>=D Dis is kinda short to start. XD Late afternoon, August 4th!

WC: 394

Her paw was throbbing. Between herself and Ezra, the mixed-breed male she'd managed to rouse from his slumber with her clumsiness, the large splinter had finally come out of her right forepaw. However, Bris had a feeling that there were still tiny slivers of the wood left within the pad, and she knew she would have the task of using her jewelry kit to remove them. She was lucky she had those tools, to be sure. The last thing she needed was for the puncture wound to become infected, so it was imperative she remove the remaining slivers and wash the injury thoroughly. Fortunately, she still had some bandages stored in her bedroom closet from the healing she'd done from the encounter with Cotl, so she could at least keep her paw protected from further dirt once she'd gotten home.

Getting home was the only thing Bris was truly focused on for the remainder of the late afternoon. She wasn't far, about halfway there from the lake in the middle of Ethereal Eclipse, and once there she would also be comfortable enough to shift forms. She'd remained in her lupus form throughout the day, not wanting to aggravate the recent injury to her paw until she had the proper things she needed to deal with it. Shifting now would only further imbed the remaining pieces into her pad, and without the tools to pick them out immediately afterward, they would work their way in farther and do more damage. Limping along on three legs wasn't the fastest mode of travel, but it was the cleanest. Besides, it wasn't like she'd broken anything: she could used her right forepaw if needed, Bris would just rather keep it aloft in order to maintain its cleanliness and lessen the chance for complications. At least she wasn't terribly far from Dahlia's borders, and so far, there hadn't been any signs of anything out of the ordinary as she'd made her journey. Her nerves were still on fire, trying to convince her that her personal nightmare was still lurking somewhere unseen in the shadows, but as the day wore on Bris found herself lulled more and more into the belief that the day would end without incident. Aside from the clumsy step that had led to her now bloody paw and having hopefully made a new friend, of course.



Table by Kiri/Jenny!

Eeee hee hee hee!

That nagging voice in Bris' head was annoyingly persistent. It was a distinct undertone to the pleasure the Stormbringer was finding in the fading afternoon around her. Ethereal Eclipse was a place of otherworldly beauty, and the woman's face echoed her feelings of contentment as she limped through the woods. The feeling of peace that permeated her surroundings helped to keep her mind off the irritating pain in her paw, and the only thing that would make the feeling more complete would be the cessation of the paranoia in her brain.

As if to prove her private point, Bris found herself starting as she heard something not too far away. Her footsteps stopped abruptly, her mismatched eyes wide and searching her surroundings for anything out of the ordinary. White ears twitched as they tried to focus on just where the noise had come from, but nothing else was heard. All of her peaceful relaxation was melted away in that instant, despite the fact that it seemed nothing was amiss. The birds still chirped, the squirrels still scurried, and nothing else in the forest had ceased its business. Regardless, when Bris set her feet back in motion, she did so with a bit more speed. The injury to her paw was decidedly ignored as she no longer favored it, deciding to limp along at a faster pace rather than slow herself down anymore by holding her paw aloft. Her soft ears were slightly lowered as she concentrated on listening and watching, her violet and sapphire eyes darting around her as she set herself into a limping trot farther in the direction of Dahlia.



Table by Kiri/Jenny!

<333

WC: 455

Bris' heart began beating a bit faster as her feet carried her toward home. She chided herself inwardly for her paranoia and skittishness, telling herself she was foolishly jumping at shadows. Yet despite this chiding voice, her feet refused to slow, and her heart refused to calm. It didn't matter anyway, as soon as she was back in Dahlia, she'd have plenty of time to feel stupid for being spooked over nothing at all.

Her hackles bristled slightly as she trotted along, her eyes still darting from side to side, defying her sorry attempt at reassurance as they frantically tried to find what her instincts told her was there. Her ears twitched as noises crackled from the brush around her, close enough to be heard, yet far enough for the source to remain hidden. Her heart quickened even more as the sounds alternated from side to side, and sometimes even before or behind her. Bris' mouth went dry, a lump of fear forming in her throat, and she tried to force it down. Panicking solved nothing, and she was a big girl, she could deal with almost anything that noise could be.

Anything except one thing in particular.

Terror gripped her heart as the voice whispered from among the trees. It was the same voice that so frequently now invaded her sleep: a whiskey tenor dripping with malice. Crimson eyes flashed through Bris' mind at the sound of that taunting nickname he'd granted her, and despite her brain screaming at her to run, the white wolf's feet froze to the ground. Velvet ears laid back against her skull as she lowered her body stance, her tail sweeping low. A shudder snaked its way down her spine as her hackles bristled fully, her mismatched eyes wide with fear as they tried desperately to find him. Hybrid was there, somewhere in the shadows around her, Bris was sure of it. That voice was unmistakable, and though a part of her tried to tell her it was all in her head, her instincts told her it was real.

Sounds continued to echo from the woods around her, first to her left, then her right. As they circled around, Bris tried to keep herself facing whichever direction they would come from. Her lips curled as a fear-fueled growl began rumbling softly in her chest, and then it struck her. The wind shifted, carrying the unmistakable scent of Hybrid Holocaust to Bris' nose, and it was the extra little push needed to take her over the edge. With his voice echoing still in her ears, his scent snaking its way through her nose, the injured woman suddenly bolted as fast as she could in the direction of Dahlia de Mai.



Table by Kiri/Jenny!

HAHAHA Tammi ftw! XD

WC: 398

The white Stormbringer had no idea how long she'd been running. Pain lanced through her right front leg with every footfall, slowing her, but she forced herself to keep going. Once the largest piece of splinter had been removed with Ezra's help, the puncture wound hadn't been all that bad, merely painful. But now, her fear fueling her feet, each time her front paw hit the ground it aggravated the injury further. Before long, Bris was leaving a trail of bloody footprints in her wake.

Yet no matter how much closer she was getting to home, that voice never seemed to quiet. Hybrid was keeping up with her, his calls from behind her pleading in some sick way for his "kitty" to come back and play. As Bris ran, she took note that the voice and the sound of Hybrid's pursuit would sometimes sway to the right or left, and she could only assume he was trying to get ahead of her and block her path to salvation. That assumption only served to feed the desperation in her heart, and though her body rebelled at the strain she was putting on it, Bris kept running.

How much farther could it possibly be to Dahlia? Bris knew she couldn't be too far, yet there was no familiar scent of the pack's borderline to greet her. Had she fled the wrong way in her panic? Or had she simply midjudged the distance she'd travelled? As all of these thoughts raced through her mind, the young Dahlian found herself distracted, and she failed to notice a rather large hole she was coming up on at a rather quick pace. Of course, it was the perfect size to swallow her paw, and Bris yelped as she felt more pain shoot through her right leg. Her ankle twisted, and Bris hit the ground hard. The force of the impact coupled with the newer, sharper pain brought a bit of clarity to the woman's panicking mind, and she forced herself to make sure she could still move her foot before attempting to get to her feet. As far as she could tell, the ankle wasn't broken, but damn if it didn't hurt. Pushing the pain back from her mind, Bris realized that Hybrid had to be close, and struggled to recover quickly and escape. There was no telling just how close he could be.



Table by Kiri/Jenny!

Shall we wrap this one up? 8D I love these threads, SO FUN. Even I am a slow ninny.

WC: 331

There'd been a crash somewhere behind her as she'd gotten to her feet, but she ignored it. Hybrid was still following, still chasing, his creepy voice still slithering its way into Bris' ears and down her spine. Her fall had slowed her escape even more, and the young Jager ran on three legs now. She hadn't cared when her foot had only been cut, but with her ankle twisted, there was no telling if the next misstep would break it.

Trees whizzed by Bris in a blur, her only focus trying to get back to Dahlia as quickly as possible, preferably in one pretty piece. A glimmer of hope bloomed within the woman as she began to hear her pursuer's footsteps fading a little behind her, and she let herself hope that it meant she was putting some distance between them somehow. How was it possible though? Bris was injured and clumsy, and Hybrid had been going out of his way to toy with her. He should have no problem in keeping up with her. Unless that crash she'd heard had something to do with it. The woods were full of obstacles, maybe they were trying to give Bris an edge.

Whatever had made the male lag behind, Bris was grateful for it. She pushed herself farther and farther, covering ground as quickly as she could on three legs. Suddenly, her heart leapt for joy. The scent of Dahlia's borders drifted to her nose, and she knew she was getting close. Only a few more painful steps, and she'd be wrapped in the protecting embrace of her packlands. She'd been a fool to cross that border and tempt fate, and fate thoroughly enjoyed laughing at her for it. Just a little farther, a little more. Bris' mouth went dry as timber as she heard the unmistakable sound of Hybrid still in hot pursuit. All she could do was pray that her feet crossed Dahlia's border before he could catch her.



Table by Kiri/Jenny!