Ever since running into the woman being attacked by a bear, she had started lingering more around the Weeping Woods while keeping an eye out for other predators to fight and drive away from the pack. After that big attack from all those massive wolves, Briar had really been trying to put more emphasis on her training and stepping up her skills as a fighter. Fighting that bear had ended up being really exhilarating and as much as Marigold disagreed with her plans she kind of wanted an excuse to fight something like that again. She didn't go on her own this time though - this time she drug her brother along just to make sure she'd have back up. After all, wouldn't it be good practice for the both of them? "I think I smell something this way," she whispered as they stalked forward, carefully stepping over the numerous streams and roots that littered the path under the layer of snow. The cold weather seemed to be pushing predators closer to the packs than they normally would be which meant more fights - which Briar wasn't necessarily against. Up ahead she potted the distinctive pattern of a tiger through the trees, the splash of orange and black standing out boldly against the mostly white and brown landscape. She gasped and grinned at Kotori, nodding toward the big feline with a questioning look. Did he want to go after the cat with her or did they look for a different target? "Briar" | "Marigold"

Walk | "Talk" | think

Kotori hadn’t needed much persuasion to go along with his sister.  Hearing about how great it was to fight large predators the boy was quick to follow with Briar.  The two made a nice set of equal height and build and being the only two with horns, Kotori was proud of the horns of his head and as best he could tell they had quit growing.

Along with Kotori came his companions, the pet snow leopard dad had gifted him with and the mongoose that rode atop of it named Fang.  Kotori still had to wonder at points if Fang had figured out the part where he wasn’t the one in charge. If the mongoose had been the same size as Kotori it would be a feared monster but, alas, it was a pint-size little thing one could step on.
Kotori nodded to Briar at her mentioning the smell, “I bet its really dangerous too,”  the boy whispered in agreed excitement.  The more dangerous than the more fun it would be, right?  They weren’t little anymore and being Fatalis meant they could handle whatever came up!

Kotori froze when they spotted the cat.  It was considerably larger than Natha and had some solid muscle under that coat.  While he couldn’t see it Kotori could well imagine the size of the feline claws it would have.  Kotori glanced to Splash, “stay here, if it looks like we’re in real trouble come join in but I bet Briar and I can handle it.”   This was a test for the two of them!  Splash looked less than happy.  Fang hopped off the cat to disappear into the undergrowth.  

A nod given to Briar, glancing between her and the cat, a deep exhale taken, “If we kill it, I want one of its fangs or claws, you ready?”

Briar nodded in agreement to the request that Kotori had for the fangs and claws, grinning as she told him softly, "You can have all the fangs and claws you want, I want the fur!" That striped pelt would make a great addition to her bed, especially with how cold it had been for what felt like forever. Marigold pressed into her front leg, giving the girl an uncertain look, but Briar paid her no mind, instead just telling her brother in a whisper, "Yeah, I'm ready! You go that way and I'll go this way, we'll sneak up on it from either side." The hit and run away technique she had used with the bear before had been pretty successful so she hoped that would work again - though she knew tigers didn't really act like bears did. It was at least enough of a plan to get them started. Moving to her left and sending Kotori to the right, she kept through the trees as quietly as she could while Marigold went off through the bushes to be ready to spring out as soon as she was needed just as Kotori's mongoose had done. After a bit of maneuvering, she found herself on one side of the clearing and was just barely able to catch a glimpse of her brother hiding on the other side. It made her grateful that both of them had pretty natural colored coats that could blend with the trees pretty well though the faded splashes of turquoise she wore were the exception to the rule. The tiger was in the middle of eating a slightly scrawny looking doe which was probably the only reason it hadn't noticed the pair of them at all. It made for a good distraction and Briar was more than happy to take advantage of that. She took a deep breath and then charged out of her hiding spot at the tiger, snarling and growling as she attempted to make herself look more intimidating. The tiger was at the very least surprised and jumped, spinning to face Briar with its orange and black fur bristling angrily. Briar tried to keep its attention so Kotori could hopefully get the first attack in, dodging side to side to avoid its swipes and pounces. "Briar" | "Marigold"

Walk | "Talk" | think

The pelt would have made a nice keepsake also but it was fair enough his sister get something from this triumphant kill.  Well, they hadn’t even fought it yet but there was no way they could possibly lose.  The two were no longer small pups and while not the height of dad or their older brothers, the two pups had some good size to them.  On top of that, the armada wasn’t a place to grow up without some good training instilled.  This cat was good as dead for sure.

The boy nodded at Briar’s suggestion on how to attack and even as she left his side he turned to head to the right. The willow trees and their draping leaves were great for keeping hidden.  The brilliant orange on the cat's coat might be pretty but in this environment, it stuck out far worse than his simple brown-shaded pelt.

Not much meat on the deer it had, but that could be said about lots of prey in this weather.  Some animals just couldn’t survive in this abnormal season.  With that thought, he saw Briar move in and Kotori ran at the moment the cat's eyes were on his sister.  Fast strides ate up the mushy ground and without pause he launched his neck forward, fangs sinking into the cat’s back leg and jerking hoping to get so lucky as to get the surprised cat off balance.  There was a lot of muscle and good balance in the cat though, while he had certainly injured the tiger it hadn’t changed the angry felines balance by any degree.

Kotori let go and lept back when the tiger twisted its body enough to try and swipe at him with a large clawed front paw.  Kotori stared at the cat, his turn now to keep its attention so Briar could get her own chance at it.  The front end of the cat looked a lot more dangerous than the back, something about the anger in its eyes.  That was fine, kitty might be dangerous but Briar and Kotori were too!

Briar dodged a swipe that the tiger sent her way and growled in return, but just a moment later Kotori struck and got a deep bite into its back leg, making it spin around to face the other surprise opponent and distracting it long enough for Briar to get her own attack in there as well. She jumped forward toward the tiger's side, aiming for the side that had its injured leg just to double down on any potential weak points. With a hard swing of her head, she jabbed her antlers into the soft part of the tiger's belly right behind its ribs, where she knew she'd do a lot of damage with them. That got an even angrier, even more pained response from the tiger and she managed to pull her antlers free just in time to get out of its reach before it swung around toward her again. Except this time it didn't just turn toward her, it was really mad and really hurt so it pursued her by a few steps, enough for it to swing at her again as she scrambled back, its large paw connecting with her shoulder and knocking her over. Her armor thankfully blocked most of the damage it's claws could have done, but the upper part of her leg did get some pretty deep scratches and where she fell happened to be against a rock so her opposite shoulder got a bruise and a scrape to add to things. There was a big splash of blood on the snow from the wound she had made on the big cat and the tiger staggered a bit as it tried to stay on its feet and continued to stalk toward her. Briar hurried back to her feet before it could reach her and jumped back into her defensive stance, snarling at the tiger in front of her. "Briar" | "Marigold"

Walk | "Talk" | think

Briar got in a great shot with both the leg and belly!  Kotori could of cheered her on but she hadn’t escaped the cats wrath! It was actually chasing after her instead of worrying about Kotori.  Ah hell no it wasn’t going to get his sister!  Except it did get her, knocking her down.  Kotori was already moving anger at the cat and fear for his sister adding extra strength.  

Even as Briar got up, and as Kotori was charging in potentially unexpected and almost laughable help rose up. The mongoose was so tiny compared to them all but it suddenly raised up on its hind legs between the tiger and the wolf.  The mongoose opened its mouth showing off all its teeth in a fearless display.  For all its size the creature acted as if he was the largest of them all and lunged at the cat and if it did nothing else it made the cat hesitate in confusion and the tiny thing seeming so sure it could win.  Briar was the real target though, so it would only give both her and Kotori a second or two of extra time.

Kotori charged the cat.  The boy had some good size to him and he was well aware the striped brute would have less balance with his injured legs.  While it was focused on his sister and the tiny monster mongoose Kotori slammed his horned head into its chest on the side where it wasn’t injured, making it try and find balance on the two injured legs.  His horns slashed upwards to tear into its coat, demanding the cat refocus its attention on him.

The tiger stumbled, trying to quickly turn around but its balance was indeed off which had it slow.  It raised a paw planning to slash the close Kotori but its sweep was wide and Kotori was already lowering his head to slam it up to have his horns connect into the cats lower jaw.  Tiger did connect to the boy’s neck but not with the strength it would have had earlier.  Sure, there was blood but it wasn’t overly deep.

Kotori’s snow leopard was coming towards them, a snarl in its chest unwilling to stay back with both the kids injured.  It would still take it precious seconds to reach them, however.  

Briar was facing down this furious tiger, just biding enough time for Kotori to reach them, when out of no where her brother's companion popped up between her and the tiger, the mongoose hissing and baring its teeth in what she was sure was supposed to be a grand display of some sort to scare off the angry feline. Mostly it just confused the tiger - and herself in the process - but it did at least buy them a couple more seconds so that Kotori could run up beside the tiger and stab his horns into it's chest. That was enough to draw its attention away from her and on to Kotori so that she could finish finding her balance and dart back into the fight. They had gotten some really strong attacks in on the big cat already and that was enough to keep Briar's confidence up and made her feel like her original confidence had been rightly justified. Marigold appeared at her side, attempting to check Briar's cuts, but Briar waved her off, directing her focus toward the fight instead. There wasn't a lot of time to be worrying about wounds that weren't all that bad anyway, not till the tiger was dead or ran away. She looked up just in time to see the tiger swing at her brother's neck and catch him with its claws. Luckily it looked like the cuts weren't deep, but they'd definitely have to get patched up when all of this was done. She grinned when she saw Kotori slam his head into the tiger's jaw, proud of them both and the fight they had put up so far. The tiger staggered backward toward her and she took the opportunity to spring upward, leaping onto the feline's back. Her wickedly sharp claws hooked into the sides of its neck as she wrapped her forelegs around it and the claws of her back paws gripped into its haunches. Her extra weight on the tiger's already injured legs made it wobble and collapse to the ground, falling hard and getting pinned under Briar's weight. She bit deep into the tiger's scruff and pulled its head back while she struggled to keep her grip on the wriggling, flailing opponent, just trying to keep the tiger's jaws out of the way so it couldn't try to bite Kotori. She looked up at her brother with a wordless grunt, willing him to finish off their fight and end the tiger once and for all. "Briar" | "Marigold"

Walk | "Talk" | think

Hah! Kotori grinned as the tiger didn’t have a chance for another shot at him.  Briar had already launched herself on top of it and the injured cat collapsed.  Kotori’s tail raised up high with pride at the two of them.  The boy saw where Briar was heading and the moment she had the neck open far enough he lunged in, teeth sinking into its neck, his eyes squinted as the brown wolf put all the pressure he could into his bite before giving a violent shake.  The cat’s blood stained his muzzle as well as its own coat.  With Briar keeping its head away Rudy made sure it was done, biting in further with another shake, more blood flowing out so that he stepped back throwing a grin at Briar.  

“We killed it!” Well, it was dying at least.  There was no way it would survive the way the blood was flowing along with the other injuries.  “Hey, did you bring anything to skin it with if you really want the pelt?  Teeth and claws won’t take as much work as the whole pelt will.”  Clearly the important thing was the spoils now.  Kotori imagined if she was injured bad she’d say so and so far his own injury didn’t seem to be enough of a concern in his mind.