Ravensblood Forest I worship like a dog

@Dogmeat

It was another day of searching for something to entertain the cubs with, a task Saena set herself to at least once a week. Most of the time, the well-meaning Delta came up empty-handed, but she had a good feeling about today. She was following the river toward Ravensblood Forest, feeling a strange pull to visit the evergreen forest that bordered the flatlands from the coast, as though something were drawing her there.

It turned out her occasional companion, the ghostly bear cub that only she could see, was waiting for her just beyond the forest's edge. It regarded her with cool blue eyes as she approached. Unlike all those months ago, when Saena first lied to Lasher about her ghost problem, the female found nothing to fear from the spectral bear cub, who was much taller than she now. That a bear cub could grow while it was a ghost was ludicrous, of course, but she sometimes suspected it was more than just a random ghost.

It watched her for a time, standing opposite her in the trees, then turned as though to lead her somewhere. Curious, Saena followed it, wondering what it had found for Blue Willow's children, or for herself.

omg im a flake sorry i forgot i needed to start us a thread -.-

After Dogmeat's troubling encounter with the dark wraith of a coywolf, he had quickly (as fast as his ailing limbs could have taken him) exited Jaws' company in favor for the ocean. He had spent the night whimpering to himself, soaking his sad excuse of an inflamed leg in the coruscating shallows -- it took every last ounce of determination he had to brace the punishing cold of the water that threatened to overtake him.

He had spent the night curled up in a ratty and damp den somewhere in Ravensblood, though he knew not the name of the ominous forest. Morning time he awoke and languished in the shade, a wasted and spectral thing hardly more alive than Saena's own imaginative counterpart. He heard the prowling of a wolf long before he saw her -- and when the pale beauty with sharp auburn accents skulked into his vision he visibly retracted into the tangled bramble.

He hoped she would pass him by, but his shrinking body had caused the thistle about him to shake -- he was certain Saena would detect him and when she did he would issue a soft, pleading growl to leave him alone.

She moved through the trees on the heel of her ghost bear for nearly half an hour before it abruptly stopped. Saena stopped, too, pitching her ears forward and stiffening every muscle in her body. It wasn't the bear that alarmed her, but the sound that came from the tangled branches just ahead of it. She suspected that was why it stopped as well.

For a moment, she thought the bear would continue leading her elsewhere, but when next she blinked, it vanished. Left alone in the woods with whatever had rustled the foliage, Saena felt her confidence waning. All the strength she tried to show to her pack mates was just that: show. She wasn't as fearless here, though curiosity made her press forward to witness whatever made the sounds.

When she spotted it, she scowled and her lips curled. "You!" she hissed, although she'd never met or seen this mutant wolf before. She didn't feel she had to, though; they were all the same, all filthy cannibals. This one appeared weakened, but for the time being she didn't approach. She merely sneered.

All hopes of remaining undetected vanished from the piteous dog's mind as the pale wolf turned around in the desolate forest, her auburn ears pressed forwards in high alert. As she spotted him a certain harshness seemed to descend upon her features, leaving Dogmeat to wonder just what he had done to cause such acrimony.

With a sigh heavy with exhaustion, the dog lumbered forwards, pulling himself from the trembling thicket to eliminate the possibility of being cornered by the female. He didn't know why he did it -- it's not like he would put up too much of a fight anyway, and he certainly couldn't have outrun her if he tried. She was slight and smaller than him, which made the dog feel somewhat assured of his position despite his incapacitated state.

He was not sure what exactly to say, so he fell into silence and awaited whatever vitriol the wolf uttered.

When the injured mutant began to rise, she took a quick step back. Part of her screamed to run as she remembered the way Warthog had charged without a second thought, but another part of her wanted to stay and make this creature pay for Honey Badger's pain. It wasn't right; Saena barely knew the other girl, yet she'd attached so much emotional significance to her body that it nearly made her insane to even think about it.

It made her judge this creature without any evidence of his involvement whatsoever, simply because he didn't look like a wolf, and because she believed no real wolf could commit such a heinous act.

"You ate my friend," Saena accused in a shaky voice as her whole body trembled. The tips of her ears quivered the hardest with the effort of keeping them angrily upright; she so wanted to throw them down across her skull and roar at him, but she wasn't nearly intimidating enough. "You ate her innards and left her at the edge of my home," repeated the Blacktail with an expression that darkened with every second that ticked by.

"What do you have to say for yourself, you sick fuck?"

He would not be cowed by this whelp, nor the venom that spat from her mouth. His triangular ears curled forwards as she accused him of an atrocity he would have never committed -- a flash of nausea overcame him as he recalled the dog that had been eating its comrades after the crash.

He tried to pull himself upwards and form his body into a formidable stance, though it was clear by the position in which he stood that his hind leg troubled him greatly. "I did not commit those crimes." He snarled lowly, his voice thick with outrage and threat. "So get lost, pup."

Somehow, the wounded creature found his feet, causing Saena to step back defensively and bristle. She wasn't a menacing creature, but still she tried to appear larger. She was unwilling to become the next victim of this breed's disgusting habits, a fact she made clear with a deep snarl as he responded.

"Liar," she hissed, lashing her tail and holding her head high as though she possessed a right to behave thusly. Saena could boast of no proof of Dogmeat's alleged crimes, yet she felt herself to be the right one. It was xenophobia if ever there was any. "I've seen your comrades do it, too. You're all filthy, cannibalistic monsters who deserve worse than death for your atrocities."

dogmeat bristled, furious to find his honor sullied by this juvenile twit. he felt somewhat vilified when she stepped away from him, but he did not yet fall at ease. she was quite insistent it was he who had committed such a heinous act, and to dogmeat it seemed no amount of insistence of his innocence would assay her conviction otherwise.

"my kind?" the dark brute spat, feeling his fur bristle outwards with heated wrath. "your kind killed my friend, attacked us, beat us, chased us -- your kind did this!" he shifted his wounded leg forward with a wince. the pain incensed him and he felt fueled suddenly by a primeval rage he had never felt before. with a growl he lurched towards saena, teeth bared.

"now fuck off."

However badly the young woman wanted to shout about "his kind" for all the dark forest to hear when he made his accusations in return, Saena refrained, if only because he'd made a lunge for her. Hastily she stepped back, for the moment managing to avoid him, if only by the fortune of his injury. In prime condition, Dogmeat easily would've caught a mouthful of her snout or throat in his jaws. Somehow, the Blacktail didn't realize the severity of that reality.

"How 'bout you just fucking die instead?" she said with a snarl. She was less certain of herself now, her demeanor reduced slightly to a more nervous fidgeting. She was ready to flee on the spot if he made another move—she wasn't completely stupid, even though her passionate belief that he'd wronged wolves in general made her act rather stupid—but she faltered, half-believing he was too injured to do anything drastic.

lmao saena cracks me up

as the brute stumbled forwards his injury hindered any serious progress -- his teeth clasped nothing but empty air and the crackling air was met with a cold and departed snap. dogmeat's ears folded back as the she-wolf countered with hateful words that deeply wounded him. he was a good dog, he reminded himself -- a good dog. this wolf wasn't a good dog -- this wolf was awful.

he could stand the torment to his integrity no longer. he grew eerily quiet, the way dogs often did when their defensiveness coagulated into outright aggression. he stumbled forwards on three legs at a hasty and terribly uneven gallop, his neck lowered and mouth agape to seize her flesh, to bite her, to do anything.

he didn't care that he was wounded -- he didn't care that the pain was so sharp it compromised his steps. he only wanted to punish. he was lucky, in hindsight, that saena was alone for the time being. had she been an adult, or accompanied by one, his attack likely would have been his last.

She'd made a terrible mistake, and fear showed in the widening of her eyes as Dogmeat began barreling forward. She turned on her feet, but wasn't nearly sprightly enough to avoid him altogether; even as she tried to flee his wrath, her tail was yanked so painfully that she yowled loudly enough to mask the crunch as he bit right through her bone and parted two-thirds of it from her rump.

Her vision exploded into white as excruciating pain tore through her tail and her hindquarters. She stumbled, struck a tree and fell as the shock of it washed over her and made her legs jelly. Saena lay there, stunned, for nearly ten seconds before the painful throb of her missing limb reminded her that she was in danger. She scrambled at the snow and dirt below her, found purchase and ran, likely escaping another bite by less than a few inches, judging by the speed he'd moved in spite of his injury.