Loki stirred in his sleep, paws twitching and face contorting in the grip of a nightmare. Only a faint whimper escaped his jaws; even in sleep he would not allow himself to wake his children from their slumber in the den beneath him. His breathing quickened as the nightmare morphed from incorporeal fear to something more painful... memory. --------------------------- "But dad I don't want to spar Hati," the green-eyed pup said desperately, his last resort as he had failed to get out of sparring at all. "He's too big and he's mean and it's not fair." The last came out as a wail even as Hroovitnir spun to face him, fangs bared in fury. "Shut your whining mouth before I take your tongue out of it, boy." Loki's jaw clicked shut; even at his age the clever pup knew it wasn't an idle threat. One of Hroovitnir's wives had no tongue as punishment for her backtalk and he'd seen her sometimes sobbing quietly when she thought no one was looking. He really, really wanted to try to reason his way out of this but Loki knew Hroovitnir was unreasonable in any mood, let alone this one. Heck, even Hati was more reasonable. Speaking of Hati... His eyes slid to the burly golden-eyed pup standing sullenly at his side. They were the same height, but already Hati outweighed him by quite a lot. Spars between them never ended well. Hati hated him. Loki would much rather spar Thor. He was big and dumb and had a temper too, but at least he didn't try to actually hurt people really bad when he didn't have to. But Hroovitnir's growl was beginning to increase in timbre and Loki knew he'd explode in about five seconds so, swallowing hard, he turned to Hati and braced himself, awkwardly taking up the defenses Hroovitnir had drilled into them every day in the six months since they were two months old and he'd decided they were ready for formal training. Yay, time to have fun, he thought bitterly. OOC: Thor, Nott, and Eyfura are welcome to join in as dream-sequence babies. Thor/Loki/Hati litter is eight months old, Nott/Eyfura litter is two months old but not in training because they're just girls. "Speech"

Be careful making wishes in the dark
Can't be sure when they've hit their mark

Far from Loki, in a forest wreathed in mist, Hati too slept restlessly. The nightmares, memories he wanted to bury in blood and death to never again see, stalked his sleep more often than not now. He didn't know what had triggered this one, from so far back it was almost as foggy as his birth, not even traumatic enough to stand out from thousands of others just like it. He had been young, but already far from innocent...

------------------

He was only half-listening as his brother's shrill voice rang in his ear as they trotted along in the wake of their father. Blah blah blah, don't want to spar, blah blah I hate it blah blah blah whine whine whine. Did he think that he was the only one who didn't want to do this right now? Did he think Hati wanted to deal with his whiny ass all the time in spars? He never even got a good workout out of it. At least with Thor he could go all out and not have to worry about his crybaby-ing about it later.

He felt a sort of dull satisfaction when Hroovitnir threatened Loki - for once it wasn't him getting yelled at, though he wasn't so naive as to think Hroovitnir wouldn't take his temper out on him in a heartbeat if he opened his mouth. For once Loki actually closed his.

Apparently he'd given up on trying to weasel his way out of it, because Loki finally turned toward him and half-heartedly put up his defenses. Eying him Hati could already see like three openings because Loki didn't even care enough to do it right. He cast a questioning glance at Hroovitnir, who barked at them, "What the hell are you waiting for?"

Hati leaped forward.



"Speech"

And besides in the meantime
I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart

Hati isn't nice. He swears, he is violent, and is more than a little insane. If you can't handle what might come of that don't thread with him.

Hati wears a bear skull on his head unless otherwise stated in the post. He also has a ram's skull that might be switched in sometimes if he finds it again.
Help keep my thread list updated so your thread isn't forgotten!

Loki braced himself at first when Hroovitnir roared at them, but then Hati leaped forward and Loki chickened out. He wouldn't admit it, of course, he'd call it a strategic retreat, but Hroovitnir wouldn't believe him and frankly Loki didn't really believe it himself. He backpedaled so swiftly that Hati, fully expecting to land full on him, instead landing on his face in the dirt. Loki couldn't help the snicker that bubbled up from his chest at the sight of a grubby Hati sprawled bewildered in the dirt, but the snicker died quickly when the hefty young wolf leaped back to his paws in a fury. Hati liked being humiliated as little as Loki did and was much more prone to violent retaliation... which made this the worst possible time to have embarrassed him, under Hroovitnir's watchful eye. Loki had to move quickly to dodge Hati's toothy charge, but he still caught the brunt of his brother's weight on his shoulder. He yelped as he was barreled off his feet but turned it into a roll, bringing himself out of immediate range. Even as he'd found his feet Hati was charging again, snapping teeth driving for flesh. Unable to spring again with his legs still disentangling themselves, Loki braced himself. "Speech"

Be careful making wishes in the dark
Can't be sure when they've hit their mark

As his paws left the ground a feeling of triumph shot through his chest. His paws would hit Loki's back, his jaws go straight for Loki's sensitive ears, and he'd clamp on until they bled and Loki cried and the whole stupid joke of a fight would be over and done with.

But things didn't go as planned. Moments after his teeth should have closed on flesh, Hati was eating dirt and had no idea how it happened.

Instead of standing and taking it like a man, Loki had actually run like a coward. He was standing a couple feet away from where he'd been supposed to be, completely unscathed, and worse... laughing at him. Hati stared at him, sprawled in the dirt like a stupid worm while Loki laughed his stupid head off, and a hot feeling started to squeeze his chest. Red tendrils of rage burning through him, making his eyes burn and his muscles shake from the intensity of it.

Loki stopped laughing when Hati sprang to his feet, but it barely registered with him. Claws digging into the earth and a roar tearing from his open jaws, he charged forward. His jaws snapped at Loki's face, but the little coward pulled away again. Not soon enough - he dodged Hati's teeth but Hati's chest hit squarely on Loki's shoulder and sent him rolling. Hati snapped out again but missed when Loki kept rolling. Before Loki could even get to his paws the furious pup was charging forward again. Loki was up, but incapable of moving anywhere when Hati tackled him to the ground, forelegs wrapping around his smaller brother's thin ribcage, chest to his back. Teeth drove viciously forward to dig into his scruff, and Hati twisted his grip until Loki screamed shrilly in pain.

The sound woke Hati from his fury, and he hesitated, loosening his grip enough for Loki to relax. A sudden snarl of fury rent the air. "Hati don't you fucking dare go easy on him. Man up or I'll rip your fucking tail off your ass. If he can't take it that's his goddamn problem." Hati's ears folded back, but closing his eyes, he tightened his grip once more, trying to ignore the sounds of his brother's pain.



"Speech"

And besides in the meantime
I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart

Hati isn't nice. He swears, he is violent, and is more than a little insane. If you can't handle what might come of that don't thread with him.

Hati wears a bear skull on his head unless otherwise stated in the post. He also has a ram's skull that might be switched in sometimes if he finds it again.
Help keep my thread list updated so your thread isn't forgotten!