Consciousness

Pravin shook his head, saying that he did not have any other question. There was a small silver wolf in the pack? He didn't know that. Now to figure out where was Fallon? But wait, would Fallon want to work in a group where Pravin was leader? He hoped so as he left Inferno, to scout for Fallon, Sibirskiy, and this KiRae. He figured Fallon was around the dens area, and gave a short bark calling for her. He knew it would be easy enough to find Sibirskiy, he always seemed to be where Tessa is. Since Xerses was off to find Tessa and Laek, Pravin would stop by to see if they'd found Sibirskiy, or even KiRae.

The morning had not been quiet at all, what with Inferno's loud howling and all, and this second unwelcome silence-breaker did not suit Fallon well at all. She groaned in annoyance and rolled over, pulling her front leg up over her head in an attempt to block out the outside. With a sudden start, Fallon lifted her head, ears pricked as the bark registered. It was for her? From Pravin? With another groan, the female flopped down again and growled. What did he want?

Pravin wouldn't have called, she knew for certain, unless it was for something important, so begrudgingly, the female lifted herself up and shuffled groggily to the entrance of the den and stuck her head outside, peering through narrowed, morning-blurred eyes at Pravin. "What do you want, Pravin?" she called, her voice spiked with her typical 'I-just-woke-up' grouchiness.

Pravin turned his head in the direction of Fallon's voice when she called. He walked over to her, stopping some distance from her den. "Inferno is sending everyone on hunting parties. You, Sibirskiy, and some wolf named KiRae are with me. Xerxses is leading the others. I also need your help finding KiRae. I'm not entirely sure who that is." He gave her a simple explanation, almost waiting to see how she would react to being led by him. She had just woken up, her grouchiness was sure to show it's face some more.

She blinked a few times, processing the information. Well, not wonder this was happening so early, if Inferno was the one organizing this. She could complain all she wanted, but in the end, there was no way she was going against the beta, who was probably taking directions from the alpha. Throwing back her ears in ungraceful defeat, Fallon slunk out of the den and stalked over to Pravin. "Fine, let's go. KiRae is the only silver wolf here, but I haven't seen him recently. Maybe we'll have more luck with getting Sibirskiy first," she said, yawning in between words. She had never met Sib, but Pravin had, so the female stood next to him and looked up at him. Fallon wasn't quite ready to get going - she really wouldn't be until noon - but getting a move on would probably be best. Moving reminded her that they were on a hunting party assigned by Inferno, so it would keep her anger at getting up so early directed at him, not Pravin the messenger. After the night and after realizing that she had been wrong in many ways about the male, she was no longer mad at him (typical flip-flop behavior from Fallon), but her impatience could change that if they just stood around.

((Fallon/Pravin continued: https://incendio.rpg-board.net/t88p15-hunting-party-1#1413 ))

Chaos was sleeping, she didn't want to wake her, especially at the risk of igniting her temper. Molly blinked sleepily awake, the recent meal giving her more strength than she expected, but leaving her mouth dry with thirst. The Head Warrior had rolled away from her on her side as she slept, so Molly lifted her head slowly, blinking at the entrance and licking her lips thirstily. Slowly, very slowly, she got to her feet, standing there for a few moments to steady herself before taking a step forward. It was a painfully slow process, but finally she made it out of the den entrance, pausing to steady herself for a few moments as her eyes adjusted to the light. She hadn't seen the outside of the den since she had gotten sick, and the den area looked very strange to her. But then, to anyone going by, she wasn't more than a pale skeleton hovering in the entrance of the warrior's den. She was in even worse shape than she had been when she was malnurished. But after a few moments she moved forward, finally reaching the pool of water and lowering her head to lap carefully at the water.

Inferno watched as Fallon and Pravin disappeared, but as he turned to consider taking out a patrol on his own, another wolf caught his gaze. It was Molly, and the sight of her twisted his stomach, and not in the frustrated, exasperated way that was the usual response to her; no, this time it was because he was more worried than he'd ever been for her. And that was saying a lot.

"Molly," called the wolf, warning her from a ways off that he was there. The beta stood up and walked quickly over to her, not masking his concern, though of course it was still as calculatingly calm as usual. "You can't stay out here long; you'll freeze for sure. Better get to your den," he said, ordering her around but not caring. The wolf nodded to the healer's den, knowing this makeshift stream would freeze through soon and that the real one was a much closer walk to the healer's den instead of the warriors' den. And if he wasn't contagious, Molly surely couldn't be any more. At least he was sure that her fever had broken, and that was good enough for him. He stood by Molly, practically nudging her to hurry up and get to her den, but this time not for his convenience but for her health, which was horrid already.

Molly slowly lifted her head as Inferno's voice echoed through her ears. She was greeted with the sight of the Beta male approaching her, and she sighed softly at the look of pure concern on his face. But for once when he ordered her around, she obeyed compliantly. She moved slowly with him to her den, her steps shaky and cautious, her thin body leaning against his large one as they moved to her den. When they reached it, she laid down inside the den, curling up and looking up at the Beta. "Inferno, I feel like I haven't eaten in weeks..." She whined softly, her voice airy and weak as her ears pinned back and she looked up at him helplessly.

Without a word, the beta turned and headed off to the storage den after Molly's comment, though it wasn't necessary. Somehow, she looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks as well. But how could that be? Quickly, the wolf snapped up a chunk of meat and returned to Molly, dropping it by her feet and sitting in front of her. Remembering what he'd had to do for her and Chaos recently, he offered, a little unsure, "If you need me to, I can chew it up for you..." It was weird to ask since she was actually conscious, but he did anyway, not knowing what else he could do to help. He was seriously asking himself if there wasn't something else wrong with her, but it would have to wait until she was done eating, which she hopefully could do on her own.

Molly slowly lifted her head as he exited and then returned with some meat. She hoped she could eat it on her own, and she lowered her nose to sniff at it, tentatively opening her mouth and taking a small piece of meat into it. Then she chewed slowly, repeating the process as she slowly ate the entire piece of meat that he had offered her. When she finished, she looked up at him, barely managing a smile. "Thank you, Inferno." She said softly, sighing softly and resting her head on her paws once more. She was exhausted, yet she could not bring herself to sleep. Chaos was still sleeping in the warrior's den, and without her warmth, Molly was shivering.

"You're welcome," he replied, not moving an inch from where he was sitting. It was impossible to stop looking Molly over, trying to analyze what exactly she needed to recover. Inferno had a hard time dealing with the fact that he couldn't fix some things. In this case, he didn't have the knowledge of how to even attempt to fix Molly, and that was even harder to take. And of course, there were about a million other thoughts, worries, and plans running through his head that pertained to the other 5/6 of the pack; Inferno was the most stressed he'd been since coming to Silverlight, and that was only magnified when he knew that Blitz had to be even more anxious. But Molly's shivering was something he could fix, so without a second's hesitation or thought of what Molly might do or say about such a gesture from one of her least favorite pack mates, the beta lay down beside her, wrapping around her small, frail body with his large, lanky one.

With his head over the white healer's shoulders and his tail curled up against her flank, the wolf did a pretty good job of enveloping her. It was almost relieving for Inferno to, for once, be doing something so little that helped so much. He still, productive, and able to think all at the same time. It was an interesting discovery.

Molly finally relaxed and rested her head on her paws as her eyes closed, shivering slightly as the cold from outside of the den making her thin body shake because of the low temperature. But then she was suddenly enveloped in warmth, and she opened her eyes and was greeted with Inferno's fur, something that she had once highly resented, but now welcomed warmly. She found herself curling up against him as his larger body completely surrounded her, filling her with warmth that she couldn't have gotten on her own. When he rested his head over her body she sighed softly, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep, surprisingly grateful for the protection and comfort of the beta's body.

Inferno closed his eyes and simply listened to Molly's body calm down and begin to drift into a more comfortable sleep. He never figured it'd be this easy to help her, or that she'd ever actually accept his help, but there seemed to be something that had changed, at least in her. Desperation? It was hard to pinpoint, but it was there and it was welcomed whole-heartedly by Inferno. But even with the change, their relationship still seemed to be tinged with habits they'd taught each other, like how to just not talk. For once, Inferno was tranquil enough to listen, but still enough to think more clearly than usual. Perhaps in this new zone of zen, an answer to the food problem would come...

The warmth from Inferno's body kept her warm as she slept, but even his warmth couldn't chase away her dreams. However, as she slept, her body's extreme lack of energy and strength prevented any outward sign of her nightmares, except for maybe her stiffness and the fact that her breathing would periodically change it's pattern. Her fever had gone down a few days before, yet she still carried a very slight fever, which made it difficult to sleep peacefully. Soon, however, her dreams and the cold sweat woke her, and she lifted her head slowly, blinking up at the beta male in confusion, still a bit disoriented from her dream and fever. "Inferno? What are you doing here?" She asked, unable to remember how she had gotten to her den and why the beta was curled around her.

Inferno had noticed enough change in Molly's posture and heart rate to recognize that something was wrong, but he had no other remedy than to just curl tighter around her. It didn't seem to help. Her question upon waking up disoriented him for a second before he shook his head and answered, "I walked you back here from Chaos' den, and then you were having trouble staying warm. How are you feeling?" he asked, tilting his head and gazing at her intently, hoping that she knew him well enough by now to give him a detailed answer.

Molly frowned when Inferno explained what had happened and she remained silent for a minute, letting it sink in. When he asked how she was feeling, she sighed softly and looked up at him again. "I think I've still got a fever, but it's much lower than it used to be. I was having nightmares again, and I've got a cold sweat feeling right now." She told him, knowing that he'd want details about how she was feeling, details that were very descriptive.

He listened intently, surprised about the nightmares, and worried about the fever. 'Lower' was not as good as 'normal'. Looking around the healer's den, Inferno asked, Do you need any more of those herb packets to help with the fever? Do you want to eat again?" Molly's tiny body looked like it was going to crumble apart at any second, and it was a agonizing feeling to feel responsible and yet unable to help. Inferno had never really needed to worry about this before, but at the moment, he was scared and doubtful about how long Molly might live.

Molly frowned as he questioned her, blinking up at him as if staring would simply slow his words down so her tired mind could comprehend them. Finally she managed to figure out what he had been saying, and she sighed, looking briefly around the den and then back at the beta. "That herb over there on top of that flat rock in the corner, it may help bring the fever down. But it will also keep me awake and prevent me from getting rest." She said, her ears flattening against her skull as her eyes returned to Inferno's face. If she were in good health there was no way she would have let him even inside of her den, yet here she was, getting questions of how he could help and actually embracing that help from him herself. It was strange, but she was desperate. Like the beta, she too had doubts of her chances of survival as of late.

Inferno followed her gaze to the herb, noting its position and use, but he didn't move. The pros of Molly sleeping outweighed the pros of using the herb. Sleep was what she needed, and perhaps it would assist her in naturally reducing the fever. He would be extra vigilant in checking up on it, though, and if her temperature seemed to increase at all, the medicine would be employed.

Shaking his head, the wolf relayed his thought process to the sick wolfess. "You'd better try to get back to sleep. Is there anything here that can help you do that? Put you under enough to ward off the nightmares?" That was the real issue, he thought. If she could just stay asleep, things would be better for her.

As he asked the question, another sound reached the wolf, causing him to curiously prick an ear toward the outside. There was Pravin, Fallon, Sib...and someone completely new. An instinctive growl rose in his throat before he could think to suppress it. He trusted the three to be on it, but Molly had to be quickly taken care of first.

Molly frowned as Inferno asked for something that would put her into a deeper sleep. She looked around the den and raked her brain for a solution, finally whining and letting her head rest on her paws in frustration. After a few more minutes of thinking, she finally lifted her head, looking over at an orange cluster of flowers near the back of the den. "Those would put me to sleep, but I don't know how long they last, or how long they would keep me asleep." She said, fearing that in her condition she would never wake up. What would happen to the pack then?

Without a word, the wolf got up and retrieved a single orange flower and dropped it by Molly's paw. "We can experiment with just one first. A small dose like this might not knock you out, but it could calm your dreams at least and let you sleep normally," he said, laying down and wrapping the white body up again. Until she slept, he would stay, but then he'd have to get going. Perhaps a fur from the storage den would be beneficial to Molly. That was next on the list of things to do, right before finding out what was happening outside.

Molly sighed as Inferno retrieved one flower, lowering her nose to sniff at it carefully. She didn't want to eat it, nor did she know what effect it would have on her. But it was obvious that Inferno planned to stay until she slept, so she decided to give it a shot. If she never woke up again, it would be Inferno's fault for sure. A small part of her that flickered from before she had been ill sort of liked that idea. Not the idea of never waking up, the idea that it would be his fault if she did. But she blinked down at the flower, forcing the thoughts into the back of her head and taking it into her mouth. It tasted awful, but she chewed and swallowed, resting her head on his paws to wait for it to take affect. It happened rather quickly, with was a bit frightening, and she felt more and more drowsy, and was soon fast asleep, leaning aganist Inferno and snoring softly.

((Inferno continued here: https://incendio.rpg-board.net/t88p30-hunting-party-1#1473 ))