Whisper Marsh Starting Anew

The female had been wandering through the trees for so long now that she had become numb to her surroundings: the sound of wind rustling the leaves, the feeling of leaves crunching as she stepped on them, the smell of fresh pine. She had no trouble finding food or water to keep her sustained, but the lack of scenery change was taking a toll on her mentally, she needed to be out of the trees or she would go crazy. She paused and leaned against a tree, giving herself a second to catch her breath and regain a sense of direction, but the scent of muddy water gave her hope, There's a marsh ahead, thank god... she thought to herself, paired with a relieved sigh. She padded forwards towards the water, finally bursting out of the tree line and into the sun, forcing her now light sensitive eyes to narrow, making it hard for her to get a grip of her surroundings. She stood still for a long moment as her eyes became more and more accustom to the natural light, eventually about to open her glasz eyes fully and look around. Seeing no other wolves around her, Jess felt a pang of disappointment, it had been 4 months since Kual and Seia and herself had parted ways, and she craved interaction with another being.

"Hello?"

She barked loudly in a vain attempt to get the attention of another near by, though she couldn't smell another wolf, but her scent may have been off due to the muddy smell of the marsh. She stood as still as she could, trying to listen for something, anything really, but as she had guessed, her ears were met with nothing but silence. With a quiet sigh, she padded around, feeling with one of her paws for a dry spot, and upon finding one among some reeds, she lay her body down, only then realizing how sore her muscles were from traveling. She rolled onto her side and stretched all of her limbs, letting out a slight whine as she stretched as far as she could, then relaxed her body and closed her eyes, deciding to enjoy the warmth of the sun for a while, for it was a long missed feeling.

Hope you don't mind me inching in

Charcoal sloshed through the mud, the fur along the back of his neck standing straight up as the mush seeped into the pads of his paws and clung to his ankles. After getting lost far too many times, he decided to retrace his steps and double back the way he came, only to get lost once again. What are the odds that a wolf would get lost in a marsh of all places. His fur was still damp with patches of unmelted ice clinging to his coat from the freezing fog he had to trudge through and he was chilled to the bone.

With an exaggerated huff, Charcoal pushed on, his breath stirring the water around his paws. He blinked when a soft sound tickled the soft fur in his ears. "Why am I always hearing voices in this cursed marsh?" He groaned to himself, tucking his head and continuing forward. Not even going to bother. Those ghosts can go bug some other poor wolf passing through. His paws squelched loudly in the muck and Charcoal paused, a shudder passing from the top of his ears all the way down to the tip of his tail.

Pulling his paw from the mud, he lifted it into the air and shook it off, his head slowly whipping from side to side before he stepped forward onto a slightly raised patch of firm ground. Raising his head to give the air a tentative sniff, he snorted and preceded to lick the slush from in between his pads.

No I don't mind at all!

Despite the cold, the sun felt nice on her thick winter fur and allowed her to have a blissful break from the winter bite. As she lay there, a sloshing sound pierced the silence, causing her to heave herself up lazily, her head cocked to the side in confusion as she remained quiet and strained her ears to catch some sound.

"...voices in this cursed marsh?"

She swung her head towards a voice which was followed by an abnoxious sloppy sound, is someone walking through the mud? she thought to herself with an amused chuckle. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and let out a yawn, still drowsy from her relaxation, but a clump of mud woke her up immediately, glaring towards the direction is was projected from and growled with irritation as more mud came flying at her. She stood up with speed and marched over towards the flying mud, her eyes flicking around as she looked for the source of the flying mud, her eyes finally resting on a black wolf covered in mud licking his paws clean. Jess shook what mud she could off of her face and stopped a few feet in front of the wolf, the wolf,

"You know, there's a better way of walking through the marsh: firm ground,"

She said and she stomped her paw on the ground beneath her, an amused chuckle escaping her muzzle. Her glasz eyes looked over the black wolf's mud coated fur then looked back up at his eyes,

"It also helps avoid getting your fur, and other's fur muddy,"

she said as she pawed at the mud that had now hardened on her muzzle, knocking a chunk of it off, emphasizing her point.

The ghost? The thought flashed quickly in Charcoal's mind as the voice he heard earlier drifted to his ears and he glanced up at the strange wolf standing before him. Blinking, Charcoal tucked his paws under his belly and pulled himself up, taking a moment to stretch - his way of casually waving off his quick lapse of unease - before settling down to his original position; slightly leaning to the side with his back legs sprawled out in front of his belly and his forepaws crossed contently under his chin.

"I'm sorry." Charcoal murmured. "I didn't expect any other wolves to be around here." He spoke as casually as if he had happened upon the wolf during a morning stroll. A morning stroll trudging through knee deep marsh, that is. His tail flicked, waving away his thoughts as he examined the stranger. She didn't appear to have been in the area long, a newcomer like himself. "What are you doing in the marsh? Form what I know, there are easier ways of getting around." He spoke up, tilting his head to the side all the while subconsciously glaring at a small puddle of water glinting just beyond the reaches of his vision.

Boy did he hate getting wet. Just the thought of having to trek through the marsh was enough to send small shudders down his spine. Especially since all the supposed "firm ground" he's had the misfortune of stumbling upon just collapsed under his paws, dumping him unceremoniously into the muck.

The male seemed unusually casual and relaxed as if he were already used to her presence, so she too relaxed a bit, carefully sitting down on what little solid land there was that close to the mud. She had not yet ventured into the marsh, instead, she remained close to the tree line, but he seemed to have decided to walk right through it.

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect any other wolves to be around here."

She looked around and noticed that he was right to think so, she too thought she was alone until he came along, throwing mud at her, though she wasn't angry at him, instead, she found it kind of funny. She looked back at him and noticed him scanning her, so she sat up straighter and watched him with firm eyes.

"What are you doing in the marsh? Form what I know, there are easier ways of getting around."

She watched him and smirked as he glared sideways at a puddle as if it would jump on him at any second,

"Well, I've been traveling through the forest for so long, I needed to find some more open land,"

She said as she looked up at the sky then shook out her fur, feeling less crowded and suffocated by the trees and leaves of the forest. Jess sigh contentedly and looked at the wolf, his fur still muddy but his nonchalant position made her think he really didn't care. She remained sitting properly, but she too was relaxed, the open sky making her feel at ease.

"I'm Jess by the way. I'm not from 'round here."

She said as she looked intently at him, awaiting for his introduction.

With a subtle nod of his head, the wolf pried his eyes from the puddle. "Charcoal. He said simply, a sorry excuse for an introduction but an introduction nonetheless. "If your sick of trees, there's a meadow not far from here, actually. I was heading for it myself when I got los- thought I spotted a bird. Yeah, that's right, a bird. Right over there," He jerked his chin to the side. "I was going to pounce on it but it took off too quickly and I found myself stuck in the mud." He nodded, more to himself, and tried to appear as though he knew exactly what he was doing.

Truth was that he did in fact spot a bird. Sure it turned out to be only a clump of reeds afterward but that was besides the point. He understood how the other wolf was feeling, in a way. He had felt a little claustrophobic in the woods just north of here. Maybe it was the way the tree branches would get caught on his fur, almost as though the forest was trying to absorb him- Charcoal opened his eyes and blinked. Whoa how did that happen? He quickly shut down that one part of his brain that would throw weird thoughts at him during the most inopportune times and willed himself to return to reality.

He blinked up at the other wolf, his eyes occasionally darting back and forth between the stranger and the puddle nearby. It had definitely been a long day.

She watched as he gingerly moved his dark green eyes from the puddle, smirking at his suspicion of the water.

"Charcoal. If your sick of trees, there's a meadow not far from here, actually. I was heading for it myself when I got los- thought I spotted a bird. Yeah, that's right, a bird. Right over there, I was going to pounce on it but it took off too quickly and I found myself stuck in the mud."

She nodded along with him dramatically and grinning widely, her glasz eyes sparkling with amusement,

"Oh yes!"

She said dramatically,

"Those darn birds, what a shame you missed it,"

She said understandingly. She watched him carefully as he closed his eyes, almost as if he was transported to another time, so she sat and waited for him for a moment, jumping a bit when he suddenly opened his eyes and watched her and the puddle interchangeably. Hm, it would be fun to explore around.. she thought to herself,

"Well it would be better than this,"

She muttered half to herself, half to Charcoal. She looked around at the muddy marshland and stood up swiftly,

"Let's go to the meadow,"

She barked, excited to explore more of this new land she had stumbled upon.

Okay so, in order for this thread to be counted as finished, there needs to be at least 10 posts. We can roleplay them walking through the marsh in search of the meadow? We really just need two more posts each

Charcoal blinked at the young wolf's enthusiasm. Too bad neither of us know where it is- "Well, okay then." He said simply, hauling himself off the ground. Pausing for a moment, he raised a paw and slowly extended it, carefully poking and prodding the ground around him, looking for a firm spot. There. One spot didn't immediately bend under his weight. Stepping off his little island, Charcoal hopped over to the firm ground only to have it cave in at the last second and bump the wolf straight into the puddle he had been eying for a while.

The puddle was surprisingly deep as the ground itself seemed to swallow him whole. A few seconds later he shot out of the puddle and onto the one piece of actually firm ground he had encountered all day, shivering with his tail tucked between his legs. Blinking, Charcoal cleared his throat loudly, his tail popping up and curling over his back as he raised his head and puffed his chest out like nothing happened.

"Moving along." Charcoal woofed, trying to look as dignified as possible under the layers of fur clinging to his body. He set off in a random direction, swallowed by a patch of reeds, before backtracking and setting off once more due south with a soft murmur of, "The meadow's this way." He pretended not to care as he forgot about checking for firm ground all together and ended up sloshing through the mud like last time, making the paws he had cleaned dirty once more.

(This post was last modified: Dec 18, 2014, 11:40 PM by Charcoal.)

Two more posts each, got it!
Maybe we can move on to the Iridescent Lagoon before going to the meadow.

"Well, okay then," he said as Jess smirked at his lack of enthusiasm. She watched as he made a jump for solid land, but instead landing on firm ground, the grass collapsed below him, dowsing him in yet another layer of muddy water. Jess chuckled lightly at his mishap, quickly quieting as he escaped the water's clutches, yet she retained an amused smile as he cleared his throat and tried to redeem himself, "Moving along," he stated seriously, "The meadow's this way." He said more quietly, once again stepping in mud, but this time, Jess' smile was more sympathetic, he just can't catch a breank, can he? she thought to herself. With a serious face, Jess jumped into the mud next to him, then looked sideways at him, a smirk interrupting her serious expression,

"Well look at that, we're both muddy now,"

She said in a matter of fact tone before jumping out of the puddle and turning towards him,

"Maybe I'll lead the way. Your way just gets us all muddy,"

She laughed before trotting south, making sure she stayed near the tree line for that was where the firm ground would be, slowing down a bit to a stroll like pace, enjoying the cool wind that began to blow that was uninterrupted by the trees like she was used to for so long, looking over her shoulder to see if Charcoal was following.

(This post was last modified: Dec 19, 2014, 07:44 AM by Jess.)

Charcoal paused for a moment, glancing after Jess through a curtain of dark fur dripping into his eyes. With an exaggerated huff, he shook his himself and trotted along behind the female. "I hope you know where you're going." He murmured, tucking his chin close to his chest as he examined the various puddles and strips of water that spider webbed through the marsh. He could just be paranoid but they appeared to getting larger and more prominent. Oh that's right. He thought suddenly, blinking. That lagoon is also by here, huh. He let out a sharp squeak and rocketed forward as a clump of ground beneath his hind paw broke off, dumping his foot into the strip of water hugging the treeline.

Lifting his leg, he quickly shook it off with a soft growl, just as a thick fog began to roll in. Since arriving in the area he noticed fog seemed to be everywhere. Maybe it's just a winter thing. He thought. Except this fog was freezing. Charcoal had never been sensitive to the cold, his dark coat had always done a fairly good job in absorbing heat and keeping his warm in the winter, but it was a completely different story when he was cold and wet.

He limped along beside Jess as the cold stabbed through his thick layers of fur and chilled him to the bone, frost collecting on his legs and icicle shard forming in between his paw pads. Nice. He thought grumpily as he paused for a moment to lick the snow from his legs. This day just keeps getting better and better.