Dead Empress Backwater Deer-lightful

RE: Euna, you come across the gory sight of a buck shedding the velvet from his antlers.
Euna is 10 wks 2 days old

Euna had been exploring the pack territory when she came upon an interesting scent. She followed her nose to the source and tucked herself away in a nearby bush. Her fading baby blues peeked out at the buck curiously. She'd never seen such large prey alive. The adults had brought pieces back before and she recognized the scent. She gawked at the animal in amazement. He was decent-sized and had stuff hanging from his tines, some of which had fallen to the ground. The discarded velvet smelled yummy and she greedily licked her chops. To her, the large fellow looked like a walking buffet. She had found him, too!

Euna felt pride swell up in her chest at her discovery. She'd found a deer! All on her own! She would be the talk of the pack and her siblings would envy her success. Considering how to tell her family, the child recalled all the times they howled to summon one another. Still young and foolish, overwhelmed by her joy, she failed to see the potential danger she brought to herself. Her little snout lifted into the air as a high-pitched baby howl echoed out. Look! Deer! Deer! She sang out boisterously.

The buck snorted at the sound, turning with his tail raised, and looked around agitatedly.

Dead Empress Backwater
— through trials to triumph.

(This post was last modified: Jul 28, 2023, 09:51 PM by Euna.)

One Kiss away from Killing

BACK OFF, I'LL TAKE YOU ON, HEADSTRONG TAKE ON ANYONE

from charming to alarming in seconds

The tawny child had been watching the border curiously. He had noticed that this invisible - but smelly - line seemed to be very important to the grown ups. On rare occasions wolves he didn’t recognize would come calling and the Big Grown Ups (one of which being his mom) would go talk to them. The other grown ups also seemed to be very worried about walking along it and peeing on things. Khalon did not know why any of this was so important, and was trying to figure it out.

It was pretty boring actually. Today the border was quiet, the adults had done their walks and pees and no visitors had come. He was rapidly losing interest in his quest, but really wanted to know why the Big Grown Ups made such a big deal about this line. Him and his siblings weren’t allowed to cross and so outside the line was a sweet temptation Khalon had yet to taste.

Nose wrinkled when his sister called that she had found a deer. That was way cooler than what he was doing, and the ugly head of sibling rivalry quickly reared its head. Still, he had to see this himself and quickly got to his paws and rushed towards where his sister was calling. Huffing a little from running as quickly as he could, he came up beside Euna, eyes widening when he saw the buck and its rather gory antlers. Tiny mouth popped open in surprise and all he could think to say was, ”woah,” in admiration.

Euna's chest swelled when Khalon's voice met her ears. She glanced over at him with a haughty smirk. With her head and tail lifted she announced, "Mmmhmm, and I found it!" The pup followed this up by stepping out in front of him. Her ears smoothed down against her cranium and she bared her teeth with a stern warning, "He's mine to show grown-ups!" This had been her discovery after all and she wanted to prove her superiority, especially over @Toriana regardless of whether her sister was stronger. It wasn't all about brawn!

Euna was better than them all, she just had to figure out how to make them know that! Behind the arrogant child, the buck's irritability was increasing. He was tossing his head to and fro, snorting and stomping his hooves. With all of the shouting from the girl drawing attention, the animal had been able to locate the pups. The buck charged forth with his head low to trample them if they didn't manage to move out of the way in time. Oblivious Euna kept running her mouth, "I found him all by myself, no help!"  

Dead Empress Backwater
— through trials to triumph.

One Kiss away from Killing

BACK OFF, I'LL TAKE YOU ON, HEADSTRONG TAKE ON ANYONE

Khalon is still in the area but has moved well out of the way of the deer

from charming to alarming in seconds

Euna almost immediately pissed him off. He was here to gawk in awe at her discovery and all she wanted to do was rub it in his face. Unacceptable. His eyes narrowed and ears pressed back flat against his skull as he let out a huff of annoyance. Honestly, why were all of his siblings the way that they are? Constantly jostling and fighting over who was the best, or the strongest, or the most whatever. Khalon rolled his eyes dramatically as she continued to drone on.

Then they focused on the buck behind her, tossing his antlers and stomping his hooves into the earth. The right thing to do would have been to interrupt Euna and warn. But he was not all that concerned with what was right and what was wrong. Besides, she would have noticed herself if she ever shut up for half of a second.

Instead a sly smile crossed his muzzle and he agreed happily, ”Okay, it’s all yours.” And then he backed way off with fake submission. She wanted to be the one to take all the credit? She could handle it herself then. He would be well out of the way and safe by the time the deer had closed half the distance between them. That would show her

Euna was amazed to see Khalon give in so easily. Her ego instantly doubled, if not tripled, as he backed away. Her smirk turned into a big bright smile that seemed to say I'm better than you. She stalked a few steps closer to him as he pretended to submit. Her tail and head held high, "That's right!"

The pup turned to look at her prize, eyes growing wide. Oh. Her little heart thudded in her chest and for a moment she merely stood there silent. Stunned. Euna wasn't incompetent though and her paws quickly started moving to dodge the attack. She was able to miss the collision but stumbled over rolling and tumbling a few feet. She scrambled to her paws hurriedly, looking around herself for the angry buck.

Dead Empress Backwater
— through trials to triumph.

One Kiss away from Killing

BACK OFF, I'LL TAKE YOU ON, HEADSTRONG TAKE ON ANYONE

This is Khalon's exit, Euna will most likely need an adult!

from charming to alarming in seconds

Khalon hated the fake submission, not wanting to grovel at the paws of his loud and obnoxious sister. But, he was always willing to lose a battle if it meant he would be the victor of the war and this was a prime example. He did his best to show how small and wrong he was, all while Euna approached and tried to rub it in his face, that’s right.

He had backed his way into the bushes and whispered under his breath, ”enjoy your prize Euna.”

He watched just enough to see the buck beginning to charge before turning and disappearing into the territory. He would have loved to stay and watch her really collect her winnings, but wanted the plausible deniability of being seen somewhere else. He always needed to be thinking about the long game and not just what he wanted in the moment. He needed to go find somebody else quickly and get wrapped up in some other activity. Leave Euna to fend for herself.

Euna's call hadn't seemed urgent, but still Eros pulled himself away from his plant gathering to see what it was she was so pleased about. Determined to do better by this batch of new siblings than he had the prior, he did his best to show up for each of them, giving attention and affection both. He wanted them to feel happy, confident, safe.

Euna had expressed those first two things in her howl, but she was far from safe. The trees scattered as they thinned and he could see something large and tan chasing after a much smaller child and his heart lurched along with his body. He was flying over the ground then, fangs jutting and barks thundering from his jaws as he dove straight for the stag.

It was going to sorely regret messing with a Backwater kid.

(This post was last modified: Mar 02, 2024, 12:48 AM by Eros.)

EUNA VALLE

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Euna started darting about, running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Her tiny heart hammering in her chest. An opportunity to duck underneath a fallen branch presented. She took advantage and scurried to safety. Beneath the cover, she trembled with her tail pinned against her belly. Had Khalon left her to die?

Then in a beastly fashion her big brother showed up. Awestuck the pup leaned in to watch as he advanced the big scary buck. Her jaw fell agape. He was her hero!

"Speak"

One Kiss away from Killing

BACK OFF, I'LL TAKE YOU ON, HEADSTRONG TAKE ON ANYONE

It had been so focused on Euna, it hadn't known Eros was coming until he'd burst from the trees with his vicious jabbering. All at once he was beside it, reaching for a leg, and it turned with the intention of not only dodging away, but striking out with a hind hoof at the wolf as well. If he were smart, Eros would have abandoned pursuit then. Instead, he was angry.

He followed, and its deliberate kick missed his skull by both inches and sheer luck. It wasn't until he'd burned through all of his sprinting stamina that Eros would give up the chase, the stag making its escape with a fear instilled that would hopefully keep it away forevermore. He'd rather have ripped it to pieces, but supposed he should've been happy not to have gotten trampled or gored. He turned back, and fought against his tired legs to return to where Euna had been as quickly as possible.

He realized now that he faintly scented Khalon too, and his stomach squirmed with unease and fear.

"Euna? Khalon?!" he called out, hoping they would both appear safe and sound.

(This post was last modified: Mar 17, 2024, 09:09 PM by Eros.)

EUNA VALLE

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Euna's paws sprawled out to cover her eyes when the deer kicked. She whimpered to herself, scared that her hero brother wouldn't win. Everyone would hate her if that happened! She trembled like a leaf, awaiting whatever fate would be bestowed.

Her name was shouted and she peaked through her toes. Bubby! She thought, scrambling to her paws to excitedly race his way. She jumped around his legs, gracing him with overly ambitious chin licks. This went on until she got the genius idea to tattle tale on her mischievous littermate. He'd faked submission! He was gonna pay, somehow, for disrespecting her,"Khalon left me to die!"She gave a dramatic pout. Surely that would be enough to get him in trouble.

One Kiss away from Killing

BACK OFF, I'LL TAKE YOU ON, HEADSTRONG TAKE ON ANYONE