Wolf RPG

A lanky, scrawny form sat hunched over at the river's edge, shivering against the blustery cold — winter was certainly coming if the afternoons were growing this cold already, and the cloud cover kept her dark fur from absorbing what heat she could from the sunlight. Her thoughts were slow and dull; more waves of emotions and instinct than anything tangible. A side effect of hunger. A side effect of loneliness. She bowed her head and drank, willing the water to fill her belly and make up for the nourishment she lacked.

When she had her fill, she stood and began to slowly follow its edge. She did not know where to go. She no longer knew what she was looking for. While she remained directionless, the riverbank offered a path for her and she followed it doggedly. It lured her through a deep forest until finally she reached a large span of water; a fact that barely registered. She paused at its edge for several moments, brows furrowed in confusion, until she finally began to walk into the shallows.

Once the caldera was a little more established, Peregrine would probably resort to his usual ways and refuse to roam beyond the pack's territory. Presently, he tentatively ventured away from his new home base, wondering if he could possibly find some fresh blood. Recruiting certainly wasn't his forte — making nice with strangers was definitely not among his favorite things to do — and he hated the air of implied desperation. Yet they needed bodies, especially as winter encroached, so he would just have to suck it up and do what was best for the pack.

Today's roaming brought him near to a small lake, specifically toward a small body perched on its edge. Even as he padded closer, the slender wolf began to wade. Peregrine pursed his lips, watching her. She was young, which made him hesitate to consider her as a potential recruit. But her markings were rather eye-catching, he had to admit. She looked a lot like a magpie. He only knew that because Mo had spent a lot of time teaching him about various birds when he was young.

Wait, he thought freezing. Magpie? Was that this young stranger's name? Why was it so familiar? Peregrine stood there, head tilted, plumbing the depths of his mind for its origin. Was... she one of the wolves Fox accidentally got captured? He stared. What were the odds that a wolf marked like a magpie would be called Magpie? What were the odds this was the very same wolf his mate had incidentally betrayed in the past?

Only one way to find out, right? "Magpie?" he said, making sure his voice was loud enough to be heard over her splashing.

She continued to wade deeper; the water up to her ankles, then elbows, then belly. Her progress was mindless — she was driven forward only because it was the only direction she knew to go. Somewhere in the depths of her mind, she registered that the water was cold but she didn't have enough motivation to care; and besides, it wasn't as cold as one might have expected. When the lake's water level reached her shoulder, a shout over her dull splashing cut through the air. If it hadn't kindled some recognition in her mind, the juvenile might have continued until she had drowned herself... but...

Her green eyes snapped to alertness, the world suddenly in perfect clarity; she focused on the dark figure that had presumably spoken it. Her brows furrowed in confusion, straining to remember him, but he looked and smelled like a perfect stranger. Almost quickly as it had come back, her mind began to slip again, but she managed a perplexed, "How..?"

She looked around, her dark face a mask of confusion. She couldn't have been more than a year, perhaps even a few months shy. He could see her cheekbones and it made Peregrine's teeth press into his bottom lip. She was young and quite possibly starving. This was not the type of wolf he'd hoped to recruit... but if she was who he thought she was, Fox definitely owed her a favor, which meant Peregrine owed her a favor by proxy. And hadn't he once told Fox he would be happy to offer a home to the unfortunate captives?

"You look like a magpie," he said in an explanatory tone, offering a brief smile before his lips set back into a stoic line. "If you are Magpie, you might know my mate, Fox...?" he pressed, tail flicking as he moved forward to stand at the water's edge.

She loosed a pathetic whine at his words, turning towards him and taking a hesitant step in his direction — back out of the deepening lake. It wasn't exactly that her nickname was hard to guess, and once upon a time when she had been firmly mute, her unique coloration had made it easy to wordlessly introduce herself to strangers. But her mind was a fog; of hunger, of desperation. Fox, he said, and that almost brought her out of it... but that name was associated with a lot of pain for the young wolf, and her mind desperately wanted to stay where there was no pain.

"I'm Magpie," she finally managed to say in agreement, feeling like she might break under the weight of it. Because Magpie didn't have many happy memories.

When she turned and began to wade back into the shallows, Peregrine could see just how frail and weak she was. Despite himself, he felt sorry for her. The fact that she appeared mildly confused also earned his sympathies. Either he was softening, he was desperate or she reminded him of his daughters, who were also named for birds and who he missed dearly.

"I'm Peregrine," he told her. "Come with me, Magpie. We'll get some food in you, then you can take shelter at the caldera." He paused. He would require loyalty in exchange for this; he was not the charitable sort. The specifics could wait. It would be more appropriate for Fox to discuss them with her anyway. Although he'd found her, he was already thinking of Magpie as his wife's charge.

"This way," he said, motioning for her to follow. He broke into a light walk, not wanting to overextend the delicate Magpie.

Magpie followed obediently, the male's words providing direction that her mind could not. When she broke out of the water onto the shoreline next to him, she paused, looking at him with green eyes that searched for answers. "Fox? She..." but her hoarse voice broke off, and her eyes cast down to her paws. She what? Abandoned wasn't quite the right word, because there was so much more wrongness associated with what had happened. If she hadn't been so weak, the juvenile might have sought to run in the other direction; away from this male, who was in all likelihood bringing her back to Fox's side.

But the funny thing about life is that it wants to keep living, and it will endure all kinds of abuse in order to do so. When Peregrine began to walk, she therefore staggered to follow, tail sunk low between her legs.

After a few long strides, Peregrine turned to Magpie and finished her sentence for her. "She'll make up for what she put you through, I'm sure." He glanced at her, eyes scrutinizing, then added, "What were you doing in the water? It's not exactly the right season for swimming..." He wondered if she had been trying to end her life... or if she'd just been disoriented.

"See that? It's called Redhawk Caldera. That's where we're headed," he told her the next moment, regarding the squat mount. He hadn't been this far from it since first discovering it. It looked so... misshapen from here. It's ugly, he realized, then snorted quietly to himself.

He confirmed that they were headed to a place where Fox waited, and her jaw tightened; but she wasn't in a position to choose otherwise, and knew it. For lack of anything better to say or do, she nodded. Her only option was to trust him, and if that turned out to be a mistake, it was hard to believe she could be any worse off. Already, the foggy state she was in had started to lift... she was aware of what was happening, perhaps as if she were looking down upon her body, but she was aware of it.

At his question, her brows furrowed into confusion again as she attempted to sort out what she had been trying to accomplish. "I... don't know," she said finally, lamely, "I'm lost." As if that would explain everything. But with his reminder, Magpie realized suddenly that she was sopping wet and cold, and she began to shiver — which promptly morphed into a shake that loosed the excess water from her fur.

"S..so—sorry," she mumbled. Then, "What's a Caldera?"

"It's that ugly thing up there," Peregrine answered, then realized his sarcastic wit might not be taken well in this situation. "'Caldera' is another term for 'crater.' See how the mountain seems to be missing its peak? Well, it used to be a volcano but it's extinct now. During one of its final eruptions, the peak was blown off to the side. There's a big lake there now. It's quite a view from up there, even if it doesn't look like much from down here."

Magpie seemed to be coming around, so Peregrine picked up the pace, soon delivering them to the foot of the mountain. He had just started a cache near here. Motioning for the young she-wolf to stay, he loped toward it: nothing but a shallow hole. He dug up the remains of a Canadian goose and gnawed a wing off the torso. This he carried a bit awkwardly back to Magpie, dropping it unceremoniously at her feet.

"You'll have to rip the feathers off but there's a decent amount of meat there," he said. "After you eat, I'll take you to Fox... unless you'd rather settle in for the night." He squinted at the dimming sky. "Then I can take you to see her first thing in the morning." It wasn't a question of if, but when, he would take the youth to his wife.

Once again, Magpie only gave a nod of acknowledgement, since she wasn't in a particularly conversational mood. Her usual sense of adventure and thirst for new things seemed to be buried somewhere in her current fog, otherwise she might have suffocated Peregrine in questions. For the time being, it was all she could do to focus on putting one paw before the other.

Almost as soon as the male began to describe the Caldera, they found themselves at its base — at least it seemed that way to Magpie, though she wasn't the best to set a watch by at the moment. He motioned for her to stay, and she did so obediently, watching him with dulled eyes. Before long, he was dropping a feathered piece of meat at her paws, then told her to eat. She pawed at it, prepared to tear the plumage away as he described, but paused when he mentioned Fox again.

This time, she looked at him a bit incredulously, "Don't want to talk to her."

In another time and place, Peregrine might have told her to get lost then, because he didn't want to deal with needy, fragile teenagers anyway. Yet he held his tongue for a myriad of reasons. He leveled her with a speculative look but didn't bother pressing the issue. She would be talking to Fox, whether or not she liked it. The look in his eye was akin to him saying neener neener neener.

"Eat," he commanded, "then make yourself at home either down here or up the slope. I'll find you in the morning. I'll bring more food." He gave her a long look. Peregrine wondered if she would leave under cover of darkness. If she was that opposed to speaking with Fox, there was definitely that risk... but he was offering her food, shelter and a home. If she turned her back on that, she would be stupid and, almost certainly, she would die.

"See you tomorrow, Magpie," he said, leaving her to her own devices — and the consequences of whatever choice she made between now and morning.

He gave her a look, then, that reminded her of Raven or Treepie... and she wilted, suddenly pawing at the goose wing with renewed interest, ears flattened sheepishly in preparation for the scolding that was surely to come. Instead, Peregrine dropped the matter and once again insisted she eat. In fact, he made a point to repeat himself without mention of the fiery wolf that had once before been her leader, and even if it was only to placate her moodiness, Magpie didn't have the will to continue pressing the issue either.

"'Kay," she responded glumly, then when he turned to make his way up the slope, she said a bit loudly and pointedly after him, "Thanks." Magpie had found herself in the same situation she had been in time and time again; at the mercy of older wolves that had little care for what she wanted. But at least she was alive, and for that reason she would still be here in the morning... a little less worse for wear, and definitely just as thrilled to reunite with Fox.