All You Have Is Your Fire...

Pink tongue grazed over ivory fangs as Pyralis stalked through the woods. Spring was right around the corner and that meant pups, specifically coyote pups. She been tailing a pregnant coyote and her mate and with the help of her companion Alkali she'd located the den. Then all she had to do was wait.

Ok, so Alkali did most of the waiting while Pyralis wandered where she would but by now the pups were old enough to use for a game of coyote ball. Alkali was not the least bit interested in playing but Pyralis had managed to sucker the bird in using her age. After all, her time on this earth was limited and she should very much like to spend her finally days in some simple pleasures. First to find the den. She'd tracked the scent to a small den entrance and as soon as she was within three feet of it there came a warning growl. "My, my, aren't we testy. I just need to borrow one of your pups." Alkali made a clicking noise and one of Pyr's ears flicked back. Company? Knowing her luck the male coyote was returning from a hunt.

Because of Indigo, Asla had promised to keep close. She still didn't want to be in the main packlands, so she stuck to the outlying areas. The forest with the willows was one of those areas. Though it wasn't officially claimed by the Armada, it may as well have been. A lot of the members spent time here. Asla hoped that she didn't see any of them. The dark, brooding girl had zero desire to speak to anyone. They were an army, but most of the members of the pack were bubbly and upbeat. She hated it. She hated everything. Bored out of her skull, Aslatiel had been curled up in a circle of tree roots when the big woman passed her. She didn't move, interested only in seeing what the wolf was about. After the woman moved out of sight, Asla had no choice but to rise and follow. It was better than being bored. Creeping forward on small, silent paws, the cream and grey girl peered around a tree, watching as the big female plucked a young coyote out of a hole in the ground. Dark ears perked with interest. Was she going to eat it? If she was just going to eat it... would she let Asla kill it? She'd yet to kill a coyote. Coming forward, the small but proud girl cleared her throat. "Whatever you're doing to that coyote, can I help?" "Speech"

All You Have Is Your Fire...

A grin spread slowly across her maw like a coiling snake. "Of course you can child," she purred. "Do you know how to kill a coyote? I'm afraid we'll have to deal with the mother before we can get to the pups." Her golden eyes swept over the child's face trying to ascertain if she was the sort to run crying or if she had that dark pride in herself and her role as an apex predator. To see the world as her's to play with. Pyralis always had trouble finding partners for coyote ball. A true tragedy.

"If you want, would you want to play coyote ball with me? In order to play we need one of the pups." Pyralis turned her attention back to the den opening where she started digging furiously to widen the opening. The mother coyote panic and lunged forward. Pyralis' jaws launched down seizing the top of the coyote's muzzle, just across the bridge of its jaw. It yelped and flailed as Pyralis drug it completely out of the den.

The woman invited her to play along and Asla grinned widely, her tail lashing back and forth behind her involuntarily. It was rare to find someone to play with. Even more rare that it was an adult. When the woman asked if she knew how to kill a coyote, Asla's heart began to thud with excitement. "I've never killed one before, but I can kill anything." She was very proud of her murderous nature and was yet to find a creature that she couldn't destroy when she set her mind to it. The woman invited her to play Coyote Ball and the young girl tilted her head slightly. "What's Coyote Ball?" She hastily added, "I'd really like to play it though." Big ears perked as the woman began to dig. A moment later, a scuffle sounded and she pulled the mother coyote out by the snout. With a grin and a giggle. Asla launched herself towards the equally sized canine. Since the wolf had the coyote by the face, Asla had no qualms jumping in to help. Teeth tore into the coyote's throat, clawed paws shredding where they touched. "Speech"

All You Have Is Your Fire...

Dull claws lashed out as the coyote flailed but Pyralis held firm, working her jaws further over the coyote's snout to keep it in check. Her ears flicked up at the crying of pups. The young wolf lunged forward, fangs tearing into the coyote's throat as her claws, sharp claws, tore into it. Ahhh, it seemed someone had been blessed. Pyralis would kill for retractable claws. The pain caused the coyote to violently convulse as it tore itself out of her grip. Licking the blood off her jaws Pyralis backed up. "She's all yours! As for coyote ball, we'll need a 'ball' to toss back and forth and that 'ball' will be one of the pups. You dispatch the mother and I'll get our little game set up."

She slipped into the den, digging a bit more to get her large body through the opening. Once inside she spied them, the little balls of fluff, eyes barely open. They were crying madly now, some instinct in them sensing danger. Pyralis moved forward and grabbed one, hauling it out as it flailed and shrieked. She would explain the rules of the game and introduce herself properly when the mother coyote was dealt with.

With the coyote free, Asla was a little taken aback, but she followed the equally sized canine as it began to flee. She snapped at its haunches and the canine yelped, tucking its tail and throwing on a burst of speed. The girl didn't wish to go too far away from the interesting wolf, so when the coyote was out of sight, she let it go. It was bleeding heavily from the various wounds that she'd inflicted, so she doubted it would be returning. Licking the blood from her lips, Asla padded back to the destroyed den as the woman pulled a pup from it. The small thing whimpered and whined. The girl literally bounced with excitement as she prepared herself to learn this new game. "Tell me everything!" She was thrumming with excitement. It wasn't every day that she got to play dark games with an adult. This was a new experience for her. "Speech"

All You Have Is Your Fire...

Pyralis set the squirming creature down by her paws. It was young enough not to go wandering off very fast and she took the opportunity to dig a line in the ground. After she finished she padding over to the bushes where the pup was attempting to escape. Her quick jaws snatched it up and brought it back. Just as she set it down by her feet once more, the girl returned. Pyralis grinned at the girl's enthusiasm. Finally someone who knew how to have fun!

"Ok, see that line. We each stand on opposite sides of it so we're 8 feet apart." Pyralis picked up the pup and moved into position, setting it down to speak once more. "We each start with 5 points. We then toss the coyote 'ball' back and forth until one of us drops it. Whoever drops the ball loses a point. If you fail to throw it over the line, say you throw it behind you, then you lose a point. Each time someone loses a point we move two feet apart. First one to 0 loses. Make sense? I'm Pyralis by the way."

ooc: Let me know how you want to do the game. We can probably do some kind of dice roll to see who drops the 'ball'. Also if they accidentally kill this one then that's when they can grab another pup to resume the game

Arriving back where the woman was, Asla listened to the rules of the game. She watched as the wolf known as Pyralis drew a line between them. The rules of the game made sense, but she wasn't sure how good she would be at keeping score. A bit of childish hope filled those big, purple eyes. "Will you help me keep score until I get the hang of it, Pyralis?" As an afterthought she added, "Oh! And I'm Aslatiel. You can call me Asla." She purposefully left out her last name just in case it would deter the woman from playing with her. Her father frightened a lot of people. Settling herself on her side of the line, Asla situated herself. She tried to space her paws apart for balance. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to catch the coyote with her jaws or her claws, so she was ready for either. Pyralis didn't specifically say that she couldn't use her claws, so maybe she would use those to keep the coyote from falling out of her grasp. "Speech"

OOC- I'm good with having Asla lose. It would make sense since she's smaller and her legs aren't as long to throw longer distances.

All You Have Is Your Fire...

Pyralis grinned and nodded as the girl, Aslatiel, asked for her help keeping score. She was thrilled to see the child was still excited to play even after Pyralis described the game. She could remember trying to coax Iroh to play. He seemed rather disturbed though she could never quite figure out why. As far as she was concerned coyotes were vermin, put on the earth to either be used or prove an annoyance. "Certainly!" Pyralis picked up the squealing coyote pup in her jaws and padded back over to her side of the line. She glanced at Asla and nodded, signaling that she was ready to throw. Pyralis shifted her body so it was parallel to the line. Twisting her neck to her right she swung lightly in a practice motion before suddenly whipping her head forward while releasing the pup, sending it flying across the line toward Aslatiel.

ooc: let me know and we can do a little roll to see if Asla catches it, does that sound good?

Asla was ready. Or so she thought. When Pyralis threw the coyote into the air, the girl thought she was within range to catch it, but the pup went crashing to the ground instead. It rolled a bit with a yelp and tried to scramble away, but Asla pounced it and took its neck between her jaws. Going back to her place, she placed the pup down, putting one paw on it to keep it still. She shot the older wolf a sheepish grin. "Just gotta get used to it, I think." Taking the pup between her jaws once more, Asla curled her body to the side. Muscles tensing, she flung the coyote over the line and back towards Pyralis. Once the pup was flying, she stopped and watched, waiting to see whether or not the woman would make the catch or biff it like she had. "Speech"

All You Have Is Your Fire...

Aslatiel missed and the pup landed with a yelp. The girl was quick though and recovered the ball. Pyralis grinned. "Yea, it takes a little practice. Don't worry, I'm rusty myself. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find wolves that are willing to play a game like this." She tended to get a lot of awful looks and was even told she was a 'monster'. A monster! Ha! Just because she liked having a good time?

Asla tossed the pup and Pyralis dove for it but was a bit to slow as it just slipped through her jaws. "Ah, shit. Well looks like we're tied." The pup weakly tried to crawl away and Pyralis swiftly put her paw on it, pinning it to the ground. "We might go through all the pups at this rate." She chuckled. Picking the pup up in her jaws she steadied herself and with a mighty toss, flung the little creature toward Asla.

Pyralis assured her that she would get used to the game. Ears perked as the woman spoke of not being able to find people to play. Asla nodded in understanding. "It's hard to find others to play with for me as well. No one seems to like the same things that I do." Yes, her tastes were darker than most. It shouldn't have been so hard to find someone to play with though. There had to be someone out there that was like her. Pyralis was pretty close. It was good to see that she wasn't the only one that wasn't able to catch today. When she chucked the coyote back towards Pyralis, the old woman missed as well and the pup went crashing to the ground with a yelp. Asla giggled and prepared herself for the next toss. It came quickly and this time the girl was ready. Asla jumped up on her hind legs as the pup sailed overhead and latched her teeth into its shoulder and leg. A clean catch! "Mruuhuuuuu!" the girl cheered with her mouth full. A moment later, she sent the pup sailing back towards Pyralis, a smile of sheer joy on her creamy features. "Speech"

ooc- Rolled for the catch on Discord.