Blackfeather Woods [BWP] We know.

Set directly after this.

"Help!"

In the aftermath of all he'd witnessed, his voice felt so small. Just minutes prior, Venamis had faced his first real brush with death - a saw light drain from one who offered her life to spare his. He'd felt Sithis' presence, his approach, a beckoning to enter the void. In his childish mind, he would even swear he'd saw the Dark Lord's face in the tree's bark as it came rolling toward him.

"@Maegi!"

He ran and ran, as fast as his paws would carry him, thr thrum of adrenaline coursing his veins enough to power his sprint. The hormone masked the ache of his forelimb from his fall, spurred his unnatural desire to flee.

"Help!"

Help! shouted a voice, prompting Anansi to lift his head from the cluster of mushrooms he was examining. Good thing, too. What he was looking at was a clump of Conocybe filaris, a toxic mushroom, and he had his tongue poked out between his lips in preparation for a taste when Venamis' voice broke his concentration. Frowning lightly, the pale cub straightened up and broke into a lope that was perhaps more casual than the situation warranted.

Still, he managed to intercept Venamis somehow or other, placing his slight body directly in his fleeing relative's path. When the other wolf's trajectory became clear from the crashing of undergrowth, Anansi turned to face where Venamis would appear, arranging his features into a silent question that he hoped would convey his meaning without the immediate need for words: what's wrong? After all, he didn't know Venamis at all and liked to keep his cards close to his chest at first.

Speaking was one of those cards, which was an unfortunate quirk when they were in the middle of a literal crisis.

He continued to run, to search, to cry out, but it was not Maegi who answered his call. Onto his path stepped an unknown ashen figure and Ven felt his breath hitch, for this appearance was unexpected. He hit the breaks which sent him skidding to a clumsy halt before this strange little kid, and he gazed wide-eyed into his stupid face for a moment before the silence spiked his irritation.

"Where is she?" Venamis barked, his tone demanding and chest heaving from his sprint. How was he so damn calm? Had he not felt the earth shake beneath his fucking feet!? His own limbs felt boneless now that he'd stopped running, jellied and weak, and his body swayed a little. He shifted his paws, realigning his weight to better support himself. "I need to find Maegi!"

The dark-furred boy who emerged from the trees was quite a lot larger than Anansi, being two months his senior, but if the small grey pup was daunted by it (which he was), it didn't show on his face. Like his father, Anansi was capable of remaining impassive in the face of stress, but unlike Ramsay, Anansi merely hid his true feelings. Venamis' feelings were written all over his face and the electric look of his fur—something truly bad must have happened.

That made Anansi's heart thump hard in his chest, but he did his best to remain calm as he turned away from Venamis, taking a few steps before quietly saying, come. They needed to find Maegi and figure out what was going on, of course, but something occurred to him first. They could take a little detour, right? The concept of an emergency was lost on him.

Okay, so this kid was clearly a freak much like the rest of Blackfeather-born pups as he continued to gawk up at him, and Venamis did his best to bite back his frustration. It revealed itself in other ways, however: the spike of obsidian guard hairs along his nape, the twitch if an upper lip that threatened to show a warning flash of fangs. He furrowed his brow, turning focus instead to the wild thrum of his frantic heart.

He felt its pulse in his ears, feared it might break free of its cage within his ribs. A chill trailed along the length of his spine and he shivered, thoughts turning to how easily that bastard tree could've snuffed out his life - just like it had Hela and Scylla's mother.

Venamis sucked in a deep breath, pallid gaze following the ashen cub's movement as he turned away and beckoned him to accompany him. He did just that, an urgency to his stride that didn't quite match Anansi's.

Venamis moved more quickly than Anansi, or at least he seemed to be raring to go. The pale cub, having entirely missed that something bad was going down, walked at his usual furtive-but-casual pace until they came, at last, to the mushrooms he had been eyeing prior to hearing Venamis' shout. The older Melonii would surely fly off the handle a little when he realized Anansi had not brought him to Maegi, but the crafty little cub was already weaving his web.

Eat this, he said, jabbing his snout toward the toxic little shroom. It'll make you calm. Then we'll find ena. He said this with the silky reassurance a pediatrician might employ to calm their young clients. In truth, Anansi didn't know what the mushroom would do to Venamis if he ate it. Maybe it would make him sick, the way the poisoned willow had once made Anansi sick. Maybe it would do nothing at all. Maybe Venamis would sprout wings or horns or blow fire from his lungs.

Whatever the case, Anansi was eager to see … and then they would go find ena, just as he promised.

@Maegi Probably good to intervene now!
October 10: Anansi is deceased now and I'd like to wrap up his threads ASAP, so I likely won't post here again unless I'm needed. Please feel free to powerplay him slinking off to sulk somewhere after Maegi shouts at him! Thanks for the thread!

Luckily, Venamis had shouted for her in the first place—otherwise, she may have come upon the scene too late. She traveled to the initial place of his call, then, confused on not finding him there, began to follow his trail. Anansi's scent eventually joined in; her heart was hammering by the alarm in the Melonii's voice, and by the time she came onto the scene, she was well and truly worked into a frenzy.

Thus, when she came across what appeared to be her son proffering toxic mushrooms to Venamis, her reaction was perhaps more over the top than normal.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! Maegi demanded loudly, her voice a mixture of thunder and of lightning, dark and shrill all at once. She hobbled rapidly toward the pair, shoving herself between them and staring daggers down at the pale boy. Anansi, you do NOT make others try plants you're unfamiliar with. Eating it could kill him!

The skid of limp flesh across rock; a muted splash of dead weight into the sea. The acrid smell of salt and vomit. Lainie was gone, and it was her fault.

The flashback took her aback; she winced, stomach churning, eyelids fluttering for a brief moment before she steadied herself and turned, like an automaton, to Venamis. What did you need from me? she asked. Further discipline and instruction for Anansi could wait. This entire situation screamed urgency.

Finish up with your next post? @Maegi

Anansi's lazy stride was quick to bring Venamis' temper to simmer, and he grumbled his frustrations out loud as they moved through the forest. In large part he wanted to veer away, seek the pale leader on his own, and he very nearly did until the ivory youngster presented something to him.

Frosty eyes lowered to a mushroom, brightly coloured in Blackfeather's dim light, and a raven ear pricked forward in surprise. "What the hell, bitch?" Ven's expression turned sour and his lip curled as he bristled, preparing to pounce this dumb kid before a voice bellowed nearby.

Soon, Maegi positioned herself between the boys and scolded the smaller of the duo, but Venamis was too overwhelmed to pay attention to her warning - he simply assumed that she thought the pale-furred pup to be as stupid as he did 

Anansi slunk away and, watching his retreat with a scowl on his face, his expression softened when Maegi's focus turned his way. "The ground," he started with refreshed urgency, and padded ahead of her at once, "it shook again, and the tree - it fuckin' fell - almost on top of me! But that's not all! Hurry, I'll show you." 

He picked up pace, probably too quick for her to keep up, but he didn't stop to consider her disability. On arrival to the area where he had almost been crushed, the young Melonii hung back and looked on at the grim scene before him, right into Cassiopeia's hollow eyes that looked right through him.

Thus scolded, Anansi made his departure; that would be something she'd need to deal with later. For now, she turned her attention to Venamis. She knew about the ground shaking, but upon his brief recollection, her eyes widened, heart pounded. And then a summons to follow him.

She did so, teeth gritted. Whatever this was, it couldn't be good. She was under no delusions that what he had to show her could be anything but good.

It was worse than she could have imagined.

W-wha— Maegi stammered, coming to a halt, gaze locked onto those dead eyes. She trembled all over; if she wasn't already pale, she would have gone white as a sheet. She didn't believe the sight before her eyes. She couldn't believe it. To believe it was to make it real, and it wasn't real, it wasn't real—

it wasn't real it wasn't real it wasn't real it wasn't real it wasn't real

sure!