[ PUTTING THE DOG TO SLEEP ❧ JOINING ]

[guts]

//important bits are at the bottom! everything else is rambles

The water rolled and tumbled, mercilessly throwing the ship about as thunder roared above. Rain pelted down from swollen dark grey clouds, lightning flashing and briefly lighting up the scene of desperation aboard, crew-mates scrambling across the deck amidst the chaos. Barrels and crates skidded across the floorboards.

Apart from all the chaos, she stood at the railing, watching the tides swell and sink, her clothes thoroughly drenched. Her hair flutters across her face with the wind. But she wore an eager grin. She was nervous, sure, terrified even, but maybe she could reassure herself--and those around her, too--that it would be okay as long as she wore a cheerful face.

That seemed a lot better than losing herself to panic, as those around her had, all yelling and falling over themselves.

A hand grabs her by the wrist, the captain yelling something she can't hear over the noise of the storm and the scene around them. A particularly rough wave strikes against the boat then, causing it to tremble roughly, both of them losing their footing on the slick wood.

She stumbles back, hitting the railing but unable to catch herself as she topples over, over and into the water.

---

When she startles awake, her lungs are on fire and she struggles to catch her breath, coughs ripping from her throat. She sits herself up, lost in a sputtering fit, until water spills from her mouth and onto the ground under her.

It brings her some comfort, finally able to gasp in air. She feels light-headed and her chest still aches, but she can get that sorted later. Right now she needed to figure out where she was.

She lifts her head, finding that she was in a forest, foliage above blocking out most of the sun as the chirps of birds and rustle of leaves echo around her. She has no idea where she is, and the most puzzling part is that she's nowhere near the sea. Had she been rescued and brought her? If so, where was her knight in shining armor?

Then she notices something: she's a lot shorter than she remembered.

Taking a moment to look down at herself, she finds, both in horror and fascination, that she had fur. And paws. And a long snout. Cool.

Maybe she was supposed to be more concerned about this than she was, but honestly, this was exciting! It was like an adventure out of one of those novels!

But now what? What kind of adventure was in store for her? Well, she wouldn't find out just by sitting here.

So, shakily standing up, Adelaide steps a paw forward--only to face plant in the dirt. She grunts, startled when she hears sudden laughter. She lifts her head and watches a figure approach through the trees, a thick-furred wolf, she realizes. They continue to cackle, stepping into a sunny spot and allowing her to see them fully.

"You act like you've only been walking a day." they sneer at her, all teeth and malice.

But she doesn't seem intimidated. "Actually, I have! Well, not a day, really. A minute, maybe?" she explains matter-of-factly in a cheerful tone.

They don't seem to appreciate it much, wicked smile dropping into a frown, but they quickly turn it back around.

"Oh, a smart ass, huh?" they say with a dark voice, moving to circle around her. She's still sprawled out on the ground as she watches them. "I have a way to fix that."

They're behind her, and suddenly there's a weight on top of her, pinning her down. She gasps and struggles, claws digging into her skin like thorns. She can feel them lean down, hot breath on her neck as they open their mouth, sharp teeth inches from tearing into her. When they sink in it'll be all over.

Heart pounding heavy against her ribs, Adelaide squirms and manages to turn onto her side, the grip on her lost for a split moment and she uses that time to kick her assailant hard in the stomach with her back legs. It forces them off and the maned wolf wastes no time in shooting up onto her paws, taking off despite the way she stumbles, tripping over her long legs.

She tries to escape, but once again she falls, tripping to the side and getting caught in a shrub. Her legs tangle, wildly kicking at the branches they're caught in. Meanwhile, the wolf is quickly padding towards her, fury in the way their face contorts and their eyes shine.

"Fucker!" they growl. Their claws dig into the fur on her flank, piercing her skin, sharp pain raking over her. A yelp tears from her mouth and all she can think to do is kick at them, landing a blow square on their nose.

They reel back, yelling curses, while she squirms and finally manages to free herself from her bushy prison. Landing hard, she drags the other half of her body from the shrub, shakily getting back up. Then she's off again, swerving through trees and avoiding large roots. She looks a lot like a newborn deer galloping away from a predator but all she's worried about is escaping.

---

She doesn't stop until she runs out of breath. When she slows to take a breath, she's sore and her throat is dry, all energy sapped out of her.

Ahead of her, marshlands stretch out as far as she can see, all muddy ground and pools of water. It looked unsanitary, for sure, especially with her wounds. She would try and fix herself up--she was trained, even knew how to use plants, thanks to her studies--but it was a matter of finding the supplies for it.

Huffing a sigh, the maned wolf makes her way closer to the wet land, suddenly overwhelmed by a strong smell. It was intriguing, to have such a heightened sense of smell! Perhaps being in this new body wasn't so bad after all, if she could look past the troubles her legs gave her.

She stands, contemplating what to do next. She considered heading into these marshlands, but was also second-guessing that decision, based off her wounds. Ah, an animal's life was not easy. A rest would be nice, for now. She plops down, humming a song to herself with a smile.

[Blazic]

[torren]

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[color=#6679bf]A mi[color=#5265a9]llion d[color=#445890]reams are keepi[color=#3b497c]ng me awake —
Torren found the solitude of wandering through the swamp and forest peaceful.  Each step reminded him somewhere, another set of paws wandered across the world, curious and excited.  One day the Scottish wildcat would share the memories of different journeys with the cat those paws belonged to — his sister.

Until then, he wandered through his home, for the sake of exploration and solitude.  He enjoyed learning about the swamp, mastering the difficult terrain and puzzling together the symbols and warnings by himself.  Though he wandered content on his own, the youth hardly hesitated at the sound of others near.

Driven through curiosity and the drive to care for others, Torren especially felt drawn to the matter at hand.  He tasted blood in the air and felt his brows crease in immediate concern.  He joined a hyena he recognized as a clanmate by smell, eyes fixed upon a stranger.  "Are you okay?"
[align=right]Eudaimonia. (n.)

[guts]

The sound of approaching steps brings her back from her staring into space, pulling her from her thoughts and back into reality. She watches the stranger closely, wary from her last encounter, though her smile doesn't falter. When she speaks, it's still somewhat jarring to see an animal speak, but she tries to brush it off and focus on the question. Where did she hail from? That was a tough question to answer.

"Hi there! Well, I was on a ship in the middle of the sea, and I fell overboard during a really bad storm. Then I found myself here! Or, in a forest, then I ran here after I met a really unfriendly wolf. I didn't like him very much," she explains in a rush of breath. Stopping for a moment, she chuckles lightly, acting quite light-hearted for someone who had just found themselves in such an odd situation. "Yeah, today hasn't been the best." she finishes, not even considering that it might sound crazy to the hyena.

Then Adelaide glances around. Maybe she should ask where they were, now that she thought of it. It would probably be helpful to know.

"Do you know where we are, by any chance?" she asks, just as a second animal appears. He's so tiny, too! Compared to her height, anyway.

She only smiles brighter at his question as she bobs her head. "Ah, I'm fine! Nothing that can't be fixed."

She had to deal with worse things in the past, being the doctor of a ship, so she hardly bat an eye. Damn if the wounds didn't sting a little, though. Some clean water would be nice, too.

The maned wolf focuses back on Snarl then. "A medic would be nice, yes." she could only assume that was what she was referring to, considering she didn't know who Selby was.

[ABATHUR .]

It was with great exertion that the spider pushed himself to go outside in this wintry time.

Being cold-blooded, he was, of course, partial to not going outside in the freezing cold - he wouldn't die, since spiders had a sort of anti-freeze in their blood, but the cold did make him become dormant, like someone with seasonal depression, or a bear. A really spindly, eight-legged bear, sitting in his house for winter to pass by. So the amount of effort it took for him to leave his slightly insulated abode and step out into the crisp world was far too much effort for daily life, which caused him to overexert himself, moving around much more than he normally would (because honestly, at this point, he was afraid if he stopped moving forward he would curl up and sleep for a few months.)

It was for this reason that the spider found himself at the border, crawling upon a scene that gave him déjà-vu; although he had never been in this sort of situation, he still felt a hollow pang of familiarity, as if he were an Alzheimer's patient seeing their forgotten child. It was off-putting, frankly, moreso even than the blood, or the even worse chipper attitude of the injured. It was the first time he was meeting someone with this approach to emergencies - or life in general - and he was not having a great time with it.

The time for his anti-sociality was not now, though, for now was the time for action.

The gigantic spider approached at the tail-end of the wolf's explanation of her injuries, moving forward past Torren and Snarl to examine the wounds up close. "Greetings," he began to grumble, shifting his massive body backwards to look Adelaide in the eye, "subject is in Tanglewood. Permission to bandage wounds?"

He paused for a moment, before adding, "Apologies for... invasion of space. Am somewhat versed in medical field. Can take subject to better location after wounds are treated." His research suggested people typically didn't like him, a giant spider, suddenly shoving himself all up in their grills and such, so he had to make some accomodations. Fingers - pedipalps? claws? - crossed that it worked.

tags - "speech"

[Blazic]

[guts]

Anyone in her shoes--or paws--would be frightened at the sight of a large spider, maybe even jump up and start running. But Adelaide wasn't just anyone and when she saw the creature, she simply blinked in surprise, a feeling that was quickly replaced with excitement, fascination. She had never seen anything like this before and that was enough to warrant her intrigue.

"Oh my! What an interesting specimen you are!" she says upon his arrival, disregarding whatever he had said in favor of voicing her thoughts. "How did you get this big? Usually spiders are small little things, but you! You're huge!" in the back of her mind, she wondered if he had venomous fangs, but she resisted the urge to ask him to open his mouth and let her take a look. That would come later.

When Snarl spoke up again, her ramblings were interrupted, her tail eagerly thumping against the ground coming to a stop. This 'typhoon' she mentioned didn't ring any bells to her, not unless she was talking about the kind that had to do with the weather. Whatever it was. "The Typhoon? Oh, no, that doesn't sound familiar." she confesses with a shake of her head. "Just a stranger, then, I guess."

She ponders for a moment at the further questioning, thinking back to the one who had attacked her earlier. It had been quite a ways away, if she remembered right, and her sore paws were enough of an indicator. They didn't smell like them, either, not like wet grass and mud. They didn't smell like Tanglewood, or whatever this place's name was. An interesting name, nevertheless.

Everything in this new place was interesting!

"I don't think he was from here, no worries! It was a while away from here, actually, in a forest. That's where I woke up." she was still trying to figure out that part herself. From the middle of the sea, to a forest in the middle of nowhere.

Then she turns back to Abathur. "Ah, don't sweat it! You're quite interesting. I don't mind getting a close look." she probably sounded a bit unnerving, but she didn't seem to notice. "But yes, that would be lovely, thank you! They sting quite a bit."

At the mention of a village, Adelaide perks up even more, if possible. A village sounded nice, a place to rest a little while. She nods her head quickly. "It would be nice to rest my paws, yes. As long as I don't get my leg chewed on by a gator."

To be honest, she had never seen a gator before, so maybe she wouldn't actually mind that much. It would be a good learning experience, at least!

[ABATHUR .]

Hm.

He didn't know how he felt about being called a specimen.

Was this how people felt about being called subject...? Bewildered and a little bit irrationally angry at the concept of being de"human"ized? Interesting. He'd have to note that for later.

The spider grunted after she began talking cheerfully to him, specifically after he was called a 'specimen,' the mentioned strange mix of feelings floating up to obstruct his thinking, feelings which he determinedly pushed far down so that he wouldn't think about them. "Unknown," he said, his deep voice the only noise he made, as the spinning of his silk was rather silent. "Likely a mutation; was large from birth. Alternatively, am unknown species of giant spider - also possible, however, would require discovering other identical subject to self to prove." That was the most he had spoken consecutively in a while, he silently and sardonically mused to himself. He did hope it wasn't a waste; he still hadn't decided whether or not her voice and mannerisms grated on his nerves or not.

After a small time spent bandaging, mostly listening to what the drowned woman was saying to subject Snarl and occasionally asking her to move so he could access an injury, he seemed her dressings suitable - for a temporary fix-up, at least. He did so wish one of the medics had popped up, since they oft carried around herbs, from his memory; that way he wouldn't have to take the bandages off and then re-apply them after applying some antibiotics and gosh, the idea of it was so taxing already. He was glad he wasn't a medic - he'd be absolutely useless in the winter. Plus, he disliked the pure concept of that sort of obligation, having to shuffle around everywhere, provide emergency healthcare in the middle of a swamp, run check-ups occasionally - did not sound fun. He had things to research, people to talk to, time to spend dormant. The most he was willing to do was helping people like - oh, had she said her name? He would have to ask.

His mind was drawn back to the conversation by this pressing question, as well as a few comments the femme had made, which would likely be construed as flirtatious were he any other species, and creepy were he any other person. As it was, he was oblivious to the theoretical unnerving quality to her voice, mostly stuck on the idea that someone wasn't appalled by him. How intriguing indeed. "Hmm. Well, subject will have plenty of time for closer looks - do not do anything during the winter. Too cold." Lucky self even helped you, he did not say, for he understood that it would probably be very rude. Anyways, he was getting off track - he had to ask her name. Just as he was about to, though, she was talking again, leaving him to wait until another opportunity presented himself.

"Subject can get up now," he grumbled, prodding her with a pedipalp to reinforce that she should, in fact, start moving. Didn't want to keep Snarl waiting, lest she retracted her offer and leave him to help her get to camp. He did not want to figure out how that would work. "Additionally, do not worry about gator attacks - they go for throat, not legs, unlike wolves. Subject would be dead instantly." A discerning ear would likely pick up that he said this information very casually. Clearly, he had not grasped the full concept of how to talk to people, nor how to reassure them  - but to him, this was reassuring. At the very least, it was a fun fact for the mystery person to think about.

And with the phrase "mystery person" in his head, he was suddenly reminded that he had a very important question to ask.

"What is subject's name?" A pause ensued, as if he was deliberating, and then: "Apologies if was already said." That should be better. Being polite was simple; according to his research, you just had to apologize for everything.

tags - "speech"

[wormwood.]

i was born, on the highway, in a train wreck

with a heart, that was beating, out of my chest

Tired. Exhausted, really, would be the most adequate word to describe Aurum after the holiday season. That wasn't to say that he hadn't had fun, or anything like that. He had enjoyed the company of his family and friends, the gift gala, and just generally feeling like himself for a while, instead of pushing himself to be a well oiled machine for Tanglewood. However, machine or not, Aurum was equally exhausted by the season's events. Rebuilding the tavern, attending the gala, exchanging gifts with others, just generally trying to be cheery and festive... it had been taxing for him, and that's why he had somewhat disappeared for a few days after his promotion. It felt a little silly, choosing to take a nice long rest in his house right after being made the second in command, but... it wasn't as if they had anything too terribly urgent going on. There hadn't been a Pittian attack in weeks, and for the most part the group seemed to be restricted by Goldie, which was definitely a positive for them. The tavern had been sufficiently cleaned the last time he had laid his eye on it, and while he still took a couple of morning patrols during his rest phase, there hadn't been a huge influx of joiners or anything. Still, eventually that all too familiar itch of restlessness had begun to creep up his spine, crawling up his wings and shifting beneath his feathers. The proxy had known that eventually he would have to get up, but he hadn't expected to want to move so soon... he wasn't sure if it was a blessing or a curse, to be honest. Still, before long he was up and out of bed, shaking off the last gripping strands of exhaustion as he moved out of his house, massive paws carrying him through the swampland that surrounded the town, deciding a patrol would be the sufficient way to reintroduce himself to the outside world again.

Before long, a strange and unfamiliar scent reached his nose, along with a mixture of familiar voices and one foreign. The new scent on the air smelled faintly of salt and the sea, but it wasn't the comforting and familiar scent of The Typhoon, something that caused him to frown slightly in confusion. He was so used to associating the pirates with the strong scent of salt in the air that it seemed almost baffling that there could be anyone else. Large golden paws and multicolored wings brought the proxy over to the scene before too long, and he took in those present – Snarl, Torren, Abathur, and a stranger. A stranger that had that scent clinging to her fur, although now he could tell that it was mixing unpleasantly with the scent of blood. He was glad to see that Abathur had apparently bandaged her up, but he still couldn't help the faint worry in his eyes as he came up beside the large spider, settling on his haunches. Most of the worry was for Adelaide, although a portion of it was also for Selby, and Moth. Both of them had been given warnings in the last meeting, yet they hadn't even shown up when one of them was needed... it was a bit upsetting to the male, but at least if Tanglewood lost the two, they would still have people like Delilah, and Abathur. Speaking of, the lion shot Abathur a bit of a disapproving look as the other talked about the gators within the swamp, a sigh leaving him as he looked to Adelaide, rumbling reassuringly, "Don't worry, for the most part the gators leave us alone as long as we leave them alone. And I haven't seen too many close to our main town in my entire time living here, if that makes you feel better." Upon hearing Abathur's next question, the male's ears perked up curiously, fascinated to find out what the newcomer's name would be. He had missed where the hell she had come from, so perhaps her name could shed some light on her backstory, as well as the strange aroma that so stubbornly surrounded her, faintly making his head hurt.

template by orion

[guts]

Naturally, she had never been covered in spider webs before. Maybe once or twice after accidentally walking into one, but never like this. Giant spiders weren't very common back where she came from, you see, actually they didn't exist at all. It was an interesting feeling, to say the least, having her hindquarters wrapped in cobwebs.

Once she was reassured that she could start moving, she eagerly does so, jumping up onto all fours—without nearly falling over, surprisingly—and moving her legs, lifting one and then the other, to test mobility. It wasn't difficult to move, much to her delight, as she didn't feel like making the giant spider go through the process of reapplying them. Maybe she shouldn't have doubted him anyway.

The maned wolf looks slightly surprised by the question, not because she wasn't expecting it, but because she had been rude enough to not have already answered it! Shame on her.

"Oh, so sorry! I'm Adelaide. It's a pleasure to meet all of you!" she says, just as Aurum makes his way over. The lion's appearance does catch her attention, certainly, especially the wings on his back that usually weren't there on the lions she'd seen. Mostly from books.

Still, she didn't get a chance to say anything like she had with Abathur before he started to speak, trying to soothe her about the gators where the spider had failed. She nods, acknowledging his words. "Well, that's good to know! I'll study them from afar, then." she hoped she could find a notebook or something similar to keep her notes in, like she had before.

Now that her wounds had been treated, if only with a temporary treatment, Adelaide bobs her head. "Okay, I'm ready to go when you are! And thank you for the help, all of you." she expresses her gratitude with a big smile on her face, tail once again wagging behind her.