The trip back to the castle had been mostly uneventful. Artorias and Gwynevere made their way across the plains, the salvia leaves tucked in Gwyn's satchel for further study. His sister's raven had made it seem like something should be happening to him along the walk home, but for the most part, Artorias didn't feel any different after consuming the salvia. Sure, there was maybe a bit of a bitter herby taste on the back of his tongue, but he didn't feel any different yet. Was Eilwen pulling a deeper prank on him by making him think something should be happening when really she'd just tricked him into eating a plant?

Just as Artorias was beginning to get suspicious that he had just eaten some random plant when all of a sudden Artorias felt a tingling start all over his skin. He paused, paw hovered in midair halfway through the gates of the castle courtyard, eyes going wide while he stared at his own paw. He said nothing at first, feeling like his whole body was going numb, swaying back and forth. No, wait, he wasn't actually swaying. His vision was swaying? The world was swaying? What the hell was swaying?! Artorias looked up and around the gatehouse he was standing in, eyes following the lines in the stones that all seemed to blend together, turning into a labyrinth of lines all around him. His head rotated with his gaze, following the lines back down to his paws, except now the lines were running over his paws. He was part of the gatehouse now. Part of the castle.

"Uhhh, Gwyn...?" he called out to his sister, watching as the gray of the stone began to bleed and blend with his blue paw, his other paw still held in midair like it were resting on an invisible step. He tried to move his paws, but his body didn't want to respond to his commands. Or maybe he wasn't giving the commands at all. Did he even want to move? Castles didn't move. He didn't need to move either then, right? He would be the gates now. None would pass. He looked up, searching for Gwyn as the world began to shift and blur again, as if he were looking at the world through a hazy lens. "Gwyn, I can't move," he said, not realizing he was shouting to her, a rising panic beginning to grow in his chest.

"Artorias" | "Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
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Gwyn was so annoyed with Eilwen for the prank she had pulled on Artorias. The whole way home she kept watching her brother closely, silently wondering what kind of effect the herbs he had eaten were going to have on him. As soon as they got back she was going to have a firm lecture with her companion about telling wolves to just eat plants - even if they were perfectly safe to do so - because some of them would actually do it. For the most part the trip back to the castle was surprisingly uneventful so whatever this herb did it didn't act very quickly. Perhaps that was a small blessing.

However, just as they were passing though the courtyard gates, Artorias stopped in his tracks. Gwynevere didn't realize he had stopped at first, but after a few steps she realized her brother was no longer beside her and she stopped, turning around to see him standing there staring at the stone under his feet. He called out to her and she frowned with worry, coming back to where he was standing. He was still holding one paw as if he was mid step and when he looked up at her she could see his dilated pupils in his wide amber eyes. Her ears flicked as he shouted about how he couldn't move, flinching away form him a bit.

She heard a cawing, cackling laugh from the wall above them and she tipped her head up to look at Eilwen with a scowl. "Eilwen! This isn't funny!" she scolded the white raven, but it didn't stop the bird from laughing. If anything it just made her laugh harder. "Oh, he'll be fine! her companion insisted with a ruffle of her wings. "He's just a little intoxicated is all. A couple hours from now he'll be back to normal. Until then though..." She cackled again and took off, flying up toward the castle.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Artorias wasn't paying any attention to what Gwyn or Eilwen were saying. He was too busy trying to convince his muscles to move. But no matter how much his brain screamed at him, his body just refused to cooperate. His stance was unstable though with only three legs on the ground, and after a few moments, his locked up legs gave out, sending the boy stumbling forward. He collapsed to the ground, staring out at the ground in front of him that had transformed into a rippling surface like the earth was made of liquid. Raising a tentative paw, Artorias tapped the ground, watching the way the earth bounced and rippled away from his paw in a spectrum of beautiful rainbow colors. Artorias' mouth made a silent O shape as he tapped the ground again, watching the colors radiate out where his paws touched.

"Gwyn, look at this!" he called out to his sister with an amazed coo in his voice. To her, Artorias would just be smacking the dirt with a huge puppy grin on his face, but to the tripping young wolf, he was a conductor of a beautiful symphony of rainbow colors. Giggling to himself, Artorias got slowly back to his feet, taking slow and wide steps around the courtyard and watching as each one created a different color bounding around the castle like colorful waves. He glanced up at the purple sky with teal clouds hanging low overhead, falling into a giggling fit with himself. Everything seemed so weird, but he couldn't shake the amazing feeling that everything was just great!

"Artorias Carpathius"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
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Tamsyn walked through the castle grounds alongside Kane, giving him a more through tour of the castle now that he was able to walk around properly and she had convinced him to consider staying on a more permanent basis. She knew that Ulric would have no qualms with the addition of the massive hunter and even if he did she knew that he wouldn't deny her a favor if she asked it of him. She wouldn't need to though - Kane had saved Gwyn and they certainly would never turn away a skilled, season hunter and healer. She wore a smile as they walked and talked together, her tail wagging gently behind her.

However, when her ears caught a bit of a commotion happening across the courtyard at the castle gates she slowed to a stop with a befuddled expression, watching Gwynevere fuss over Artorias who was wobbling his way across the ground while giggling madly. She gave Kane an uncertain glance and realized with a sigh that this was the first time Kane would be meeting her son. She walked over to where Gwynevere and Artorias were with Kane in tow, looking at Gwyn suspiciously. "Gwyn... What's going on?"

Tamsyn Carpathius

Being mobile and free to move around again was a godsend and a blessing Kane would never again take for granted. After a couple of weeks bedridden with his injured shoulder, he had finally received the all-clear from the pack's healers (mostly Gwynevere) to be able to go about his life again. The wound had since scarred over, leaving a nearly perfect circle of pink flesh where he had been impaled by the saber cat's tooth and a great story for him to tell. Kane had been stoked to have another scar to add to his collection across his body, and the tiger had delivered in dividends. Tamsyn had taken advantage of his mobility in far more fun ways though, including the full tour of the castle he had been trapped in. Now able to roam the corridors, the castle felt much less like a prison than it first had. He still didn't think it compared to the forests and fields he was used to living in, but it did have the benefit of having the most beautiful wolf in the world within it, so it couldn't be that bad.

As the two wolves roamed the castle together, making small talk and the occasional flirt back and forth, Kane considered what Tamsyn had offered: a permanent place in the Hallows. It had been a long time since he'd been part of a pack, and he did have some worries that he wouldn't intermingle with the other wolves so easily, given his starkly different background. But if it meant staying with Tamsyn, he would be willing to do almost anything. They walked across the courtyard, enjoying the warm summer day, his tail wagging happily in time with hers and occasionally bumping against her hip as they walked, until the sounds of a very happy wolf and a very aggravated wolf caught their attention. Kane looked across the courtyard, following Tam's confused stare to Gwyn trying to get a very wobbly, very smiley boy around her age to behave.

Kane returned her look with a raised brow, a silent question of what the hell he was looking at, then followed her over to the two yearlings. While Tamsyn went straight for her daughter, Kane stepped over to catch the wobbling boy in his paws before he completely toppled over. The boy giggled like a maniac and shot a huge grin up at Kane, putting his paws on either side of Kane's face in return. The boy's expression changed suddenly, a surprised look of delight on his face while he began to rub over Kane's cheeks, cooing softly to himself.

"Sooooo soooooft!" the boy hummed as he rubbed Kane's fur, his paws now reaching up and petting and stroking over Kane's forehead. Kane gave Tamsyn a startled look, then turned all of his attention on the boy. His pupils were dilated, slightly bloodshot, and when he waved a paw in front of his face, the boy didn't react. He was lost in his own little delirium, a catatonic state he was familiar with. "Somebody's having a good day today," Kane remarked with a knowing grin and chuckle. He cast a sideways glance to the two girls, then clarified, "This little guy's high as a bird right now! What'd he get into? Kava? Ayahuasca?"

"Kane"

Gwyn sighed as she watched Eilwen fly off out of the range of her scolding and then turned her gaze to a very clearly intoxicated Artorias. It was the first time she had seen anyone like this so she really didn't know what to expect, but so far it seemed mostly harmless - just making him look like a fool as he wobbled across the ground and acted like he was in his own little world. She was about to go try and lead him off somewhere that she could keep him contained until it started to wear off when she saw their mother and Kane appear and start approaching them. "Oh no..." she groaned to herself, her ears falling back against her head. If there was anyone she didn't want to find out about this it was their mother, but now it was just unavoidable.

She gave Tamsyn a guilty look when she questioned her over what was going on, but she couldn't even answer because she was absolutely baffled with what she was seeing Artorias do as he started to climb all over Kane and pet his face, muttering about how soft the larger man was. She watched her brother with wide eyes, absolutely mortified because of this mess that Eilwen had put them in. As soon as Kane said something about him being high she winced at her mother questioning her even more worriedly about why he was high. "It's Eilwen's fault!" she insisted with a frown. Oh her companion was going to get an ear full whenever she found her again. "We were looking for herbs over by Fossil Ridge and we found a plant I hadn't seen before. Eilwen told us it was Salvia and had Artorias try some, but wouldn't tell us what it would do and now..." she waved a paw toward her brother in exasperation with another sigh.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Artorias was no longer existing within the real world. He was totally unaware of his mother or Kane approaching him and Gwyn, instead too busy focusing on how the clouds in the sky were turning into cotton candy, with tie dye hues as they danced in the air. He heard the approaching footsteps and voices though, and when he looked down, suddenly he was being held by a brown bear wearing a top hat and monocle. Artorias gave the friendly bear a smile, then reached up to pat the bear's cheek. The bear's fur was so unbelievably soft though, like cashmere beneath his paws! Artorias gasped with wide eyes, placing both paws on the bear's cheeks and rubbing the soft fur between his toes. "Sooooo soooooft!" he cooed in amazement, then fell into a giggling fit as the bear made some incoherent noises.

Artorias flopped backwards in the bear's arms, a huge dopey smile on his face as his body felt weightless, like he were floating through the air. All of his muscles felt light and airy, and he felt like he was drifting above the ground, guided by an unseen force while he gazed at the colorful wonderland he'd found himself in. In any other circumstances, such a bizarre shift in his world would have been startling, but all Artorias could feel was a floaty, warm sense of euphoria. He could smell colors and taste the sunshine and see time. Everything felt good and his senses felt both heightened and numbed at the same time. How had he ended up like this again? Where was he? Oh well, he supposed it didn't matter if everything was this good. "I'm flyyyying, Gwyn! I'm flyyyyying!" he called out for his sister who he could no longer find. Was she flying too?

"Artorias"

Tamsyn's eyes went wide when Kane confirmed that Artorias was high, which certainly explained why her son was crawling all over him and cooing about him being soft. "Gwynevere! Why is he high?!" she questioned worriedly, looking back at her daughter in complete exasperation. Hearing how her raven companion had instigated all of this made her incredibly skeptical, but she also knew that Gwyn didn't have a single malicious bone in her body and she certainly wouldn't knowingly put her brother in any kind of danger. The only comfort she had was that Kane didn't seem concerned at all and in fact just seemed amused by it all. He had listed off a couple different options of what he could have taken so she assumed he was pretty knowledge on the subject.

She sighed and shook her head as she watched Kane scoop up her boy and listened to Artorias yell about how he was flying. She gave Gwyn a glance and just shrugged with a chuckle, not knowing what else she could do at this point. "If you collected any of that stuff lets make sure it at least gets locked away somewhere, alright? I don't think we need a repeat of this incident," she told the young healer, waiting for her to nod in agreement before following behind Kane and watching Artorias wobble around on his back with a slightly amused smirk on her lips.

Tamsyn Carpathius

While Kane continued to try to hold the very floppy Artorias upright while he mushed the dire wolf's cheeks and face, Tamsyn interrogated her daughter on what had happened. Gwynevere explained that they had come across a salvia plant and her raven had convinced the young wolf to try some of the leaves. "Salvia!" Kane exclaimed with recognition in his voice while Artorias went limp in his arms and folded backwards, dangling like he's fainted in the hunter's grasp while making quiet murring sounds to himself. He looked over to Tamsyn with a knowing grin and gave her a reassuring wink. "It's a mild hallucinogenic. My tribe would use it for relaxation and recreation," he explained. "Totally harmless, wears off after a couple of hours. He's just gonna be feeling reeeeeally good for a little bit and seeing some strange shit."

With Artorias little more than dead weight right now, Kane carefully hoisted the boy back upright, then slid his body underneath the young wolf's to hoist him up over his back. "Okay, buddy, let's get you somewhere you can lie down and just enjoy yourself," he murmured to Artorias, then looked back to Tamsyn and Gwynevere. "We can stow him in the infirmary to ride this out. Keep him contained." Carrying the intoxicated wolf that was presently flailing his limbs while making comments on flying, Kane began to carry Artorias back into the castle towards the infirmary, letting the two ladies take the lead while he handled the patient. "Hey, Gwynevere, did you bring any of the salvia back with you?" he asked with a raise of a curious brow. "I'm, uh, asking for a friend." He gave her an innocuous grin, though it was clear how he intended to use the drug.

"Kaneonuskatew"

As his mate, Tamsyn may enter his threads not marked as Private.
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Gwynevere breathed a sigh of relief as Kane mentioned how he was familiar with the plant they found and how it was harmless. She wasn't quite as mad at Eilwen then, but she was still annoyed that the raven wouldn't tell them what it did just to play a prank on them. She watched Artorias flopping about and eventually scooped onto Kane's back with pained embarrassment, partially for herself just from getting her brother in this situation to begin with and for Art. Hopefully he wouldn't remember most of this and wouldn't be mad at her or Eilwen when he came to. She nodded in agreement when Kane suggested that they take him to the infirmary to keep him contained for now. At least he wouldn't be flopping around the castle courtyard any more.

As they walked toward the castle, she nodded to her mother's instruction to lock away the rest of the salvia. It was certainly a reasonable request considering Art as currently laying across Kane's back babbling about how he was flying. Soon though, her ears perked and her gaze shifted back toward Kane when he asked asked if there was any more of the plant, saying that he was "asking for a friend". She raised an uncertain brow, glancing toward her mother who was giving him an exasperated look. The grin that popped onto her mother's muzzle made her happy though and surprised her, making her smile as well. After seeing what a dark place her mother had gotten to just seeing her smile was a big deal.

"I uh... think I might get us both in trouble if I give it to you," she answered with a chuckle, glancing between the two older wolves with a little smirk, her tail wagging slightly. She hadn't realized that her mother and Kane had gotten to know one another so well after he came here with her to get treatment from his wounds, but if he was making her mom smile like this then she was happy it happened. She quite liked the fellow healer anyway.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

At this point, Artorias was entirely gone. He flopped about lazily in the air as he was whisked away into the castle. Shadows shifted and danced around columns of light from the windows, creating an almost dizzying, surreal effect all around him. He wasn't floating for long though, and the next thing Artorias knew he was being thrown onto a cloud. Softness cradled his body as he hit it with a soft grunt, peering up at the brown bear again. When had the bear come back? He gazed around at nothing in particular, staring out at portals of bright light while he reclined and eased into the cloud, heaving a sigh with a weary smile while he relaxed into the warm, tingling, floaty sensations taking over his entire body. It felt like he was floating in a warm ocean and it felt great!

"Artorias"