Welcome, Guest!

Virus Outbreak
Event: April 1 - April 30
Thanks to Sylvirr, Necromancer, and Hythyr for this event idea!

 

An orb of molten gold shimmers across a quiet beach, illuminating the bodies of thousands of blackened fish, strewn across the sand like kelp. Quieter than usual tides are reluctant to lap at the shores and the water has withdrawn father than it usually does, as if retreating the scene of it's own vomit. But not all of the fish are whole. Beady eyes fiercely peer through the surrounding wooded areas with full stomachs and deluded minds. The air whispers a gentle grasp, laden with the foul beast that had claimed the lives here, struggling to live on through bigger means.

What to do!

Something's happened and all the fish are not only dead, but ebony. Some of them have been eaten by surrounding creatures. A virus is air-bourne and has already infected some local critters.

For the purposes of containing the chaos, we'll say that the virus is contained to this thread and this thread only, so that when they leave other threads, they are either healed or non-infectious. You can decide what the virus is called and what it does - the effects can even vary from creature to creature or mutate. What is known already is that it can cause innocent creatures like squirrels to become irate monsters who attack wolves!

Meta-Game: Telephone! If everyone can post the virus details with their post, we can watch the virus get discovered and/or mutate.


Play a wolf, or critter, infected or not, and let confusion - and fun - follow!

Please no WIP or claiming posts, no post order.




Points!
Participation: +5 pts
Early Bird Bonus: +5 pts (replying before the 7th)
Arrival Bonus: +10, +9, +8 ... +3, +2, +1pt respectively for arriving 1st - 10th

Your points = participation + early bird + arrival bonus

Don't forget that you can claim extra points for exiting in the point shop.



Here's a little code that you can use to post the virus. Try to ride off of what everyone else has done, adding your own little twists and turns and mutations. Try to only fill in 1 or 2 new things when it is your turn, so that it doesn't get too large, too quickly.

Fill yer well with truth.    

Caprina crept onto the white sandy beach. She smiled with her eyes closed in contentment as the soft white dust crept between her toes and into her fur. She had never seen the beach before. She had always lived by a lake before coming to Torva. The new opportunity thrilled her. She flexed her claws on the sand, kneading it with her pads. The sand itself thrilled her curiosity. She could feel the warm sun on her dark back. She sighed in happiness and prepared herself to take in the whole scene. She opened her eyes, expecting to see the sun reveal a beautiful white spotless beach caressed by blue salt water.

Instead she found the shore piled with dead fish. Caprina's fur stiffened. An instinctive growl rose to her throat. Her mentor had told her about this situation. Her pack had always told them to catch their own fish and not pick up fish that was just lying on the shore. Caprina never fully understood why until Deorad had told her that dead fish on the shore could have died from a disease. Caprina heeded that advice and stayed away from the piles of fish. Her keen observation compelled her to explore further, though her sense of caution beckoned her to solve this mystery.

Stuck between her two warring impulses she sat and waited. She stared out into the beach, continually observing until she saw a flash of gray fur. She groaned. She could feel her mind running away. She stumbled into the sand to get away from her plagued mind. "Get outta me 'ead!" she growled. She didn't know what was in her head, but she knew something was shaking her sanity. "Get out!" She looked up and saw a scene of a large gray wolf with blood pouring out of his throat. She howled in despair. "Stop it! I'm done! Stop 'auntin' me!" She turned to see her old pack leader staring at her. His eyes were completely black and demonic. "Ye know the rules. No wolf but our own can cross the line. Trespassin' is punish'ble by death!" Death echoed in her head. She blinked and panted, ushering the images away. She knew they were just in her mind.

She looked up to see the beach and the dead fish. She sighed in relief. Her mind had proven to be prone to hallucinations when it came to heat. "Aye! Yea. It's just the 'eat," Caprina panted. "I just need to find me some shade. No probl'm."

Virus So-Far
Name: Caprina Lunari
Origin/Cause: Unknown
Infected So Far: Caprina
Cured So Far: Unknow
Symptoms:
- innocent creatures become hostile
- Hallucinations can occur at the start of disease

Cream fur came in and out of the sun in the nearby woods. An odd, sour scent clung to the girl's nostrils, as well as the scent of death. It may have been stupid for Dimitri to come closer to this odd place, but she couldn't help it. She needed to see what was going on. A high pitched growling sounded and green eyes turned to meet black. The little animal was a badger, it's teeth were bared, gums inflamed and swollen. A snarl ripped Dimitri's throat as she hoped away from the little beast as it snapped at her. She hated badgers, and this one smelled funny. Even as the creature missed her leg, it snapped on a root she was standing on, and it ripped the root apart with a crazed look in it's eye. The youth felt a chill run down her spine. The hell...!?

The little beast leaped at Dimitri unexpectedly and the girl had barely enough time to jump as high as she could, then landed full strength onto it's back, her weight and force killing it instantly when the Badger's spine snapped and ribcage collapsed. Not another snarl was uttered, and Dimitri backed away, feeling an odd chill run down her back. Movements appeared in the corners of her eyes, making her look all around, expecting another form to appear. Another badger? A rat? A wolf? Some shadow leaped at her, and Dimitri spun around to duck, but it was gone. The shadows were attacking her! With this decided, the cream girl ran out onto the beach. Was this hallucination, or were there a million, blackened, dead fish on the sand? Why was the tide so far back? The shadows still leaped at her, and Dimitri ducked down and closed her eyes. Her heart was racing and her

Looking around in fright, the girl caught sight of a woman screaming into the air. Her ears flattened. "Stop shouting at me!" Dimitri snarled, knowing this wolf had screamed an insult at her. Her teeth were aching and her gums burning, she had to chew on something to rid herself of the puppy-hood pain. Her arm worked, but only for a moment before that became to painful. Something soft but hard, like her arm. There was driftwood, but the splinters were aggravating and it split apart too easily. She hated the smell and look of the fish, and some of her mind told her against it. The next wolf to come near her. Yes! That worked, if someone grew close enough, Dimitri would sink her teeth in. It wouldn't hurt her, it would only hurt them.

Virus So-Far
Name: Dimitri Harvest.
Origin/Cause: "The fish!?"
Infected So Far: Local creatures. Caprina Lunari. Dimitri Harvest.
Cured So Far: (none)
Symptoms:
- innocent creatures become hostile
- Hallucinations can occur at the start of disease
- Pain in the gums usually occurs within five to ten minutes after infection, causing an irrational need to bite.

"She speaks." She thinks. She does.

Fill yer well with truth.    

Caprina looked up and saw a cream wolf snarling at her. Caprina took a few steps back. She could feel her gums tingle with some sensation. She had the sudden urge to leap and attack the new wolf. She shook her head and back away. Something was wrong here. She was going crazy. She instinctively snarled at the new wolf. But she kept stopping in an attempt to regain her mental equilibrium. There must be something 'bout this beach. But what? She could smell the decay of fishes. There was something festering about them. A disease. But where did it come from? Humans? She growled. "Back off. I didn't... I didn't do anythin' to 'urt ye. Now... I'm sorry... I wasn't yellin' at ye. I was... I don't know. Stop lookin' at me like that!"

But Caprina could see that the wolf was under the spell of the virus. Her mind wanted to run away, but Caprina had to hold on to it for as long as possible. She could see the things adding up and she understood what was going to happen.

There was some atrocity in the air, and if left unchecked it would weed its claws into their minds and rip apart their mental fibers.

With that she ran away from the wolf into the woods. She gritted her teeth, trying to quell the urge to bite. There 'as to be somethin' in the woods. A 'erb o' some sort. She saw flashes of horrifying images. Deorad dead. The mountain lion. Her pack ripping her mentor apart.

She crashed into a tree and without a beat, gnawed it like a mad wolf. She would keep as many moments of sanity as possible in order to stay alive and find a cure. But her time was numbered.

Virus So-Far
Name: Caprina
Origin/Cause: "The fish?" or humans
Infected So Far: Local creatures. Caprina Lunari. Dimitri Harvest.
Cured So Far: (none)
Symptoms:
- innocent creatures become hostile
- Hallucinations can occur at the start of disease
- Pain in the gums usually occurs within five to ten minutes after infection, causing an irrational need to bite.

(OOC: Please excuse that this post is freaking long, skip to the last paragraph if you wish.)

____________________________________________________________ The sun was high, blocked by the huge clouds. Along with the forest trees, it gave great shade to the brown ground below. Risa trotted through the tall, palm trees ever so slowly, looking for a long stick. Her nose was clogged by her own snot, again, and she can’t find her way around without the use of her nose. Once she finds one, it’ll be easier to see the movement of its shadow when she’ll use the technique her pack members taught her. The problem is, there aren’t much sticks fall from palm trees. She knew she has to be very, closely cautious now, what happened to her was terribly unnatural. Leaving her with bloody wounds and ruffled fur. An hour ago and half a mile from where she was, two creepy-looking elks ambushed her out from nowhere. They were huge, crazy looking, and they seemed to have an irrational need to bite. Those last two descriptions were more like describing herself to be honest. Risa didn’t even recognize what it was ‘till half the hour when she finally pursued them. Giving a close look at them before she left them to rot, she continued unto the path that led her to where she stands now. The elks had black splotches that almost coloured the whole body, but slowly faded as it died for some reason... Two creepy and large elks... ”Why did it attacked me? Usually elks ran away from predators. It would attack if it was a leader to protect its herd, but there were no herds in sight. I don’t think they were in a herd at all!”, she yelled in her head. Something was up, it was pretty obvious. Risa has never heard of anything like this from the stories or lessons from her pack members, elders, nor anyone for that matter. Nevertheless, she was grateful that she survived and her wounds have finally stopped bleeding. Soon as the brown dirt of the ground faded into yellowish white sand, she finds herself facing the beach. This was not the first time she saw a beach before though. There were no beaches like this in her former birth pack’s territory, but there was a lake. The fishers of her old pack would give her one live fish to eat, or teach her how to hunt fish. This wasn’t what filled her mind though. What really caught her attention was what was on the beach itself: Fish. Large piles of fishes all over the sore! "What the crap just happened here!?", it seems that those elks were just the beginning of all this confusion. Not only that, the tide was farther back than normal, "and I thought I was abnormal...". From the looks of those fishes, the black mark that is, it seems that they have the same sickness that infected those elks. Some of them were even wholly black. The young she-wolf did not take a bite out of any of these infected creatures; it was obvious to her common sense that there was something wrong with them. Her ears flickered towards a faint noise from her left; they were snarls and growls of a wolf. She didn’t want to get caught so she lowered herself back and camouflage into the darkness. With her nose clogged, she would not be able to smell their scent. Usually the leader would rub their scent at the members to indicate that they’re a pack member. But with the blockage of her nose, she wouldn’t be able to tell. It’s not the first time though; it happened a lot most of the time when her nose’s clogged. She hid herself into the bushes, blending in the shadows. Sneaking from one bush to another, she finally caught sight of who made those clattering. Risa kept her distance to keep her scent from being detected, but close enough to see them. Two female wolves are snarling and growling at one another. One was a cream with a white undertone and her eyes of emeralds; she was not a purebred to be sure. The other one was, and she looked like the autumn season showered over her pelt while having amber for eyes. She was glad it was not her they were threatening at of course. They were talking; she could see that for their muzzles were moving, but she could hear anything but gibberish. Risa could only guess from their expressions, and it looked like they were either arguing at each other or about to fight. Half of her mind wanted to watch the battle, voting for them to fight yelling ’yes, fight!’ This was because she loves battles, it gets her very excited and she could learn a technique or two from her observation. The other side however, screamed the contrary. She couldn’t explain why, but she felt her instincts clinging that there’s something awfully wrong about this. Disrupted by her train of thought, the wolf under the shade of autumn ran away out of the beach. Following that run-away train back into the forest, she did not take mind of the pain that formed in her wounds. She tried not to whimper no mourn from its stings. She felt excited merged within her, even though she did not watch a battle. All this confusion and weirdness has already done that work. For the same reasons, she kept her distant from her even though she’s striving to follow. Finally the autumn lady stopped, but to a crash unfortunately; and Risa slowed her pace to a halt. The stinging wounds made her terribly exhausted, so she lied down to take a rest behind a bush to refrain from being seen. Shock to say though, the wolf whom crashed at the tree started gnawing at it like crazy! It was like those elks, snap at everything they could bite even her. “Oh com’on! You can’t be infected too? This infection can’t possibly spread that fast, can it?” , she thought as she refuses to believe it. But this would explain the unusualness that has been happening since she’s been here. This started to worry her, if this is how quick this virus is spreading then ... “oh I don’t know! D*mn it!”. This was so confusing to think while only lying down behind a crappy plant. She tried to calm herself down for she can’t think straight doing so. First she must know the cause of the virus, right now she ponders of how it spread so fast. She knew that it could be airborne, but she was not infected. Despite all the wounds and headaches she’s having. She denies believing she’s immune, that’s such a rare case for her. That didn’t matter anymore, curing the sick mattered more in this situation. She was terribly tired, she wanted to speak. But what else should she say? Knowing nothing to say made her now shy to approach her. But because she knew that these wolves could still have a chance to be cured, she choked out, "He—hey! Stopped that!“ What can she say? All she spoke was an order to stop her from gnawing the tree. It’s just that the girl might receive a splinter in her muzzle if she continues to do this. Sighing to herself, she knew she had to show herself now if she’s going to help them live. She hated being a burden to others, she hated the feeling. Even back at her old pack she always tried to be useful. Hiding her fear from reaching her expression, she stood up using every ounce of strength she had left. Now she revealed herself to the gnawing wolf with a blank face. ____________________________________________________________ Attack: Killed two elks Injuries: Painful wounds all over the body. Defence: Hides in the shadows to avoid being seen. --- Virus So-Far Name: Risa Alika Origin/Cause: So far, something in the water must have cause the fishes to catch a sickness. Now it's forming in the mucus that spreading the awful virus Infected So Far: Local creatures. Caprina Lunari. Dimitri Harvest. Cured So Far: (none) Symptoms: - innocent creatures become hostile - Hallucinations can occur at the start of disease - Pain in the gums usually occurs within five to ten minutes after infection, causing an irrational need to bite. - Black, painful marks invading the body as the infection's becoming permanent, but fades away when you die - XXX

TABLE BY RISA ALIKA. PHOTO BY THE OWNER

Don't worry about it, your post was great! ^^ I love reading long posts.

The autumn wolf shouted back at Dimitri, making the girl lower her head and bare her teeth in irritation. She swore to everything that there was, that if this woman wouldn't stop yelling at her... She ran away! Green eyes narrowed as she snarled and her tail lashed angrily. How dare she run, Dimitri was talking to her. The girl snorted and looked at the dead fish in disgust as their reek began to fill her nose again. Her gums ached and she sank her teeth into a piece of driftwood, shaking it violently to destroy the pain, but it wasn't working. Nothing was working on this pain, and the youth growled in disgust and discomfort.

Dimitri followed the autumn wolf into the woods, chewing on roots that she chose to pull up. They were somewhat soft, but stiff enough. Her head was working a bit suddenly, as the pain began to be slightly relieved. Shit, what is this!? She kept seeing movement and flashes in the corners of her eyes, but she ignored them as she dug into the earth and pulled up more roots. This at least helped with the need to bite, but it hurt not to chew even for a moment. It hurt no matter what, actually, but chewing helped, and she lifted a bunch of roots in on paw and limped to where she could hear the other attacking the tree.

Dimitri appeared just in time to see the she-wolf step out of hiding. The girl stepped in front of her and placed the roots down, facing not the black and white, but the autumn wolf who was attacking a tree. "It... Helps... With... The... Biting." She said in between the chewing of the roots that stuck out just slightly on the sides of her maw, and stepped back. She still felt like she needed to bite something, but chewing on the roots made it feel better. Sometimes, I'm a genius. She said, though it still felt like her mental ability had slackened. Hallucinations still appeared in the edge of her vision, making her eyes shake and twitch around instinctively.

Virus So-Far
Name: Dimitri Harvest.
Origin/Cause: "The fish!?"
Infected So Far: Local creatures. Caprina Lunari. Dimitri Harvest.
Cured So Far: (none)
Symptoms:
- innocent creatures become hostile
- Hallucinations can occur at the start of disease
- Pain in the gums usually occurs within five to ten minutes after infection, causing an irrational need to bite.
- Black, painful marks invading the body as the infection's becoming permanent, but fades away when you die.

"She speaks." She thinks. She does.

(OOC: Okay, thanks! ^^)

____________________________________________________________ Again, her ears flicked toward the sounds of footsteps coming their way. She kept her composure and looked towards her left side at the path where the wolf with amber for eyes came across before her unfortunate crash. It was the other cream wolf of green eyes that came by, “She must have followed her too”, she concluded. She was surprised to see her coming that she lowered herself and stepped back, but she immediately stops doing so. Why hide when it's now useless? It's too late to hide now! It's no use to back down now, she already got herself into this in the first place and must finish it. Noticing the bright light, the girl raised her head towards to sky. The clouds no longer blocked the sun's path, and made way for its rays to fall upon the ground uncovered by the trees. Thus the sunlight fell over the Mackenzie Tundra wolf as well, beholding the huge body that held before them that featured the many painful aspects of her features . Her pelt stained with her own blood, her body adorned in the given wounds from her enemies, the long claws carved sharp like talons, and the scar the featured her face. She hated dearly to have her wounds shown, she did not want others to worry. It's hard to explain but still, she just didn't want to be a burden to others. Especially when there is a possibility that they could see her as a threat being all huge and stuff, and being covered in blood doesn't exactly help neither. “What luck”, she whispered softly to herself as she grimaced at the thought. Looking towards at the cream wolf, the first thing she noticed was the root between the teeth of her muzzle, “What’s with the root?”, she asked. Her question was already answered, saying that it helps with their urge to bite. Well, that sounds better than having toothpicks in the mouth. It was obvious, it was obvious that their obsessive biting was because of the disease that cursed them. She was right that it wasn't just some infection, cause what are the odds of two wolves chewing a plant and those elks to kept on snapping so much? She already figured that it was a symptom anyways, what other reason could it be? Risa saw the light colored lady threw her root to the multicolored she-wolf for her to use and gain her some sanity back. Biting on that trunk ain't exactly a good think to do for you might get a splinter, at least the root is much more chewy. Turning towards that she wolf, “if you really want to chew on something, I think you really should bite on that root instead before you get yourself a thorn in your mouth”, she suggested quietly. She could make it any louder, she hoped they understood her whisper. But then curiously, “What’s making you gals wanna chew so much anyways? It’s obvious it’s from that disease you got, but specifically. Are there stingers your gums?”, She thought that she could make a recipe her aunt made for them. ____________________________________________________________ Virus So-Far Name: Risa Alika Origin/Cause: So far, something in the water must have cause the fishes to catch a sickness. Now it's forming in the mucus that spreading the awful virus Infected So Far: Local creatures. Caprina Lunari. Dimitri Harvest. Cured So Far: (none) Symptoms: - innocent creatures become hostile - Hallucinations can occur at the start of disease - Pain in the gums usually occurs within five to ten minutes after infection, causing an irrational need to bite. - Black, painful marks invading the body as the infection's becoming permanent, but fades away when you die - XXX

TABLE BY RISA ALIKA. PHOTO BY THE OWNER

Fill yer well with truth.    

Caprina noticed the new wolf follow her. Caprina instinctively brought her head from the trunk and growled at the wolf. Her savage nature was budding and sought to rip through that wolf's pretty black and white fur. She snarled threateningly. Her tail went horizontal in preparation for an attack. Her gums itched. An image of a gray face and blue eyes shocked her senses and pulled her back. She shook her head and back away from the wolf. "Go 'way! Get ye gone! Ye don't want to be 'round me!"

The cream wolf came into view suddenly. Caprian snarled, half out of her new found savage nature and half out of her own defense. She remembered how this wolf wanted to attack her. "I'm... not tryin'... to 'urt ye. Please... go!" She shuddered with the amount of self-control she was exercising. The virus was prying through her memories and trying to break into her consciousness.

The cream wolf dropped some roots at Caprina's feet. Caprina looked at the roots curiously. Had Deorad told her about these? What were they? Was the cream wolf trying to poison her now? Oh! Wait no! The cream wolf was chewing these herself. Caprina noticed how the savagery seemed to be smoothed from her eyes slightly. There was still a wildness that existed, but it looked bearable. Caprina barely heard the instruction to chew the roots before she dove on the plant. She gnawed like a mad wolf at the plant and found a slight relief from her pain. "All... right," she said, half shuddering and half chewing. "We need... to find... a solut'n to... this. Else it's... gonna get ugly for us. Now..." She looked over at the black and white wolf. She didn't have the dark splotches that was starting to appear on Caprina right now. "Ye... Are ye... immune or somethin'? If ye are... we need ye bad!" She looked around. She forced her mind to take in the situation. They were in an infected area. So far she and the cream wolf were infected, but as far as Carpina could see, the black and white wolf wasn't. But the blacka nd white wolf was also wounded. They had to fix that.

"Get some... yarrow. That'll... 'elp ye. Or e'en... some 'orsetail. That'll fix yer... wounds." She turned to the cream wolf. "What kind o'... root is... this?"

The pale lady had been dreaming and wandering as she was wont to do, looking for inspiration for her songs and being alone in her dreamy state often brought the most beautiful thoughts to her. Unintentionally she was following the sounds of water but this water was much different to the sounds of a river. Salty air was starting to reach her nose when another scent ripped across the clean freshness. Her ears flicked uneasily, it was a smell like death. Normally the smell of flesh meant food, but this stench had something wrong with it. "What is wrong here?" she thought, blinking sage green eyes. She had no time! She didn't hear it and she didn't smell it, all she saw was a flicker of movement as a huge black wolf leapt on her from the trees. She screamed a howl of pure terror. The huge beast had eyes like fire, his breath smelt like death and he was foaming at the jaws like a crazy animal. "Whats the problem lover?" the black demon half snarled, half purred at her, he snaked out his tounge to lick the side of her face. "Don't you want to come home and care for our pups?" Zitori's eyes bulged and she felt that she was going insane as three small pups trooped out of the trees. They were tiny and covered in blood. Her mind shrieked "THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE." Then as suddenly as she was attacked, they were gone. She lay on the ground, shaking and panting violently, "Ghosts of the past." she whispered to herself, terrified. "Why have you forsaken me?" a cry to the sky spirits, they had promised her peace, why where they doing this to her? She stumbled forwards, towards the stench, she had to see, she had to understand this somehow. She stopped in utter amazement at the sight of the fish, hundreds, no thousands of fish. All blackened and dead, the stench of them threatened to overcome Zitori, she gagged slightly. "What happened here?" she thought frantically, one moment she had been fine and then the next attacked my nightmares from her past. Was this fish the cause? And if so, what had caushed the fish to die like this? Her mind swam, she wanted to work this out but her gums were starting to itch, it had started a few moments ago, but now the itch was starting to burn and she felt the need to sink her jaws into something, anything. She took a tottering step towards the fish, her mind screamed against it, but her gums hurt so bad, she was revolved that she wanted to sink her teeth into the rotting flesh. "NO." she howled, the sound tearing from her throat cut the urge to eat the fish enough for her to wrench herself around and run towards the trees, away from the maddening smell of the fish. Out of the corner of her eye she saw three bloody mishapen pups, they were calling her, "Mama, mama." "No, No NO!" she screamed, "You cannot be here, you are not real, my poor pups." she bolted as fast as she could, away from the horrifying images, she knew that these could not be her pups as they had been aborted long before they could of lived, why where they haunting her now? Her ears caught the sounds of growling and wolves talking, or was it voices of the dead come to torment her? She skidded to a halt before three wolves, they seemed flesh and blood, but Zitori no longer trusted her eyes. Her gums were now screaming again in pain and she had to bite something. She didn't notice the roots that the wolf like Autum and the cream lady were chewing, her mind was too clouded with the need to bite, to chew to tear. She dove at the Black and White woman no matter the size, she could smell her blood and suddenly she craved to taste it, to sink her fangs into soft flesh. She leapt at the stranger, fangs bared aimed for the throat. Exhaustion racked her body and she tripped, it seemed on thin air and ended up with her mouth filled with soil instead of living flesh. The soild strangely seemed to soothe her gums a little, but she knew that only blood would make her feel well now. "Wolf howls." "Wolf thinks."

Virus So-Far
Name: Zitori Stargazer
Origin/Cause: Fish, but doesn't know their cause of death
Infected So Far: Local creatures, Caprina Lunari, Dimitri Harvest, local elk, Zitori
Cured So Far: None 
Symptoms: 
- innocent creatures become hostile 
- Hallucinations can occur at the start of disease 
- Pain in the gums usually occurs within five to ten minutes after infection, causing an irrational need to bite.
- Black, painful marks invading the body as the infection's becoming permanent, but fades away when you die
- Thirst for blood. Any blood will do.

____________________________________________________________ The colorful she-wolf snatch the root and regain her composure once more, Risa stepped closer as seeing it safer now. She was glad to see they're in control of themselves now, now she relaxed at least a little bit; But she can see them struggling though. She knew very well what it was like to be in frustration, to control oneself so badly. Risa was short-tempered back when she was young, it was an inheritance to be honest. It was just by chance that she was able to develop patience like her grandfather did, patience big enough to hold away her anger as much as possible. It's a good thing that she did, or else she would have gotten so much more scar than she could ever think she could. In a situation like this, she pushed those thoughts aside and focused on what mattered now. The autumn wolf chewed on the roots the other gave her while she spoke. Pausing many times to speak, it was a little difficult to understand what the girl cause of her chewing and accent; But still she listened and gets what was she saying. She rolled her eyes unnoticed as the girl said that they needed a solution, that was pretty obvious by just a glance of this chaos among them actually. That same autumn wolf started to look at her, she hoped she would find her as a threat. She wouldn't want that, but she started to ease when she only noticed that she was strangely immune. She knew she was, if she wasn't then she should have known the weird symptoms on herself as much as the symptoms on them. It's also pretty obvious that they needed her, "I know that, why do you think I'm even here?", she replied. She means no harm or being annoying, she just wanted to help really. Now it was her turn to look at her back, leaning to the side she can quite see the dark shades on her legs forming and spreading ever so slowly. With the sun illuminating from above, it was quite noticeable indeed. She looked up back the the wolf's face, saying that she needed to put a horse's tail on her wounds. Weird, she didn't there would be horses here and she's much too tired to even walk right now. "Thanks for the advice, but I think I can just live with pain for now", she replied to her advice. She didn't want them to worry about her condition, she wouldn't want to eat an infected animal anyways. But suddenly jumping out of nowhere, a stranger tried to ambush her. "When I said 'I can live with the pain for now', I meant that I can without extra more pain!", she said out loud. She tried to leap away and out of the wolf's aim like her reflex would made her do, but with her condition she could only limp a few steps. But it was only to her fortune that the stranger stumbled down and had the dirt shoved in her mouth. Risa lowered herself with her ears pulled back, glared at the stranger cautiously examining her. It seems like a lot of animals wish to fight her, "They couldn't fought me when I wasn't so tired?", she thought to herself as she was annoyed. It's quite ironic actually, she loves to fight or spar and now she doesn't want to fight? how ironic, especially since it's usually her who's looking for a fight just for the thrill of it. ____________________________________________________________ Virus So-Far Name: Risa Alika Origin/Cause: So far, something in the water must have cause the fishes to catch a sickness. Now it's forming in the mucus that spreading the awful virus Infected So Far: Local creatures. Caprina Lunari. Dimitri Harvest. Cured So Far: (none) Symptoms: - innocent creatures become hostile - Hallucinations can occur at the start of disease - Pain in the gums usually occurs within five to ten minutes after infection, causing an irrational need to bite. - Black, painful marks invading the body as the infection's becoming permanent, but fades away when you die - Thirst for blood. Any blood will do. - XXX

TABLE BY RISA ALIKA. PHOTO BY THE OWNER

Golden Cat At first, he thought it was a trick. A game. Yes, that had to be it, he had thought. After all, which one of his few 'friends' wouldn't laugh at him chasing birds that didn't exist? This was winter! There were no birds, anymore... Moodily, he sat on the branches of some trees at the edge of a sandy beach. It used to be a nice place- now it was covered in stinking fish. He flicked his golden tail in annoyance and glanced lazily about with amber eyes. No doubt, the markings on his face would prevent anyone from spotting him head-on. Only his white belly would give him away. Not that any of the mutts he had seen wandering about would be able to reach him from up here. Curiously, that didn't fill him with as much smug pride as it usually did... Within ten minutes of plodding near this beach, his gums had begun to hurt, and he recognized the urge to bite from when he was just a cub. It was annoying and insane, making him wish to bite anything to get rid of the gnawing. Oh, just make it go away, his thoughts persisted. But, in this case, mind did not work over matter. He was considering gnawing on a couple of wolves, though they were larger than him, when he noticed something. They were all acting very strange. First, they yelled at things that weren't there. Well, that sounded familiar. Then they began gnawing on anything they could... To be perfectly honest, he had to admit that his gums were jealous, and the urge to bite increased. He gave a low growl, barely perceptible, out of frustration. He wouldn't be able to stay still much longer. A small bluebird came over to land on his shoulder. He got the gist of it by now, and his tail tried to flick it away- but passed right through. He sighed from his treetop and got up, working stealthily from branch to branch until he was above where the mutts had gathered. Idiots. Now they were going crazy, it seemed. "Here goes something." He muttered under his breath before leaping down, on top of the pale wolf, tried to give her a sharp bite in her leg, and then ran off to another branch above their heads. There, he watched. Now that he had caught their attention... what to do? "It's nice to see the mutts finally losing it. Father always said you would. How amusing that this mysterious virus is slowly forcing you to tear your own kind apart. And I thought your puppies were stupid." The bite alleviated his gums for only a moment. If he managed to extract any blood, he licked his jaws. He had the same thing they did, and he was not happy. At least he was able to keep his wits about him more easily. Perhaps he would be able to keep that 'honor' he was supposed to be born in. So said his name, anyways- Abiola.

Fill yer well with truth.    

Caprina growled at the black and white wolf. She spat out her roots in annoyance. Her speech became clearer in her annoyance. "Listen 'ere, ye idiot! We need ye alive! As far as we can see, yer not infected like the rest o' us are. Now, I don't want ye to be playin' martyr or 'ero. We need ye to be as 'ealthy as ye can. Yer the sanest one o' all us. Now..." she picked up her roots again. "There... should be... some 'erbs somewhere. Now... Creamy," she addressed the cream wolf. "Can ye... show me... where ye got... these roots? We need... them for when we run... low." Caprina shot the black and white wolf a look that ordered her to get some herbs. Caprina didn't want to lose the only sane wolf they had. Also her protective nature had a sting of annoyance sometimes when someone was trying to refuse care. She remember trying to act tough in front of her mentor when she was a pup, but her mentor wouldn't hear a bit of it and had her spit plants on her wounds. She wanted this wolf to do the same. Also Caprina was unnerved by the smell of blood that came off the black and white wolf. It was too... appealing. The sooner she got plant spit to cover those wounds the better. She grumble as she felt her back hurt with the black sore that was starting to appear.

Suddenly a pale wolf came crashing in to attack black and white wolf. Caprina protective instinct merged with her new savage nature and she snarled and lept up in an attempt to knock the wolf away. The virus took control and Caprina opened her mouth to dig her teeth into flesh. She was vaguely aware a glint of gold that dashed under the pale wolf.

Name: ?
Origin/Cause: Likely an originally sea-born disease, become air-born because of the dead fish's decomposition
Infected So Far: Local creatures, Caprina, Dimitri, local elk, Zitori, Abiola
Cured So Far: The roots help with the third symptom below but it doesn't cure the disease.
Symptoms:
- Innocent creatures become hostile
- Hallucinations can occur at the start of disease
- Pain in the gums usually occurs within five to ten minutes after infection, causing an irrational need to bite.
- Black, painful marks invading the body as the infection's becoming permanent, but fades away when you die
- Thirst for blood. Any blood will do.
- Wildcats seem to resist the effects

As she spat the soil from her mouth things went from bad to worse for Zitori. A golden bolt that stank of cat dropped on her and tried to savage her leg, she felt teeth slice through flesh, she screamed in pain just as the Autumn woman also launched herself at her, fangs bared. Zitori's head was spinning, the pain from the cats bite cleared her mind slightly although the smell of blood, even her own was maddening. She snarled at the Autumn lady but at the same time crouched herself down in submission, her mind had cleared enough that she didn't want to fight other wolves, although she would have a go at the cat if it came back in range. The pale lady lay on the ground, panting and trembling, "Please....... I'm sorry........ my mouth....... blood, I must...... ." it was taking her great effort to try and make a coherant sentence to tell the other wolves she didn't want to fight anymore, that her gums hurt and the smell of blood was making her crazier. She turned to lick the blood from her leg wound, and noticed in horror that her legs were stained black. Her mind reeled, and she could feel her small grip on reality starting to slip again, "I am turning into him? No, no, this can't be." her mind whimpered to her. The blood from her wound was filling her mouth and coating her gums in a thick layer, bringing blessed relief from the need to bite, it seemed for now, her own blood would keep her sane, although she could not keep licking her own blood, she needed to stop the blood flowing. She looked up at the Autumn lady with a pleading expression in her green eyes, "Please........ help?" she hoped the lady was more sane than her, she really needed help now. "Wolf howls." "Wolf thinks."

Origin/Cause: Likely an originally sea-born disease, become air-born because of the dead fish's decomposition
Infected So Far: Local creatures, Caprina, Dimitri, local elk, Zitori, Abiola
Cured So Far: The roots help with the third symptom below but it doesn't cure the disease. Blood helps with the pain in the gums but is not a cure.
Symptoms:
- Innocent creatures become hostile
- Hallucinations can occur at the start of disease
- Pain in the gums usually occurs within five to ten minutes after infection, causing an irrational need to bite.
- Black, painful marks invading the body as the infection's becoming permanent, but fades away when you die
- Thirst for blood. Any blood will do.
- Wildcats seem to resist the effects

Fill yer well with truth.    

Caprina glared at the pale wolf and snarled. The wild nature brought on by the virus compelled her to leap forward and rip apart the wolf in front of her. She took a step forward, ready to pounce, when the wolf spoke to her, begging for help. That plea sparked Carpina true nature, allowing her to tear through most of the virus' control. The pale wolf seemed to be loosing herself faster than the rest of them were. She looked around searching for something anything that could help the wolf. She grabbed some of the chewed roots and threw them at the pale wold. "Chew them. It 'elps with the bitin'. Stay still an' chew 'till ye get a 'old o' yerself."

Caprina started shuddering with the urge to bite and tear the wolves around her. She picked of the remainder of the herbs fast. She looked up, having sworn she heard someone or something call her from above. She found a wildcat up there, with a golden pelt glinting in the sunlight. She noticed the cat's behavior and judged that it was considerably more sane than any infect animal. "'Ey! Ye up... there!" she called to the cat. Great. I must really be goin' crazy if I'm talkin' to a cat. "Ye 'ave... any idea what's... 'appenin' 'ere?" She tried to fix her eyes on the cat more, but her vision went dark suddenly. She panicked, fearing that this was a permanent side affect of the virus. Then just as soon as it left, it came back. She blinked and shook her head. Trying to shake the eerie lonliness she just felt with the temporary blindness.

Her eye caught something. "Aye! 'Orsetail!" She dropped her roots and ran up to the herb and plucked it. She threw it in front of the black and white wolf. "Chew an' spit them now! An' spread them on yer wounds."

Caprina looked around at the group again. So far the creatures infected were the cream wolf, the pale wolf, and herself. She smelled something funny about the cat, which made her think that the cat was infected but showed few signed of the symptoms. She forced herself to concentrate on her senses and map out a plan. She needed to find a cure. But how could they, when the two most sane creatures were one wolf and a cat? How could they stand against all three of them, if Caprina, the pale wolf, and the cream wolf lost control. She shook her head. That won't 'appen," she thought. She looked up to see a flash of her dead mentor's gray fur. I can't lose some'un this time..

Origin/Cause: Likely an originally sea-born disease, become air-born because of the dead fish's decomposition
Infected So Far: Local creatures, Caprina, Dimitri, local elk, Zitori, Abiola
Cured So Far: The roots help with the third symptom below but it doesn't cure the disease. Blood helps with the pain in the gums but is not a cure.
Symptoms:
- Innocent creatures become hostile
- Hallucinations can occur at the start of disease
- Pain in the gums usually occurs within five to ten minutes after infection, causing an irrational need to bite.
- Black, painful marks invading the body as the infection's becoming permanent, but fades away when you die
- Thirst for blood. Any blood will do.
- Wildcats seem to resist the effects
- infected creatures have small temporary moments of blindness.

Dimitri shook her head. "Non too specific... just tree roots... not poisonous..." Dimitri said to the autumn wolf's questions. She dug a bit and pulled out some roots with her paws. "Like that." She mumbled through her own roots. She saw a flash of the pale wolf as she leaped at their only sane wolf, who's shoulder was slightly wounded, but that was the last moment she saw before everything went black.

Panic filled Dimitri and she widened her eyes as if that could help her see. She heard what was happening, but blindness was one of her worst fears. Her senses were precious to her, and she felt helpless fear clutch her and the girl's heartbeat become extremely fast. The smell of a cat reached her nostrils, then begging from a new voice that had to be the pale wolf. Dimitri opened her mouth the scream about the darkness, but as she did so, the world lit up to her again as the roots dropped from her mouth. The scent of blood filled her nose, and she could practically taste it on her tongue. Pain was beginning to come from small, black spots on her back legs, and the soreness in her gums was returning as the roots weren't gone. This new hunger for blood was all but irresistible.

He eyes caught the flash of red on the pale wolf's leg and on her face. Her muscles moved on the guttural need for blood. It was like starvation, and her prey was already wounded. Dimitri launched herself at the pale wolf with a look of complete loss of control in her eyes. Her teeth flashed brightly in the light, and the girl imagined blood covering her face. Her aim was anywhere she could get a hold. If someone tried to stop her, in this state she could be easily knocked off course, but she would struggle and bite to get what she wants.

Attacks; Leaping at Zitori when she was overwhelmed by the virus, will bite into whatever she can.
Defenses; None except that she would turn on anyone who got in her way.

Virus So-Far
Name: Dimitri Harvest.
Origin/Cause: Likely an originally sea-born disease, become air-born because of the dead fish's decomposition
Infected So Far: Local creatures. Caprina Lunari. Dimitri Harvest. local elk. Zitori Stargazer. Abiola.
Cured So Far: (none)
Symptoms:
- innocent creatures become hostile
- Hallucinations can occur at the start of disease
- Pain in the gums usually occurs within five to ten minutes after infection, causing an irrational need to bite.
- Black, painful marks invading the body as the infection's becoming permanent, but fades away when you die.
- Thirst for blood. Any blood will do.
- Wildcats seem to resist the effects
- infected creatures have small temporary moments of blindness. Mutated Long, frightening moments of pure blindness.

"She speaks." She thinks. She does.