Shadewood pressure point

Everything was white, perfect, clean. Silent too, if anyone was interested. 

The snow had stopped falling hours ago but it was still too cold for the birds; at least, that's what the boy thought as he trailed between the trees. 

He was moving at a breakneck clip—a bat out of hell—with his usually thin, whip-like tail curled to his belly.

he hadn't steered them toward the plateau yet. he didn't know what his hold up was. perhaps he was afraid that he had built it up too much in his mind, that the lofty position it held in his heart was undeserved. and also, maybe, it had been ruined by some storm, broken to pieces like coconut grove.

he was afraid to find out. so he stalled.

instead, he entered the large forest, stalking, searching for prey. they had managed to snag some deer in the hinterlands, and he searched for them still. alone, though, he looked for small game, hiding within the trees.

aditya was well into the woods when a dark figure caught his attention up ahead, growing larger as it moved rapidly toward him. he barked, and squared his shoulders, putting on an intimidating mien as he tried to determine the threat. wolf, or coyote—or some devilish creature from the shadows?

The frantic pace of spidering limbs came to a cease abruptly.

Careening from shadow to shadow as he was, the wolf was frenzied until the shape of a stranger emerged before him; with a yelp the young wolf twists in a new direction, at least until the packed snow fell out from under him. 

He tumbled off the path and across a chasm filled with powder — soon swallowed up by it.

He wriggled there a moment and tried to climb back out of the gulley, only to fail. No, no no no! The boy yowled. 

As he spasmed and tried to pull himself out of the filled ditch something changed. A high-pitched squeal sounded, then came a foul odour.

The pristine quality of the ditch became more of a yellow-brown, apropos for a latrine. Despite all this a relieved groan flowed from his lips. Ahhhhhhh... so much better.

things quickly got weird. though he grew less guarded, his alarm did not fade—it ratcheted up, rather, as the stranger skittered off the path and then plummeted down. aditya raced over, bristling, careful himself not to tumble into the gorge.

are you— he cut his query short as a foul odor reached his nose, accompanied by the spatter of fluid on the forest floor. muzzle wrinkling in disgust, the man tried to at least look diplomatic as he stared, wondering how best to help.

are you. . .all right? aditya tried again, words coming slow and hesitant. he eyed the scrawny shoulders, thinking he could maybe tug the young man up and away from his plight. do you want me to help you out?

clearly, something was wrong. the running had been odd, and he knew wolves didn't defecate like that unless they weren't well. an illness, perhaps? though that made him even more reticent to lend a paw—he couldn't risk getting sick, nor bringing any sort of disease back to his daughter.

After emptying his bowels the wolf tried to escape the ditch that he'd slipped in to, however even with the inundation of ice and snow he could not get a decent foothold and kept on slipping back down in to the self-made mire.

Do you want me to help you out? offered the man, as Stone made one more attempt and another failure. The snow was becoming a streaky mess and Stone could feel some of that ick factor clinging to his fur each time gravity forced him back in to it.

You would do that? The boy stopped his struggling, his scrappy body angled oddly while he looked up at the other man. If you can get me out I'll do anything you want! And I promise I'm not always like this, whatever this was, I just ate something a few days ago that really upset my system. I haven't been able to stop... going, y'know... since.

Maybe they'd both be better off if Stone was left in that ditch.

his brows scrunched together. of course, he replied quickly—how else did this boy think he was going to get out? he nodded at the explanation given, feeling a little relieved. rotten food wasn't contagious, at least in his experience. this suffering would hopefully be over soon, and it would not spread to brook nor aditya.

taking the shallowest of breaths through his mouth, adi stepped forward, steeling himself. i'll pull you up, but you have to help, he instructed. use your legs as much as you can to climb.

he then seized the dark scruff between his jaws, and took a step backward, feeling his stomach churn and roil as the stench once more hit his nose. it would not do to vomit on the kid and further add to the mess, so he thought of anything and everything else as he pulled, hoping the young man would at least meet him halfway and this ordeal was over soon.