Moonlight

My ears swiveled before I had a chance to process what I was hearing. It was the sound of - I turned on my heels immediately and knew what was coming.

'Times up'

I stayed a moment too long. I KNEW I shouldn't have stopped, but I did anyway and I was about to pay the price for that. I got away with enough just running along the shore for as long as I had... I pushed my luck with this one and now I may be in some shit. The howl that rang out was a call for assistance. Hastily, my mind spiraled. Thinking of a few ways to handle this before weening it down to a handful. I could just run right now. I could try my luck at outrunning them at least until I get to fair game lands or another pack land. ' How long ago was that... Did I come far?' No, I couldn't remember. I didn't want to risk it anyway for the sight of me running away without an explanation because for them to suspect that I was indeed up to no good. If they didn't have a reason to kill me now, they for sure would be edged to that decision then.

I groaned, letting my eyes scan around me - rapidly keeping track of where I heard the pawsteps coming from. There was one... No two. In different directions. "Shit." I turned my head back and forth, keeping tabs while I thought. I'm not near the pup, so that's good. Last I checked, that little thing was still off near the water while I was quite some distance away. I decided that I would have to stand my ground and try to talk my way out of this one. It might be my best bet.

The first set of paws came into view not before long and I felt myself taking a few steps back. My paws spread out to shoulder width and my head dropped down all in one motion. I wasn't preparing to attack, but I knew that there was going to be a connection.

As quickly as the first wolf showed up on the beach, she made a beeling for me and looked like she was low enough to go for - I swiped my paw up and snapped my jaws in her direction, not aiming to make a connection with her fur, but as a deterrent to trying to latch onto me. My lips were pulled back for a moment as I sneered at her clumsy choice of action.

"Enough. I won't fight. I growled back at her, my maw inches away from her ears before pulling back and lowering again. If she kept at this, I wasn't sure how long I would hold out without shedding some blood. In my best of planning, I couldn't fight here. I refused to. Not with all that was against me in this moment. If I tore into anyone here, I wouldn't be given fair judgement no matter what I had to say or what their practices were. It would be a done deal. Immediately. I had to hold back. I had to keep my composure as long as I could for it could mean life or death for me.

My muscles were coiled up like a metal spring, pushing against my skin and sensitive enough to react to any stimuli at a given notice.


Just as I had shifted my position backward, the force of which I felt something hit the side of me caused me to lose my balance and I had no other choice but to allow myself to fall over into the sand with a resounding thud. There's just something about falling into sand that makes it SO much worse than falling into the dirt... Granules flew up around us, coating my top half and infiltrating the inside of my now open maw. This must have been the second pair of drumming paws that I heard. The weight of this one was partially on my back, partially on my side. His position was digging into my chest and I could feel the ebbing of the pain coming back into my ribcage. I pushed my weight against him as to not take on his whole body on my ribcage.

"Alright. ALRIGHT!" I spat off to the side, sending wet chunks of sand flying out.  "I fucking give! I'm not here to fight!" I barked - squirming a bit under this new wolfs' weight but tentatively allowing my body to settle into a still position. My head was being kept higher than the sands surface so that I could view both the wolf on top of me and the one that had charged for my legs earlier. What a fucking welcome wagon.

I didn't mean for that to have come out the way that it did, although I couldn't help the adrenaline coursing through my veins, having my heart crash against my chest. This wasn't in a response to fear. This was an attempt to succumb so that they would lay off. In all honesty, I wasn't here trying to start a problem. I understood the protocol and that this wasn't something that I should have been doing anyway, but I also couldn't help my own instincts. And right now, every fiber of my being wanted to fight back. Saliva was dripping out of my mouth at this point and I opted to spit again at the sand in front of me. For all they knew... I could be here wanting to join! Borders are borders no matter what corner of the land that you're on... and in my defense, I. Was. As. CLOSE. To the edge as I could get. The rest was water for christ's sake!

A buried guttural growl began forming in the pit of my chest and I chose to stifle it after a moment truly hoping they would back down. I wasn't going to fight a fight that I knew I would lose. Hopefully, they had enough sense to at least let me speak before passing judgment. But I didn't know their ways. The rule could be to kill a stranger on sight... If that was the case. Then I suppose the death day had finally come. I squinted my eyes for a brief moment, taking in the slow ringing that was beginning to fill my ears again.


Athena & Cerberus vs Kage for Dominance
Round 1/1
Age: Over 1 year
Size: Large
Build: Heavy

ooc;; Apologies for the wait! I was thinking the little one had to answer first - wasn't clear on the fighting post order rules.