It had been another day at Lazuli Falls, and Gavroche had spent the day reorganizing his stores at the far end of the den. Yet, as Bellamy and his little ones seemed to slumber on, Gavroche could not sleep. The winged man tossed and turned and, after over an hour of unrest, he decided to rise. Jessie, the tiny bat companion he’d grown fond of, caught sight of Gavroche as he left the den, and curious as to why he was awake when it was getting late, the tiny bat fell from her perch and took flight after him. It wasn’t uncommon for her to watch over the family after she had fed, and the bumblebee bat wanted to make sure that her friend would be okay. Under the cover of the stars Gavroche moved away from the cave, away from his family down in the direction of Cattail Creek. Jessie flew up beside him and turned her attention to the winged wolf. “Everything okay, Gav?” The tiny bat asked him softly. She was a bit worried. During the time she woke up during the day, though brief, she had noticed him seeming a bit off. The winged man gave a soft sigh. His green gaze was upon the ground at his paws and, at his companion’s question, he slowed to a stop. ”Just… worried. The kids are growing so quickly, getting into little adventures… I… I’m just not sure that I’m ready for them to be growing up, you know? Bellamy has even talked about considering which of them will be trained as our heir.” The winged man closed his eyes with a sigh. He was worried about letting them go. After losing Lucette at such a tender age, at least for a while, he wasn’t ready for his other children to start growing up and living their own lives. Distracted as he was, however, Gavroche did not see the approach of the coyote pack that had decided the toy height male was looking like an easy meal. They licked their jaws, but one of them had caught sight of Gav’s companion. It rushed forward, and with a split second scream and the click of the coyote’s jaws, Jessie was gone. Gavroche’s eyes snapped over, his worry for the future shifting immediately to fear for the present. He recoiled, not yet registering that his companion had just become a late night snack. His ears flicked back and the winged man froze, five coyotes sizing him up. This was bad… this was very, very bad. ------------------------------ Word Count:  425 Words / 1,500 Words "Speech" 'Thought.'

The night is peaceful as the pups are snuggled tightly around their mother and father, firmly locked in the realm of dreams. Little Hay slumbers soundly, legs wrapped tightly around her, now blind, brother Corbin while her small face is smushed against the back of his neck. Legs twitch at random as she dreams of running across fields of grass during the night, chasing stars as they dance around her. A smile is on her lips in reality as happily races along in her dream, when, suddenly a small scream shatters the tranquility of her dreams and the girl struggles to make it back to the waking world. Green eyes sluggishly blinking open to look around, in an attempt to find the source of the scream. Two of siblings are stirring as well, perhaps pulled from their dreams by the strange sound as well.

Giving Corbin a gentle lick between his ears to help him wake up, Haydée then helps him untangle from the pile of pups. Once they are both free, the girl carefully leads her brother to the entry way of the den and they both slip out into the cool night air. She stops Corbin a few steps away from the doorway, so that they both can tilt their heads back to scent the air. It is easy to find their father’s scent on the breeze but there is something else with him… several coyotes. Alarm resounds in her chest as she looks to her brother, knowing he can smell it too and, while he cannot see her panic, she is certain he can feel it.

Pointing them both in the direction of their father, Hay then instructs Corbin to grab ahold of her tail and to hang on tight. As soon as he clamps down, the pair are off, with the girl in the front, racing them through the night to rescue their father. Sleep still addles the pups minds as they do not think to summon their mother or any of the pack’s fighters, their sole focus being on getting to their father and helping. The pair bust onto the scene, finding five coyotes sizing up their tiny father. With a mighty shout, Hay startles the attacking creatures and charges toward the closest one. When she is almost to it, she shouts, “Corbin let go! Coyote straight ahead!”

When he releases his hold, Haydée swiftly turns her paws, trusting her blinded brother to deal with that coyote… or at least keep it distracted long enough for them to lose. She races up to and past her father, charging for the coyote that is closest to attacking him. Uttering a loud, gutteral war cry, the small pup launches herself at the extremely startled creature’s face. Small, sharp, teeth sink into the area around the beast’s right eyes socket and Hay growls fiercely as she holds on and slaps her paws at its face. It is obvious that the hungry beasts did not expect two pups to come hurtling out of the night and begin to attack them ferociously... and they hesitate.

The coyote that Haydée is attacking seems more focused on his own pain and snarls before shaking its head, hard. It rids itself of the troublesome pup however, Hay leaves it a parting gift as her small teeth slice through the creature’s eye, rupturing it in the process. A howl of pain erupts from the coyote’s mouth as Hay tucks her small body before hitting the ground and rolling. She is quick to pop back up onto her paws and even faster to races around so she can come to stand in front of her father. It is a tactical decision, placing her body between him and the bold coyotes means that they have to face her first.

Now that she has their attention, she attempts to look larger than she is, raising her hackles, bunching her scruff and making loud, threating puppy growls. If these beasts want to get to her father, they are going to have to go through her… and Haydée isn’t going down easily. Just ask the one with the ruined eye.



WC: 691
Total WC: 1116 / 1500


"Haydée Kedieo"

Corbin had been horribly scared at first when the world had gone black for him but, with a bit of time, he had started conquering that fear, at least, most of the time.  He was too much of an optimist and with the help of his family had started learning how to use his other senses to compensate and find how to play and learn even without sight.

Thus he had been able to fall into a deep sleep, fully confident nothing would happen to beware of.  Peaceful sleep, the feeling of family, and a fuzzy sheep around him.  In the world of slumber, he felt something shift but, he could ignore it.  Some presence that had been pressed up against him had left but, he was comfortable and felt nice.  A slight bit of awareness grows as he feels Haydee’s lick and finally he cracks open an eye.  There’s nothing to see of course but habits don’t end so quickly and his sleepy mind has to be reminded again it was normal to open his eye to darkness.

After a few seconds, he realizes it's still night and dad isn’t next to them.  Glancing up at Haydee it's as if he can still see her, really he’s listening to her breathing and soaking in her scent.  She urges him up and Corbin mumbles a sleepy ‘what's going on?’

The question doesn’t need a full answer though, her scent and breath express fear and her urge to follow.  Biting her tail upon the suggestion he’s surprised by the urgency but this is clearly not a time for questions.  Running along the boy eventually scents the coyote, dad, and the blood on one of the coyote's maw, unaware though of who it belonged to.

About the time Haydee was speaking, Corbin was already releasing the tail, keeping up his gait and much to the coyote's surprise the young boy launched himself into a tackling attack against it. Corbin bit around what he hoped to be the neck but, instead, he got an ear.  Its breath turned towards the black and orange pup so he darted away.  Corbin yipped in startlement more than pain as he felt the coyote's teeth graze his back but it did little more than steal hairs and leave small streaks of blood.  Close but no real damage was done.  The coyote had never expected a blind young child would be capable of getting an ear but now it knew better.

Would Corbin have been more intimidated if he could really see the scene before him? Maybe?  Probably not.  The boy wasn’t one to worry about minor details like odds when the more important concern was family needing help.  The coyote lunged forward and Corbin listened to its approach, darting away.  The coyote got another surprise as his sheep Rocky charged in with a challenging baah and slammed its head into it.  The coyote stumbles away as it now had a food source cracking two of its ribs.

Word Count: 500
Total: 1616 / 1500


"Corbin"