whoops a daisy

Set a few miles away from the glacier. :) Massively unrealistic fracture story, but oh well! Maybe one for @Danica ..? ;)

Half-way through her trip north, Bazi had had her fill of solitude and reflection. Three days' of travel had oiled the cogs, forcing decisions, and now she was ready for home. In her conscious mind, she told herself that pure logistics pushed her to finish the journey - her subconscious was less convinced, but said nothing for the time being. The visit would be brief, and then she would return to Scimitar as a humble daughter of the Creek - not its queen. It was one of the more important decisions she had made, and it made her feel light.

After one broken leg and the longest five weeks of her life, Bazi could scarcely imagine thinking anything so fickle was important.

Pure luck sustained her. The break to her left femur was mercifully clean - the result of a dramatic fall, but brought with it the worst pain Bazi had ever felt. For the first few days, she was delirious; an easy target for passing predators, but none had come. For the weeks that followed, she sheltered among the rocks in the damp ravine that would bury her, picking at bugs, frogs, and the bones of an unfortunate deer - on the cusp of decay before her fall, and her single saviour in death.

When death did not come for her, Bazi got up and left the table.

A thin, wild-eyed creature emerged from the gap in the earth, moving treacle-like in the direction of cold. She could smell it, and after a few days of awkward shuffling and frequent breaks, the Glacier was within her sights - beyond the fading grass and up, up, up over the ice. Bazi settled heavily on her uninjured side, resting against the rough bark of a bushy pine. Nearly there.

8D

It had not been a happy couple of weeks for the wolves of the Glacier. The entire pack was still in a sort of stupor after Larus' disappearance, and while the lynxes seemed to have taken their victory as an excuse to leave them alone for a while, no one was glad about it. Danica had taken to sleeping closer to the family's den, as she had in the Creek, and more often than not her sleep was troubled, light enough so that the smallest sound sent her starting awake. She would not allow what had transpired to happen again.

Days she spent hunting and patrolling, as usual, but she wandered farther than normal, at times even crossing the borders into the surrounding lands. And as she did so she kept on the alert for any trace of their missing Alpha or his lost child. The one still here had enough to do protecting those children she had left, so it fell to her packmates to do what they could to bring their family back together.

All told, Danica's state of mind wasn't great right now.

Therefore, when she saw the white stranger approaching from the distance, she set out fully intending to send them back where they came from, decidedly unpeacefully if the situation called for it. Her resolve turned to shock when she saw that it was a bedraggled Bazi rather than some stranger.

Her surprise was short lived, though, so much so that by the time she had come close enough to greet her former leader (and perhaps former friend), it was with a rather neutral stare. "You know," she greeted her, voice dry, "when you told me to come here and not return, I somehow assumed that meant you wouldn't be following." She looked Bazi over. "You look like shit."

Not the most tactful, understanding greeting but Danica was a prideful creature. Much as she might miss Bazi's friendship, she wasn't about to admit it, and also wasn't even close to letting her off the hook. Besides, Danica was a full believer in the phrase 'not my dog'... Bazi was no longer her problem. She had made sure of that.

Bazi stared emptily at the approaching wolf, too tired and too traumatized to do anything except wait in the shade of the tree. It took a little longer for her to recognize Danica than it took the Glacier's Gamma to figure out who had come calling - and by that time, the first words had already been claimed.

"You know, when you told me to come here and not return, I somehow assumed that meant you wouldn't be following." Danica paused to survey the damage - lackluster fur and visible ribs; she had been lucky. "You look like shit."

The Bazi that had fallen into the pit would have taken great umbrage at the tone, the words, 'the very nerve! (huff puff)'. The one that crawled out of it said nothing. "Harsh," she mumbled dumbly. She regarded Danica for a long moment after that, struggling to pluck words from the now rather sparsely populated pool of choices.

"I missed you," Bazi eventually announced in the hoarse voice that screams had gifted her, blinking slowly at the sound of it.

Danica had never been one to believe in a higher power. But if there was such a thing, man she must have done something to piss them off. Because this just kept getting better and better. Danica was a wolf with a very small emotional capacity. If it wasn't anger or sarcasm, she didn't want it. And these past weeks had taken her through a wringer of disgusting feelings not of either of the two varieties. This... this was too much.

"Harsh," she barked out a laugh. "I suppose it is. Guess there's a lot of that going around." She glared at the other woman, infuriated that she hadn't gotten the response she expected. She'd been expecting anger. Anger she could respond to. This apathy she couldn't. Little did she realize that this was exactly what she had done to Bazi only a short time ago.

It was funny, hearing Bazi say she missed her. As though she hadn't been the one to boot her out in the first place. A part of her wanted to just turn and leave, be the one to do the booting this time. And perhaps a younger Danica would have. Current Danica, much as she may want to, couldn't do it.

"Damn it all." she cursed, releasing a small growl. "Wait here." With that she turned and ran, her course set for a nearby location where they had stashed some of the deer that the pack had caught only a couple of weeks ago. It was pack food, but she knew it was as Tuwawi would have done. And they were on friendly terms still, so it was expected that she aid in such a situation. Expected, really.

As she returned and placed some of the meat before Bazi, she was almost able to convince herself that was the only reason she was doing this. Silently she stepped back, looking away.

Danica's eyes blazed. Her sarcasm settled against Bazi's ears like power snow, burning slowly the way that cold did. The bedraggled girl searched Danica's face, processing the nuances of her expression until the frustration squeezed a sharp growl out of the other girl's throat and she disappeared.

Bazi attempted to stand, struggling onto three legs with the fourth held gingerly aloft. Everything was a dull haze. At her core, she could feel swells of magmatic emotion struggling against a thick, black crust - anger, regret, indignation, relief. Above all else, relief. For the first time in weeks, she was certain that she would live, and that kept her trembling legs from folding.

When Danica returned, it wasn't with Tuwawi or Njal, but with food. Bazi's eyes widened with surprise and she instinctively began to salivate. She looked between the meat and its courier, meeting a turned cheek on the second round and feeling a surge of panic at the thought that Danica might leave her whilst she ate. But she was so hungry. Desperately famished and dribbling comically now, Bazi dropped too quickly to her belly, converting a pained squeal into a piercing, mosquito-like whine that melted into frenzied chewing, ripping, and swallowing. The meat was gone within a minute. A pair of frightened eyes turned back to where Danica had been standing, wondering if she would still be there.

I shall catch up on threads tomorrow, but I wanted to get something up for this since I'm in a mindset

She was still there. Much as she might like to leave, she was warden to these lands, and no matter how little a threat Bazi posed, it was not in Danica to leave an outsider alone so close to pack lands. Besides that, though, Danica had questions. And she was never one to wait in favor of treating another delicately. Especially not this particular someone. "What are you doing here, Bazi?" It was almost followed by a 'and where is Scimitar', but one question at a time. There would be time for that. This was the more pressing concern. Why had she shown up on their borders, and in such a state.

Danica was attempting to get ahold of herself, to keep herself aloof and not even assess her feelings right now. She didn't want to know. What lay beneath the anger didn't matter. True, she was a creature who did not like to keep things hidden, but last time she had revealed herself this wolf stamped her out with little ceremony. The trust their friendship had once held was now gone in her mind, and Danica did not forget easily. She had no reason to believe Bazi had changed in her mindset one bit.

So she stood, waiting for an explanation.

Danica was still there. Bazi considered her stern, cold face whilst licking precious flecks of chewed meat from around her lips. "What are you doing here, Bazi?" Like she was some sort of.. dirty, unwelcome stranger. Bazi's jaw tightened in defiance, but the thought of maintaining it was exhausting and it didn't last for longer than a second - that, and she had no right. She knew that. There wasn't much to do whilst waiting to die - except think (and eventually regret, when hope had served its time). Thoughts of Danica had occupied a significant amount of that time.

"Tuwawi," she answered, struggling slowly onto three paws. Weeks in the pit had yellowed her fur and flattened it into unsightly spikes. "And the kids.. I fell, on the way."

Bazi paused, her mouth forming a silent 'um'. What now? "Cheers for the food - take me to them?"

"Thank you. For the food."

Danica shook her head, ignoring the thanks. A wry smile seated itself upon her lips. "You picked a hell of a time to make a social call." There was no way Tuwawi would be joining them here, not with the rest of her pups to guard.

Bazi looked like she'd been through hell and back, but Danica steeled herself against too much sympathy. She knew she probably shouldn't speak of their pack's troubles, not even to this sorry wolf before her, but she couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. She couldn't call for Tuwawi and she was going to inform Bazi of why.

"We've had a lynx problem here. Not too long ago, one of them made off with Larus. Njal disappeared as well, presumably following." A different type of anger now showed within her... anger at herself, mostly. "We aren't the most well-suited for entertaining guests." The last word had a bit more of an edge to it than Danica intended.

"You picked a hell of a time to make a social call."

Bazi looked down at her own soiled legs and laughed a short, raspy laugh. "I didn't pick it." It had been her intention to offer her services as an additional hunter in exchange for a bed, spend some time in the glow of Tuwawi's infinite wisdom, and leave a better wolf. Danica had hovered over the plans like an elephant's shadow even then, and had catapulted to the forefront of Bazi's mind when fate shoved her off a cliff and left her to die.

News of Njal and Tuwawi's disaster distracted from having to launch into an awkward conversation, but that was the only good thing about it. A cold fist closed around her heart. "What? And the others - Maera?" Bazi shuffled forward, eyes on the distant Glacier. "How far is she from here?"

Since Tuwa's out not sure if you want to close this one up or keep it going ^^

So perhaps some of her anger towards her ivory former(?) flame was a little misplaced. Could you really blame her? When Bazi asked about the others, a little of the fire went out of the golden she-wolf. Tension dropped from her shoulders as she responded. "The others are fine." Small mercy there. And Danica planned to make sure it stayed that way.

"She's pretty upset, and within reason. The den is a ways into the territory." Danica hadn't seen much of Tuwawi since it had happened, her coping mechanism when such tradgedies occurred was usually to separate and give them space. She might have said it was out of consideration for them, but really it was because she didn't know how to deal. What a pal.

"Maybe seeing a familiar face will help." It was the closest Danica would get to an 'I'm really not all that unhappy to see you,' without outright saying it. And she definitely wouldn't admit that she'd missed her. She realized that they were avoiding a rather massive talk that probably should be happening, but she couldn't say she was sorry to put that off for a while.

Fade, maybe? What's the back-story with Tuwa - or isn't there one yet? I'm wondering if I can assume that Bazi is permitted to stay, but perhaps I'll thread with the Alpha. :D

There was a subtle change in Danica's posture when the focus of their conversation to something more 'grand scheme'. Bazi breathed an audible, almost comical 'phew' to hear that the others, at least, were well. That poor, broken family. That thought took her back to Scimitar and the rest of Swiftcurrent Creek - would they assume she had simply given up on leadership and escaped to the Glacier, abandoning them all? Or did they think her dead.

"Maybe seeing a familiar face will help." Bazi nodded and took her first hobbling (but determined) step forward, eyes gleaming and lock on their distant goal. Cats. Stupid, disgusting, wily cats. "Lead the way."

maybe! There's no official word from Lieu yet. I'd also be ok saying Danica gave permission. She wouldn't care too much about authority with Tuwa gone and would basically hold that anyone with an issue could deal with her XD
She might not be too fond of Bazi atm but wouldn't chase her off injured

My last <3 we can have another more awkward in the future if you like bwahaha

Danica heard Bazi's relief and it mirrored her own, internal emotions on the matter. So much had happened to the family these past weeks, they did not need any more heartache. And Danica didn't have the stomach to deal with any more awkward sadness.

"Alright," came the simple response, and she turned to lead Bazi to the densite. Danica assumed the white Alpha's stay would be short, for she had a pack and a beau to return to. It was just as well. She had enough on her plate.