you're putting up your armor when you leave

the shore of the inlet near The Nameless Mountain. @Hydra

---

Spluttering up phlegm, saltwater, and blood, the heavy-set wolf all but dragged his sodden carcass from the sea. Blood oozed from a grisly puncture in the juncture of his shoulder, and chest. Any closer to his lung, and it would've been lights out. Goodnight. Do not pass go. Yet another in a long line of many close shaves. At least the other bastard got what was coming to him. 

He grunted, lips pulled back in a fanged grimace. His muscles were screaming in pain, but he refused to heed the signals of imminent collapse (or, worse yet, loss of consciousness) until he had ascended past the tideline out of reach of the hungry sea. Only then did his legs buckle, and his body hit the sand with a grunted, "Stang," of defeat. 

Once more he tried to rise, but his legs were numb, and unresponsive. It would pass, he knew, but it would be precious minutes before he could move. Minutes best spent vigilant, despite how desperately he wanted to succumb to his exhaustion and sleep off his hurts. Blinking away the salt from his eyes, he scanned the southern shoreline, fighting to keep focused.
the staff team luvs u

It did not take long for company to come. There was more of the nameless mountain to uncover, but the question Bronco had asked—how far was the shore from them?—lit the forefront of her mind this hour. Near enough to the base to begin the venture, Hydra navigated beyond the borders with the intent only to investigate the distance between point A and B. She had been right in her estimation—it took but a half day to arrive, perhaps even less. But it was by and by within her dominion, she felt—and so, she rightly (within her own mind) felt possessive over it. 

Thinking to begin making that point, she had made to start staking something of a claim over it when her eyes fell upon a bedraggled form near the shore. Turning to make her way toward the man, her mien was indifferent rather than hostile—it was not as though the claim was an obvious one at this point, but beyond that... it also looked as though he had no say in his arrival here. Another the tide dragged in. 

“You there,” she drawled, “can you stand?” She asked, unsure as to the state of him in mind and body. Hydra was beginning to learn the sort of toll the ocean could exact, given her latest encounters, and she wondered what it had done to this particular stranger. A less peaceful way to come to these lands... but not uncommon, given the latest three she had found.

the staff team luvs u

Another series of coughs masked the approach of the pitch-dark she-wolf until her impassive voice reached out through the space between, and sent his reactive instincts into hyper alertness. His expression remained pinched with pain, but he mustered the will to lift his head from the sand, leaving his cheek and chin coated in a fine layer of it. 

Honey-brown eyes darted across her frame, briefly assessing her. Not that he posed an immediate threat; he sensed she knew that already, wasn't a point trying to prove it otherwise. He looked like shit. The twin peaks of his ears rose to prominence above the hard edge of his brows. Rex inhaled to speak, and ended up choking on the first syllable, sending him into another violent coughing fit.

"Yeah," he croaked after surpressing the worst of it, rolling into his stomach, elbows sinking into the sand. Ignoring the exhausted tremor in his legs, Rex rocked forward onto his paws in one stiff motion. He regarded her with due caution, noting the latent power in her stance and the temporary lack of it in his own. 

"Not exactly my best morning," he supplied. "I don't mean any trouble..."
the staff team luvs u

He rises—albeit slowly—but Hydra does not rush him. There is little point to that; she could see he was working at it. Even despite his sorry state, Hydra—with her own keen eye—saw the potential there. Most beaten to the sea would hardly have the spirit to stand so swiftly... and so, she deduced that while he had been beaten by natures swell he had not been broken by it. To both of his final statements, Hydra answered—in a tone that was too devoid of emotion to be unkind—“I can see that,” in her low voice. 

Moving toward him, Hydra hummed, “You happened upon my shore, stranger. I know it was not you who decided upon that much,” she drawled, “but that does not change the truth of it,” here, her own ears pressed over her brow as she stepped toward him. “I am Hydra Ostrega, Queen of this place,” she gestured before her, and behind her; The Nameless Mountain and its shores belonged to she and her family. “As you are now, you are no threat—but I would not like to see you become one,” she hummed with a lash of her tail. Did he understand what she was asking him? Another step toward him. Would he prefer death by sea, or by teeth? Or perhaps, better yet, he might offer himself in service to her... but she would not speak for him. At least then, she could offer what resources they had to aid him. A soldier herself, she thought she saw the same thing in him... but this place had a way of playing with ones mind. 

Moving nearer and nearer to him, Hydra intended to herd him away from the water—or toward it, depending—not yet inclined to meet him with her teeth. This truly was an accident, she knew, and so Hydra displayed some measure of mercy to start. Let him gather his bearings and understand the situation, at least. 

the staff team luvs u

Mindful to keep his commentary to a complete minimum, Rex held his tongue as he fought against the fire in his muscles to remain upright. Not against the weight of her gaze—which was quite significant, of course, even he could sense it—but against the demands his toil had exacted upon him. Rex was running near to empty now, sucking down the last of his reserves to appease this queenly stranger who's shores he so happened to be unlucky enough to be spat up upon. But in direct spite of his own physical pains, he lifted his head a few inches while she consumed the space between them with a few sure strides, eliminating the neutral buffer zone and claiming complete control of the situation.

His breath hung suspended in his lungs, listening with a studious interest as she spoke. Though she hadn't began by introducing him to her teeth, he sensed it wasn't beyond her to do so. The stranger—Hydra Ostrega—knew the measure of her strength, and he wasn't exactly in a position to argue it, or disagree with her sentiments. His eyes darted away from her form, to the mountain behind her, then back when when she took another step toward him. A wrinkle of concern carved a canyon between his brows at her proximity though he said nothing to the contrary. He was outmatched, and outplayed. 

Rex huffed, though the sound was a touch raw from all the coughing. 

"That so?" he asked, the hint of a smile tracing across his lips like a contrail as his eyes followed her. "Can't say I'm terribly eager to start a war, ma'am. I just finish them." 
the staff team luvs u

His words alone stayed her teeth, and further action. She appreciated the sentiment shared for the fact alone that he was a fighter confident enough in his own skills to believe as much. “Is that so,” she asked, pausing midstride to look him over. Sorry though he looked now, it was easy enough to picture in her minds eye. He cut a strong figure, and Hydra felt certain that when he was feeling not so out of sorts he would be much more impressive than this. 

“And whose wars do you finish now, stranger?” She drawled, not so certain he would answer to any at this point... but wanting to be sure, as ever. 

War; she remembered something of it. Reasons she had been prepared to start one, once... her family, their livelihood and safety. Children—not simply her own—and the future of somewhere hung in the balance of... something. These thoughts, brief though they were, caused Hydra to remember the importance of strength but more than that, the importance of her family to her. For them, Hydra had no qualm in starting something—and for them she would do more than just that. 

The matriarch enjoyed building her family with equally strong, worthy wolves... and she imagined that she may be looking upon one, at present.

the staff team luvs u

A muted brush of satisfaction ghosted through his mind when she halted midstride, turned, and raked her gaze across him again as if to reconsider whatever assessment she'd made of him. He enjoyed being unpredictable; moreover, he appreciated the security of it. A stumbling, arrogant idiot wouldn't have lasted five seconds. Rex was pushing five minutes, maybe more if he continued playing his cards right. Or playing to her favor. 

The latter appeared the easier option. But was it the right one?

"Rex," he supplied helpfully. His head tipped a degree to the left, but his expression remained as open, and honest, as he could permit. Wasn't any sense hiding anything when he had nothing left to hide. "Presently? No one's, though I reckon I could make myself useful if someone had a need." 
the staff team luvs u

No ones, hm? 

“The day might come where I might,” she drawled, open herself in admitting such, “though I would fight along with you. And beyond that,” she drawled, “your own needs would be fulfilled, should you be able to hunt and run with the pack,” meaning: she would not take in any who did not have the ability to carry their weight in the most basic, and primal, of capacities. If he could not hunt, then she doubted he could fight well in any event... Hydra was looking for more than simply a soldier for an army, after all. Rex would become family. 

Taking a step forward, Hydra turned the tables; from threatening to inviting, she was as changing as the tides then. He had bought more than minutes for himself, it seemed. “What do you say, Rex,” her deep voice started, “will you hunt with us?” her ears fanned forward as she observed him, interest apparent.

the staff team luvs u

ho ho sneaky work post ho ho

---

A queen that did more than warm a royal throne? 

Less a queen, then. A commander of sorts. A convincing one at that. There was very little in the way of false pretense being spun here; he imagined she lacked the time, or care, to weave lies into baseless reality. But what he lacked was proof of these exploits, and that was a difficult thing to ask when he stood here, drowned as a rat, entirely at the mercy of her patience. Her demeanor changed, the tension in her frame unraveling as she spoke. 

Rex was a survivor, and survivors didn't turn their noses up at offers like this. 

His eyes widened a touch, subconsciously reflecting his surprise. But he replied in the same even-keeled tone he held to throughout their exchange, and nodded, "I accept." 
the staff team luvs u

He was quick to accept, which pleased her; she drew nearer toward him, so as to exchange her own scent with his own. “Let us go home then, Rex,” she drawled, coming up alongside him with a sway of her tail, “and get you fed, if you are hungry,” she suggested; in his state, she imagined food was a necessary part of the recovery process... but, well, she would let her sister be the judge of that. Hydra gave one last look to the stony shore they stood upon before leading the way to her (still) Nameless Mountain.

 

LAST FROM ME <3 YAY WELCOME TO EMP

---

the staff team luvs u

my body iS READY

---

Truly, he lacked for words with which to thank her properly, so actions would have to do... once he was well enough. If he had a guess, and he reckoned it was a good one, she wasn't one to weigh words of gratitude or loyalty as heavily as she did physical proof and that suited him fine. It marked her as survivor. So it seemed a natural thing to accept her proximity now, knowing she had nothing to gain from ripping him to pieces—she could've just as easily left him to the elements, and not risked her own hide in the process.

Rex grunted his affirmation, and gingerly reached out to inhale the scent that permeated her pelt. He could make out nothing alarming, though one particular thread of it did wind itself around his brain. This was a family and, for now, he would be the outsider. But only for now. He steeled his nerves, drew from his flagging reserves, and plodded diligently after the queenly commander.
the staff team luvs u