The Sentinels how depressing

Daggerjaw had continued wandering the coast for lack of anything better to do and had come upon the remains of the burnt out husk of a forest. Some canids would avoid such a place, being superstitious about it. Perhaps some thought there were ghosts of those who had died in the fire wandering the dead trees… Or perhaps others avoided such places simply because there was no good reason to go into them.

Dagger was not afraid of a dead forest, nor the dead themselves. Feeling almost as if she were challenging some ghost to come charging out of the trees at her, she puffed out her chest and marched into what remained of the Sentinels. It was eerily silent from the lack of any animal life, and all she saw were shades of black and grey and white. Blackened trees, white ash. How depressing. She loved it.

  @Nox

Nox hasn’t left Ironsea since her encounter but she often skirted the border now that she was feeling more like herself. Her wounds have healed, scarred over and leaving freshly grown fur in its place. It’ll take time before it’s reached full thickness, summer likely in full swing, but for now she curses the cold seeping in easier.
 
She ends her patrol around the southern border, standing next to tall sequoias that only go a few hundred yards in before the remains are evident. Having never noticed the charred trees through the way, she finds herself curious to what she can find. Surely those in Ironsea already knew about the damage to their neighboring land but there’s so little she knows, anything can be used as an advantage.
 
Eventually, the sea whips the wind back and forth and above the char and ash filling her nose is that of another. Ears cup forward to attention and she steps out, searching for the stranger. Nox lifts her nose and releases a low howl, close to the ground, for the other to find her.

Daggerjaw stopped immediately upon hearing the low howl, one foot raised in the air. She stared hard in the direction of the noise, unsure of what to make of it. Her instincts, ones that had been instilled in her from birth, told her to turn and run. ’Our full-blooded cousins do not like us,’ her father had told her. ’Your mother is a special case. I… charmed her.’ Here he would chuckle, but Dagger was only left with the uncomfortable question of why she, as a half-blood, would be treated any differently than a full-blood.

She ignored the instinct to run and marched determinedly forward, calling as she went, “Who’s there? Friend or foe?” It was a stupid question, seeing as how anyone could be a friend or a foe at any time. Dagger had been raised never to trust anyone completely—not even a potential mate. You never knew when someone would double-cross you. Still, she asked it partly so that the other would know that they had been acknowledged. She wondered how this meeting of half-breed and pure-breed would go.

It is enough to get the stranger’s attention. Not necessarily aware she is contrast against the dark, burnt ash on the ground, she begins to move toward the sound. She’s managed to pique the other’s curiosity and a sneer forms on her face, not-so-even teeth exposed as her lip peels back. The jut of her lower jaw is evident as she keeps her weapon unveiled but she doesn’t care as her curiosity leads her onward.
 
The voice in the distance causes her to avert her path just a little, listening to the question called out into the unknown.
 
“That depends,” she responds, licking her lips and unfurling her jaw back into place. “Who the fuck is close to my home,” she calls back out, a low growling crawling across their distance.

Daggerjaw let out a full-blown laugh at that threat. “Awww,” she drawled out, “only a big, strong purebred wolf would say something so threatening to little old me. Maybe you can smell the coyote in me, yeah? That why you’re being so mouthy?” Finally, the wolf came into view through the dead trees and ash. “No wonder I couldn’t find you. You’re the same color as everythin’ else in this dead forest, yeah?” Dagger stood her ground and grinned at the wolf. “Listen, ain’t we cousins? My mama was a wolf, like you. No need to get your tail in a twist, yeah?”

She was toying with the female, but not too much. If she really was close to a pack’s territory she really didn’t want to push it. She didn’t need the whole horde to come down on her head.

Nox blinked dumbly when the other spoke back, throwing around their differences scarcely before they’ve met. It doesn’t change anything, the thrill is still there, and the aggression is only building, Eventually, they come face to face and the hybrid exclaims her surprised on not being able to spot her. Excitement wipes from her features and is replaced by confusion.
 
“I don’t give two shits who ya mama was,” she states with a new irritated flick of her tail, taking a few steps closer. “Ya get any closer and ya have a whole pack come down on ya, then we’ll see who’s who,” she spits back with a click of her teeth, tongue lashing against the cage and her rear legs lock into place so that her joints spring into action and giving the tiny thing a chase, for she’s much more vocal with her actions than the nonsense that spouts from her maw.

Daggerjaw immediately let out a yelp when the white wolf began chasing her. In truth, she could be quite the coward without the presence of her siblings. She was not ashamed of this cowardice; it had been drilled into her from a very young age by her coyote father. It was why she was still alive. She continued to yelp as she fled from the bigger canid, well aware of what would happen if she were caught. The yelping showed two things: fear and submission. She yelped to let the other wolf know that she was definitely hightailing it outta there! She coughed as she kicked up ash but kept running regardless, hoping the wolf behind her wasn’t intent on killing.

Nox doesn’t have the ability to run long distances with her slightly-shorter-than-normal legs but she can put up a good chase, sprinting after the little demon. It doesn’t matter what she is, Nox doesn’t like her and she needs to get as far away from Ironsea as possible. Her debt to them has yet to be repaid but the moment she advances from Swab, she’ll have something to show for herself. It’s not much, she supposes, but with no other wolves in the crew holding ran, she’s just as likely to take a positon as them.
 
Or so she hopes.
 
So, Nox drives harder and snaps her teeth if she’s close, but ultimately she cannot catch up but until the other is long gone, she continues the chase with a greater distance increasing between them as the seconds tick on.