The Wildwood Shiver me Timbers

RE: Annaliese, you're right in the path of a small dust devil!

Ana trotted along briskly, holding a limp body between her jaws. The small hare swung back and forth with little blood dropplets staining the snow. The wolf's legs extended and retracted as she covered the ground with an uppity rhythm. Her tail swayed softly behind her. The young wolf was at ease, now having caught a total of three extra rabbits for her cache. Of course, this had all been different days, but she was getting the new trade down! Normally the yearling would be seen fishing dusk to dawn by sandy shorelines. Now she worked day in and out to bring back a few measly hares. They were usually pathetic, scrawny, little things. Few and far between. As opposed to the large plentiful fish she was used to bringing in.

Life was harder here but somehow the girl was managing. Her will to survive spurred her on every morning. The hope of a new day kept her alive every night. The few pelts she had also aided to keep her off the snow. The den wasn't fully lined, but it was a start. In a world of do or die, she was doing!

She had already ate some scraps off an old carcass today, so the rabbit was easy enough to store away. To Annaliese the fact she had not one but three extra was astonishing. They may of been sorry looking, but they were food! She was hustling! Was that is. Suddenly Ana found herself stumbling about in a circle. A strong wind, normally a dust devil, had picked up. It pulled snow up in its might and twirled around the dazed girl. Her pelt was thoroughly ruffled up. Dizzy and started Ana was caught off gaurd.

Annaliese lost her balance and fell down a snow bank, landing with a yelp.

Currently Annaliese smells vaguely like Valle wolves. During transportation, the humans rubbed her with their scent.

Clover plowed her way through the snow, deciding to take a more direct route through the piles over walking where there was the least amount of snow. Her breath frosted in the air as she exhaled, quickly dissolving into the air while she walked. The sun was blocked by the overcast clouds in the sky, not that it would have warmed her pelt anyway, but it still would have been something.

She came to a halt when a yelp echoed out, nose twitching furiously as she turned her head in the direction of origin. That had not sounded good, and with the thought that someone might be hurt she broke into a run, speed hindered by the snow but she pushed forth. Running uphill in the snow was more tiring than she would have thought, but she managed to crest the small hill and looked around, spotting a darker form at the bottom of the snow bank.

The air was filled with a swirl of snow that had her hunkering down so as to not be swept off her dainty paws. "Are you okay?" She called out, words filled with worry, before sliding her way down the snow bank on her stomach. Managing to not go sprawling when she reached the bottom, Clover leaped to to her paws and hurried over to the wolf, stopping just shy of actually touching them. However, when she picked up the familiar scent of the other female she had met not too long ago her tail wagged, and she crouched down so her face was level with the other females'. "Annaliese!"

Ana whimpered, sprawled about the snow with one paw twisted underneath her at an odd angle. The tumble had caused her to loose grasp of her rabbit. Anxiously the girl started to low crawl about, shoving her head into the snow to search. She'd almost missed the "Are you okay" if it hadn't been for coming up to dive into another spot. Still on her belly, she looked up at Clover. Her tail thumped and she shook the snow off her face.

Annaliese pondered the question with worry. An injury meant just damn near about death for a loner. Especially in winter. She pushed the thoughts back, "I lost my rabbit, have you seen it?" she asked with a pitiful facial expression. The girl trusted Clover not to take it, being that she was a good doer and all. It made Ana worry about the other wolf's wellbeing...but right now she really wanted her hare back. Confusion crossed her features as the other said her name at what seemed a random time, "Uh...Clover."

The yearling went to rise up on all fours, but unfortunately she fell face flat. Yowling out in pain she rolled onto her side. It hurt! She tucked her paw up and gingerly licked at it. The clueless child examined herself and seeing no blood tried getting up yet another time. A sharp pain shot through her limb stimuantioisly with it meeting the ground. Immediately she reeled her paw back and wobbled, steadying herself on 3 legs. She let out a miserable whine.

Currently Annaliese smells vaguely like Valle wolves. During transportation, the humans rubbed her with their scent.

She cocked her head curiously at Ana's query about her rabbit, a little confused at her desire for the rabbit over making sure her own body was alright. But she was never one to refuse a patients' wishes, and so stepped back, eyes and nose searching for this rabbit. The smell reached her first, and she found it just a few feet away partially buried under the snow. Clover grabbed it with her jaws and brought it back to Ana, dropping it next to them within reach so she could focus on helping the darker girl.

When Ana attempted to stand up Clover darted forward just as she fell flat on her face, her own nose scrunching worriedly at the pained cry. That was definitely not good. "Wait, hold on!" She said as the darker girl tried standing up again, wanting her to stay down so she could examine the injured paw, but unsuccessful in stopping her. Clover moved to stand next to the other girl, flank pressed gently up against hers to try and steady her so she would not fall over again.

She eyed the lifted paw from where she stood, noting that there was no blood or apparent deformity, but that Ana definitely was not able to put weight on it without feeling pain. It was likely just a sprain then, but she cursed inwardly at not having any anti-inflammatory plants in stock to be made into a poultice. This winter was just getting worse and worse for her. She would have to make do with some of the plentiful snow to ice the paw and bark to compress the swelling. "If you stay right here I can go grab something that will help the healing process, but I'm afraid I don't have anything to help with the pain," she said confidently, if a little sadly, at not being able to help Ana to the best of her ability.

Clover was quick to find Annaliese's missing rabbit beneath the snow. The girl sighed with relief, "Thank you." She said while the woman brought it over nearby. No meals lost then. She was back on track to surviving the winter- almost.

Ana graciously took the support, leaning into the smaller female. She didn't consider her weight compared to the other in the process. Worriedly she watched the medic examine her paw. She sucked in a dry nervous breath and licked at her lips. If she was hurt...if this was bad...What am I going to do? Panick quickly found its way to the girl. Her breathing became ragged, heart rate increasing. She flopped down onto her butt with an exaggerated huff. Woe was her! Would she die? How would she hunt let alone fend for herself?! Ana was useless now! Three rabbits wouldn't last her long. Her mind was let loose with thoughts running about her cranium. None of which were positive in the slightest.

Then Clover said the magic words; healing process. Ana gasped, "I'm doomed". She muttered with self pity, whining loudly, "Oh I'm doomed." She echoed out her first statement, "An injured loner is but a sitting duck!" Annaliese exclaimed, only growing more worried as her...acquaintance?...freind?...friendly acquaintance?...sounded sad. When will I pass? She wondered with wide brown eyes. This was her death sentence, and at only one year of age! She watched to see what Clover would do although her mind was made up. What was the point of her efforts?

"No...don't waste your time on me. Don't die over me." The melodramatic yearling went on to say. For, if Clover spent too much time on her, how was she to take care of herself? They'd discussed this in previous times but right now it seemed more important than before.

Currently Annaliese smells vaguely like Valle wolves. During transportation, the humans rubbed her with their scent.

A young fawn has gotten separated from its herd. Hunt Opportunity, +8 Health

She had to square her stance as Ana leaned more heavily against her, the difference in their weight enough that she had to put more effort into not being pushed over, but not enough that she was immediately squished. Such was the life of being a smaller wolf, but she was used to it by now. Her concern became more apparent at the darker girl's increasing anguish and panic, and she let out a soft whine while gently rubbing their shoulders together in an attempt to calm Ana down. "It's not that bad, just a sprain," she said positively, hoping her words were enough to ease some of Ana's panic. A sprain was not the worst thing if there were others around to help out for the first few days while it healed.

While she was correct in that an injured loner was less able to fend for themselves, especially in winter, Clover had decided that she would stick close to Ana until the other girl was able to walk well enough by herself. It was her duty, after all, as a healer, and she had been planning on sticking in the woods anyway, so it was not as if she was going too far out of her way to help Ana. If she had been any less nice she might have scoffed at the darker girl's theatrical words, but instead she simply shook her head firmly, eyes set in a steely gaze. "That's not gonna happen," she said in a determined voice. "I'll stick with you until your paw heals enough for you to walk on it again, I'm staying close to this area so it's no extra strain on me."

Clover stepped back now that Ana was sitting, and eyed her paw before glancing around at the trees. She spotted a few close by that had the bark she was looking for which made her tail wag. At least something was going right. "Now I want you to stay right here while I go fetch some bark. You can cover it with some snow to help reduce any swelling until I get back." Her words were firm with no room for any arguments, but she waited for confirmation before she would go and strip the bark from one of the nearby trees.

"Not that bad?" Ana moped, "I won't be able to hunt." She complained to the white wolf. The yearling frowned and hugged her paw closer to her chest. Surely she would go hungry now. Alone. Cold. And empty bellied. This was her fate, yep, it was sealed. No changing it now. If only she'd been paying more attention to her surroundings.

She whimpered as the other shook her head and spoke. How did she know that? Annaliese didn't care that she was a medic, she cared that hunting was out of the picture! What good could Clover's bark do? It wasn't edible! Well, maybe it was, but surely it couldn't be sustainable! Ana's brows creased, the girl taken back at Clover's declaration. The yearling stuttered out some unintelligible words. Then she opted to just look at the white wolf utterly flabbergasted.

Still speechless the dark female merely nodded her head. Slowly she laid down, using her muzzle to push the snow into a pile. The girl took care in gingerly laying her sprained paw into the damp cold. She moved more snow ontop until she was sure she'd done right of what her friendly acquaintance suggested. Annaliese shivered, now exposed to the chill beneath her and all around. The wind, the ground, and her submerged paw all working against her. Now more than ever she longed for the familar shore of the coastline.

Currently Annaliese smells vaguely like Valle wolves. During transportation, the humans rubbed her with their scent.

Taking the darker girl's silence as confirmation, Clover turned and hurried over to one of the tress, eyeing it with a narrowed gaze. She raised up onto her hind legs and carefully swiped her claws along the bark, feeling it crunch beneath her paw. Rather than peel back from the tree she just left gashes in the bark, and she dropped down to all fours with a huff. That bark would not do. She moved on to the next tree, repeating the process, but this time with success! The bark lifted away from the trunk, and she carefully used her claws to peel away a thick strip of bark, finally giving it a quick tug with her jaws to pull it free.

Satisfied with the strip of bark she had collected, she stepped back from the tree before plunging the bark into the snow, working it with her paws for a solid couple of minutes to let the snow melt a little and soak into the bark. While she would have liked to let it soak in actual warm water, that was not possible what with winter still being around, and so it would have to do. She picked up the now more slightly pliable bark strip on her mouth and padded back to Ana, happy to see the darker girl had done as she instructed.

She dropped the bark on the ground, lowering herself down onto her stomach. This would be easier to do with the use of her front paws. "I'm gonna wrap this bark around your paw to compress it, that should stop it from swelling up too much and causing you more pain," she explained gently. "Is that okay with you?" Clover would never do or give something without permission from the other wolf unless it was an extreme situation, but hopefully it would never come to that.

Annaliese didn't know much about bark, but when Clover seemingly gave up with the first tree she was displeased. Anxiety shown brightly in her eyes, her tongue licking at her teeth. She was concerned...what exactly was a sprain anyways? The other female said it wasn't that bad. Hopefully she wasn't sugar coating some awful awful truth. The girl watched as her freindly acquaintance managed to strip a good sized peice from a trunk. Her tail thumped in the snow, Ana silently cheering her on.

She cocked her head to the side and observed. The other wolf kneaded at the submerged bark. Clover did this long enough for Ana to assume it an important step. She smiled tentatively as the woman came back over. What would she do next? She wasn't left wondering long. "If it means I'll walk again." Annaliese lifted her paw and allowed it to go limp so that Clover may work with it. With that the dark female looked away. She winced from anticipation, squeezing her eyes shut.

Currently Annaliese smells vaguely like Valle wolves. During transportation, the humans rubbed her with their scent.