It was a nice day, with just a bit more cold in it than the prior day.  The sound of birds could be heard above in various directions as they had some manner of conversation.  The giant reindeer could hear rabbits hopping about and playing with each other in a rather reckless manner.  The sounds all helped offer assurance that no one had spotted a predator in the area.  Not that Kyren was overly worried, he wasn’t the sort of reindeer that ran from most predators.  As far as Kyren was concerned any predator that wanted to pick a fight with Kyren would end up with the choices of being kicked, trampled, bit, or jabbed.

The antlers were fully grown in, velvet long gone and perfectly solid.  That wouldn’t last long, with the coming of winter his head would seen be bald for a time.  However, in the now Kyren had that as an added measure of protection.

The rabbits stopped playing, the birds hushed their songs and squawks and Kyren lifted his head up.  He sucked in the air not smelling anything at first but then he saw the silvery fur sliding through the trees.  That wasn’t a wolf, it was a damned monster.   The wolf had done well with hiding his scent until now and Kyren watched with indecision on whether he really wanted to fight that monstrous dire beast.  He was willing to assume it was one of those creatures that came from up north.

The wolf broke into a run towards Kyren and the reindeer shivered with the instinctive urge to run.  Stomping his hoof, antlers were lowered and he ran towards the wolf.  It at least surprised the brute that Kyren saw its stride falter.  The wolf swerved away from a face-first collision and tried to get to the deer’s side.  Kyren’s body didn’t twist as fast as the wolf’s and he felt its paw touch his coat, saw that open-muzzle filled with teeth but the wolf got a surprise.  As it aimed to bite Kyren the deer bit into the paw that was foolishly on him.

The wolf was thrown off again for a moment, more surprised than seeming to be concerned at the bite on its paw.  It took a better look at the deer showing off its fangs.  Kyren lowered his antlers and lunged at the wolf who circled around and tried to leap up on Kyren.  The reindeer cowhopped trying to get the beast to let go with his front paws.  


"Speech"

The quartet of creatures had settled into a somewhat easy daily routine. Taiga stayed with the ungulates for most of the day, only leaving them in the evening to hunt for herself. Often she made a kill big enough that she could hide it somewhere and eat again the following day. The feline was curled up on a sunny patch of earth, her pale belly exposed to the warm light of the sun. All around, birds were singing and other creatures were tending to their business, but Taiga was content to just nap like the cat that she was. A sound in the distance brought one round ear flicking attentively. The cat's breath stilled and ruby eyes opened to mere slits. A second sound brought Taiga rolling to heavy paws, her attention locked on the treeline in the distance. The woman's ribcage fluttered as she scented the air, trying to pull in more information. She didn't get much of anything other than an old trail of Kyren's as he'd passed some time ago. He'd been heading in the direction of the commotion, so that was enough to get the feline moving. Wide paws propelled the lioness through the redwoods and the more she ran, the louder the sounds of a scuffle became. Taiga broke through the treeline just in time to see Kyren bite the paw of a rather large dire wolf. Now, the two didn't exactly love one another, but Taiga wouldn't just stand by and watch the reindeer get eaten. Throwing her weight into her paws, the behemoth of a feline launched herself at the wolf, claws digging into its flesh as she knocked it to the ground. The two predators scuffled on the ground for a moment before the wolf managed to wiggle free, but not without bloody furrows on either of its shoulders. Taiga quickly regained her footing and placed herself between Kyren and the wolf, ready for round two if it was still feeling froggy. "Speech"

Kyren had seen enough strangeness in life that he felt there was little that could surprise him.  However, as he and the wolf were about to go at each other one more round a flash of dark and light blew by and bowled the wolf right over.  The massive lion was putting the massive wolf in its place.

Kyren looked at Taiga’s back as she stood between him and the wolf.  The reindeer turned his gaze from the lion to the wolf who was clearly wasn’t having a good day.  The beast-eyed cat and reindeer, gave a disgusted yet wary look at Taiga.  The giant brute charged the cat apparently ready to take down the lioness to get to the food, or maybe it wanted a fur coat?

Kyren shook out his neck, lowering his antlers, and would run in to slam the side of the wolf while it was focused on Taiga, assuming she didn’t bear hug it again at least.  Since she had come to save him it would be rude to thank her by slamming into the cat instead.

"Speech"

The wolf sized up the pair and Taiga was really astounded at how stupid it was. A smart wolf would have turned tail and ran away. This guy though... ugh. No brains. As the wolf began to rush her head on, Kyren came at it from the side, slamming his antlers into the wolf and knocking it to the ground. You'd think that the idiot would stay down or run away, but no. The wolf quickly got back to its silver paws and made a dash for the reindeer once more. Taiga wrinkled her nose and stalked forward, swiping out with one huge paw which caught in the flesh of the wolf and pulled it away from Kyren. Blood poured from the wolf, but it wasn't done yet. Taiga continued to try and figure it out. It didn't look like it was starving, so what was it? Was the think rabid? There was no foamy mouth, its eyes weren't glassy. Maybe it really was just... stupid. Stupid creatures were meant for death and this dog was quickly headed there. Again Taiga placed herself between Kyren and the wolf, claret gaze watching its every move. Blood dripped into the ground with each movement that it made. The cat tensed and waited, her muscles bunched, ready for the next attack. "Speech"

Once more when the wolf tried to attack Kyren the lioness got in its way and took the wolf down. Kyren’s teeth ground together as if chewing but nothing to actually chew on. It was a thing he sometimes did when thinking and processing information. Even if Taiga weren’t here the wolf wouldn’t stand a chance against Kyren now. With the cat there it apparently wouldn’t even be able to get to him.

There was really no point in walking away from Taiga to try and challenge the wolf and try to help in the fight again. Instead, the deer taunted the wolf. Kyren pulled his lips back, exposing his fangs better, lifting his head up proudly, daring the wolf to attack.

Idiot wolf. It looked hateful and tried to run around Taiga to get to Kyren. The cream-coated reindeer lowered his antlers, ready to whack the giant around easily but quite frankly he was already aware the wolf wouldn’t make it to him. The cat seemed determined to stop it from reaching him. Kyren was more interested in the fact Taiga had come to his rescue.

She hadn’t needed to. Even if she actually liked Oscar there was no reason to save Kyren when she hadn’t been around to be expected to defend him. Kyren and Taiga had as of yet to share any sort of friendly bond, the best they had reached was tolerating the other’s presence. Her agreeing to not eat them didn’t need to include saving the reindeer.

"Speech"

Again the canine rushed them, trying to get around Taiga to attack the caribou behind her. The lioness just couldn't let this happen. She saw it as her duty to protect those weaker than herself and, no matter Kyrens size or teeth, he would always be weaker than a feline as large as herself. One big paw lashed out, claws sinking into the shoulder of the wolf. Taiga pulled it towards her and the wolf reacted, sinking its teeth into her own shoulder. The feline hissed and latched her jaws around the back of the wolfs neck. Biting down hard, teeth popped through flesh and lodged in bone. The wolf struggled but the lioness bit down harder still. Harder and harder until the back of the skull caved in. And then, the wolf was dead. Taiga dropped the dead wolf and its teeth were pulled out of her shoulder as it fell. The woman grimaced and stepped a few feet away from the corpse to seat herself. Curling her thickly corded neck, she pulled her pink tongue over the bleeding wounds in her shoulder. Ruby eyes lifted to look at Kyren. "Are you alright?" "Speech"