Walk | Talk | Think

Winter gave way to spring, and though she had not intended to stay longer upon the southern continent, nature had decided otherwise. A trip to the bridge that connected the two land masses gave insight to the flooding that had been happening through many of the more northern regions, and prevented a return to what Callisto considered home. It was only a small stumble in her plans, however; there were still plenty of locations on the southern continent she had yet to explore, and this gave her the perfect excuse to more closely examine those she had already traveled through as well as new ones that still awaited her inspection.

For now, though, she turned her attention to a fertile, grassy plain that stretched rather far on the opposite side of a grove of aspens. As she neared the edge of the treeline from within - for the time being alone and without the company of her two traveling companions - Callisto's pale blue gaze panned across the open stretch of land, able to smell even at a distance just how green and full of life the place was. Nothing stood out to her yet as to useful plants that she recognized, but with an uncharacteristically optimistic smile she thought she might be able to find something of use here.

With her nose skimming the ground for anything with a familiar scent, the grey-legged healer traversed across the open plains, seeking out plants that she might know. For the most part, the place was filled only with tall grasses and weeds, but she had found one Valerian plant as well as a few groupings of dandelions. If she just kept at it for a bit longer...

Her incessant exploration brought her closer to the dam on the plain's opposite end, close enough to hear the groan of the logs as they shifted in place. Her head lifted to stare toward the structure through narrowed eyes, ears perked and listened, but she did not need to strain her senses to recognize the moment when a piece of the dam broke and let a quick flood of water quickly flow down the plain. Callisto's eyes widened and for a split second she did nothing but stare in disbelief as the water coursed her way. Realizing she would be swept away with it, she tried to make a last second dash out of the path of the water, racing for safer and higher ground.

She was badly placed for it. Her paws had carried her on a crisscrossing pattern over the plain, and she had still been somewhat toward the center when she had realized the dam was breaking. But if she darted just toward the side, and ran like hell... Almost there, almost there! She stretched her gait, certain that her next step would be the first to dragging herself to safety, but the ground beneath her paws suddenly became slick and muddy and gave way beneath her, and with the first rush of the water Callisto was carried away.

So far the trio's escapade to the southern land mass had been uneventful as much as it had been peaceful. Winter was now over and with the warmer weather came a resurgence of plant life he was sure Callisto had wanted to explore and gather while they waited on the eventual clearing of the land bridge. A sigh left Jakart as he stood overlooking the plains that Callisto had left him. Belladonna was gone, even now he could just barely make out the ebon healer moving through the vegetation. Bored, and perhaps a little curious as to what she was looking for specifically Jakart started down the aspen riddled hillside to join his oncemate down in the plains.

As he descended and lost sight of the healer amidst the trees Jakart's ears picked up the sound of a disturbance up ahead. Instantly his pace picked up into a sharp sprint, paws drumming against the earth as he tried to locate Callisto. He licked his lips at the ever growing roar and swallowed with a whine, the earth beneath his paws continued to rumble and the first inkling of fear began to creep into his chest as he stopped and tried to perch upon a dead log.

Instantly he saw what was rushing down towards him, for Callisto if she wasn't already swept up in the deluge of water. On a hunch and subduing the urge to keep clear of the flood Jakart made his way towards where he though, hoped, that the edge of the flood was and the vanished healer. "Callisto!" He screamed out. He was growing desperate at having not seen her or even heard a cry for help. "Callisto!" Jakart broke through a gap in the grass and instantly put on the brakes to his charge. The wall of water before him roared and thunder filled his ears as he broke into a dead sprint to the left. Somehow he hoped he was heading in the right direction to higher ground and finding his oncemate.

Walk | Talk | Think

The water and debris tumbled around her, disorienting her as the rush of it continued to carry her further along. Though she could hardly make sense of what was up or down, Callisto struggled, trying to claw her way toward wherever the surface of the flood waters might have been in order to fill her lungs with a needed breath. Let me go, her thoughts screamed at the flood, at the waters that currently consumed her, let me go!

Either in answer to her plea or because her senseless struggle to reach air finally succeeded, she felt her paw break through the water and dragged her head up and over the fury of the river, sputtering as she tried to breathe in deeply and avoid as much of the churning and splashing at the same time. Over the roar that surrounded her, she thought she heard a voice, someone calling her name, and though she recognized it Calli could only think of her own fate, the danger that she was presently in, and how desperately she wanted to be out of it.

She breathed in deep, prepared to yell back in answer, but was swept back under a second time. Knowing better now, she resurfaced much more quickly and called back before she could lose her chance, "Jak!" Was he safe and out of the water? Could he see her? Gods, would it be too much to ask that he could? Callisto lifted her head clear of the water, trying as best she could to get her bearings. There! It looked like part of the land stuck out a little bit, and if she could try to maneuver herself closer she thought she might stand a chance of dragging herself out.

With that thought in mind, she paddled and fought against the water's pull to drag her under yet again, hoping to get close enough to the edge to pull herself out in passing.

Jakart was thankful the plains didn't have much in the way of debris for it would've made escape impossible. He wasn't the least bit worried about himself as he broke away from the floods path and onto a short rise of land. The male briskly turned around without missing a beat and anxiously scanned the water as it continued to closer and closer to where he stood. A nervous step backwards was taken. Could the waves roll over the top of the rise he stood upon and wash him away? "Callisto!" The sudden call ended in a sharp keen of desperate worry. He didn't want to move from here just yet and leave his oncemate behind. Not if there was still a chance she had made it and needed someone to point out higher ground. His heart was hammering in his chest and he felt as if he couldn't breath. She'd gotten out right? He scent had been fresh but she maybe went in a different direction before the water...

"Oh gods." Without a second thought given to his own safety Jakart suddenly found his paws moving forward towards the healer as she called out. He could see her muzzle, her ears, the grey streaks beneath her eyes as he saw her struggling in the dipping waves. Callisto hadn't made it but she was close to the edge of the flow. The water was bringing her right to him. Jakart didn't even recall coming down to the edge of the hill to intercept his friend before she could be lost. Nor his jaws finding her, the taste of her blood as she was grabbed and viciously pulled out with a full turn of his body. Jakart's hind legs were caught almost up to his flanks in the water but the leg opposite the current dug deep against the tide and held. There was a split second to where his paws tensed to bring himself up, mismatched gaze prepared to relax as he would wait out the water and hope for an end to its torrent with Callisto safely with him. But he didn't get the chance. A thick branch belonged to the territories namesake tree was but one of many pieces of debris to be caught in breaking of the dam. Out of the water it struck the male wolf's shoulder, his expression now one of shock as his balance was lost for a split second before he replaced Callisto as the victim. Jakart didn't have a chance to say goodbye, he knew he was going to die as the edge of the flood swallowed him. The wolf's last sight before he was claimed was Callisto safely on the banks of the hill before his world become water, blood, and darkness.

-Exit Jakart-

Walk | Talk | Think

It was hard for the frantic healer to fight against the current. Strength had never been something that she possessed much of, but what little she had Callisto focused in a combined effort to keep her head as far above the waterline as she was able and to keep the rest of her moving steadily closer to the edge of the flood. She sought more than anything to gain purchase with her feet, convinced that if she could just get a foothold, then she could drag herself up and out of the water. As she dipped below the roaring tumult of water, she felt her grey toes graze the muddy earth beneath, causing her to claw toward it hopefully.

About the same time, she felt a sharp, biting sting against her scruff, something puncturing through her skin, and then the sudden jolt that came with it as she was forcibly pulled from the water. Sputtering, coughing water, she at last got her footing and half swam, half crawl her way through the last of the water and then wobbly upward onto dryer land. She could hardly keep herself standing, and the scare as much as the chill caused her teeth to chatter, but that was all inconsequential now. She was alive!

With relief, she turned to face her rescuer, her jaws already parting to speak to him, but the bank behind her was empty. Startled, the dark wolf glanced around her, sure that he had not managed to slip away along the newly formed shoreline. Which meant...

"Jak?" Her heart began to race within her chest as realization dawned, the weakness in her legs worsening as she stumbled just a single step closer to the water before she stopped herself. "Jak!" There was desperation and demand in her voice as she yelled his name, willing him to materialize amid the flood waters and prove himself whole and healthy and there with her. It was not a trade that he had made to get her free; he should have been there too! "Jakart!"

Though she continued to stumble along, Callisto followed the edge of the water for a few frantic paces, searching determinedly for any sign of the grey fighter amid the mess of the flood, but there was nothing. In her inattention, the flood had stolen him in her place. Hearing no answer to the shouts she made, she had to assume he could not - and would not - answer. Jakart was gone, claimed by the flood, but the healer, staring in shock, could not quite bring herself to believe it.

"Callisto!" She turned stiffly to spot the petite dark frame of the cat Belladonna running her way - apparently she had been safe and out of harm's way, somehow avoiding the whole messy ordeal. Redirecting her attention back toward the flood water, Callisto wondered how fate had deemed this necessary, how her singular good luck charm as she had seen him had somehow been wretched right out of her grasp so horrendously. I really am cursed. Feeling responsible and guilty, blinking back a sudden sting of tears, she tucked her head and turned away from the water, shuffling her way toward her companion and from the fate she had somehow been spared from.

-Exit Callisto-