[Rita]

[ takes place after Rita/Badger but before Gemini. transferring from discord. ]

---

T R I P P Normally he wasn't this far from his den but he needed something special to bring home to his mate, she was getting a bit crazy being stuck at home so often and wanted to spruce up the place a bit. Something about it looking too drab and unkept. He didn't get it, the den was FINE! He wasn't about to argue with her though, he liked having his tail and that was normally the first thing she went for if he gave her any sort of lip these days. She really was coming down with a bad case of cabin fever! Myabe he'd take her out one of these days if the weather allowed but not today, the sun would be setting soon and it was already dangerous enough being out so late. He was frowning deeply, the thing he was looking for just not showing up, his mood was beginning to turn sour and if this kept up he was going to be more than angry when he got home. It wouldn't help one bit and he knew this but maybe just avoiding the angry woman would be the best if he seriously couldn't find it! He was about to give up when movement caught his molten eye. There, finally, he found it! Rushing over, snapping at the ravens picking away at the thinning carcass, he took away the skull of the long dead thing he'd left many days earlier. Now she wouldn't be pissy anymore, how could she!? He smiled to himself and took the skull with him, not noticing if anyone was near by at the time because there was never anyone near by...not anymore. The sun was finally beginning to leave the sky and shadows began to grow, that meant it was time to head back. He hated being out at dark, it always made him so sleepy. He started to pick up the pace, best to not keep her waiting, happy wife happy life after all!

[Rita]

Badger had lived. Good. They owed the broken empire nothing. Certainly not their lives. The rugged female meandered slowly along the shorelines, the waves choppy as dusk settled over the landscape. The cries of gulls against the raspy lulls of the waters was like a lullaby, one that Rita had come to love. Come to loathe. It stirred a lonesome feeling deep in her heart, in her chest, wrenching and twisting it. But at the same time she clung to it for the comfort of the familiar, of what once soothed her. Even though now it hurt. But in her attempts to check in on Badger, Rita had come across the scent of someone she hadn't known in years. Her son. She'd fled the responsibility of a reunion, at first, knowing she wasn't ready. Then she avoided the coves out of fear for his reaction. Time ticked, birds screamed, waves crashed, and the time for stalling was passed. She needed to see him. There he was. His form strode with a pace, one that showed purpose - she envied that. The skull in his jaws sent an ache in her chest, a lump in her throat. Memories of a life long gone. Swallowing her hesitation, the bitch slowly turned to exit from the deep shadows of the overarching cliffside gap. Her golden eyes, aged and weary and worried, focused in on Tripp as she slowed. Stopped. In full view of the son she'd loved and lost. It took her a few seconds to find her words... "Son," her voice croaked, "... do you wish me dead?" How could she blame him, if he did?

[Rita]

[ takes place after Rita/Badger but before Gemini. transferring from discord. ]

---

T R I P P He was going to be late at this rate and he feared his fate. If he wasn't there by the time the sun went down he'd be lost again, lost and in so much trouble! He couldn't afford it, couldn't lose her again, couldn't start over again! His pace picked up as the form of a siren came from the shadows. She was his mother this time, one he hadn't seen in such a long while though it wasn't uncommon for her to appear to him like she did now. She spoke something silly, something so preposterous that he didn't even slow as he trotted past her. The shore had tried so hard to play tricks on him and he wasn't interested anymore, he had his beloved, they had their cove and even this phantasm couldn't take that away. He only went a few paces beyond where the Pirate Queen had stopped and into a well hidden hole that he'd found by chance so long ago. It was home now, his and hers. If Rita remained for any reason, she'd hear him cooing to someone inside, "I'm sorry i know it's late, please don't be ma-" He whimpered softly, "No, no I found it this ti-" Another whimper and some movement, no matter what it was evident Tripp wouldn't be coming out of the hole that served as the entrance to his cove home anytime soon, Rita would have no choice but to enter if she dared to figure out what was going on. If she did, if she was brave enough, she'd find a hovel that was wretched as the wolf that called it home. Patches of fur and hair littered the floor, stones rough and smooth were placed in very random but purposeful ways, almost like they were people. They even had markings on them that could almost be mistaken for animals, maybe wolves? Over in the corner, she'd find her son, or what was left of him. He'd not fared well on his own here on this shore. He was skinny, too thin to even be considered healthy. His fur was torn and matted from mange, a tiny scrap of his once protected bandana hanging from his neck by the sheer willpower of a single strand. The hole smelled of sickness and blood, his blood, dried and new. The worst was what he was near, what was on the ground at his paws. A misshapen husk that was parts of many things, mostly rotted and dead. A tail torn from something recently, the bones of various animals, the skull she'd seen him running with the newest addition at the place where a head might go. In the center of it all was a dirty but very obvious pelt, a pelt of a badger, shredded, made to appear longer than it really was. He obviously adored it though, spoke to it, feared it. "No, it was my mother this time but I-" He sighed heavily as the lifeless abomination scolded him in his mind, saying something Rita could never hear. "Please don't be like that Badger."