Jasper Rocks annoyed

As frightened as he was, the lynx was truly doing little more than toying with him; just making a point, it didn't really attack him with everything that it was capable of, not even close. Had Tomen not instinctively protected his eyes, it might have tried to pluck them out just to really send a message, but the shallow lacerations on his shoulders and flanks as it struck out with its claws would not haunt him for that long.

If not for his saviours, though, who knows how long it would have taken for the boy to come to his senses and free himself? Perhaps just trying to defend himself would have been enough to deter the lynx, for neither side truly benefited from an all-out fight which would leave everyone hurting. Caught up in its easy prey, the lynx let its guard down just a little too long, long enough for @Hocus to barrel into and onto it, the cat yowling and screaming its anger as it had to redirect its attention to a rather larger and more proactive opponent.

Make that two opponents! The sudden change of circumstance was almost as surprising as when he had run into the lynx in the first place, but Tomen wasn't about to make the same mistake twice; he scrambled to his feet and away from the lynx, coming to stand securely behind the woman (he vaguely recognised? was she another new recruit or something?), tail between his legs and his body shivering and shaking from the shock of it all. His shoulders and cuts throbbed with a dull pain, but it was easy to ignore in the adrenaline rush. There was only a little blood visible through his fur as the cat's claws had left long marks in his skin. He stared wide-eyed at Hocus from a safe distance, grateful and in awe of how quickly his uncle had come to his aid.

The lynx itself had had enough. Though trapped by Hocus and under assault from the other bitch too, all its hostile efforts had gone into fending off any bite from the wolf, swiping its paws at his face to try and get it to back off - wriggling and squirming and hissing with fury and panic, it made a last attempt to bite at the Hocus's nose, hoping that would give it an opening to get free and make a mad dash back up the nearest tree. It was lucky it had already eaten... the meat wasn't worth the trouble of dealing with this many mad dogs.

Hocus held the upperhand over the cat for just an instance, as it found it's paws again and unbalanced the white man who had been too careless to ground himself. He slipped sideways off of the cat, trying to roll away but really just ending up on his belly. The woman—whatever her name was, it was now forgotten again—was here now, between himself and the cat and his nephew now that their first line of defense had failed. Without true murderous intent, the cat seemed to realize that the game was up and pawed vaguely at Hocus' face with unsheathed claws, providing Hocus with enough of a motivation to roll the rest of the way over out of momentary reach. Hocus was not about to mourn the death of his unmarred pelt. With this opening, the woman inserted herself to worry at the lynx, snapping with a defensive purpose rather than offensive. Finding his paws underneath him once again, Hocus moved just in time to avoid the nibble from the cat and open up a window through which it could escape.

It hissed like smoke and then it was gone.

Hocus' rump fell squarely back onto the ground, the excitement of the moment passing and leaving him once again in his morose, perpetually exhausted attitude. Too much movement, too much commotion. Sighing, his head turned to Tomen, "You're alright, son, God willing." Though, clearly, God was not above playing games with the child. Hocus considered sharing some choicer words with his nephew, but found he lacked the energy. If the woman wanted to play mother hen, it would be up to her. Leaning into his forelegs, Hocus slid slowly back towards the ground.

Once the lynx was gone, Amaryllis watched the direction in which it disappeared into, waiting to see if it would return. When it didn't, she turned her gaze to Hocus, sweeping her eyes over his pelt to see if he had gained any injures due to his tussle with the lynx. But other than looking a bit haggard and tired, he appeared fine. A short rest and he would be fine, surely. So she turned her attention to the boy.

"Are you alright?" She asked him, doing what she had done for Hocus as pale eyes were now glancing over his coat to check for any injuries over the boy. She saw the slight amount of blood flecked on his fur and as she looked closer, saw long thin scratches that wouldn't scar but would simply be a little sore for the next few days. "Those scratches, how much do they hurt?" She asked, the healer within her coming to the surface. There might not be any herbs growing at the moment to help them but if he was willing to clean them at least, then it would lessen any infection spread by whatever that lunx might have carried on its sharp claws. Though they didn't look too deep, just light scratches that would heal easyily enough but she wasn't going to take any chances.

"Is there anywhere else that hurts?"

Tomen watched the end of the feud as though through a fog, heart pounding in his chest through the alarm and fright of it all, feeling terrible that @Hocus had to put himself in harm's way just for him. That his uncle had come to his rescue was so admirable that Tomen felt his love and appreciation for his gruff, stiff-mannered relative grow three sizes in those few instances. After all, how long would he have just sat there like a useless lump and took the punishment?

With the lynx vanishing and Hocus dropping his rear heavily to the ground, Tomen blinked, and looked at the woman as she turned her attentions on him. She'd helped too, yeah, but she was one of the newcomers he'd been avoiding... and look at her now, being all friendly and caring, and he felt bad for ignoring her. Was there no end to the guilt to be had from this?! He shifted his weight awkwardly from one foot to another, dropping his gaze, feeling foolish and childish that he'd needed to be saved at all.

"No," he muttered, ears pulled flat against his head. "I don't really feel anything." It should hurt more, he thought, but there was just a weird ache all throughout his body which was dulling everything. Maybe it was the adrenaline keeping the pain at bay, because he knew he had cuts, but for some reason he wasn't getting the sharp pain of them. Maybe it would have felt good to feel an external, physical pain, one he could use to distract himself from his melancholy. He glanced up at the woman, seeing her look at his cuts, and then at his uncle lowering himself onto the ground. "Um, thank you. Sorry."

feel free to continue among yourself, but this is hokey's "exit" xD he's been overstimulated.

The excitement of the last few minutes having depleted his already low energy stores, the man's head fellow to his feet and he only vaguely continued to attend to the situation in front of him. While Hocus was content to simply state that the boy was alright, the woman—quite typical of the species—felt the need to ask. Truth be told, even a man as lazy and refined as Hocus, thought that the kid needed some toughening up. Fear should not be a part of any man's vocabulary or behavior, but it was very clearly still a part of the boy's. When his own children had fallen down, the priest had not coddled them. He had said the same thing to them as he had said to Tomen, "you're alright." And the tears went away and the kids dusted themselves off and went back to whatever odd "kill-the-kiche-stick" game they had invented. The woman, though, inquired again about his health and Hocus' rolled his eyes. "He's fine."

Tomen said as much himself, and the white man grunted demonstrably, his eyes beginning to close. He was quite sure what would follow were some introductions, and seeing as he knew both their names he did not feel inclined to participate in the impending conversation. Sleep did not always come easily to him, but he could feign REM with the best of them. Certainly, if prompted, the man would not respond. Not unless their feline friend returned.

At least the crow had stopped, now.

(OOC: Ama's exit! :) )

Amaryllis glanced over to Hocus, still somewhat worried he had been hurt as well but yet her worries were unfounded. There were no red blood on his pristine coat and as she glanced back over to him, he settled down, as if to sleep. A little odd but fair enough, after what happened. she thought, shrugging. If he felt like sleeping then there obviously was nothing wrong with him and there was nothing to worry over.

"Don't worry about it, at least you're not badly hurt." She directed at Tomen with a quirk of her lips, a smile of sorts to reassure the younger as he apologised. The young wolf had done nothing wrong after all, he had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. "They don't look deep enough to leave scars or even take long to heal. A few days, if that but I'd still give those cuts a quick clean in a creek, just in case." He was lucky that the lynx had already eaten. But even if the lynx was toying with him to begin with, who knows what might have happened if it had gotten bored and Tomen did not fight back.

The woman turned away, that since everything had been taken care of, there was no need to stay there. No one was hurt and it'd be a good idea to check the caches and make sure the lynx hadn't disturbed them, even if the lynx had decided to dine on the deer in the end.

@Hocus @Amaryllis archived!

The attention was making him uncomfortable, almost to the degree that he wished they hadn't seen him and just left him to be attacked. But even in his numb state he knew that was a stupid thing to wish for, something that he could say now that he was safe and well and only bearing a few scratches. It would have been a different matter if he'd been forced to actually defend himself, and he wouldn't have gotten away so lightly.

But then maybe it would have been nice to feel physical pain, just as an affirmation that there were different kinds of pain other than the cold, hard ones which settled in his chest.

He grit his teeth and told himself that thinking like that was childish and short-sighted.

With his uncle's gruff affirmations that he was fine (with a manner so unlike his father, whose more airy nature would have had him fretting much more like the woman) Tomen found it hard to disagree. The woman offered her kind and curt assessment of his shallow wounds, and the boy found that he appreciated her more clinical manner, because the last thing he wanted was to be coddled. He nodded at her recommendation to clean them, fully intending on following it. When she turned to leave, he offered a feeble - but genuine - "thanks," and watched her go with a lingering emptiness.

Once her tail had vanished out of sight, the dark boy looked to his white uncle, whose blunt, unsentimental nature was so alien and yet so refreshing. Perhaps it was from fear of the lynx, or that he just didn't want to be alone, or didn't want to go find his dad in this state, or that he drew strength from Hocus' indomitable manner, but all Tomen wanted to do was stay with him, for now. Tentatively approaching where his uncle now appeared to be sleeping, the boy curled up beside the larger wolf, and enjoyed, before he closed his eyes, the stark contrast of their fur as it mixed and flowed and intertwined.