Howl

[Christina Ann Robins]

Christina Ann Robins

“But at times I wondered
if I had not come a long way
to find that what I really sought
was something I left behind.”

Okay. Robin was lost. She admitted it.

Actually, she had admitted it several hours ago to herself while wondering around in a random and unknown part of the woods. Robin had been hunting, as usual, when she had gotten caught up in a run with, well, another wolf. She was positive it wasn't another shifter though, so the girl had felt relatively safe while running with her half-brother. Or, rather, her nose told her sister. They had run for several long hours, joined occasionally by another snow-white wolf that Robin hadn't recognized as a member of the local pack.

So there had been a white, brown, and gray streak of color sprinting through the forest. Not really paying attention to where she was, or trying to remember where exactly she had last left her precious bow and hunting jacket several hours ago-- Robin had far left the typical Griffin territory behind, loping easily alongside the Rushing River with her new buds.

But about an hour ago, Robin had stopped.

Her wolf companions whined and thumped their tails, cocking their heads at her and trying to get the girl to continue with the ceremonial path. But the thing was, as Robin exhaustedly plopped down onto the ground, breathing hard, was that the girl was utterly exhausted. Normally, she would've been able to go on for another few hours, probably just as long as these older and more experienced alphas. But all Robin could concentrate on was how heavy her limbs felt, and how cold she felt all over-- despite it being the springtime.

So, she continued to lay there, on the ground-- partially concealed by the large bushes-- and eventually her friends had left her, continuing on. Several times, Robin had staggered to her feet, lungs burning-- as she tried to find her way back, but always failed within a few minutes, collapsing back onto the ground.

What is wrong with me? The girl cried out silently, trying for the umpteenth time to start back to wards home, or what she thought was home. She felt terrible, sick-- terribly, terribly, cold. Should've listened to Cyrah when she told me to stay at the camp today. Don't look well, someone else will bring back the haul today. But I had to go out, had to feed the people. Robin whined, a low sound in the back of her throat as she curled up into a tight ball of brown fluff, shivering.

Suddenly, she couldn't take the loneliness anymore and leapt to her paws, muscles trembling. Throwing back her head, Robin let loose a long, pitiful, howl-- begging for help from her wolf companions. From anyone really, anyone who could point her in the right direction home. For someone to be here.

For anyone to hear her howl.

[Onyx Featherstone]

Onyx had been flying, her powerful wings pumping up and down, pushing her forward through the air. Her paws were tucked close to her body, making her cut through the air better as she slipped upward and then downward. She had no idea where she was headed, she just knew she was free right now, encased in warm leopard fur. She was happy and smiling in a cat way as she played in the slipstreams, rising and falling as easily as she breathed. But then a mournful song reached her ears and caused her to pause. She decoded the message as best she could and figured out that the wolf needed help.

She flew in the direction of the howl, soon arriving in the area and making a landing in front of a wolf who looked quite familiar. She knew landing on Griffin territory was quite dangerous but she had done it before and those who needed help would receive her help if she could give it. She stood there for a moment, thinking on how she knew this wolf and then remembered the face. It was Robin, the wolf she had run with and hunted with a few weeks back. She was a Griffin but she seemed to be kind all the same.

"Robin?" Onyx asked, still in her animal form. The younger shifter didn't look terribly well. It worried the Outcast who had grown attached to her. A soft cat-like smile curved her mouth as she said, "Are you ok? Why did you call out for help? You don't look so good." For some reason Onyx had started talking more ever since she had become an Outcast. She thought it had something to do with not being around others much and using the time she was to it's fullest.

She sat down and inhaled the scent of the wolf trying to gather information. Nothing really told her anything, just that she wasn't feeling up to her best.

Words: 335
Muse: Good
Song: N/A

[Christina Ann Robins]

Christina Ann Robins

“But at times I wondered
if I had not come a long way
to find that what I really sought
was something I left behind.”

Okay, Robin really wasn’t expecting loads of the pack she had just been running with to leap over that log over there and somehow magically teleport her home—but she definitely was not expecting a leopard with wings to come floating down and ask if she was feeling alright.

Right…

It took a second to recognize the face, even thought Robin only knew one flying leopard (a quite uncommon species). Onyx was the girl’s name, if Robin remembered right. It felt like so long ago, with the buck and the race—not so much on the tiger fangs in the neck thing, which came back in a flash everytime Tiger-Soldier-Dude looked at her. But like the memory of the fire, Robin’s memory came flashing back in disjointed pictures and flashes of light— “Know your place, little girl—little hunter—or one day my teeth might actually stay there around your wretched neck, until I hear the breath leave your lungs—forever!”

Robin’s first reaction of relief was instantly smothered at the thought of the soldier’s fangs sunk into her neck. Shivering, Robin turned her head away, burying it in her paws as she crouched low to the earth—wishing all the while that this curious outcast, this girl willing to help, would go away so neither of them could get hurt out of the situation. Hoping, thoughts blurry, that if she just stayed quiet—Onyx would think of her as a wild animal, which at this point was a one to infinity chance.

[Onyx Featherstone]

Disheartened for a moment at the wolf's response to her questions Onyx's forehead wrinkled into a puzzled frown. What had happened to the wolf that Onyx had met? Excited for the race and the hunt? Now she seemed almost frightened. A step closer, and a clear of the throat and Onyx once again asked a question, "What's wrong? you aren't acting yourself. What are you doing out here anyway?" She was now hovering over the other shifter. Worry was etched into her figure. What happened back in the forest that had caused Robin to act like this?

She wondered if Robin had somehow come to hate her for abandoning her when she had been faced by those two Griffin members. If that was so, Onyx would kill them. What had they done to the Hunter to cause so much fear in her? It wasn't fair, she had begun to make a friend and two bullies had ruined it. Anger at them flooded her stomach and rushed through her veins. But it didn't show in her eyes or body. Instead she merely kept calm as she could though her voice trembled slightly when she spoke again, "Are you mad at me?"

Even if she was mad at Onyx that shouldn't matter right now. She was sick or hurt or something and that should mean she should focus on the help Onyx was offering. She seemed to be the only one who was there to offer any too. No one else had come to save her, didn't that show that Onyx was still a good person. Technically she had only left Robin in the forest so that she wouldn't get hurt by her gang and she obviously hadn't, so her plan had worked.

Words: 302
Muse: Distracted
Song: Firework- Katy Perry

[Christina Ann Robins]

Christina Ann Robins

“But at times I wondered
if I had not come a long way
to find that what I really sought
was something I left behind.”

When Onyx remained silent for the first few moments, before bursting into a series of questions, Robin nearly cringing from the sudden sound—muscles tensing.

Robin managed to keep still for the first few of Onyx’s questions, eyes squeezed tightly closed as she tried to drown out her words. But then came Onyx’s last question, in her worried feline voice, which caused Robin’s ears to unconsciously flatten to her head after processing the question. Her head snapped up and the girl stared into the jaguar’s eyes, her own brown ones wide. “Of course I’m not mad at you,” she said, voice starting loud and shocked, before quickly quieting until it was barely above a whisper. “Why would I be mad at you? You did… what you had to do.”

Robin’s head dropped back down onto her paws after her sentence, angry with herself for responding. Maybe… maybe if she had just ignored Onyx, she would’ve eventually gone away. But deep down inside, Robin knew that that would probably never happen, Onyx seemed like the persistent type, and the wolf both admired and resented her for the attribute.

[Onyx Featherstone]

The frown she had, had on her face disappeared slightly when Robin decided to respond to her. Onyx sighed and shook her head at what the wolf shifter said in the last sentence. She hadn't done what she had to do. She had done what she thought was best. There was a big difference. "No I did what I thought was best. If I had done what I had to have done, then I probably would have killed your friends," she used the term friends loosely. They hadn't seem like they were very friendly to her when she had first met them.

She sighed and moved into laying position in front of her. A soft inhale as she said, "I'm sorry I left you there. I thought if I did they would leave you be. I thought they might try to follow me. But I guess I was wrong, something happened after I left didn't it? What happened?" She wondered if it would help any if Robin explained what happened. If she got it off her chest. Onyx was worried, she liked Robin and saw a potential ally in her, and the Outcast needed as many allies as she could possibly get.

Her mind skipped back to that day. The aggression that tiger shifter had, had was even worse than Onyx on her worse day. The wind brushed through her fur, bringing her back and she breathed in the cool scent of spring. It calmed her and she felt her muscles relax ever so slightly in their tension. It felt so much better than the buzzing pain that had tightened her muscles a few seconds earlier.

Words: 282
Muse: Tired
Song: N/A

[Christina Ann Robins]

Christina Ann Robins

“But at times I wondered
if I had not come a long way
to find that what I really sought
was something I left behind.”

Shifting uncomfortably, Robin fluffed out her fur, forcing herself to stop shivering. It looked like she was a weakling now, great. And on top of that, now they were talking about feelings? Robin would’ve laughed, if she didn’t feel so serious at the time, so small. She remained silent for a moment, still curled up into the familiar dog like ball, eyes flickering to avoid Onyx’s all the while.

What did exactly happen, after Onyx left? It was hard to form a coherent sentence, much less think about a specific night several weeks ago. As much as Robin wanted to believe that, it wasn’t true. The second she tried to retrieve the memory, the flashing began—the flashing that made her just want to stay like this, and go to sleep despite the numbing cold creeping up her legs.

“Nothing really,” Robin muttered, nudging her paws with her nose before settling her head back down on the earth again. “I just knew them from before, that’s all—jerks, soldiers who don’t care more or less what hunters do, as long as they bring the food in…” Robin trailed off, mind drifting, before glancing back at Onyx with half-closed eyes. “That’s all… really.”

Now all Robin wanted to do was, honestly?—go to sleep, right here on the forest floor. Seriously. It made sense in her mind, that because she couldn’t even feel her legs anymore much less go anywhere—and to avoid any more discussion on personal fear, would be to go to sleep, allow her eyes to close and forget about everything else except black.

[Onyx Featherstone]

Onyx could sense something wrong in Robin. The shifter was drifting, something was pulling her conscious away from the present. Nervously Onyx addressed the situation by gently reaching out and batting at her paw, "You need to stay awake. Somethings wrong with you. You seem like you are sick." Her voice was genuinely worried. What could she do so far away from the gang to help this wolf? She had gotten sick before on her own and in consequence had learned something about herbs to heal herself, perhaps she could find something out here to help the poor shifter.

She frowned, "How do you feel, what's wrong with you?" IT was painful watching her potential friend be hurt. It made her feel helpless and like it was her fault. But how could it be? Everyone got sick eventually and without the advanced medicine of the past it was hard to save them all. Still all the rationalizations didn't help. Onyx growled low in frustration, just barely audible. He claws dug little furrows in the ground as they extended to show her anger at herself. What was wrong with her?

But even if she couldn't heal her she could at least run back to the Griffin's for help, or escort Robin back. Sure it was dangerous but Robin deserved it. She was a sweet girl and didn't deserve to die out here as some snack to the wild animals who found her sick and weak. Animals tended not to care about those who were weakened and whether it was noble or not. A meal was a meal. In this world you never passed it up. And being eaten by wild animals wasn't always a quick death. Sometimes it was slow and painful. Onyx wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Words: 305
Muse: Ok
Song: N/A

[Christina Ann Robins]

Christina Ann Robins

“But at times I wondered
if I had not come a long way
to find that what I really sought
was something I left behind.”

Robin’s paw twitched and her somehow linked ears flicked at the sound of Onyx’s voice. Eyes still closed, Robin mumbled something about already being awake, and wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep unless she stopped talking, but she lifted cracked open her eyes for a moment, eying Onyx restlessly, before closing them again. “Something’s wrong with my legs… can’t move them… can’t get home… I was out here, got cold and tired…” She trailed off, not really paying attention to anything.

Robin herself didn’t really know what was wrong with her; her legs had been hurting for ages now—ever since she got into that skirmish with the tiger. At first, she’d worried, but Robin had forgotten about it after a while, having bigger things to worry above then some scrape on her leg. Up until earlier today, she’d forgotten about it pretty much, until her friend and fellow hunter had insisted that she go to the Healer. Which, Robin had, in her own fashion, bluntly refused—and gone out to hunt. Which led up to today.

[Onyx Featherstone]

Onyx's worry kicked into overdrive at Robin's response. Numb legs probably wasn't a good thing, she glanced over her body and noticed the marks of a large cat's scratch. The leopard shifter wondered whether an infection was the issue. Infection was often something that happened with cat scratches, they tended to have a lot bacteria trapped in the curve of their claws. Infected wounds were dangerous, they could cause necrosis of the muscle tissue and things like that. If the cut was left untreated she could lost the limb.

A hard sigh left her lips as she said, "You probably have an infection from that cat scratch." She nodded toward the paw. "You need to have it treated and scrubbed out." It would be painful, especially if the cut was inflamed. But it was the best thing for it. She placed her head on her paws once again and said, "I can probably do some of it if I can find the herbs. Or I can drag you back to Parton. Which ever one you want." If she chose to stay out here it would be a wonder as to whether it would work or not.

"Didn't you go see a doctor? Cat scratches get infected really easily," Onyx's voice was slightly chastising, though she didn't mean to be. She breathed in, as she stood and began to pace. One paw in front of the other, it helped relieve some of her stress. The repetitive nature of the turns and paw movements eased her frazzled nerves. Her body relaxed the rest of the way though her mind still turned as she tried to think up the herbs she would need to heal the infection in Robin's blood. If that was what was ailing her.

Words: 303
Muse: Getting Better
Song: Porn Star Dancing- My Darkest Days

[Christina Ann Robins]

Christina Ann Robins

“But at times I wondered
if I had not come a long way
to find that what I really sought
was something I left behind.”

Infection in the cat scratches? Robin thought, head still resting on her paws, muscles tensing. That would happen to her, instead of just scabbing over like regular wounds—they’d gotten infected. Great. Blearily rolling over Robin shook her head, trying to clear it. “I had to hunt, didn’t have time to visit some crazy doctor who would ramble on about the meanings of life…” One year ago, Robin had a cold, went to see the doctor, and that had happened. She’d been stuck there for about three hours listening to the doctor ramble on, before eventually getting a prescription for two days of rest and a horrible tasting drink to take every hour.

It worked, but in Robin’s mind it wasn’t worth it.

Now, to try and answer the question. Robin winced at the word, ‘drag’ and rolled over onto her side, flinching. Being dragged home didn’t sound appealing. But then again, nothing sounded appealing at the moment except sleep—so what did she know? “If you know what to do…” Robin trailed off, closing her eyes again, and then added something blearily about not saying anything metaphoric.

[Onyx Featherstone]

Onyx chuckled, "I won't tell you the meaning of life, mostly because I don't think I know it. But yeah, I know what to do though I can't do all of it here." She watched the wolf roll onto her side fondly and stopped her pacing for a moment. "I have to go find herbs, I will be back soon." She shifted then, her body shimmering once again in that magical light as it twisted and changed. Soon back in her human form with her clothes and blades, she was off, running across the land.

She was running toward the river, it was one of the places where the cleansing herb she needed grew. It took her a few minutes to reach the riverbed because though she was faster than a human in this form she would still be faster in her leopard form. Now at the riverbed she began to look. The herb she was looking for had three green leaves with red trimming on the edges. It wasn't hard to spot as it grew in clumps along the silty edge of the river. She soon found a huge amount of it and filled her pockets with two handfuls.

After about fifteen minutes of picking she was running back at full speed to Robin. She was worried about her. The wolf shifter wasn't acting normal, from what she had seen she was normally stubborn and a bit happy. This depressed and sleepy Robin was not someone that Onyx liked. So she was dead set of fixing it. The herbs she had in her pockets would fight the infection well. She was back beside Robin and smiling with a look of satisfaction and victory as she pulled out some herbs and began to chew them into a paste. They tasted horribly bitter but it would be worth it.

She then took the mashed up leaves and moved to scrub it into the wound that marked Robin's paw.

Words: 333
Muse: Good
Song: N/A

[Christina Ann Robins]

Christina Ann Robins

“But at times I wondered
if I had not come a long way
to find that what I really sought
was something I left behind.”

"Alright..." Robin's propped up head fell flat on the forest floor, a crunching and scattering of leaves lifted into the air. "See you when you... Get back, then..." She followed Onyx's transformation, and her leaving with half-open, curious eyes. Then, like that day in the forest not to long ago-- quite suddenly, Robin was left quite alone.

Her blood ran cold, and the world in front of her eyes grew blurry. The wolf blinked in half-surprise and half-alarm, once, twice, three times-- before closing her eyes and letting the darkness close over her mind.

Black.

Light.

Pain.

Robin yelped and sat blot upright, paws flailing as she scrambled through the leaves until she was met by a bush. Whipping around, Robin only saw Onyx, in the pretty human form she had, crouched down to the earth with a gross looking blob of goop in her hand. It took several seconds to recognize her in the dim light, and for a second Robin only saw a huge intimidating shape-- her own ears flattened to her head and teeth curved back in a snarl.

[Onyx Featherstone]

Robin seemed so calm when Onyx had first arrived. The wolf was laying there with her eyes closed and for a moment Onyx worried if she was dead. But her chest moved up and down with each intake and expel of breath. So, the leopard shifter just assumed that Robin was asleep. As she moved to place the green mash of herbs on the wolf's paw the the younger shifter seemed to notice Onyx's presence. And she definitely was in fear mode. She sat up straight and pushed away from Onyx, her lips pulled back from her teeth and she snarled. Robin didn't seem to recognize her.

A soft and soothing murmur left her lips as she spoke to Robin even though she knew that in wolf form, Robin would never understand her, "It's okay. This will just help fight the infection. I won't hurt you." Onyx wondered if the infection had started a fever that had begun to affect Robin's mind. She doubted it though, it would be kind of fast for something like that to happen. She slowly crawled closer and then knelt once again. Unobtrusively she reached out for the paw again, waiting for Robin's reaction.

Onyx's brows were pinched together with some fear. It wasn't fear of getting bit or hurt, danger was not something Onyx feared. Instead she felt afraid for her friend. She pressed her lips together and she held out her hand, waiting for the hurt paw to be placed in it so she could doctor it up.

Words: 264
Muse: Pretty Good
Song: Evacuate the Dance Floor- Cascada

[Christina Ann Robins]

Christina Ann Robins

“But at times I wondered
if I had not come a long way
to find that what I really sought
was something I left behind.”

Still frozen, Robin's excellent night-eyes, made for hunts, saw Onyx's own widen in a flicker of momentary surprise, before murmuring something wolf ears couldn't comprehend. Geez, wolf-instincts were very helpful, and very dangerous at times-- it had taken a few seconds to recognize the human Robin hadn't seen in that form for weeks. Fur instantly flattening, the wolf's head dropped and she, almost ashamed, murmured a quick, "Sorry, sorry--" Likewise knowing that Onyx could never understand her.

She padded forward over the ground, legs heavy and blunderingly numb, and sat before Onyx again and slid slowly to the ground-- holding a paw up, or sitting up for that matter, sounding utterly exhausting. Her head thumped back down onto the ground, and lying on her side-- Robin tried not to flinch as she knew as to what was coming.