There was a dull ache in his head as he laid across the shore of the creek. He didn't know where it had come from but when he woke it made itself known. It was not the worse pain he had ever experience but it was perhaps the longest. Drawn out, persistent, annoying.
He groaned and rolled onto his stomach to guard his eyes from the sun. Yet he was greeted with a face full of water. A hard snort escaped him as he pulled back. The ache in his head flared even more at his sudden jerked movements.
Peach eyes blinked away grogginess the best they could yet he almost wished he hadn't. The large male had no clue where he had awaken.
The voice was like someone gnawing on his skull and he groaned, sinking his face into the damp earth between his paws. His beefy form was well out of its prime, worn down by time doing only heavens knew what. He couldn't recall. He just knew the now. The pain and the odd voice.
Yeah....yeah.
He mumbled as he pulled his face away from the earth to be heard by the stranger. Peach eyes squinted out of confusion as he took in the frosted figure. He didn't recognize them nor the scent that was on them. Everything was so foreign to him as he tried to stand on his own legs only to quickly find himself slumping into a sitting position.
Sorry...I'm not usually like this.
He awkwardly admitted as he stared into the water.
Each word is like another greedy tooth digging into his skull. The voice was not loud yet it hurt all the same. The light of day only further accented the throbbing hidden behind his forehead. No.
He answered weakly but honest all the same. He's never stepped a single paw into this place as far as he knew. Yet he had woke up here. On the creek bed with a face full of water.
The voice got closer, louder and the throbbing in his head showed no signs of welcoming the stranger's closeness. Outlander would have lashed out for such closeness before but he was too weak. Even instinct told him he would lose against the frosted male.
Peach eyes squeezed shut briefly, a heaving sigh escaped him as he forced himself to open his eyes again. I couldn't tell you but good Gods my head...
He groaned before looking over to the male. You wouldn't happen to know something to help, would you? Anything to ease the pain.
He appreciated the mouthed words of the male. It helped to ease some of the pain in his head. Although as he watched the male leave, he momentarily worried. Some part of him did not fancy the idea of being alone even if the silence was nice. He suffered through the male's absence. It was brief. Or at least he thought it was. The sound of water was not a good measurement of time.
There's a plant laid before, a poppy on a piece of bark. The rough loner stared at it, blinking a few times. So...do I just eat the whole thing?
He had no clue the power of what he had been brought. Although he was already inching down towards it with a greediness to soothe the pain that haunted his skull.
I can't recall right now. Maybe after the pain subsides I'll be better at answers.
The large male whispered softly.
He ate the medicine once he got the go from the frosted male. Once it was down, he stretched his neck forward to lap at the creek in order to wash everything down. It is refreshing to him and while the side effects of whatever had happened to him did not soothe immediately, he felt better just knowing that soon enough they would. A soft sigh even slipped past him as he raised his head from the water.
Thank you.
He whispers softly. I know you didn't have to do this but I really appreciate it.
Outlander wasn't one for getting sappy but he really owed this guy. A lot. Had he been left out here alone he would probably still be rolling around in agony until the sun settled.
Now he just had to hope maybe it was a concussion rather than memory loss.
Are they all like you?
He mused softly. Once upon a time the words might have been flirtatious but now they were heavy and tired now. Was this stranger offering him a place of plush kindness or did the dark forests to the east hide something sinister? Outlander would have loved to keep dwelling on it more but the faded ache in his head seemed to not want his brain to work.
He bent to lap at the water again, soothing his parched throat. The poppy flavor seemed to linger in the back of his mouth like a bad neighbor. He supposed he just needed to be grateful that the neighbor was bad but useful, not just an annoyance.
this thread is pretty old so i went ahead and edited in a conclusion for archival. :-)
are they like you?
wintersbane contemplates that question for a short while, weighing his response before he gives it. what is he like, he ponders. he doesn't really have an answer to his own question. there are so many facets of him ...it's like opening pandora's box. there's no set arithmetic for his behavior when meeting strangers. like a well versed actor upon the stage: he can be whomever he's needed to be. it was not fair to claim that anyone in blackfeather woods is like him.
that is a loaded question,
there are still some members of the dark woods that the delta himself has yet to meet.
if you want to know the answer to that you'll have to find out for yourself.
wintersbane deduces with a lofty shrug.
an answer is given: a negative. unsurprising to the tundrian who is used to failed recruitment drives. he has to believe that the gods will draw those that are worthy into their fold and that the ones who greet him with rejection are ( unknowingly to them ) rejected by the gods themselves. wintersbane stays with the male for a while long ensuring that he'll be ok and once he is sure the other is fine to be left on his lonesome he departs, heading back to the shadows of the woods he materialized from.