Shadow Mountain [NaWoWriMo] house of cards

3. Your toon is/has been abducted by aliens.

She returned to one of her caches, where she'd stashed the volatile hallucinogen Abraxas had brought her. The visions it had given her were too irresistible to forget, and so. . . She pulled the bundle down and began to nose at it, taking in its sharp, pungent scent. Bitter. The taste even more so. She lapped it up and laid down, ready to speak with the daedra. Her eyes fluttered shut.

When she woke, Maegi was not in Blackfeather Woods. She wasn't in the flatlands at all. The air was crisp and. . .thin. Too thin. She found herself taking huge, almost gulping breaths as she rose to her feet, puzzled. Turned around and around, like a pup chasing its tail. Saw stone, dark stone, and a rise and then. . .sky. . .empty sky.

And the ground thousands of feet below.

Her cheek burned with pain all of a sudden, and in a panic, she realized exactly where she was. She tried to scream but could only make a muffled whimpering sound, as if someone had gagged her. She looked down and—oh. The collar. It was back, except tighter this time, and heavier. And her hobbled foreleg was snared in a vine's slender tendril.

Trapped, lost, and in a daze, Maegi continued to holler, turning aimlessly, for she could not go anywhere but in circles, now. Little scuttling creatures, like the crabs she'd seen at Undersea, click-clacked down the rocks, headed for her, their pincers snapping with each step. Except. . .oh, Peryite, they were massive, each as big as her, and with five eyeballs, all arranged in neat triangles atop their foreheads(?).

The one that reached her first began to touch her, and she cringed away from its eerie caress against her ribs. Get the fuck away from me! the Melonii spat, panting and spitting like a rabid dog.

Apparently, it did not like that, for it turned its eyes to its companions.

And then they set upon her, and all the writhing and screaming in the world could not protect her from their ministrations.

Note: There are no crabs. There is no collar. There is no vine. Maegi is up here turning in circles, yelling and crying to herself.

As his paws dug into the scree Driftwood caught wind of a scent he hadn't encountered in many a day. His tail started to curve upward and wave side-to-side in anticipation as he turned to follow after it. She wasn't too far off, and as he came up on her and caught a glimpse of white fur his tail began to fan the air faster—Maegi! Hey!

The wide smile dawning on his face began to immediately falter, however, as the girl suddenly started screeching and spinning in place. Uh—M-m-maegi, are you— are you all right?! Stupid question. Driftwood's expression metamorphosed into intermingled horror and fascination as he stood there watching her incomprehensible shenanigans; she seemed to be talking or reacting to things that weren't even there. At least, given that she faced squarely away from him as she yelled Get the fuck away from me! Driftwood didn't think he was the target of her frustrations or fears, though he never felt like he could be totally sure... A few more creeping steps closer after some hesitation didn't catch her attention, however, so it seemed a relatively safe assumption. It took him a minute or two more to gather up the courage to mince any closer— but after another indecisive pause, he took his courage in his teeth despite his unhappily back-folded ears, and darted forward to ram sharply into Maegi's side feet-first, trying to jolt her loose of whatever crazy hallucination had ahold of her before he scrambled to leap precipitously back and hopefully out of range. Snap out of it! he pleadingly half-whimpered, as his feet clawed deep, anxious furrows into the earth trying to brace himself and simultaneously lean involuntarily away from Maegi's frenetic form.

So caught up with the aliens Maegi was that she didn't notice the voice growing closer and louder. All she could see was their pincers, and she screamed as they pierced her flesh, taking out—something—presumably useful? They took it from just past her stomach, and then sealed her back up, hiding the prized object and scuttling away with sounds that seemed to her like snickers.

And then she was pummeled suddenly on one side, and wheeled around, eyes blazing and hollering, in a ragged voice: FUCK YOU!

Only to blink and see Driftwood crouching anxiously nearby, and her mouth fell open. They got you, too?! Maegi whispered in horror, bristling. Did they cut you open? Did they take anything? What do they want, Driftwood?! In other circumstances, she would be overjoyed to see her old friend from Undersea; these were dire times, though, and all she could focus on was the present.

An anxious, keening whine began to rise in his throat, but Driftwood worked to swallow it back. His jaw worked wordlessly open and shut as he goggled up at Maegi from where he crouched, saw her eyes blazing as she rounded on him with another furious scream of Fuck you!, and Driftwood wondered suddenly if he was going to die today for his foolish attempt to interfere.

Like the letting of blood from a wound however his fear and tension started to drizzle away as her eyes snapped back into focus and she seemed to recognize him at last. It had worked, after all! Thank goodness. He had no idea what he would have done if it hadn't... except that the fragile dawning smile and feeble wag of his revived tail both died aborning along with the happy words dancing on his tongue, as Maegi immediately found other nonsense to breathe at him instead. It was, he supposed, better than being screeched at, but the furrow in his brow and the fearful worry in his own eyes deepened as she went on.

They got you, too?! 'They'...wait, what, who? Driftwood managed, mostly without stammering, which he thought was rather to his credit in this bizarro situation in particular. I...no, n-n-no, they didn't, I'm not...cut open?! Or anything. They didn't... who is 'they'?! he tried again desperately. He wondered just what sort of terrible things must have happened to poor Maegi to have her so maddened out of her wits now. Some terrible thing must be loose in the Teekons and threatening its wolves! It couldn't all have been in Maegi's head after all...right? Right?! Surely no wolf would reach such a state for no good reason... and Maegi certainly hadn't seemed insane, from what he could recall having met her before. Though he couldn't help but feel with a terrible sinking sensation that maybe if she had just stayed with Undersea, somehow, that maybe none of whatever terrible thing had so obviously occurred would have happened to her. What sort of horrible circumstances had she found that would let such horror be visited upon a wolf, any wolf, much less sweet young Maegi? Goodness!

Nothing he said was any sort of answer—well, nothing she wanted to hear in the moment. It just made her more confused, and Maegi shook her head, sighing in exasperation. He must be disoriented, still, from the creatures' attack. That was the only explanation. Why else would he be here, and no one else? Hadn't anyone heard her screams?

The big pinchers, she stressed, eyes widening. Like on the island. . .but huge. She swallowed, her heartbeat slowly steadying but still quite fast. Blood and panic continued to pound like war drums in her ears. They cut me open and took something from me. They—

Tears welled up, blurring her vision. They brought me here, of all places, she whispered. Here, where Molag Bal tried to kill me before. It was torture beyond belief. She would have rather woken up on the moon than this dreadful place again.

At least Driftwood was here. But why didn't he understand?!

Driftwood's eyes flew wide open, about ready to pop out of his head at the mention of the big pinchers... like on the island. Crabs?! Giant crabs?! That definitely sounded like a creature from his worst nightmares, ranking right up there with ponies and Bambi. Drift swallowed hard, his throat suddenly bone-dry, and crept several steps closer to Maegi. She might be scaring him with her incoherence and panic and screaming but nonetheless she seemed a lot safer bet than giant crabs.

He opened his mouth to speak, but had to stop to clear his throat and regain a bit of moisture before words sufficiently uncreaky as to actually be intelligible would emerge. They cut you open? he half-whispered with both horror and concern. Where?! And what did they take?! He moved to nose her over, though still slinking and coyote-like in his motions as he only half-rose from his crouch. Maybe that at least was something he could actually help with... goodness knew if those giant crabs showed up again he wouldn't be much use in a battle. Heck, he could hardly even confront normal, little crabs, much less ones big enough to overpower Maegi and do...uh...whatever horrific things it was they were supposed to have done to her. Driftwood wasn't quite sure what they were supposed to have really done still, actually, and he wasn't seeing any fresh wounds upon her. He paused for a moment in growing confusion to stare disconcertedly at her face. Was he just forgetting some important details here, again, or were the holes in Maegi's own inchoate explanations to blame here? Driftwood was hopelessly uncertain which was true but was too chicken to actually ask her. Not to mention he wasn't sure if he would understand her explainings even if she kindly tried again...

His golden eyes lingered uncertainly for just a moment on the open scar of her vicious pseudosmile, but their attention was quickly drawn away by the sorrowful gleam of her own tearful eyes. Forgetting to be possibly-pee-himself levels of scared for a moment, Driftwood moved in to nose comfortingly at Maegi and possibly even swipe away her tears with his dark noseleather if she's let him. It'll be all right, I promise, he said, even as he had no earthly idea how that could be true or how he could possibly follow through with that vow. We'll figure this out, together, he said, though it was almost as much to himself as to her. They might no longer be packmates but that didn't mean Driftwood was going to treat her as someone who never had been, that was for sure. He did wonder however if perhaps the breakup of Undersea had scarred her too terribly to recover from; he knew he was still pretty shook up from it in some ways, and quite worried about his former leaders' family and Moorhen in particular, but he'd've thought what with Maegi having moved on long before all that she'd have not found it nearly so shocking a blow...but then again, who knew? Driftwood would be the first to admit he was pretty clueless when it came to understanding the motivations and emotions of others sometimes.

...Here, he repeated uncertainly, and looked uneasily about, trying to figure out why here was so darn unsettling a choice. Besides, y'know, the invisible giant crabs he was still having trouble spotting, that is. Who... or what...is Molag Bal? he asked softly, nudging reassuringly at her tearstains again and making the query as gentle as he possibly could. But maybe this would be a clue that would help them both get out of this with their fur intact. Maybe it might even lead to them thwarting the plans of the crustacean overlords before they could invade the rest of the Teekons, or the world, and thereby even save all wolfkind...who knew?

But it would only help, as he had to admit to himself, somewhat disturbed, if he could actually understand where she was coming from, this time. Blast it all.

Here, Maegi whined, reaching back to touch her belly—eerily missing any sort of laceration, healed or not. I swear, from right here, Driftwood. They must have just done a good job at putting me back together. I d-don't know what they took. She trembled all over, fear clear in her eyes as she stared back at the island man, silently pleading with him to understand.

Surely he could understand?

She leaned into his ministrations, letting herself relax a fraction. Thank you, Driftwood, she breathed. But then he spoke of Molag Bal, and the nightmares rose up again, more frightening than even the pinchers. She swallowed thickly, breath coming faster, and her gaze darted away.

A big wolf, Maegi whispered, staring toward the place where he'd kept her captive. Where he'd. . . He ripped my face open. That's why it looks like this, she hissed fiercely, swinging her head to fix Driftwood with her orange eye, her left cheek in all its twisted glory. He would have killed me if my friend hadn't come and rescued me. This is where it all happened.

Hell on earth, she reckoned. She had stared right into the Void, here, and found it preferable to Molag Bal's particular brand of torture.

Squint as mightily as he could, Driftwood could yet indeed spot not a single sign of any injuries present or past on Maegi's belly. He pressed in closer to her regardless, and tried to still her trembling as he nudges at her face again and then placed his chin in what her hoped was a comforting motion over her shoulders. Well, you're still standing, he pointed out, trying to coax some reassurance into her. And there's no sign of the creature that tore you up or any of his, ah, friends... and you should be able to lift your paws up and leave this place before they have any chance of coming back, either. I'll help, and he nudged gently but inexorably at her, trying to press her into motion that he hoped might in and of itself help quench some of her panic. Driftwood was still pretty uncertain whether these giant crabs or this Molag Bol could be lurking anywhere in the vicinity, if they ever had been, but he didn't want to hang around and find out for sure the hard way and he certainly didn't want to leave Maegi to confront such a thing on her own either.

We'll get you out of here, and find a healer to look at you, all right? C'mon. Driftwood would be the first to quite readily admit he didn't know what the heck he was doing with any sort of physical ailments; possibly a more-experienced wolf would be able to spot something he could not on Maegi's shaking form. And if not, well, at least he could make certain she was well away from this place, and got some physical distance between her and the obviously horrific memories that dwelt here for her. Assuming she didn't have another one of her little fits, that is... but Driftwood didn't much want to think about that. He'd just have to figure out how to deal with that if it came to it, he supposed. And whapping into her once had worked, right? ...Oh, crap: he hadn't done this to her, had he?! He didn't think he'd hit her that hard. Drift's eyes roved uncertainly over Maegi's slighter form, hoping to find some definite sign that this wasn't the case.

She let out a gusty, relieved sigh as Driftwood placed his chin on her shoulders, feeling now much calmer than before. Funny, how such a nervous wolf could bring her the peace she desperately needed in this moment. She let his words wash over her, nodding intermittently, still in somewhat of a daze.

At the word 'healer,' Maegi pulled away slightly to look at him—

Lainie, oh gods, Lainie, no!—

Memories flashed, sudden and horrific, before her eyes. But like storms in the night, they passed quickly, leaving her trembling but still standing. You're still standing. The Melonii gave Driftwood a shaky smile, more shuddering breaths passing her lips, silent for a moment or two before finally speaking.

Okay, Maegi whispered, a swallow rippling down her skinny throat. Let's get out of here.

wrap up here? thanks so much for the very weird but great thread! i love these two <3

Sounds good!  :)  Glad you enjoyed RPing these two together too.  :D

Driftwood was, for his part, glad to have someone else's problems besides his own to focus on. He didn't quite understand the look Maegi gave him at his suggestion of finding a healer, but perhaps when they'd hightailed it away from here she could find it in herself to be a little more coherently forthcoming. His own brave smile offered in return to hers was a little crooked, but sincere. He nodded deeply and gravely as she mustered her courage and agreed in a small voice that she was ready to leave.

Driftwood bolstered her resolve with another couple of encouraging muzzle-nudges, herding her gently but firmly inland. I'm sure things will be much better after we leave here, he told her bracingly with a wag of his tail, adding more softly: Go on. He kept one eye on the ground before them and another on Maegi herself, unwilling to start relaxing too much himself until he saw some of her tension and fear leave her. They'd find someplace that didn't hold such terrible memories, nor any possibility of giant ghostly ninja crabs popping up out of nowhere. For Maegi's sake, of course.