King Elk Forest i've been watching you creep

@Delight & @Nathaniel, but aw <3 backdated to the fifteenth.

wanderlust had tugged at mona, but, ashamed of what had befallen her — when had she come to consider him that? — soldier had been injured, kept herself close. she would not roam again until he was better. such was her punishment. the girl lay down in the snow and huffed, pushing a rock along through the flakes with her paw.
in a moment her ears had risen; there was an unfamiliar sound in the air. mona was on her feet quickly, tracking the odd vibrations until she came up against the border. despite her attempts to hold firm, the girl leapt them and continued on, lengthening her stride until the whirring grew louder.
and louder, but mona was transfixed by the sight of the round metal bird in the air, suspended strangely and larger than any she had ever see. a bird! she thought, even as something moved in the avian's pupil —
a sharp pain beneath the fur of her shoulder; a cry; weakened legs bringing her down to snow.
sleep.

*

it was dusk when mona stumbled back over the borders of her packland, crying fitfully for the two wolves she knew out of all her packmates. and around her slim neck, a thick strap and a square, unnatural shape tucked almost under her chin. muzzy, the girl tripped and lay half prone on the ground, blinking green eyes lazily at a sky that spun slowly.

it was the crying the called to her, had the sylph dart through the trees until she reached its source. dusk had settled heavily on the wood, but the dying light did not hide from her the girl on the ground, who, upon first glance, seemed to remind anatha a great deal of herself; scarlet, petite and narrow. she moved to closer to the girl; on edge but relaxing when a quick inspection revealed the scent of delight and the wood. she hummed a soft note, moving to stand nearer the girl while mahogany gaze scanned her for obvious injury. it was not blood nor gaping wounds she found, but rather some alien object clasped tightly around her neck. her ears flicked uncertainly as she hung back, slightly unsettled and yet remaining near as she sought to comfort and gain a better look at the awkward, boxy thing.

sorry this is awful and long, I wanted to hop in here fast but I'm not quite back in the swing of things yet ;;

 

The ex-soldier tried not to make a habit of letting Mona out of his sight, though most of the time he kept to the background. He was warm with his firebird when he did speak to her, though this didn't strike him as sending mixed signals or anything. Nothing was wrong, to him-- but he was wary of making the girl feel uncomfortable, suffocated under his watchful gaze. He kept an eye on her nonetheless; even if he only possessed about a teaspoon-full of social awareness and ability to hold interpersonal relationships (combined, on a good day) he did care about her.
So when she went missing, Nathaniel had his own sort of meltdown. It was a quiet rage-- fire tucked under glass, a storm outside the safety of walls. He did not allow his anger to touch any, but he did not hide it. Nat certainly wasn't angry at Mona, or anyone but himself, though he did not acknowledge these points consciously. It was unnecessary to clarify to himself; the anger simply existed, born of fear and nurtured by nagging doubt regarding the rock slide.
He had wasted no time in turning the feeling into action. First the ex-soldier had followed her scent-- fading by the time he actually found it. It ended ominously; abruptly her trail had been cut short, and Nathaniel's only hint was one he would never have connected. The metal beast in the sky had gone unnoticed, too far by then for the ex-soldier to pay attention to it.

Later, the call interrupted Nathaniel's relentless search, but he had never been further from minding. He turned without hesitating to find the source, his firebird, at once filled with relief and worry and a strong sense of urgency. The ex-soldier barely noticed Anatha when he arrived-- and gave no sign that he had at all. As soon as he saw Mona, he hurried towards her, immediately invasive with his sniffing and worrying. She smelled... different, and he did not fail to notice the shining object wrapped around her neck.
Mona. Nathaniel spoke quietly, drawing back just slightly when he found she was not wounded. He didn't know what this was around her neck, but in his life he had come to know many things. The scent of humans was one.

she breathed; she stretched out her crimson limbs against the snow and heaved great breaths, breaths that trembled in her little throat, gasps as she struggled against the terror that gripped her. a delicate feminine scent, one of evergreen and winterwhite, came near, and mona with desperation fixed her eyes upon the figure who stepped so lightly with worry. 
beauteous — ruddy — slender — a sister she had never seen.
and then nathaniel was there; she knew his tread, the touch of his breath, and yes, his hesitation. driven, mona stumbled to her feet and tottered there, weak as a newborn hind. "take it off," she begged of the two, her eyes darting between the sister-wolf and her hawk. "please."

when the male drew back did her confidence deteriorate, and his total ignorance of her did little to ease her wariness. still, she did not slip away as her instinct bade her, rather drawn back forward when the girl spoke, voice fraught with fear. "do not fear, sister."  her quiet reassurances where made too to ease herself, and yet she stepped forward once more, gaze tracking the male who seemed to know the girl much more intimately. 

deciding then to remain at a tail's length, her gaze tracked the thing that so perfectly encircled the girl's neck. "what is it?"  she wondered aloud, only half expecting one of the two to provide an answer and yet hoping one of them might provide and explanation benefitting the contraption.

just a post to keep this moving <3

it was anatha who spoke first, and thus anatha who commanded mona's attention. the yearling shook her muzzle quickly. "i don't know," she rejoined in a tremulous voice. still disoriented, the nuro sat down again, drawing in great draughts of breath as panic threatened to envelop her.
"there was a giant shining bird, and then i felt ... something like a bite, or a snap. or a cut. and then i woke up wearing this fucking thing," the mayfair hissed in a spate of rage. she fell to writhing against the snow then, hoping to catch the collar on something and perhaps tear it off her slim throat.