Shadow Mountain [NaWoWriMo] house of cards

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.