Stone Circle BWP- My Breath's getting short and im unsteady

As the sun set over the plains of dying grass, Greyback stood absentmindedly— his gaze unfocused and unblinking. The recent quakes had been causing not only Easthollow, but the prey around them unrest. Valette had told him about the bison flight during the night. He furrowed his brows at the subject.

What was Easthollow going to do?

Would they need to move?

For now all their members sat and slept patiently inside the stone circle, but Greyback found himself unable to stand with them in the chaos. How was he to pretend everything was okay while they huddled together? Easthollow's numbers were growing, and with winter on the way there was sure to be more asking for entry. His and Valette's children were also growing fast, especially West, who required more food than the others. There was also the issue of the mysterious new pup.

Greyback huffed, his hot breath entangling itself in the crisp wind before dissipating.

CRK GGGRCK

The world shifted underneath Greyback, who now stayed shocked, frozen in place as fear settled over his body. He couldn't do much but close his eyes, hoping it would soon end, but the longer he stood the more he feared whatever force was causing the world to quake.

Taking a trembling pawstep forward seemed to be a mistake. The elder was tilted off balance, loosing his footing and falling to the earth with his own thud. A large gasp left past his lips as he landed wrong, his head bouncing off the earth and ringing loudly in his ears before everything faded to black.

*eyes* I didn't know the time of day, or the state of Greyback, so let me know if you need anything changed! Also, this'll be Merrit's only post <3

Merrit did not slumber, he did not rest, he did not join his family within the safety of Stone Circle, despite the command of his mother. He would not. Though the ground shifted underfoot, in ways no one could explain, nothing frightened him more than the way the plains seemed to weave a streamless strand of nightmares through his subconscious regardless of whether was asleep or awake. The visions blurred his focus when he least expected, and the longer he spent here, the worse they grew, blinking through the darkness and the daylight until he found safety in nothing but distance - so distance he gave them.

But today had been better. He had patrolled the perimeters, braved the escalating quakes. They were less worrisome than the absence of prey, the empty plains, and the trail of the russet woman, Indra, that left Easthollow one way, and never circled back.

He puzzled over what this could mean. He had heard no call ring out from her that she would be gone for more than a night, but he had seen at least three sunsets, and still no sign of her...

So Merrit sought his mother. She had no answers to the quakes, but she had seen many wolves come and go, and he knew she would quell that dreadful churn of anxiety in his gut. Hadn't Indra been one of the ones - ?

CRK GGGRCK

And he lurched, caught off-guard and thrown off-balance, by the longest and strongest tremor yet. The whole world rocked around him, and for a moment he felt himself colliding the sweet summer grass, on that dreadful day, and Leta's eyes flashed through his mind - 

but just as fast, he realized he still stood upright, though his heart kicked heavy against his chest -

Leta. Leta. Sea Witch. Indra. And he didn't know when he had started running, but his heart challenged the speed of his paws, which ate up the ground with a voracious sprint. He had to find mother, he had to find mother, he had to find -

The world blurred to everything but the pigeonholed objective forged in this panic, and he did not notice the form of the other until he had tripped across him, thrown head-first and over-heels onto the ground on his packmate's opposite side with a loud, resounding, oof!

Greyback.

The last wolf who needed to see him like this, that last he needed to see - and he scrambled to his paws, to collect himself, wind-blown from the fall and fur ruffled in ways he could never cover.

"Greyback. I - I didn't see ... "

But as the man drew into focus, he could see there was something wrong. And Merrit narrowed his brow. There was something wrong, because a trip like that should have woken --

He should have --

Shit.

He didn't even think to check if the Patriarch had breath in him; all he could see was Leta in his limpness, Leta in his stillness, Leta in everyway he was -

- his throat constricted, and he let out a panicked and warbled cry, and he stumbled backward, away away away from the Patriarch - did he breathe? didn't matter - away from the nightmare of his sister - from the fear he held for Indra. It was too much, too much, away away away -- that by the time anyone showed up, he was already gone, stripped away from Easthollow, with only his scent to testify that he had even ever been here.

She felt the tremor, and heard the cry, and quicker than her thoughts could carry, she tore toward the source. Nanook burst into a moment of eerie calm, the forest stilled from its usual cadence of birdsong and crickets. The world was quieter these days; the animals ran, and at times she wondered if they should be running, too.

Moonlight shed light upon the ground, and her eyes dropped to the rise of Greyback, fallen like a titan on the ground. He slept? Outside of Stone Circle? Honestly, she didn't feel surprised -- but he hadn't been the one to cry -- she hadn't been here long, but she knew Greyback's voice well enough to know that. Nanook had not expected to find the Patriarch here.

And that made her skin prickled with unease. On instinct she threw her head back with a sound of alarm, directed at @Valette more than anyone, though she hoped @Siarut would come to her, too. She didn't care if Greyback woke - better if he did - and perhaps she was overreacting -- but she would take no chances. She stole nearer the man with a low and careful crawl. "Greyback," she spoke, voice low, and reached out her muzzle to press her nose against the side of his head, in the hope to rouse him from his slumber and see if he, too, had heard the cry, or if that had been yet another breach through the realms, like the tremors and the heavy cloud of ash that settled through the sky.

Valette was in the circle with most of the pack. She was confident that the stones would protect them from these strange ground shakes. She had dozed off, something she hadn't intended. She as their matriarch wanted to stay up and watch over all, and of course keep in check who was in the circle and who wasn't. Indra she hadn't seen in days, Merrit she also hadn't seen. She was getting worried still exhaustion had kept up. These were stressful times for the matriarch wanting everyone to be safe.

CRK GGGRCK

Her head jerked up when she heard the loudest crack so far. She cursed herself for dozing off and checked the wolves around her. Greyback was still not here. Valette frowned. That was unlike him. The female kept low to the ground as it shook hard. The stones seemed to keep steady. It only made her belief that much stronger in her stones. She knew Greyback wasn't a fan of waiting around but it was strange he wasn't here yet. She wanted to check upon him but she also had the pups and the others to keep safe, or at least, keep watch. The female then heard her sister's call and just sprung forward like an arrow from a bow.

The female rushed to the location and saw her sister standing by Greyback. "GREY!," she called out. She hurried forward to his side. She smelled Merrit on the ground and around Grey. Where was he? Why didn't he call for her. Valette wined. "Greyback," she urged and nudged him with her nose to get any reaction from him. Tears started to well up in her eyes. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't lose another mate. "What happened?," she asked her sister, assuming she had seen what happened. Valette turned to Greyback once more snuggling into his side, her ear close to his face to listen if he was breathing. Was he?

He laid still, silent. Unknowing of the world around him, of merrit tripping over him, having a crisis, crying, and fleeing their home. Leaving them—his mother, his family alone.

He was alone in the deep, dark nothingness. No sounds, no smells. No light. It was just dark— a void.



Until he felt a brush of something againt him. Something soft, warm. It was interesting, pulling him away and rousing him from his sleep. His senses, once nothing, slowly started to wake up again, and with it a distant calling of his name echoed in his ears against the ringing.

He groaned at it. The sound, the noise, the pain in his head and againt his back. He slowly felt warmth against his side too, and fought to open his eyes. He wanted to know what was going on, why was he hurting, and who was next to him? But all he could make out was a blurry shape that was slowly coming into focus. "Val?" He slurred, voice croaking. "What happened, my love?"

A tight chord of anxiety balled up in her stomach when the man did not rouse, and instinctively, she lifted her paw and sought the large man's jugular. Yet even when she stilled, his thick layers of fat and fur prevented her from finding an accurate spot to read his pulse. She huffed, and realigned her paw to rest in the space before his parted mouth. And she waited. The slightest warmth touched her fur, but his breaths were shallow and unnatural. She furrowed her brow, and stepped away. Something was definitely wrong.

She hardly roused at Valette's arrival - intense was the only word to describe her; the air soaked with the deluge of her distress, and Nanook pushed her own nerves down. They couldn't both lose their minds; at least one of them had to be strong, still, calm. A balance to the tempest.

"I don't know," she said. Composed, despite the waves of anger and fear that crashed through her chest. Damn it, Greyback, if he died on them now -

She pitched her ears forward at the sound of a groan, and she moved closer - stopping short when the titan's eyes fluttered open. His voice came shortly after, and Nanook disregarded the fact that he had aimed his question at Valette. She sprung her words the moment he fell silent. "We'd like to know that, too," brusque, matter-of-fact, certainly not the sweet comfort of Valette - that was her sister's to offer, and she would do it well. Nanook simply delivered the facts. "The ground shook, I heard a cry. The voice wasn't yours - yet we found you on the ground, unconscious. You don't remember anything?"

Valette's heart jumped when Greyback gave a greater sign of life. Valette nosed him. "I'm here, shh, keep laying down," she urged her mate. Her tail was wagging crazy, happy that he was alive. She let out a relieved sigh and just leaned into him. Then Nanook, being the voice of reason again, spoke that they wondered the same question. Valette wanted to know as well.

"Merrit, it was Merrit. I smell him on you," Valette stated and then looked confused. Greyback and Merrit hadn't been the best of friends. The mother wondered where Merrit had been and why he had not been helping Greyback. "Do you remember anything, dear?," she asked him worriedly.

Another voice. Ira? No— Nanook? Greyback turned his head to gaze at the other wolf, his eyes squinting as the world was still coming into focus. "Nanook?" he mumbled. His eyes closed as the ringing got louder, pulling another groan past his lips and forcing him to give up attempting to see. He opted for resting his head back down on the ground. Letting the shapes come into focus slowly but surely.

"I'm afraid not. Last I remember was the ground shaking, and..." He paused, letting the memory of fear roll past him. The terror gripped so tightly onto him then, but now it felt like it was only a dream. Remembering such a thing made him flush, they didn't need to know about it. "— and then nothing." He continued.

It was surprising that Merrit was there, why didn't he stay? "Perhaps the cry was him—Merrit, I mean." He worried for the young man. It seemed he was always running off, always leaving, and then returning. Greyback had no doubt that this is just a repeat of last time. "Im sure he will show up soon."