tec
Lone Wolf
Posts: 39
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Post by tec on Aug 22, 2006 0:28:29 GMT -5
Choking, spitting, gagging and gasping. That was the extent of the young wolf’s capabilities as he was tossed, towed and slammed into and around debris in the rampage. Waters churned in the back of his throat, filled his lungs and were expelled in violent heaving. Through it all, Finn kicked and struggled.
And burned.
God knew what he’d done to deserve this agony. Lost his brother, yes. Scarred his brother, yes. But that was long ago. Wasn’t it? Disoriented, Finn breached the water’s surface and sucked a deep breath of liquid and air.
His body slammed against stone, and Finn heard something snap. Another rib down, he thought sourly, amazed he could think at all. But at least the pain brought clarity. And with clarity, came the observance of a jutting root straight ahead. He strained with all his might, more so when a bright sheen of light broke the darkness of the ravine from above. A way out!
He lunged, young muscles flaring anew, but failed. The root disappeared in a whirlwind of frothing spray and dizzying nausea. Dazed, hurt and more than halfway drowned, Finn let the darkness overtake him.
It was the eerie quiet that awoke him quite some time, and distance, later. A soft lapping of water against his limp, half-submerged body reluctantly drew him from the void. Finn opened his eyes and raised his head.
“Awful lot of light for there being no sky,” he grumbled, wincing at the raspy quality of his voice. But it was true. Finn stood on shaky legs, shook the water from his coat and stared in bloodshot awe at the brilliant, luminescent quality to the walls. He didn’t know what it was, didn’t care either. The awful burning had gone, and though he ached in places he hadn’t known existed, it was tolerable.
It looked familiar somehow. Not this place, exactly, but the layout. Once, he and Jeb had explored a cave and ended up in the heart of a nearby mountain’s base. If only his head didn’t feel quite so muddied, he might be able to...
He looked around suddenly. Shouldn’t there be..? Wasn’t he traveling with..?
The female! Was she hurt?! As if he needed to be worrying about another dumb wolf, when he had Jeb to find still. Then he remembered, and groaned in mortification. “Handsome devil? Finn, you dumbshit moron!”
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Post by moonfox210 on Aug 22, 2006 1:18:38 GMT -5
Struggling for her life, Kage sucked in a gulp of air before she went under again, the current dragging her to the bottom. Immediately her mind screamed in fear as she felt her body tugged to the depths of the streams. Her heart hammered wildly as she bunched up her hinds against the ground and kicked up wards to break the surface and take in another gulp of air.
A wayward piece of a tree trunk rammed into her side and she yelped, releasing a frothy stream of bubbles that blinded her momentarily. The next terrifying minutes of her life was spent on self-preservation, the cub forgotten in her own battle against death.
Just as she was about to pass out, she felt her paws hit rock bottom. A flicker of hope tugged at her spirit as she treaded into the shallows, and then remembered the young male.
'Where is he? I lost him? What the hell! I'm not doing ever ag- THERE he is!'
She spotted his body in the midst of the stream and with an inward groan splashed out to get him, wincing as the ground beneath her deepened until she had to tread water again. Her strength was leaving her and her muscles ached. Gripping onto the thigh of his back leg, she struggled to wards shore and head-butted him onto the shallows. Pausing to take her breather, she shook the water from her ears.
THWACK! Something hit against her hind legs and she fell, loosing her foothold in the shallows and was swept downstream for some distance before she managed to swim back to shore. This time she made sure she was well on the banks of the river before collapsing and catching her breath. Her head started to hurt painfully as her heart thudded away in the cavity of her chest.
A fool to risk her life for a cubby who wouldn't even be grateful... should've let him drowned, the idiot who dared to taunt her and even ask her to mate with him. No! She couldn't have left him there.
'You're getting soft Kage... where's that mean ol' girl huh?!'
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tec
Lone Wolf
Posts: 39
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Post by tec on Aug 22, 2006 9:54:27 GMT -5
What the hell was he worrying about? Finn jaunted a few steps forward; fell once as his aching thigh throbbed. Must have hit it on something, he dismissed, before returning his thoughts to the she-wolf. There was no way in hell she had leapt in after him. Why would she, after his behavior?
‘Course, he wasn’t sure if he was talking about his behavior before or after the thorn scratch incident, as he planned to think of it. In any case, he was sure he was long rid of that pain in his side. The female, not the thorns. And if that was his conscience pricking him, well, he’d felt worse.
If he was in a mountain, the best way out was up. A furtive search assured that wasn’t going to happen here, and so Finn began wandering along the bank of the stream. A log cracked in the water, dragging from him a wince as images of crushed bones and matted fur filled his head.
He turned his head, fighting off the foreboding. And saw her.
One paw hesitated mid-step. Run? Or go to her?
“She could be hurt,” he reprimanded. Finn’s nature would not permit him to allow a female to lay hurt without some sort of assistance, even if self-mortification was eating a raw path up his already bruised innards.
“Hey,” he nudged softly from a few feet away. “Damn fool of a female, jumping in that water. Didn’t I tell you not to risk your life for me?”
She was okay, wasn’t she? Finn bounded closer and lowered his nose to sniff her.
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Post by moonfox210 on Aug 24, 2006 23:30:21 GMT -5
Kage snapped open her eyes and almost lashed out at Finn's nose on instinct. What? Had she fallen asleep? She blinked and let out a groan before rolling over onto her paws, feeling a little stiff and sore. She ground her molars together as she groaned and shook her head to clear the heaviness in her mind.
"What?!"
She almost snapped then recalled what had happened.
"Ah so... we're alive. Pfft!"
She snorted and walked past him to sniff at the greenery in the forest. It smelled a tad more peaceful and almost quietly soothing, but still unfamiliar to her senses. She reckoned if she could find a human city in this afterlife she would do very well indeed.
"Found any trace of your brother yet?"
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tec
Lone Wolf
Posts: 39
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Post by tec on Aug 27, 2006 10:48:23 GMT -5
She was well enough to be snippy. That was something, at least. He watched her for a moment.
“I don’t think my brother made it this far.” The words sounded awfully loud in the hollow base of a mountain. He cleared his throat, lost some of the rasp in his tone. “I mean, I think he got out somewhere else along the line.”
Finn followed her to the greenery she seemed interested in.
“Ah, that’s not grass, girl. It’s moss. We’re underground.” He glanced around. “Inside a mountain, by the looks of things. River probably passes straight through. I was looking for a path up when I found you. And I still think, if we can find one, well… the higher we get, the better view I might have of these lands.” And his brother.
It was a crapshoot, and he knew it. Mountains were suffused with crags and outcroppings that prevented any sort of view, except that of the clouds they breached. But it was all he had to go on.
“Why are you alone anyway? You’re a beautiful female.” Finn stated it as fact, not compliment. “There are countless males who drool over your type, aren’t there. Shouldn’t you have a few at your beck and call? Or maybe you did, before…”
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Post by moonfox210 on Aug 31, 2006 1:12:29 GMT -5
Having little knowledge of mountains, Kage only nodded tiredly and glanced around the rocky area. What a pathetic and cold place it was. The sooner they got out of here the better.
"Pfft! Of course I did. Many in fact. Old ones, young brash ones, then there were pack leaders or wanna-be leaders... all sags inside! All just wanting my body, trying to tame my spirit. As IF I would follow them around like their bitches... In the end, they were my toys, but they never knew me. Dogs are not as smart as wolves are..."
She snorted as she moved towards the rocky edges and lept up onto one of the platforms.
"Are you sure you want to do this? Haven't you had enough of rocks?"
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tec
Lone Wolf
Posts: 39
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Post by tec on Aug 31, 2006 10:03:36 GMT -5
“Wouldn’t mind curbing that tongue of yours, myself,” Finn grumbled, only half hoping she didn’t hear him. “You’d like my brother I think,” he said louder. “He’d just want your body, mind you. But he wouldn’t try to change you before or after.”
He leapt onto the ledge next to her.
“And I’m sorry about earlier. I’m not interested in you that way, and if I led you to believe it, well. I’m afraid you’ll just have to be disappointed.”
That would get her back up, Finn mused in glee. He was actually beginning to like her annoyed. Course, realizing that put him in yet another foul mood, but no matter. At least hers would be as bad as his.
“I’ll understand if you’re too weary to go on,” he called over his shoulder, ascending rapidly despite his aches. “On account of your age and all.”
He chuckled, a foreign sound to his throat, and glanced up. Way, way up.
“Brother, you are so going to pay for this one. And you damn well better be alive, so I can kill you myself.”
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Post by moonfox210 on Sept 1, 2006 6:28:59 GMT -5
"My age?! Like I'd care to mate with a stick-less cub!" Kage raged, knowing at the back of her mind if her brother were alive he'd be just like this kid, loud and 'brash'.
"What can you see from up there anyway? A better view of rocks? Is your head so empty you yearn to fill it with the clayey earth?" She snorted as she bounded up after him to his side, glaring at him from one eye and turning away to see if there were another ledge she could move onto quickly to overtake him. She lept up, claws flicking tiny pieces of grains and pebbles down onto him.
"You're too slow! If you're going to kill your brother, let me at least use him first!" She scowled.
'Damn Kage, what are you doing now? Prancing about a mountain and playing games with some pup? No, this is just a glimpse of what life could have been like with my little brother.' She argued with herself inwardly, cursing and excusing her own actions in more or less equally vague proportions.
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tec
Lone Wolf
Posts: 39
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Post by tec on Sept 5, 2006 12:48:42 GMT -5
Finn snorted, shaking his head of the rubble she’d dusted him with. Trying and failing to keep the snicker from his tone, he traversed a path opposite hers and raced from ledge to ledge. Luckily, the place was built to handle his less than eloquent leaps, for he slipped only once.
Landed on his aching ribs, naturally. But Finn sucked it up and kept going. No female was going to beat him. Not in the former life, and not in this one either.
A chill swept through him, and Finn stopped on the ledge to catch his breath. Surely it didn’t bother him to think of her with his brother, leaving him on the outskirts. Did it? That was the norm, the way he preferred things to be.
Another chill struck him, this one blasting from above. Finn, you imbecile. It’s just a draft from outside the mountain.
“Hey!” he hollered over his shoulder, climbing to the crevice in the wall. “I think I found a way out!”
Wasn’t sure how long they’d been climbing, mind, for he’d gotten lost in the race. But at least he’d get a better look of the lands. Maybe see his brother. Doubt cast a cringe to the set of his shoulders. Wasn’t hardly possible, he knew. But for the moment it was all he had.
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Post by moonfox210 on Sept 8, 2006 8:23:52 GMT -5
Kage had lagged behind as she realised she didn't care to loose the so-called race with the youngster and preferred to keep her appearance then meet him while panting like a dog. So she took her own sweet time, pausing occasionally to sniff at the crevices, searching for any signs of a draft of wind that might blow through the crevices of the rocks.
Finally she perked her ears and after making a far leap over the distance between two ledges, sidled over to his side.
"A way out?" She muttered with a half-yawn.
Seriously Kage, you should consider it quits with this young cub and his game of hide-and-seek, and go seek out some REAL males who can protect you and feed you and satisfy your own desires. But nooo, here you are in some stupid rocky cliff bouncing around.
Kage raised a brow at him then turned to sense the wind that caressed her fur. Her fur was mostly dry now, ah what a surprisingly refreshing feeling. Unconsciously a small smile crept across her face as she enjoyed the slight breeze. Then snapped to her senses a few seconds later.
"Wow I see you have eyes after all." She muttered and stared at the crevice. Crevice indeed! "Can you fit through first?"
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tec
Lone Wolf
Posts: 39
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Post by tec on Sept 16, 2006 22:23:21 GMT -5
She sure took her time getting up to him. Finn shrugged in irritation, turned his face to the wind rushing in.
Could he fit through? Amber eyes narrowed, and he stepped forward. It would be tight, certainly. Finn pushed through, first one paw, then his snout, head and shoulders. A low growl escaped his throat when a jutting rock in the wall scraped his ribs. Steadfast, Finn pushed through regardless.
The growl rose to a yip, but finally he was through, slipping on a few loose stones on the opposite side.
And he gasped. Not at what he could see, but at what he couldn’t.
Finn had found a crevice all right. A crevice that lead to a ledge and world swallowed up by a pluming cloud of mist.
“Hell,” he snarled, shivering as a blast of cold swept in from the mist. “Can’t even see my own snout in front of my face.”
He stepped forward, turning his head simultaneously to call the female out. Unfortunately, there was nothing solid beyond his steps and beneath the shrouded mist. Finn stumbled as though drunk, took a nosedive, and scrambled with his back legs to stay atop.
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Post by moonfox210 on Sept 17, 2006 21:49:16 GMT -5
Kage took in the deep breath then exhaled as much as she could before stepping towards the crevice. She stuck her head through to take a look, unsure if she would dare to attempt such a tight squeeze. Or perhaps she would wait and see if the cub found anything on the other side of the rocks... if she would even dare to trust him to come back that is. The rocks scraped at her sides and she stopped, rethinking her decision as the claustrophobia started to play with her mind.
"What can you se-"
Her sentence was unfinished as something whacked the side of her face and she instinctively grabbed at it with her jaws firmly, and then realising it was the cub's damned tail. She wanted to spit it out immediately but upon feeling his struggling, realised he might actually be on the edge of plummeting into some unseen hole. And still there she was, half-stuck in the crevice with her back exposed on the other side.
"Fwat ze 'ell" She muttered trying to clear her sight, still gripping his tail until he could regain his balance.
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