Redsand Canyon Now I can't seem to stay away

Okay, so, maybe splitting with @Atreus hadn’t been the best idea she’d ever come up with.  But how was she supposed to know!?

Tierra eyed the three coyotes that she’d come across, tearing at the carcass of something that had probably been dead a while.  Still, they didn’t seem totally thrilled about leaving, even though she was bristling and obviously capable of kicking their asses.  She had this.  Right?

Right.

Except she definitely didn’t.  By the time she got one pinned, the others were on her, one biting for her neck and the other getting her hard on the flank.  Okay, ow.  This wasn’t even fair!

Tierra let the one she was on up and tore away, spinning to back up defensively with her hackles raised.  Alright…. Fine.  She sent up an sos, hoping someone would hear to back her up.  He couldn’t be that far away, right?

hope this is okay, couldn't resist <3

minne probably should not have been this far from the main things of mereo. only she had felt a big old well of envy since the meeting. she wanted to be more, do more. get the same shit that seemingly everybody else got.

so she had...kind of loosely trailed behind tierra's scouting party. which was probably fine. she had been meant to learn from tierra anyway! only she hadn't expected such a fierce call to come out of the scout.

without a second thought, she picked up her pace into a run. knowing that she might not be the best back up, but she could never just let tierra go unanswered. especially not in such a situation like this.

only it would still be a moment or two before she was actually there.

it’s perfect!!

Yeah, this had one hundred percent been a mistake. It wasn’t like she could have expected to run into three at once, and she would’ve been totally fine if there’d only been one. But she was not doing well here, and between the food and the outnumbering, they did not want to leave.

She managed to draw blood on two of them but was clearly getting the worse end of this fight. By the time Minne arrived she’d be surrounded and hedged in by all three, snapping and snarling but unable to watch both her back and her front. It seemed like every time she forced one back, she lost ground, and they wouldn’t have to wait all that long to overwhelm her.

As more time passed with no one showing, she was starting to think running might be the smartest option. She just couldn’t find an opening.

she became a healthy mix of hunter and guardian in that moment.

the scene warmed her blood in a blinding sort of way. terrified, petrified, knowing that now was her time to do something. lest she lose the only face she really knew and liked to a rangy gang of coyotes.

her voice broke out in a series of barks, entirely doggish. sharp and high. enough of a distraction for one the coyotes to wield onto her instead. she hoped it gave tierra some kind of opening as jaws aimed for her own face now.

she would likely come out of this worse for wear, but every moment would be worth it.

a thought she tried to hold onto as teeth clamped down on her face.

She’d managed to keep her face and head mostly protected (mainly by snapping at anything that even came near it) but wow was this the total opposite of a good time. She was bleeding in more than a few places and if any of them scarred she was so going to kill all three of these assholes.

As soon as she could. Which was, like, as soon as she got backup.

Tierra snapped at the coyote in front of her at the moment, forcing it to jump back just as another came in and latched its jaws into her back. She screeched and spun on it, knowing the other two would take advantage soon enough, but that was when Minne showed up.

Oh my god…. Oh my god. They are so done now. She could’ve cried, she was so relieved. It wasn’t her fault she couldn’t fight off three all by herself, and Minne was totally going to help her flip this on them!! It was payback time!

Except, rather than run (like they should, if they were smart) one of them went after her friend instead. HEY, DICKFACE!!!!! She shrieked at it and, tearing herself away from the one that was on her, launched herself at the back of the one who was attacking Minne. Not cool. Before she’d been more scared than angry - now she was more angry than scared.

She bit down hard right below the shoulders, and hauled to try and drag it away. Doing so left her back open to the other two, though. Somehow they’d need to make them run… or get out of here themselves.

oh.

that was a lot of blood, and even more pain. the coyote may have not been on her face long, but the damage was done. the right half of her face was filling up with crimson, enough for the damage of it to be hidden beneath the blood and coyote saliva. regardless she already had a feeling it would be bad.

she had come to save tierra, now tierra saved her.

truthfully, she felt their best option was now to haul ass out of here. mainly because minne how no clue how long she'd be able to keep running on nothing but adrenaline!

LET'S GO! she barked sharply as she tried to determine the best course through the left side of her vision now. minne did her best to play sheep-dog, barking loud and hard at the other coyotes to keep them off for a few moments. anything to get tierra to start going.

She was tired. Tierra managed to drag the one she caught back, but she heard snarls behind her, and the one she’d caught was snapping at her as well. All it took was one glimpse of her friend’s face to snap her right back into fear.

God, Germ was going to freak.

She stumbled away, then took off, pausing just to make sure Minne was running with her before she pushed on a spurt of speed as best she could. No way they were making it far but the coyotes had luckily been, for the most part, guarding their kill. They didn’t have a lot of reason to follow.

Ohmygod. She huffed to a stop, legs trembling as she sat down. Tierra wasn’t going any further right now and Minne’s face hadn’t… looked great. Are you okay? She didn’t think she was. But she wasn’t really sure yet.

they ran and ran.

minne was a buffer between tierra and the coyotes left behind. left behind because they had finally achieved what they had wanted, scaring the mereo soldiers off.

and minne was, wholly and utterly, scared.

especially when they slowed down and her legs became something akin to jello beneath her. still only really seeing the world through one good side. not that she yet realized that would be the only way she would see the world from now on.

i'm fucked. she heaved as she sunk down onto her belly. exhausted, jittering, burning in her face. are you gonna...

be okay? get somebody? tell me how fucked up i look?

instead she heaved a large sigh and continued to lay there, heavily breathing and trembling.

It took her a minute to realize she was shaking, and to register what Minne asked. But she didn’t know what she was asking about. Going to what? Throw up? Maybe. She did not feel great.

They should call for help, or something. She zoned out for a moment, then realized things were tilting and blinked, trying to clear it. Nope. She was definitely going to be sick.

She didn’t know who to call for, but somehow she managed to get most of a call for help out before tilting too much to stay upright. She’d wanted to go check Minne but wasn’t getting over there now. Dimly she had the sense to at least feel bad about it. Sorry.

This whole thing was fucked. And to top it all off, it was freezing here.

she did something of a howl for anyone who wants to hop in XD otherwise we can wrap this and assume help came. I’m fine either way <3

happy to wrap this and assume help came! <3 thank you so much for this :3

she only really caught the apology, one tall ear flicked softly.

nah, she sighed out in response. then attempted to drag herself upright. a piss poor effort but she anticipated that they would encounter others on the way.

not waiting.

except she stumbled most of the rest of the way. tired, half-blind, woozy from the own scent of her blood filling up her nose.

she knew help would be here soon, just had to keep trying.

np, thanks for tossing her in and rolling with it haha!

She thought maybe she should follow but now that she was down there was no way she was getting back up. Maybe they'd come finish her off too. She felt too gross for that, though... her pelt was sticky. That wasn't right. Tierra still barely felt the wounds at her back and sides but they'd colored her reddish coat with a slightly darker shade. It didn't matter how quickly she bounced back from this one - she'd definitely learned her lesson. Two would have been fine. Pass on three next time.

Eventually help would find her - be it her irate older sister or some other packmate. Minne would save her there too. She owed her friend huge when this was over.

Right now? Naptime.