With all the hunting that was going on to fill the Armada's stores, the scent of blood was strong on the wind and heavy enough to taste. Everyone was doing their part to replace what had been lost, dragging in their quarries within the boundaries so it could be prepared, salted and dried for later consumption. Ophie glanced up at the sky, her brows furrowing a little as she stood just within the territory border. Scavenger birds were now a common sight as they circled above, watching with their beady little eyes, waiting for an opening to swoop down and claim a free meal. Whenever Sirius' vulture would fly by they would scatter into the Willow trees, only to return when he was out of sight once more.

And yet as intimating as the Warlord's vulture could be it was not nearly enough to keep larger beasts at bay.

Ophie had been feeling a little iffy all morning. Her patrol had gone well enough thus far as till now it had only been a laid back jaunt, retreading old tracks of those who were far more capable than her. But that's the thing about wolves, they had strength in numbers meaning most predators wouldn't run the risk of earning the ire of so many enemies at once. And yet...it was hard to say, but Ophie had a creepy, crawling feeling trickling across her skin. There was something out there, watching her from the shadows of the trees.

She shifted her weight to her front paws, wondering if she should call for someone to help her have a look but-

Something surged out of the shadows, a flash of orange and Ophie was shoved down to the ground with teeth clamping down against the meat of her throat. She kicked and struggled, her own claws unsheathing as she slashed at its belly; only just managing to fight back because of the blessing in disguise that was her obesity. With so much fat it couldn't get a proper strangle hold of her larynx and yet she was bleeding all the same. Even more blood on the wind. It thrashed her about, scrapping her against the floor like a rag doll as she struggled with all her might to hold it back. Cats were ambush predators and wolves were not, even without her condition she was at a major disadvantage and they both knew it.

Her oversized robin was quick to hop away, bouncing into flight as it SCREECHED as loud as its little lungs would allow. It would get her help even if it needed to poke someone's eyes out.

Aslatiel had been making herself scarce these days. The Armada was an uncomfortable place for her at present. With family returning as though nothing had changed, her father being an entirely different wolf from how he'd been when she was a child... things were just off. Asla had agreed to stay until spring, but she was counting the days. Freedom was just around the corner and she could taste it. Keeping herself far from others, Asla mostly ran patrols. Periodically she would cross paths with others, but would only give a nod before continuing on. She was a busy wolf, after all. The wolves of the Armada were back and forth, scattered like leaves in the wind as they rushed to bring in food for the winter to replenish the stores that had been damaged. Ever thoughtful, Asla had her own private food stores within her den. Salted meats stored in hanging bags. It would be enough to get herself and the pups through the winter without touching the food brought in by others. Already she was working on being entirely self sufficient. As she ran the well worn path around the Armada lands, A large, screeching form blew past her. Asla stopped in her tracks, looking over her shoulder for a moment as she realized that it had been Ophie's robin. Turning her attention back towards the direction from whence it came, Asla began moving hurriedly forward. When the wind pulled the smell of blood directly into her nose, she wasted no time, shifting to breakneck speed. She could hear the scuffle before she could see it, but the moment she did, Asla acted. Hind paws pushed off of the ground and the cream and grey fae found herself seated atop the feline's back. Her own feline claws sank into the beasts face and her teeth found one rounded ear, shredding it as she thrashed her head back and forth. Beneath her, the cat squealed, releasing its hold on Ophie. Asla refused to let go, sinking her claws more tightly into the cheeks of the tiger. As it bucked and thrashed, the motion caused one of her paws to slip, the claws slicing into the tiger's eye before the small woman was thrown free. Asla hit the ground hard and rolled, an audible "Oof" pulling from her. She was back on her feet in an instant, but the quick motion had left her a little dizzy and she needed a moment to reorient herself. "Speech"

Mojtio had been busy clearing out the refuse from the flood from the drainage gutter of his garden, it wouldn't really do any good for the ditch to get clogged up and back up, the autumn was almost certainly going to bring even more rain and in order to avoid losing any more parts of their stores, he had to make sure they weren't fit to flood over. Or at least that had been the plan. But when a loudly screeching robin had flitted by, doubled back and then picked up his ear and started yanking he'd suddenly had what he was doing changed. Getting dragged around by his ear by a robin was not something he'd ever expected to happen in his life but after trying to bat it off with a forepaw a few times he'd simply given up and let himself be pulled off to who knows where. He idly wondered if he was going to get walked off a cliff as some kind of karmic justice for prey animals when he heard the telltale sounds of a scuffle, a deep yowling, and distinctly lupine growls. And that was how Mojito ended up on the scene of the fight. Shaking his ear free of the bird's grasp the young man was instantly rushing towards the big cat. His pack instinct, his territorial instinct kicking in even as he just started to process who was here. No matter his feelings for Asla at this moment he wasn't about to let the large predator harass her, the younger Fatalis woman, or even worse break into the pack lands proper. With a growl ripping from his throat the man lowered his head and lined up his horns with one of the cat's haunches, feeling his skull colliding with the cat's knee. It snarled and dropped its attention from the two women to whirl around and smack him around, which it did pretty handily. Claws raking across his right shoulder and Mojito hissed in pain, shuffling to do his best to sneak out of the range of those thorn sharp claws, eyes briefly leaving those deadly paws to seek out the gaze of the two women. If all three of them could force the cat to split its attention they could run circles around it, metaphorically. He only hoped they'd get that from his brief glances. "Speech"

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Ophie let out a wheeze as the tiger's teeth squeezed her tighter, only for it to spit her free as a tan shape clambered atop its back with claws drawn. All blurry from adrenaline, she barely felt the pain in her neck as she scrambled out from beneath the shadow of its form and hauled herself up onto her paws. She blinked away the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes and rushed back in to help her sister and Mojito- who only now she'd just noticed enter the fray. Except wasn't all that sure what to do, to be honest, she'd sparred plenty with family and friends but had never actively tried to harm anyone before. Even with blood dripping from her neck she hesitated, watching the other two fight and snarl, hounding the beast like any capable wolf should.

What was she supposed to do? What if she just got in the way and someone else got hurt? Nearby Asla crashed to the floor and Mo hissed as a solid hit slashed across his shoulder, there wasn't even room to question this. Ophie had to act now.

She surged forward and followed in Asla's footsteps, claws unsheathed. If the three of them worked together and came in from different angles they'd surely be able to dissuade the beast from venturing further into Armada territory. Or that was the plan at least, if it went well. Hanging back a little, since her reflexes weren't quite so razor sharp as the others, she extended a limb and gave its haunch a solid scratch. Enough to draw blood and make Ophie really have to dig in her back paws to wrench it free, if that wasn't a solid distraction she didn't know what was.

A pale shape entered the fray and Asla silently cursed. Fuck. That was all that she needed; two wolves to keep safe instead of one. The cat had loosened its hold in Ophie and the girl got away. Mojito had pulled its attention and Asla could smell his blood, so he had pulled that attention a little too much. Neither wolf was half the fighter or hunter that Asla was, so she felt a great deal of anxiety about this whole mess. Especially after almost losing Satira to the anaconda. She wouldn't lost anyone. She wouldn't almost lose them either. With Mojito pulling its attention one way and Ophie pulling it another, Asla repeated her first attack. The agile young woman sprinted towards the feline and launched herself upon it. Jaws opened wide and bit into the back of its skull as her claws once again hooked into its face. Again the feline thrashed and was beginning to realize that it had made a mistake coming here. Cat blood filled Asla's mouth as she was ripped from the back of the beast once more. This time she landed on her feet. The tiger's one remaining eye was fixed on Aslatiel and she had both of her galactic orbs fixed on it in return. Head lowered, hackles raised, The woman released a guttural snarl. With a stomp and a snap, she goaded the bloodied beast. It didn't take much goading, for a moment later it gave chase. Turning tail, Asla ran, leading the beast away from the pack and towards the border. She was small and fast, but the cat was fast as well. It was quickly right on her tail and Asla had to think about her next move. "Speech"

If Mojito had known that Asla thought so poorly of his fighting ability he'd have been even more wounded than he already was, he'd fought off an Aligator and helped to defend the pack against the massive invaders well enough. He was hardly an unbloodied fighter, he'd taken his fair share of bumps and bruises. Just because he didn't throw himself in harm's way, the way the sandy woman did, didn't mean he didn't know what he was doing. He skittered out of reach, feeling his shoulder ache where four shallow but long gashes were already starting to stain his snowy fur pink. The younger Fatalis lashed out, clearly less sure of herself than the two adults, as evidenced by Asla's willingness to throw herself back on the cat's back. Mojito surged forward then, harrying the cat with small nips and headbutts, unlike the two women his claws were dull and unsuited for battle against the bulkier animal. So he was mostly left with close-range options, fangs, and sharp horns. Asla pulled back and Mojito also pulled away, watching her carefully. Already working through her possible plans he wasn't totally surprised when she turned tail and ran, taking the cat with her. Mojito pivoted, glancing at Ophelia and giving her the plan as he started after the fleeing pair. "Give chase, when it gets to close to Asla nip it, not enough to draw attention but to keep it off your sister's tail!" And with that Mojito would give chase, following his own instructions, giving quick ineffective nips at the cat's tail or hindlegs, whatever was in range, enough to keep its attention from honing in on the woman leading it away but not wanting to make the cat round on him, if they could just get it out past the border, they just had to hold on until then, blood pounded in his ears, his shoulder aching and threatening to hold him back from being able to keep up for too much longer. "Speech"

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Ophie really was out of her depth here. She was nothing like her big-little- sister, a mighty warrior who was more than capable of taking on foes many times her size. And yet she knew there was no choice but to band together, to harass and harry the cat till victory was theirs. Asla was firmly in charge of the Armada trio and took the incentive to goad it into chasing her as she turned tail and ran. Ophie didn't need to be told twice, but she really appreciated the guidance. Without them she'd likely be dead, if not at the very least hurt more than she already was.

She was never going to be swift on her paws, but she dug deep into her strength reserves and pushed her limbs as fast as they would go. Paws thudded against the earth as her sides heaved, lungs already aching in her chest as she leaned forward to snap at the tiger's haunch. Try as she might, she didn't have much left to give, if this final effort didn't drive the cat out then she wasn't sure if anything would.

Fortune seemed to be shining down on the trio, as the cat's steps began to falter and its gaze darted back to the Willow from where it came. It knew a lost cause when it saw one and likely concluded this simply was not worth the effort. Wanting to persuade it just a little more, Ophie let out a snarl in the back of her throat, hoping to mimic the heart clenching growl her sister had let out moments ago.

The three wolves each played their part. Asla ran the cat while Mo and Ophie kept it back just enough so that it wouldn't catch her. As they ran the feline out of the territory, the cream colored fae could feel it hesitancy. That was perfect. Exactly what she wanted it to feel. Curling around behind the tiger, it didn't even seem to realize that it was no longer chasing, but was being chased. Aslatiel sank her teeth into the cat's tail and it squealed, pulling the appendage away from her jaws before tucking it and running. All that was left to do was to run the beast out of Armada lands. With the feline running, Asla and the others stayed on it until it dove over the border. With the cat out of sight, Asla instantly turned to her sister. "Are you alright? Are the wounds deep?" She then cast her galactic gaze to Mojito. "See to her wounds?" Crossing out of Armada territory herself, Asla set after the cat, intent on getting it as far away from the pack as possible. If it would attack a full growl wolf so brazenly, it surely wouldn't think twice about snatching up a pup. "Speech"

Despite it all, despite the hurt and the anger that hung between them Mojito could not help but feel admiration for Asla as she managed to loop around behind the cat and clamp onto its tail. Mojito surged forward, nipping at its hind paws, not enough to even draw blood but just enough to harry it, to make the big cat realize the losing battle it had found itself in. The tiger snarled and wrenched its tail free of Asla's grip and continued to pelt back towards the pack border. Mojito fell back, panting. Asla swiftly turned to look over them, her attention seemed to mostly fall on her sister and he nodded, tongue lolling as she instructed him to tend to the young Fatalis, as if he needed to be told twice to do his job. He watched her go for a moment, a soft whisper falling from his lips: "Come back safely." It was too quiet for anyone to hear but it carried all the pain and longing and deep care he still held for the mother of his daughter. Then Mojito turned his attention to Ophelia, wincing as he moved, the adrenaline starting to wear off and setting his shoulder ablaze with pain every time he flexed it. "Let's get you looked after huh?" He gestured with his muzzle, hoping the young woman was still feeling well enough to walk, he wasn't going to be able to support her weight with his shoulder, that was for sure. He silently hoped that when she finished chasing the cat off that Asla would come to him to tend to her wounds, but he wasn't so blinded by optimism to believe it would happen, but he had a patient right in front of him so he had to focus on that and not anything else. "Speech"

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