mortis fatalis

The young pup scampered through the Armada territory, lost in the amusement of seeing things for the first time again. Everything was shadowed with vague memories of the past, but it always needed something to shake it free. Sometimes it wasn’t until he was stumbling right over something, that he remembered it was there.

Like running into the Sea’s Plains, and finding it as a part of their fathers territory. Astonishing! It was early evening, and the sunset was bright against the ocean-blue sky, dashing colors of orange across it, and reflecting upon the waters edge. He got closer to the water, pressing a toe against the cool liquid, as he looked outwards in curiosity.

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Az had been spending some time away from his family to think, bonding with his new companions and considering his future. It was a lot for a not-yet six month old pup, but he always felt he was more mature then the others of his family anyways. Except maybe Indy, somehow the boy seemed an adult in a puppy's body and always knew what wise words needed saying. Maybe he was spending too much time with Aunt Iolaire and too little butchering animals with him and Asla. Usually by sunset the boy found himself returning home, wanting to claim his favorite spot in the den before his siblings returned from their daily adventures. Today though he felt pulled to the plains to watch the sun fall behind the waves, and couldn't help the surprised grunt that pulled from him as he noticed the spot was not vacant. His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked upon the silhouette of his barely elder brother, though he found himself approaching the other boy regardless of his disdain for him. Their mother had done her best to get her sons to get along, and Azure wanted to win her favor. After all, he was not blind to the concerned way she looked at him when he brought her home the mangled tail of a beaver as a trophy one day. "This place is for fighting." He said gruffly, though not as unkind as usual for him. "I didn't think you did any fighting." It wasn't outwardly an insult, regardless of how he meant it to plant insecurity. His brother had always been cowardly and soft, and Azure secretly hoped to see Mortis cringe at the very thought of bloodying the sand beneath his paws. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

mortis fatalis

He twitched an ear at the sound of pawsteps, and turned fully as the voice of his brother broke the silence. He looked up at the wolf, waiting for the familiarity to hit, and found himself staring at his own reflection. Okay, maybe not quiet, but the similarities were so shocking, he almost had to double take with the reflection in the sea. He managed not to, he had been trying not to do anything suspect since the whole memory thing.

The name of the boy before him was supplied in a brief moment, and he recalled that he was Azure. He didn’t remember anything else about him. Wasn’t that odd? He remembered Asla’s kindness, and Indy’s love for healing, but who was Azure? He couldn't say, and the thought left him unsettled.

“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked, curious, before he remembered the question might give him away. Oh well, too late now.

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Az's barely narrowed brows furrowed further, though in confusion rather then anger or intimidation. Mortis was not reacting the way he'd anticipated and that unnerved the boy, he didn't enjoy feeling uncertain. His paws shuffled beneath him uncomfortably in the sand. "I don't know," The boy began, his frustration showing through in his tone. "You're the weak one or whatever, the one who cries when a bird falls out of it's nest." Blackened lips pursed and his head tilted as he regarded the winged boy, waiting for the reaction. His brother rarely seemed so aloof and relaxed around him, not since the day Azure tipped him off a cliff. Was there something on his face? Was he no longer as fierce and frightening as he believed himself to be? Azure huffed a sigh, tore his gaze off his brother and sat his rump upon the sand. "So if you're not here to fight then what are you doing?" The lack of control he felt was irritating, and he hoped perhaps through conversation he might be able to regain that imaginary power he'd seemed to have lost. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

mortis fatalis

Azure looked at him in confusion, and Mortis knew he wasn’t playing the part right. He was doing something wrong, but without knowing what, he couldn’t change it. Maybe Azure would go to all the wrong conclusions, like how a pup changed as they grew… or something. Mort didn’t know, but didn’t see how he could change it at this point.

the weak one? he thought. Asla had hinted something along that line, and followed it with quick support and reassurance. He didn’t like this second reminder that he had been someone less. Someone who was a shadow, something he could not be proud of.

“Why ever would I cry, if it fell it's probably going to get eaten one way or another.” He pointed out, eyeing Azure with interest. Was the boy trying to get under his skin? How intriguing. Indigo and Asla had only ever tried to love him, he hadn’t been faced with something like this before. Not in his current memories, anyway.

“Watching the baby shark, I think it's stuck in the shallows” he said, rising onto his toes to point out the shadow deeper into the water, but still somewhere too shallow for something like a shark to live. He glanced at Azure, a little slyly. “I bet our other siblings have never taken home a shark.” it was a challenge, and a promise, if Azure chose to take him up on it.

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Az tore his gaze hastily off the sand at his brother's reply, bright eyes watching him with suspicion. His expression clearly asked Mortis 'who are you?' though his lips remained pursed tight. He kept himself from verbalizing the question, regardless of how loud it was echoing around in his head. Even when the winged boy directed his attention towards the shark, Azure's gaze remained firmly planted upon the back of his brother's skull. It was almost as if he worried if he looked away, that Mortis might vanish and Az would find he was going insane. Reluctantly he managed to force his to drift off Mortis, following the boy's gaze into the shallows where a juvenile shark appeared to have gotten himself lost. His jaw opened and then shut with an audible click, and a indecisive growl slipped between his teeth. What was the game here? Was Mortis trying to lure him into the water with this weird act to drown him, to get back at him for pushing him off the cliff all those months ago? It was hard to resist the call of blood especially when the offer was of an animal he had not yet killed and dissected. Would it taste like fish or more like a chicken did? Was it's brain and heart in the same locations as the beaver he'd dismembered? The pup wrestled with the decision, distrustful yet unwilling to give up a kill he'd might never have the opportunity to make again. "Fine." He spat, stepping forward reluctantly. Before his paws reached the water he turned back to observe his brother, eyes still swimming with suspicion. "You first." If Azure was right the cowardly boy wouldn't have it in him. His head inclined towards the beast, tongue slipping out to swipe at his oversized fangs as he waited to see what Mortis would do. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

mortis fatalis

He looked out at the water, and felt his brothers stare on him. He had thought Asla had known him best, and that she was the one who should know the truth. Had he been wrong? Azure knew him, and knew that this was wrong, but Mortis could not bring himself to be who his brother thought he was. He waited for the boy to make a decision, and then he turned to Azure, an expression of delight, without doubt or distrust. Unlike Azure, who managed to have a healthy dosing of both in his eyes. Ah, well, he would either come to expect this new Mort or stick a pit viper in his bed. There wasn’t much Mortis could do about, except try and shove his brother into having a good time.

“The last one in the water is an egghead!” he yowled, launching his body forward, wings folded to his side. They wouldn’t help him in the shallow water, just get in his way. He surged towards the shark, which sensed his movements, and began to wiggle against the sand and sea. If it kept at it, it would only beach itself. Was it trying to run to, or away? Mortis wouldn’t give it a chance either way.

His thoughts were wholly in the hunt, and the trips Asla had taken him on coming in handy. The water splashed up his side, and came up to his stomach before he reached their prey. He turned, seeing where Azure was, so the two brothers could attack the shark at the same time.

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This personality shift had Azure entirely off balance. He watched as his previously-cowardly brother bounded happily towards the shark for a pleasant time murdering a helpless juvenile, and tried to keep the dumbfounded expression off his face. A dream? Must have been. He shook his head of the confusion and followed his brother into the water, keeping a respectable distance just incase there was more to this then he knew. It was difficult to focus on his distrust with the call of blood right there before him, and slowly Azure found himself forgetting the wolf beside him was one he disliked. He came around the flailing creature to observe it and then lifted a wide paw to push down upon the fin of it's tail. The movement rocked the shark almost onto it's side and it's squirming renewed, disliking being pinned to the sand. "It's weird looking." He observed. Nothing like the beaver or the sheep or the chickens or anything else he'd hunted. He circled back towards it's face, lowering his head towards it to peer through the water towards it's teeth. "See those? I bet they're really sharp. Maybe if we take the head to dad he can make something of it." It was one thing to simply murder a creature, Azure's thrill was in the foreplay. He enjoyed observing the stuck animal, potentially with Asla torturing it a bit, and then finally drawing it's blood. He looked up to Mortis quietly, to see what his brother would offer. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

mortis fatalis

He mostly ignored the confusion on Azure. It was clear when he hit his head it had rearranged a few things in there. He would never be the same, and nor did he desire to be. He couldn’t pretend with everyone, and Azure was clearly one of those wolves. He might have to tell his brother what had happened later, if just to quell those dumbfounded expressions his brother kept shooting his way.

Azure stuck a paw on the sharks tail, pinning it so it squirmed and thrashed in strange side-to-side motions. “Cool.” Mortis whispered, voice soft so not to destroy the moment. He followed his brother's gesture towards the shark. In its anger its mouth seemed to sit open, and he could see a row of strange, daggard teeth its mouth. “Ohh, bet a tooth like that would work as a bracer knife like dads” he murmured, his voice an agreement to bring the teeth to their father.

“Think it tastes weird?” he asked, braving its teeth as he leaped forward, trying to pin it like Azure had, but by its head instead of its tail. He missed, its side to side thrashing hard to judge, and he found himself chest-forward in the water besides the creature. He batted its head away with a paw when its teeth got closer. Surprisingly easy to boop it on its long snout to keep its teeth away from him. The pup giggled softly.

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Azure was able to mostly ignore the weird feeling that came from hearing his brother casually inspecting the to-be-dead animal, but when the other boy let out a giggle at it's frightened squirms Azure shot him one more stare. He blinked a few times, and then slowly moved his attention back to the shark. He wanted to ask what the hell had happened to his brother, but at the same time felt even just asking the question was too weak. Pretending everything was okay and that this was entirely normal, he lifted his paw from it's tail and instead brought his paw down upon the shark's side above it's fin. "They say sharks can smell blood in the water." He told his brother, pushing a claw into the base of the fin enough to squirt out a small puff of red into the ocean. "I wonder if it's mom will be able to smell it's death." Carefully he dragged his claw down the odd-textured skin, watching how the blood mingled with the sea. "Should we kill it here, or drag it out and let it suffocate?" Azure asked after a moment. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

mortis fatalis

Azure dug a claw into its flesh, and Mortis watched, and hid a frown. Okay, well he was curious and fascinated, and wanting to examine their prey, it seemed a bit harsh to draw its blood and announce he wanted its mother to scents its death. He shrugged it off, Asla had some weird ticks too, but he still loved her.

Instead, he tapped his own paw against his rubbery hide. Not drawing blood, just feeling it. “It’s slimy, like a fish” he announced in surprise. He stood up in the water again, careful to keep clear of its sharo row of teeth. “I suppose it has to breathe water too, doesn't it?” he voiced his question out loud. Having never considered it before. ”Letting it suffocate seems easy. Let’s figure out the best way to reach its brain” he suggested instead. Of course, dragging it out of the water and putting it in their element might make it easier to make some precision cuts. “Hmm, let’s take it out.” he decided after a moment.

As through that made the decision, the boy ducked his head under the water, and snatched at its tail with his sharp puppy teeth. He also got a load of salt water in his mouth. Which he managed to ignore, as he began to attempt to drag the shark up the shallow water and onto the beach. He had no idea if Azure would help or hinder.

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At Mortis' comment that it was too easy, Azure scoffed. It wasn't about difficulty for him, it was about new and interesting ways to watch something die. He was going to argue, to explain how he wanted to see if the creature gasped for air the same way a land-animal might gasp for breath beneath the water (and he made a mental note to drown something later to see that, too) when Mortis decided to drag it out anyways. He nodded, but before he could open his mouth to respond his brother was diving down to try and grasp hold of the wiggly thing. Azure looked down at the water and considered whether or not he could duck low enough to help push it with his shoulders, but it already came up high enough on him that he didn't think he could. He watched and considered, and finally reached over to grab it's dorsal fin while Mortis worked the tail. His teeth seemed to slide right into the flesh and for a moment he was worried that by yanking on it, he'd tear elongated fangs straight through. Luckily while it was in the water the thing wasn't as heavy as it looked, and he helped his brother to heave it to the shore. Out of the water it looked much less menacing, and Azure moved to it's head again to inspect it's oddly shaped face. With no way to properly move, he knew he was safe from the jagged teeth. "It probably won't last long." He commented, remembering learned that drowning was relatively fast and so he could only assume reverse-drowning was just as quick. "You think it's brain is here?" A wide bear paw lifted and came down upon it's head, without protruding ears it was hard to guess where he might find it. Some animals had tiny brains. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

mortis fatalis

When the fish got lighter, he knew Azure had found a way to help, and together the two large pups dragged the weird creature up to shore. Morts wings were still tucked tightly to his body, offering him no help in the water, and he left them there once his paws were finally free of the sea. They heaved it onto the sand, and let it go. It flopped there, helpless and gasping.

Mortis tinged a little at not ending it more quickly, it felt wrong to do it this way. No matter how endless his brother's curiosity was. But, he wouldn’t ruin the other boys' experiments, even if he didn’t agree to them. Maybe he would talk it out later with Mama, and see what her thoughts were. His brother had a very deep fascination with death.

He looked to its head as Azure’s paw gently nudged it, and Mortis crinkled his nose in thought. “Hmm” he mused. “I guess so?” only one way to find out. He drew one of his cat-like claws from their sheaths and struck at the creatures head, trying to put his claws in and draw its flesh apart. Its skin felt weirdly spongy.

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Killing the creature with Mortis felt differently then it did with Asla. The brother and sister pair were closer aligned in their brutality, though it was a miracle to Az that Mortis hadn't burst into tears yet. Though the boy seemed worlds braver then he was previously, there was still softness in his heart. Azure did his best to ignore the subtle shift in tone, leaning forward to watch his clawed brother begin to puncture the head. He was the only sibling to not inherit his father's sharpened claws, and generally he had to let Asla do the skinning or inward inspecting because of it. The creature continued to shift around on the sand, desperately seeking to return to the water. Azure placed both sandy forepaws upon it's back and held it more still so Mortis would have less trouble with precision. "If the brain is big enough and if you can find it, a stranger taught me how to use it to tan hide. I don't know if you can tan a shark hide, but we could try." "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

mortis fatalis

The cat claws ran so thoroughly in their family that he took them now for granted. Azure’s heavy-set forpaws were going to be a monster in battle, and Mort knew that if he ever sparred with his brother, he would need to keep clear of a frontal smack. Mortis was built for a little more finesse. He was still a big wolf, like all his brothers, but his wings made him light on his feet, with an extra set in balance. His claws could climb as wickedly as a cat, and he could time his swipes to do some serious damage. He just had to use his skills right.

Here and now, with the still shark, it was a lot different. He grunted and had to dig around a little in its head, feeling the weird slimy sensation of its skin. He tucked his tongue through his muzzle just a tad as he concentrated on the task ahead of him. Azure held it down to keep it from squirming. “Ah ha!’ he said when his claws hit the weird jello-material of its brain, and it spasmed beneath Azure’s strong grip, and then fell still. “Oh yeah? That sounds wicked” he enthused, setting himself to the task of widening the hole in his head, so they could scoop out its brains. He sniffed them curiously, but refrained from licking, saving it all for Azure’s work.

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Azure watched intently as Mortis dug around inside the creature's head. At some point it'd stopped squirming, though he'd barely noticed. The milestone of it's death barely mattered to him as he carefully inspected the hole Mort began to widen. Once more the oddities of his brother's enthused response reached him, though they were becoming easier to shake off. "When you get it wide enough we need to cut the cord without damaging the brain." It didn't need to be said that Az's wide paws were not suited for the task, though he was even unsure if the other boy's cat claws could manage. "Diablo might be able to get in there, if you can't." The aforementioned bat was never far from Az, and though he didn't have a sharp beak as the stranger's companion had demonstrated with, the bat's face was much smaller and potentially able to reach the spinal cord. "You'll also have to be the one to skin it, I haven't figured out how to yet with my paws." He sighed softly, frustration showing through at the mutations he'd been granted and how they hindered him in certain ways. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Mortis quit playing with the skull and looked up at Azure as he gave instruction. He suggested the bat for the finesse of pulling out the brain without damaging it, and Mortis relented, taking a step back to give the bat some space. Well he bat got set to attack the spinal cord and all that, the pup turned his attention to the rest of the creature with a frown. “Okay, where do I start on that?” he asked in curiosity, and looked back up at his brother, and gave him a friendly, cheeky grin.

“Hey, finesse might not be your strong fruit, but you're going to have paws strong enough to crush the head of all your enemies, and that’s pretty impressive. Just like stomping on a watermelon” he miamed the motion of crushing the fruit as he waited for Azure to give him further instruction.

Mortis stepped back to await instructions, and Azure paused as he thought. Asla was always the one to do the skinning, and the boy had never asked exactly how or where she learned the craft. He blinked, and stared down at the shark in thought. "Uh, I suppose you just.." He thought hard, trying to remember how he saw Asla do it. "I think you just cut here, and then here, and then somehow rip it off?" Azure frowned, unsure and not happy about his lack of answer. He couldn't quite remember how she managed it, but Asla did it with such ease every time. He looked back at Mortis, hoping his brother might have more of an inkling then he did. When the compliment came through, Azure shuffled uncomfortably on his wide paws. He didn't like his brother, his brother never seemed to like him. Though here the other boy ways, comforting Az that his paws while not made the same way as his siblings would have their own benefits. He'd never expected the words 'crush the head of your enemies' and 'that's impressive' to come out of Mortis' mouth in the same sentence, and as the other boy pantomimed the motion he was even more confused. Though the words were not wrong, and Azure remembered how he easily was able to split apart the ribcage of the beaver him and Asla had downed. "You think so?" He asked softly, head tilting to the side as he pictured his paws crushing down on a head and watermelon juices pouring out. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Mortis looked up at his brother, who looked down at the kill in thought. His face fixed into an expression of fierce consideration, and Mortis managed not to grin, feeling an intense fondness for this curious wolf he called brother. He didn’t remember their past, but he remembered the curious glances he had been shooting him the whole time, and the way he had leapt into the hunt with no second thought, and helped Mortis drag the shark back to shore. Now they worked together to pull it apart, and tan it. It was teamwork, pure and simple. It was like how he and Asla operated, but different.

He looked back when Azure indicated parts of the shark, and he studied where his brother meant, making a thoughtful noise in the back of his throat, before unsheathing his cat-like claws. His paws were smaller, more delicate than Azures, and no doubt if his bigger brother wished, he could crush the bones in Morts paws if he stomped hard enough. Mortis was gifted with something closer to finesse, and he used that now.

“Heck yeah!” he agreed when Azure questioned him. “Tell you what, I’ve seen some on Deathbelles island. Lets knock some out of the trees with Diablo’s help and test it. We can give some of the juice to Asla for her paints.” it was a win-win and it would be awesome to see exactly what Azure could do with his heavy front paws.

As he spoke, he concentrated on the shark, making the careful slits, and seeing for himself how it should come apart. It took a couple of goes to get the hand of how his claws should slide through its skin. It wasn’t the prettiest work, but it wasn’t half bad either. He looked up at his brother in delight, wondering what his brother thought of his work.

Azure watched his brother work, confused about the offer for yet another time spent together and even more confused that he didn't want to immediately say no. "Yeah, sure." The boy agreed after a while. He cleared his throat to try and rid himself off the odd feeling, and then motioned back towards the brain that the bat had succeeded in detatching. "Lay out the skin there, and we can just turn the body so the brain dumps out onto it. That's where it need to go anyway." He'd done similar with Asla before, and he found it was easier to just plop the brain out of the hole onto the hide before they smushed it, since it was so hard to scoop out with his huge paws and not break or lose any brain matter. He waited until Mortis did as he asked, and then went around the side of the shark to get his shoulder under it and shove. He pushed hard, unable to see if Mortis ended up helping him or not with the topple and the bat moved around the front to help dig the brain out while the boys pushed. Once it was done, Azure moved back to the weird not-hide shark skin and the brain dropped atop it. "Well, now you just smush the brains into it with your paws. I don't know if it'll work though, since this skin is weird. But at least we can try." "Speech" "Thinking" "You."