How do I do this? [tagged]

[emorli]

Meds

After a long day of traveling from the mountainside, Atra's legs begin to ache from the constant moving after hours and hours on the rough, uneven terrain. The sun begins its journey to the other end of the land. Although it's still high in the sky, the darkness of night isn't far behind. She stops when she comes across a peaceful waterfall and what looks like a nice place to rest until tomorrow. The water is running strong as the snow from the mountains is melting quicker with each day that passes.

The white, beige, and grey-pelted female stands, looking away from the waterfall, trying to look for anything that would give her a hint of how to make a shelter for herself. Because of the fact that she's always lived in the mountains, (This is her first time leaving the mountains.) she's always been able to curl up in a cave to get out of the weather or just to rest, so, she's never had to take it upon herself and make a shelter. Atra's eyes frantically dark around as panic starts to settle in, "What if someone or something finds me out in the open like this?" Her heart speeds up and her muscles grow tense at the thought of coming face to face with another wolf. Her breathing speeds up, her ears fall back, and her tail is tucked between her legs as she tries her best to stay quiet in the grass and she walks a little further out from the waterfall.

"Where do I even start?" She keeps her head down and looks around at the ground for a clue that might give her any kind of hint of how to build a shelter for herself.

[Meds]

Axel;

Another Spring day, another pleasant stroll around the valley. The sun had started its decent, but seeing as Axel had no territory or pack, he felt no need to stay in one place or turn in for the night until he wanted to. The brown and blue male was fine with the idea of being a Loner; besides, any packs that weren't focused solely on farming would seem like a bad fit to him, and he doubted highly that there were any such organizations around.

Strong shoulders, paired with even stronger legs, rolled as Axel made his way through the fresh Spring foliage. He wasn't brawny or showy—but he was not weak. A life of moving rocks and digging ditches and working until the sun set, had sculpted the body under his fur into something hard as rock and equally functional.
The foliage parted as Axel headed toward the sound of water. A family of waterfalls were up ahead, if he remembered correctly—and he almost certainly did. His mind, well-suited to remembering the lay of the land, locked-in such details with ease.

Up ahead, at the base of one of the smaller falls, yellow eyes caught sight of another wolf. It was clearly agitated, but pacing around one area as if there was something there that it wanted. Axel sat a good distance off, too far to recognize or catch the scent of whoever it was. He would hate to make them uncomfortable.
"'Lo there!" Axel called, his strong lungs aiding his voice in carrying easily over the sound of the rushing water.

[emorli]

Atra;

Atra's eyes widen and she freezes like a deer in headlights as she hears the words from a wolf not too far from where she stood. "I'm out in the open. What do I do? Is this the end for me?" Panic causes her to feel lightheaded and her heart drops to her stomach, too scared to move any movement yet. Her legs begin to shake, her breathing grows ragged, and heart rate increase with her tail tucked further between her wobbly legs.

With wide eyes, Atra turns only her head to see a familiar coated wolf, but, she's too careful to assume they're who she thinks they are. Instead, she doesn't move or pick her paws up off of the ground. With the wolf staying so far away, she can't pick up any scent from them so she's unable to relax at all. It takes her a moment to work up the courage to question who the wolf is, but eventually, she takes a deep breath and her vocal chords strain to (almost) yell. "W-Who are you?" It's a simple question, but for Atra it's extremely hard to say. Her voice is still fairly quiet. but it should reach the wolf sitting at that distance, hopefully.

Her eyes continue to stare at the wolf, her blinks are spread apart as she's worried that if she closes her eyes for too long the wolf could move out of her sight. Her muscles remain tense until the wolf answers, though, she doesn't even think about relaxing even after they answer because either way, she'll probably remain tense and scared.

[Meds]

((EEK! I forgot I was in this thread when I saw it on Recents—so sorry!))

Axel;

Axel's voice didn't have a great effect on the wolf who was (clearly) already agitated. When he spoke, the creature jumped and then froze still, for all the world acting as if they were fully panicked by the idea of another wolf speaking to them.
Axel's brow raised. Ah, could it be Atra?

A familiar voice called out to him, proving his suspicion correct. Who else would be so frightened of a simple greeting, after all? He found her interesting. She was terrified of conversation and wolves she hadn't met before, and yet when he and she had found themselves in the middle of a rock slide and then trapped within a cave—she had been reasonably calm. He smiled. Ah, the things that set others off. It was something different for everybody.

"Why, hello Atra. I apologize if I frightened you." The wind caught the blue fur of his mane and tugged it, but he refused to be swept off to some other location when he may be able to provide some help to somebody. "What brings you down to flat-land?"

[emorli]

((No problem! I'm super busy so I have been SUPER slow at replying >_<))

Atra;

The sandy-colored female watches so closely that she's able to see how the wind moves through the wolf's coat. His voice once again projects across the distance between them. Her pupils dilate slightly at the sound of her name and she relaxes slightly with the realization of who this wolf is. Atra took no time to remember his name, as she didn't have many others to remember and her ears show this as they pull forward. "A-Axel?" Her voice is still quiet out of habit and her stutter has yet to be improved as it will take her a bit more time to get used to social interaction, but she's much less nervous than when she first met the brown and blue male.

He asks her why she's away from the mountain and honestly, with all that's happened so far, she wonders why she's stayed here this long. "W-well, I- Uhm- I wanted to know," She pauses a moment, "What else there is in the valley." As per usual, she looks away almost out of shame that she's talking about what she wants to do.

[Meds]

((Hi! If I ever take this long to reply please bump me, it means I've forgotten x( So sorry!))

Axel;

He hears his own name float to him, and Axel's blue ears flick in satisfaction. It hadn't been very long since they had last seen each other, but one could never be sure the sort of impression one made. That being said, almost getting trapped inside a cave was sure to leave some sort of memory.
She answers his question with her ever-stuttering and unsure style, but this time Axel was expecting it and smiles instead of frowns. He nods in agreement.
"Well there sure is a lot to see here, ma'am." Another smile, and then he casts his eyes over the beautiful falls before and all around them. "You picked a mighty fine place to start, I'd say. Wildwater Falls is one of the nicer spots."

His tail swayed behind him, and once he was done taking in the scenery, his eyes traveled back to Atra and whatever it was she was trying to do—or build. No, surely she wasn't trying to build something. She certainly wasn't going about it the right way, if that was the case. third smile tugged at Axel's lips, but he held it at bay and didn't mention her—somewhat lacking—attempts thus far.

[emorli]

Atra;

Atra realizes the embarrassing situation she's currently in and shrinks down further, wishing that she was in a tiny ball back in some dark cave in the mountains. Thinking a moment, realizing that she might be questioned on what she's doing anyway, using her head, she waves Axel over to her, "I- Uh." She stops to take a deep breath and think about what to say next, "Can you help me?" Her voice is soft, just barely loud enough for him to hear, but hopefully, he fully understood her as she was in desperate need of some help in building a shelter.

The shy female looks at the ground, moving one of her paws out from under her, realizing she was subconsciously scraping at the ground, pulling away the green grass and revealing the dark brown soil that was hidden beneath it. She sighs at the nervous tick but doesn't attempt to pay attention to what her paws were doing any longer as it would probably only cause it to become worse.

[Meds]

Axel;

She saw him looking. Axel had just been about to apologize for staring, when Atra mumbled out that she would appreciate some help. Coming from her, Axel imagined that was about as big as a flat-out cry for help. He grinned kindly, tossing his blue mane and trotting over, closing the distance.
"Of course, I should have offered sooner." He dipped his head, then leaned back on his haunches and looked over what she had so far. He couldn't exactly tell, as she wasn't very far along, but he had a feeling based on the spacing, that it was perhaps a den. It would make sense, since she wasn't typically down on ground-level. Axel usually just found warm places to curl up, but he knew that plenty of wolves preferred a more stable situation.

"Is it... a den you're building?" His trained eyes swept what she had already done, and calculated what there was left to do. It was good luck he had come across her, really. There was no wolf better-suited to helping with land manipulation. Except for perhaps a gifted one.

[emorli]

Atra;

Atra's legs hold her (almost) completely straight, which due to her constant trembling is quite odd, but Axel's familiar and friendly presence allows the sandy colored female to relax much more than she ever would around any other wolf.

"I- Uh- Y-yeah." Atra talking to a wolf, let alone asking for help is completely unknown. She doesn't exactly know what to do. Should she explain to him her idea of what she originally thought a den looked like? Does she even know what a den is supposed to look like? Nope. Atra had only seen caves as a place to rest, so that's about all she had in mind of what a den might be.

Atra's eyes follow Axel's to the spot she planned to rest for a bit, which looked like a pathetic little patch of grass with random patches of dirt, where she accidentally kicked up grass most likely from allowing panic to get the best of her and starting to claw at the ground.

Atra's eyes flicker back to Axel, darting around a few times, but eventually, she focuses on trying her best to not awkwardly look everywhere but the wolf she's talking to, "C-Could you help me? O-of course you don't have to though, just because I asked." She turns her head away with her eyes closed and her face heating up out of embarrassment. I'm rambling on now! I bet I sound like an idiot.

[Meds]

Axel;

In less time than it had taken on their first meeting, Atra began to relax. Granted, having met him before as well as the absence of getting locked inside a cave by a landslide was probably helping matters. In any case, Axel would take it. He was the last wolf that ought to be feared. Oh he could be, with the strength he had—but he was a gentle beast. And polite first.
And he had been right, as it happened. She was trying to build a den. Axel smiled, because she had the right idea. He moved forward fluidly, his shoulders bunching under his skin as if the muscle memory couldn’t wait to get to work.

”Well for starters,” He said, yellow eyes sweeping the area but darting at her for a moment to give a charming smile. ”You’re on the right path. A built-den works best if there are two separate forces above; for example, this tree root and the rockface. This is to block wind on all sides except the entrance.” He moved forward, excited to start, and raised to his powerful hind legs. He had missed this. He grabbed hold of some heavy lowhanging boughs of the closest pine tree and pulled them over the top with his weight, then bunched them in between the roots and the cliff. They held pretty well and he smiled.
”The start of our weatherproofing!” He jumped back to look at the first step. ”We’ll need more branches with needles still intact. I may even go up ahead and push a heavy rock down to hold it.” He turned to her, eyes alive while in his element. ”Do you think you can pull some branches across the top and sides and wedge them like I did?” He was already turning to travel up the rock to higher ground and search out rocks.

[emorli]

Atra;

Atra stood in awe as she saw how a few simple things could begin to build a den and how Axel seemed like a different wolf when he's pulling the den together, her jaw hanging open and her eyes sparkling with amazement at both the construction of the den and the male's change in attitude. It takes her a moment to process what Axel's saying, for a moment making it seem like she didn't hear him or is ignoring him completely, but she picks herself up to go drag along some branches.

She grabs onto the stick end of a fallen branch and leans backward, putting all of her weight into pulling the branch across a short distance and over to the start of a nice little shelter. It takes her a moment to figure out how to wedge the branch to hold it steady and her eyes flicker back and forth between the branch and the rest of the branches that are already in place with a tilted head. Atra tries her best to lift the branch into place, which eventually works but it's a bit of a struggle. Once she's met her goal she lets out a small laugh and sigh of relief with a small smile on her face and closed eyes. Although it is a bit embarrassing that she had such a hard time moving a single branch while Axel is moving many with ease, she enjoys working alongside the male.

Atra turns back to Axel for a moment, distracted from the den, and thinks for a moment, Would I be out of line if I called him a friend? The dusty-tan-colored female shakes her head dismissing the thought not wanting to 'scare' away the only friendly face that she's able to (Sort of) talk to.

[Meds]

Axel;

Axel smiled lightly as he felt Atra’s eyes on his back. One glance told him that she was staring in with some level of awe. He chuckled to himself.
”It’s nothing, really.”
He couldn’t recall if he had ever told her of his past—he doubted it. But it really was nothing. He was happy to help, and even happier to be getting back to his roots a little bit.

He climbed the slippery, smooth rocks until he had come to rest almost directly above the den. He waited as Atra put a few more branches in place like he had showed her, and then scanned the area for a rock. It couldn’t be too large, or else they ran the risk of smashing all the branches below, but it couldn’t be too small either, or else the first strong wind the had would topple it. It would be a pretty nice den by the time he was finished.
Eventually, he located a medium sized boulder. It looked to be about the right size. He heaved his shoulder against the rock that was wet from the spray of the falls, and eventually in started to roll. His shoulders, well-used to this exact task, bulged with the effort. Suddenly, his average-looking build was highlighted with strength that even the top brawlers in the valley couldn’t boast.
He continues rolling it until he reached the edge. Then, instead of dropping it directly down, he pushed it to the side until it fell and hit a ledge lower down. He then carefully padded to the next level, slipping only once, and did the same again.

He continued working the rock down until it was a very short drop onto the top of the shelter. He did it, and thankfully it held. Quickly, he leapt back down to come stand beside Atra, his eyes on the structure. It wasn’t yet done, but it was getting there.
”How does it look so far?”

[emorli]

Atra;

It's nothing, really. Atra's jaw drops as she hears those words leave Axel's maw. He might not think that helping Atra was a big deal, but to her, it meant the world. She's never had anyone even offer to help, let alone actually taking action. Then again, she's never really been with any other wolf to ask for help.

Atra's sparkling eyes looked at the structure with amazement, not even realizing it wasn't done being build since she's never been around something like this before and the corner of her lips upturned giving her, personally, an extremely rare, cheery expression.

”How does it look so far, ” Axel said, his eyes trained on the den. The green-eyed female turns to look at her savior and jumps slightly, surprised by him suddenly appearing next to her.

"Oh, yeah. I-It's amazing." She really tries not to to be so nervous around other wolves, but it's so new that she still hasn't gotten used to the attention but, despite how she sounds, she's extremely excited that it's coming together nicely and as if right on cue, the sky is showered in oranges and pinks as the sun hits the horizon, washing the surrounding area and wolves with a light orange tinge. In response Atra looks toward Axel, wondering what he'll do, which she most likely will follow unless he decides to leave.

[Meds]

Axel;

Atra seemed pretty happy with it, at least so far. It was almost done—there were just a few finishing touches that Axel wanted to put on.
"You see, almost anybody can make a den with a roof. But I believe that if I'm doing a job, I may as well do it right. This den won't just be some hole in the ground—I won't allow it." He grinned, his yellow eyes seeming gold for a moment, then turned once more to the edges of the fall pools. As he had hoped, some of the pools had overflowed in the spring rain, and had made the root networks of the closest trees very weak.
He nodded toward Atra, signalling that he could use her help. He braced his shoulder against a smaller, but still sturdy tree, and began to heave. Once Atra came and helped, hopefully the tree would fall, and then together they would be able to drag it to her den and prop it against the entrance—essentially closing it in from all sides, except for a small part underneath that she would (hopefully) be able to wriggle through. It was much safer this way, and much more protected from the elements.

[emorli]

Atra;

As Axel walked over to the tree and began trying to push it over, Atra got the idea that he probably needed some help in pulling the tree out of the ground. She popped her front two paws above where Axel is leaning against the tree assisting in pushing the tree over, which in a few pushes should be possible.

Suddenly tensing her muscles, pushing her weight against the tree, she puts all her strength in attempting to push the tree over, which once she joins Axel in with helping, it becomes much easier to pull the tree loose from the ground, and with a few pushes the tree topples over with a cracking sound, some of the roots being broken from the tree.

Breathing out a breath she didn't know she was holding, Atra runs back to the front of the den to look at the work done by the two (although it was mostly Axel's doing) with an amazed look on her face. She'd never seen anything like this before, as crazy as it sounds.

"Woah. It looks so cool." Even though her voice is still quiet, she surprises herself at the absence of her stutter and with wide eyes, she looks around until finally at Axel, wondering if it was just her imagination or if he heard it too.