Cure time! Woot!

Dathan stumbled along the small path near his den. Every inch of his body, every muscle, every joint, felt cold and numb from both the lack of sleep and the sickness. He tried desperately to get his paws to move in a straight line, but failed miserably and went wobbling back and forth, stumbling over rocks and twigs and other things. He cursed mentally at the walk way, which in his eyes squiggled around and around like a snake.

Suddenly, a voice pierced the air. The voice demanded a pack meeting, but it was definitely not 'Silver's. He shrugged it off, and decided to follow it anyways. He straightened his legs, and started at a slow jog, tripping and falling every which way he went. He'd get a good few cuts on the way to the meet...But at least he'd be there.

When he finally arrived at the meeting place, he saw very few wolves. He saw a newer wolf that he was yet to get acquainted with. He also saw Chogan and Quicksilver. So, Chogan was the one to call them all here...He wondered why, but not for long. In front of Chogan was a pile of ugly, foaming, saliva covered weeds. They sprang up, hissing at him, and he immediately snarled back.

He shook his head, trying to make them stop, and glanced quietly at Quicksilver. “...Morning, QuickSilver.” He bowed his head to her, then turned to Vrash. “My name is Dathan. It's nice to meet you.”

He then, and finally, turned his head to Chogan. “ Morning, Chogan....Hey...What's up with the plants? They seem sort of vicious, don't they?”

Awe! Radar, you make me wanna cry *sniffles*

Over the past month, Kenzoku's healthy went increasingly downhill. Much to her chagrin, her was one of the first creatures to be contaminated with the water-borne disease, but that wasn't the worst of her troubles. Pure happiness filtered through her system until the only think the little forty-nine pound wolf could feel was joy. Everything about her world brought pleasure to her thoughts and she danced upon it wistfully. During this time, the child took nothing and everything for granted. She appreciated the slightest change in color on a beetle, but became unable to recognize her own personal needs. Wants and desires were one thing, but the most basic and principle needs that every single living thing required to survive escaped her. Her form became numb to temperature, or maybe her thoughts just blocked out the dehydration, for whatever the reason the dear started to dash throughout the lands for longer periods of time each day, resting less and less. Water was another need that the child only took upon when it was directly in front of her, but she failed to realize the signals that told her drinking was of utmost importance.

At first, the dear appeared as nothing more then blissfully innocent to nature's cruelty, even though she had experienced a big blow to the heart, herself. She was a happy little sprite that could do no wrong or ever discover something that made a frown develop on her delicate features. All thoughts of her past traumas were gone, all tears she shed for the loss of Radar, her home, her old alphas and her first love- forgotten. Nothing plagued her thoughts but the hidden ailment that surged through her veins and milked blind cheer out of her at every corner. Things slowly began to change though, because with each passing day, her symptoms got a little worse. First came the dizzy spells, then the forgetfulness and the delirious expressions upon her form. Slowly, her mind eased out of the real world and slipped into the private realm of her own fantasies. There she danced upon the clouds with the cool, spring breeze caressing her scarlet fur and breaking at her face as she darted through it like a bat out of hell. Her paws sank into the soft, cotton texture and raced at a breakneck speed after some invisible prey, or maybe away from a playful pursuer. Hunger never clenched her stomach here, nor the dry, scratchiness of a parched throat and tired limbs. hot and cold mattered not, nor did night and day. It was simply enough for her to register others were around towards the end of it.

While her mind stole itself away and hid behind the protective barrier of a dreamlike state, the poor girl's form was left to weather the storm. Exhaustion filled every crevice of her being to the point where it pained her to walk at all. Her petite frame curled up in a tightly clenched ball upon a smooth, cool surface that she vaguely recognized as a large leaf. Despite the summer heat, everything about her twitched and convulsed with a foreign chill that gripped her to the bone. She shivered uncontrollably in response to the fever, large beads of sweat trickling from her matted fur at her ears and around her pink paws, though she hadn't the capability to truly sweat. Instead, air came to her lungs in rushed, ragged breaths. Each inhale came only a second or two after the previous one, giving her little time to exhale at all. Her tongue lolled out the side of her mouth, attempting to cool herself down even though her mind told her she was freezing and on the verge of hyperthermia. The pink appendage was dry along the tip and her nose wasn't looking much better. She hadn't licked it in hours because she was panting so hard. Blue-green eyes swelled with a distant haze, like the girl was in some foreign place and struggling to return to her body. Even as Radar curled around her side, she could barely make out his form through the fog.

All around her, detail escaped her knowledge and things blurred drastically out of focus. The only thing that keyed her into her caretaker was his distinct, pleading words and the soft, comforting caress of his tongue rolling along her pelt. A part of her knew he was upset and fretting, but she could not bring herself to calm his nerves. Words to tell him she was ok and she was listening were lost on a parched tongue, the stale taste in her mouth enough to make her gag. I... I'm here. She said, the tone coming out weak and shrouded in the delirium of her own world. It was sweet and almost sounded like "silly" should have been tacked onto it as the faint, shallow smile crossed her lips. Where do you think I'd be? Kenzoku questioned on, not realizing that the words never left her maw. Even in her pitiful state, her thoughts were covered in the mindless bliss that glistened through all by her lost eyes. A piece of her was aware of the pain and the throbbing in her chest that threatened to explode. This piece recognized the agonizing, blinding pain from her stomach that told her she hadn't eaten anything solid in days.

Suddenly, all of her wanted to cry out to express just how bad it hurt inside, but the only think that crossed her lips was a silent scream as she body twitched inwards on itself and started to vibrate. She made the now familiar motions and strangled noises, despite her best efforts to restrain them. The muscles in her pleading belly clenched tightly and then relaxed over and over again beyond Kenzie's control and forced her to double over, collapsing into a painful heap on the plant, not realizing when she attempted to stand. A moment or to later, something scorched her insides as a burning sensation spread throughout her throat and drew ever nearer to her maw. It felt like she was being poisoned, like her own body was trying to kill her and she wished beyond hope that it would just go away. The feeling was horrifying, being able to know what is going to happen, sense it coming on and having no strength left to fight it. She was disappointed in herself for not even struggling anymore when the bile throbbed past the back of her tongue and splurged across the grasses around her. Because her stomach was empty, she had nothing left to vomit but the very acid itself and it came out in a yellowy liquid that clung to the roof of her mouth and everywhere else for long, agonizing moments on end.

Instinctually, the yearling shook her head violently from side to side and clicked her tongue in a futile attempt to rid herself of the taste. The effort made her head scream until it fell effortlessly back upon the branch with a thwap, forcing everything else around her to surge in a crippling pain. The blood seemed to race away from her head and made her feel top heavy and lightheaded all at the same time. Little fuzzy blurs were spinning around her, marred by her already twisted vision and for a few moments, it became harder to breathe. If she had any energy left, the pathetic creature might have cried with desperation, anger, stress and fear... even from her senseless joy. Anything was better than this. She wanted to breakdown so bad inside, but she had no tears left to fall and no voice left to cry. At a disastrous pitfall in her little blip of an existence, Kenzie just let go, allowing herself to be at the mercy of the fates. She could hear the constant thrum of Radar's voice surround her as the ground bumped and turned beneath her, but clarity had since left the wolf long ago. Now sounds meant nothing more then noise to her aching head so badly that she longed for silence, yet a she still strained to hear the male's voice. As long as she heard him or felt him around her, she knew she was safe. As long as he was there, she was ok. She hoped.

Hey-o. =) And Arwen, I wasn't sure what to do about the Indy-Vrash timeline. I thought maybe that the cure would come before the confrontation, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Whatever. =) Let me know if I need to edit anything out of this post.

Chogan’s voice roused him from something akin to sleep and Indris struggled onto his paws and out of his den, moving out of necessity rather than purpose. Something was going on and, ruined or not, the Beta had enough sense left to realize that a pup calling a pack meant he’d had to show up, too. Vague relief swept over the blackened wolf as his legs performed their duties naturally, carrying him with none of the staggering twitchiness that had crippled him just before he’d imposed self-quarantine. From the young man’s perspective he had been cured for sometime, but recently his body had doubled over in chills and muscle aches, and he had suffered akin to Kenzoku: little he ate gave him nourishment, or stayed in his system for more than a few hours. These symptoms, which had been heaped upon him only within the last few days, disconcerted the male. He had been healthy! The unconscious side of his mind insisted that perhaps his recent heartbreak had given him cause for physical strife. Whatever the case, he was going.

And he had arrived. At first the ebony Fielder had eyes only for his adopted son and (on a somewhat lesser scale) the unappetizing reeds piled near his tawny form. Thoughtlessly Indris moved to nuzzle Taigi’s brother, wonderment glazing his features until a painfully familiar countenance came into focus. The Lonán wolf’s head pulled up sharply and a swift exhalation blasted from his nostrils. For a few calm seconds he regarded his lover, his betrayer, and the taste of ashes rose to cloy his throat. A shudder wracked his hackles, just barely detectable, though his move to hide it came too late. The last thing he wanted to do, surprisingly enough to some, was hurt Vrash. Something in the charcoaled man understood that the Russian Strawberry was here only to see that he was alright. He still cares about you… Indris caught a whine between his teeth and snapped the sound away with the thought, in time for his Alpha’s voice to distract him.

A last glance of wretched apology flew within the other male’s notice, and then Indy turned to his leader. Part of him ached to move toward her and offer deference, but the knowledge of his internal mistakes held back his impulses for another time. Instead he simply reined his ears back and stepped forward, acknowledging her presence through loyal sky-blue eyes that met with hers for but an instant. Her compassion toward Chogan and his discovery—a bolt of realization struck within the Beta then—was well-appreciated. A dry laugh, altogether humorless, escaped him as Dathan commented on the nature of the reeds lain before them. It withered and died upon exposure to the atmosphere, and an awkward cross between embarrassment and unhappiness settled into the male as his pallid pack-mate met with Vrash. How could he had made himself such a fool…?

Alarm registered in the youth’s gaze as Radar dragged himself—and his surrogate daughter—onto the scene. While he was now more than capable of recognizing that the ruddy girl had been sick all along, it still startled the Beta to see how worse her symptoms had become. She had taken quite a toll on her caretaker… Radar looked exhausted and at his wit’s end, thought Indy’s sympathy for the once-Jester turned to dread as Kenz collapsed across the reeds Chogan had brought in a fit of retching and painful heaves. He lifted one paw, transfixed and unsure how he could help to remedy the situation. Amazingly, he found his gaze drawn toward Chogan. He had brought the reeds, after all. He knew their properties. It would be up to the tawny Citali boy, then, to save Kenzoku. To save them all.