Marrow

Always hungry, always on the prowl, Marrow set her nose to the ground in search of food but so far she had little luck in finding anything worth while. This land was strange, full of bizarre trees, many of which looked like they were bleeding. Hopeful that maybe some part of them was edible she sampled the sap only to find it bitter and foul on her tongue. She had almost crossed into a nicer looking territory but found it to be marked with pack scent. Well, poop. She was hungry, but not hungry enough to go trespassing into a pack's lands. She shifted course and instead continued along, pausing only when she caught an unpleasant stench. She turned to see a hyena was following her. Her hackles raised as she eyed the creature, her stomach sinking as another and another appeared. Shit, she was surrounded!

Erik knows these woods. Though it would be strange to admit it later, he knows these woods better than even the mountains, that would one day be his birthright. The grove calls to him, strange and wild and alive. Bleeding, much in the same way that he is. A weird kinship with a place that's near a seething as he is. Strange pulse. What lurks beneath? Too soon to tell. Secrets are for later.

A grim, sickly musk hanging in the air. Erik bristled. Hackles up. Pinpointing it on the breeze as he came over the swell in the land. Hyenas, surrounding a girl. Menacing her. Without another thought, he'd take his surprise round. Picking up a sundering, nauseating lope, the boy barrels toward the predator on the stranger's flank, grabbing it by the ankle and yanking once within striking distance. It whipped around, tagging his ear and the side of his face in the process. A second hyena leapt upon Erik's shoulder in turn-- ah. This was what he'd come out for. This was fun!

"speech"

Marrow

Marrow snarled, hackles raised to make herself look even bigger but the hyenas didn't seem interested in backing down. She was a lone wolf and a thin one. Marrow readied herself for battle and at that moment one of the hyena's shrieked loudly. She turned partly to see a young man out of the corner of her eye yanking one of them back. Quickly marking him an ally she spared no further second instead attacking the nearest hyena as it went to help its fellow. Her fangs sank deep into its neck, claws digging into its flesh as it shrieked and flailed. Another grabbed onto her scruff to try and pull her off its companion. Marrow winced in pain but refused to yield her fatal hold on the other creature.

It's the closest he gets to gleeful-- yeeting some 'yeens. Erik has a firm hold on the creature's ankle, crushing the bones in his strong jaws and teeth. Grinning as he does. Gnashing down, jerking the thing's hip out of its socket. Another heartbeat, he pounces. Jaws around its neck, teeth easily sinking in. Feeling all the more menacing as gore coats his face, his chest, his neck-- more than usual.

A little groan as teeth dig into his shoulder, trying to kill the sound in his throat. Feels like fucking sandpaper, if you ask him. Erik's head swings, an audible crash as he brings it down on the next hyena. Driving his far superior weight downward on the thing. Brazen, a bull in a china shop. One of four predators reduced to rubble, three to go. Realizing his accomplice was outnumbered now, he's quick to move, though his original foe still held on. For the hyena that tried to bite his accomplice?
A great big chomp on the ass.

"speech"

Marrow

Marrow felt the other hyena pulling on her scruff but her jaws were locked tight on the neck of the other. She could feel that hyena growing weaker in her jaws as her powerful fangs severed flesh and veins, eventually cutting the jugular and in a few moments it was lifeless in her jaws. Suddenly the hyena with its fangs in her scruff yowled as it was bit sharply on the butt. Marrow dropped the dead one and whirled on the other, her front claws lashing through its facing, piercing one of its eyes. It screamed and tried to pull away but as it pulled its head back she sprang, getting this one around the throat as well, crushing its windpipe in a swift movement and leaving it sputtering.

Like a ragdoll, Erik throws the coyote in his jaws to the ground. The sound that comes from the beast is sickening, and he tosses his head with a grin. Triumphant. Lording over the fucker, as he engages the creature for the last time. Movements swift, practiced, wrathful. There's something inside Erik, something loose. A screw, a bolt, a nut-- something like that. Nothing important, not yet. Soon, but not yet.

With a last, triumphant snap of his jaws, the final coyote lays heaped before him. Erik's gaze burning brightly, leaning back as he takes a look at the strewn heaps of flesh. Grinning. Taking a step back, panting, covered in gore. "Y'okay?" Gaze flickering over his companion, finally taking stock of the situation.
"speech"