Windsong Fjord [M] Teeth bared bright in the dying sun - Printable Version +- Ruins of Wildwood (https://relic-lore.net) +-- Forum: Library (https://relic-lore.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=23) +--- Forum: Game Archives (https://relic-lore.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=26) +---- Forum: Relic Lore VI (https://relic-lore.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=144) +---- Thread: Windsong Fjord [M] Teeth bared bright in the dying sun (/showthread.php?tid=10498) Pages:
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[M] Teeth bared bright in the dying sun - Kenelm - Sep 12, 2015 ooc: @Craw dated 9/12/15, just before sunset. Clear skies, around 57°F, brisk winds. This is just southeast of the fjord. [dohtml]
[/dohtml] RE: [M] Teeth bared bright in the dying sun - Craw - Sep 12, 2015 [dohtml] Hunger was a terrible beast. It clawed at your belly, sapped your strength and, perhaps worst of all, persisted in the mind, hoarding attention and will power. It grew to be all-consuming, a need which grew into obsession and then into the only thing which mattered. If it wasn't satisfied, it would devour its host instead. Craw had felt it before, though for things less base than meat - he had hungered after many a thing the past year, and hungered still. This animalistic drive was distracting him from what was really important. If he let himself be made into this low creature, urged on only by that which sustained flesh, sustained the most simple of lives. He was more than that. He was more than this. Telling himself that didn't stop the biting in his stomach. So much rage was bottled up in the darkest reaches of his being that, in the hardest times, he sustained himself on it, lit a fire underneath it and kept himself warm. It was a crude substitute, one that didn't fool his body but did fool his mind. Willpower would carry him on, because Craw wouldn't let himself die. Death sounded too much like surrender. There was no room for pride for those who lived on the fumes of stubbornness. He had eaten things no self-respecting predator should have to, just to fill that void. The few times he came upon an abandoned corpse, he had gorged, and while the meat remained in his system, he was some measure of himself again. His priorities were re-aligned, although he knew with indignant anger that he was still neutered in his ability to resolve them, for the hunger would return and it would start again. But every day that he refused to surrender was another day closer to his furious absolution. He could taste it. The smell burrowed through his nostril and straight into his brain, running through his thirsty blood until it reached his furthest extremities, filling him. This would be another day closer. Instantly he turned towards it, limbs creaking as they resented the expended energy, but his flame was running low and needed replenishing. He could smell coyote, but that was barely a blip on his radar, for no scrawny vermin would keep him away. He barely registered the canyon, the water running at its base, the landscape a distraction. When the elk's remains lay splayed out at the base of the hill before him, he saw that the vermin feasting upon it was not coyote but a much closer relative, and the engine in his chest revved up, the rumbling of pistons running straight up through his throat and to the wind. His tail curled immediately over his back, his muscles tense and ready, his ears back and fur bristling and teeth bared, the hunger for survival greater than any mortal urge. Slowly he approached, waiting to be noticed, waiting to find out if this would end the easy way... or the hard way. Re: - Spirit of Wildwood - Sep 12, 2015 Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity RE: [M] Teeth bared bright in the dying sun - Kenelm - Sep 12, 2015 [dohtml]
[/dohtml] RE: [M] Teeth bared bright in the dying sun - Craw - Sep 12, 2015 [dohtml] Desperation was no excuse for stupidity. As he drew closer, Craw tested the air, rolling the scent around in his head and digesting it. There were hints of other wolves there, but nothing to indicate that he belonged to a pack. All the hints were there, the fact that the smaller creamy wolf was here alone, had obviously not taken down the elk himself, and had not called for allies to share in his good fortune. The opportunity to feed the growling monster in his belly was almost too much to bear, and certainly would have clouded Craw's judgement to some degree had he determined that the vermin was indeed a packwolf - because he was alone right now, and those odds were good enough. He could see that the man was in better health than himself, perhaps as hungry but without any sign of wound or altercation, which was totally unlike Craw and his medley of scabs, deep and old and fresh alike, which worked hard to keep all his insides in. Survival prescribed a particular set of rules, and getting into unnecessary fights was one of them. Unfortunately, Craw had not yet sunk to an entirely feral level, and his own rules were slightly different. The vermin didn't immediately challenge his presence, turning to face Craw, manner calm but then the spark of conflict appeared, and it threatened to spread. Craw's chest wheezed as he breathed, the sound married to the low growl in his throat which never died away. "Act civil?" he repeated, thick with incredulity, as he closed the distance between them to two body lengths, and slowly shifted his direction to circle around the scene. Bright eyes never left his rival, this threat to his immediate survival, which stood between him and what he needed. Didn't he know that Craw was beyond civility? Didn't he know that the very concept was a lie? There was only thrive or die. Once, twice he snapped his jaws together, lather coating his lips and flying free as his body anticipated gorging itself and worked itself up. But the posturing was short-lived - like a spring he lurched forward, teeth flashing, running on righteous fumes (but fumes nonetheless), intending to barrel straight into the vermin. RE: [M] Teeth bared bright in the dying sun - Kenelm - Sep 13, 2015 ooc: Received permission from Siki to pp Craw's miss. [dohtml]
[/dohtml] RE: [M] Teeth bared bright in the dying sun - Craw - Sep 13, 2015 [dohtml] His mind had shifted into an automatic gear, his body a machine running through familiar processes. But the parts weren't oiled, many were worn and needed repair, and the purring engine was sputtering and failing. He was barely a quarter of the beast he used to be, strength sapped by a constant need to fulfill the simplest of life's requirements, muscles and bulk eaten away by hunger. In his mind he was still powerful, but reality didn't match up. A misjudged lunge and brief entanglement later, there was a fresh spring of blood on his nape, but it just blurred into the many. Pain was a trivial concept at this point. Clouded by fury that his body could not do what he wanted, Craw did not read the other's intention to disengage, to put distance between them - the moment Craw snapped around to face the vermin again, he simply lunged once more, for seeing red left little else to be registered. The pistons were misfiring, the exhaust choking, the exposed metal rusting. Once more the other avoided the intent of his charge, though Craw closed the gap between them and snapped at the air in front of his rival's face, still a raging beast, still unable to acknowledge that this was a losing battle. Perhaps a display of sheer, desperate madness would prove enough. RE: [M] Teeth bared bright in the dying sun - Kenelm - Sep 14, 2015 [dohtml]
[/dohtml] RE: [M] Teeth bared bright in the dying sun - Craw - Sep 14, 2015 Minimal formatting because am on ipad, will edit next time I'm on a computer Despite his rival's proclaimed preferences for pacifism (preferences which Craw was blatantly blowing through), the man was certainly quite violent. Either his actions did not line up with his ideology, his teeth had minds of their own or the man simply was poorly trained and did not truly know how to fight. That was an ironic accusation coming from the wolf decidedly on the losing side, but Craw's failures could be blamed squarely on his weakness and prolonged exposure to hunger and desperation. His mind cut corners and forgot its methods in such circumstances. When in full control of himself, Craw could draw blood or not as the situation required - and it seemed that his rival had deemed it necessary now. Some part of the starving wolf acknowledged that he was performing poorly, and that he was unlikely to conclude this encounter in a victorious fashion. Even as he hauled himself back up, twisting to face his rival, his face a furious mess of saliva and teeth and wide eyes, it was the way that his opponent tried to withdraw again, calling for the conflict to end, and had the audacity to appeal to Craw's self-preservation. Why did he think that the fight had broken out in the first place? If Craw's wellbeing was so important to him, then he should have backed off entirely. Laughing through his growing delirium, the hunger and pain and weariness and frustration all rolling into one, Craw continued to close the distance between them, each step a threat. "Soft," he hissed, as though the idea of being shown mercy was more sickening than losing. "Were you never taught to finish what's been started?" And with that he lunged again, but every part of him was slowing down, even the high of adrenaline starting to wane. His rival dodged the bite, almost as expected, but Craw would not fold yet. He almost needed this, needed to be reminded why he needed to stay alive. This wolf would not kill him over an elk carcass. Craw allowed himself to push the encounter as far as he was able. RE: [M] Teeth bared bright in the dying sun - Kenelm - Sep 15, 2015 ooc: Kenelm finally whiffs! Get him, Craw! [dohtml]
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