Rhyme climbed the rise up to look out over the serpent plains, he just finished his first daylight patrol. Imperia and Solitude already made their way back to the maple tree and for a moment he was on his own. He had heard Shaye bringing up the rear behind him, he told her she was just being slow due to her injuries.

As he created the rise bright blue and lavender gaze fell on the tiniest donkey he had ever seen. It had long fuzzy ears and awkward stumbling legs. Rhyme had to take a moment to admire the foal, and didn't think about the whereabouts of its mother. He really should have.

Only a couple moments after he stopped her realize where she was, and only barely missed her perfectly aimed kick. The foal called out a greeting and Rhyme ducked just in time. He wasn't out of danger though, and the ass aimed again.

The bloodloss had left her feeling weaker than usual, but she hadn’t slowed down just for that. She had slowed because she wanted to do a more careful walk across the border. She felt that Abaven should never have been in danger by a large cat, it should have scented their borders and fled immediately. Her large pack should be able to scare away even the most desperate foe.

She was slow to pull away from the border and make her way to the maple tree, and would arrive just in time to see Rhyme dodging the well aimed kick of an angry donkey. She couldn’t help herself, she felt laughter bubble up inside of her. Even when the ass aimed again, she was still laughing. She was slowly making her way towards them, but seriously, the sight of the angry equine taking on the wolf was a sight for amusement. “What did you do?” she wondered, before her eyes fell across the form of the baby. “Aw come on Rhyme, she’s protecting her kid.” The Alpha said, hoping Rhyme didn’t try and lash out at the mother - it was generally considered bad luck to attack a mother or a baby, how else did herb populations grow.

Now that Rhyme knew where she was, avoiding the old jenny should have been easier. Blue and lavender gaze were on her as she reared for another kick. Was that.. laughter? Involuntarily Rhyme looked in Shaye’s direction. Exactly at the wrong time. There was a loud crack and suddenly Rhyme was seeing stars. The donkey had hit him square on the jaw. The slate alpha stumbled back as he tried to comprehend where he was.

Blood started to pour out of his mouth where he had bit his tongue rather severely, and pain blossomed from his quickly bruising jaw. Rhyme’s body instinctively fell into a defensive position. His hackles raised and his weight evenly distributed over his paws as he rolled his shoulders and his tail went out behind him. A sign of dominance and for balance. Of course the wolf was still seeing stars, and couldn’t make out what the mother donkey was doing.

Luckily for him Rhyme had been pushed from her path and she went to her foal to make sure the fluffy little doe eyed creature wasn’t harmed. When the jenny had decided it was fine she returned her sights to Rhyme, who was just beginning to get his wits back about him. He hadn’t heard anything of what Shaye had said, and now his main concern was not getting another jaw full of angry donkey hoof. He staggered a bit as he tried to find his focus.


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total: 605

It was funny, right up until the moment it almost kicked Rhyme’s brains out. Her laughter turned into a growl as blood began to drip from her Alpha partners mouth. His roll into a defensive posture seemed almost like an afterthought, in response to getting the stuffing kicked out of him. She could scent his blood on the breeze, but wasn’t sure just how badly injured he was. No matter what, it seemed a trip to the healers den was in their future. The donkey had gone past Rhyme, and to its babe, before turning its attention back to her Alpha partner. Only, now Shaye had joined her Alpha partner. She had taken the time it took to move forward, to get herself into position. She created a unified front with Rhyme, a wall of growling fur, because her posture was hostile, her hackles raised, and her lips drawn over her fangs in a snarl. Her weight was evenly distributed, and the fighting stance felt comfortingly familiar to fall into. All the practice she had been getting in these later years of her life was putting her into fighting shape. The entire situation seemed crazy bizzare. When she had gone on border patrol, she hadn’t expected to be fighting against a crazy donkey. She was still recovering from her injuries, fighting off the big cat. The wooziness was still there, but it was pushed to the back of her mind. Shaye wasn’t about to let anybody mess with one of her wolves, especially not some overgrown moss on hooves. “Leave!” Shaye barked, ensuring she and Rhyme weren’t blocking the fastest path out of the land. She then began to advance, moving slowly on powerful paws. “Leave!” she barked again. She did not want to kill this mother and babe, but she would if it continued to pose a threat. She was giving it this chance, she would attempt to herd it from her lands, it and its child both. Total words: 938 "Talk" "You" Think

Bright colorful dots swirled in Rhyme’s vision, leaving trails and making it almost impossible to see what was going on in the world around him. Not that he could comprehend very well anyway, the donkey had kicked the snot out of him. With the blood dribbling down his muzzle and the far-seeing look in his eyes Rhyme was everywhere but in the heat of the moment. He didn’t hear Shaye’s shift from good natured fun to enraged alpha as she witnessed what happened.

The slate alpha continued to stand defensively, though he wouldn’t be able to stand up to much with all the swaying he was doing. As the jenny turned back to the pair of them Rhyme finally noticed Shaye stood beside him. As his wits slowly returned he had just enough brain power to wish he had more control back. He solidified in his stance, no longer swaying as Shaye faced off against the enraged equine. Rhyme’s vision mostly returned, and he could put his eyes on the advancing burro.

He had to recover for Shaye’s sake, she was still recovering from a nasty wound from that cat. Rhyme tried to shake himself of the feeling but was only rewarded with a bit of dizziness and an explosion of pain in his head. He flinched as his alpha partner’s voice commanded the jenny from beside him. The loudness didn’t help his head, but neither did the sudden bray from the donkey as she pinned her ears and began to back away, her foal at her hind quarters. The tiny fluffy little guy reluctantly allowed the jenny to steer him away from the wolves. His main concern happened to be nursing at that exact moment.

The sound of the jenny’s loud voice drilled through his head, he hoped Shaye was faring better in this fight than he was. He squinted in pain, but managed not to cower. Shaye continued forward, slowly, trying to end the confrontation without any more bloodshed. Rhyme’s tongue was still bleeding, but not quite as bad as a few minutes ago. As the donkey finished her defiant call Rhyme pushed forward. His chest level with Shaye’s hips as he added more of a back-up role than another offender. Whatever they were doing seemed to be working decently.

The jenny continued to back up, just as slowly as Shaye and Rhyme pushed forward. If they pushed her any harder she might knock down her foal. Or worse trip over him. She could seriously injure herself, though Rhyme couldn’t deny that course of events would be in their favor. He managed to keep a couple of ravens, why couldn’t they start their own personal donkey herd, starting with their hypothetical little orphan?


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She continued to push forward, unaware of Rhyme’s thoughts on orphaning the baby equine. She heard them slowly from their pack lands, until they crossed the borders, at which point Shaye stopped her pursuit, and the donkey pair continued slowly on. Once they were out of sight, Shaye turned her attention to Rhyme, now that the threat was passed, she felt a touch of her humor return. He had gotten the shit kicked out of him by a donkey he wasn’t going to live this one down any time soon. Still, she was gentle as she turned towards him and studied his face, gently pushed his head in a certain direction with her muzzle. “Eatings going to hurt for a while.” she commented, a hint of compassion in her voice. “Come on, let’s get you checked out by Vail” "Talk" "You" Think