Wapun Meadow get a medic for the general

set after this thread, dated roughly around the wee morning 8th (sorry it's hella backdated y'all) also 200th post woot! hoping for a Bearclaw wolf!

She felt nothing on her descent from Shadow Mountain. Absolutely nothing. The eternal question of fight or flight had kicked in, and her former packmate chose to do the fighting, so Maegi was left with flight. And fly she did, careening down the crag as the sky grew dark, not knowing or caring where she was going or where she ended up.

All she knew was that she wanted to put as much distance as possible between herself and the creatures who'd brought her to such torment.

The girl kept running even as she reached the foot of the mountain, her will to survive counterbalancing her clunky gait. The moon was starting to set and the sky was turning purple-gold as she finally, finally let herself come to a halt in the middle of a meadow, chest heaving as she panted.

Everything hit her at once. The physical--Maegi retched, the taste of her own blood coating her tongue, but there was nothing to vomit; her stomach was empty. The emotional--she collapsed with a sob, body trembling, fear and desolation crashing over her like the ocean waves she'd never seen.

And as for the spiritual, well--she, for once, felt nothing.

Maegi lay on the ground a shattered mess of a young wolf, eyes so tired the lids kept drooping but when closed, she saw the demons again. The bleeding had slowed, but it still oozed crimson onto the ground, and the rational part of her brain knew she needed to staunch the bleeding with moss but she was tired and she didn't know where moss was except in Blackfeather Woods and she just wanted to go home and she was sorry for leaving without telling Kove and she was going to die and

she drifted into a nightmarish sleep as the sun began to rise.

the con artist spent a few weeks on the mountain, planning which road to turn to on her little adventure of a life. a few more months of solitude did not sound appealing to her, so her only option left was to find a pack. it wasn’t something she would particularly enjoy, all the company, but what else was she to do? besides survival would be much easier if she ran with others.

with that goal in mind, she retreated from the mountain in search of a proper place to stay. as she neared the base, a familiar metallic smell tickled her nostrils. it was a delicious smell. interest got the best of her and she followed the sent. as it became stronger and stronger, wolf stench mingled with it. it bought a crooked smile to her face.

she reached her destination before long. in front of her lay a bloodied angel. “there you are,” she spoke, as if she knew this stranger. her voice was eerily soft and collected. “don’t you know it’s dangerous to be laying here, broken and out in the open?”

"I hate you."

Her eyes opened to the echo of Potema's voice, ringing loudly through her head. The one-eyed witch had accosted her, as she had at the Temple, but had gone farther in this nightmare, slicing her stomach open and pulling out her entrails little by little. They writhed on the ground, yet she still lived, at least long enough to see her mother's wicked face.

Now she saw another face, of a different hue but of the same like--there was something bad that lurked behind that gaze. More than anything, Maegi felt a sensation overwhelm her, something she couldn't put a name to but felt much like a sigh of, "Now what?"

But she barely had the breath to sigh, and instead saved it for two words uttered in a trembling whisper: "Go away."

her grin grew wider when she caught a good look at the girl’s face. a large wound went through the side of her pretty little face. still fresh too. it bought her to wonder who was the culprit of this gorey display for a moment, but it didn’t matter now.

yew lifted her head and raised a brow when the girl spoke her breathless command. what a pathetic thing. this was going to be a fun. “and leave you here to rot?” she cackled, “why i’d never!”

the woman strolled in circles around the helpless creature, keeping a distance between the two. though the girl was clearly injured, she didn’t want to step close to any teeth, not yet. she had to study her more.

“now tell me girl, who tore your little face open?” she spoke in a sing-song voice. the signature grin never left the devil’s face.

This woman infuriated her, and she couldn't do a thing about it. Her weary muscles anchored her to the ground, her fighting spirit broken--at least for now--by the devil and his ilk. Maegi closed her eyes as the woman began to circle, speaking mockingly. She'd never met someone quite like this: Potema had been dark, and perhaps mad, but this she-wolf seemed beyond that.

Who tore your little face open? The words stung nearly as bad as the wound. So self-conscious about her forepaw when she was younger, Maegi hadn't realized how disfigured she might now look. The thought of it distressed her greatly, and a small whine escaped her ruined lips.

Who tore your little face open? "Molag Bal," she murmured, her voice listless and a little lisping. It was a lie, or at least just something to say, to shut the woman up. That man was not Molag Bal. The daedra seemed so far from her, tucked away in the deepest corners of Blackfeather Woods. She had never felt this abandoned, not even when Cicero and her brothers had left. Without her gods, she felt utterly alone.

”molag bal,” she repeated. yew took a few more laps around before she stopped in front of her once more. her eyes met with with the stranger’s imbalanced gaze. she sat down in front of her, still keeping a distance. “he sure did some damage didn’t he?.”

yew kept silent for a moment as she meticulously planned on what to do with the poor thing. she could take her life then and there, but what was the fun in that? maybe she could find some benefits in this girl.

”well guess what?,” she whispered, leaning in closer as if to tell a secret, “i heard molag is coming to finish the job.” it was a lie of course, to trick the girl into thinking yew was her only hope to live. “will you be able to flee then?”

Ugh, why wouldn't she leave? It was clear Maegi needed help, and all she offered was taunts and empty words. And normally this wouldn't have gotten to her--these sickly sweet sentiments wouldn't permeate her pelt--but she was shattered, trying desperately to pick up the pieces. It wouldn't take much effort to scatter them once more.

"Leave," she whispered, opening her eyes to look at the woman. She was so exhausted that her vision swam, turning the she-wolf into a muddled mass of brown before her. She shook her head, wincing--she'd not only had her face torn open, but was still recovering from that head wound as well. "Molag Bal is not coming," she said weakly. "He's not here."

But what if he was coming? A shiver ran through her, raising the hairs on her pelt. Unlike some others, the tales of the daedra were not fantasy, they were reality; Maegi believed firmly in her gods. And perhaps Molag was punishing her for abandoning her brothers. . .

Perhaps they all were.

the weakness of her voice amused the mad woman greatly. another maniacal laugh rose from her throat as she lifted herself from the ground. “deny me now,” she stated, “but you won’t be once he’s here.” she turned back to the mountain, then back to the girl with a more ominous expression. “that’s if something, or someone, won’t get you before then.”

a grin spread over her maw as continued to circle around the pale girl. “i can help you,” she said, “get you someplace safe. away from this molag.” yew stopped in front of her. “all you have to do is repay me.” she never did favors without repayment.

Maegi lifted her head a couple of inches to stare incredulously at the woman, eyes glassy with fatigue and injury--yet there was still a spark there, if quite muted. "You don't know Molag Bal," she said, "and you don't know me. Why should I trust you?"

It was a fair question. She had began to separate wolves into two distinct categories: those she did know and those she didn't. And over the course of her life, with the exception of Potema, all those she did not know had wanted to do her harm. . .or had actually done harm. Now, all of the sudden, this brown woman had appeared out of nowhere claiming to have her best interests at heart?

"And what do you mean, repay you?" Maegi continued. The stress she put on her words inadvertently split her wound open again, and she half-gagged as a fresh trickle of blood coated her tongue. She spat, glaring at the she-wolf. "I've no idea wha' y're talkin' abou'," she accused, gingerly forming her lips into syllables she could manage.

yew chuckled and shook her head lightly. “and how would you know that for sure?” she stood frozen to let her words sink in for a moment

she turned away from the girl and took a few steps forward, keeping an ear out. “look around,” she said, turning her muzzle from one side to another. “no one is, or will be willing to help you out here other than myself. what other choice do you have?” yew turned her head slightly to peak at the frail body. “don’t worry, i don’t bite,” she added.

”i save you from inevitable death, you do something for me. quite simple,” she replied. “so, what’ll it be?”

Maegi was fed up with this game. Either speak the truth or leave. While she lay here bleeding, in desperate need of positive attention, this woman had taken it upon herself to toy with her as a cat bats around a mouse, keeping it alive for as long as earthly possible before delivering the final blow. This wasn't how she wanted to die. This. . .

She hadn't thought much about death, until the war had happened. Not her own death, anyway. The closest she'd come was at the mercy of Nikan, and she'd been spared, then. But she wanted a quick death, a noble death. Like Miraak's had been. Not this, this slow torture. Even dying alone would be preferable.

"Just leave me to die," Maegi said quietly, letting her head fall to the ground and closing her eyes. Sleep began to roll over her again like a storm cloud, terrifying and beautiful all at once. "Molag Bal can have me. Just leave me to die."

Once the woman was out of sight, she could drag herself away.

”very well.” she trotted past the girl to begin to leave. poor thing just couldn’t comprehend the opportunity before her, she thought. it didn’t bother yew, she could find another wolf to exploit some day.

she turned her head and called out, “good luck with molag,” before exiting the scene.