Overture Downs Doomsday

Maybe Someone From Lost Creek Hollow?

Spring had woken up in the middle of the night feeling once again her fear and anxiety of Ishi's safety strike her again.  So she had padded out of Phoenix Maplewood to go look for her Lost Creek Hollow friend.  She really hoped Ishi was okay.  A part of her just felt like she would be lost if Ishi disappeared from her life.  More so, she just missed him.  It had been too long.  She wanted to see him.  She needed to see him.  She needed to make sure he was all right.  She just felt in her gut that something was horribly wrong with Ishi.  Yet, her gut had been wrong before.  She had believed the wrong in times before.

It was about midday when she reached the Jade Fern Grove, but she kept going.  After a quick, yet thorough search for her friend.  After about another hour the scent of a pack caught her nose.  Her heart quickened in her chest, feeling nervous and anxietic.  She was now in Overture Downs, but of course she did not know this place's name.  She had never been here before anyways.  She stayed in the place, not wanting to get too close to Lost Creek Hollow.  She really hoped that Ishi was all right.

Sneaking him in, hope you don't mind! Don't feel like you gotta match this, I'm just getting warmed up to the character. Also anyone from LCH can still pop in - BB is just being a creepy stalker but he's not like, right on top of her. 

He had been heading north for some time before deviating, and soon his path shifted westward as he came upon a winding river. When the shallows greeted him he would move within the water - a trick he had been taught prior to his departure - and it helped to hide his scent. The beast moved as quickly as it could, when it could. And when the river's pulse became too rough for even his heavy-set body, Betelgeuse pulled himself free of it. He did this off and on until the chill of the water became too intense.

Then, having shaken off for the umpteenth time, he chose to stay on dry land. Within the hour he had found himself a sunlit grove to rest in, and it was here that Betelgeuse would encounter his first wolf in over  a month. She came striding through the fringes of the woodland's edge at first — the scent of her was thick in the air, a musk that pulled him from the loose sleep he had acquired — and his curiosity was piqued.

Once roused, he heaved himself to his feet and followed doggedly behind her — hardly quiet, but at enough of a distance that he kept hidden. The more he hiked after her, the heavier his breath became; eventually he was huffing and puffing, a line of aspirated drool slipping from his lower jaw as he slowed to a halt. He watched her silhouette move about the grassland just beyond the grove, then, debating on whether he wanted to continue or abandon this spontaneous pursuit.

Spring didn’t notice her stalker do to the fact that the wind happened to not be in her favor.  It carried her scent to him, but not the other way around.  Although she started to feel insecure.  The female didn’t know why, but she pursued this feeling by turning around and surveying the land behind her.  No one was there.  Still feeling very uneasy Spring turned back around, waiting to see if anyone would appear.

She wondered what Ishi was doing right now... was he safe at home in Lost Creek Hollow?  Exploring maybe?  Or was he in trouble... like Spring’s gut told her.  It was also making her nervous that she hadn’t seen her friend for so long.  Yet maybe her fears were wrong.  Maybe everything was absolutely fine and she was just being silly, kumbaya.

The woman paused and surveyed the area as if lost, and Betelgeuse decided to take that moment and follow. He slunk out from the cover of the trees at an ill-timed moment, and braced himself as the stranger's gaze drifted around, seemingly to where he stood and beyond. When it was clear she did not see him (perhaps due to the obscurity of the shadows) he wheezed a long exhalation. Once her attention was forward-facing again, he resumed his prowling. The beast drew closer as the moments passed, and the closer he got the more interested he became in the lone woman.

He could smell other notes upon her — more wolves; the sweetness of new life too, which made his brow raise. Was she a mother? Her body seemed fit but not abundant with flesh, but he could not discern much with his short, sharp glances. Betelgeuse was almost directly behind her now, a burdensome figure with his jaw slackened and ominous, as if he intended to take a bite from her — then, the wind shifted against his favor.

The scent of wolf flooded into her and she spun around to see a brute looking male, with his jaws open like he intended to launch an attack on her.  For a brief one second (that seemed to take years) she stood in shock and stared at him with startled expression.  Then she snapped out of her shocked reaction almost as quickly as it had started.  She took a huge leap backwards and her lip curled back, revealing her sharp fangs.

“Who are you!”  She demanded to know as her now cold born golden eyes starred daggers into the male.  Instead of a question as this sentence would normally be used as, it was more of a command.  She didn’t like this and suspected that she must’ve been followed by this creepy stalker, due to the fact that someone didn’t just magically appear looking like they wanted to beat you up.  Did he have wolves with him?  Was this some pack grounds that she didn’t know about?  No... couldn’t be.  There were no scent markers, no borders in this area.  So then again who was he and was anyone one else with him?

There was no reason for him to be trailing after her aside from their gender differences. He was a young man, but never before had Betelgeuse been inclined to chase tail in any manner; not that any woman would take him with his deformity. The very thought of his grin made him snort softly — which he immediately regretted, seeing as the sound would easily alert her to his presence, although the wind already had. He was wide-eyed when she turned and spotted him, and for a split second they just stared at one another.

He thought, naively, that they could have a nice chat and maybe get to know one anther — that thought was just as quick as their conjoined surprise, and was gone as soon as she bared fang. The heavy-weight grimaced, which was made to look even worse because of those crooked lower teeth, and he pulled away from her a step, in time for her own revulsion - and question, which fell on deaf ears initially.

Betelgeuse ducked his head and seemed to thrash it as he backed up, as if shaking his head would rid it of his many thoughts; then he leveled his pale eyes upon her. His voice was just as mangled as his jutting face: B-Betelgeuse, the flick of his tongue as he hit the middle of his name was extra odd, what with the gape of his jaws. Following this surly introduction he sort of yawned and added partway through the motion, Relax, m'not gunna do nothin'. 

Following this, he slurped up a line of saliva that threatened to drip from his mouth with a snrk.

Spring did not like this wolf, nor trust him.  “And why are you here Betelgeuse?”  She growled, fangs still bared.  Her eyes slide over the stalker's features gathering as much information as she could about his physical appearance as she could.  Brown coat with some silver, bullish looking head, his jaw didn’t seem to close entirely, he had striking silver eyes and he drooled... a lot.

More thoughts continued to fill her mind.  He had to have been stalking her.  He just had too.  It was the only reasonable possibility that made sense.  Her growl deepened.  “Why are you following me?”  She questioned the male in continuation to her first question.  Her golden brown eyes now narrowed in suspicion.  She wanted to know why she had been followed.  Now.

Had his lower teeth been smaller and better angled, not the saber-teeth he was born with, he would've been the spitting image of his brother; he may have even been handsome to someone. But Betelgeuse was not so fortunate, and the look that shines upon the girl's face tells him as much. It is an expression he has seen many times before, and though he holds back his anger upon recognizing it, there is a clear flare to his nostrils as he turns away from her. Not deferential as he might be with someone of higher rank (since they are both lone wolves as far as he can tell, and at this distance pack status does not matter in the slightest), but simply nervous. He does not want to look at her disgust the same way she, in his assumption, does not want to look at his irregular jaw.

Another bead of spit slides down his chin and hits the grass. He licks his own snout with his tongue, wrapping it across his nose while she talks and he dejectedly listens. You're pretty, he drawls between moments of awkward mouth-breathing; if a wolf could be compared to any human in the world, Betelgeuse would easily match the awkwardness of a sweaty young nerd at his first school prom. His under-bite produced a bit of a slur to his words, and there was always a slightly larger than normal gap when he attempted to close his mouth — thus the hot air that pulsed from him with every breath.

He was probably weirding her out even more, just standing there.

I mean, I saw you'n I thought... To say hi. He shifted his weight a bit and canted his head away, looking to his left, then his right, then down at the ground as if she had already flat-out rejected him. She sort of had, in a way. Before she could respond to that statement he added, Why're you here?

The wolf’s awkward and kind of innocent response made Spring anger and fear level go down to lower levels directed at the male.  She sighed her defensive position suddenly loosening.  This wolf suddenly didn’t seem like an aggressor or a brute.  He just seemed naive, awkward... and kind of sweet maybe?  Now that she noticed his jaw just simply wouldn’t close she felt a little pity for him.  The once angered Spring suddenly turned into a softer version.  Although she wasn’t sure how to respond to the wolf’s question.  She didn’t really want to tell him the truth, because you could never know.  Someone who seemed niceish could always blindside you.  Life was unpredictable.  Although she didn’t really see that the truth would put anything against her, Ishi or anyone else so she sat down with a sigh.

“I’m looking for a friend.  I’m worried about him.”  Spring told the male in a vague summary.  She noticed that now she was starting to feel kind of guilty.  Truthfully she was pretty sure one of the main reasons that she had lashed out on the male was because of his appearance.  That wasn’t right and she knew it, so she continued to speak this time with an apology included.  “I’m sorry about my reaction, I’m just not used too...”  Spring trailed off awkwardly.  Yet her apology was genuine.

Looking for a friend? Well, he could be a friend. Maybe she could stop looking now?  But such oddly hopeful sentiments were quickly waylay-ed when the woman's tone shifted; it was another thing he was familiar with. Pity. Her voice lilted with it, and the boy's defenses returned in full-force. He reared back his head like a horse being pulled by the reins, listening partway through her statement before slicking his ears back and refusing her further communication. 

Not used to m'ugly mug, ay? That what you're gunna say? His voice was more confrontational now, dropping the sad little boy routine — not that he had been acting — and he stepped up to her defiantly. His tail raised up and puffed, twitching, as if he were going to actually hurt her. You best be runnin' home then, a'fore I do something regrettable with it. He snrked again, swallowing some spit, although some sprayed off his exposed teeth and hit Spring's pelt. Maybe he was just posturing, but there was no way to know; his size and level of hostility combined might have been enough to frighten her, which was all he wanted.

Hostility returned.  Spring instantly lost any sympathy, kindness and pity for this wolf once more.  None of those personallities would be coming back for this wolf.  She curled her lip, disgusted as Betelgeuse's spit landed on her pelt.  Her eyes narrowed as he slipped into a posture that made him look very ready to attack her.  She would not stand for this.  Not at all.  She fluffed her pelt out too, raised her tail high with dominance, curled her lip all the way back to unveil her sharp fangs and then she began to growl lowly.  A sharp glare sliced into Betelgeuse, as she stared him straight in the eyes.

"What is your problem?"  She spat out with a growl.  "Back off right now, or you will regret it.  I will not run from you.  I do not fear you.  Get out of my sight now."  She growled with an intense warning tone.  This wolf had better listen to her now or he would regret it.  She held her position waiting to see what his decision would be.

You think so? quipped the boy sharply in response, his head canting slightly to one side and eyes narrowing as he spoke; the likelihoodod of a woman being able to overpower him — even an older woman — was unlikely. He was too heavy, and too well trained. While the beast did not follow through with the insinuated threat and actually attack her, he did lean in close to her face with his own - his hot breath pouring out of him, moist and foul. Maybe y'should run - I'd like that. He grinned at her then, his tongue flicking out across the top incisors; but again, it was an idle threat. Something to unnerve her — because hell, if she was going to get nervous because of his face, he may as well play it up. Women, the boy chided mentally, you're all the same.

He did eventually pull back from her, seeing as the lone woman as not about to buckle to his will in any way - and he was not exactly keen to get his precious face bitten off, even if that would've improved the look of it. Betelgeuse pulled away without touching a single hair upon her head. The dangerous expression upon his face shifted in to one of utter loathing as he stepped beyond her, and gingerly kept walking until he was out of her sight.