There were little mini wolves all over the place. Well okay three, but it was still far too many. She wasn't too keen on meeting the little buggers, and had been tiptoeing around Imperium's lands, trying to avoid them. It wasn't like she really didn't like pups, she also wasn't really fond of them. And now that she was entertaining the idea of not being able to have any herself, she was very jealous at the fact that others seemed to be popping them out left right and center. Valentine could start his own mini gang of tiny warriors. Squinting her purple eyes, she walked around the range on silent paws. They could be anywhere, lurking and eyeing her from the bushes. Shuttering at the idea, she really felt like going to the Orchard and crawling up a tree. She would be safe there, right? Pups weren't like baby bears, they couldn't climb trees... right? Oh gods what if they could climb trees. Then no where would be safe! Stars help them all. Her elongated pale tail flickered behind her, wary of everything around her. These damned things were going to give her a panic attack. "SPEAK!"

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FREEEEDOM! She was free, free, freeeee! It sucked that Rhyme wasn't with her, but some days he was just too slow for words and had to be left behind. Leaving him was a painful sacrifice, but a necessary one occasionally. She'd never get to see anything if she always had to wait for him to catch up. Besides, he made good Mommy bait and would probably keep her occupied doing whatever it is he did whenever she wasn't around. Her breath caught as an unfamiliar scent reached her nose. Rhys frizzed up at the smell, fluffing all over like an angry little dandelion. She'd never, ever smelled this wolf before. Ever. Her eyes narrowed. This was like when Daddy pretended to be a bad guy sneaking around the den only real, wasn't it, so there was only one thing to do. CHARGE! Barking ferociously, Rhys made a beeline for Mercy. "Bad!" she barked, "bad guy!" Whenever she ran howling at Daddy he usually did one of two things, he either rolled over on his back and let her bite him or he ran away because she was so scary, so Rhys fully expected this woman to do the same. "Run away now!" Spying the woman's super long tail, Rhys decided that was as good a place as any to bite, so it was there that she set her sights.

She was about to make her way towards the border to do some patrolling when she heard a sharp barking, her hackles raised as she jumped up like a scared cat. All fluffed up, she turned and eyed the little demon came barreling at her like a bat out of hell. Purple eyes grew wide as she started to bark at her and call her bad. She saw the little girl turn herself towards her tail, and the taller girl lifted it high above her reaches. Purple eyes gazed at the girl as a single brow rose, blinking rapidly at the pup. There was no doubt that she was one of Valentine' kids, those eye dots were unmistakable. The colouring reminded her of Rhythm, and she had no doubt that she was one of their kids. Who was calling her bad. "I'm bad?" she asked, her voice coming out in a soft rumble. Then, with a quick thought, she smirked and turned and looked down at her, her tail lashing behind her as she growled. Mercy showed off her teeth, her tongue licking at her lips. She was very young still, there was no way that she would be able to tell that Mercy stunk of Imperium. "Yes, I am very bad. But what are you going to do about it?" Hey, who said that she wasn't allowed to have a little fun with this? "SPEAK!"

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As her target was lifted out of her reach Rhys lunged, hoping to follow it up and still catch the end of it. She was unsuccessful, still too little and uncoordinated to get far off the ground. Her little jaws closed with an unsatisfactory snap on thin air and in a flash all four paws were back on the ground. Well that wouldn't do! This wolf was doing everything all wrong! The stranger turned to glare at her, her lips curling back in a snarl that would have had Rhyme crawling around on his belly, but Rhys was not her brother. This unknown, as easy as it would be for her to cause the small pup harm, did not scare her. Rhys glowered right back at her, her own lips curling in a similar expression. She mirrored each growl that was directed her way without fear of retaliation. But what are you going to do about it?" That was an easy question. She didn't even have to think about it. "Bite you!" With that said she lunged again, this time aiming for the toes on Mercy's left forepaw.

Okay, so maybe not all mini wolves were terrible. It was easy to see her father in this girl, she didn't even flinch when the much larger woman started to snarl at her. Even when she lunged for her paw, she allowed the girl's puppy teeth to sink into her paw. Mercy's purple eyes flew open a tad bit wider, she was not expecting her to have quite that strong of a grip yet. So the dame attempted to lift up her leg, hoping to drag the pup up onto her hind legs. "Well little miss, you seem to have a lot of your father in you." She said with a chuckle. Good, she would be big and strong just like their King. "But let me teach you something," she said, words only a slight hiss from the pinching pain of her bite. "smell me again. Do I smell similar to your daddy Valentine? Breath in deep, and you will be able to pull the scent of Imperium away from my own smell." All signs of the growling, snarling woman were gone, it was as if she had been testing the little one all along. "My name is Mercy, I am a Legionary here." Muttered the pale woman, hoping by now that the darling pup had let go of her paw. She needed that... "But I gotta tell you a secret." Dropping her vocals down into a soft whisper, she dipped down her head so that her black marked face was resting very close to the girls ear. "If I had been a bad wolf, I would have been running from the hills. You are going to be a very scary fighter." Yeah... Mercy had decided that not all gremlins were bad. "SPEAK!"

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Faced with success Rhys wasn't quite sure what to do. From play fighting she was somewhat aware of the limits of play biting, but she'd bitten this woman with every intention of doing as much harm as she could inflict. The difference between the two, between playing and attacking, was startling and she didn't know what to do next. What did one do with a real bite? Thankfully the woman's next move cleared things up. When Mercy drug her paw up and a familiar resistance was offered, Rhys knew exactly what to do. Tug o' war! She tried to yank back as hard as she could, but the woman was just too strong for her and managed to drag her up on her hind legs. For a moment she simply hung there, but her bottom was too heavy for the rest of her and she finally had to let go. "...you seem to have a lot of your father in you." Rhys scooted back so she could eye the growly woman better. She knew Rhys's Daddy? "Breathe in deep, and you will be able to pull the scent of Imperium away from my own smell." Rhys harrumphed but complied, sticking her nose way out and sniffing in the direction of the woman. Hm. Well, she did smell kind of like her parents. The pup harrumphed again, her brow furrowing, before she admitted, "Um, yeah." So the growly woman's name was Mercy. Rhys didn't know what a Legionary was, but it sounded important. "But I gotta tell you a secret." Rhys peeked up at Mercy out of the corner of her eye, her unflinching gaze following Mercy's eyes and she bent down to whisper in her ear. What she said caused Rhys's chest to puff up with pride. "You think so? Really?" Her tail started to wag, gently beating the ground behind her. "My name is Whys." Feeling compelled to tack some kind of title on like Mercy had, she said, "I'm not a Legionary, I'm just a puppy."

Apparently pulling her leg up was not the brightest idea, because the little fart tugged on her paw and shook her head, like it was some stick they were fighting for. Ears pulled against her head as she hissed in pain, her sharp little puppy teeth cutting moderately into the top of her paw as well as her more sensitive pad. Letting out a hiss of pain she gritted her teeth, letting the little one have her bit of success. It was going to sting like a bitch for a bit though, that was for sure. Blood trickled down her white paw and towards Rhys' mouth, and she wondered what the child would do when she was faced with a real wound that she had inflicted by herself. The tiny terror sure did some good work, if she really had been an intruder it would be a wound to think about. But with the weight of the pup held up in one leg, her puppy butt soon struck the ground. Quickly placing her own paw back on the ground, she bent down and gave it a few swift licks to clean the area, while her weight shifted slightly off of it. At last the girl seemed to realize that Mercy was a pack mate and not an intruder, although she didn't seem to happy about it. The pale woman chuckled, head slowly shaking side to side. "Don't worry, there will be a time soon when you will be able to tell each pack mate from the way they smell." she said softly, trying to reassure the grumpy child. Usually she would be running to the hills in a situation like this, but she had to admit, she liked this girls spirit. My my, how quickly the mood would change. Mercy grinned when the child's chest puffed up with pride, blue eyes meeting her own gaze. The sound of her thumping tail made her smile grow, head nodding eagerly along with her. "Yup, I would have been thinking twice about coming here with you to defend Imperium's borders." Mercy said with a soft laugh. At the pups introduction, a single black marked brow rose. Whys? That was a... strange name. But as Mercy replayed the sound in her head, she heard the slight fumble of her lips. Rhys? Yeah, probably. Tongue smacked against her lips, slightly unsure if she had the girls name right. "Nice to meet you, just puppy Rhys. So, do you have any brothers or sisters?" She asked, pushing herself to her rump as her elongated tail curled around her. She hadn't been by to see Rhythm and the pups, considering she still wasn't really a fan of her. "SPEAK!"

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Mercy tossed another compliment Rhys' way and the child ate it up. Still beaming she stared up at Mercy with a mix of pride and pleasure. They might have gotten off to a rocky start but she liked this Legionary already! Fueled by Mercy's reassurances Rhys was now more than ever determined to hunt down bad guys. She'd found Mercy by chance, but now? Now she'd go looking for bad guys to scare! Since Mercy was laying it on thick Rhys decided she needed to give her a compliment too. It was only fair. "Together I bet we can keep all the bad wolves out!" Brothers and sisters? Of course she had them! Didn't everybody? "Uh huh! I have Whyme, Angel, Ass-sh, Chaos, Vana and supposedly" - that's right, she was using big words now! - "A brother named Serafffim, but I never seen him."

The pale woman chuckled at the pups words, her head nodding slowly up and down. "I am sure that we can. There was once one wolf who came across the borders without even stopping, and I fought her because of it. That was when I was still new to the pack, and your father ended up claiming her after that." Mercy said, leaving the part out that she had lost. It had been close, and Mercy was still training to be a fighter at that point. If she remembered right, that had actually been her first real fight, not just a spar. But that was then. The girl went on them, trying to say her siblings names but stumbling over the letters in the most adorable way. There was only one name that she didn't know in that list, meaning that she most likely had one other litter mate. "Wanna know something kind of cool? We are related in some way and form, although not as close as your other siblings." Mercy mused. She was usually glad to leave out her last name, but she wanted to see her reaction to that little bit of news. The Destruction's were a very long, very annoying, line. Rhys would often run into another Destruction, but they were not like Mercy. Most didn't even fight, or lead a lame pack of even more lame wolves. "Your mothers last name is Destruction, and there are a lot of Destruction wolves out there. A lot." She said with a small grumble, her purple eyes rolling. "But none of them are as cool as me, or as you Dad's side. That's probably where all your fighting spirit comes from!" She said with a grin. "SPEAK!"

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Whaaaat? Her mom had a last name? Rhys had been certain her name was just Momma. "Wheally? That is cool!" Her dad was pretty cool too. Until now the idea of relatives hadn't ever crossed her mind. It was kind of weird to think about the possibility of her parents having parents and siblings of their own, but that made sense, didn't it? "My momma has fighting spirit too," she assured the woman. Her mother was really, really cool. There was no one in Imperium like her. Not only was she the best mom, but she was the best lady too. Mercy might have been pretty neat, but she was not Rhys' mom. "But my daddy says I'm a lot like him when he was a puppy." Her ears swiveled around at what sounded like pursuit behind her. Uh oh. That was probably her momma coming to get her. If she wanted to remain free she needed to keep moving. "Um, I have to go or I'll get in trouble. Bye, Legionary Mercy! " -exit Rhys-

Mercy just nodded at the puppies words, she wasn't going to start now about how she disliked Rhythm. That was her own ghost to deal with, and not something she should put on the girls shoulders. Plus, she would probably bite her again. She smiled softly, she really did like this fiery girl. Pale ears perked up when she heard the sound of paws falling, head raising as her purple eyes glanced over the horizon. Well, it would seem that Rhys wasn't supposed to be out here all alone. Chuckling at the puppies parting words, she dipped her head to the brown girl. "See you later, just puppy Rhys!" She called. Watching the pup vanish, she stayed sitting there for a little bit longer, a sadness squeezing her heart. She had always thought that she had hated pups, but seeing Rhys... it made her long to be a mother. But that wasn't possible, it couldn't ever be that way. Ears fell back as she rose to her paws, starting off in the opposite direction. Maybe she should stay away from pups for now... -exit Mercy- "SPEAK!"

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