It was not often that a bonded like Noor was seen without his brutish companion. Though the elk creature had large antlers and, in theory, was more than capable of protecting himself, he still preferred to stay by his friend’s side. It was just more comfortable for him to do so, especially after all that Gareth had done to help save his life. Still, there were those rare moments in which Noor needed his own time, and Gareth had been suffocating lately.
He loved the man, but good gods was he being a right idiot these days. Perhaps it was his own stubbornness and a heart unmarked by the pains of broken and lost love, but he just could not stand the decisions that the stallion was making. He loved his friend, but watching him fall apart and not listen to reason and advice was absolutely maddening. The elk could only handle so much of it at a time. And while he did not make a big show of it, and kept most of his irritation to himself, Gareth was equally understanding of his need for space.
The stallion wasn’t terribly far, off across a few hills in some direction gathering herbs. Noor did not need to assist him in that endeavor, and the grass here in the shade of the treeline was absolutely divine. He’d not needed to worry about a predator in years, and perhaps that had helped him grow soft in his vigilance. After all, he was a large creature, with large antlers and bright glowing mushrooms. Most animals that would have thought him a tasty meal would have thought twice before approaching.
"Speech" | Noor | @Pangaea | I hope this works okay!
drowning deep in my sea of loathing
broken your servant I kneel
it seems what's left of my human side
is slowly changing in me
She clung to the branch of the tree, one limb being treated far more carefully than the other after the violent fight she'd partaken in not so long ago. The pain in the ankle twinged with each step she took, but worse of all, the uselessness of that foot, the powerful claws that would normally aid in finding her dinner, hunting her dinner - it had been useless. And, as a result, Pangaea was slowly beginning to feel the hunger set in.
The clawed digits of her wings dug rivets into the wood, muzzle parting, rolling the scents to the back of her mouth, as s the tried to find something - anything to eat. A touch, a faintest hint of something familiar in the air had the reptilian equine pausing, a curious chirp leaving her mouth before she could stop it. A second scenting of the air confirmed what she couldn't yet believe. There, somewhere nearby, in this hilly landscape was an elk-ancestor. A creature she had preyed on often enough with the pack, before they'd had to cross into the new worlds.
Awkwardly, the dinosaur-horse half flopped, half took off from the branch, powerfully thrusting her wings, to keep herself from crashing back into the ground. Gritting fangs together, it took a bit of work, but finally, she was airborne, and as her mind settled in on the hunt, the mare gritted her teeth, and took a deep breath in through her nose, finding her center. The hunger led her way, carrying her through the air, the golden jewelry adorning her body glinted in the sunlight. She soon spotted the beast, the large antlers hard to miss on such a sturdy being.
In her deliriously hungry (one could tell by how thin she'd grown in the weeks since the battle, unable to properly hunt with the injuries she'd sustained, and the wounds on her legs definitely not yet healed, and constantly being reopened by her own foolishness in not letting anyone continue to treat them), she didn't bother to take awareness of the creature. Perhaps if she had, she'd have noticed he wasn't as alone as she first thought. She'd have seen the glowing mushrooms. She'd have realized he wasn't like home.
But she didn't care, she didn't see. Her eyes saw dinner, her stomach growled angrily that she wasn't feasting yet, and she gave a shrill, saurian hunting cry - a part of her heart aching when she didn't hear the echo of her pack confirming their positions that would let the prey know it was surrounded - and dived, fangs glistening, and her clawed, and scaled back legs lurching forward. It was a perfect dive, even if those back legs showed clear signs of injury, a practice move, that should she be allowed to connect, would see her slamming into the deer's back, muzzle clamping around the neck. Her forehooves would latch beneath the front legs, wrenching them up while the angle she'd land with would allow her back claws to rake through the delicate belly of the prey, while her fangs would snap tight at the spine, to make the death of her meal as quick as possible.
But this elk was not alone. This dinsoaur-horse was not in tip-top condition. And this hunt would not end as she expected.
looking at my own reflection
"Speech" Thoughts
@Gareth Notes: Alright! Gareth can now slam into her, and startle her out of her hunger-induced tunnel vision.
when suddenly it changes
violently it changes
there is no turning back now
you've woken up the demon in me
The elk had moved further into the clearing, scanning the rolling horizon for his friend. It had left him quite exposed and the shrill sound of something predatory and very large shook him to his core, all the fur on his body standing on end. The noise was deafening, and Noor cast his audits back flat against his skull as his head swung back, eyes wide as he tried to pinpoint the source of the battle cry. He’d had enough time to register the following events slowly, his mind processing everything all at once, much like a train wreck or a car crash. Both impossible to look away from and in full detail.
The warmth of the sun was engulfed by large bat-like wings, chilling the radius of easily ten feet around him.By gods, what creature could be that big? The elk saw his doom hurtling towards him as he had seen so many hawks dive towards unsuspecting babes who had wandered too far from the protection of their den mother. For that is what the elk was in this moment. A babe, too stunned to move and too terrified to defend himself, even if he knew claws and fang to be certain death.
He wasn’t sure if he had cried out for Gareth, but suddenly, like an avenging angel from the depths he surged. The brute was huge and he bowled the entirety of himself into the creature at top speed. A snarl ripped from his throat, booming a single word. “No!”
Three things happened then, simultaneously.
The predator, claws outstretched, caught the back of Noor’s haunches, tearing a sizeable set of marks into the flesh as the momentum of Gareth’s body wrenched them free, knocking the wind out of the stallion, and Noor with him. The elk tumbled, legs giving out from shock, terror, and the pain. A strangled noise wormed its way past the bonded’s vocal chords, alien to himself and to his equine companion.
Gareth, having now juggernauted himself into the seemingly unstoppable force that was this predator, would continue with his defensive cry as he tangled with the beast. As limbs flew over limb (mostly his own) he roared. “What in Goddess’ name do you think you’re doing?” The stallion was not a graceful man, nor was he a fighter. But he was built like a tank, and when the situation called it of him, he had no qualms with throwing his weight around. The herbs he had been painstakingly gathering over the last few hours erupted around them in a flurry of leaves and stems as his pack flew open, the contents tumbling through the air as Gareth attempted to put as much distance between his companion this newcomer as possible, even if he wouldn’t get very far.
“That’s my friend you are trying to eat!”
"Speech" | Noor| @Pangaea | I imagine Gareth just clipped her on Noor impact and they tumbled a distance away?
drowning deep in my sea of loathing
broken your servant I kneel
it seems what's left of my human side
is slowly changing in me
She was so hungry, so, so hungry. And so, so weak. She knew she had lost weight, knew she wasn't the predator she had been before her injury, and it was an injury that had been continuing to act against her. It made hunting hard, and what use was a saurian that couldn't hunt? So when she'd seen the meal, she didn't focus on any of the small facts. Didn't notice anything else, she just saw something she could eat - a creature from her past, from a world she'd come from. And it was a mix of blood lust, hunger, and her own failing mental system that allowed her to miss the obvious facts.
Her mind simply took her back to the past. So it was with surprise that she felt the impact. She tumbled, even as her claws had caught at the flesh, ripping free. But it wasn't the thrill of a hunt, instead, a scream of agony was pulled from her muzzle, more bird-like than horse-like, as those injured limbs were wrenched by the power of the stallion shoving her away. She landed hard on the ground, instantly drawing her injured limbs closer to her, eyes squeezing against the pulsating pain that seemed to resonate with her own heart.
Bathump. Bathump. Bathump. She could smell the blood of reopened wounds, but it was the cry, a voice; that broke through her delirious hunger, as she lay in the tall grasses and weeds of the plain, her own sandy coloring almost blending in with the plains. Very slowly, her eyes opened, slitted pupils slanting slowly towards him as she was screamed at. She didn't respond, as she instead slowly tried to roll onto her side, climbing to her front limbs, only to collapse back to the ground when pressure was put on her back limbs. The snarl of trying to eat this tank of a stallion's friend had her narrowed eyes cutting his way, her body posture defensive as she collapsed back to the ground, carefully protecting any of the more vulnerable parts of the body (beneath her throat, her belly) as if he were a predator to strike at her now that she was down.
She wouldn't be surprised if he did, "Didn't realize." The words tore through her muzzle with a hiss, and this time as she tried to climb to her feet once more, it was with quacking success, her limbs shaking violently at the pressure on deep, horrifying wounds. Her thinned side showed how the wounds had been affecting her, how little she'd been able to eat. "Thought . . . it was a single deer." She added with a growl. She rolled the wing joints, before turning away from both of them, ignoring the desperate growl of a stomach that hadn't had a decent meal in weeks, her gaze already desperately searching for something else to eat, something else to hunt. A life-saving meal. "Need to eat too." She added, before taking a step away from the massive beast and injured elk, only for her limbs to give out at reapplied pressure, and she collapsed back to the ground with a weak grown, the wounds weeping red down the pebbled hide of back legs, staining the light strands of her tail. "How was I supposed to know a horse was making friends with an elk." She finally added, staying on the ground, not quite having the energy to try to get back up just yet.
She was just so hungry.
looking at my own reflection
"Speech" Thoughts
@Gareth Notes: Alright! Gareth can now slam into her, and startle her out of her hunger-induced tunnel vision.
when suddenly it changes
violently it changes
there is no turning back now
you've woken up the demon in me
The scream from Noor echoed through the plains as the elk curled into himself, trying to assess the situation and to protect his body further from the beast. He couldn’t think straight and the impact from both it and then tumbling to the ground with Gareth’s intervention had turned his whole world upside down. His vision swam, but he could hear the predator as a mumble, something about being hungry, he thought. He screwed his eyes shut and shuddered, focusing on trying to breathe and not allowing his emotions to flood the stallion as he attempted to mitigate the situation. It would do them no good if he was bombarded with pain from their psychic connection.
Gareth stood shaking, though it was mostly from adrenaline, and perhaps a bit of anger. He’d never met another person who had dared touch a bonded. Granted, such creatures were usually within close reach of their companions, and he had left Noor to his own devices out in the open. Perhaps he had grown too complacent, hadn’t considered that there may have been a creature that he could not defend himself from. The guilt started to worm its way into his heart but he pushed it down. That was something to settle within himself at another time. Currently, the large winged beast lay before him, protecting it’s vital organs. Now that he had a moment to take everything in, he could see that they were roughly the same size, though she might have had a little height on him. She, for he could see now that it was a mare of some kind, spat words in his direction, about not knowing. There was the twinge of guilt again, but he swallowed it down hard once more.
He watched her struggle to get to her feet, the talons that had done the damage to his friend. Anger flared up in him again to be quickly extinguished by his healer’s instinct. She was frail. Not by most standards, not at first glance. The woman was a beast, just as he was, stocky framed with thick limbs and a hide that held tough layers of muscle. Or she should have been. Her midsection was devastatingly lean, and the back talons that had caused his friend so much pain were twisted and ripped open. He knew that those injuries that peppered her being could not have been his own doing. They looked old, but infected, unhealed. He hadn’t caused these gashes, but his impact certainly had done her no favours. It looked as if she’d had some kind of altercation. He didn’t want to spend time thinking about the kind of creature she would have needed to encounter for it to do such damage to an obviously skilled predator. She must have been confident in her abilities if even in this weakened state she thought that Noor had been a perfectly good meal.
“Gods and Goddess,” he swore. “Has no one taken you to a clinic?” The anger that rumbled deep in him morphed into concern. She might have tried to eat his companion, but she had been blinded by hunger and infection, he could see that now. She hadn’t been quite in her right mind, and the elk had seemed like an excellent option. He heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head. The herbs that had been scattered around were lost, but thankfully there were still a handful left deep in his satchel. They would come in use.
“Stay put,” he said, though it was a moot point, as the predator clearly wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. “I’m going to go check on him, and then we’re going to get you fixed up.” He spoke with a matter of fact tone, not giving her the choice to refuse his help. Besides, he thought that in her condition, she wasn’t exactly in a place to fight him on the subject.
The stallion moved back towards where Noor was curled, whispering softly. “Move so I can see it, Noor.” His vocals were thick with emotion. He had not seeing his companion in pain like this since the night they met. When he had first nursed Noor back to health and they had developed that sacred connection that was forged between two bonded creatures.
The elk turned so that his friend could look at the injuries. The mossy lichen and mushrooms that adorned his ruddy coat were torn free, soaking up the blood from several large gashes all across his flank. While the injuries looked terrible and jagged, his flesh ripped from his body, wide because of the thickness of the talons, Gareth could see that for all intents and purposes it had been nothing more than a particularly nasty scratch. She hadn’t severed the muscles, hadn’t torn pieces from him. He’d arrived just in time for her to clip his hind. He paled to think about what the outcome would have been had he not.
“Do you think you’ll be able to move if I can staunch the bleeding?” He knew that it would be painful to do so, but Gareth simply did not have the supplies on him to handle such injuries, for both Noor and the predator. He needed to get them both back to his home in order to treat them properly.
Noor didn’t have the strength to speak to his friend, choosing instead to simply nod. He could not both keep his pain in check and impart his thoughts. He knew that if he opened the floodgates it would only make matters worse, and the elk was stubborn, much like his friend. He looked to the predator as she lay a distance away, his gaze wary. He knew Gareth better than to think he would leave another creature to simply suffer. If he didn’t have any intention to harm her (and as long as Noor had known the stallion, he’d never had such a thought) then that meant that he intended to bring her with them. As the party member that was almost turned into a snack pack, he was less than thrilled with the idea.
He kept his eyes on the mare as Gareth moved around him and set to wrapping the wounds as best he could. Even though he was fairly certain she would have gone off already if she’d been able to, he didn’t trust her one bit, and if the only thing he could do right now was stare her down, then so be it.
Gareth worked swiftly and in silence. He didn’t have to tell his friend that he was going to be bringing the predatory mare with them, and there was little conversation to be had while emotions and adrenaline were still running rampant. Once he finished, he stepped away and walked straight back to the injured woman, loudly announcing his approach so that he might not cause more distress than was already shared between the three of them.
“What in the name of the gods happened to you, then? I need to know so I know what I’m dealing with. Your legs look godawful, you know?”
drowning deep in my sea of loathing
broken your servant I kneel
it seems what's left of my human side
is slowly changing in me
There was so much going on, so much crowding in on her mind that had previously been focused on a desperate bid to feed herself. She clenched her teeth, her own vision swimming with the pain of reopened wounds, of the twisting of her stomach from hunger, the shaking of adrenaline wasted. Would this be how she died, succumbed to her injuries after the battle, unable to hunt for herself? She really was as good as dead without a pack, wasn't she? She managed with quick meals, holding still at just the right time to snap up a bird passing in flight. Or able to startle a small rodent that thought a horse lying in the grass was no threat.
But such small meals did nothing but egg her on for more. To remind her with the touch of flesh to her tongue that she needed more. It wasn't enough. Such wounds would have had her pack hunting for her in the past. Her pack made sure she healed and was cared for on her own. She was finding her weaknesses, her shortcomings so much more apparent. She couldn't be weak in front of a stranger. She struggled to her hooves, a losing battle, her taloned hindlegs unable to handle the stress, and she'd collapsed back onto the ground. She jumped at his words, looking up to realize he was still there, that he hadn't gathered his pack member, and left her. Why the fuck was he still standing there?
"What the fuck is a clinic?" She snapped, ears pinning back, her temper worse from the constant state of delirious hunger and pain she was in all the time now. His command to stay had her clenching her teeth, "Can't stand anyway." She finally grumbled, before collapsing back into the grass and weeds, still carefully curled around any 'weak' points on her body. Her ears pinned back deep into the bound back cream curls, as he mentioned going to check on the elk she had hoped would be a meal before 'fixing her up.' Instantly her entire body tensed; what the hell did that mean. Fix her up? Was he gonna make sure she didn't attack anyone else's packmate? She didn't know it was a pack mate, she was just hungry! She just needed a meal. Her eyes watched him, uncertain, trying to hide the fear that she saw as only weakness. This really was going to be the end of her. She'd gone after something she shouldn't have, and now he was going to 'fix her up.'
He spoke to the elk then, the creature unshifting, exposing wounds to the air that had the mare forcibly stop breathing, even as the scent of blood seemed to make her stomach rumble all the harder. Instead, she buried her face deep into the grass, the soils, just waiting for him to do whatever he would to her, whatever he intended to do to 'fix her'. Would he kill her quickly? Make her suffer? Leave her somewhere unable to hunt and starve to death slowly? What punishment would he deliver?
Perhaps this world was more eat, or be eaten, than she had first thought. So ignored them both, instead, shifting back to a sitting position, nudging her own wounds, licking at them and wincing at the tangy taste she knew to be wrong, pressing on them until puss and liquid wept from the injuries, ignoring the pain that had her limbs twitching. She didn't let up until they ran with just watery blood again, ignoring the scent of infection, licking the wounds a second time, not able to taste the disease as severely. She needed to get away from her, find something else to eat, and avoid retribution she was sure was coming. There wasn't any fruit around, but maybe she could dig up roots with her hooves, see if those would hold her over until she could hunt a real meal.
It wasn't enough time, he was approaching again, and she flinched back, away from him, expression guarded, refusing to show fear when he did whatever he was going to do. She wasn't expecting his words, though. Why would he care about what happened? Why would that decide how he 'fixed her'. Would he go easier, kill her faster, if he knew what had happened? Or was this a trick to catch her off guard? She wouldn't barter for her life, however. She had more pride than that. "Fucking hunt with the Teryr." She responded dryly, "It moved faster than I expected from it's size." She raised her amber gaze up to his, holding her head tall, unflinching, "Look, just do whatever you're going to do, quickly. If you plan to just kill me, get it over with." She added with the pride of her people, unwilling to be scared away from the prospect of death. "You said you planned to 'fix me up,' what ever the fuck that means. But if that's just code to make sure I don't hunt something else I'm not supposed to - then just make it fast."
What else could he have meant after all? The saurian mare refused to back down in the face of challenge, in the face of her perceived death, though she hoped Duellum would forgive her for leaving him truly alone. She just hoped this stranger did what he planned quickly and didn't draw it out. "So kill me, the rate things are going, I doubt I'll make it through the winter in my condition anyway."
looking at my own reflection
"Speech" Thoughts
@Gareth Notes: Alright! Gareth can now slam into her, and startle her out of her hunger-induced tunnel vision.
when suddenly it changes
violently it changes
there is no turning back now
you've woken up the demon in me
The woman was curled around herself, defensive, ears flat against her skull. He could tell by the smell and the oozing from her wounds that she had tried to push the infection out. Good, that would make things a little easier. He would still need to fully clean the wounds, but forcing the puss out of the way made it one less thing he’d have to do. The stallion would still need to get inside her wounds to clean the infection fully, but that was something he was going to need to earn a bit of trust for first. After all, she still had teeth, and while her legs were in bad shape, her talons worked just fine.
His audits flicked at the name Teryr, whatever that was, some kind of monster to be sure. She spoke of the size and he was sure that it must have been massive to do such damage to her. All the same, if it’s touch had been poison she would likely have already been dead, so he felt fairly secure in that her infection was from lack of proper care rather than anything else. That was also good. It meant that if he could just get her to his home without much further incident, she would be relatively routine to treat.
She continued speaking as he started running over his checklist in his head, largely missing what she said. Something about not hunting things she isn’t supposed to, maybe? Well, he would certainly talk to her about the bonded situation, since she seemed to be a bit out of the loop on that one. Hopefully that would help her to prevent further mistakes and she wouldn’t run off with someone else’s beloved companion. That conversation was the last thing on his mind, really, though. What he needed to determine most is whether or not her mind fog was purely from hunger, or if the infection had gotten into her organs or her blood. Both of which would be particularly bad outcomes. He had high hopes, though, since the lesser wounds seemed to be well on their way to healing nicely, if there could have been such a thing. He came to the same conclusion as the possibilities of poison- if that had been the case, she would have likely been dead long before now.
As he continued his cursory inspection of her wounds, the words she barked at him finally started to filter in. He jerked his head back in surprise, looking at her with wide eyes for a long moment before he let out a booming laugh, the chocolate tone rattling his barrel and causing tears to prick at his eyes.
“Well you have one thing right. You won’t make it through the winter in your condition.” He caught his breath, shaking his head, a large smile plastered across his features. “No, I’m not going to kill you. You hadn’t intended to hurt Noor as another intelligent creature. You just needed to eat and didn’t have the senses to know better. That’s an understandable response.” He nodded to her form, bloody, oozing and thin. “Your body is fighting off infections because it can’t heal your wounds and you can’t get enough fuel to do one or the other to get back on your feet.“
He moved a little closer now, though still keeping his guard up, watching her talons. “I can, and will, help you with your wounds. I know a few hunters and trappers and I’ll see what I can do about getting you a meal while you’re recovering, but I can’t do any of those things out here on the plains.” He stepped a bit closer, nodding to her legs in particular.
“I think I might be able to help get you walking at least. It won't be at all pleasant, but if I can get you back to my home, you’ll live, and I think you might find that more agreeable than where you’re at now,” He looked back up to the mare and made eye contact, amber hues to amber hues. There was nothing but a genuine offer for assistance in his gaze, and he was sure that by now she would have picked up on that. If he’d had any intent to harm her, he’d had ample enough time to do it by now. “Yes?”
drowning deep in my sea of loathing
broken your servant I kneel
it seems what's left of my human side
is slowly changing in me
She stared up at him cautiously as he approached, gaze guarded, defensive, ready to accept her fate. He wasn't really giving her a hint of what to expect, however. Instead, he seemed to just be focusing on her, her wounds. Was he looking for the best place to tear her apart? To find the quickest means of destroying her? The most painful method of killing her? Her ears pinned again, watching, waiting.
Still, he wasn't making a move. What was he waiting for? Just get it over with, just kill her. She was already at his mercy, and despite her attempts to be strong and desire to prove herself, the longer it took for that blow, the more nervous she was getting. She'd accept death with pride and grace, but that didn't mean she wanted to die. She was terrified. The sudden jerk of his head up had her flinching back, eyes steeling, ready for the final blow . . . she wasn't expecting the booming laugh that echoed around the plains. She blinked a couple of times, brow furrowing and her expression becoming troubled.
Tilting her head to the side, she watched the way he shook his head, smile wide, before agreeing that her chances of seeing it through winter were non-existent. But then he surprised her, telling her he wasn't about to kill her. She hesitated, head tilting to the side, bound locks tumbling down her neck uncertainly, "You're. . . not?" The voice was frighteningly small compared to her bravado earlier.
It was hard to believe, even as he defended his choice, that she hadn't known about the elk being more, that she'd just wanted to eat, and even nodding to her injuries, her thin body, explaining that with her wounds, and she just couldn't . . . Oh. Suddenly she understood, "You intend to leave me here to starve then." She stated, that emptiness returning to her eyes, head bowing as if to accept the punishment, "After all, one less predator to hunt isn't a bad thing is." The cruel acceptance to her own expected fate would be alarming for many. But to a mare who had to raise herself (and her little brother before he'd been killed by a bigger predator), it was the way of life she'd learned.
He suddenly stepped closer, and Pangaea froze again, watching him cautiously, waiting to see his next move - but never prepared for the next words. He . . . intended to help her? Feed her, see that she recovers? "Why would you do that?" Instantly she was skeptical, "What's in it for you?" She knew well enough nothing ever came free in life. It was a lesson she'd learned quickly with her parent's abandonment.
No, he didn't just intend to help her. He was giving her a place to stay even. And as his gaze met hers, she could read the sincerity in his gaze, a kindness she'd never been offered by others, beyond the pack she'd found for herself. "Why would you bring a predator into your home, shouldn't you be afraid I'll turn on either of you in your sleep." She snorted. She didn't bother to admit the truth, that despite the fangs, despite the hunt earlier, she wasn't a proper predator. She was an omnivore, not a carnivore. Most of the fangs and talons were meant for defense, not just a quick meal. While the meat was a part of her diet, it was only drastically needed while her body fought off the infection. Otherwise, she needed to just hunt once every other week or so.
But he didn't know that. So why would he think this safe? Finally, she sighed slowly, climbing awkwardly to her limbs, some of the pressure off the wounds now that the puss and infection had been forced out, her long tail swaying behind her, the sunlight gleaming off the gold and amber jewelry she wore. She looked up at him, hesitating, uncertain, "I suppose I'm at your mercy, I don't see how I can refuse . . . considering my only other option is death. But only until I am better. I will impose no longer than necessary." The mare stated, expression still uncertain, watching him with a caution derived from having been forcibly on her own for so long. She hadn't had to trust anyone in years - not since she came to this world, since she lost Duellum since she was trapped in that hellish location. She would let him help her, but she wouldn't trust him. Not yet.
The woman had questions, naturally. Why would a man who had just seen her attack his companion offer her aide and shelter? What possible motive would he have for lending her assistance? Most would assume that it was to have a favor in their back pocket, and truth be told, if this had happened before Salome (he didn’t want to dwell too long on that thought- she had disappeared again, much to his disappointment, but not to any surprise) when he had been dealing with more unsavory folk, it would have been handy to have a favour to call if he had any need of it. As it stood today, however, there was no such need. He had promised himself, Noor, Luvena, too, even if only in his heart, that he would take care of the denizens of Novus, of Denocte especially, but his healing knew no such thing as a boundary. He would not dare snub his nose at someone in need of aide just because they spoke to different gods and answered the call of a different Sovereign. Nonsense.
He smiled, responding to her queries. “Well, if you bite the hand that feeds you, that says much more about you than it does me. Sure you might argue that I am foolish for allowing you into my home, but if you intend to harm the man who is offering you a chance to regain your strength and your very life back, I think that speaks more of your soul than it would anything of my supposed naivety.” He cast his gaze back to Noor, the elk now drawn to his feet. He stood unsteady, pain clear on his features, but he observed quietly.
Gareth nodded back to his companion. “Noor, however, will probably take a while to warm up to you, but I can’t exactly blame him since you did try to eat him.” He chuckled, being almost unnervingly good natured about the entire thing. Surely any other sane person would have left the predator to die. But it simply wasn’t in him. His grandmother had been sure to instill in him that all life was sacred, was worth healing and believing in. Even if this mare had tried to eat bonded, which if he was to be fully honest with himself was an unsettling thought, to suddenly no longer have Noor at his side, she had done so because she had felt there was no other choice. An animal backed into a corner, injured and frightened, will always lash out. Such is the way of things. He could not fault her for doing what came naturally.
He stepped back, giving her room to gain her footing. He was glad to see that she saw the wisdom in his words, as he knew she would. One did not look a genuine gift horse in the mouth, as much as she spoke about possibly deciding to eat them both. He didn’t see her as a genuine threat, and he had an inkling that she was much more likely to leave without a trace once she was healed enough to do so. He had already made peace with that possible outcome, as it was the most likely.
The stallion nodded, looking to her legs. “Let me at least help you lessen the bleeding. It’s a bit of a long walk back to my home, and I don’t want you to be completely miserable through all of it.” He didn’t want to think too hard about passing the Arma with her injuries. Hopefully by the time they reached that part of Novus her injuries would have at least scabbed over once again. It would be arduous, but necessary. He could not care for her without his stores and she would never make the winter, even if he somehow managed to tend her wounds in the field. As it stood, the peaks would hold snow already.
Noor watched them at a distance, the throbbing in his haunch lessening as he became accustomed to the feeling. He could see the concern cross his friend’s features, and he pressed his thoughts to the stallion’s mind.
Gareth, are you sure she’ll make the trek? It is a long way from here to home and every mountain pass and half of Novus between us. That’s days travel when well prepared. How are we going to fare if our pace is cut to a quarter what it needs to be? The snows are already in the Arma. We’d be lucky not to catch a blizzard on our way. What about her appalling diet, Gareth? Are you going to kill for her to eat to keep her alive just long enough to get home? Have you gone absolutely mad?
The elk snorted, stamping a hoof as he continued his telepathic tirade.
What if we run in Salome again? You don’t think that would be an issue? Or if we run into anyone else for that matter. Do you think this beast is just going to be cordial while she starves to death? I wont be at her mercy, Gareth. If my wounds heal enough to leave you both behind, I will. I know those mountains as well as you and I know my way home. I would rather take my chances than wait for hunger to overtake her.
Gareth calmly and politely ignored the mental assault, though something flickered behind his eyes. Concern. Noor had a very good point about the travel. But he would deal with those obstacles as they arose. He had offered his aide, and he was going to give it. He was a hearty man, and he had been raised in those mountains. He was confident that he could bring this mare home to heal her. He needed to believe in that, if nothing else.
"Speech" | Noor | @Pangaea | I figure once we get them going from here we might pick up in another thread in the Arma, maybe a week into their journey?
drowning deep in my sea of loathing
broken your servant I kneel
it seems what's left of my human side
is slowly changing in me
The half dinosaur female was cautious. It was hard not to be given her state. This was risky for her, while she was injured, in bad health, to put her trust in a creature she knew so little about. A man who appeared from nowhere just in time to knock her away, Not that I could blame him. If I knew I'd harmed a member of someone's pack, I do not know if I'd have been able to forgive myself. Would rather have succumbed to the hunger, allowed myself to starve instead. But, they wouldn't understand that, I'm sure. By nature, most of these equines are herbivores, herd mammals, and as such, their connections were different towards one another. It wasn't the same for many of them. Herds gathered together as a means of protection through numbers. A pack was so much more. And yet, he had defended the elk like a pack member defending a fallen brethren. Perhaps these ones would have understood the guilt that such an action inspired. But, they couldn't understand that inner turmoil I already felt. They were, after all, just seeing a hungry predator.
So instead, the female was quiet as the chocolate-painted stallion spoke of what an attack on him after his kindness would mean, Less on him, more on who she was. As his gaze turned towards the elk, Pangaea's own gaze dropped, feeling that shame at what she'd almost done wash over her again. I would have left him in the very state I now exist in. Alone, packless, noticing the hole and unable to fill it. She thought to herself, before snorting once, "Of course. I'd offer my assurances that I behave myself . . . but I'm sure they mean little coming from a stranger." She couldn't blame the elk, this Noor; if he never warmed up to her. Perhaps it was the smart one of the trio.
The way the stallion spoke was unnerving, making jokes, entirely too good-natured about the whole situation. Instead her gaze lowered again, head half bowing, "I'm sorry." The words fell limply from her caramel lips, eyes half hooded with her long lashes as she stared down at her hooves, kicking at the grass and plains. He had given her the space to stand, but even now, she was wondering if this was a good idea. How could he possibly trust a stranger that could hurt him and his fellow so thoroughly? A true predator wouldn't hesitate to plot an attack . . . the mare's stomach twisted at the thought of doing the same.
She was startled when he mentioned lessening the pain, her gaze also switching to her legs, before blinking at his following words, "W-walk." She shook her head, rolling her shoulders and extending out those webbed wings, the clawed thumb held close to the arm, "I . . I don't mind following from the sky . . . You don't need to worry about me, please don't. I'll be fine." She didn't know if she could walk for that long, not truly. She refolded her wings, suddenly wondering if this is what it felt like to try to keep your stance on unstable ground. Every new sentence from this man's mouth was like another tremor through the earth, upsetting her footing and leaving her unsure of why he was doing this.
Why did he even want to help her? She was just a stranger. "Why would you worry. I'm nobody to you but an individual who threatened the life of your pack member." She had to get the answers, she had to stable the ground before it crumbled beneath her and fell, "I'm a stranger you could forget about as soon as the next day begins, should your focus not be on the pack member I was attacked? Why would you care what happened to me? Why would anyone?"
The elk suddenly snorted, stomping a hoof, and she startled, looking towards the large creature, ears burying into her bound locks, her expression uncertain for what it was going on about, although the stranger offered to aid her seemed to understand. Pangaea's expression faltered, uncertain; uncomfortable, so far out of her element she was beginning to wonder if this was just a fevered dream, but instead she sighed quietly, "If it's a problem, you do not need to assist. I'm sure I can figure something else out." She murmured quietly, "I don't want to cause any upset between you . . . . and Noor I believe you said." She hesitated, before looking from one, to the other. Her gaze wasn't that of a predator. Would they know the difference? Know what to search for when you stare down a cornered animal to assess its true threat level. "But, if you're certain, on aiding me. I guess I'm at your mercy and will do everything in my power to ensure you - both of you feel comfortable with my presence, even if it means keeping my distance. As I said, if I must, I can follow by flight. I just don't want to upset anyone anymore than I already have."
