There weren't many places in the West that she hadn't at least seen before - but Lyric had wandered a good ways away from home and found just that. These lands were strange, the complete opposite of the lush settings of Valhalla's territories - there was the odd scent of death that lingered, and something musky and heavy clung to the air as well. The young female usually would avoid a place like this like the plague, but she wanted to sort out her thoughts and feelings and she wanted to do so alone. Meeting Alpine had been a highlight, and even thinking about her first run in with the male brought a smile to her face. And yet he had stirred something within her, something that she hadn't really dealt with before - as the female had just turned two this season. Her first heat had been subtle so far, but clicking with Alpine had made her crave closeness for the first time in her life - and she wasn't quite sure just how close that she was prepared to be to anyone.


Without a word to her family she had slipped off and away, crossing the borders to rocky terrain, just avoiding the various deserts that littered the heart of the west - until she came face to face with what looked like bubbling black water. It smelled terrible! And was quickly identified as the source of the pungent smell. A frown pulled at her lips as she peeked in, only to shudder as a bubble popped right below her face.


And then the bubble rose out of the pits, a tiny figure pushing through to the surface long enough to mewl for help. Lyric's eyes widened, and she barked back, not knowing what to do at first. She hadn't come across many cats in her life, but the tiny figure wouldn't survive if she didn't do something to help it, that much was painfully obvious. And yet still she would hesitate to jump right in - instead barking once, twice, she would pace the shore, egging the feline on, hoping that it would free itself from the black lagoon and crawl back to the shore - only to watch the tiny creature sink slowly back into the abyss,,.


Her heart sank.


Gulping, she would wait no more than a few seconds before sticking a hesitant paw into the muck. It was sticky, but she had enough strength in her legs and leverage to yank it back out. After the test, she would reach her paw out toward the little sinking kitten, lowering her body and stretching as far as she could in order to keep her back legs out of the goop and her right front leg keeping her steady so that she wouldn't fall in. The woman would take a shuddered breath, her body quaking out of nervousness and being stretched with such precaution. "Almost... there..." She would mutter, giving one final push in order to grab the tiny cat - but that one push was one push too much-


and she tumbled right in beside it.

Paws had paced along one small part of the border length, stopping each time by the exit trail of another wolf, before the pacing started once again, the soft padding against the ground hypnotic to his warring mind. He knew that Lyric had left the pack here, and wondered off into the rogue lands. He had not yet encountered in within the borders of this pack, this pack he had joined to be closer to her. It was luck of the draw in part, and also because both of them seemed to have taken to exploring the rogue lands, minimising their time spent within the Valhalla territory. He sighed and made up his mind, launching himself forward, nose to the ground he followed the trail away from the pack.




The walk was a fair one, and the trail in parts was faded and more than once he almost lost it. It took a great deal of his tracking abilities to follow her through the land until he found himself in the strangest setting of all. Here he could see the tar pits, but the strong odour blocked out all else and he could no longer catch a whiff of Lyrics sweet scent. He was confused that she would come to such a place and himself paced back and forth a moment later until he heard a pitiful little meowing sound, so quite he barely caught, so faint it could be the imagination and he paid it no heed. It was the responding bark that shot him into action, navigating the treacherous banks, looking desperately for the glistening white coat of his angel. A splash caught his attention as he saw her, stretched out across the thick surface, sinking into its depths besides the tiny shape of a feline head.




His stomach clenched and a shot of pain and fear almost immobilized him, he had to fight to move forward, putting himself on the banks edge where he could see the life in her eyes and the movement of her jaws in breath. He almost sagged in relief to see he wasn?t too late, and his mind whirled painfully as he fought to find a solution. And then, even though it pained him he yelled out to her.

?Hold on, just hold on! don?t fight, spread your weight! I?ll be back for you? I promise?

The last was almost a whisper as he turned and ran from the scene.




He didn?t go far, to do so would be to defeat the purpose of his plan. He ran until he found a dead tree branch and he picked it up in jaws, it was so big he couldn?t fully wrap his jaw around is and he had to drag it along the ground behind him. He felt the rough edges of bark digging into his mouth and tastes blood, but he didn?t falter as he made his way back to her. He walked until he was at the tar pits edge before spitting the thing from his mouth. He had to prey it would be enough. He went behind the branch lowered himself and pushed his shoulder against the other end as he shoved it across the tar ? He knew this tactic worked on quick sand and well he wasn?t certain it would do for this he didn?t know what else to try. He pushed until he felt his paws sucking at the end of the tar and stopped.

[b]?Grab it, Lyric, put your paws over if you can or just your mouth if you can?t and try spread your weight out. Don?t fight it, don?t thrash. I?ll pull you back out again."

He was panting now, his eyes never losing sight of her as he waited.

The sludge was thick, sticky and surprisingly heavy. Lyric hadn't expected it to be this heavy! She struggled after falling in to get her head up higher - 'just a little higher' and once she did break the surface she wasn't even completely sure that she broke the surface because there was so much muck sticking to her face. The woman would cough, fighting to see through the ink that plagued her eyes, she could hear the sound of the kitten whimpering just inches away from her face. Although possibly foolish, she had come this far for the sake of saving the tiny life, so she did not hesitate to gather the little animal in her mouth, gentle even while she was struggling to keep breathing.


She had thought that she would have to find a way out herself - and that consisted of flailing her legs in a hopeful attempt to find some sort of ground beneath her feet. But before she could begin to expend what little energy that she had left after the initial shock and struggle, she would hear a voice - a godsend - Alpine!, telling her not to fight against the black muck that was trying very hard to drown both she and this tiny cat. A moment of doubt would cross her mind - if she didn't fight it she would drown! Yet at the same time, this was Alpine - maybe he knew what he was talking about, maybe he would be able to get her out of this mess. And so she would screw her eyes shut and with a slight whimper she decided to trust the brute that had been so sincere with her up until now - and waited for his return.


The moments that he was gone felt like a lifetime to the sinking lupine. The thought 'is he coming back?' crossed her mind at least a hundred times - and that meant that he had been gone for a few minutes didn't it? Lyric tried to move her legs, and found that it was possible, but difficult - and besides that, this muck was too thick for her to be able to swim in. The small mewling creature hung limp in her jaws, probably figuring that it would either die in the jaws of a predator bigger than it was, or the tar that was dragging them both down. 'Don't worry, I've got you.' And it would seem that Alpine had her.


The smack of the wood against the sludge would call her attention, and then Alpine's voice broke through her frenzied thoughts. With quick, whining breaths she would do her best to do what he said. Her paws - she needed to get her paws over the log. Trembling muscles would push - push! toward the surface, but for every yank she gave her legs it seemed like the muck was dragging her down twice as hard. Blinking enough times to hopefully clear her eyes, she would finish what she had come this far for - stretching her neck far enough to place the little desert cat onto the branch, securing its life before her own.


And then she sunk...


But with her mouth free, she would grab at the thickest part of the branch beneath the tar. Hopefully Alpine would pull her out despite her not being visible above the surface.


ooc: lmao, yeah they've gotta keep this cat ahahaha

Alpine hadn?t even seen the sad little mess that was the kitten until it was clenched gently in the jaws of Lyric. He stared in awe as she put the little creatures life before her own, dumping it down on his brank where it stayed sprawled in a pathetic mess of tar and ragged breaths. He could barely breathe as Lyric?s last attempt, the one that had saved the life of the kitten also took her under. He felt rather then heard the whimper of pain that escaped his mouth as he took one tentative step onto the branch to leap in and save her, he suddenly felt the weight that dragged on the other end of his life rope.


With a cry he grounded himself back on earth, having only made a single step in the first place, and terrified for her life, she was completely submerged so whatever breath she had was it, he grabbed the stick in his jaws and pulled.
He put his back into, although the pain wasn?t in his spine, it was in his mouth. The blood he had tasted earlier grew worse, he could almost swear his gums where bleeding where his teeth dug hard into the rough bark, his breaths where thick and heavy through his full mouth as he made step after step, dragging the wood and all that clung to it free of the muck. He heard the sucking sound of the tar it slowly, inch by inch, lost its grip on its victims.


By the weight he ashamed Lyric still clung to it and as he pulled the branch the last distance, to what would have dragged her free, assuming she was still there, he stopped and the branch dropped from his unclenched jaw, with a few splatters of blood. He stood there for a moment gasping, catching his breath and waiting for the wave of pain to subside before throwing himself over the branch, catching another glance of the damn cat that had almost take her from him, before focusing all his attention on Lyric, if she was there and if she breathed.

She would hold on for dear life, her lungs burning as she struggled to keep her breath at bay. Yet she knew that if she gave up, if she sucked in like her body so wanted to - she would get nothing but sludge, she would do nothing but sink. And so she waited, trusting Alpine to pull her up, to pull her out. As she waited it slowly got harder and harder to think, but even if she forgot all else, she was not letting go of her lifeline. The seconds that ticked by stretched on and on - but Lyric could feel herself moving - (whether it was up or down she was not sure) but it just had to be up because Alpine was out there - and he wasn't going to let her go. So long as that trust remained she had something to keep holding on for... but that breath wasn't going to last her forever. The frayed edges of her mind began darkening, fading to black as she craved oxygen more and more as the seconds ticked by.


When her body was finally free of the pits, it would take a moment for her to notice, the fear that she was reacting too early, that she would breath in and drink down the ink that had covered her frame before, tickled at her mind even through her fading thoughts. For a moment the girl was still - and the only movements would be that of the tiny cat that Lyric had pulled out and Alpine had undoubtedly helped rescue - and Alpine's own movements. Her subconciousness was quiet... it was a knee jerk reaction from her own body that forced her to take a breath in, gasping in the hot foul smelling air like it was the freshest of mountain air - and to her, it was. Lyric would simply breath for a moment, no other movements were necessary - she was so tired. Yet despite her lethargic figure, she would blink away the tar over her eyes, looking up at Alpine - who was staring intensely down at her.


The world was still spinning, still coming back to her after nearly slipping into unconsciousness, but his face, his eyes, the blood that trickled from his lips - it was all so painfully clear. He had been the one to rescue her - without him, she would have died and so would the kitten that had started to quietly mewl beside them. "Alpine..." She whispered, her voice a partial whine. The girl's lips would twitch, attempting to smile - because with every conscious moment it seemed that Lyric would not lose that pleasant expression - "Oh Alpine, I..." She was sorry - for scaring him, for the trouble he had undoubtedly gone through, for the blood on his lips. But for every bit as sorry she was, she was twice as thankful - he had saved her life! "Thank you." She would say between panted breaths, her blue and yellow swirled eyes meeting his own stormy blues.


She would close her eyes again, letting her head hit the ground as she simply rested - the sound of the kitten's mewling would allow her to do so. It had not all been in vain....

The stillness he saw in her frame brought something that felt very much like a stab of pain to his chest. Like a phycial blow that made him want to wrap in about himself. When he saw her suck in that deep, true breath he felt like he could breathe again, felt as through he had been holding his breath since the moment he had lost sight of her. Of course, that couldn't be true, he had needed the oxigen to haule free the branch and its attachment, all the same his deep breath tasted like the sweetest scent he could imagine. It tasted of sweetness and warmth and the brush of fur, it tasted like Lyric.


He hadn't moved from his position of looking down at her and as her sticky eyes forced their way open he let out a soft moan of relief. He could see the strength in her eyes despite her exhaustion and knew that she was going to be alright. She told him her words and his heart almost broke and the effort they cost him, just to tell him her thank you. As her eyes slipped closed again he found himself just watching the rising and falling of her chest and could barely contain his pleasure at the simple movement.


She seemed to have slipped to sleep and he watched her for a moment before he moved closer again and gently nudged her on the shoulder.
?Lyric, wake up?
He said ever so gently, nudging her side.
?You can lean on me but we have to get you to water?
He told her, his voice still ever so gentle as he nudged her again.
?I'll carry your cat?
He added, his voice sounded almost resigned here. But he would wait to see if sdhe would struggle to her feet, and if so would help her lean on him and take the kitten gently in his jaws.


"Speech"