Welcome to Gaia! ::

Frost had smelled their approach long before she saw them; she stopped moving to make it easier to find her as well as giving her exhausted body a rest. The human relics in the makeshift bag slung across her back clanked noisily as she sat down, eyes closed as she rested.

When the two familiar scents were accompanied by the sound of feet padding just before her across the vast wasteland, she opened them once more, giving a tired nod in greeting.

"I have returned. Does Marta still live?"

She knew she must look rather awful; the burns, scratches, the still bleeding gash on her haunch.

She also knew they must have a thousand questions for her, must be angry and confused by her sudden departure; but she was far too tired to answer any questions.

"We will talk...later. I have traveled far." Stiffly, she ambled up past them with slow halting steps as she headed towards the Silver-Tree Lake. Her throat was crying for water, her mouth cracked and bloody.

Ember stopped in front of the white wolf, she was carrying some sort of cloth contraption that had even more weirder things inside. As Frost opened her eyes and nodded her head at their approach Ember did the same thing, listening closely to Frost's words.

Nodding her head when she asked if Marta was still alive. "Yes, though the things have gotten worse." Ember last remembered seeing the wolf stalk away to hide as her overcharge would go off. The past week...or so had been hectic. The valley was being over grown, and they had at least killed almost half of the deer.

Seeing the wounds Ember worried for a second, many questions coming to her mind, but then shook her head, that would have to wait. Putting her shoulder against Frost she urged the tired wolf on, trying to help keep her steady and balanced. Looking to Rail she barked, "Come on we have to help her get to the valley, she needs to get to the lake...and Marta needs her help."

Frost drank in her fill of water from the lake, her clear eyes appreciating the lush (if perhaps not entirely naturally-timed growth) landscape around her. After she had drunk her fill and no longer felt faint, and though her body cried out for rest, she followed the scent trail to where Marta had attempted feebly to conceal her ailment. It didn't take long.

Grimly she assessed her comrade. Her fur had lost its sheen, her ribs jutting through the once luscious, chocolate coat. Even as she rose with no pretense of her usual haughtiness, she could detect the tiny trembles as her depleted muscles tried to obey her desire.

"Sit still." Giving a quick check of her surroundings to see if their was anyone there only to be greeted with nothing, she began to dig through her makeshift pack.

Opening it revealed the gleam of shiny, metallic and glass objects most definitely not the product of nature, but of man. She pulled out a few things revealing an array of scavenged supplies and weaponry; a few grenades, a stack of miniature incendiary mines, a few canned rations which Frost had had some insane difficulty opening, a tangled gnarl of some military-quality, high tension-rope, some odd bottles and a few other odds and ends. However her goal was a small metallic case which after some frustrating gnawing on the latches, finally clicked them open in the right way to reveal five syringes lined up neatly next to each other, each filled with a strange bluish fluid and the spiky ends capped with a small cap of plastic.

Staring at her front paws with a feeling of dry irony, she oh so carefully worked one of the precious injections from its place. It was a good thing she had been trained to skillfully work with her own jaws and tongue being devoid of the nimbleness of human hands.

After much frustration she finally got the cap off and manuevered the syringe so it jutted from her mouth in the manner a dog wold carry a bone, but with the delicacy of cradling, well glass.

"Hol Shtill." she murmured, her words slurred from holding her hard-earned prize.

Rail waited near the water for a sign that the girls were okay. Once a small tree shot into the air he smiled and let his tail swing his rump back and forth as he made his way to them. He lowered his head to Frost unsure of her pack level and smiled brightly at Marta and nuzzled her neck happy she seemed to be better.

Marta's eyes flashed angrily as the male sidled up to her with his unwanted affection. "I don't remember giving you permission to touch me." she snarled lowly, dangerously sweet. Moving away with a huff, yet trailing her tail alongside his neck and down his snout, before flicking the end of his nose with the tip of her tail. She offered him a glance of seductive emerald green beneath long haughty lashes, before turning her attention back on Frost and ignoring him.

Frost's signal had not gone unnoticed. She set upa link wearily, processing the flood of information while simultaneously sharing her own and answering the questions that floated into her mind like bubbles not her own.

The usually iron-like mental barriers were worn and tired; for a second, she was tempted to pry past them, but cast it aside. Someone as astute and aware of her abilities would recognize it instantly. And she knew better.

She still felt pretty good from the affects of the Ti-TAN stim-roid. But they had to get moving. And despite her skepticism she felt a tiny sprig of hope she had not felt since Frost had left. She had found a city, a Research city, and more then that....Well, maybe there was a chance for her afterall.

Rail looked to Thorn as she spoke and decided their next move. "I think they need a moment to catch up on everything. Lets go grab them some lunch." His stomach grumbled in reply at less supply of food than he had back in the city walls.

Rail padded through the tall grass toward the dead animal. Once there he stopped and looked back to Frost and Marta. Some strange fear of the metal objects lay heavy on his mind. Frost had been lucky. He had been lucky in the city. The pack, no matter how small or powerful, they wouldn't be able to travel through it. He knew the danger in the city wasn't the altered. But something else. He shook his head hard to clear the thoughts before Thorn caught up.

Quickly he turned to the carcass and began ripping chucks out. Surprisingly the meat gave no resistance to him and pulled away in nice strips. He piled enough so Thorn would just need to grab what she could and he would carry the rest.

Colt fell from the tree above Frost and Marta. Rail's thoughts where to focuses on Jarek and that odd pup back in the city. He(rail) stared at the ground as he moved back to the ladies. As he approached them the bird fluttered back to 'life' its wings moved as if broke and small spikes and horns pushed to break through the image of white feathers. Its squawking and bashing around finally broke through to Rail as a wave of anger and bloodthrist flooded his mind.

Angry with himself he tossed the meat aside quickly grabbing the black seeping bird. It pecked and stabbed at the wolf who carried it uncaring and just wanting to fulfill its purpose. The wolf darted into the thicker lay of trees to deal with the creature he had neglected.