Honestly I think I'd like to come back to this some day when I have the bandwidth for it and properly refine it, but for now it's a 'first make it exist' kind of piece. I want to visit Ilum for real so bad.
Art fight revenge (for AF user MightyLionFish)! Muahahaha, very fun to have a character that can find themselves meeting the Wolf of Odessen. They have business to discuss.
The wolf paced along the length of heavy duty transparisteel, her teeth perpetually bared in a snarl, her gold eyes glaring daggers at the man on the other side. Her jaw throbbed, edges of metal showed through the harsh graze she’d given herself and one of her molars felt particularly nasty, but she relished the pain and the frustration that shadowed the man’s face as he stared back at her.
She’d thwarted him, and he was mad, mad, mad, mad.
Kill you.
Bite you shred you tear you up.
She wished she could hear him, but she wouldn’t dignify him with words, wouldn’t reduce herself to her tiny, weak, heartbroken version of herself just to be able to give voice to her threats. He couldn’t force her to change, not now, not now that she’d broken the implant he’d stuck inside her and it made him so mad and his rage filled her with violent satisfaction.
His fingers moved across his chrono, the flashy little timepiece he wore that had nothing to do with telling the time, had everything to do with control, its buttons and dials sending the signals that changed the shape of all of his werebeasts. But not her, not her, not her. She was in his cell but he would never have her.
She saw his lips move in a curse, saw his eyes flash, and she lunged at the wall toward him, slamming her body against it with a dull thud.
He didn’t flinch, which was very annoying.
The growl that rumbled from right down in her chest was deep and primal, and she slid herself against the glassy surface, pressed her aching, bloody jaw to where he could see clearly what she’d done. He cursed again, smacking the wall with a fist, and she pushed back at him, this time drawing up all of her strength and throwing everything she had at the wall, through the wall, clawing for a power she didn’t quite comprehend but nonetheless was able to seize from within this body, the wolf’s body who could hear the moon and sing with the movement of the stars and flow with the breath of the forests.
She Pushed and was deeply satisfied when he was forced to stumble backward, almost loosing his footing.
The man’s brow creased in deep lines and his nose wrinkled in a pathetic imitation of her own snarl. When he turned away, the wolf bared a savage grin his way and then felt an abrupt compulsion to howl, tipping her head up and letting the sound ring true through the chamber that held her, perhaps even drifting to be heard by keen pricked ears up above.
The man was at his silly little computer console, like he could do anything to her from there that she hadn’t already bested. She howled, and howled, and pulled in a breath that felt strange and made a grunt of surprise, backpedaling and throwing her head.
No, no, no, no.
Nostrils flared, the wolf spun, and coughed, trying to expel the odd taste from her tongue, but it was flooding the space, she couldn’t draw breath without filling her lungs with wrong.
Stop.Stop stop stop I’ll kill you. Kill you kill you dead.
She threw herself at the wall again and again, reared up and raked her claws uselessly against the surface, fighting against the smothering cloud that weighed her down further with every breath.
She tried to find that place inside herself that she could draw on to Push at the man through the wall, but it felt slippery, elusive, and when she put her paw to the ground it skidded forward and she stumbled, her aching jaw hitting the hard, cold floor with a painful jolt.
Break your bones. Tear your skin. Bite you break you snap you rip you open taste your blood.
She fought it, she fought hard against the fog in her thoughts and the darkening of her vision, but she’d breathed in too much and tossing her head again only made her dizzy.
She tried to stand, but her legs didn’t do what she wanted. She was heavy, her paws were like lead, her head was impossible to lift.
But still she glared, her eyes blazed, shining points of gold reflected in the man’s cool gaze.
He in front of her again, staring down with his chin lifted, his hands clasped behind her back. He made sure that she saw him smile as she succumbed to sedation, his perfect white teeth the last thing she saw before her own eyes fluttered shut.
—
Ahuska stood over Five years later, the wolf looming above the man.
“I bet you love this,” he uttered softly, turning his head away, wondering how bad the violet light in his eyes was today. “Getting your revenge from all that time ago.”
She narrowed her eyes, but was gentle as she laid her huge head across his torso and opened herself to the Force with well schooled calm, patience and finesse. She was holding the infection at bay, that dark, cruel wound in Five’s leg that transcended flesh and bone and tore into his very spirit, slowly crawling its way through his whole body, leeching him of his own self and leaving behind a terrible void. But stalling the spread was not nearly so difficult as actually fighting it and healing the damage it had wrought.
Quiet, she told him. It was exhausting work. Dangerous, in a way, as she drew on her own strength to slowly fill in the void that was eating him alive, and without due care she risked giving too much and never waking again herself.
If I wanted revenge, I’d be breaking your bones and tearing your skin. I would kill you dead, Watcher Five. Now sleep, and let me work.
Anyway, I thought big wolf Ahuska would be a very fitting companion for @storyknitter's medieval fantasy version of Sanna. Someone's really about to be sorry for whatever they did!
