EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I'm going to go under the assumption that Fendros would be quiet during dinner for my nest one, if that's alright. I'll also be going to bed after this one.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I have absolutely no idea." Meesei answered honestly. "I awoke at the bottom of a river. At first I thought it was the river that ran by camp, but that was clearly wrong. I have no idea why I came out this far, or what this stuff is I am covered in. Whatever it is, it makes animals act very strangely, and it will not wash off in water. I may end up having to replace these clothes; the scent attracts a lot of attention from anything with a decent sense of smell. As for the troll, well, I don't think I should be surprised by anything at this point."

It was not taking nearly as long for them to get back as it did for them to follow her trail, so they reached the river which passed by camp after a short time. As they did, the trio spotted a small group approaching along the river in the distance. As they neared the group, they saw that it was Lorag, Runt, and Jannius, who had evidently decided to turn around at some point.

"Hah! Look what the cat dragged in...literally." Lorag shouted once he was close enough, simultaneously greeting Meesei and poking fun at Ahnasha. "Did you have fun...out...by the...what on Nirn is that smell? It's like a bear died raiding a bee's nest."

"Good to see you too, Lorag. I know about the smell, but I couldn't wash it off in water. Sabine, if you could mix up some troll fat for me to use once we get back, that would be helpful." Meesei said, to which Sabine nodded in response. Ahnasha kept up a grin as she listened to the exchange, but she did not say anything for the moment. She knew she would have to tell the others, but really did not know how to go about bringing it up.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Thank you." Ahnasha said, her tone quiet, but sincere. It was still all a lot to take in at once, and any comfort she could get was not something she would pass up.

"Neither of you will be alone." Meesei said in a firm, supportive voice. "As I said before, we are family. Your challenges are our challenges, your issues our issues. We will all help to bear the burden...and reap the rewards." She said, trying to remind them that the situation wasn't completely negative. Ahnasha already knew this, but it wouldn't hurt for her to hear it again.

Ahnasha let out a deep breath and nodded. "You're right, and I guess it will be a while before we really start seeing the effects of this. We should probably head back, tell the others we found you, and get you cleaned up....especially the last one." She said with somewhat of a forced chuckle at the end. Before standing up, she looked over to Fendros, giving him a smile and gripping his hand tighter for a moment before letting go. She was grateful to have his support in all of this.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha was just as speechless as Fendros, and in an equal state of shock. She could hardly fathom what this would mean for her and the rest of the pack; it wasn't something that was supposed to happen. This wasn't something she had feared before because she knew they had ways to prevent it, both before and after the event. She could never had anticipated that events would spiral out of control like this; it was all so improbable. And yet...it happened. Soon enough, everything was going to change.

"I...I don't...I don't know what to say. This is just so...how did this happen?" Ahnasha said, not expecting an answer.

Meesei sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I am never going to drink again." She mumbled. Although this development most directly affected Ahnasha and Fendros, it would greatly impact the rest of the pack as well. Not only would Ahnasha become unavailable for more strenuous activity in a few months, but it would give additional responsibilities to the rest of the pack as well. As they all lived for one another, they would all help to raise the child. None of them would even think of avoiding that responsibility.

"I...still could do something about it. I have the capability to end it, but at that point, I would not be stopping a pregnancy from happening, I would be ending one in progress." Meesei said, her tone low and solemn. If she knew Ahnasha as well as she thought she did, she doubted the Khajiit would take that option, but she had to at least mention it.

Ahnasha was silent for to her what seemed like hours, though it was in reality only a minute or so. She muddled over her options in her mind, though none of them seemed appealing. "I don't think I could do that." She finally said.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei had been following her trail for a while, and she had no idea what she had been doing the previous night. She seemed to have ran all over the forest in random directions. At the very least her memory from the celebration the previous day was starting to come back. She did remember having a good time drinking with the others...not that she would want to repeat it. After this experience, she wouldn't want to drink again for quite a long time.

Eventually, Meesei heard a voice shout out her name surprisingly close to her, something that surprised and excited her all at the same time. She ran in the direction of the voice, taking only a few minutes to reach the source. The moment she saw Fendros and Ahnasha wandering through the forest searching for her, she breathed a sigh of relief. "By the Bloodmoon, it is good to see you two." She said as she approached the pair.

"Meesei! I couldn't agree more, oh...ah." Ahnasha began, nearly running up to hug the Argonian before smelling the intense, foul scent that was emanating from her. It was even stronger on her than back at the fallen log. "You, uh, you have a rather...terrible scent about you, and..." Ahnasha walked around so she could see behind Meesei. "...you have feathers stuck to your back."

"I...didn't know about that, but I am acutely aware of the smell. And no, I have no idea what this stuff is. It won't wash off in water, so I think I will need Sabine's help with it. You do know the way back to camp, correct?" Meesei asked, slightly worried that they might be lost as well. After all, they had all been drinking last night.

"Yes, but...there is something I need you to do before we go back." Ahnasha responded, rubbing her hands together awkwardly. "You remember how myself and Fendros were getting...close last night?"

Meesei scratched her head as she tried to recall the specifics of the previous night. "Yeah, you were all over him." She said with a bit of a chuckle.

"Well, that ended up going to its inevitable conclusion. I would like you to make sure nothing comes of it, if you could?" She asked.

"Of course." Meesei said, sitting down and motioning for Ahnasha to lay down beside her. The Khajiit complied, lying down next to Meesei despite the putrid smell coming from her. Meesei placed her hands on Ahnasha's stomach and began to charge restoration energy through her, closing her eyes and tuning herself to the energy of her body. Before she could do anything, Meesei had to examine her to see what state she was in, or if anything had already happened. She was silent for a few minutes, focusing completely on Ahnasha's life force. It was rather subtle variations in her energy she was looking for, so it took a good deal of concentration for her to properly examine her. Ahnasha found herself nearly sweating from the anticipation, but she said nothing so as not to interrupt Meesei's concentration. Eventually, she removed her hands from the Khajiit's stomach and looked down at her.

"Ahnasha...you're pregnant." Meesei said, her tone displaying none of her emotions.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Still writing, just got delayed.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"No, I have no idea what this is, but I don't think that's it. Honestly, this smells much worse." Ahnasha said, standing up and taking a few steps back. "At any rate, you're right. This should make it easier, if a bit less pleasant, to track her. They found some indication of which direction she had gone, then followed along. The scent of the strange substance was overpowering at first, but as they distanced themselves from its source, it became easier to track by smell. The leftover residue on her trail did not have an overwhelmingly strong scent anymore, but it was certainly distinct. Unfortunately, her trail was just as convoluted as before, so it took quite a while for them to find the right paths.

After about another half hour, Ahnasha picked up on the foul scent a bit stronger, and this time it wasn't coming from residue on the ground, it seemed to be on the wind. The implications of what that meant immediately excited her. She glanced over to Fendros, a grin forming on her face. "Hold on, smell that? I think that might just be her."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I'm on spring break, so it's fine.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

"Hmm, I suppose it is sensible that magic could awaken the magic within you." Ssarak said as he followed along with Annabeth. Like Annabeth, he too wondered if the stone creature could know the exact location of a person within the college at all times, though he supposed there were many facets of magic of which he was simply unaware. Or perhaps it was simply taking them to his office.

"I do not believe you will have any difficulty being accepted as a student if you do possess mageblood. It seems like the only requirement for acceptance is that you be physically capable of manipulating magic, and that you abide by the college's rules, of course. Even if you do not possess mageblood, it could be possible for you to find some way to work under the employ of the college, should you desire to. Personally, I believe I will enjoy my time here. Despite yesterday's unpleasantness with some of the demonstrations, most of my experiences so far have been positive ones. Ever since leaving my home in the Scorched Lands, I have not met so many people in one place who are as accepting as the people here. There are almost certainly closed-minded students among us, but the overall environment here seems much more...agreeable than I am accustomed to. Have you found as much fortune in your dealings with others since you arrived?" He asked, wondering if he had just been lucky in finding kind or polite people to speak to, or if the types of people who were attracted to a center of magical learning were more accepting than the norm.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I...guess it's better than nothing." Ahnasha said, examining the tracks. She had a hard time believing that Meesei, even while drunk, would have done what Fendros was suggesting, but they were out of options at this point. Once Fendros climbed down, they followed the troll's path through the forest, which was thankfully rather easy to keep up with. The rather heavy creature made deep, distinct tracks and an easy to recognize scent. The trail went on for quite a while, and Ahnasha was worried that they were following a path Meesei had never been on. The strength of the troll's scent would obscure Meesei's, so they would have to follow it to its end to even know if she had been there.

Eventually, they came across the corpse of the troll they had been following. Ahnasha could immediately tell that its hide had been charred by fire, which certainly gave her hope that it had been Meesei who killed it. Sure enough, after searching the area for a few moments, she spotted a single Argonian footprint and once again picked up on Meesei's scent. They were growing closer to finding her, but it had been a few hours already, and it was not going to become any easier. Meesei's path quickly became more erratic as they followed it. She went off in seemingly random directions, only to turn around, then head off in a different one. Ahnasha and Fendros were constantly having to double back on themselves to reacquire her trail, then follow it in a different direction. While they never lost the trail completely, they ended up wasting a lot of time on dead ends. Ahnasha was growing more worried about how much time was passing; it seemed like half the day had already gone by.

After a while, Ahnasha caught a strange scent in the air. It was not Meesei's, but rather something different...and terrible. It only grew stronger as they followed Meesei's trail until they came to its source: an unassuming patch of ground near a fallen log. Nothing seemed special about it other than the fact that it smelled like a rotting corpse mixed with honey. Ahnasha held her nose as she drew closer, not particularly wanting to take in any more of the offensive scent. When she knelt down beside the log, she noticed a thin, clear film of some sort of sticky looking substance coating the ground. There was absolutely no indication of what it was or how it got there, but one of Meesei's footprints was located directly in the middle of it.

"Well, this is...wonderful.." Ahnasha commented, coughing as she spoke.