Strix lays stretched out on the beach of his home, the nearby palm trees making soft rustling sounds with each gentle gust of wind. The pup has his black side is pointed up toward the sky, catching the warmth of the sun, while his clouded grays are pressed into the sand. His soft mint eye slowly disappears behind its black eyelid only to blink open a moment later. He huffs out a breath, catching the small bits of grit in front of his nose and sends them skidding away. Sure, the day is picturesque, with the cloudless blue sky and bright sun hanging overhead, but it is also… boring. Rolling back up onto his belly, Strix quickly stands and shakes out his coat, getting rid of the small particles that want to cling to him. He is done laying in the sun, it time to find something entertaining to do.

Walking slowly toward the cluster of tall palms, the pup keeps an eye out for any animals that can catch and dissect but, to surprise, finds none. Confused, he stops to inhale the air, searching for any signs of predators that might be nearby. The answer to the riddle is on the breeze, there is a jaguar nearby. Eyes narrow as a smile plays along his lips and Strix immediately hunkers down to begin making his way toward the feline intruder. He is going to show this cat a thing or two. Silently he creeps closer until the spotted rump of his prey comes into view. The feline lounges in a patch of tall grass that is between two trees. Its tail twitches lazily while it reclines, the warm day lulling more than just the pup into a relaxed state. Ha, what a stupid cat. Soon, Strix will know the ins and outs of what this things body looks like.

The pup rushes toward the large cat, teeth flashing is the sunlight as seeks to bite into the meaty part of its back thigh. With a surprised snort, the jaguar turns its eyes to look at the bothersome wolf pup as his teeth sink into thick muscle. It opens its mouth, giving a hiss of annoyance and quickly repositions it weight to lash a clawed paw at Strix. The pup easily ducks under the paw and retreats a few steps as he readies to attack again. Suddenly, the sound of two more hisses have the boy’s mismatched eyes trailing up to trunks to the branches of both trees. Two more jaguars descend from the heights, tails lashing in annoyance. The one on the ground is standing and advancing toward the Strix. He smiles at it, the thrill of the fight to come overwhelming any rational thought. So, there are three? It just means that he will get to have more fun. Teeth flash and claws slash as he rushes in toward the jaguars once more.


WC: 485
Total WC: 485/1500

"Strix Klein"

"Alright, Momma," Morendo said as he finished up his daily lessons with his mother and got up to leave the room once she decided they had worked on his music and singing enough for the day. Ever since he showed interest in it a couple of seasons ago it had become something that they looked forward to each day. It gave him an excuse to get away from his brothers for a bit and to have some dedicated time with their mother. With so many siblings and so many things going on in the pack sometimes it was difficult to find anything to make his own or any time to have to himself, but so far it seemed like he was the only one interested in these music lessons from their mother so it made him enjoy these lessons even more.

He walked out of the compound where their family resided and started making his way out into the jungles of the island while he tried to decide what to do with the rest of his day. He knew he should probably balance out his learning and training a bit with some fighting practice of some sort, but fighting always felt a bit more like something he had to do rather than something he wanted to do like his music lessons. He knew his father expected it from them though and it certainly wasn't like he wasn't capable of it so he didn't really have any excuse not to—especially since he wasn't able to sweet talk and bat his eyelashes at his father like Ruse could to get out of things. He huffed a little and started turning his path toward the beach so he could find somewhere to run through some of the drills and stances that they had been taught. At least then if his father asked he could say he had trained today without lying.

Before he could make it that far the sound of hissing and yowling of angry felines caught his attention and he hesitated for just a moment before running toward the sound to see what was going on. What he ended up finding was one of his brothers caught in the middle of a trio of jaguars. He sighed at the fact that with no one else around he was going to have to jump into the fight to help him otherwise he might be witness to his brother's murder. While that probably wouldn't bother him all that much, he knew it would devastate their mother and he certainly didn't want to see her that distraught. Purely for his mother's benefit, he let out a call for anyone that might be close by before he rushed in, running toward the jaguar that was closest to him and chomping down hard on its lashing tail. It hissed with pain and irritation as his teeth crunched down on its tail and tried to turn and face him, but instead he held on to its tail and ran to stay behind it, yanking and ripping at the appendage while he focused on staying out of range of its swiping paws.

WC: 524
Total: 1009/1500

"Morendo Klien"

Much like Morendo, young Revenant had occupied his day with learning and training of his own. Today, he had spent time learning and practicing the names of the different pack in the world and their respective leaders. There was a bit of a wanderlust in the pup, and already he knew he one day wanted to see and visit all these other packs, if for no other reason than to see how they stacked up to Fenmyre. Not that there would be any real competition, of course. Their kingdom was the greatest in the world after all! Still, it was good to practice. What if Dad took them to visit another pack like he did for the Hallows? He could show off his impressive knowledge of the foreign packs and their cultures and make all the other pups envious of how smart he was! The boy was lounging outside the family compound in the shade of some trees, muttering to himself as he mentally recited his lessons from the day. "Ashen is Venom... in the Dove Belt Archipelago. Armada is... Sirius, in the Tall Grass Plains. " Hey, this wasn't so hard!

While he dipped through his mental flashcards, Revenant caught sight of a blur of pallid fur heading out of the compound nearby. A quick glance confirmed it was Morendo, and a wicked grin slowly spread across Revenant's lips. His brother hadn't seen him, and he was in the prime position to stalk and pounce his sibling unawares. Maybe this would teach Morendo that skipping out on fighting lessons to learn how to sing like a sissy was a bad idea. Rising up to his paws, the dark-furred phantom slunk out of the shadows and followed after his brother, intent on creeping up behind him and catching him in a pin before he knew what had hit him. It seemed fate had a different plan for the boys, however, as only a short trek down the path, the sounds of growling and hissing snarls broke the silence. Morendo took off running and Revenant froze, confused and bewildered, but followed after a beat as well. Rounding a corner, he saw the chaotic sight before him. His other brother, Strix, was squaring off against three fully grown jaguars on his own, and Morendo had just rushed in to help.

Revenant paused for a moment, assessing the situation and analyzing his possible options. Nobody had seen him yet; he could easily just run off and pretend he hadn't seen anything. But then his brothers would most definitely die, and while he was a bit of a jerk, he wasn't a heartless monster. He wasn't going to let some overgrown cats make mincemeat of his siblings! Morendo had already called for help, but Revenant stayed back and released a series of distressed barks to summon his parents or Aunt Dalila as well. Then he took off into the fray. With the boys at about half their adult height, he and Morendo were approximately the same size as the jaguars, but little Strix was very small compared to them. Revenant's only mission was to distract the felines and keep them away from Strix. "Hey! Over here, you oversized tabbies!" he shouted to catch the attention of one of the two jaguars going for his little brother. The jaguar snarled and turned on Revenant, the two predators snarling at one another and squaring off. The jaguar lunged for Revenant, swiping at the boy's side, but the Klein prince deftly avoided with a brisk sidestep of paws, rounding to deliver a biting lunge at the jaguar's face. His teeth nipped at fur, but just barely missed finding purchase in flesh. Back and forth the two exchanged this deadly dance, both waiting for one or the other to make a fatal mistake or leave an opening vulnerable for them to exploit.

WC: 644
Total: 1653 / 1500

"Revenant"

Strix squares off against the three jaguars, a rock slowly settling in the pit of his stomach. The need to prove himself has overridden his own self-preservation and he is quickly realizing just how out-matched he really is. The cats are swift, lunging and hissing at the annoying pup who is a little too big for his own breeches. He just wants to prove he is as good as his brothers! Black and gray form springs forward, teeth aiming for a large meaty paw as a small, pitiful growl rolls out. Claws from all direction flash toward him and Strix is forced to retreat, a snarl on his lips. A call for help rings out and Morendo joins the smaller boy and the rock that had been forming in Strix’s stomach, turns into a mountain. Great, now the adults will know he messed up. He tries to be angry at his brother for alerting the adults but, right now, all he can focus on is surviving.

Morendo bites one of the jaguar’s tails, holding on for the ride as it tries to turn and swipe at him. The smaller pup darts forward, wanting to try and take the furry of the cat off his helpful sibling. A shout causes the pup to falter as Revenant swoops in to take another of the feline’s ire. With two of the jaguars preoccupied, Strix turns his full attention on the third… just in time to take a meaty paw to the side of his face. Claws rake across his cheek, creating cuts and making the pup’s eyes water from shame. What will his father think of him now? Blood wells as he retreats back a few steps, uncertainty clouding his eyes as he looks to his bigger brothers. He will not run away and leave them to get hurt. Eyes return to his jaguar and the boy has to retreat backward to avoid another swipe at his face. Will someone come to rescue them?


"Strix Klein"

Chimera did pretty well with warding the island of predators, but one couldn't expect it to stay that way forever. The island drew in many creatures just as it drawn in the wolves of Fenmyre. There were opportunities to be had here. The land was separated from the mainland and so it provided a modicum of protection. All of these benefits were obvious to the naked eye and sometimes there were intruders despite the blatant scent markers both at the edge of the mainland and the shore of the island. Coming back from working on the yacht, the sounds of commotion up ahead quickly threw the giant brute into a run. Snaps and snarls became more defined as he neared the fight and he could already tell that a cat had come to the island again. Chimera flashed back in his minds eye to the time that Aliana had almost lost her life to a jaguar and it served to ignite the fury within him. If that hadn't done it, seeing three of his sons getting attacked by not one, but three jaguars... Chimera was thoroughly incensed. With a guttural snarl, the black and white behemoth launched himself at the nearest feline. Rows of razor sharp teeth sank into the side of the jaguars neck, instantly doing damage and drawing a fountain of blood gushing from the cat as something vital was struck. The jaguar collapsed to the ground, kicking and sputtering as it slowly died. The bloodied giant turned his attention to the other two cats, rage burning in his wide, pink eye. Stiff legged, Chimera curled his tail high above his back, growling deep and low as though the gates of hell were yawning open within him. Stalking around the clearing, the protective father was able to place himself between the remaining jaguars and his three children. "Go," he growled at the trio. That was order enough and he expected it to be followed. The two felines were hesitant, noting the easily brought about death of their companion. One turned and ran and Chimera heard the splash as it dove into the ocean, hightailing it back to the mainland. The other was wary to turn its back on the wolf, which was wise. The dual-toned dire stalked forward and the cat walked backwards, hissing and growling warnings the entire time. It was retreating, but not fast enough. Chi dove forward, jaws snapping and that was all that it took for the cat to finally turn its back and run. It dove into the water as well, swimming quickly across to the other side where it disappeared into the cove. Sides heaving with the exertion of the fight, Chimera caught his breath, tongue flicking over his bloodied jowls before he turned and headed back inland. He left the dead cat where it was, having no need for it. Perhaps he'd tell Scylla where it was. She liked that sort of thing. In the meantime, he expected a full report from his sons and hoped that their mother wasn't coddling them too much. "Chimera Quill Klein"