By now, Dream could easily admit that joining the Armada had been the right choice. All the frustration and anxiety that had held him hostage as a loner was all but gone now that Sirius had given him a purpose. Maybe that was a stupid thing for a wolf to admit to, but Dream wasn't ashamed of it. His place was in dawn patrols out along the border and in the sparring ring with the clatter of wooden bodies being pummeled, it was in the sound of thunder hooves as he and a trio of other wolves ran down an elk, and sitting around the bonfire in camp after a long day. He knew he could never go back to what his life was before this, not when for the first time in his life things finally felt right.

That didn't mean he was about to start easing up on things though. the sandy blonde wolf had worked hard as a loner to reach a level that would make him even worth considering when it came to the pack wolves, and he knew he still had a long way to go before he could stand alongside the best of them, Dream had never been one to shy away from a challenge though, and while he felt miles behind the rest of his packmatess he was determined not to come up short in the long run. Hed been sparring with Sirius, had run a croc off the beach with Mortis, and had been picking up every race he could in his spare time, but still he continued to push himself. After receiving permission to spend some time out in the loner lands, the green-eyed wolf had traveled south to the bifrost, crossing down into the southern continent where summer still prevailed. He knew there would be better oppurtunity for hunting and fighting out here, and it would also give him the chance to properly survey some of the territories down here.

And yet, he hadn't been expecting something as strange as this.

He'd been in Wildberry Grove when he'd initially spotted it, a rabbit nibbling at a strawberry bush. But in the gentle glow of dusk with shadows running long from the maples surrounding the clearing, it was hard to miss the gentle glow coming off its fur. Green eyes had blinked in surprise as if expecting it to be an issues with his vision, but still it persisted, until a gentle shift in the breeze sent his smell toward the lapine. When it startled and bolted off toward the south, Dream had immediately given chase, if only to see where it went to take refuge. He was led into a large clearing that was overgrown with grass and weeds and an insane amount of herbs. Large stone builders cut into strange slabs that looked as if they hadn't been disturbed in ages lay smothered in vines and moss, reclaimed by the earth around them. The glowing rabbit disapeared behind a large cluster of these ancient rocks before a short cry of alarm split the air, and as the blonde wolf slid to a halt around the corner he saw exacty why.

A large brownbear stood no more than ten feet away with the illuminated prize dead beneath its massive paws.

Dream took an involuntary step back, having no reason to try and take the creatures meal from them when the rabbit was hardly worth the risk, even if it did have something strange going on with it. But the bear didn't seem keen on letting him just walk away. He saw it after only a moments. The creature was tall but gangly, too thin to have been spending the majority of its time in this area. No, like Dream it had probably come across the bifrost after failing to bulk up for the winter up on the nothern continent, and was now the starving animal was determined to take as much as it could get. And it wasn't going to chance leaving a smaller predator in the area unchallenged.

Its small, dark eyes landed on him and its lip curled up with a huff right before it charged. Dreams fur bristled to emphasize his large body and his lips pulled back in a loud snarl as the bear teetered up onto it's hind legs and aimed a heavy swipe at his head. He ducked away and then lunged foreward to follow the retreating limb, fangs snapping shut and burrying themselves through thick fur and flesh.

OOC- do we need forms for NPC fights or no?

Mojito hadn't been this far south before, his paws carrying him over the land bridge and the further and further south. He could not have said what it was that was that pulled him so far from home. At the very least the milder weather meant he could replenish his herb stores better than last year's winter. The man was slow going, he would stop whenever he found something he was running low on and try his best to take only the oldest most mature sprigs. But as he went he'd seen some plants seemed to be softly glowing in blues and purples and as he continued to go they seemed to get a bit more numerous. Curious the young man approached a clump of them, slim leaves. Mojito sniffed at them cautiously, unsure exactly what if anything, they were. All he could pick up was the usual pungent smell of plants, nothing specifically telling his senses they were helpful or harmful in either way. Cautiously, extremely cautiously, the horned man reached forward and pinched at the stem with his teeth, doing everything in his power to avoid letting any of the juices that leaked out of the plant get on his tongue... He had no way of knowing if they were safe to consume.

Mojito was starting to think it might be time to turn back and start trying to understand the glowing plant when he heard a commotion, the sounds of a bear? Instantly a thrill of fear went through him. A bear awake now was probably a starving and unhappy thing and he had no desire to run into one. Mojito was about to take his plants and go when he caught the scent of another Armada wolf... Dream. Mojito pivoted on his toes, moving before he even had a chance to really think about it. He was dashing towards the bellow of the creature, the herbs in his mouth dropping to the ground as he launched himself at the lanky thing, not even thinking about what he was about to do. He approached from behind and the bear was too focused on the other wolf to notice the threat coming at him from behind. Mojito lowered his head, ears pulling back. A growl pulled from his lungs, feral and instinctual. The bear had threatened his packmate, his family. Sirius had given him so much and he would give so much of himself just to give even a tiny bit back to the warlord, his life wasn't something he would throw away but he was willing to sacrifice his safety to protect the life of another armada wolf.

And so Mojito charged the bear, his horns butting up against its rump, though it had more give than he expected, the thing clearly significantly underweight. Desperate to turn the bear's attention off his Dream he lifted his head and sunk his teeth into the right hind leg of the bear, digging in and pulling, feeling loose skin in his mouth. The bear roared, its blocky head swinging towards him and a massive paw smacking Mojito right across the face, his ears ringing and eyes screwing shut but he held on tight.

WC: 533 (1288/2500)

"Speech!"

TABLE & CODE © SKELLE 2020

((Nope we get to dictate the outcome of predators fights together so no forms needed since no rolling. <3))

OOC- I just want to apologize for the wait on the reply. One of my family members was having some health issues and there was a bit of a scare, but things have been figured out and I’ll be around to post more frequently. I also apologize for my starter post- I just read over it and cringed so hard. I was super tired when I wrote it xD

IC
Fourth was no coward. He was smart enough to know when to fight and when to call it a day even if he sometimes chose to ignore the obvious and run greater risks. When he did have to fight though, it was a familiar dance that the warrior was well versed in. The spike in adreniline, the stinging bite of a wound and the feeling of warm liquid seeping through his fur while his senses were flooded by the taste of copper. If there was perhaps one benefit that had come from living without a pack all that time, it was that every fight had demanded the most of him. No holding back, no time to think, just instinct and action. And Dream had always managed to walk on the side of Lady Luck- enough to keep him alive and in once piece, at least. But his body wore the scars from those encounters, brazeny like war medals carved right into his flesh.

When his jaws clamped down against the bears forearm he thrashed his head from side to side with all his weight, feeling with satisfaction as his teeth drove deeper past fur and into flesh, relishing in the agonized bellow of the creature before him in only the way that another predator could. It was a song that reached into the very soul of what he truly was and told him he was not weak, that he too was a creature who could bite, and fight, and kill. Not just a piece of prey or some scavenger to be underestimated. The bear stumbled backwards with Dream still latched on, dragging him foreward a few feet before he relinquished his grip and lept back on swift, powerful legs. If there was one thing he knew about fighting enemies that were bigger it was that you never wantd to put yourself in a position where they could pin you down and use their weight against you, and he had no intention of letting the grizzly get it’s bearings. If it wasn’t half-starved then his challenge would have been even greater, but he was confident that he could get out of this- he just had to make sure the animal wasn’t going to be dumb enough to try pursuing him if he tried to bail.

But before he could even shift his weight to line up a follow-up attack, the sound of another snarl ripped through the air, this one distinctively canine, and suddenly the bear was whirling around with another roar of pain to face an attacker that Dream only managed to get a glimpse of before the bear was lashing out at them; Mojito. His surprise was short-lived, burned up in the flames of a new wildfire that swept through him and turned his blood red-hot. The feeling was foreign to him after so many fights where the only stakes had been his own well-being, but the sudden realization that an Armada wolf was here fighting alongside him seemed to flip a switch inside of him. He wasn’t just fighting because he could now, he was fighting because he wanted to protect his packmate.

The second the bears massive paw collided with the other wolfs face, Dream launched himself forward and sprung upon the exposed backside of the underfed ursa. Curved fangs hooked themselves strategically into the flesh of their shoulder and he clamped down for all he was worth, separating fur and flesh and muscle. Blood poured into his mouth as he wrenched his head and tugged viciously, determined to make sure that if Mojito had been stunned by the blow, that the bear wouldn’t choose to take advantage of it when a new world of hurt was coming from another part of its body.

If he and the other Armada wolf played this right, they could exhaust the creature and come away victorious by driving it off, but they’d have to keep on their toes.

Mojito braced for yet another hit, feeling his face stinging still from the massive paw that had smacked him. Even with it's clearly underfed state the bear hit like a goddamn truck. But a follow-up attack never came, instead, the massive beast let loose a loud bellow, and Mojito opened his eyes into a squint, spotting the form of Dream clamped onto the bear's shoulder. Mojito took a moment to release his grip, the bear's attention clearly turned towards the other wolf as it tried to swat at him with it's opposite forelimb. Mojito took a moment to slide backwards, away from the beast, catching his breath and looking for a very specific opening.

There! Mojito dashed forwards when the bear was forced to briefly return to all fours, panting and clearly frustrated. Mojito flattened himself as much as he could, racing forwards to try and get himself under the bear's considerably low set stance, sliding under its emaciated frame until he was half under its rump... Right below some rather precious vitals. Mojito grit his teeth and slammed his head upward, driving small but sharp horns into the bear's abdomen. It howled in pain, his attention drawn from Dream temporarily and now very focused on Mojito, who was rapidly trying to back peddle and get himself out from under the bear's still pretty considerable girth. Which he was not so lucky to actually manage. The wind was forced from his lungs as the bear dropped his weight onto of Mojito. The pale man flailed, limbs desperately trying to push the bear off and he snapped his jaws at any part of the bear in reach. Even trapped as he was he could tell the great beast was tiring, it was clearly starting to evaluate if it was worth still fighting these two, much better fed, wolves... Mojito could only hope it would decide to retreat before he was totally crushed.

WC: 321 (2267/2500)

"Speech!"

TABLE & CODE © SKELLE 2020