Last Resort [OPEN]

[Rickter]

Rickter watched intently as Nnerka seemed to look over Telion's way, then his way, and for a moment his fingers twitched instinctively. The spider started to move around the wolf, her eyes clearly hinting with frustration, for even a spider could express her expression through those eyes. Innately something in him wanted to move, it drove him straightforward as though he wanted to stand between Nnerka and Telion. The bard herself looked affixed on Nnerka, her gaze sharp on the spider and yet, the slightest tremor in her stiffened arms. Then came Nnerka's questions as she clearly seemed to loathe his suggestion, clearly fixated on the profound idealism that she lived by. The wolf couldn't help but sigh then, watching fiercely when she hissed in her passing by Telion, as she walked her way past to liberate the pair of their tent. Fucking fantastic...

---

"Fine." He lightly remarked with an uncaring raise of his eyebrows, his gaze shifting to Telion once more as she still stood close by the fire. The two shared trustful looks with one another, before the wolf nodded and twisted to resume his walk towards the south. Meanwhile, Telion breathed a sigh of relief where she stood, her gaze lingering on the back of the wolf's figure as he walked onward into the dark. She couldn't help but worry about him, but she knew deep down, what he was doing was finishing the harder part of the job. Although... she couldn't help but question whether holding things down at camp wouldn't be so easy either. Still, she had a job to do and with it, a thoughtful glance was spared at the tent where the grumbly spider had withdrawn.

Telion was alright with it honestly, if Rickter came back with that flower, then they didn't have to stay here all night either. Although... that left only a certain amount of time for the bard to help out the wolf. But first... Looking to the pot of bubbling stew she moved to the eating ware stored nearby, only to remember a certain important task she needed to do. Quickly rising back to a stand from where she'd knelt the blonde walked closer to the lying hound nearby. She looked to have fallen unconscious earlier, though that yelp was downright unforgettable. The bard knelt down to assess the condition of the dire wolf, her expression soft and sympathetic to the creature beneath her. "You poor thing." The bard shifted so that she sat on her knees next to the wolf, her hands extended over it as she started to breathe in and out deeply. "Sorry though..."

Luminescent water appeared around her palms for a moment as her aether manifested, her anchors being created so that when she projected her palms away, they were pointed down so that one covered the head and neck area, while the other covered torso of the wolf itself. She had to admit the size of these beautiful creatures was impressive, which meant the bard had to get creative with how she generated the shield. Adjusting her arms to where she pointed them further apart, she then allowed it to drift over toward the nose of the wolf instead, landing it at least over an inch away from the beast itself. Rising to her feet once more she took a few steps over to the right, to place down the other anchor she'd created near the tail's tip of the creature. Moving back to center herself between the two anchor points, she then extended her arms out as though to grab them, before she released the aether within them to begin the crafting.

Tendrils of aether tethered their way over the wolf's form, spreading until the aether solidified into a bubble dome over the wolf. There had been the first layer of her protection spell, her mind focusing on the inner layer of her barrier first, as she focused all her intent on the wolf she meant to hold captive. Keep her confined. She repeated within her mind to reinforce the urgency of her task, the inner barrier finally prepped to keep the wolf from bursting out of her protective dome. The bard then looked over her shoulder, minding the other predator hiding away within the tent as she focused on the outer layer of her shield. Reinforcing the shield with a bit more of her aether, Telion weaved the secondary task to the outer layer of the barrier, so that only her aether could travel through unphased... but that also meant she put herself at risk with the wolf.

"That should do." She deemed with some satisfaction to her work, mindful of her anchors so that their charge did not run low. "Now I get that you're hungry," she then murmured to herself as she hesitantly approached the body once more, "but first we need to look at that wound." Telion knelt down once more to inspect the dire wolf's hind leg, a finger held up with her right hand while two pointed down with her left. Hovering over the tip of her finger was a small flame, fed by her own aether so that she could inspect the rune with her own lighting. It did not look very promising. With all the bleeding too that meant she was likely exposed to the cold, and right now she could only think of one way to mend a bleeding gash. She frowned because she did not like it, therefore extending the rest of her fingers so her whole left hand pointed down at the wolf, she created one final anchor to tether to her shield, channeling her aether throughout it to recharge the other two anchors left in place earlier.

With the third anchor looming beneath her fingertips she began to articulate them, weaving out threads of aether so that they tethered their way around the wolf's form. She secured it around her muzzle, her neck, and the upper half of her forelegs. Binding them with the threading of her aether, she then looked to her flame near her fingertip, feeding it more aether so that it burned a little brighter than before. As a means of helping her concentrate, and perhaps a way of projecting peace before the big moment, Telion hummed a somber melody where the notes carried out with fades. And then with the tilt of her right hand, she lowered it down, pressing her finger towards the exposed gash of the wolf's thigh. It would severely burn that she knew, which meant the wolf was likely bound to retaliate, testing the restraints that the bard crafted around her. But still...

Just a couple of seconds more.

[Senara]

T H ExxS I L E N C ExxF E L TxxJ U S T I F I E D

20th of Frost, 120, AoS

xxxHer father stood in the corner of the living room. His arms crossed, brow furrowed, and surrounded by the stench of alcohol and piss. His brown hair a mangled, spotty mess atop his sun damaged skin, and loose fitted clothes stained with all manor of mess from his day at the bar. He scoffed.

xxx"If yer gonna make off like I told ye' not to, then don't be expectin' me t'help.. Serves ye' right. Mangey thing." His words slurred together as he picked a bottle of cheap alcohol up from the counter and took a swig- empty. He grimaced and hobbled towards the kitchen. Senara reached her hand out for the end of his shirt, taking a clump of it in her tiny hand and tugged for her father. Blood coated her hand and oozed from the hole she'd ripped in her hand only a short while ago. As soon as she touched him though he swung a hand back, throwing her across the room with the strength of a battering ram. Her body hit the edge of a table, her skull smacked against the floor as she fell over into a heap of pain and left a smear of crimson on the hem of his shirt.

xxx"Don't touch me, mutt!" He screamed, throwing the glass on the ground and not even flinching as it shattered across the floor. Countless pieces struck both child and man, and left the scent of alcohol at her feet. He slammed the door to her bedroom behind him, sending shockwaves through the house and through her heart. Confusion spread through her mind as quickly as the splitting headache. She didn't understand- What did mangey mean and why was she a mutt?

~

xxxThe world came back into view, heavy, and moving all around her as if even the trees were made of water. The air was sweet, like honey or a crisp apple. The wolf raised her head up towards the sky as much as she could in her aching and opened her eyes in search of the sky. Instead, a shield, swarming with aether and as solid as stone reached above her on all sides. It felt.. familiar somehow. It reminded her of her cave not seven miles from where they were. It was warm, or was that just because she couldn't feel her legs anymore? But while she could not feel them, they trembled as she woke. In the distance of her slowly refocusing vision she saw the fae retreating into a tent clearly too small for her, but more pressing than that was the human girl approaching. She raised her head to instinctively snap the woman's hands off- to rip her head from her shoulders- but she couldn't move. Her body wouldn't listen. She could barely even scream in her own head and the only thing left in her lungs came sputtering out of her muzzle as a soft whine.

xxxSenara could do nothing but watch with exhausted eyes as the woman knelt beside her. Her ears twisted towards her. Hungry..? She wasn't just hungry, she was famished. Starving. Her stomach had been eating her own organs and muscles to stay alive and it left the girl in a world of pain. The human inside her screamed. The wolf protecting her stayed silent. She twitched with every movement the strange woman made. Every step she took towards her. Every word she used was foreign- not that she didn't understand it, but she didn't understand it. Was she helping? Why?

xxx'No- don't touch me- ' The spark that burst to life atop her finger lighting the area caused Senara's entire body to flinch. Her legs scrambled and would have sprung her up if it weren't for the fatigue of oncoming death weighing her down. She felt helpless, terrified. Her heart began to race as adrenaline coursed through her veins once more but the moment it did she felt cold aether surrounding her body. Like shackles they held her down. She panicked, her eyes went wide, her nostrils flared as her breathing quickened- and then a song.

xxxHow long had it been... her voice washed over her like rain soothing a cracked wasteland. Her eyes closed. But the pain that followed jolted her from the comfort. As the flame touched the wolfs broken and mangled flesh a cry erupted from her throat louder than any howl she'd ever sent into the skies. It was the heartwrenching, soulcrushing sound of a crying, sobbing wolf in pain and terror. It was a scream, scratchy and high pitched. It was the cry of a thousand angels falling, it was innocent and pleading and echoed off the crags of the mountains. It sent birds rushing from their hiding places in trees and other animals burrowing into holes in the ground. And with every second that passed the scream that came from her throat became more hoarse and strained, and the mountains wept for her. But finally, after what had seemed like her whole lifetime, it was over.

xxxSenara whined as her body trembled with adrenaline and pain and breathed heavy. She was done.

xxx"No more- please... I'm done.. I can't-.." And for the first time in seventeen years, she cried. Tears began to form and drop down her muzzle from dilated, defeated eyes. They poured down into the snow below and froze atop it's surface as she looked back at the blonde woman who had burned her flesh. What had she done? Why? If her eyes said anything, they merely begged for mercy, and for the pain to stop.

[T H E M ExxS O N G]

[Rickter]

As she looked down at this poor creature, one so proud and wild that now laid helpless and fearful, Telion's eyes admittedly began to well a bit in turn at the sight of her. This poor animal. She'd suffered so much it seems and now, it fell to the kindness of a total stranger to save her. There was nothing to gain from this, no transaction or expectation to have something out of it, for it was merely a sheer whim from the goodness of her heart that drove Telion to act. She gazed down endearingly at the creature, with her eyebrows a little more stern as she knew she had to concentrate. Fearful or not... this beautiful creature needed to be saved. So that she could continue to live in a world where balance did exist, where nature itself thrived from the chaos that its denizens brought upon the world. Telion didn't know exactly what drove her to these lengths of compassion, other than the fact deep down a part of her thought... this could be Rickter.

Perhaps that at a fundamental level was enough, for her to be stirred into action when she treated the wolf, as her fingers reluctantly lowered to press the flame atop the wolf's flesh. The smell of burnt hair and meat permeated the air quickly when she did, and the yowling of the creature before her nearly scared the woman when she finally pulled her fingers away. The flame, though small, was still enough to sear the flesh wound to a close, therefore allowing this wolf a hopeful shot at living to fight another day. The only problem was... she was also still starved. A fact she had to address later, for the sheer cries of pain through her restraints yanked tears from Telion's eyes, as she quickly lowered herself to lay atop the front shoulder of the wolf, the magical bindings still held in place as she wrapped her arms around the creature's torso gently. "I know, I know..." She whimpered toward the wolf's ears as she stroked the back of her neck softly, while the bard herself breathed deeply to keep from tearing up atop the creature.

"I'm so sorry, it's over now I promise. No more hurting for the night." That statement would be a final for her, for the wolf needed much rest and respite after that. Although... seeing how very little energy the dire wolf possessed, Telion realized then just how unnecessary her restraints on the creature really were. She'd been so cautious with it, that the prudence felt entirely called for when she'd likely wasted a bit of extra aether, just to make sure all her bases were covered in treating the wolf alone. "Raella please watch over this creature." She then murmured as she slowly rose from where she'd lain, her expression somber as she truly appeared stricken from the pain she'd inflicted. "Were it in my power, I would've just healed the wound to a close itself. This was the best I could do..." In expressing this the bard slowly rose to her feet, walking back a few feet to retreat behind the first barrier she'd made, so that when she extended a hand out she could release the magical restraints she'd made on the wolf.

The tethers of her third anchor began to recede and even fade away, while the rest of the anchor's charge died out from parting the aether between her other two. This left the wolf unrestrained within the bubble-domed shield Telion had cast earlier, leading the blonde to look away grimly as she focused on the campfire next. To see that poor creature... to see her crying the way she did, it genuinely pulled at the heartstrings for someone like Telion. Someone who wanted to heal and mend the world, rather than tear it down as many others would. Approaching the campfire where she'd left the stew, Telion resumed her earlier task of preparing a dish or two, looking up to the tent as she tilted the ladle to prep the first dish of the evening. "Miss Nnerka?" She then called out as she placed the bowl down on one of the stones nearby, which was large enough to use as a sitting stool if necessary. "Why don't you come out here and eat, there's plenty of stew to go around."

Leaving the bowl of steaming stew in that particular spot, she then returned to the pot to make another bowl afterward, sifting through to fish out the chunks of meat that could be found within. Rickter would probably be a bit miffed about that part, granted he loved the meat of a stew most, but she knew he'd be understanding of the cause in the long run. Filling the bowl about halfway with what she could gather, Telion then hovered a hand over the bowl to wiggle her fingers; generating a soft but frigid breeze to cool the meat off. When steam no longer rose from within the bowl, the bard then turned to approach the barrier she'd made once more. Suddenly the surface seemed to dim a little, and she nearly swayed in her next step toward the wolf. She hadn't realized just how much of a toll this would take on her, and yet, she still focused on her anchors as her aether flowed to them. Entering the barrier once more she looked down at the wolf, as a mother would to a hurt child, before kneeling down to place the bowl of meat before the wolf's muzzle.

"Please don't eat anyone here little one... The truth is..." She exhaled sharply then, her capacity to focus severely strained. Yet as she sat there on her knees, watching the wolf with a hint of exhaustion, the barrier over them faded away completely to expose the two to the elements. "I just don't have it in me to keep you contained anymore."

[Nnerka]

N N E R K A

20 Frost 120

Outside, the wolf was being tended to. Cared for. The wolf that should have been dead by now. Nnerka didn't want to listen, but she had not choice. It was hard to not do when the damned creature was screaming. The sound it made was nothing short of what should have been heart-breaking, but she couldn't bring herself to feel that wrench of the organ pumping in her chest. It would have been avoided if it was dead. This just sounded like the prolonging of suffering. A cruelty.

Would she have been cruel if she'd eaten the creature? It would have only been right. She was higher up on the food chain; it was what she was meant to do. Whatever the wolf had fought before, it had bested the creature and knocked it from its spot -- but she would have still been above it. She licked her lips, brows furrowing. Too much thinking. Too much wondering. The only thing between her and the wolf was a single woman, and the spider was confident she was higher up. She might have magic, but that had its limits just as everything did.

He shut her eyes, tried to make herself some semblance of comfortable. Hard to do when the tent was meant for someone smaller than she. Still, she made do. If it was the most spiteful thing she would do, it would be that. It quieted down outside, save the sounds of the human moving about their camp. Nnerka paused, sniffed. The quiet continued, but the woman continued to move. Then, her name was on the human's lips and she felt her lips curl back.

The spider maneuvered around to push back the flaps of the tent. A bowl of the stew sat on a stone close to the fire, but much too close to the pair for her liking. If she were to have a tantrum, she didn't want to find herself in close proximity of the reason for it. Her jaw clenched as she stepped out enough for her legs to reach for the bowl, pulling it toward her. Some of the stew sloshed over the lip of the bowl, but she didn't much care.

Her gaze landed on the human and wolf, the human murmuring something to the creature. As if it understood. Maybe it did, but she didn't care about comforting it. There was no telling if the creature would survive, even with the care it had been given. The barrier around them, though, dropped. Of course; limits. The human looked tired. Nnerka no longer cared.

She pulled the bowl of stew into the tent, not a word spoken to them. What would be the point? There was no respect for the order of the world. That was how it had been with her family, and she was merely seeing it again.

[Senara]

T H ExxS I L E N C ExxF E L TxxJ U S T I F I E D

20th of Frost, 120, AoS

xxxSenara’s tears eventually slowed. Her breathing, labored, began to slow and return to a somewhat normal rhythm as she let her head softly thud against the snow. Even her neck barely had the strength to keep her head up, and so when the human woman lay herself over the wolf's back, the only thing she had left in her was a quick tense of her muscles and a growl. But it barely came. Instead the pained growl faded to a whine, her muscles softened out of pure exhaustion, and inside the girl's mind she questioned every action the woman was taking.

‘What is she doing? I am already low. I cannot move.. What more does she want from me as I lay dying?’

‘No more hurting?’

She didn’t understand. Everything hurt. But the woman did not seem… malicious. She wept, she looked at her as if she were… the word wouldn’t come. What was the expression painted upon the strangers face while she stared at the wolf? Had she ever seen it before? Why did she look that way?

And then the restraints came off. One by one each faded into a mist leaving her limbs free, but they remained still. As if the restraints hadn’t moved at all her body lay completely frozen in place save for the light trembles of pain radiating throughout her entire being.

‘Why? You would… heal it? What do you gain from it?’

Nothing made sense. Everything hurt. The world was cold. Senara’s eyes closed as she panted softly into the snow, listening to the sound of the woman movc around the campsite and speaking to someone, the fae from before, probably. There was something comforting in the gentle movements, the fire crackling, the brush of fabric against fabric as she moved about the snow, and then metal against metal, something wet.

Her nose caught the scent of stew in the air, stronger than before, and as her eyes opened again she saw a small bowl sitting in front of her. Instinct took over. Eyes wide she lifted her head a few inches off the ground and dropped her open muzzle into the bowl and began taking bite after bite of the heavenly food. Not that she tasted it much, she barely chewed, instead letting whole pieces of meat slide down her throat and hit her empty stomach. It wasn’t more than a few seconds later that the bowl was left empty, and her head hit the snow again. It was then she noticed, just in front of her was the woman once more. Was she saying something? Her mouth was moving, but she couldn’t hear anything.

She blinked softly, her gaze hazy as she watched the woman. And while the world around her slowly began to fade she wondered to herself in that moment if perhaps, maybe, it might be finally safe to rest. As she fell asleep and her body stilled, the winter night and two moons above cleared the way for the expanse of the stars to watch her future begin, and promised a bright, cloudless sky for the following day.

[T H E M ExxS O N G]

[Rickter]

Telion saw the wolf open her eyes to watch as the bard herself sat there, an innate look of concern on her face before a sense of relief seemed to well up inside. Good. The wolf was far too exhausted to even bother, so in essence, Telion was safe as she was for the time being. Gradually rising to her feet she leaned to brush the snow off her leggings, before a light thundering sound filled the scape of the lower mountains. "Oh, dear..." She muttered to herself with a thoughtful look toward the peaks. "Be safe Rickter." She quietly then pleaded as though it were another quiet prayer, before she twisted to approach the campfire once more.

She didn't realize how much it had taken out of her when she'd created that network of anchors, but now that it was over she felt glad that the wolf might hopefully make it. The creature did eat after all, which meant she'd just need to rest before she was ready to head off on her own. Part of the bard anticipated the dire wolf doing so at a later part of the night, or perhaps early morning, since she was still wild after all so it wouldn't be beyond typical behavior. Preparing herself a bowl with the ladle once more, Telion then set aside that bowl to allow the stew to cool, her hand still on the ladle as she wondered where in the Astralar Mountains he was. As she waited for her stew to cool though she warmed herself by the fire, lightly shivering from the cold as she still hadn't quite acclimated to the region just yet.

It was then she began to hum while she took a seat near the fire, the stew placed in her lap as she stirred it slowly with her spoon. The tone of her melody was a soft one, somber even, that carried out with a similar rhythm for quite a few times. Before too long she lifted a spoonful of stew to her lips, still gently blowing on it before taking a bite. "Geez..." She muttered to herself quietly then, briefly looking disappointed at the contents of her bowl. "Still a little bland, why's it so hard to cook a decent meal in the wilderness?" Another thunderous boom echoed in the air after she finished, leading the bard to look up warily as she watched the peaks above. That had to be Rickter! If he was in trouble then she needed to consider getting up there, lending him a hand before he might fall to some beast... or the cold. Gods why did she let him go off on his own!?

She was worried about him now, after hearing that loud bang in the air, unaware of the fact that the rising rumble in the ground indicated something was coming. That is until she saw it firsthand, a sea of snow billowing out from the lower peaks as most of it surged downward, piling up half a mile from their encampment as she rose onto her feet in earnest. "Rickter!?" She called out to him urgently with a few steps taken toward the direction of the snow pile, the avalanche just now settling down as the last of the snow settled. She started to but then stopped in her tracks, her eyes widened with concern as she watched diligently for something. Anything! "RICKTER!" Something moved within the snow, slowly parting it as though an undead rose from their grave. The bard gasped when she realized just who it was exactly, leading her to rush for him as Rickter finally clawed his way out of the snow. "Raella help me, what the hell happened?!"

The wolf groaned aloud as he was clearly coated with snow, the large specks of frost clinging to his armor and hair, as he gradually shifted his shoulders out from the pile. "Don't ask!" He barked as she arrived to offer a hand, first by digging his torso out some, and then by pulling the rest of his form out from the snow. "Please tell me there's still stew left." The wolf remarked lowly with heavy pants, his armor battered along a few places, while his limbs noticeably shook from the cold that plagued him.

"Yes! Come, let's get you by the fire! The sooner you're warm again the better!" She urged as she attempted to help the wolf walk, as it was clear he could only stagger his way forward, her face riddled with worry when she saw the light amount of blood trickling down his forehead. "What did you do Rickter!?" The wolf groaned quietly in between his weary pants, his breathing slower and deeper now that his blue eyes fell on the campsite ahead.

"I'll explain afterward..." He muttered lowly as they inched through the snow together. "For now... I want that fucking stew..." It was then she felt glad she hadn't quite eaten her's yet, as it would've been perfectly cooled and ready for the wolf with his timely return. Although she couldn't help but glance back to the avalanche pile, concerned over Rickter's whole well-being as they gradually reached the encampment once more.

[Nnerka]

N N E R K A

20 Frost 120

Nnerka, secluded in the tent, finished off the stew. She debated taking it back out to the human, but figured any further interaction might only make her mood worse. Might make her reconsider what stopped her from restraining the woman and making her watch while she ate the wolf. It would only be to teach her the lesson that Nnerka had learned as a spiderling. Personally, she thought every creature should learn it. It was crucial - the basest of things and yet. People forgot. Maybe they chose to forget because it made them feel better, but the result would always be the same. Someone would always be higher up on the food chain than them, whether they liked or not.

The spider's brows furrowed. Nope, no. It really wasn't worth thinking about this so much. It wasn't worth the thoughts that lingered in the background of her fuming. That, and it was too much energy being expended. She should sleep. Sleep and hope that the others would at the very least have a worthy apology to gain some semblance of forgiveness from her.

Sleep, though, was hard to reach with everything happening outside. Nnerka turned over onto her side with a groan, pushed back the flap of the tent once more. The human woman called out for their wandering companion as something thundered their way. Nnerka had only experienced an avalanche once - and she had no name for it. Just snow, falling toward them at an alarming speed with enough force to knock she and her kin over. She ducked back into the tent as the rumbling stopped, but listened as best she could.

One voice turned into two and Rickter had returned. He asked for stew. She hissed, the faint prickle of worry melting like snow tossed into fire. "You're not dead." Her voice carried out of the tent. "Congratulations. I'm not giving you the tent back." It might have sounded too forcefully cheerful.

The three of them could keep each other warm out there.

[Mirage]

Senara

Lores
Survival: Marking Your Territory
Survival: Scraps are Ok Too
Acrobatics: Scaling Down Cliffsides
Unarmed Combat: Head Bashing
Unarmed Combat: Fighting a Group
Unarmed Combat: Attack the Strongest First
Unarmed Combat: Using Your Bodyweight as a Battering Ram
Intimidation: Kill the Leader to Scare their Followers
Stealth: Hide & Wait
Stealth: Hide In the Shadows

Loot: N/A
Injuries: Please feel free to adapt these as you like. She won't die, but she's gonna hurt.

Points 8

Nnerka

Lores
Design: Using available materials
Design: Crafting a rest nook in trees
Hunting: Waiting in high places
Hunting: Blocking prey's escape routes
Survival: The importance of a food chain
Meditation: Dwelling on a singular thought
Psychology: Not everyone sees things the same you
Psychology: Sometimes you have to put distance between you and others
Sociology: The way of the world is different for each person
Intimidation: Using your size to intimidate

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A

Points 8

Ricky

Lores
Endurance: Building A Resistance To The Natural Cold
Acrobatics: Shirking From An Enemy When They Close In
Reaving: Empowering Elemental Manipulation With Varnish
Elementalism: Using Wind To Push An Enemy Back
Elementalism: Combining Physical Attacks With Magical Ones
Leadership: Backing Your Companion's Decisions
Leadership: Learning To Make Difficult Choices
Endurance: Surviving An Avalanche

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A

Points 8, can be used for Elementalism or Reaving