Lessons Learned

I

t is a lovely evening in the Redwood! He does not often come here, but he's seeking out his father's advice. And...maybe a question or several on why he has not seemed to age. Maybe it's a family trait? Father often waxed lyrical about older lives, perhaps he simply meant that this one was really long? Well, he had questions and he's always certain that Father has answers. He wonders if the tiny spirits that dance in the corners of his eyes and swim in lazy circles around his head know any answers, but asking the spirits for answers always led to more questions, or cryptic, confusing answers that the poor shepherd is not wise enough to decipher. Maybe Father can teach him that, too! He comes bearing a gift of a very shiny beetle shell he found--he loves beetles. They're like living jewels to him, so lively and so varied! So he trots along, a little lost but he got the spirit! He doesn't...quite know his way around here like he does the Fae woods. Did...did he say take a left at the big overgrown log, or a right...? Oh dear. So there he stands, petrified, confused, and with a bug.

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

@Gwydion

Gwydion was having a bad day. Why? Well, even he did not know the answer to that question. Since this morning, he'd felt off and that feeling had been growing with each passing hour. Was it hormones? Was it just one of those days? He didn't know but that didn't stop him from stomping around the Redwood, looking for something he could tear into. He was having no luck hunting and he wasn't very good at fighting so finding someone to fight would be a bad idea but then, he noticed a scent on the wind. The scent of someone he kinda, sorta knew... or at least had met once before. The smell led him to the young male and a smile spread across his lips. He noted the shiny thing in his mouth and his goofy stance and all of it just irritated him further for no reason. This guy was perfect. He wouldn't fight back and Gwydion could take all of his frustrations out on him. What luck!

art from raven

H

e is already turned around. Maybe if he continues to turn, he will reorient himself? So he begins to pace in a slow circle, perhaps turning the world around him, rather than his body on the earth....so he'd like to think. His mind is different-- he is not stupid. But he is naive and innocent, tucked somewhere between the world of the waking and the world of the sleeping all the time. He drifts in and out of it. And he so happens to be drifting back into it when he is abruptly snapped back to himself by what he can only describe as 'that shine'. Oh. Yes. The bitey one. The snappy one. He clutches his beetle shell closer to his chest and begins to back slowly up until his back is back against the nearest tree trunk. Surely if he makes himself look smaller, he will be less of a target for bitey snaps. How wrong he is.

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

@Gwydion

Already the other boy is afraid of him and Gwydion smiled gleefully. "Whatcha got there?" he asked, moving quickly to invade the other wolf's space and peer curiously at the bug he so desperately clutched. "A bug?" he said with a twitch of his ear. He didn't particularly want the bug, but this guy did so... now Gwydion did too. "Hand it over," he pressed, his tail raising in the air as his lips curled slightly to reveal his sharp white teeth. He fluffed up like he'd seen Arran and his father do many times before during spars or bouts of irritation (though those were mostly him pissing off his brother) so that he looked much more intimidating than he truly was. Gwydion wasn't really an aggressive sort, but he guessed he could be when he wanted.

Today, he very much wanted to be aggressive. He felt big and powerful in front of the other male and whose to say he wouldn't rough him up a bit... okay, maybe he wouldn't. That might be a little bit far for Gwydion's tastes.

art from raven

H

e pulls back, away from his oppressor. He is always so bright it nearly burns. He clutches his shimmering jewel closer to his chest, trying to hide it in the sea of gossamer threads that are his fur,"N-no. It's.. it's a present. F-for my dad..." he stated, his voice lacking the conviction that he was trying to show. Standing up for himself? Hah, what folly! Why, now was no time to try to grow a backbone! Not when someone younger but stronger was picking a fight, oh no. Jupiter should have already been over two, and yet... his body had refused to age. He places it towards the Fae-- they always do such things. A laugh, usually. But...this is not funny. He furrows his brows, trying very hard to look scary--perhaps one day, when he fills out and the acidic burn of his eyes grows alight-- but not yet. For now, he still struggles with finding his center-- and without it, he cannot hope to stand up to one who has. "Y-you can't have it. My...my dad's coming to h-hang out with...with me. So...i-it's for him." Woooow, how scary. Surely Jupiter's dad couldn't be too big a deal, right?

...

Right? Just look at him. All gangly. He was probably built like a.. like a.... stick or something. Right?

RIGHT?

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

@Gwydion

To Gwydion's surprise, the other wolf refused to hand over the bug, claiming it was a gift for his father. "Like your dad would want a stinky bug anyway. Give it here!" he said as he jumped towards Jupiter. He stopped just shy of him and bared his teeth in the other wolf's face. "I mean it, I'm not in the mood to mess around so you better listen to me!" he said. He wanted to feel big and tough, but really he just felt foolish fighting over a bug he didn't care about. But he'd gone too far and now he needed to prove himself.

Gwydion opened his jaws and aimed to bite the other boy on the shoulder, he wasn't even sure if he would actually bite if he managed to get a hold of him as he'd never been in a fight before but maybe he would. Maybe today would be the day he'd fight someone.

art from raven

Infection

You cringe with a step forward and turn to see an ulcer on your thigh. That must have been what was bothering you this morning. That, paired with the sudden soarness in your throat, causes you to feel woozy.


To participate in the outbreak, please post in the #outbreak channel

H

is ears flatten back against his skull and he cannot help but clack and chatter his teeth together in some display of fear. And then--CHOMP. Teeth in his shoulder. He cries out in fear and horror, more than pain, and he scrambles away from him, dropping his bug as he turns to try to escape. Poor thing was a lover, not a fighter, and he isn't at all prepared for actual violence towards him. Of course, this had a far-reaching consequence that Gwyd was more than likely not ready for, and Jupiter cowers as he realizes fully what has happened.

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

@Gwydion
[THE SMOLLEST POST]

MERCURY

"I think bugs are quite unique." His voice rolls from somewhere beyond the edge of the forest clearing, spilling out like something tangible, It crawls along the forest floor and sounds as if it comes from everywhere and nowhere, stilling even the birds in the trees. It has become deathly, eerily quiet. He slithers free from the shadows and draws himself up behind Gwydion, a ghoul of ink and shadow and oil. His grin is ceaseless and wide, unseeing eyes owlish and blank and reflecting the deep reds and shimmering golds and silvers of the forest-- milk and blood, set in the face of a tattered jester.

"I will take my gift now. And you have brought something for me as well?" the crushed velvet of his voice is tinted with annoyance, a roiling rancor that adds a rumbling tremor to his tone. His head falls to the side too far, his neck bent at an angle impossible and twisted, and though his eyes do not see they somehow focus squarely upon the red youth. "But I can take my pound of flesh instead."


Jupiter scampers behind him, burying his face into the ghoul-thing's shoulder.
"Where is my son's gift, walking pound of flesh?" Well, maybe bullying did not pay off.

table by rae - image from Pixabay

It may have surprised Gwydion more than Jupiter to realize he was actually biting someone... over a bug, of all things. Gwydion released the boy quickly but it was too late. The deed was done. He thought about apologizing but he'd already gone too far. The bug is forgotten as the other boy scrambles away and Gwydion looks down at it with displeasure. There is another voice that catches his attention and he looks up, squinting into the face of a monster. At once, he fluffs up defensively and fear fills him as Jupiter scuttles off behind the newly arrived beast. Gwydion shrugs and steps away from the bug, looking down now in shame. It appears the other wolf's father has arrived and he is obviously as displeased with what is going on as Gwydion is, probably even moreso because his son his hurt. "T-There," he said, nodding his head towards the bug on the ground. He tries to swallow the lump in his throat, but he can't find the strength to.

art from raven