The Wildwood Head first hallucination

12th June just after Treyah gets home

I'm dancing with my demons

Treyah Tainn

She hadn't been home more than an hour when she found her siblings playing alone outside the den, her mother's scent a few hours old and her father nowhere in sight. She tried to hold it together for the sake of the unprotected children, a strained smile plastered on her face as she rounded up @Lana, @Cannon, and @Suka, enticing them into an adventure. They must have recognised her voice or her scent, since they didn't put up a fuss as their stubby legs sent them wobbling after their leggier sister. Each step took an age and the tension in her shoulders wound tighter and tighter as she drew closer to where @Kerberos and @Maera seemed to be enjoying a rare moment of peace.

She couldn't muster the words to even make her request - uncertain if the others had noticed her mother's increasing eccentricities. A wordless worried look thrown from the cubs back to the parents seemingly met with silent acceptance allowed her shoulders to sag with mute relief. A nudge to each child was offered, a forced smile and a "Be right back!" cheerily parroted as she tried to spare the rest of her pack mates her anxiety. She hadn't even eaten yet, yet here she was, frantically scrambling to cover for a wolf that probably should have been outed months ago. She cursed her brother in her heart for leaving her to bare this burden alone as she returned to the den to try and track her mother's scent.

Which wolf would she be faced with today?

i'm hanging off the edge

Naira

What was she doing this far from the river? And why was everything so sore? A look of confusion crossed the woman's silver flecked face as she tried to regain her bearings. Had she been gathering herbs? Though there wasn't much yet of a size to be havested... had she come looking for... Rhysis, he had shoved her off the dam and almost been drowned himself, but why would she be looking for him here? Here... there was a throb in the back of her skull. Something wasn't right.

The woods were far too green for somewhere that had been ravaged by fire not even two years past... and she spun with the turning of her head, lips pulling back from teeth as she growled, wondering just what was going on... Had some trickster spirit scooped her up and thrown her through time? Surely if she could just get back to the river, everything would make sense again. She could patrol the borders with @Triell, and laugh with @Ice, and put this nightmare behind her.

But still her body didn't feel quite right, it wasn't moving the way she wanted it to. Her belly sagged lower and her hips swayed despite her best attempt at a regular gait. She was frustrated, and confused, but above all she was scared. What on earth was happening to her?

(This post was last modified: Jun 03, 2017, 11:25 PM by Naira.)

storm clouds gather beneath me

Treyah Tainn

There she was, headed towards the River. She didn't cow like she sometimes did when she thought she was still at the Lake and her head was held lower than when she imagined she still lead on the mountain or in the woods. Treyah's stomach gave a flip, this had been going on for far too long. She wasn't getting any better. Her lips drew tight as she fought back a frown. "Naira." She barked, unable to mask her frustration. She already knew from months past that she wouldn't respond if she tried to call her mother. Her tail curled over her spine as the old wolf turned. "Where do you think you're going?"

The glassy look given in response ripped her heart in two. How much longer could they keep this up? She could already tell she didn't recognise her own daughter, again. Perhaps she'd be better off just letting her walk away? But that wouldn't be fair on the rest of them. On her father, or younger brothers and sister. Not even fair on Maera and Kerberos, and little Lacey. But still, it wasn't fair. Why did she have to be like this? Why was she so selfish? Her limbs were repositioning out of habit, lessons learned with Zerxes becoming second nature. She didn't have to take this laying down.

A lynx has left behind the remains of a deer. +5 Health

waves break above my head

Naira

A voice barked behind her with some authority although it wasn't one she recognised. She turned to acknowledge it, seeing the younger wolf without really seeing her at all. Her head cocked to the side just so, a name caught on the end of her tongue as her head began to ache. She winced as the earth seemed to heave beneath her paws, faces, and names she hadn't yet encountered yet knew so well crashing on her one by one. It was all too much and her mouth fell open, bottom jaw quivering as she tried to catch her breath. "I-I'm sorry miss but I really must be getting home, there are pups to watch and borders to patrol you know..."

It wasn't until she tried to turn and take her leave that everything suddenly looked foreign. She was sure... Where had she been going again? A look over her shoulder revealed a yearling that she hadn't expected to be there and she jumped, mustering her best smile she turned to the girl. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that!" but even her own voice was foreign to her ears. Where was her mother? Where were her brothers? And how had she come so far?

head first hallucination

Treyah Tainn

Teeth clicked and a growl threatened to spill forth at her casual words. Of course there are! she wanted to scream. Your children, your borders! Then she turned and forgot her daughter was there at all and something in the girl snapped. As clueless as the old wolf was to her own surroundings she didn't have a chance to brace herself before the yearling was on her, sharp teeth aiming to grab the elder by the muzzle but overshooting their mark and landing in her cheek instead. That didn't stop the girl using her weight to push down on her mother's aching joints, folded ears cutting off the panicked whining, filling the air with savage snarls of her own.

She should finish this here. Leave her for the crows to find. It would serve her right. How could she forget them?! She had only been gone a few days, how many times had she wandered off on them while she was gone? How many meals had they missed? She should never have left at all, and again she cursed her brother for leaving her to bear this burden alone. She laid a paw across her mother's shoulder, finally relinquishing her hold when the woman went belly up. "Enough of this!" Her voice was hoarse and sounded like more of a plea than a demand. Damnit woman! Remember already!

i wanna fall wide awake now

Naira

She hadn't expected the sharp sting of teeth in her cheek and it was only a reflexive turn of her head that stopped the stranger grabbing hold of her muzzle. As the other wolf bared down she ached in places that she never knew she had as a younger wolf. A panicked whine left her chest unbidden and even that felt foreign. As the earth rose up to meet her, delicate undersides exposed to the air, the edges of her vision blurred and then sharpened. Treyah's voice clear in her ears declaring it was enough. She had done it again hadn't she?

Her gold eyes sought out her daughters bronze, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth despite the uncomfortable position she found herself in. "That's my good girl." There was love laced in her tired words, and worry as well as she tried to see just how far she had made it this time. She passed her nose through her daughter's cheek fur, waiting to be given the room to get up again but there was a stiffness in the younger wolf's shoulders and neck that was foreign to her. She had forgotten that Treyah was growing up. "Where are we?" she finally asked, resigning herself to her place in the dirt for just a moment longer. Perhaps it was a sign of things to come.

'Cause nobody can save me

Treyah Tainn

Teeth came to bare as her mother nosed her cheek, the stiffness in the old wolf's shoulders all but demanding the room to move but the yearling held her place. Good girl, oh she wanted to rip into the older wolf for that one. She was the only one who stayed to put up with her shit. Zerxes was gone, she should be out looking for him, not shepherding a wolf who would be better of dead back to where she should be, and she didn't even know where the hell they were? "We're half-way to the river." Her voice was surprisingly flat given the way rage was coursing through her veins. Finally, she stepped away. Without looking back to see if her mother was following she turned back towards the Draw. It was time they got back. How much longer would this go on?