Arrow Lake i hate my yearbook photo

set around arrow falls

Cupid knew the vale had little to offer in terms of herbs in these cold times. The fact had always been at the back of his mind, but the problem was too big to ignore now. There was very little materials available to tend to his packmate's wounds. With this in mind, he set out in an effort to fill the storage and clear his mind.

The sound of rushing water drew him towards the edge of Sunspire. Traversing so close to these waterfalls was a great risk, but one he was willing to take if vegetation grew nearby.

suddenly, she's falling.

when asked about the event leading up to her plummet, moonshine will have no answer. she'd been on a ridge,  she thinks, too close to the waterfalls and naive to the dangers snow can hide. and then she'd been here, falling. the chances of her having slipped should have been low; she's catious—it'd almost be more likely if some mercurial deity had thrown her against the mountain. 

in any case, she's at the bottom now. somewhere along the way she'd whistled past the stranger, and now she's half-submerged in a snowdrift, unmoving.

Why couldn't things just be normal these days? One moment he is cautiously sniffing around the bank, and the next he sees a peculiar lump float past him. What the hell is that..? he whispered as his eyes followed the shape. Not a bunch of dead leaves, not dried wood. That was fur attached to a body.

Hey! he called out, half hoping the form would lift its head. Of course it didn't. Cupid followed the body, looking down at his paws and up at the river every second. There was no way he'd get close to it at this rate, so he made the most dumbest decision of his life.

He jumped in.

Cupid held his breath as water washed over his head and gasped as it crashed through the surface. I'm such an idiot. Why am I doing this? he though over and over as the current pushed him towards the body. These past weeks have been full of horrible decisions.

When he was close to the mound of fur, he grabbed onto the scruff. The sudden weight pulled him down, but he managed to keep his head just above water. His eyes locked onto an oncoming waterfall. It was hard to tell how steep it was from here, but Cupid wasn't about to find out. He desperately clawed for the bank.

she's awake again, gasping for air. but it's not air that fills her lungs, and then she's thrashing, hacking up burning cold lakewater and likely striking out at her rescuer in the process. when her mind, eventually, catches up and realizes there's something solid beside her, her immediate instinct is to attempt to scramble atop it, gasping for breath still and half-blind with panic.

Suddenly, the body comes alive, gasping and squirming around. Flailing paws strike his face, his belly, but Cupid keeps a firm grip on her nape. It was a struggle, but he did not want to risk letting go.

He clawed against the current until he felt dirt. Land never felt so good. Cupid took a deep breath and attempted to push the girl upwards.

somewhere along the line, she realizes the shape beside her isn't some hairy rock but instead a wolf. wheezing, a thousand sparks of darkness and light scattered across her vision, she adjusts so be more of a help (or at least as helpful a burden she can be) to the struggling wolf. 

then suddenly, there's land. she scrambles onto it at the same time as the woman, collapsing onto her stomach and hacking bitter water into the snowy bank, shivering violently.

As soon as the girl made it onto dry land, Cupid made his own frenzied attempt to grab hold of the dirt. The current was certainly working against him; each time he thought he'd gotten a good grip, rushing water would slam against his paws. Eventually he was able to gather his senses and successfully make it onto dirt.

Fucking christ man, he growled between coughs and sputters. He could've died... for a corpse. What the hell was up with him lately? He casts his gaze down towards the hacking ball of fur. Well, at least he was wrong about the corpse part.

Cupid looked over his shoulder. They were still a little too close to the river. Yo, get away from the water. He turned 'round and nudged the girl's shoulder. I ain't going for a swim again.

she's unable to think, only to stare at her rescuer with wide eyes, tail curled tightly. her instruction is obeyed without question, the girl sidestepping as quickly as she can, fumbling away clumsily. 

the cold is unbelievable, for lack of a better term. made thin by the famine, it seems now to reside in the marrow of her bones, and she can not stop her quaking; driven equally by shock and chill. "thanks," escapes her, sounding somewhat distant to her own ears, and she reverts back to blinking and staring.

When he was sure the girl was a safe distance away from the water, he moved away with quaking steps. He was freezing as well; his teeth chattered, his body shook like a leaf in the wind.

D-d-don't mention it. He looked down at the girl. And with that he leaves. He trusts that she won’t go jumping in the water again. If she did, well, that was on her.