Sable had heard a scream that seemed to come from the direction of the forest territory, but she wasn't certain if she was right. She heard Noah running back to their camp and decided to hurry back as well just in case it was one of their own. In her haste, she nearly collided with a tall cactus. Fortunately, she managed to dodge at the last moment, though a few spines still embedded themselves in her hindquarters. Wincing, she arrived at the camp just after Noah and surveyed the area, finding everyone except Blaze still there. Breathing a sigh of relief, she lay down near the entrance of a den and started to remove the spines from her skin. Pesky little things, they were.

Satified that his skulk is safe, Noah turned to take it all in. Noticing Sable pulling cactus spines out of her hanches, he walks over. "Are you okay?" He asks. Cactus juice might take away the sting?

She arrived at where the yelp came from and jumped down. Her tail swished when she realized the reason for the scream. What was the cause? Before shaking her head.

"The scream would have caught some attention. Not my concern", murmured Nightshade as she turned around.

Walking away before jumping on a tree, the brown and white fox decided to lay down and see how long until someone came along.

She looked up when she heard the scream but realized it came from the the forest. Questions ran through her head: Who screamed? Why did they scream? It hadn't been long since a fox called Joice went missing so she was concerned but not worried as long as no one from her skulk screams next.

Tensing slightly as Noah approached, Sable pulled out another spine; only three more to go. Glancing up at the pale fox, she responded, "I'm okay, just had an encounter with a cactus... should've been more careful. I don't think I have any cactus juice left. Maybe I'll see if I can trade for some with one of the traders tomorrow." She stretched to remove another spine, wincing as she did so.... just two more left. Hopefully she could get them out and get back to hunting soon, she would need something to trade with.

"Too bad the traders are asleep right now. I would have gotten you some myself. Or I can try to juice a cactus." Noah says. He wags his tail as he paces. What kind of cactus was the juice from agian? I can inpress her this way! Will she like me?

(Please ignore how derpy and childish I am making him. Stupidity will be next.)

Firestorm yelped as he felt paws on his back and sat up. "Hey!" He said playfully. He joined Arrow in chasing the forest leader, and pounced on her as well. He laughed as they rolled around in the grass.

Laughing internally at the thought of their leader attempting to extract juice from a cactus, Sable responded, "If you think you can, I would appreciate not having to wait until tomorrow." She carefully removed the last two spines and gently rose to stretch, assessing her soreness. Quite sore, she concluded; her right hind leg resisted bearing her full weight due to the bruised and battered muscles. "Do you need a lookout to ensure nothing sneaks up on you?" Sable was astonished at her own words—had she really just volunteered to be a lookout for their leader? She contemplated why on earth she would do such a thing, after all it was because of Noah's father; the last skulk leader, her mother went missing and is now dead. She was thinking so hard about this she nearly missed Noah's response.

-
Candy had been trying very hard not to look at his ruined tail, but when Nori had muttered another apology he took a second to stop preening and looked down at the injury. The sight made him want to vomit, he wondered morbidly for a moment if it would look better if he just ripped the broken end of his tail off, it didn't really hurt that much now but he could still feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins so he guessed the pain would come later. he sighed as he suddenly stood up and said "we should find a stream to wash in and then maybe we should ask nightshade if she has any herbs that could help. I've never delt with an injury like this before so I don't know what's good for it and what isn't and I think it's probably better to have a bent tail then a short one..... Maybe." He was still eyeing his tail as he wondered if he could maybe chew it off instead? He tried to shake his morbid thoughts away as he repeated quietly to himself "better to have a bent tail then a short one.."

~

His heart was pounding as his head began to swim with bad ideas. He was impulsive enough at his best, having adrenaline pumping through his veins and a sudden change in his normally very beautiful physic was making him have even more reckless thoughts.... If he ripped his tail off and left it in the woods for the rest of the skulk to find surely he and Nori could run away together and go explore without anyone thinking they were Traitors. They'd think they were dead and the two could be free.... candy had to take a deep slow breath to steady himself as he shook himself from his dangerous thoughts, ripping his gaze from his twitching tail as he said "let's go love, I need to burn off this adrenaline before I start doing things we can't take back." He gave his mate a sweet lick on the muzzle before he started on his way to the nearest stream, swimming and bathing would help. Surely his thoughts would settle when he was clean again.

Noah-M-Desert Lead-M: Sable, Open

"If you think you can come, I'd like the company. But only if you are up to it." Smiling softly, Noah grabs the cactus spines. "Probably should get rid of these."

Nori-F-Melinistic grey-forest-m: Candy

I smile and follow Candy. "A wash might be smart. I can try to wake up a merchant. We should bind it until I can get there."

It didn't take long for Candy to find a nearby stream and sink into the water, it was cold and the pain in his tail was starting to become apparent but he knew it was necessary to clean the wound and the rest of his fur. Though he had to admit he hated looking like a drowned rat when he crawled out of the water. Taking a moment to submerge himself, Candy grabbed a mouthful of moss before swimming closer to the bank and beginning to scrub the dirt and blood from his fur.

~

Once he was clean he submerged himself again and waited under the water until his lungs ached for air. When he could finally take no more he lunged out of the water towards his mate and playfully tried to tackle her to the ground before shaking all the water in his pelt onto her. He laughed trying to cheer her up and show that he really wasn't mad at her, even if she'd ruined his tail she was his mate and they'd been close ever since they were kits. When his mother had been killed she was the one that had been there right beside him to support him and keep him from doing things he'd have regretted for the rest of his life. She was his strength and even if he wandered he'd always come right back to her because she was the only thing that truly mattered to him.