Cedarwood Forest the bear and the maiden fair

<blockquote><ul><span style='font-size:7pt;line-height:100%'>POOOOH BEAR WHINNIE THE POOOOH BEAR.
-manic mornings-
"<i>Fatman, have you ever fought a bear?</i>"

"<i>Oh yes! I have, Angel. Tore it's head clean off!"</i>"</span></li></ul></blockquote>

Something smelled, and to his surprise, it wasn't Elettra's rotting corpse.

It had started with the trees.

Cruel, jagged lines had been carved across the trunk, and in some cases, whose sheaths of bark had been torn away.These strange wounds, oozed amber blood from the deep scars that had been gouged into the grey hide. "What the..." A wolf had not left these marks. Cautiously, Kiche drew closer to the foot of one wounded sentinel, craning his neck upwards. These battle scars were well over six feet above his head. Rearing onto his hind legs, the Hollow wolf strained upwards, but found that he could not reach them. A wolf had definitely not left these marks. Among the tallest of his kind, if Kiche could not reach them... well, there was probably no one who could. And, he puzzled as he dropped back onto four legs, giving one of his forepaws a critical look, I don't think I've got the claws for that. Wolf claws were hardly weapons at all, merely blunt hooks that aided in traction.

Then there was the blood.

"What the..." That metallic, sticky, pervasive stench wafted towards him. It clung to his fur and invaded his thoughts, until there was nothing left in this world but blood, blood, blood. A trail of red droplets stretched out from under his feet and into the heart of the forest. What choice was there but to follow? Collecting all his misgivings and scraps of courage, Kiche padded forward. The dried scarlet droplets became more frequent as he pushed onward. Eventually they all ran together, just a red river that wound through the dead leaves. The smell of blood and death was suddenly overpowering. With the greatest reluctance, the saint peered around from behind a tree.

All he could do was scream when he saw the torn and bloodied corpse and the massive demon that loomed over it.

like my art? comission me!

<blockquote>It had been a bad decision to venture beyond the River today.

It had started with the urge to hunt. The scent of larger prey had been alluring, teasing, and he had chosen to track it in the hopes of being able to initiate a proper hunt with the rest of the pack. While he did not like the invitation of strangers into their ranks at this delicate time of Corinna's, he could not deny that the extra wolves were useful in hunts, and at least they were all of a capable calibre this time. He was particularly pleased with Elsa's behaviour since her joining. He had hopes that she would not let the pack down as her previous equals had.

The tracking had taken far, far too long. It was difficult to reconcile his stubbornness with common sense; on the one hand, he was travelling too far for a viable hunt, but on the other, he had come such a long way! Perhaps he would be able to take out something small to at least make it worthwhile? Irritated and growing impatient, he had stalked the herd, and finally sensed that he was coming closer.

The scent of bear had dashed his hopes upon the forest floor in moments.

Strategic back-tracking was in order! The damned ursine attacked the beasts Marsh had been tracking so carefully, and with an angry snarl the copper wolf had retreated, circling about the hunt which happened before his eyes. It would have been an awesome thing to watch the bear down its target, almost as if effortlessly. In that moment, the Second was keenly jealous of his larger rival, and rather than slink away and admit defeat, he chose to stalk the bear as it dragged its victory-carcass away to a more pleasing area for dining. He reasoned that he could wait for the bear to finish. Taking a leg back might validate the time spent tracking the damn things. The rest of the herd was spooked and scattered, and Marsh had little hope of taking them by surprise after this.

For his own safety, the wolf had taken the high ground, standing on an earthy bank relatively far above the bear, which sat so neatly in the little clearing, enjoying the bloody fruits of its labour. Grumbling but silent, the wolf laid down, watching the larger predator intently.

The scream brought his ears up to alertness instantly. For a moment he panicked, thinking his cover blown - but then, in a moment of wonder, realised that he recognised the voice. No... surely not...?

There the bizarre wolf stood, a beacon of stupidity. The bear's reaction to protect its meal from the intruder was instant, and Marsh stared in open bewilderment, slowly rising to his feet without thinking. Did the crazy wolf have a death wish? Seriously. What the fuck.</blockquote>

I picture Marsh as sat on something like the earthy banks seen in <a href='http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheamrow/2855648399/' target='_blank'>this</a>, only they're a lot lot taller here, so he's out of reach of the bear. To help along the 'he's controlling the bear' mentality when Kiche spots him. >D He's probably on the other side of the bear to Kiche, too, so he'll be easily seen.

<blockquote><ul><span style='font-size:7pt;line-height:100%'>I think I'll wait to have Kiche recognize Marsh... :P</span></li></ul>The horrible note lingered in the air far longer than Kiche liked.

And then that terrible, shaggy brown head swung towards him. Instinctively, the moron dove back behind his tree, the only defense that remained to him. Choking on his fear, the red giant found that he could hardly breath, could hardly move. Beyond the tree, the brooding creature, giving up on its curiosity returned to its hard-won carcass. It took several minutes for Kiche to regain his composure, and even then his thoughts were still a frantic jumble. He needed to get away, but he didn't know how he could do that without rousing the attention of the bear. He certainly couldn't <i>fight</i> the bear... What was a bear even <i>doing</i> here — so close to <i>Grizzly</i> Hollow, nonetheless? Kiche had little experience with bears of the non-stuffed variety, which left him without any strategies or answers to his questions. Generally, he figured he was doomed, and this creature was out to get him. Sure, it was distracted by its meal at the moment... but pretty soon it would come for him. Seeking comfort and finding support only in his old, delusional piety, he immediately concluded that this was one of the devil's agents.

Awe-struck and maybe a bit curious, the red man leaned out once more and gaped at the ursine death-sentence. As he leaned farther out, however, he suddenly noticed something: there was another wolf, just <i>sitting</i> there behind the bear. And then... just as the heathen began to rise... <i>so did the bear</i>. Accidentally, the universe strung together a meaningless collection of coincidences to create something that had the uncanny look of puppetry to someone as willing to believe in the bigger, crueler picture as Kiche was. It wasn't even a thought, it was an instinctive knowledge that came without words but translated roughly to <i>that is the motherfucking devil controlling that motherfucking bear</i>. This time, no scream pierced the air. There was nothing, just silence, a bear, and two very unfortunate wolves.

And then, "<b>You... you stop that right now, Lucifer. I... I have... have G-g-g-<i>god</i> on my side. I will ... You... You cannot tempt or kill me!</b>"
</blockquote>

like my art? comission me!

<blockquote>In gobsmacked awe, Marsh watched as the moronic wolf was graced with a chance. To his surprise, the bear let it go, turning away from the screeching beast as if - correctly - identifying it as no threat. No physical threat, at least. Give it half a chance and it would slay your mental health, though.

The crazy wolf tucked itself behind a tree, and Marsh slowly lay himself down again, unable to believe the close shave he had just witnessed. Although, watching the lumbering predator decapitate one of Marsh's old annoyances would definitely have made the journey worthwhile...

After a few minutes, the Second let himself forget about the instance, believing that the wolf had made its getaway after losing the bear's interest. It was certainly the sensible thing to do.

As movement caught his eye, and Marsh glanced back to the tree to see that the crazy wolf was, in fact, still here, Marsh had to remind himself that common sense was never something that seemed to apply to it.

Slowly, the bear turned, and slowly, the bear rose. Without thinking, Marsh rose too, as if on the edge of his seat, unable to believe what he was seeing. It didn't even begin to occur to him that such a simple notion would be so misinterpreted. He saw the wolf's wide eyes flicker in his direction, but was too far away to decipher any kind of rhyme or reason in its expression or body language beyond that. Then it opened its mouth.

Marsh had hoped to forget that voice.

This time, the bear was not quite so forgiving, and Marsh could hear its deep, warning snarls from his high vantage point. He did not envy the crazy wolf's position - but then, had it been shouting at <i>him</i>? What was he supposed to do? It could fuck right off if it thought Marsh was going to put his ass on the line to save it.

Though, on that note, it would not be too much effort to howl for support. No doubt the thing had friends if it had survived for so long. And then, after getting rid of the bear, Marsh could finally claim some of that meat.

But all in good time, he thought, lowering his haunches to the ground. He could enjoy this for a bit, first.</blockquote>

<blockquote><span style='font-size:7pt;line-height:100%'><ul>SHORT AND CRAPPY <i>HOORAY</i></li></ul></span>Somewhere along the way —be it tracking the bear, screaming at the top of his lungs, or shouting at the heathen-devil— Kiche had done something very stupid. And now it was all coming back to bite him in the rear. His <i>awe-inspiring</i> speech of defiance echoed off the trees, and some how it all seemed to sort of magnify his words... and it all seemed ridiculous —pathetic even. Provoked by the noise, the devil rose, eyeing him with those gleaming, soulless eyes. <i>Fuck</i> he realized, <i>Fuck fuck fuck. Stupid, stupid, STUPID.</i> How could he have been so <i>stupid</i>. Now more than ever he feared for his life. He wondered what the devil would say, how he would respond. Violent shuddering wracked his bulky frame as his ears fell back against his head. But Satan would never deign to speak to him, and his only response was through his mouthpiece: just a thunderous grumble, a threat.

Without warning, Kiche's bladder exploded... and then he promptly fainted, his body making a resounding thud as crumpled to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs, his head knocking carelessly on the hard dirt floor.
</blockquote>

(This post was last modified: May 01, 2012, 09:24 PM by Kiche.)

like my art? comission me!

<blockquote>Ridiculous.

Marsh was almost disappointed. Here he had been hoping for a good show... and instead, the damn thing just faints. Hopeless. Rolling his eyes, Marsh concluded that it was a lost cause, and so might as well get it over with sooner rather than later.

Lifting his head to the skies, he let out a loud, urgent howl, a general cry of help to anyone in the area who had the decency and lack of common sense to actually run to the aid of complete strangers. Or if Marsh had been right to think that the wolf had allies somewhere, perhaps they would answer it? Either way, the request was sounded, and without a further note Marsh turned on his heel and all but flew through the trees, back down the incline he had so carefully sought, giving up the height advantage and all his wise precautions. All for a wolf who was sick in the head. Marsh was no better for helping it.

The bear, taken aback by the pathetic display but no less pissed off, had begun to take heavy steps towards the fallen wolf, eager to get rid of the nuisance once and for all. Its frustrated growls turned into an angry bellow when the copper wolf appeared, snarling and bristling, coming to stand just before the unconscious fool, between it and the bear. The display gave the massive beast pause, but only to lift itself up and roar in Marsh's defiant face.

Those allies had better exist, and they had better turn up sharpish. Marsh was willing to put on a show to delay the bear, but like hell was he risking his life any more than that. If push came to shove, the bear was more than welcome to it.</blockquote>

Now, Bear might be a little dim, but there was no mistaking that smell. There was a bear, a real bear in the area. The scent smacked him full in the face when he had been out exploring, a little further away from his new pack then usual but his paws had lead the way as they often did. He hadn't been here before, but he liked it. The forest was warm, alive and a certain energy buzzed around him. Not quite as strong as the vibrating from the River wolves home, but it was pleasant to his paws.
He'd made certain to avoid the trail the real bear had walked; he wasn't stupid enough to go looking for trouble. He'd found some peace with his new home and whilst he had kept mostly to himself, it felt good to have somewhere to settle at night and to know that you were surrounded by family. There was no point wasting that now by taking on a bear, which would be just silly.

"What in the world?" he exclaimed as an almost girlish scream filled the air. It died as quickly as it had come, but there was something not quite normal in that scream. The large chocolate beast stopped his wandering and listened- his silky ears perched high upon his head as he strained to hear something more, but only found silence. With a tilt of his head, he glanced around him. Nothing was out of place, but the silence that had fallen after that scream didn't feel right. He was a beast that worked on instinct, and those instincts were telling him that something was up.

Another scream, this one more fearful then the first. It was coming from the east, not too far from him either... wait a second, hadn't the bear been heading east? Startled, he turned on his heroic mode and began to hurtle through the thickets and trees, his huge mass making the journey sluggish but steady.
The scream had stopped, silence fell but not for long when a howl, a voice he didn't recognise called out. Someone was certainly in trouble and with valour worthy of a superhero, he continued his run/lope until his warm honey eyes peered through the treeline to see a wolf, laying in a puddle of his own urine not far from a bear.

"Holy Moly!" he exclaimed as his eyes widened as a wolf, one he had seen around his territory but never spoken to, bravely tried to distract the beast. Gosh, he was so darn small in contrast. Even Bear felt little in comparison to the towering mass of brown fur. He couldn't be afraid, now was time to shine! He had taken on gangs of wolves, survived a beating by a rather large stag... Bear could take on a bear.

"Hey! Bear! I mean, you, Bear, not me, Bear!" he shouted as he allowed his towering mass to step from the shadows. He moved as quickly as he could, running towards the rear of the towering animal, hoping that his barking and shouting would be enough to turn the creatures head in his direction, allowing his fellow River wolf to run. Hopefully his sheer size would make him a more appealing target and just to prove a point, he ran closer to the bear and took a brave snap towards its rear. "Hi Bear, I'm Bear. Let's play!!" he shouted and barked once more as he continued to get its attention.

(This post was last modified: May 01, 2012, 09:56 PM by Bear.)

<span style='font-size:7pt;line-height:100%'>Mind if I join?</span>

Resting in the nook of the roots of a large cedar tree, the little russet wolf had spent her morning in peace. She would have liked to laze about there all day and sleep off the fatigue of her travels, but around noon her stomach began nagging incessantly, urging the sleepy wolf to venture around her new pack land looking for an <span class='word'>ort</span> snack on. She had risen and set off, red snout to the ground, looking for the tracks of some little animal to catch. She poked, in, around, and under every little place a critter might hide, yet each and every shrub she searched inside and every burrow she came to seemed to be abandoned. She grunted in annoyance after coming to yet another rabbit hole with signs of recent evacuation. Where did everything go? It seemed the little creatures knew something she didn’t. How odd.

Sibyl was about to see if she could follow the trail the rabbit left when a breeze from the east ruffled her fur. The scent the air carried was probably both the most disgusting and horrifying thing to ever grace her nasal passages; blood, bear, and terrified wolf piss. Nope. She was not getting involved in that. If that wasn’t a bad omen she didn’t know what was. In fact, she was going to get out of there as quickly as possible. Before she even made a conscious decision she was already running back as swiftly as her short little legs could take her, away from the direction of the repulsive scent.

As Sibyl was well on her way she heard the sharp howl ring out, from the direction of the stench, of course. She faltered, staggered, then stopped. She turned her head over her shoulder, grimacing at the trees behind her in thought. Someone back there was alive! For all she knew, it could very well be one of her new pack mates being ripped limb from limb back there. The voice and scent was unknown, but so were most of the members of Grizzly Hollow to her. If someone found out she ran off and let one of the pack die, maybe they’d rip her limb from limb too! Or chase her out, and Sibyl would be back to square one, roaming the countryside alone. Against her strongest instincts, Sibyl turned around and ran towards the place of what was possibly impending death.

The stench of bear was overwhelming, and the grunts and groans of the bear could be heard, along with the snarl of a wolf. Her heart pounded in her chest and her legs ached to set off at a run far away from here. Finally she saw it. A colossal brown slab of fur, teeth, and claws, and just before it two wolves; one defiant, the other passed out in its own waste. She was standing off to the west side of the face off, barely hidden behind a scraggly fern. There was no way she could take on that bear, but neither could these two, alone. She let out a single yip, hoping to alert the standing wolf to what little help she could offer. And if the bear took notice of her, hopefully she would be quick enough to get out of the way.

And here comes Ice. <3

you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the   ICE breaks. It seemed that whenever he decided to stalk a pack member outside of the Grove, it brought him violent trouble in one form of another. He'd followed Triell south, to Fireweed Rise, and proceeded to fight Rhysis. Now, he'd followed Marsh west into a territory he'd never been in before, and... well. Let's just say he'd been tracking Marsh who tracked deer, when everything went to hell. Not wanting to blow his cover to the older Second, Ice had been content to hang back with the russet male just in sight, waiting for him to tire of watching the bear demolish his kill - or, waiting for the bear to leave so they could bring more than just a haunch back. He'd sighed, lain down to wait, and nearly dozed off when a high-pitched scream split the air and caused him to shoot to his feet. What the hell? Gaping and blinking, the pale Guardian stared at Marsh, who proceeded to rise and sit at random intervals. Muffled shouts and more screams caused the hairs along his back to rise, an uncertain growl rumbling in his chest. Something - likely a wolf - had clearly been spotted by the bear, and judging by the sounds of ursine rage, it wasn't going well. Still, it wasn't Marsh, so... Ice was prepared to let it be when his Second called out and disappeared. With a muttered curse, Ice tore after him, refusing to give Marsh even the opportunity to die. As he came up on the incline Marsh had abandoned, the chaotic scene unfolded beneath him. One large red male lay fainted in a pool of urine - likely the one who had screamed - and Marsh, ever valiant, stood in the bear's path leading to it. A slim, short female was watching uncertainly, and - by the stars, the irony - Bear was dancing about. Ice, not being one who seemed the brightest but in fact had quite sharp knives in the drawer, had decided that the large male was stupid, and this, this was pure idiocy. Still, if Marsh believed the wolf worth saving, and if Marsh had his head in this... Ice had to be there, ready to grab him by the tail and pull him out. Keeping a good distance and eying the bear warily, Ice picked his way down the slope before circling around, ignoring Bear, bear and Marsh for the moment. He gave a quick bark to the female to enlist her help, before speeding up and rushing to the foul-smelling downed wolf. Hoping the girl was on his tail, he gave a frustrated growl and unceremoniously latched his teeth onto Kiche's scruff. The male was large, and Ice was large too, but still, dragging a dead-weight wolf over roots and stuff... He could really need the female's help, no matter her slim physique. Tensing his jaws to keep his grip, he placed all four paws firmly on the ground and began to, slowly, drag the unconscious wolf backwards, deeper into the forest. .ice aesir

let the stars above shine in your soul

<blockquote>Marsh quickly realised that things weren't going to plan when the first wolf to arrive was, he realised with a dull wave of panic, one he recognised. The large male newcomer may have failed to make a stellar first impression, but that did not stop him from being a packmate, and as Marsh watched the simple brown beast dance around the bear, he suddenly felt extremely responsible for Bear's wellbeing.

A cautious yip, somewhere behind him, alerted him to some more back-up, though she was not as bold as Bear. As distracted as he was, it was difficult to tell if he recognised that voice. His nose was so full of ursine and the crazy wolf's piss that there was no way he'd be able to gauge it until she came into view.

That's when it got worse. With alarm, Marsh heard the steps behind him, and a scent he could never misplace intruded on the charming aroma already swimming in his mind. <i>Ice?!</i> This was all totally, totally wrong. The hell were Swift River wolves doing here?! If he'd known, he would have never called - the crazy wolf's life was not worth that of his kin. Panicked for the sake of his allies, Marsh glanced back at Ice as he grabbed at the unconscious wolf and began to tug, taking the opportunity while Bear distracted his namesake. His expression was open as he stared at Ice, wondering just what he had gotten the white wolf into, before a rather more furious growl tumbled from his jaws, aimed solely at the urine-smelling creature who had caused this mess.

Oh, who was Marsh kidding - <i>he</i> had caused this mess. If anybody died, it was on his head.

Livid, with the wolf and with himself, Marsh snapped back to attention, glaring as the two Bears danced. Fucking damn it all. He exploded forwards, teeth bared, with intents just to put pressure on the predator. Alone, none of them stood a chance. The bear spun about, massive paw swinging, and Marsh obligingly dashed away from the giant beast of teeth and claws. With space gained, he turned about again, snarling, doing his best to further divide the bear's attention.</blockquote>