Secret Woodlands Psychopathology

Posting Order: Ashanti, Nina, Bane, Miccah, Hollow
Ashanti has officially just... lost it

Ashanti was curled in a ball next to the den where it had all began. The birthing den. She had given birth to the son there. Yes, the son indeed. Where was the man? Where was the leaders? Where were all? Didn't they know she was bound to deliver any day now? Did they not realize their time to kill her pup was soon to come? Ashanti was rocking back and forth with a creepy expression on her face. Her eyes wide and the most Gollum like smile {evil} ever created by a wolf. A hysterical laugh as she just laid there. She hadn't slept in days. She barely ate. She barely drank. At that rate she would end up dying before her son was borned. Yes.

Ashanti was suffering from hallucinations of her past; she was reliving everything. She wasn't aware she was in the present, sometimes her mind threw random thoughts into her mind about the present that she did not understand. She got up and walked into the den that had started it all. The slow drift into insanity had finally been completed. Psychosis. Insanity, craziness or madness. Everything had fallen apart. Don't hug me I'm scared. Green is not a creative color. LET'S GET CREATIVE. Her mind wasn't even hers anymore. She couldn't comprehend the simplest of herbs and she mistook her friends for her enemies. What was worse is she saw her enemies as her friends. She needed to be locked up. Forever. There was no question.

(This post was last modified: Feb 06, 2014, 09:56 PM by Ashanti.)

Slight PP, I can totally change if youre not okay with it.

He was so worried for her. Like always, he had been keeping an eye on Ashanti. She hadn't eaten, though none of them really had, but she was taking no eating to the extreme. Due to his own irregular sleeping patterns, Miccah knew she hadn't been sleeping lately either. The worry was at its peak today. Earlier, he had expressed his concerns to both @Nina and @Hollow, and then had gone out searching. Technically, the borders needed him. Though he spent so much time on his trails, he was sure he could spare a bit of time for his beloved.

Miccah had put his tracking skills to the test, and soon was rewarded. He felt her before he saw her. She was curled up in a ball, her body rocking. He cautiously started to pad over to her when she lifted her head. She was staring in his direction, but not really there. The look in her eyes...it was the same look he had noticed in her aunts. Suddenly, Miccah felt like he was falling. He staggered backwards, trying to regain his footing. He knew what he was seeing, but wasn't ready to acknowledge it yet. This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not when life had been so picture perfect. Her laughter sent chills up Miccah's spine, and not the good ones of before.

His breathing was raggard, like he couldn't take in another breath. The look in her eyes, he couldn't get out of his mind! Shakig his head in frustration, he dared himself to open his eyes. There she was - Ashanti in the flesh. But he knew, not in the mind. His beloved had officially lost her mind. The realization almost tore him in two, but Miccah made himself be strong. He needed to be strong for both of them now. The young man that put on a mask of cool and calm. But inside, he was breaking. Breaking so that he didn't know if he could put himself back together. He had to get his leaders, but he was loathe to leave her. From his place a couple feet away from her, he opened his maw. He made his voice sound everything he wasn't - confident and calm, soothing. Somehow, he had to get her out of this state. Impossible as it seemed. "Ashanti? Please honey, snap out of it. It's me, Miccah. Remember?"

Hollow set off as soon as Miccah left and made a trip around the border, covering the males shift, before heading into the Thicket directly for an old birthing den. Exactly where he knew she would be, it seemed that was where Ashanti when when she began fall apart, every time. Even while he was doing his duty, he had a creeping sense of foreboding, something wasn't right but the dark male couldn't place it. Soon though he was nearing Ashanti's birthing den and the sounds he heard were not good. The Woodlands leader stopped short and took a deep breath and prepared himself for what would come next, be it anything he would need to bury within himself, he prepared. His dark fur shifted as he moved into the open and his ears and eyes were alert.

His breath caught in his throat at the female huddled in a ball speaking into nothing. Miccah moved towards her but not before a sudden image flashed through Hollow's head.Himself and Nina, along with Sloane Thorben on the borders of the newly established secret Woodlands... A stranger speaking gibberish... foaming... riddled with disease. "Miccah get back!" Hollow snapped at his subordinate for the first time and placed himself between Miccah and Ashanti. "She might be infected! MOVE IT MICCAH NOW!" he snarled at the other male hoping he would back away. A moment later Hollow'shead had slung back in a howl for @Nina. Nina! I need you now, something is wrong with Ashanti! There was no time for privacy or courtesy. If Ashanti hadn't smelled so strongly of herbs he would have only smelled sickness... but now he couldn't be sure.

(This post was last modified: Feb 02, 2014, 06:53 PM by Hollow.)

Ashanti was sick, but not sick like the disease that ripped through the Lore the previous year; this was a mental illness that would put humans in an insane asylum. As Miccah arrived she grew angered. She saw Miccah as Hollow because they were both black males with blue eyes. In the world she was in now, she had not known Miccah was still alive like she knew before this relapse. She hissed at him, snarled and gave another wicked laugh. 'Hollow' said he was Miccah and while somewhere deep inside she knew it was true, she couldn't recollect the information. She snarled at him and hissed. "How do you know about Miccah? Miccah is dead; my aunt killed him with the rest of my family." The unfamiliar look in her eye said it all without the words.

Next, Hollow arrived and hissed about her being infected. She was not infected but she grew slightly confused about how there were two Hollow figures in front of her. "I know why you're here. I'll be dead before he is born." She hissed at the figures in the distance. Her left eye twitched slightly as she backed up, she uncurled from her ball and while she was covered in the scent of herbs, she had no trace of disease on her. If only they knew that though. The second Hollow figure called for Nina. So was it the end? Were they going to kill her like Nina had said they weren't going to some odd weeks ago? They were truly bound by the secret that Ashanti thought was going to need keeping. She was convinced they were going to kill her.

**does sucky post on phone. PM if something is wrong with it. **

She had been doing normal rounds, keeping to herself for the most part and trying to avoid Koda as much as she could. Even though she was happy to see that he had returned, the familiar feeling of safety and trust she had once had in the male was no longer there and she found herself becoming more reliant on Hollow. Though she was an independent woman who could make her own choices she too sometimes worried. You're never good enough, the voice in her head constantly reminded her, encouraging the golden brown woman to become better and to try harder. She always tried to do so and it was why when she found out how she had failed others, it never came to her in pleasant ways. It had been awhile since the Hervok had seen her sibling and knew that she was no longer here. The older sister feared for Eva and her mind instantly thought of the worse thing that could have happened. One of those things being that her sister had willingly left her, something that would easily put another shadow over Nina's heart. She couldn't take another betrayal or another wolf whom she was close to leaving her. She was at her breaking point and apparently Ashanti was already broken.

When Hollow's howl pierced the air around her, Nina froze, her body doing a complete turn in the direction that his voice had come from. Ashanti, her close friend of whom she viewed as a daughter, had something wrong with her and the mother didn't know what she would be able to do. She was almost sure that they were out of a majority of herbs to treat physical injuries. With that in mind, Nina sprinted towards where Hollow had called for her, relieved when she saw Miccah and Hollow already with the girl. The older woman tensed when she saw the white girl though and shuddered. There was only one way to describe the look in the girls eyes: crazed. Mentioning for the two men to give her some pace she moved forward slowly as not to startle the girl and then spoke calmly, her voice ghostly and even, "Ashanti, you need to listen to my voice. Zone in on only my voice and close your eyes. Nothing here is real, but I am here to guide you back to yourself, alright, my dear child." Nina said these words softly and recalled a time when Ashanti had told her that Nina reminded her of her mother. Hopefully one of these things would do. The Healer was a secretive wolf, and occasionally, Nina could hear a song that the white woman would hum and hopefully that would be useful to her tactic to draw back Ashanti. So in turn when she knew that Ashanti had done as she so asked, she started the hum the familiar tune, hopefully that Ashanti had indeed blocked out both of the wolves that Nina assumed were still behind her.

There was many of them. Far too many of them. The amount of wolves that had joined Secret Woodlands since the coming of winter was far too many then Bane could keep up with. Of course it did not help that he did not spend his time trying to get to know these knew wolves within his pack. He assumed when winter went away, they would to and so, did not spend his time on such things. After all, there was too many wolves in the pack and too little of food (if any) to go around. The youth spent his time growing as he aged and with it, learning priorities of social life over work. He spent his time scouting out the borders, keeping a watchful eye on those who wished to join though never approached (allowing the leaders and seconds to do this) and did what he could to find what little food supply he could despite his lack of trained hunting skills.

Now, he followed another act of serious business. He rushed to the call of his young leader. Quick and agile on his long, ever-growing powerful limbs, the youth made haste into the direction of the desperate call Hollow made for Nina. He had not at all expected the display when he arrived, directly at the den for which he was born. He approached slow, hearing the latter half of Nina's soothing words. He glanced to Miccah, his gaze stiff and uncaring as he matched up the body to the scent of the man who had been hanging around this area wit his mother. Then, his attention came to Hollow as he eased to the darker man's side. "...Is she turning into Scar?" He delicaly whispers. Certainly if his dad was crazy, his mom was crazy, he, too, would become crazy.

BANE Aranna

TEMPLATE © NDA OF RCR & RPG-D

Before Miccah could fully come in contact with his white beauty, Hollow jumped into the picture. For the first time since he had joined, Hollow snapped at the male. Miccah had always hated being chastised, and almost immediately his posture straightened and his body instinctively moved backwards. Infected? Miccah could only wonder what he meant. His mask of controlled calm was threatening to slip as each moment of excruciating silence passed when Hollow finished howling for Nina. It didn't take long for his Queen to arrive, nor Ashanti's son, Bane - the boy who was named after Miccah himself. His massive bulk didn't move closer to either Bane or Hollow. His blue orbs went from Nina to Ashanti to Bane and back again. He tried to keep his mask of calm, but you could tell he was crumbling inside. He hated just standing there, not being able to do nothing. Not to mention, Ashanti's words were killing him. She was the only woman that held him in her very paw, and right now, she was crushing him. Worst part was, she didn't even know it.

His pained eyes latched onto Bane briefly. The boy was growing well, and he seemed to be wise beyond his ears. How many times had he wished for a son? To lead a pack of his very own, Ashanti by his side? Too many times to count. Even though Bane wasn't his son, he still felt a sense of pride and awe. They had raised him well. Finally, his eyes ripped themselves from the young boy who would soon grow into a man and latched onto Nina and Ashanti herself. Maybe the Lady of the Thickets could help his beloved, snap her out of this crazy 'reality' she seemed to think she lived in.

"speech"

(This post was last modified: Feb 06, 2014, 10:53 PM by Miccah.)

For a few intense moments Hollow stood between Miccah and Ashanti with his eyes fixed in the she wolf, a shell of his friends who had just fallen to peices, shattered in a moment. Her reality gone, and with it was Hollow's hope for normality for his friend. Miccah made no noise but as soon as Nina arrived he could feel the dark males attention shift between his partner and Ashanti. Nina mentioned for himself and Miccah to step back. Hollow obeyed but felt himself halving the distance between Nina and Miccah instead of staying with his subordinate. Whines escaped his muzzle as Nina began to speak to Ashanti and then hum to her. "Nina be careful." Were the only words he could coax from his mouth, everything else was just a blank look of fear, mixed with pride.

There was fear, fear for Ashanti, fear that she was ill beyond repair, but pride, pride in the beautiful leader and healer whom stood before him, in the face of danger, maybe even death and calmly searched for the white fae they all knew and loved. It was the way a pack worked at it's finest, Hollow protected the way he knew how while Nina protected the way she knew how. Soon though his moment of peace in the storm was shattered as soft words stirred his ears. "Is she turning into scar?" Hollow's heart skipped a beat, of all the wolves the leader hoped would have been out of the territory right now, this was one. But instead of fear, or anger, Hollow fixed his gaze upon Nina, and drew strength from her form, comforting and reaching out for Ashanti.

"No Bane, she will never be Scar... she is just sick." For a moment he faltered, the dark male had only known Slyscar in his very last moments of defiance, the male had been wrong and defiant. Not trembling and fearful, not like Anne had been. But with another glance at Nina he turned his head down to the young wolf who stood beside him. The leaders gaze locked with the boy's and he spoke again. "If ever there is a promise I will keep for you Bane. One that you can believe, it is that I will do my very best to make sure she is okay, and so will Nina, she is not like Scar. She will never be him."

@Nina
@Bane
@Miccah
@Hollow
Post inspiration <3 I suggest youtubing it; it is amazing

A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I’m the Queen.

Ashanti was lost. She could barely see the figures in front of her. Three of them were dark pelted and one of them was Nina. She would know Nina in her darkest nightmare. The words managed to whisper into her heart. "Ashanti, you need to listen to my voice. Zone in on only my voice and close your eyes. Nothing here is real, but I am here to guide you back to yourself, alright, my dear child." The woman speaking sounded like her mother; her mother whom had been killed by her aunt and the part of her that was still left started to cry as the insanity started to course through her body, her mind torn in two into a raging war.

Don’t let them in, don’t let them see, be the good girl you always have to be. Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know, well, now they know.

Her eyes were shut. The war inside her raged on as she appeared still and barely breathing to the outside world. It raged for minutes, perhaps five or ten to leave the outsiders wondering what would happen. Who would win? The words whispered so faint she could barely hear them. "...Is she turning into Scar?" The words of a familiar yet unfamiliar voice that made her eyes snap open. Insanity won and the last part of her sanity turned on her mind. She rose with an angered and crazed expression and snapped at the wolves before her before taking off away from the place she had laid. A snarl from her muzzle. She had to get away.

Let it go, let it go. I am one with the wind and sky. Let it go, let it go. You’ll never see me cry.

She had no idea where she was going to go, she just had to run. She couldn't remember so much as to her name as she took off in a crazed fiend. Her mind might recover, but she needed one single thing. Isolation. She began to wonder why she was in a thicket. Was she not suppose to be on the territory of her pack? Wasn't she supposed to be in Copper Rock Creek? She started to take off until her memories started to fade away into nothing. Perhaps when she was more calm she would remember, but she was not calm. These frenzies could take a matter of seconds, they could take days, weeks, months to the extreme. Asha was a shell of a wolf that Miccah new. A shell of what she was when she first met Nina, Kashi and Ruiko on the borders. A shell of the wolf that Hollow had helped back to Secret Woodlands in her time of need.

She wasn't herself anymore.

Here I stand, in the light of day. Let the storm rage on, the cold never bothered me anyway. Her insanity sang to her as she sped out of the thicket and to the south. She was gone.

-Cliffhanger exit-

It seemed as though what Nina hoped would sooth the young girl, had the opposite effect on her, and with each passing second Nina's heart grew heavier in her chest. You're never good enough. Never. Good. Enough. The words echoed in her head repeatedly, her heart breaking as she watched the woman that she had considered her daughter for so long escape from her grasp, fleeing from her and into the shadows...away from them all. The Hervok knew full well that she would not be coming back, and the only word that left her mouth was a small whimper of protest with the girl fleeing. For several moments, Nina continued to stare at the spot that Ashanti had just been, knowing full well that if Nina was to pursue the girl, that she would never catch up. She was getting older and Nina had not yet become fully comfortable with running as she once was. Tormented with her logic, she sadly turned to Miccah, shaking her head briefly at him, hoping he saw the logic that she too saw.

Not realizing that Bane had granted them with his presence, the mother turned towards Hollow, her single eye filled with the sadness, the same sadness that was reflected when she had laid her single eye upon her now deceased son. Glancing down towards Bane, she took a sharp intake of breath and hesitantly drew nearer to him, bending down to give him a gentle lick behind the ear. The alpha had not had much time to spend with the boy and desperately missed his sharp intake on the world around him. Flicking her tail briefly side to side, she awkwardly stood in front of Hollow and glanced back towards where Ashanti had disappeared to, wondering how Bane was going to take the way his mother had deserted them.