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set in whisper beach~ 
Two months since she'd really met another wolf. She hadn't really been trying that much, it was true. And she felt pretty accomplished with what she'd been doing; she basically knew almost every inch of these lands, excluding of course the various pack territories strewn about the lands. Speaking of which, though, Sofia was also pretty certain that she was going to join that coyote pack. It held the most appeal, and she wouldn't mind running into Kaena again, either. She was probably the most interesting canine that Sofia had ran into so far, although the others had been pretty cool too, with the exception of the hooded coyote she had ran into on the city streets.. That was another place she hadn't explored. She didn't really want to risk encountering him again, and she still saw his figure and crazed eyes in shadows, sometimes. Sofi should probably join that pack soon, though.. Her legs were already so sore, almost all the time. She couldn't really tell if that would get better or worse once she was traveling less; was it a result of the strain or just a steady thing brought on by her cancer?
She padded slowly, tiredly along the highway near Whisper Beach. Rain beat softly along the asphalt and on her back. Her short and ragged fur was sodden with the water, but she didn't mind too much. Sofi never took very good care of her fur, but at least the rain gave her an excuse for not doing so. She even had a few mats in places that she should really shift and pick out at some point, but meh, she'd get to it eventually. They didn't hurt too much yet. She was hungry, but the thought of finding and capturing food in the rain withered any actual thoughts of fixing that problem. It was so damned difficult. Besides, she ate a good meal yesterday, she could probably go a day or two more before eating became a real need. Her bony ribs showed through slicked wet fur. The difficulty of hunting had increased exponentially in the past few weeks. For all that she used to be able to pass for a healthy wolf, there was no doubt about it now: Sofia was not well.
Eventually this highway would disintegrate into nothingness. From there it was a day or so through Arachnea's Revenge, and then she'd be able to try her luck at begging a home in Inferni.
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I like your table! <3
Finn trotted along the highway, her good ear held tight back against her head to keep the rain from coming in. Every now and again she’d toss up her muzzle nipping angrily at the falling water droplets. Rain! She hated rain! Wet, cold, runny and pervading, she had hated it back home and she still hated it now. It didn’t do her any favors in the looks department either. With her curly but thin coat flattened by the rain, the multitude of scars showed through even more easily, like some kind of patchwork quilt made by the mentally insane.
Now, Finn was quite proud of her scars, to be sure! But she was also savvy to the fact that they sometimes put people off. She wasn’t sure why, Finn liked seeing scars on others, though the thought is rather odd. It meant they were fighters, like her, or didn’t mind getting a little scratched up. When wolves whined about how scars ruined their appearance, that was when Finn either walked away or got in their face, depending on her mood. She felt a sort of sick, guilty pleasure when the confronted wolf grew silent, or scuffed at the ground with abashment.
As it stood, though, Finn had not seen another wolf for days. She would have chewed off her other ear just to find someone to spend this miserable, rainy day with. The gray clouds were getting her down, and Finn didn’t like being down while the sun was still up. Depression was for night time, repression was for day time. The remnants of last night’s gloom had been washed away by the rain, replaced by simple irritation and a craving for company. At that moment, as Finn rounded a bend, the latter of the two was abolished.
Despite the rain, a smile grew on Finn’s lips, growing wider as the soggy shape materialized out of the misty rain. Finn’s tail wagged, her eyes sparked and she sat in the very middle of the black asphalt. ”Hey!” She said, ”Some day, huh?” The figure resolved itself into a thin, she-wolf, with somewhat similar colouring as Fidh. She didn’t look particularly happy, but who could be on a day like this? Finn curled her tail around her feet, affording them a small bit of warmth. The she-wolf was thin, and Finn felt a little empathy. As the seasons turned, prey became scarce.
Finn was lucky to be travelling with Alastair. His presence put the rabbits and other small edible creatures at ease, so Finn could pick them off. She always wondered if they felt any confused before they died. What deer would travel with a wolf, after all? Finn didn’t even know. She wasn’t sure herself why she tolerated the horned horse’s presence.
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tyyy, erin made it for me, she makes pretty things . yours is awesome too~
Sofia couldn't really decide how she felt about the presence of this stranger. Yes, it had been a long time since she'd talked to anyone, and a bit of company would be nice. But she had somewhere to be, now, and her paws were itching to make it there. Although.. she'd been walking all morning, a break wouldn't be too bad. Maybe they could even find a place out of the rain. Her gaze swung around briefly.. Not really much shelter. The road was flat in either direction. There might be some caves near the beach, but climbing down the slippery rocks that led down to the coast seemed suicidal in this weather and her condition. Over into the forest of Arachnea's Revenge, maybe.
But.. maybe not the best idea right off the bat. This ragged looking stranger sounded friendly enough, but the last canine she'd run into so scarred had been the dark coyote in the city. And that conversation had began on a friendly note, too. Better to stay out here in the open. She might not be able to outrun anyone in her current state of hunger, but at least she'd have a chance. Hopefully, though, running of any sort would not be necessary.
It wasn't that Sofia had any particular prejudices against scarred creatures; the first canine she had ran into on arrival to these lands had been Kaena, and her face had tons of em. It was just a particularly bad experience recently with a crazy scarred male that made her wary. The loneliness that she hadn't realized she'd been nursing came bubbling up, however, and fought with her cautiousness for control of her actions. Sofi fought to find something to say, but all she could think about was the scars. There wasn't really any way of subtly inquiring about them.
She caught herself staring, and guiltily drew her green gaze up the rest of the stranger's body to meet the her gaze. "Sorry.." Sofi said, sort of flustered, then almost wished she just hadn't acknowledged her social blunder. An attempt to recover: "Um, I mean, yeah. I can't wait til it lets up again, it's difficult traveling weather. I'm Sofia." She stopped herself, she was rambling a little.
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Finn titled her head, watching the wolf waver. She was used to staring, it was nigh unavoidable with someone in her condition. Scars were common enough, but not so many gathered on one wolf. The rain just made it worse, but even when Finn was at her fluffiest they still showed, and others still stared. It was preferable, however, to not having anyone around to stare at her. Finn had gotten over the fact that she wasn’t a textbook beauty a long time ago. Or, perhaps it had washed over her in levels, like the frog that is put in cool water that is slowly heated, Finn slowly gained her scars and became accustomed to them.
They were a part of her, something she would never be without. They were the badges of fights, lost or won it didn’t matter because she was still alive to wear them. Being dead and with all her pelt intact was not that great, Finn would take living and battered over the former option any day. ”No worries,” She said, trying to help the other wolf feel more at ease, ”S’not like you gave me them, so you have no reason to apologize.”
”Pleasure to meet you, Sofia. M’name’s Finn Fidh.” She glanced up at the sky, the clouds were the gray of old and faded newspapers, but at some points they swirled together to form dark, thunderous patches. ”Must be in some kind of hurry, if you’re making an expedition even in this.” Finn could have just walked on by, ignored this wolf aside from a cursory nod of greeting and farewell, but then she wouldn’t have been herself. She made it her business to try to get to know everyone she came across, and this wolf, like it or not, had become next on the list.
”You from around these parts then?” She called from across the distance. She made no move to get closer, Sofia seemed nervous enough as it was, and Finn knew enough not to push a nervous and possibly miserable wolf. Even the kind ones could have short tempers on bad days. Instead, Finn perked her single ear up, listening. Alastair was nearby, she could hear his occasional snorts and footfalls. She did not call him, though. She wasn’t quite sure how Sofia would react to a tame deer.
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ooc -
411 words~
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Sofia knew very well that she was in no place to be judgmental. Her skin wasn't marred by line after line and she had both ears, but her ribs curved quite unattractively out from short, coarse, ragged fur. Any sane creature would avoid someone that looked like her, and she wasn't very sure if it was a good or bad thing that she'd had no chance to look into a mirror of any sort recently. Luckily, the wolf wasn't as offended as she could have been by Sofi's social error. She still felt like the apology had been necessary, because no matter who inflicted em upon the darker wolf it must suck to have so much staring all the time. The attention she got from other wolves based on her skinniness was bad enough, and that was self-inflicted. Sort of. Mostly hunting got harder as the cancer spread, and she didn't feel up to putting in the effort as much as she should.
Finn, was her name. It was a strange name for a girl, Sofi thought. She knew two Finns from the pack in which she grew up; one was a few months younger and another was the father of a friend. Strange, but whatever. Who was she to judge? "Yeah.. I've been living around here for a few months. Don't really have a pack or much of a home around here, so I'm pretty used to being out and about in this weather." A slightly noticeable flinch at rumbling thunder seemed to belie her statement, but really, half a year ago she would be cowering under a blanket curled up in some dark dry place, likely with her father murmuring comforting words. Her easily summoned fright reduced to a flinch at the unsettling noise was quite a dramatic reduction indeed.
"I'm heading towards this one pack to try and join 'em, though. I think I'm done with being a loner, for a while." Finn didn't smell much like the land around here, and definitely not of any of the packs in particular. Sofi had spent the past three months scouring these lands from top to bottom; rain or not, she would have been able to pick out the sickly sweet scent of Dahlia de Mai or the pale, dreamy sort of scent of Crimson Dreams, or any of the packs, really. "You're new around here, I think?" Hesitation, never really wanting to commit to an assumption that might be wrong.
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Finn had been traveling for a long time, and though she hated the rain, it wasn’t too much of a setback. She much preferred sunny days, or even blustery ones where the wind whipped through the leaves and sent them scattering into the air like shards of stained glass. Fall was her favourite season, and she had to take it all, the sunny days, and the windy days and the rainy ones as well. It wouldn’t be Autumn without the entirety of good and bad weather. Winter, on the other hand, was the most detested of the seasons. Cold, damp and depressing.
In winter, it was like night time all the time, and Finn couldn’t stand it. All that white with no colour to break it up. She wasn’t looking forward to the winter here, and sincerely hoped she’d be set up in a nice cozy den in some pack land by then, but the future wasn’t looking to bright in that respect. She was still hesitating, weighing her options with such scrutiny that it would but a jeweler to shame. She couldn’t decided which pack would fit, though she’d already had some choices made for her. Inferni was definitely off limits. Though Finn wasn’t a full wolf, and no doubt had a dash of dog and coyote blood mixed in with the rest, she had no illusions about trying to fit in there.
”Yeah, I’d like to do the same. But I’m too much of a fence-sitter.” Finn chuckled. ”I am quite new, just entered these lands from the west ‘bout two weeks past.” Aniwaya was also a no go. Finn wasn’t a very spiritual wolf, and she’d heard tell that Aniwayas often consorted with spirits. Now, ghost and ghouls scared Finn silly, and even if her little “spirit guide” ended up looking like a fluffy little chipmunk, she would have avoided it like the black death itself. Besides, she already had Alastair, who was nearly as good as a spirit guide and much more corporeal to boot.
Speaking of Alastair… Finn turned, peering down the road as the deer’s massive shape materialized out of the mist in much the same way as Sofia had. His hooves clicked lightly on the pavement, and Finn shook her head in frustration. ”Alastair! I told you to stay away.” She glanced at Sofia, apologetic and at the same time on guard. ”Sorry ‘bout him. I told him to make himself scarce, but he must’ve gotten spooked.”
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It was strange. Sofia had left with a very specific destination in mind: Storm. She had been given a vague description of where to find it, and she had actually managed to. Unfortunately, the land no longer hosted any sort of wolf pack. She had stayed a couple days, wandering and exploring and trying to match up landmarks to the stories that her father had told her of his childhood. His graveyard had not been hard to find, right where he always described it: east of the Yawrah River, slightly south of the cave he had lived his adolescent years. But the lands were burnt, ravaged by fire; only the slightest bit of green was fighting to reclaim the soil. There was nothing to live on, there; no one to live with, to die with. So she had followed the scent trails west and west and got here.
At first she had the vague idea that she'd consider all packs while she explored, and she had met canines from a few different ones. Eliza from Dahlia de Mai, Kansas from Crimson Dreams, Geneva from Phoenix Valley. And of course, Kaena from Inferni. They had only talked once, only had that one conversation, but it had struck Sofi deep. She truly and sincerely looked up to that older coyote. Really, though, she never gave the other packs a fair chance. The allure of exploring her coyote heritage was too strong. "Well if you're looking, I'm sure one of these places will speak to you. There's quite a lot of variety between the different packs. Inferni's the one I'm going for, it's a bit east of here."
Sofia was going to say more, but all of a sudden there was a fierce-looking red deer in her field of vision. Of course, in her state of hunger her first thought was how delicious he smelled. But one wolf wasn't enough to take down a deer and the hybrid wasn't in much condition to assist Finn in the kill... And anyway... it seemed as if Finn knew this deer? "It, er, he has a name? How do you talk to.. him? Why isn't he afraid?" So strange! Sofi had never heard of such a thing, a deer and a wolf as friends. God, it wouldn't be anything she could ever do herself, it would drive her crazy to be around something smelling so delicious and not being allowed to even taste a little. It had been months and months and months since she had last had any venison.
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It’s so easy to lay the tracks for the future plot!
”I’m sure I will.” Finn said, smiling. ”I’ve heard there’s a pack to the south that takes in misfits of any kind. I might head that way and try my luck. Cour des Miracles I think it was called.” A pack of misfits was a highly appealing idea to Finn. Amongst misfits her scars would not stand out so readily, and she might have a little peace. Perhaps even Alastair would fit in there, as he was the king of misfits! The deer had drawn level with Finn, and was watching Sofia with muted curiosity.
”Aye, he has a name. This is Alastair, probably the stupidest deer you’ll ever meet.” Finn said, clicking her teeth at the deer jokingly. ”Actually, he’s quite smart, but also really crazy. Thinks he’s a wolf, or something. I can’t actually talk to him, but he gets the gist of what I’m saying.” Alastair had followed her for seasons, right after she had fought and killed the Alpha of a prairie pack. Battered and exhausted, Finn had fallen asleep in a small divot on the plains, and awoken to the big deer hovering over her. She hadn’t had the strength to try and attack, so they simply sat there. After that, he had tagged along, dogging her steps like a wolf pup after his mother. He was far too big for Finn to take on anyways.
Finn looked back at Sofia, who had a hungry look in her eye. ”Are you all right?” She asked, eyes showing concern, ”You look like you haven’t eaten in a while.” She took a hesitant step forward, not wanting to invade the other wolf’s personal space. ”Though I can’t offer you Alastair as a meal, maybe we might have luck catching something if we hunt together.” Finn was the best hunter at night, when the darkness blended with her pelt to create superb camouflage. But here, in the damp and rain and mist, she would also fit quite well.
The gray she-wolf hated to see another in distress, especially one so mild-mannered and polite as Sofia. Though she loved to fight, Finn could also appreciate good manners. She never expected any directed towards herself, so whenever someone acted civil she took an immediate liking to them. That was Finn in a nutshell, happy to fight if invited, polite if not, and always happy to see someone who wasn’t trying to kill her. She pressed her single ear forward, watching Sofia with jovial, patient eyes.
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Sofia actually hadn't heard of the particular pack that Finn had mentioned, but her extensive scouring of the neutral lands in the area left pack-sized holes in random splotches of her internal map. Now she had a name for one more of them - Cour des Miracles. The brief description of it sounded pleasantly bohemian, but her heart was set on Inferni at this point. Well, it as something to consider if she was turned away from the coyote pack for her wolfish appearance. She had some blood, she just wasn't sure if it would be enough. Time would tell.
For all Finn's joking tone when calling Alastair stupid, Sofi couldn't help but think that he sort of was. What kind of deer would hang around a wolf? Although.. if he didn't, if he was an unnamed, unknown figure, maybe he would be considered for dinner. Maybe he would have already been made dinner. No, Sofia changed her mind. Once past the first hurdle of actually befriending a predator, it didn't seem too bad to have one as your companion and protector. Finn stepped a bit closer, and manners overwrote caution. After the initial social blunder, it would be just terribly rude for Sofi to flinch or shy away. Her muscles tensed a little, barely perceptibly, but primarily in an effort to keep them from rebelling and showing her vague, nameless fear. The encounter with the coyote in Halifax had started out similarly. Friendly, polite.. And then.. She trembled a little, remembering, hoping not unreasonably that the other female might chalk it up to exhaustion.
After all, her hunger was painfully evident, and her rain-soaked figure had obviously been traveling despite it. "Yeah.. I haven't. We could see if we could catch something." Honestly, Sofia would rather not, she wanted to just keep going and make it to the coyote territory. But she was intending to take a break now anyway, and it felt very rude to turn down an offer like that. Besides, having another canine to help her would make the task infinitely easier than trying to pin something down herself. The thought of food, of fresh raw flesh warming her belly was a huge motivator, too. Finn looked like she could use some meat, too, and Sofia wasn't completely useless. Maybe it would be a mutually beneficial arrangement. She turned her gaze to the forest, goosebumps from her memories of her attack in Halifax causing her to hesitate, to let Finn lead the way.
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Sure! Finn isn't very good at big game, anyways.
Finn saw the vaguest of shudders and sighed. She backed up a pace, and watched Sofia with her mild, pale eyes. ”Not had some great experiences here then, hey?” It was a shame, nice wolves deserved to be treated nicely. Finn was all well and fine with being treated like a chew toy, but that was because she deserved it. She was meant to fight, scuffle and otherwise cause problems, and knew that she get a couple bumps and bruises along the way for doing so. That was life, that was the responsibility she’d take for her actions.
Sofia, on the other hand, seemed pretty blameless. Finn couldn’t see her starting fights or insulting someone unless the other wolf involved was itching for a brawl. Her quiet manners and unobtrusiveness was a nice thing. Finn would have gone crazy if she met another wolf like herself. She couldn’t stand herself actually. When push came to shove, Finn would’ve preferred to be someone else. But the cards were dealt, and this was the body she was supposed to lug around the green earth, so she’d make the most of it.
The grey wolf smiled again when Sofia accepted. She seemed a little reluctant, though Finn wasn’t sure if that was because she was still cautious or wanted to be on her way. Inwardly, she shrugged. Inferni wasn’t going to run away any time soon. Neither was Cour des Miracles. So why not try their luck at getting something to eat? She moved onwards the forest, feeling the even deeper shade of the trees spill over her back. In the half dark she was just a silhouette with nearly glowing eyes. It was even worse at night. When the darkness closed in and the stars lit up like distant funeral pyres, Finn felt as if she could just dissolved into nothingness, and the thought scared her silly.
”It’s been a while since I’ve hunted with another wolf.” said Finn, looking back over her shoulder at Sofia. At least over a year, with the last pack she had been thrown from. She hadn’t been the greatest at large game, but that wasn’t the reason she had fled for her life. Finn turned her lamp-like gaze to Alastair, who bobbed his head and moved ahead of them into the forest. ”He draws the bigger prey out,” Finn explained, ”The herbivores think that if a big deer’s walking around like nothing’s wrong, there won’t be any wolves nearby.” It was a great trick, and quite exploitative. Finn was still surprised that Alastair went on with it so willingly.
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sorry again for slow! 374 words
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Honestly, Sofia had managed to bounce back fairly well from her encounter with the coyote in Halifax. Relatively speaking, at least, when you consider how close she came to rape or worse. Sure, she was fairly skittish now, but the nightmares were only occasional, not constant. She supposed that it was probably strongly related to the numbing effect that her illness had had. It was strange how some things were intensified, and others reduced to barely feeling anything at all. Nothing seemed to matter, but everything mattered, because it was all that there was left. But then what was the point? Her mind chased itself in circles trying to figure out how it should be reacting to something, anything, everything. She liked living around here, dark coyotes lurking in alleyways or not. She was a little slower to trust now, more reliant on her instincts, more trusting of her cautious habits.
But since she had no idea how to stick pins through any of those fluttering thoughts, Sofi just shrugged a little and nodded. "Sort of. Ran into one particularly unsavory character." Vague, blatantly vague, and her tone made it clear that her answer was sufficient and comprehensive, and that no further elaboration would be given on the subject.
Finn trotted off, and Sofia followed her closely enough that they could still converse a little. The pace was not too rapid, but her legs hurt anyway. She didn't show it; she had a lot of practice at hiding what the cancer was doing to her. Or at least she thought she did. Somehow Kaena had seen through it, but maybe that was just a unique situation - she held a particularly wisdom that Sofi hadn't find in many other creatures throughout the world. "Yeah.. I haven't really done it too much ever. My old pack had a section of hunters that took care of providing food for everyone." It had worked for them because they lived mostly in shifted form, and there were a lot of miscellaneous tasks needed to keep their human buildings and minor technology in good repair. She eyed Alastair as they headed further towards the forest, nodding at Finn's words. "That seems really handy. Are we gonna try for a deer, then?"
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Seriously, no worries. I don't mind the slow pace. I have a bajillion threads right now, and if they were all moving fast I'd spontaneously combust.
Maybe Sofia could mishear Finn and chase after the deer too soon?
”Where I lived, there weren’t very many deer. They tended not to stray too deep into the mountains. We lived off hares and gophers… My brother and father ate coyotes.” Finn said with deep disgust. Fighting with a coyote she could perhaps understand, be eating one? Horrid! Aegnus was always boasting about his diet, saying it made his bones strong and his fur shine. Cuhlain didn’t talk about it as much, but she could always find him gnawing away on a bone that resembled a wolf’s enough to make shivers run down her spine. She was glad to find that the wolves here didn’t practice such activities.
”With my family, you were expected to find your own food, and no one else’s. Even when I was just barely able to walk, my father made me go hunt in the snow.” Finn shook her head, remembering those times with a bitter smile, ”I absolutely hated it. I wanted to stay in the den and listen to the stories.” She drew a deep breath in through her nose, letting the scents of the forest sort themselves out through her head. Rabbits were about, and a weasel. The thick, stodgy scent of a badger meandered through the trees, at least a day old. Their was another deer besides Alastair, though. And it was close.
The she-wolf nodded to her horned companion and he loped forward, moving with brisk assurance, his head held high. Finn dropped down till her ribs brushed against the forest floor. Creeping forward, she concealed herself in a leafy bush, peering out from the leaves with her watchful, pale eyes. The other deer was female, she trotted over to Alastair with interest, completely oblivious to the wolves watching her. ”When I shout ‘go’…” Finn whispered, ”Run for the deer. I’m going to flank her, so she can’t run off.” Finn turned away and circled, staying away from the patches of light and moving like a little ghost. The thought of fresh meat was a tempting on, and she found herself licking her lips in anticipation.
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