strange places

actually @ haunted wood, which is nearer to RHC... than her former haunt. @elwood ...MATURE FOR LANGUAGE I lol'd at this post.

Her previous couple of days had been unproductive in the scheme of things (that being, how her days had typically went when she was a pack wolf). She slept a lot, which was great given the month of travel she'd done... and the forest Tiger had found was safe enough; she had found a place that kept her undisturbed by any walk of life. The food was good, too; that deer that she had spotted eventually did keel over, and she had her way with it and even got the liver. Tiger lived like a queen the past couple of days... but she also knew that the past couple of weeks had been luck alone. Also, the Blackthorn was as social as they came. Now, she felt lonely. She had no one to tell about her great naps, and so her cool bachelor-living life got old quick.

Tiger began to drift again. Her mission to find her sister had fallen to the back-burner for the time, knowing the odds were really stacked against her. Determined though she was, Tiger could on occasion be a realist when it came to life or death... and knew that her own nomadic-for-the-cause-of-finding-frog-lifestyle was alright in waves. Well, once Tiger found her, she could settle for good... but in the meantime, it was time to find new digs.

Her thoughts really got her lost. She blinked and realized she had traveled miles and miles from the forest she had inhabited before. Oh, shit, she muttered, realizing just how creepy this place was. That kind of stuff wasn't lost on her. Her previous pack loved to tell horror stories that would keep others anchored to their campy land, and you know how they always started? Not with pine trees, but goddamn bare-naked oak trees and their spindly, thinner brothers and sisters of other deciduous variety... in the dark...

Tiger probably wasn't the first in this horror movie to die, but she'd be damned if she was to die at all, and so she sprinted at mock two, eyes wide. She was a bat out of hell. Her strides were long and her progress was great, up until she managed to trip over a root in the process, BITCH GET UP, BITCH GEEETT UP, COME ON, YOU CAN GET UP... as the brain-conceived-murderer literally waddled at the pace of a slug toward her... oh, but you know how it goes; she was stunned for a minute, got up sort of slowly, fell again (god that was a hard fall) (SHE COULDN'T DO IT, SHE COULDN'T GET UP, BY GOD WAS THAT BREATHING SHE HEARD, THAT HEAVY BREATHING...) and turned, blinking into the eerie light behind her, seeing a blurry figure as her vision swam and bellowing out a FUCK OFFFFF, in her haze...

It was just a tree, and she stared at it as her eyes cleared letting out a laugh, her relief palpable. Everyone knew the idiot to trip was going to die, and SHE MADE IT.

LOL, that was a great post! I can totally tell she's Finley's sister, haha!

It wasn't often that Elwood ventured away from Redhawk Caldera these days, but with Peregrine's paw healed, the firebirds continuing to grow and flourish, and Somnia missing, he had a good excuse to step over the border. His primary goal was to try and track down his missing friend; he just couldn't accept that she would have abandoned ship without a word. She was far too loyal for that, and he had seen the way she had been hurt when Ashton had done that very thing. There was no way that Somnia would just...disappear.

But disappear she had, and it troubled Elwood deeply. Her scent was stale and there were no signs of a scuffle that he could find, so he felt like he was going on a wild goose chase. It was reminiscent of his searching for Avery -- it had been fruitless and without any guidance, and -- of course -- he had turned up empty-handed. There was a persistent niggling in his gut that whispered that he would be unsuccessful on this hunt, too, but that didn't stop him from trying.

Presently, he found himself venturing through what could only be described as a particularly creepy wood. He kept his head and tail low, yellow eyes roving warily around him and taking in the dark, spindly trees. There was nary a sound, which only added to the haunted atmosphere -- until a shout shattered the silence. Elwood froze in his tracks, his hackles standing on end; what sort of banshee was making that sound? Just as quickly as it had started, it stopped -- and then was replaced by laughter. What the hell...?

Elwood turned to retreat, pointing his snout back towards the familiarity of the caldera -- but as luck would have it, he rounded a bend in the path and came upon a white she-wolf sprawled on the ground. She was the source of the giggling, and he looked at her for a long, uncertain moment before asking, "Are...you okay?"

I'M ALIIIIIVEEEE... Her internal cheering was quickly replaced when she swore she heard the sound of something akin to a stick or twig or something cracking not too far off. Abruptly her laughing cut off, and her snout turned in that direction... and suddenly, something in her peripherals—

She looked dead at the wolf before her, and just let out a quick, loud, horror-movie worthy scream... before he spoke. She heard his gentler voice past her aggressive screeching, and so she shut her mouth and looked at him with all the scrutiny in the world. The other wolf was a variety of colors, and she shook her head roughly to get herself to come to her damn senses.

Had a rough fall. Thought you were going to fucking kill me. Have you been here long? I felt like I was being followed or something. Was it you? She prattled nervously, not wanting him to go at all because that would mean being alone, again. His eyes glowed in this light, and she looked around him into the distance.

Elwood's eyes widened to the size of saucers as the female looked up at him and proceeded to scream bloody murder. He could pretty much see all the way down her throat, her mouth was so open, and he took a tentative step back. This situation just got more bizarre by the second.

When he was ready to flee -- and he was fairly certain his ears were permanently damaged -- she suddenly snapped her mouth shut and blinked at him, shaking her head as if to right herself. She then spoke, her words tumbling out in a rush and getting so tangled with each other that he had to try to dissect her sentence before he responded.

"I...what? No, I wasn't following you," he said, frowning slightly. "I was just passing through, looking for a friend...anyway, I heard you yelling and laughing. You sure you're okay?" She was, perhaps, the first mentally-unstable wolf he had ever met.

Her head was throbbing. She righted herself up at last, dirt and tiny twigs likely entangled in her furs as she rose. Okay, so, he wasn't following her. There was a chance he could be lying, but he looked too confused. That meant there had to be a murderer elsewhere in these woods. Fuck.

But wait, he was looking for his friend. Maybe it was his friend she had heard? ...maybe your friend was following me? she paused, looking around her for a minute. These woods made her feel so paranoid. I heard something over there, she whispers, gesturing to the direction the wood had snapped in. Dunno what it was... big enough to snap a branch... There was a multitude of animals that could be hosted in this scary-as-fuck wood, but like a little girl that needed her father to look under the bed for monsters, Tiger gestured again toward the proverbial closet where monsters also crept (read: where the branch had snapped). She would need that wood checked, STAT.

She would feel much better if he scoped it out. But she moved to all fours, showing him that she'd be more than willing to look with him. For good measure, she deliberately ignored his question; Tiger would never admit she was afraid and also, did not want to lie. Rock and a hard place. Best to act like she hadn't heard a thing.

Though he wanted her statement to be true -- that his friend had been the one following her and freaking her out -- he shook his head in response. "No, I don't think it was her...I haven't smelled her anywhere around here," he said, the disappointment evident in his voice. It would have been great to find Somnia here, perhaps having gotten carried away by the thrill of the hunt...but, no, that wasn't how this day was going to end.

However, if it wasn't Somnia that had stepped on the branch, then that meant that there was someone -- or something -- else out there. The pale wolf's fear was palpable and contagious, and Elwood felt his own anxiety increasing as she pointed in the direction the sound had come from. She was making it pretty evident that she wanted him to take a look, so he sighed and obliged.

He took a few steps, peering through the undergrowth and searching for any signs of movement. His gaze landed on the offending twig, which had, indeed, been broken. Nervously, Elwood moved a bit further, feeling the dark leaves pressing in around him -- and then there was a high-pitched, keening howl. A fox. He heard the scuffling of its paws as it raced away, though he couldn't see the culprit, and he couldn't help but chuckle. "It's just a fox," he called over his shoulder to his companion, turning to approach her once more.

Tiger frowned, disappointed and even more anxious that it hadn't been his friend following her. Selfishly, moreso for herself; that meant something creepy was definitely following her and she had roughly around an hour to live. Her timeline was extended due to this meeting to her relief... so she'd keep that going for as long as possible. When he went to go check it out, she trailed behind him slowly (hadn't he heard of the stories? As soon as you separate you die)... but let him handle all the heavy stuff, like sniffing the—

A strange as hell keening howl sounded. If she was in her right mind she'd have known it was a fox, but initially her first thought was thehellwasthat and she jolted upward, muzzle whipping in the direction of...

Elwood clarified. A fox. She let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding (seconds later she surely would've gone blue in the face) and had to laugh a bit herself. So I've been running from a fox this whole time... she shook her head, feeling a bit ridiculous.

"I mean, they can be pretty intimidating," he teased with a shrug of his shoulders as he paused, the broken limb and fearsome fox now behind him. This place was exceptionally creepy, so he couldn't exactly blaming her for letting her imagination run amok, but it was pretty humorous.

With a glance around them, again taking in the spooky, shadowy trees, he asked, "Do you always hang out in eerie places like this?" Personally, he would have been happy to go home at that very moment -- but he didn't want to leave here there alone. Who knew what kind of trouble she would get herself into.

She snorted at his words, her cheeks burning at her own humiliation. A damn fox! Now she'd have to kill one, or something, to feel tougher. In her, she knew that wasn't the way... but she felt irrationally embarrassed, and bit her lip in true Blackthorn fashion. She prompted herself to not be a baby over it, and took a step outside of herself and back into the haunted wood.

His question was met with a quick shake of her head, which caused her to wince. She really had feel hard. Ah, I'm passing through, too. Scouting for a pack to join honestly. I'm looking for someone too, actually. My sister. I figure, I could lend a hand to the pack, become a scout, and find her all in one go. She grins winningly, and wiggles her brows. Your pack recruiting? Anything to get the hell out of here. Anything.

"Your pack recruiting?" she asked, and he paused for a moment of thought before answering. As far as he knew, there were a few open slots in their ranks -- never mind the fact that Somnia had vacated one of those positions. He quickly reassured himself that she would be back. She had to come back...right? But aside from the empty space she had left in the hierarchy, he imagined that there would be space for this she-wolf, at least temporarily. He sympathized with her motive -- he, too, had wound up in Redhawk Caldera, intending it only to be a brief stay while he looked for his sister. And here he was, four months later: a leader, a godparent, and a friend-boy.

"Actually, I think we do have room for another wolf or two," he said, intending to test her mettle later on -- he would need to find out what her skills and abilities were, and whether or not she would be a good fit. For now, he didn't see the harm in at least telling her about the pack. "It's called Redhawk Caldera, and it's not far from here. I'm Elwood, by the way," he added. Then, with a twitch of his ear, he prompted, "Tell me about your sister. Maybe I can help you."

Oh, he had no idea how much he would be able to help her...but he would find out soon enough.

Tiger was truly surprised to hear that his pack was actually recruiting, and listened with real interest as he spoke. Not far from here? Well, hopefully it looked the opposite of this place, which really unnerved her. Tiger didn't scare too easily, but in this sort of setting... well, it was only natural, wasn't it? As he introduced himself, she responded, They call me Tiger.


Elwood was really a generous fellow, as a wolf. Tiger found him easy to talk to and easier to keep around to make her feel safer. His question was what spurred that thought on, and she furrowed her brow. Well, you see this stripe on my back...? She turns to display the whole of herself to him, gesturing to it as well as she could given it was on the opposite end of her, She's got one, too. Her names Finley, and uh, she's cool. So if you see a striped girl named Finley, you let me know. She winks, knowing the odds were slim, but well, how many spine-stripped women were there out in the world? She'd given him a great description in her mind... well, she could probably tell him more. Height, weight... god, it'd been so long since she had seen Fin, she could hardly remember. 

Tiger? The name seemed to be fitting, especially once she pointed out the stripe down her back. He wasn't sure how he hadn't noticed that before, but he craned his neck to look at it as she spoke. He almost missed the next thing she said: "She's got one, too. Her name's Finley..." Wait, WHAT?

Elwood essentially did a double-take, blinking hard and refocusing his gaze on Tiger's face. Finley? His Finley? How many Finleys could there be in the world? -- and, besides, his grey-furred girlfriend did have a dark stripe down her back, though it blended more with her fur than Tiger's did. He gaped at female, probably looking like an idiot, but he didn't care.

"Finley Blackthorn? Are you serious?" he said, a slow smile spreading across his face. Had he really just stumbled across Finley's sister? What a small freaking world! Without waiting for a response from Tiger, he said, "Finley is my girlfriend! She and I are the Betas of our pack -- you have to come back with me, right now!" Honestly, he couldn't believe their luck -- what were the odds? -- and he knew very little about Finley's family, but she would be excited to see her sister, right?

Tigers jaw dropped as he managed to guess her sisters—their—surname, confused as to how he might have known that, and then went on to ask if she was serious... a slow, confounded nod was all she could manage. Then he was smiling (and all she could think of was what the fuck) and Tiger was frowning deeply, a look of deep thought on her... his girlfriend. Frog has a boyfriend??????????? All she could think of was gangly, jumpy Finley. And a beta??? You've gotta be fucking kidding, a look of bemusement on her face as she inched closer, ears pricked and forward, Finley has a boyfriend and she's a beta. Okay, you've got me hooked. I'm coming. I've got to see this. 

And she sashayed to his side, tail waving left and right. She was quite excited, and her waving tail might hint to that... but she was more shocked by all the intel he had just given her. Beta. Boyfriend. All things Tiger imagined she would have beaten her sister to... but, then again, Tiger had commitment issues. To the opposite sex and to packs aside from the one she was born into. The latter being because she had been specifically hunting for Finley but still! 

:D I'll start us a new thread in RHC!

---

Finley's sister seemed to be just as surprised and confused as he was, though she quickly agreed to come with him to the caldera. He couldn't help but laugh and shake his head in a bemused manner. Really, what were the chances that on this very day, in this particular creepy wood, he would meet his girlfriend's sister -- who was there to find Finley!

"Let's go," he said, turning on his heel and leading the way out of the dark wood. He moved swiftly, though he checked over his shoulder often to make sure that Tiger was following him.