Aurielle Adravendi

She’d left the pack bounds and ventured northwest to the Dancefloor. It was full night, but she knew the pack was well protected, even though their numbers weren’t exactly teeming. The moon was bright in the sky, almost full, and aside from it and the stars, she was the only other source of light on the plains this night. She strode quietly along, studying the land and contemplating. She hoped to hold another festival this year, but she was undecided as to whether it would be here, or located further east to give packs like Abaven and Ashen to participate without traveling as far. She was glad that the Autumn seemed to have brought a return to the cycle of life after the volcano’s eruption. Her own cycle had been uninterrupted, and true to her nature, she’d been running herself off her paws in an effort to counteract the restive, frenetic energy brought by her cycle. And with the cycle came that emptiness and yearning. For the most part, she ignored it, focusing on her duties. She was used to it. If she let herself stop and think long enough, though, she knew the feeling of pressure would overwhelm her. Her father wanted grandchildren, and while he urged her to find love at her own pace, she desperately wanted him to be able to rest having seen her happy and his first grandkids stumbling or bouncing around his big red paws. She wanted him to be utterly happy when he passed. And far aside from that, she felt like her own window of opportunity was sneaking shut on her. She’d thought as a yearling that she surely would have been a mother, long before now. Aurielle paused at the Rivershore, bending to drink deeply from the crisp, clear, cold water before stepping into it and sighing as the chill encased her paws. No surprise, it felt nice. She didn’t get much time to enjoy it. A sudden violent thrash of a massive form crashing through the grass and into the river brought her whirling to meet the unexpected form of a bear. Automatically, she bounded to the side with an internalized snarl at her lack of attention. Had the bastard been asleep out of sight? How had she missed the smell of him? Her paws sloshed through the water as she leapt forward like a vengeful star and slashed for the bear’s shoulder, grunting as the opposite paw of the beast clubbed into her shoulder and sent her staggering. But she tasted blood on her tongue, and knew she’d scored it. She retreated, lunging with a bound for the shore and turning to duck and slash her long canines for the bear’s face as it pursued her up the shore. It bellowed as she scored deep gashes over it’s muzzle, though she missed the eyes, curse the thing. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Eligos crouched within the grass, step by careful step stalking the oblivious grouse he intended to be a meal, when a sudden commotion from the river caught his attention. It might cost him his meal, but better to be aware of his surroundings and miss a meal than be caught unaware and die. So he carefully raised himself over the grass and scanned the river for the cause of the commotion. Almost immediately he dropped back to his paws, prey forgotten as the possibilities crowded his mind. Aurielle, trying to go toe to toe against a bear alone. If he did nothing,she could be killed. He had no idea yet who her successor would be in that eventuality - would they be more amenable to his pack, or more hostile? Or would the pack fall apart completely, removing them entirely from the equation? If anyone else stepped in to help, an opportunity would be lost. If he stepped in, he put himself at risk for what was likely very little reward.

When he found himself moving towards the altercation, he was a little surprised at himself as he had not consciously made a decision. But he was willing to listen to the inner prompting, whether it was intuition, or instinct, or the Fallen God. As the decision solidified, he leaped forward in ground-eating bounds. He made no sound, not a snarl or a call of warning to Aurielle, and as focused as it was on the other alpha it didn't notice his pawsteps until it was too late to turn.

Eligos gathered his long legs beneath himself and leaped, throwing himself onto the bear's back and grimly sinking every tooth into the bear's scruff. Paws flexed to drive dull nails against the fleshy surface beneath the fur, to hold what grip they could while the bear sought to throw off the heavy, clinging nuisance.

Aurielle Adravendi

His arrival on the scene was unexpected, but in the aside of her mind, she figured that it was more understandable that she’d not known Eligos was on the Dancefloor than a grizzly ten feet away in the shore’s grass. She saw the dark form take a flying leap onto the bear’s back and cling on, which sent the bear writhing in a mixture of alarm and fury, and not a little pain as its unexpected passenger sank his teeth into it’s hide. As the bear reared, pawing toward its back, Aurielle ducked in, jaws parting for a slash across the beast’s exposed underside. Her teeth met flesh and sank before she ripped free, bounding to the side as the bear abruptly dropped back to all fours and dove for her with an agonized roar. Now that her initial shock at the bear’s surprise attack had faded, she fell into the smooth, economical movements of someone clearly practiced in fighting things way bigger than herself. As the bear pursued her, she danced with the lithe steps of a bullfighting horse, twisting and twirling on her back paws and drawing the bear away from the river, hoping that if it remembered Eligos again, it wouldn’t be able to drown him if it tried falling on its back… Although there would still be the likelihood of him being squashed. She doubted a cold, calculating type like him hadn’t considered the possibility. In fact, the bear was indeed starting to remember the wolf on its back, and as she spotted the shift as it started to twist after Eli, she ducked in and slashed again for its face, getting the neck instead and bounding out of reach once more as the bear spun back to give her its full attention again. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

That Sea is just a Gambler at Heart

Dómari was just finishing his border patrol when he caught sight of Aurielle headed north. Curiosity got the better of him and he started to follow. She was far ahead of him, very far, but her glowing white coat was easily visible thanks to the moonlight where as his practically melted into the dark night. His companions moved quietly along beside him. He knew he shouldn't be meddling in the alphess' business but he wanted to make sure she was alright. Course, if he could just catch up with her he'd call out and let her know he was there. He considered howling but he didn't want every creature including some less savory ones to know there was a wolf seemingly alone in this wilderness. Bears would be seeking to fatten themselves up for the winter and the prey numbers were still recovering from the volcanic explosion. Wolves were not off the menu for desperate predators.

Aurielle stopped near the river and that gave Dómari some time to catch up. Just as he was getting close enough to shout he saw a dark shape moving toward the alphess. Oh no! A bear! Dómari put on a burst of speed and charged for the bear, calling out a warning that he wasn't quite sure would be heard. The bear and the alphess were engaged in battle but as the bear pursued her along the river shore his back was turned to Dómari who dove down low, seizing the bears ankle. .He thrashed violently ripping flesh as he sought to dig down to the tendons. He was dimly aware of the other dark wolf on the bears back but he figured he'd take the extra help where they could get it. The bear leapt forward, ripping itself free from his jaws before whirling around to glare at him, fury in its eyes that seemed to glow red in the moonlight. It dove for him. He just narrowly avoided its claws which tagged his shoulder and caused him to yelp. The beast was much faster than he anticipated!

Eli held on grimly with tooth and claw as the bear sought to fling him off. He knew that if the larger predator succeeded he could very well find himself within reach of the bear's claws and teeth before he could even get to his paws. He was surprised when, rather than take the opportunity afforded by the bear's distraction to flee, Aurielle dove back in to drag its attention away from Eligos. Surprised, but determined to make the most of the distraction, shifting carefully in preparation to release his grip for a more debilitating one.

But suddenly the bear whipped around in fury and pain, and Eligos was not prepared. He was sent tumbling to the ground not, unfortunately, into the river where the water could break his fall, but rather to the ground, which would very much have preferred to break his bones if given half a chance. The breath was driven sharply from his lungs in a whoosh. Even before he was able to drag in his next painful breath he was rolling to his paws.

His head swam a moment and a muscle in his back made him want very much to hunch over, but he couldn't take the time to allow his body its momentary weakness. As the spots in his vision cleared he saw what had made the bear spin so abruptly - a third wolf had entered the fray to attack it from behind. The bear faced the newcomer now, and Eligos had been flung not too far from Aurielle so was more or less behind the creature. So, as he shook off the dizziness, Eli threw himself at the bear's flank, his jaws aiming to rip into the soft, unprotected cavity between ribs and hip. He was grimly preparing himself to be swatted or crushed as soon as his teeth tore skin, not sure if he could depend on either of the other wolves to intervene.

Aurielle Adravendi

Domari’s arrival was a surprise. As absorbed in her own thoughts as she must have been, she hadn’t been aware of her packmate tailing her all the way from home. Yet the Spirit tossed the surprise to the back of her mind, attention on the whole of the fight, from the bear to Eligos being thrown free by the bear’s reaction to Domari’s sneak attack, to Domari’s yelp. The yelp triggered that feral chill. That was one of her people that was just clouted by this idiot bear that just couldn’t resist attacking a glowing wolf. She moved in tandem with Eligos as the bear lunged for Domari, sinking her canines into the hind leg on the same side as Eligos sought for, yanking it back and giving the dark man an opening as the beast thundered in pain under the bite to its vulnerable parts. The resulting thrash of agony from the beast tore it free as it spun to face the Abraxas male, and the Spirit surged forward, the light of her fur distracting the pain-muddled beast once more from the male that had struck it such a painful blow. She danced backward, snapping her jaws with sharp clacks to keep it drawn and dazzled by the glowing figure in front of it, the darker males fading to the background and a new opening given for both. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

That Sea is just a Gambler at Heart

Dómari snarled violently and snapped at the bear's face as it roared back. Claws raced for him once more and again Dómari just narrowly dodged. He wouldn't be able to keep this up forever, sooner or later the bear was going to score and when it did the damage would be immense. Thankfully the others intervened. The dark male dove for the bears side as Aurielle dove for its hind leg. It immediately twisted around to try and remove the offending attackers and in that moment Dómari attacked. He leapt toward the bear's head, fangs seizing around one of it's delicate ears as Dómari's arms wrapped around the side of its neck. His feet dug into the bear flesh as he tried to make it more difficult for the bears claws to reach him. He thrashed violently and just as he ripped the delicate appendage from the bear's head it struck him. The bears arm got underneath him and shoved him away.

Dómari hit the ground hard, the surprise and force of the blow not preparing him enough for the landing. His head slammed onto the ground and for a moment he blacked out. Little glowing white lights skipped across his vision as he tried to pull himself together.

Flesh opened beneath his fangs, spilling hot thick blood over his tongue, rank bear scented fur covering his nose so he coughed and choked around the blood so that he had to leap away too soon, the bear nearly taking his nose off when it missed the claw-filled slap it had aimed at him. The tip of one claw clipped the top of his nose and drew a burning line across it, but the bear's attention was drawn by the glowing form if the Valhalla alpha and drew it away from both Eligos and the other male who'd been knocked down by it.

The longer this fight was drawn out the more likely one of the wolves was to be maimed. The wound to the bear's flank showed the slick surface of organs peeking through the rend, but they couldn't count on it killing the creature fast enough to save them all. The Valhallan's fangs were unnaturally long amd sharp - she would be the most likely to land a killing blow with the opportunity to reach the beast's throat. He could give her the opportunity, but if she didn't take it out of wariness of his motives, he was likely to be the bear's first victim.

"Tear its fucking throat out," he roared at her over the sounds of their battle, points of hellish light seeming to dance within those blood red eyes as they glittered with the glazed look of fury.

He grimly dove beneath the bear, latching on to its forepaw as he did and letting his momentum jerk it along with him behind its other forepaw, temporarily tangling it up with itself so it had to stagger. Its throat was exposed for that moment, but it wouldn't be long before it recovered its balance and chose to simply rise on its hind legs and crush him against its chest.

Aurielle Adravendi

She danced ahead of the bear’s angry swipes until Domari and Eligos once again caught its attention with a fresh volley of attacks. She saw Domari go flying, caught a glimpse of his head knock into the ground. That familiar ice sang through her veins, and as Eligos gave the woman an opening, ice glazed blue eyes flicked to flaming red and back to the bear, finding the throat as she surged forward, leaping at the last moment as the beast staggered. She’d done this stunt before, and knew well to expect the bear hug, but the beast was weakened enough that she hoped it wouldn’t be able to rake her too badly. Did her blood glow now, too? Her canines sank to the hilt, and she closed her throat against the wash of blood that burst free as she twisted her body, jerking her weight into the bite and opening the wounds as the bear staggered, overcome by blood loss and fatigue, a glimmer of recognition hitting too late that maybe attacking a wolf wasn’t a great idea. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

That Sea is just a Gambler at Heart

Dómari stumbled to his feet, feeling like the world was still spinning. He took a few deep breaths, blinking his eyes to clear his vision. The fight was still going and he was determined to help. He saw the strange male latch onto one of the bear's forepaws and he leapt for the hind limb he'd attacked before. He latched his fangs deep, this time severing the achilles tendon in the ankle. If they had to win this fight the hard way then so be it. He held on tightly and felt the bear shudder. Dómari couldn't see what was going on at the front of the bear but he did feel it suddenly go slack and tip forward.

Dómari didn't move at first until he was fairly certain the bear was down. He released his hold and took a few steps back to take in the damage. His head was still swimming.

-end?-