Hoshor Plains Can't be sure when they've hit their mark

Brown blunt body. The skin bunched in certain places. He must rebuild muscle mass. But it was with detwrmined air he padded through the pack lands.

Red Eye gleaming as he took it all in. The esrly sun pressed along his scars.  The extra heat on the ropy things a little painful.

Finally he found the herd and he settled a fair distance away and simply watched. He had been told they only took the sick and infirm. That was fine with him. But the ugly beasts fascinated him. So he watched. As they stomped and snorted made displays. Their beady eyes of blackness staring all around. Did they have anything behind those eyes? Did they kill? Did they love?

The wretch had scurried and scuttled around the plains after the instruction to 'familiarize herself' to the landscape.

Oh, she was familiar all right. Plains here. plains there. Oh! A rock! There was many of those. Its interest never faded, somehow. Envy remained content, excited, even, just at the prospect of a place she needn't vacate after a day. This was hers now, too, and she'd cultivate its wonders, in her own ways. Starting off, she knock off two tasks at once, exploring, whilst also seeking out the herbs of the land, the places with which she'd tend to and take from. 

The air was purer here, in the open, and the land was vast and teeming with life. She'd make use of all of it.

And so, she clambered up rocky slopes and bounded through the soft, dewy grass in the meadows; yet nothing caught her eye quite like the bison this pack stood to corral and protect.

More importantly though, the bison they'd eat, when the opportunity reared its tempting little head.

Oh, she grew restless; and on a different day, she might've gone to snap at the hooves of one of the lumbering old things for a taste of excitement, yet common sense would drag her back down to earth. Tempting as it was, she offered them a wide berth—for most certainly, she'd be crushed underfoot with ease. 

Big thing. Stupid thing. Or maybe not stupid thing. Who cares. That flesh will one day rend from the bones it hoists up, and offer to them a feast worthy of kings. Gimme gimme gimme. 

Going the long way around, she'd spot a figure crouched in the distance, watching, waiting, biding their time. Perhaps they too were trying to strip the skin from the bison with their mind.

Coming closer, she'd scramble over with little unease nor caution, venturing far closer, and offering more trust to one unknown than any sane figure would. Envy stepped forward with a tilt of her crown and a friendly sway to her tail as she strutted about the area, never still for a moment, except to stare. Hey! Watcha doing over here?

She hoped he was another yellowstone wolf. She was preeeetty certain he was. He certainly wasn't the wife she'd been told to seek, but he definitely looked like another of the bison hunters. In contrast, she was beginning to realize that her stature didn't exactly paint the picture of another wrangler. 

She took in the scars which littered his form, a glint of a foul sort of intrigue present in her bleeding gaze as she would stand and rake it over him, admiring not the man, but those beautiful, gnarled wounds from a different time. Oh the stories she wished to hear. Oh, how she wished she'd been the one to mend them, to see them in the bloody glory of their first breaths, such opportunities were an ambrosia for the impish girl.

She wanted to study every inch of that marred face. It intrigued her so—and she didn't exactly do a good job of hiding that fact.

Mature Content Warning

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I always apologize for Dreven. I am not really sure 100% of the time how he is going to react. He sort of writes himself. He is a mature, dirty, mean charie. And as such if he ever does something in my writing that makes you uncomfortable please let me know.

Dreven hadn't learned much while here. Other than where the ugly, big beasts were. Where they slept, where they grazed.

They were fascinating to him in way of mindlessness. He didn't have to think hard about them. And he could learn enough to chase and hunt them when told too.

They gave him the ease to forget he existed, that Atka existed. He could just be, with empty head and heartless.

There was a different feel to the air here. When he had lived in the pit. The air had been thin, and yet heavy. Hard on chest and lungs.

The forest of ash had curled into his lungs and stuck. Like a frothy, melty nastiness that just settled on his inner organs and clung.

But here, here. The air was light and he could breathe. He didn't have to fight so hard for a breath. And it rankled, because he had fought to stay alive and here it was so easy it was disgusting. Especially when you hoped the devil would take you and end this freaking torment.

The air was disturbed as someone new clambered and clawed their way to him. Nape rose and he swung large head. Singular red eye. Burning. Gleaming into the hide of this diminutive one. Tiny and beautiful. She reminded him a bit of Atka. But there was a squirrelyness to this one.

She spoke and she stared. Tracing over his scarred face like it was art. He snorted. I was existing in silence obviously.

His voice raspy and rough from the scars that pushed on his throat. Pain shot up from one end to the other, but he continued.

Do we need to go behind a tree or something. Because the way you're staring. I can rearrange some organs.

Not a worry in the world :) envy is her own genre of depraved so i really dont mind.

She didn't pick up on his innuendo, instead taking it rather literally, and echoed his statement with a simple tilt of her head. Was it a threat? His body language said otherwise. Why would you do that? She'd ask, not computing whatsoever. Rearranging organs was notably, not good for the host—but it might've made an interesting experiment some other day, if she could catch a fox or something of the sort to toy around with. 

The realization might come later, as she lays her head to rest for the night, but for now, it was absent. 

Yeah well. Exisiting in silence is so boring! Are you not bored? The bison aren't exactly the most riveting of entertainment. Look at them over there. Huffing and snorting and grazing. Once you've seen them do those three things, you've seen it all. Conversation is much better, yes? She'd muse, traipsing a circle around him as she spoke and casting a wide-eyed stare toward the bison below, before turning her attention back to the grizzled one, looking expectantly and speaking fast enough to trip over her own words. I am Envy, m' new to yellowstone ranks. And you are? 

The rasp of his voice also ushered a flicker of curiosity to dance across her features, and now that he had turned his head, she spotted rather quickly that only one eye retained its function, whilst the other sat there, dulled, scratched over, and occupying a space in his skull. 

She wished to peer into the tendrils that held it there, and find which ones had ceased providing life to the eye. 

Like a whelp with no respect, she stared at every imperfection strewn across the mans frame.

Dreven chuckled. Because its fun. 

He raised a brow unsure if she was that stupid or that untried. He wasn't sure. But it was fun to pick on her about it.

He shook his head. I'm not bored. Or I wasn't until you started talking.

No. I hate talking. his throat was hurting already. Would she be secretly offended if he answered her in grunts?

He stared at her. Realizing she was going to badger him incessantly. Dreven.

He shifted and stood, towering above her. Entering her space. Putting his face down low. 

Do you enjoy staring?

He rose and towered, thrusting himself closer into her space. She didn't mind. She didn't back down either, and maintained a woefully confident stature, matching his red gaze with her own which mirrored it.

What else am I spose'ta do with my eyes? She quipped with a snicker, slouching back onto stormy haunches, and drifting a pallid foremit over her muzzle. 

So you hate talking? Then what don't you hate? I can be quiet...

That was a bold lie. She would not hold fast to that promise whatsoever.

...Or I can do all the talking, I really don't mind. Envy grinned, her tail swishing against the earth and disturbing the grass behind. 

Dreven. The name stayed stuck in her mind. There would be many names she'd have to commit to memory.

He chuckled darkly. You're either foolishly and brave, or stupid. Haven't figured it out.

She stared at him balefully and where most would find it irksome. He didn't truly care. He didn't feel threatened and he didn't feel afraid.

Dissect something else.

I hate everything.

He shifted and moved around her. Walking the edges of the plains. Tattered ears swaying in the wind. He wasn't entirely adverse to her company, but talking was sickening painful. It pulled and sucked at his skin and he kinda hated the feeling.

Talk all you want little raincloud.

Dreven winced when he spoke, this much she'd begun to notice. For in all her antics, she was watchful as a hawk, studying, devouring. 

Hating everything is a shitty way to live. I hate most things, find em' dreeeeadfully boring—but I lovelovelove certain things- I'm a healer, cause I find it fun. She grins and draws her tongue over her jaws, lingering on the sharp little fangs residing within before her lips fell back to conceal them once more.

...So If you hate everything, then you hated sitting there doing nothin' before just as much as you hate sitting here talking ta' me now, so I hope I'm not wrong when I say I think it's fine.—Hey, it sounds like it hurts for you to talk. No wonder ya don' like it. Y'ever tried anythin' that would help?

She'd chatter on and on, rising again, for her reclination could only last so long before pearly forepaws longed to traipse the ground again. The jitters got her once more, and she failed to sit still. This too, served as a way for her to scout out his physique, ogle any other maims he'd gathered in his life. He was a challenge, and she loved challenges. Perhaps she'd make it a goal of hers to find some way to mend that throat of his... he seemed like he needed much mending, for even the few words that dropped from those darkened jaws sang the song of a husk... resigned.

Resignation was for the dead, and as long as any drew breath, she'd make it her goal to mend and fix.

....And I am not stupid, thank you very much. She remarked with an affirmative huff, her chin raised to the air.

It hurt. Atka had done her best to heal him. But his throat was broken. Perhaps the skin hadn't healed right. Or scar tissue pulled it down. He wasn't sure.

She was a chatterbox. Continuing as if nothing else mattered, but her next sentence. He didn't hate everything he supposed. He had loved Atka, at least as well as his cold, husk of a heart could. He sometimes liked the sun and trees.

Well i guess i live shitty.

He stopped and titled an ear towards her. I'm not a healer. I was healed. Laid there waiting to die. I didn't here I am.

So no little raincloud i didn't try everything. Why would i when i wanted to be dead. At least that was his thought process.

A dry laugh fell from his maw. So she did get insults sometimes.

Why settle for that then? She states plainly, quirking a brow at his remark about living shitty, tattered ears perked to the side in questioning. He was resigned. She wondered if she could drag a bit of life out of him, and yet she valued her hide enough to think twice before insitgating.

...I hoped yellowstone's'a place where we don't live shitty.. yer not exactly givin' me much faith. She lets out a lighthearted laugh as she follows him along the prarie—like a tick, she latched on and sucked at the blood of his patience. She was enoying herself, at least, and if he wasn't, she gave no inclination that she was aware of such a fact.

He stopped moving. Blinked slowly and thrn turned back to her. Red eye boring into her. A frown on his face.

Because i deserve it? Because I'm a shitty wolf.

Dreven tilted an ear. Maybe you. I just want to hunt until i either firget I exist or cease to exist one of the two. Hey healer. I get hurt. Don't save me.

He turned back around as she jump skipped after him. A small little twitch of his ear. Knowing she was coming.

She was annoying, but he wasn't particularly bothered.

quick one before im off to work

Are you? Ya don't seem that bad. You did call me stupid though, so that's points off. She lets out an amused huff, and skips along all the same. 

I can't do somethin' like that. Not even try. I can't help myself, you know. You'd rob me of such fun? Maybe you are terrible as you say. She'd muse, pausing on occasion to take in the landscape, so easily distracted.

His earlier comment had started to bother her. He wasn't a healer, as he now admitted. What would he know about organs or rearranging them? Perhaps it bothered her because she struggled to understand it. As they walked, she'd commit her full brainpower unto unraveling his words.

She'd get there eventually, for now however, she merely wore a look of confusion across her features; the inner workings of her mind painted over a visage of pearl and silver.

Have a good day!

A deep rumble of appreciation at her pure tenacity. And she wasn't hilarious, but she did get a small huff of laughter for her trouble.

I am and don't forget it. Another wolf tried and it broke her.

Rob you? Of what dissecting me even more, but with those bitty paws instead of your eyes

Silence stretched as she tried to tbink about something. But what had her all in a nit he wasn't sure.

Fine fine. I believe ya then, since you're so insistent. She'd surrender in the form of a softer huff, and skip on ahead, tail flicking at the strands of grass as she passed.

That earlier realization would dawn on her as the movement spurred her thoughts, and there would be a moment of silence left between the two as Envy suddenly halted her pace, whipped her head around, and side-stepped. Her eyes narrowed to a slit as she looked him over again. Bleh. You are nasty. She'd chastise lightly without the context of her revelation, and turn back to resume her idle trot across the land.

N' I'm not gonna dissect you... that's for yotes and foxes when I can catch em'! I would not harm a packmate! Baseless accusation! That would be bad, and I am not bad, I am good. My eyes are for looking, and my paws are for healing. Heeeealing. She affirms, as if the double standard was truly much better, and not an admission of far worse deeds. She stands on raised pale toes, and puffs her pearly chest out in a prideful manner, before once again twisting away and skipping across the land, spotting a gopher hole and sticking her head into it without a second thought. When she'd find naught but an empty burrow, she would pull herself out, flinging flecks of dirt backwards, some of which now staining the base of her ears. Envy drew a pale mitten across her maw to rub some of it away.

He nodded. Glad she got it. He didn't need some other girl with a nice smell all over her get the ring thinking

She stopped for a moment. He was surprised as she huffed and stared, but when she spoke. A grin lit up his face and he gave a soft huff of laughter. So now she gets it.

Little slow on the uptake raincloud

He tilted an ear. so if i catch em you want em?

He could do this small favor for her. If it helped her healing thing.

He watched her with blatant surprise and awe with her head in a hole. She pulled out from it. He swung his tail across her ear getting the rest. If she'd allow.

Dirty girl. then continued forward

Sorry, work again! Back at it

Pff. That earned a snicker from her as her head keeled forward slightly at the brush of his tail, and she paused to rise and briefly shake out her shaggy silver coat.

His offer gleamed a spark of excitement to dance across her expression, and manifest further in the delighted wriggle of her frame. Hell yeah I'd want em'. All the reward, none a' the work... Although I don't particularly mind doin' it myself when the opportunity presents itself.. I'd certainly be less likely to get in trouble if that were the case.. She eyes him once more, as if striking some sort of devilish deal. She did not wish to immediately be scorned from the pack she'd only just wormed her way into. 

Though an unspoken, unrealized desire, she'd seek to be enabled.

Apparently, some find it 'disturbing' She emphasizes a touch of mockery in her words.

A failure to compute. A failure to grasp the weight of it all. She spat the word just as it had been spat towards herself. 

Or perhaps the rest of you just can't get it. 

It's silly. She states with an air of dismissal, and surveys the scape around them, seeking for herbs in the midst of what had turned into a little walk. S'a pretty place. Nicer than forest. Bet it might suck when the snow comes 'round, though.

She didn't seem to upset at his tail. So he continued to amble past her. A small snicker and gleam in his eye.

He laughed then. Yea i spose so. Well trouble finds me anyway so might as well use it to help someone out until some takes my neck.

He didn't particularly care if he got ousted or ruined or in trouble. He didn't even know if he could care anymore. His chest felt hollow. Not that it had been very full to begin with.

He chuckled. Well how else did we learn about healing. You think that someone didn't go dissecting to begin with?

He nodded and made a soft hmm. Yea i don't like much cover anymore. To many can hide

She'd skip along after him. 

trouble finds me anyways His words were like a sweet serenade made just for her depraved ears, the promise of opportunities, he seemed to be sure of it, and so she'd echo the sentiment with an idle flicker of hope within her crimson gaze. Though he had also requested she not assist him... she would be a pest nonetheless. It was in her nature.

It is wrong to hope for others to be hurt, if only so you can play a game. This, she knew well.....But it didn't feel wrong. It never had felt wrong. That voice in the back of her head did naught but confuse her scattered mind.

He was right, in that somebody must have shared her curiosities, once. She had never been the same, once she'd glimpsed the insides of an elk as a whelp. How everything worked in harmony to maintain life, and how everything crumbled, and ceased function once gnashing jaws tore the beast asunder. The art of medicine was one that required a steady heart, and eyes that do not avert. She felt the disgust boil up in her chest at the thought of those unenamoured with evolution. Why practice, if you do not seek to be better? For in all the things she'd put her mind to, it was this which stayed consistent, stayed challenging... stayed thrilling.

Mmhm. She affirmed. His words merely strengthening her convictions. 

Too many can hide? What, you got assassins on your trail? She jeered playfully, prodding his flank with a paw. See, I'm just not excited for it to be cold n' windy with only the cliffs for shelter. Cold and scrawny's a real shit combo, yknow.

This tiny beast had energy in spades. She tired him out just by skipping along. And her incessant questions. It was nagging and buzzing.

Dreven had tried unsuccessfully to behave. To be good. To do better. And he had not been able. He didn't tell Atka that it had been kill or be killed while she was missing. He had not forelcefull sesr hed to bring death and destruction. Just as when he had killed the coyote. They had made him nervous being so nesr, they were shifty. But she jad condemned him easy enough. And he'd be the bad guy if it made her feel better about leaving.

He looked her over dark promise lighting up his one scarlet eye. Ive made a few enemies.

He chuckled. I can't imagine. I don't have that problem.

lmk if you would like to move towards a close at any point, don't wanna be too overbearing lol

Well they better not cause trouble for the rest of us. Or... hm. Might shake things up. She'd pause to shrug. Everyone I've found is lounging n' watching the bison. Do a favour an' piss of some more folk, hey? That'll get everyone off their lazy butts... Give me somethin' to do. I get reeeeeal chatty when I've got nothing else to do. Makes me antsy She echoed her statement with the patter of her pearly mitts against the soil. Never ceasing.

She raked her eyes up and down his figure once more, letting out a pitched scoff Gah. Course you don't. Get a little hungrier and you can have the full experience.

She kept herself reeled in, surprisingly, all things considered; though with every sidelong glance cast toward him, she ogled the scars which desecrated his form. She wished to touch them, study them, see the craftsmanship of other healers, or that of simple time... Like any scarred beast, it fascinated her. Most though, grew displeased when she'd come to mention them. 'Bad memories' or the like. She spat on sensitivity, yet she would hold herself, for a while, at least. Eventually, as always, curiosity would get the better of her.

would you like a fade with your next post and another someday soon?

Dreven chuckled. Well they are really the only reason I'm here. I wanna hunt them.

He stared at her. I noticed was his droll reply.

She talked more than he ever did. Not that he cared. She answered herself usually. So he simply had to throw in a grunt or a noise every so often


He shook his head. No thanks. I don't like to be hungry.

Dreven had earned every single scar he wore, but for very unsavory things. Most were appalled when he talked about em so he just didn't.

sorry for the holdup, got busy with work. I'll wrap up here! thank you for threading with me, it was wonderful to write with your character :)

His mention of hunting them stood in stark contrast to the reason she had thrust herself toward the plains. She was in search of home, of somewhere a wretched creature like herself could find respite without the worry of being tossed back out on her own. There was little consideration on her part, because the opportunity was simply too good to pass up. She could pull her weight, or at the very least, offer the facade of doing so.

Her paws had grown too dainty for the life of a traveler, much less, one that had to be entirely self-sufficient. It was her own personal hell, no ears to wrack with incessant chatter, and no bodies to bring her food at her whims. It was no wonder she grew to be thin and bony in the previous months. 

She idled on the thought awhile, figuring perhaps she too should cast some of her interest toward the bison—beyond that of her own ravenous hunger. Perhaps the others watched them for a reason.

Well, I'll be excited to see that. I wanna have a taste of em'. You'll give me a call, I'm sure. Envy remarked quietly as she imposed herself, drawing her tongue across her maw as she stealing a glance toward the lumbering beasts along the plateau. 

Eventually, when every word had finally fallen from the cluttered skull of hers, she'd slip away to resume her earlier task of exploring the land and seeking for herbs, her mind trailing off and seeking out its next thrill. Never occupied on one thing for too long. She'd offer a grin and a brief goodbye, before ice-slicked paws would lead her astray once more.