The dark pup was gingerly cradled in his jaws, and the Mayfair was quick to make his way to the whelping den. The taste of blood was bitter on his tongue, and he tried not to think of it. It was not a taste he had ever wanted to experience – the life of a youth.
Closing the distance to the den entrance, Constantine gently laid the boy down, nosing at him once more before uttering a sharp bark to gain Durnehviir’s attention. He wasn’t sure what her reaction would be, and the dark wolf straightened, his ember eyes seeking out her form.
His mind was still distant, but movement and touch was pulling him closer to waking. He groaned as he was set onto the ground, and again his paws moved, possessed of a need to do so. The blood had matted into his fur but no longer flowed freely. It was thick and sticky. Death may not be so imminent for the coywolf, but life was not yet guaranteed.
Probably skippable after this, though will interfere as needed. >P
At the sound of his father's bark, Akatosh came tearing out of the den, expecting that Constantine had brought them all something cool! Okay, probably food or something else chewable, but that could qualify as cool, right? And yeah, there was totally some furry blob there, so that was proba----
woah, wait. Hit the brakes! He skidded to a stop and pinwheeled backwards -- made even more comical by his awkward puppishness -- because his brain had finally processed
that was a wolf. Perhaps smartly, Akatosh was pretty unnerved about the bloody lump of a pup, and so from now back near the den entrance he leaned towards it and sniffed delicately.
Constantine’s call elicited the attention of his children fairly quickly – the energy that wound in their chubby legs seemed to spring in to action the moment his scent had even begun to drift in to the den. Akatosh was first, and Akavir was close at his brothers heels – smaller, and not quite as fast as his clumsy paws propelled him forward.
A grin upon his small muzzle, Akavir yipped, about to greet his father with a slobbery kiss before his eyes darted to the lump of fur on the ground. The scent of coppery blood caused him to falter, and just as quickly as he had sprung from the confines of the den, the dark whelp twisted, his paws clumsily changing their course before he pressed against Akatosh roughly, his ears splayed back to his skull and his lips curling back in a snarl of surprise.
The bark of his father was a welcome sound, and Viinturuth's velvet ears sprung tall atop his crown. He swung toward the den's opening, tail flagging and swishing with the happy sway of his rump, before moving out to welcome their patriarch home.
His brothers saw fit to do likewise, and the three boys scrambled into the open together. The palest of them yipped merrily, making to lope through the grass with his tongue lolling, though found his chest colliding roughly with Akavir's rump. With an "oof!", the alabaster youngster shook his head and scrunched his nose in irritation, collecting himself before stepping up alongside his charcoal sibling.
Sensing the tension and uncertainty of the other children, Viinturuth's gaze found the crumpled form of a stranger. Akatosh was the first to reach out and test its scent though the hueless youth opted to remain rooted to the spot, his gaze locked on the broken body laid before them.
All was quiet within in the Frostfur-Mayfair den. Durnehviir's pale gaze flitted between her four youngsters - as she'd learned that silence tended to rouse suspicion among her brood - but they seemed unusually settled. Despite always feeling on edge as a mother often did, the russet wolfess was content to rest her muzzle atop her outstretched limbs and close her tired eyes.
A familiar bark from beyond their hollow caused each member of the family to perk, and her three sons padded out into the open before Durnehviir could gather to her paws. Knowing that Talos was likely to assert herself for having been left behind by her brothers, the crimson beauty grumbled with the mental preperation of intervening.
What she did not expect was the broken little body of a cub that was not her own. Ginger ears thrust forward, the dragoness stared wide-eyed in surprise. "Give him space, Akatosh," Durnehviir told her lookalike son, swallowing her heart that had begun to swell with emotion. Worried, she blinked up to seek her mate's molten gaze once more, and asked, "what happened?"
Talos was busy. Quietly paw-deep in the earth at the back of the den, today she had kept herself occupied seeing just how much more successful trying to sneakily burrow out the back rather than exit through the more mundane front entrance might be. She had her ears flattened back against her skull, trying to keep the dirt from turning their dusky insides to mud, and didn't properly register Constantine's bark at first. It was a minute or two in fact before she paused, grinning as she gave her coat a quick shake and congratulated herself on being so ninjalike and clever. Her smirk faded as she took a closer look about the den, however, nose atwitch, and discovered it was quite suddenly empty of both Mother and brothers. What the heck? Talos abandoned her project and went tumbling up the exit hall, barging out between Mother's legs and straight through whatever siblings dared to exist anywhere near her chosen path. Her tail wagged enthusiastically as she bulled right up to Father to greet him. It was only after she'd jumped her nose up closer to his that the strange scent on his breath registered.
Talos did a quick U-turn in puzzlement, her ears perking in surprise again as she focused on the small black lump she'd run right past. Wharrappa?
she half-echoed Mother as she trotted up intending to give the limp youngster a poke. Oodah? Barrappa.
She seemed to be talking as much to herself as to anyone else, which was fortunate since her garbled noises still weren't exactly crystal-clear. The next bit was at least a little plainer however, as she leaned in close to huff the stranger's scent and bizarre array of blood-spiked fur and wounds. Whoa. He'd lost some fight bad, hadn't he?! 'Ee mess,
said Talos, which triumphantly had her thinking that at least someone else was bound to get the dreaded Tongue Bath of Doom tonight and maybe even make her parents forget all about any of her messes. Ow,
she noted more sympathetically though as she stuck out a forepaw to gently try and shake him, while avoiding any immediate wound sites. But she wanted him to wake the hell up and answer a few of her puppyish questions like right now though... Fortunately with both parents on-site to intervene there were probably some strict limits to just how much trouble she could make or damage she could cause right at the moment. Expert healer she was definitely not.
The boys rushed out first, which was unexpected, given how authoritative Talos was, though he didn’t have time to ruminate on it. His trio of boys were curious about the injured pup, but only Akatosh began to investigate more – ordered away by his mother.
Constantine studied Durnehviir with uncertainty, his muzzle giving a gentle shake to her question.
“Found him like this.. No sign of what did it, or who he belongs to.” He paused then, his brow furrowing. Talos barged out of the den in that moment, past her brothers and straight to greet him without taking in her surroundings. She greeted him fondly, and the swarthy wolf dipped his muzzle briefly to nudge her, though remaied otherwise distracted. When she began to inspect their ‘guest,’ the father pushed at her rump gently, herding her toward her mother before he moved to step over the unresponsive whelp, keeping his own children from poking at him further.
“Ow,” he agreed, echoing his daughter.
“I’m going to call for @Thelxiope.. but I don’t know if he’ll make it.”
Noise. Scents. He was surrounded. Someone even touched him. Rhakios groaned again and rolled his head as he continued to fight his way back from the darkness. More strength came into his legs as he drew them back as if preparing to stand. But just as he seemed to pull nearer to waking, his shoulders slackened and his form went entirely limp. An exhausted sigh rushed out between his lips. He was out cold again.
Feel free to skip Rhakios for the remainder of the thread! He will wake later.
long, careful steps took her swiftly to where she had been summoned; the scent of blood thick and heavy so near to the pup-den. her strides became quicker, sharp tug of worry pulling at her chest, yet the sea-witch let no sign of it show.
upon arrival, her gaze fell at once to the broken pup that lay at Constantine's feet, moving, then. she was struck at once how similar the child looked to a dying arachnid, limbs pulling near before limpness had them relax once more. gaze found him first, searching, for the other four pups were present and thus this one was no one of the pack. yet here was no place for questions, and the sea witch crouched and began the careful task of cleaning the blood and debris from the boy's pelt, searching for the source of the pooling sanguine fluid.
It was rather unsurprising that the all the boys seemed to behave in comparison to Talos. Akatosh was keen to stay back and just, well.. Watch. He wasn't exactly sure what they were supposed to do about the stranger that Dad had dumped here before them. Can't eat him, after all, but he didn't seem like much fun. So was he just here to steal all the attention and food? He squinted, but hung back. Talos could go get in trouble.
Another adult showed up to poke at the crumpled heap. None of it would make much sense to him anyway, as Akatosh had been living a pretty simple life, and right now food, growing, and the beginnings of words were plenty to keep his brain occupied. It'd just be a fuzzy memory in the future.
Gonna fade here, hope you guys don't mind!
The boys fell quiet, while her only daughter barged through. As always, Talos needed to be first in line, and Constantine moved in to reprimand her gently just as Durnehviir prepared to deliver a warning nip to her rear. Her patience threatened to wear thin with the darkest and boldest of her brood at times, and she exhaled in relief that it was her mate who took charge on this occasion.
He summoned their resident healer, who arrived swiftly and was quick to set about tending to their newest arrival with care and precision. "To me," she beckoned to the pups, bumping her pale muzzle against Akavir's charcoal shoulder and making to herd them away and make room for the wounded cub to breathe. "Let's leave Thelxiope to see that he gets better, hm?"