[WishingWind]

The time Wishingwind had spent in In Dire Straits had been spent largely alone, which might have bothered a more socially needy sort of creature. But even with her love for family, even with her enjoyment of others, all Wishingwind had ever really needed were the caribou.


Even with her help though, her herd had a rough winter the year before, and their numbers were still suffering. The weak, old, and injured had been already fallen, and the young and healthy were all needed to bolster the falling numbers so she didn't feel comfortable taking any from the herd for her own use. Getting ready to go into winter, though, she needed to be thinking about putting on fat stores and preserving more meat for the lean times which meant something larger and richer than snowshoe hares or ptarmigan. 


She left the caribou herd to continue their slow southward migration on their own. She had noticed some time back that as this herd became more tamed, much like her family's herds back home, they tended to remain together more and longer than the wilder herds. With Yibio to guide them to richer feeding grounds they had less need to disperse after the fall rut, though eventually in the deep winter when lichen was too scarce even for her keen nose and experience to find in large amounts, they would spread out too far for him to keep track of every individual alone. That was when he would lose the most of the year's casualties. The rut was coming soon for them as well, and for that couple weeks the bulls would be in danger not only from each other but from opportunistic predators. For now though she didn't need to worry as much about leaving them. They would stay together on the migration path, while he put up supplies elsewhere.

Lifting her nose to the wind, she breathed deeply. It was the moose rutting season, which put them high on the list of possible hunting, but while the rut made the bull moose vulnerable it also made them dangerous. Moose were dangerous at the best of times, let alone when they were maddened by the scent of cows in estrus, and at close to a thousand pounds or more they had a lot of bulk to back up their belligerence.

[Swamp Thing]

    The cold had brought some sickness upon the beast that lurked in the waters. He didn’t know where it had come from, maybe he had eaten something bad, but he felt his nerves frying, everything going haywire. Usually when other came close to the water he was kind, helping even. But lately he snapped, angered as if someone had does something to him. So far anyone who had gotten too close had escaped his snapping jaws. With the sickness and his madness, he had strayed further and further from the water, something he had always gone against doing. But here he was, fighting off the cold with nothing as he trotted through the woods, water not too far off but far enough away to raise questions.

    The hellagator could smell prey, smell the moose and the herds that went through this land. There was the scent of wolves and cats, having already passed through or not too far off. For some reason the beast took to one path, stalking the closest creature. Swamp Thing wasn’t quiet with his approach, some kind of heaving snarl coming from deep in his belly. His mouth hung open, the inside glowing red. Usually not one but prey got to see it, but the sickness had him walking with his mouth agape, as if struggling to breath.

    As soon as he would near the wolf, he would wheeze his words out. “Who...are you?” It didn’t matter. Even if they had met before, he wouldn’t recall. Not Brielle, not anyone from Gemini, no one. He would take steps toward the girl, and she might be able to tell that something about him was wrong. Maybe it was his scent, or just how he was walking. Swamp Thing himself wasn’t entirely sure, and he didn’t care. There was some kind of hunger, deep in his stomach, and something told him to feast.

[WishingWind]

“Who...are you” the creature asked.
She took in the animals sickened breath. The stench of fish and death made her nose wrinkle and her eyes water, she held back a gag and she blinked back the tears.
“My name is Wishingwind, and who may I ask are you?” She asked. WhishingWind’s voice now dry and harsh. 
Wishingwind studied the figure. Long legs, great for running. Long tail, potential tripping. Dull spikes, useless as a weapon. Glowing throat? She didn’t know what that might be for. She looked back at the herd she had been leading, with Yibio now leading them she didn’t have to deal with the caribou. She didn’t think of them as a burden but they were a handful.
“My you look... well...” she cocked her head to one side. Wishingwind took one last look at the herd, she sat down and gave all her attention to the sick stricken creature. She shook her fur out and looked up at the green animal.
“Um, if your looking for water I know where a large lake is.” She said with a small crack in her voice.

[Swamp Thing]

    “My name is Wishingwind, and who may I ask are you?” Swamp Thing barely understood what the girl was saying. There was an itch, deep in his throat, and he couldn’t get to it. “My you look... well...” His mind screamed lies. Swamp Thing had helped save those drowning, had brought treasure from the bottom of the ocean to wolves, and she had to audacity to lie? He knew he looked like trash, he felt like trash. His breath tasted bad, and the food he usually loved tasted rotten. There should have been a growl low in his belly, but there wasn’t. Instead the beast stared almost dumbly at her.

    “Um, if you’re looking for water I know where a large lake is.” The word ‘water’ seemed to calm him, and he looked about as if he had forgotten where he was. Gathering back his sense, he would nod slowly, speaking softly. “Water….yes….that would be nice.” His usually happy voice was gravely, sad and almost beaten. He’d wait for the girl to turn, to lead him to this lake she knew of. As soon as she turned, Swamp Thing would feel that hunger over taking him.

    Alligators and crocodiles can strike rather fast. Running is not their strong trait, but they can wait and strike out fast to catch prey. Swamp Thing used his alligator blood, going to strike at the girl’s legs. If he got her, he’d pull her back, going next to bite at her neck, going in for the kill. He wanted this to be fast, he didn’t want much of a fight. If she escaped, though, he would be after her, somewhat faster than a regular alligator for his longer legs. He hoped though, the only thing she would see if the glowing of his throat at he ate her.

[WishingWind]

Her paws gracefully touched the ground as she took a few steps onto the path towards the lake.
“Water….yes….that would be nice.” The large creature said.
Wishingwind was already a few paces ahead of the animal when she replied, her crunchy voice rang out and bounced back at the two when it hit the trees around them. “Well, follow. It’s just around here.” She barked.

      Her fur and tail swayed as she walked, her joints felt as if someone had pour gallons of sand into them.
Wishingwind noticed his voice was soft and barely there. She also noticed that he hadn’t said his name, but she didn’t pay much attention to that. It was his name, if he wanted to keep it private then he could do so.      
     She stopped where she was and began scratching her left ear, it hurt like hell and was very irritating, her head tilted slightly to the left when she was done. After that, she shook out her fur and started to walk again, leading the big creature with no name to water. The smell of wet grass and the sound of rushing water filled her sences,she blinked a few times. The skin under her eyes sagged and felt heavy. Wishingwind’s eyes were dark and red lay where white should. Her hips her and her ears drooped low, though her paws didn’t hurt she know they would soon.

And she was right. Wishingwind felt teeth dug into her back paw, her eyes widen in pain. A loud yelp escaped her muzzle. She twisted back around to see the large creature, it had a good grip on her leg. Given that she is old, her bite wasn’t hard when she sunk her teeth into the side of the large animals snout. Wishingwind wiggled and kicked trying to get free, a loud snap could be heard. Her leg bone snapped, she let out a loud snarl. Blood dropped from the wound and splattered the ground like paint on a canvas. Wishingwind kicked and kicked and managed to get free. She began to limp fastly away,only she didn’t look where she was limping off to... The lake ...