method acting to pay the bills

She’d be a year old soon. No, like really soon. One more season, and Hazel would be an entire year old. What a weird thought that was. So many things had happened. So incredibly, terribly many things. It was barely a couple seasons ago that her mom’s husband had decided that under no circumstances was he going to raise what he thought was another man’s child. Under no circumstances… so he’d thrown the girl out. He’d decided that she wasn’t going to be in his life, no matter what. Still, the creature had decided that he wasn’t a monster at least in his own eyes. No. Not a monster. He wouldn’t murder a child, after all. Murdering a child would make him a monster.

Apparently it didn’t weigh on the man’s conscience that he’d tricked the girl. It didn’t weigh on him that he’d simply told the child to wait here. Wait here, right in the very spot that Hazel walked to now. Wait here, beside the hot springs. Wait here. Over and over, she sometimes heard it in her nightmares. Just wait there, in the spot that he’d designated, beneath the trees that ringed the area. Wait there and don’t move, we’ll be back. Hazel didn’t know that it would be the last time she saw her mother, she saw her siblings.

To hell with them.

To hell with the family that didn’t want her. The ones who thought she was too noisy, too crass, too bold. Hazel had been weird, for sure, but it hadn’t been a reason to leave her behind. It wasn’t a reason to leave her behind like they did. No, she was sure of that. Maybe part of being left behind had been her fault, part of being abandoned had been her own fault, but like… whatever. The red and pale girl held it against her so-called family for leaving her behind. They weren’t the ones that mattered, not anymore. She didn’t need them. She didn’t need them, because she had a new family now. A better family, too, Hazel asserted.

No, they really were better. Sirius had become more of a dad than her own father ever would have been. He’d taught her things about hunting, about fighting, about standing on her own two feet. Hazel knew how to stand up for herself now. She’d stood up to Ghoul, even though she’d lost the fight. Hazel wouldn’t be bested again. Though some of the other pups were larger (and as she grew into adulthood she’d realize, there would often be others far larger than she), she was more fierce. Pound for pound, Hazel would be more fierce and more relentless than anyone to ever cross her. She’d already set her mind and her heart on it.

It was that relentlessness that drove her today. Maybe she’d been feeling sorta sentimental when she slipped away from the Armada without a chaperone. Maybe she’d wanted to see the Hot Springs again, to sit beside them before the winter chill and snow became too much. Maybe… no, there was no maybe. That had been exactly the reason. Maybe a little more sad than Hazel would have liked to admit. It was that little edge of sadness that blossomed and grew into something else. Something harsher. Something that could have maybe been a bit… just a bit more mean. No, Hazel isn’t a mean pup, there’s just something in her that’s hurt and that’s sad.

Sadness, you see, displays in so many different ways. Hazel was angry at herself, too. Why would she even need to feel sad? There were so many good things here. Life in the Armada was more than she could have ever dreamed of… why was she sad over the family that had abandoned her? What reason did she have to be sad? She had Seer and Zee, and they were her family now. She had the best friend anyone could ever ask for. What reason did she have to be sad when life was so good? Why were things in her head so… so hard? Anger stung as Hazel moved, carefully slipping away and over the stream that separated the Armada from the rest of the world.

The Hot Springs. They were just that, and quiet on this warm autumn day. Hazel thought fleetingly of the man that she’d met, the one that had fought coyotes here with her. He was awfully weird… he was blue after all. Still, supposing that Hazel had met Mortis now, the Mr. Rathus wasn’t the weirdest looking man she’d met. Well… were wings weird? Just because something was weird didn’t mean that it wasn’t cool. Mortis and his wings were probably the coolest-looking part of her family. Well, Lis was cool looking too. He had bones on the outside, not just the inside, and he was pointy. And his face was like… nice to look at. Yeah, that was a normal thing to think about a friend, right? Hazel figured as much.

As the wind shifted, Hazel smelled… something. It wasn’t the coyotes, she knew what they smelled like by now. No, this was something different. Her brow furrowed, hackles beginning to rise on the back of her neck. Something different than the coyotes, and different than the jaguar that she and Seer (sir) had taken down the other day. Different, but deeply and wildly unsettling to the young girl. Her head spun to a degree with just how strange it was.

From the treeline, a black bear broke. He was big, and he was angry from the look in his eyes. Hazel didn’t know why he was so mad. What was his issue? She flashed her teeth, posture stiff as she gazed at the bear. It didn’t seem like she had much of a choice at this point– Hazel would need to fight it. She took two huge steps forward, lunging at the creature. With its great, giant paws, he swatted at the red and pale pup. Hazel went skittering, unable to catch her balance after the strike. Pain burned through her system as she was swept to the side, especially where the creature’ sharp claws had made contact.

Hazel righted herself. Once more, she lunged forward, wanting to catch the bear’s cheek, the side of its neck, in her mouth. Her posture was stiff and unforgiving, and she was able to find purchase with her crystalline teeth. The blood of the bear flooded her mouth, a metallic taste that coated her tongue and the inside of her mouth. Still, she couldn’t hold on for long, as the creature was soon on its hind legs. As it drew to its full height, he swatted at her sides. Hazel had to let go, for fear of what would happen next. Her head spun as she crashed to the ground in a heap, cloud of dust rising on either side.

Coughing hard, head reeling, the pup stumbled to her feet once more. There was no way to find an opening on the absolute tank of a creature, a behemoth in his own right. The bears were trying to bulk up for winter, and it left this one a mountain of fat and teeth. With as much force as she could muster, Hazel dug her claws into the ground. She kicked up dirt as she ran, trying to make sure she’d get away cleanly. No, no one could know that she’d gone out alone. No one could know that she’d tried to take on a bear without help. No one could know that she’d nearly lost, and she’d had to run like this.

Run. Run Hazel did. She knew that she’d been outmatched, and frankly, she was scared. The pup had to go.

"Speech"