Wolf RPG

What good was a healer that spent most of his time outside the territory of his pack?  Not much, but the chances of disaster falling on Redtail Rise were slim to none, and the raggedy man could always pick up the pieces when he returned. He never left the rise for too long anyway, his travels tended to be short and sporadic. Usually, they ended with Reek back within the territory by nightfall, just in time for him to curl up beside his mate and dream the day away.  And that was the best conclusion to his adventures than there ever was.

Reek possessed the attention-span of a common squirrel, making him unable to stay in one place for too long without getting excessively, fidgety.  Call it the wanderer's spirit... or call it boredom.  Perhaps, it was an underlying psychological issue, but whatever, fuck it.   Today, his wanderlust brought him through the herbalists cache and into the Otatso Wetlands, where Reek searched for anything that would grab his fleeting attention.

As it was his first time wandering though the wetlands, Reek found the terrain to be less than favorable.  The water was tepid and foul, and murk, muck, and mud clung to his shaggy fur like stink on a skunk.  But Reek continued to slog forward to see what there was to see, hopefully to find a useful plant, growing in the bog.

Mud. Her savior. Oh gosh, she loved it, loved the way the heat of the sun couldn't beat against her dark pelt, the way it kept her cool, the way it made her look like some abhorrent monster. That's right. She was covered in it, from her ears all the way down to her usually/oddly pristine white toes. It had been a while since she'd gotten to play in it, and she was taking full advantage of it now. 

At first only her feet had gotten dirty, and then her legs. She'd been fine until the sun had come out from behind the clouds and then... Then chaos happened. The Amazon had she'd her cloak of maturity and plunged in to the wetlands, hopping around like no one was watching her. They weren't. Mana wasn't here. Tyrr wasn't around. Even Citali was elsewhere. Leaving Nocta to bound around like a child.

Every so often, she'd roll in it all, to keep the mud from baking under the hot sun. So involved was she that she didn't even realize that someone else was around, or she wouldn't have risen out of the muck like a maniac, bounding forward again only to skid to a stop before she bowled him over. Fire-bright eyes blinked at him from her mud-encased muzzle, her tail swinging rather heavily behind her for a brief moment. Unsure of his reaction, Nochtli waited. 

It wasn't a plant, but a ruckus in the distance that caught Reek's attention.  The jovial sounds of play rising over the murk had prompted him to move in their direction.  Drawing closer to the noise and commotion, Reek crouched; holding back from a distance, and watching the other wolf jump around like a pup on cocaine.  It had been far too long since the raggedy wolf had let loose and played.  His tail began to wag behind him as he watched, and corners of his mouth twisted into a curious smile.

She bounded right into Reek's direction, causing him to backpedal and stagger back into the mud.  However, he was no worse-for-ware.  His tail still wagged behind him as he pulled himself up from the muck. After picking himself back up to his paws, Reek shifted his gaze from the ground to the wolf in front of him. "Having fun?" he mused from behind a toothy grin.  

Most wolves probably would have asked her what the fuck she was doing. This male was apparently not most wolves and she was not disappointed by his broad grin. "Absolutely." It was good to play once in a while; if you were always serious, then you were always stressed too. Judging by the way he didn't seem upset that she'd spooked him into the muck, he was a good candidate to play with. "Care to join me? The mud cools you down, too." She threw in the benefit of the substance as well and seeing as they were both dark wolves (not that he could tell what color her fur was), maybe he'd appreciate the chance that much more. 

Right now though, the mud was getting heavy and dry, which meant it was time for a new layer. Starting at her head, she started to twist and shake her body, flinging the goopy stuff well... everywhere. It was only when she noticed that she'd splattered it on him too that she gave a sheepish grin, her tail wagging. "Uh... Sorry." 

An invitation to play was extended, and Reek couldn't in good conscious pass up on the other dark wolf's offer. She shook the drying mud from her pelt and sent clods of muck flying in Reek's direction. He ducked his head down low, however it did little to shield him from the oncoming storm of dirt that ensued. She turned to apologize, but Reek just laughed. "Don't worry about it," he quipped along with a playful chortle. "It's not like I was clean anyway."

He wound up a few paces before taking off in a sprint toward the mud. He jumped, speed-eagle, and landed with a cool, wet thwap. With a roll, he draped himself completely with the mud's earthen embrace. "Come-on," he shouted, goading the other wolf to join him. "Do the thing!"

He didn't scorn her for how she'd gotten him messy and suddenly, her teeth showed in a bright smile as her tail wagged behind her. Nochtli didn't often find others that would play with her like this so the fact that he bounded into the mud very similar to the way she had only made her life. The Amazon didn't need the prompt to 'do the thing' again, careening into the muck beside him. Instead of flopping over on her side, the girl skid across the shallow surface to only send up a wave of it all. Her footing failed her though and she crashed into the ground with a sloppy sound, followed by a laugh.

"Nochtli. Who're you?" She said, climbing to her feet in slowed movements. The fresh weight on her body was paid no mind, especially not as she pounced towards him. He might mind the extra weight, however.

His playful goading had done it's job and with a flash she was in the mud with him.  Reek turned to grin in her direction while she introduced herself, but quickly noticed that she was bounding in his direction; ready to pounce. He dove down into the mud and completely submerged himself to soften her impact on his brittle back.  Once he felt her crash into his gaunt form, he poked his head out of the mud and shook it clean.  

"Nochtli?" he asked, slightly bemused. "How exotic.  Where you from?"  Surely, a name like that didn't come from the immediate area, but neither did a name like Reek.  He pulled himself from the muck and began to introduce himself.  "I'm Reek," he beamed with a warm grin, "from the rise."

She laughed. "Yeah I guess you could say that. I'm from the South, a couple months trek from here, I think." Nochtli didn't think about the fact that her sisters wouldn't appreciate her telling someone else, especially a male, about where their home was. Instead, she thought about the name 'Reek' and why he would have been named anything of the sort. "Reek." Testing the name on her tongue, she gave him a look for all of a few moments. 

He'd probably been asked enough about his name, so she was fine breezing over it. Muscles coiling, the inky female pounced, hooking an arm around his neck in an attempt to bring him down. She would have been fine with pounCont him too, had she not slipped in the mud, only to take a hard fall which sent up a fine spray of mud to cover the both of them.

A couple months trek?  Clearly, she must have had a reason to travel so far.  No one in Reek's experience had wanderlust to that extent.  However, before Reek could inquire any further about this mysterious traveler's past, she lunged in his direction.  His legs flung into a spread-eagle position as he flung himself back into the mud.  But it was all for naught, as she clumsily careened into the mud a few meters away.  Reek perked his raggedy head up from his prone position and laughed as the scene unfolded.

"Smooth," he chortled with a playful grin.  "So what brings you to the Wilds then?  I figure it's safe to assume it isn't the mild climate."  With an awkward shake, he rose back to his feet.  Even though she never connected, it was time to get his payback.  A mischievous grin had begun to pull at the corners of Reek's maw, and before she could answer he bounded in her direction with a playful jump.

Smooth. Of course it was, as she so confidently grinned at him in response. "Heck yes it was." Their lighthearted play was refreshing and she relished in the fact that the turmoil of her predicament slipped away now. As she opened her mouth to answer, she was horrified at the suddenly vulgar taste in her mouth, having caught the spray of grime as he pounced her. But there was no sound of disgust, only laughter as she went down. She struggled valiantly, teeth reaching to gnaw on his ear, completely forgetting about the question he'd asked.