Wolf RPG

Without meaning to, Atreyu had actually wandered further away from Stavanger Bay, rather than towards it. He was truly eager to go home, to see Thistle and Charon and Floki, and to feel the sea air again, but had become disoriented after leaving Moonspear. There, he could see the ocean stretch across the horizon, he knew he could get it to it if he stayed there. But he didn't. Stupidly, he had wandered into the marshes, and then travelled south, thinking he was heading back to his temporary home in Moonspear.

Instead, he seemed to be nearing a sort of mountain that looked like it had had the top of it cut off. Atreyu eyed the flat summit suspiciously as it rose up in the distance; it didn't look familiar at all. He found himself a bit away from it's base, near a lake which summoned him closer with it's sparkling blue waters. He limped forward, flinching as he almost lost balance on his three legs, before awkwardly crouching low on the banks and attempting to drink from the lake.

Peregrine's words resounded in Pan's head since her meet-up with him and Sebastian. They were wild animals and should behave more like them. Yet Pan was not very good at being aggressive or dominant, not even when defending her own territory. Perhaps it would come with age, or perhaps it would never come. She bravely patrolled the borders, but had of yet to face anyone agressively; she didn't really hope that day would ever come, truth to be told, although there'd been various incidents so far. It wasn't unthinkable she would have to stand up someday soon.

Pantaleimon strayed a bit further from the borders today, after a patrol, deciding to go down to lake rodney for a quick swim. Pan slipped into the water from the Caldera's side, deciding to take a brief pause from her warden work and patrolling. Swimming always reminded her of home and made her feel free. Perry made her happy, but taking a swim in the water reminded Pantaleimon of a home she never really had anywhere but in her mind.

Soon she would visit Reek again, to tell him the good news about her and Perry, and hear how his life was going -- and if Wynter had yet returned -- but for now, she was enjoying gliding through the water, free of gravity's wrath.

When she noticed a white figure in the distance, Pan fidgeted. She knew she should go there and tell him to leave -- he wasn't on Caldera land, but close enough considering the war that she may chase him off -- but had yet to gather the courage.

After taking a deep breath, Pan swam towards the wolf to where she could stand. "Hey, uhm, you!" she called out from a fair distance, moving half out of the water to the coast not far from the wolf. "You uhm, y-you should leave, uhm, you're close to the Caldera. This is Redhawk's..." Pan's eye fell upon the lump that should've been a leg then. "Redhawk's..." Gods, it looked terrible! "Redhawk's..." Right, she was supposed to say something. Was she still supposed to chase him off? Or offer some sort of help?

"I... Are you -- is -- do you need any help?" We're wild animals, stupid! We're supposed to chase him off, no matter how sad and hurt he looks! Pantaleimon bit her lip as she imagined Perry's disappointed face, but could not help but offer the poor boy her help. Gods, how was he still alive? The wounds looked somewhat treated, as far as Pan could tell with her limited knowledge on the matter, but the boy still had a long way to go, no doubt.

It had been an awkward endeavour but, eventually, Atreyu managed to get his tongue to the lake's surface and he began to eagerly lap up the cool water. His stomach gurgled in both happiness for the refreshing drink but also in anger that it was not food. He was a terrible enough hunter with four legs, let alone three — he hadn't had a proper meal in what felt like an age. While there were no physical signs yet of malnourishment, Atreyu certainly felt it.

His shoulders began to ache from the effort of keeping him balanced at such an unnatural angle, and so he was forced to look up from the lake and continue onwards. However, a ghostly figure caught his eye. It said something, and Atreyu pricked his right ear forward, trying to make out what the stranger had said as it waded closer. Oh, as he waded closer. Jesus christ, were all the wolves this far south of the Bay huge? Both Tatsuya and this stranger had a considerable amount of height on him, and the female back at Moonspear was quite large as well. Perhaps suffering from a bit of small dog syndrome, Atreyu drew himself upright as well as he could, dominantly puffing out his chest (obviously unaware of how close he was to another pack's borders).

Though, the stranger was the near opposite of aggressive, instead approaching meekly and eventually asking if he was okay after stammering out something about Redhawk's...wait. A light flickered into existence in Atreyu's memory, and he went to move forward, towards the strange man. He ignored his question in favour of asking some of his own questions. Gaze intent upon the male's own pale eyes, Atreyu limped into the water as quickly as he could. "What did you say? Redhawk?"

Pantaleimon knew she should have punished the wounded stranger for his insubordination so close to Redhawk territory, like Perry had told her, but she just couldn't bring herself to punish him for anything. What she really wanted was to bring him some sort of food. That, or leave him be and let him die alone, in peace, so that she didn't need to look at him and feel like tossing him a bone all the time. The Caldera wasn't lacking food presently, but Pan knew she couldn't just feed a stranger that was likely going to die anyway off of the Caldera's stocks...

When the stranger threw a question back at her, Pantaleimon blinked a couple of times before she realised she should respond. She hastily said, "Yes, Redhawk Caldera." Pan felt the urge to ask him again if there was anything he needed or wanted, or simply to run off to catch something for him, if she could find anything. However, she'd already asked the former question, and he didn't look like he needed help, beside the fact that Peregrine and Fox probably would disapprove if she went off to spend -- or waste, in their eyes -- her energy on feeding a wounded, likely dying wolf.

The stranger repeated the name after a startled pause, and Atreyu's ears swung forward, almost in excitement. He vaguely recalled his talk with Thistle after Ragnar's murder, how she had asked him to go to the Caldera and speak with some Peregrine. They were to form some sort of an alliance? Or were they enemies? He couldn't remember. The fact that he recalled their names was miracle enough.

He did remember, though, that he had to tell them, "Ragnar is dead." Oops. In his eagerness, the boy blurted out the important — if not, rather late — news. Ears splaying to the side awkwardly, he coughed and quickly back-peddaled. "Oh, I mean...you have to tell Peregrine...it's Peregrine, right? Something like that. Thistle Clo—our alpha told me to tell you..." he stammered, speech coming out almost as uncontrolled as the other man's. "I'm from Stavanger Bay."

Pantaleimon's ears flew back in confusion when the boy said some Ragnar was dead. She knew no Ragnar; who was this boy talking of? He sounded very confused when he spoke again, and his words were incoherent and rambly, but Pantaleimon's ears folded forward again when Peregrine's name was mentioned. Relaying a message to Peregrine -- Pan could do that.

Why on earth would an Alpha send such a hurt boy out into the wilds for this, though? Pantaleimon frowned worriedly and said: "I - I'll tell him." An awkward -- at least to Pan -- silence followed after that, and after a short moment Pan hastily added: "Oh! I - should I say a, uhm, a name? I mean, y-your name?" Pan wasn't sure if the boy knew Peregrine personally, or if the name wouldn't ring a bell anyway.

Unaware that he probably just left the stranger all the more confused, Atreyu nodded as he confirmed he would tell their alpha. He wracked his brain, trying to remember why it had been so important to Thistle that he relay the news but came up with nothing. He assumed the two packs had some history, or at least were friends at some point, but it must have been long ago as he had never heard of Redhawk Caldera before (nor did he know about Ragnar and Thistle's temporary adoption of Peregrine's daughter).

There was a slight pause before the man spoke again, still stuttering and hesitant. Was something wrong with him? "My name is Atreyu," he replied, suddenly wondering if the pack already knew about Ragnar's murder. Wait, did Thistle think they did it? No, she had told him she hadn't thought Peregrine would. The tip of his tail flicked in frustration at his patchy memory. "Ragnar was our Alpha." There, at least that was some use.

"Right," Pan said, mentally noting the name of Atreyu. "I, uh, I'm Pan." Pan wasn't sure if Atreyu would actually want to know that, because they didn't really know each other at all and he looked like he had better things to do than sit around and chit-chat with Pan, anyway. Look at that leg... Pan was no healer though, so there was little she could do anyway.

"So, uh..." Commence awkward silence. "Thanks, I - I'll tell Perry -- uhm, Peregrine and Fox, m-my Alphas." Pantaleimon waited then, figuring that if there was anything else he needed help with, he'd probably let her know. Or maybe he'd just walk -- or limp? -- on home, or... something. Pan was itching to ask what had happened, but this really wasn't the time nor place, and Pan wasn't sure she wanted to know, anyway.

The awkwardness was almost palpable, at least on Pan's end. Atreyu noticed none of his discomfort despite his stuttering, all too focused on why this information was so important. Why was he relaying it, anyway? Stavanger Bay wasn't the most secretive of packs, but they weren't so open to announce that their leader had been murdered. Were they? Why was this Redhawk Caldera special?

A scowl crossed his face (directly mainly towards himself) momentarily before the other confirmed he would tell his alphas after a brief pause. The other name, Fox, piqued Atreyu's interest and he inwardly laughed at the two leader's names — a peregrine and a fox. Mated?

He discarded his wondering quickly, turning back to the awkward stranger who seemed to be waiting for...something. The Gamma quirked an ear at the man quizzically before giving a nod, unaware of how abrupt and strange this encounter had been for Pan. "Good," was all he said, before turning to make his way back to the coast (finally). He kept an ear out, though, in case this Pan had anything more to stammer out.

The other wolf seemed content with the information given, and then turned to make his way out of there. Pantaleimon wondered if he was going to be okay; the wounds looked gruesome, and he probably needed help, but didn't look like he'd accept it. Besides, Pantaleimon had offered it. There was nothing else Pan could do. And the stranger was gone now, which was Pantaleimon's task to start with.

Feeling confused, Pan turned around and started to return to Redhawk Caldera's safe confines. Pan settled by Perry's side after telling Fox and Perry the news. Late into the day did Pantaleimon wonder how the poor wounded wolf was doing, and if he would survive.