Deepwood Weald I'll unwrap my fingers, free my foot and run away

the sky was a flat grey, which did not help in the slightest as the svartell tried to untangle herself from the deep weald she found herself somewhere in the middle of. or perhaps she was near the edge; it was hard to tell when every branch, tree and glimpse of sky looked entirely the same. thunder rumbled, and not a few moments later, the first tap of rain hitting the canopy sounded in the eerily silent wood.

it rained heavily now, light levels having dropped until everything seemed to be painted grey, save for the curled leaves and needles above. she sloshed through a much damper area of the weald, earth painting her hocks. tail flicked behind her for balance as she peered upward, wondering if perhaps that cloud could be used as some sort of marker. it was then that her balance was abruptly upset, mostly due to the fact that only three of her paws remained on solid(ish) ground.

abruptly, she pitched forward, limbs shooting out as she tried to find something solid. she found it in a moment, when her forelimbs hit rock and earth, the unlucky left forelimb striking the former and eliciting a yelp from the woman. hind limbs hit the earth a moment, and her momentum had her chin hit the dirt decided ungracefully. this was certainly a new landmark, though it'd hardly be of any use now.

Tag for visibility. Gonna say this was on the way to Ironsea.. unless that's not okay, then I'll shift the dates around a little bit and just pitch her out into the weald. Sorry for how weird this is, opening posts are always my worst.

Although it was midday, the dense canopy of the weald enveloped the woods in darkness. A thick fog blanketed the ground, parting as the firebrand traversed through the sinister silence. She had either traveled alone or parted from @Colt and she had not intended on straying so far, but she found herself getting sucked into the woods.

After some time the rain began to fall relentlessly and although the weald's thick brush offered some form of shelter it could not protect the forest floor entirely. The ground became slick and unmaneuverable.

She could scarcely hear the woman's yelp between the echo of the rain, but the moment she knew someone needed help she traveled as fast as she could. She almost didn't see the dark girl until she had nearly fallen herself, and she steadied herself before she called, Hey, are you alright?

she picked herself up carefully, surveying the somewhat deep depression she found herself in. nothing she couldn't clear with a leap, surely - but a reaching lunge for the upper edge of the depression resulted in a bolt of pain down her left forelimb as the wretched-looking paw came in contact with the dirt, and thoughts of pulling herself up were abandoned.

dropping back down into the pit gracelessly, examining the forelimb and hunching her shoulders against the throbbing hurt. it was the sudden movement above that had her flinch back, hackles standing against her spin and atramentous ears slicking back against her skull. green eyes flashed as she stared upward, heart still beating at double speed since her spectacular fall.

hackles lowered as she took in her visitor, though her ears remained at half mast. "no." the girl was pretty, vibrant reds a welcome contrast against the greys all around. ears flickering as her gaze flashed over what she could see of the woman, she followed up with a "who are you?"

"No." Her ears flattened, her lip terse. Her steely gaze raked over the stranger for external injuries, though through the rain and fog she could see none.

Ceara. She rested on her haunches, swept a paw over the air where ground should have been. You're stuck? A healthy wolf would have been able to clear the depression with ease, but maybe she had been hurt when she fell.

Who're you?

she offered a name, but nothing else. granted, cassiopeia had been vague in her inquiry, but the inability to scent anything from the woman from the bottom of the rain-soaked depression had her unsettled. the woman swept a paw forward, and the inky girl watched it carefully, thought the gesture was entirely innocent, it seemed.

"yes." a moment later, as if hesitant to reveal to the woman just why, she offered, "I landed on something hard." as if to elaborate, she proffered the offending limb, which already was swelling.

brow furrowing, she shifted, propping the forelimb loosely on the ground. "cassiopeia".

That certainly made more sense, and put Ceara at ease. From here she could see the swelling, and concern gripped her facial features. Do you think you can move? she called down, once again moving her paw over the air. I can come down, if you would let me, and try to lift you out. It was the best thing she had to offer the stranger — Cassiopeia — for now.

her ears, sometime through their conversation, had flicked back up to stand atop her crown. she wasn't sure when she'd seen the woman as an ally, exactly, but it was something she took in her stride. "I can move; just can't pull myself out." her words came easier too, more of them, and less curt as her wariness crumbled.

lightning illuminated them, briefly, and cassiopeia nodded her assent, shifting backwards as to allow the woman's descent into the hole to be more graceful than hers had been.

She second-guessed herself for a moment before she slid down into the depression next to the stargirl. She was pretty although that thought was quickly pushed aside as there were one thousand other more pressing issues at the moment.

I'm going to have to get under you. I will be able to hold you, she said, but I would prefer if you didn't stay on top of me for too long.

Now that she thought about it, she wouldn't mind being underneath the pretty girl... whatever that meant. She cleared her throat and tentatively nosed the young woman's underbelly, ushering her to stand.

the woman bound into the pit with grace the svartell had been entirely unable to garner in her own unfortunate descent. it was entirely unfair, thought some distant part of her mind, that the woman was gifted a pelt so vivid and stunning. her own speckles hardly compared to the way the girl wore the sun like a mantle. pushing the thought to the rear of her mind as the stranger - Ceara - nosed her underbelly, she rose to three feet, keeping the forelimb tucked neatly to her chest.

"I'll be quick," she promised, tail wafting behind her once as she prepared for, well, whatever she'd have to do.

She worked herself beneath the starkissed girl, bending to where she would be able to support the Svartell's weight. Something pulled to the surface of her mind, "You don't belong there.." and her stomach seized, heated up. She held her breath and waited for the woman to use her so she could get out of this position, stop thinking about.. whatever she was thinking about!

Thank you.

her chest tightened at the thought of using a stranger - nevermind one like the sun-girl - as a stepping stool, but she didn't allow herself to hesitate, not when she'd promised to be quick. finding purchase on the woman's back, she launched herself carefully at the edge of the pit. instinctively, her forelimbs scrabbled for grip, and this time, caught ground and pulled the rest of her up.

unfortunately, however, her impaired forelimb heaved up a good portion of her weight, and under the strain gave easily. bitting her tongue to suppress a yelp, whatever had been faltering in her lower limb finally gave way with a crack. tail whipping through the air like a writhing snake, she squeezed out a strained "thank you" that overlapped the woman's own. "sorry," she added, the word just as strained.

it surprised her, seeing as she could not remember the last time she had apologized, not really. she supposed that made her a bad person. the lack of "sorry"s she'd uttered, however, paled in comparison to the fact that she'd mortally wounded her own father.

She moved on top of Ceara quickly and she struggled to keep her balance, but just as quick as she had mounted she had fallen. At least she landed outside of the depression. Ceara pulled herself out of the hole next to Cassiopeia, sheltered her from the rain the best she could. Her nose bent to inspect the girl's now-broken limb.

Her lip tightened as she drew her tongue across tentatively, brow furrowing. Well, how was she going to fix this? Out here in the Weald, the girl would certainly die; Ceara wouldn't leave her.

No, it's okay. I've got you. Do you know how we can fix your leg?

the girl pulled herself out neatly, arousing a hint of irritation in the damp, mud covered, and newly injured svartell. she made to stand only to plop back onto her haunches, all other hurts secondary to the throbbing in her forelimb strong enough to have bile rise up in her throat before she swallowed stiffly.

allowing the woman to examine her forelimb silently, her green gaze shifted to hers as she spoke. ears flickered before she answered, tail drawn close to her. "I don't know." she may have offered some semi-witty remark were it not for the foreboding settling in her chest, brow furrowed in worry.

She wished for Raven. Ceara didn't know how to fix it either, and watching the stormcloud move across the strange girl's face certainly didn't help. Can you walk on three legs? She figured she could accompany the girl at very least to shelter, out of the rain, whle they figured everything else out.

in response to the girl's question, she lurched forward, wobbling a moment but finding her balance fairly quickly. attempting a few steps - lurchstepsteplurch - she found a rhythm after a moment, cumbersome and slow, but enough to have her move. light illuminated them once more, and she twisted to face the woman. "to an extent. do you know anything about - bones?" she wasn't sure what would make her limb better, or worse. rest seemed the best option, but she could hardly sit around and wait for it to heal for days. nor could she go gallivanting off and get herself lost again, and potentially fall in more holes on her way to get herself un-lost.

No, she admitted sheepishly, her paw swiping against the muddy ground. But I'm from a pack, out that way, she said with a jerk of her head, and our Alpha is the best medic I've ever seen. It'll take a while to get there, especially in Cass's state, but if you'd come with me...

That was the only way she knew how to guarantee the other girl's safety, and she couldn't live with herself if she just left her to die.

it was the words pack that had the girl remember suddenly that she had little idea of who the girl was, exactly, besides a name and a few moments of interaction. still, when she offered her proposal, it did not take more than a moment of hesitation for the girl to agree, carefully, with a nod. "yes - thank you." she scented the air, then, now that she wasn't in the bottom of a hole, finding that packscent to be semi-familiar, and, the barest scent to of - "you know screech?"

it was remarkably faint, but there and she knew it well enough to pick it out. immediately, she wondered if it had been bad to admit knowing him; it was hard to tell what kind of reaction his name would elicit. probably a bad one, she realized with a slight sinking feeling, but it was too late now. she shifted on her three limbs, allowing her forelimb to brush against the ground just barely.

What!? she exclaimed, reeling back from this strange girl who had been birthed from the ground during a storm, who had materialized before her injured and helpless.

Her brow furrowed, mouth opened and closed a few times dumbly before she gathered herself. Yeah, um, he's... he's my packmate. But he's in a coma right now.

She squinted at the girl, ears splayed, Who are you? I mean, really?

oh, no.
the reaction certainly was bad, and her ears splayed sideways. disappointment curled low in her chest; she'd quite liked the sun-girl.

but wait! what came next wasn't all bad, though she squinted at the latter words. "a what?" she asked, not mustering enough courage for the question to be at all bitting, seeing as it felt she'd narrowly avoided being left alone in the woods.

"cassiopeia svartell," saying her name again made her feel mildly stupid, and she followed up carefully. "from the sunspire. I knew screech - it's a long story." that sounded terribly cliche, and suddenly she was babbling a bit, another somewhat-first. "an actual long story. not the kind people claim to have to avoid talking about something. we're ... acquaintances."

Of course the girl that the Universe had handpicked for Ceara to save had been previously acquainted with Screech. Which was a little gross, considering they'd spent like one day together and there were plenty of other girls who had been around longer who were very obviously interested in him (in her opinion).

Oh, sorry, I just.. yeah, it's a long story too. He's.. he got headbutted by another packmate and he's just been um. Conked out since. She couldn't help the way the worry seeped into her features, and she breathed out through her teeth.

I um. I'm sorry I acted. Like that. I just was surprised.

the girl went on to explain what had happened, and cassiopeia mouthed the words conked out with a furrowed brow while debating how best to proceed. "your pack -" she meant to finish the question, but was distracted by the pain that burned through her forelimb when she became a bit too focused on the woman and, in turn, rested a bit too much weight on her limb.

"I just wasn't sure if he'd managed to piss you off yet, was all."

???????

So like, maybe that's why Screech had been acting so weird. She thought he was different for sure, but she had luckily been exempt from his stupidity thus far. No. We didn't get to... hang out for very long. I had only been in the pack a few days when... She whacked her paw against her head and made a loopy expression.

Did he piss you off?

"no" it took a moment of thinking, and it wasn't exactly true, but he hadn't, not really. she shifted again, careful not to touch her paw to the ground this time. "here and there, a bit, but I probably deserved it." their's was a weird relationship, not friends, not enemies, but two wolves who's paths seemed destined to intertwine every so often, as if the ropes of fate had gotten tangled, knotted. each time, it was hard to tell who was at fault, who was saving who. complicated was a perfectly apt description of what their brief and clashing history was.

She was undeniably intrigued by the woman's explanation, but she thought it would be rude to pry. Huh. Do you want to find shelter, or get some ground covered? She didn't know if Cassiopeia wanted to rest or just head out. So, tell me about the Sunspire. Ceara was super selfish, and if she could, she wanted to alert the Redhawks of every pack she could and where they were... because why not?

she mulled over the options for all of two seconds, before replying, "we should get moving." her gaze flickered to Ceara's as if to ask if that's alright, knowing she was reliant on the woman, and very much not the other way around. she was sick and tired of this monotonous forest, anyways, and eager to be out, even if some memory she couldn't quite bring to find offered a heavy sense of foreboding.

standing, and waiting for the woman to show her the way to start limping, she squinted up at the sky, which, fortunately, seemed to be getting lighter. "it's in the northern mountain range. led by rannoch, and some other wolves originally from moonspear." it wasn't moonspear's scent on the girl's fur - she knew that much - and so she did not hesitate more than a moment before offering the information.