That post breaks my heart. ;-;


Something had told him to leave that day. Told him to shift, told him to check the borders. He was somewhat uneasy about it, considering another wolf had appeared on the borders just the day before. The feeling of dread he'd been experiencing in the pit of his stomach had yet to wane even the slightest, and on this particular day, it was stronger than ever. He stood two-legged in the cold, for a moment watching the snow fall from the sky, for a moment watching the flakes meet the ground.

When he heard the light whimpers and grunts of what vaguely sounded like a child, the air in his lungs caught and his green eye flashed from place to place. Slight movement from the ground just yards away--a pup? There was no time wasted; talons dug into the ground and he immediately dropped to his knees, eye wide and hand reaching down to aid the small thing. She stared up at him blankly, wearily, like she couldn't see him at all. Who was she? His eye flashed around for a parent, another soul of any kind--nothing. Just a tired, cold child in the snow, all alone. He sympathized with that.

Eye thinned painfully, carefully reaching to lift her from from the ground with his one good arm. "I don't know who you are," he said gently, voice devoid of any anger, "but you're coming with me." If she could talk, she would. She could tell him who she was, that she needed help--or she could tell him to leave her alone. He didn't care. The brute ripped the fabric that held his arm in its sling from his shoulder and winced when he had to carefully lower his arm, but managed to wrap the small child within it and took to his feet, hurrying to the nearest source of warmth--a cabin, not far away--child in one arm, the other hanging limply at his side as he went.

ooc



She could only see the flakes that came near her face, now, and she stared up at them unblinkingly. One floated down and landed on her nose, and it took a few moments to melt completely. Her nose was warm? Was that why it had melted? It was warmer than the snow, maybe. Addison wiggled her nose, the drop of water sliding down her fur toward her forehead. She tried to watch it, but soon it was out of her sight.

A big crunching sound behind her made her tilt her head even farther back. She was so used to looking at the white, all of the white that was everywhere, that she couldn't focus on it...whatever it was. Her warmer pawpads had melted some of the snow around her feet, and over the time that she had laid there it had refrozen and stuck. When she was lifted she gave a dishearted whine, the ice pulling on her fur and pawpads a little.

Then she could feel something. A warming sensation, beginning at the areas of her body that were closest to the thing that had lifted her up. She didn't know where she was being taken, but anywhere was better than the snow. It was just too cold. She moved a tiny amount, using a bit of Jefferson's momentum to wiggle herself just a little bit closer. She had heard his rumbly voice, but it didn't sound like a language that she understood. Her tired mind was mixing all of his words together, making them sound foreign. "Isssssss..ss...s.....cold" She managed. She was too cold to shiver, to waste that kind of energy.

--


Some sort of relief swept through his veins at the sound of her voice, a sort of affirmation that she was still alive and breathing despite her silence and shuddering there beforehand. He exhaled the caught breath that had been in his lungs and he held her small, fragile body closer to his chest. Her fur was frozen and the words that stumbled out of her mouth were chattered and frostbitten as well. Jefferson scowled at her words and hastened his steps, glad he had decided to meander two-legged on that particular day. The cabin came into view not long thereafter, and his steps were quickened further.

"I know," he replied gently. "It'll be all right, we're almost there." He climbed the porch steps and kicked at the door (and nearly knocking it off its hinges) unable to open it with either arm. "Just hold on," he muttered, hurrying in the shelter and managing to close the door behind him. She was placed down momentarily, just long enough for him to start the fire in the fireplace (he'd gotten rather good at it one-handed, too) before he quickly found a chair and put her in it, directly in front of the hearth. He was reminded momentarily of his talk with Iskata few weeks before, but the concept was quickly put away. For now, he straightened his sling that was now wrapped around her for warmth and stepped back, sighing.

ooc



She was just getting used to the feeling of moving, of his feet taking step after step through the snow. The stuff was really starting to build up now. She didn't know what to think about somebody carrying her--she was too relieved at the fact that she was comfortable and getting a little warmer to care. Her mother would come in a couple of days, maybe, once she realized that Addi was gone. She always came after her.

She felt a slight jolt when his feet hit something more solid, the porch, and she poked her head out of the sling so that she might see what had changed. What sort of a thing were they going into? It looked kind of scary to her at first. But this wolf didn't look like he was scared...from what she could see. From her position she could only see the underside of his muzzle, not his eyes or his expression. But he was going inside, so it probably wasn't a bad place. She had never seen a building before.

As soon as the heat really started to sink in the pain did as well. She began to whine softly as blood flowed into her little toes first, then her tail, paws, and legs. She had never felt a pain like this before, pins and needles, and she trembled where she lay on the chair. "Wassit? Paws huuuurt" She curled up a bit so that she could reach the back ones, giving them little licks. Tiny pieces of skin were coming off, small spots of blood appearing on her peach pawpads. The paws tasted real bad, but the licking seemed to help. "Bleeds" Her nose pointed to Jefferson, blue and yellow eyes blinking quickly. The fire was very bright, and little spots of light clouded her vision for a few moments as she looked away from it and toward the other. "Izzz Addi. Addi paw bleeds"

--


He frowned when she began to cry and lick at her paws, and the big-hearted, dumb old brute grit at his teeth and wished Iskata was near, but that was useless. She wouldn't be of any help. DaVinci either, most likely. Damnit, didn't he know any good maternal figures anymore? Fuck, Jefferson wasn't a father. He didn't know how to raise kids. He was four years old and probably the biggest idiot when it came to children that there could be.

He laid his good hand on her head a brief moment to shush her and stop the licking. "Don't do that," he said quietly, striding across the room and hastily going through cupboards in search for bandages or something to wrap around her feet. Naturally, that went without avail, and the grumbling Patriarch moved his way back to her. "Stay still a minute, I'm going to wrap your feet," he advised as he pulled the fabric of the makeshift sling from her shoulders--all the sling had been was knotted fabric strong enough to support his arm--and began to rip it apart. He clamped his jaws onto it and ripped at it with his hand, careful to make even strips or something that would work as bandages. That done, he took to wrapping her feet and tucking the strips together, managing to get some sort of secure covering over her bleeding little feet. He breathed out in some sort of relief.

Considering he'd been bent down on a knee in front of her for some time, she must've seen his face by now--scarred to no end, the monster that he was. His useless arm was hanging limply at his side, as if all energy and life had been drained from the muscles, and scars and gashes abounded there, too. Her feet were wrapped, though, but now she was without anything to keep the rest of her shivering body warm. He sighed. It figured. Still on his knee and knowing how goddamn frightening he looked to a child, his green eye gently looked up at her and he laid his good hand on her head. "I'm Jefferson, Addi," he said quietly, unsmiling. "You have to trust me, or you won't get better." That said, he very cautiously and somewhat unwillingly scooped her up again, balancing her small body on his thick and furry arm and holding it close before taking the place in the chair before the fire. He'd be damned if someone walked in at that particular moment.

"Where did you come from? Where are your parents?" His eye turned down to her. Don't be afraid of me, it pleaded. He was so tired of being frightening.

ooc: Dierdre actually wouldn't come into Souls to try and find Addison, because she vowed never to come back here again >> just...for random information.



Every wolf looked different. That was what momma had told her. Dierdre had lived through the fire that had ravaged the lands across the mountains, and she had a lot of wisdom. Addison had heard the story a million times--how Momma had been pregnant, and had given birth during the fire to two puppies. Dierdre hadn't known what had ever happened to them...but Addison had never blamed her for not going back. She could have had siblings, if her mom had taken them with her. But she had been hurt real badly, and she hadn't been thinking straight. Or so she had said.

The fire had left her mother with many disfigurements; in places on her body there was no fur at all, or very very short fur that wouldn't grow out right. One ear had been almost completely gone, and large pocked areas of skin had marred at least half of Dierdre's face. One eye had been almost completely covered by the bald skin, only the tiniest bit of yellow showing through a slit. That was how Addison had known her mother, her protector and caregiver. It was normal.

The firelight wasn't consistant, and it threw long shadows over areas of the wolf's face as he leaned over her. She stopped in the licking, looking back at him carefully. Her legs and paws still hurt quite a bit, but the pain was beginning to decrease as time went on and she became more thouroughly warmed. He lifted up each of her paws, putting a bandage around each one of them. She could feel her heartbeat beating strongly in each paw as it was lifted and dressed, which was a good sign. Before, she hadn't felt any pounding at all in them. Just stillness.

She gave a great smile when he leaned down closer to her. He looked -just- like Dierdre. Just like her! His ears were both there, but his eye reminded her of everything that she had left back home. Maybe when her mother came back she would meet Jefferson too, and she would be able to see their similarities as well. Cerulean hadn't looked as different as Dierdre had, but he'd had scars of his own too. Addison was used to the touch and feel of scarred skin. It felt a little rougher than normal skin, but it wasn't bad to touch. Her mother had always warned her that skin like that felt more sensitive than regular skin, though, so she had always been very careful when playing.

"I izz comed from Cali" She answered, looking up his chest at him. She had accepted his previous words with silence and nods. He was the one who had found her, and he was in charge of her. If he thought that she should trust him, then she would. "Was born in Californua" Did he know where that was, though? She wasn't sure what direction it was from this place. "Mom losted me. I runned real far away! She izz suppose to fine me when I run away but I was losted and maybe she was losted too but we wasn't together and I can't find her."

--


Lost by her mother, she'd said. Jefferson found himself deeply disturbed by this concept, that a parent would so recklessly and easily lose sight of a child. How long had the poor thing been wandering alone in the cold--how hadn't she gotten hurt, hunted, killed? The one-eyed brute cringed at the idea, scowled, and sighed. At least she was warm and safe now; Jefferson sure didn't look like much of a threat, but when it came to protecting the innocent (and whomever else had otherwise gotten his affections), there was no stopping him. His good arm, due to its overuse in contrast with his useless one, was heavily built... as were his hind legs, of course. Jefferson's method of fighting was different from most anyone else's, given that his legs were more of a weapon than his arms, but there was no stopping him when he was attacking.

"Then we'll wait for her to come back," he sighed. If she didn't, who would look after the poor thing? Would Jefferson even be able to break himself away from her, having already developed a gentle soft spot for the little thing? He didn't even know if he mother could take care of Addi anyway. He wasn't sure he wanted to trust her with the pup again. "You... might like it here, though." He mumbled. At least she was safe.

ooc:


Addison liked playing that game...the one where she ran away and where her mother had to come and look for her. Every single time she had been discovered, before now, though. Each day that she had set out, she'd added a new trick to it. Once she had gone over a small creek, climbed halfway up a tree, hidden beneath leaves, and rolled around on a dead fish. That had been the hardest time for Dierdre. When she had left this time, she had done all those things all over again, and had added one more little thing. Distance. She had run farther away than ever before.

She had heard of this place before, but had never seen it for herself. Dierdre hadn't known anything about the packs that had survived after the fire or about whether Addison's grandmother, aunt and other family members had survived it. She had only been able to describe what the lands had looked like before the fires had taken them.

The idea that her mother might not come back for her hadn't crossed her mind yet. Addi didn't know what would happen after today was over, whether she might have to go back outside and start walking again or if she might be allowed to stay for a couple of days. She liked how warm this building was, and how nice Jefferson was being to her. He didn't have to sit in the chair with her, but maybe he had thought that she was lonely. She had never slept by herself before, always with her parents, and she would have been afraid to try it.
"Is warm and nice in here...Addison likes this place. And you is warm and nice" She put her head down onto him, curling up on his arm. "What is this place?"

--


He inhaled deeply and released. She made herself comfortable, perfectly content with the way things had turned out for her--a warm room, safety, protection, aid. The pup was too young to realize what the danger in losing a parent was, especially if they planned to grow up happily somehow. He'd seen it first hand: children never grew up truly happy without their parents there for them. What if her mother never returned? Surely she could stay in Phoenix Valley, he had no problem with that, but who would take care of her? Iskata wouldn't, that was for sure. DaVinci had his own kids, and besides that, he'd lost Zana to Inferni somehow. Some parent he'd turned out to be. He couldn't trust Pendzez with a child, nor Allegro. He still hardly even knew who Pepe was. Who was left?

Himself? No. He couldn't do it.

"Phoenix Valley," he said quietly, eye lost to the fire. His thoughts wandered unsaid, meandered. He recalled how precious Zana had been to him the first time he'd picked her up, how he'd mused that it would be impossible for him to father children. He didn't have the capacity, nor the capability. He was a one-eyed monster. He'd only turn them into monsters just like himself. "This is my home, Addi... it's very far from yours." I don't know how you'll get back, he wanted to add. There was no way for him to bring her back... he had responsibilities here. He couldn't throw that all away now, even if he'd wanted to so badly at first. "Your mom might not find you this time," he added hesitantly. She needed to figure that out eventually.

ooc: close?



She was a pup; she accepted things for what they were without questioning them. It made sense to her that she would stay here until her mother came for her, as long as she was allowed. Jefferson made her feel safe, carrying her all the way here and taking care of her paws for her--it was nice of him. It made her think that he was a really nice wolf. "Will tay here. Stay. Until mommy comes"

He was wrong, though. Dierdre would come. She always came back for Addison, no matter where she went. The girl put her head down, thinking about this. Mom would come back. She shook her head at him.

Her eyes were really tired, and she was having troubles keeping them open. They closed for a couple of seconds every few moments.