Ah, home sweet home. It had been quite a while since she'd been here prior to claiming the lands, and even after having been gone for quite some time, the place was still as wretched as ever! Although there were much better lands to claim, the Pits always held a special place in her black little heart. Mostly because this was where she had practically grown up. Spent a lot of her early years here surviving on the unfortunate souls that had fallen into the goo or had gotten stuck and starved. But their misfortune was often a fortune for her because then she got to eat and get all sorts of neat bones and trinkets off the Pits victims. Yes, it truly was a special place for the Wraith!

And that was why her favorite people got the privilege of bunking here! They got front-row seating to watch the bubbling black tar pop and gurgle, or if something just so happened to crawl too close, and fall in well, they became one with the tar. Forever. It really was a great place for scavenging for odds and ends, and was the bulk of her bone supply when she was feeling too lazy to actively collect them herself. Why do all the work when the tar pits did most of it for her!?

Today though, she skulked into the pits to check on the Cursed. There was maybe a pawful of 'em, but the others would end up here sooner or later. She was just giving them a head start!


"Speech!"

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Misery wasn’t really a nice wolf and he was a very selfish one.  The tar pits stank and the scenery was cheerless making it a rather abysmal spot to stay.  The small wolf wouldn’t mind coming here for visits though as he saw some uses for it.  However, living here was another matter.  Misery had no interest in running away or making rash decisions, however.  The black and silver wolf figured he’d be a sorry excuse for a spy if he didn’t stay where one would be useful.  Besides, aside from the flaws of the disgusting place, there could be fun found in this.

Misery had never cared for snakes but he certainly knew how to deal with them.  With several in his family having an interest in the wicked things and with Misery having to appreciate their venom he’d learned how to toy with them.  Misery held a rattlesnake by its tail, directly below the rattle itself, dangling the thing above a pit.  The animal was struggling but appeared weak, a close-up look would show where scales had been torn off along with some cuts from some of the stones he’d tossed on its head.  The snake wasn’t dead but Misery expected it wished to be.

Could he have eaten the snake? Sure.  Maybe he still would eat a portion of it but, right now he wanted to cause it pain.  Torturing the snake would make Misery’s day a bit better than it.  He let the snake's head tap against the hot tar without letting it sink in, lifting it back up.  It writhed trying to get away before Misery dipped it a bit more, watching how the tar refused to give up its prize.  He had to pull the snake more to pry its head free from the tar and the struggle was starting to fade.  So soon? Bah, the wolf dropped the snake, seeing only the slightest signs of twitching.  It was dying, damn.

At the sight of more movement his gaze swept over to spot the slave moving amongst them.  Misery didn’t give a damn about the title she’d won herself or what rank that put him in this joke of a pack.  She was a slave and he was far far better than her.  It wasn’t hard to be better than Medusa, all one had to do was talk properly or think rationally.  

That said he greeted the current leader of the pack with a tight thin smile that showed no real warmth.  If anything one could imagine the smile would have grown had she been injured. “Medusa,” the name was said politely despite his personal feelings, “did you come here to torture helpless creatures also?” Picking up the snake he flung the corpse a bit farther away.  She could take the question as she wanted.  Did she come to torture helpless animals like snakes or to the wolves she kept captured here? There was the open-ended offer though to torture things with him.  Misery was actually quite curious about how the foolish alpha would handle this.

"Speech"

She spotted him toying with what appeared to be a nope rope. Medusa had to admit she wasn't a huge fan of snakes. She didn't mind them, but they weren't particularly something she willingly kept around. They did make good bait for some creatures though, and it seemed that the snake that Misery had was bait for him to play with or...whatever he was doing to it. As she approached him, he turned to greet her, a tight lipped smile on his face. If there was one thing Medusa had learned from her time around this pipsqueak, was he couldn't be trusted. Ever. Recluse aside, he had been second meanest to her, and that put him high on her list of enemies, and she didn't have many that she considered enemies. One had been beaten to a pulp, another one had died...then there was this guy, and probably some others she wasn't too focused on at the moment. "That depends," She quipped as she slowed to a stop, staring down at the skunk-like male. "Does Medusa have a reason to torture right now?" In her mind, this guy didn't really deserve any niceties from her. He was a prisoner. Not a slave. But considering she knew how his feelings had been toward her the whole time she'd known him, she wouldn't put it past him to still have those thoughts about her. Therefore, she had absolutely no reason to be nice to him. "Medusa"

Medusa was bigger than Misery when it came to physical height, his head tilted up some as he regarded her.  In his mind though she would always be the smaller one of them.  They’d both know it a lie if he suddenly turned nice to her so they’d simply stick to his minding his manners for now.  He just had to bide his time for opportunities to present themselves.

“Not that I know of,” Misery replied smoothly.  “Besides,I was referring to the snakes.  I never did care for them.  Never understood the desire to have one for a pet.  I dipped them in lava when I got the chance back on the mountain.  The tar pit seems to do a fine job on them here though, I’m sure the stench is worth the trade. So, what brings you to come and visit our pleasant little piece of the landscape?”

"Misery"

Indeed, they both knew it would be a lie if her second arch-nemesis started being nice to her. She knew his feelings about her. Knew he didn't respect her, but at least he had enough sense to be civil and understood his place. Or at least acted like he understood his place, anyway. "Not that I know of," Good. Medusa didn't want a reason to have to throw him into the tar pits despite her very, very strong feelings about him. Ghoul would probably never forgive her! Maybe. She didn't know. Though she did fantasize about it sometimes. "Recluse had a snake as a pet. Medusa is surprised she didn't make all of you have one, too." She shrugged, then considered his question. "Medusa wants to know if Misery wants to try and fight to leave. Or if he is going to wait for Recluse to come for him." There were other alternatives, of course, but he didn't need to know that quite yet. "Medusa"