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+--- Thread: Redhawk Caldera Than lying at the sharp end of this knife (/showthread.php?tid=45969)
Than lying at the sharp end of this knife - Fennec - January 03, 2021
AW but also if you have time :D bc she would. Making a few assumptions
Fennec didn't even really allow herself the time to heal before she left to seek out @Niamh. The snow was kicking up again, and it was biting cold, but she was bothered and couldn't wait. She felt a little badly, leaving Bronco and @Alyx in the healing den... but she'd be back soon. And if Bronco was sleeping, at least he wasn't freaking out over, well, y'know. She'd kitted up in there with them after the attack had laid them all out, though the two worse of than herself. She'd been working in tandem with @Eljay to patch them up, and her mentor had forced her to pay some attention to her own too. But after slowing the bleeding and popping Bronco's shoulder back into place, there wasn't much to do aside from wait and see. She wasn't exactly happy about the circumstances, but it would be a lie if she said she wasn't happy to have him sticking around a while longer. And she was growing fonder of her younger sister by the day. She felt a lot more similar to her than even Fig, in a few different ways.
But what she wasn't happy about was her participation in the fight, a performance that had nearly gotten her killed. Next time she faced off against a thread she needed to be ready; especially because soon, Bronco wouldn't be around. If her mom had kids, and Niamh and Phox.... well. The borders would be in part hers. Who was to say that cougar wouldn't come back?
Fennec staggered through the snow near where she knew Niamh and Phox made their den and yelled over the sound of the wind.
Niamh!!! Hey!!!Hopefully she was around. She needed training, and her step mom was the only one she recalled pushing her to the extent necessary.
RE: Than lying at the sharp end of this knife - RIP Niamh - January 03, 2021
With a savage growl, Niamh startled awake, lunging to a crouched position with her teeth bared. When she slept, she slept very heavily and could be difficult to awaken without risking some sort of injury. No one was within reach, fortunately, and she sheathed her teeth as soon as she realized that she was no longer in a sunny, flowery field with an entire deer carcass to herself. No, she was awake, and the winds- and apparently her step-daughter- were howling outside. She grunted softly, but she wouldn't keep Fennec waiting; Bronco and Alyx both were within reach of death's doorstep, and were both in Fennec's care so she stepped outside, squinting against the glare of sunlight on snow.
-"Fennec! What's wrong?"- She called out, forgetting in that moment that she needn't sign. She wasn't completely awake yet, and there was stress in her tone; she'd had some trouble getting to sleep (unusual for her) as she worried for Alyx and Bronco, and still felt there might be some possibility that something could go wrong. She knew the keen danger of infection all too well- and was terrified it might steal one of her loved ones away again.
RE: Than lying at the sharp end of this knife - Fennec - January 03, 2021
This was a pretty dumb time for Fennec to be coming and looking for training. She'd been up most of the night tending to the others and her leg had stiffened in the process. But she barely noticed that, because somewhere along the line, her one-track focus had re-aligned. Neither of her friends were out of the woods yet, but both were sleeping when she left, and slipping out to clear her head had (on a dime) turned into her barreling off to seek her step-mother's help.
I need you to teach me to fight better.She answered outright, lashing her tail impatiently. She took another few steps forward and then lowered her head, ears pressing back.
I sucked. I can't next time.It was blunt and it was honest. There was nothing wrong right now except that, but to her, that was enough. She had two choices; leave the defense to others or learn, and she wasn't willing to do the former. So the latter was going to be her drive for a while. Poisons were only an option if she knew the threat was there beforehand, and she did keep that in the back of her mind. It just wasn't enough to rely on.
RE: Than lying at the sharp end of this knife - RIP Niamh - January 03, 2021
Fennec's posture showed disdain and Niamh eyed her with beligerent disbelief when she uttered a demand that had nothing whatsoever to do with the welfare of her son and daughter. Niamh exhaled sharply and began to pace, an attempt at trying to shirk the tension that had crept into her muscles. She flicked her head to one side and then to the other, cracking it audibly on each side.
"Jesus H. Grapes, Fennec," she scolded. "Come barging to my den yellin' like that I thought you were going to tell me my children were dying." She growled. Fennec's demand for fighting lessons sat on the shelf for a few moments longer; she was too pissed off that she'd been awakened so suddenly for something that was a non-urgent request. "Don't ever scare me like that again. How are they?" She asked, intending in part to punish Fennec for her scare by refusing to acknowledge her request for the time being.
RE: Than lying at the sharp end of this knife - Fennec - January 03, 2021
She flinched when Niamh growled, not because she minded, but because she honestly felt guilty for a second. She hadn't even thought about that.
Shit. Sorry.She was tired and unwilling to fight on this point, mainly because she was so avid about fighting in the other sense. She had to get Niamh to agree.
They're... well. They're fucked up.Fennec answered, a little churlishly, but straightforward.
The bleeding stopped, and we cleaned them up. They're resting. But I should've done more.She growled. Bronco'd been torn apart, and Alyx pinned, because her first move had missed entirely. In a fight, one wrong step meant calamity, and she needed to learn how to hit every damn time. Even when an enemy was nearly too quiet to hear.
Please.She wasn't going to beg, but this was about the closest she'd get. She didn't mind cleaning up messes but she wasn't okay when those messes were ones she could have helped to avoid in the first place. She was upset, and angry, and needed this.
RE: Than lying at the sharp end of this knife - RIP Niamh - January 03, 2021
Her stern expression remained as she was informed of their state of recovery, and this simply served to confirm the fact that while the bleeding had stopped, it didn't necessarily mean they would survive. Bronco had been more or less a ragdoll, and his left forelimb useless. She wondered, due to the damage at her throat, if Alyx's vocal chords would be damaged. But for the time being, all she could ask was that they continued to rest, and be taken care of.
At first, she thought Fennec meant that she should have done more in tending to the wounds of her packmates; and she inhaled, preparing to simply tell her to go back to her den and do whatever else needed to be done. Continue cleaning the wounds, or finding herbs for them, or whatever it took. But when Fennec reiterated her plea, Niamh's breath caught; and she realized what Fennec was saying.
She was disappointed in how she'd fought against the cougar. Out of the three wolves, she had managed the best, as far as Niamh could tell. Whatever that implied in the fight didn't necessarily translate to Niamh, who knew that some battles were fought with fewer injuries than others. But she imagined that in that situation, Fennec's blindness had probably made it much more difficult for her to manage. Cougars were horribly swift; Niamh couldn't imagine what it would be like to fight one without being able to see it.
She exhaled slowly. "If you're asking me to train you, the answer is yes. But-" She said sternly, "Not now." Which she knew wouldn't be received well. Fennec sounded impatient enough as it was. "When I say I'll train you, I mean that I'll train you my way, which means I won't go easy on you. And if I did that right now, I'm not sure you'd survive." She said. "And I need you alive so you can heal my children." She felt that was explanation enough. Both a promise that she would train Fennec, and that she would train her well- but that there was a time for such a thing, and Fennec would need to regain her strength first. She had injuries that Niamh could plainly see- and Niamh would take advantage of in a heartbeat if the situation presented itself. But she needed Fennec able and strong enough to run out in search of herbs if needed, more than she needed her to be a strong fighter, presently.
RE: Than lying at the sharp end of this knife - Fennec - January 04, 2021
There was sense in what Niamh said and Fennec hated it. The promise of future training helped, but she was spoiling for it and couldn't explain why. Maybe because the last one had ended without closure, or maybe because she felt guilty. She'd gotten off easy. She gritted her teeth and struggled with it, trying to decide which was better. She could attack Niamh right now and force her to give her a lesson.
It was tempting, and she flexed her paws. Tensed, and teetered. But then the tension left her and she stepped backwards.
As soon as they're okay.Fennec agreed,
but after, we're training until I get it.It might take a while, but she was going to learn. She'd learned how to travel, to see her surroundings to an extent. She knew she could figure it out for a fight as well.
I don't care how long it takes.True, they'd only have until Niamh was too fat to train. But they'd have a while, right? Before she and Phox had kids again.
She was dying to throw down here and now, but she knew that would be selfish. She had to be a medic first. Getting herself hurt would only strain Eljay more, mean she couldn't help, and use up resources better put towards the ones who needed them more. She'd just gotten back on her feet, and she couldn't afford to stupidly throw that way.
RE: Than lying at the sharp end of this knife - RIP Niamh - January 04, 2021
She could tell Fennec was disappointed- and she was quick to notice the waves of tension that wafted through her frame, indicating that at any moment, she was considering lashing out- likely to provoke Niamh into a fight. Niamh had already mentally prepared herself, honing in on Fennec's injured shoulder which she would use to her full advantage, just as she'd promised- but slowly, resentfully, Fennec's posture relaxed.
"That's fine. I have lots of time." She said. Of course, unlike Fennec, she'd forgotten about the fact that she would likely be having children again in a few months, and that that would impede their training. There was only so much her brain could handle within the first five minutes of waking up after a nap. "Let me know what I can do to help in the meantime, but-" She said, and she yawned. "I need some rest." She said, hoping that would be enough to dismiss Fennec so that she might simply use what tiredness still clung to her, and get back to sleep without too much trouble. If she stayed up much more, she'd wake up too much, and not be able to get back to sleep.
RE: Than lying at the sharp end of this knife - Fennec - January 05, 2021
Rest sounded amazing, but Fennec knew it would be a long time coming.
Yeah.She paused, wondering if she should apologize again, but then shrugged it off. She didn't really need to be sorry, not for wanting to improve herself. And she'd already done so for the wakeup, so doing it again was just redundant and irritating, yeah?
Thanks.She settled on acknowledging the offer for help, though she knew there wasn't much of anything Niamh could do. She didn't know plants from what Fennec recalled, and she was no medic, much as she'd insisted on stepping in a few months ago. Seemed they were past that now, though; Niamh seemed to have no qualms about her caretaking now. She'd be flattered if she wasn't just kinda... all over the place.
For now, she'd overworn her welcome and come out of it with a promise, best she could hope for. Fennec turned tail and left, still with an itch that needed scratching, one that would carry her out of the territory and in search of herbs before she returned. She had no idea that she'd have another fight on her hands too... but apparently, one way or another, the universe delivered.
RE: Than lying at the sharp end of this knife - RIP Niamh - January 05, 2021
She watched Fennec go for a moment or two, considering what her promise meant. Training another wolf how to fight- and to fight hard enough to defend the pack against its greatest threats was no small feat. But considering the fact that Fennec was currently in the process of healing her son and daughter from injuries which could yet pose to be lethal- it was the least she could do.
But now was not the time to contemplate that; now was the time to crawl back into her den, curl up, and try to continue the nap she'd been having earlier.