Nightingale Palisade when you think of love, do you think of pain?

Reyes, you come too close to a well-defended owl nest.
Open for one or two!

Sometimes, and only sometimes, Reyes broke out on his own to stretch his legs. He had very little interest in straying far from Wild Rye Fields – if only because that’s where Askan was – but one could not simply shake off a nomadic lifestyle in a few weeks because they wanted to. Even if he adored the beta (and truly he did, even if he wasn’t quite ready to apply that word to it), he still needed space, where the quiet world could settle his unquiet mind. What if he ran?

Reyes drew to a slow stop, eying the steep slopes of the palisade.

He’d let Askan in, already. There would be no getting him out. Even if he ran all the way home, ran all the way past it, there’d still be some gaping hole in his chest where the swarthy male was supposed to be. A few moons, and he was a different man. No wonder his Mama always called love a sickness. Never took a mate, even when she had young to raise. Maybe that old woman was wilier than he gave her credit for, but—

Out of nowhere, a sharp pair of talons grabbed the scruff of Reyes’ neck, nearly knocking him off his feet as he ambled aimlessly through the trees. A startled squawk escaped as he hit the deck, pupils blown before it hit again – but there was no one here!? What was happening?!

where I'll end up well I think only God really knows

Phoenix Avalon

She had been moping around the palisade for days, too afraid to travel any further north, even though her heart ached to be there. She was such a disappointment, she had run away from her family... even worse she had forgotten them. She didn't deserve to go back. They'd probably run her off anyway. So she stayed and she moped, one day travelling south towards the Notch (where she wasn't even sure Ryker lived anymore) and then the next she headed back north, stopping as the trees began to thin and the yellows and browns and the wild carpet of tundra flowers began to come into view.

It was half way between the two that a familiar scent came into her nose, "Damnit." she muttered, tail tucking low and eyes growing wide as she tried to make her escape. She was sure he would scent her and that'd be the end of it, but it would seem that something else was on the attack. The shriek struck her to her core, hackles raising defensively, if it wasn't @Askan being attacked it was someone important to him and she couldn't have that. Turning on a dime, all her inhibitions lost to the wind, her eyes looked up just in time to see the owl turning for a second attack. "Get over here! He's comin' again!" She wasn't sure there was much she could do against an owl, especially not with a second perched in the tree, doing the creepy head turn to stare her down, but she couldn't leave him out there in the open alone now could she?

She tucked her ears against her skull and closed her eyes to slits, breaking from her cover to stand in the open where both birds could see her. Her lips pulled back to reveal her teeth but her whole body was screaming her desire to duck straight back under the safe cover she had just left. If the guy was smart, he'd get out of their range and she could do the same. But she'd thrown herself into it one way or the other now.

She'd almost rather take the owl bashing.

“¿Qué carajo es esto? ¡Dale la vuelta y enfréntame, puta puta! ¡Maldito cobarde!”

It wasn’t quite terror that ripped through the wolf as another patch of hair was torn from his neck, but it was a near thing. You couldn’t fight what you couldn’t see. Even as the large wolf whirled around, his attacked disappeared from view, leaving him blind as he panted harshly. If Phoenix hadn’t yelled just then, stopping the Rye wolf dead in his tracks, he might have been grabbed a third time. Instead, the owl narrowly missed – and he finally got a glimpse of the angry bird (and its angry partner, shrieking from the tree).

“Fuck you, Party Owl!”

They were breaking up. All of them. Cottongrass too. Party Owl was clearly no friend of theirs (no matter how much he favored the birds of prey over all other flying things).

With not better option, Reyes dropped his shoulders and followed the yearling’s command, loping towards her as he tried to keep his head lower and his ears back. He could feel the rush of air overhead as the angry father swooped, but two wolves seemed to pose more of a problem for it than one airhead did. “Incoming!” he warned Percy, veering left as he tried to keep the creature guessing. “It ain’t happy!”

@Phoenix -- Thanks for joining!  :D

(This post was last modified: Jul 26, 2017, 03:29 PM by Reyes.)

Nope hope, no love, no glory, no happy ending

Phoenix Avalon

A string of strange words left the strangers mouth and she almost 'Tch'ed behind her teeth in exasperation but it seemed these two were already acquainted, or maybe not? It was all too much to take in, Party Owl, she would have laughed if the second hadn't started to hop out on the branch with eyes on her for daring to interfere. Her lips were pulled tight across her teeth, her head dropping lower as her knees buckled but what chance did she really stand? She'd seen these birds pick up a mouse in the dark and they never seemed to miss, what were the chances she could make herself smaller than that?

The bellowed Incoming was all the warning she needed to spin back around and run to put some distance between them. While it was incredibly tempting to dive under a bush, there weren't any big enough for the both of them and she could only imagine that the protective parent would hang around waiting for them to try and escape to start the attack all over again.

A yelp left her jaws at the sharp rake of talons across the nape of her neck, but instead of attempting to retaliate it only drove her to try and run a little faster. When would this asshole quit?

There is a rabbit's nest nearby. +1 Health

At least his warning did something,, Reyes supposed, because the yearling managed to get away with minimal damage. Well, not away away – neither of them were in the clear yet – but they were at least far enough that the owl had stopped screaming at them like all it desired was to bathe in the blood of its victims. Or something like that.

In a few long strides, the older wolf had almost caught up with Percy, though he didn’t quite recognize her. The first meeting could be called short, if it even qualified as a meeting at all. Anything he knew about Phoenix came straight from Askan’s mouth, and the beta wasn’t exactly an unbiased source. Even if they weren’t being hounded by a very persistent parent, there was a chance he still wouldn’t have recognized the yearling.

Overhead, the owl looped, giving a fierce cry before diving down again. This time, it only swooped grabbing neither Rye nor the child of the Rye – a final warning, to never come back (at least while the owlets were still in the nest) if they valued their fur. Which Reyes did. So he didn’t slow down as he and Percy raced across the palisade, only slowing after several minutes of running. His breath fell in heavy pants.

“…think…think it’s finally gone. You okay, kid?”

Yay @Phoenix!!

Nope hope, no love, no glory, no happy ending

Phoenix Avalon

The other guy might have been okay with slowing down but everything was screaming in Percy's core to keep running and not slow down until she hit the coast, and even then she'd probably swim past where her toes could touch the bottom just for good measure... If she only had the energy to keep going.

Slowing her feet to allow her panting breath to outpace them, she threw a very @Askan like glare over her shoulder back in the direction of the owls nest with a huff for good measure. "Can't fuckin' climb trees, what was his problem?!" She asked to nobody in particular, even though there were a pair of perfectly functioning ears right within her grumbling range, and that only got her anxiety amping up again. What if he tried to drag her home?

Doing her best to seem nonchalant, and failing miserably between the way she twitched at every snapping twig and kept digging her toes into the earth like she might need a starting block for an olympic sprint, she allowed a heavy sigh to leave her chest as she considered the next direction to head since that way was completely out of the question. "What're you doin' this far out anyway?" the question left her lips without prompting and she wanted to bite her traitorous tongue clean off. She'd really put herself into it now.

“I dunno, kid, ask him!”

Ay, dios mio, he was not in the mood for stupid ass questions. Frankly, after having his neck cut up and his ruff plucked, Reyes wasn’t much in the mood for anything. At least they had a healer now – Neko would be able to tell him if he oughta do anything about it, or just leave it to heal. Finally, he gave Percy a considering look – because he was pretty fucking certain this was Percy Avalon, THE Percy Avalon[/i] – and rolled his shoulders gracelessly. “Could ask you the same damn thing,” he groused, making it clear two could play that game.

Shit, after that near-death encounter with Party Owl and the resulting sprint (something a brute like himself was certainly not shaped for), he couldn’t even remember what he’d come out to the palisade for in the first place.

Reyes gave a heavy sigh, muttering unintelligible curses under his breath before glancing back at the yearling. “Seriously, chica, I asked you a fuckin’ question. Are you okay? Or do I gotta drag my new healer out here for ya, huh?” She wasn’t limping, wasn’t coughing blood, so he was pretty certain the kid was fine – but shit, how upset would Askan be if he left the kid here when he could have helped?

@Phoenix -- Was kinda assuming they knew who each other are, and not much else?  Lemme know if this isn't okay for you!

Thats fine! She was around long enough that they would have at least bumped into each other a few times before she flaked <3 Sorry she's being such an angsty shit.

Nope hope, no love, no glory, no happy ending

Phoenix Avalon

Internally, she was cursing herself because obviously she had been around long enough for him to recognise her, but outwardly she was trying to practice a blank stare as though she obviously wasn't who he thought knew she was (and failing miserably, because her anxiety was clear in the way she flinched away from his question and her eyes continued to dart about erratically). He pushed the issue and she managed to dig out a half hearted sneer, "I'm fine," and then a little more gruffly, "besides, with all those brats runnin' about they'd be better of saving their resources for someone that matters." Yes, she'd been close enough to skirt around the borders and she'd even considered calling for a moment before she came to her senses. It took one of the northerners pointing out where she was from and dear Bojack dragging her half way back across the countryside to get her home in the first place, and they'd replaced her.

He'd wasted his time, and she didn't want Reyes to do the same.

"You should be getting back, he got you worse than he got me." She was trying to keep her tone indifferent as her nose pointed to the south, clearly displaying her complete lack of intention to travel north right now, and to hide the tears that were starting to prickle behind her eyes.

Reyes didn’t even bother trying to stifle the roll of his eyes – kids! He distinctly remembered his sisters being this dramatic once they were yearlings, too. It was part of the reason he didn’t have quite so many arguments when their Mama had told all three of them to part ways. The silence was an utter blessing. He missed them, though, and for a moment, he saw a Reyes staring back at him instead of an Avalon.

Just a moment, though.

“Spare me the drama, Percy, I ain’t yer damn Mama. They’re just pups. Ain’t got much personality yet.” He rolled his shoulder in a shrug, brow arched upwards. “Besides, I recruited the healer – reckon she wouldn’t mind helpin’ if I asked. But if you don’t wanna, that’s fine. Just say so.”

None of this teenage bullshit, dios mio. He was far too old for that. His tail lashed behind him as he gave Drestig’s eldest child another look; he wasn’t going to drag her back, didn’t believe in forcing a wolf to do something she didn’t want. Short of literally sitting on top of the youth, they couldn’t make her stay within the borders anyways. “Probably oughta head back. But don’t be a stranger, you hear me? Askan misses you.”

@Phoenix -- You can wrap it up with your post!