Azure was not feeling amazing post-drunken island party of one. His head pounded, his muscles ached, every feeling he had been masking was coming back twice as strong and shouting loudly in his head. Step by step he drug himself back across Boreas, somehow veering off his normal path a touch too far west as he did so and landing in a territory one could only describe as empty. Even the trees were lifeless, curled over and gnarled with no leaves left on their twiggy branches. Azure stepped up to one of them and let his body fall against the trunk, shoulder to bark, eyes sliding shut as he attempted to silently reason with whatever part of him was currently stabbing daggers in behind his eyes. Somehow, acknowledging the pain hurt even more. With a groan he slunk further into the cracked dirt, ears pinning back in pain as the sound echoed not only through his pounding skull, but through to the caverns below.

"Speech"

Mercury had skirted past this territory on his way down to Auster, and it wouldn’t have been his choice to come here now. But as he made his way to the Orchard to pick fallen, fermented apples he caught the scent of the Armada Champion. Solar, his Cormorant companion let out a worried squark, and he nodded his head in agreement to the bird. “I know, little one. I’ll be careful” he promised, as he moved into the earthquake prone territory. The fissures and caves ran haphazardly here, and he moved carefully as he followed the trail of the Armada wolf.

He intended only to give a warming, and move on. But when he found Azure Fatalis, the older wolf was slumped against a barren tree. Looked ragged and worse for wear. “Champion?” he called out cautiously to announce his presence as he approached. Was the man ill? “We shouldn’t linger here, the earthquakes and fissures make this land unstable” He said, stopped a paws reach from the other wolf.


"Speech"

Azure cracked open an eye at the stranger's approach and gave yet another groan as he realized who in fact it was. That one dude, the one who'd been fucking the Menagerie alpha. What either of their names were, hungover Azure could not bring them to the forefront of his mind. "I think I'd prefer an earthquake to this migraine." He whisper-seethed, attempting for his own benefit to be quiet, but also doing his best to infuse as much venom as he could into the statement so the man would get the point.

Lolling his head in exhaustion against the tree's trunk, he tried to ignore the presence of the stranger. That did not last long before it was clear he was not going anywhere, and Azure tiredly got back to four paws. "Hurry up then, lets get this over with so I can rest." If Mercury was afraid of earthquakes, Az would move his ass to make him feel better. That did not mean he would not find another stable tree to rest upon as soon as they were clear of any potential danger.

"Speech"

“So I see” Mercury agreed, voice bland as he took in the state of the Armada alpha again, and realised he was not sick. At least, not from any sort of infection. He was recovering from alcohol poisoning. Despite that, and despite the venom in the other wolf's voice, he was still kind, and he placed himself beside the Champion as he pulled himself off the tree.

“Here, if you lean on me out of here I’ll show you an old hangover cure” He promised, keeping his voice pitched soft so as not to add to the other wolf's woes. He had heard enough at the pack challenge to know some of this wolfs woes, and he would do his best not to add them.


"Speech"

A hangover? Hearing it said aloud made Azure feel weak, sickly. "I can walk." He snapped a bit too quickly, grimacing against the pain as his tone reverberated back into his skull. It was much harder to wear a mask and be diplomatic and kind when in such agony, and Azure could hardly spare the energy to wonder how Wren would look upon them should the way he spoke to her mate get back to her.

Taking a few stumbling steps forward and watching carefully for any cracks, he moved deliberately through the hills towards 'safety', already dreaming of a nap in the adjacent orchard. "What's your cure, then? More alcohol? I've heard that one before." Perhaps conversation (even if it was a wild goose chase miracle cure) would help him keep his mind off of his discomfort. It would also double as another excuse to drink, if the man agreed that it would stave away the pain.

"Speech"

Azure did seem like the sort that would be bitter about showing weakness to a stranger. Mercury let him keep his pride, it cost the Seneschal nothing. Sometimes a man had to stumble himself, hungover and aching through a pit of barren hills and fissures. Mercury would simply be there if he fell and found he couldn’t rise again.

He did find his gaze moving across the Champions achingly handsome, and scarred face. He had a feeling the man tangled himself up in trouble more often than Merc's whole crew of sailors. “More Alcohol can definitely do the trick, but… this ones better for you” He said, though he had a feeling Azure would enjoy the other option more. “Have you ever drunk coconut water before? We are almost in the Prairie now. If you don’t want to go any further, I can go ahead. There’s a tropical island to the South where we would find what I need”


"Speech"