Duck Lake This is the face of a miracle. A real and true and tragic-beyond-imagination miracle

@Ocra

When was the last time he'd slept? It must have been the night before he'd found Octavia. Stark hadn't slept since then, he'd tried once and it had ended up with nightmares - the fight with Octavia, of killing her and her blood all over his maw. It stained red into his coat, richer than Pepper, richer than anything he'd ever seen. 

Stark couldn't handle that and so he avoided it. He just simply wouldn't sleep. 

He swallowed thickly and tipped his head back, avoiding any sense of emotion and sought to desperately cram it back down into the box it had sprung up from. It was pretty here - the type of place that maybe they would have gone to. Instead Stark was stumbling along like a zombie trying to stay awake and as far away from himself as possible. 

She didn't know where she was going, these terrains all new to her but she knew she had to make herself familiar. If Sriracha wanted to create new life in the grove, to keep his band of wolves together he managed to gather in just a handful of days, and if Ocra wanted to stay with him, she had to explore. Even with an injured shoulder, mostly controlled by a little medicine for pain, she would get out and about and find her way around.

Ocra had probably gone a little too far than she should, with no sign of her companions nearby, she struggled to keep her gait even and smooth. Eventually, she gave in to the pain and began favoring her right shoulder. Being alone in an unknown land was less than desired but she couldn't fake it anymore.

Up ahead, near the lake she'd come across, stood—quite unsteadily—another wolf with dark fur. Ocra blinked a few times to realize something had to be wrong and she wondered whether or not she needed to investigate. Several possibilities ran through her mind but hesitantly she continued on, trying once more to mask the limp. She chuffed, once, to draw attention to herself to better see if she were safe in the strangers presence or not.

The zombie wolf was not one who was so used to exhausting himself that way. He heard the sound and turned his head but the movement was truly sluggish. Stark swallowed again and gave a soft sigh, looking down for a moment. He chuffed in response, taking a couple steps closer to the other wolf but he stopped and swayed on his feet. 

He decided to settle himself and sit so that it was easier. Sitting down meant he was a little bit more grounded and he didn't feel like he was going to fall over at any given moment. It was an improvement to say the least. "Hello," He said after a little bit, his voice a little quiet, far more reserved than normal. 

Ocra kept her distance for the moment as she just watched the dark male. He swayed back and forth a little, noticeably enough for the distance she was. He sat, however, but a little harshly against the ground that still made her hesitant to approach. He responded to her chuff and stepped closer, causing her to take an equal amount of steps back. She could hear him when he spoke a simple greeting but his features drooped and he looked rather sunken in and tired. Her ears rested on the top of her head, searching him for any signs of obvious sickness and then his eyes for insanity.

“Hey,” she said quietly, taking one tenative step forward. “You okay?”

Stark might have laughed but he shook his head, wanting to say something but nothing felt right. Was he alright? No - definitely not but he also didn't know her from a tree and he didn't know if he was going to open up to a stranger when he was having so many issues opening up to himself. "Just...uh. Can't sleep. Bad dreams." Horrible dreams, but, he wasn't forthcoming with his information sadly. he was too built up into his own head and himself to properly speak on the matter. 

"M'sorry, usually....I'm usually more eloquent than this."

The male was the second one she'd run into that have had the same problem. Xan hadn't been willing to take her help and she didn't know if he was still having the same problem. Every offer she gave him was turned down, whether or not the herb was ingested. Even having something nearby, for the smell of it, was rejected. Perhaps, or so she hoped, that this male would be receive her information and, just made, she could help.

"My name is Ocra. Are you alone?" she asked, glancing around for signs that might reveal someone was nearby to collect their disturbed pack mate. "Is there someone I can go get for you?" she offered first, trying to first assess the situation before she went on with whatever she can do for him.

Stark gave a rough shake of his head - full out of addled thoughts but enough to know that no he wasn't alone. Octavia hadn't left him alone since he had pushed the earth over her body. "No - my pack, we're close." But he'd come here, rather than let Banner see him fall apart or worse yet Tambourine. "Don't bother them," He said finally, settling on the words even as his brain was muddled and he had a hard time truly focusing on what he was thinking. Sentences. They were hard. Emotions were harder. 

"M'sorry, I just need..." He swallowed back a sigh. "I haven't slept, it's rough." Understatement of the year. 

Ocra blinked a few times as he began to speak. His words slurred and the more he explained, the more answers she was able to come up with. He was tired, proving his lack of sleep was getting to him. Perhaps Xan would get this bad, especially if he wouldn’t let her help him and resisted every offer she made, but perhaps the other might trust her enough to take a hand when he obviously needs it. The fact his pack was close made her feel a little better, meaning he wasn’t too far from where he needed to be, and perhaps enough to get back home.

“I can help… if you want. I know a few herbs that aid to get you to sleep and,” she paused, listing the herbs once or twice in her mind. It didn’t help she was in a land unfamiliar to her own and might take some time to search for them, but perhaps, if she was lucky. “and what’s your name and where you’re from?” she finally asked, if only to have some basic information on him should something go wrong.

Ocra did what she could with that little he offered her before she eventually parted ways, hoping the best for him.