Duck Lake adderall and cheap wine

a small while back corinna had made the executive decision to make a full on u-turn. she had no logical thinking or reasoning, she just straight up decided to turn right back around. so she shuffled along through the snow-- already the weather was trying to turn her into a iced cup of coffee-- with cream. though, the big flakes were only just beginning to fall so they weren't that big of a problem. and corinna herself, though a smaller frame, was not a small wolf, actually airing on the side of above average. which, if you'd known corinna, you'd say was fitting, as she felt she was very far above the average. 

in the distance, a shape moved in the snow, a small and pale one, it's little ears poking out. food. corinna leapt forward immediately, not wasting any time. pretty white teeth clamped down on a neck, snapping it, the remains of the rabbits warning screech coming out in only a soft squeak and a whoosh of breathy air. a clean kill too, as the piling snow remained white and icy. it was a small kill, not enough to hold her over for long-- but long enough.

@Indra

following Blondine's incident, Indra had taken it upon herself to find her friend's assailant and give him his dues. Nevermind that the girl was hardly the best executor of vengeance, half starved and limping as she was. 

It was anger and exhaustion of how cruel the world was that fueled her, but she lost the beast's scent some time ago -- particularly because of the fresh cowl of snow that shrouded the ground. She was about to turn around and limp for home as she spotted a pale figure in the snowdrift. The wind carried with it a scent of blood and Indra paused as she assessed her options. She was in plain sight, and easily detectable as the wind shifted from her favor to Corinna's. Old Indra might have hailed the stranger warmly  -- but Old Indra was as dead and gone as her shriveled and rotten tail. Instead she stood her ground as the snow fell silently around them. Given her last interaction with a stranger she was loathe to turn her back on the wolf until she made her intentions known.

she took no time in scarfing down the thin hare, licking her lips as she raised up from the remains. her ears swiveled, and soon her head turned as well, noting a pretty little thing dowsed in red. her pink tongued swiped her nose, which twitched as corinna watched curiously. after a few heartbeats, she tilted her head, a soft smile gracing her features. though, she didn't move forward just yet.

"hey, girl," she chirped, tail beginning a soft wave at her hocks. all this time in the wilds, and corinna hadn't yet encountered a female here-- well not really, nothing but in passing. perhaps this would be a good experience.

The wolf made short work of the meal it had secured for itself -Indra felt a jealous pang in her stomach as she watched. She lifted her muzzle to the air, parsing from the biting cold the faint scent of hare. 

A greeting free from any malice Indra could detect met her, but her guard remained rallied. She thought of Ithrik will a chill creeping down her spine like the hairy and clicking appendages of a spider. This stranger seemed outwardly kind but what if it was a lie? What if what Redshank said about unknown wolves was true?

She managed a thin and threadbare smile as she worked the courage to reply to the wolf. Corinns by virtue of being female, had less mistrust to overcome -- at least the pretty cream and white female had that going in her favor. All the same all Indra could manage was a clipped and terse  "Hi." A part of her felt sorry she was so cold to this stranger  -- until she remembered the wickedness of the world and it only reinforced her resolve to not get too close lest she get hurt again.

a sense of mistrust hung in the air-- thick and cold, and it wasn't just the temperature. corinna took a guided step forward, pausing with a single paw raised to her chest. and again, her nose twitched, taking in more of the situation. but her mother had always said to take every moment with grace and kindness-- even if it was veiled in something petty-- so she clung tightly to her sweet smile. 

"i'm corinna," she added, falling through the usual pleasantries with ease, "headed eastern, i believe." or maybe southern, or western? hell, maybe she'd even turn back around and head back to the north again. she'd yet to decide. corinna was as free as they came.

she watched the girl suspend a delicate paw above the crust of snow - a feminine, disarming gesture indra thought. the cold wind settled about them and raked up her guard-fur and she hunched her shoulders against the sensation. the clouds above were thickening, their gathering rapid and dark as she glanced at them. she had not expected a storm today and regretted leaving the safety of the valley.

the girl said her name was corinna, an old and pretty name to indra's ears. she wanted to compliment it but held her tongue, still suspicious of the stranger's intentions. "indra." she supplied, looking in the direction the slender starling's suggestion. a frown fretted her features again as she thought of what settled in the east: blackfeather woods, and that wicked piebald man that had stolen so much more from her than just a tail. he had stolen her innocence -- her joy in life.

"if you go east, stay away from the sunless forest." she cautioned, her tone grave and expression dismal.

"i like that name," corinna purled, for she was not too cautious of strangers to say exactly what was on her mind. and she didn't lie, either-- not to girls. indra was a pretty name that was soft and simple to say, and corinna was fond of it. then, at indra's comment, she frowned thoughtfully, her ears cupping forward as she awaited more information. none came, not immediately, anyway.

"well perhaps i'll head north then," she replied, the end of her voice turned up as a question-- but she was questioning only herself. she was curious now, and corinna did not care to be left in the dark on what appeared to be an important matter. "what's in the sunless forest?" she inquired, ears still pricked.

corinna's soft compliment caught the wary girl by surprise. she examined corinna carefully, as if scrying for some semblance of guile in her words. finding none she issued a thin smile, but it lacked depth or warmth and simply made her look weary and exhausted. she wanted to say thank you -- and should have -- but all she could supply in return was that tired smile. later she would revisit their interaction in her head, and feel sorry for the terse way she treated the perfectly kind stranger. corinna didn't deserve it, but indra did not know that for certain yet.

in fact, she knew very little for certain, and it caused an uneasy pall of doubt to coalesce across her muzzle.

she was relieved to hear that corinna elected then to alter her trajectory. indra wished horribleness on no one, least of all a wolf as beautiful as corinna -- she imagined whatever attracted ithrik to her would doubtless find the pale cream and buff girl irresistible. a shudder rent her spine as she thought of him again.

"bad men. bad people." she thought of ramsay with a frown. he wasn't bad, but would he be when he was grown up? would he turn out like the evil piebald monster that had attacked her? "there's... a pack there.. i don't know their name. but they have dead wolves all along the borders, and a man attacked me outside of there." she steeled herself to stay strong but even still it caused her great distress to recall the incident. "he.. he took my tail." she finished baldly, feeling misery and hate well in her heart with sharp fierce pangs.

corinna was a people-person. she knew all about the different personalities, and indra fit so sweetly into the quaint personality that was, well, quite simply, shy. so she didn't expect much back, in fact, the soft smile-- though it appeared weary-- was all the caramelized she-wolf needed to be satisfied, and so she moved along smoothly without passing any judgement on the little red wolf for it.

"bad men," the lady repeated softly, ears flicking and cupping forward thoughtfully. that meant only two things to her, and though corinna doubted it meant the more easily sexualized of the two, she took a moment to imagine a pack filled with studly men, all under her own personal rule-- on hand and knee for her. she was quiet for a moment, thinking, until indra dropped something on her that made her ears splay once more. 

"oh dear," she murmured, unable to stop herself from peering around the girl to see her tail, "what assholes." her brow furrowed, upset someone would do something to such a sweet and pretty girl, but that was just the way the world worked sometimes. "well, if i'm honest, it suits you very well-- you look like a badass bitch-- in the best way." and then, corinna offered another genuine smile, her own tail waving a bit at her hocks, ears angled forward.

indra thought the emotions that transversed across corinna's muzzle had a genuine quality about them. slowly she felt her mistrust melt away, though she still clung to some vestige of careful wariness in case. corinna's comment on them being assholes was met with a mute nod and a gaze baptized by resentful fire - they were more than assholes. they were profligates, derelicts -- men who deserved nothing but horrible and haunting fates.

she cupped her ears forward in surprise as corinna spoke of her absence of a tail. her, a bad-ass bitch? for the first time in months, indra laughed. it was a quiet, sad kind of laugh -- but it was a laugh. she turned her head to look at her stump, which was just as ugly and festering as it had been the last time she looked at it. "really? you think?" she asked, looking back at the caramel-colored female with a faintly amused expression.

that was enough to break the ice that held indra in. she spoke up again. "do you have to go north? what are you looking for?"

"absolutely," corinna responded with a gentle dip of her muzzle, "shows you've got guts, makes you look like a bad ass bitch." she thought that that was good deductive thinking. nice work girlie. 

to indra's question, corinna had a very simple answer-- though it was a very vague answer. "i can go wherever i like," she responded simply, a soft shrug gracing her dusty shoulders, "looking for something. maybe someone, i'm not sure yet." there was all too much in this world to be sure of anything... and corinna was most certainly sure of nothing. "what about you? you--" she paused, her nose twitching. how had she not noticed? "you're part of the bear pack, aren't you?" she smelled like xan-- similarly, anywhere, and they were in the general area (she was pretty sure). how fun.

corinna's uninhibited reply, supplied without hesitation, bolstered indra's spirits. her thin smile had a little more permanence as she thought of that --badass -- it had a distinct ring to it that she thought laurel would surely appreciate.

her expression slowly receded as she thought again of the solemnity of their conversation. she hoped truly the girl would not ever encounter the wolves of blackfeather -- they were a sorry, doomed lot that in indra's eyes, no wolf deserved meeting.

indra examined corinna's answer. she didn't understand it, but she accepted it. it was a while before she spoke again. "yes, part of bearclaw valley. my sister is there too." she thought of corinna alone in the wilderness and a pang of worry strung in her heart. "what is out there for you? will you know when you see it?"

interesting. maybe corinna would have to check it out... after all, despite the weird vibe that xan gave off, he seemed like he knew what he wanted in life-- and she respected that. "well good, family is important," corinna said in a decided manner, ears flicking. and then, she shrugged. "maybe, i'd like to think that... but we don't always know what we need," she replied to the second question, giving a soft smile to the fiery wolfess. did that make sense? maybe not to others, but it made sense to corinna.

with a glance to the side, the creamy wolf gave a dip of her head. "i suppose i should head back out to search," she said softly, "you make it back to the valley safely." and with a wave of her ringed tail, the fae was off, trotting through the valley once again to find something.

thought we'd wrap it up :o since corinna is moving on elsewhere. thank you for the thread! love indra as always

of course! thanks for the thread - i'll archive :D

we don't always know what we need. indra ruminated over the significance of this statement -- surely it held some great importance to the creamy female, but indra did not know her well enough to decipher the deeper meaning behind the expression. if she had of been pressed for an answer, indra would have considered she knew all that she needed was laurel -- in her heart, she knew corinna's life to be very different than her own.

while indra was only a little disappointed that corinna would not be returning to the valley with her, she was quick to lose that sentiment for she believed if corinna had made it alone this far, she likely needed no one but herself to survive. she issued a reluctant farewell in the form of a thin smile. "of course. good luck, corinna."

without anything else to be said indra turned around for home. as she walked she recounted their conversation and a small smile crept to her features. badass. she would carry that treasured smile for the duration of her trip, and it would stay with her in hidden ways for the next several weeks.