for mild gore, swearing

He stumbled into another rock.

A soft cry as he pulled back, twisting his raw, bruised nose away. After a long moment's rest, he turned and started in a new direction.

He'd flown to Canis--flown swiftly, close behind the harelike creature calling itself 'Garnet Five-Seven-Nine.' He couldn't fly now. Not anymore. Now he could only crawl, helpless, like a child, across the rock.

He might never fly again. He couldn't see to do so. Nemean, and Vargas--they'd made sure of that. Torn his eyes from his head while he writhed, screaming.

His now-empty eye sockets were bleeding, again, red tear-streaks joining the brown stains that marred his face. And his tail--with its alligator ridges and scorpion sting, previously so shining and impressive--dragged broken and twisted behind him.

Everything was agony. Everything hurt. His head ached terribly, and exhaustion threatened to claim him. Even his stone--it felt as though it throbbed atop his head. Threatening to consume him. Offering him solace. The prison, and womb, of the chrysalis.

"Hello?" he called, his voice breaking, in half a croak. He was thirsty--so thirsty--and he felt as though he might starve. It'd been days, and he had been completely unable to find water, or food. He hated this. Hated it; hated all of it.

He wished they'd just killed him, the bastards. Instead of leaving him to crawl about, blind and helpless like a fucking worm.

He stopped again, head twisting this way and that, listening, smelling. Anger roiled through him, joining with the pain; stubbornness drove him on. He wouldn't go back into his stone--not until he dropped. And he hadn't dropped yet.

There! Water-scent. Relief flooded him so powerfully that he gave a brief and quiet sob, turning and moving more quickly toward the source. Bones clattered underfoot as he scrabbled through them, heading for the liquid that just might save his life.

Aries had stopped for a drink while on patrol. The water was cool and inviting as it ran down his parched throat as he reflected on the recent events. Canis looked the same as ever, but it was hotter and dryer now - with pools like these were becoming harder to find- all because of Hydra. Masters, Overseers, life after death, a "mother" in the spire, it all made Aries' head spin. Thing were never going to be the same from here on out, and trouble was brewing. He could smell in the air- or maybe that blood...

Wait, blood?

The tangy, metallic stench besieged his nostrils. Aries lifted his head, water dripping from his chin as he glanced around, sniffing. It was most definitely blood. Straining his ears, he caught the sound of whimpering. Something was shifting among the bones, writhing, crawling, crying.

They need help! Aries snapped in action. He rushed over and what he saw, he was not prepared for.

"Oh shit!" The ram gasped. Before him, was the pitiful form of a mangled gembound, mutilated and bleeding. Blood bubbled from where his eyes used to be and his broken tail hung by a thread. He was bleeding, a lot. The sight and the thick smell of blood made him sick to his stomach. Aries fought the urge to heave and scrambled towards him. "Hey, Hey, are you ok?! What happened??"

The ram called out any fellow Bonebound or others that might be near. "HEY- HELP! WE NEED A HEALER!"

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: @Imp // OOC:

Imp stopped short in his mad scramble for the water. A voice? Was he hallucinating, now..? He hesitated but a moment longer before trying for a snarky remark; but it was rather ruined by the hoarseness of his dehydrated voice.

"Took a walk in some flowers-..." He started shuffling weakly forward again, nose dipping down as he sniffed and listened for the stagnant pool. Snark was all but forgotten as the scent came more strongly--and a moment later his wing-claws found the cool splash of water. His snout dipped down at once, and he began gulping back great swallows of it. It was metallic, disgustingly stagnant, and hardly cold, but it was, to Imp, paradise.

When he'd finished he laid, for a moment, lowered down with his forelimbs touching the water. His head turned, a little, bats' ears swivelling to catch the sound of Aries--breathing, shifting. He'd never realized, before, how sensitive his hearing was. "Hey," he started, again, in greeting--trying not to think about how sick the water was suddenly making him feel. "I'm Imp. I pissed off uhh. That tiny bitch Nemean. There's this little rabbit-looking fucker named Garnet something. He pretended to be my friend and led me back to Nemean. The Betrayer," he added, in explanation.

Vargas had been very clear what would happen to Imp if he didn't tell the story correctly. He'd even said that he'd send spies. He'd probably been picturing a broken Imp wailing about how he'd rebelled and been punished, but Imp had no such plans.

Fuck 'em.

"So that tiny shit-fairy hired a big monster thing because she's too weak to do shit herself, and he ripped my fucking eyes out. Are you his spy?" Imp asked, turning his head slightly toward Aries, though facing somewhat the wrong way. Despite his utterly wretched appearance and his injuries, he seemed alert enough, and tough. There was something to be said for Champions of Hydra, after all--and for running on nothing but anger. "You know if there's any food around? I've been living on nothing but magic bananas for like, four days," he lamented, dipping his snout to sip again at the water. "But yeah, he said he'd send spies to make sure I was tellin' his version of the story right. If you're that spy you can go back and tell him I said he can go fuck himself." Imp hissed, a little, hatred rippling through him, as intense as any magic in its power to keep him strong.

Imp then left.

@Aries

EXIT IMP due to inactivity.