Willow Ridge we were the couple in a coma

Random Event: Willow Ridge, a dead tree has fallen right outside the pack den, blocking off the entrance. All welcome to the pack!

Upon scaling the soft incline that led to the crest of the ridge, Hagar noticed the terrain outside of the pack's communal den had shifted. With a frown, he realized that one of the more brittle of their surrounding trees had been toppled by whatever forces of nature had passed through in his absence. With its shroud of brown-needled branches it completely covered the cavern's entrance, and he picked up his pace as the notion that someone might have gotten caught under it occurred to him.

Thankfully, there was no one. He sighed in relief, and then took a deep breath. It couldn't just be left there. Hagar looked around him, but no one else was present, and so he diligently set into the work at paw. Ignoring the pain radiating from his injured shoulder, he latched onto one of the many branches and began to pull and heft until the offending tree started to move.

(This post was last modified: Jan 15, 2023, 03:58 AM by Hagar.)

The Ridge matriarch had taken the morning to make her rounds of the territory. She found these to be not only important but a chance to do so some thinking. She felt that as time passed she was getting better at her leadership position. It had been scary at first but slowly she felt that maybe it was something she was born to do.

She'd checked the caches and gone on to check the borders for any signs that anything might ge wrong. While she trusted her packmates to alert her to anything out of the ordinary Avella still liked to check things herself.

What she wasn't expecting to find as she came across the lands that contained the family burial site was Hagar. She could see him moving about but it wasn't until she came closer that she saw exactly what he was doing. A very large tree was down blocking access and gmhe was trying to move it by himself.

"Would you like some help?" She asked as she approached the scene.

Hagar heard her voice and looked over his shoulder at Avella, taking the moment to breathe. Such things were normally not tiresome for him, but his injury had changed things. He knew he should be taking it easy on his limb, but he was not about to shy away from work that needed done and certainly would not leave Avella of all wolves to do such labor for him. Of course, that didn't mean she couldn't assist.

He nodded his answer of yes, and moved further down the branch to give her room for a good grip. He sank his teeth back into the branch's trunk and braced himself to pull again on her signal.

Avella wondered if Hagar had planned to move the branch by himself if she hadn't shown up when she did. She wad well aware of his injury which caused her to worry about him each and every day. She'd known the pack needed a healer for a long while now but this just made it more urgent in her mind. However, they weren't easy to come by.

There was time to think more on that once she'd made sure that the Chocolate man didn't injure himself further. A smile crossed her features when he accepted her help. She took up a place at the opposite end as Hagar had. She got a good grip on the trunk and then gave him the signal that she was ready to pull.

While still a heavy thing to move, having two adult wolves working together on the task made it far more manageable. Their teamwork felt effortless, and just like that the obstacle was gone from their path. Hagar checked that no one was below the namesake ridge they stood upon, issued a few warning barks, and then used his weight to shift the dead tree right off the ledge and completely out of the pack's way. It caught on the myriad of other trees on its way down, landing with far less of a crash than he had expected.

"Thank you," he offered Avella, wagging his tail a time or two to emphasize the point. That was all of her time that he would take up, however. As their leader and a mother, she had much to attend to. Even if this were free time, surely she'd rather spend it in the company of her suitor, the children, or the other members of her family. Hagar nodded his head to her, and moved to take his leave.

It was much easier to move the tree with the two of them working together than Avella had thought it would be. She was glad that they were able to solve this problem rather quickly. It seemed that Hagar wanted to make sure this tree wouldn't cause them any more problems. The next thing she knew he was shoving it off the Ridge. She watched it go over but it didn't make as much noise as she thought it might. More importantly it wouldn't be able to hurt anyone.

"You're welcome of course," she said offering the chocolate man a smile. Then he went to leave and go off to do all the things Hagar did. Still Avella couldn't help the frown that crossed her features as he suddenly felt the need to head off. "Hagar?" She called out to him, "How's your injury coming along? Well I hope." She was worried about that and how he was doing.

He didn't expect her to call out, but he also didn't hesitate to stop and look back over his undamaged shoulder at her. She asked after his wound and he turned to face her again, moving the afflicted limb, carefully but surely. It throbbed, but at least it responded. As long as he continued walking the tightrope between not overworking nor coddling the injury, he felt his chances of returning to full functionality were pretty good.

Hagar gave her a reassuring smile.

"Could be much worse."

He just continued to be grateful that @Daegal had come out of the situation unmarred.

Avella was glad that they had managed to move the tree without too much trouble. Even though she didn't think Hagar should have been doing it all she also didn't have much of a choice. It left her worried that he could have made it worse. Though when he spoke it didn't seem that he had.

"Yes, it could have been. I'm glad that it wasn't."

She could only imagine what a worse injury would have done to the chocolate man. He enjoyed working for the pack it seems and if he couldn't do that because of an injury...well.

"Your taking good care of it?" She inquired.

"Best I can," he answered honestly. His kin were not familiar with healing and herbalism as professions, but he knew to chew upon particular barks and grasses to help alleviate the pain and swelling. The problem was, not everything lie within their control. It was ultimately up to nature how his wound would heal, and he tried not to think about the worse that might be allowed to happen to him.

But, while he had Avella's attention...

"I've... been meaning to talk to you about something," he prefaced vaguely, hesitant for a reason he wasn't entirely sure of. Part of him knew that the woman he'd trusted to build his life around would not be so cruel as to cut away pieces of his heart and foundation here, and yet... she'd already offered this to him, and he had turned her down. Still now he understood that Avella had every right to make her own, separate family and give the children a different father figure.

Yet the kids were starting to make their own choices, too.

"Daegal has started calling me 'Dad.'"

(This post was last modified: Jun 12, 2023, 04:53 AM by Hagar.)