Jade Fern Grove a din to drive beings mad

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The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: gore, cruelty

a rabbit’s scream rose high and thin, piercing the green solitude of the grove with a crushing anguish.
above a mouth drenched in blood, merrick’s eyes were studious, unblinking. the creature partially trapped under one forepaw was not recognizable upon first glance, but had anyone been able to stand the macabre scene, they might have been horrified to see that it was a mangled leveret, not yet dead.
slowly he bent to his task again, having easily shut off the place in his mind that struggled with such waste and malevolence. these days, however, merrick grappled less and less with that voice.
the rabbit shrieked again as the young wolf began to pull its hide from its agonized body, skinning its still-breathing frame with the rapt air of a morbid student.

It was the rabbit's scream that drew Breccan's attention; he had been wandering somewhere just outside of Lost Creek Hollow's well-marked borders without a real destination in mind, but he set his course and began charting it when the piercing sound reached his ears. He was intrigued more than anything, and the youth moved briskly across the relatively unfamiliar terrain with confidence.

Into the grove he slipped, padding through the foliage, and found his target before too long: a boy he recognized, if only from seeing him fleetingly, and trapped between his forepaws was the screeching hare. Breccan's orange eyes widened as he watched the other young wolf pull the rabbit's flesh and fur from its body in a weirdly methodical manner. "You're supposed to kill it first," he observed, although it was his own morbid curiosity that kept him from stopping the juvenile's actions.

its breath came harder as blood loss swept in to chill its naked flesh; the rabbit's movements became steadily weaker, and merrick crouched over its body to observe the death. however, he was not to be left to his devices, turning the cool fire of his stare on a young wolf about his own age.
but merrick knew he was set apart, if not by way of his parentage, then his own mind. and so he saw the other as a mere child, confirmed by the wide curiosity in the boy's eyes. "why?" merrick rejoined, meaning it rhetorically, and then looked back to his prey.
a final shudder along the bare, bloodied flank, and the animal was still. brow furrowing, the coywolf nudged it with a stained muzzle. had he removed the skin too quickly? for the moment, his companion went unaddressed.

The other boy had a strangely calm way of speaking, even as he uttered only one word in response to Breccan's comment. "Why?" he asked, although he didn't maintain eye contact long enough for Breccan to reply. The rabbit's squealing quieted, and Breccan's gaze, too, was drawn to its body as he watched it give a last convulsion before growing still.

"That's just what I've learned," he said quietly after a moment, watching as the other youth carefully studied the animal's body. It appeared to be dead now, anyway, so Breccan's point was moot. "What are you going to do with it?" he queried, staring at the bare flesh and muscle exposed beneath the hare's ripped fur.

"nothing," merrick answered, gathering his attention to settle on the other wolf. "it's dead. i am going to get another one and do the same thing. you can have this," he murmured, pushing the limp body of the tortured soul against the snow. it was of no use to him now, and he was not hungry.
"what is your name?" he asked of his counterpart, copperburn eyes level upon the boy. why had they not interacted before? but even as he had the thought, merrick knew: he himself had grown reticent almost to a fault. he met few wolves these days outside of his chosen few.

Odd. The response wasn't what Breccan had expected; he thought that maybe the other boy would eat his kill, or even store the meat in a cache and save the pelt for something else. But instead he just planned to leave this one to Breccan and find another one.

Well, since it was his now, maybe he could take it home and find something more productive to do with it. Part of him wanted to stay in the company of this peculiar youth, though, and see if he did, indeed, dissect another rabbit in the same way. The formality of introducing himself seemed a little out of place, but he didn't know his young packmate's name, either, so it was essential. "I'm Breccan. What's your name?" he offered.

breccan. the name was familiar to merrick; this was a young prince of the hollow, as he had once been in bearclaw. "i'm merrick," he told the other boy, eyes flickering over the elegance of breccan's proud features. "if you want to cache that and come with me, i don't mind," the coywolf went on.
he did not truly want company, but breccan had been pleasant enough, and had not interfered with his work. there was also the fact that between two of them, the chances were better of catching another rabbit. and if merrick wished to attempt his experiment a second time, he could ill-afford to traipse away from breccan. "you're rannoch's son, right?"

Based on the interaction so far, Breccan had expected Merrick to depart from his company in order to continue his gruesome crusade. But after introducing himself, the other youth invited Breccan to join him, and he didn't want to turn down the offer. He couldn't exactly articulate it, but the idea of hanging out with another boy was enticing; after all, his only companions at this point were his sisters and Nuna, whose amity he enjoyed, but still -- they were girls.

So he hastened to collect the rabbit carcass and dig a small, impromptu cache. It was outside of the pack's territory, but he would remember to come back and unearth it again later in order to bring it home. He didn't want to waste time with those details now. Once he had covered the skinned body with a layer of dirt, he swung back to face Merrick and indicated that he was ready with a bob of his head. "You're Rannoch's son, right?" he had been asked a moment before, and he replied, "Yeah. And Nuna is your sister?"

waiting patiently for breccan to cache the rabbit, merrick moved off into the forest when his companion was ready. "yes. my big sister." a fond smile, quite unlike merrick, touched the boy's features. he wanted to go on, to tell breccan that he and nuna were free of parents, but there was little need. never one for small talk, the boy lapsed into a searching silence as he began to fill the role of hunter once more.
"what do you like to do for fun?" the young coywolf asked of breccan, turning his copperflame eyes toward the other for a moment. he could possibly glean the information for himself, but his mind was occupied at the moment. and besides, guessing everything about someone was rarely fun — for that person.

The small smile that moved swiftly across Merrick's face at the mention of Nuna transformed his appearance briefly; he almost looked like an entirely different wolf when his expression resembled happiness. But it was gone in an instant. It made Breccan more inquisitive about his new companion -- could he call him a friend? -- not only because he was peculiar, but because he was related to Nuna, and Breccan held Nuna in high regard as well.

They were quiet for a few moments as they paced through the underbrush, and Breccan focused his senses on searching for Merrick's next target. Nothing had revealed itself yet, though, when the other boy posed another question, which he considered for a few seconds before answering. "I hang out with Nuna some, and my sisters -- well, my one sister," he corrected, since Remi and Wisp had both taken off to who-knows-where. "What do you do? Besides that," he said, gesturing over his shoulder back in the direction of the makeshift cache where they had left the skinned rabbit.

merrick did not like the reminder that nunataq spent her days elsewhere than at his side. it had been something he ignored for the sake of the pack, and his own questionable sanity, but now breccan was here, throwing it in his face. considering briefly the ease or hardship of holding the other's head beneath the creek waters, merrick allowed a smile to curve his features into something more palatable.
nunataq and he belonged to one another. the time she spent with other hollow wolves mattered not, for at the end of the day, it was to merrick she returned. "i like to read the stars at night," he answered softly. "terance told me about the constellations."

Merrick’s reply was spoken softly, and Breccan pricked his ears to hear him over the gentle rustling of their feet across the ground. At the mention of the stars, he glanced upward, though he wasn’t able to see any now because of the daylight and the tree canopy. That was pretty neat, though; constellations were something he didn’t know anything about.

Oh, that’s awesome. What do you read from them? he asked as he stepped over a fallen log in his path.

they moved quietly through the woods, though merrick's search for rabbits was half-forgotten in the face of his love for the heavens. "animals, mostly. sometimes there is a star that is brighter. you can use it to travel, and find your way back home," he murmured, tossing a glance to breccan.
he would have offered to teach the other, but being alone beneath the celestial bodies was the one moment in which the young wolf felt whole, and he did not want to share it with anyone.

Naturally, Breccan didn’t know that the constellations were something special and private to Merrick — so he wanted to hear more about them.

What kind of animals? And how does the bright star help you travel? He wished the sky was dark right then so that he could look for it, but made a mental note to try to pay attention next time he was awake late enough. Surely he had seen that brighter star before, but had just disregarded it without knowing what it was.

"bears. lions. something called a pegasus?" merrick smirked; he did not know what such a creature was, and doubted breccan did either. while the boy did not think himself more intelligent than everyone he met, surely he was smarter than yearlings his own age. he studied more than they did, devoted himself to knowing things they did not.
the scent of rabbit crossed his path, and merrick drew up, eyes darkening as he peered into the shadows. "the bright star never leaves its position in the sky. it's fixed, and if you follow it, you will always travel in the same direction."

He didn't know what a pegasus was either, but had at least heard of bears and lions, although the latter wasn't native to this area. Merrick informed him how to use the brightest star's fixed position to find one's location, and Breccan nodded, but was distracted by the scent of rabbit that hit his nostrils at the same time as his partner. He paused and looked in the direction that Merrick was gazing, his tail giving a predatory flick.

Not wanting to step on Merrick's toes -- because he didn't know just what his method entailed -- he paused and waited for him to make the first move.

aware he was being offered the lead, merrick glanced sideways at breccan appraisingly, recalling then what gannet had showed him their first hunt. a pincer movement, to catch between them the rabbit. with a nod to the other boy, merrick moved off slowly to the right, slinking into the underbrush and hoping that breccan would understand he must divert to the left, the young coywolf began to slowly press forward, copper eyes searching for the movements of the small animal.

Merrick's subtle nod was enough of an indication for Breccan to understand his role in this mission. He remained still long enough to observe Merrick swinging slowly away and to the right, and in response, he took the path to the left. They would approach the animal from either side, in an effort to either flush it out into the open or trap it between the two of them.

He moved gingerly and with care so as not to rustle the grass and leaves underfoot, and slung his belly low to the ground in preparation for the rabbit's reaction to their presence.

in a sardonic way, he was pleased that breccan had accepted and understood his place in this hunt. it made life easier, merrick decided; it would make the pursuit and capture of the rabbit quick as well. carefully the boys pressed forward, until the quivering ears of the lapin could be seen. and then it was off, dashing madly first in merrick's direction, and then careening in that of breccan, wild-eyed and stricken with horror at the sight of not one but two wolves.

It only took a few seconds for the rabbit to realize the trouble it was in. When it took off running, Breccan tensed, his eyes fixed on their target. First it veered toward Merrick, only to change tack and lunge in the opposite direction. Either way it ran, though, it was doomed.

As it hurtled toward Breccan, he took a sharp, quick step forward and simultaneously snapped his jaws. His teeth only closed on air, but his intention hadn't been to seize the hare; no, this was meant to be Merrick's kill, and he would simply provide the assist. The animal skittered away from him, kicking up dirt as it ran, and Breccan pursued it in an attempt to herd it into Merrick's waiting jowls.

into merrick's jaws it ran; he closed them with the satisfied air of one intending blood. the rabbit began a low keen that built into a scream, and still the boy bit down, until finally he did not and let the still-living body shudder upon the ground between his paws. only then did he look up at breccan, having forgotten the other was there.
he suddenly wanted to be alone, but felt compelled to give the boy part of the quarry, as it was with only with the other's help that he had been able to procure the small beast. and so he lowered his muzzle again, snapped the delicate neck, and bit off a generous portion of the hind-end, nosing it toward breccan.
"till next time," he murmured, gathering up the remains with something close to a smile and turning to pad away.

Success -- the rabbit ran right for Merrick, and met its end at the other youth's teeth. Its screaming was not unlike the sound the other hare had made when it was skinned alive, and Breccan realized that Merrick had carefully managed not to actually kill it. He had never actually explained why he was torturing his prey, but it seemed that Breccan would not learn why on this day; the only reason that Merrick killed this particular animal a moment later was in order to present his hunting partner with half of the spoils.

"Thanks," he said, as Merrick took his portion of the body and slipped away. He stared in the direction that his companion had gone for a long moment, then shook his head and picked up the rabbit's hindquarters as he went the other way.