Kichi loved the effect!  He even noticed Al’s enjoyment as he had dropped the spider for Lurid to wake up to.  Admittedly when she got up it was faster than Kichi had imagined she could move.  The pup scrambled backward in time to avoid being trampled but fortunately, he managed to scoot away.  He barked laughter even as Lurid tried to snatch at him.  The little grey pup was growing both in size and ability.  Mom was injured and spooked, so with the nimbleness of youth, he leaped quickly ahead both to get distance and have the spider between them.  Yes, he was using mom’s bad leg against her in keeping far enough ahead to be free of her paws. He was a proud pup right there, head and tail up high.  “You earned it!” The challenge playfully thrown back at her, it was a fact he was willing to toss out as a joke.  Wow, she had really jumped!  It was perfect!  There was no sign of a lick of guilt on that face, and he was reveling in her compliments such as brilliant perfect evil and the lot of it.  She sure was saying them like they were all great traits! Letting her laugh for a moment, glancing proudly at Alastor to make sure he saw how great it had been then back at mom, “It’s so small though.  How can you be scared of something that much smaller than you?  Just bite it.” "Speech" Think

The pseudo-family had been spending the sunny autumn day relaxing around the Red Forest, the red brindled dire wolf relaxing in a clearing with Lurid near while Kichi played around somewhere close by. Alastor listened to songbirds overhead and the honking of geese overhead starting their journey southward as winter slowly proceeded its inevitable march closer to them. He turned his eyes over to Lurid, making sure she wasn't moving too much with her injured leg. It was his responsibility as her bodyguard to make sure she didn't do anything to hurt herself any further and ensure she recovered fully. He silently wondered if she was still despairing over their predicament; with her working at partial capacity, the plans to move the Mirovis wolves into Boreas had been significantly hindered, and he knew that was eating her alive. Alastor had done everything he could to distract her and keep her spirits up, but between her own demons and his, it was becoming a much more difficult uphill battle for him to wage alone.

Releasing a soft sigh, Alastor returned to gnawing at the bone clutched between his paws from their most recent meal. It helped to keep his mind occupied and off of the worry for Lurid and... He shuddered, not permitting those dark thoughts to permeate his mind again. Nope, he was just going to chew on this bone and watch... actually, where was Kichi? Alastor raised his head again, peering around through the trees. He spotted the small gray pup a short distance off, carrying what looked like a stick in his mouth. Okay, good, he was fine. Just as he was returning to his mind-numbing activity, Kichi came bounding over, shouting for Lurid that he had found something.

What the hell is that...? Alastor wondered to himself as he saw the large dark shape on Kichi's head. The closer the pup got, the more defined the features became until good god that was a giant spider! All at once, the dark-furred man shot upright, panic striking his cold heart for a moment as he swiftly studied the arachnid, trying to identify if it was a dangerous species and preparing to leap into action. It turned out to just be a tarantula—where Kichi had found one of those mammoths around here was beyond him—and not an immediate threat to the boy. Once he realized what Kichi was doing and what was happening, a wide smile slowly grew across Alastor's face until the man was grinning from ear-to-ear, eyes alight with mirth while watching between Kichi and Lurid. He laughed, just a couple short ones, then a long chain of bemused laughter came pouring from the demon, uncontrollable and barking. Kichi had taken her worst fear and brought it right to her! Oh, he couldn't wait to watch poor Lu Lu's reactions!

"Speech" — Thoughts

Here, kitty kitty, come and tighten the leash;
How about a little discipline for the violent beast?

The dire queen lay resting in a patch of sunlight that had been dimmed by the canopy of redwood nettles. She luxuriated in the warmth, mostly because it helped ease the throbbing pain that shot through the bone of her right foreleg. The wound was ugly, crudely stitched together and wrapped with supplies found in a run-down camper. In her half-dozing state, Lurid was only aware of the sound of running puppy paws and Kichi's voice as he exclaimed about his find. Then, something dropped right between her paws. Looking down just in time to see the hairy spider began to crawl over Lurid's left paw, there was a hideous screech that seemed to ring against itself. The sound was unlike any other, but could be comparable to a pair of banshees screaming in horrific harmony. From laying to jolting up and away from the giant monstrosity, Lurid nearly trampled her poor prankster of a son in her bid to get away from the eight-legged freak of nature. "Whoaaa! Mammoth spider!" She screamed, snatching at Kichi under her paws, "You wicked, evil, perfect little devil! I will have your tail for this!" She had gone from truly terrified to joking and humorously angry with her son in the blink of an eye, but couldn't keep her eyes off of the spider. "I nearly fell over dead from fright, wicked boy!" She laughed, high from the adrenaline that coursed through her veins. fear had never been funny to her, it made her aggressive on her best days, but this time she laughed. Thankfully.

Word count: 262 words.
"Talk." || 'Think.' || 'Hear.'

Note: Sorry this is so short, I am trying to catch up XD

ART

Alastor's barking laugh grew louder as Kichi's prank began to unfold. Lurid's reaction was volatile and visceral, the scream of sheer terror seeming to echo around the forest like the screech of a wraith. Kichi, for all his effort, seemed proud as punch, chest puffed out and a smile on his face. Secretly, he was a little proud of Kichi too. The boy had taken some valuable information about someone's weakness and employed it tactfully against them. He exchanged a wink with Kichi and leisurely rose to his paws, plodding over to the two as Lurid gathered herself together again. As much fun as it had been to see Lurid experience such real horror, it was time for him to do his job as her enforcer and "protect her from the danger". "Hang on, I'll save you," he remarked teasingly. Alastor stepped over to the clearly confused spider that was trying to get its bearings after being tossed about and, with one massive paw, smacked the arachnid off into some nearby bushes to scurry off back into the woods. "There we go. No more spiders," he said with a smirk to Lurid. Oh, he'd never forget the sound of that scream, although he knew Lurid would quite literally kill him if he ever mentioned it to anyone.

"Speech" | Thoughts

Warning: Alastor is an explicitly mature character for violent and sexual content. Read his threads with caution.
As his mate, Manea may enter any of Alastor's threads not marked Private.
____________________

Here, kitty kitty, come and tighten the leash;
How about a little discipline for the violent beast?

She couldn't quite grasp her son in the faux punishment she wanted to, but it only made her more proud of him. It almost washed away the fact that he had tried to give her a heart attack, but not quite. "They have too many legs." Lurid would never admit that she had nearly died of a spider bite when she was little, younger than Kichi was now. Visible shivers racked her frame, cold chills that forced her entire frame to shake off the feeling of dread. Alastor proclaimed he would save her from the eight-legged freak, and Lurid let out a sigh of relief as soon as the cretin was gone. "My hero!" Now she could relax, now she could truly laugh at the childish antics of her son. "You know what this means, right, Kichi?" She gave the little silver boy a teasingly wicked grin, "It means war..." There was something scary in entering a pranking war with the demonic entity, her conniving mind capable of conceiving dark tricks or twisted mind games. Nothing was out of bounds for the woman, maybe it was the start of something beautiful though. Lurid could look back when Kichi was ready to strike out on his own, or when he was grown up in general, and keep these memories close to her heart. This is where the real memories would take hold, and the brilliant boy would hopefully look back with her and laugh with them. Let the games begin.

Word count: 249 words.
"Talk." || 'Think.' || 'Hear.'

Note: -----

ART