Aurielle Adravendi

She trotted across the Plains, scanning the tall grasses. Movement kept her from dwelling on her problems, and today, she had a lot of movement in mind. Her nose dropped briefly as she locked onto Red’s scent, and she veered to follow the large wolf’s trace, moving more stealthily the warmer the scent became. By the time she knew she was within a hundred feet of the male, she was moving like a ghost over the ground, occasionally checking the sky and all around to see that he wasn’t anywhere he could catch sight of her before she could sneak up on him. From the scent of it, he wasn’t hunting, so she didn’t think she had to worry that she would ruin a hunt. And though things were improving, she didn’t want to jeopardize the possibility of feeding her pack. In fact she had plans for the day. A flash of gold brindling, a glint of ruddy coat ahead. She moved even lighter, sliding smoothly with all the stealth she’d been taught as she peered past the male and up ahead, checking that he was for sure not stalking any prey, before she leapt the last four feet with a bark, aiming to land directly behind the large wolf. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Red was sprawled out in the summer sun, enjiying its warmth as he worked on a rawhide he had been allowing to dry for quite some time and was only now getting to working. He was carefully working it against the sharp edges of his fangs to shape it into a circle. It was squirrel, so he hadn't bothered to remove the fur and unfortunately this meant bits of fur kept sticking annoyingly between his teeth and he had to keep pausing to spit it out. He had just paused when he suddenly became aware of a strange feeling skittering up his spine, the feeling of being watched. The workd around him was too quiet, birds that had been used to his presence enough to be singing for the past half an hour suddenly falling silent.

Red didn't let himself tense up, but instead pretended to keep working the rawhide while he listened intently for the source of the danger. He even closed his eyes to hetter concentrate on listening. Even so, he had only a split second warning, the sound of vegetation and dirt being disturbed as something moved swiftly against them.

He rolled swiftly to the left, so that his assailant's slender legs only half landed upon him. His hind legs kicked out with the intention of sweeping the assailant's legs out from under them, even as he reached up with the foreleg closest to attempt to drag the enemy against his chest to allogator roll and pin them beneath his heavy body.

He didn't snarl or threaten in that brief moment of a tussle, simply acted with a calm intent.

Aurielle Adravendi

Alright, so instead of the Spirit taking the male by surprise, Red got the drop on her. She wasn’t entirely certain how she’d managed to misjudge her leap so surely, but as she trusted him, she didn’t struggle too hard to escape his speedy retaliation. However, unlike Jupiter when she’d barreled into him, she was intelligent enough to tuck her hind legs in front of her belly, which brought them between an unexpected opponent and herself, ready to outright bunny kick slam him in the gut. She didn’t hit full force, only aiming to bump him one on the stomach, not aiming where she might have otherwise. But the amusement was visible in the cock of her head as she raised both brow-points up at the male. “Did you know you have … squirrel fur stuck between your eyes?” Her front paws, tucked over her chest, remained, except to raise the left to indicate the spot of fur. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

His assailant managed to get their hind legs between them as he rolled them over and delivered a thump to his abdomen. Red grunted and was in the process of bringing one of his own hind legs forward to hook and drag the attacker's legs off him when he blinked and stopped, instead dropping his weight into said hind legs instead of pressing forward onto his trapped assailant. "Lady Aurielle?" he asked with obvious surprise as he looked down at her with his brows raised. Whoops, nothing like throwing your alpha on the ground thinking someone was attacking you. "Terribly sorry. Are you al-" He paused in the process of moving and blinked quizzically down at her face. Was there color there before? He was quite certain there hadn't been, past the normal pastel shimmering overtones. This was less ephemeral than the highlights of color that came and went in the sun, a faintly lavender color that could have been the remains of berry juice, perhaps, or bruising beneath the fur showing 1between the hairs. He absently brushed at the spot on his brow that she had claimed contained squirrel fur, but he wasn't paying much mind to it as he did. "It will match your eye, I suppose," he chuckled faintly, completing the movement to sit back on his haunches rather than leaning over her. "I do hope I'm not to blame for that. Are you alright?"

Aurielle Adravendi

A welcome grin flooded her features as he recognized her. The expression was almost wicked as her tail tapped with amusement in the dirt. “I’m alright, really.” Why was he looking at her like that? She rolled as he moved off her, though didn’t rise to her paws, merely lounging lightly and cocking her head curiously at his comment. “My eye?” Visible bafflement and curiosity replaced the grin, her head cocking in that most wolf-like of gestures as she peered up at him. “I’m not hurt in the slightest. Just a bit dusty, and I’ve been dirtier. You’re lucky I trust you or you would have been walking a little awkwardly for a while.” A wry smirk filtered over her lips as she finally rose to her paws fully and shook out her coat, releasing a fresh cloud of white, shimmering hair into the air, carried off on a breeze. She watched it with a sigh and grumbled, “I really must figure out why I’m shedding so early… I may as well gather the hair and keep it all to line my alcove with should I ever finally have children…” The last was vaguely wistful. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Red shook his bristles, then squinted at her eye. "Might just be dirty," he agreed. "Red clay, maybe. I was concerned it was bruising, around your eye like that." He shook his bristles again, then grinned at her. "Oh, if I hadn't been concerned that you were one of Valhalla's wolves who didn't recognize me, I might have bitten down to discourage any more attacks. I'm afraid I'm used to sleeping rough, and seeing danger behind every bush. My first instinct was that you were an intruder." He went quiet a moment, watching her white hair shimmering in the sun, caught by the wind, and smiled pensively. "I imagine my brother has his heirs by now. I wish I could have stayed to be there for them. I think I'd have made a good uncle."" He shook his head and turned his attention back to her. "Have your healers said there was something wrong?" he asked, faintly concerned now that he'd focused once more on what she'd said. The family he'd left behind was, by necessity, in the past. Valhalla was his now, and his future. He needed to focus on that. "To cause out of season shedding? Or is it simply an anomoly?"

Aurielle Adravendi

She cocked her head at his musings, bending to scrape a forepaw over her face. She didn’t know it, but the scraping did nothing to remove the subtle beginnings of the mark over her eye. His response to her quip about their little tussle brought a brief flashing grin as she straightened, though the expression softened as he mused aloud. For a moment, her mind still on wistful hopes, she answered, “There shouldn’t be anything wrong with me that would prevent them…” As he elaborated, though, she coughed, mind redirected from that nagging desire for her own future, then shook her head, frustration replacing the distant look. “Paladin’s checked… his companions have checked… hells he even brought in a Nomad to check… They’re baffled. There’s nothing wrong, I’m perfectly healthy, apparently. Just… really, really itchy. But the redness in the skin is really just from me, scratching. And the fur loss…” She threw a sharp shrug, then stilled as something occurred to her. It was still silent. The birds and small animals still hadn’t returned to their usual ambience. Her ears swiveled as she turned her head, first that way, then the other before rising onto her back paws to peer above the tops if the plains-grasses. She tottered a few light steps, frowning before she dropped back to her four paws. Then, distant panicked baa-ing threw her ears forward and she pelted off with a sharp gruff to follow. She came out upon a scene of near carnage. A bear had blundered right through the wall and now plundered the small flock of fluffy, domesticated sheep, which, true to the breeding of long-gone Man, bunched together and ran, but not fast enough for a hungry grizzly. The white Spirit didn’t check her speed, nor did she snarl a challenge. She was behind and to the right of the bear, and so hit hard and fast, putting an extra burst of speed into the last few strides and gapong her jaws to slash for the lower right side of the bear’s neck, aiming to cut deep with those canines and scythe free in one motion. Blood filled her mouth and painted her jaws as she twisted away from the bear. Just ahead of its retaliatory swipe. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Red blinked at her assertion, suddenly uncertain exactly what they were talking about or if they were on the same page in the conversation. When he caught on to where the confusion lied, he was careful not to show a hint of a smile at her misunderstanding, because it was obviously a very sensitive subject for her and he wouldn't want to hurt her feelings even accidentally. He knew what it was like to long for something that should have been attainable, but that he couldn't seem to get.

He might have gently steered the conversation that way, to let her talk about it if she needed, to get some of her frustration off her chest, but Aurielle suddenly froze, ears swiveling. Red did the same, and realized that the normal sounds that should have returned as the danger of a stalking wolf had passed, hadn't. He stood slowly, and then found himself racing after Aurielle as she took off, clearly having heard something.

He almost checked his stride when he saw what had caught her attention. The precious herd of sheep that normally stuffed itself docilely on the plains' grasses was in turmoil, and the cause was clear - the hungry grizzly who was rampaging among them.

And Aurielle dove right in.

Red's breath caught on a cry of warning that he didn't quite voice. She was going after a grizzly with no preparation or protection, just her fangs and... him. Ó, ifreann.

He grimly put on a burst of speed and struck the grizzly's hind left leg as it swiped at Aurielle, throwing off the big bruin's aim, and swift as thought slashed his long fangs into and through the bear's well-padded hamstrings, causing him to sag on that leg. The bear turned on him with a roar that he returned with a bellowing snarl of his own as he leaped aside from the injured bear's charge.

Aurielle Adravendi

The bear was swiftly lamed in one leg by Red’s long teeth, and as the beast swung away from the white Spirit to turn on the black red and gold male, Aurielle danced in to rake her canines along the base of the bear’s neck, though she didn’t escape retaliation as easily as she might have wanted. The grizzly’s paw clubbed into her ribs, bringing a soft grunt from her jaws before she rolled away and back to her paws, leaping in with a snap of her jaws to draw the bear away, though there was a visible lessening of the bear’s dedication to keeping up the battle. Even now she saw its eyes flicking for ways to escape. She warred with her decisions—Let the bear escape and hope it didn’t come back, or kill it now and cut off the threat for sure. Too soon to tell, and she would give the bear a last chance to run for its life, even as she harried it, just out of reach. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

With his hackles up along his ridge of brustles, his head down, shoulder hunched, and his long thick fangs bared, Red looked like another creature entirely, perhaps the prehistoric smilodon or a cave lion. It was a far different creature than the one who had been laying so serenely working on traps only moments before. Despite the feral appearance, though, he was still the same wolf he had been, and Red always favored the most peaceful solution when possible.

The bear seemed to be looking for an out - so he would encourage it on its way before it could cause more damage. It had spun from him to Aurielle again, and so he positioned himself towards the bruin's uninjured back leg. It swatted at Aurielle, sending her rolling, and while it had only three legs on the ground Red charged, slamming his full, rather considerable weight against the bear's good leg, throwing its weight onto its crippled leg. The leg buckled completely, unable to hold that weight, and the bear crashed over to its side with a bellow. Already in motion, Red slung himself to the bear's head to deal it a slash with hos fangs before skidding to face it out of its immediate reach and return its bellow with his own battle roar.

"If we give him a clear route through the wall," he snarled gutterally towards Aurielle, "he might retreat when we harass him instead of stopping to fight." Though he knew deep down that the bear might choose to take the chance to come back for the remainder of the sheep, that he could be a risk to any young wolves in the future, Red couldn't bring himself to kill without giving the larger predator a chance.

Aurielle Adravendi

She was a different creature in battle. A sylph, a nymph. Her mane helped to break up her frame, to muddle up the location of her actual spine and neck as she moved. She was smooth and economical in her movements, and efficiently deadly. As the bear went tumbling, she dove in and sank her fangs into the bear’s rump, wrenching free of the flesh as the bear struggled to its feet again with a fresh bellow. She nodded at Red’s suggestion and danced away to open the wall to the bear’s near-sighted eyes. It worked… mostly. The bear had-had enough. Its ego was thoroughly downtrodden. It hurt, and the sheep that it had come for had finally scattered to the four winds of the Plains. Add two harrying wolves with fangs way longer than wolves ought to have, and it was ready to throw in the towel. However, it didn’t go through a passage. Instead, it was in such a snark it bulled right through the wall – a weak point in the wall that was in need of repair anyway, but still… - barreling heavily with great limping strides until it was out of sight. The Spirit stood in the broken wall, staring after the crashing brush sounds until they’d faded completely before turning To red and examining him. She hadn’t seen him take any swipes, but still, “Are you alright?” Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Red circled behind the bear as Aurielle danced away, and he continued to harass the bear with snarls and snaps until it lumbered away toward the wall, and he fell back to give it room. He didn't want the bear to turn at bay if it felt it couldn't escape, but he didn't want to give it too much room to turn back into pack lands either. He put on the brakes suddenly when he realized that the bear wasn't bothering with the open part of the wall, but was - perhaps spitefully - going to go through the wall itself. A half-voiced protest rose in his throat only to die into a groan and a wince when the bear slammed right through that wall. Well, that was going to be hell to repair. But the bear was gone - for now, though Red regretfully thought it more likely it would return when it was sure it could get away with it - so he stopped at the wall to turn to Aurielle.

"Are you alright?" he spoke as she did, their voices overlapping and he had to blink and shake his head with a faintly rueful laugh. "I'm fine," he rumbled, "He seemed much more interested in knocking you around than me. You do catch the eye, even he couldn't help but notice you, shortsighted though he was." But the momentary levity faded into concern as he looked her over. "You took a pretty good hit - we should get you looked at by one of the healers."

Aurielle Adravendi

Their voices laced together in an almost indecipherable mash of concern, and she huffed an answering laugh as he broke off. The tension left her shoulders as he assured her, he was fine, though her eyes still scanned him one more time, as she breathed, “Good…”, before he drew attention to the throb in her ribs, forgotten for a moment. Now then he’d drawn her attention to it, she turned to examine her side, lifting that paw and rolling her shoulder experimentally, twisting her frame slightly to test the ribs before taking several deep, lung-swelling breaths, wincing briefly as the biggest one sent a twinge into the ribs. “I suspect a bruised rib or two, but it looks like the worst he did was light scratches through the fur… But we should see Paladin, just to be sure.” She was confident in her self-diagnosis, but to assuage Red’s concern, she was willing to undergo Paladin’s poking and prodding. He was, after all, a Nomad-trained healer. So she started off toward the hillock, glancing back to make sure the bear had truly fled for the day. The sheep had scattered far and wide, but she saw two that had not fled very far, their wool reddened. She sighed. Those would likely need to be culled—sheep were of such fragile constitutions. Even if the bleeding didn’t take them, the shock might. “Those sheep are going to be a pain to get back in a flock…” Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Aurielle said she'd see Paladin just in case, and Red gave her a gratified nod and a smile. "I'm glad to hear that. I'd really feel much better if he'd looked you over to be certain." He followed her gaze to the sheep and sighed. He didn't know much about domesticated beasts and taking care of them, but he had hunted enough to know that sort of damage wasn't looking good for the creatures. "Do you want Paladin to try to save them, or put them down?" he asked her gently. He might not be anything of a farmer, but they seemed to matter a great deal to Aurielle, and he never liked seeing anything suffer. To save them and Aurielle pain, he'd put them down himself if it came to it. But maybe she'd prefer the healer to see if he could do anything to help them first, to give them a chance. He didn't yet know her well enough to say what she'd want. In response to her words, though, he scanned the horizon. "I'll gather up a few of the younger wolves to play sheepdog for the day and see if I can track them all down," he promised her.

Aurielle Adravendi

The tall man’s words brought a smile to her features, and a quiet sense of satisfaction that she’d managed to give him a way not to worry over her. His question regarding the injured sheep brought a gentle sigh. “I’m sure he’ll look them over, but at least two of them are probably going to need culled. Even if the injuries don’t kill them, the shock might. Such fragile creatures. Either way, they’ll still be useful in the end.” A soft chuckle answered his assurance as she pictured the shenanigans that would probably come with trying to herd a flock of frightened, flighty sheep into a flock again. Caelia with her reserved nature, Cairo typically happy to help… Viviane would probably be pleased to help out. Artur was difficult to track down, but she had little doubt he’d be insulted. A lopsided smile tugged at her lips as she cast Red a look, brow lifted as she said, “I had excitement planned today, but I had envisioned hunting a deer or two.” Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think