Misery sat on his own looking thoughtfully at a few mushrooms in the ground and then to a tree where crystals were sprouting, head tilted to one side.  Beside him lay four live rabbits lying quietly on their side.    The rabbits had their legs broken to make sure they didn’t go anywhere.  It had been irritating to catch them without biting or slashing at them but he had finally done it.  Each one had been checked over to make sure they didn’t already have the sickness.

Misery would have preferred more rabbits but for now, these were all he had.  The young wolf was impatient to see what would happen and could always get more rabbits later.  Better yet maybe he could get someone else to catch the rabbits for him.  “Well, let's see who I can find to help.”  Misery gave one of the rabbits a gentle pat as if he wasn’t just the one who had cruelly broken each leg.

Stepping away he howled, a casual someone for anyone who wanted to help him with a potential idea to help with the sickness.  There wasn’t any rush in his call but he imagined at least one wolf might rush in and hopefully not mom.  Mom was like the one wolf he didn’t need to help with this.  Wendigo would work, another pup, any lower rank really would be good.  Misery smiled wickedly, proud of the fact he had risen up in status.

"Misery"

Veigar was miserable. His sickness was something he'd tried hard to hide but it became quickly apparent that he couldn't continue to do so. Not when he was oozing bright green liquid from everywhere. It was irritating at best - and downright maddening at worst. The ears he could ignore, but having thick liquid dripping out of his eyes and all over his face constantly was enough to drive him crazy. At least he thought it was that doing it, not the sickness itself affecting his mind. He was feeling more and more off with each day that passed, paranoid that he didn't quite belong here, even more so than usual. Like everyone around him was becoming acutely aware of just how different he was and how he didn't belong.

That was why, when he heard a call from someone he didn't know well, he was quick to reply to it. Slender legs carried him across the redbud forest until he found Misery. He was breathing hard by the time he got here, skidding to a halt and wiping some of the green ooze from his nose and cheeks. His jaws parted slightly, the same liquid oozing from his tongue and dripping down his jowls. He was a mess, but he knew there were other wolves in Habari who were sick, so surely it would just pass... right? "I'm here to help. I'm Veigar," he added quickly, in case this boy didn't know his name.

This worked well.  Misery offered a friendly welcoming smile to the kid as he showed up.  The ooze was disgusting and Misery seriously didn’t want to contract the illness or even get a drop of it on him.  “Helli Veigar, I’m Misery.” The boy offered warmly.  “You look pretty young.  I’m impressed you came so quickly to help,”  his brow furrowed, “got the sickness to huh?  You’ll probably appreciate what I need help with them.  I’m hoping to learn more about the disease.  I’m no healer but I question this sickness being something normal methods will fix.”   Misery shrugged, “regardless, the healers could use all the help possible in running tests.”   Misery had spent his childhood learning to act in whatever way fit the moment.  Smiles and laughs versus threatening words and arrogant demeanor were choices he logically chose with a detachment for letting emotions control him.  He'd be a great spy someday and this was of tantamount importance in his mind.

“Having no infection it's important I continue trying to avoid touching the potential causes that spread it.  So far no one has contracted both of the sicknesses which has me wonder what happens if someone were to eat or even let let trace amounts of both in their blood.”  A paw is waved to the rabbits, “I gathered these for test subjects. So, if you could do me a favor and take one of those mushrooms, break off pieces and feed them to each of the rabbits please.”   Why do things that are dangerous when there are others willing to do it for you?  Misery’s points were valid, no one had gotten more than one variation of the disease but that really didn’t mean they couldn’t.  It was unsaid but the test would not only be using the rabbits as experients but the pup as well.  All for the greater good.

"Misery"

The paranoia that was slowly forcing itself into his mind was somewhat soothed by the fact that he was needed here, that he could help. There was no ounce of the boy that would suspect Misery was up to anything suspicious at all; if he couldn't trust his own packmates, then who could he trust? He nodded, despite the way his entire body ached, finding his spirits slightly lifted from this newfound purpose he had here. "Hiya Misery," he greeted him with a half-hearted grin at best. "Yeah, I'm sick too." It wasn't a hard thing to deduce, with the green ooze pooling from practically every orifice, but the thought that he might say the wrong thing was overbearing. Be obedient, be useful, the voices told him repeatedly. He belonged here, and he would contribute. He could only listen to the yearling, giving a feeble nod as Misery continued to explain what he was doing here.

He didn't want to get infected - that was understandable. But he wanted to see if these rabbits could get both illnesses? He gave another curt nod, following his directions as he grabbed some of the mushrooms and offered them to the suffering rabbits. None seemed terribly interested but with a bit of shoving he was confident he'd managed to force-feed at least one of them a bit of mushroom. The other three... well, he wasn't so sure. "What now?" He asked with a tilt of his head, glancing up at Misery with wide, inquisitive eyes.

Misery had been fairly confident it wouldn’t be too hard to talk a pup into doing what he wanted but it still gave him a smug sense as the boy agreed without questioning it.  Hopefully messing around with the substances like this wouldn’t make it worse but who could say for sure.  The one concern Misery did still have was how mom got sick without even touching them.  It means for some reason there was still a risk.  Was the scent of the mushroom or was there dust from the crystals that carried the contagion?  For whatever Misery learned hopefully a healer or someone else with an inch of intelligence figured out whatever Misery couldn’t with limits of insight.

He gave Veigar a nod as he finished up with a rabbit, “good job,”  said with a smile, “let's hope this whole thing proves useful.”  Misery pointed to a crystal, “break off a piece of that and put it in the rabbit's mouth.”   Misery shrugged, “They are both new things to this region.  What if one cure2 the other?” The creation of them made no sense, the chance one healed the other seemed slim yet the idea of each making the sickness worse had the greatest possibility.  Then again if it turned out once you have one sickness you couldn’t get another then that could be useful knowledge.  “What if such a cure was here all this time and none of us ever tried it?”   That hope should be enough to keep the pup willing to assist.

"Misery"

Misery

It comes for us all... but you are safe... for now.

The paranoid thoughts that had begun to swirl around his mind made it difficult to do anything but go along with what Misery was asking him to do. He wanted to belong, wanted to fit in with his peers - at any cost. He was afraid of being ostracized for being sick even more than he was scared about getting more sick. He wouldn't blame them for not wanting him near, in case he was contagious... but anything he could do to avoid that outcome was exactly what he'd do, without thinking. He watched the rabbits carefully as he sat back and examined the ones he'd fed, wondering if the effects would be immediate or gradual. His own sickness had been gradual, but then the effects had happened quickly, not long after he'd tried running up Mount Volkan with Aryn.

He nodded at the instructions, doing as he was told and breaking off a bit of crystal and feeding it to the same rabbit. It choked it down, not completely by its own accord, and Veigar beamed proudly. By now the ooze was dripping down his face again and making a mess. A bath was definitely in order, once he was done assisting Misery. "Maybe," he half-agreed quietly. Veigar didn't know what the cure might be; he didn't think he'd be the one to figure it out anyway but he hoped he might be privy to the information once someone figured it out.

Veigar

The sickness deepens... You get a blinding headache as if something is trying to grow through your skull.