The Tangle natsukashii

Thump. Silence. Thump. Silence. Thump. Silence.

That was the sequence of a wolf hopping on three out of four feet.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. OW. OWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Oh, and that was the annoying whimpering of a wolf that was walking on three out of four feet for a reason.

The Tangle wasn't exactly the friendliest terrain to traverse. Much as the name would suggest, The Tangle was a myriad of things meant to bog down other wolves from reaching beautiful respite. Grass burrs, twisted twigs, jagged rocks that cut through the padding of a wolf's foot like butter on a hot summer day. Only those that were lucky, experienced, or downright attentive to a T were capable of navigating their way out of this hellscape unharmed.

Unfortunately, the sun-kissed wolf was neither of the aforementioned.

Out of a bush came the yelper, rolling forth messily. His head hit the floor once, twice, and then an almost comical third time before the momentum of the fall came to a grinding, not so gracious halt. Static ran amok the soul's body and soon after the sound of a waterfall filled the empty, white spaces in his head. So, a lot of the surface area, really, considering there was not much in there at any given point during the day.

It was nice, getting to hear water move. Although, a part of him believed it to be blood rushing to his head. When those murky, brown eyes of his finally did blink open, the wolf was met with a beautifully annoying sun that was shining its rays down onto the earth. All paws save for the injured one (front right) were hunkered down and the maimed culprit lay sticking straight up in the air as if there were a genuine fear of it spreading. What exactly was wrong with it, however?

Grass burrs. Dozens of them, all on one paw. Oh, and it seemed a few cactus spikes, too? How had those gotten there?!

A pathetic gaze was cast to the waterfall's vicinity and then the sight of a wolf came into purview. Charcoal'd. Oily. Roughly his own size, give or take some measurements here and there.

"...PSSSSST. Sorry if I'm interrupting anything super, duper important over there, but would you mind lending a...paw....tooth...something? Anything! I can't walk straight because of this paw and I would really appreciate it if you would, you know...help a poor guy like me out. I don't have much to offer, but I can keep you some company? Talk your ear off for a bit? Maybe even scratch your back for a minute or two with my remaining good paws? Oh, the agony!"

Cassian's front left paw draped dramatically over his forehead. Truth be told, the wolf was capable of taking care of all of this himself. The brute reality was he simply wished to be pampered. Taken care of. Plus, it was a good test of character to see who he was really dealing with. Best case? He got a treatment fit for kings! Worst case? Eh, who cared! Thinking that poorly was for bozos!