kiss me like you mean goodbye, said the spider to the fly

If Bazi would have asked, she may have laughed at the prospect of seeing them.  Even in Swiftcurrent she'd had few friends, though she had no reason to dislike them either.  Her faith and pleasure in others, at some point throughout the last few months, had been shot to hell.  This was one of the reasons she had jetted out of the Bypass so quickly.  For so long she'd sought a place to stay only to come up empty, and now she felt hardly suited to any sort of company but her own.  Nor did she really desire it.

So they had moved, and presumably northward if Bazi was hanging around here.  She accepted it without comment, though it did surprise her.  For some reason she had thought them rooted to that creek.  Though she wasn't much for socializing, it had been so long since she'd been in the constant company of another that she wondered if she actually wanted Bazi to leave.  Churlishly her foremost instinct was yes, but it was a tired yes, and behind it was a hint of anxiety at the prospect.  That she would drive all previous friends away and be back in the same boat as last winter was a frightening prospect indeed.  This fear made her angry, though at herself, not Bazi.  If she was to be weak, what was the point in hiding her mistakes?

Somewhat wearily she sat down, Bazi's roving eyes bringing a wave of self-consciousness despite herself.  She had never been particularly vain, nor thought herself a beauty, but she was aware of how she looked now.  "I did alright the first couple months, but found no packs.  None that were taking joiners at least.  Then I came across some prey I really shouldn't have tried to take down myself.  Kinda hard to hunt when you've been kicked by a moose.". Her ears tipped back.  The blow to her pride had been as bad as the one to her shoulder, at least now. At the time that likely wasn't the case as she'd been more concerned with dragging sorry self to a sheltered spot.

"I almost didn't... But Shadow found me."  This was delivered a little softer.  She'd come so close to dying... She knew if it had been another day, Shadow would have found a body, not her.  She couldn't shake that moment, the moment she had accepted it, and it was as though it were burned into her mind.  It was frightening how easy it had been to give up.