Post by isi on Jul 29, 2012 22:46:20 GMT -5
Characters involved:
Rayna - Adult dog
Wind - Adult dog
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The clouds of the day had lingered through to evening, casting a hazy shadow over a failing sun. Absorbed in her own half-hearted thought, Rayna is picking her way down the hill, glad for the moment of quiet. The petty squabbles have been driving her crazy. She might actually be able to find an adequate meal in this lull, some of those half wits have frightened her pray off on more than one occassion - and, because she's a suspicious one, she doubts it was entirely on accident.
Wind has been out of it for more than a few days due to the injuries he sustained in the fight. While he was out of it he had some rather nasty dreams, probably brought because of pain and blood loss. Presently he is awakening from his sleep and opens his eyes. Where in the world is he? The pain brings him back to reality. Oh yes. He is here with those creatures who apparently decided not to kill him...joy. He'll have to find out a way to deal with this and deal with it quickly so he doesn't end up in worse shape than he already is. He makes an attempt to get to his paws, but the shoulder wound really doesn't allow for much movement and he quickly lays back down. Great.
Anyone would be out of it after that, and Rayna doesn't blame him. The female catches his labored movement from the corner of her eye and - after quickly checking the coast - trots a few feet closer. "There's a river nearby. If you lay in it for a bit it'll ease the pain." She turns to continue on her way but stops, and barely turning her head to look back at him, mutters "Sorry." Before continuing. Short and...well, sort of, sweet.
Well isn't that nice. She's sorry. That makes everything all nice and better now doesn't it? If he had the energy right now he would probably kill her, or try too anyway, but that is simply out of the question at the moment. He does know that she really wasn't involved all that much in the fight. It was those other two who will bear the brunt of his disdain. He owns Nyx a broken leg and Jethro...well he'll have to devise something special for him. In response to her statement he simply states the obvious, "I don't think I can reach the river." At least not for a few more days. He may as well ask the other question that has been on his mind, "How did I get here? And what have I done to your pack that I would deserve this?"
Rayna continues a few paces before stopping once more. Ugh. He asked a question. Now they have to talk and stuff. She keeps a safe distance from him, but does turn around and seat herself facing him. "What did you do? Well..." She muses on that "You showed up. You proved to some rather aggressive souls that you hadn't a clue where you were and they saw a weakness. And, as it works around here, they sought to destory that weakness." The borzoi sighs and gazes at him for a moment before finishing "And you would have been better off running, but you fought back and now you're in this mess." She again gives the area a quick sweep - if Nyx or one of the others caught her speaking to him she would bear that torment for weeks. "Softness is not something to be celebrated around here."
It figures. Of all the places he had to land himself in...it was a place like this. He just has all the bad luck, "I'm not soft. If it had been a fair fight they would have both been dead. When I'm able I plan to make sure that they won't be doing anything to anyone else ever again." He says this not out of any sense of altruistic feeling, but simply out of a sense of revenge, "And as for you. Why did you not join in with your friends until the end?"
Rayna sighs, settling onto her stomach and scruntinizing the male. "That." She says "is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I don't care how hurt your pride is I'm -" she looks around once more. "I'm going to give you a little advice...as soon as you can move again you run. You run far away, you run until you can't go any further and then you run some more because if you stay here and if you try to do what you're thinking of trying you will die a very slow and painful death because they relish in the fantasies of pups like you." Rayna looks at her paws. "I attacked simply because I value my own life." She isn't sure exactly why she is entitling this maniac to her honesty, it isn't a privelage she's awarded any one else here. Or..you know, ever.
Wind isn't exactly going to feel pity for her and her predicament. He's more interested in his own. As far as he can tell she probably has things pretty good at the moment, "I don't run away from my problems. I'm sure that I can take them once I feel better. I'll have to be careful and take them on one at a time, but it might be worth it to rub out a few more scumdogs that are wandering around this part of the world. Wherever here is." He still has no idea how he got here. He'll have to figure it out, "If I run away and they get away with treating me like this I won't have much of a reputation in these parts."
"You don't WANT a reputation in these parts!" Her frustration grows. She doesn't want to see another hapless idiot torn to shreds for being noble. "Look, if you take out the few that got you then some other hopefull meatheads will take their place. This pack - you see it? It's big. And bent on taking out the wolves. Don't ask me why, you don't ask things here you just keep your head low and stay alive." She stands, looking down at the retriever with a mixture of pity and exasperation. "If you had just run you wouldn't be here. Don't make that mistake again. If you'll have nothing, you'll have your life." Just look at poor Toby.
Wind does want a reputation everywhere he goes. This girl is quite mistaken if she thinks he's either noble or nice, and he is certainly no idiot. The equation is simple. They hurt him and they must pay. That is all, "If things are so horrible here then why do you stay. Why don't you run and find a different pack to be around. What wolves? What on earth are you talking about?" he asks. He is woefully out of the loop on a great many things. His real personality may have found a way to re-emerge, but that doesn't mean he is up on current events. Of course which is the real personality. The Wind she saw when he arrived or this one? No one probably could tell except those who knew him from before and none of them are around here.
Rayna doesn't answer his question. Instead she takes a step closer to him, desperate to press on him the seriousness of this matter. "You don't know what is going on, ignorance is death." She knows the value of life, and she clings to it as her only reason for...well, anything. "Please. I have seen enough meaningless death and suffering - some at my own teeth - do not be another reason for them to boast. Get out." She doesn't give two hoots about his personality, she isn't sure why she is even giving half a hoot about his life - but his reasoning...it's almost childlike. Maybe her eagerness to get him out is a control thing - no control over the death around her, maybe a smudge of control can be taken in the saving of just one single, lone, dull life. She's clinging to that.
Wind thinks he gets whats going on here. She stays because she feels guilty. She has done a few horrible things and stays because she feels like she doens't really have any choice. So thats the story is it? "You really think they are going to just let me run away. Its going to take some time before I can limp away and when I am able do you think they will just let me wander away? If the pack is as big as you say it is there is no way that is going to happen. If they were smart they would track me down and finish what they started." This girl is obviously an optimist, but thats not how the world works, "Dogs like this don't just give up. You said so yourself."
"If you stay, you'll die. They'll torture you because you can't escape. But if you leave they'll be distracted, find a new plaything." She sighs. "They're not persistent so much as just...dull." Her voice is lower now, she can't risk being overheard. "Look, if you like slow painful deaths, fine. Just stay. I'll gnaw your leg off even, since you'd obviously /love/ that." She advances "Or you can accept the only help you'll ever be offered here and lay low and then crawl away if you have to." Her reasoning is obviously unappreciated and not understood - she can tell a hopeless case when she sees one. Giving up, she shakes her head sadly, straightening up starting to turn away. "Good luck."
Wind will consider what she has to say. At the very least he would like to get away from here and find a better spot to recover. He can then figure out where to go from there. Still this girl has been sort of kind to him, in her own way. He doubts that the others would appreciate that. Its then that he gets something of an idea, "I'll make you a deal then. You keep them away from me until I can find a way out of here, and I won't tell them what you told me today." It seems straightforward enough. It really wouldn't matter if they believed him or not. Some of them would and it would be enough to cause her trouble...of that he is sure.
Rayna turns once more, her eyes narrowing. "I can't do much..." Is he black mailing her? She believes he is. She knows the trouble she would get into - they'd tear her down for this descrepency... "So you blackmail me with the help I offer?" Believe it or not, she smirks. "Maybe you would fit in well here. Fine. I'll do what I can, I make no real promises..." She is lost in thought for a deep moment, pondering how best to save his skin as well as her own. "One moment." She takes off at a lope down the hill and is gone a moment before flashes into sight again, obviously searching for something, and they do miraculously seem to be quite alone...the dogs scattered up the hill are snoozing or bickering... she returns to Wind and offering little explanation asks "Can you stand, at least?"
Wind is very much blackmailing her. He is willing to do whatever it takes to get himself out of this situation, and if holding something over someone's head helps him to do that, then he is very much willing to do it. After she makes her comment about not making any promises he offers her the most polite smile he can manage to bring up through the pain, "I don't make any promises either..." He blinks though when she leaves and heads off down the hill. It alarms him a little bit since he has no idea who is nearby or what is going on. When she returns and asks if he can stand he shakes his head, "Tried already. I don't think that is going to happen today." No sense in sugar coating it.
Rayna nods. She can't blame him - it's the self preservation she's been trying to preach to him. She is actually a little proud, deeeeeep deep down. "Now I know we're not exactly /fond/ of each other, but for this arrangement to work you need to trust me." Quite literally with his life. "Theres a spot down the hill, it's a little more out of the way. If we tuck you away there..." She thinks long and hard. If she tried to help him down there physically they would catch her scent on him and - ah, but wait! She has been witnessed attacking him...it's all she has to hope for. "Could you stand if I held your weight?" After a pause she smirks and adds, "I'm stronger than I look. I wouldn't be alive if I wasn't."
Wind doesn't really trust this girl with his life or with anything at all really. This is simply a friendship (if you could call it that) of expediancy. She has something that he needs for the time being and he has something that she wants kept secret. Its just as simple as that. Still he really doesn't think that even with her taking a great deal of his weight that he could move anywhere today. Its not like he is some kind of wimp, but the pain would probably cause him to pass out and then he rolls down the hill and is in a worse mess than before, "I not saying that your not, but I just can't make it today."
She hrms, laying down once more. "Alright...you cannot hold me to blame if they come after you because I cannot do much to help you if they do. I value my own life. It's a delicate balance here...if they come around, pretend to still be unconcious. THey find little joy if there is no....you know, squeals of pain and all that..." the borzoi sighs, stretching. She might as well be comfy, she certainly isn't eating today, of that she's sure. "So...you got a name, strange one?"
Wind thinks that sounds like a decent enough plan. He probably won't even have to fake it all that much. He'll like be in and out of sleep quite a bit over the next few days while he continues to heal, "I think I can manage that." he says and takes a moment to think when she asks him about his name. He scans his memory and oddly enough comes up with nothing. He can remember everything else, but not his name, and it causes a minor amount of irritation, "I'm not really sure that I remember it." he finally admits.
Oh gods, so he's out here - no idea where he is, where he's going, what he's doing and - it almost makes sense - not to know who the hell he is. It's to be expected, actually. "Well, for when you do remember - I'm Rayna. I'm nothing around here, so the name means little." Which is just the way she likes it. She doesn't see harm in giving her name, all he'd have to say is 'a brown dog was nice to me' they would all know who he was talking about, unfortunately for her. "Well, Goldie, I'll tell you what. I'm leaving on a hunt soon, you don't let the higher ups in on our little arrangement, I'll toss you half my kill till you can do so on your own." In a way she's glad to have made a...person. Sulking on the edges of a cruel social sphere can grow lonely, and even if this relationship is about as dangerous as walking into a crocodile's mouth...well this is the msot she's spoken in years.
The whole arrangement seems to be about as equitable as someone can expect given the circumstances. He isn't really in a position to bargain and at this point he has little energy to argue. Especially if food is thrown into the deal. He won't be able to get his own food for some time and its likely that he would just die of starvation if someone didn't so something about it, "I'll keep my mouth shut as long as things continue to go well." At least she doesn't seem interested in killing him. Unless this is all part of some really strange game they like to play.
Things rarely 'go well' in these parts, but Rayna doesn't mention that. She's covered that well enough, she thinks. "So you're all serious now. Whats up with that?" She's risking her neck, might as well get a few answers. "When you came here at first you were practically crapping butterflies. Were you hit in the head or something?" A perfectly logical question, she wonders what happened to some of the more psychopathic dogs in the pack sometimes, herself.
Wind doesn't have any knowledge of who he was when he arrived here. It was almost as if his life stopped and then picked up again. His head does hurt, but thats more likely due to the pain in his shoulder and being tired, "I see no reason not to be serious. I was just nearly killed by a bunch of dogs I've never met before. It clarifies your thinking. I don't really know what you are talking about. The first thing that I remember was that girl coming at me...before that I wasn't here. I don't think I was anyway. Unless things have changed." He hasn't really seen enough of the ladns to be sure of anything.
As the discussions continues to hit dead ends, Rayna loses intrest in Wind and regains it in herself and the persistent pains in her stomach. She deduces that this guy is bat crap - but at least sensible enough in the present tense. Not much she can do about that, but try to follow his logic when it's spotty and keep him alive to keep herself alive. "That girl would be Nyx...nasty piece of work she is, you'll want to avoid her at all costs. The other is Jethro, he's going to throw his weight around as much as possible because he is in competition for the Beta spot." She tries to think of what else might help him, even in the slightest. "Bone is the leader just..." She hasn't seen much of him, really. "Stay low."
Wind is probably more than a little bit crazy, but she is correct that there is little she can do to be of assitance with that. Especially since he isn't aware that there really is even a problem, with the exception of not remembering his name. That might be a problem. At any rate he will have to figure that out as time passes. If time ends up passing and he isn't killed here, "I'll certainly do my best. Though I have to be honest I would like to find a way to pay back Nyx." If Jethro is jockying for the beta spot his behavior makes a bit more sense.
"You can pay Nyx back by getting out of here alive." She offers him, knowing that he will probably still insist on being ridiculous and vengeful and suicidal and all that. This guy has crazy written all over him, and Ray questions the integrity of her own sanity as she is going way too far out of her way to help him. Her own tiny, secret rebellion is not done out of spite but in a pursuit of some forgiveness. Her own deeds can be forgivven - she hopes - by helping him. Maybe she can feel the weight of her own dark soul lifted.
Wind plans on paying her back by getting out of here alive and watching her suffer...just a bit. He doesn't even have to kill her. He'd settle for causing her to be the omega of the pack and humilate her in front of her friends, "So what did you do that was so horrible that you want to keep punishing yourself by sticking around here with the dogs you obviously hate?" he asks. Its a fair question. Might as well know who he is dealing with.
Rayna actually laughs as he asks why she's there. "I'd like to know that myself." She snorts, overcome by the irony, "I guess I've just got in too deep. By the time I knew what I was in on I was stuck. I might as well see this thing through, I don't know how I'd survive on my own, I don't know of a pack that would even consider accepting me." Isn't it funny: To stay alive he needs to leave, and to stay alive she needs to stay. Funny how life works, isn't it? No. Not at all actually. "You could say I had a spot of bad luck, much like yourself." Except she didn't have some awesome chick descend from heaven and offer her a way out - like in those old jail movies. THeres always the one creepy old guy who knows how the system works to help the protagonist escape.
Wind is fairly certain that she could learn how to survive on her own if she tried. Its not as easy as life with a pack, but at some point you have to look around at the group your in and see that you have reached a point of diminishing returns, "You obviously know how to hunt for yourself. And if you are as strong as you say you are you could easily survive on your own." To him its all really straight forward. If you don't like the dogs your with you just pick yourself up and go...pack or no, "If there is anyone here that you like you could take them with you and form a new pack." Simple as that.
It's never as simple as that. And he called her the optimist. "I said strong physically - not enough to be alone for...you know, ever. Plus a pack means security. I can run faster than any wolves that might chase me down, or bears or hogs or coyotes or dogs but..." She shrugs, settling back against the hill, more comfortable with this idiot because she knows he won't rip her throat out for the fun of it than she would be anywhere else. "I'm tired now, I can rest easy knowing that I have these cutthroats watching my back - whether they know it or not. I'm not meant to be a loner." Even before this she had her people, she was never truly on her own.
Wind can understand that. She thinks she is strong physically but weak emotionally. He can accept that as a reasonable answer even if he disagrees with it, "For now. Until they decide that your the one who is next. Then they will turn on you quicker than you can blink and if they are as bad as you say...then I wouldn't want to be you when that time comes." He doesn't care if this happens really, he would just rather it not happen before she can help him get out of here.
"That day hasn't come yet. I'm probably not helping myself out with this little arrangement but..." She shrugs "When that day comes I will accept my death with dignity. I will have lived out my usefulness. Something new will take my place and maybe it'll be something better than what I've become." She'd rather not be slowly eaten alive but you can't always be picky in these things. After a pregnant pause she looks back over at the Retreiver, mangled, injured and bloody. "What happened to you was not right, but it was a part of something that neither of us can fully understand now. I want you to get out of here, I do. It will prove - to me at least - that I can still have some effect..."
Wind would rather not be slowly eaten alive either. If it comes down to it he will go out fighting and perhaps take a few of them with him, "I appreciate the thought." Is all that he can say. At least this girl has some sense of right and wrong. Personally he believes that everyone can have an effect on anything, but sometimes its a matter of degrees. In this case he might not be able to change this situation much, but he can try.
Rayna nods slowly. She doesn't know where to go from that. "Well." She pushes herself upright, shaking dust from her fur. "I'm going to go find something to eat. The deal stands." And with that she turns (a final time) and takes off into the forest, a brown streak clinging hopelessly to a life she's barely deemed worthy of living.
Rayna - Adult dog
Wind - Adult dog
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The clouds of the day had lingered through to evening, casting a hazy shadow over a failing sun. Absorbed in her own half-hearted thought, Rayna is picking her way down the hill, glad for the moment of quiet. The petty squabbles have been driving her crazy. She might actually be able to find an adequate meal in this lull, some of those half wits have frightened her pray off on more than one occassion - and, because she's a suspicious one, she doubts it was entirely on accident.
Wind has been out of it for more than a few days due to the injuries he sustained in the fight. While he was out of it he had some rather nasty dreams, probably brought because of pain and blood loss. Presently he is awakening from his sleep and opens his eyes. Where in the world is he? The pain brings him back to reality. Oh yes. He is here with those creatures who apparently decided not to kill him...joy. He'll have to find out a way to deal with this and deal with it quickly so he doesn't end up in worse shape than he already is. He makes an attempt to get to his paws, but the shoulder wound really doesn't allow for much movement and he quickly lays back down. Great.
Anyone would be out of it after that, and Rayna doesn't blame him. The female catches his labored movement from the corner of her eye and - after quickly checking the coast - trots a few feet closer. "There's a river nearby. If you lay in it for a bit it'll ease the pain." She turns to continue on her way but stops, and barely turning her head to look back at him, mutters "Sorry." Before continuing. Short and...well, sort of, sweet.
Well isn't that nice. She's sorry. That makes everything all nice and better now doesn't it? If he had the energy right now he would probably kill her, or try too anyway, but that is simply out of the question at the moment. He does know that she really wasn't involved all that much in the fight. It was those other two who will bear the brunt of his disdain. He owns Nyx a broken leg and Jethro...well he'll have to devise something special for him. In response to her statement he simply states the obvious, "I don't think I can reach the river." At least not for a few more days. He may as well ask the other question that has been on his mind, "How did I get here? And what have I done to your pack that I would deserve this?"
Rayna continues a few paces before stopping once more. Ugh. He asked a question. Now they have to talk and stuff. She keeps a safe distance from him, but does turn around and seat herself facing him. "What did you do? Well..." She muses on that "You showed up. You proved to some rather aggressive souls that you hadn't a clue where you were and they saw a weakness. And, as it works around here, they sought to destory that weakness." The borzoi sighs and gazes at him for a moment before finishing "And you would have been better off running, but you fought back and now you're in this mess." She again gives the area a quick sweep - if Nyx or one of the others caught her speaking to him she would bear that torment for weeks. "Softness is not something to be celebrated around here."
It figures. Of all the places he had to land himself in...it was a place like this. He just has all the bad luck, "I'm not soft. If it had been a fair fight they would have both been dead. When I'm able I plan to make sure that they won't be doing anything to anyone else ever again." He says this not out of any sense of altruistic feeling, but simply out of a sense of revenge, "And as for you. Why did you not join in with your friends until the end?"
Rayna sighs, settling onto her stomach and scruntinizing the male. "That." She says "is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I don't care how hurt your pride is I'm -" she looks around once more. "I'm going to give you a little advice...as soon as you can move again you run. You run far away, you run until you can't go any further and then you run some more because if you stay here and if you try to do what you're thinking of trying you will die a very slow and painful death because they relish in the fantasies of pups like you." Rayna looks at her paws. "I attacked simply because I value my own life." She isn't sure exactly why she is entitling this maniac to her honesty, it isn't a privelage she's awarded any one else here. Or..you know, ever.
Wind isn't exactly going to feel pity for her and her predicament. He's more interested in his own. As far as he can tell she probably has things pretty good at the moment, "I don't run away from my problems. I'm sure that I can take them once I feel better. I'll have to be careful and take them on one at a time, but it might be worth it to rub out a few more scumdogs that are wandering around this part of the world. Wherever here is." He still has no idea how he got here. He'll have to figure it out, "If I run away and they get away with treating me like this I won't have much of a reputation in these parts."
"You don't WANT a reputation in these parts!" Her frustration grows. She doesn't want to see another hapless idiot torn to shreds for being noble. "Look, if you take out the few that got you then some other hopefull meatheads will take their place. This pack - you see it? It's big. And bent on taking out the wolves. Don't ask me why, you don't ask things here you just keep your head low and stay alive." She stands, looking down at the retriever with a mixture of pity and exasperation. "If you had just run you wouldn't be here. Don't make that mistake again. If you'll have nothing, you'll have your life." Just look at poor Toby.
Wind does want a reputation everywhere he goes. This girl is quite mistaken if she thinks he's either noble or nice, and he is certainly no idiot. The equation is simple. They hurt him and they must pay. That is all, "If things are so horrible here then why do you stay. Why don't you run and find a different pack to be around. What wolves? What on earth are you talking about?" he asks. He is woefully out of the loop on a great many things. His real personality may have found a way to re-emerge, but that doesn't mean he is up on current events. Of course which is the real personality. The Wind she saw when he arrived or this one? No one probably could tell except those who knew him from before and none of them are around here.
Rayna doesn't answer his question. Instead she takes a step closer to him, desperate to press on him the seriousness of this matter. "You don't know what is going on, ignorance is death." She knows the value of life, and she clings to it as her only reason for...well, anything. "Please. I have seen enough meaningless death and suffering - some at my own teeth - do not be another reason for them to boast. Get out." She doesn't give two hoots about his personality, she isn't sure why she is even giving half a hoot about his life - but his reasoning...it's almost childlike. Maybe her eagerness to get him out is a control thing - no control over the death around her, maybe a smudge of control can be taken in the saving of just one single, lone, dull life. She's clinging to that.
Wind thinks he gets whats going on here. She stays because she feels guilty. She has done a few horrible things and stays because she feels like she doens't really have any choice. So thats the story is it? "You really think they are going to just let me run away. Its going to take some time before I can limp away and when I am able do you think they will just let me wander away? If the pack is as big as you say it is there is no way that is going to happen. If they were smart they would track me down and finish what they started." This girl is obviously an optimist, but thats not how the world works, "Dogs like this don't just give up. You said so yourself."
"If you stay, you'll die. They'll torture you because you can't escape. But if you leave they'll be distracted, find a new plaything." She sighs. "They're not persistent so much as just...dull." Her voice is lower now, she can't risk being overheard. "Look, if you like slow painful deaths, fine. Just stay. I'll gnaw your leg off even, since you'd obviously /love/ that." She advances "Or you can accept the only help you'll ever be offered here and lay low and then crawl away if you have to." Her reasoning is obviously unappreciated and not understood - she can tell a hopeless case when she sees one. Giving up, she shakes her head sadly, straightening up starting to turn away. "Good luck."
Wind will consider what she has to say. At the very least he would like to get away from here and find a better spot to recover. He can then figure out where to go from there. Still this girl has been sort of kind to him, in her own way. He doubts that the others would appreciate that. Its then that he gets something of an idea, "I'll make you a deal then. You keep them away from me until I can find a way out of here, and I won't tell them what you told me today." It seems straightforward enough. It really wouldn't matter if they believed him or not. Some of them would and it would be enough to cause her trouble...of that he is sure.
Rayna turns once more, her eyes narrowing. "I can't do much..." Is he black mailing her? She believes he is. She knows the trouble she would get into - they'd tear her down for this descrepency... "So you blackmail me with the help I offer?" Believe it or not, she smirks. "Maybe you would fit in well here. Fine. I'll do what I can, I make no real promises..." She is lost in thought for a deep moment, pondering how best to save his skin as well as her own. "One moment." She takes off at a lope down the hill and is gone a moment before flashes into sight again, obviously searching for something, and they do miraculously seem to be quite alone...the dogs scattered up the hill are snoozing or bickering... she returns to Wind and offering little explanation asks "Can you stand, at least?"
Wind is very much blackmailing her. He is willing to do whatever it takes to get himself out of this situation, and if holding something over someone's head helps him to do that, then he is very much willing to do it. After she makes her comment about not making any promises he offers her the most polite smile he can manage to bring up through the pain, "I don't make any promises either..." He blinks though when she leaves and heads off down the hill. It alarms him a little bit since he has no idea who is nearby or what is going on. When she returns and asks if he can stand he shakes his head, "Tried already. I don't think that is going to happen today." No sense in sugar coating it.
Rayna nods. She can't blame him - it's the self preservation she's been trying to preach to him. She is actually a little proud, deeeeeep deep down. "Now I know we're not exactly /fond/ of each other, but for this arrangement to work you need to trust me." Quite literally with his life. "Theres a spot down the hill, it's a little more out of the way. If we tuck you away there..." She thinks long and hard. If she tried to help him down there physically they would catch her scent on him and - ah, but wait! She has been witnessed attacking him...it's all she has to hope for. "Could you stand if I held your weight?" After a pause she smirks and adds, "I'm stronger than I look. I wouldn't be alive if I wasn't."
Wind doesn't really trust this girl with his life or with anything at all really. This is simply a friendship (if you could call it that) of expediancy. She has something that he needs for the time being and he has something that she wants kept secret. Its just as simple as that. Still he really doesn't think that even with her taking a great deal of his weight that he could move anywhere today. Its not like he is some kind of wimp, but the pain would probably cause him to pass out and then he rolls down the hill and is in a worse mess than before, "I not saying that your not, but I just can't make it today."
She hrms, laying down once more. "Alright...you cannot hold me to blame if they come after you because I cannot do much to help you if they do. I value my own life. It's a delicate balance here...if they come around, pretend to still be unconcious. THey find little joy if there is no....you know, squeals of pain and all that..." the borzoi sighs, stretching. She might as well be comfy, she certainly isn't eating today, of that she's sure. "So...you got a name, strange one?"
Wind thinks that sounds like a decent enough plan. He probably won't even have to fake it all that much. He'll like be in and out of sleep quite a bit over the next few days while he continues to heal, "I think I can manage that." he says and takes a moment to think when she asks him about his name. He scans his memory and oddly enough comes up with nothing. He can remember everything else, but not his name, and it causes a minor amount of irritation, "I'm not really sure that I remember it." he finally admits.
Oh gods, so he's out here - no idea where he is, where he's going, what he's doing and - it almost makes sense - not to know who the hell he is. It's to be expected, actually. "Well, for when you do remember - I'm Rayna. I'm nothing around here, so the name means little." Which is just the way she likes it. She doesn't see harm in giving her name, all he'd have to say is 'a brown dog was nice to me' they would all know who he was talking about, unfortunately for her. "Well, Goldie, I'll tell you what. I'm leaving on a hunt soon, you don't let the higher ups in on our little arrangement, I'll toss you half my kill till you can do so on your own." In a way she's glad to have made a...person. Sulking on the edges of a cruel social sphere can grow lonely, and even if this relationship is about as dangerous as walking into a crocodile's mouth...well this is the msot she's spoken in years.
The whole arrangement seems to be about as equitable as someone can expect given the circumstances. He isn't really in a position to bargain and at this point he has little energy to argue. Especially if food is thrown into the deal. He won't be able to get his own food for some time and its likely that he would just die of starvation if someone didn't so something about it, "I'll keep my mouth shut as long as things continue to go well." At least she doesn't seem interested in killing him. Unless this is all part of some really strange game they like to play.
Things rarely 'go well' in these parts, but Rayna doesn't mention that. She's covered that well enough, she thinks. "So you're all serious now. Whats up with that?" She's risking her neck, might as well get a few answers. "When you came here at first you were practically crapping butterflies. Were you hit in the head or something?" A perfectly logical question, she wonders what happened to some of the more psychopathic dogs in the pack sometimes, herself.
Wind doesn't have any knowledge of who he was when he arrived here. It was almost as if his life stopped and then picked up again. His head does hurt, but thats more likely due to the pain in his shoulder and being tired, "I see no reason not to be serious. I was just nearly killed by a bunch of dogs I've never met before. It clarifies your thinking. I don't really know what you are talking about. The first thing that I remember was that girl coming at me...before that I wasn't here. I don't think I was anyway. Unless things have changed." He hasn't really seen enough of the ladns to be sure of anything.
As the discussions continues to hit dead ends, Rayna loses intrest in Wind and regains it in herself and the persistent pains in her stomach. She deduces that this guy is bat crap - but at least sensible enough in the present tense. Not much she can do about that, but try to follow his logic when it's spotty and keep him alive to keep herself alive. "That girl would be Nyx...nasty piece of work she is, you'll want to avoid her at all costs. The other is Jethro, he's going to throw his weight around as much as possible because he is in competition for the Beta spot." She tries to think of what else might help him, even in the slightest. "Bone is the leader just..." She hasn't seen much of him, really. "Stay low."
Wind is probably more than a little bit crazy, but she is correct that there is little she can do to be of assitance with that. Especially since he isn't aware that there really is even a problem, with the exception of not remembering his name. That might be a problem. At any rate he will have to figure that out as time passes. If time ends up passing and he isn't killed here, "I'll certainly do my best. Though I have to be honest I would like to find a way to pay back Nyx." If Jethro is jockying for the beta spot his behavior makes a bit more sense.
"You can pay Nyx back by getting out of here alive." She offers him, knowing that he will probably still insist on being ridiculous and vengeful and suicidal and all that. This guy has crazy written all over him, and Ray questions the integrity of her own sanity as she is going way too far out of her way to help him. Her own tiny, secret rebellion is not done out of spite but in a pursuit of some forgiveness. Her own deeds can be forgivven - she hopes - by helping him. Maybe she can feel the weight of her own dark soul lifted.
Wind plans on paying her back by getting out of here alive and watching her suffer...just a bit. He doesn't even have to kill her. He'd settle for causing her to be the omega of the pack and humilate her in front of her friends, "So what did you do that was so horrible that you want to keep punishing yourself by sticking around here with the dogs you obviously hate?" he asks. Its a fair question. Might as well know who he is dealing with.
Rayna actually laughs as he asks why she's there. "I'd like to know that myself." She snorts, overcome by the irony, "I guess I've just got in too deep. By the time I knew what I was in on I was stuck. I might as well see this thing through, I don't know how I'd survive on my own, I don't know of a pack that would even consider accepting me." Isn't it funny: To stay alive he needs to leave, and to stay alive she needs to stay. Funny how life works, isn't it? No. Not at all actually. "You could say I had a spot of bad luck, much like yourself." Except she didn't have some awesome chick descend from heaven and offer her a way out - like in those old jail movies. THeres always the one creepy old guy who knows how the system works to help the protagonist escape.
Wind is fairly certain that she could learn how to survive on her own if she tried. Its not as easy as life with a pack, but at some point you have to look around at the group your in and see that you have reached a point of diminishing returns, "You obviously know how to hunt for yourself. And if you are as strong as you say you are you could easily survive on your own." To him its all really straight forward. If you don't like the dogs your with you just pick yourself up and go...pack or no, "If there is anyone here that you like you could take them with you and form a new pack." Simple as that.
It's never as simple as that. And he called her the optimist. "I said strong physically - not enough to be alone for...you know, ever. Plus a pack means security. I can run faster than any wolves that might chase me down, or bears or hogs or coyotes or dogs but..." She shrugs, settling back against the hill, more comfortable with this idiot because she knows he won't rip her throat out for the fun of it than she would be anywhere else. "I'm tired now, I can rest easy knowing that I have these cutthroats watching my back - whether they know it or not. I'm not meant to be a loner." Even before this she had her people, she was never truly on her own.
Wind can understand that. She thinks she is strong physically but weak emotionally. He can accept that as a reasonable answer even if he disagrees with it, "For now. Until they decide that your the one who is next. Then they will turn on you quicker than you can blink and if they are as bad as you say...then I wouldn't want to be you when that time comes." He doesn't care if this happens really, he would just rather it not happen before she can help him get out of here.
"That day hasn't come yet. I'm probably not helping myself out with this little arrangement but..." She shrugs "When that day comes I will accept my death with dignity. I will have lived out my usefulness. Something new will take my place and maybe it'll be something better than what I've become." She'd rather not be slowly eaten alive but you can't always be picky in these things. After a pregnant pause she looks back over at the Retreiver, mangled, injured and bloody. "What happened to you was not right, but it was a part of something that neither of us can fully understand now. I want you to get out of here, I do. It will prove - to me at least - that I can still have some effect..."
Wind would rather not be slowly eaten alive either. If it comes down to it he will go out fighting and perhaps take a few of them with him, "I appreciate the thought." Is all that he can say. At least this girl has some sense of right and wrong. Personally he believes that everyone can have an effect on anything, but sometimes its a matter of degrees. In this case he might not be able to change this situation much, but he can try.
Rayna nods slowly. She doesn't know where to go from that. "Well." She pushes herself upright, shaking dust from her fur. "I'm going to go find something to eat. The deal stands." And with that she turns (a final time) and takes off into the forest, a brown streak clinging hopelessly to a life she's barely deemed worthy of living.