Two Rivers Isle i'm like a shot of adrenaline [m]ixed with some ritalin

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please let gun post first!

@Gun move yer ass! — the shout came bursting through the fringe of the Shadewood, and soon after it the streak of copper that was one ornery woman followed boorishly by a heavy-set second; this was the first time in a while Indra had shown any interest in their surroundings outside of a hunt, and she urged her companion through every step.
There's a camp here! C'mon bitch, look!

They'd traveled together for so long that they'd become very like-minded, borrowing behaviors back and forth, adopting all kinds of habits from each other when the days grew long and lonely otherwise. Deep beneath the surface level insults, Indra did care for the ugly old creature; this wasn't the time for that kind of bullshit though, not when she'd found a beautiful vista for them.

Indra canted her head back to shoot Gun a glare impatiently.

ihh cohin. muttered the heavier of the two, yawning and smacking her jowls.

gun trudged behind her companion - indra the red, the brat, the kid, her roving street sister - bovine where the younger was a bouncin' doe. she came to stand next to the other, still annoyed junior was taller than her at the shoulders. 

the view wasn't to pluck your eyes out, so it was fine enough for the wrinkled dog. she rolled her gaze over the isle, but it stuck to the water. cool, sprinting river. and, well, her drool had all dried up...

with a booming bark, gun jumped into the river like a canonball. she dove under and resurfaced, tongue lolling out the ruined half of her mouth.

get in red! the mastiff threw her head back and spat water like a sprinkler. coolsh the mushclesh!

her paws and muzzle are stained with fresh blood from a very recent killing in an effort to refill the cache. having a smaller group meant fewer mouths to feed, but it also meant fewer teeth to hunt. the tiger was growing weary of the fact that Ines and Matteo were growing and that they would take up more food without putting any back into the caches until they were older.

they were too small, too young. the sound of splashing water and guttural barks could not have belonged to them. so with haste, the isle leader gallops to where she believes the sound comes from. she sees a strange creature bathing in the waterways, along with a fiery girl upon the edge.

iseul was not one to approach with set hackles or a flagged tail, but stress ate away at her and she was not willing to let others cross her river without knowing the dire consequences of such actions. and so she releases her own booming voice as she comes to stand upon the shore with a very clear message:

swim back from where you came.

!!!!

it had been a juvenile bear, and that was colt briggs' only luck in runnin' it off some fawn that was little better than carrion. still, the cowboy toted the stinking meat back to the isle, for it was what they had. them kids were too little to hunt, let alone be of use even as lookouts, and not for the first time was colt grateful no brats had been born to the gang this time around.
last time it had happened, well, milk fever and a group of stupid men, you could figure out for yerself how that went for mother an' child.
the gang'd buried them on a flowered ridge and crossed the mountains with no more mention. colt couldn't recall her name now.
that sad memory accompanied him with the rotten fawn slung over his withers, and he tried to think of how best to ford the river back, maybe calling for @Sadey, when loud voices and splashing caught his tattered ears.
it was familiarity in those notes.
colt took a breath, red eyes narrowing to slits. he snorted, spat, dumped the fawn to the ground as his auds flicked toward the voices.
gun's barrel-chested bellow. and that harsher one, the —
colt found himself trotting, refusing to break into a run; he circled the edge of the lake, passed through heavy brush, scared two herons, and emerged onto the bank just in time to be half-drenched by gun's leap. "yew all about as silent as a four-footed horse in a marsh," colt hooted, shaking out his filthy fur and grinning yellowishly toward them, scarcely registering iseul. 
gun. gun and,
"red."

They had barely come to the edge of the river, with Indra trying to suss out a good place to lay in the shade and soak her toes, when Gun's body launched clear across her periphery. The resulting splash frothed water away from the bank but Indra still winced. The bobbing dog spat water, looking more akin to a wad of chewed up gum with all the loose, diaphanous folds now expanding beneath the magnification of the water's surface.

Indra took one second to splash some water back at her ally before sinking her paws in, and beginning to wade deeper. That was about the time a stranger's silhouette came trawling the other side; it was their demanding voice that earned the turn of Indra's head in profile, and brief airplane-ears, before the girl huffed and called to Gun:
Sounds like somethin' crawled up their ass'n—
—Red.
=—died.

Every  hair on Indra's body stood on-end when she heard that voice, and that name, and she was brought back to a time before the roaming, and the desperation. To a time of a different kind of desperation. Was she supposed to be happy upon this sudden reunion? Her eyes went wide, her mouth hinged, and then she was scowling, but to say she knew how she felt or what was expressed there upon her face would be a lie.

With iron in her spine Indra strut one more punch through the water and shouted, THE FUCK, COLT? We thought you died you asshole! To say she was glad to see him was an understatement, although the viscious, bitter, nettle-like quality of her voice said otherwise.

gun laughed like a truck engine. chuckling still, she dipped her head back, letting the river ply away the days of grime from her coat. with a sigh she dug her feet into the mud, grainy dirt replaced by cool, riverbottom mush between her toes. birds sung like a radio tuned to a familiar station. shifting canopies lulled her to rest. mmm... bliss!

the growl from behind put a stop to it. gun looked over her shoulder to see a wolfess, tail-up, on what she'd assumed was the other bank. occupied, eh?

red was the quicker-witted one - downside of their buddyship, yeah. least gun could do was try being cruder. she'd started giggling, brain factory assembling a joke related to something else being up that ass, when a voice made her freeze.

not 'shock' freeze. more like a computer program crashing to desktop.

she rotated in the water, until she faced the ugliest motherfucker she'd ever laid eyes on. an absolute tic breeding ground. hundred and forty pounds of whooped ass and fatherlessness. life's very own chew toy.

TARSHNOUT! gun barked and immediately began paddling for the man with the force of an experienced kayaking team. 

he best be wise and quick on his feet, for her intent was to smother him with her soaking wet self and then finish the job by licking the skin off his face.

HOTHERHUCKER, HO' HROUGHT YOU HROM THE GRA'E?!

she didn't like the look of either of these strangers on her shore. the fiery girl makes a comment that Iseul doesn't quite understand, but considering her tone, it causes the normally polite girl to lift up a black lip in a small growl. And the other creature? it reminded her of the Bulgae, dogs sent from the shadow kingdom meant to grab ahold of the sun and moon for their master's selfish needs.

Colt was there, and his words held a tone of something that was not concerned of these strangers. if anything, they didn't sound like strangers at all to him. the sharp trill of cuss words went over the head of Iseul, who now remained on the sidelines and kept quiet. as much as this isle was meant to be protected, she had enough trust in Colt that if he knew these two and didn't act with aggression, then she didn't need too either.

Iseul comes to face them all, allowing for them to do the talking and waiting for the break to interject when she is needed. though, she does cast a look to Colt with a muttering woof, asking "you know them, yes?"

Iseul can be skipped unless she's addressed! <3

red's crowcall lifted his spirits, and the ribald edges of his mouhth; colt laughed out loud and felt the bite of her voice sink like snaketeeth into his veins. maybe she weren't happy after all, maybe she had a reason.
maybe she had more of a reason than anyone, really.
the air slowed; colt felt a muscle jump in his ragged cheek, and parted his jaws to say — to say something. 
but then iseul was there, she'd been there. "this is my gang," colt told her proudly, tattered ears twitching up; and then gun, fierce muscular gun; thundering up out of the depths and drenching him.
he hooted with laughter; hollered with it; he rose and pretended to grapple gun, wrassling eagerly until the bank was stirred to mud and he smeared up to his elbows;
"nothin' kin kill me dead fer long," colt declared when they had broken a breath. "this here's two rivers isle, an' this is iseul, our deputy." 
deputy? for them? colt grinned a yellow slash of irony. "sadey's still kickin'," he told red in particular. "a boy ran with us a a bit, an' a coyot' woman. marston an' lonesome dove. ain't no sign o'reno in a long time. sadey an' i were all that was left. till now."
the red eyes gleamed.

There was a tremendous amount of hooting and hollering which triggered something in Indra, and made her want to snap her teeth or maybe withdraw, she couldn't be certain in that frenzied moment. Colt was alive! She should have felt happy; maybe she did, but it was confused with the surprise she felt, and the betrayal that was so raw, with him standing there as if nothing had happened. Lots had happened, though — Indra had grown in to herself, she had learned to survive alongside Gun and there was a certain level of independence she would refuse to give up, even for Colt.
Colt, who showed his own elation in his surly way. Colt who had somehow aligned with another collection of wolves, by his own admittance, and as he recalled the names of the gang and those who were no longer with them, Indra scoffed and sulked, and let him have his moment. She did not know what to do! He was rough-housing with Gun as if no time had passed at all; but to Indra, it was like being forced back in time to when she was less sure of herself.
Sadey's still kickin', He said pointedly to her, and she flicked her white-licked ear towards that familiar voice, then seemed to withdraw again.
Gun'n I — we hunted fer you. Her eyes burned as she watched Colt, unwavering. Got to a point we almost starved, y'know? More'n once. The girl snorts here, swallowing some of her ire as she was reminded of their adventures and their strengths together. Iron-spined, now. Nobody could take that away from her.
And yer here, alive, on vacation. A scoff; exasperated, unable to identify any of her emotions but at least she wasn't yelling. She looked at Gun then, contemplative, and the idle woman nearby, and then Colt again —
Suppose we could stay a while.

panting, smile open-mouthed, gun remained in the muck, head swaying from tarsnout to red, meaty tail slapping the water. she was delighted for real, even if words, as usual, had failed her.

with a woof she interrupted them both, unclogging her mass from the mud. lil' clucker'sh shtill kickin'? another wolf she wouldn't mind sniffing the rump of. lead on! she shook herself out, deliberately aiming to douse tarsnout. @Iseul might've been in the splash zone too.

speaking of...

gun looked the woman over. she wasn't half awful, kind of shit brickhouse built, but obviously with that to-kill-for fattiness of a pack wolf. her name had whizzed through her skull, so gun settled on...

hey, chatty, she'd gone for "mute" had she the lips. ya q'iet hhor real or ya gonna hhe a tour guide?

there was much to ponder about in Iseul as she stood quietly. on one hand, she didn't quite like having strangers around especially while taking care of Matteo and Ines. but on the other hand, the Isle was in desperate need of able bodies to keep them afloat.

for the sake of keeping the kids fed and somewhat protected, Iseul reluctantly would place her trust in the red bird and bulgae, so long as Colt was able to keep them on somewhat of a leash in these parts.

the girl comes to shake the water free from her coat before looking towards the others with a suspicious glint in her peridot eyes. but a deep breath is all it takes for Iseul to reset herself. she comes to walk towards the inland, a sweep of her muzzle invites them to follow her.

"follow" is all she says to them. and from there, Iseul would show them all what the isle had to offer, which was enough to appease the eyes and perhaps a home-hungry soul. she would point out what was important, and eventually she would allow for Colt to spend his time alone with his gang.

and through all of it, Iseul would keep an ear turned as she watched over the remains of Ulrich and Adylaide. what would they think of her? 

last from me! <3 went ahead and added the ladies to the ranks, lmk if you'd prefer they have a different title than the ones i gave them

last for me! <3

"well damn, redbird, we laid up as long as we could an' searched for yew, but we had to git over the mountains afore they came back fer us. i was mighty fuckin' chewed up an' lost all but sadey'n lonesome gettin' over."
jovial? perhaps not; perhaps exasperation mixed with what passed for briggs as surprised. "now lookit us. all t'gether." this time he did not grin or hoot; he slammed his shoulder playfully against that of gun. "vacation! miz iseul here will put yew to work snake-huntin' soon enough."
and with that colt no longer wanted to cut deeply into the meat of things; he wanted to talk stupid and banter and let the familiar voices settle him at last.

Seemed like things were settling. They'd have a place to sleep, likely some food shared with them eventually; that's all Indra cared about right now. The woman that had greeted them was prompt to lead Gun away, meanwhile Colt prattled on with his surly charm.
Indra hung back a moment before she deigned to follow, and even then she kept her distance from the man that once was her closest ally; she watched Gun for some social cues, and remained wary of the stranger woman who led the way.

Fade!

gun chortled, delighted. tarsnout was hell of a guy, even better gangmate, so she kept close to him, letting their scents mix. as far as the bitch was concerned, the gang now rode again, completed.

belatedly she noticed indra lagged behind. gun looked over her shoulder at the little woman.

she tossed her a fat wink. bit of encouragement.

indra was still her best girl, and likely would be for a long, long while.

archiving! :D