Don't you dare look out your window, darling, everything's on fire

Sophrosnia had not known it was possible to care this much for another… she had not known it possible to feel this level of love that she felt as she looked at Reverie. Even now, after a week and a half stint, she found herself staring at her daughter in wonder. She did not do much, not that she could being simply a milk bag for the tiny creature at her breast, but she could protect and care. She knew that her mother and later Nastia used to tell her stories, and yet even now none could leave her tongue. It was frustrating, to know even kin from her own body would be denied her voice for whatever strange malady had affected her the duration of her life.

She made idle silent conversation with Lillia and Vili when they would stop by, encouraging them silently to tell stories to the child even if they did not fully understand what she was asking them to do all the same.

That was, until she heard the snort of a bison, the scent of it and Lillia that had her launching up. She carefully moved Reverie to the back of the den, the child remaining still but crying from the removal from her heat source. If all went well, Soph would only be gone a minute as she bolted out of the den. Her body protested and ached as it still recovered from the labor.

It did not stop her from lunching for the beast’s right side, the anger that only a mother who felt her child was threatened could possess in that moment.

The scene as Vili arrived might have been comical had these not been wolves he knew, had that not been the mother of his child whose tiny frame launched at the beast, and perhaps, if it had not meant that he would have to do something about it.

The newcomer's call had been short, had held just enough urgency to rope him back in, and perhaps they were lucky it had, considering the creature did not seem to be in a joyous mood. Still, Vili would not throw himself at it with reckless abandon. He would wait for an opening, wait for his companions to distract it, and place himself in such a way that it would not leave him maimed. At least, that's what Vili was hoping for.

Don't you dare look out your window, darling, everything's on fire

There was a hiss as she was thrown backwards, another deep snarl falling from her throat that came out more like a hiss with the strain it caused. She didn’t notice Vili yet, and she hardly noticed Lillia either… simply the beast that threatened her daughter with it’s very presence near the den. It felt like an insult to her, to her family… a threat that she was more than happy to irradicate in it’s entirety.

Lillia came into her vision as she hoped to pass through the beast’s legs which was enough to cause it to start to rear, giving Soph an opening to lunge for it’s neck, hoping to sink it’s teeth in neck and begin to tear it. Hopefully with Vili’s help, she might be successful in the endeavor but only time would tell.

One thing she was certain of was that she was not giving up until the beast was dead. For her child… though the added bonus of a plentiful meal for all of them certainly sweetened the pot.

Vili would be the first to admit that he was not perfect, that he had not been the best father or baby daddy?? He was not always present, not always doting or paternal, but the extent of this deficiency had never been so clear as it had in this very instant, as the newcomer wove herself between the creature's legs and the mother of his child lunged at its neck. Both were recklessly throwing themselves in harms way, both risking being maimed by the bison to protect each other and the child that lay within the den.

He did not give it another thought, would not allow himself to for fear that he'd talk himself out of it. Vili simply threw himself into the mix, taking the opening that the others had given him as his jaws clamped down on the underside of the creature's neck, his pose mirroring the stranger's.

He felt the crack of a hoof against his side, nearly knocking the air right out of him, but the Archer refused to let go. Is this what it meant to be a father? Being stupid on purpose?

Don't you dare look out your window, darling, everything's on fire

Sophrosnia spoke, not in the traditional sense but through the weight of her actions and the aching growl that caused a sting in her throat as she removed the bison’s cords from its throat, watching as it began to collapse, and aided by the father of her child. The blood dripped down her maw and her eyes leveled on the beast before looking back to the den, to where her daughter resided safely inside. The girl was beginning to move out and she would quickly move over to her to prevent her from leaving the den in her stumbling form.

She would use her nose to guide her back towards the back of the den before turning her head towards her two companions, the relief clear on her features even if she would not utter a single word… and the bison, while old, was not sick which meant it would provide them with food for some time before they would need to return to their usual hunting patterns. They could not go anywhere just yet, at least until Reverie could use some more.

Her nose twitched a bit before she sniffed towards them, her way of thanking them, inviting them closer in case there was another one and the bison was not alone… no doubt any traveling companion would be upset by it’s death.