Swiftcurrent Creek It's such an arbitrary line that we dance

For @Akavir, probably sliiiightly forward dated but it won't matter by the time we finish it anyway lmfaoo

He thought of the man in the desert more often than he should. Certainly he didn't pine for the nasty man — but he wondered. When he allowed himself time to think, at least.

Panacea spent most of his time striving against his own thoughts; nipping each one like errant weeds in a carefully-kept garden. Or maybe not so much a garden as a relic of one, kept pristine through sheer stubbornness. If the flowers and fruits would not grow then neither would the nettles or the creeping grasses. Nothing but stillness over these stone walls. Or, that was the goal.

No one ever mentions that weeding is bloody work. He fell short mid-hunt one day and paused to find his paws bleeding, just a little. All at once Panacea realized how tired he really was, how tired he'd been for — how long? He couldn't remember, and his head hurt to think of it, so he found a tree to lean against and tried to forget again.

Then it started to rain, and he could only think fuck me, I guess.

The rain came—stirring his gaze up to the sky, contemplative in that moment. It was better than snow—at least for now. The creek wasn’t yet ready to welcome the harsher winter months, and now, with another litter aside from the Beta’s to feed, he wanted to ensure they were well within their means this year.

Absently, he continued forward—the gentle autumn breeze indicating to him Panacea long before he saw the other—though the vibrant pelt of the Nu was hard to miss. Soon, he would blend in with the foliage of autumn—and then, stick out like a sore thumb in the bleak of the winter.

There was something defeated about one of their newest members, though—the hunch of body—the use of a tree for strength. A frown warred on his features before becoming implacable to read once more as he drifted forward. “You okay?”

Naturally his luck only went south from there. Of all the wolves to find him —

Panacea made an effort to look alive, sober, and totally sane. Surprisingly, two of the three were actually true. He blinked, straightened, and stepped away from the tree with a slight wince.

Yeah, just uh - tired. Too much hunting, I guess, He lifted a bloody paw to show what he meant. It looked worse than it felt, truly; his pads had softened during his time spent confined to a den, then dried and cracked as he fled across endless miles. Now the skin was missing in ragged red patches.

I'll have to find Arlette later, probably, Panacea set his paw gingerly back on the ground. After a moment, he added in a tone of observation: Lots of kids to feed around here. That was a good enough explanation, wasn't it? Totally sane.

If there was a shift in the posture of the other because of his presence he made no indication to notice—he and Arric weren’t known for throwing their weight around their pack mates, never having being needed to… but Panacea had also been hesitant to join a pack in the first place.

“Or we could have her look at it now,” he noted, a light frown following as he caught glimpse of the bloody paw. “We do have a lot of mouths, but you don’t need to run yourself into the ground,” he offered, and deciding maybe this would be the time that his suggestion would be more of an order, he began to move in the direction of Arlette’s den, a quick glance over his shoulder to indicate he fully expected the Nu to follow him.