Participants: Odessa and Whitefoam (a wolf played by Mirla)

Location: Tel'aran'rhiod

Intro: Despite being tired from a long night performing, Odessa takes the long way to get back to her room on the second floor of the Entertainers' Guild. She didn't want to run into anyone tonight -- most these days steered clear of her, the ones that didn't openly stare at her eyes. There were a few, like Severan, who still saw her as she was, and these people she treasured as a noblewoman might her precious heirlooms. Still, the way Dess felt tonight, she didn't even want the company of those rare souls. The 'long way' consisted of climbing the tree in the back of the Guild House, walking out onto the slender branch that stretched toward the building, and leaping from that onto a thin ledge that circled the upper half of the hall. Foolhardy to some perhaps, but not to one used to tight-rope walking and acrobatics as a profession. Treading lightly along the narrow ledge, Dess opens the shutters to her room with one careful hand and slips inside.

Sleep that night is quick in coming.

The Wolf Dream
You stand on a vast field of blackened grass. It is dark. Above, clouds move swiftly across a sky. Thunder rolls in the distance.

Odessa
Tall and lithe, this young woman has a more athletic figure than most. Looking to be around nineteen or twenty years old, Dess has long raven-black hair that is usually wrapped in exotic braids about her head to keep it out of the way. Startling amber-gold eyes dominate a pale, pretty face with angular features, high cheekbones and narrow lips. Usually moving with an agile silence, this young woman has the look of a dancer or acrobat, every step placed with lithe surity. She seems pleasant enough, quick to laugh and easy to approach, though for the most perceptive there may be a feeling that part of this may simply be a continuation of her profession as a performer, and that troublesome shadows linger behind that clear gaze.
Dess wears a slim-fitting pair of brown breeches tucked into ankle-high boots. A billowy sky-blue shirt hangs from her shoulders, and is cinched tight at the waist with a sturdy leather belt.
(+view Odessa/wolfinfo for important OOC information)

Whitefoam
A beautiful white wolf, female. Her eyes are deep and intellegent, and she's quite large. In a pack, she would surely be alpha.

Odessa blinks bewilderedly as she finds herself in this odd environment, her yellow eyes adjusting easily to the dim light as she looks around. The place... feels different than other dreams. And ominous. Her eyes track to the large white wolf as thoughts enter hers, catching the almost endless image of the wolf's name. *Where am I?*

The big female wolf seems to heave a sigh. *It has many names. The two-legs have forgotten its existance. We call it...Despair.*

In the distance, you can now make out voices. Howling. Moaning. The big wolf lets out a growl.

Odessa frowns inwardly as she catches herself using wolf-images to communicate. Don't want to end up like Mother Cu- er, Saralae. That other one. Her gaze narrows on the wolf a moment, taking a few tentative steps toward Whitefoam. "Despair?" The word doesn't quite mesh with the complex images the wolf sends, but it fits closely enough. *There is a place that is an emotion? How...* Blinking, the woman hunches as the sounds grow more clear. *Why am I here? What is that?*

*I don't know why you are here, BrightHawk. None come here save if they have a battle to fight.* She cocks her head. *Though it is odd...* Another roll of thunder, over the voices. *Your coming is...different.*

The slender woman drops slowly to a crouch, one hand touching the ground as though wondering what it's made of, to look so odd. Her eyes sweep the landscape, searching perhaps for the source of those voices. Involuntarily she gives a shivver, closing her eyes before studying the wolf. This is such a strange dream. And it felt so blasted real. *Different. How? I don't understand, Whitefoam.*

The ground is cold. So cold that it seems to cry out to you. A chill runs up your arm and strikes your heart.Waves of hopelessness pass over you, waves of unnamed guilt and despair and a hint of anger. *Don't do that, BrightHawk!* The wolf cries, too late.

And then...they come. Wolves yes, but they smell wrong. Red eyes gleam from fur as black as night. Their ears resemble, not those of wolves, but those as bats, and their fangs are too long. *JoinJoinus* they whisper, all at once, their mindvoices overwhelming.*YouYou'reNoNoDifferent.Join.GiveinJoin.NotBrightHawk.JoinDeathStreak.DeathStreak.* Images flood your mind. All the evil you've ever done, from the petty hurts you ever may have caused to any great wrongs you might have done.

Odessa lets out a cry, the sound almost seeming surreal as she snatches back her hand as though burnt. Clutching her arms to her body, her face twists with the sudden wash of emotions that struck her. She remains like that, her voice a torn mutter. "Oh light... oh oh oh... never, never felt anything so -horrible-..." Tear streaks are evident on her cheeks as she suddenly looks up, her eyes widening in fear as black shapes surround her.

And then WhiteFoam is there, butting her head up against you. *Fight, BrightHawk. Do not believe the HateBrother's twisttruths.* And louder: *JoiJoinUs! She is a fool.* More images. Now: Everyone who has ever wronged you. Everyone who has ever hurt you or your friends. The HateBrothers seem to project waves of anger, pressing forwa rd. *LetLetusHuuunt, DeathStreak. HuntHuntJoinus. Kill. You owe nothing, DeathStreak. PowerTake!*

Odessa's voice trembles uncertainly as she watches the dark shapes approach, fear stark in her gaze. Terror rolls off her in waves, and her yellow eyes couldn't be wider as she turns every which way to keep the black shapes in her sight. As images fill her mind, she lets out a whimper, unconcious of the moisture on her cheeks. "No, no... wake up, this has to be a dream, wake up Dess!" Turning only long enough to glance behind her, she searches for the white wolf, the only familiar being here. "Wh-Whitefoam?" As the wolf presses against her, she seems to gather her wits, her fingers curling in the coarse fur. Her voice is torn as she yells at the black shapes, trying to push their thoughts from her mind. "Go away!"

Twisted hissing laughs. They press closer. *SooSoon, DeathStreak. YourYoBrothers Brothersarewe.* A large mirror appears between them...and in it is a white wolf. ..pressed up against one of them, one of them with your eyes...not red yet...not quite yet.

*Fight!* The white wolf orders, baring her teeth.

"You're NOT my Brothers!" Odessa's hoarse voice rips across the dark shapes, louder than she'd ever thought she could make herself. "I'm NOT joining you!" Unconciously her lips raise in a snarl, her hands clenching into fists, one finding a knife at her belt that wasn't there. What? Shoving the confusion at the image a way, she quickly throws the knife for the head of the lead wolf, the alpha, letting out a yell of effort as she does.

WhiteFoam leaps into the fray, snarling. The alpha of the HateBrothers howls and disappears as the knife hits. The others leap for you, their teeth and claws snapping, biting. The sky rips open above you and you hear a clash of steel... a woman in white and a woman in black, familiar from the glimpse you get of them, twins, it seems, locked in a deadly battle. One of the distant howls becomes clearer and the HateBrothers stop in their attack, looking up. One hisses *AhhahhaNew GoFindWhisperTellBringthatoneProperPlace.* They streak off, one by one, with a fading voice in your mind. *DeaDeathStStreak.DeathStreak.* The whitewolf stops, panting, and looks up at you. *Say your name!*

Odessa finds herself deep in the pack of black shapes, her hands finding knives at her belt that never were, but these she casts about her as though possessed. BrightHawk casts her yellow gaze down the slope as the horrible shapes suddenly disperse, her breathing as heavy as the white wolf beside her. *BRIGHTHAWK*, she calls mentally after the wolves, her images strong with the force she puts behind them. A small, young hawk, its dark wings tinted in gold, flying over currents of air and the exhillaration of the sun cascading over its feathers... images flow across the landscape, proclaiming the woman's--wolf's?--name. As the shapes fade , so too does Odessa's strength, her shoulders slumping from her exhertion.

*Good.* WhiteFoam sags as well. *Good.* The clash of steel rings out, one more time, like a bell in the sky, and you hear a roar, a howl of despair, a human howl. The clouds cover the scene in the sky above. WhiteFoam looks at you. *What is to be found in this place is the greatest weapon of The ShadowRuler.*

*The scene fades...and you are waking.

Odessa looks up at the sound, her eyes searching the sky. An involuntary shudder rips through her at that howl, but she sets her jaw and turns to the wolf. *Will I have to come here again?*

*No. You have won.* A look up at the sky. *But another walks here, and has done so for a long time. She was in the sky.*

Odessa fights against waking, wanting to find out more. *Who? Whitefoam, who is it?*

The image of that black world and the white wolf within it fades as Odessa wakes, unable to keep herself in Tel'aran'rhiod. Waking with a gasp, she staggers to her feet, one hand holding her head as she orients herself. Yes, familiar. Her room... the Guild house... was it just a dream? Making her way to the window, she leans against the sill to take deep lungfuls of cool autumn air. If it was a dream, it was an odd one. And those women in the sky... they looked a lot like...

A steady warm wetness on her arm distracts her, and a throbbing she hadn't noticed before. Glancing down, she sees a steady trickle of blood dripping down her arm and onto the sill. There, just below her elbow, four deep furrows dig deep into her skin. They look as though made from the slash of a wolf's claws.