They looked at her as though she were a bomb they didn't know how to diffuse. It perhaps gave her an edge, but boy was it ever a lonely feeling. They didn't understand, though the newest stranger was at least attempting to placate her. Eek wasn't sure what to do, if she should continue appealing to these two or if she should take the opportunity to flee. She did know that while it might be possible to reason with them in time, currently they were both immoral monsters. How could it even be a question in someones mind, how could one ever doubt the value of a child's life? As the vocal one asked her for information about her eating habits, Eek couldn't help but let out a soft snort. They weren't going to get it.



Eek took a careful step backward, doing her best to keep the other wolves in her sights while attempting to check up on the dying rabbit below her. Its fur was matted with even more blood now, and its breathes were all but nonexistent. Panic fluttered through her chest. She didn't have time for this, she had to give this kit medical attention immediately!



"No, it's dying," she informed him, her words breathless and rushed as she would answer his questions only so that she would be able to ask her own; "of course I eat, I eat those who are grown and have lived their lives. This child deserves to live. Please, both of you, leave us alone or help!"



Her final words were desperate and pleading, and her actions next hung on how the two men responded. If they wanted to help, she would allow them, but they would have to be swift. If they caused her any doubt, she would take the child and run.

@Hati

@Triell

ooc: a bit of a stretch timing wise, but planned with render to allow hati to exit.



Relief swept over Eek like a bucket of warm water as the more regal stranger accepted her position on the situation and offered his help. Maybe, if he moved swiftly enough, this would all turn out alright. In accordance with the brief plan he had laid out, Eek dipped her head, and began the process of licking clean each puncture the poor hare was suffering from.



It was only moments after the Tainn boy left that a tell-tale sound cut through the air, seizing Eek's attention. Her silver eyes instantly met Hati's, and with recognition returned the reflection of burning hatred. In one fluid motion, she crouched forward, and the rabbit was thus shield under the arch of her stomach. Her jaws clenched and her lips lifted, a raucous and threatening snarl ripping from her throat. Eyes darkening with venom, fur and tail erect, she looked the personification of impending violence. If he did not cease the charge, she would be all too willing to tear the skin from his skull.



However, in that blur, a foil sound just managed to enter her attention. Soft and solemn, the rabbit below her took its last breath and faded into death.



Instantly, the focus on Hati was discarded and she tuned in fully to the had-been life beneath her. She swung her hind end to the left, her forelegs still guarding the body but allowing predators to see. Moonlight eyes strained to focus through tears that demanded release, and she held her breath in futile prayer, but there was no movement on the rabbit's part. Its chest did not lift nor fall, and she knew it was dead.



Suddenly, as was the pattern of this encounter, Eek completely dissolved. Backing away from the deceased child, sobs wracked her small frame as she tucked her tail between her legs and pressed herself closer to the ground.



It hadn't been hers, she tried desperately to remind herself of that, but the grief was still so strong she couldn't contain the emotion. It held her so tightly that she lost all the outrage that she had held in the face of Hati's abominable actions, and may have even forgotten his presence entirely.

As she cowered deeper into her sadness, Eek crossed both of her front paws over top her snout, shielding her eyes which were squeezed shut in a vain attempt to stop their burning. She heard Hati's steps, and something faint within her knew that because of that very sound and his callous heart, she would not even be able to bury the child deep and keep its remains safe from the disgrace of being picked apart and tossed aside.



It was simple time that soothed her raw heart and calmed her crying into near silent whimpers. Another presence, with all its noise and fighting compassion, registered distantly, but it wasn't until she felt his touch that Eek was pulled completely from her shell and forced back into reality, where it was cold and dark with storms clouds and where she really did not wish to continue what was occurring. It would do no good to talk about it, to accept his condolences and show gratitude for his vain attempts. How she dealt with misfortunes such as these was to wallow alone, and to forget completely. It was the only way; speaking of it, creating a tie with another because of it, would only cement the event into fact and force her to retain it. Running away allowed her to create her own fiction and erase the pain entirely. All with time.



"I have to go home," she murmured, stiffly rising onto all fours. It was true; she needed to be curled up in the warmth of her makeshift den, on the opposite end of the Spectral Woods, so that she could begin her private process of grief. While she would keep his existence alive within her memory, grateful for the rare understanding he had graced her situation with, the emotion would not be voiced. If they were to meet again, it would be as though the child had never existed at all.



Eek retreated, back pedaling slowly before turning herself around and trudging off with nothing more than a flick of her tail, head hung low with the weight of her sorrow.




ooc: she's such an eeyore. hope you're okay with ending the thread, i figured things were pretty much finished. ^^ if not just let me know.