Traitors Tor [M] blue bucket of gold

Mature Tag for Death by Rabies! Read at your own discretion. i've been putting this off but it's about time. @Lenae and Piety only please. || Morning, Cloudy, 7°F (-14°C)

"Raise your right hand
Tell me you want me in your life
Or raise your red flag
Just when I want you in my life"
- Blue Bucket of Gold by Sufjan Stevens

Curse that damn boy down in the mountain. Curse himself for being so foolish. Most of all curse the sickness coursing through his body that made living so damn hard. Time had passed and he hung around the south until he could feel the direness of things settling in. His last instinct when all others had been washed away was to go north. He didn't know what would be waiting for him if he ever made it back to The Selwyn Mountains. He did not have much of a functioning mind left to wonder what might be. Deron was living in the moment. They terrible, sucky, insufferable moment.

By the time the sun had peered over the lowland horizon, the grizzled male was more tired than he had been in some time. His jaws parted exposing anything near him to the sickening diseases. Slowly he lowered himself to the ground - starting at a crawl before laying on his stomach. Heavy breathing caused his sides to rise and fall as Selwyn yellow eyes looked to the horizon. There wasn't a familiar mountain in sight. Just strange rocks here and there. He wasn't north enough yet.

(This post was last modified: Nov 06, 2017, 07:35 PM by Deron.)

Lenae had seen plenty of death in her life, but never disease.

The mountains were so remote that it had never been an issue, and on the rare chance that someone got wounded or sick the healers always managed to patch them up in no time at all. And yet, the scent that lingered on the wind...even she knew that it heralded someone's doom.  A wise wolf would have turned and ran in the opposite direction, or at the very least would have warned their allies about danger that lurked in these parts. But not Lenae. She was many things, but she'd never be wise.

She was of course alarmed, nervous, but her caring and compassionate nature got the better of her. What if there were suffering?Hurting? She knew there was little she could do to help them but the thought of just leaving them alone, scared and vulnerable made her heart ache as though someone had driven a knife right into it.

You see that had always been her problem, Lenae cared too much.

Her heart thudded in her chest as she climbed the hill, knowing that this place would serve as a resting place for yet another wolf. Another victim of a cruel and awful fate. Why? Why did the world have to be like this? To say that it was unfair seemed childish, as though she was a pup throwing a tantrum, but it was, it truly was. She didn't want to bury another stranger but she would, she'd do anything to make sure he had peace and dignity. It was the least she could do, considering that so many of her family members had gone without. That their bones were still scattered at the bottom of the mountain.

With aching legs, Lenae finally reached the summit and the sight she saw-the sorry, broken figure of a man she'd once known- knocked the air right out of her lungs.

Oh no oh no. Not this, not him, not now, not ever.

Now was the time to run, to flee and never look back, but like a corpse with rigor mortis her legs were stiff and solid. She wasn't going anywhere, the world wasn't done with making her hurt. It had to rub her face into the dirt just one more time.

She didn't want to speak, let alone share the same air as this diseased creature and yet her lips parted and the words slipped free whether she'd wanted them to or not. Her voice was hoarse and croaky, clear signs she was about to burst into tears at any given moment. Any second now.

"Un-nnncle."

There is a rabbit's nest nearby. +1 Health

Mature post - death

He wheezed through parted lips, Selwyn Yellow eyes seemingly out of focus - as if whatever they were looking at he wasn't truly focused on. There was a voice, though. One that caught his attention along with the word that was used.

"Un-nnncle."

He forced himself to focus on the small tawny form. It was a Selwyn face he did not expect to see again. For a moment his lip pulled up, fear flooding him because in Deron's brain was a flash of the dark fur of Savion. Derry imagined that if he was ever going to die in the presence of another Selwyn it would be his brother. He had always been in the shadow of his brothers and even now in death, he couldn't seem to escape that suffocating feeling.

Ah, but he came to for a brief moment to focus on that tawny fur. Familiar. The word bounced about in a fairly empty mind. "Le-" He wheezed as the drool flowed out of his mouth. This wasn't home, was it? Had he made it after all? "Lenny." The dear nickname slipped past his lips just barely. If he was going to pass in this very moment at least it was with her face looming in the background. Even if he had never cared much for her she had been a sunshine creature from what he could remember.

He would have said more if he could have but it was too late for him. His body writhed for a moment before the foam followed. There would be no time for him to have guilt about time wasted on this earth, to say he was sorry or to confess loves hidden. Or to tell any passersby to stay away.

Jezus. I'm shook.

She felt sick. What was that white stuff, thick and oozing out of his mouth? And why were his eyes so glassy and unfocused? Deranged, that was the only word that sprang to her mind, the only one that could describe the state her uncle was in. He wasn't just sick, he was beyond recognition! He didn't even look right anymore, like a wolf should.

She held her breath, her lungs burning, as he opened his mouth and a bit more of that white stuff slithered out from between his teeth. And then he said the worst possible thing, not an insult nor a curse, no she could have handled that.No, he did something far far worst than that, uttered something that would haunt her dreams for the rest of her days.

He said her name.

And then he was dead.

For what felt like an eternity she stood there, unable to process the scene before her. What was-why did-how? She began to shake all over, her tail curved like a crescent moon between her legs as the tears fell freely down her cheeks. The calm before the storm, the moment of quiet tension before the roar of thunder.

And then she wailed, so loud that her vocal chords burned and her lungs seized up in her chest.

No no no no no no no. This couldn't be happening. Not another, not again. They had never been close, her affection had never been returned in kind but not even he-the deserter- deserved such an awful fate.

Worst of all, he wasn't supposed to be here! This was supposed to be her safe place, why was death and despair so determined to follow her? Even if she left, ran and never looked back would it follow her to the ends of the earth? Was this what she deserved?

Her legs wobbled beneath her and she collapsed into a crumpled heap. Maybe she ought to die there too, maybe it'd be for the best.

Fade

(This post was last modified: Feb 03, 2018, 11:17 PM by Lenae.)