Blackfeather Woods you've got to ste[m] the evil tide

When Maegi entered the whelping den this morning, she did so with a purpose.

Get up, she said coldly to @Parvati, nudging the woman in an effort to get her on her paws. We're going for a walk. Without waiting on the other wolf, she swung away, hobbling toward the entrance again. The taste of freshly regurgitated meat was hot and sour on her tongue; it tasted like liberation.

She had fed the children, then left them with @Moonshadow, so that they could play with the other pups. When she departed that scene, @Sobek and @Anansi were engaged in some sort of contest, while @Sakhmet watched her leave. Maegi would be back soon enough. She promised.

The Nona craned her neck to glare at Parvati, eyes as dark and cold as could be. Hurry up! she snapped, lips snapping hard and tight together on the last consonant. Let's go. The woman wasn't moving fast enough. She never did. For all she was a snake, Parvati was a slow one at that.

But it would soon be over. Today was the day.

for Parvati only; all other tags just for reference

She hadn't left the cave even to relieve herself in days. Parvati was a mess. Her weight had begun to drop off days ago. While she retained a small paunch indicative of a woman having carried a litter she was otherwise at an unhealthy weight, gaunt in the face and lethargic in manner. So when her children were taken from her, she did not protest - she slept. When Maegi arrived to try and rouse her with sharp words, she balked and rolled away, dragging her boney figure across the foul ground so that she could face the darkness of the descending cavern rather than the glowing entry point.

Hurry up! Snapped the ghost, preventing Parvati from fading in to a deeper sleep. She moans in response but tried to get to her feet. Even if it is only for a moment, she assumes it will appease the disembodied voice that pesters her. Let's go, cajoles that voice, tugging verbally at an invisible leash. The woman draws a deep breath and sluggishly moves towards the light, blinking against it as she ducks beneath the henge and finds herself crossing the threshold.

Parvati doesn't think about her children, or where they are. It is a struggle to keep herself balanced enough to walk. Her body is failing whether she knows it or not - but the sweet scent of chewed meat mingles with the vaguely familiar scent of her children; but she does not remember them, she is drawn like a moth to a flame because of a deeply primal motivation to reunite with something lost.

Parvati looked like shit. She didn't know whether it pleased or irritated her. She supposed that if the children had sucked that much life out of her, that was good—they would grow healthy and strong. That being said, had she provided enough milk in this state? Was she able to give them the nutrients that Maegi could not?

Only time would tell. Today's errand was much more simple.

The ragged skeleton finally followed, and Maegi padded down the path to Nightcaller Temple, each step forceful and determined. It was as if she led Parvati on a leash, and there was a sick pleasure that twisted her stomach at the thought. She shook it off, remaining stoic. This wasn't about her, this was about her children.

Her children. The children that the woman had stolen from her. From her. Hers. Her babies.

They arrived at the Temple grounds some time later, and Maegi marched right up to the Altar, where a dead rabbit lay. Nothing cruel this time, nothing drawn out. She'd tested it on this very rabbit, whose leg had been crushed by some other creature but left to die. Upon being given the plant, it had died shortly thereafter. Once it was still, Maegi had taken the rest of the sprigs and stuffed them down the corpse's throat. Stuffed rabbit—a last supper too elaborate for a pest like Parvati.

Hemlock. Maegi had no way of knowing its name, or that her former medicine teacher had been named for the plant. All she knew was the white clusters of heart-shaped flowers meant death. . .and a quick one, at that. Parvati had suffered and suckled at the teat of Blackfeather Woods for long enough. The children were all but weaned, and her time here had come to an end.

Eat this, Maegi commanded, once she had taken the kill and placed it at Parvati's paws. It will take you to your gods.

May they have more mercy on her soul than would the Void.

They walked for ages. Parvati stumbled at irregular intervals, tripping on her own feet or misjudging the distance of her strides. It is a wonder she remembers how to walk. A lack of muscle mass proves to be detrimental as she pursues the pale figment before her - she is pitifully slow, and they do not arrive to their destination for some time.

When they finally stop Parvati practically collapses to the dirt. She can feel the sunlight on her back like a heavy cape. The fresh air has a brightening effect on her demeanor after a few minutes. She is panting openly, but her eyes alight upon the altar and the heaving of her breast slows to a more normal pace.

The rabbit intrigues her. Parvati is hungry - she can't remember the last time she ate, unable to solidify her mind long enough to recollect the past few months - but she doesn't move to take the rabbit even when she has been prompted. Her gaze lingers for a bit on the creature splayed out upon the stone and gradually drifts to Maegi's face, and for a flickering moment she seems coherent, as if she recognizes her friend.

Maegi is saying something about gods - but she cannot remember any gods, and continues to stare.

The blank, confused stare only served to enrage her further; fire rose up within her belly, sudden and swift, the force of a blaze that devoured acres and acres upon woodland.

Eat! Maegi said louder, scoffing. Aren't you hungry?! I can see every bone in your body, Parvati!

Something akin to sympathy accompanied the anger, as if the kind feelings she'd once harbored for the woman, before all this had happened, were coming back. For a brief moment, she felt compelled to snatch the rabbit away, to prevent this tragedy. . . But Parvati was gone, right? She was as much a ghost now as Mou was, somewhere. . .?

There was no life in those eyes, Maegi felt. No spark. Wasn't this the greatest kindness?

She shook her head. Please eat, she said, quieter, glancing away. Her eyes, her voice, her expression were cold, the antithesis of the heat that was there just a moment before. Eat—and you will meet your gods again.

Wasn't that something she wanted?

Maegi would want that for herself.

The growing ire in the woman's voice was what prompted her to act. The movement was more like a burst, a spasm, lifting her to precarious footing and then towards the altar. Parvati nearly slammed in to it she was so volatile in her response; staggering, bracing against the stone surface as the pale woman made her demands - her pleas - her promises.

She spoke of gods again, but the woman didn't really notice. She saw the rabbit so close to her now. It smelled fresh. It looked plump and perfect - and she was so, so hungry. Parvati was a voracious beast; she had been left in that cave for so long, starving, debased, fed only in increments meant to unhinge her mind and finally she was at a point of utter compliance.

The woman dove towards the rabbit and ripped it to pieces. There wasn't much left when she was finished. However, Parvati had eaten so fast that her body could not compensate for the sudden rush of rich, fatty meat - and before she could even turn away from the altar, a wave of raggedy rabbit came right back up and splattered across the stone slab.

Mature Content Warning

This thread has been marked as mature. By reading and/or participating in this thread, you acknowledge that you are of age or have permission from your parents to do so.

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

Finally, Parvati did her bidding—oh, did she ever! The woman wolfed (no pun intended) the rabbit down, eating with a rapidity Maegi had never seen before. Not even at her hungriest had Maegi eaten this fast, and she felt a weight lifted from her shoulders. Finally, it would be over. Finally, her children could be hers. . .all hers.

It never was that easy, though, was it?

She recoiled, her face contorted with disgust, as vomit spewed over the Altar. Flecks of bile and rabbit were pink on her cheeks, like tears tinged with blood. She stood and breathed deep, fast, unable to form words in this moment. Unable to think of anything but loathing for the woman who had—

Who had DEFILED her womb, her home, her Altar!—

HOW DARE YOU?! she thundered, the words spilling from her tattered maw like the sick had from Parvati. She had no concept of how an empty stomach could so violently reject food; to her, this was nothing less than an affront. We gave you a home! We gave you children! We gave you LIFE! And now, I give you this gift—AND YOU CHOOSE TO SPIT IT BACK IN MY FACE, AND SLANDER MY GODS?!

Maegi seethed, moving to grab Parvati's scruff and force her nose down into the vomit. Eat it! she mumbled, her voice only lower for the fur and flesh hopefully in her mouth. Lick it up.

She felt much better when the rabbit had been expelled, but it did not last. There was a boom of emotive screeching in her ears and before Parvati could register what was being said, she felt teeth gripping the nape of her neck. Instinctively she pulled back, ducked her head. The weight and the sheer force that Maegi employed drove her face against the granite. She felt the seeping warmth of the vomit puddle against her cheek, the sharp grating of stone against her chin. Parvati fought back for all she was worth; writhing in Maegi's grip and humming sad, sharp notes as she tasted the befouled meat again.

No effort would be enough. In her current state Parvati was the weakest creature to ever grace the woods. With all that rage inherent to Maegi now, it would be a surprise if Parvati could free herself. She didn't need to, though.

The pale woman erupted so sharply with aggression that the force of pinning Parvati did more than just scuff up her gaunt face, or mar her coat with bile. The thrust of force knocked the rest of Parvati's resistance right out of her. Mewling like a newborn, she hurried to lick at the bitter puddle and gather chunks of rabbit towards her teeth, and worked on swallowing them.

There was resistance—and, then, there wasn't. Maegi's grip began to slacken as Parvati lapped up the sick, dutifully, ingesting most of what had emerged moments before. Once the Melonii was satisfied that the woman had taken in most of the rabbit, her teeth left Parvati's nape, and she stumbled back, heart hammering in her throat.

Oh, gods. Oh, GODS. What's happened to me?

The startling moment of clarity was soon replaced by despondent rage. Angry tears filled her eyes as she glared at Parvati, nose wrinkling at the stench of blood and bile. Why did you do it?! she demanded, voice breaking on a sob. Why did you take my babies from me? They were mine, mine, mine, and you took them and left me with—

Worms. Pestilence.

Nothing, Maegi whispered, remembering the way Nirgali and Ninazu had disintegrated. Became one with the soil, never to return. Wasn't that everyone's fate? But they had succumbed so much quicker. . . You left me empty and rotting. And so, you'll rot, too. Peryite is coming for you, and Sithis. . .

The darkness was closing in on the both of them, the Void a hairsbreadth away from where they stood. Sithis was here. She heard his voice, everything and yet nothing all at once. The loudest of cries, the softest of whispers. Calling her—calling Parvati. Calling her down into the depths—

I trusted you, she said, her eyes wide and wild. The gods will punish you for what you've done to me.

She ate and ate, teeth catching on stone and scoring earth, trying her very best to ease the vitriolic rage that spewed from Maegi. Little by little the vomit was crushed between her molars, forced back, swallowed. Parvati wasn't in her right mind any more than Maegi; she didn't taste the bitterness of her own bile, nor take notice of the dirt collecting between the gaps in her teeth, becoming mud. She didn't hear the words Maegi screamed; did not smell the saline of her tears. Parvati was present for all of it and none of it simultaneously; she merely wished to satiate that rage, yet even in trying to ease Maegi's evident pain, her actions stoked that fire instead.

The woman tried. She tried so hard to get every last piece of the rabbit, inching across the dirt even after Maegi had pulled back from her. The grip of teeth on her nape faded but Parvati continued, frenzied, gathering and swallowing until the only thing she could taste was the mineral-rich soil in her throat. The mud slicking her insides. You left me empty and rotting,] came Maegi's voice, and some part of it caught in Parvati's ears. Empty and rotting, it echoed.

You'll rot, too.Like the rabbit.

You'll rot, The grit of dirt in her teeth.

I trusted you, Familiarity - a flickering connection, urging Parvati to lift her eyes to the mania corrupting Maegi's expression; for a glimpse she was herself again

and ---

The gods will punish you — then, Mmmm, she tried to speak up for herself, to say the name as it danced on the tip of her tongue, but her tongue wouldn't obey.

The glimpse of coherence she caught in Parvati's gaze shook her, momentarily, into a state of remorse. What are you doing what are you doing what— But she saw again, smelled again, Nirgali and Ninazu before her; she saw her children nursing at this woman's teats; she felt the agony of her "labor" and the grief of watching her sons disintegrate, day by day, into nothing.

The flies picking at their fecal flesh. The worms slowing, slowing, to a halt. And, meanwhile, Anansi, Sakhmet, and Sobek growing fast and strong, taking milk from another. Given names she'd never wanted for them.

That had been Parvati's doing. And whether it was jealousy or malice or simply insecurity that had prompted the woman to poison Maegi's womb and take her spawn from her. . .the Nona didn't know. But she would not stand for it.

She had been hurt too many times for far too many seasons. She was done being the aggressor.

She wanted to hurt someone else. To make them feel the pain she'd felt since birth.

You betrayed me, she hissed, back to the angry, hazy state of mind that had gripped her since the children's birth. Bitterly, she shoved Parvati away from her, pacing to the Altar and sitting at its base, watching for the moment the poison began to take hold. You will pay. You will rot in the Void forever, and you will never see nor hear your own gods again.

Nothing less would suffice.

She could feel the end coming, but whether or not Parvati was coherent enough to notice would remain a mystery. The brief touch of Maegi against her - shoving her, discarding her now that she had been used to her limit - barely registered against the numbing of her skin. The sensation of movement felt delayed; the poison pulled apart each strand of time until there was only the one single red strand leashing her to the altar like a noose. Parvati dimly felt the collision of the back of her head against the dirt, the scrape of skin against stone - the smell of blood. Dizzy from the collision, maybe the drugs, maybe the illness of having her life pulled from her and fed to children she would never know.

Parvati sighed, a whimper the likes of which would have been more at home upon the lips of her babies. The last breath fled from her and then, she was left as a lump besides the altar. Maegi would get what she wanted, minus any fanfare.

It was over as soon as it had began. Parvati teetered, toppled. . .and fell, her head hitting the ground with a meaty thud. One exhale and the woman was gone. Maegi stared for a moment, slightly gobsmacked and still vibrating with fury. 

The air smelled of bile and new death, but the birds and bugs carried on with their songs. It would be silent in the clearing if not for them. Eerily silent. Even the gods did not speak. Even Peryite. . .

Ñuha āeksio, ñuha Jaes, she whispered, turning her eyes to the ground, to what lay underneath. Shijetra nyke. Ēdan naejot gaomagon bisa.

Maegi, Peryite cooed, as if she were a child. Ēdā naejot gaomagon bisa.

And she sank to the ground in relief, tears coming unexpectedly to her eyes, shoulders heaving in sobs. To know she was justified, even in the worst of acts. . . Deep down, she had almost loved Parvati; if the woman hadn't committed such a grievous sin, she might have been spared. As it was. . .

Maegi tossed back her head and let out a long, mournful cry, as if just discovering the woman's body here. She lurked by the altar, a pale shadow, and was beginning to pace when another whisper, a different voice, brought her up short. 

Īlon shijetra, yn īlon dōrī nārhēdegon.

It almost sounded like her mother.

This thread is now AW for reactions to Parvati's death. I will respond to any reactions in a few days.