Safe in a Deathtrap

[Deleted]

Purge wasn't a kind wolf, yet she felt a twinge in her heart strings. Something like...obligation. The albino shewolf frowned at herself, lips curling downwards. The black male hadnt saved her, no, she was quite capable; yet he had distracted her own opponent long enough for her to get away. Whilst Purge was very strong for her age, she was still small and obviously wouldn't have win in that situation. Purge still felt the tiny twinges in her chest telling her to help the male. But her thoughts were turned as a third male barreled from the foliage to knock harshly into the victor before dragging the defeated into the bush. The last remaining wolf lay there on the ground, clearly not dead. But perhaps he thought himself defeated. There was the possibility of exhaustion...

Before Purge knew it, her gleaming white pass were carrying her down the crumbling stair-case and into the labyrinthine ruins. From around the corner, she gazed at the limp form of the black wolf.

[Fierfly]

Renegade:

No voices reached his ears and the Demon had clearly fallen unconscious before Renegade had begun investigating. Instead he listened to the other male drag his opponent away into the underbrush and he heaved a silent sigh of relief.

He was in the open, the open was never safe, not when you were a shadow; you had to stay hidden and in secret, but he wasn't giving up his act just yet. The 3rd male could still return and get revenge on the Demon's opponent and he wasn't sure he had it in him to fight again so soon - especially against a younger, stronger opponent.

He shouldn't have stayed in the open, he could have at least attempted to get under some cover but the adrenaline had all died away and the ache and exhaustion that came with fighting started to close in on him. He shifted slightly, trying to shift into a position from which he could jump up quickly and run should the male return. As he started to put his weight on his injured paw to get up, it gave way under him and he landed on his hurt shoulder with a grunt and a yelp. He growled in frustration to himself and gave up. A few more minutes of lying still wouldn't hurt him, he could take his time.

He then became aware of light, careful paw-steps from a young by-stander as they approached.

((@shiver?))

[Deleted]

Wolfi: He panted seeing that he was finally deep within the bush. He stared at his bleeding "Father" and started to clean the wounds quickly. He growled something under his breath once he was done. He somehow managed to put the old wolf on his back as he started to walk slowly, yet quickly away from them... and away from this place, that his "Father" called home.
Demon grunted as he felt himself being carried away by someone. He growled slightly as the wolf carrying him started to walk away slowly, yet quickly. Away from the very place that he called.... Home.
~~~Exit Wolfi, and Demon~~~~

[Deleted]

Purge eyed the exhausted male with light ruby eyes. Skeptical nonetheless. He was obviously too weak to take care of himself, yet Purge disliked the obligation she felt. She was of evil alliance! Caring and nursing was not what she did! She should have no compassion in the weak! No mercy on the hungry! However...he had shown great strength and intellect. Perhaps she could permit a small breach of her moral law. Perhaps...she could be kind.

Awkwardly, the young wolf stepped around the corner, slim skull lowered, garnet eyes flashing in the dappled shadows. The white figure came to a halt three wolf lengths away, tail horizontal behind her. She was curious, yes, but not quite sure whether he was friend or for. Yes he had fought her enemy, and her enemy's enemy is ones friend...however, Purge wanted to find out for herself. She opened her jaws to speak, revealing teeth as white as her coat.

"Who are you?" No: thank you for fighting him off, or: are you okay. Just a simple, straight-forward, rather emotionless, low, gravelly hiss of a question. She knew she didn't look threatening, and so didnt try to. Besides, that wasn't what she was trying to accomplish.

[Fierfly]

Renegade:

He slowly turned his head so his chin lay on the ground and he opened his eyes to look at whoever had found him.

The albino she-wolf stood there, head low, eyes blazing as they crawled over him, investigating, observing, deciding.

He briefly shut his eyes and tried to hoist himself to his feet again, he hated lying vulnerable! Shadows were not caught and were not seen unless they wanted to be or they were found. This one had been found and he hated not having been able to observe quietly from the shadows as he usually did before meeting a wolf, but there was nothing he could do but answer her question.

He finished the rotation slowly, he'd started with turning his head so his chin rested on the ground, now he shifted his shoulders (painfully) until they rested in a way where his paws were at his sides and his haunches under him. Slowly he pushed himself off, faltering part-way in a half-collapse as his injured paw and shoulder took on his weight, but he didn't go completely down.

He stared into those ruby eyes with his own ghostly sapphires. He was lean and lanky, ribs and shoulders nearly showing through his thin coat and the wounds making him look gaunt and thin and - he detested to think it - weak and beaten. But he wasn't, his eyes glared and scanned too, and met the pride and intensity of the female's gaze ounce for ounce. "My name is Renegade," he answered in his typical, low, masked, tone. The tone where it was difficult to tell if he was upset, or hurt, or patient - emotion was scarce in his tone, and as tired and beaten as he was, he could keep up his tone. He pushed himself a little higher up to be at her eye level and the blue and red eyes stared intently into each other, each trying to learn the other's secret first.

[Deleted]

Purge gazed into his intense sapphire eyes as he struggled to stand. A prideful and stubborn one then. A slight smirk flitted into her muzzle. "Renegade." She rolled the name around her mouth, dwelling on the flavor of it, taking her time. After falling silent, she knew she should reciprocate. Pursing her lips, she thought before speaking. What could it hurt? "Purge." She swished her white tail as it relaxed. She flicked her ear at him and glanced at his legs. "You're wobbling." A grin broke onto her expression. It wasn't particularly cruel, just amused. He was her opposite. The black to her white, the blue to her red. He intrigued her. She was curious to say the least. She had never been one to love, but Purge knew with a certainty that she would recognize love when she felt it. However, she mistook the twanging of her heart to be that same obligation to make sure he was okay. Giving in, she spoke again. "You need to go see White Magic." She pointed out, hoping that no sign of concern leaked through her bone-white mask.

There the pair stood, yin and yang amid a maze of skeletal stone homes and hallways, collapsed arched and crumbling walls. One beaten, yet determined. The other strong, yet conflicting inside.

[Fierfly]

Renegade:

He grunted and got to his feet, it was better once he had some more weight on his back paws and there wasn't so much strain on his front, but he could still feel them throbbing. As the albino - Purge - brought this up he growled, somewhat irritated.

Purge: an interesting name, it meant to clear. To clear what? Her coat had certainly been cleared. Soft and pure white and thin, sharply outlining her build. She was a strong one, barrel chested and sturdy, but her tail was low and an amused grin plastered on her maw. She wasn't interested in fighting, and for that he was grateful.

"I'll be fine," he shook himself over, trying to force himself to his feet and to steady himself, to make his mind more alert and focused. He hated when he was told that he needed help. He was a Renegade, an outcast, he could fend for himself and hated it when that wasn't true, even for a brief moment. For someone to say he needed a professional - no - The healer of the Mountain, it cut into his pride and he hated it. "I've gotten worse than this before," it all depended of course on which you viewed as worse: his injuries now, or injuries from fights of the past, but he made it a point not to look back.

To prove that he was alright he straightened and forced himself to walk forward. He winced when he began walking on his paw and held it up instead, preferring to limp on his shoulder than send the fire through his wrist again. He glanced back to see Purge still watching him incredulously. He gave her a quick, insistent glare with his pale blue eyes and continued limping on, searching for the ruin that he so often called his home.

[Deleted]

Purges grin faltered slightly as Renegade pouted. But the grin returned again with the satisfaction that she was right; he was indeed to proud to admit he needed help. The shewolf stayed pit as he hobbled onwards, his ghostly azure eyes hooded by his stubborn brow. With a tinkling, fairy laugh Purge trotted after him, her walk faster than his hobble. She slowed to keep pace with him. "you my good sir, are an interesting character." she was tempted to bump his shoulder playfully, but thought better of it. He was injured, he was unstable, unpredictable, and they barely knew eachother. The ever increasing in intelligence: Purge, still naive and young. With a roll of her eyes she spoke again, this time without the teasing tone of sarcasm. "Why did you fight him?" Purge whispered in a rather solemn manner.

[Fierfly]

Renegade:

He ignored the first remark and grunted at the question: "In case you forgot, he started the fight, I don't back down, just finish what's started." he limped on, wanting to scowl at her fancy little tripping gait that she slowed to accommodate his slower pace and he urged himself to stride more fully, his long legs could carry him long and fast if he would let them, so he gingerly pressed his hurt shoulder to keep moving.

He glanced at her, still trotting beside him. Snarky and prying, she was a little devil this one, and yet she still kept pace with him. "Why didn't you run when you had the chance?" he countered, raising his head, now looking around for the ruin he liked to den in when he was in the neighborhood.

[Deleted]

Purge scoffed at the notion of the possibility of her being forgetful. As if. The bulky shewolf rolled her eyes. Despite her intelligence, people astounded her. They could show such a range of emotion one moment, them become so short sighted the next. The black wolf hobbled on, and Purge easily kept up with him. Without him to talk to, or something interesting to do, Purge would get bored. And lets just say she doesn't handle boredom very well.

"it's not my style." Purge put it simply, her voice gruff and unfeminine. "Besides, I hate getting bored. That's why I always keep moving. One landscape tends to grate on me." She shrugged, muscles rippling under her silky-thin layer of fur.

[Fierfly]

Renegade:

He felt an amused half-grin tug at his mouth. Oh, she was a proud one! All about style was it? He highly doubted it, but didn't say so. As much fun as it would have been to continue to press the matter and rile her up, it just wasn't something he did.

"Then one would think that you would have kept moving when the opportunity presented itself. If the Ruins bore you so then you would have moved on. And yet I find you here, talking with an old, limping roamer." he felt the grin broaden slightly as he awaited her reaction. He really wasn't old, he couldn't have been more than a season or 2 older than Purge, but he certainly felt older with his wounds eating at him.

They came to his den and he realized - much to his dismay - that he couldn't enter. The larger doorway had been filled with rubble long ago and he instead jumped through a smaller rectangle up in the wall. There was no way he could have made the jump with his bad paw and wounded shoulder. "Blazes!" he snarled to himself as this dawned on him. So he made the best of his situation. He sat down and began licking his wounds. It was a rather feline thing for a wolf to be doing, but the big cats had some wisdom behind the idea. He winced as his tongue swept over the deep cut and he could taste the coppery blood, but he kept licking, cleaning the wound so it could heal properly without White Magic.

[Deleted]

Purge smiled slightly. "Ah, there's the catch. I'm not bored yet." She nudged him slightly with her pink nose. "I found your brawl pretty interesting." She padded on, raising one white brow at his extended comment about being old. "You are clearly not old. The shine in your coat, the light in your eyes, the whiteness of your teeth, the clean, newness of your claws, the unscarred ear tips, your youthful voice, the way you move, the refreshed, modern way you think and speak. You are clearly of my own generation." The shewolf listed the attributes that she had noticed upon first laying eyes on him. For Purge had always had an attentive gift for details.

She gave him a sideways glance of her ruby red eyes. "Do not mistake me for a headstrong, blind, arrogant fool now. For you would be deadly mistaken." In that moment Purge became very grave, her attitude stone cold. But that concrete mood crumbled away as she noticed him lay down.

The encampment in front to the pair was clearly his own. Why else would the trek here? Besides, his scent simply doused the crumbling stone. "A good choice for a nest, yet, as this situation proves; not the best for a wounded wolf," Purge lay next to him, posing not unlike a sphinx of Egypt. "I would've chosen a den with an extra exit or entrance. Preferably hidden." She whispered in continuation of her previous sentence before laying her head on her paws, ears pushed firearms, studying him closely.

[Fierfly]

Renegade:

He raised an eyebrow and had to dip his head to disguise his all-too-obvious grin. She was a smart one! Very observant, but obviously had no room for sarcasm or the joke that his statement had been intended as. He could have played with this, but he was more concerned about cleaning out the gash on his wrist and just shrugged as she presented her case against his statement of his age.

He paused and glanced up at her as she went on as she warned him not to mistake her for a fool. He grunted: Never judge a wolf my their coat as the saying went, and he'd learned that nothing was ever what it seemed. "I'm not the mystery you take me for," was his personal favorite way to describe how deceiving the eye and judgement can be. He just nodded and went on with his work. "Of course, but take care also not to make the same mistake of me." and he paused to glare into her rubies with his ice blue eyes.

As she took a spot next to him and began to critique his choice of dens he stopped washing altogether and gave her a real, long stare. "Nobody's perfect," he shot back and brushed his good paw with his tongue and scrubbed it along his muzzle. He winced as the cuts began to sting and he fought the urge to scratch to get rid of the sensation, that would only make it worse. Instead he again got to his feet and surveyed the window. He'd gotten through without jumping before, if only he could still pull the trick with his limp.

He placed his forepaws on the sill, gathered his haunches and jumped so that he was now on the sill of the window. He gave Purge a brief glance of victory to prove to her that he could manage, then eased himself down into the stone room, finally just jumping down to get the flash of pain over with. He turned around and reared back up, forepaws back on the sill so he was again looking out at Purge. "You still say I need to see White Magic? Or can we say I've proven you wrong and won this 'battle' as well as the other one." he narrowed his eyes, voice hinting at a tease but also gravely serious.

[Deleted]

Purge raised her ruby gaze up to meet his own. Those tantalizing sapphire depths seemed to stare right through her, which unnerved the white shewolf. Smart as age was she couldn't read minds. Perhaps one of those famed powers could aid her. Nevertheless, conversation proceeded. He looked taken aback and slightly hurt that she had insulted his judgement. Purge laughed a shockingly bubbly laugh. "Not perfect? Far from it if I do say so myself." She teased before standing.

She watched the ragged young he wolf hoist himself painfully onto the rocks. She smirked as she watched him scrabble before thrusting himself completely into the den. When his cheeky black face reappeared she stepped forward. "Oh ho, Loup Noir, you may have won this battle, but the war still rages."

Purges intense eyes bored into his eyes, playfully serious. She had a feeling about this wolf. He wasn't a character that would soon slip silently into the pages of her book never to be seen again. No, this encounter was no mere chance or coincidence. This was a meeting of fate, of destiny. Who's destiny? Perhaps hers. Perhaps his. Who's life would be rocked more? Who's attitude would change drastically? Or would everything remain the same, peaceful? Doubtful. Nothing was peaceful for long. Nothing. And meeting him definitely wasn't nothing.

She gave him a warning look as she gathered her haunches. Hopefully he was smart enough to move. Because she was coming in, whether it not he allowed. The albino wolfess leaped the short distance and slipped through the opening flawlessly, the definition of elegance and grace. "Do I hear a 'bravo?' An 'encore' perhaps?" She spoke extravagantly before taking in the dark surroundings.

[Fierfly]

Renegade:

It was good to be home. The den was comfortably dark with only one window and relatively few cracks in the structure. There was one small corner of the ceiling missing in the far corner and that's where pine needles occasionally fell through which he'd gathered for nesting material. A pile of comfortably crushed needles lay in the darkest corner opposite the hole where he could usually nap any time of day no matter the position of the sun because it could never quite reach that space. His plans were to turn and settle into the bed as soon as this conversation concluded itself.

The sassy white wolf shot back at his challenge with her own. He let himself smile broadly for her and shook his head. She was a sassy, determined young thing wasn't she? He gave a mock nod. "Of course Mistress Purge," he glanced back up, his blue eyes gazing and burning intently. "There is always a war,"

He wondered if he'd gone a bit too far with that jab as she in turn narrowed her eyes, but she was simply gathering her haunches and he stepped back to allow her to enter. She neatly and gracefully sailed through the window and made a mock bow as she requested an applause for her performance. Renegade rolled his pale blue eyes, still grinning and turned, limping over to his bed. "Good job," he obliged as he settled onto the needles and closed his eyes, enjoying the luxurious feeling of softness for his aching body. He inhaled deeply the comforting scent of pine and his little friend Azerath and the obliging, teasing smile was replaced by a loving, dreaming one for a brief moment.

The blue orbs opened again to see Purge looking around his den and he let his guard down. Not entirely of course - he never did that, but Purge was not going to challenge him seriously and she knew how to get back out, so he wasn't too concerned. "You, young Purge are an interesting character yourself. I enjoy a villainess with a sense of humor." he gave his head a quick shake, ran his tongue over his bleeding wrist again, then settled down to recline and maybe doze.