tw: mention of suicidal thoughts

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.

Oh no.

When Fortune woke that morning, or at a time that she thought was morning but was actually in the middle of the night, she knew something was wrong immediately. She couldn’t see a thing and now matter how much she pawed and wiped at her face, ears, eyes, everything it just wouldn’t stop. It felt like something thick and wet seeping from every orifice, even her nostrils. She didn’t even want to investigate anywhere else she might be leaking from. Thankfully it didn’t cross her mind, yet anyway.

Blindly she stumbled out of her den, already sobbing. Although she could feel the tears welling in her eyes and streaming down her face, it hardly did anything to wash away whatever was blinding her and it only made her more upset and even more frantic than she was already acting. Her paws carried her blindly through the pack lands, her voice crying out as she sobbed and ran into every possible tree she could on her blind adventure. She didn’t even know which was she was going or where she would end up. Fortune was so disoriented, that she didn’t even know she was at the hot springs until it was too late.

Already covered in scrapes, bruises, scratches, and a little bit of everything from her jaunt through Boreas. Tears and goo streamed down her face in never ending waves, stinging the places where her face had been cut. Amongst the tears, glowing blue goo, and sticks and leaves, Fortune had a bit of blood streaked from the cuts and scratches.

She was frantic, stopping often to paw wildly at her face to remove whatever was blinding her, but each time it didn’t work. The longer it went on, the worse she got. Her mind was racing, unable to escape the infinite darkness that she was trapped in. Had she always been afraid of the dark? She didn’t know,  but it seemed so familiar now. The fear anyway. The longer she was trapped inside the darkness, the worse it got. The worse it got, the faster she ran. The faster she ran, the further she got away from Habari.

If there was anything she was more afraid of than the dark, it was water.

Nearly dying the last time she’d fallen in, the darkness surrounding her only added to the fear of drowning again. When she felt nothing underneath her paws, the fear intensified as she splashed and sank into the warm water of the hot springs. She flailed, splashing her limbs around as she screamed through her sobs, blind and unable to find anything to grab onto.

Her flailing lasted for what seemed like hours until she latched onto the edge of the pool she’d fallen into and she clung to it, scraping her claws into the stones and dirt trying to pull herself free from the water. If only it would free her from the darkness as well.

Once freed from the water, Fortune collapsed. Her body was weak and tired from running, and even more so by the attempt at swimming. She pulled her limbs up underneath her small body, her sobs now weak. Blue goop still poured from her eyes in tandem with her tears, neither seeming to have an end. She shivered in the cool winter air, the warm water having only frozen her small body even more once she freed herself from its grasp and she hit the cold air.

Now lost, exhausted, freezing, and blind, Fortune holed herself up and sobbed quietly to herself, alone. Was this her life now? Forced into a word where she would ooze forever? What would her mother think? Recluse? All of Habari?

And what about Arne?

Her new friend would likely run away screaming in fright if he saw her right now. The thought of that alone made her sob deeper, burying her face and misfortune into her gloved paws and smearing the evidence all over herself. With each and every sob she would seem to curl in tighter on herself, backing herself up almost entirely into a rock structure covered with the mushrooms and crystals that caused all of this. She laid there like that for what seemed like hours, her fur drying on the surface but remaining drenched underneath. Her body shook with shivers, but her sobbing eventually slowed. Intrusive thoughts were finding their way into her vulnerable mind, reminding her of just how easy it would be to end it all. The oozing. The fear of what her friends and family would think of her. What a disgrace she would be to them. No one would like her anymore. No one would want to be around her. What if she could infect others? They'd probably abandon her, leave her out alone. She'd be better off taking control and ending it now on her own terms.

With a swallow and a sniffle, Fortune rose to her paws slowly. With the ooze pouring from her eyes at an alarming rate of speed, she turned her head towards the water despite being unable to see it. Her movements seemed to be not her own, as if she were sleep walking or controlled by an outside force. As she stared into the water that she was terrified of moments ago, the thoughts were getting louder, more demanding now instead of just suggestions. Telling her to do it instead of making it sound like her idea. It was confusing to the girl, who still felt a great need to get away from the waters edge that she crept closer to in her time standing. She couldn't, though, no matter how hard she tried to move her legs, the voices in her head were shouting at her to jump, to end all of it. The oozing. The voices. The fear and the shame she would feel when those she cared about abandoned her after everything she went through to get them back.


"Fortune Speech!"
code © skelle 2021

literally 1000 words ftw

Firefly Shoppe- Fortune

The sickness deepens... You feel as if there's something in your ear that you need to get out. No matter how you scratch, the item won't budge. You scratch harder, until the feeling subsides but nothing is extracted. Unfortunately, your ear was damaged in the process, with a half inch notch being torn away from the edge.
You gain:  

• Ear Tear- A half inch notch has been torn from one of your ears. Ouch!
  

Your attention blurs and refocuses. It feels as if you are in a dream as you find yourself alone in the mist. Fireflies gather and light the way to a table with a figure waiting behind it. On the table lay three items, with their prices beside them. "Choose w̶̢̧͉̥̻̟͈͙̽̉̆̿̈͒͋̓̇̍͌̇̎͠͝ì̵̢̝̄͐́͆̓̚ṣ̶̛͙̟͎̤̞̤͎̹̙̭̪͔̓̐̾̂͆̄͆͌̈̈́̏̚͜͝͠ȩ̴͔̱̗̜̾̉̀̓̀͆͛̊̂̍̕̚̚̚ͅl̵̢̦̲̼̠̖̜̺̮̜̺͋̈́y̴̧̨̧̪̗̥̘͇̾͑͗͜͠, and only choose o̷͕̭̊̃̌̊̏̀ņ̸̼͚͉͔̒͐̊e̵̮̯͛̔̀̑͜," the figure says, looming over the table as his eyes seem to peer into your soul. Are they... moving? "If you can afford it, that is. Beware, however, for there are many d̷̡̯͉̎̊̈́͐͠á̴̬̪̣̝̞̅̀̈́̄ṉ̸̢̠̤̹̥̙̜͋͆̚g̷̛͍̹̣̬̙͖̝̘̃̈e̷͓͕̖͓̝̤̿͐͐͜͠ŗ̵̤͚͔̟̹̳̽̒͝ş̸̛͓͔̩̥̦͛̊̈̾̐̒̓ ̴̺͔̃̇̆ahead." He does not seem like he's in the negotiating mood...


I̵̜̖͎͓͒̑̕n̸͓̗̘̫͉̗̻͐̔̿̊͆̋͝v̵̦̹̠͉̖̼̮̎̌͆ȩ̸͕̦͔̳̩̈́͜n̶͍̝̙̯̣̹̫̩͋t̶̟͈̟̲̜̙̣̋̿̓̆̅͊͝͝ŏ̶̼͊r̶̖͎̙͔̥͎͙͈̊̍͝͠y̴̧͔̭͒͆̉̕͝:

• Grow Potion- 1 /
  This bottle is shaped like an upside down pear and within it swirls a sparkly gold liquid. The label shows a crudely drawn image of two wolves of vastly different sizes, with a green checkmark over the largest one.
  
• Xtra shrink potion- 2 /
  It comes in an extra tiny bottle. There’s barely even one drop!
  
• Opaque Sack of Mushrooms/Crystals- 1 /
  Running out of event currency and not sure what else to spend it on? Gamble on this mysterious pouch and potentially find more mushrooms/crystals within it! Or perhaps something else!
  

Before she could be convinced to jump into the water, she noticed that her vision began to blue and slowly her focus would regain but only to find herself in the middle of a strange mist, something she couldn't explain so suddenly. It felt as if she was in a dream. Had she fallen in? Did she not feel it? Her ear began to itch suddenly and she clawed at it angerily, almost as if she couldn't feel it as she eventually tore through her ear, leaving a slight notch. As the blood drained from the tear, suddenly so due to the ears vascular nature, her lavender eyes then noticed a strange figure nearby with a table and some wares. Strange.

She left her post by the springs to approach the stand, looking down upon his collection as if she didn't even feel the tear. The two potions looked strange, but there was also a bag of what looked liked the mushrooms and crystals she had been found before. She gazed between the potion marked for the smaller sized wolf and the sack, unsure of what she wanted, but finally settled for the sack of mushrooms and crystals. With a light wave of a white gloved paw, she gestured towards the sack as she grabbed a suddenly available crystal and offered it in trade to the strange being.

"Fortune Speech!"
code © skelle 2021

Firefly Shoppe- Fortune

The young wolf waves at the sack of unknown contents, and without hesitation the cloaked figure snatches up the crystal, leaving the yearling with her purchase before disappearing as quickly as he had arrived.

You gain:

• Opaque Sack of Mushrooms/Crystals- Running out of event currency and not sure what else to spend it on? Gamble on this mysterious pouch and potentially find more mushrooms/crystals within it! Or perhaps something else!
  

You lose:

• Currency (x1)- Used in Firefly's Shoppe, and perhaps elsewhere...
  
  

At first it had started as an itch in the corner of his eye. An annoying itch that just wouldn’t leave him be. He had tried rubbing with his paw, and then rubbing his face against the trunk of a tree, the pain was sharp, and made him yelp. It felt like bits of his bone were being ripped away with each rub. It would leave his face smooth for a short while, but then the things would grow back bigger and thicker than before.

What had started out as small crystal shards, grew until small crystal spike that obscured part of his vision and grew out of his ears. Already having small tusks to be mindful of, the new additions were frustrating to avoid bumping against things as he knew, each small bump would make them splinter and grow back stronger. He didn’t want Fortune to see him like this, but what if she had it too and wanted someone to blame for it?

After all, wasn’t he the one trying to brake the crystals off?

He really shouldn’t have kept lingering this close to a pack, but he had never been the smartest kid in the litter. It was only because he was so close that he managed to pick up on Fortune’s scent. It was laced with panic and blue glowing goo seemed to leave as much of a trail as her scent did. His brows drew down in worry as he began to trail after her.

By the time he reached her, she was standing on the edge of the hot springs. She looked so far away it made his stomach drop. "Hey Fortune! Aren’t ya cold enough already?" He asked, keeping his distance. He wanted to run to her, but he also didn’t want to accidentally knock her in when he was covered in all these sharp glowy pink spikes.

"Arne Speech!"
code & art © skelle 2021