Aeliana was on patrol duty this day, her ears and eyes alert for any signs of life that would be heading towards Eysium's borders, but it was her nose that picked up something first. Something hot and acidic, giving her nose a slight sting. It was urine, but it didn't smell like any wolf, it smelt big and it was heading inward, into the territory.

She moves quickly, galloping through the territory with great purpose till she came across the sight of  Lily, Tzila, and Aliac standing their ground against a large bear. Why would a bear be in their territory like this? Nevertheless, she joins them. Aeliana snarled loudly at the bear, her teeth bared fiercely and her hackles raised to make herself look bigger.

"Where do you think you're going, you lumbering sack of fur?" She snapped at it. She couldn't let her fear show, as much as she felt like turning tail, she wouldn't. She remembers how brave her father was... as a leader, he has to be brave, and as a patroller, she had to be brave. For the sake of the pups.

a lull - atwood takes advantage of ariel's absent attention and slips out, making a spirited break for freedom. he slows eventually, delighted by every new sight, smell the outside affords him. but today is not a fortuitous day for the little bird to explore, for he is soon overwhelmed by the presence of the wolves of elysium, and ahead, some strange, lumbering creature they all seemed upset by.

concerned, atwood seeks out a familiar face and lands on the woman shouting, who he dimly recognizes, and begins to toddle toward. behind him-

"ATWOOD," roars ariel, his gaze torn between the bear and his sweet, fearless son. he's close, too too close, to the commotion (how can one tiny boy move so quickly?), but ariel is, thankfully, fast enough. he gets his teeth into his nap and sends him back in the direction of the den, but does not--cannot--because the bear is advancing on the dens. "go, go," he urges even as he moves, coming to flank lily. they can't let it get any further than this; fear grips his heart, but he will not back down now.

it is all so fast.

he's just at lily's flank, his heart squeezed tight in his chest, thinking almost hysterically, i wish queenie were here for this,
  and then the bear is moving and so is his pack and then there is blood, sharp, stinging, and he does not need to turn and look to know -- to know --

oh, lily. grief surges through him, grief and fear as he flings himself into the fray. only, only: ariel is not a fighter. ariel is small and delicate, the sort who has throughout his life turned from conflict, hidden from it, behind those stronger and more capable than he. someone has gotten their teeth in the beast and it roars and lashes forward as ariel comes to meet it.

--

atwood had not minded ariel, too frightened and awestruck. rooted to the spot he watches as first an aunt he would never get to know is struck; he would not remember her but for the uncanny brightness of her blood, the most vibrant color his young eyes have ever seen.

and then a shriek, a sound he can barely process, as the strange, alien creature strikes true for the second time. his eyesight is not nearly developed enough for him to make out the details in the fray, but that shriek, oh, he knows who it belongs to, and terror takes over his tiny heart.

still, he does not move, even as he sees his mother fall back, sees the strange way the skin of his belly hangs, wrong, funny-wrong, only he doesn't understand what he is seeing, only that it is funny and wrong --

--

the ground is heavy and wet beneath him, and if he looks -- he shouldn't look -- if he looks he knows he will see himself, all inside-out, all wrong. it is not quick, as lily's was, his attempt to throw himself back had only guaranteed his death would be drawn out. 

yet. it is not painful as the world grows blurry around him. instintively he scrabbled back, desperate to stay out of range of the bear, even as his eviscerated interior remains where he fell. he thinks, mildly, queenie will be mad, and, oh, olive, but nothing will stick for longer than a few seconds, a rotating cast of all he's loved and failed and loved again. 

he does not go. he lays on the ground and bleeds slowly and thinks of silver and gold and earth and stars, and wonders about time, the nature of it, and if he had done enough with his.

When the bear bowed lowly, it caught her off guard a little, her father told her about bears and how dangerous they were, but to see one bow the way it did was unheard of...

Then it lunged...

It lunged faster than she thought any creature it size could, she yelped and leaped back. Aeliana could feel the air whoosh! past her, as she managed to dodge one of the massive paws, she was lucky... 

She took a moment to catch herself before she could hear the sound of two bodies hitting the floor, she looked to the left to Airel on the floor...unmoving and then she looked to her right to see.. Lily ....and she was unmoving too... 

No, no, no...

The world fell deaf around Aeliana, her eyes were starting to water, refusing to believe that...they were... 

She didn't want to say it...she didn't want to think about it...

It was then that she saw everyone lunging at the beast, she refused to think of it otherwise, this creature, this monster came into their territory, unannounced, intrusively and then had the gall to take the lives of two...one of them being her friend, the one of took her in when she had...nowhere else to go... and leaving her pups motherless and orphaned...

Her sorrow was there but something else burned in her chest and slowly crawling up. Anger. Fury. Unbridled rage. She knew how to direct it...

She saw that Tzila had lunged and bite upon the monster's back and that was a good idea, she had to stay away for the beast's paws and teeth. Aeliana blinked away the tears and rushes towards the monster, moving around it, to its back and lunges.

It was at this moment that she remembered something, but she had run and was wandering aimlessly. She remembered almost stepping into this metal thing. She didn't know what it was but, its teeth were open wide, waiting for something unaware wanders into it. She was lucky, the next to stumble upon it wasn't. She had returned out of curiosity to find a fox, writhing and struggling, its right leg caught in the teeth of that thing, it looked very painful. 

Her fangs will be the jaws of that metal thing and she will hold tight, cause the most pain possible and make sure it deeply regret ever coming here. Aeliana latches her jaws into the back of the monster, digging them in deep till she tastes the beast's blood on her tongue and shakes her head to cause as much pain as possible, hoping to tear a chunk out, releasing her anger. 

reif always had mixed feelings when it came to the much more frequent journeys that had him leaving the little safe haven of his den whether they were alongside his mothers or little escapades with his siblings. on one paw, the amount of things to investigate out there was beyond amazing and whilst his siblings would seem to get most of their kicks out of the thrill or rolling around play fighting- reif would become engrossed in every little thing the world had to offer around him- seen obsessing over things as seemingly insignificant as a blade of grass. but on the other paw, it could be very overwhelming. whilst his brothers seemed to grow in confidence every day, reif would not be able to understand why they didn't seem to grow as distressed by the large numbers of wolves milling about and the noise, the better his hearing got the more skittish he grew. same went for the light, he'd constantly be seen wrapping himelf into tiny balls with paws too big for his body slapping down over droopy ears when things got too active.

nevertheless the need to discover could not be quenched so he'd continue to put himself through this anxiety to explore the amazing things around him- even if to those around him he'd seem quite unimpressed by anything around him, not expressing his joy quite like most pups did with their ecstatic yips or squeaks. 

so when both atwood and ariel's presence was clearly missing from the den after a short doze, curiosity would play its part in drawing the creamy boy from safety and after many conflicting moments- shaky steps had him waddling in the direction of the strange noise until he could bear to go no further, ears flat against his head in an effort to protect themselves from the bitter assault of his senses. he was a decent distance away but that didn't stop him seeing and hearing the scene, little eyes widening in what should be horror but was in fact...wonder. there were so many wolves and frequently he'd have to look away and regain himself before allowing his attention to shift back, needing to squint against the lingering blurriness of his gaze. the monster was like nothing he'd seen before and he'd watch with his little jaw hanging open as it swung heavy paws and threw the wolves aside as if they were the small stones he rolled back and forth with atwood and sundance. but unlike the rocks, vibrant colours burst free from the wolves as they were tossed.

first was the friendly woman he'd gotten used to associating her scent with safety like his parents- a face he'd perhaps never recall after this day but still he watched curiously as the beautiful crimson liquid painted the floor. inhaling shakily, he'd have to lean down onto the ground and bury his face into his paws for a few long moments before looking up once more. awood...his brother stood amongst the fray and reif had no idea how he wasn't screaming, so close to all that noise. a shudder would run up the little boy's spine and then..his mother is delivered a similar fate to the nice woman. a little frown creases his features as he studies the scene, so curious to see the way the skin is torn as effortless as ripping apart a leaf and more of that bright liquid splashes out as his mother falls with a thud reif can practically feel through his bones. not sure what to feel about this his eyes fall to his own body- suddenly wondering is he too filled with that odd liquid? it makes him feel weird and suddenly the yells and shrieks no longer sound like they're underwater but instead bearing right down on his small form. with a bewildered whimper he pushes his paws hard against the ground.

of course this wouldn't appear odd to anyone who might come across him, he'd just seen two wolves brutally slain and one his mother! but that is not the cause for his distress at all, whilst he'd observed that with a strange detached curiosity it was the sudden overwhelming attack on his senses that threw the boy headfirst into spiralling distress and with a neverending string of cries he'd push paws hard around his head- little teeth gritting together so hard it was a shock they didn't shatter to pieces.

The beast was flailing around now, swing its massive paws around in hopes of hitting something living. She winced as she saw Aliac get scored by its claws and having to retreat and another...Sunny if she remembered, get smacked hard leaving him dazed but he goes in for an attack despite that, missing due to his dazed state. Her fangs were still latched onto the monster's fur, drawing blood and ripping fur. She does let go for a moment only to latch back on, she wanted to leave ragged scars on the creature a mark for the two lives it took so it would always remember her and what it did. Maybe the wounds will fester... Maybe it'll get ill and die from them so Lily and Ariel's souls will pass on, knowing they had been avenged and the pups have nothing to fear.

She looked back at Sunny to see one of the bear's paw swinging his way, she growls and let's go, "Watch out!" She said as she shoved Sunny away before she could move away herself, she was slammed. Aeliana flew backward, feeling the air leave out of her lungs completely for a minute as she gasped and fell on her back, rolling onto the dirt until she came to a halt. She was quiet and still for a moment then coughed loudly, "...Damn Monster..."