Set the day after the thread with Thuringwethil, staying vague about injuries.
Following the scuffle with the Drageda bitch, Nyx had gone into hiding once more. Battered and bruised, she took a day to lick her lacerations and nurse her wounded pride before crossing Grimnismal borders with her tail between her legs. She considered turning away from the strand entirely, grasping at the opportunity that presented itself so willingly, but found that she could not. The golden Ostrega had come to the harsh realisation that she was, despite her ignorance of the changes in her body the past few weeks, carrying The Beta's pups.
She slunk through the sequoias, favouring her left forelimb slightly and appearing entirely defeated. Dried blood crusted around the re-opened scrapes that littered her frame and they ached with every stride, so she tread carefully - though her slowed pace was more reluctant than anything else. Nyx had made a decision to come clean to @Wylla of her suspected pregnancy and she paused at the edge of the forest to sweep her solemn yellow eyes across the grim, overcast beach. Without hesitating too long, she swallowed her anxiety and canted her muzzle skyward to send forth a request for the presence of both @Lycaon and her unsuspecting Alphess.
Putting this after Kierke/Caiaphas argument in my personal timeline but before she formally leaves, since it makes more sense for Wylla vs. having two different threads like this, you guys can decide where it falls in actual fact. <3
From the strand where she'd hoped to cow Kierkegaard, Wylla stormed south along the strand, seeking the path to the forest above. She couldn't believe how ungrateful they were for her putting herself into the difficult role of leading a pack, but she shouldn't have been surprised. She'd known from Lusca's stories the kind of wicked witch she was dealing with. It was only a matter of time.
At least she knew, or at least believed, that most of Grimnismal was loyal to her and wouldn't stick around when they found out the dark-faced hybrid was to lead them. Wylla would have the last laugh, she believed, when Caiaphas watched the kingdom she thought she owned crumble around her without the support of the Luschyons. That thought consumed her as she headed south, hoping to encounter one or both of her brothers on the way. Ingram was nowhere to be found, but she knew Lycaon haunted the woods, so she mounted the thin path with rapid steps and spared the beach one last thin, hateful glare. After all she'd done!
The call from Nyx had her hastening her steps even though she'd thrust her position upon those who sought to constantly undermine her; it was hard to change her tendencies, and she arrived shortly after Lycaon, only realizing upon seeing them that actually, this wasn't her problem anymore. "You're calling the wrong wolf," she spat, bristling inexplicably as she stalked past them, still wholly ruffled from her encounter. Her eyes appraised Nyx's injuries with some level of concern, but she passed it off as aloofness despite the spark of uncertainty in her eyes as she snorted, "can't help you with that anymore, sorry, but I'm sure your superior new coyote overlord will take great care of you," without any thought to the fact she was talking about Lycaon's adoptive mother.
Lycaon was the first on the scene and Nyx, thankful that the fiery Wylla hadn't gotten to her first, let herself sag noticeably as he made his way toward her. She lowered herself to her haunches, allowing her muscles to slacken and she finally felt that she could breathe again. The pallid Beta's approach hastened when he got a better look at her rather sorry state and, upon arrival at her side, he set about preening her matted fur and prodding at her wounds as though she might bleed to death at any moment.
"Hey!" Nyx hissed, wincing away when he pressed his tongue to a particularly tender scratch. Her yellow eyes narrowed in silent warning - be gentle! - and willed him to continue with more control, though she was quick to realise that her sharpness might be interpreted as a demand that he let her be. Softening then, the golden Ostrega tilted her raven-tipped lobes back in a quiet apology, and she breathed a soft whine to accompany it.
She considered admitting her suspicions of pregnancy then and there, suddenly guilted into the belief that she owed it to him to break the news as gently as possible in privacy as she watched him ramble on with words she barely registered. Before Nyx could even make sense of her muddied thoughts, however, Wylla stalked into her line of sight and her anxiety skyrocketed. The tiny Alpha strode right by them with a bark about some "coyote overlord" and Nyx' concentration promptly shifted from managing her rapid heartrate to trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
Puzzled, she made to exchange a glance with Lycaon, choosing to remain silent in her confusion.
Her eyes met Lycaon's, and he seemed as puzzled as she was. After blinking dumbly at one another for a moment, Nyx followed the Beta's chestnut gaze to look upon his mottled sister again, and made a mental note to keep her mouth shut for the forseeable future. She recalled the way she'd barked at her upon Reef's interception at the borders and with it, the memory of how swiftly pissed off the little Alpha could become.
She regretted summoning them both. Had she not been feeling pitiful after the scuffle with the cliff-dweller freaked out upon acknowledgement of her possible pregnancy, Nyx probably would've hunted down her paramour to discuss it with him and work out a plan to inform Wylla together. She wasn't used to having to think of others, not since she'd parted ways with Dirge and Saor. And so while the pale Beta attempted to draw attention away from his sister's bitching and onto herself, her wild yellow eyes darted to his face to gawk at him as he voiced her mysterious illness. Don't, she wished to plead silently, but it was too late. Wylla begrudgingly stopped her ranting and asked her, pointedly, what happened.
"Someone Drageda bitch," the wounded she-wolf said, trying to feign how collected she wanted to be but revealing her nervousness in the curling of her peppered tail. "She attacked me - unprovoked - on the fields."
hello. i’m terrible
Wylla’s rants hustled through his auditory processing; he was so distracted by the current sorry state of Nyx that the clodpate failed to connect any dots that would illustrate the meaning behind his sister’s words. ”again, what are you talking about?!” he said with exasperation stressing his voice.
though, not expecting a meaningful follow-up to the question (and not being able to discern normal strung-out Wylla from this advanced version of strung-out Wylla), the obtuse marshmallow turned and shouldered Nyx with flattened ears as she recalled the encounter that left her in her present condition. he’d missed the tacit alarm she expressed amidst his reveal that prior to this incident she’d been unwell, but caught the tail-end of some distress flicker across her face.
”Drageda?” he echoed with a bemused expression, head canting. the name itself had never touched his ears, but to his unknowing, it was the very same pack that had came down upon he and Ingram those many weeks ago.
the boy turned to Wylla. ”wuuh... do you know what that is?” he asked, a giant ? plastered on his face for a moment before the light-bulb scintillated dimly—wait—Nyx had mentioned them by name, she was the questionee. he turned to face her again. ”wait, do you? why would she attack you in the fields? i was just there the other day. there's no pack.
.....do you think she had rabies?!”