For Hattori, M because I'm sure there'll be cursing. Thread is for the Fall Ferocity seasonal prompt!

From the edge of the mangrove it wasn’t too long of a swim to the outlying island. Judging from the location she’d run into Scully it wasn’t entirely impossible that they’d come to hide out on the island. At the same time, however, she certainly hoped he wouldn’t allow a 6 month old pup to make such a swim. Ocean currents, she was quickly coming to find, were much stronger than currents in most lakes. More than once it threatened to pull her out to sea and she had to fight harder to get to where she was going, leaving her panting for breath once she’d pulled herself ashore.

She plopped her butt down on the sandy shore, giving herself a few moments to catch her breath as she scanned the surrounding area. She could see some kind of great structure peeking out from the tree tops and odd, tropical sounding birds sang their cawing songs. Strange items littered the shore, ones she’d never seen before. Just a few feet away, an oddly shaped stick with several pointy bits poking out like a porcupine on one end laid slightly buried in the sand (a hairbrush). Her brow raised at this. More and more she was beginning to question what sort of land they’d come across.

"Speech"

word count: 292
total word count: 507

For the most part Hattori didn't stray too far from Ashen, but unlike some he had little interest in sitting around on his bum all day long. He ventured out early in the morning, silently slipped away from Venom's side as he pushed west. He hadn't ventured out this way before but the looming shape of the isle had caught his attention and having nowhere better to go a decision was made.  Eventually wading up the long stretch of beach that lined Dagger Isle, water dripped from his form as his taloned paws left marks in the sand. Only to be swept away when the waves rolled back up the beach. At a glance the isle seemed pleasant enough, quiet and secluded, but his attention was soon drawn to the shambled building that laid ahead. Glass was strewn about the place and thus Hattori had to take care to avoid cutting his paws.

He drew up close to the gaping entry way of the building and peered in, his ears flicking as they caught wind of some sort of shuffling. But the room-once his eyes had adjusted to the darkness- looked empty, with only strewn bits of furniture and metal sheets to fill the crumbling void. It was only then that he caught movement in the corner of his vision. He didn't flinch or move with a start, just a slow, calm sense of fluidity as he twisted his neck to take in the sight of the newcomer. She was fairly large but smaller than him still, with a pale coat and eyes that put the bluest of waters to shame.

Then he heard the fluttering again, loud as though the sound was piled atop one another like a stack of cards.

The sound of crunching and of wings fluttering, like a dozen birds taking off at one, brought her attention to the nearby structure. It looked like it was made out of stone, with some strange sort of see-through substance broken off in sharp, protruding bits around and opening in the stone. She’d never seen anything like it and it peaked her interest, getting her to her paws. She gave her coat a swift shake, spraying water all around from her head to the tip of her tail before she began to make her way toward the structure. But, she paused.

A pair of silver eyes stared back at her.

For a moment she thought it was Scully, but as the figure stepped further into the light she could see that it definitely was not. They were huge, bigger than her. Something other than a bear or large prey was bigger than her for the first time in her life and she felt herself tense up everywhere. They looked like a wolf in figure, but as more light peeked through she could see two sets of horns protruding from the beings skull.

“Who and what the hell are you?” she said, partially to herself and partially to the...wolf? In front of her. The sound of the fluttering grew louder from within and she looked past them for a moment, brows drawing together in confusion. Was that sound their doing too? What kind of hellscape had they come to where wolves were bigger than her and had horns coming out of their hecking heads?

"Speech"

word count: 302
total word count: 1071

Hattori's white brows twitched a little in disapproval. It seemed as though manners were in short supply around here, that Boreas was left wanting in that department. His eyes narrowed a little in consideration of her words and tone, what sort of response did she expect from him? He supposed, at a push, that he was unlike any run of the mill wolf, but what was he supposed to say to a question like that? Even though she hadn't raised her voice by any stretch of the word it was more than enough to disturb the relative silence. From there on out it was as though she'd knocked over the first domino. His attention snapped back to the building as he instinctively ducked down as a black blur swept overhead. For a brief moment he thought nothing of it and turned his attention back to the stranger, as if to finally address her question and then the swarm came rushing out of the entry way, darkening everything around them as though night had fallen in the blink of an eye.

Hattori's senses were quickly overwhelmed.

He stumbled back, ears pinned to his skull as he held his breath and bared his teeth. It was now obvious to him what was going on, they'd disturbed a colony of hibernating bats and in their sleep ridden confusion they were swirling and twisting through the air, no doubt disoriented by the broad daylight. Perhaps even enraged that they'd been woken prematurely. That theory soon proved to be true as a sharp stinging sensation pricked at his ears, and on instinct he reached up and slapped the bat away with a swipe of his talons.

It wasn’t until the words slipped out of her mouth that she realized exactly how rude it was. At the same time, however, she wondered if the wolf-being even understood what she was saying. Did they speak wolf or something else entirely? But, the displeased look on their face showed her they definitely understood. Normally Ellery wouldn’t care about what others thought of her, and she didn’t, but she didn’t tend to be rude unless someone was rude to her first. That certainly wasn’t the case here, so she felt the need to apologize.

“I apolo-” she began, taking a step forward before the rumbling that had originated behind the huge wolf reached a cacophony. A winged being flew out from the opening in the window to the outside world, then another and another until they were pouring out, shrieking like hell-beings. She could see the man inside fighting against the swarm, being attacked from all sides by the bats and she felt immediate alarm. If there was anything she knew, it was that one could easily be disoriented by that much going on around you.

The woman rushed forward, leaping through the broken window. Her thick fur helped to prevent her body from being cut, but her paws weren’t so lucky. She felt the prick on her paws but now wasn’t the time to worry about herself. A few deep barks rumbled from her chest, startling the frey and causing some to choose an alternative route. Her jaws snapped onto some bats clinging to the wolf’s body, tossing them to the side as they shrieked.

She peeked over her shoulder and behind the man, seeing that the swarm was come from one general direction but were hoarding the opening she’d just come through. “That way, go!” she hollered, using her body to push his in the direction of a hallway to their right.

"Speech"

word count: 385
total word count: 1770

Whilst the shinobi didn't sense he was in immediate danger this was a less than ideal situation. He swatted and chomped at the bats that got close but that wasn't nearly enough to even start to cleave a path through the swarm. It was one vs thousands and despite his skills this wasn't a fight he could win, not even in his dreams. His gritted his teeth as that realisation set in, fleeing would be his only option and that didn't sit well with him at all. Not that he had much of a choice. The stranger seemed to come to the same conclusion as she rushed in through the swarm, her pale coat standing out stark and bright as she rushed forward- only to barrel into him with a shove of her shoulder. On instinct he tightened his form and dragged his paws, resisting her for a moment only to relent when he realised her intentions. With a rumble of acknowledgment he turned and dashed off down the corridor, his talons clicking against the old tiles as the stranger followed suit behind him.

For a brief, wonderful moment, it seemed as though they were in the clear. His vision cleared as did the rest of his senses, only for his ears to flick back when he noticed that the flapping of wings wasn't fading as it should. He spared a glance over his shoulder and his eyes widened a touch at the site of the approaching wall of darkness. It was one thing for them to get all worked up after being startled awake but he'd never actually seen bats actively pursue anything, they were acting crazed and well beyond the normal behaviour of their species. Regardless of the reasoning it wasn't as if the pair had many choices, it was either run or stand around and wait for the bats to calm down. Which didn't seem look as though that would happen anytime soon.

The pair rushed out of the lengthy corridor and came across a large room with a tall ceiling, the wall on the far side of the room had collapsed, offering a tantalising view of the outside world. Lush forest and blazing sunlight, surely the bats wouldn't follow.

"Out that way." He ordered, as he pushed on, doing just that

The man balked at her pushing, reasonably so she supposed because he didn’t know anything about her. For all he knew she was pushing him into a trap. But after a moment he seemed to realize her true intentions and followed her lead, taking off thundering down the hall. She followed quickly after, surprised that she actually had to work to keep up. It wasn’t something she was used to with her long legs, normally she was the one slowing down to let others keep pace. A part of her hated it but another part found it refreshing.

Her auds swiveled back as the fluttering of wings grew louder once again, her head turning a smidge to glance behind her. The Hervok woman’s persian blue gaze widened as she realized the swarm had switched directions to follow after them. What the heck? She’d never seem bats do that before, what had the man done to piss them off so badly?

Turning back forward they skittered around a corner and her hopes soared. In front of them was a hole in the structure that led to the outside world. It would take some climbing to make their way out, but it was much more preferable than being chewed up by hundreds of flying rats. Her partner in chaos was the first to make his way out, clambering up and over then it was Ellery’s turn. She scrambled, slipping on a few loose pieces and cursing when she did before, finally making it out into nature.

After running another good half a mile she gave a bark, signaling they were clear. She trotted to a half, jaws open as she gulped in air. “What,” she panted, “was their problem?”

"Speech"