climbing walls out of resentment
#1
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Setting Location Form NPCs
Location: The Stables, SL

Date: 22 September

Weather: Hurricane!

Time: Early afternoon
Optime
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(351) SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPIES COME BAAAACK.


When the storm hit Salsola, Salvia was already preparing for it.

She had begun with the barn, doing her best to ease the horses with Tarat’s aid. They were frightened and rightfully so—she could smell the rain and feel the electric-ozone sensation in every part of her body. The deep scar on her breast ached as it had never done so before. Deep bruise colored clouds moved at an impossible speed. Before she knew it, rain was not only pouring down but hurling itself against the outside world. Twigs and dead branches were plucked from the earth and whipped through the air, rattling against the sides of the wooden structure. Tarat was babbling in Spanish, and Salvia spoke to him only as much as was needed.

Salvia was in the process of easing the more panicked horses (mainly, Misty and Eyre) when all the fur on her body stood straight up. A tremendous CRACK sounded outside and every living thing in the barn let out a cry of surprise—only to have this noise echoed, doubled, overwhelmed by a tremendous groan and several more terrifying, awful noises. Fear bubbled up in her and a high, demanding shriek was given to Tarat as the earth shook all around them.

Wide-eyed and fur all on end, Salvia took three deep breaths and forced herself to calm. Fear is the mind killer, she repeated to herself, and hurried towards the door. She blanched. One of the oldest trees, ancient and gargantuan in size, had toppled onto the fence and part of the barn. Its truck had obliterated the entire section of fenceline and, to her fury, given the panicking and retreating forms of the sheep a place to run.

She screamed her fury into the storm, which howled back. One clawed hand grabbed Tarat, who had rushed to her side. She barked orders at him--stay here, do not let the horses out, do not let anything happen--and yanked a length of rope from the building. Shaking with fury (for she would not be frightened now) she rushed out into the rain.

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#2
This weather was unlike anything the tiny wolf had experienced before, and she stumbled through the rain, fighting against the wind with her legs muddy up to the knee from struggling in the dirt and repeatedly falling. Snow storms she had weathered before, but this was nothing like that. This was wet, the cold beating its way through her fur and numbing her limbs, the mud sucking at her steps, the wind bowling her over. Null fought through it as best she could, keeping herself hunched and low to better force her way through the gale, trying unsuccessfully to grip her cloak closed from the inside. Her hood was wrenched from her head and streamed out behind her, mane wrenched back to whip in her wake.

Null had been hurrying along near the stables when the storm first began to hit, intending to find some form of shelter and take cover before the conditions got too wild to fight through comfortably. The plan had started out fine, but the storm had approached much faster than she had ever anticipated. Before she knew it, the tiny wolf was struggling against the winds with her grey cloak whipping about her and her face stinging with too-hard rain. She had heard some kind of crashing, but hadn't seen what had happened, being more concerned with finding her way to the ruins. It was only when she was nearer to the stables that she released what had happened, and she briefly considered using the undamaged part of the structure as shelter.

It was only when, with eyes squinted against the torrential rain, she saw the Boss rush from the stables with rope in hand and fury on her face that she resolved to brave the storm for just a little longer instead of simply fleeing inside. She followed after the blonde, hurrying as best she could in the insane conditions. Her hands and feet were numb, and she was probably trembling with cold, but she couldn't really tell. She called out once she was close enough to be heard over the storm.

Boss! What's going on?! D'you need help?! She yelled over the wind, trying to be heard over the roar of the wind and the rain. She was scared, there was no denying that, but there was no use cowering and running. If the Boss was out here then that ment something needed doing. It also ment that it was safe enough for the Boss to risk coming out here, which put Null somewhat at ease.
#3
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The water was not her concern—her pelt would dry and she could not drown in rain. What worried her was the wind and what came with it. Branches and twigs and even stones were hurled through the air as if by unseen hands. She set her jaw and felt the leather thong holding her hair up twist, tug, and be ripped free. A blonde mass of pale hair was whipped mercilessly by the storm, a battered wing of some long-dead bird to be tossed and yanked by the hurricane’s swell.

She heard little over the rain but a voice reached her. Black tipped ears swiveled and her head followed suit. Much to her surprise, it was the tiny little thing (Null, she reminded herself) that Draugr had found and brought into their home. The fact she had even thought to aid, being so new and so untested, spoke of her desire to assimilate. Good, Salvia thought darkly, and motioned to where the downed tree had fallen. “Sheep got out!” She barked back, and using her hand, made motions to show their quickly fading tracks. The upset mud would not have given it away, but there were pieces of wool stuck along nearby tree trunks. In their panic they had huddled and simply fled into the forest.

Búscalos! She cried, switching to a tongue that would require less shouting. Then she turned, squared her shoulders, and stalked into the howling trees.

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#4
Null had turned her head to look to the broken fence, her untied mane whipping about and her single side braid lashing her in the face, causing her to splutter for a moment. Shaking it off, she paid close attention to the indicated traces left behind by the sheep; if it weren't for those scraps of wool then the sheep may well have been lost to the storm, so quickly was the rain destroying their scent and tracks. Null nodded once to the Boss, indicating that she understood, before taking into the forest after the blonde and following the trail of wool.

It was slightly easier for the tiny wolf to move in the forest, the terrible wind being somewhat broken up by the trees, but the increased risk of smashed by a broken tree branch did nothing to settle her nerves. She shook herself for what felt like the billionth time, reminding herself that she was no good to anyone-- including herself-- if she was a cowering wreck, whimpering on the floor and losing her cool. Her mother had always said that panic got people killed, and Null was not about to go and get herself killed any time soon. Hopefully. If she managed to be as cool-headed as she always liked to think of herself.

How far could panicked sheep go in a forest? In a storm-struck forest? Would they run until the storm quieted, or would they stop and huddle together, too afraid to move? Null had to wonder how fast a scared sheep could go, too-- how long would they be searching for the stupid panicked animals? Huffing to herself, it was only a minute turn of her head that caused her to spot a scrap of wool that deviated from the larger path left by the lost animals. This wool was lower down, and was easy enough to follow now that she knew to look for it. It didn't go on for long, though she still managed to bruise her shoulder from slipping or being blown into trees while following it. It ended in a tiny, weakly bleating lamb, trapped in tangles of undergrowth and a particularly marshy spot. The poor thing had probably lost its mother in the commotion and had gotten separated while trying to find her in its panic.

She gripped the lamb by the middle and pulled it out of the mud, hefting it into her arms and largely ignoring its bleating save for a brief petting of its head to soothe it. She hurried back to the main trail, quickly following after the Boss.

Got one! She called after the larger canine, hastening to catch up. The Boss had the rope to keep the creatures, after all, and Null could only carry a panicking lamb for so long. She was just glad that it wasn't a grown sheep-- she never would've been able to lift an adult out of the mud. At least, she was fairly sure. She had never even met a sheep before today.
#5
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Feel free to have Null pick up the trail! One sheep will have been killed by a falling tree and the others are hiding together in the forest. :3


Hunting was something that Salvia had always excelled at, in no small part due to her teachers. She was a highly intelligent woman who not only knew the landscape and her own body well, but was quick enough to adapt with very little resistance. It was this that promised her success on this hunt. She could not smell nor hear (and her sight was buffeted by wind and rain and grit) but she hunkered low to the ground and imagined the sheep, in their panic, and where they might have gone.

Salvia hardly noticed that Null had left her, so thick was the rain, and pushed on. Much to her chagrin, there was an obvious trail ahead—the earth was so roughly overturned that it could not have been caused by anything but hooves. She made to follow this when a cry sounded behind her. The word were lost in the wind, but Salvia turned. Her pale hair whipped about her head, and she cursed the weather without speaking aloud.

Null had managed to find what looked like a half-drowned lamb, and pleased with this, Salvia hastened towards her. She was moving without stopping to think, and hurried to tie a loose slipknot around the animal’s neck. “I will carry it for now; it will slow us down otherwise,” she cried over the storm, close enough to Null that her words were not lost. “They went that way!” The Boss further indicated, and pointed towards the trail ahead. The animals were fleeing as a group, which would make collecting them an easy task…with any luck.

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#6
Null nodded, handing the lamb over to the Boss before darting off to follow the indicated trail. The track of churned ground may as well have been a flashing arrow pointing to the sheep, and it was only the sucking mud underfoot and the pelting rain in her eyes that made the animals difficult to follow. She struggled through regardless, ears straining for any hint of panicked bleating that would sign that the beasts were close by.

Her nose crinkled as she caught a hint of iron-salt blood smell over the rain, and she soon saw the cause of it-- a fallen tree with a sheep crushed beneath it, only its head and forelegs visible. The poor creature had been struck and killed by the tree as the wind tore it down, and there was nothing to do about it now. The trail then turned suddenly from just before it reached the tree, the ground positively mulched by the sheeps desperate attempt to escape the danger that had killed their flock mate. Null almost tripped in the squelching mud and swore colourfully under her breath. She hoped never to be caught in such conditions again. The coffee-and-cream wolf was battered, bruised, muddier than she had ever been in her life, and had managed to sustain an unpleasant cut on her shoulder that she would have to disinfect later or risk it going septic from all the grime that was getting in it.

Eventually, four wet and muddy sheep came into view, cowering together behind a log that provided no real shelter. Null huffed to herself and approached the panicking animals, making soothing noises that they couldn't possibly have heard over the wind. Here they are! She yelled over her shoulder to the Boss, gripping one sheep by the scruff and holding it close when it went to skitter away. Null was just grateful that there were only four of them; a larger number would've been impossible to keep track of out here, without more people to look for them at least.
#7
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With the lamb hoisted over her shoulders, Salvia moved nearly as fast as before. Null was faster still and so the blonde woman followed her. They passed a fallen tree and Salvia snarled under her breath at the sight of the dead animal, but had to focus instead on simply walking. Her footing slipped once or twice and she had to yank one leg free from a muddy prison. The sooner this mad task ended the better—she almost considered abandoning it but their livestock had been depleted by trade. A half-mad laugh escaped her as she realized she was, even now, planning ways to make up for the loss. Sirius had trained her well.

At the girl’s cry Salvia hurried forward. Relief swept through her and she hastened to Null’s side, shrugging off the lamb (which almost instantly ran towards what she imagined was its mother). Using the same length of rope still attached to the lamb, Salvia made a series of simple knots that slid over each animal’s neck. They bunched together but recognized, stupid as they were, that the canines could offer them protection. It was the storm they feared more than the predators.

“Take the rear,” Salvia ordered, and with a jerk, pulled the lead animal forward. The sheep draggled after her. It was lucky they weren’t as far as she had imagined, but Salvia was irritable and desired nothing more than to dry off.

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#8
Null encouraged and soothed the sheep as best she could as the Boss attended to them. She did as she was bid, taking up the rear as the blonde woman began to lead the animals, who dragged and pulled and seemed unwilling to move even as they recognised that their chances were better if they allowed themselves to be led. Null shoved at the backsides of the sheep and yipped at them if they refused to move, making the stupid animals hasten their steps a little before they would slow and drag once more, making her repeat the process. Part of the trapper's brain sparked up with irritation, wanting to rip the throats out of the stubborn beasts, but she refrained; that would do no good to anyone, and would probably be a little insane.

As they led the half-drowned creatures back through the forest, one of the sheep had its legs sink into the mud. The poor damn thing was stuck, and for the second time that day Null had to heft a bleating, wet, struggling, wooly creature out of the mud. She snapped at it once it was free, making the creature scurry forward to huddle with its flock mates. Null briefly considered herself ome sort of herding creature, before realizing that, no, that was a stupid thought and she should just focus on the task at hand.

It took longer to make it back to where they'd entered the wood with the added struggle of bringing the sheep, but it could've been much worse. There was a fierce roar of wind and the sound of a cracking branch off somewhere nearby in the forest, and one of the sheep nearly bolted, which would've panicked the others most likely, but Null had all but had it with the stupid things. She grabbed the creature and shoved it back with a snarl, making it cower and follow after the Boss with the others before it had time to try and run against the rope around its neck.

It wasn't long now-- they just had to set the sheep back into the stables, damaged though they were. Right?
#9
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Had she been raised a true wolf, Salvia might never have seen value in the animals and let them perish. She was, however, a product of her environment. The sheep had been present since she was a child, and like all good farm-girls, Salvia had come to understand that the worth of an animal was in its production. Sheep gave wool, milk, meat, and trade. This was why they were such a priority, and why domesticated ones such as their own were valuable. Many were second or third-generation stock, and she would not see her father’s legacy destroyed by weather or ill-intent.

So the two wolves worked together in the ways of old herding beasts and guided the panicking animals back to the barn. Though a large section of it was destroyed, Tarat had hurriedly shuffled the others into a smaller space. With his assistance the rest of the sheep were led, shoved, and forced in. The slave hurried to remove the rope while Salvia shook herself mostly dry. Her hair required assistance from a pair of white paws, which squeezed the excess water free. Damp, the pale locks took on a slight wave. They would dry straight, and she would certainly look forward to having her own slave pamper her once the storm had passed.

Mantis colored eyes drifted to Null, and Salvia recalled accepting her not long ago. She was already proving her worth. “You did well,” she said, and while this was not a spoken word of thanks, it was clear she appreciated the help.

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#10
Once the sheep had been taken off their hands, Null took to straightening her cloak and wringing out her hair. It was pretty useless, seeing as she was going to make a dash for the ruins anyway, but she felt compelled to give it a try regardless. She knew that her mane would spring up into wild swirls and squiggles the instant it was allowed to dry, as it always did when exposed to water. It wasn't much of a concern, though, as she was still soaked through and could no longer feel her feet. She stamped them a few times to get the blood flowing, pulling her cloak tighter around herself in an effort to get warm.

Null's black-tipped ears pricked up at the Boss's praise, before dropping again in a typical gesture of a submissive delighted to have any positive attention from their alpha, her tail set wagging for a few beats. She wasn't used to praise; her family had never seen the merit of anything she did, and as such she rarely, if ever, received recognition for her accomplishments.

The tiny wolf glanced to the sheep, to the Boss, to the door. Is there anything else? I-I was gonna make a run to the ruins, if there's nothing else I can help with...? She offered, not keen to take off into the storm again but wanting to find a sanctuary in one of the much sturdier structures of the ruins. But, if the Boss wanted her assistance with something else then Null would oblige her.


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