Cerulean Cape dust to side chicks

@Arrille

After they departed from the fields, they avoid the high structure of the ridge. Furi hasn’t spent a lot of time on mountainous terrain to feel entirely comfortable with the climbing. Her little time with Eske before Drageda had been rough on her weakened system and she struggle with the climb and careful pathways. Instead, they head for the flat expanse of the coast the leads open to the cape. She only seen the open field from a distance on the bluff but she has not gone this far south. It makes her a little uneasy being so far from home but having @Blixen in good company manages to settle most of her nerves. Furi is confident she could hold her own in a struggle if she had to but knowing her friend is there to protect her makes it even better.
 
Furi’s long legs feel the itch to run as the terrain feels like a mix of hard soil and sand, she begins to take off at full force. Blixen eats her dust (sand?) and she moves like a gazelle. With very bit of energy she has, she tries to put as much distance between them. Blixen is petite but Furi is tall and her legs carry her with easy. When she feels she has lost her friend—for the time being—she slows down with heaving breaths to look out over the ocean before her.

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Arrille had since left the area around Moonspear, the last place he knew someone that was related to him. He headed to one place that always came back from the furthest depths of his mind; the shore. It was the one place his Mother had told him about, her home. He thought, that maybe he could find something there to hold onto. 

He found the ocean, and laid down on the sand, not bothering to look around for anyone. In his mind, there was no one else to look at. No one to notice. Just him. He did smell someone, but he was beyond caring if someome came over to bother him.

 the gona has no idea what furi's planning, but when she'd been asked to come along, she'd said yes without a second thought. it's funny how quickly the pair's become basically inseperable given their rocky first meeting, but blix is happy to have a friend - even if she suddenly takes off running and leaves blix in the dust. "hey!" she calls, laughing as she takes off after her long-legged companion with no real intent to catch up.

she catches up after a few moments, panting but not as hard as furi, her face split into a wide grin - and then a scent gets her attention and the readhead turns her head. "who's there?" she asks, not quite calling out as she turns towards the lone figure on the sand.

The farther Furi moves along the beach, she realizes there is someone else ahead. They’ve already run into one wolf and it does not surprise her to find another, seeing as she often finds random wolves when she’s out. She does not complain but this wolf does not react to her approach—and subsequent approach of Blixen—and she feels a little worried (or concerned?) that something is wrong. Blixen blurts out the question right away when she finally joins her once more and she leans forward, taking a few more steps, and chuffing softly. “Hello?”

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Now that they were coming closer, Arrille noticed the others. Especially when they approached and one of them gave a greeting. He looked up, eyes full of fear. He quickly stood up and shuffled a little away, unsure of them. His tail hugged his rear legs, and he was shaking all over. He had grown rather skinny as well. "D-Don't come any closer" he quietly said, attempting to sound threatening enough to scare them off. He didn't do a very good job at it with his shaky voice, he knew that.

truthfully, the gona has little patience for outsiders (or rather, a convoluted system of determining which outsiders are okay - anyone who joins drageda, obviously, is no longer an outsider, and the wolves at redhawk caldera are bound to her by blood, so they're okay even though they're outsiders, and so on). something does seem wrong with the skinny little thing, and she watches furi step closer, letting her take the lead.

the scrawny little guy - he looks about their age, she thinks - crawls to his feet and moves back even as he barks at them to stay back. "that a threat?" she asks, thoughts racing to the starving stranger that'd attacked artaax (though obviously this tiny thing poses no threat) as she steps to furi's side, somewhat protectively. "who are you?" the ginger adds, squinting at him suspiciously lest he try to make a move against her or her friend.

The wolf reacts quickly as they approach, shuffling back and telling them not to come any closer. Furi’s wars drop back as she notes how thin he looks now that he’s standing, as well as the tremble wracking his entire body. Blixen’s abrasive words cause her to flinch and close her eyes briefly, before then snapping her a look. Shut up, she thinks but does not say it allowed because she’s moved on with another question. Slowly, Furi takes a step back and nudges her friends shoulder to do the same. ”He’s scared,” she whispers toward the fiery girl before she gives the stranger her full attention. ”We’re not going to hurt you,” she directs toward him but glances to her side. ”Right?”

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Arrille shrunk back more, trying to curl his tail more and pulling his head back and down a bit. He kept on shaking, but by how calm one of them sounded, it seemed to calm him as well. The other one, the one that questioned his attempt at a threat scared him however. He kept his eyes on her. 

"Y-you're not...do you promise?" He wasn't sure why he had asked that, he had basically given up on any promise given by anyone. Everyone that ever made a promise to him had gone back on every one of them. His eyes remained on the other.

furi actually scolds her and blixen's face wrinkles as she steps back too, entirely put out. she doesn't have time to protest before her friend goes and reassures the kid they aren't going to hurt him, giving her another look. what, she mouths, then sighs and grumbles. he does seem very scared and he hasn't made a move toward them yet so reluctantly she relaxes, her expression smoothing into one of guarded neutrality. "yeah," the gona tells him in half-hearted reassurance, "we won't hurt you. promise." so long as you dont make any funny moves towards us, she adds mentally, but doesn't say anything else out loud lest she invoke furi's wrath.

The stranger seems to calm a little and to that, Furi offers a little bit of a smile. Blixen seems to have backed off a little, even offering to take a step back and give him some room. She decides to do the same so that he doesn’t feel so crowded around or like they are a threat. The last thing she wants to do is scare him off, or cause him to lash out at either of them (though she is certain they’d be able to take him). He isn’t much older than they are, she deduces, and so she bobs her head a few times, equally promising not to do anything to him. “What’s your name?” she asks, licking her lips and glancing toward Blixen. “This is Blixen… and I’m Furi.”

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The boy shifted a little, standing up a little and showing he was beginning to get more comfortable. The one called Furi made a promise, and whereas he did not fully trust them, he chose to loosen up a bit before he responded to the two of them. he didn't know them, but they gave him their names. And while he was not too sure about the one called Blixen, Furi seemed trusting enough."F-Furi?" he asked. "And Blixen..." He was hesitant on his next words, being careful with them. 

Then he gave an answer to the two female wolves. "Arrille...my name is Arrille." Could he trust them? He was not sure. He was weak, afraid and no doubt needed someone to help him. This he knew.

all right, she feels a bit bad for being so defensive towards the clearly-hurting boy. but given what happened to artaax, who can blame her for being a little testy? (furi, apparently). "sorry for snapping before, arrille," blix says, glancing at furi, slightly guiltily. "what happened to you?" she asks - maybe indelicately, but she doesn't really see the point of beating around the bush here.

“Arrille,” Furi repeats, and she glances to her friend with a smile on her features. She’s glad Blixen has toned it down a few notches and even offers an apology. She lets go of a deep breath and wags her tail, lowering her rump to the ground and curling her plume next to her. “We should get him something to eat,” she offers after a beat, though she is curious to know what happened, and while she doesn’t want to overload him with questions, she can’t help it. “Do you have somewhere to go?”

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He didn't smile, but he did relax at the apology from Blixen. Only just a bit, but enough to show that he was relaxing. Furi sat down, but Arrille remained standing. If they suddenly had a change of heart, he had to go. He was ready to go, at any point. He hears what one of them said, and at the mention of food his stomach grumbles within. He turned his ashamed expression away quickly. 

Then Furi asked if he had somewhere to go. He hesitantly shook his head. "Nowhere...I have nowhere...Nothing" he murmured the last word, as if the meaning of it still hadn't fully stuck to him and he was still getting over the surprise of it the full meaning of it.

 she's relieved he seems to relax a little. furi suggests finding him food - blix mutters "yeah," but doesn't start to move yet, waiting for arrille's response to their questions. 

nowhere. 

the gona frowns, and casts a sidelong look to her companion - was furi like this when eske found her? or in the same boat, at least, she can't imagine her friend ever being so brow-beaten. "that sucks," she says, "i'll go - find you some food." blixen is not good at comfort, has no idea what words to offer the hurting lost boy, but she can go grab a vole or something tout suite. she glances at furi once more time, hoping she's better at dealing with this sort of stuff, and darts off to find something for the boy.

She is thankful that Blixen agrees with her and she struggles to fight off a weird, bashful sort of smile. When she glances over to the fiery girl again, this time as she’s turning to go after something, she watches for a moment until she draws her attention back to Arrille. Her features soften quickly and she shakes out her fur a little before trying to decide what to do. She is still, in a way, an outsider in Drageda but they had taken her in when she needed somewhere to go and surely they’d do the same for him. He’s big, even though thin, and he seems like he really needs some help before the winter hits them hard. “I know what it’s like,” she says quietly. “I got lost from my family a few months ago and this pack found me. I was skinny like you,” she tells him, trying to offer an encouraging smile. It doesn’t have to be like this.
 
“It’s further up the coast and, and they’ll… they’ll let you in,” she adds, though she glances over her shoulder though it had only been a few minutes and she doubts she’d be back so soon. Furi looks back to him, smiling again in hopes it makes him feel better.

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Arrille watches Blixen head off to find food, then he turned his head back to find Furi's attention on him. He just stared blankly at her, unsure of what to say while they waited. Furi was the first to speak, however. And it seemed she had a bit in common with his current situation. 

"How...How did you get by?" he asked. Without family, he wasn't sure where he was supposed to go. All he was doing now was going along the coast, looking for anything related to his mother and the home she once spoke of here.

He followed her gaze over her shoulder, and caught the smile when he put his attention back on her. It made him feel a bit more secure. "What is...this pack? I've only seen so few."

Furi doesn’t like to think about what happened before Eske found her. It led to too many memories and she struggles on a daily basis to fight the ones she already deals with. But if it will help her new friend, she’ll offer whatever she can to him. Even if he does not come to Drageda, she can help him anyway. “It was lonely. And I was hungry a lot,” she explains. She suspects he feels the same way, too, given his reaction a moment ago. “I don’t know. I just… kept going. I hunted what I could, which wasn’t much… I wasn’t very good. But it wasn’t cold,” she adds, reminding him that this is worst. It was hot most days but she found cool spots and there was plenty of water. There isn’t such reprieve when it’s cold, not without risks.

“It’s called Drageda. They took care of me,” she says, thinking fondly of Eske and Étoille. “You could stay with me and Blixen.”

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Arrille felt the same. he didn't want to think about how he was left behind by Maude. And so close to winter, to the long cold winter nights, and cloudy dark days. The boy was certainly very hungry. He thought about asking her how it happened, how she lost her family. But his own heartache was enough to tell him not to do so. He thought that it would only bring the same heartache to her.

"Really?" he asked, feeling a bit hopeful. Then, he glanced away. He couldn't. He had places to be. He wanted to find. But...if he could not find what he was looking for. "I...I'll think about it." Really, his current situation made 'thinking about it' a very bad idea. "Thank you, Furi....really, thank you."

blixen returns, a scraggly rabbit hanging between her jaws, in time to catch arrille's thank yous. "y're welcome," she says, muffled around a mouthful of rabbit flesh, and deposits it at his feet. "sorry, it's a little wimpy, but..." the ginger smiles and glances over at furi, pleased with herself for helping and feeling much better about the whole affair. of course, had she been present to hear furi's offer - her promise, really - her expression probably would be a little bit different.

but she hadn't and she didn't and so as far as she's concerned, good deed done. the gona feels a little bit bad at the idea of leaving him out here to fend for himself, but she hopes the meal will perk him up some. glancing at furi, blix waits to see what, if anything, her companion wants to do.

When she notes Blixen’s return, coinciding with Arrille’s thank you, she smiles awkwardly and turns to greet her. It’s a rabbit, albeit small, but it should be enough to take the edge off. Hopefully it will be enough to get him by so he can hunt his next meal without too much struggle and, if not she hopes he’ll travel north to find them. And if he doesn’t, maybe she will see him again and she can help him. A softness has grown for the stranger, perhaps only because she has been in the same spot, but it is there nonetheless. Furi offers a smile of encouragement, taking a step back to give him room to eat his kill (or take it with him) however he pleases.

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Arrille looked at the meal. He thought back to how that wolf, Pema, had done the same for him. He was hungry. He could not deny himself from it, and he lunged for the food, tearing into it hungrily, and making quite the mess. This time, a thank you slipped his mind. He was hungrier than last time. And the food satisfied his hunger quickly. Once he was done, he left whatever was left, which would no doubt have been much.

sorry its short!

she's pleased that arrille tucks into the meal, but with nothing else to do, just sort of awkwardly sits and looks at furi for guidance. what now? the gona mouths, oblivious to the fact that furi's already offered him a place in drageda (and all the better for it). they can't take him back with them -- blix may have no issue warming up to outsiders once they've earned nomi's approval, but that doesn't mean she can just waltz in with a bunch of stragglers who haven't proven their worth. and, ugh, there's still the potential for that ghost to show up and that's on her, too. she glances at the sickly boy to make sure he's eaten everything but otherwise her gaze remains firmly on her friend, waiting for a sign that they can leave.

Reply again or archive as is. <3

Arrille doesn’t take long to go after the food, thankfully, and she smiles as he digs in. Blixen sits awkwardly off to the side, trying to get her attention, and she turns her head to look and see how much she wants to go. She frowns and looks away, letting the boy finish before she makes any move to do anything else, and when he does, she stands and backs up a step or two, encouraging her companion away. “We need to get going,” she says, wagging her tail. “Just remember what I said, okay?” she tells him one last time, hoping he’ll take the next step on surviving, and she turns to leave with her friend.

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