Walk | "Talk" | Think

Aranea was weak from a number of things. She hadn't really taken care of herself with the weeks building up to when she tried to kill herself. Pushing the drugs out of her system and what they had done to the unborn pups was a matter of it's own, exhausting her. She was in a lot of pain most of the time. This pregnancy had made her extremely anemic. Overall her mental health wasn't helping her through the rest of the days. She had been deceiving the wolves that brought her meals or Gywnevere who brought her the alfalfa and dandelion she offered previously. She was making it so that there was no chance for her to live after the birth of the pups, if she could even make it that far.

She found herself delirious from time to time, from dehydration or from the pain. Usually she was too weak to leave her den off the outskirts of the castle, which may have been a good thing for her safety. It wasn't like that today. Her legs weakly carried her north towards the castle. Mentally she had no idea why she was wanting to be in the castle, but it must have been the emotional connection, or severed connection that she had with Ulric. She made it about half way between the castle and the garden, the castle walls close in her hazy view, before she collapsed in the grasses outside. Whenever she came back to, it would be hard for her to go back to her den at the gardens.

Aranea being just outside of The Hallow's border and no longer in the castle had helped his nerves ever so slightly. It had at least allowed him the space to breathe and start attempting to work though what might come next and what had already happened. It was easier to just push all that pain to the side and ignore it, but soon enough he wouldn't be allowed to ignore it. There was a possibility that he could be a father again and even despite the slim odds with how Aranea had threatened the lives of their unborn children. That chance... That chance kept him up at night. There was such mixed emotions and he didn't want any of them. After how things had ended up with Azariah and his first litter he had wanted his next litter to come from a real love with a mate he fully trusted... not from this.

But he didn't get that choice now and all he could do was try to keep himself busy and force the thoughts out of his mind. He had already spent a large majority of his time with Eska as it was before all of this, but now it felt harder to leave her side. She kept him grounded and kept his emotion driven state from spiraling out of control. He hadn't felt like he deserved her patience and willingness to stand by him despite everything that was happening with him and around him, but she had stayed. He shifted his silver gaze to her for a moment as they walked side by side around the outside of the castle wall, just finishing up a brief patrol. A grateful smile pulled at his lips as he gazed at her for a moment before returning his attention to the path ahead of them.

As they neared the gates he spotted a sickeningly familiar form collapsed in the grasses outside of the castle walls. His demeanor immediately changed, his hackles bristling and jaw tensing. "Damn it..." he hissed under his breath as he picked up his pace into a trot, biting back the anger as he hurried to Aranea's side. He knew for a fact that food and supplies had been delivered to her like clockwork each day so when he saw how frail and thin she still was and how obviously weak she was it pulled that anger back to the surface.

"Why have I even bothered giving you everything you need if you're not even going to eat what I give you?" he muttered even though she was clearly out of it and his heated words spoken through gritted teeth would most certainly fall on deaf ears. He turned away from her and took a couple of steps away just to keep himself from being too rash or too rough, barely even able to lift his gaze to look at Eska. He didn't have to explain who this was, he was sure she would know.

Ulric Adravendi

"Eska"

Ulric and Eska had been joined at the hip during their waking hours. They spent a great deal of time together, yet she was sure not to be smothering. They simply enjoyed one another's company. They parted ways during the day here and there, but always managed to come back together. It was pleasant. She enjoyed his time and attention thoroughly.

Today as they ran a patrol together, something seemed to set him off. A curse left his lips and Eska pulled her attention to where his eyes rested. A pale, emaciated form lay on the path before him and Ulric stalked up to it, his coat bristling. Instantly, she knew who it was. The cause of all his sorrow. The reason for his pain, his anguish, his anxiety. As he growled his words at the woman, Eska took a deep breath.

Stepping forward, she leaned lightly into the earthen man's side in an attempt to calm him. "Would you get some meat and bring it to the nearby dens, please?" She gave him a sweet smile and waited for him to leave, watching his form disappear into the stone arch. Once he was gone, the brindled fae moved forward, inspecting the pale scourge. She wouldn't have much time until Ulric returned, so she leaned down, latched her jaws around the woman's scruff and began pulling her across the ground towards the dens. It brought her just a little satisfaction, but she still wished that Ulric would have allowed her to erase this woman.

Eska ducked into the closest den and settled the delirious fae onto a stack of dusty, unused furs. It was better than she deserved to be sure. The large woman stood over her as they both waited for Ulric to arrive. "You should have died with the children that you killed," she spoke softly. Eska then slapped the woman's cheek a few times with one paw, not roughly, but just enough to see if she was still alive. "If you care about Ulric at all," she whispered into one grey ear, "You'll have these children and die quickly. You've made him suffer enough." And then she moved towards the doorway, waiting for the Aegis to return.

When the brute's shadow came above her, her chin weakly rose and reached forward towards him. Though, she was not seeing Ulric in fact. She had a hard time seeing at all, and she was now living a moment many years ago from her past. Ulric did not exist to her, other than her heart knowing how important he was to her. It was probably not an ideal sight for him, after seeing Resin perish.

"Ty?" she called out weakly, her paws scrambling as if she could crawl over to him, "You came back to me." She gave a relieved grin as tears started to form in her eyes. The sun cast blurs across his form, but she could see he was turned away from her, a sign of his disappointment. "I'm sorry, I-" The presence of another come to her deluded view, and when Ulric would walk away to do as Eska asked, Aranea's chin flopped down onto the ground, the rush of her devastated emotions of being left behind fell over her.

She didn't do much as the woman picked her up by the scruff and dragged her elsewhere, she couldn't do anything anyway. Only tears fell from her eyes from that pain of abandonment again. Everything that Eska was saying was going in through one ear and out the other, she couldn't hold on to the words as a whole while she was living this dream. "I- I'm sorry Storm." Her voice belittled her, which wouldn't have really made sense had this been Tyranis' mother. But the woman who dragged her her she was finding aggressive and it scared her, of course nothing was making sense other than she believed she was living in the past, six years ago. "He didn't want me to kill them." She confessed, as if telling Storm killing Nuada and Rain was the better option that she did actually give Tyranis when she found out she was having a teenage preganacy. "He was going to marry me. He was going to make it alright then." Of course Eska had zero idea what she was talking about, and probably didn't care either.

Aranea seeing Ulric as Tyranis was speaking out for what her heart really wanted. And unfortunately, that was impossible to give her. And she would die knowing just how worthless she was to everyone.

"Aranea"

Aranea has a british accent. Threads can produce a Depression Trigger. (Ar-en-ay-ah Har-per Lah-or-ee) Scent: Lavender Alignment: Neutral Good Season: Summer Height: 26 inches Home: Somnium - Dead

He sighed looked away as Aranea called to him with her first mate's name, clearly more delirious than he had even originally guessed, unable to look at her emaciated, frail form that was somehow still swollen with what he had come to accept was their pups, frantically trying to reach him under the belief that he was the man that had originally broken her. He remembered her telling him about Tyranis, how he his heart had broken for her, how he had wanted to fix her the same way he tried to fix Azariah and the same way he tried to fix Philomena and his mother and his children and his family. He was constantly trying to pick up the pieces of others and never allowed himself to pick up his own pieces. No more. He couldn't give her any more and couldn't endure any more of the hurt that she had caused him.

He felt Eska's side against his and leaned into her, bringing his exhausted silver gaze up to hers, her presence draining away the furry that Aranea had brought back to him. He nodded quietly to her request, tipping his head forward to press his nose to her cheek for a moment before pulling away from her side without a word to go into the castle, ignoring the apology that Aranea muttered at his departing form. He didn't look back to see what Eska was doing, not wanting to know and not really caring. He dutifully went to the food stores within the castle and gathered a portion of meat to carry back out to the dens that were just outside the castle walls, following their scents easily enough to find them. He slipped his front half into the den, unable to fully enter due to his size and the two women already taking up most of the smaller space. He placed the meat down beside Eska, his ear swirling toward Aranea. He had arrived just in time to hear something about marrying her and making it right.

His first reaction was to bristle and deny the accusation, but then he remembered her delusional ramblings. Ty. He gave a small shake of his head, whispering to Eska, "She's probably still talking about Ty. The father of her first litter. He stole their son and left her." He didn't feel the need to defend Aranea, but perhaps he felt the need to defend himself. Eska had already proven that she was incredibly understanding, but he just couldn't stand for this woman to do anything that might threaten their relationship after all of this. He glanced toward Aranea and added, "I've been sending food to her every day... I guess she's just been refusing to eat. I didn't think to tell them to stay and make sure she did." At this point he was shocked that the pregnancy had even remained this long. Were those two pups even still alive at this point? It was difficult to believe that they could be with her in this state.

Ulric Adravendi

"Eska"

Eska rolled her eyes as the delirious woman mumbled and raved. If the pups within her were born alive, she would be thoroughly shocked. There was no way that this sack of bones would be able to sustain her own life, let alone that of the growing children held in her rotting womb. Not without extensive help. Since Ulric was invested in the future of the unborn pups, Eska would do what she needed to to ease the mans mind.

Soon, Ulric returned with a chunk of meat in his teeth. Eska nodded and took the meat, moving close to Aranea where she then sat. Still the woman rambled on and Ulric felt the need to explain. Eska simply gave her head a shake before tearing off a piece of meat. She chewed it thoroughly, masticating the mouthful until it was a fine pulp. The woman then transferred it from her mouth to Aranea's with her paw, then held the fae's maw shut. Gently, Eska stroked the woman's throat, prompting her to swallow.

Shifting her gaze to the man taking up the entire entryway of the den, she motioned to Aranea with a tilt of her head. "She'll need to be fed like this at least twice a day. If she's not eating or drinking on her own, she'll soon be dead." It would be a well deserved fate, starving to death. However, if the pups within her still lived, they were undeserving of the same fate. Eska would rather not be the one to keep the woman alive, but if Ulric asked it of her...

She was still mostly unaware of what was really happening around her. Ulric explaining himself, Eska preparing to force feed her. But when the large woman approached her, she cowered and weakly pushed herself back into the den wall behind her, "Ty, I'm scared." A young and small voice came from her, her wide gaze flicked to Ulric to direct who she was talking to. Her ears tucked back as Eska proceeded, but she wouldn't fight back. Still, her starving body wouldn't scarf the food down though, only take it as slowly as Eska was feeding it to her.

She was a few pieces into the meal when she started to come to, but at first she nearly thought it was a dream. Her eyes were closed as she was fed and she slowly took in her surroundings from there. When she realized where she was, or at least that she was in real life she panicked and started to choke on the chewed food, scrambling backwards again into the back of the den and trying to get away from the woman feeding her. She didn't even notice Ulric in the mouth of the den. But she wasn't freaking out because she didn't want to eat, she was panicking because of the lack of control she felt she was in, and the woman she didn't know touching her without her consent. It took her backwards into what had happened to her after she left The Hallows, and the fear and trauma could be seen through her huge eyes. She wheezed as she choked, trying to catch her breath back in between her words, "Don't- Touch me." Her breath labored as she settled best she could still with the pain in her throat, "Please."

These were things she didn't want Ulric to know, she had asked to bed with the man that ended up belittling her and raping her, and she was disgusted with herself from even enjoying the sexual feelings of it. But ultimately after she found herself under the man, she didn't want to be there anymore. And it led her to this feeling of not having control over her life. She knew she was defenseless to protect herself.

"Aranea"

Aranea has a british accent. Threads can produce a Depression Trigger. (Ar-en-ay-ah Har-per Lah-or-ee) Scent: Lavender Alignment: Neutral Good Season: Summer Height: 26 inches Home: Somnium - Dead

Ulric watched with a tired sadness as Eska painstakingly crewed up bites of food and forced Aranea to eat them. He gave a somber nod as she explained how she'd have to be fed like this if she wasn't eating or drinking on her own otherwise she would be dead. That much was obvious from the thin, frail state of her body that made her swollen stomach look almost grotesque. He still vividly remembered how Azariah had looked when she was pregnant. She had been huge with their large litter of big pups, but she had been healthy, glowing. Aranea... Aranea had made herself into a skeleton and it tore away at him. His gaze was fixed on her stomach, feeling guilt and conflict twist in his gut. He had been hands off in this whole thing in an effort to protect himself, but it had led to this. He felt like he shouldn't have left it up to other wolves to take care of his mess.

His jaw tensed when he heard Aranea told Eska to not touch her, seeing some kind of fear in her eyes. He almost wished he hadn't found her by that lake, that she could have died and he could have gone on in ignorant bliss thinking she had run off to Abaven or wherever the hell she wanted to be. If he hadn't known what he might lose then he never would have had to care. But now that he knew there were children on the line that didn't deserve this fate - whether they were his or not - he couldn't allow her to kill them too. He nodded for Eska to follow him out of the den as he backed out of it, taking a couple steps away before sitting heavily on his haunches with a sigh.

Dread settled over him, and his ears flicked, but he had already settled into a grim resolve by the time Eska came out to where he was sitting. His silver gaze lifted to meet hers and he felt a bit of that calm she offered him just with her presence, but there wasn't much that could fully solve the exhaustion this situation brought to him. "I'm going to have Gwynevere come examine her and see if the pups are still alive," he told her quietly, a frown pulling at his lips. "If they are... I'll take care of her. It's my mess, I should be taking care of it. If not then I'll let her die." That seemed like the only logical and fair solution or at least the solution that he could live with. He wouldn't asked Eska to do this for him. He knew her stance on it and as much as he would love to allow her to end Aranea in whatever way she saw fit his own paternal instincts wouldn't allow it. If they were alive he had to try and protect them from their own mother.

Ulric Adravendi