Oak Tree Bend a knife in the ocean

@Marina and @Sahalie specifically, anyone else give me a ping if they want to join, I think this thread will move pretty fast.
Takes place after this thread

Spieden gasped, her lungs felt as if they were about to explode with each unsatisfying gulp of air, but she couldn't stop running. She had to get to them... before... before... she didn't even want to think of it. Fresh blood seeped from her wounds, leaving as bold a trail as any that she knew could be followed if anyone cared to. She could hardly think straight, and relied on muscle memory alone to take her along the familiar paths to the den. Paths that she would be walking on for what was likely the last time. What had she done, where had she gone wrong... "Fucking shit!" She cursed, disturbing some birds from their evening roost. The trail ahead swerved and dipped unsteadily, her vision narrowed to a tenuous point. She tripped a few times, stumbled and fell more than she cared to admit, but each time she picked herself back up and continued on, looking like the hounds of hell itself were on her tail. 

She finally slowed down when she came into view of the great oak, it's bare branches looking forlorn and unusually empty against the swiftly darkening sky. Her head swayed this way and that, searching for her cubs. "Marina! Mako!" She wailed, her voice hoarse. Now that she wasn't running, her legs shook violently, and if she stood for too long the forest started to sway... She moved frantically, circling and searching for any sign of her pups. "Come here. Now. Please, I'm not playing." She pleaded, not even knowing if they were here, or elsewhere off doing whatever. She wanted to sob, this was like some horrible nightmare that she couldn't wake up from. Her life had suddenly fallen apart in the blink of an eye. But she couldn't rest until her children were safe. "Mako!! Marina!!" She cried again. 

(This post was last modified: Dec 22, 2016, 05:35 AM by Spieden.)

The snow provided no lack of entertainment for Marina these days. She found herself alone as often as she didn’t – Sahalie was busy being a Big Girl, sometimes, and that was okay. It was just, you know, boring enough that the young Coho had no interest in tagging along. And Mako, well, he was fun, but sometimes the shark wasn’t, and the girl wasn’t so desperate for amusement that she’d tag along with him and suffer whatever verbal abuse he had in mind that day.

At the sound of her mother’s voice, Marina’s head popped up, snow flying all over the place. Her thick tail wagged furiously behind her, about to invite her mother to come and check out her new snow bank when Speiden called again. Immediately, the girl’s ears flattened; she’d never heard her mother speak in such a tone before. Her makeshift fort was abandoned without a second thought, tearing through the snow towards the sounds. She’d heard Aponi’s call sometime earlier, but the cub hardly knew enough to expect what could come of the voice.

She knew, though, the moment golden eyes fell upon her mother. White ringed her irises as she slid to a halt, looking over her mother frantically. “Momma!” she cried, tail dropped between her hocks. “Momma, Momma, what happened? Are you okay? Can I help?”

(This post was last modified: Dec 22, 2016, 02:32 PM by Sahalie.)

keepin' this vague...

Sahalie was out of breath from running after her fallen caretaker. It was not hard to find her: she cracked twigs under foot, crashed through dense parts of the undergrowth, left a trail of blood, and was shouting for her children. Her head throbbed as she tried to get a grip on the situation, to try to understand anything that was going on and what had happened back there. It was all madness. But she needed to make sure that Spieden would be okay, that the children would be okay. Then she could worry about what would happen next, what to feel next. She cursed her short legs and short stride.

"Spie!" she cried, not wanting to come upon the little family quietly and startle a woman who was clearly in a bad place, in a bad way. Her heart nearly stopped when it heard the distress in Marina's voice as she ran to her mother. "Its okay little seal,"—but was it?—"Its... it's.. " her voice cracked. She panicked.

Tell the truth.

"There was a rank challenge. Aponi challenged her. Your mother... your mother lost." Sahalie had never imagined that Spieden could lose a fight—that there could be a fight—but it had happened so fast. Aponi was so fast. "Spieden, I...what's going to happen?" The yearling wanted to be brave, to be strong in front of Marina but it was impossible.

Mako heard something strangely desperate in his mother's cries. He didn't like it, she wasn't supposed to sound like that. While the boy was usually the type to take a 50/50 chance on whether or not he would heed any particular summons, there was something about her voice that told him he should go, now. He scampered off of the rock pile he had been occupied with climbing, running to the den where he already heart Marina shouting, too. 


He got there just as Sahalie was explaining, his eyes immediately catching sight of his mother who looked... well, she looked awful. Even without the streaks of blood and disheveled coat, her eyes were glassy and wild, like a deer just before they caught it. It wasn't right, she wasn't supposed to look like that. Mako felt a mix of anger and fear. He didn't like what was happening, he liked Aponi, but he couldn't understand what she had done to make his mom look like that. Mako's tail lashed and his fur bristled, he wanted to fight, show Aponi what she got for hurting his mom and making her look so scared. The boy snorted like a bull and paced, but ultimately he looked to Sahalie for guidance, but it looked like his eldest sister didn't even know what to do.

 

Everything was in chaos and Kino was doing everything in his power to stay calm. They were leaving, that much was readily apparent. It felt strange that only perhaps an hour had passed but it felt like weeks, that just this morning everything had been peaceful. His brain made connections to his past that squeezed panic into his chest but he bit it down, trying to remind himself that this wasn’t his past. It couldn’t be, history couldn’t repeat itself...right? And it wasn’t about him, this was about Spieden who was currently bleeding and stumbling around in a bleary eye’d frenzy. And, now that they had reached the cubs they were terrified too. He knew that there was nothing that he could do for Spieden, only time could help and to get the hell out of the Bend, but he could at least make sure they knew they weren’t alone.

”Hey guys, heeeey. Take some breaths, okay? We’re gonna protect you guys, all of you,” his eyes trailed over to Spieden. “We’re just gonna listen to what your mom wants right now, alright? Whatever your mom wants. You’re gonna be safe.” His voice was calm, as calm and collected as he could make it be. He could only hope that his demeanor and large size could bring some form of conviction to convincing them that he was right. He moved a little closer to Hal.

A young deer has been separated from the rest of its herd. Hunt Opportunity

Spieden breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw Marina, looking rather scared and asking if she was okay. She ran over, embracing her daughter tightly. It made her pause, she was supposed to be their protector, their guardian, she needed to be strong, if only for her children's sake. "I'm okay, it's okay. But we need to go." She said, trying to not sound like she was as out of breath as she was. "Where's your brother?" She asked, turning, eyes flicking as she looked for the boy. Knowing Mako, it could take hours... She didn't have that kind of time! 

Spieden's head jerked towards Sahalie's voice. Sahalie too, frightened. She didn't like seeing her children like this. Sahalie sounded so matter of fact as she explained, but it was clear she was shaken as well. And finally Mako showed up, by whatever stroke of luck the boy actually listened this time. They were all here, that was all she had come for. And they were all looking to her for answers, for a plan. "We're going. We can't stay. I can't... Just trust me, we have to go. Now. You don't... I've seen this before. We have to go. Right now." She disjointedly explained, pacing and restless.

Spieden stilled as she saw Kino approach. She knew he was Sahalie's friend, that was about it. Spieden didn't know up from down anymore. She looked to Sahalie. "You trust him?" She asked bluntly. 

I'll be at work for a bit this evening. But I can try to get a phone post if you guys need. I'll keep an eye on it.

It was late afternoon when Aponi's voice for Spieden stretched across the Bend. Why he didn't know what the silver lady wanted with the woman, he had a few ideas. But, for the time being he didn't see it as problematic. In fact, he could be wrong. He wasn't exactly aware how close Aponi and Serach had grown. Why Aponi didn't respect her mother, she did the brown and silvery leader of the Bend.

Without thinking much, he continued burying his cache, feeling if it was of importance they would soon learn. Sure enough, Aponi's voice rang in victory not long after. Dark ears crumpled. Everything had  been so quiet, and nothing amiss. But, winter was always a bitch. A heavy sigh, he wondered how this would affect the Bend. Drestig's reign had, and surely Aponi's would too. His worry, his mind went to Sahalie, and the Coho woman. How did this change make them feel?

In haste, he let his nose lead the way. But, it was Spieden's fragile call, tinted with panic for her children, that helped him find them all. Spieden,Sahalie,Kino,Mako, and Marina.  Words about going were all he seemed to hear. Fiery eyes set upon the woman, the one he saw was the same woman had arrived in the Bend those years ago. The one who acted like she'd been hurt for looking at someone wrong, and expected others to do the same. If she went...surely Sahalie would go, and....and...he didn't know. Fear was heavy in the air, and made his stomach squirm. But, the Tainn stood steady, concern in his expression, in his voice.

"Spieden?"She couldn't go off alone, not with two children, and two yearlings. He was trying to understand why she was afraid for herself, for her blood. Whatever, it was he didn't think he could reason with it.

(This post was last modified: Dec 22, 2016, 05:56 PM by Triell.)

are you with me through it all?

ace said t was okay if I posted before her

Her eyes caught Mako out of the corner of her eye and she jumped, not realizing when he had appeared and feeling quite overwhelmed with emotions that were both hers and not hers. She tried to will herself to be strong, to be strong for Mako but it was hard to breath when Spieden was bleeding. Aponi had not even meant to wound her, possibly not even meant to fight. Sahalie could not remember who threw the first blow. The girl blinked again and then Alastor was there too. Like a ghost. She flinched again. She wanted to lean against him but found her body rigid, found herself becoming more tense.

She wanted to show him she was strong too.

But her heart continued to hammer as words raced from Spieden's mouth. Sahalie wanted to tell her to breath, afraid she might pass out if she kept pushing herself. And then the kicker: "Go?" Sahalie stammered, "Go where?" Why would they be going anywhere? That sounded insane. Except the girl had seen Spieden after the fight and knew she was unreachable. Unstoppable. There was something very powerful controlling her actions now, something Sahalie could not understand. Spieden was damaged. How else had she gotten those scars?

"I uhhh--" she looked at Alastor and back at Spieden, not seeing the point of the question at first. "Yeah but..."

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed in her heart. Her dad was here now. Sahalie felt her panic intensifying with so many wolves and wonder how Spieden would handle it. "Not now dad," she whined: couldn't he see things were bad? What could he possibly want.

Desperately the girl tried to tether herself back to the earth, "We... we can't just leave. I can't just leave. There's.. I need.." She could see that none of this would reach Spieden. "Can we meet up somewhere? I have... I have to... Lets... Take the the children Spieden, get to the Ferns and I can meet you there." Maybe once Spieden got away she would feel better. Sahalie could talk things over with Serach and then Spieden could bring the children back. Everything would be fine. There would be a solution.

"I'm going to take care of things."

Hal was here!  That left only Mako – and the girl was torn between remaining at her mother’s side and seeking out her littermate, if only to ease some of the Coho matriarch’s distress.  These words meant little to her – rank challenge, loss – but the more she watched, the more she realized that the yearling was scared, and even more alarmingly, Speiden seemed rattled, too.  Has she been bad? the girl wondered.  She’d never had a problem with Aponi before, but why would the other woman do this to her mother?

Slowly, her hackles rose, and she might have said something if Mako had not appeared with Alastor only a few moments later.  The girl trotted over to her brother, brushing his shoulder to hers, her snout to his cheek.  They would be okay.  Mako and Hal and Speiden and her, all of them together, as long as they stuck together, they would be okay.

“I--  Okay.  Okay, mom.”

There was no room to argue.  Marina twisted, bumping her brother again as she tried to herd him towards their mother, feeling a growing need to put themselves between Speiden and whatever else was out there.  Perhaps it was Mako’s pacing, perhaps it was just seeing their mother so roughed up, but—

Marina’s head snapped up.  “Hal!?  We can’t split up.  What if someone else – what if something happens to you and we aren’t here?”

(This post was last modified: Dec 23, 2016, 06:31 PM by Reyes.)