Sex: MaleA scraggly, pale figure stumbled along a narrow path in the snow, head ducked low and ears pinned back. His progress was slow and unsteady, paws faltering with every other step, sending him veering sideways. Still, his eyes never strayed from the ground, lids half closed, too heavy to keep open. Stiff legs made every movement look painful, the cold wind sending periodic shivers over his body. No, Kyrios Aegina was not in great shape, his fur was shaggy and matted, ribs protruding slightly and his tail hung limb between his legs. He was exhausted and starving, head throbbing dully in tune with his stunted gait. But he couldn't stop, he was out in the cold, alone, with no shelter in sight; And he still hadn't gotten any closer to finding his missing family. So hungry was the pup, that he had resorted to eating the stale, dry berries on the dark bushes that dotted his mountain path. Though their smell was sharp and taste tart, he'd wolfed down what few he'd come across, still clinging to the naked branches. Now he was starting to regret that, his stomach was feeling strange and his headache only seemed to be getting worse. Breathing deeply – not for the first time – he stopped walking, wobbling on his legs for a few moments. Once his stance felt more secure, he reached down and scooped up a mouthful of snow , letting it melt on his tongue before swallowing. It sloshed awkwardly in his belly, but for a moment he felt a little better. Then the nausea came back at full force, and he bowed his head again to return the melted snow, along with a bunch of half digested berries, to the ground. Word count: 289 ”Speech” |
Lunette Vuesain
I’ve got my love stuck in my head
The old pack territory, with its nightshade plants, had caught the girl's fancy. It was an unsolved mystery, despite her mother's best efforts to explain things to her, but the physical aspects of it wasn't the mystery anymore—it was the pack. Who had they been? What had life in Poison Path been like? She had been up several times since she'd first found it, sniffing about the old communal den, and on occasion, she'd even slept there, instead of back home. It gave her some space to think, and breathe, but she was still close enough to get home fast if something happened.That evening, as the shadows drew longer and the air grew colder, was not like other evenings. She'd hit the path midway up, and for a while, everything was as usual. Nothing but a couple of deer and rabbits had disturbed the snow that had fallen earlier in the day. Just the way she liked it—just her and the forest and the nightshade plants. She still didn't know what to do with herself in the Cove, least of all now. Pretend everything was fine? Keep.. smothering herself, letting the anxious monster dictate, and demand she crawl in front of everyone? Just leave? No, she couldn't that. She didn't know what she could do, and that was the problem.
You ungrateful, pathetic, stupid, idiotic, dumb, thick, waste of a wolf! If you just knew how to do anything, or could do anything without trembling, maybe you could achieve—
Her scathing running stream of commentary was cut short by a figure up the slope. It looked paper-thin and paper-light, swaying in the winter breeze, and it smelled sharply of gut acid and filth. Matted cream fur clung to a bony frame as youthful as her own, and something steamed in the snow beneath his muzzle. Lunette had stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the stranger, heart beating out a panicked rhythm. Her instinct was to turn, run, and scream—and why didn't she?
She was too afraid.
Her mind locked itself in a loop it couldn't escape, and only after many seconds had passed did she register the fact that this young wolf was not dangerous. He looked like even Lunette could take him on without a fuss, and, ears folded back against her head in uncertainty, she turned to look down the path. The Cove was not far away at all.. and.. this was not the wolf who had done a very good job of nearly killing her.. and.. he was a stranger.. which posed a very interesting question; how do you interact with strangers? As the meek, obedient, worthless Lunette her pack had gotten to know as of late?
Or as the Lunette she sometimes felt like, when she was alone? Tempered silver and capable—what a dream. She tried to swallow as much of the terror and self-loathing as she could, and crept up along the path, closer and closer. With the state he was in, she wasn't even sure he was able to notice her, but that was just fine. Her nose wrinkled. Whatever he had vomited up smelled awful, and when she was close enough, she saw it was the berries.
"Idiot," she said, unfamiliar with famine. "Those are poisonous."
She still had much to learn, but with how quick and hard life bites, she was bound to learn fast.
He continued to totter on the spot, vision blurring in and out of focus as his body seemed to be deciding on whether to faint or not. In the end it settled on consciousness – Unfortunately – underlined by a hollow pain, shooting through his stomach. A slow groan lifted from his throat, covering any sounds of approach, even if he'd had the presence of mind to notice. Had he had the energy, he would have been visibly startled by the voice, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. As it was, he simply veered his head, ears twitching tiredly in search of the speaker. "Wha..?" He started wearily, breaking off as his eyes found the figure, a surprisingly short distance away. In all fairness, her monochrome fur provided perfect camouflage in the snowy night, even the dark eyes blending in with the shadowy silhouettes around them. But that wasn't really an excuse for him not hearing her, and neither would it provide much comfort if she decided to further that advantage and attack him.
She didn't appear threatening though, just stood there, watching him wide eyed. Kyrios stared back, slowly processing the information gathered by his dulled senses. She was just a pup, he realized, all lanky and awkward just like him; Or I guess not quite as skinny… But definitely the same age. She reminded him of Atropos. "Oh," He finally managed, a weak smile twisting his lips; "So tha's why I feel so rotten." As if in protest to the joke, his stomach contracted violently, wiping the smirk off his face. He bended over again, retching multiple times, fruitlessly, there was nothing more left in him to throw up; Or perhaps that's why. He shuttered, closing his eyes briefly before looking back up at the stranger, trying to keep the joking note to his weak voice; "So, am I gonna die now?" Wouldn't that be pretty, his grand rescue mission, miserably failed. He'd end up just like Kjors, a mangled carcass, lost on the mountain.
Word Count: 334
"speech" Thoughts.
Lunette Vuesain
I’ve got my love stuck in my head
Suddenly, it bothered her—suddenly, everything bothered her, and her brows drew together in consternation. It was all wrong, the wooziness of the pup in front of her, the stuff he'd vomited up, the fact that he'd eaten the frostbitten berries at all—what the actual heck was wrong with this guy? Was he..sick? Was it contagious? Was he just mad? What happened if you talked to mad wolves? Did you, too, go mad? Was it like a disease, and she'd carry it, and all of the Cove would go mad, too? Worried, she started shimmying on the spot, ears flat, tail tucked, and suddenly running away seemed a really good idea, even if the pup wasn't in a state to bite her ears.But.. but. It was the way he swayed on his feet, the way his eyes looked dull, and the way he replied. Oh was what he said at first, and Lunette sympathized with it. That was probably what she would say, too, and then she would go on to call herself an idiot in at least fifteen different ways, internally of course, and decide it was probably a good thing that she die from it. Hesitantly, she licked her lips, and one ear peeked forward. He joked, or at least, she thought he joked, but it was weak and made him retch up some bile. She started shimmying again, pawing at the snow, wanting to go closer but not daring to.
"So, am I gonna die now?" It was what she had been thinking. Mama hadn't specified how poisonous they were. She chewed on her lips and finally took a hesitant step forward. "I don't know," she admitted, a note of distress crawling around her youthful voice, and she looked over her shoulder. The Cove was so far away.. "How do you feel? Who are you?" So many questions, no answers, and she peered at the dark trees. The sun had sunken behind clouds, and it left an oppressive darkness that had her yearning for stars. "I.. do you want me to fetch you something to eat? Or do you know what you need?" She wasn't sure she could catch anything for him. She wasn't a master hunter. She didn't even know why she cared, only that seeing the boy in such a state tugged on her conscience and heart in ways she had no time to stop up and analyze.
She looked to waver, or maybe that was his vision starting to wobble along with the rest of him. But she did seem hesitant; Scared? Certainly not of him, right? He couldn't imagine a less threatening figure than himself right now. Who was she anyway? What was she doing up here, all alone, at this hour? Even in his pitiful state, Kyrios' protective instinct reared its head. Looking at the silvery figure, all he could think of was Atropos, and he longed for his twin sister in a way he hadn't since they parted. But at least she was safe at home, this girl… What's her name? He wanted to ask, but just then a fresh tremor ran along his spine, the legs shaking beneath him. He wasn't sure whether he decided to sit down or the legs simply gave way under him, but his rear connected with the snow in a soft bump, head bowing down between squared forelegs as he blinked against the dizziness. This wasn't gonna work, he couldn't go on like this!
Her voice drifted to him as if through water, distant and muffled, and his ears twitched, head lifting slowly so he could look at her again; Has she come closer? He was about to ask what she'd said, but before his sluggish mind could formulate the question, she spoke again, a veritable rain of questions suddenly thrown at him. Dim eyes stared back at her, silence stretching for a long while as he tried to structure his thoughts into answers. Finally he said: "Kyrios. That's me name. And A' feel lousy…" That was about all he could think of, head quickly starting to swim again. He paused to breathe, a shallow, rasping sound that tore at his mistreated throat. His chest felt oddly tight, a strange, buzzing numbness replacing the quavering in his limps. It was all he could do to stay upright.
'Do you know what you need?' Did he ever! He needed his family back, he needed his river, he needed… Eat! She'd said 'something to eat'. His head jerked up, as if he'd been falling asleep and was startled by a sudden sound, eyes narrowing and then widening again. "Food," he rasped, feeling his knotted up stomach tumble over a few times at the mere mention of the word; "Aye, A' could… Really do with somethin' t' eat." At least that would solve one of his problems.
Word Count: 406
"speech" Thoughts.Lunette Vuesain
I’ve got my love stuck in my head
He was getting worse. Weaker. He swayed and fell down into an awkward sit, and Lunette felt the reading on her panic meter rising. Was he going to die? In front of her? Was it her fault? Was there something she should've done to stop it—or ease it? His eyes were really dull and vacant and sort of spaced out, and her back started quivering with tension. What was she supposed to do? Where was Kajika or Mama or even Moonshadow when she needed them? Somebody who was better equipped to deal with life, someone who knew what to do—and why hadn't she asked Mama how poisonous they were, or how to counter it? She had just assumed that everyone would be brought up knowing they were poisonous and thus stay away from them but here was living proof that that wasn't the case, and maybe, maybe, he'd die from her stupidity and slow processing.But he introduced himself, as Kyrios, a name she had never heard. Too busy freaking out she didn't offer up her own name, just stared at him in a kind of panic-induced coma, blurting out words and possibilities and then being afraid when he suddenly said yes. Food. Alright. Food. The vomiting boy looked like he'd keel over at any moment, and she wished she could split herself in two—one to stay with him, and one to go hunting. What if he died, all alone and cold, while she was gone?
She had to let go and hazard it, she supposed, but the idea of going somewhere where she didn't know and was in perfect control of the situation, and able to monitor it, was scary. She drew a deep breath. It quivered all the way down her throat. "Okay. Okay, food. Food." She felt as if she walked in a dream when she turned away from him, and stated loping down the path along the mountainside. Their caches were too far away into the territory, and while they existed practically on top of one another, the fresh scent of a hare had her veering off. It somehow seemed like the better course of action, or she did not consider that she could howl for her pack-mates and surely one of them would bring something and come along.
She came running so fast, and out of a snow-covered nowhere, that she took the hare entirely by a kind of surprise she figured would only work once in her life, and she used that once up now, to save a Kyrios she had absolutely no relation to whatsoever. Wolf and hare collided, Lunette's fangs sunk into its hip, and they went careening through the snow, rolling over until they came to a stop. It was kicking and fighting, giving her bleeding scratches along her muzzle, but she was too blinded by the pounding of her heart to notice. She slammed a paw on it, shifted her grip, and ended its suffering.
It bled all over her mouth and throat and chest as she powered back up the mountainside. Her breath was hot and harsh in her lungs, her heart felt like it would burst from the exertion, but adrenaline gave her strength—and courage—where she likely otherwise would've failed.
He was still there when she came back—a dirty cream creature. She was too stressed to figure out if he was still alive or not, just dropped the dead, still steaming hare in front of him, and hoped for the best.