Just east of the steppe there was a thicket that Delphi liked to frequent. Full of bushes and different varieties of trees, it was like a herb haven. From what she could scent, not many wolves made their way through here. The branches were dense and unless one was walking down one of the pathways, it wasn't easy to maneuver through. Which is probably why she also enjoyed it. She was small enough to slip through the thicket undetected and unharmed. Avoiding large thorns and predators that lurked around every corner.

Except for today. As she made her way through the snow and into the thicket to go pick some winter berries, she had no idea a very hungry cougar was watching her. Feet away, the silent feline blended into the browns and greys of the shrubbery. Its tail flickered back and forth as it stalked her. Oblivious to her pursuer, Delphi continued down the path toward a patch of berry bushes, humming to herself. About to begin her gathering, the snap of a stick made her freeze, one paw in the air, her fur instantly standing on end. Turning to look over her shoulder, all she can do is let out a scream as she watches the cougar come bounding toward her.

He wasn't stalking her. He WASN'T. He was going in a similar direction as her, and that was something else entirely. Maybe he was a little curious about what secrets she kept, he already knew about the hidey hole in the mountains of course. He knew she had coats and snacks abound. What else did she have up her paws?

Expecting the thicket to yield something tasty, he… okay, fine. He followed her into it. The path she took wasn't one he'd be able to follow soon. Already he was starting to fill into his overgrown paws.

He caught the scent of the cougar first, it was moving in front of him and behind Delphi. He crept quietly and waited for her to notice it. Honestly, if she didn't pay attention to her surroundings, she deserved to lose the last bit of her tail. It would serve her right.

He carried that belief right up until she screamed. It was that noise that did it. It curled around something in his chest, and sent his adrenaline racing. Damn her! He launched himself forward with a snarl, and threw himself at the cougars back legs, trying to knock it off course before it reached Delphi.

For a split second, everything froze. Her muscles wouldn't move. The cougar looming over her, paw raised to strike her. Then she is screaming and suddenly the cougar is also screaming. A pained and surprised cry that sounds as if someone had just attacked it from behind... Furrowing her brow, she leans a little to see the boy latching onto the cougar's hind legs. "Thrall?" Delphi says incredulously as she still can't remember how to move her legs. But then she sees the cougar curl around and goes to try and swipe the boy off of it. The thought of his blood spilling made her stomach wrench. Leaping forward, Delphi jumps up and bites down on the cougar's side. Her elongated canines dig in as she shakes her head. Growls rumble in her as she tries to climb up onto the cougar's back.

He hit the cougar alright, and then its attention turned to him. He could feel his heart beating, acutely aware of how small he was compared to a predator such as this. Still just a pup. But a reckless one, that wouldn't go down without a fight. He let go of its legs and backed up to give himself space to work. If it lunged for him, he would use his cheek spurs to defend himself…


Before it could do that, and even smaller pup was making its way up its back with a vengeance. "Do your ride every predator with teeth?" He snarled at Delphi, shocked at her brazen attack. Regardless, he used the advantage she brought him. Lunging at the cougar himself as he attempted to grab at its scruff and pull its head down. If he could bite ag its eyes, or anything vulnerable…

She simply had no time to respond to his stupid question. How else was she supposed to get the advantage on a predator that was basically a thousand times larger than herself? Why would she not use her assets? The large saber-like fangs were a perfect tool to gain leverage. Refocusing back on the problem at hand as she once more is fighting to stay on the cougar's back, she nearly lets go when it turns to swipe at her. Its paw is suddenly yanking away from her as Strai goes for its scruff. Now leaving her an opening to finish climbing onto the cougar's back.

Once on top, she turns to face the cougar's tail. Holding as tight as she can, Delphi bites down on the cougar's spine in hopes of severing it and paralyzing teh feline.

He got in its face alright. It turned its teeth into him, and he narrowly missed having a bite taken out of his muzzle. He turned his cheek just in time, and its claws clipped against his bone spur, and it must have poked its teeth against the sharp ridge. Because it gagged and pulled away, leaving him with only a small laceration on either side of the spur. Gritting his teeth, he tried again for its scruff, and this time he managed to get a good grip on its skin. He held on tightly as it moved its head, moving with it. Making it much harder for the cat to get at him. For the most part, he was just too small to deal with a frontal attack on the cat. Luckily, he wasn’t the only one fighting. Delphi must have gotten in a good hit somewhere, because the next thing he knew, the cat was yowling, and then twitching as if it was having a seizure. He claws his way up its neck as it shook, feeling his teeth rattle in his skull. "Speech"

Everything is a blur. Hair, blood, and spittle are flying everywhere. Her brain is bouncing around in her skull as she hangs on for dear life. Positive that the cat has at least scratched her a few times, she is surprised that either one of them has not gotten worse injuries. By the way, where was the boy anyway? All she can hear is grunting and yowling. She grows exhausted, hardly able to hold on. She had to try for one last bite. Leaning back and slamming her open mouth back down on the cougar's spine, she can feel something hit her tooth.

Suddenly, the cat's yowl grows garbled as it begins to shake and seize. Delphi's eyes widen as she falls with the seizing cat. Releasing as fast as she can, it becomes hard once she realizes her tooth is basically stuck in the cat. Letting out a scream, she flails. Wrenching her head back and forth until the cat hits the ground and her front right leg is trapped under the feline. Finally, she can pull back her head but she is still stuck. "I'm stuck!" Delphi cries out as she tries to look around and see if Strai is at least okay.

He realised the cat was going to fall, and leapt clear of the body. It gave one last twitch, and lay dead. Whatever Delphi had done seemed to have done the trick. He glanced around for her, and realised he couldn’t see her. In that instant, his adrenaline skyrocketed even further than before. He took a step forward, but to do what he wasn’t sure - and then he heard her voice. He moved around the cat, and his breathing began to slow. She looked fine. If a little bloody. She couldn’t get into a fight without wearing the predator, could she? In this case, she was wearing a little more than just blood and carnage. He barked out a short laugh, and came to a stop in front of her. “What’s the problem, Tox? Cat got your tongue?” He snickered again. "Speech"

When Strai comes around the side of the cat to snicker at her, Delphi gives him a deadpan glare. "Does it look like my tongue is stuck, Thrall?" She snaps, showing him her teeth with flattened ears. It was hard to keep up the act though. The adrenaline was fading and she could feel the sting of the cuts along her sides and the crushing weight of the cougar on her leg. "Move the beast already," Delphi practically whines as she pulls on her leg, trying to dislodge it herself. "C'mon, don't make me say please," she frowns up at him with a pinched expression. At least he had gotten out of the situation pain-free this time.

“Sadly, no. Think if I push it a little more, it would be?” He asked her hopefully. He was grinning at her. He was having far too much fun at her expense, actually. This was all her fault after all. If she’d paid a little more attention to her surroundings, he wouldn’t have to charge in and save her, and she wouldn’t be pinned under the huge cat now. He steps a little closer, and crouches down to where she’s stuck. If her expression wasn’t so pained, and the whine didn’t sound a little like she was hurting, he might have stuck with it a little longer. In fact, she was starting to get a little too much control over his emotions. Her cry drew him to this fight, and now her cries pushed him to act faster then he would have normally. He felt uncomfortable with how much pull she had over him. And he would never admit to it. He sighed and said. “A please might be nice” he muttered, as he crouched beside her and gave the cat a push. He was little, and that first push didn’t do much. He pushed his head against it, wincing at the parts that touched the lacerations around his spur, and gave another heaved push. This time, he felt the cat move. "Speech"

If Strai was still considered small, Delphi was considered even smaller. Normally, she'd be able to slip out from underneath something, but with the way the cougar was laying, she was sufficiently pinned. The longer she lay trapped, the more her leg began to hurt. His snide words made her ears fall back and a glare be thrown in his direction. "Push it anymore on top of me and it'll be the Konungr you answer to next," Delphi hisses as she bares her teeth at him. Letting out a snort and then a following whine, she continues to pull and tug on her leg to try and get it untrapped. Nothing she is doing is working!

About to give up and accept her death, she notices him draw close and come near her. His muttered words have her ears perking and eyes widening. As much as she wanted to say please, she would refuse this time. Instead, she sticks out her tongue before rolling over to help him push. Putting her other three paws on the back of the cougar, she shoves and shoves with as much energy as she has left. "It's so heavy!" Delphi whines again as she begins to feel it slightly shift off of her leg.

He was always in trouble. Really, what did he care if he was in more trouble? It wasn’t her threats that drove him to help her, but he wasn’t about to enlighten her. He snapped his teeth at her tongue as she poked it out, but it wasn’t a serious sort of lunge. He made sure she understood that - he didn’t want to spook her again. Stupid Toxic wolf spooked easily. His first two pushes hadn’t done enough to dislodge the cat. He pulled back a little, scrunching his face as he considered, then glanced over at Delphi and grinned. Perhaps by now she knew him enough to distrust that grin. He stepped forward again, this time leaning over Delphi as he got to work. Using his left cheek spur as a knife, he began to cut into the cat. Slicing out a section of cat over top of where it buried her. Lifting off some dead weight, so to speak. Never mind that the moment he started to do so, blood and gore began to drip onto the trapped wolf. She was clearly accustomed to being covered in blood, anyway. "Speech"

His snapping teeth have her shooting him a cheeky grin. Even though her heart is racing and her mind is telling her to chill out, she can’t help but be snarky to him. In a sense, she thinks he enjoys it and she enjoys getting a reaction out of him. Refocusing on the whole pushing ordeal, she gives her free paws another few shoves against the cat, but clearly it isn’t working. Neither of them are strong enough to push the whole cat away.

From the corner of her eye, she can see him grin a way that meant trouble. “What’re you-,” Delphi is cut short as she watches him lean forward and begin to saw away at skin and meat with his cheek spurs. Her brow furrows in confusion and then quickly widen in horror as blood and gore begin to fall on top of her. “Hey! Watch it!” She shouts as she starts to pull on her trapped leg a little more.

As Strai finishes the cutting, suddenly the dead weight isn’t so heavy. With a few more tugs, Delphi able to yank her leg free. Moving her toes and ankles around, she assesses that it isn’t broken. ‘Whew, thank goodness,” she breathes a sigh of relief as she rolls up onto her paws. As her once trapped paw touches the ground, she winces and lifts it gently so no weight is on it. “Definitely sore,” Delphi mutters under her breath.

“Help me get some of those berries before we head back?” She looks to Strai with a please help me sort of look as her mangled tail gives a few gentle wags.

He ignored her cries of protest, and continued to cut away. Delphi wasn’t the only one getting coated, but he ignored the way the red splashed across his coat. He didn’t stop until he felt her more, and then move some more beneath where he was standing. She was free, finally. He stopped what he was doing and took a step back, shaking out his coat. Splatters of blood went flying, before he turned to look at the smaller pup. She was attempting to stand on her leg, before deciding it was too difficult to do so. He scowled at her when her first desire was to get some berries. She could barely walk on one of her paws, and she wanted to stop and pick some shit? He gave a loud sigh, and stomped over to her. “Fine, what berries do you want? Point and i’ll pick” he demanded. "Delphi" & "Strai"

Even though her paw hurts, she smiles when he agrees to pick the berries for her. Hobbling a few steps back toward where she had originally been headed, she points to a cluster of small low-ground growing bushes that hide at the base of the larger thorn branches. "See those red berries there," she points her paw at a bunch of bright red spherical berries. "Those. They're cowberries, least that's what Tenshi calls them. Said they're full of antioxidants. Good for your health and helping heal faster I guess," Delphi gives a little shrug, feeling slightly embarrassed that she has cared to listen so much. As if she actually wanted to be a healer. "Whatever you can get will help," she nods, giving him another smile as her tail wags a few times. "Delphi" & "Strai"

He scowled harder at her, as she hobbled on three legs. Dumb toxic wolf. Why couldn’t she just not ride the predators for once? Then she wouldn’t be hurt right now. He trudged after her, feeling his annoyance rising as he crouched down and looked at the berries she was pointing out. “Fine, give me your bag” He ordered, turning back to her and stretching out a paw. He was actually curious if she would. After all, their first interaction hadn’t turned out well for her belongings. So he was surprised when she handed it over. He didn’t comment on it, except to grunt and swipe it from her paws. He turned back to the berries, and started to pinch them off the branches, letting them fall into her bag. He was careful of the thorns as he worked. After a few moments of harvesting, he poked one with a claw, looked over at Delphi, and flicked it at her. “Catch!” "Delphi" & "Strai"

If it hadn't been for her strained paw, she would have refused to hand over the bag. Give him the one thing he had attempted to steal? Yeah fuckin' right. Though she grumbles under her breath about it, Delphi hands over the bag. Sitting roughly on the ground with her ears slightly back, she watches him begin to pick the berries and stuff them in. Thankful that he is actually being helpful, Delphi is content to watch him. Surprisingly, he is working diligently to fill the bag and it pleases Delphi. Her tail wags as she watches him, hyper-aware when he sticks one on a claw and turns toward her. Now, Delphi has never had a cowberry before so she is completely unaware of its tastes. Logically, what one is going to do when someone tosses a snack at you is to catch and eat it. So when Strai yells "catch!" She does. Opening her mouth wide and leaning a little to the right, Delphi catches the berry in her mouth with a nice little pop. Upon the berry's skin bursting against her tongue, an extremely sour taste explodes in her mouth. Her lips pucker and her eyes scrunch shut as she tries to spit it out. "Oooo its sour!" She squeals as she brings a paw up to try and brush off the sensation. "Delphi" & "Strai"

He paused in his berry picking to toss the berry at her, and then of course watched to see if she actually managed to catch it. He was impressed when she managed to get it into her mouth on the first try. He got the full view as her expression changed from delight to horror as the apparently sour tang coated her tongue. Her lips puckered, and she was scraping at her tongue a moment later. Trying to rid herself of the taste. He snickered and grabbed another berry. He held this one up on a claw and looked at it for a moment, then across at Delphi. “Baby.” He told her, and plopped it in his own mouth. He crunched down, and immediately understood the sensation she had just gone through. His eye twitched, and his ears went back a little. He swallowed, and patted his chest. “Delicious.” "Delphi" & "Strai"

In the middle of her attempt to scrape off the sour flavor, she notices him watching her. Slowly calming down as he teasingly calls her a baby, her ears flick backward. Her expression scrunches and her eyes narrow at him. She is about to snap and tell him to try it himself if he was such a big boy when in fact, he does. Delphi is somewhat impressed as he picks up the berry and pops it into his mouth. Though she can tell the berry is also giving him a sour taste, and she giggles at the look, she is also surprised that he comes out decently okay and pats his chest. Letting out an exaggerated sigh and a roll of her eyes, she hobbles forward toward the bush. "Let me try again," her voice is snippy as a cheeky grin crosses her lips. Carefully picking a berry off a bush while balancing her injured paw, she slowly pulls it toward her open mouth as if she is going to eat it. At the last second, she turns and flicks it in Strai's direction, trying to pelt him in the cheek or forehead with it. Her ensuing giggles make it clear she is just playing. "Delphi" & "Strai"

Fighting the urge to gag at the sourness, he finished licking the taste from his mouth, and watched her trudge closer. Still on three paws. He would never admit it, but he watched her closer to see if she would fall. Not that he would catch her, or anything. He watched with fascination as she picked up a berry. Was she going to try to eat it without reacting? He wanted to see her try! Instead, she pelted it at him, and it smacked him lightly on the forehead. The plump berry broke open on his face, and fell slowly. Catching on the blood that still lingered in his coat from tearing open the cat not that long ago. His eye twitched at her, and he reached slowly into her bag, which he still held. His paw rose slowly. Holding not one, not two, not even three berries, but a whole handful of them. Still staring at her, he flicked his wrist suddenly, pelting her with berries. "Delphi" & "Strai"