And Then It Rained.... (OPEN)

[Twi]

Larius was happy with autumn so far and was on his way for an easy meal, but that was before the rain started. It had moved fast over the water, on clouds like a stampede of wild horses. He had misjudged its approach and, confident in the hazy memory, expected to find the little pond in the rocks quick enough. The rocks seemed to blend together, though, each crevice the same as the last. It was starting to make him dizzy, a dangerous feeling on loose, slick rocks. He met face to face with this danger when loose stones slid forward.

His paw was now trapped! Trapped and bleeding! In the rain! The stone had sliced a small line into the side of his boney ankle and the crevice now seemed much too small for his paw to be in. Tugging was Larius' only attempt at freedom. With the rising sun hidden behind a stormy gray sky, Larius knew he had until the orb was high above him before the tide would be back. That was not something he wished to experience, so he tugged again.

[Kyote]

Her exploration was not meant to last long; Artemis could in truth see a great deal from Nightsong Ridge's heights, and yet it was not the same as coming down to see for one self. The stretch of forest before her was impressive, and as the ivory she-wolf wove her way through the scent of another drifted to her.

Blinking her bright eyes, the Alpha bristled slightly, her eyes roving in a search of the stranger before they fell upon him. Seemingly stuck, the male was a darker black, with shades of grey woven like a frost upon his back.

Hesitating at first, the female prowled forward, her eyes riveted upon the wolf's paw. "Stop struggling," she murmured, her voice kinder than the emotionless state of her eyes. "You will make it worse." There was a small pause. "May I...?" Lifting her paw to motion over his, she quietly asked for permission to aid the wolf before her.

[Twi]

The constant drive of rain made it hard to see shapes and the steady beat of water against the ground as rain. Larius knew, vaguely, he wasn't alone. "Well.. yeah..thanks." He stopped struggling and let this female tend to his wound.

[Kyote]

After his consent, the pale she-wolf circled around to the back of the wolf, her eyes contemplating the situation as she regarded the trapped appendage. With an apologetic glance to whatever pain she might cause him, the regal she-wolf lifted herself to her back paws, both front paws placed on the stones surrounding the male's ankle. Lifitng one paw, Artemis delicately began to dig at the stones that crushed the male's paw, attempting to keep them from shifting tighter against him as she began to loosen them.

Minutes passed, but the female pressed on, her eyes glancing up every so often. Finally, a larger one shifted, and able to cup the large rock with her paw, she pulled it back, finally releasing the male's paw despite the slickness from the rain.