's got, uh, yellow eyes. Flowers. Teeth," he tried to recall everything about his friend. "She's... green?" was that right? He took a breath. She wouldn't have panicked if she were in his situation.