Aloe and Gnath

Aloe is a corrupted pup with a black-ticked cape and vile, unfocused eyes. She is currently one of the tribe's scouts. She is from the second litter of Phoenix Tribe's first Head Scout, Mercy, and Cedar. She is a littermate to Sigil and Crumb and a younger sibling to Fern and Willow.

Gnath is a colony of parasites that live in Aloe's brain. It is part of a larger gnathostomaic infection that infests her central nervous system and gastric wall. Aloe contracted the parasites in her youth by eating a "freaky looking fish" as a dare from her siblings.

View her infection progress here.

Puphood
Spoiler
Unfortunately i am insane and broke the character limit for her bio (lol). The google drive link to her puphood arc is here. It's currently under construction and looks awful, apologies for that!


Adulthood
Spoiler
Shocking everyone, Rusty appointed Aloe as the scout succeeding Lupo. Aloe!? A scout!? Her stomach still hurt too much to walk some days!! It was, however, her first time getting to explore the world, and she was excited to have something to do every day besides sit around. She felt proud to walk in her father's footsteps.

Gnath had been leaving her little messages, too, seemingly trying to communicate. It was taking control more than ever, probably about half the time, and left messages to other wolves or tried leaving things near their body when Aloe came to. It was creepy... it scared Aloe so much. She felt helpless. So admittedly, getting the scouting role made her feel important.

Father joined her as often as he could, rightfully worried about her condition jeopardizing her safety, she thought. Sometimes he wasn't there when she came back from a Gnath blackout. She ran into very little trouble out there, though. Animals seemed to fear her and she rarely encountered a soul on her missions.

Aloe got to know Rinty better, the other scout and the high energy older brother figure. He had a more distant presence before, bringing them toys and watching them when they stayed up late into the day, but she spent a lot more time with him now since they worked together. He was a bit of a goofball, who Aloe got along with well. They felt like siblings! She quite liked the playful relationship she had with him, which she felt she had lost with Sigil now that he was so protective of her, and Crumb who had grown so distant from her.

Gnath, on the other hand, found him a bit frivolous. He had a habit of stepping on everyone's tails and setting Gnath back on explorations. It admired his expertise and guidance on how to effectively scout, but as a person preferred to be on professional terms with him. He didn't seem to understand when it was Aloe or Gnath out, and seemed shocked whenever either of them did anything, really. It's like he always expected the other one!

Gnath was very good with its duties and found it relaxing to explore the forest, liking its job just as much as Aloe in its own way. They had a bit of a rocky relationship, and Gnath was starting to find it a little frustrating how Aloe lived a different life from the way it did. It was also more cautious about reproduction than she was - well, Aloe had no idea that the red puffs on her body were parasite eggs. Gnath took special care to avoid bodies of water, religious about using Kala's filtration system, and tried to discourage Aloe from drinking water by repulsing her from it. It figured out how to do a few tricks like that - or, they were uncontrollable and a symptom of the gnathostomatic infestation, but it was able to push past its own repulsion to drink and keep her alive. It noticed that it was spending a lot more days alive than it had before.

Aloe was noticing Sigil push himself into work, too, and paying less attention to her. He seemed to be growing up as he led Nightshade's hunts. He had more worries weighing on his expression each time they saw each other, which he attributed to this and that. Sometimes Aloe was convinced she was the only wolf who could put a smile on that face, daring him to do something stupid like they used to do as pups. She felt a pang in her heart every time she realized he had a relationship with Gnath, too, one she couldn't control that had changed the way he acts around her.


Raven Arc
Spoiler
A year and three months into its life, Gnath was scouting as usual, having just shaken Mercy off its tail and crossing the grasslands to get to the mountains. The summer heat had broke into a shower. Through the rainfall, it heard yelping coming from a den. It risked creeping inside and was horrified to find four newbornpuppies--three on the brink of starvation, and one cold tiny body that had already passed. Could it save them? It didn't know what to do! It was cautious of its own saliva because the other parasites spread through fluids, but how else would it pick them up without using its mouth? It was afraid to even risk touching them, yet they clearly needed warmth. They would die if it left.

Aloe faded into consciousness, feeling the ebbing waves of Gnath's distress and looking at the sight that had caused it. Without a second thought, Aloe curled her body around them, even the lifeless one. They cried and suckled uselessly at her as Aloe tried to piece together where she was. She licked their fur incessantly to keep them warm.

She waited until the rain settled. She was only able to fit one pup in her mouth, where she regretfully grabbed one with white blotches and hurried to camp as best she could. Luckily for her, their local tgirl crackhead Baked on Estrogen had just given birth, and was more than chill with letting the new pups suckle.

D'arc and Hayden helped bring the rest back to camp, properly burying the lifeless one. They were two boys and a girl.

To Aloe's horror, as the pups aged they all had her unfocused, pupilless red eyes. Were they infected? She couldn't tell. Gnath knew nothing better. Sigil relayed that it knew nothing more than she did, but seemed equally concerned.