Looking for Morningsiders to find him and maaaybe bring them home with them, since he's hurt!
Burr bounced down the mountainside, yelping loudly each time his svelte body contacted the rough ground. He tumbled tail over teakettle, disoriented, until he came to an abrupt stop against a large spur of rock jutting out of the rugged slope. His paw and leg met the broad side first, then the rest of his body at an awkward angle that ended with a sharp
pop and a piercing screech of agony that would surely carry for several miles.
He hadn't foreseen this possibility when he left Easthollow several days ago in search of Rowana, who had up and disappeared. Burr had never had an injury in his life save the scrape that Valette had left on his scruff, which was long gone now, so of all the scenarios he had considered, being injured while alone in the mountains wasn't one of them. Being kidnapped, sure. Being chased by a bear or puma, certainly. Getting lost, yes, but he knew how to follow his own scent trail. But truthfully, Burr thought it would be a fairly simple trip—after all, he was big and strong now. And
someone had to go look for his pain-in-the-neck sister, and that someone was him.
But he hadn't once thought it would end like this. It seemed he had a little more to learn about considering
all possibilities.
Gritting his teeth, the juvenile tried to push himself up from the rock, but the moment he pressed any weight down on his ankle, searing pain shot through his whole forearm into his shoulder and he crumpled weakly.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" he yammered, sinking with a sharp whistle of a whine to his belly and staring tearfully at his forepaw, which was twisted at an angle that seemed all wrong. He felt faint just looking at it.
The world in Burr's eyes was an immense, yet empty place. He never thought to call out for help because he knew how far removed he was from Easthollow in the mountains. He had gone a lot farther than he ever intended to, having traveled for several days, and he hadn't encountered another wolf in all that time. As far as he knew, Easthollow was the only pack within ten thousand miles, and they were much too far away to hear his whining. Even if he cried out his loudest, Burr knew they would never hear him there.
He'd gone way too far from home and things seemed bleak. He licked his lips nervously, wincing at an unexpected sting followed by the acrid taste of blood. Burr hadn't even felt it when he bit his lip on the way down, but now that he was aware of it, the tears in his eyes swelled.
The clatter of rocks was his only warning; he whipped his head up just in time to meet the sharper, fiercer gold of Dawn's gaze. It was instinct to shrink back and away from her, both because she was a stranger and because he was injured. Burr pressed his ears back and drew his muzzle down, cradling his broken ankle close to his chest, and when she asked what happened, he took a long time to decide whether or not he should answer. After all, this could be Cyron's kidnapper, or Rowana's, for all he knew. He briefly glanced away to search for back-up on the mountainside, but knew that there was none, so finally he answered in a high, pained voice, "I-I fell." The pockmarked terrain could explain for itself how a sure-footed creature like a wolf might do something like that.
He could abruptly smell someone else, but couldn't see her, and pressed himself tighter back against the rock in hopes they weren't about to gang up on him.
he hadn't been close to dawn or pema when it happened, but the piercing scream that seemed to reverberate across the mountains caught his attention, and he raced to the source of sound without thought. it hadn't sounded like either of his packmates. . .but you could never be too careful.
adi felt a surge of alarm when he came across both women, and scanned them quickly for injuries, eyes worried but saying nothing. then his gaze snapped to the youngster beside them, who was injured; something had happened to his paw, which rested at an unnatural angle that made his stomach churn to see it.
"what happened?" he asked all assembled, his tone sharper than intended. he looked at dawn and pema. "do you know this boy?"
for a boy it was--not even to his first year of life, with fresh, youthful eyes that were clouded now with fear and pain. he carried a pack scent, though he did not recognize it. he must have wandered from home and found himself in this predicament.
As shock began to set in, Burr's eyes darted rapidly between the unfamiliar wolves. There was no way to keep them all in his line of sight, but fear of the unknown told him to try. Pema settled somewhere on his right side, Dawn loomed over him, and the third wolf was somewhat off to the left. He pressed his ears forward and turned blurry eyes up to Dawn as she spoke, but many of her words sounded rushed to the traumatized Burr, who felt like he was in a vacuum and the others were on the outside looking in.
He picked out the name, but it wasn't familiar to him. Unbeknownst to Burr, he had shared a game once with Sunny, but they hadn't exchanged names. He knew that his grey-furred adult friend had left the pack some time ago, leaving Burr to wallow in his loneliness—though that was hardly Sunny's fault—but aside from that, it rang no bells. He shook his head lightly, unable to formulate words through a tongue that felt sluggish and twisted in his mouth in spite of the quick, shallow breaths he was taking.
He became aware, slowly, of throbbing in his foot, and his eyes chanced to slide down toward it. When he saw the angle it was at, his vision swam and all at once the throb grew to sharp agony. He sucked in a breath—heedless of all the adult wolves around him and the questions they were asking—and screamed until the sight and pain of it made him dizzy and he fainted.
Feel free to powerplay Burr while he's out cold. :)
neither of them had answered his question, but judging by their body language and words, this child--or his pack--was no threat to morningside. he wondered if this might be one of the vale wolves, lost after his companions had scattered to the wind, though he hadn't caught this youngster's scent when they were on the old borders.
dawn would certainly need help carrying the boy; he was almost as big as she was. lowering himself, aditya wiggled his head and neck under the child's unconscious form and shimmied him onto his back. he was an ungainly weight, draped as he was over aditya's shoulders, but with dawn helping to support the weight, it shouldn't be too hard to bring him the short distance down to morningside's territory.