TO THE EDGE [P]

[Ray "East" Kraus]

East was cold and wet and tired and hungry. The mountain range reminded him of his home. Not something that he liked to dwell on, since he'd spent his whole life trying to get away from it and once he'd left he'd realized there had been no better place to be. His body was sore, his shift was clumsy in its unfamiliarity, and he just wanted to go to Fulsi and find a bed to crash in. Maybe even Damon; East could convince him to work the kinks out of his shoulders.

Mm. Damon. That would be nice. East's mind was a little distracted with other thoughts when the ground under him slid, and he tumbled backwards and into Poppy. The two of them hit the ground hard and slid until they were caught in the crook of an angry looking tree. East groaned, rolled to his knees, and sought to help Poppy up. He was pretty sure the skin on his knees was never going to be the same, after all the falls they'd taken.

The morning had not started well. It was freezing cold in the mountains before the sun was up, and they had been at the base of the range anyway. He had been shuddering that morning, despite the fact that he and Poppy had been curled in a cocoon of limbs. East had noted that he was alive (as in, not strangled to death) and promptly woke up his companion (who had, apparently, not asphyxiated him), who looked just as tired and hungry as he.

The trip from their little hideaway to the mountains had passed in relative silence and without much eventfulness. East had tried to rub the sleep from his eyes, but he was so exhausted it seemed like a permanent fixture.

Anyways. Now he had scuffs from rocks all over his legs and arms, and Damon seemed like such a far away thought he may have well been in the North Pole instead of the Menagerie. "Sorry," East said tiredly, and stumbled to his feet--when he ended up on hands and knees again, he just about gave up. Instead of collapsing like he wanted (and really considered) he shifted into a cheetah and shook the snow and dirt from his fur. "Lets keep going, we aren't even to the top yet."

It was about then that the wind shifted, and East got a strange smell. He didn't know what it was, other than strange and... wet-dog-like. He twitched his ears and nose, but gave up on it and began to clamber back up the steep incline.

[Poppy Montgomery]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 500px; height: 600px; background-image:url(http://i43.tinypic.com/5e5p5g.jpg)] The hunger and exhaustion had sharpened Poppy's senses like rough stone sharpens a blade. The ache in her feet seemed distant as she picked her way over the tumbled granite scree. Her overalls were damp through, but with the strenuous push of the climb up this pass made her muscles burn and her breath come hot; she was almost grateful for the cool fabric on her skin. East climbed stolidly onward ahead of her, tossing little pebbles down at her at each step.HE seemed exhausted today. She wanted to walk faster- to surf on momentum and manic energy, all the way home. But she let East lead. The wakeup this morning hadn't been a pleasant one- feverish with cold and being blasted in the face by the rank morning breath of this stranger. She felt soiled, all tangled up in his limbs and heat and sweat from a night of shivering. The morning air had felt like a blessing from some winter angel. From the first step uphill, her drive to get home fueled her where her empty belly could not. Up and up, until the trees gave out and the rolling hills of old snow mixed in with scree and jagged boulders. No pine and redwood up this high- only the occasional larch, grown crooked and ancient-looking from centuries of hard, blizzardy winters and hurricane force winds. Lucky for them, today was still and the cloud ceiling high and bright, with no threat of thunderclouds that would scorch them off of the hillside. Poppy was caught up with a little imagining of Levi calling her a sissy and telling her his grandmother could hike faster than her when the shadow of East in her periphery- for she had eyes on her feet to make sure she didn't put her feet between boulders and snap an ankle- loomed as if in slow motion. The windmill of arms as he lost the battle with gravity would have been almost comic if he wasn't headed directly towards-- Uff! The air left her as East's shoulders collided with her chest and sent her flying backwards. She instinctively tucked her head into her arms before landing hard on her back. Her back! The pain of the gravel on their path tearing into her blistered electrical burns shrieked intolerably as they skidded downhill. They came to an abrupt stop as the pair of them, East half on top of her, slammed into the twin trunks of a forked, needle-less larch. She lay there, stunned, as East groaned and rolled up to his feet. He pulled her upwards to stand, and shocked as she was, she let him do it before her knees were really prepared. Somehow, they held. Poppy put a hand out to the tree to steady herself, eyes glazed with pain. Sorry, East said, promptly falling on his hands and knees again. Poppy turned her flat charcoal eyes on him as he morphed into his pretty new shift and said something about keeping on going, like there was some other option she hadn't thought of. Her back throbbed viciously, redly.It felt as though she was bleeding. The carna girl looked at East. She didn't see that he was tired and hollow and far from home. She didn't empathize. Maybe once, she would have. But living for a year in the Carna had changed her from the nice little Minnesota girl she once was. So instead of shrugging off the pain and annoyance, she let it flair hot behind her eyes. "You, asshole, she hissed. "My burns weren't even hurting. They were healing. Now you've gone and ripped them all open because you didn't think to watch where you put your damn feet." Just as exhaustion and cold had done, the anger and pain filled her with adrenalin. Poppy pushed past him up the incline, veering off to the left corridor of the pass. Where we should have been headed all along. Does he notice the giant boulders straight ahead? This way she could cut behind a patch of trees up there, and have something to hold onto for the steepest climb of this pass. Poppy derived tremendous energy at the thought of leaving that arrogant Fulsi scut behind her. There was no way she would wait for him, let alone share anything from her snares with him. He was on his own. Her previous thoughts of friendship and shifter-camaraderie were wiped clean away. So the girl, still boiling, made her way up the rise alone. Minutes added and blurred. At last, she pulled her way through the stand of trees, and found herself at the top of the pass. The wind echoed around her, tugging playful at her hair. She looked out over the wide valley ahead that separated her from a shorter ridge and the dusty smudge of mellow land beyond that must have been Fallen land. That was closer than she had dreamed- two or three days hard push, maximum. And then a day over the sandy border to Carna land. How idiot was she to think to stay with East, rather than head north over the the western arm of the Lawaii and straight into Carna turf? That would have cut a day off this infernal death march. She imagined Levi punching East in the face, or roaring at him with his big grizzly bear teeth and making the Fulsi man cower in Fulsi wimpery tears. The picture brought a stubborn smirk to Poppy's face as she contemplated the hike ahead and caught her breath. After a minute or two, she began the knee-crunching descent, planning her route with her mind's eye. Her feet pounded down in time to her throbbing burns. She hadn't even made one switchback before she heard a rock skitter down behind her. Had the Fulsi sheep boy followed her course? She curled her lip, waiting for him to come into view. She would be lying if she said she wasn't a little miffed at not having left him farther behind. But he didn't show. She stiffened. Was the sound of that stone the mark of a rock fall about to start? Should she run? wWere would she run to? But then something emerged around the boulders- not a cheetah, but a wolf, with his head low and his ears flat. He crept towards her, and she saw how scrawny and mangey he was. Another wolf, smaller, slunk beside him, and then another. All three were slate gray and starved-looking. "Hey, she called, for all her temper still friendly and half-pitying their sorry state."Are you trespassing on the Lawaii too?" No response. They stalked forward towards her. "Hello, wolves, are you retros?

[/i] she asked again, this time in shiftertongue. Maybe they didn't speak english. But still no response. Poppy began to feel uneasy. "Hey, listen. I don't have anything for you to steal," she called, backing up. Should she run? Where would she run to? The trio froze, their sunken, golden eyes round.

With a snarl, they charged, thundering down toward her. She turned and ran, and leaped, landing as a squirrel and shooting, a little black inkblot, into a crevice between two boulders.

"East", she shrieked. "Don't follow me!"

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Gettin' back into the groove!