In Dire Straits
[ACCEPTANCE] Escape into Reality - Printable Version

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Escape into Reality - Kaylii - January 16, 2018

Redd

It was hard to live on your own, when you were used to living a life of luxury. Days that were once filled with warm toasty fires in a confined hearth, with the sweet soft comfort of your very own rug, accompanied by a soft singsong hum and creeks of an old rocking chair were far in the past. Days of playing fetch with sticks, to be greeted by treats of raw meat for bringing it back were no more. Even the soft tender moments of being able to stare out into the stars lacked their compassion, as they would never again be shared by a tender hand stroking against Redd's head of her departed human companion. What was once a quiet days filled with warm and inviting loving moments had become the worst days of the wolf's life, now that she was truly and utterly alone.

The first thing that Redd insisted on was getting as far away as her paws could carry her from her human's cottage. It had been her home for three years, but she couldn't stand the thought of staying to smell her owner's scent day in and day out only to be reminded that the old woman was dead. To brave the true wild and starve off scraps and roots was better than to stay with a decaying body, and so for over a month the fem wolf traveled. It wasn't well in its plan of course. Redd had never been on her own and didn't have the first clue on how to look for shelter or what could constitute as something edible in replacement for meat, as hunting was a skill she never had to bother to master in the past. The first week on her own was hard, as she stumbled her way through the forest she first turned to when deciding to leave her only home, drinking water from streams and tried to sleep with mainly failure in fear of something attacking her in the night. The second week however was worse. Between the small lizards she managed to pounce on and the twigs she would chew to try and give herself something to stay busy with, the wolf was inevitably starving. 

The third week has been a mixture of some delirium as her body tried to forget the fact that it was living off fumes, when her tired golden eyes caught sight of bird wings, followed by the richly stench of decay that was inhaled through her umber colored nose. A carcass had never been part of Redd's diet before, but the near rabid sensation of an easy meal made her forget the easy ways of life she had in the past as her legs bounded towards the meal. It was the first moment since her solo adventure that she felt a sense of hope on actually making it. 

With strength from having a full stomach, and a sense of respect for the harsh life that nature promised, Redd journeyed further with cautious steps and keen looks as she kept going. She was proud of herself in the fourth week for managing to catch a rabbit. Its leg had been injured but still, it was an accomplishment she had yet to fulfill, and made her feel more ready towards this life of survival. The hope thickened in her dirty and malnourished body, and kept her eager to go further. There had to have been a point in this direction she picked from the start, right?

It was the middle of the fifth week, when she had ventured away from the safety of wood and along the open air and waters near the cliffsides when something startled Redd's senses. It took the rustic colored canine a few moments to piece it together, as it had been rare in her past to come across the scent of wolf. It was there, constant and growing, as she stumbled her way into what could have only been a territory. Naturally the tension rose and Redd stopped dead in her tracks. This would be the first moment she would encounter her own species as a pack. She had no knowledge on how to greet her brethren. What if she did something wrong? On the other hand, this is what she had been looking for. Being alone would inevitably get her killed. She wasn't equipped with knowing how to hunt or scavenge effectively, and luck on finding easy meals would eventually run out. She also couldn't deny the fact that she was lonely. Her time with her human never had real interaction when it came to conversation, but she still had a constant presence that she ached to have again. Redd ruffled her fur, matted from the debris of her search out in this wild and old blood from the kill she had made, until the shifting revealing the small hunk of black stone that was tethered by simple rope around her neck. She stared at it hard, and huffed with a husky unused voice.

"Let's do this. For you, Rika."

Dirty feet moved forward, further into the territory of wolves and hoped at the back of her mind the creatures that lived here saw something worthwhile in the wolf who was still searching herself.

OOC: This is being replied to in Discord chat! Vixxie is accepting Redd and will show that soon :B