Verdant Mosses they say they can smell your intentions

September 14th, Early Morning. Overcast Clouds, 55.4°F, 13°C. All welcome, but special mention for @Kip
Random Event - Deaglan, you have inadvertently angered a bull bison. He has taken offense to your close proximity and is charging.

Placing some much needed distance between him and his brother had been a struggle. With no idea where he was headed, Deaglán had continued into the unknown by limping his way along the edge of the brook in a western direction. His journey had taken him most of the night, his unsteady gait hampered by the endless maze of pine trees which he had been forced to weave his way around. Crimson beads of blood had collected at the tips of his fur, where his injuries bled into his dark coat, and left a trail of droplets upon the moss and leaf litter behind him.

Lost and injured in the forest on his own, he had felt vulnerable. However upon nestling himself amongst some large boulders of a partially caved in bear den – which he had quite literally stumbled into – he had begun to feel more at ease. After convincing himself that he was relatively safe inside the rocky ruins, he had made an attempt at cleaning his wounds. Tenderly he had licked at the bloodied matted fur which encased his fresh wounds. However, it had not been long before his lids had grown heavy from exhaustion and his dark lashes fluttered shut as sleep consumed him.

Golden eyes blinked open early the next morning, just as the first few rays of sunlight filtered down through the open crags of the rocks which made up his temporary den. A groan of discomfort echoed through the dark as he attempted to move, sending waves of pain through both the right side of his body. He took a moment to mentally prepare himself before he tried to shuffle himself out of the den again.

Teeth gritted together in pain, Deaglán awkwardly clambered his way out from the bear den. Finally rising up to stand at his full height he found that the area around his left shoulder had seized up and become swollen during the night. Meanwhile his rear right leg was too painful to bare weight, leaving him balancing uncomfortably on three limbs. The metallic stench of blood also clung to him, despite his feeble attempt to clean himself up after the fight with his brother.

Releasing a despondent sigh, he forcing himself to focus on something other than the aches and pains he currently felt. Golden eyes drifted over to the small stream which trickled further down the sloping terrain of the moss covered forest. He was in need of a fresh drink. Sweeping his tongue eagerly across his charcoal lips, he began to pick his way downwards towards the water, trying hard not to stumble over as he went. His mouth began to water in anticipation as he grew closer to the stream before a rustling to the right of him caught him off guard.

Turning to glance over towards the noise, his ears perked up with surprise as he spotted a small group of forest bison grazing in a forest clearing. Limping to a halt, he observed them from a short distance away and hoped that they had failed to notice him. It seemed he was out of luck. Golden eyes widened in horror as a particularly large bull bison swerved off its path to face him and began approaching. Lifting his tail and bristling his fur Deaglán attempted to warn the large herbivore away, doing his best to appear intimidating despite his poor condition. The bull was having none of it and stomped angrily at the dirt moments before charging him.

“Fuck.” It was the only sound to leave his mouth as he began to stumble backwards, his head turning from side to side as he searched for any means of escape.

(This post was last modified: Sep 15, 2017, 04:33 PM by Deaglan.)

YAY
Permission for Kip to tackle Deag given by Jacq

The girl had been traveling an awful lot in the weeks since she'd found this place. She was tired, but it was getting easier and easier to just keep going. Thoughts about stopping to stay with several of the packs she'd seen had certainly plagued her, but she did not want to pledge herself to one. Especially not yet, when all she really wanted to do was be independent and to see everything. Or, well, as close to everything that she could manage, as she still didn't wish to climb the mountain.

Weaving through the forests hadn't been easy, but it wasn't terrible, either. She had gone around the mountain and spent the last ten days making her way southward, for no reason other than the fact that she was not one to sit still. And eventually, it seemed that she had wandered into a green world. Green trees, green grass, green moss... it was all painted in shades of brilliant verdant, and even someone as stoic and hardened as Kip had to admit that it was beautiful.

At least, it was, until the reek of blood reached the young wolf's nostrils. Immediately, she went from relaxed to high alert, ears swiveling forward and nose working overtime as she followed the trail. It wasn't any of her business, no, but for some reason, her curious mind couldn't help but need to know what was going on.

It didn't take long to find the source. A black wolf on the edge of a clearing, staring at a group of bison. For a moment, she couldn't help but wonder if he was trying to hunt them - because how stupid would that be? - but that idea was quickly squelched when she saw the bull of the group begin to approach the boy. Instead of running, he bristled at the beast, and that was when Kip decided that she probably needed to do something. Because there was no way in hell that bison was going to be afraid of an injured wolf - and he was injured, judging by the smell of blood surrounding him.

When the bison started to charge, Kip did, too. Fortunately, the white wolf was closer, and quicker, and managed to slam herself into the black wolf's side, causing the two of them to tumble down a small decline in the ground. But, since that probably wouldn't be enough to deter a pissed bison, the pale-furred girl looked around rapidly in an attempt to find some kind of shelter. Which, in this case, took the form of a fallen, moss-covered tree. There was a wolf-sized gap between the tree and the ground, and Kip was willing to bet that they could both fit underneath there.

"Go!" she barked, giving the dark wolf a nudge and pointing with her nose to the gap beneath the tree. She would let him go first, because if worse came to worst, at least she could outrun the bison.

(This post was last modified: Sep 15, 2017, 05:06 PM by Kip.)

In panic Deaglán glanced around, bright golden eyes hurriedly scanning his immediate environment for anything of use. To his horror he was unable to see past the vibrant shade of green, caused by the moss which seemed to engulf everything around him. He could hear the heavy hooves of the bison as it drew closer and the harsh panting of its breath as it gained speed moving towards him. He felt his heart suddenly sink within his chest as his vision clouded over. This was it. He was going to die.

He felt a sudden force collide into his left side. In an instant he found himself swept off his paws and tumbling down the moss laden slope towards the stream below. Though his eyes were narrowed in pain from the repeated collisions of his body with the ground, he was able to make out flashes of white within the blur of vibrant green. When he finally slumped to a stop, Deaglán groaned in pain. He had barely even begun to recover from his last ordeal and now his body was wracked with a fresh set of aches and pains.

After taking a moment to stop his head from spinning, Deaglán groggily glanced around. Almost instantly he noticed the pale girl lingering by his side. A frown – more out of confusion than anything else – formed on his dark features as he wondered where the hell she had come from. However before he had a chance to say anything, she had already got back on her feet and had begun barking orders at him to move. Not foolish enough to argue with her demands in that moment, he rocked himself awkwardly onto his left side and then rose unsteadily to stand, his right hind leg tensed inches above the ground.

The nudge given to his tender side was met with a flash of fangs, though he did as she said and limped his way as hurriedly as could towards the moss covered tree hollow. A small whine whistled past his lips as he moved, causing his ears to flatten back out of embarrassment. Upon reaching the tree, Deaglán stretched down into a bow and squeezed into the open gap, awkwardly falling over in the process. Through a combination of shuffling and dragging his battle worn body against the dirt, he finally managed to wriggle his way to safety.

With his injured rear leg laying awkwardly near the entrance to the hollow, the dark male desperately tried to drag it in closer. The pain which shot up through his bloodied limb was unbearable however and so, after almost yelping out in pain, he gave up. The bridge of his muzzle wrinkled anxiously as he waited for the pale girl to squash herself up into the tight space behind him, silently pleading that he would not be trampled on in the process.

(This post was last modified: Sep 15, 2017, 09:36 PM by Deaglan.)

Thankfully, the dark-pelted wolf was smart enough to listen when he was supposed to, and hurried to crawl beneath the fallen tree. And then it was when it became apparent that they were both not going to fit - he was squished in so tightly that there didn't seem to be much (if any) room for her. Which was completely fine, of course, because she probably needed to lead the bison away anyhow. The girl was pretty sure that she was more working on instinct than anything else, because under normal circumstances, she probably would've just let the idiot get trampled. Or, at least, that was what she believed, anyway.

Maybe she was more concerned about others than she realized.

Pale eyes narrowed sharply when she heard the bison start to approach from behind. The young wolf bristled and whipped around, letting out a series of sharp barks to get its attention. "Hey, fugly! Over here, dickbag! Pay attention to me!" Stamping her paws on the ground, she tensed when the massive creature swung its head to look at her. It once more pawed the earth and began to charge, but Kip had a plan. She turned and ducked out of the way, still barking out insults to keep his attention on her.

With the bison following, the tiny girl zigzagged through the dense moss and trees, taking the buffalo in a complicated pattern around to the other side of the clearing so that she could lead it away from the injured wolf. Once she was on the other side, she then sprinted in a straight line until the beast tired of chasing her and released a furious bellow before turning back to head to his herd in the clearing. Heart hammering in her chest and tongue lolling from her mouth, Kip waited a moment, catching her breath. Internally, she debated for a moment or two about even returning to the boy she'd helped, but something told her that if he was stupid enough to pick a fight with a bull bison while he was so hurt, he was probably too stupid to be on his own anyway.

The girl gave the clearing a wide berth as she retraced her steps back to the fallen tree she'd left the black wolf under. She came to a stop at the entrance, tipping her head so that she could look inside. "You're not dead, are you?" the white wolf asked, voice mostly apathetic, but with the slightest hint of curiosity. Not worried in the slightest, however, as she was mostly feeling a bit miffed and put-out over the whole ordeal.

Crammed there awkwardly in the dark, concealed beneath an overturned tree hollow, he waited with baited breath for the pale furred girl to squash in behind him – or for the angry bull bison to discover his hiding place and trample him where he lay. Neither options sounded very appealing to him but there wasn’t really much he could do either way. He was pretty much useless in his current condition.

Dark ears swivelled back to listen behind him as he heard the voice of the girl echo into the moss covered hollow. Her insults brought an amused smirk to his face as he listened to her, attempting to catch the attention of the large herbivore and lead it away. He waited silently, or as quietly as he could whilst he attempted to catch his breath, as he listened to the sound of the girl running further away and the bison charging after her. He breathed a sigh of relief when the world outside the hollow seemed to fall silent, pleased to have escaped gruesome death.

With the girl seemingly out of the area, Deaglán attempted to get himself out of there. Inhaling sharply, he braced his three functional paws against the dirt. The end of the hollow nearest his nose was blocked off by a tangle of soil and roots, therefore his only option was to wriggle himself backwards out of the tree. Slowly he pushed he forepaws against the ground and moved body from side to side like a serpent in an attempt to shuffle out. The task was painful on his wounded shoulder but he could just about manage it if he concentrated hard enough – unfortunately however, the feeling of dirt and rough bark scraping against his injured right thigh was unbearable.

He let out a whine and his body flinched within the cramped area of the tree hollow, causing him to knock his head. “Uhhh, damn it!” He cursed as he flopped back down onto his stomach in defeat. He had planned on waiting a few moments before trying again but then a familiar voice echoed back into the dark hollow. “No.” He replied sharply, his voice low and laced in sarcasm. Don’t be stupid. He thought, about to roll his eyes before he remembered: He was stuck in there.

“…Just a bit stuck.” He admitted awkwardly, his tone conveying his suddenly realised vulnerability. “Think you could get this damn tree off of me?” He asked with a hopeful sway of his tail behind him. He didn’t like asking others for help, especially wolves that he had not yet gotten to know. However in this instance it seemed that he was running low on options, and the thought of having to spend the next few hours trying to painfully wriggle his way out from under the hollow tree did not seem appealing in the slightest.

(This post was last modified: Sep 16, 2017, 05:42 PM by Deaglan.)

A small snort of amusement escaped the girl when she realized his predicament, and she wanted badly to tease the boy. However, she felt as though his ego had probably already taken enough of a beating without her helping at the moment, so, instead, she just decided to start thinking of ways to get the other yearling out from underneath the fallen tree. As she really did not want to have to dig him out, her brain went to different, more unorthodox ways of handling the situation.

Then, it was like a lightbulb went off in her head.

"Hang tight, I've got an idea," she told him before turning and bolting off back into the forest, still skirting around the bison's clearing. She ran until she found a big enough, solid enough branch, and then began the arduous task of dragging it back to the tree the poor boy was caught under.

It took several minutes, but she did manage to drag the branch all the way to the fallen tree, and moved to slide the more bent side beneath the hole so that the other side was sticking up off the ground. Then, the young wolf rolled a medium-sized, moss-covered stone under the branch, successfully propping one end of the makeshift lever up. Satisfied that it was wedged tight, the girl trotted back over to the raised side, then looked back at the stuck wolf. "When I tell you move, you get out quick," she said, and, without waiting for much of a confirmation, jumped up and placed her forepaws on the raised part of the branch.

Pulling that side down, the bent side rose, taking the fallen tree upward with it. However, with just her small weight, the lever didn't go very high - only giving the boy about a half a foot more to work with. But, for the moment, it was the best she had, and she hoped he'd be able to free himself.

As Deaglán lay there, completely helpless, stuffed tight underneath half of a hollowed out tree, he could just imagine the girl secretly laughing at him. He must have looked so stupid, his tail, arse and rear right leg poking out from the sunlit entrance at one end, whilst the front end of him remained facing towards the darkness at the other.

When the girl announced that she had an idea of how to get him out, Deaglán's ears perked up to listen. An explanation never came however, and instead all he heard were the faint patter of her paws as she bolted away. Had she just left him there? Was that her idea, to leave an injured wolf there to suffer on his own? If she was playing some kind of joke on him, Deaglán wasn’t amused. He wasn’t having a great time of it lately and his patience was rapidly wearing thin.

After what seemed like hours the sound of more heavy, laboured footfall echoed into the tree hollow. Immediately Deaglán inhaled deeply to confirm that whoever it was rustling around outside was the same girl that had assisted him before. His dark brows raised curiously and then furrowed in concern as a series of strange noises sounded behind him as she wedged the large branch and stone together against the tree hollow.

“What are you even doing back there?” He asked, trying his best not to sound as annoyed or impatient as he actually felt in that moment. His question was left unanswered as she proceeded to instruct him on what to do next. With a weary sigh, he had been about to offer up a response when suddenly the open end of the hollow jolted up with a creek. Sunlight spilled in from both sides as the girl lifted the tree up by half a foot or so.

Without much hesitation, Deaglán once again braced himself against the ground using his three functional limbs and began to slowly shuffle backwards. Unsurprisingly his injured rear limb scraped against the dirt like it had before, summoning a broken whine from the male. For a moment he considered stopping again and asking the girl to find some other way to help him out of his predicament. Moving backwards was excruciating, whilst moving forwards had been less of a problem. He considered though, the girl would surely only hand out so much charity before she grew bored and moved on. He had to get out, no matter how much it hurt.

Clenching his teeth down firmly, a hiss left his grimacing charcoal lips as he dug his claws into the dirt and pushed himself out with all the force he could manage. His injured leg caught underneath him and dragged along the ground as his body coiled up outside, finally managing to exit the tree hollow on his rear before tumbling back onto his back, with a yelp, as his head grazed the top of the hollowed out tree.

Free from his prison he lay exhausted, belly up, in the same position he had fallen into. Sprawled awkwardly upon the moss covered ground, he gazed down to inspect the throbbing, freshly opened wounds which now bled from his chest and rear right limb. Frowning in discomfort, he then glanced back across to the girl. “Thanks.” He said coolly, before releasing a small sigh as he slowly rolled over onto his front.

(This post was last modified: Sep 16, 2017, 06:53 PM by Deaglan.)

Wow. She actually felt bad for this guy. A rare occurrence for someone as stoic and hardened as the wolf formerly known as Mavis Kipley. But this guy was already hurt, and then managed to get into a disagreement with a bison, and then got tackled, and then got stuck underneath a tree, and now he was bleeding. All of which were bad on their own, but coupled together, Kip couldn't imagine.

So she held the tree up as long as possible, and he took his sweet time in edging out from underneath it. As soon as he managed to get all the way out from under it, the white yearling dropped it back down with a sigh of relief, panting from the recent exertion on her body. But she wasn't the hurt one, and this had to be about a thousand times worse for the dark wolf.

But he was free now, and not in immediate danger of dying, so the tiny wolf sat down on her haunches so that she could catch her breath. She hadn't been expecting a thank you, so when he expressed even a word of gratitude, her ears perked and she arched one brow. "I didn't do it to be thanked," she began, greenish eyes meeting pale gold. "I'd have been a pretty terrible person to just let you die here, wouldn't I?" A small hesitation came from the young girl, before she shrugged one shoulder. "It was no problem, though."

At that point, she probably just should have left him to his own devices, but she didn't think she could do that in good conscience. Not when he was still bleeding and not walking and all that shit. As bad as Kip was, she wasn't the type who could just leave another wolf to die. "So, uh," she began, purposefully making her voice a little deeper so that she wasn't betraying her "girly" desire to help him. "You look like you got in a fight with a bear." Stating the obvious. "I know a few herbs that might be able to help with that. Pain, bleeding - all that shit." Because there was no way in hell she was going to help him without him expressing that he actually wanted and/or needed it.

"Maybe I could try and find some for you." It was as close to an offer as he was gonna get. She wasn't running a charity, after all, and she didn't even know this guy's name. The thought had only just occurred to her, and depending on how he responded, she might have to ask for it herself. Because it was rather obvious that he hadn't wanted to offer it up yet, and she was fairly certain that she wouldn't just offer her name to a stranger without being prompted, either.

He raised his dark brows towards the girl as she explained that she had not acted in hopes of receiving his gratitude. She had helped him because she had believed it to be the right thing to do, which Deaglán most certainly grateful for. His expression faltered, a frown working its way back onto his features, as she dismissed the idea of leaving him there to die. Given that he had recently assisted in the murder of his stepfather, he figured he deserved to be punished somehow. “Heh, yeah..” He murmured, attempting to force a laugh as he gave a small tilt of his head in agreement.

With him being free from the tree hollow and alive and all, he had expected the girl to leave. After all, she really had no reason to stick around. She had helped him out, he had said thanks. That was the end of their short arrangement. Rolling onto his front, he tilted his chin down and attempted to reach the oozing wound located lower down his neck. Tentatively his salmon pink tongue poked out from between his charcoal lips to lick delicately at the bloodied matted fur which encased the injury.

Deaglán looked up in surprise as the girl spoke again, having almost forgotten then she was even still there. The frown he had been wearing deepened, as he glanced awkwardly back down towards his bleeding neck and mangled leg. “Something like that.” He agreed through partially gritted teeth, not wishing to divulge the true reason behind his numerous injuries. His pale gold eyes returned to meet the seafoam green of her gaze as she spoke of some herbs that could be used to treat them. “Really?” He questioned, slightly astonished.

Deaglán had never paid much attention to plants. They were just something that prey animals ate and everyone else trampled over. He had never even imagined that they could actually be of some use to him. The girl’s offer to find some of the healing herbs for him was not one that he was willing to turn down. She had done a good job in helping him out so far, though he was beginning to wonder if there was some other reason for her continuing to stick around. Still, at this point, he would take whatever he could get. “Sure, if you’re not sick of helping me out already.” He grinned, though he was entirely serious in what he said. If she wanted to leave, he had no way of stopping her.

(This post was last modified: Sep 17, 2017, 08:51 AM by Deaglan.)

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +10 Health