Wolf RPG

Going home had been only one of the first few mistakes she supposed she had made. It was a foolish waste of time, a venture that only served her to be sent back out. Only it hadn't been a sending out that she had anticipated; she had been chased away. Her separation from Tonravik was a marked failure, perhaps a testament to her youth and arrogance. She should have been able to keep up, should have been able to track down one of her own kind. In full childish bloom, she was readily placing blame elsewhere, unwilling to bend to meet her own failure. It wasn't her fault that Tonravik and her band had given her the slip, though she should have expected such a tactic in the long run. Or not. She wasn't inclined to readily place the blame on her kin, either.

Through a jagged venture, she had also unknowingly crossed back into familiar territory. Familiar only in the sense that it was apart of the same region they had scouted out weeks ago, though the memory had been somewhat scrubbed loose of her mind. Anger had driven her back south for a while, but now it was replaced with acute weariness. If they wanted her gone from the northern reaches of Tartok, then fine. She could handle that. She had handled most anything so far, barring coming to terms with the aforementioned. A huff escaped her as she wove uncomfortably through nondescript foothills, sussing out the source behind a distant rush of water. She had decided, she'd get a drink, maybe scare something out of the wintry brush to chew on, and rest. After that, she'd make it up as she went along.

Having half her tail forcibly removed from her body seemed to have taken the fight out of Honey Badger. She spent her days resting, mostly because movement of any kind hurt. She kept it to a bare minimum, getting up only to relieve herself or scavenge for food. It was difficult for such a feisty spirit to be this indisposed, yet at least it gave her a chance to recollect some more of her memories. Dragging them up from the murk of her damaged mind was like fishing for great white sharks with a fifty pound test, yet somehow she did manage to reel in some facts from the deeps.

When she wasn't busy fishing for details from her own past, Honey Badger found herself thinking of tracking down Saena for another chat. Now that she could remember most things, the yearling could honestly say she did not recall ever feeling this kind of kinship with another canine. It was strange but she quickly stopped trying to quash it. In spite of her lonesome upbringing, she knew that wolves were social creatures and that, deep down, she wasn't meant for a life of solitude. Maybe Saena was the key to finally integrating into society, rather than going around and picking fights with the establishment.

The approach of another wolf scattered the yearling's thoughts. Suddenly alert, she rolled onto her belly and arched her head, ears quivering. Honey Badger did not yet jump to her feet, as doing so would entail a great deal of pain. Anyway, she was partially screened by brush. Yellow eyes watchfully tracked the dark stranger. The laid up yearling just hoped she would move on without noticing or disturbing her.

Her descent through the brush went somewhat smooth. Though there were times when the undergrowth grabbed and tangled with her feet, the snow had packed most of it down. Without the flourish of foliage, it was also easier to spy where any brambles were as well. There had been a time too many in her original trek down to the Wilds where she had met the wrong end of a thorny menace. In her progression towards the water, something else slowly garnered her attention. A smell, one that she originally could not place and could only describe as brackish, but fresh. And then all at once, it came to her — the smell of open wounds. Perhaps they belonged to something living, or perhaps it was simple the marker of something beginning to turn. Echelon could not decide which.

As her pace dwindled to a drawn out stop, she tested the air once again. Whatever it was or whoever it belonged to, it was close by. Casting her gaze at the scenery around her, she could not immediately ascertain the minute details. It was enough to unnerve her ever so slightly, evidenced in the way a trail of dark guard-hairs bristled. It was then that she found her weariness dulled the senses she normally kept sharp; the feeling felt more than just an insult to her. She pressed on abruptly, deciding that perhaps it was better just to move on than investigate things further. Might've been a clever trap left behind by anything, and at any rate, woodlands were always full of other predators.

The stranger plodded nearer and Honey Badger's lip lifted slightly as she slouched closer to the ground once more. Peering out from behind the leaves of a low shrub, she kept an eye on the other she-wolf, reading her body language. It was pretty clear the other wolf sensed her presence, though it was even clearer that the stranger couldn't quite figure out the source, especially when she began to walk right into Honey Badger's little hideaway.

Realizing she had no other choice if she wanted to avoid being stepped on, she suddenly sat up straight and growled. Now the other wolf could make no mistake about her exact location. Her ears tilted backward and she glared, briefly baring her teeth. It was a warning only; she had no intention of attacking. She just couldn't stand having her personal space invaded. She'd taken enough of a battering and didn't need to be trampled too.

Of course, all of this movement caused a searing pain to burn in Honey Badger's stump of a tail. After shooting the stranger a dirty look, she folded herself in half to lick at the crusty wound. It was healing, for the most part, though the friable (not to be confused with fryable, ew) scabs smelled sort of funky. For the first time in her life, Honey Badger worried about infection. She was already down; an illness might actually take her out.

It came more suddenly than Echelon was prepared for. In hindsight, she should have seen it coming all along. Springing away in a jerky fashion, it was more than clear that she had been startled. A snarl left her as she composed herself, and for a moment the two wolves mirrored each other. But it became very clear that this particular wolf had been through some sort of hell and back. The wounds that littered across her frame, the evident loss of a tail, she really was worse for wear. Not that it mattered overly to her, of course. Echelon's newly budded anger was more upset over being startled than taking worry in the other.

"You picked a horrible place to lay and rot," she growled, offering yet another flash of teeth.

When she straightened out again, Honey Badger was met with angry words and a show of teeth. Her eyes narrowed and she felt herself flushing. Had she not been in such a sorry state, she would have launched at the stranger and attempted to rip out her throat. As a matter of fact, she might have done that even with her injuries, yet something about the recent sequence of events—losing her memories, then part of her tail—had really dampened the flame of her feral rage.

"If I wanted your opinion, I'd give it to you," Honey Badger groused. "What's your problem anyhow? You nearly walked over me," she pointed out with a scowl.

She huffed at the words returned to her. Even if she were about to launch into a tirade of what all her problems were, they would have seemed insignificant. At least she wasn't maimed and battered. Not yet, anyhow, there would certainly come a place and a time in her life. For as small and flighty as she tried to be, Echelon was often of a battle ready mind. Her choice of fights, however, left something to be a desired.

"Had to make sure you weren't dead somehow," she quipped, though it was hardly the truth. She hadn't seen her, not in the slightest. "And if you're worried about who will walk over you, I'm the least of your worries." At least she had mobility on her side, unlike the walking not-so-dead before her. She couldn't help but sound smug about it either.

"Right," Honey Badger replied in a scornful voice, adding, "I'm not. Most creatures know to look where they're going. I'm going to go ahead and say this is more your problem than mine." She made a grumbling noise under her breath but didn't bother saying anything more, nor otherwise displaying any aggression. The last thing she should do right now was pick a fight, especially a verbal one that could escalate into something physical.

"Go pick on someone who cares," Honey Badger grumped as she slid back onto her belly. She tried to look as if she wasn't concerned about the stranger, though her muscles remained tense. Should the dark she-wolf spring upon her, she would fight, of course, even if her chances weren't good. "Unless you don't have the balls to pick on someone unless they've had their ass kicked by someone else first." Admitting her current state was hard but it was essential to deliver the most scathing impact. And it was pitifully obvious anyhow.

Well, she certainly wasn't much fun, but in a way Echelon had known that going in. It had never been much fun to pick at someone who had already had their ass handed to them anyway. And when it seemed that she wasn't going to get as much of a rise out of the other female, she also deemed it time to go. Being around her was just waiting for something bad to happen. The bears would probably have their way with her soon enough. If not those, then Echelon was certain there were plenty of other predatory creatures lying in wait once darkness came.

Shrugging her furry shoulders as if to say fair enough, Echelon opted to move on. There were things left in the day to do and once more at the top of her list, was getting that aforementioned drink.

The stranger said no more, walking past Honey Badger. The yearling turned, watching until her black backside disappeared from view. Muttering under her breath, she then took the chance to inspect her tail once more. Her nose wrinkled when she detected that slightly funky smell again. She grimaced, then slumped onto her side. Her yellow eyes closed and she just tried to breathe through the remaining pain. She would take a nap for a while, then get up and go find food soon... and maybe, just maybe, she would look for Saena too.