Roleplaying

Sora woke up and found herself in Gabriel's spare bed. Veronica must have dragged her into the cave when she was out cold. Sora noticed a small bowl of food lying beside the bed that smelled of the deer that she had caught earlier. There was also a new blanket ontop of her. Veronica must have made it out of a deer since it was made of deer skin. It was very soft, but Sora shook it off. She had to know why Lillian had not come when she had called her. As she reached the other side of the cave, she knew why. Lillian was too weak to hardly move.

Sora sniffed Lillian and the new blanket in her wolf form. Then her brown fur started to disappear as she nosed her way under the blanket, getting closer to Lillian. Once she got close enough, she grabbed the bowl of food and placed it next to the bed. She curled up around little Lillian's body, keeping her warmer. Right now, Sora's fur was still very soft and silky. Perfect for Lillian to cuddle up to and keep warm.

Sora started licking the top of Lillian's fuzzy head. Next, Sora took her meat and fed Lillian until it was finished. Sora would wait to eat her food outside and was more concered about Lillian than eating food herself. She did not want Lillian to die, she was far too young and Sora almost thought of little Lillian as her pup. She grew protective of this pup, but was not quite as protective as Raiku. In that case, she was Raiku's pup but Sora loved her as her own pup or her little sister, she couldn't be sure which. All she knew was that she loved her and couldn't let her die, especially not right in front of her, while she was curled up around Lillian. Hopefully, Sora's ice cold tongue would wake her up and Lillian would pull through this.

Sora spent most of the night with Lillian, but left in the morning before Veronica noticed her there. She did not know that Veronica had been injured while getting some food for Lillian or that she had been starving all along. Sora had not noticed that anything was amis. That was until she tucked Lillian back in and started to head towards the entrance. After noticing Veronic's scent, the young wolf knew she was there in the cave, asleep.

The only strange thing was that something was sticking out next to Veronica. As Sora creeped closer to Veronica she realized with horror that they were her ribs. Horrified, Sora stumbled over backwards and tripped over some cooking bowls that Veronica used to cook food in. Racing out of the den, she only stopped when she was at the ledge that she howled at during night.

Obviously, Sora was spooked as she lay panting and trying to catch her breath. She had seen a mirror of herself, only it hadn't been a reflection. It had been much, much worse. Seeing herself like that never seemed to phase her. Seeing another wolf like that though spooked her, especially one that she cared about. Things were really bad now. Veronica needed food soon or else and Sora did not want to acknowledge her own thought, in case it came to pass.

The next day, Sora hunted whatever small animal she saw, heard, or smelled. Finally, she caught a squirrel. It would be easier for Veronica to eat and help her keep some food down at least. Squirrel meat was easier to hold down, that Sora knew for a fact. She managed to get two squirrels for Veronica and Lillian. Sora nearly caught a third, but she cringed midleap because of her strained and injured shoulder, ending up crashing onto the ground and losing the squirrel.

'Lucky squirrel,' she thought, pulling herself up. All that was heard then was a bellow of a wolf in agony. Sora tucked her left front leg to her chest and limped away before Veronica could check to see where the sound came from. Luckily for her, the sound echoed around the whole valley for a split second and Sora hoped that Justin couldn't hear her anguished cries when she limped along a well-worn trail. It was her well-worn trail that lead to the sheltered outcrop of rock that she would lay on and howl to the dark nights alone. Soon, she would be surrounded by darkness and she could rest her injury.

"Morning, already?" Sora yawned and stood up. She slumped down. Her shoulder seemed to get worse everyday and the worse news was that it looked infected. Sora not only hated the idea of letting Veronica patch her wound up, she despised it actually, but it was going to sting worse than the wound she had received on her neck. Her neck was still rubbed raw and her fur was taking a long time to grow back. Fortunately, there might not even be a scar left by the time Justin returned. Thoughts of Justin only seemed to further her anguish as she faced her pain and sorrows alone. As much as she hated doing so, the young wolf reluctantly limped towards the den. She promised that she would be perfectly fine while Justin was gone and her shoulder was not fine. She was hurt and acknowledged that she needed some help. What good would her word be if she broke it?

Although she needed help, she thought better of her idea and wanted to wait one or two more nights before allowing Veronica to heal her. This night, she would get a surprise visit. Veronica came out of the den to howl with Sora that night. Sora was greatly surprised when Veronica started howling behind her, off the ledge of the rock. Sora had been preoccupied with sending out a longer howl that would carry for many miles and did not hear Veronica come up.

After a few drawn-out howls, Veronica was up on the ledge as well. Sora's howls were slowly becoming more drawn-out and mournful each passing day. Finally Veronica asked,"Sora, are you calling for someone specific in the pack?" "Yes, I am indeed." Sora spoke gravely, turning her head to Veronica, then turning it back to gaze out over the distance between her and the pack. "I am howling, calling for Justin, only he won't answer. I doubt he can even hear me." 

At this time, Veronica did not know that Sora had a deep cut on her shoulder or what caused it. She thought that Sora was fine, until she saw Sora shudder at the cold breeze. It did not make sense. Sora had long fur but Sora left before she could ask and disappeared. Little did Veronica know that Sora would not come back until the following evening.

As the next evening passed, Sora made her way back to the den, limping the entire way. Her left shoulder felt like a fire was raging inside of it. She would let Veronica heal it, but not without a fight. Perhaps not a phisical fight, but she knew that it needed to be treated, yet the mixed brown wolf hesitated. This was going to hurt her and it would hurt a lot.

Her eyes gazed over at the uneaten deer that she had caught but she would eat later, much later that night. She took the two squirrels and dropped them at Veronica's paws, exposing the deep gash on her shoulder. After arguing for a while, Sora convinced Veronica to cook the squirrels for her and Lillian before looking at the injury. Veronica started to clean Sora's wound when, suddenly, Sora bit the air next to where Veronica had just been. Veronica was somewhat startled by this action, then passed a wooden block to Sora.

After sniffing the wooden block, and noticing the bite marks around it, Sora picked it up in her jaws. Veronica was telling her that it would help to ease her pain. Sora doubted it, but did it anyway. This block looked like it had been used only once. Veronica pressed a piece of cloth against Sora's shoulder. Two sounds were heard then. One was the sound of Sora growling in pain, the other was the sound of splintering wood as the wooden block snapped in two. Sora could only stand to have the wound cleaned for now so she left before it could be bandaged. She refused to be around the den, or cave, for a while. She would come back and eat before the night was over.

Sora came back shortly before morning. Her stomach had been growling at her constantly. She needed to eat something soon. Sora remembered the two deer that she caught for herself. After a while, she made her way back to them and started riping large chunks of meat off, then gulping it down hungrily. She was too busy to notice anything else and she was ravenous. When she had stripped off all of the meat and was almost halfway through the second deer, Sora looked up, her muzzle stained red with blood.

She growled, placing her paws on the carcass. Veronica had probably heard her and thought that there was a bear outside with all of the commotion Sora was making. Sora could not help scarfing down the food. She was hungry and was growling fiercely to keep Veronica back. Sora was telling her that these two deer were hers. She was also growling to let Veronica know to keep her distance. Sora was not about to let Veronica anywhere close to her injury at the moment.

Soon she finished off the last pieces of meat and cleaned herself up. She did not want to scare Lillian. All that remained of the two deer were their skin and bones. At least now Sora was well fed. Sora left shortly afterwards and walked over to her den. She had discovered a den close to where she howled at night, so she claimed it as her own. It was not quite as large as Veronica's and it was on the other side of the valley, but it was perfect for Sora. Sora left Veronica's cave in a hurry because while she was there Lillian had rubbed up against Sora's sore neck injury. This had resulted in more unbearable pain for Sora and she had snapped her jaws in the air. It had been too close to Lillian, so Sora decided not to see Lillian until her injury on her neck healed.

Her thoughts drifted to Justin as she lay down in the den with her head on her paws. Her last thought before falling asleep was that if Chain was still alive, Justin and the others would have an easier time fighting him. At last, Sora fell asleep with the satisfaction of weakening Chain considerably. Hopefully her pack would not have much difficulty in taking him out. He might even be dead already.

Sora gazed out over the snowy landscape and sighed. Soon she would have to sniff out some more food for herself, Lillian and Veronica. She would need to check in on them and she wanted to see how much of the meat was left. Knowing how hungry they all had been, she guessed that there would be nothing left. The brown wolf laid her head down on top of the snow once more. The snow eased the pain in her neck little by little. Although it was cold, it was also soft and it soothed her sore neck.

Later, Sora walked next to Veronica's cave and realized that she had been right. There was no more meat left on the deer that she had caught. As she walked by, she noticed that Veronica and Lillian seemed to be doing better now. Sora smiled inwardly, things were looking up.

Sora lay down wearily. Hunting by herself and keeping the pack well-fed wastiring. She had managed to catch a single deer, nothing more, and left it in front of Veronica's cave, only taking a large chunk of meat for herself. Earlier Sora had taken a skin from one of her kills and placed it in her medium sized cave after cleaning it. Sora carried on with her night routine once she had finished eating her meat. Sora then fell asleep, too exhausted to do any more.

Sora had a feeling that the pack would return today. She sensed them coming and rose from the tall rock face that she would howl on at night. She uttered a soft howl to welcome them home and prepared to meet them. As she prepared to greet them, Sora found that her insides were tying themselves in knots. At least, that's what it felt like.

Sora lay down in her den, wondering what to do.'If I go to Veronica's cave, then I will see Justin, but I will not know how to explain myself. How should I tell him about the fact that Gabriel and I dated once? It was over a year ago, but I wish I knew how to explain and I wish I knew how he will react when I tell him. I hope that he's okay and isn't injured. I had better get some sleep though, worrying will not do me any favors.'With that, Sora slept in her cave and decided to figure stuff out in the morning.

Little did she know though that she would be unable to reach the pack in the morning because, fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately for Sora, a blizzard had started late at night while Sora and the other wolves were asleep. The kind of blizzard that meant death to anyone who ventured outside. Inevitably, Sora and her pack were trapped in their separate caves until it wore off.

Sora woke up to a blizzard. It was just starting, so Sora thought that she would be able to reach the pack before it became too severe. Finding her way through a storm like this was her specialty. If living in the mountains had taught her one thing, it was that if someone was determined to survive, they couldn't let a small storm, not even a blizzard get in the way.

Sora decided to brave the storm. Her need to protect the pack was far too strong to ignore. She needed to make sure that they had all come back safely. Stopping to grab the only food in her cave, a rabbit, Sora trotted into the face of the forming blizzard. Sora did her best to trot in a straight line, towards Veronica's cave. It seemed like an eternity before Sora found the familiar outcrop of rock that she howled on at night. Sora was only a little over half way there, but needed to take a break before she continued. Soon Sora was resting in her snow den, a den that she dug into the snow, which was being sheltered by the large rock ledge.

At long last, Veronica's cave started forming out of the whirling snow, as if appearing out of nowhere. Sora yanked her hind paws out of the snow and trotted into the den. The blizzard seemed to be reaching its peak when she finally stumbled in. Everyone seemed to be preoccupied with Raiku's injuries at the moment. "Might I be interrupting something?" Sora spoke softly with her head up, her tail held slightly out. At that, Justin and Lillian seemed to whirl around towards her. As Sora placed the rabbit near Raiku's head, Lillian was bouncing around Sora. "Sorry, this rabbit was all I had left. It's for Raiku," Sora replied softly. Perhaps Sora had imagined it, but she thought that she saw Justin's ears down before she spoke at the cave's entrance.

Now he seemed to be making his way towards Sora.'What in the world should I say?'Sora thought desperately as she started to shake. Even though ice still clung to her fur and paws, it was not just the cold that she was shivering from.