Whitestone Monadnock the cry of the Hound of the Baskervilles

Morning after Odin loses his eye, I will need the first few rounds then it will be open to the pack. Lorcan will be summoned specifically but others welcome to join. There will be no post order and rounds will last 1 week.

This was the part he had been dreading. His whole journey home had been littered with weaving and stumbling, unable to adjust to the sudden loss of sight in the dark and now as the sun broke over the eastern horizon, he had to try and make his way up the narrow track without falling clean off the edge and down to his death. He would have to take it slow. Head turned down to watch the icy path with each step taken forward, but what was he going to say? It wasn't exactly an injury he could hide with ease...

All too soon, the stony earth levelled underfoot. Instinctively his tail curled against his belly, head lowering and turning so only the right side of his face could be seen. There was a wobble in his walk as he drew nearer and nearer the den. At this hour of morning his mother was bound to be about and all the boy could do was brace himself and hope his sister didn't see. Maybe if he was really lucky it would be @Craw there to greet him instead but after the night he had, he wasn't putting much faith in luck.

It wasn't unusual for her son to be absent from the den when she woke. Much like his uncle before him, in recent days he had taken to stumbling in when the sun was high and sleeping the day away, but she couldn't complain, his presence was clear around the borders of their home, she always woke to fresh lemmings or maybe a slow hare stashed in the caches. If he had been particularly productive, there might even be something larger stashed that he had managed to scavenge in the night. She was sure these meals would have been contested, but he always returned home to her in one piece. Had always returned in one piece.

She was sunning herself after a short spar with @Piety, hoping to catch @Lorcan when he next returned to ask after his medicinal caches. They would have to be running low by now she was sure. In fact, she almost suspected it was the medic making his way to the top when the battered form of her son appeared, or what she could only assume was so with him hugging the earth like that. A low growl left her chest as she swiftly rose and closed the distance to check him over, nose prodding through his thick winter coat, her concern evident in how thoroughly she checked him over. All she could smell was fresh snow and something... that wasn't blood. "Look at me..." She demanded of her boy. What the fuck had happened?

A young deer has been separated from the rest of its herd. Hunt Opportunity

Odin should have known his mother would be waiting, making sure everyone was making themselves useful around the place and that each and every one of them was well and wanting for nothing more than the next meal to fill their shrinking stomachs. As she closed in to prod him his lip lifted baring a fang in warning. She didn't need to meddle. He wasn't a child! But when her command met his folded ears he couldn't ignore it. His body folded to the left, right eye seeking out his mother's toes. He felt her muzzle run along his, turning his head to better see the eye he was trying to hide.

Time stood still as he waited for his mother to breathe, to say something, anything! His needy whine was met with a growl, her paw pressing across his shoulder as teeth came to close in the air by his good eye. He could feel her dull claws pressing into bruised flesh. She didn't need to speak for the boy to know she wanted answers, and he didn't need to tell her he was attacked. That much was evident. All his mother would want to know what who and where. It was a good thing the snow storm covered his tracks, and hopefully whatever remained of the Rye-wolf he had encountered in the thunder bowl.

Then he remembered the one that had interrupted him. Under the faint evening light and the flickering Borealis he hadn't been able to discern much, but the stranger would do as a scapegoat for now. "It was dark, I couldn't see much!" Added pressure to his shoulder told him that wasn't a good enough answer, "But he was big, and black, with big ugly scars across his face... I don't think it was a-a wolf at all, I think it was a demon!" his breath was coming in short sharp gasps, his mother was far more fearsome than any beast he might encounter in the night, "He... he had these crazy eyes, they almost looked white, he didn't even speak!" The whine that underlined his words was a pitiful one as he scrambled to escape Morganna's clutches. He just wanted to go to the den, to hide away and sleep until this god awful aching in his face subsided. Hopefully, he had given her enough.

This thread is now open to pack.

Peach eyes narrowed as she took in her son's words, her growl increasing as he tried to wriggle free, "Don't you lie ter me..." she warned and watched as her son shook his head and whined some more. It would be easy for the mother to jump to conclusions with a description like that but she believed (perhaps rather foolishly) that her brother wouldn't dare to lay tooth or claw on children that smelled like her. Besides, from what she had discovered when she last visited home, he had dissapeared somewhere to the south, abandoning his daughter and son alike.

She snorted close to her son's dark coat but nothing blew up except the fresh scent of snow, her expression soured, it was almost too perfect. Morganna raised her head, a sharp bark sent out trusting the medic would be near enough to hear at this time of the morning, "@Lorcan!" Oh but she did hate to waste what few resources they had. Perhaps they would need to organise a trade with one of their allies, though what could the Monadnock offer with prey in short supply and more mouths than they could feed? Just one  more thing for her to worry about. She felt Odin move underfoot again and growled a warning that the boy should stay put, otherwise she might knock the other eye right out of his stupid head.

Boys would never fail to disappoint her.

Wraith had grown to trust in @Kara and @Odin's capabilities as budding wolves. They would be yearlings soon enough and well on their way to becoming productive members of the pack. The hunting skills were adequate and he had at least some faith that they would keep his multitude of teachings in mind whenever they were out and about.

It was poor timing when he arrived. His blood was running high still from a recent chase after a fox trying to sneak into their caches, and the snarls only served to rile him more. Not once had Wraith ever raised his voice towards his Alpha, but he snapped out now in warning when the scent of blood slammed into his nose and the sight of her pinning Odin down greeted him. "Morganna!" There was a lash of anger in the tone, no matter if it was his place or not. If she were disciplining her child, it was not in the right way. Odin was not such a petulant lad to need bloodshed for him to cower to his mother's will in a fury. The entire scene made little sense and he was forced to make a split second judgement. "Let him up! he called, hastening quickly towards the pair now.

The black brute's nostrils flared wildly with the palpable tension in the air, his own joining the atmosphere to create a thick miasma of it all. As he drew closer, however, he saw the bloodied wound that made the boy's downed eye - or what had been - and felt his throat seize with panic. Understanding dawned then. That's why she'd called for @Lorcan. Dimly, he realized that is what she'd yelled out.

Stupid to think @Morganna would do this to her own son. She may have come from the Willows, but she had proven time and time again that she was not of the same ilk. In the same manner the mother had, so too did the teacher. "Who did this?" he demanded. "And don't give me that same story, boy. I know when you're lying to me, so give me the truth," Wraith said more sharply than he'd ever spoken to the pup before. It was fear for Odin that left him so stern and furious. Whoever did this...they would pay.

The Monadnock wolf had enjoyed a decent spar with her lead. Morganna was always teaching her new things or just giving her a good run. She was slightly tired after her spar per usual, though. While the lead female sunbathed, Piety slumbered not far away. It was only when she heard chatter accompanied with whines and growls that she rose from her spot. Her eyes narrowed on the scene of Morganna over dominating Odin. While it wasn't her child she wasn't sure why such a display would be necessary.

The yell for Lorcan was rather bold and only dragged her closer to the scene. "Morganna!" Piety heard the familiar voice of Wraith. It was no surprise he was already on scene. She let Wraith do the talking in this scenario. He was better acquainted with both Morg and Odin. Her eyes scanned over the boy to assess him and deem what damage had been done. She was sure Lorcan would arrive soon if Morganna was calling for him. The dove was also left to wonder if anyone else might show due to the commotion. It seemed almost common for the Monadnock wolves to investigate all things whether they were in the pack or out of the pack.

She listened with interest to every word exchanged. Her eyes looked to the mother with worry. "Morganna, what can I do?" Her head lowered to show respect in this moment. Piety was content with leaving herself out of it if the dark Archer wished.

# C W T

Healer demonstration 1/3

Lorcan had woken early that morning and slipped out of the den to carry out border patrols. Whilst it wasn’t something that the healer normally took upon himself to do, it made a nice change from searching for food in the lowlands. He was two-thirds of the way around the base of the monadnock, moving in an anti-clockwise direction, when his ears perked at the sound of his name being summoned.

He immediately recognised the voice to belong to Morganna and instinctively, hearing the tones of concern in her voice, he shifted into a sprint and headed straight for the old goat track which would lead him back up the monadnock. Panting, Lorcan trotted over quickly to the dark woman, golden eyes taking in the familiar forms of Wraith and Piety, who he quickly dipped his head to on the way past them. He’d had missed most of the conversation, besides Piety’s offer to help.

It was only as he broke through the huddle of concerned packmates that he found Odin in the middle, who appeared to be in a high degree of distress and the scent of blood did nothing to calm the medic’s growing fear that something terrible had happened to the boy. Golden eyes glanced briefly up to Morganna as he moved in to inspect her son with a whine of apprehension.

His nose drew him straight to his face and he lifted a paw up to shift the boy’s face to one side as he sniffed out the source of the blood. The boy resisted a little but eventually Lorcan caught a glimpse of his eye. “Keep still, I need to see how much damage has been done.” He said, his voice quiet but firm. The boy’s eye was clenched shut and the blood made it hard to see exactly what was going on. “This will hurt, but I need to clean it.” He said, giving the boy a pleading look.

Leaning in closer, Lorcan began gently licking at the wound to Odin’s eye to remove the blood. As his tongue swept across the bloody area, where once he would have felt the bulge of an eyeball behind a tightly clenched lids, instead he felt the lids dip inwards into the socket. His fur bristled and he turned to Morganna, muzzle stained in her son’s blood. “He’s lost his eye.” He said bluntly, eyes wide.

He turned to Piety then, wanting to ask her to fetch him some yarrow, but then he remembered it hadn’t been one of the plants he’d taught her about. “Piety, could you stay here and keep the area clean?” He asked, stepping up to face the direction of the medicinal cache. “I’ll be right back!” He barked, as he sprinted off quickly to grab some yarrow to help with the bleeding and infection.

(This post was last modified: Feb 20, 2017, 10:41 AM by Lorcan.)

# P O R C A N

sometimes, two people have to fall apart to realise

how much they need to fall back together

healer demonstration 1/3

Lorcan was quick to arrive on scene and Piety focused her attention on him. She watched with interest as he assessed the situation. Her good ear perked up once he called out to her to clean the wound. It made her feel gross but she knew that the same had been done for her when Zahira had torn open her face.

Without a word, she pushed through the little group to begin cleaning Odin's eye. Her sweeps over the wound were gentle to not put any more pressure than necessary. She knew that Wraith and Morganna were eager to get answers and she couldn't blame them but she was positive being harsh with the boy was not the way to get them. Pulling away she attempted to place a paw over Odin to make sure he didn't squirm away. "Give him a moment, won't ya? Boy's just had his eye removed!" She sternly spoke more at Wraith than anyone. While it wasn't entirely her place to speak out she felt the need to say something. Maybe once they stopped the bleeding and removed some pain they could get more clear answers.

The dove went back to clean off Odin's face. If anyone wanted to throw a fit she hoped they would do it once Lorcan was back because for now her focus was entirely on the Archer child.

# C W T