It hadn't been that long since the thing they called 'The Long Night' had ended. Scylla wasn't fussed about it either way. Other than the fact that the light of day kept her brother asleep and hiding due to his fair complexion and pale eyes. Scylla herself squinted a bit during the brightest bits of day, but she mostly just stuck to the jungle where the thick foliage blocked out most of the bright light. It worked for her. She just had to spend less time with her brother. That did mean spending more time with Kione killing things. The girl was pretty pleased with that. The more things that she could kill, the better.

Scylla didn't remember much about the time that she was infected. It all seemed like a dream. She hadn't been cursed with the crystals or the mushrooms, but she'd been cursed with endless ooze pouring from inside of her. One clear memory was vomiting up a rabbit's food which she then turned into a necklace and wore every day. She liked the way that it glowed. The fact that it had come from inside her didn't bother the girl one bit. She was weird like that. During her infection, she'd received a few injuries, all of which were self inflicted. She'd chewed at her forelegs, sliced open her head and lips while banging her head against the bars in an attempt to escape. She remembered that. And she remembered falling from the ceiling and knocking the wind out of herself.

The girl wrinkled her nose at the memories and curled in on herself. She lay on the wide wooden deck that stretched between all of the wings of the complex. Scylla was waiting for Albion to wake up since Kione had had other things to do today. She was bored since she didn't have anything else to sew together. Her supplies were slim pickings at the moment. She needed more dead things and she needed more horse tail. Scy didn't want to ask her dad because he was so busy, but no one else really hunted that she knew of. Ugh... what a frickin' mess.

WC-360/1500

"Scylla Klein"

With the crystals that had been steadily sprouting from her crown over the last few days she was vividly reminded of the way the children of the island had been when they were infected with the various forms the illness had taken. Cerberus had ended up being the only one she had attempted to treat directly during that time, but she had seen Scylla and Albion as well because of Siren. Those were memories that she wouldn't soon forget and horrors she hoped they never had to live through again. The aquamarine crystals that had formed a tiara around her forehead seemed to be unrelated or perhaps a variation that didn't come with the other, more harmful side effects as last time, but her and Siren were no doubt watching her condition closely. So far there was no ooze, no coughing, no pains other than the headache that was similar to a pup growing in new teeth, and her mind was clear. She had already planned if any of those symptoms did appear she would have to lock herself away like they did the pups. The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally pass the infection on to Rusalka or anyone else so it would be for the best. For now though, she was just cautious and wary of this odd mutation that had decided to choose her as its target.

With the children and their wellbeing on her mind, she went to find Scylla or Albion to check up on them. Walking through the island compound, she did eventually find the slate and ivory splattered girl resting on the wood decking. Her brother was nowhere to be seen, but she assumed he was probably still avoiding the light. Well, at the very least it would give her a moment alone with Scylla which she didn't think she had ever had. Usually when she was around her lover's children it was with Siren. The newly appointed queen walked over to the small pup, offering her a smile. "Hello, Scylla," she greeted fairly simply, settling on her haunches beside the girl. Scylla and Albion were both beautiful children, something that she had thought of them both since they were born. It always made her wonder what their father looked like, but she never allowed herself to ask Siren anything about the man she claimed to be a water god. It would be their secret to the end of their days—one that Dalila had fully forgiven and forgotten despite the way it had torn her and her love apart right after it came to light.

"How are you feeling?" she questioned with a tip of her head, looking for any signs of the injuries she had gathered to see how they were healing. The ooze that had plagued her seemed to have dissipated completely, but it was hard to tell from the limited amount of time they spent together so it was worth taking the time to actually check on the young wolves.

WC: 502
Total: 862 / 1500

"Dalila Vista Rocha"

Sound from the side brought the girl lazily rolling her head to look and see who was coming towards her. Mismatched eyes landed on the approaching form of Dalila before instantly zipping up to the blue crystals that were now protruding from the woman's head. Scylla was instantly on her paws, spine arched kind of like a cat. She didn't want anything to do with crystals ever again. Or mushrooms, ooze, fireflies, guys in coats, swirly stars... none of it. The girl started backing away as Dalila came closer, eyes narrowing as she was unsure about the the woman's infection.

Dalila greeted her and sat close to where she'd just been laying. Scylla peered at her suspiciously, looking for any sort of ooze or any other growths. The woman's gaze was it's normal clear blue and she seemed to have her wits about her. Still wary, the slate and snow child crept closer and sat, though not as close as she had once been. "Hello," she said in return, the wariness in her tones. She wanted to ask about the crystals, but Dalila asked about her first.

"I'm okay," she admitted, and she really was. It was difficult to tell that anything had happened to her other than a few marks that were still healing. She'd pushed as many of the memories out of her head as she could manage and was getting along just fine. "I have dreams sometimes though." The girl's ears flicked out to the sides. "They're hard to remember most of the time, but there are crystals and mushrooms and lots of ooze. Sometimes I drown in it." A shudder ran through the small child, forcing her eyes closed.

Eyes open once more, she looked Dalila straight in the face. "What happened to your head? Are you infected? Are you going to die? Are you going to infect us? Are we going to get sick again? Are we going to die? Are those crystals going to stay there? Do you think we could break them off?" The never ending, rambling questions of children were nothing in comparison to Scylla's hungry mind and her quick moving tongue.

WC-360
Total-1222/1500

"Scylla Klein"

As soon as the girl noticed her new "horns" she immediately jumped up, startled by the sight of them and Dalila honestly couldn't blame her. She had been concerned and startled when Siren discovered them for her as well. She had kept herself in semi isolation for several days after they began to grow in just in case so she could watch for any other symptoms, but no, it seemed like it was just the crystal shards that also didn't seem to be going anywhere. Scylla did eventually come to sit beside her again, though with a good bit of suspicion and wariness. At least Siren's daughter was cautious and Dalila couldn't fault her for that. She was a smart, observant girl and Dalila was sure that would serve her well later on.

She was glad to hear that Scylla was doing well, giving a nod in response. Physically at least she looked perfectly fine save for a few still healing wounds, but even those had mostly closed up at this point so she didn't feel like they still needed tending to. She didn't know what the long term effects of any of this were going to be, physically or mentally, but Scylla made her wonder if there was some things that the pups might need to work through with her mentioning of her nightmares. Dalila's ears flicked worriedly at the idea of dreams that had her drowning in the ooze that they had all produced while they were ill. She knew that it would probably just take time for the memories to fade and that trauma to heal, but she still wondered if there was something they could do for the children to help them though it.

Before she could question Scylla more the girl opened her eyes to look up at her again and suddenly she was the one being bombarded with questions. She blinked with surprise and couldn't help but chuckle a little at the numerous, direct string of questions all about her crystal horns, whether she was infected or not, if she was going to die, and all of the strangely grim things she had come to expect from the odd girl. She lifted a paw to lightly tap on the crystals as she replied. "I don't know what happened... They just suddenly started growing," she replied honestly. "It doesn't seem like I'm infected or sick. Your mother made sure I was healthy and I stayed in quarantine for a little while to make sure. I don't know if they'll stay or not... I think trying to break them off would hurt. They seem pretty attached." She gave them another poke experimentally, but they felt as sturdy and attached as a piece of bone. "And no, none of us are going to die. At least not for a very, very long time." Sure, they would all die one day, but not for a very long time still and not because of the crazy infections.

WC: 498
Total: 1720 / 1500

"Dalila Vista Rocha"