One Precious Jewel (tagged)

[Ranger]

Jewel

Winter had come in such short notice, a particular she-wolf had been looking forward to seeing the creek in its prime, the waters sparkling so beautifully and the fish would swim by without a care to give.

But it was unfortunate, the creek was frozen solid, well mostly frozen, some areas of the creek would be unstable and if a creature or a wolf were to be on said area they would surely fall into the cold water that would make them feel like knives stabbed them at every angle. This particular she-wolf was in the eastern part of the valley, where she had been the majority of the time. The female trots with such grace even with the ground covered in thick snow, thankfully, the weather was calm for the most part, and the sky was still a beautiful blue. Her crystal blue orbs scans the area, hoping to spot any movement for prey, she found none, and this would only slightly frustrate the she-wolf.

She trots to the edge of the creek, looking at the frozen creek before huffing to herself, the air she huffed out chilly and visible.

She would plan on finding shelter soon, for she knew that the weather can be unpredictable. She believed she recalled caves not being too far from where she is now, and figured taking shelter there could be the best idea, but she would want to find some food first before taking shelter.

Blood

[Blood]

Zalex

Every muscle was tense and ready to spring forward, this hunt WOULD be a successful one, not like the previous hunt he had failed to succeed with early that morning. The whole rest of the day had been spent tracking down another winter hair to hunt, and now that it was found, he was absolutely NOT going to let it get away from him. His shoulders rolled forward a few inches and he could feel the healed scar that zig-zagged from his neck to his right shoulder. That scar was NOT going to hold him back. He was a capable hunter, and that's what he would prove.

With his electric blue eyes, Zalex carefully watched the small hare digging up something in the thin layer of snow that had covered the ground several nights ago. It stuck it's nose in the snow and NOW, that's when he let his body leap forward in a bolt towards the prey. The winter hair heard his approach and dashed away in panic, but Zalex wasn't about to let it get away. Each leap and bound was ushing his muscles to the limit, but with every step he was getting closer, with every turn and bend, he was closer to snapping up his prey.

The landscape seemed to be sloping down a bit and Zalex remembered there was a creek nearby, but his thoughts were suddenly interrupted. The winter hare had made a sharp left turn and with all of his strength, the hunter had dug his claws into the ground to make sure he wouldn't lose the direction of his prey, but where he had planted his paws was nothing other than a slick patch of ice that yielded no grip to his sharp claws. A loud yelp escaped his panting maw before his head hit the cold solid ground and he was knocked unconscious in an instant.

[Ranger]

Jewel;

Just as she had wandered in her thoughts on food and shelter, her mind is interrupted by a loud yelp that came in the distance. Her head quickly perks at the direction of the yelp, and to her disbelief she sees a light colored figure on the ground. She squints her eyes to try to see if she could get a better view, but the figure was not moving, and it surely had to have been another wolf. When her mind confirms that it was indeed another wolf, she gasps lightly, quickly running to the motionless wolf.

Her swift pace took her to the wolf in almost no time, as she then slowed her pace and fully stopped once in front of the wolf. Her paw is lifted, head leaning in barely to gaze upon the out cold wolf, her posture was alert, as if ready to run in any case. She sniffs the wolf's scent, male surely, and her eyes gaze on his chest for any signs of breathing.

Thankfully, his chest did move which she sighed in relief. Her eyes avert to the large scar the male had, unappealing to the eye, which tainted the poor wolf's feature, but Jewel would never let that bother her. She leans closer to the male and ever-so-lightly paws his shoulder, speaking with her sweet and gentle, but firm voice "Hello? Are you alright sir?" She gazes at him, noticing that he was on solid ice. Before the male could even make a movement or reply, Jewel gently holds the male by his scruff with her maw, making sure she didn't touch the large scar as she gently pulls him to the snow, where it was just a bit softer than the actual solid ice.

Once he was on snow, she lets him go, and stands in front of him, pawing him once more to get him to wake up "Sir? are you alright?" she asks again, hoping to get a response from the wolf.

[Blood]

Zalex;

Songbirds chirped and fluttered around the small clearing; the golden noonday sun shone through the trees that bordered the den, and a soft breeze blew through with the scent of wildflowers. There was a pleasant voice that rang through the air and then a joyful smaller pup's laughter. A deep sigh of contentment left his lungs as he turned around and saw his lovely she-wolf and her pup that bounced by her side and batted at her tail. She laughed at her sweet little pup before her shining ice blue eyes looked up lovingly into her mate's and his looked into hers.

Everything was perfect, but not for long. A dark storm cloud rose in the sky and drifted over their peaceful little clearing like impending doom. Thunder started to rumble, and lightning shot through the sky. One of the blinding bolts zipped right over their den and struck it with a deafening crack. Fire erupted all around and trees started falling, sending sparks spraying everywhere. Fear began to paralyze every movement he wanted to take, but when he finally got his head to turn, the little pup was laying still on the ground. His mate was nowhere be found. Tears began to blur his vision, and everything was suddenly super shaky and unsteady. His body wouldn't move an inch and the next moment he was on the ground underneath a fallen tree. A voice was calling to him and whoever it was was trying to pull him out from under the tree. He tried to turn and see who it was, but his neck was stuck and his head felt like it was on fire. The voice called again, and he tried to blink away the blurriness but it was blinding like a snowstorm in the middle of winter. Suddenly everything was white and there was a blinding blizzard trapping him in a snowbank. He turned his head over to try and see who was helping to rescue him, and he caught a glimpse of bright icy eyes-


A throbbing pain was hammering on the inside of his skull as Zalex slowly tried to focus his vision. The light was blinding, and it was a desperate fight to keep his eyes open. Crystal blue eyes looked down at him in worry and Zelax's heart skipped a beat.

"Stormstar?" He mumbled as he again tried to regain his focus with the throbbing pain in his head. He blinked rapidly and tried shaking his head to clear his thoughts, but it only made the pain worse, and a groan escaped his clenched jaw. "Stormstar, is that you?" All he wanted was to hear the sound of her voice.

[Ranger]

Jewel;

She thanked the goddesses above that the wolf was alive, though he was in pain she could tell. She saw as the poor wolf shook his head and clenched his jaw in pain. He spoke, but he spoke out a name that was not hers, of course he wouldn't, he didn't know her. She refrains from answering his question for the moment, not wanting to disappoint him right then and there while he was in pain still.

She speaks with concern in her voice, her eyes never leaving off the male "You seem very hurt, please try to relax a bit, I am here to help." She said with a gentle tone, she wasn't sure how she was going to help, but she trusted in herself she is intelligent enough to figure it out. She looks to his side and dug a small pile of snow, rolling it around until she made it into a decently firm snowball. She had figured he maw had something wrong with his head, given how he blinked rapidly and such. She gently lifted the snowball with her paws and slowly placed it on the wolf's head, hoping that the coolness would numb whatever pain he may have.

"I... I hope this helps.." She said, concern and worry still lingering in her gentle voice. She continued to sit in front of him, giving him some distance to let him breathe and such. She stays quiet, allowing the wolf to recollect himself and giving him time to heal even by a little bit. She wasn't sure how bad he was injured, but she was willing to stay a while if it meant helping another wolf out. Her crystal-like orbs linger on the wolf's frame, before her eyes avert and quickly look to her surroundings to see if anyone else, specifically this Stormstar, was around. She did not see anyone, which told her that he had lost this wolf he spoke off somewhere around here.

[Blood]

Zalex;

A voice spoke through the pain as Zalex lay still, his head still pounding as each pump of blood passed through his body. The voice was not the sound of Stormstar's. It was unfamiliar and it brought him to reality a lot faster than he wanted. Stormstar was no longer apart of his life. She was gone, and as much as he wanted just to have her back, to look into her crystal blue eyes, and hear the sound of her voice, he couldn't. She was gone.

This stranger however, had the same crystal blue eyes, or of what Zalex could see through the blinding light as he tried to blink away the pain and throbbing. Her voice seemed, although unfamiliar, were caring and sweet. Her actions towards him seemed friendly, and not aggressive as he felt a cool pressure on his brow from her pressing something to his head.

"Thank you." Zalex says quietly after her she had spoken and sat still whit the clump of snow still set on his head. The throbbing seemed to pound less violently, and the pain lessened with each slow deep breath that he took. "I, I was hunting... and I must have slipped." His memory tried to ignore the swirling dizziness and replay what had happened before his mind had been lost in the dream world of the past. It seemed to have caught up with the present and so did his vision as the world around him became clear and alive. There was a beautiful aqua she-wolf standing over him with lovely crystal blue eyes that watched him with concern and care. Zalex tried to swallow and keep up his slow deep breaths so that his head wouldn't flare back up with throbbing pain. "I, I'll be alright." He tried to sit up and get his paws underneath him, but a paralyzing pain shot through his head, and he squeezed his eyes shut and bit his tongue as his jaws clenched tightly. Laying back down and staying still was the only thing that would help at this point.


Ranger

[Ranger]

Jewel;

The stranger before her thanked her for her kind act of help, she barely gives a soft smile, but concern still devoured her demeanor. He explains that he was hunting, this only made her quirk a brow, this stranger had some luck finding prey unlike her, however he wasn't so lucky that he slipped and fell unconscious. She watched as the male tries to get up, only to fall back down from the pain he was feeling. She quickly places a paw on top of his gently, and ushers to his aid some kind of way "Please sir, just lie down for awhile until you are okay to stand again. It seems you must have hit your head really hard chasing that critter.. relax awhile, I will be here with you until your friend arrives, I'm sure they are very worried." she spoke softly, looking around again in hopes someone he knows would come to his aid.

After looking around for some moments and still not spotting anybody, the she-wolf sighs and asks for the male's name "What is your name, sir? " she asked in hopes he didn't hit his head too hard to where he did not remember his own name. She places a gentle paw on top of his head, rubbing it slowly and as gently as she can, massaging his throbbing head in hopes it would allow him to feel better, however it made the pain worse she would quickly retract her paw and apologize, for she did not want to make the pain worse.

Blood

[Blood]

Zalex;

In the midst of his blaring headache after his attempt to stand up, Zalex felt a small gentle paw rest on top of his. His eyes dropped to where he felt the spot of contact, and he blinked. For a moment, the pain in his mind had subsided, that, or it was just enough of a moment to distract him from the pain. Her soft voice spoke up again and his ears flicked back to hear the caring words escape her mouth. She told him to rest and promised that she would be with him until his friends showed up. Her dainty head swiveled about looking around as if she was expecting to see someone coming to find him… expecting to see this “Stormstar” that he had mentioned.

Zalex closes his eyes and dips his chin a little with a doubtful frown on his face. “No…” His head sways back and forth ever so slightly in a discouraged way. “No, no one will be coming to find me” With his eyes still closed, the pain in his head began to mix with the emotional pain in his chest as he let the hurt of losing someone he loved fill him up until he felt the ache not just in his head, but in his heart. “Not anymore…”

There was a soft pressure that gently rested on top of his head, and at first, Zalex flinched slightly and his eyes opened with a painful start, but when he realized it was the she-wolf trying to comfort him and reduce the throbbing in his head, he slowly closed his eyes again, and as exhausted as he was from fighting the physical and emotional pain, he so badly just wanted to fall into the soft caressing and get lost in the comfort of being held be his Stormstar, but he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. His shoulders jerked slightly to the side as he inched a little bit back from the gentle comforting paw of the stranger sitting beside him. Protecting him. Caring for him. Concerning about him. He just couldn’t.

”I’m sorry, but you don’t have to stay with me. Thank you for caring for me. You’re very kind.” Zalex bends his neck and tilts his head in the direction of where she sat next to him, but not wanting to look into those crystal eyes out of shame and embarrassment. “Thank you.” With his eyes still averted, he responds to her question, “My name is Zalex” As rude as it was, and as stubborn as he was being while trying to shove all of his emotions back into the darkness, he refused to ask for her name. Why. Probably out of fear that it might be Stormstar. With those same crystal blue eyes, this beautiful she-wolf was for too similar to what his heart craved and missed from his past love. He just couldn’t.

Zalex attempts for a second time to stand up and remove himself from this situation. To run from his hurting emotions and find another hunt to pursue that hopefully won’t end in another rough spill. Pain, again, throbs heavy within his head. The pressure feeling like it’s going to pop his eyes out as his body and balance work together to stabilize him. With his jaws clenched and his gaze glaring forward from the sudden sharp pain, Zalex takes a step forward, forcing the dizziness to submit to his abrupt action. He shakes his head and forces out a grunt to make sure that the she-wolf wouldn’t be concerned about taking care of him anymore because he could stand up now. “I’ll be fine.” However, even with that, there was a slight doubt in the back of his mind that knew she wasn’t about to just get up and leave his side.



Ranger