Word Count → 435 :: I'm sorry for taking so long to get to this! I wanted to see how the actual attack thread would progress then realized that it would be better for me to just get on this one instead. I'll be more prompt from here on out. :3
Licking the scrapes on her legs, Vesper had taken a break from her usual patrolling duties since the fight. She had not been nearly as badly hurt as the poor fool wolf that had posed a threat to the clan, but her emotional state had been too shaky lately for her to trust herself with her duties. She hunted and gathered grass for the ugly horses and lay around feeling sorry for herself when there was nothing physical to distract her from her whirling thoughts—procellous thoughts plagued by dark canines of all shapes and sizes and sexes.
That short, curly-haired fool at the border was probably off nursing wounds and hatred for the reserved coyote clan. Helotes had come to her aid unquestioningly, a brute who had attacked and nearly done far worse things to her upon their first meeting and who she was confused about seeing as a comrade. And less recently, the moon to the tides that had made her so agitated, Blind was missing again. The dear girl was gone and Vesper had nothing to break her chains from the clan. All she could do was adapt, and rather than shirking her duties to visit the woman as she’d planned to after their reunion, she fell headlong into them to numb herself.
She sighed and gave her scarred skin one last lick before a too-familiar howl rose up from the borders. Her slender head jerked up, ears swiveling to pinpoint the direction, blue eyes scanning the immediate area for comrades. Then, without hesitating another second, the Vigiles leaped upward and bolted toward the sound. She knew who the voice belonged to, and she knew the bravery of the Nomad and the consequences if someone else found her first. As much as she didn’t want to go meet with her Shepard, she had to.
The coywolf shifted into her secui-form as she ran, small changes that slowed her pace but made up for it in the end. The superior wolf-sized shape broke through brittle shrub branches and finally slowed to a trot as the borders were neared. She stepped around from the sparse foliage to lay eyes on her mentor, briefly in awe of the tails hanging from her shoulder and the wild mane of her auburn hair. But awe gave way to unease and defensive anger, and she halted with fur slightly bristling and snout wrinkled.
“What are you doing here, X’yrin?” Vesper demanded. It was an aggressive statement alone, but only the sharp remnants of fear in her sky blue gaze showed that she was worried for her companion too.
<style type="text/css">
.vesnorth .space {width:335px; height:386px; float:left;}
.vesnorth b {font-weight:bold; color:#5a6f7b; letter-spacing:1px; text-shadow:#000000 1px 1px 1px;}
.vesnorth p.ooc {font-style:italic; text-indent:0px; padding:0px 5px;}
.vesnorth p.ooc + p {padding:0px 5px;}
.vesnorth .wc {text-transform: uppercase; font-weight:bold; color:#5a6f7b; text-shadow:#000000 1px 1px 1px;}
.vesnorth p {text-indent:25px; padding:5px 10px; margin:0px;}
.vesnorth {margin:0px auto; width:98%; min-width:500px; max-width:749px; background-color:#1c151e; background-image:url(http://i.imgur.com/a7K60.png); background-position:top left; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:1px solid #000000; padding:0px 0px 0px 0px; font-family: georgia, sans-serif; font-size:12px; color:#b5acaf; line-height:16px; letter-spacing:.5px; text-align:justify;}
.vesnorth .name {color:#5a6f7b; font-size:30px; font-style:italic; text-align:center; text-indent:25px; text-shadow:#000000 1px 1px 1px; line-height:30px;}
.credit {font-family:georgia; font-size:10px; font-style:italic; text-align:center; line-height:10px;}
</style>
[/html]