Drooping Willows Cinderella Man

This thread is for @Semananti only.

Guiness gets in a fight with a wolverine.

Partly cloudy 72 degrees F

The day had started out just like any normal day. The birds were chirping, the pack was at east (for the most part), and El’s pups were safely confined in the den that they were born in, hopefully, with their mother by their side. He found, that unlike other wolves that he knew, the silence that greeted him in the past days was welcome. It brought down his stress level by a ton and at the time being he could not have asked for anything more. That day he had gone on his regular run of the borders, today being the day that he would heavily remark them and watch out for any predators on the loose. Today, unlike most, there had been a disturbance at the borders. There, trying to creep within the Willow Ridge pack was a wolverine. A dangerous animal in the least, trying to get past the Ridge’s boundaries, and probably scenting the young within their territory. Guiness would not have this and so with an angry snarl, eh launched himself forward, his jaws opened wide as he attempted to clamp down on the animal’s throat.

He missed…but not completely. The Guardian’s snarls echoed throughout the forest as he clamped down fiercely on the wolverine’s leg, crushing the bones within the leg and hearing the high pitched screech of the thing. Before he could get away, as he was not as fast as others were, he felt the sharp teeth of the black and white beast piercing through some of his skin near the back of his neck. With a deep growl, he lifted his large paw off the ground, to the point of where if felt like it was going to pop and smashed it down into the shoulder of his enemy. With the relief of it letting go Guiness launched himself at the animal once again, this time catching it by surprise and easily latching himself onto the creature’s neck. Just as he was about to finish its life though, sharp teeth met his chest and a high pitched yelp escaped the man’s mouth, causing him to release him. Backing away quickly, he took a moment to right himself, blocking the wolverine’s way with his body. There was no way he was going to let this thing get past him. It deserved to die. And so with that thought, he launched himself at it for the final time, putting all of his strength and stamina into the final blow. Opening his jaws, he let them wrap around the animal’s windpipe and crushed it, letting the blood flow out of its body as the life drained out of it. His job was done and the pups were safe.

Pillar of Strength

Semananti heard the high pitched screech from her place, where she had just found a dead rabbit. It was a little ways off from the borders, and she had challenged none for it. A sense of pride with her senses, though the yelps of a packmate were heard too. She abandoned the meal and ran towards the borders, a hiss to find out she had arrived too late, and she saw a dead wolverine and a wounded Guiness. "Couldn’t have saved a bite for me?" She asked, now having a lust to fight something or someone. A hint of humor in her voice as she walked over to him, her mum had taught her the basics of searching for infections. The wolverine didn’t appear to be diseased, nor could she scent disease on the animal either.

Semananti let her tail fall, submissive behavior around the second in command of the Ridge, waiting for him to respond to her joke. That was all she said, not even a greeting, her response was always short. She was not one to BLATHER on about whether or not he was alright. After all there were only a few facts for sure. Guiness was injured, he would live and he would get on with it. It deserved no special attention and he would need to check in with the alpha that was resting with her pups, just to heal his wounds she would probably have to leave her pups with a pupsitter for a bit to collect the herbs.

She knew that when she slept in the den, Tempest had been in there often, maybe Elettra would leave the pups with Guiness’ sister. She hoped that Elettra would not ask Sema to sit with them for a bit, since it would probably bring up old scars, scars that she didn’t like to mention or bring up. It was like opening new wounds, ones that were best left in the back of Sema’s mind, a place where she never went.

He was not long until one of his pack mates ended up sneaking up behind him. There was not any symbol as to her being concerned about his injuries and there was no comment towards them. For that, the russet man was thankful. Tilting his head as he stared at the woman in front of him, he snorted at her comment physically shaking his head. There had been no time to wait for anyone to help him, especially if it meant the pups could have been in danger. With a sigh he stood there in a comfortable silence, taking this time to assess his injuries and finding that he could deal with what the wolverine had given to him. The Thorben could last for the rest of the day and then later…perhaps when El wasn’t so tired, he would go seek her aid. None the less he would gain a few scars from the wolverine’s attack.

Still wanting to stretch of his muscles and the burn of exertion, the Second crouched down, his tail floating behind him and above the ground. A playful growl escaped his mouth, indicating that he wanted to spar with Semananti. The last time he had done so had been with Hotei months ago and both men had ended up in a tie. Hopefully, the woman in front of him would provide him with a challenge and would not go easy on him. From what he had seen in the lady before him, he believed that she had quite the backbone. But Guiness knew if that backbone grew hard enough, one could turn arrogant and the Head Guardian was extremely curious to see if this female was arrogant.

Pillar of Strength

Semananti heard a little playful growl; a good spar would be good for her. She grinned with her devious smile and prepared to launch herself at him, only letting a little playful growl return his. Her amber eyes hiding her truth, her point of attack, it was all she aimed for. She looked at his back, but it was not where she truly aimed for. Her mum had never let her participate in fighting, but occasionally her brother would pull her aside and teach her what he had learned in that time. Her gentle, mainly different shades of brown, gray and crème fur lying across her back, not even a bristle like what would happen normally in a fight. She had to admit that she did not have the strength to fend him off, even in his weakened state. That meant that trickery and deceit were the only traits she had left to fight him off. Looking one way and hitting another was one of her more used tactics.

She thought about guerilla warfare for a bit, hit and runs until the enemy fell, but she knew it would not work in this case. She always got too much into fighting, like one night she challenged her brother to a spar. But she made the mistake and she had gazed into his copper eyes. She almost wanted her fur to bristle, and for her eyes to meet with Guiness’ fiery ones. She almost wanted to fight him in a real duel, where there were no regrets to injuries. At the last second, she leapt to the lower right, almost as aiming to land in between his two legs. But she truly aimed for his right leg. The leg that she could use to use his own weight against him, and she would pull him down.

Quickly, the red woman in front of him seemed to catch onto what he was trying to say and the lady dropped into a crouch, just as he had. Excitement gleamed through the golden amber eyes in Gui’s face and he waited for her to make the first move. As he had learned many of time before, you could never trust your opponents eyes…for they always lied. Fortunately, sometimes he used this to his advantage when he thought that his opponent was dumber than him. He could look at the spot that he was actually aiming for…but then instead of going somewhere else as the above wolf would assume, he would go straight for the place where he was aiming for. Fortunately, when Semananti made her choice to leap towards him, he found that she too would use the strategy. Instinctively, Guiness reared back before the woman got anywhere near him, as he knew it would take him longer to get back due to his large weight. Jumping back he landed back on all fours with a heavy grunt.

Locking his gaze on his target, he had no trouble in trying to “conceal” his eyes floating towards Semananti’s shoulder. As quick as he could, the bear-sized man launched himself at the woman’s right shoulder. Hopefully, if he was lucky enough, he would get close and immediately open his jaws and clamp down on the woman’s shoulder, taking her down with his heavy weight and possibly pinning her down. Several thoughts were flowing through Guiness’s multitask mind. He felt the stretch of his muscles, a nice feeling in his legs and body. It felt good to exert his body to its limits again. He had not done so in so long and having a nice spar with one of the newest members would also help him see where she stood. Was she truly worthy of being a member of Willow Ridge and taking his border patrols when he was unavailable? He was about to find out.

Pillar of Strength

Semananti was calm as she missed, watching carefully as he leapt for her right shoulder. His eyes had not deceived him, but she too knew better than to think her opponent was simple minded. She veered to the left, her shoulder narrowly avoiding his tooth and claw of an attack. She knew better than to not be careful with the environment around her. this time she had no time to think, and instead she leapt at the man's right shoulder as he just had. she barely even aimed, it was more of acting on instinct now. Her mind was flushed with thoughts, channeling all the anger she possessed to give her the will to fight a packmate. She never knew when her job might be to always attack a packmate she knew well, one that might have gone rouge.

At the end of the spar, she could, and she would tell Guiness about Elettra's orders to have a guard at the outside of the birthing den at all times, as they could not and would not risk a fox killing one of the young princes or princesses. That was simply all there was to it. Guiness of all wolves would understand El's orders. He was a loyal packmate, one thing that she definitely sure of. A growl was emitted from her throat, she was not aiming to hurt the guardian further than he already had, but she did aim to hit this time. If not, could she truly call herself a warrior? Perhaps she could, but she could not call herself the best warrior. She could not say she was a better warrior than him.

Her eyes shown like fire in the sun, keeping calm as her attack held, she waited, hoping he was caught off guard. One was never too sure about the surroundings that led to a man, or a woman attacking as they did.

Being as he was already wounded, Guiness was much slower than he usually was and so he was not surprised when Semananti easily avoided his attack. Grunting under his breath he started to turn, his eyes narrowed slightly. The woman’s attack was not dodged though, for she came at him too fast. Feeling teeth latch onto his shoulder, he instinctively protected his neck, not wanting for his pack mate to get any closer to his throat. His right shoulder sagged down and he growled aiming for the woman throat in an attempt to grab her and pin her down to the ground by her throat. Now that their little spar was getting serious, the trained Guardian was taking it to another level. Hopefully, if he got a hold of the woman then he would be able to keep her own and let her energy run out.

All of his years the russet Thorben had continuously trained to become the best Guardian within his pack and in the end, he had become the head Guardian back where he was from. He had been the best and he would follow orders without second thoughts…at least, from his superiors. Now he knew he was probably not the best Guardian with the Lore…but he was sure he was one of the loyalists to Elettra. He had tried to become the best he could be and in the end, he had become Second…the next in line for leadership, and he hoped that soon someone up would step up to the plate. He knew that if @Angier did challenge him, he would give up his position. El seemed to trust him enough he knew that his lady knew that he was not the right man for the job. When the time came he would submit to the other man and if the time came where Guiness doubted his loyalty, then he would let his alphess know. The Thorben did not wish to put anyone in any danger.

Pillar of Strength

Semananti felt her teeth sink into his shoulder, success was immanent, and her eyes lit up with a fierce determination. But he quickly flipped the chains on her, grabbing her neck and pinning her down. She thought and thought of ways to get out of it, her eyes shown her confusion. She was a straight forward fighter most of the time. She let her body go limp, submitting in the fight and giving up overall. Her tail curling almost submissively, but she would wait until he got off of her and released her neck. Her eyes had shown something hidden under a blanket of solitude.

Like the ceiling can’t hold that. The pressure on her neck made her know for a fact that she would lose if she tried to further what was supposed to be a small scuffle. He had taken it farther than she had wanted, forceful grips like that in a fight with a packmate were not common, and at least not where she was from. Perhaps it was just an irritation from his injury. She had held down her enemies as such that before, but that was during her jobs and assignments as an assassin for hire, she would hold them down and squash their throats until she could drink the blood. But she knew he meant no harm, at least she hoped he didn’t. The wolverine was definitely dead by now if it hadn’t been before {which it had been}, it was obvious that everything was alright, and her mind drifted into thoughts again.

He could feel his own pulse thumping against his throat, as well as that of his opponents. It took him a few moments to realize that his pack mate was no real threat and that he needed to calm down. His shoulder was throbbing slightly. Unfortunately, Semananti had grabbed the shoulder that had already started to irritate him and in turn he had pinned her down, much harder than he would have expected himself to. The fact that she was not moving beneath him helped him realize what he was doing and what his further intentions would have been if he would not have pulled out of his haze. His goal when fighting was to end whoever he was in combat with, even if it happened to be a friendly spar with a pack mate. It was one thing that had made him so dangerous back in the Thorben pack and why he had been so far up in the ranks. He had challenged his way up and in the end no one had decided to challenge him. Though sweet and gentle Guiness Thorben could be one hell of a killer if needed and Willow Ridge had not seen much of a man since he had arrived.

Pulling himself back he shook his head, letting a small growl erupt from his muzzle in an attempt of an apology. Knowing that his muscles were feeling much better now, he shook his head and turned on his heel. There was no need for him to stay any longer, and so with a flick of his russet tail he started to walk towards the den, where he hoped that El would be. The tank would need his shoulder looked at so that he could be in mint condition just in case anything else managed to happen to the Willow Ridge pack. He did not want any danger coming upon Elettra’s children, and if that meant actually needing to heal him, then he would allow himself to heal. For the children.

{end}

Pillar of Strength