Mama, I killed a man

The girl woke with a start, gasping softly in fear. She didn't know where she was or what was going on, but everything was scary. Instead of trying to explore or figure out where she was, she chose to sit down and cry. Lifting her head up, she cried out, wining and calling for @Taikon. In reality, she wasn't sure if he would even come safe her, not after what she did last time. But now, she just wanted anyone to help her. She may be more towards being an adult, but her mind was still that of a child, and said child was terrified.

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Continued from this thread @Gaia

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With the black and white mutt keeping up beside him, Taikon raced toward Vedetta's voice. His fur was spiked and messed with seawater. The air chilled his wet skin to the bone, but he did not care.

His connection with Vedetta was complex. She didn't understand how complex, and there were several reasons why he had tried to ditch her in the past. However, he was incapable of ignoring her cries for help, just as he had been incapable of not diving in after the puppy in the sea. At the end of the day, he would always come for her. He would always be there to rescue her.

The floating isle was small. It was a strange place. Upon the ground was Vedetta, confused and shaken for likely the same reason he had been. “Vedetta,” he softened in his approach, and promptly went to embrace her in a wolfish hug. For the moment, the dog was ignored as a strange tear spilled down his cheek.
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it was hard keeping up, but this place - an isle? - covered a small area. soon as she found herself sputtering again, they were upon the child.

it were a pale girl - white like unmarred snow. her tail curved and her ears splayed, and the yearling felt a pang of intense empathy for all that familiar terror.

she approved of how the man moved to embrace the little ghost. were they father and child? for the first time, the yearling looked at her saviour, and found her theory plausible, as the man likewise boasted a white pelt, albeit his adorned with swathes of richer color.

her thoughts then went from fathers to parents, to mothers-

"are you alright?" blurted out, so that her mind might not catch up.
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The girl continued to cry, feeling terrified and scared. However, when she first heard Taikon's voice, she first thought it her imagination, however the scent of him mixed with seasalt pulled her attention down. She looked around and her pink eyes landed on the man she one called father. Though she probably shouldn't she couldn't stop herself from rushing into him, burying her head into his chest as she cried. "Papa! Papa I'm so sorry.... I was so scared.... I don't know what happened..." She sniffled slightly as she pulled herself together, hearing the sound of another. She cocked her head to the side when she saw the weird canine, they looked extremely small. "Oh hi there.... I'm.... lost.." She glanced up at her papa as if to ask 'is this stranger a friend?'

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These three are already adorable I can't even

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His emotional adopted daughter was warm and soft in his embrace. Coyote tears mixed with the salt in his damp fur, and he could do nothing but smile calmly, forever locked into the role of her rock in any time of need. Though she had grown older, she remained a child in heart and mind. To protect her could be his only real purpose.

Pulling back, he allowed her to investigate the young mutt. The beast could speak, and did so with a genuine concern that while he did not trust, he appreciated anyway. To Vedetta's question, he sighed. “I think we are all lost,” he answered, looking about their surroundings. “I don't know what happened, but something has changed. This... island... doesn't make any sense,” he explained, though he wasn't exactly sure what to do about it.

Also he was hungry, but that seemed like a side problem. “Do you remember anything?” He asked, looking at the dog, but asking both of them.
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ah! already the gnawing anxieties eased, replaced instead by an empathetic connection between the three of them.

"i think," she began, taking a step, then heard and felt how her wet paws slapped the ground, and furthermore how her whole pelt dripped.

"um, excuse me." she said, bashfully, and took a few steps backwards.

the girl shook her pelt out - the end result being a near-immediate return of puffiness to her fur. it was, also, immensely freeing.

"i think," she repeated, again stepping nearer the two. "i must've been on this island, or, or that-" her head turned to gesture at the far, rocky shore. the feeling of i should know that place, made her brain churn. "... that land." her voice heavy with recollection.

"but," the fuzzy face whipped back forward. "i have no memory of, of ending up in the, in the sea. that- i don't- i don't think i ever--" 

her brows drew together with intense effort to remember how she knew. it was frustrating!

"i don't... go near water." the girl finally said, defeated. "but i don't remember why."

"how about you?" her chin gestured at the familial pair.
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She reached over to sniff the child once they finished shaking out their fur. She cocked her head to the side slightly, watching the child closely. "I remember the land over there." She pointed to the lands across the water, remembering the snowy mountains as she looked up at her papa. "Isn't that where the pack you were talking to is, papa?" She asked hesitantly, still feeling very bad about whatever happened back then. But she chose not to bring that up, at least not yet. She glanced back at the child, offering a smile as she wagged her tail in a very friendly manner. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Vedetta and this is my papa Taikon." She glanced up at the older wolf, silently hoping that he was okay with her still calling him papa. He hadn't stopped her so far, so she figured it was fine. Not that she really cared either way, she would call him that regardless.

"But I feel like I went to sleep.... and then I woke up here, and it was scary and new, and I wanna go home." She huffed and sat down in a bit of a slump, she was tired of this teleporting around. This was the third time she ended up in a random place and it was getting extremely annoying.

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Taikon listened, recognizing that he was listening to children and knowing that they would only be capable of spinning their truth and no less. The both of them seemed to have vague memories of before this madness. He wondered if it had anything to do with the dancing stars that had been in the sky some time ago, or the storms that had made a mountain disappear.

“It is,” Taikon answered the coyote, looking to Northfall and incapable of remembering why things had been so strange there. Hadn't he followed someone to there? Someone who wasn't Vedetta? She had upset him, too, though he failed to recall why.

I want to go home. There had never been much of a home to go to, that Taikon remembered. They had bounced around from place to place for many months. Before that, she had come from somewhere else, and he didn't remember where that was. Honestly he didn't even remember his home before this strange land where islands could float and mutt puppies were lost in the sea. “Ah, yes. There wasn't much time to get your name before,” he mused, looking over the small and strange beast with vague curiosity and waiting to hear her name.

“Well, if we aren't sure what happened, then all we can do is go forward.” He looked out across the sea again. Northfall again was most obvious, but he was concerned about bringing both a dog and a coyote there. Surely they'd both either be killed or rejected, though he remembered that Sindri had been okay with him being in charge of Vedetta. There was another island to the south they could likely swim to with his assistance, but the unknown seemed... a worse plan.

“I think we should head to the mountain. Even if the pack is still there, they may not remember us. We'll have to be careful,” he suggested, looking at them both. He was used to making decisions for others. Though both of them would probably have been "fine" on their own, he filled the guardian role without hesitation.

“Do you think you can both swim to it?”
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the child - how they both assumed the other younger! - moved in to sniff the girl, and the smaller muzzle found a moment to inhale, letting a sweet scent of some hot season push past the salt.

vedetta. taikon. her pearly teeth glistened in a smile, lips parted for a reply: "i'm"

and then, nothing.

wide eyes, raised brows.

in place of a name - an abyss. when her mind dove in, she found the darkness which accompanied it cold and crushing, its bottom either distant or nonexistent -

the unknown threatened to drown her, and so the nameless girl resurfaced. 

"...not swimming." she belatedly attached. "i- i ca- no." her head shook, ears flopping.

"i hate the sea." said with firmness not there in the recollection of her name. "y- you- mister taikon, sir, you'd have to carry me."

she sat down.

"i can stay here, if that'd be too much trouble."
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The girl had a tendency to latch onto one thing at a time, and at the moment that thing was a lack of name for the small pup. "Do you not have a name? How do you not have a name? Everyone has a name!" She glanced up at Takion, cocking her head to the side. "Right papa?" She didnt' really wait for an answer before turning back to the pup. "Do you need a name? Oh I can give you a name! How about....... Gaia?!" She smiled happily, clearly proud of herself for coming up with such a pretty name. 

It wasn't until after that thought passed that her little mind went to other things. "Wait, you can't swim? I can show you how!" She smiled proudly, "You just kinda do like this..." She started walking in place, as if she were doggy paddling, but standing on the ground it looked ridiculous.

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There seemed to be something aloof or perhaps even "incorrect" about the dogthing. Taikon wondered if she had suffered similar memory losses to what Vedetta and he had been through. His memories had a tendency to return whenever he was exposed to anything that could serve as reminders, especially scent. On this island above the sea, though, it was clear that the pup had little to go off of.

He said nothing as Vedetta tried suggesting a name. He was surprised with what she came up with for a notable reason. “The name of a goddess,” he mentioned. Gaia, from his understanding, was known in some cultures as a goddess of nature or life. Being anti-religious ad nauseam, Taikon found it rather funny and perplexing to think about a soggy little cur with the name of a revered being.

Then came the more calculating aspects of what they needed to do. Swim to Northfall. The ragged wolf grinned at Vedetta's attempt to show, poorly, the act of swimming. His tail flopped, despite their rather dire circumstances. “It's okay,” he offered, chuckling. “You're small enough to carry; you can practice paddling in safety across the bay,” he shook himself again, despite the fact that they were about to get wet all over quite shortly.

“The drop looks far, but it's.. somehow safe.” He knew that because he'd launched himself after this blot of an animal with little consequence, other than the chill in his bones.
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she wished it had gone unnoticed, but the pink-eyed girl caught on. it brought the yearling distress. why couldn't she remember? did she need drown in her own mind for a drop of memory to soak in? how did she know so much about herself- no. how did she know that she knew? were these convictions false? should she doubt them? it did not strike her as at all odd that she stood so much smaller than either of them - what age even was she? what was-

gaia.

nothing. not a drop of that doubtful familiarity. and yet she latched on like a castaway onto stray wood.

the yearling nodded; she gave the child a smile, although her eyes betrayed inner turmoil.

"yes, that's a pretty name. gaia." there, she'd spoken in. it was hers now.

onto leaving.

"drop? maybe there's a way to descend," gaia rose, and padded over to the nearest edge.

"mister taikon did climb up here, after all, me in clutch. maybe ther- oh my gods."

this isle had no land. gaia stood jaw-agape at the cliff, watching the sea roll beneath, unobstructed.

she quickly backed off.

"yeah. i don- i don't want to be here anymore. mister taikon..." gaia walked up to him, then bent her head, showing her backside. "do as you wish."

totally ok with this round being everyone getting off the isle <3

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I can set up another thread in Northfall

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The girl was proud of what she accomplished, wagging her tail happily behind her. However, as the conversation turned towards getting off the island, she would nod slightly, rearing and ready to go! It seemed like all of her woes of earlier fears were gone as if they were never there. 

Not even really waiting for Taikon or Gaia, she skidded down the cliff (not very gracefully) and jumped into the water. She was a surpringly good swimmer, and the shock on her face showed she didn't know she could do that, at least not as well as she was doing so. "Oh wow! I can swim?!" Did she jump head first into the water without knowing she could swim properly? maybe.

Regardless, she would wait for her papa before swimming beside him, heading towards Northfall, determination and happiness in her eyes.

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Whoever feels like starting a new one of course

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As the dog, who quickly took to the new name, peered over the edge of the island, Taikon sighed. It had been the same reaction he had had, only more noisy. The group of misfits could not stay here in this weird place. There was no semblance of anything that looked like prey. They had no direction; they had no past, and no future. All he could do was steer them onward toward life.

He hoped, for the sake of the small one, that the pack wolves of Northfall had gone. Few would look upon her with kindness or even mercy. Even Taikon was not sure what he would do with her once they reached the other side.

But Vedetta, as ever, kept him from spilling over to misery. As the pale coyote launched into the water haphazardly, Taikon looked at the mutt Gaia and nodded, looking down at her submission to wolfhandling.

Like he had pulled her from the sea, Taikon grasped at the small one's scruff and followed suit. The temperature had barely risen and the water was terribly cold, but the swim was less far than it looked. Guided by the warmth of the young coyote, he swam with the forgetful dog to the other shoreline, careful to keep her head above the waves. The shoreline was dotted with conifer trees and rocky pathways.

He put down the dog, and took a big breath in.
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