Give me miles & mountains to climb
#1
[html]Storm thread. Smile the general idea; Alder finds a wall thats fallen dowwwn... and calls for help!! They need to find the horses. I would say... 4 or 5 are missing. 2 or 3 could be found together and such Smile


Alder woke from an odd and heated dream. A fury of emotion and other odd feelings caused the male to wake with a jolt. Part of his was grateful that he could wake from the confusing images but another wondered what would have played out between he and the other wolf. The howl of the wind woke his fully, and he sat at the edge of his bed. A dark hand scratched his head, the other rubbing an eye. The weather had not calmed, and Alder was beginning to worry. But, wait… The dream. Alder could no longer remember the details, and after a few moments of trying simply put it away as an uninterrupted dream.


The wolf moved hurriedly through the small cabin, and was out the door in only a few minutes. He stopped in his tracks, the rain hitting him in the face with a shock. But it had been raining for days now and that was no surprise. It was Hawthorn’s black and white blazed face standing before him that caused the Marshal to almost jump out of his skin.


What was he doing here? The horse was distressed, wet and cold from the weather and standing out in front of his house. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. Alder always left ‘Thorn in the stables with the other horses, rarely if ever keeping him outside the cabin at night. He never would in weather as harsh as this. And yet here he was.


He sat on the horses back, and after a quick ride he saw what had brought the Shire back to his friends home. The doors stood wide open, one ripped from it’s hardware completely and laying on the ground so that it blocked the doorway. The whole structure seemed to sway in the wind, and Alder hoped from the horse to move the door away. After a few powerful pushed he was able to lead Hawthorn back into his stall. The door was broken, perhaps from the agitated beast kicking it. The thought caused the wolf to grow agitated himself. How had he been able to get out with the large barn door forcibly closed?


Alder ran through the stables, looking from one stall to the other and find that more then a few were empty. His stomach twisted, and he felt a large hard sense of anxiety. All storms were unpredictable, and he had never foreseen such damage. He stood in the hollow doorway, but it was bigger then a doorway. He looked at the material on the ground, blue eyes tracing over the pieces that had once been a wall. A horse had once been behind the wall, and he knew not if she had escaped unharmed or battered by debris. This was how they had all gotten out...


Walking over the damaged remains of the wall Alder reached the rain and lifted his head up to the sky. He gave a call, his normally deep tone sparking a musical and yet mournful note. He needed help.

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#2
up to you if Pony is or is not there, Alli Smile

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The weather had been downright awful lately. Trent sat in his room with folded ears, frightened and unhappy -- moreso than normally -- but wasn't so sure what he could do about any of this. Nothing, he supposed, and so he just waited, sitting around and tossing and turning while he looked for ways to pass time in his optime form (for he never enjoyed being in lupus form inside his room, in case he'd ever need to get up and flee suddenly; he preferred to be in the form that could open doors if ever he needed to, if not only for the sake of his own false feeling of security).

With a jolt he jumped up as he heard someone call for help, panicked -- or was it just the wind? Trent hesitantly got up from his matress-den and walked to the door, opening it and going out, downstairs, out of the hotel. He piqued his ears, listening, waiting... Nothing. Wind, wind, more wind. Trent wandered into the courtyard, walking a bit further, when he heard something that definitely was a call, regardless of whether the previous sounds were calls or just howls of the wind.

The coywolf hesitated what form to pick, and clumsily dashed through the territory towards the stables in his optime form, trying to take far too large strides at a time. He wasn't even sure why he was rushing. He did know who had summoned him -- or rather, anyone, not him specifically -- though, recognising Alder's voice and also recognising that there was a note of panic there. Trent instantly, selfishly, wondered if Pony was okay, even though he had only seen the pony a couple of times since the two had first, well, met, and since he'd more or less given her to Alder to care for. She was still his, so he still wanted to make sure she was okay.

Once he reached the stables, it didn't take Trent long to find Alder. "Hey," he said hastily, in lack of anything better to say, sounding as utterly awkward as he felt. Even though he didn't literally ask, Trent was dying to know whether Pony was okay, if anything had happened to her, and hoped Alder'd let him know quick. He looked at the heaving stables and broken pieces...

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#3
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Asagi is one of the horses missing! :> Hati is still very emo right now~

Word Count → 570

Maybe the world was ending. The heavens had opened up, crashing thunder and roaring wind, a downpour of rain washing away everything it could. It had been raining for the last several days, echoing Hati's dismal mood. His mother was dead and buried. He did not know how to cope with this morbid fact, and barely left his house since that day. He had almost run away, riding his horse deep into the night, but he turned back... he couldn't survive on his own. The loss was hard to grasp for all of his remaining family, but his father had the worst reaction of all, sinking into a deep depression now that his mate was gone. Amaranth and Charlotte were trying their hardest to reach him, bring back their king and restore some vestige of his spirit to the dog's broken body. Hati was despondent himself, and wondered if this storm was meant to wipe them out, put their sad little family out of its misery. He carried his own storm clouds, and it barely registered that now the weather outside reflected how he felt.

It was in this sorry state that he heard the cry -- torn by the gales of wind, but still recognizable as Alder's voice. Automatically Hati shuffled to his feet, abandoning his bedroom in the gloomy house. Everything was dark, though he couldn't tell if it was the time of day or merely the hurricane's grip over the sky. Listlessly he pushed the front door open, only to have it slam shut in his face, rattled by the wind. Pale eyes narrowed, and he pushed it again, this time with more force. Cold raindrops splashed in his face, assaulting the senses. The dark wolfdog moved into the tempest, raising his arm to shield his eyes as he ran.

He didn't know what Alder wanted or why the cry had gone out, but it drew him magnetically to the stables. The path was littered with fallen branches and debris, some of it wood he feared came from their buildings. The damage was fierce. In his young life, he had never seen a storm like this one, and he felt humbled at once by the power and destructive majesty of it all -- it made his problems seem small in the wake of this. His packmates would need help. The Court would all suffer, and some might lose their homes. He needed to be mature enough to assist them, even if his heart was breaking.

Hati arrived, windswept and solemn, surveying the scene with a morose look. He could easily see the old structure was damaged, swaying in the wind, scattered lumber littering the ground. Of course the stables would be hurt by this storm; the horses were the last good thing about the Court, and this hurricane was personal. It wasn't long before his sweeping gaze settled on the Marshall's tall frame, and he moved quickly to his friend's side. He was not the first to arrive -- a male packmate he had seen at the meeting, a shorter coyote-thing whose name Hati failed to recall. Once he had cared so much about memorizing everyone's names and ranks, but that meticulous habit had slipped away from him in recent times. He gave a curt nod of greeting, turning to face his teacher with concern. "Are the horses safe in the barn? How... many did we lose?"


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#4
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Alder peered out into the darkness of night’s shadow, the wind whipping through his fur and pushing harshly against his monstrous form. He felt a hollow pit in his stomach, nothing like this had happened to the stables while he was in charge of it. Nothing this horrible. The section of wall was completely destroyed and it would take resources and many hours to rebuild, but his concern was not on those facts. Who was missing? How many faces had disappeared in the storm? And were they safe? The tapping of foot-paws caused him to turn and face whomever approached. He saw Trent, a face that he had not expected. Where was Hati? Alder had expected him to answer his call first and foremost.


The taller male gave Trent a nod of greeting, his face grim and cold. There were many things that Alder wished to say to him, mainly surrounding an apology. But there wasn’t time for his simple internal disputes.


Hati appeared behind the coy-wolf and Alder looked to him with a less grim face. He was glad to see the dark toned wolf, confidence in Hati’s skill and knowledge of the horses in the stables easing his dire concerns. I don’t know yet. He finally spoke, his voice rough and deep. The fur on his head seemed longer, matted against his face and hanging in his eyes. Alder swept it away, knowing that as the Marshal of the pack it was his duty to bring the horses home safe and sound.


Alder moved forward, away from the open wall. Hati, go look to see who is missing. Trent, get some ropes, as many as you can find. We are going to go get anyone that missing, once we know who we’re looking for. The wolf spoke over the howling wind, his voice surprising smooth. Though his face broke and his frown and eyes spoke of the necessity of their actions and direness of the situation. I’ll get something to block the wall.


He moved away from them, retracing his steps back towards the open wall and out into the storm. Leaving the others to do their jobs Alder ran out into the rain. He was grateful for one thing, there was always plenty of spare old door, fence pieces and other broken articles lying around. It only took a few trips for him to have the new “doorway” barricaded sufficiently.

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#5
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Silence hung awkwardly between Alder and Trent, but luckily only for a short moment until another appeared. Trent turned to look at him, and nodded in brief acknowledgement, although he was mostly ignored in favour of panic. Alder was quick to dish out commands, and Trent gladly followed, coming into motion and looking around for what ropes he could find. Trent didn't know the stables as well as he would've liked, but he'd just have to see what he could find right now, with no time to ask Alder or ponder where to look; everywhere would do just fine.

Trent began to look around, glad to be away from everyone else for a bit. The coywolf searched around and managed to find some rope from all of the places he'd looked -- closets, stables, the ground, every dusty corner he could find -- and ended up with one really long bit, two decent-sized pieces (but, he reckoned, probably enough to put around a horse's head or something like that, if that's what they were for) and four small pieces that he didn't think would do much good.

With the gathered rope hung around his right shoulder, Trent started to get back to where Alder was blocking the wall; as he arrived, Alder had finished barricading, and Trent waited for further instruction.

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#6
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For the sake of convenience, I went with four of the listed communal horses. Wink Poke me to change anything!

Word Count → 441


The Marshal took charge, and both males were quick to comply with his orders. Hati ducked into the building, pale eyes scanning what he could see through the shadows. The rising panic was making it impossible to concentrate. He wrung his wrists, fidgeting as his eyes tracked wildly through the obfuscated stables. Their herd was riled up, whinnies and stomping clearly carrying over the sounds of wind and rain. Some of the animals were kicking at their doors, attempting to flee the storm. It wasn't until he realized how spooked many of the horses were by the weather that he was able to calm himself; they needed him to help them relax, not whip them up into a stampede. He bit his tongue, moving from stall to stall to touch each horse reassuringly, and take attendance. There was Hwin, Archer, Heritage, and so on... the familiar faces bringing him relief, as they all appeared to be uninjured.

A knot twisted in his stomach as he drew closer to the open wall, cold puddles of rainwater splashing beneath his steps. He counted five empty stalls that should not be empty -- wait, four, the fifth stall held the undersized pinto Rue he did not notice at first. The docile Jolie was one of the missing, though, and he was trying to remember who the other three were specifically, since they were part of the unnamed and unbroken herd. It could be trouble recapturing them, since they used to be wild. At least they were of hardy stock and could take care of themselves, or so he could hope. They needed to round them up as quickly as possible. Hati was about to dash back into the storm to inform Alder, when a sick sense of dread washed over him. "Asagi," he exhaled weakly, turning slowly to scan the stables again and confirming what he already knew. His mother's horse was gone.


The barricade was completed when Hati came dashing up, dark mane plastered wetly over his face. His hands were trembling, and it was a struggle to keep his voice flat. "I counted five gone," he called urgently over the wind. He couldn't look Alder in the eyes, and looked instead to his packmate with the ropes, readying him for their next task. This was a nightmare. "Jolie, the old grey stallion, the appaloosa and the pinto mares, and - and Asagi," he elaborated, voice cracking with emotion. If anything happened to that horse... He finally raised his gaze, staring helplessly at Alder. They would be able to find them, wouldn't they?

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