"In The End It Doesn't Even Matter" The day had only dawned, gulls of varying hue lazily caressing the back draft of the shore to stay afloat like the tangerine clouds which hung at the same height. A slovenly painted canvas of morning color, the sun itself fastidiously reaching from the distant waves to peak in a fiery explosion of hue, before embellishing the untouched sky in baby blue. the air was almost sharp, as if the brine of the ocean could reach into one's lungs and forcibly steal their very breath. And as the blazing sun scorched the surface of the earth its radiant haze shined reflectively off of the golden Metallica of his pelt...floating along the ocean surface clinging repeatedly to a chunk of wood as a single being struggled to stay afloat. How long had he been drifting? Floating ever so further away from the land he once called home? And more importantly...where had he floated to? It was a question that pricked Cesares fleeting consciousness like a nagging thorn in the back of his mind. But at this point...he could not bring himself to hold on any longer...he was to tired...to exhausted...far to distraught to cling to his worthless life any longer. If he were to let go...to sink away into the depths and be claimed by the grasp of Davy Jones who would know? Who would care? And in the end...who would remember him? He left no legacy...and in turn he had no family that would be pained by his untimely passing. Just another face never to be seen again. And with that thought...he loosened his grasp on the log he had clung to so dearly...his claws slipping from it and allowing his heavy and broken mass to slowly sink into the ocean blue...and as he descended he had but a single thought. I'm Coming Home...

It was early morning when Creed had left the den he now shared with his mate. Mate. It was a thing he'd believed he'd never be able to say. He'd gone so long without finding anyone that it left a strange feeling in its wake. He felt complete and with it soon would come the promise of children. Kavdaya seemed about ready to pop and Creed was more than excited about the prospect of kids. His mind would constantly flicker between wondering how many they'd have to what they'd look like. Would they favor their mother or their father? Or would they take an entirely different route and take after their grandparents instead? It was a question he wouldn't have answered for a little while to come. The sun had yet to leave its mark upon the temperature. The morning wasn't as cool as he would have liked, but it was more tolerable than the heat of the afternoon. It'd been why he'd left so early in the morning. The sun sapped his energy more than anything and he felt like a baked deer left out in the heat too long with how thick his coat was. The desert was easy to traverse. He typically avoided the strip because there was nothing in it of interest other than gaping cracks left by the sun. All the water had dried long ago and left this place inhospitable. Creed wasn't interested in the desert but more so the ocean that lay beyond it. So he crossed the 12 miles at a hurried pace and it wasn't long before desert shifted to softer sands. It stuck in his fur and shifted unevenly around his toes. A gust of wind tore at his fur and his nose rose to the air as he took in its salty scent. This was far more refreshing. Movement would catch the elder's eyes and he squinted before he saw a log with a figure draped across it. Dotted brows furrowed as he got a good look at it and it took him a moment to catch that there was a wolf lying there. What was a wolf doing drifting on a log? The figure didn't seem to be moving though and that worried him. Was it dead? It would move and Creed's gaze widened as the wolf slipped from the log into the water. Was he going to resurface? After a few more seconds he didn't see anything and that was all it took. The heavy male rushed towards the water and waded until his feet couldn't touch the bottom anymore. The thought of swimming didn't bode well with him. This male seemed rather large, even at the distance that he was, and he was getting old. Could he carry the other wolf back to the shore? He hoped so. He certainly wasn't going to let it drown if it was still alive. Reaching the spot that he saw the other wolf go under at, he took a giant breath and then dived under the waters. Salt water stung his eyes as he swam to the bottom and found a male lying there. Grasping him firmly by the scruff he then kicked off from the bottom of the ocean floor and made his way back to the surface. The male was surprisingly lighter than he'd expected, but it wasn't the swim that was going to be the problem. It was going to be an issue when he finally got to where he could walk again. Breaking the surface he gulped in air eagerly. Making sure the male's head was above water, he then began the arduous task of getting the man back to the shore. The swim back felt much longer and by the time his toes could touch again Creed's muscles already ached. He was now dragging the male against the ground and he winced slightly. He felt bad for it, but it was better than him being dead, right? Assuming he wasn't already considering he had sunk and not floated. They'd barely made it past the waters edge when Creed dropped him. Moving around so that he was at the man's rib cage he then placed his paws on the man's side and began shoving his weight downwards so that he could pump any water from his lungs. 1 .. 2.. 3 .. stop. 1 .. 2 .. 3.. stop. He did that repetition a few times and then would look at the male to see if anything had changed. Would he breathe or had he wasted effort on a body? Walk, "Talk" Think