Pursuing Shadows

The tiger remains unresponsive as Shade walks over towards him.

Wolf looks towards Tangerine.

"I hope you've actually beaten him." he says, "Can you get back up?"

Shade, without speaking, dragged his feet over to the tiger. He stopped moving at looked his, hopefully, at least unconscious body. 

Shade looks at his fists before falling on his knees, his fists stop clenching and a small shockwave of relaxing air rushing out of Shade's body, like letting your anger out in one sigh.

Shade crawled over to beside the tiger's body, and silently looked at him. He made a face of intrigue before slowly stretching out his right hand and moving it towards the tiger's neck.

Tangerine's eyes stayed on Shade and the tiger he was now reaching for. Maybe he was just going to check for a pulse...

At Wolf's question, she blinked and exhaled slowly. "If I haven't, we're fucked," she replied, "And not yet. Just... gimme a minute..."

Wolf tilts his head slightly.

"Well, he's not getting up. And these people don't seem like the ones who would pretend to be dead." he says.

He glances over in Shade's direction.

Shade would see that the tiger appeared to be just lying there on the ground, staring out blankly and without blinking. There was still no movement even as Shade had drawn close, and there was none even as he reaches towards the tiger.

Shade's eyes focused on the tiger, specifically his eyes, neck, and mouth. He slowly reaches towards the neck before placing his index and middle fingers on his neck and pushed in. 

Shade's unsure if the tiger is actually dead, or if he will pick up a pulse at all. He just slows his own breathing and concentrates, trying to feel even the slightest twitch from the tiger.

"Maybe that's the point," Tangerine replied.

She still didn't quite feel able to get up and so she remained down on the ground for now. But now without moving, she was also just getting colder... They would have to find shelter very soon.

Wolf doesn't reply to Tangerine. Instead he watches as Shade checks the tiger.

Shade wouldn't be able to find a pulse on the tiger. It seemed that the tiger actually was dead there.

Shade raises an eyebrow as he doesn't feel anything, "is he really-" he thought before cutting himself off. He rose to his feet and began to walk over to Wolf and Tangerine. He glanced back at the tiger before his focus remained on the duo.

As Shade made his way over, he was now close enough to shout so the other two could hear, but not enough to put strain on his voice, "the tiger's dead," he shouted, before remaining quiet until he was over beside the two.

As Shade voiced his findings to them, Tangerine let out a breath and lowered her gaze back down to her paws. Her stomach twisted a bit and, for a moment, the little meal she'd had not too long ago seemed to threaten to make a hasty return back up her throat. Blood on her paws was far from the ideal result she'd have preferred, but there was no changing that now. Not realistically at least.

The knowledge certainly didn't give her any further motivation to get up either. The dragon continued to kneel silently on the ground as Shade made his way over.

Wolf lets out a breath at Shade's news.

"Whew... well, I certainly hope he doesn't have any sort of trick available to come back to life." he says.

He looks to Shade and then at Tangerine.

"I'm sorry that I dragged the both of you into this..." he says.

He then pauses to look around at the damage done from the initial ambush and Shocker's retaliation.

"... And everyone else as well..." he adds sadly.

Shade sighed and wiped his hands on what was left of his jumper before rubbing his eyes. He sniffed and finished the journey over to Wolf and Tangerine. He then quickly sat down and rested his face in the palms of his hands.

Shade was beginning to relax before hearing Wolf apologise, "no need," he commented before remembering that he was roped into this because he didn't bother looking both was before crossing the road. This made Shade chuckle and he mumbled, "butterfly effect."

Wolf looks to Shade and Tangerine then he glances around again for a few moments. He stops as his gaze falls on the tiger.

"Should we do anything with him?" he asks the others, "Like see if he's carrying anything of use?"

Shade nodded at Tangerine's comment, however annoyed he may be, "I just sat down," he mumbled before rising to his feet, slowly and exerting a lot of energy, "ah okay, let's move." 

Shade's ears perked up and he looked over at the tiger, "we could check the body as we get out of here." He looked at Wolf and shrugged his shoulders.

Wolf watches as Tangerine turns away and starts heading off towards her truck.

"Do you want one of us to go with you?" he asks her.

Shade nodded at Tangerine's comment and watched as she left for her truck. He then slowly began to turn around back to the body and sighed, scratching his head quills. He began to make his way over to the body, "you can go with her if she wants you to, I don't really mind."

Wolf frowns slightly as he hears Tangerine's response and watches her walk away.

*Can't really blame her for being mad... Only had everything she brought with her wrecked by choosing to help you out.* he thinks to himself.

He sighs softly and turns to look back towards the tiger.

"Guess we may as well take care of this." he says, before he starts walking over to where the tiger lay.

Shade barely heard what Tangerine says but as he looks over his shoulder and Wolf seemed upset, Shade frowned and rightfully assumed that Tangerine denied his request. 

He slowed down a little and waited for Wolf to catch up, "come on, let's check this guy and then hopefully wrap this whole thing up." He smiled, trying to make him feel better.

((Sorry for the wait, work's been brutal.))


It took a little bit for Tangerine to reach the remains of her truck. She looked about, fresh recollections of the tense encounter that had occurred here only a short time before still vividly in her mind. The frustration vented itself in the form of a soft growl rising up from the reptile's throat.

There was no point in lingering, though. She spotted her hat still on the ground from where she'd swept it out of her way earlier. It was all covered in glass and debris as she picked it up, but she shook it off a few times, then pulled it back on. In doing so, she finally spotted blood on her paws from the head wound she'd received earlier as well. The dragon paused to gingerly feel of the cut over her eyebrow. She wasn't sure yet if it would need stitches, she'd have to check a mirror. Great.

Time was wasting and she was only growing more weary, though, and so she shakily knelt down, wincing as broken glass on the ground threatened to pierce her thick scales. Despite this, she moved into the back seat of the overturned vehicle. She peered underneath one of the seats, finding a very small bag still jammed there. The blanket she had pulled out to shield her passengers from landing on glass earlier had been hiding the bag away from sight. Now, she pulled out the small, cheap-looking knapsack and pulled it on to one of her shoulders. Luckily for this occasion, she had a real knack for traveling light.

With that acquired, she began to move back to the front seats, cringing as glass still shifted beneath her. Her body was at some strange cross between growing numb but also just aching all over. She had to push on, though. The dragon opened the glove compartment, reaching in and grabbing a handful of papers. She wasn't about to leave her registration and all right there for anyone to find after all. These papers were unceremoniously shoved into her bag. There was nothing else in the compartment now and so Tangerine finally reached back, snatching up her blanket and pulling it to herself as she started to move back out of the truck.

As much as it bothered her, her truck was no good to her any longer. As though to try and push her just past the limit of her patience as well, one shard of glass still trapped in the window frame of the passenger's side door caught on her jacket as she moved past. Tangerine grunted, tugging herself free and scowling at that last tear in her clothing. The dragon slowly rose to her feet, using one paw to support herself on the side of the truck. For now, she merely stood there, knapsack on one shoulder and blanket in one paw. She was more than ready to just crash and, if only for a little while, pretend that this day had never happened.


((Hope you guys don't mind that I just went through all of Tangerine's business at the truck. You guys keep whatever pacing you were planning to do for your characters, I might skip the next post or two.))

"Yeah... hopefully." Wolf replies without much enthusiasm.

He limps along with Shade over to the tiger, but he keeps his distance as he glances over at him.

"So... do you want to take the lead?" he asks Shade.

Shade sighed a little and nodded, "sure Wolf," before moving beside the tiger. He knelt down and began patting down the tiger, looking for anything of value on him.

((Right right, sorry for the stupid long wait for me to just skip, I've been having some struggles lately. So yeah, skip me for now.))

The tiger had appeared to be traveling light. He didn't seem to be carrying much of anything on him beyond his clothing. The only other thing of note would be the simple necklace with a red stone, that the tiger had under his shirt, which Shade would find if he patted down the front of the tiger's shirt.