Follow the Flow

Those that commented that those who dip their paws into dark puddles find them to be so much deeper than they actually are, did not always speak from places of inexperience. It ws hard to walk a straight path, when one’s life had always been crooked. All Savard had hoped to do, when he was first released, was to make amends for his past, change and grow, leave everything behind. And now, all that short time later, he walked the streets of Rionna, free, in only a partial sense. For as he passed shop after shop, looking for a specific ware, he did so not of his own free will, nor of his own money. He did it because… it was what the job required. It was like he never left, yet even still, perhaps what he was setting out to do, it was different. It was a wolf that deserved it. At least… that’s what he had to tell himself.

Passing by shop after shop, Savard continued on his slow march. In such a case, it is best not to be so direct with where one is headed. After all, a wolf who is trying to get to a specific shop or ware is suspect, and with the war going on, no doubt there were guards on the prowl, looking for somebody to arrest. Walk too slow though, and it is easy to get lost in the crowd, stepped and trampled over in the busiest of days. Nobody is ever lost, after all, and once one sticks out too much, then they too are suspect. Savard knew well how to blend in, navigate the crowd and those watching over it. He was there, and at the same time, not there. But such is the life, and such is the puddle.

Tähti Tuoni

“I know. I know. I— Iskä! I already told you I’d make it quick, okay? Jumalauta!” [God help me.]

Tähti didn’t wait another moment to hear her father’s response. Her claws clicked against cobblestone as she punctuated this profanity with an angsty huff and leapt swiftly from the front steps of their little shop, continuing to mutter curses as she was instantly swept into the current of Rionna’s busy streets. While she hadn’t been able to whine her way out of delivering some fur pelts, it certainly wouldn’t stop her from moaning and groaning every step of the way there. She made haste with her eyes firmly set to the ground, her head lowered to compensate for the shifting burden of the pelts that were bundled together and draped across her shoulders. The afternoon sun was at its highest peak, and though the days had steadily been getting cooler as summer began to wane, she still felt the need to let her tongue loll out from between her parted lips and she panted lightly as she hurried along at a quick trot.

And then, so suddenly that the girl couldn’t even exclaim her surprise, she felt herself make aching headfirst contact with a seemingly unmovable object, right there in the middle of the narrow street. The collision left her slightly dazed and she stumbled back in bewilderment, eyes narrowed in a painful grimace as she lifted a delicate paw to her snout and pressed on it gingerly. Still wincing, she slowly leveled her burning gaze at the detestable object. Yellow and orange eyes widened ever so sheepishly when she realized the object was not in fact a thing, but another wolf. A wolf that looked none too pleased to be staring down at a vexed— and suddenly smarting— Tähti, who had just barreled directly into his chest. She felt her throat tighten with anxiety as she glanced the man over. She noted the powerful build, the scar trailing from underneath a searching eye. A panicked apology was just on the tip of her tongue when her ears picked up on the soft chuckles of amused passers-by and she was overcome with embarrassment, her eyes darting in their directions before they returned their focus on the brute. This time they were accusatory, gleaming with indignation. ”Ugh…” She grated, baring a few of her teeth in a one-sided snarl, shoulders shrugging under the weight of the pelts. She spoke quietly. "Stupid. You could have seriously hurt me.” Now, move.

@Savard

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As he minded his own business on his trip, it surprised Savard that he felt contact on his front, as another wolf bounded right into him. It happened, given how congested Rionna was these days, but what surprised him was how odd the whole interaction was. Now, it could have been possible that the fae who had blocked his path was simply foolish, lost in the moment. After all, as Savard took a look at her grey-brown fur and petite frame, she looked young, stressed. It would have made sense that she was merely overwhelmed, and it was all an accident. And yet, this was Rionna, where sometimes there was no such thing as an accident or a coincidence. Pickpockets, poisoners, all sorts of wolves like this were out and about, and all it took was a moment, and she’d be long gone. It would have all been under the guise of an accident, to be sure, and by the time someone found Savard’s body, she would have been long gone.

And yet, for a moment, the young wolf looked apologetic, before seemingly changing her mind and telling the older brute off. To have such a young wolf speak so disrespectfully to another, not caring about who she was speaking to. It felt normalizing, in a good way, to be talked to like that. Most wolves would have been too scared to say anything at all, but this kid, whose parents must surely have been stellar pieces of work for raising a kid to talk so properly, did not seem to care what she said at all! It reminded Savard of a kid he knew once, long ago, living in a neighborhood like the one the two of them were in. Of course, that kid fell in with a bad crowd, did a lot of things, went to jail, and now walked the very streets he grew up in seemingly a different wolf. And when he wasn’t walking into taverns or shady places in a vain attempt to leave the life behind, he was walking into strangers, or better yet, they were walking directly into him!

“I suppose I could have,” Savard responded sarcastically, “but then again, you were the one not looking where you were going, kid. So that would be on you.” Savard was not used to speaking to the younger generations in the way that he was often told they liked to be spoken to. He didn’t talk down to wolves, only treated them with the respect that they deserved. Savard always hated it when he was young how he was constantly talked down to, overlooked, made to feel as though he couldn’t do what others could simply because of his age. He paid it forward in a way, for better or for worse. Whether or not a wolf could take it wasn’t his problem.

As Savard was about to take his leave from the wolf, he caught her scent, one of a flower, a marigold. Oddly enough, that scent had very much something to do with his travels, since after all, although uncommon, destitute wolves used it for fevers and toothaches, among other uses. It wasn’t ideal, but when one was son the run, it was a perfect herb to use indeed. He was no healer or anything, but from all his years of living that life, he learned a thing or two. Perhaps this wolf wasn’t just some lost pup, and that was enough to pique his curiosity. “Best be on your way, yeah,” he said to the wolf, then, knowing that this would not be the last the two saw each other, now that Savard was suspicious of her for bumping into him so gracelessly.

Tähti Tuoni

“...So that would be on you.”

For a moment, Tähti bristled at the gruff matter-of-factness of the man’s response. She hadn’t expected a stranger to challenge her. The girl puffed her chest out arrogantly, eyes narrowed to ochre slits as she took in a sharp breath in preparation for her own retaliatory remark. The air then wavered in her throat. Although she hated to admit it, not only was he right, but the brute was certainly a lot larger and stronger than she was. She gave him another cursory glance up and down and decided that it definitely wasn’t the right time for her to be acting tough— much to her chagrin. However, instead of letting this defeat deflate her confidence entirely, the girl chose to allow an easy smile to spread across her face, letting the rest of her features soften in kind.

“Right. One of these other boneheads must have tripped me," she began cautiously, tittering with half-suppressed mirth. This attempt at nonchalance was somewhat forced as her tail was visibly lashing with agitation, but the wolf looked to be taking his time sizing her up just as she had done to him, and she would prefer it if he didn’t know that he made her nervous. Though, with scars like that, she imagined that he was probably used to it. She stared somewhat vacantly, wondering just what he had gone through to earn them. ”You look like a soldier, or something.” Just after she blurted out the words, it occurred to her that he had already murmured his goodbye while she was lost in thought. Shit. “Well, I mean, are you?” She ventured onwards, her head cocking slightly to the side as she craned her neck to look up expectantly at the man's face.

@Savard

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It appears that Savard’s appearance intimidated the wolf into a momentary silence, as the vile words she had prepared in retort spilled in her mouth. Savard had years of training ti keep his poise in conversational situations. After all, soldiers couldn’t do a thing if they couldn’t prove it, at least the good ones. Many were unlucky enough to fall prey to those who had been paid off, or who simply did not care about the rules. But if one can keep their composure, there was hope to get out of just about every situation. And in those situations where the soldiers felt like being extra cruel, or just didn’t want to play ball, it paid to have good friends in times like those. But this wolf, she was too young to know what any of that was like, hence her reaction. Rather than double down on her crassness, she decided to excuse her own actions, seeming to decide not to pick a fight with the ex-con. It was a smart choice, to say the least. Not that Savard had even the slightest thought of doing anything of the sort of a wolf that didn’t deserve it. That’s not to say, however, he would have always been so considerate.

As Savard was just about to move along his way, however, the wolf asked him a question, an odd one at that. She said to him that he had the look of a soldier, and wondered if that was his calling. He almost chuckled out loud, finding the question in an instant to be comical. Turning around to face the youngster, a polite smile on his muzzle, Savard’s expression was a mixture of amusement and perplexion. “A soldier,” Savard repeated, “or something? I guess you got a point. A lot of soldiers these days are large, scarred up. But everybody knows why that is, don’t they?” Savard had his beliefs on that regard, one that was not without evidence. But, rather than merely say it outright, he wondered if this stranger knew the answer herself. Maybe it had something to do with that ‘or something’ she had in mind. “But no, I’m no soldier,” Savard responded, “just a wolf looking for the nearest apothecary.”

Tähti Tuoni

“I guess you got a point. A lot of soldiers these days are large, scarred up."

The she-wolf’s gaze was shamefully cast down at the brute’s offhand mention of his scars, knowing that she had been caught studying them. She wasn’t fool enough to openly gawk at someone without at least realizing the impropriety in it, and though she normally wouldn't mind, she wasn't used to being called out with such casual sincerity. It made her uncomfortable.

"But everyone knows why that is, don't they?"

At these words, the girl shuffled her small grey paws on the ground, pupils flickering up to meet the man’s eyes before shooting back downwards, then up again once more. “Everyone knows…?” She echoed the man, her voice little more than a murmur as her brows knitted together in confusion. Everyone knows why what is? The girl simply did not know just how much she did not know— of the war, its gruesomeness, its severity, nor how grateful she should be for the fact of her own blissful ignorance. It hadn’t yet touched her or her family, not really. Her parents had at least managed to keep their youngest sheltered just within reach of the city’s preferably peaceful bedlam. They chose not to disclose to their daughter the struggles they had begun to face, not even the rationing that had begun to take place amongst Rionna’s people. And so she tottered uneasily until perking up— black-tipped ears straightening, orange eyes brightening— at the stranger’s mention of his need for an apothecary. She could make up for her previous blunders, hopefully, with a helpful recommendation.

”Oh? You’re in luck!” The girl beamed, relieved to move past the discomfort. Her tail danced back and forth playfully as she scampered about in a little circle, coming to rest with a point of her nose in the direction from whence she came. “Äitini— my mother, she's an apothecary. We carry medicine, all sorts of things. Whatever you need, she has. I’m sure of it— she’s brilliant.” Tähti was clearly proud to endorse her family’s trade as she gestured once more toward the Tuoni’s shop— a small but sturdy-looking half-timbered home, built with stone, its smoking chimney jutting up towards the blue sky. She looked back at the man, shrugging once more as the pelts she was carrying began to slide off of her shoulders.

“I have to run. They'll have my hide if I don't finish the deal with these pelts, but she'll take good care of you, I promise.”

@Savard

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