Water to Wine [open]

[[Midnight]]

Taya felt strangely disturbed as she stood in a thinner part of Starlight Forest, thinking back to her last conversation with a good friend. Somehow she had Bion convinced that he should go live with the Falling Moon pack for a while, due to his recent discovery about descending from Duke. Without realizing before what she had done, she knew now she might have put him in all kinds of dangers, and it was weighing on her mind constantly. What if he went through with it? Was he going to leave Esmerelda and their pups behind? And, to make things even scarier, Taya had agreed to follow him if he were to go.

She promised more out of obligation than excitement. The idea of living with the Falling Moon pack was the last thing she wanted to entertain. Now, however, she was stuck with her promise. She knew it'd be a major let down to Bion if she backed out when the time came. A desperate feeling tugged at her heart when she thought of hurting everyone. Hopefully she hadn't sentenced everyone to some misery by opening up the idea of switching packs. Briefly, she considered going to Caden or Esmerelda to explain things; then she came to the realization that she was scared to do even that. Surely Bion would feel betrayed, and she'd be seen as a tattle-tale.

She sighed and took to jogging along a well-worn path through the underbrush. A good run always cleared her mind up, eventually. Sooner or later, she'd settle down and maybe get a good rest. The idea was enlightening and it made her mind wander again. She stared straight ahead of her with eyes glazed, and wasn't watching where her paws were headed. Poor Taya didn't realize she had strayed a bit too close to the edge of the path and felt a searing, horrible pain in her left forepaw, sending her stumbling backwards with a loud screech.

She had stepped on an ambling porcupine. Her eyes grew teary as she shook with pain and saw the spines embedded into her pawpads. What an awful day this was turning into!

[Fire]

Bion was sick and tired of thinking. Thinking about this, thinking about that, it was all he ever did! On top of that, he hadn't seen his mate or his pups in a little while and he was desperate to check how they were. He wanted to know how Es was adjusting to pack life, too. Did she enjoy being back with the Stars? What if she wanted to leave again? Bion wasn't sure what he would do if she left.
Then again, he was considering joining the Falling Moons, which was considerably worse. He hadn't figured out how to tell Es or the pups, though, and it was troubling him more than the thought of leaving was. That was the easy bit, in comparison. The guilt of abandoning his family, even if just for a while, would devastate him. Was he not thinking this through properly? He already had a family in the Stars; a mate, pups, friends, good company. Some might consider him greedy, trying to discover another family when he already had a perfectly good one.
The curiosity still nagged, though. He couldn't shake it off.

His reflective thoughts fell straight from his mind as his ears pricked and he heard a terrible screech from nearby. As if instinctively, Bion started running toward the sound before he'd even registered that he was moving. For such a graceless wolf he moved with surprising speed and agility, but perhaps that was just an automatic reaction to the thought of his friend being in danger.

"Taya!" he barked. Bion slowed to a halt in front of his ivory-pelted friend, scanning her quickly for any injuries. "Are you hurt? What happened?" The concern was clear on his face, still frowning at her and trying to figure out why she had been shrieking before she had a chance to reply.
He cast his eyes to the ground for any more evidence, and then he saw it. Normally a tiny, harmless and innocent creature that he would never dream of having hateful thoughts toward. But this one had caused his friend pain, whether it meant to or not, and Bion wasn't happy with it.
"Shoe!" he growled, as if it could understand, and then attempted to push it away with his nose and his paws, but only succeeded in scratching the both of them.

[[Midnight]]

Taya hadn't really come across porcupines in her lifetime. Thinking back on it, she had a faint memory of her mother telling the story of when her mate, Taya's father, was stabbed in the cheek by one. They had to be pulled out. She stared at her paw, hesitating when she studied the embedded quills. She wasn't too eager to get the job done. However, she wouldn't be getting too far if she left them in...

Squeezing her eyes shut, she had just parted her jaws when her ears picked up the scrabbling sounds of an animal running towards her. It startled her at first, making her jump on all three paws and almost stumbling off balance. When the air filled with Bion's scent and he emerged from his pathway, she breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't been more glad to see a friend!

Careful not to set any weight on her forepaw, she watched wide-eyed as Bion took on the enemy several times smaller than him. His bravado was impressive, she thought, though the porcupine seemed to be ready to defend itself rather than flee. She stifled a giggled, feeling her mood instantly swinging around.

Sitting back on her haunches, she shook her head.

"Ah, I'm sorry Bion. I didn't mean to giggle at you like that, but that was kind of cute of you," she admitted with a sweet smile, though the tears still glistened at the corner of her eyes.
"I didn't know porcupines were so formidable. I didn't even see it when I was walking, and..."

As if to finish her sentence, she looked down at her outstretched paw, which had begun to ooze a slow trickle of crimson.
"I guess I won't be getting a nice run today," she added. Her eyes swept forward to gaze at Bion, then noticed his scratched face and frowned. She didn't mean to alarm anyone, but the screech of pain really came out by itself, it seemed.

[Fire]

Distracted by the sound of stifled giggles, Bion looked up at Taya suddenly, forgetting momentarily about his opponent. He frowned a little, unsure whether she was laughing at him or not. As soon as she apologised he relaxed, but then she called him cute. Bion opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't know how to respond so he snapped it shut again. Truthfully, he felt a little awkward. Maybe uncomfortable. But he knew Taya didn't mean it in anything other than a friendly way, because that's what they were. What else could she mean by it? He relaxed a little, mentally scolding himself for being so childish.

His heart sank when he noticed the tears in her eyes and the blood dripping from her wounded paw, and he fought the instinctive urge to move forward and nuzzle her in an attempt at comforting her. Instead, looking down at the quill embedded in her paw, Bion asked, "Do you want me to do it, or you?" If it were him, he'd rather look away while somebody took it out as quickly as possible. That way he wouldn't be able to change his mind at the last minute.

At the mention of their spiked arch nemesis, Bion glanced down at the porcupine almost defensively, having briefly forgotten it was still there. He moved his head slowly toward Taya again before snapping his gaze back to examine her expression.
"I suppose not," he agreed. "But it means that you can get everyone to wait on you hand and foot!" Bion wrinkled his nose up in delight at the idea, attempting to cheer her up as best he could. It felt awful to see someone he cared about in pain, especially since she was being so brave about it.