Stone Circle I'm just so alone

rolled in tabletop for reaction to Illidan's attack

they battled, relentless, dealing blows of equal consequence. his flesh wept and begged for ceasefire but Merrit carried on. after months of fruitless searching, of upending earth and sky and sea, he would not let the witch slither from his paws as seawater slipped around the shoreline's ragged stones. he would reach her, he would grab her, he would strike her until she fell. he would kill her, and he would end this madness that had gripped the Wilds for far too long.

yet there came a moment in their parries where they found themselves locked in a frozen second of reprieve -- the witch, having snapped her jaws in his direction, and Merrit, having jumped away to avoid her, and seeing grey fur fly but this time without blood.

Merrit blinked the ruddy haze from his eyes and prepared to strike again, when the world took a sudden shift. the sounds grew louder, and his vision spun out of its hyperfocused scope until he faced that full picture of reality everyone else had always seen. the sagging sun stained the meadow with its final rays. bloody, in its own descent. West and Greyback clashed around him, with wolves he did not recognize --

and he saw, now, that this wolf he fought bore every resemblance to the sea witch, down to the devil's eyes, but this wolf - this was not her -

but the scents -- they all smelled of her companions. so many - her following - but how - and they were here.

the gravity threatened to sink him, but he caught himself, grounded himself, and dodged the lunge Illidan threw his way. jaws clicked where his left shoulder used to be. empty air. but Merrit stumbled in his footwork, and the momentary lapse left him exposed in a window of opportunity. the raven would seek to recover and barrel at Illidan's own shoulder, unless the hooded man found his own footing again, and spun around to strike him first.