Felltree Marsh Hell is truth, seen too late.

Sunset.
All Welcome.

The bear was gone. The taste of its blood in his teeth had faded, but the blood crusted his face and left him looking ragged and wartorn despite a distinct lack of damage to himself. Everything was superficial; the blood down his front, the limp in his gait, the pounding ache in his head.

He'd stopped to rest somewhere and rested for a full day before waking to the dizziness and confusion of a concussion. That bear had packed a punch — thankfully Revui knew how to counter the pain of it, and rose in the greylight of sunset to seek out whitebark, as he'd been taught. The marsh was still. Creatures buzzed, frogs croaked, and the discomfort of soggy extremeties brought Revui to a stand-still. He swaggered and stopped when one of his heavy steps sank in to the slough water and his whole body tilted in to the marsh, to which he scrambled for stability, only to go plunging in to the slimey depths.

As he surfaced moments later, gasping like a gator and slick with sour brown water all over his body, he grunted and lifted himself free. The soil squelched and sucked around him, blurring his grey coat with streaks of green-brown and umber. This was not how he wanted to start his day.

Kiwi was a mess after her own bear encounter, I would assume.  Vague because in progress, but there was no way she was getting out of there without at least a few good hits.

She had to make sure it was gone, so she'd spent some time tracking it south, until she was sure it wasn't doubling back.

It had been a trying few days and she wasn't in the mood for anything remotely taxing.  Her patience was on a hairpin trigger, which was likely not the best state to be in when she came upon Revui covered in slime.

She took one look, shook her head, then made to go around and continue.  Nope, not messing with that.

this can be a cameo or he can stop her!

He tried to station himself on a patch of raised soil that wasn't as slippery, or some roots twisting free of the loam, and couldn't quite scramble to any spot that could support his weight. He got his chest free and was briefly teetering, then began to scramble with his hind limbs, kicking and reaching with his hind paws in an effort to lift free of the muck completely. Revui was oblivious to the spitfire that marched so near; he was too thoroughly distracted by his need to be free and clean again.

When he finally did get out of the mire he was rancid. The slime wasn't just a nasty brown color, it held a certain terroir that left him gagging and sputtering. The boy's usual jagged spine was matted and his umber-coated body slowly began to dry beneath the summer sun, leaving him cuccooned in layer upon layer of silt and scum. He tried to shake his shoulders and head to free himself, to dry off, but nothing flew from his body except the flapping of his dry ears.

He grunted and groaned, clamboring across a massive tree stump and on to a stony ledge where he could at least sit and be dry - and noticed, then, a flame flickering in his periphery. Revui squinted at it but said nothing, far too bothered by his current state to go chasing strangers.

i changed my mind oops

She fully intended to keep moving.... until she caught the scent of blood.  Her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed.  Suddenly the stranger went from a waste of time to interesting.

You are a fighter? She asked rather abruptly, turning from her walk and facing him from her place a ways away.  Her head lifted and she watched him intently, waiting for an answer.

The stranger paused. He ignored them and shook off one lion-like paw, then another. The stranger turned and drifted closer but not too close, and he shook his shoulders and the slicked mane that had matted to his neck; it didn't move much, and so he scowled. Revui would need to soak in some clean water if he was going to get through the muck that caked his body.

You are a fighter? — the voice was foreign but confident and clear, and he tried to pivot an ear but it felt weighted and sticky, so Revui had to turn his whole head and shoulders, like some kind of frustrated gargoyle. He snorted, sending a wad of mud back to the mire. I am, he confirmed with a lift of his chin, confident even though he was lost, alone, and looking more ragged than ever before. The red of the blood across his throat is clearly evident - but no wound.

Hmm.  She couldn't tell yet if he was affiliated, but even so, there was no reason not to try.  She could at least see if he was worth it.

What left that? she asked, indicating the blood as she came closer.  She stopped within distance of easy seeing and speaking, but didn't try to encroach on his space.  She wasn't interested in a fight this far out from her mountain, and she was still hurt herself.

He thought she was quite a ways away from him, but then she crept closer and Revui realized it wasn't just distance that made her small, but genetics. The woman had the deep amber coat of a fox and nearly the size to match, which surprised him a little bit, but he made no comment and would likely never reflect upon this aspect of the stranger ever again.

Her query made the corners of his lips twitch and he smirked a thin expression of pride her way, then elucidated in the monotonous manner of his: A giant white bear.

Revui didn't have the energy to explain himself beyond that, nor the words, so even if he was in the habit of talking up a storm he'd hold back the story for another time. With a lurch he began to plot a course off of the mound of somewhat-stable mud and cross closer to where she was standing, although his hefty body sank a little bit in to the mire again as a byproduct - she was likely too small and light to cause much mess out of the marsh, which made her lucky. He stopped along a new ledge and turned his eyes to watch her, curious as to why she'd linger despite his surly mannerisms, and asked plainly, D'you need help fighting something?

It was funny that he too had so recently run into one.  She bristled initially, but the one who had attacked them had been brown.  Not the same.

She let it pass without explanation and instead focused on the next point, far more important.  She had no particular strategy to her recruitment, and her only manner was straightforward.  She was quick when it came to hunting and to fighting but perhaps not when it came to influencing others.

Yes.  I'm building a pack to take back my home from the wolves that are guarding it.  They have no right to it. She answered, straightening but still shorter than he.  The action made her sink a bit, so she shifted.  I need the best fighters to help.

It sounded as if she had a battle brewing on the horizon, and that she needed conscripts. Revui knew he should've been resting, eating, and then plotting his way back to the mountain — but he was intrigued. The young man was always interested in proving his mettle. Bloodshed did not frighten him - if anything, it brought out a certain kind of dark lust that he needed to contain, to temper. Besides, the mountain would stand for aeons. Moonspear had not crumbled when he'd left the first time, and it would not crumble again this time. Revui would eventually find his way back and his parents would praise him for his new scars. He would share his stories of battle and glory with Hydra's children.

It did not take the full explanation for Revui to agree to join her. He began to stride across the uneasy earth with its soggy patches, and came to rest a wolf-length from her petite figure just as she said, I need the best fighters to help. Revui's ego was already swollen after he'd encountered the bear and lived (oblivious to the fact the massive bear had been a passive beast, unwilling to do him harm even if it could've destroyed him with a flick) and so he was glad to have found someone that could see him and think, yes! that one! he is what I need!

I will fight for you. He drawled.

As an after-thought (and because it had been drilled in to him recently that words were sometimes necessary) he added: My name is Revui.

It was that simple.  He agreed and Kiwi's features broke out in a smile.  She liked it when other wolves saw things her way, and clearly he knew that what she fought for was worth it. Any challenge was worth it, in the end.

I'm Kiwi, she replied, then took a few steps back.  If you want, I'll show you the mountain.  There was a time she had been slightly ashamed of her name and it's lack of intimidating note, but now she had chosen to embrace it.  She'd make it something worth knowing someday.

Kiwi — not a warrior's name, but her body was not right for that either. He would not judge her beyond the superficial. The mention of a mountain caused his ears to twitch and he nodded, his broad, heavy skull dipping as he replied, Yes. Show me, he would need to know more, eventually, but for now Revui was content in knowing there was a great battle on the horizon and he would be playing a key part in it. It is a foolish thing to pledge himself to a cause merely to taste blood and feel the tearing of flesh by his teeth, but he was still immature, still learning. He fell silent thereafter and would follow the ruddy girl home, wherever that was.