Three's A Crowd

Running water, the soft trickle and gurgle of a nearby stream tickled Orso's ears. He paused, jerked to a halt, and lifted his low hanging head. The male had been plodding along for what felt like hours- days, even. 

After convincing himself that the little red girl... oh... divines, he still couldn't remember her name, but he remembered her pretty little face. She smelled of strawberries. Her blonde partner had been... oh divines... Orso had been more excited to tangle with the blonde than the red.

Lazily, he blinked, casting aside the thought. 

Usually, the faces he met under the influence hardly hung around for more than a day or so. With the haze he was in, he assumed the memory of the two would be long gone. Perhaps they lingered for the simple reason that they were the most recent faces he could remember.

Wherever he was, the terrain was entirely unfamiliar to him.

Trotting towards the sound of his long-awaited drink, Orso huffed out a sigh of disappointment. His gait was lofty, springy despite his tall stature. Lean muscles flexed beneath ashen limbs as he drew closer and closer.

Before he could get too close to the sound that beckoned to him like a siren to a Tenebral sailor, he caught yet another unfamiliar scent on the lackadaisical breeze. Slowing to a walk, he continued on his path but called out in smooth, sing-song tunes, "He-e-ello-o-o-o..." A smile tugged the corners of his mouth upwards. Behind him, his tail swayed back and forth in an easygoing manner. "I can smell you-" Orso cut off, lurching a step before huffing out a laugh. "That's... I promise that is neither a threat or an insult." A chuckle filled the pause. "I merely want you... whoever you are... to know that I do know you're here."

His quaint pace lifted back into his bouncy trot. "And, best of all, now you know that I am here!" Hazel eyes swayed back and forth - keenly seeking out the stranger lurking in the hedges or behind the tall grasses. "Join me for a drink, maybe?" 

Orso came to a regal halt at the edge of the shallow brook. Turning his attention to the rippled surface, he hesitated, his ears twitching in eager anticipation.

@Sienna & @Triage
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She was a stubborn girl, that much was painfully true. Sienna had been more than adamant in her desire to send Triage back to his previous life, back to his home, and his reply was one that left her stunted. Though despite her affections for the man, and despite the assumption that she was sure he wouldn’t leave her side now that they’d been reunited, Sienna had all too quickly slipped away.

Not permanently, but long enough for her to reel in her very loud, very persuasive thoughts. She would do whatever Triage decided for himself, even if it meant giving up her hope for him having a good life—a kind one.

But now she’d exhausted her patience, exhausted her peace, and the girl didn’t want to be alone anymore. Her black-tipped ears flattened as she attempted to find her way back to where she’d left him, regret seemingly all too eager to fester the more loud the silence became.

The petals adorning her fur had all but fallen in her wake, replaced instead with thistles and twigs she’d have to implore Triage to help her pull from the golden tangles. Though she thought it to be a good idea, perhaps traipsing through the brush was not the best of them, but the girl wouldn’t voice such a mistake—certainly not in any way but begrudgingly. But then steps sounded…and guilty shame set in. Had Triage found her already? Had she been gone so long?

I can smell you—

Sienna swallowed thickly. That was certainly not Triage. Her small frame rustled the foliage around her and the girl couldn’t help but wince. It was only when he turned that she dared to try and lurk away, peeling herself from the tawny grass and dry brush before he could turn back around. Twigs clawed at her fur, unwilling to relinquish her tawny locks from their grip so soon, and it was with a fearful wariness that she tugged—her stare never faltering from the turned stranger.

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Regal in his movements, though he hardly wished to be, Orso was halfway through lowering his muzzle to the water to quench his thirst when a painfully obvious rustling caught his attention. He hesitated, well aware that whoever lurked around him likely wished to remain unnoticed. Still, how could he resist a bit of socializing when life had been so utterly boring. His mind was still hazy, his pawsteps more unsure now that he'd been considering the fact that something about this place was very, very wrong.

Before he fully committed to taking a drink, he lifted his head and swung his attention in the direction of the sound. His hazel eyes, a mirage of green, amber, and yellow, quickly fixed upon the small wolf tugging her way through the brush. Dark nose twitching, Orso permitted a patient, albeit amused, smile to creep onto his handsome features.

Lifting a brow, he hummed out smoothly, "Should I assist you, Miss, or would you prefer I offer you some privacy while you tug away at those bushes?" 

Orso hardly gave the girl a chance to respond. He was turning without hesitation, meandering his way over towards her with his tail swaying behind him nonchalantly. "Don't fret. I have no intent to harm you." Orso had no desire to start crafting enemies when he still had so little information about where he was. 

His pace was hardly a crawl as he neared the bush. "Mhmm... Hold still." Reaching forward, his sharp teeth closed around one of the branches, and he worked carefully to convince the twigs to free their captive. "Mm-mph- Sorry if it tugs," he grunted through a mouthful of bark.
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There was the scent of Sienna, and then there was an unfamiliar; masculine voice that sent Triage's blood running cold. "Mhmm... Hold still." tufted ears flitted backwards as he quickened his pace toward the sound of the voice and seemingly his friends location, curled tail flagged over his back the mans hackles bristled as he wasted no time. He growled as he came into the scene a deep and steady rumble in his chest as he drew himself close to Sienna studying her predicament and narrowing his golden eyes upon the stranger. 

"Sienna;" he greeted. "You got yourself in quite the mess, don't pull" he added with a soft chuckle before his eyes hardened and turned on the other. 

"Who are you?" he didn't like the close proximity of which he had himself; a stranger ─ a strange man and Triage knew all too well the thoughts of men around a flower such as Sienna. He knew the way his comrades spoke, how they objectified and tainted them with words and imaginations. "Appreciate it stranger, but I can take it from here" the comment was not met with an aggressive edge but it was firm; not up for debate. 

@Sienna @Orso

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Sienna practically blanched as the stranger turned, her ears falling back as she repeatedly wrangled with the wretched limbs holding her hostage. A whimper fell from golden lips, trickling like molten honey. "Asshole, Asshole, Asshole." She'd murmur beneath the hush of her own breath at the sticks she'd named, the foul word muffled by the root carelessly being tugged between her teeth. The word Theoden taught her came with perhaps too much ease in her small fit of frustration.

Her hurried thoughts of scrambling and ripping the roots from her fur that way seemed to quiet as his shadow overtook her, the heavy thunder of her heart never springing to a stop. "I can get them!" She garbled out hastily, his larger frame urging her to shift where she stood despite what he considered reassuring words. He was a stranger. Sienna did not have much luck with those.

But then Triage's scent crested towards them and Sienna visibly relaxed, eager eyes seeking out the light pelt of her friend. "Triage." She practically sighed, sheepishness creeping across her features. "I got stuck. The assholes won't let me go." She tugged a limb to further prove her point before letting her features fall into a pout.

Periwinkle eyes peeked over her friend's shoulder at the stranger, seemingly shy as they shifted over his frame. A stranger he may be, but he'd helped her, hadn't he? The attempt was there, anyway. Sienna smiled softly to Triage, practically bleeding with a kindness she'd hoped he'd leech off of."It's okay, Triage. He was helping me, I think. He is...a kind stranger."

Her gaze lifted back to the other, darker male. "I am Sienna. What is your name?"

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