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in the face of evil- open, on the border - deimos - 12-31-2019
In. In, out. Out out in.
Hyperventilating wasn't her core. It wasn't something she did- wheezing, burning lungs from the smoke fumes, that was something she did. Panic attacks, crying, breaking down? Those were rare, those were like ice on her lungs, cooling them but tightening them, like a vicegrip on her heart. Tears streaked her face as she dragged herself to the border again. The psychotic screams on the border caught up to her like bloody ice, tugging at her back and ripping her free of the trance.
The trance she had been stuck in for months, now. Not even weeks. Leroy's death shattered her like crystal, making her retreat into her home- and soon, later, into her head. A lack of cigarettes to feed her vice, her addiction. A lack of booze- people stopped delivering it to her, so she refused to leave home. At least, consciously. There were some mornings she awoke on the farm, the beach, almost drowning in the swamp. It wasn't healthy. She needed to go, she realized one cool morning, stuck inside her wrecked and closed up home.
She needed to go.
She spent the last few months wandering. She was gaunt, starving, crying and howling in the woods. She managed to narrowly avoid traps at times, and other times she was stuck. Bleeding, and tearing herself free. She knew how to undo the traps that Beck set. Nearly all of them, by this point. Both of her eyes stung at times, the one from Beck especially terrible. Not to mention she hadn't fully healed from being stolen and tortured by a certain fox, himself.
But, by the time she had made it back to Tanglewood, her body shivering and sick, she had no idea Leroy was back. She didn't know that Aurum wasn't Wormwood- which was a shame, Wormy was a good nickname. She liked the analogy it made in her head. She didn't know Roy was under control, she didn't know there was MORE yeens. She just didn't know, but she came back crawling, knowing full well she was a stranger by this point, knowing full well she might've not been welcome at this point.
// she's screaming on the border! unknown if from the healing wounds, strangely uninfected, or from mental distress!
"SPEECH"
Hyperventilating wasn't her core. It wasn't something she did- wheezing, burning lungs from the smoke fumes, that was something she did. Panic attacks, crying, breaking down? Those were rare, those were like ice on her lungs, cooling them but tightening them, like a vicegrip on her heart. Tears streaked her face as she dragged herself to the border again. The psychotic screams on the border caught up to her like bloody ice, tugging at her back and ripping her free of the trance.
The trance she had been stuck in for months, now. Not even weeks. Leroy's death shattered her like crystal, making her retreat into her home- and soon, later, into her head. A lack of cigarettes to feed her vice, her addiction. A lack of booze- people stopped delivering it to her, so she refused to leave home. At least, consciously. There were some mornings she awoke on the farm, the beach, almost drowning in the swamp. It wasn't healthy. She needed to go, she realized one cool morning, stuck inside her wrecked and closed up home.
She needed to go.
She spent the last few months wandering. She was gaunt, starving, crying and howling in the woods. She managed to narrowly avoid traps at times, and other times she was stuck. Bleeding, and tearing herself free. She knew how to undo the traps that Beck set. Nearly all of them, by this point. Both of her eyes stung at times, the one from Beck especially terrible. Not to mention she hadn't fully healed from being stolen and tortured by a certain fox, himself.
But, by the time she had made it back to Tanglewood, her body shivering and sick, she had no idea Leroy was back. She didn't know that Aurum wasn't Wormwood- which was a shame, Wormy was a good nickname. She liked the analogy it made in her head. She didn't know Roy was under control, she didn't know there was MORE yeens. She just didn't know, but she came back crawling, knowing full well she was a stranger by this point, knowing full well she might've not been welcome at this point.
// she's screaming on the border! unknown if from the healing wounds, strangely uninfected, or from mental distress!
"SPEECH"
Re: in the face of evil- open, on the border - wormwood. - 01-01-2020
i was born, on the highway, in a train wreck
with a heart, that was beating, out of my chest
Screaming. The sounds of screaming were echoing through the thickly clustered trees of the swamp, and it made Aurum's blood run cold. The proxy had been outside of his home, resting lazily in the sun as a result of the fact that he had been order to bedrest by Selby after the whole archangel incident. He had been patched up very well by Selby, Kiira, and Abathur, but that didn't mean it didn't still hurt like a bitch, and.he was more than happy to just relax for a bit, and allow his body to heal. This was, of course, until he heard the frantic screaming coming from the border. It ripped through the air without warning, making the fur on Aurum's back stand up in shock and anxiety, and soom enough the lion was pushing himself up to his paws, rushing towards the sound. He wasn't sure if he was more desperate to make it stop or help the affected, but either would've been good with him, and as he grew closer and closer to the source of the unpleasant screaming, his ears pinned down firmly against his skull. However, his annoyance and worry – well, not quite the worry – melted away as soon as he saw what the source was. Sam. It was really Sam. She was really... here. Back. Not disappeared. He hadn't really known where she had gone after Leroy's death, desperately just trying to hold everything together after the entire group was shaken to it's core. She, much like Beck, had just vanished from the scene, and another one of Aurum's friends and family was gone from his home. And now, here she was. Standing in front of him, screaming her head off. Well, more laying in front of him, considering she had been dragging herself. The lion found himself staring for a long moment before he spoke, closing the distance between them and crouching down so that they were level, "Sam...? Sam! Sam, it's Au- Wormwood. It's Wormwood. I need you to stop and tell me what's going on, okay? What's wrong? Do you need me to get Selby?" He could seen some wounds on her that would definitely need treating, but none of them seemed particularly new, and he couldnt truly pinpoint what was really wrong... unless she told him.
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Re: in the face of evil- open, on the border - deimos - 01-01-2020
A gust of wind. Silence, her ears ringing from the screams she just admitted. Someone was coming. Her breathing hiked even more, her eyes sweeping the area. They narrowed at the source. She couldn't move, she couldn't run. Her chin tilted up, and her body shook, her paws scrabbling and pushing at the rough ground beneath her paws. His expression told her she knew him. He, knew her. His expression caused doubts, caused her body to shake and tremble, caused her eyes to well with tears she no longer knew she had.
And like an explosion of light, like the explosion of death, to rebirth, to the sudden gasp of air after being knocked breathless- he was there. He was light, he was angelic. His name was Wormwood, Aurum. Whatever. She worked her jaw for a moment, mismatched eyes wide and staring. Her paw reached up, to touch him, to make sure he was real. Her paws brushed his fur, on his leg, then darted back. She trembled. Malnourished, gaunt, weak- she was these things and more.
She managed to push to her paws, stumbling towards him. She didn't speak, her body collapsing closer to him. A low groan drifted from her. She sought warmth, she sought touch, she sought something to prove she was going to be okay. And right at the moment, Aurum was her target. He was the only thing she saw. She couldn't be sure if he was an angel, real or fake, or if he was Wormwood in his original angst.
"SPEECH"
And like an explosion of light, like the explosion of death, to rebirth, to the sudden gasp of air after being knocked breathless- he was there. He was light, he was angelic. His name was Wormwood, Aurum. Whatever. She worked her jaw for a moment, mismatched eyes wide and staring. Her paw reached up, to touch him, to make sure he was real. Her paws brushed his fur, on his leg, then darted back. She trembled. Malnourished, gaunt, weak- she was these things and more.
She managed to push to her paws, stumbling towards him. She didn't speak, her body collapsing closer to him. A low groan drifted from her. She sought warmth, she sought touch, she sought something to prove she was going to be okay. And right at the moment, Aurum was her target. He was the only thing she saw. She couldn't be sure if he was an angel, real or fake, or if he was Wormwood in his original angst.
"SPEECH"
Re: in the face of evil- open, on the border - wormwood. - 01-02-2020
i was born, on the highway, in a train wreck
with a heart, that was beating, out of my chest
Seeing Sam in such a state... well, to say that it was just the slightest bit worrying would be a massive understatement. Even if he and Sam had never truly gotten as close as he would've wanted as friends, he had always known her to be a fairly stable presence, or at least a tough one. In her current state, however? She seemed to be a totally mess, and that filled him with worry very quickly – which wasn't to say it was difficult to fill Aurum with worry, but this was an even more harrowing case. As Sam stumbled towards him, Aurum frowned, stepping forward to close the different between them. He winced a little when she brushed against his wounded and bandaged up chest, her touch causing the slightest burn to rip up his body, but he didn't push her away, just wrapping his arms fully around her and holding her close. A firm frown on his face, the proxy watched her for a long moment before speaking in a soft and warm voice, trying to lull her from her shocked trancelike state, "Sam...? Sam, Jesus... it's good to see you again. It's good to see you alive. We should... we should get back to town. You need to eat something, and get patched up, and then you can catch up with everyone again... you don't look so good. I can carry you, if you need me to." He wasn't actually sure if he was gonna get any sort of verbal confirmation from the female of absolutely anything, but he wanted to at least attempt to before he just picked her up in his jaws and carried her back to town.
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Re: in the face of evil- open, on the border - Crow Roux - 01-03-2020
[align=center][div style="width: 55%; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 1.4;"]
It was not unlikely that such screaming would draw the attention of anyone within the vicinity. To Crow, the pained, psychotic yowls felt like akin to his ears being sliced by razors. Through an anxious haze, he snatched his weathered satchel and stalked toward the source. Thank god it had stopped before he arrived, or he might have had to excuse himself.
"Oh, hell. I got first-aid, Aurum." Sam. It was Sam. She was- Not okay. As Aurum gripped her in his arms, he dropped his bag and stood frozen in place. "Sam? It's Crow. You're safe now."
Re: in the face of evil- open, on the border - ABATHUR . - 01-03-2020
Abathur was, frankly, startled by the screaming.
One of his daily walks to the border was suddenly interrupted by - well, by the screaming. There was no other way to put it, really. The sounds of anguish were enough to put him on edge, to make his hairs stand on end and push him to a scramble, preparing his mind for anything. A medical emergency, a murder... something worse, maybe. He didn't know, but he did know that his instincts were burning inside him, telling him to go help if he could, to go see if there was a life to save. That was what he was, these days. His quiet life of reading and learning was interrupted by blood more often than not, these days. These days, these days, these days... This was the third time he was in an emergency, the second time it was at the border (from the signs, at least), and the first time he would run into it.
Immediately, upon seeing the figures of Aurum and Crow, he relaxed, though only a little bit. "Greetings, excuse self, here to help," he said loudly, moving to look at the injured person, nerves that had flared up quickly quenched by the calm that came with focus. "Subject Aurum, please move - additionally, you will not overexert self. No carrying others until healed." It was odd, acting like this, like a caretaker, but it was a nice kind of odd. He couldn't quite describe it, but it was... fulfilling. Even if he didn't want to go into medicine, it was enough to make him consider it, to consider giving himself into a life of stress and worry, of careful concentration, of healing. Then again, he seemed to have a foot fully in that life already, so...
"Need first-aid supplies," the giant spider would first tell Crow, then saying, "assist self if subject has training, otherwise, get Selby. Please." After he gave his commands as the medic on site, he would turn his attention to Sam, examining her carefully with his many eyes, the idea that she might be uncomfortable with him so close very far from his mind at the moment. "Can subject - can you speak? Would be helpful," he would ask, deep tone laced in some emotion adjacent to worry, as he prepared the supplies Crow brought with him.
One of his daily walks to the border was suddenly interrupted by - well, by the screaming. There was no other way to put it, really. The sounds of anguish were enough to put him on edge, to make his hairs stand on end and push him to a scramble, preparing his mind for anything. A medical emergency, a murder... something worse, maybe. He didn't know, but he did know that his instincts were burning inside him, telling him to go help if he could, to go see if there was a life to save. That was what he was, these days. His quiet life of reading and learning was interrupted by blood more often than not, these days. These days, these days, these days... This was the third time he was in an emergency, the second time it was at the border (from the signs, at least), and the first time he would run into it.
Immediately, upon seeing the figures of Aurum and Crow, he relaxed, though only a little bit. "Greetings, excuse self, here to help," he said loudly, moving to look at the injured person, nerves that had flared up quickly quenched by the calm that came with focus. "Subject Aurum, please move - additionally, you will not overexert self. No carrying others until healed." It was odd, acting like this, like a caretaker, but it was a nice kind of odd. He couldn't quite describe it, but it was... fulfilling. Even if he didn't want to go into medicine, it was enough to make him consider it, to consider giving himself into a life of stress and worry, of careful concentration, of healing. Then again, he seemed to have a foot fully in that life already, so...
"Need first-aid supplies," the giant spider would first tell Crow, then saying, "assist self if subject has training, otherwise, get Selby. Please." After he gave his commands as the medic on site, he would turn his attention to Sam, examining her carefully with his many eyes, the idea that she might be uncomfortable with him so close very far from his mind at the moment. "Can subject - can you speak? Would be helpful," he would ask, deep tone laced in some emotion adjacent to worry, as he prepared the supplies Crow brought with him.
tags - "speech"
Re: in the face of evil- open, on the border - deimos - 01-03-2020
The ringing soon turned to buzzing. He was real, just as real as she doubted he'd be. If Aurum had assumed that about her before, he'd be sorely mistaken. What she saw before she passed as a human would make anyone here tremble in disbelief. The world split open, the red fog, the Grey Men, the wildmen- it was enough to make Sam flinch now. Luckily, her mind was focused on other things, else she'd probably split open in a yowl again, panicking and splitting away from Aurum. Yes, lucky. Luck was something she never had anymore, it seemed.
Words started to come from Aurum again. She was shaking, barely listening. Carry. He meant to carry her back to town. Her eyes lifted towards him, staring widely for a moment. She opened her mouth, and when she spoke, it came out a hoarse croak, just a whisper. "Carry." She managed, paws shaking, pressing against him, kneading. He was still there, still there, he wasn't leaving. Another rustle, a sharp muttered word. Her name, yes, her name.
Her eyes swung towards Crow, still pressed up against Aurum as much as she could be. She croaked again, the rough, primitive sound forming his name rough enough. She didn't move, her ears flattened. He looked almost as tired as she felt, didn't he? What happened while she was gone? Her gaze lifted towards Aurum. Again, another rustle, another approaching being. A giant spider. She stared at him for a second, but the words that came from his mouth made her sharply bristle, pressing again Aurum.
No, no, he was going to take Aurum away from her. Wormy, her tether, the proof this was real, she was home and they weren't voices in her head. She pressed her head back against Aurum, her hind paws digging into the soft peat beneath them, the moss between her toes being squeezed. A fire lit in her, a sudden anger, and a snarl emitted from her. She managed to push off of Aurum, standing in front of him and hunkering down for a second, flexing what little muscle she had left. "Back off."
Not long after that, she collapsed onto her side, panting heavily. But her green eye, sparked with fire again, narrowed at Abathur.
"SPEECH"
Words started to come from Aurum again. She was shaking, barely listening. Carry. He meant to carry her back to town. Her eyes lifted towards him, staring widely for a moment. She opened her mouth, and when she spoke, it came out a hoarse croak, just a whisper. "Carry." She managed, paws shaking, pressing against him, kneading. He was still there, still there, he wasn't leaving. Another rustle, a sharp muttered word. Her name, yes, her name.
Her eyes swung towards Crow, still pressed up against Aurum as much as she could be. She croaked again, the rough, primitive sound forming his name rough enough. She didn't move, her ears flattened. He looked almost as tired as she felt, didn't he? What happened while she was gone? Her gaze lifted towards Aurum. Again, another rustle, another approaching being. A giant spider. She stared at him for a second, but the words that came from his mouth made her sharply bristle, pressing again Aurum.
No, no, he was going to take Aurum away from her. Wormy, her tether, the proof this was real, she was home and they weren't voices in her head. She pressed her head back against Aurum, her hind paws digging into the soft peat beneath them, the moss between her toes being squeezed. A fire lit in her, a sudden anger, and a snarl emitted from her. She managed to push off of Aurum, standing in front of him and hunkering down for a second, flexing what little muscle she had left. "Back off."
Not long after that, she collapsed onto her side, panting heavily. But her green eye, sparked with fire again, narrowed at Abathur.
"SPEECH"
Re: in the face of evil- open, on the border - wormwood. - 01-04-2020
i was born, on the highway, in a train wreck
with a heart, that was beating, out of my chest
Anger. Hot, bitter aggravation. Not directed at him. No, actually, the exact opposite is being directed at him. Happiness, and comfort, with him seemingly acting as a sort of stabilizer for the very much unstable Sam who was clinging to him. Despite the soreness that reminded Aurum sharply of the wound that he currently had on his chest, Aurum didn't hesitate to hold Sam close, acting as the tether to the real world that the female needed at the moment. Hell, she was practically shaking, frantic but slow kneading happening as she desperately sought out comfort. The proxy had no earthly idea what had happened to her in her absence, but it had obviously been awful. When she croaked out her first real word since he had seen her that wasn't just a cacophony of screaming, the lion nodded his head, ready to lift her up and carry her all the way back to camp where she could be taken care of, and see that she was safe. However, soon enough he wasn't the only one present. The first to arrive after him was Crow, something that he was grateful for. He knew that Crow knew first aid, and plus would probably also be able to provide a comforting presence for Sam in her time of need. However, the third to arrive wasn't so comforting. Aurum wasn't displeased with Abathur's arrival, but Sam evidently was, from the way her eyes narrowed and her words came out in a soft snarl.
Mouth curling into a frown, Aurum made a soft noise of protest when Sam stepped away from him, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to stay up on her own for long. She managed to hunker down in front of him for a moment, in a seemingly protective position – which Aurum probably would've found pretty humorous, considering the condition she was in, if it weren't for what was going on – but it didn't last long. When she collapsed down onto her side, the proxy let out a little whine of worry from his throat, eye flicking from Crow to Abathur. Moving forward, he let his tail gently drape over Sam's flank in a comforting touch before he spoke to Crow, "Crow... Crow, you can help her, right? Patch her up? She trusts you. Abathur..." His one good eye moved over to the other male, hesitating before he continued, "...She's not in the best state right now. She won't let you come near, and I think it's best not to stress her out more now... could you go and get one of the others? Moth or Selby or someone? And maybe Leroy... If I can't carry her then we need someone who can." He very much wanted to protest the fact that he couldn't carry Sam in his current state, but... technically Abathur was right. Even just Sam hugging him had made his chest feel like it had been lit ablaze, and he doubted it would work out well if he carried someone all the way back to town, even with flying.
Mouth curling into a frown, Aurum made a soft noise of protest when Sam stepped away from him, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to stay up on her own for long. She managed to hunker down in front of him for a moment, in a seemingly protective position – which Aurum probably would've found pretty humorous, considering the condition she was in, if it weren't for what was going on – but it didn't last long. When she collapsed down onto her side, the proxy let out a little whine of worry from his throat, eye flicking from Crow to Abathur. Moving forward, he let his tail gently drape over Sam's flank in a comforting touch before he spoke to Crow, "Crow... Crow, you can help her, right? Patch her up? She trusts you. Abathur..." His one good eye moved over to the other male, hesitating before he continued, "...She's not in the best state right now. She won't let you come near, and I think it's best not to stress her out more now... could you go and get one of the others? Moth or Selby or someone? And maybe Leroy... If I can't carry her then we need someone who can." He very much wanted to protest the fact that he couldn't carry Sam in his current state, but... technically Abathur was right. Even just Sam hugging him had made his chest feel like it had been lit ablaze, and he doubted it would work out well if he carried someone all the way back to town, even with flying.
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