Neverwinter Forest Miss Misery

@Tytonidae

By now, Whip knew the nightmares would never truly end. He carried this baggage with him; unable to shake it, try as he might. Oftentimes he thought to dull his senses with substance, yet his knowledge of the local flora was non-extensive. He was not his sister. He did not have the answer to all of his mental ills in the form of some miracle powder. Yet, he pined for the substance his sister once foolishly administered.

Anything to dull the sound of splintering bone from echoing in Whip's head whenever he closed his eyes to sleep. It never stopped. He played it over and over, torturing himself on an endless loop.

He couldn't go back to the Caldera. Not like this. Not after what he did. After making it this far -- after making it all the way home -- Whip turned around after his chance (and brief) encounter with his eldest brother, deciding that he was not ready to stick around. He didn't want them to see him for what he was. What he had always feared. A monster. 

Stealing to the north west, Whip kept a solitary existance. There was an unclaimed wood in which he took refuge. It was bountiful enough to sustain him though the summer, yet quiet enough for him to be left well alone. By now, he had nearly forgotten he even had a voice.

Quiet as it was, Whip still violently thrashed awake in his dugout; eyes wide and face painted several shades of terrified.

Short because reasons. HELLOOOOO.

This was her first trek outside of Ocean's Breath Plateau since she had fallen ill. Feeling better, stronger, and healthier meant she was back to her old ways of scouting around, seeking recruits. So when she set out to the nearby forest, she was hot on the trail of some wolf she hoped would be suitable for Bhediyon. What she found was that it led to a small dugout. Not wanting to scare the poor thing, she lingered outside, eventually dozing off and sleeping soundly just outside the opening.

HELLO FRIEND

All was silent in the dugout apart from the sound of Whip's paniced breath. The snap back into reality was like hitting a wall, face first. Whatever horrid thing it was that roused Whip awake was lost in the waking world, but the feeling lingered on as the rest drifted away. Icy fingers crawled beneath his skin and he felt a tightness in his chest to an extent that caused Whip to feel actual physical pain. It was time to go, he told himself. He couldn't stay here. He couldn't sit still, lest he feel even worse.

He needed a distraction.

Yet, one was readiliy found a few paces away. A stranger slept soundly just outside the dugout's mouth, and upon half-emerging, Whip was more than puzzled when he laid eyes upon her. She was a long and lissome creature; charcoal black and undeniably feminine. Attractive. Whip looked around for a moment before withdrawing from the cover, as if he expected to see someone else, but the curious stranger was the only one around. Puzzling indeed.

Apprehensive as he was, Whip took a few slow and silent steps away and settled to his haunches. He watched her for a moment -- the rise and fall of her chest with breath; the twitch of her ear -- as he wondered who she was and what had brought her, literally, to his doorstep. Rising up, Whip inched toward the stranger as if he were approaching a live bomb. He nosed her flank once before backstepping.

The distinct feeling of being watched roused Tytonidae from her sleep, and she blinked slowly a few times before turning to look at the watcher. He was large, a various mottling of colors, and he backed away a second later. Her gaze locked to his own for a split second, then she averted her eyes. She was not here to start a fight, and she had no need to challenge him.

"Hullo," she said, pushing herself to her feet and shaking her coat before continuing with her introduction. "Sorry if sleeping outside your hidey hole was a little... eager. My name's Tytonidae. I'm seeking recruits for a pack on the coast." Might as well get straight to the point, eh?

As their eyes briefly met, Whip could feel the hair on his back stand on end. His apprehension wasn't intentional, but it had become so hardwired in the more recent months; and for good reason. "Th-the coast?" he repeated, finding his voice hoarse and frail from disuse. Themiscyra had surely sent someone to track him down, and if he was lucky, maybe he'd face a tribunal of the members of the High Council -- not that they would show him mercy. He no longer had Akantha to protect him. Or maybe they'd just save themselves the trouble and put him down.

"Where?" he asked. He didn't recognize her as a Siren, but there were others; other groups. Whip needed to be sure before he considered her offer, generous as it may have been. "I'm Peter," he lied, adopting the name of his late brother without hesitation.

She nodded at his stuttering words, knowing that she herself had suffered from that same affliction as a child. She had never been as outgoing as her sister (or couslings), and Ty had been rather weary of outsiders when she was younger. Now, of course, she had come to be quite a different wolf.

"Ocean's Breath Plateau, but the pack is called Bhediyon," she replied, not missing a beat. It was her home, whether or not others recognized it as such. In time, they would. She was sure of it. "It's to the northwest of here." Might as well give him some context. He introduced himself as Peter, though he didn't elaborate beyond that. The lack of information was no cause for alarm in her mind.

"What are your skills, Peter?" she asked.

Ocean's Breath Plateau? Whip did not recognize the name, but his unfamiliarity with the pack was the source of his relief. As far as he knew, it wasn't an offshoot of Themiscyra -- and this woman, as much as she smelled of sea salt, was no Siren. He was safe now, and would be safer with others. With a group of strangers and a new name, Whip could hide in plain sight. The prospect of no longer having to live constantly looking over his shoulder was tempting. He was drawn to her unspoken offer.

"My -- My skills?" he asked. Whip looked down and his ears splayed back. He thought hard for a second, but came up with hardly any answers. His time with the Siren's hadn't fostered many practical skills. That isn't to say he hadn't learned; he learned to swim, he learned their language, and finally he learned survival meant making hard choices.

"I can identify some useful plants, I guess," he told her, thinking back to his brief lessons with Galatia inspired by his sister's example. "I mean -- a few. There's some gaps." Otherwise, he couldn't think of much else to say. Atleast, postive things. He hated himself too much to toot his own horn.

Ty vaguely recalled being fascinated with plants as a child, but as she had grown, she found physical tasks easier. Now that she was even older, her skills lay more in talking with others than anything else. She smiled, glad that he seemed aware of his own inadequacies, but not too shy about it. "I think you could be useful to Bhediyon," she replied, "so long as you work on filling those gaps." Ty didn't want anybody in the pack to feel comfortable or stagnant. She wanted those who worked hard to rise to the top.

"What do you think?" she asked, cocking her head to one side. He didn't appear to have anything physically wrong with him, and having another warm body in Bhediyon would be a good thing. She had felt renewed hope since she'd gotten over whatever horrendous sickness she had been facing, and it would help solidify her claim to the plateau if she could get another wolf to join them.

There was an answer on his lips, lingering in a place where hope rarely dared to tread. In his heart, Whip knew this was what he wanted; to be a part of something, to no longer walk alone in such an unfriendly, unforgiving world -- and yet, he still found himself abundantly reluctant to speak the words. For it was one thing to wish for an end in the silent daydreams between the nightmares that followed from Themiscyra, it was another to commit. With him, he would bring his baggage and inadequacies to the door, and soon, soon enough, this kind stranger would see him for what he truly was. And would she let him stay?

There was a tiny voice in the radio static. A nagging thing; a needle pulling thread, and it told him: you'll only dissapoint her. It was his own. Save her the trouble.

"I think -- I think, I'd like that," he told her after a breif moment of contemplative deliberation. He chose to ignore his intuition, but the deep seated worry from which it came remained in the pit of his stomach. It looked more like an uncomfortable grimace than a smile, but Whip tried to offer some sort of friendly gesture. It was a brooken looking thing, but it felt --

It felt alright.

Feel free to close out with your next post! ^_^

He, unlike Eljay (though so alike in timidness), agreed to her offer. In fact, he said he'd like it! Ty was overjoyed, and her tail waved back and forth as she tippy tapped with her front feet. She didn't attempt to reign in her excitement, not now. Besides, maybe this display of overt happiness would somehow knock him out of this... rut he seemed to be in.

"Well then, come along!" she beckoned, shrugging her shoulder in the direction of the plateau. "We'd best get a move on if we intend to make it back in good time."