Cedarwood Forest Baby it's easy to fake a smile

Celebration RE - A shooting star flies overhead and you're left with the following prompt: You wake up to a wonderful little stash of gifts. What are we celebrating?! For Isla only please! <3 Late morning

Rye uncurled from her sleeping position, jaws opening wide as her tongue curled up in a large but silent yawn. She puffed out a breath, licking the snowflakes from her nose as her head lifted, eyes blinking slowly. Nestled up against the base of one of the large cedarwood trees she had been spared from the worst of the snow, but some had sprinkled down upon her pelt making her appear like she was starting to go grey.

She shook her head to clear the snow from around her ears, sending a sprinkle of flakes into the air. Yellow eyes watched them drift to the ground, before staring unblinkingly at the curious sight barely a few wolf lengths away. A single ear pricked forward as she sniffed once, then twice, brows raising curiously. There was a small pile of oddities - a rabbit skull, a couple acorns, and a strange fuzzy thing she couldn't quite make out.

She was on her feet in a flash, head lowering to curiously eye the pile of... well, they appeared to be gifts. Now closer she could see the fuzzy thing was some type of severed tail, though from what she wasn't exactly sure. Rye then looked around for a few moments, eyes squinting as she peered through the trees to try and see whoever would have left the pile near her. And to think she had slept through it happening!

Unfortunately for everybody involved, it was Isla who stumbled upon her and the pile of gifts. Which Isla promptly, in her childlike fashion, deemed she must have. For what loner deserved to keep such good things?!

Oh, you've kept my things safe, thanks! I'll be taking all of that now. Yet still she stayed out of reach, eyes fixed on the other girl. It would be best to wait and see what kind of wolf she was dealing with first. Just in case this stranger didn't seem keen on giving these up without a fight.

Ugh. She deserved a break from wolves who fought back.

Movement had Rye turning her head sharply, almost quick enough to jerk the muscles painfully in her neck. A darkly furred girl pompously walked up to her, though smartly didn't get too close. The girl spoke, and immediately Rye pulled her lips back to reveal yellowed teeth. She didn't like the girl's tone, and didn't care that she smelled like other wolves. It was just the two of them here, and she was far larger than the girl to be afraid.

The girl had that spoiled princess tone, all petulant and bossy like she owned the place. But Rye could smell no border nearby, so to her this was just one wolf versus another. Just how she liked it.

Rye stepped over the small pile protectively, ears flattening back along her skull as her tail raised up high behind her. She'd be a bitch right back, no problem there.

"I don't see you standing over it." She finally let out a low snarl, more of a rumble deep in her chest than anything. A definite warning for the girl to stay back. "Finders keepers." This was how she had grown up back home, and to her it was second nature to claim ownership over anything that wasn't being protected by another wolf at that very moment.

Isla did not know whether to be disappointed or delighted. Sometimes she wanted the easy win, other times she wanted the struggle. Mainly the struggle made her feel stronger. Getting things just made her feel plain ol' strong.

But she had also seen and learned all the ways others claimed things.

In an act of pure defiance, she leaned some. An awkward pose. Until one realized she had just pissed upon the earth.

My woods, my stuff. Get lost. She swung her muzzle to motion in any direction but here.

How badly did this girl wanna keep her stuff? It seemed stupid for a loner to think she owned anything.

(This post was last modified: Jan 14, 2023, 05:01 PM by Isla.)

Rye stared unblinking at the girl, posture forward and threatening as if to say mine. Which it was, she had found it fair and square, and would be damned if she'd let some pipsqueak take it from her.

Her snarl turned into a sneer when she realised exactly what the girl was doing. For some reason the act got under her skin, and she could feel that familiar prickling of anger at the back of her neck. This was lone wolf country, no borders or ownership here. If one wanted something they would have to fight tooth and nail for it.

"A little bit of piss ain't enough to claim these woods." Rye snapped her jaws threateningly but didn't move closer. If the girl wanted the stuff she would have to come to her and physically take it from her. "So why don't you come a little closer girlie, and we can talk it out." She giggled, but there was no playful tone to it. The sound dripped with a certain type of madness, and she could feel saliva begin to drip from her bared teeth in anticipation of a good fight.

She was suddenly in the mood to taste flesh.

Ugh. The worst kind was those who just talked and talked and talked...

Hypocritical but whatever!

I'm not stupid, even if you are. A roll of her eyes, as she squared up her posture like Rochus had taught her. It was a good thing she had taken lessons from him before running into this girl. Maybe she could take a toe, tail or ear. Bring it back to her uncle just for giggles. Let him see that all his blabbing wasn't for nothing.

But she also wasn't stupid enough to make the first move first. Admittedly the items didn't matter that much anyway, Isla was only here to be fuel to a madness fire.

She snorted incredulously at the brash words from the girl, not believing just how stupid she was being. Didn't she know not to piss off a larger and angry wolf? Clearly no one had taught her manners either. Well, Rye would be happy to give her a lesson.

The girl squared her stance and Rye scoffed audibly. It was cute that she thought it would do anything to help her case, but Rye was a woman on a mission to make sure this girl understood she had crossed the wrong wolf.

Rye's long legs quickly ate up the distance between them as she rushed up to the girl with opened jaws and a loud snarl. She was far bigger, and aimed to use her shoulder to knock into the girl's neck with the intent of forcefully pushing her to the ground beneath her. For good measure she also snapped her jaws vaguely near the girl's face; if she caught skin or fur between her teeth she'd be pretty pleased.

Goodnight, cruel world.

Something, somewhere, was hurt enough to practically drop her all at once. Maybe a nerve. Maybe a bone. Maybe she was dead.

Maybe.

She dropped like it. Plastered upon the ground within an instant as she sagged into nothingness. No dreams awaited her in the darkness that she fell into. It also seemed impossible to know when, or if, she might stir again.

A leg twitched.

Which served to be the only truth that she had not actually somehow died in one hit.

The girl dropped to the ground so fast that even Rye was momentarily stunned. Her jaws had snapped on thin air, but she stood aggressively over her now apparently unconscious opponent. Well that had been a boring end to their fight, if it could even be called that.

She looked down at the still body, eyes narrowed and muscles tensed, waiting for a surprise attack. A leg twitched, but nothing else happened.

Deciding it wasn't worth antagonising the girl further now that she couldn't even get a kick out of it, Rye huffed loudly and moved away from the girl, purposefully stepping on her tail for good measure just in case it was still a ploy. She returned to the pile of items, humming softly as she picked up the rabbit skull in her jaws, finding the other items not nearly as interesting.

The girl could claim whatever was left if she so pleased, but Rye had far more important things to do than deal with an unconscious spoiled brat. And so she set off at a brisk pace without so much as a glance behind her.

Rye exit

(This post was last modified: Jan 17, 2023, 05:56 AM by Ryenne.)

When she finally stirred again, she had no fucking clue what had happened. The world had been under paw one second, a woman she had been prepared to strike.

So what had happened?

She blinked, owlish. Embarrassed beyond belief and glad now that she was far out from home. Although she was also inclined to believe that something out of the ordinary had happened. Why else would she have just...dropped from one hit?

She left the forest in a hunched manner and stalked her way back home. Where she would enter a fouler mood than she ever had before. Although, that wouldn't be entirely out of character for her, would it?