Blackened Down the ins and outs. [bwp]

RE: A double rainbow stretches through the sky.
Open for one or two!

Sometimes, life was very slow and boring.  Sometimes, everything seemed to happen all at once!  The 'rain' had come not too long ago -- big, fat drops of cold wet falling from the sky, splashing over her eyes and face.  It had seemed fun for a few moments, until it very much wasn't, and Arcus did not protest when she was herded somewhere warm and dry.  Had even dozed off on a (well-deserved) nap without the slightest bit of guile -- she really had been asleep.

It just wasn't a very long sleep.  She woke up, but no one else did.  The pup considered her options...  And then decided against waking her bigs.  Instead, she chewed on her lips and stepped into the wet forest floor, rather delighted at the squish.  Maybe not as good as the squish the other day, but Arcus found herself quite pleased with the mud, tottering aimlessly one step at a time, seeking out the next good squelch when she looked up.  Why?  She couldn't remember the reason, for her bright puppy blues had gone wide, spying the colors splashed across the clearing sky.

"Wh-whoa!!! 'zz tha?"

(This post was last modified: Jun 26, 2018, 12:38 AM by Sahalie. Edit Reason: added bwp to title )

Vaken Svart Vaken heard the noise before he fully recognized what it was. A pup? His tail wagged happily, but his step faltered. Where there was a pup, there was an adult. He didn’t want to deal with the inquisition of another adult wolf, especially a pack member. He continued a steady pace forward though, out of curiosity. When he saw the pup standing there, alone, he gave a happy chirp. “It’s a rainbow." He glanced quickly up at the sky, not nearly as fascinated as the pup. "Two. That’s special.” He nodded, lowering his body closer to the ground to come across less intimidating. He took a seat on his butt, letting out a little splash of mud. His tail was now soaked in dirt. He was relieved to see a child, but a little nervous. There were coyotes around, and no one to protect the kid. He sniffed the air. "You must be good luck," he added. He lifted a paw up, scanning the mud. "My names Vaken." I feel numb, born with a weak heart I guess I must be having fun

(This post was last modified: Jun 26, 2018, 04:27 AM by Vaken.)

currently travelling with Circe (she can jump in any of his threads)

Four coyotes appear from the shadows, posturing aggressively.

Arcus did not recognize this Big -- but that was fine, really. She had no reservations about wolves, new or old, and he seemed nice enough, chattering away. Her blue eyes flickered from the new wolf back to the splash of colors across the sky and she sighed happily, her tiny tail giving a pleased little wiggle. "Spee-shul," she sighed happily, doing her best to parrot his words. She'd become a talker... In time. Words were still hard to get her mouth around.

Still on all fours, she had toddled a few steps closer to the rainbows when more wolves appeared. They were a lot smaller than the old-new one, even smaller than her Mama -- but Arcus didn't judge. She was small too! The aggressive posturing meant nothing to the little pup, so she wiggled her stumpy tail some more, smile still on her bright little face. "Herro!" she crowed to them too, glancing back at Vaken. Maybe they were his friends?

@Vaken -- Thanks for joining!

OOC: The coyotes made this harder so I apologize. Vaken's time with Arcus was short-lived

Vaken Svart Vaken’s haunches raised and his teeth became bared. His head filled with curses and angry retorts, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t want to scare the pup, but he was scared. He counted four pairs of glowing eyes and felt a drop in his stomach. He couldn’t protect her from four coyotes. He wasn’t strong enough. He quickly stepped towards the child, trying to use his paw to push her closer to his protection. If she was a fully grown wolf, he would have run. He couldn’t leave behind a child though, so he took a cautious protective stance around her and growled at the incoming threats. He didn’t stand a chance. He knew it would be too late to run. He couldn’t carry a child in his mouth and still be quick enough to escape four snapping jaws. They weren’t afraid of him. Every encounter he had with the coyotes lately had ended in a fight, but now he was alone. Worse than alone: he had the liability of a child. "Not friends," he explained. "Bad." Was this child going to die? He felt his heartbeat quicken. Was he going to die trying to protect a pup that wasn’t his? He let out a furious snarl, spitting saliva into the air, his eyes narrowed to slits. No way. If it came down to it, he’d run. He was hopeful that he could hurt a few of them, and then maybe they’d run away. Maybe the pup’s parents would show up. When a coyote leapt forward, Vaken took the hit. He tried to use his backleg to push the pup into overgrowth, but was too distracted to see if it landed. He let out a yelp of pain and tried to lock his teeth into the fleshy part of its neck. He knew he was going to be overpowered. He felt another pair of teeth rip into his side, and then his back. He glanced towards the child apologetically, but there was nothing he could do as his body slammed to the ground. He was being pinned, the four of them working together to immobilize him. "I'm sorry," he whimpered. I feel numb, born with a weak heart I guess I must be having fun

(This post was last modified: Jun 26, 2018, 04:29 AM by Vaken.)

currently travelling with Circe (she can jump in any of his threads)

@Vaken yoooo! don't believe i've had the chance to say hello before! someone else can "play" the coyotes

"Oh no oh no oh no oh nooo," Her head whipped around. She was used to, by now, Arcus disappearing on the regular. She was a small girl. It was easy for her to step behind a tree or even a leaf and then suddenly Sahalie couldn't see her anywhere. The young mother was trying to be chill, to not force anything. She didn't want Arcus to resent her—why was she so afraid she would hate her? She was so small. Someone had to be the parent, but Sahalie was not so sure it had to be her. After all, the young loner had no idea what she was doing, so more often than not she would try and give Arcus the opportunity to come back, to adventure on her own a little bit. A lot of the time Sahalie would follow her and keep a close eye, remaining alert but in the shadows. If they were going to be without a pack her daughter would need to have some self confidence.

Except it reeked of coyotes.

Only a few minutes had passed since Arcus has wandered off and already she had managed to attract no less than four coyotes and one wolf. Sahalie and @Kino had warned her about them but clearly the concept was just a bit too out of reach for the month-old cub. And as she got closer she realized, her heart sinking to her paws, that she could smell blood. Wolf blood. She would have cried out if she could have found her voice, instead there she could only snarl.

She leapt through the dense, high grasses and into a well-trodden clearing.

Her daughter was on the ground in front of her, unharmed. That was good. But there was blood everywhere and there was a gang of coyotes standing over—she craned her neck, trying to see—a cub? She couldn't tell at all. Whatever it was, it was small and helpless.

"You stay put." She barked to her daughter before slamming her hefty, compacted weight into one of the coyotes looming over top of the helpless stranger. It yelped and ran off a distance. But it was not gone, probably just nursing its pride in the overgrowth. Already the young mother had grabbed onto the leg of another coyote and was trying to yank it away.

It took only moments for the other coyotes to notice the absence of its friend and turn on her. Some of them, anyway.

There were too many writhing bodies for her to see her daughter anymore.

Where was Alastor?

How quickly a girl's day could be ruined. In one moment, she was happily watching the sky, content as could be. In another, a friend. A third beat, more friends -- but they weren't, and the beats came faster, and before Arcus knew it her Mama had appeared, pushing her backwards and away. The New Friend had disappeared with the Not Friends, and then Mama did too, and maybe she wouldn't have been so upset but Mama sounded upset and none of the noises anyone was making sounded good. It smelled bad. Horrible. The colors twinkling overhead were already fading into the cloudless sky, and nothing was good at all.

Stunned -- and plagued by a peripheral guilt, a sick, sticky feeling clinging to the edges of her young logic -- Arcus sat back on her haunches and let out a horrible wail. Big, fat tears welled up, burning her eyes before rolling down her cheeks, splashing uselessly on her paws. She didn't even think of going after Sahalie -- even if she hadn't been told to stay, nothing about the chaos over there looked fun at all -- but she couldn't see anyone, there was yelling and yelping and no one was happy, and--

Arcus' little body shook and she wailed harder, ears flat against her head as she sobbed. "S-s-s-sooowww-www-wwwyyyyyyy."

Here comes big daddy! No one messes with his girls. M for mild gore

Kino swore he couldn’t leave either of his girls alone for even a second. They were magnets for trouble. But, since Hal refused to let them join Treyah and Draven’s pack for reasons he still couldn’t comprehend, he had to fend for them. Hal was able to leave more often now, but either way one of them had to stay behind to watch Archie. The girl was everything he had hoped she would be and he had never loved anyone more in his life, but good god she was trouble with a capital T.

He’d been out hunting when he’d heard the yelps, the hackles on his neck rising. Then the snark came, from a voice he knew unmistakably as his mate’s. The silver man’s heart began to race and without a second thought he was taking off, long legs covering ground at a breakneck pace. Whoever was attacking his family would have hell to pay.

Whenever he arrived the scent of blood was thick in the air, a little lump of fur being covered in coyotes the first thing he saw and for a moment he thought it was Arcus. He wanted to vomit. But the wailing from he grass alerted him to the position of his pup and he could have wept with relief. But, it was short lived as one of the coyotes grabbed ahold of Hal. A ferocious growl escaped his jaws and he ran forward, slamming his weight into the mongrel. His jaws clasped it’s scruff, using his momentum to rip it away from his mate. He didn’t have time to worry that it might cause some injury to her, all he knew was that she would be further injured if he let it stay.

Claws grappled at his sides as belly as he pinned the coyote beneath him, making him all the more angry. How dare this inferior canine attempt an attack on his family? He snapped at the coyote’s face, grasping it’s muzzle between his jaws and shaking vigorously. High pitched whines escaped his foe’s jaws but he held on until he felt what he was waiting for. A sharp pop. A cry came from the coyote and he let off, stepping back with a snarl. He’d dislocated the animal’s jaw. It rolled to it’s jaws, lower jaw hanging limply as it turned and ran away yelping. In the world of the wild, an injury such as that could spell a slow death for the mongrel. He said good riddance.

He trusted his mate had fled to protect their daughter, so he turned on the coyote still pummeling the small unknown wolf. He charged forward, tail flagging and fangs barred. He looked a force to be reckoned with, and he saw the coyote hesitate. It’s ugly eyes looked between him and Hal, both pissed beyond belief, then at the empty space around him. He’d been abandoned. It didn’t take long for him to turn tail and scamper off. The Leigh snorted, eyeing the small scrap of fur. Just who was this little thing that had been attacked, perhaps for defending his child? And, he realized something else.

Where was the fourth coyote?

OOC: hello hello! Thank you all for protecting my smol boy

Vaken Svart Vaken felt the coyote be pushed off him before he registered what was happening. At first, the other female wolf blended in, she was just another body in the crowd. Then he got a better look, peering at her brown fur and light gold eyes. She was a wolf, but not much bigger than he was. They were still outnumbered. The four coyotes still posed too big of a threat for two small wolves. He bowed his head quickly in gratitude, kicking a coyote in the face as he struggled back onto his feet.   There was a lot of noises. He heard his own growls mixed with the females, the sobs of the pup, and the excited yips of the coyotes. He looked nervously into the distance, tempted to run. The coyotes were distracted now, ignoring him temporarily. Now would be his chance. He took a step forward, but his eyes peered over at the female. She had protected him when he was pinned. He glanced at the pup, listening to her scared whimpers. They were both in danger now. Despite wanting to run, his paws stayed glued to the floor. The three coyotes were making their way towards the adult female. The fourth was still hidden in the overgrowth, but he heard the rustling of its paw against the ground. He let out a deep sigh, frustrated at the situation and himself. He felt the stinging on his side, an open wound. It wasn’t gashing blood, but there was an injury. He tasted blood on his lips, chunks of coyote fur sticking to his chin. Then he heard the sound of another pair of footsteps, belonging to the large silver male. Vaken felt a wave of relief. Three against four, they could do that. He ran towards the stranger, grabbing a coyote by the scruff and using his momentum to knock it off balance. He wished he was stronger, larger, more experienced. He wished he was the type of wolf to fight a group of coyotes singlehandedly. He was not. He had caught the attention of one of them, and that was all he could handle. He led the coyote away, side stepping away from its attacks. His attention was focused on the one approaching him, teeth bared. When the coyote leapt towards him, Vaken tumbled away and the two rolled around in a ball of blood and fur. Sometimes his teeth would sink into the flesh of the enemy and he’d rip out a chunk of skin, victoriously scuttling away. Despite the wound on his side, Vaken was managing to avoid the deadly bites. Over the whimpers and growls, Vaken heard the snap of bone. He jerked his head over his shoulder in time to see the coyote sprint away, its jaw hanging. When the strong male came to his aid, Vaken slowly got back onto all fours and lowered his head. He was thankful for the help, but his eyes twitched back towards the overgrowth where he knew the final coyote to be hiding. He stayed very still, worried that a quick move would be interpreted as a threat. He did not want the large silver wolf’s anger to be redirected at him. He was already wounded, and there was so much tension in the air. "One more," he panted desperately. "To your rig-" Vaken didn’t have time to finish his sentence. From behind the silver wolf, the final hiding coyote appeared. Within a milisecond, Vaken saw his glowing eyes and the muscles in his hind legs spring to jump. He had pounced forward, sensing the vulnerability of the bulky male. There wasn’t enough time to explain. While the silver stranger was distracted with protecting Vaken, he had turned his back on a threat. Vaken jumped forward too, and the two collided in the air- coyote versus wolf. Vaken wasn’t strong enough. He had reacted instinctively, using himself as a barrier. The coyote’s weight overthrew him, and he fell against his back with a loud cry. Kicking desperately with his back legs, Vaken’s adrenaline was all he had. The muscles in his body were sore and strained. Trying to keep his neck protected, the small wolf was practically defenceless. I feel numb, born with a weak heart I guess I must be having fun

(This post was last modified: Jun 26, 2018, 04:31 AM by Vaken.)

currently travelling with Circe (she can jump in any of his threads)

Going by the posting order i guess @Arcus would be up next

She didn't have to worry for long. Alastor was never far and he had never failed her. From her angle, concerned as she was with the coyote's hind leg in her mouth she couldn't see what was going on but she heard a lot more whimpers from coyotes than wolves. In the background to all this was the heartbroken, terrified sobs of Arcus who did not want to see her parents or anyone hurt. It made it very hard to stay focused. The coyote seized this opening in her attention span and had kicked her square in the roof of her mouth, dislodging her grip and knocking her back a step or two. But it was bleeding heavy and it was going after its comrade with the broken jaw. It seemed as though the wolves could damage them but they never truly made a dent in their numbers.

Sahalie sighed, at least they were go—

The small, dark girl was turning around slowly as the stranger, already on the verge of collapse, started speaking to Alastor about something. Time moved slower. That's when she saw it: the coyote she had just knocked back to the woods. Only knocking the wind out of the cretin had been a mistake. Sahalie blinked and time sped up again. Now the stranger was throwing himself at their final adversary in her mate's defense. But he was so small, so tired. He hit the ground and the noise he made reminded her of her daughter and all the other cubs she had seen to adulthood.

One last time she came to the stranger's aid, head low to protect her eyes. She'd tossed this coyote once and she'd knock him down again. When it was on the ground she immediately was over top of him just as it had been over top of the yearling boy. It whimpered and cowered as she snarled.

Sahalie had never killed anything before. Not like this.