Shattered coast close to the DdM border

Sounds of eagerness left his mouth as he charged after the fluttering form of a bird ahead of him. Tragically, that same bird was wounded after an accident with a tree earlier in the day. Now, she panicked as the form of Emwe was crashing after her through the landscape. Emwe, on the other hand, was immensely entertained, and failed to see the horrors he was putting the poor bird through. He was just playing, and she was flapping her wings so... invitingly. It was if it wanted him to run after it or something, and that's what he did. If he'd sought to eat it, he would have done so already, but right now it was only a source of entertainment.


As the bird slowed gradually, Emwe found himself catching on, although he hadn't really been running after it as fast as he could, because he was much faster than a bird on the ground! The exhausted creature finally collapsed, and the male stood to look at it, confused. He hadn't really thought about why the bird hadn't chosen to fly away, nor did he quite understand the notion of fear in species that was his (or someone else's) natural prey. But, he realized, he had to have done something, unless it was just playing with him still. One time he had chased after Conor and Conor had tried to fool him by playing dead, and if that was what the bird was doing, it was doing it very poorly. He could see the bird moving! His neck bent and his nose nudged the little creature, who fluttered in fear, convinced that this would be the end of it. A little bit sad, Emwe slowly came to realize that he had to have hurt the bird in some way, and that that was a mean thing to do, except when it was food time. Sitting still and watching the bird, the boy didn't know what to do. His face was a mix of confusion and sadness, and his voice was nearly a whisper as he tried to make it better. "I'm really sorry, bird."

OOC: ::Word Count:: 500+

It was the second time Urma had decided to leave the shelter of Crimson Dreams. Although she had taken the same direction as the first time, towards Halifax, she had remained in the territory belonging to Shattered Coast, planning on taking a detour when she came too close to lands that were claimed by other packs. She planned to reach Inferni, and maybe spend the night close by, before approaching the borders. Her plan was clearly risky and her heart was heavy with the fact that she hadn't confined in anyone, not even Savina, what her plan was. She was sure the ebony wolf would have tried stopping her. Urma knew herself that what she was doing was probably crazy, and she'd be very lucky if she came back unaffected by her trip and her possible discoveries. In a way, she already felt as if she would gain nothing with her journey, except maybe endangering herself for no real reason. It was clear that Pilot wasn't here, and if the wolf or wolves who had done this to him were, they were not the kind of crowd any reasonable wolf would go against.


She picked up a noise not very far away, and crept up closer anxiously, not knowing who it was. She glimpsed a wolf over the tall grass, but it was hard to tell whether he'd be friendly or not. She hoped she wasn't about to face danger so soon. Carefully, she came closer, trying to make her presence felt without startling the wolf, and hopefully without making him think she was a threat in any way. As she got closer, she was able to notice the fact that the stranger was a young wolf-- though no longer a pup, he clearly didn't have the intimidating air of some male adults. It seemed she hadn't stumbled upon a possible dangerous situation after all, or so she hoped, seeing as there always was a slight possibility that she had underestimated the wolf. She sat down on her haunches, following the youngster with her eyes, trying not to seem like an intruder, though that was what she would probably be perceived as, at first.


It seemed the young wolf was busy following a bird, and Urma was curious why the small creature didn't feel frightened by him. Unless the wolf was really to be trusted, or the bird was injured. From this distance, she couldn't tell which. She decided to come closer, and got up to her feet gently, before taking another few easy steps towards the stranger. If he hadn't noticed her by now, or picked up her scent in the air, he would probably do so around now. Still, to make sure she wouldn't startle him too much, she cleared her throat a bit, before asking on a light, conversational tone, "Is it hurt?" She hoped not. It saddened her to see defenseless creatures hurt, even if she would maybe hunt them. There had always been a clear difference, at least to her, between killing as part of a circle of life, and senseless killing.

Short post, sorry!

As he stared at the scared bird fluttering on the ground, someone approached. A female, to be exact, but it didn't matter much to Emwe. The little bird was hurt and he couldn't help it and it was all his fault and it made him really sad. Silvery eyes could not keep their gaze away, and he was locked - staring at it. He'd thought they were playing, he hadn't stopped to think, again. He always did that, and now the poor bird was looking scared and tired. Maybe it was going to die! He sure hoped not, because he wasn't sure if he could handle that. He was so clumsy! He hated being so clumsy, because bad things happened all the time. And most of the time it just happened hto him and then it wasn't so bad but now the little bird wasn't having a good time and Emwe thought it had been playing with him. The female spoke and Emwe lifted his silver blue gaze to look at her before it returned to the creature on the ground. Sighing, he decided to go with the truth this time. He wanted to be a good guy, after all. "I think I did it." His face expressed more than his low voice, but had someone who know him seen him then, they would have understood the weight of his emotions. Emwe was normally anything but a quiet young male.

OOC: ::Word Count:: 300+

Urma took a few steps towards the stranger; he seemed distraught by the little bird's condition, and she wondered whether it was something he had done that had hurt the small creature. It didn't seem as if this particular wolf would be capable of willfully inflicting harm onto another creature, but of course she couldn't know for sure. However, his reaction to the situation made her inclined to think that, whatever had happened, he felt sorry for it. She wished she could console him in any way, or reassure him, but there was nothing she knew about him to help her do that, so she focused on the tiny bird at their feet. "Could you tell me exactly what happened? Maybe I could help make it feel better," she offered, hoping this would make him feel less guilty. The avian didn't seem that hurt, and Urma doubted its condition was critical or beyond repair. If there was anything that she knew that would help, she wouldn't hesitate to do.


Meanwhile, she studied the wolf beside her. She knew she still had some distance to walk before reaching Inferni borders, but that didn't mean the wolf couldn't be a stray from there. Of course, the entire incident with the bird made her think otherwise; from all that she had heard about Inferni, it certainly hadn't sounded like a place where you would find even one wolf with a shard of sympathy in him. Also, the lands around this area had a distinctive smell, and she realized she might be close to some other pack. Of course, she had no idea what that pack might be like. She had never had the curiosity of finding out different aspects of different territories. However, the wolf's distress moved her, and she focused on the task at hand-- making the bird feel better. She brought her muzzle close to where it was, inspecting it as much as she could without attempting to move it. The avian's beady, black, glossy eyes surveyed her with a sense of dread for a moment, before their tiny light seemed to diminish. Urma's ears pressed to her head anxiously. The poor thing didn't look so good after all. But first, she needed to know what had happened.

Short post, sorry!

His heavy heart was not growing lighter as he kept looking at the poor thing, and although this stranger smelled very weird, he let her come closer. He didn't care much about his surroundings right now anyway, because he had hurt something, and it didn't feel good. He didn't really know what to call it, but if this was what it was what it was like to feel bad about doing something, then he never wanted to do it again. But, when the female wanted to know what happened, it became a little bit to much for the young male. His eyes gained moistness and he backed away from her, tail between his legs. "I didn't mean to! It was an accident!" His ears were flat against his skull. Taking some steps backward the boy cursed his own clumsy ways, because he didn't like them, he never had, and now he had done something very very bad. The bird fluttered with the added volume to his voice, and though the boy did not know it, this was the first time except in uncle Ly's cabin he'd ever reacted so strongly to a negative situation. His voice was laden with defense, but also a hint of a plea for innocence. He'd never meant to do it, he didn't want to hurt things that were not food. Stopping some feet away from his original position, his bottom met the ground with an abrupt motion. The tears he'd been hiding now flooded his eyes, but the boy did not make sounds of crying. He just stared at the ground ahead of him, uncertain where else to look.

"I don't think you can make it feel better. I think it'd going to die." His quiet voice was nothing like the Emwe most people knew.

OOC: ::Word Count:: 400+

Urma's ears fell flat against her head, and her eyes betrayed concern. He was very worked up about the little bird, and she realized her presence was not doing much to help him. But she didn't want to accuse him. She looked at him more closely-- he seemed young, though not young enough to be a pup. Maybe a year old, at the most? Had she been on more familiar terms with the wolf, she would have known what to do in order to help him. As it stood, however, she could only look at him helplessly. "Please, don't get so upset," she tried a second time, "I didn't mean to sound as if I was accusing you. There are chances we can still do something for it. You'd be its hero. Sometimes, small animals get attached to animals who take care of them. If you could tell me what happened, maybe I could tell you how you could help it. I'm sure you didn't do anything yourself. But if you could do something for it, who knows, it might even be your companion." Her tone had been kind, without turning into patronizing. She felt at a loss as to how to approach the matter, seeing as she knew nothing of the wolf in front of her.


She looked at the bird again, trying to establish whether the damage was beyond repair, but she couldn't know anything for sure unless she knew what exactly might have happened to it. She didn't expect the small creature to tell her, which was why she was dependent on the wolf. She waited for a bit, before continuing on that same friendly note, "I'm Urma." She came closer to him, and sat down, trying not to look like she was a threat to him. "We haven't even gotten a chance to know each other. What's your name?" She wanted to seem as welcoming as she could. Her journey to Inferni was still on her mind, but she knew she wouldn't be able to make it there and be able to focus on her tasks unless she helped the young male she had met. She wished that this would all go well for the wolf and the avian. She only really wished to help them, so that the stranger wouldn't be so worked up about the incident any more and blame himself needlessly. At least, it seemed to Urma it was needless, because he couldn’t have done anything willingly to hurt it, from what she could gather, otherwise he wouldn’t have felt so guilty for the tiny bird’s fate.

The female was nice enough, but he knew the truth and he was a horrible person. At least that was how he felt, because that poor bird kept suffering and it was scared and Emwe had never meant to scare it like that. This person said things about small creatures liking the ones that saved them, but that only meant that they cursed the ones that hurt them. And if he told her she would probably think he was mean too! But he shouldn't lie, couldn't lie, and his eyes were kept averted while he spoke slowly, as if defending himself and accusing himself at once. "It won't like me because I chased after it in the woods and it didn't fly so I thought we were playing. And then it just lied down like that and it's going to die." It would never be his friend, nobody would. He was a terrible person and that was the end of it.


She sat down next to him and he thought that she looked a lot like some of his family members, like Cercelee and aunt Mew, and people said his great grandmother had looked like that too. And his grandma too. All white in the fur and stuff. His gaze was kept on the ground, but he gave her his name. He'd been taught it was polite to give his name. "I'm Emwe..." It was weird to feel like this, uncomfortable and sad and bad. He wasn't used to that, he was used to feeling good. Being happy was a lot better than this.

OOC: ::Word Count:: 500+

Urma almost let escape her a soft sigh of relief at hearing the wolf's story. By all means the bird was probably just exhausted from not having been able to fly to safety, and having to run on its small, thin legs instead. So the white female approached the bird with more optimism, but frowned as she finally spotted the hurt wing. Something about the small wolf told her he hadn't lied, so she naturally assumed this was the reason why the bird hadn't been able to fly once it had spotted Emwe, perceiving him as a possible threat. She thought about how best to explain this to the distraught male, without upsetting him further or making it sound as if it was his fault in any way. She was convinced that it wasn't, and she knew she had to convince him of the same thing.


"Emwe, it's not your fault. Honestly. Come look. It was hurt before you even touched it. That's why it couldn't fly. It's not your fault." She tried not to scare the already frightened bird as she slowly turned it on its side, broken wing up, to ease the pressure on the wound. The bird seemed tired from all the frantic attempts to escape, but Urma didn't blame Emwe from assuming it was playing with him. It was a mistake any young wolf could have made. Their priority now had to be helping the poor avian, clearly hurt. She wondered how it had acquired this wound, but assumed it had been any kind of accident. Nothing to do with the male at all, she was certain. "Would you help me find some water to clean the wound on its wing?" She hoped this would make the wolf feel more useful, since it would mean aiding the bird, instead of just looking at it helplessly.


She moved away from the small bird, looking for any plant that might have a wide enough leaf to cover the small creature with. Once she spotted one, she tore it, stem and all, with her sharp teeth, and trotted back to where the avian was lying on the ground. Urma placed the soft-textured leaf over the bird, leaving only its black, beady eyes and its orange beak uncovered. She then turned back to Emwe, hoping he was willing to help her find a source of water. She had no idea where the closest one might be around here, but if he was from the pack nearby, he would most likely know. She tried to sound reassuring as she spoke. "The sooner we can help the bird, the better. It looks like it's going to heal in a day or two, and in the meantime you could always visit to check it out. Really. You did nothing wrong. By chasing after it, you found out it had a problem. Now we can help it. Together." She wanted the young wolf to trust her enough to put his unnecessary guilt behind him.

Sorry for the wait :/

Urma showed him the hurt wing, but her words offered no him consolation. Why would that make it better? It just meant that he'd chased after something that had been injured. That almost made it worse, even! He'd been mean to something that was hurt, and it saddened him to great extent. Still, there was some relief: that meant that not all of what had happened was his fault, something else had contributed to this. The weight on his conscious remained, however. When the female proposed they find water he nodded in silence, eyes diverted. He had to help it when it was his fault that it was feeling bad, although he didn't quite understand why water would help it, because it was going to die anyway. His silvery eyes followed Urma's movements as she - strangely enough - covered the bird with a big leaf, not understanding that either. It wasn't as if it would help. But at least its head wasn't covered, so it could watch the sky as it died - that would probably be nicer than not seeing the sky at all. His mind was convinced of the bird's sealed future, which was none at all.


She said more things that weren't true, but she didn't lie. She just didn't understand - he'd learned the difference. When you thought something was true and said it, even if it wasn't true, it wasn't a lie. At least not like this. But even if she didn't understand, she was sort of right. He should help it, and maybe it could even feel a little bit better before it died. If it was thirsty, he would give it some water. It was only fair, after all. Finally he looked at the female, but his usually restless tail remained still. "There's a spring not that far that way." His voice was still not lifted to its usual pitch, but his face was not as dominated by sadness anymore. Turning his nose in a direction to the north, he pointed towards a small river that flew from Terra Lupin, an area woven with streams in spring- and summertime in his packlands. It always had really tasty water.

OOC: Neah, don't worry, it's okay ::Word Count:: 400+

Urma watched the youngster with a mixture of sadness and empathy. It was difficult enough convincing anyone that they were not entirely responsible of a certain act that had taken place-- let alone a stranger. It was this barrier between packs that complicated Urma's attempts to breach the rift that age alone caused in her attempts to better understand the growing wolf. However, her sympathies were with him-- she had a vague notion of where he was coming from in regards to his readiness to blame himself. It was a guilt trip the pale femme had experienced several significant times herself, before learning to deal with the reality of life. She had had to learn that one had to understand where and when one had gone wrong, because taking the blame for all that happened was not a safe approach to the world. Not everyone would understand the emotional reasoning behind it-- many would, in fact take advantage of such weakness.


However, they could not neglect the bird; although she was good for now, it wouldn't do well to prolong her suffering. Nodding to indicate that she had understood, the alabaster female ran in the direction Emwe had pointed out, and soon enough found a stream. She concentrated on shifting in her Optime form, and the change came natural to her by now. Her body adapted to its new forms quickly, and she spread out her hands, flexing her fingers so as to get the hang of it. She rushed back to where Emwe and the small bird were, not pausing to consider that her sudden change of look might startle the wolf. She picked the bird up, leaf and all, and gently carried her by the side of the running water, placing her carefully on the ground. She then bent low near the edge of the stream, and cupped water into her hands that she then brought over the bird in an attempt to wash the wounded wing. She took great care not to damage the avian's wing, keeping the feathers moist until the wound was clean. She then tapped it dry with the leaf and gingerly held the bird in her cupped hands, peering at her from all sides to make sure there was nothing left that could hinder her in any way. Once she was satisfied that there was nothing time and a bit of care wouldn't be able to solve, she extended her hands to allow Emwe to look at the bird more closely himself. "See? It's going to be a lot better now. In due time her wing will be just fine." Her voice was softer as she spoke next. "Please don't think this was your fault. You couldn't have known. And think of it this way, you found an injured bird. That's good. Maybe another wolf would have eaten her without a second thought."

And sorry for the wait again. The university keeps ambushing me with assignments :[

The young male sat still as he watched Urma go. It wasn't far, and she'd find it easily, certainly. Some minutes passed (he wasn't really paying attention to that), and she returned, shifted now. Emwe studied her with curiosity as she picked up the bird, leaf and all, and headed back in the direction of the spring. Why do that? He didn't understand. How would water help the bird? Maybe they were going to drown it, to put it out of its misery or something. It was probably in a lot of pain. His thoughts never ceased to revolve around the horrible state of the brid - and his guilt in it - as he trotted after the female, but slower than her. He was confused, but he realized the scene of their encounter had now been moved by the moving of the bird.


Slowly, he caught up with her as she had stopped by the spring, and when there he studied her again with a strange look. She'd... doused the bird? Something like it, anyway, because it was wet and she was holding it. He took some steps closer to the wolf and her hands' contents, peering at it. Urma showed him the bird and he simply stared, glancing up at her when she spoke. It was going to be o.k. now? Maybe. Hopefully? His spirits were perhaps lifted just an inch, and he felt that the feeling of despair and other bad things were going away a little bit. Then, the female said some words that reminded him of what he had done, but following them were some other very smart words! True, someone else might just have eaten her. And that would have been mean - or would it have been? Because he knew that they ate other things - they were supposed to! Perhaps it would have been mean if they chased after it and scared it first and then ate it, instead of just catching it right away. Emwe would have been able to catch the bird when he had first seen it (and he was a poor hunter thus far in life), so the chasing was really unneccessary. And that was what he had done but he hadn't done it to eat it, but to have fun with it. And that was something nice? He thought about this for a minute, before deciding that perhaps he wasn't cruel and mean after all. He wasn't certain, though, but maybe Urma was right and a little bit too smart for him. His tail moved as if to start to wag, before it slowed again. The boy was uncertain. He tried a weak response and a halfway heartfelt smile, directed at the female. "Maybe... so I wasn't mean?" His empathy got the better of him most of the time, but perhaps sense would win in this case.

OOC: Don't worry about it, school will be doing the same to me starting tomorrow x.x ::Word Count:: 500+

Hope seemed to be rising within the young wolf before her, and for a moment Urma couldn't help but let a wave of relief wash over her. Although nothing in particular tied the young wolf to her, and although many in her position would have found him a setback, due to the urgency she related to reaching Inferni lands, the pale female could not look at Emwe that way. Indeed, the nature of her journey to Inferni was delicate enough, and time had proved over and over again that it was not necessarily on her side. Yet, although she would not have willingly acknowledged this to anyone but herself, she felt a small sense of gratitude for the delay; although she needed to find out what had happened to Pilot, the prospect of meeting any of the coyotes in Inferni made her determinedness dwindle slightly. The fair Crimson Dreamer waited for the young, possibly Dahlian wolf, to filter her words and decide upon them. She hoped that they would ease his unnecessary guilt, as it was quite clear to her that he had done nothing to hurt the bird purposefully.


The innocence in his question startled the blanched femme a bit, not having expected it from a wolf that had almost reached adulthood. It was the kind of question she would have expected Gotham or any of his siblings to ask-- something naive and simple such as that, full of the curiousity characteristic of pups. However, she put this thought aside in favour of a quick decision as to how better to phrase her answer so as to give Emwe no room for interpretation. "No, you weren't mean at all. I think you shouldn't worry about it so much anymore-- everything is okay, because there was nothing really wrong from the start." She smiled sincerely, hoping some of her certainty would brush off on the creamy wolf. He seemed awfully insecure, readily blaming himself for things that he had no reasons to believe should necessarily be his own doing.


This was, however, not the time, nor the right place to be solving puzzles. She knew that the best way she could take Emwe's mind off of the hurt avian was by occupying it with something else. Patiently, she tried asking different questions to herself, to see how they would sound and decide thereafter which she could ask without fear of bringing back the young male's guilt. She opted for a safer, though uninteresting, course of action. "You're from Dahlia de Mai, right?" Her tone was warmhearted, hoping this in turn would help the cream-pelted wolf to relax and put away for a while the issue of the injured bird. Sadly she did not know of anyone in Dahlia yet, and could not continue with a similar question. This loss for a more substantial conversation caused her to feel her one share of guilt. She opened her mouth, hoping some sort of words would flow out for themselves. "I'm... from Crimson Dreams. I don't know if that rings as familiar with you," she finished quite lamely.

Word Count: 364

Again she repeated and attempted to assure him it was not his fault. For all his flaws, there were a few things that were remarkably positive about him. One emerged in him that moment, and he accepted her explanation - perhaps naïvely. Throwing every other glance at the bird and the femme, the silvery eyes finally landed on the creature in her hands, smiling slightly. His tail started to wag only a little, and the young male whispered to it, afraid that Urma would just continue to push him on how he wasn't responsible for its injury. "Well I'm sorry anyway, little bird mister." Still, he smiled fully now, even if his tail only moved slowly compared to its usual whirlwind.


Sitting down now, Emwe didn't even have time to think about whether he was bored or not, before Urma spoke again. His ears perked as he recognized his pack name, and in an instant the thoughts about the little injured creature were pushed far back in his mind. She knew his friends! Well, knew their name, sort of. As in their pack's name. Not long ago the male had discovered that other things existed than the members of his pack - and with that realization he'd felt pretty stupid. After all, new members kept joining them, and they had to come from somewhere, right? And that somewhere was where his mother had gone, too, when she'd been angry with his father. Not that they did that ever, they were the best of friends. Their family was the best. His tail now wagged at full speed and his tongue lolled out of his mouth. Given that he was pretty dim for his age, the uncertainty in the female went completely unnoticed. "Yeah I am!" He paused for a moment. Crimson.. Dreams? He laughed a little, his voice deeper than one would expect it to be, given his behavior. "I've never heard of that place." His ears drooped a little as he admitted his lack of knowledge. He often felt sad when he didn't know things, and he didn't know a lot of things. Luckily, he could be made happy again in an instant.