[Rita]

[ liquid-timed to right after the sharita reunion ]

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B A D G E R The soft pitter-patter  of rain echo throughout the cold, dark, cave  walls and brought the  refugee to a state of wakefulness.  Heavy eyelids blink the exhaustion from her eyes and her nostrils flared taking in a deep breath before exhaling it out her nose.  She lifted her head slightly to lean forward and greedily lap at the water that drifted into her shelter before soon laying outside.  She licked at her charcoal lips before wincing and rolling back over onto her side. Truly Badger was a pitiful sight to behold , nothing more then  a husk of her once former glory.   Her beautiful steel-gray fur was coated with mud and blood along with missing patches of fur where her wounds had started to heal and scar over.  She felt angry and betrayed: having been left alone to die for her pack for a war that she never belonged in. Abandoned. The echo of snarling could be heard from within the depths of her cave as the thought dangerously swirled about her lonely mind.  Anger gnawed at her  very core at the very thought of those whom left her survival to her own. The bloody, battered woman had taken a fall down the ravine and shattered her ribs living in piss-poor conditions in the middle of nowhere.   She did not belong to that pack any longer and held no intention of ever returning. She would be on her own from here on out.

[Rita]

She was, by no means, a semblance of her former self. But it'd be a lie to say the beast hadn't awoken. A bleak and relentless drizzle plagued the day, with an overcast so vast there was no true means to determine the passage of time except one's derailing thoughts. The birds and crickets were silenced, overruled by the stunning chorus of wetland frogs as they seized the quiet as their own. The lumbering wolf was alone on the rolling moores. Early in the morning she'd failed to find shelter, and she'd since ceased to once the rains had soaked her through. Now she claimed it, wore it without hesitation, feeling the rumbles of distant thunders through the ground. She'd always been fond of storms and their raw, ruthless power. Though even a storm this dedicated could not wash away the stench, the rivulets, of dark-red blood. Someone's life was fading. Her eyes followed the direction of her nose as she let her senses slowly lead her in the direction of this weak. An easy kill. After finding her love again, finding him broken, a shell, Rita needed to become the fire. She needed to become his hearth. To channel herself back to life. Taking another's might do just that... The tension broiled in her muscles, tense and taut with each thudding step as the bitch turned into the mouth of a dark cave. It would swallow her alive, its shadows engulfing her part by part as she entered. Consumed whole by this decision. The wretched stench grew heavy in the air. Overwhelming. This creature's life was nearing its end, and hers its resurrection. Teeth bared themselves, a gurgling growl tickled her throat, her eyes narrowing in on the faded figure in the back. Ready for the kill... Until those eyes. Those broken, betrayed blue eyes. She knew them. Pause. If nothing else, Rita's bloodlust was not satiated, but instead swelled at the site of her mangled Phantom. Lips peeled back in a distorted manner, repulsed not by the sight or smells themselves but rather whatever situation had caused them. The ex-Captain let her growl loose, low and uneven, as she took the next few steps to close the gap between them. Regardless of whether Badger would lash out - Rita could take her weakened body with ease - the pirate queen approached and gingerly pressed her snout against the scruff of the other. Breathing deeply, still growling. There she would stand, a looming figure. A relic of the past come to inspect the ruins of the present. "What did this?"

[Rita]

B A D G E R Lightning illuminated the cave walls followed by the loud boom of thunder; the soft pitter-patter of rain having soon transitioned to a  full torrential downpour outside of her temporary shelter. Soon the female was slipping out of conciousness and her heavy eyelids began to fall, lulled to sleep by the storm raging on outside: a temporary relief from the pain eating away at her. Yet, it was short lived. She was no longer alone. Light pawsteps against the cave, labored breathing,  racing heartbeat, and the overwhelming scent of a stranger soon caught her attention and caused eyes to snap open and fur to stand on end. The  rumbling snarl echoed throughout the darkness and Badger lifted her head, albeit weakly, to  attempt to make out whom exactly her assailant may have been. Yet, she was not about to give in and allow the trespasser to easily put an end  to her already miserable existence.  Instead, she was ready and willing put the last bit of fight in her toward the stranger and if anything strike a blow before she died.  A guttural growl escaped her jugular,  charcoal lips peeled back to reveal a set of fangs poised and ready to fight back as her attacked moved into position.  Lighting flashed to illuminate the room one last time and it was then the world around the two of them shifted. Only to find.. A ghost of the past. Badger's eyes widened in disbelief and her ears went backwardwards as she gazed up at the eyes of the ex-captain; however, she did not make any attempt to pull away. Instead, she rasped weakly, "...C-Captain?"  Her body started to move so she was laying back down : far too tired, far too weakened to  have tried to fight back.  Her eyes soon closed and she did not recoil, "...if you're here to kill me, I will not fight back. Even if I held a grudge with you, I could never fight you." She began, her heavy eyes soon shutting once again. "You raised me." She murmured softly and flicking her tail and waiting for her demise; however, it never came. Rita pressed her snout upon her scruff growling and breathing her in. "....Tortuga left me to die to a war, Captain." She sputtered. Instead, her heart sunk to the pit of her stomach and she felt her voice crack, "I... I don't want to die, Captain." She pleaded, heart sinking into her stomach. "Please, don't let me die, I want to live."

[Rita]

"...C-Captain?" The beast had all-but forgotten what that meant, but hearing that echo of a title spurred her guts. It summoned to life a role she hadn't worn in years, and though it felt rough around the edges, she stepped into it. A latent fury singed her blood, a tension cutting deep into her muscles. Into the air around her. Here was her Phantom, her Banshee, her daughter-in-law... all but dead. Alone. Where were the others? Here she was, basically submitting to what Rita could only assume was the cold, clammy grasp of Death itself. A growl surged from her chest, don't you dare. Badger was not Death's to claim; the right to her life could never belong to such a leech. "...if you're here to kill me, I will not fight back. Even if I held a grudge with you, I could never fight you." Her guts clenched, twisted, revolted. Bile rose onto her tongue, absolute disgust with the words that dared slip off her daughter's tongue. "You raised me." She lay in waiting, the broken soldier expecting the refuge of cold nothingness after the agony of war has overcome them. "Hush," the command cracked, harsh, "Death has no rights to you..." Only I do. And I say NO. "...Tortuga left me to die to a war, Captain." A savage snarl ripped through the confines of the cave. Rita pulled back if only for a second, her pelt bristled and rippling with rage.  Before her bloodied warrior could open her mouth again, the ex-Captain was back to her, quickly encircling her. Wrapping herself around the other, as Tethys had done so many nights for her. Protection. "I... I don't want to die, Captain. Please, don't let me die, I want to live." Arching her neck out over the huddled mess, Rita would lay her head atop the nape of Badger, pressing hard in what could only be described as a hug. One of her paws lay over Badger's shoulders, pulling her close. "You don't have my permission to die..." Slowly, in a manner so mild, so rare from the bitch, she leaned over her friend's face. A soft tongue slipped from her lips, carefully tending to the fresh wounds that clung to Badger's face. Tethys's endless lessons had paid off, it seemed, as the ex-Captain did her best to clean what she could. Slowly. Delicately. Lovingly. "They left you to die..." idle musings in-between tender kisses, "Your life isn't theirs to own, anymore..." They already threw you out. Don't let them win by dying.