They’d left without her. How dare? How absolute dare. All of the pups her age, or something like her age, already exploring whatever strange happenings had befallen them. They’re all gone, and they had the audacity to leave her back at the tree. In a huff, Mercy makes hasty preparations. Grabbing the first weapon she can find and taking one of her father’s companions in her wake, she rushes out the door into the red morning.

Following Pythia’s scent, hoping to come across the girl on her way, she trudges south. Gaze burning, though the walk does something to soothe her seething. There are more pressing things than worrying about her hurt feelings, but they’re still hurt, damnit.

Arriving at the shore with tired legs and a still pretty rough attitude, she takes the time to look. To assess. To figure out her next move, as she investigates the scars ripped into the land. They looked fresh, with churned up dirt all around them. Paws careful on the squishy ground, it’s more silty here— like in the Estuary. Weird. She’s still pretty far inland. What does it all mean?

"speech"

coded by NachoMumma

He was well now, lungs clear and strong again, yet it would seem that he would catch no breaks. His fever broke with the coming of the quakes and the red sky, but part of him wished that he had just stayed sick instead. What did all of this mean? Why was he better now only to be thrown into a fresh type of hell?

Forbidden from traveling up north to investigate the spires that broke through the ground, he'd been given no such warning about the shore and apparently things were happening there too. Terror didn't wait around for someone to stop him, nor did he grab his beloved twin to make the journey with. He'd certainly hear about it later, chastised by not only his mother but the only other wolf he cared for, but that wasn't on his mind now. Maybe, just maybe, if he could figure something out about what was happening it would be overlooked. He was really just trying to help. Was that so bad?

As he crossed through lands he'd never visited before, he felt compelled to check them out. Maybe it had spread further inland? Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as he traveled, but as he got closer to the ocean he could tell the land between him and the sea was changing... like actively changing. Terror stopped in his tracks, watching as the sand churned and split. The earth shook lightly beneath his paws, was that causing it? It made sense, he thought, but what did it explain? Nothing much.

Movement caught his pale gaze, but it wasn't from the ground. A giant child was wandering around, rivaling his own tiny size. They seemed just as confused as him, but perhaps they were also lost. "You from around here?" he barked rather suddenly from where he stood a few paces away, making his presence known if the child hadn't noticed him already.

there is a hell, believe me, i've seen it
there is a heaven, let's keep it a secret
Speech ─ Think

─ by Skelle !

All of it is weird. Mercy doesn't know how to process it, so she breaks it down at the very beginning. The things she knew... tremors last night. Weird red sky. Wildlife too quiet. Cracks in the ground, growing and splitting the land beneath her paws. As she moves through the silty inland areas of the Shore, she's memorizing all the details she can. Trying to figure out exactly what's going on here, even with her limited life experience. Hell, she'd been farther afield than this, and never seen anything like it.

As she catches a voice, her head cocks to the side. Someone she hadn't noticed yet, a boy that was barely taller than she was. Grown out of his puppy fat and narrowly built, addressing her with a sharpness that causes her ears to press to her head. Standing up straight, drawing to her full height as she looks at the lad. "Nah, a ways north'a here." Shaking her head, taking a moment to size him up.

"You?" Curious, though Mercy doesn't really wait for an answer. "This isn't normal, is it." More a statement than a question, a stark observation. Another tremor rocking the ground under her feet, Mercy chewing anxiously at the inside of her cheek as she scans the horizon once more.

"speech"

coded by NachoMumma

He wasn't surprised that the other wasn't from around here; what scent he could pick up off of them didn't even seem remotely familiar. It was strange that a pup would wander so far away on their own, but Terror really didn't care much as long as whoever their parents were didn't rain down on him. He wondered if the pup was here for the same reason as him, however, restricted and held back but forced their way out anyway. Not that Terror really had to force it, but he would have most certainly been stopped if he'd given anyone a heads up.

"Nearby, in some woods to the east," he replied first, dipping his head briefly to sniff at the moving ground. He could feel it rumbling within, as if it was growling and warning them to stay away. "It is not," he finally confirmed once he rose his head back up to a normal placement, looking around as the channels widened. "Does your pack know anything?" he asked as he slowly began to approach, wary of the shaking ground, wondering if anything had been shared with the child. He hadn't been told anything by his pack, likely to keep his curiosity at bay but clearly it didn't work.

there is a hell, believe me, i've seen it
there is a heaven, let's keep it a secret
Speech ─ Think

─ by Skelle !

Strange, true, but the Raiders had a way of making their rounds. They'd started young, growing wild and free as the winds themselves. Nothing was going to hold her back, especially when the other pups of the pack had breached the borders and gotten a head start on her. Fuckers, she's still salty about it. The girl's gaze is steady, paying half attention to the boy and the rest to the strange land. No birds singing. No large predators out, though she's not sure that there'd even be that many around at this time of day. It's all unsettling, a knot forming in her stomach.

Shuffling her paws through the churned up dirt, pawing at it and watching it crumble further beneath her, Mercy scowls. "Not 's far as anyone's told me. We had earthquakes last night, no stars." The girl shrugs, trying to put the pieces together. None of them made sense. As for the others, they'd been gone before she got up, presumably looking for answers in the same way. Davey, Tide, and Pythia's scents were all on the breeze here, if vaguely. "Think some of 'em are around here, lookin' too."

Furtive gaze shifting to the horizon, there's... very little. Very little of consequence, at least, aside from the strange channels, dug into the land like great big claw scratches. All of it is weird, too weird for her. "Maybe we can find somewhere higher up to look, see'f we can see more without gettin' close to the water." Perhaps it's best she doesn't go on her own, now that she thinks about it.

"speech"

coded by NachoMumma

So they didn't know anything either, at least not that this pup knew anyway. He wasn't even sure which pack she belonged to and if they would even willingly share information, but in a time like this, Terror believed that sharing any and all knowledge was important. Together they could figure it out, he was certain.

"Same here. The sky got really dark with no stars which was weird, sure, but no where near as frightening as the quakes that followed or when the sky turned red at dawn," he said as he sighed softly. She mentioned what he assumed were pack members being around, but he hadn't seen anyone else. The scents of strangers were all over this chunk of land though, as where pawprints in the denser sand where the beach turned into dirt.

"That's a good idea. There's a burm over there, maybe it'll be tall enough," he said as he motioned to a raised area of land nearby before standing and leading the way. Once atop the raised hill of earth, he looked down upon the channels that formed, noticing how it very much appeared like the claws of a monster scarring the face of the planet. His frown was more noticeable now, however despite their raised elevation, it didn't do much to answer the many unending questions running through his mind.

there is a hell, believe me, i've seen it
there is a heaven, let's keep it a secret
Speech ─ Think

─ by Skelle !