Three lost Stars ((Tagged + Open))

[Fierfly]

((@shiver, @spiriaaurina))

Renegade:

They'd left Volpina behind in the Hunting Plains and had started walking again. There was something about the freedom of wandering that he found very comfortable and liberating. You weren't tied down, you weren't bound to your problems. You could get up and get away for a little while, get some time to breathe and think and put some space between you and an issue that needed to cool down and you could always head back when you were ready. It was refreshing to be able to pick up someplace new and begin a new day with no mistakes in it. It was all rather soothing and healing and rejuvenating, and it served as the same kind of medicine for his friend.

"His friend"...was that the correct way to describe Purge? He glanced at the white she-wolf walking beside him. Was it really? To label someone a friend was a terribly broad term. It meant you weren't enemies at the least and at most...it could mean any number of things. Confidant, mentor, companion...partner.

He wasn't going to push her. Yes, for now they were friends. Friends who cared a great deal for each other, they wanted to help and protect each other and each make the other's day a little better as they came to it and started a new adventure together. And that was fine by him.

He'd largely let Purge take the lead, she was the one who needed to get away from the piece of her past that was haunting her, and she'd led them to the Longrass Territory, past the border and into the Lily Warren. The Lily Warren was another one of his pet places to hide away for a while. Here, Wildwater Falls and the Ruins of Abeytu were his top three, the Ruins for their mystery, the Falls for their serenity and the Warren because it was a fun puzzle. Lilies sprung up around them and entrances for tunnels lay everywhere else. He'd spent hours in the tunnels trying to find his way deeper into the intricate network and then back out again. Tangled tunnels for a tangled mind. He peered over at his friend again. "A penny for your thoughts Mistress Purge?"

[Deleted]

A trio of three female pups all bright and different colors. The somewhat bigger she pup looked back to the other two pups. Her bright red eyes held her own sort of authority and determination."come on we need to keep going"she said her voice determined but slightly squeaky. She watched her siblings and saw their reaction after a long moment. Solaria small fluffy tail whisked back and forth as they had come into the maze like area. She heard her youngest sister complain about something and paused briefly already well into the maze her gaze looked to the youngest smallest sibling.

Lunara had remained quiet dispite their long traveling. Her pale violet paws ached and she had to agree when she heard poor Starla's quiet complaint "Solaria we should really stop and rest"She said quietly. She watched as she took their looks for a long moment. Her light blue eyes staring at her. The last thing she had needed was to have Starla get lost or collasp from exhaustion. She heard Solaria mutter about where would they find a place to rest.

Solaria looked around all she seen was maze like grass that even she could barely see over. She had just want to get through the maze to find shelter before some other predator tried to get to them."no we should continue on there has got to be a way through and we can rest"she said.

Though Starla didn't like that answer the bluish pup opened her white blue maw and let out a loud whine"why can't we rest now my paws hurt."She then paused"I'm not going anywhere"She whined. She sat down but as soon as she did she had happened to hear another voice that she didn't know and she whimpered"w..we aren't alone"Starla whimpered out scampering over to Solaria and hid next to Lunara and Solaria.

Solaria was quiet her green and dark orange ears pinned against her furry head"just stay quiet whoever it is might go away"She said quietly but that was kind of too late She was sure whoever was there had to of heard her and her siblings.

[Deleted]

Volpina was in the past. They had tried their best. She had tried her best. Purge supposed that any wolf would’ve been foolish to assume that Volpina could be cured from the delusion in one fell swoop. Heck, even Purge herself had doubts after White Magic had opened her mind. But now she knew with a certainty, she was converted and that conversion would bring peace. She had to forgive herself and move on. She would not forget, but she refused to linger any longer over mistakes that she could not mend. With Renegade by her side she could embark on a new journey. A new life at last, free from her demons. Hopefully...

“A penny for your thoughts Mistress Purge?” renegades soothing, soft voice pierced her bubble. Ruby punk eyes cleared and her rhythmic gait suddenly experienced a hiccup. ”Oh sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” She looked around them at the dips crevices that ruffled the grassland like a minefield. ”Which could’ve been bad had you not spoken,” She chuckled, flicking her ears toward him thankfully, dimples forming under her eyes. With a deep contended sigh she was about to explain her recent wonderings, but a small scuffle and a muffled squeak interrupted her thoughtful purr. ”What was that?” She whispered, large muscles tensing under her thin white coat, ears springing forward in her skull and her nose suddenly examining the area with shocking accuracy. ”Pups?” She raised her head to look questioningly at Renegade. This wasn’t pack occupied territory, only a liner would whelp their pups in the tunnels, however, she hadn’t detected any adult wolf. The scent of milk wasn’t present, but perhaps the den itself was too far away to scent. Should they investigate or leave them be?

[Fierfly]

Renegade:

She startled, like a pup who'd been roused out of their day-dreams, her head shot up to look at him. The expression was blank, her mouth opened, and then she gave up, admitting she'd not been paying attention. She surveyed the rocky, hole-laden ground around them. It was a good thing he'd aroused her from her wandering thoughts. A dimple appeared under each eye and a crooked turn near the corner of her mouth form and she chuckled a little. Not a foolish, light-headed giggle, or sarcastic or anything, just the chuckle of someone who had the freedom to think and move and had gotten caught doing a bit too much of both at the same time. ...She looked...well...kind of adorable with those little creases under her eyes. He was a wolf of impulses, and at that moment he had a terrible impulse to reach over and nose those little dots of tension that showed her smile. ...No, he wasn't that impulsive, impulses he followed often had to do with wanderings and nosing her face- well, that was a bit more intimate than he felt comfortable getting without knowing where exactly they wanted their relationship to go.

She looked like she was about to make some other comment when a slight squeak caught both of their ears. A black and white ear flicked, then two heads whipped around, honing in on the sound. "What was that?" she automatically lowered her voice and her nose began teasing the air. He was already on it. "Voices," he heard another squeak, this one carrying words. "Young voices," another squeak and he finally caught the scent, but Purge placed it first. "Pups?" she looked at him, cocking an eyebrow questioningly: to go or to stay?

His impulses said go.

He listened to the squeaks again, he'd heard at least two different voices. They were young, but old enough to be talking, maybe nursing, maybe not. At any rate he couldn't hear or smell an adult: a nursing mother wouldn't dare leave her pups out in the open, she'd have left them in one of the tunnels, probably in the nest where the pups had been born. One with older pups still wouldn't have let them wander about if she wasn't there to protect them. The least they'd be dealing with would be some naughty pups who'd wandered away and they could simply herd them back to the parents, but he was curious, either way, looking couldn't hurt.

He nodded for Purge to follow, took one more good sniff and began to follow the scent, searching for the direction it was coming from, and then following the strongest lead.

[Deleted]

Starla had remained quiet and still her bluish tail stiff and slightly quivering behind her as she stayed close to her older siblings Lunara and Solaria. Solaria had kept quiet as well waiting for the sound of them leaving or anything but that's not what happened. She heard the word pups and then movement. Solaria's orange and green ears flattened against her head"rabbit dung c'mon we need to get moving."She said quietly but it came out squeaky. Though as she said that they drew closer"Starla Lunaria go hide quickly I'll try to get them to leave."She said quietly. Starla nodded and managed to scurry off into a thicker patch of grass and her sister Lunaria followed close by. She then laid down flattening her ears. "Just stay quiet and I'm sure they won't look for us"Lunaria whispered to her youngest sister.

Solaria braced herself for whoever was coming. She tried to make herself look as threatening as possible.

[Deleted]

Purge nodded at Renegades firm glance. Find the pups. There was no telling what situation they were going into, but unsupervised pups were exposed to a number of happenings. Worried, and undeniably a little excited, the albino shewolf followed her friend Renegade and his nose. He was an exceptional tracker, after all, he had managed to find her all those seasons ago. Her smile renewed, though perhaps a little more grim as they proceeded silently through the tall grasses, slim forms parting the pliable blades and limber stems of prairie plants as they crept. The scent grew simultaneously stronger and weaker. She deduced that the pups, whatever number there was had split up. Smart...ish.

There, in the indent of a collapsed tunnel, a scrap of golden fur could be seen. She nudged Renegade as she caught up to his side, urging him to look. As they neared, Purge had a sudden flash of realization and anxiety....she was probably terrible with pups. All she had ever done was kill them, never play or raise them. How could she even talk to one? She froze. Perhaps Renegade was secretly a prime nurturer and could speak to the ridiculously disproportionate creature before them. The poor thing looked absolutely extraterrestrial with its head high and chest puffed out. Perhaps it was trying to be...intimidating?

[Fierfly]

Renegade:

Definitely more than one, two...no, three. At least three wolven scents. He could also smell pollen and dust, dead leaves, decayed something...the richer, earthier smell of the terrain in the area. Definitely pups, rolling everywhere and getting into everything. It took some negotiating with the terrain before he felt at least one of the pups was close enough where he could track directly, so he put his dark nose to the ground, perked his ears forward and took in a deep breath.

To the left.

This went on for about twenty seconds with Purge using her eyes to search. He could practically taste the cub when Purge gently nudged his shoulder and nodded for him to look. A brightly-colored she-pup stood with her chest fluffed and ears pinned back, her expression defiant. He wasn't sure if he was surprised or amused or...what was the proper reaction to this? Hm, he had to look at the situation again. He could smell three pups and only see one, and it looked like a saucy, brassy little thing to boot. He tried to think. The last pup he'd interacted with had been...was it Azerath? And that had been before he'd even met Purge, surely she was a full-grown wolf by now. He'd sheltered her for a while, kept her warm and her belly full, but she'd been so scared, so timid and new to the world when he'd first met her. This one was...he didn't want to say jaded, she was too young for that, but certainly this would be more resistance than he'd faced with his other young friend.

He pulled back, keeping a respectful distance away and nodded congenially. "Hello there," he studied her, ghost-blue eyes running up and down the spindly form, watching to see how she'd react to strangers entering her space.

[Deleted]

Solaria watched with bright red eyes as she kept track the movement as best as possible til she seen two adult wolves. She would try to protect her and her siblings as best she could though she was oldest and proved herself to be the leader of the three she had to get them out of this situation despite her hunger and if she was hungry she knew her siblings were. As the strangers came into view she flattened her ears against her head lifted her head and puffed out her chest. She raised her tail high and stared at them for a moment til one said hi. She planted her paws firmly on the ground."hi"She said wearily. She positioned herself without giving too much away as she hid her ribs that could be seen if taken a closer look."what do you want?"she asked looking at them.

Meanwhile Starla watched from the thick patch of grass with her sister. She pricked her ears hearing the male speak. To her he sounded so friendly she just wanted to scoot out from their hiding place. She shuffled forward only for Lunara to stop her. Though the movement enough was enough to attract attention.

Lunara moved from the hiding spot and stood protectively in from of her hiding sister in plain view. The light purple she pup ears flattened but she wasn't trying to seen threatening more to stand there protecting Starla,their youngest sister,if she needed to.

[Deleted]

The little pup seemed shaken by their appearance, though she obviously had pot in an act of bravado. She addressed Renegade curtly, demanding what their business was round here. Purge raised an eyebrow, we’re all pups as clipped as she? To be fair the little creatures knees were nearly knocking. More confident now that she could read the shepup, Purge relaxed.

She would leave the talking to Renegade, he seemed to have a smidge more experience or patience than she. Perhaps she should get more of that, it could be useful in the future. Wait-future?! She wasn’t planning on having pups. The option had never been open previously due to that horrid prophecy. Now that it was an option...an involuntary blush flooded her face with pink that shone through under her thin pelt. Think about that later.

A rustle announced the entry of another pup, a lilac child with large nervous eyes. She was standing, stance wide, head lowered. Protecting. A third pup must be hidden in the clump of grass. While Renegade talked she would scoot it out. She wasn’t thinking of how her movement would cause the youngsters to react, Purge was thinking purely strategically, in a movement sense...

The albino shewolf made a slow curve from beside the night pelted male towards the back of the grass clump. She didn’t get too close, not sure what she should do next. She squinted her crimson eyes, searching for the other pup in the gaps between grass blades. Certain that the lavender pups eyes were trained in her, Purge offered (what she hoped to be) a comforting, small smile.

[Fierfly]

Renegade:

Brassy may not have been the best way to describe her from earlier. She was nervous, her little frame was trembling with false bravado, but she kept a cool head and tried to be confident and calm. Good for her.

She curtly asked for a reason for their presence, a rustle in the grass and a lavender-coated she-pup wearily stepped forward. Renegade nodded to her as well. "We don't want much," he assured the young ones. He glanced out of the corner of his eye as Purge gently ducked her head and began heading for the last pup, still hidden in the grass. "Do you know how to reach Lunar Meadow from here?" Treat the pups like adults, give them their space and maybe they'd get some answers. "Or, are your parents around? Maybe we could ask them?" he angled his head down to keep up the eye-contact, she wanted to confront him, he'd let her, but he wasn't about to back down because some nestling got defensive.

[Deleted]

Solaria's attention for a moment focused on the female with red eyes. She was scared but she tried not to show it. She looked steadily back at Renegade as she heard his question regarding where a place was and if they didn't know where was their parents to ask. Solaria ears flattened even more"I'm not sure and as far as parents go they aren't with us anymore. "She said hiding as much emotion as she could to the fact that her parents had died and she had ushered her siblings away and on a journey she didn't know if they would survive or not.

Lunara watched her with light blue eyes head low but ears flicked forward. She took note of her smile and tilted her head but remained quiet.

Meanwhile Starla curious and somewhat impatient poked her head out of the patch of grass"can I come out noe Lunara?"She asked in a hushed voice.

[Deleted]

Renegade, to Purge’s surprise, took on the tone of the shepup, replying to her demand using the same formal wording as she had. They were searching for the Lunar Meadow? That was news to her. Perhaps he had mentioned it and she had accidentally ignored him whilst lost in thought. She winced slightly. Oops. She really had to pay more attention.

To make up for her possible slip up, Purge decided to pay more heed to the current situation they were in. She noticed the violet pup watch her warily, another pups voice hissing Firth from the grasses. ”Yes, please come out, we mean you no harm,” She tried her best to sound sweet and approachable.

Meanwhile, Renegade’s puppy confrontation exposed valuable information. They no longer were the charge’s of adult wolves, whether their parents had abandoned them, or were otherwise unable to take care of them. They were, technically orphans.

[Fierfly]

Renegade:

The bright pup who'd met them huffing and puffing raised her chin defiantly. She didn't know where Lunar Meadow was, and her parents weren't with them anymore to be asked for any such thing. He glanced at Purge over the tops of the younger wolves' heads. That was never good. Either by abandonment or by some terrible accident they'd been separated from their parents. He'd learned there was a reason pups were born into the world under the care of adults: someone to teach them and provide for them. A pup without a parent was as good as dead, especially three so young. Their eyes were no longer blue, at least they could eat meat (or, he hoped), but they were still plenty small for wild-cats, raccoons or even a Midnight Silence wolf.

Purge gently crooned for the still hidden pup to come out and a curious nose made itself visible. A blunt, white little muzzle with friendly, curious, baby-blue eyes. The analyzed the scents in the air again, sisters...no, they really weren't very old. "I see," he turned back to the largest pup, the self-proclaimed leader apparently, "I'm sorry to hear that." he stooped down a little so she could see him without having to crane her neck so far back. "Tell me Miss-" he waited for her to fill in the gap and give her name.

[Deleted]

Solaria couldn't believe her youngest sister didn't listen and stay hidden. Though her gaze looked to Renegade and frowned slightly pricking her orange and green eyes forward and looked to him"my name is Solaria"she said relaxing her stance a bit but it was obvious she was the leader of the three. The oldest and more dominant of the sisters. She looked at him"why would you be sorry you didn't do anything to them"She said.

Lunara watched Purge wearily"you don't mean us harm....are you sure?"She asked looking back to starla quietly for a moment who drew the rest of her small furry body from the grass.

Starla was quiet as she pulled herself out. She soon heard her sister say"and that's Lunara and Starla "Solaria had said and that was the introduction.

[Deleted]

The three pups seemed to come out of their shells a little more, perhaps feeling less threatened by the strangers. The third pup revealed herself fully. She was a patterned, robins egg blue shepup, seemingly the most naive pit of all the pups. Poor creatures, they should all have been incredibly naive, they should not have to be thrust into this world so cruelly. ”I didn’t lie to you,” The white shewolf raised a brow and laughed gently, easing herself down into the grass to look less threatening to such tiny balls of fluff. Purge was so uncertain and scared that she would mess up and scare them off, so she opted to stay silent and let Renegade maneuver his way through the more delicate aspects of conversation.

What goal were they working towards? They had found out that they were practically orphans. But what came next? Conscience should dictate they find someone to take care of them, for such creatures would not survive long in the world. Would they take care of them? The thought hit Purge like a boulder. She wasn’t ready to raise pups? Heck! They didn’t seem to want to be taken care of anyways....she glanced helplessly at Renegade...


You’ve been hit by Mother Nature!
Summer #62 Badger

.:A grumpy old She Badger lumbers from the tunnels behind the pups, angry that the pups have disrupted her afternoon nap. With a fierce growl the striped creature announces its presence, dagger-like claws gleaming in the summer sun, fierce teeth shown in a snarl:.

Purge’s Head whipped around, red eyes widening. Badger!


(Feel free to control the Badger Fier, since you’re a Mod!)