Word Count → 371 :: Dated December 21st. For reference on the fight, read Blood and Snow in Sticks and Stones.
Every step the arctic wolf took seemed like an endless torture. The wounds on her belly, shoulder, head, and neck were no longer bleeding heavily; but blood still dripped from them. Heat radiated from each gash while the cold seeped into her bones. Kiara's once pristine coat was stained red with blood, both fresh and drying. The arctic wolf's breathing was labored and only helped to exacerbate her wounds. Kiara's eyes clouded over several times, but through some miracle the alabaster woman managed to stay conscious.
After her horrifying encounter with Amy all Kiara wanted to do was curl up into a small ball. Kiara was battered, both physically and mentally. That day had started out wonderfully, only to end in disaster. Kiara had woken to find the world covered in snow. Like most arctic wolves she enjoyed snow and went for a run through the Halcyon Mountains. However, once she met Amy that all changed. Amy had tortured the snow wolf, carving a circular pattern into her belly and laughing all the while. Amy had also injured Kiara in many other ways, but none as horrifying as the gash on her belly.
The alabaster woman was only dimly aware of Vesper's presence, even though Kiara relied heavily on the coywolf's support as she walked. Her eyes barely registering what was in front of them. Kiara wasn't even aware that the two had crossed the boarders of Ichika. Every now and then Kiara would mutter something to Vesper. Most of the time what she said was incoherent. However, occasionally Kiara would try to apologize to Vesper or say that she could get back to Trenton by herself. The last part was a lie.
Sometimes the snow wolf would slip into waking dreams. The visions before her eyes were scattered and strange. She would see Shiloh and little Sarian. She would see her parents and siblings. She would see Amy and her dreaded knife. Nothing made sense though and most of her mutterings occurred during these times. Even as the ghostly figures danced in from of her, the arctic wolf continued to walk. Placing one foot in front of the other. Somewhere, deep down, Kiara knew she needed to get back home.
A pink tongue lolled from narrow, blood-stained jaws as Vesper walked toward the familiar scent of Ichikan territory. Her pace seemed to drag both from her own exhaustion and the weight of the white she-wolf against her shoulder, and yet she knew that time was something they could not waste. She had to get her friend into the territory to a healer before blood loss took her from the world. She might have risked the journey south into Inferni, but she wasn’t sure how a wolf would be welcomed on clan ground or whether Enkiel would want to waste herbs and effort on an outsider when there could be others to treat. She knew that Kiara would be more comfortable in her own home, anyway.
She was tired and trembling, but she didn’t let her weariness keep her from her goal as she trudged onward, tuning out what her friend was saying. The apologies were pointless, and the assurances were lies. And so she feigned deafness until at last the strong scent of the border was reached and the threshold into Ichika no Ho-en territory was crossed by the Inferni coywolf and her injured charge.
Vesper paused then, panting, and tilted her head to offer a desperate, yipping howl to call the other members of the peaceful pack to them. She didn’t know how much further she could walk, and how quickly she would be able to find the arctic wolf’s residence in the unfamiliar lands.
Shiloh had taken Sarian outside to play in the snow early in the day. Shiloh was growing large with the pups she bore and she found herself hiding more and more of her body. Her scars were stretching and she hated how she looked despite what Also said. On this partular day, Shiloh had been playing with Sarian, throwing small snow balls at the hyper pup. Shiloh smiled until she smelled blood. It was the blood of someone she loved and in the distance Shiloh saw the red and white of her best friend. Sarian had also noticed Kiara and yelled for her. "Rara! Rara play with me!" yelled Sarian as she tried to run though the snow. Shiloh scooped Sarian up and and put her in the makshift sleigh and was running to them as fast as she could with her pregnantcy
She started to panic as soon as she could see Kiara clearly. Frozen blood covered her beautiful pelt, many wounds still bleeding. She could see that the woman was having trouble staying conscious. "KIARA! What happened to her?! Oh god stay with me Kiara..." she said as she kneel next to the woman. Sarian had started to whimper but Shiloh was more worried about the woman in front of her then anyone else. She turned to the person who had helped Kiara. "Can you Shift? I cannot pull the sleigh by myself and we are not far from my home. Kiara lives with me. I know medicine but the cold is against her. I have to get her warm to tend to the wounds. Help me get her on the sleigh and fill me in on what happened to her,"said Shiloh softly as she turned to the sleigh and pushed it close to Kiara. Sarian looked up at her god mother and whined before looking at her mother.Kiara just had y
"Rara OK? I love Rara. Please don't leave me like mommy did," she said to the bleeding woman. She licked at her paw and cuddled against Kiara's leg, getting blood on her silver coat. Kiara had to live.
Word Count → 351 :: More people are welcome to join. Sorry for the rambling.
Kiara almost walked on without Vesper, her stop seemed sudden but not unwelcome. The snow wolf's ears twitched only slightly as Vesper let out a yipping howl. How strange it was, to hear a howl from the coywolf. Kiara had never head Vesper howl and found the intermittent yips and barks quite funny. The snow wolf let out a weak laugh, her delusional state abating slightly as pain ripped through her form once more. Her smile subsided as she slumped against Vesper, sapphire eyes disappearing behind white lids. Kiara wasn't even aware of how tired Vesper was.
Familiar cries drifted through the black, her ear flicked towards the sound. The arctic wolf stirred a little, wondering why the voices seemed so familiar. Her eyes cracked open, and once again there were the forms of Shiloh and Sarian. The snow wolf couldn't help but wonder when these images would stop torturing her? When would the world just leave her alone and let her sleep? Again, Kiara began to drift away letting herself slip into the comforting black.
Sarian's cries brought Kiara out of the darkness. She peered down at the little one, her silvery fur covered in blood. The Ikusei didn't have the strength to recognize the blood as her own, only enough to recognize that her charge was covered in it. Fear and panic shot through her, as well as rage. Had Amy injured Sarian as well? Kiara lifted up her paw and dragged Sarian closer to her. Immediately, Kiara began to work over Sarian, her own pain completely forgotten. She licked the blood off of the puppies coat only to find no wound underneath. The realization confused the alabaster woman, but more than anything she was relieved to see that Sarain was alright.
Steady in the knowledge that Sarian was alright, Kiara practically collapsed into the snow. Her strength was gone, and the ice burned her wounds. The young pup was nestled safely between Kiara's large head and her forepaw. Where was Shiloh? Kiara though she heard Shiloh's voice. "Shiloh?" Kiara called, unaware that Shiloh was so close to her.
And as Ariel calls so I shall answer :3 I think you said this PP was okay if I remembered right, if not tell me and i'll change it.
Word Count → 608
Neela trotted along through the snow at a leisurely pace, a tune rumbling from her throat in a pleasant hum and a small net filled with fish swinging from her hand. Neela had been down to the river to take advantage of the cold weather, or more specifically the sluggish fish it caused, and had come away with a decent catch and was now heading back to the small hut she had constructed near her pier, currently serving as her home until she choose a more permanent residence.
Suddenly the peace of the day was interrupted by an odd sounding howl cutting through the air. Neela turned to try and catch the howl better and froze as a faint, but familiar, smell hit her nostrils. Blood
Instantly the fish and net hit the floor and Neela had shifted into Secui form and was dashing towards the source of the smell, the muscular form enhancing her normal speed and letting her tear through the woods at a breakneck pace. Soon a group of canines came into view and Neela heart jerked as she saw the source of the smell, Kiara.
The white wolf was in terrible condition, blood from multiple wounds over her body soaking her white fur crimson and as Neela watched she collapsed in the snow. Neela skidded to a halt by the group and quickly bounded over to Kiara, giving the wolf several frantic licks on her ear, "Kiara? Can you hear me? What happened?" Neela was frantic at Kiara's state, the collie was fond of the younger wolf for how long she had known her.
Suddenly a scent snuck its way past the overpowering smell of blood, the smell of a stranger and, perhaps more importantly, of another pack; Inferni. Neela quickly spun around to the only wolf she didn’t recognise. Her normally warm eyes were almost glowing against the frame of black fur that her Secui form brought and the thick wiry fur that gave much of the forms size was bristling not unlike that of a hedgehog.
"What. Happened. To. Her." The words left her mouth in a growl as she fixed her gaze on the coywolf. If Neela had been thinking clearer than she wouldn’t have been so confrontational since the stranger was obviously helping Kiara but at the moment that familiar feeling of rage was overtaking her, driving away her ability to think normally.
Fortunately that rage was directed at whoever, or whatever, did this to Kiara, and that focus stopped her from simply going insane and attacking everything as had happened the last time she got this angry. In the back of her mind Neela was half surprised by the sheer level of anger brought about by seeing Kiara in this state. She was half aware of Shiloh saying something about a sleigh and forced her thoughts back onto a coherent path.
Thankful for her skill at shifting quickly Neela swiftly changed into Optime form, the black receding from her eyes and wiry fur softening back down into its normal soft state "I'll help." The words slipped from her lips softer than before but still tinted with aggression, along with frustration at the lack of target to direct that aggression to.
Carefully Neela bent and slipped her arms around Kiara, one arm snaking under her chest while the other went under her belly. Trying not to jostle the wolf she lifted her as little as possible before laying the wolf gently on Shiloh's sleigh. That done Neela straightened back up and turned back to the unknown coywolf, saying nothing but demanding answers with the glare directed towards the tired stranger.
There was weak laughter from the she-wolf slumped against her, and Vesper flicked her ears toward her half-conscious friend before they swiveled forward. A figure was approaching, hauling something wooden behind it, and when it came closer, the coywolf could see it was a heavily scarred and pregnant grey wolf. Her ears came down close to her slender skull, bristling instinctively though it was more out of unease than aggression, and the onslaught of quiet words and instructions made her exhausted mind whirl.
“I can’t—shift—tired—not used to it,” Vesper murmured, the words slurring from her tongue. Had she known the word for changed luperci, she might have offered that as further explanation. The stress of the event made it hard enough for her to think of shifting shape, and she didn’t move with the ease of one born with the virus and transforming at a young age. She still nudged Kiara lightly, attempting to herd her toward the sleigh to make the pregnant woman’s job easier, tongue rasping out against the white shoulders even as the non-luperci tended to the confused and worried puppy. “Kiara was—” she began, trying to think back to what had happened—though it was a red blur.
It was then that something large and bristling, red white black, barged in and fussed over Kiara. The small coyote hybrid stepped back, overwhelmed by the onslaught of unfamiliar scents, but then sharp eyes fixed on her and she found herself facing off against the large thing. Vesper immediately puffed her fur out and bristled as well, her own secui form not quite as large as the other and definitely not as hairy. She bared her teeth defensively.
“If I weren’t here, she’d be dead,” Vesper snapped, saliva flying. However, she had no further need to speak, as the collie transformed and scooped up the arctic wolf and set her down on the sleigh. Coming to stand close to the non-luperci, yet not daring to touch her again in the presence of her pack mates, she let out a low whine of reassurance to Kiara then turned her cold blue eyes to the glaring collie mutt. Her tail lashed, and she tried to explain as hastily as she could.
“I wasn’t—wasn’t there at the beginning. Some—some dog bitch had her and was—” Her voice faltered at the image of the blade embedding itself into the curled up and trembling girl. “Knife—cutting—I managed to fight her off. She’s not dead, the bitch isn’t dead.” She glanced over her shoulder, though she knew that the blonde woman could have caught up with them if she’d wanted to. The thought of others suffering the same fate as Kiara caused her to shudder angrily, and a second later her eyes widened.
“Shit—” Vesper moved close to the sleigh again, nosing the snow wolf. “Kiara.” She probably wasn’t able to hear, but she spoke quickly, frantically. “Kiara, did her blood get on you? Did you get her blood in your cuts?” she demanded, remembering her first painful shift. There was nothing she could do about herself, but she wanted Kiara to live four-legged forever—a normal wolf, a free spirit, one who could choose to change who she was only if she wanted to. The possibility that Kiara could have been infected terrified her.
Ever since the pair had struggled across the Ichikan border to refuge, they were watched by gleaming eyes looming overhead. Blood in their wake stained the innocent snow with rivulets of undesired anguish and a pain unbearable even to the eyes that watched from a distance. From its height the winged creature swept down screeching for its presence to be known in its descent. Obsidian talons stretched for a familiar tawny hide, ignoring her wear and exhaustion in favor of finding himself a perch to observe the chaos as it unfolded. He whipped his head around full circle, looking from one frantic face to another even to the tiny pup wailing to the freely bleeding wolf still lying in the snow.
The bird clicked his beak expectantly, watching with a semblance of impatience until his soundless question was answered. He could not make sense of it all, but was no stranger to the alarm, the heightened senses of the gathering predators ridden with worry for the damaged wolf. As another shaggily haired female arrived upon the scene, the owl spread his wings in a flagrant display of intimidation recalling both this female and the antagonizing bird last scene in her company. He listened as the bickering commenced, hostility tossed back and forth between each other despite the urgent care that need be administered.
Steadily growing more anxious the longer he was kept within the wolves’ presence without his master, he let his wings beat the air til he became aloft and detached his talons from his perch. Again he cried, though his range was different, this time harboring a beacon for his master to follow, to come and make sense of the chaos as it transpired. She would make sense of this situation to him, he had faith. And most of all, she could calm this tension in ways his presence would not.
ooc: 315 words. By the time X'yrin comes into the scene, I assume Kiara would be carried off to a healer? Suppose she gets the story from whomever is left behind? Slight pp on Vesper, let me know if it needs to be changed.
Shiloh was so worried for her friend but the woman next to her also needed to be tended to. Shiloh listened to her story and Shiloh gasped. Why would someone attack someone as innocent as her Kiara? Kiara had always been a gentle soul and for someone to hurt her like this was..... Shiloh's anger flared and Kavi threatened to take over, to go after the woman who did this to Kiara. Neela had come on scene and from the looks of i thought the woman with Kiara was the threat. "Neela calm down. This woman saved Kiara's life. She saved my family. We all owe you. I as that you stay at least two days with me stranger. You too seem to have suffered some wounds. I can tend to them for you. Can you walk the rest of the way to my apartment?" Shiloh asked the woman softly as Neela picked up Kiara and put her on the sleigh. Sarian curled up next to the bleeding woman, whimpering and crying softly, whispering to Kiara in her nonsense speak they had made up.
Shiloh knew they could not waste time or Kiara would die from her wounds. She stood and grabbed the rope to the sleigh and started to pull, the snow making it easy to move Kiara. Shiloh whispered to her daughter to keep Kiara awake, keep her alive. They were so close to being home and getting her warm and healed. Shiloh would not let the woman go
Word Count → 563 :: Throws post order out the window. Go nuts kiddies!
Before Kiara knew it, her world had turned loud. All of the sudden there seemed to be a rush of voices and from somewhere up above the cry of an owl. Why was there an owl there? Kiara's mom had often said that birds were the messengers of the gods and should be respected. Especially because they would bring dead souls up to the aurora. Such things always sounded silly to her before, but now the snow wolf wondered if her mother was right. Perhaps a bird had come to take Kiara away. The thought kind of made her angry. Despite what her mother said, Kiara never held any of the avian species in high regard and would often chase them mercilessly. For a bird to take her soul away, that just sounded wrong. Kiara wasn't going to die, if only to spite the bird.
By this time the injured wolf was getting used to the pain, if only a little. Once again, the debilitating waves racked her body as Neela picked her delicate form out of the snow. The smooth surface of the sleigh was worse than the snow. At least the snow bent and conformed to her body, but now she had to conform to the wood. Kiara moaned in pain and discomfort. Looking up Kiara saw her grey friend. The knowledge that Shiloh was near by, even if she was an illusion, made her content. Neela was there as well. Kiara had only met the collie once, but it was still comforting to know the older female was with them. Next to her was Sarian, babbling in their personal language. Softly, so as not to aggravate the wound on her throat, she replied. The simple syllables in many ways were easier to say than the more complex sounds necessary to speak properly. The simple discussion between puppy and Ikusei kept Kiara awake and almost alert.
Vesper's nose prodded the uninjured side of Kiara's face. Sapphire eyes slowly rolled over to look at the worried coywolf. It took a minute for Kiara to understand what Vesper was asking. Was Kiara infected with the virus? Once again, panic consumed the woman. What could turn a normal wolf into a luperci? Amy had bit her, and Kiara had bitten Amy. Was that enough? Would that cause her to change, to shift? "I...I don't... I don't know. We... we bit...both bit...and blood..." It took a lot of concentration for Kiara to speak. Most of her words came out in a panicked whine, followed closely by shots of pain. What Kiara had meant to say was that she didn't know if Amy had infected her. They had bitten each other and there was a lot of blood on Kiara's part. But she didn't know if her bite had caused Amy to bleed.
The snow wolf began to twitch and shake; mostly out of fear. What was going to happen to her? Even if she lived, she might have been forced to become a luperci. She didn't want that. As much as Kiara admired and envied the luperci, their ways were as strange as their forms. "I...I want...to stay normal...Vesper...help!" Kiara looked to her friend, her dear friend who had saved her from Amy. Vesper had once been normal as well, and unlike all the luperci around her, only Vesper knew how scared she truly was.
Neela stared intently at the stranger, her glare not wavering as she took in the coywolf's haggard appearance and obvious fatigue, until finally her eyes softened. "I apologise," Neela briefly dipped her head and though there was still a hint of a growl in her voice when she continued talking it was no longer directed at the stranger, "Thank you for helping her.
Neela stepped back as the stranger approached the sleigh and listened to her talking with Kiara, her heart clenching at the fear in the younger wolf's voice. The amount of anger and protectiveness that she was feeling over this surprised Neela; she hadn't realised just how attached she had become to her new pack and its members. Neela couldn’t get her head around who somebody would want to attack Kiara, a playful and happy wolf from what Neela had seen of her.
Neela stood back and waited until the stranger, who seemed to be called Vesper, and Kiara were done talking before she spoke again, her voice now calm but icy, the effort she was taking to compose herself obvious in her voice and stance, "Vesper, right? The one who did this… what did they look like, where was this?" Neela bared her teeth slightly as she looked back in the direction the two had come from as though she could spot the one who had attacked Kiara, one hand trailing behind her back to caress the handle of her knife.
It had been a long time since Neela had drawn her knives in anger, she had purposely made it so, yet now she found that in the face of what had happened here she felt almost eager to do so. While waiting for the coywolf to respond Neela raised her head to the sky, an oddly avian shriek coming forth from her mouth, summoning Grynn to her. Once she had a direction she would send Grynn out to try and find the site of the battle, for now Kiara needed help, something more important than revenge.
Carefully stepping around Vesper Neela made her way over to Shiloh, "Here, I'll help." She muttered, taking hold of the rope behind the grey furred woman, "Lead the way, let's get her out of the cold." The repressed rage was still present in Neela's voice but it was now tinged with worry, her concern for Kiara finally overpowering the anger that had shot through her at the initial sight of the injured wolf.
Shiloh could smell the other woman's blood on Kiara but had decided not to tell her. She could hear the panic in her friends voice and knew that she might be able to get what blood was on her off before it mingled with her own. Shiloh wanted Kiara to stay normal. It was the best feature of the woman. Shiloh let go of the rope as Neela grabbed it and told her to lead the way. Shiloh noticed X'yrin's owl then and put a arm out of it to come to her. It screeched and landed on her arm. Shiloh touched the animal softly and whispered for it to get X'yrin, to tell her to come to her apartment and that Kiara was in danger. To tell her she might lose a loved one. Shiloh let the bird take flight and ushered for Neela to follow her.
Shiloh looked back at Vespar and whined. "Vespar... please if you can come with us. I offer you food and warmth until you heal. Kiara needs you.," she said softly. She knew Vespar was weak and needed help. She hoped X'yrin came to help her and Neela. They would need someone to help them carry the sleigh up the stairs.
Chances are I won;t have the chance to post again in this thread. I'm going to be very busy tomorrow due to a sudden development, and I have a plane at 3am the days after. Below are Neela's planned actions for the thread, if you guys could PP these, or just assume that they happen, that would be great.
Actions:
Grynn (Neela's falcon) arrives fairly soon. If Vesper tells Neela the basic direction she came from Neela send Grynn off in that direction, if not she tells Grynn to follow the path vesper and Kiara made. Either way she wants Grynn to look for churned and bloodstained snow.
Neela herself will help drag the sled to the apartment and help get Kiara to where she is safe, before heading off towards the border to meet up with Grynn (exiting the thread)
Cheers and sorry I won't be available to actually RP this.
SSWM 402
Went ahead and made everyone's exits, just to wrap this up... PP of X'yrin approved too. Vesper is leaving this thread now.
Snow swirled around the small coywolf, stirred up by great wings. The eagle owl landed on her, and while she might have snarled and dislodged the bird out of shock, the familiar scent cloaked around the nameless animal relaxed her. Her Shepard would be able to remedy the situation, even with what had transpired between them near Inferni. X’yrin carried wisdom that calmed the ice-fire spirit of the coyote hybrid; she was strong and sensible beyond all of the silly wolves that made up this peace-worshipping pack.
The pregnant woman calmed the collie then looked to Vesper, offering kind words that the tawny hybrid had to decline. “I’ll be okay,” she said gruffly, taking a couple of steps back and feeling the owl fly from her shoulders. Without a doubt, it would be going to retrieve its master.
There were whimpers from Kiara as the intensity of the frantic question hit her, and Vesper leaped toward her even as the others prepared to move the sled. She nuzzled the arctic wolf tenderly. “It’ll be okay, sweetheart,” she promised hoarsely, knowing that the others couldn’t possibly understand the fear. “Maybe there wasn’t enough blood. You’ll stay normal, Kiara—but I can help you, okay?” She would shirk her clan duties to help the precious girl cope with the transformation if fate happened to be cruel that day. They wouldn’t know right away, no—it would manifest later, that shift, and Ves would be there for her during it all if she had to. She only prayed that the virus hadn’t been passed.
She jerked herself back to reality as the collie named Neela addressed her once more, and the coyote hybrid turned her nose to point in the direction they came from. “It was a creamy-colored luperci, blonde hair, brown eyes. A dog.” She didn’t know breeds very well, but it’d been a floppy-eared bitch. “That direction—the neutral territory around the mountains.”
And then she was finished, and shaking her head at Shiloh again, stepping backwards, looking at Kiara—helpless, unsure of what to do. The owl left and a falcon appeared, one that landed briefly on Neela’s arm as the collie spoke to it, directing it toward where the dog might be. Vesper sat down, trembling, as the others drew the sleigh away, until the familiar amber hues of her Shepard looked down on her and the woman drew her aside…
