Lake Rodney fine young cannibals

located on the southwest edge of the massive lake rodney, heading north.

 

by midnight a spring rain was making hasty work of the temperate rainforest around her. the tiny pitter-patter of the rain falling to earth was a mild comfort, something new to focus on that eased the burden of living alone for a few minutes. if there had been enough light - or say, daylight - then the entirety of the forest's fringe would have been made to look waxy and fertile; as it was, juria could see no discernible difference between the wet ground or the dry. it was too dark even for the stars, which had been hidden behind moody clouds all day - and now there was a fine mist of rain to obscure things further.

it did not seem to alter juria's spirits any further than the earlier hours. she still moved with her lumbering pace. her head was still low-slung between her arching shoulder blades. her pelt was sopping wet along the top line by this point, and had taken on a shadowcast nature because of the intensity of the night. she plucked her way carefully along on her search for somewhere dry and safe to bed for the night. when she took a step and was met by the strange sensation of deep water she recoiled like a cat, and looked sharply with her lantern eyes towards the soil.

what she thought had been dirt was actually a divot on the side of a lake. how blind could she be to miss an entire lake? even the sound of the rain was different here; she hadn't realized that the forest had thinned out further, nor that the blackness of what lay in front of her was actually the sprawling lake rodney. there was nobody to tell her these things - so to juria, it was just a big stupid lake and it was in her way.

she shook off her paw as if there was something more volatile upon it than water. the look of utter dislike she cast towards the endless blackness of the water was quite chilled, and it seemed to even bother the lakefront - a small breeze caught upon the fluid and made it tremble, bringing slight awareness until the rain was pulled with it, and juria ducked away from the fresh curve of the water.

she huffed, frustrated, and began to plot a course through touch alone - any time her paws hit wetness she would lurch over a step or two, until she had veered along the lake's immense coast and was heading properly north.

Bad dreams troubled Towhee; she tossed and turned until she gave up on sleep completely and left the edge of the rendezvous site to do a midnight patrol. The lake view stretched out before her as she climbed downhill, arriving at the foot of the caldera where she paused to deliberate which direction to go. As she pondered, her sharp orange eyes roved the darkness, freezing when they clapped upon a shadowy figure lurking along the nearby lake shore. The light rain obscured the silhouette, yet it belonged unmistakably to a wolf.

Her damp fur prickled. Remaining motionless, Towhee's lips skinned back from her teeth. She went full throttle, unleashing a loud warning growl into the night. Of course, she couldn't be sure of the actual volume, yet it vibrated tellingly in her throat and chest as she glared at the four-legged shape moving in the darkness.

juria did not make it far before the most unnatural sound screeched at her through the trees. it wasn't even really a screech: it was more like a dying whoopie-cushion, if that whoopie-cushion was made out of an inflated cat. a mix of a yowl and a yodel, she'd later decide. whatever it was, the sound of it startled the woman so hardcore that she slipped and missed a step, plunging off-course enough that she fell face-first in to the lake. or a part of the lake. a puddle maybe? either way she was soaking wet and filled with a dreadful panic, and only after scrambling back to her feet - and on to dry land - did she realize how stupid she looked.

the girl was seemingly fearless then, turning her half-soggy face towards the origin of the call. she bared her teeth as a sign of her irritation and the dull light of the evening abyss caught upon them; and then she bellowed: dude, not cool! go haunt someone else's ass! maybe that land of the sane business the last guy was selling wasn't far off the mark...

Despite the gloom, Towhee saw the wolf react to her warning. It was quite comical, actually, watching her slip and fall into the water. She fell silent as she watched this unfold, her eyes crinkling and her lips even turning up at the corners. But her expression swiftly returned to one of displeasure when the distant stranger faced her with teeth bared. Towhee plunged one leg forward (not unlike a restless mustang pawing at the earth), planting and bracing it. She ducked her head and unleashed another, even louder snarl of her own. She looked all the world like an infuriated young bull preparing to charge.

But she stood her ground, for now, glaring and growling and glaring some more. She couldn't hear the stranger's cry, of course, and couldn't hope to read lips from this distance, in this darkness. All she could rely on was body language and raw instinct.

it was like talking to the clouds. the only response she got was another yowling call, and this time it was easier to pinpoint where it came from. juria didn't want to linger in case it was something foreign - like a badger - or something big - like a... well, she couldn't think of anything big right now, but there could've been something.

juria set about finding the being attached to the sound, even if it meant backtracking through puddles and the edge of the lake. her night vision wasn't so great, but with some care - and a whole lot of spikey fur - she closed the distance between herself and the hidden girl. you wanna fight me? come at me bro! whoever - whatever you are! she wasn't going to be scared off by some unseen thing! hoo boy, that wasn't juria's style.

The way the other wolf looked around rather wildly, Towhee sensed that she may not be able to see her or any of her loud body language. So the young mercenary made a point to hiss, "Get out of here!" But rather than turn tail and leave, the stranger loped nearer.

Towhee shifted her weight, lowering her head to protect her throat even as she thrust her ears forward (they were good at sending a message, if nothing else) and her tail rose up over her hips. Her streaked hackles prickled and she arched her spine to make herself appear larger. Most importantly of all, she not only bared her teeth but opened her mouth to show that she had more knives than a butcher's block.

The stranger's lips were moving as she ran toward Towhee but it was still hopeless. "Back off!" the youth said. "That's my last warning. You're approaching claimed territory and my pack will rip you to pieces." The words came out as flat and clunky as ever, though there was venom in her orange eyes as she issued them.

it was only after she'd charged ahead somewhat that juria found the stranger. they shouted at her and she, bristling now and filled with animosity, wasn't about to back down. not until the stranger's voice rang out a second time - stumbling over words as if she were drunk. the wanderer narrowed her eyes at the dark figure as she rounded upon her position, and realized it was... just a kid.

if they're all young like you, i think i'll be okay, she stated as flatly as she could, but there was an edge to her words that couldn't be denied. besides, who would want to claim the lake as their property? it was big, wet, poorly marked, and just... y'know... a lake. juria's tail tossed behind her, slashing her hocks and dragging across the stones along the lakeside; she had sized-up her competition already and with a loud scoff, commented: you're so small - what kinda warrior are you? the kind that calls for backup?

yeah.. she was goading the kid on. juria didn't like being startled or spooked, especially at night, and especially in foreign territory. most of all she hated being wet - so her mood was fouled to start with, and there was no way such a competitive girl was going to back down from some upstart kid.

Despite her warning, the stranger neither backed down nor left. Instead, she came closer, taunting the Xi. Towhee couldn't hear a thing she was saying, not that it would have mattered much; words were weak and evidently this idiot wasn't listening anyway.

Channeling her dead parents, the pup coiled her haunches and then sprang forward without bothering to issue another warning, verbal or otherwise. Her eyes were perhaps a little sharper than the average wolf's (to compensate for her missing sense) and despite the darkness, she could see the stranger's silhouette pretty well. She aimed for her foreleg, hoping to grab it and—if she was lucky—snap it.

It was very dark, so dark that Juria had walked in to a god damned lake as she passed it - but to be fair she had been startled by the strangest sound she'd ever heard. Now, faced with this small dark-ish blob, things were only a little better. The stranger's odd markings made them easier to see for the plainsrunner; however, they were fast and they knew precisely where to step, as if they could see without issue in the dark. Juria was taken by slight surprise when there was a face grabbing for her forelimb in the next moment. But she did what came natural - she pulled her leg back and thrust her own head down, mouth gaping, and tried to grab the stranger by the back of the neck. Juria was larger, older, and likely more trained - but she couldn't see well, and the smaller wolf knew the terrain; they might've been evenly matched.

She missed her target. Instead of feeling her jaws close around flesh and bone, Towhee instead experienced teeth sinking into her own skin. Fortunately for her, the thick folds of her furry scruff took the brunt of it, though if she didn't move away and fast, her opponent's fangs might sink deeper and hit something critical. Swiftly, the Xi reacted by dropping to the ground and forcefully rolling like an alligator. She tore herself free—she could smell her own blood, which turned her stomach—and flipped twice before regaining her feet with a noisy grunt.

Ignoring the searing pain at the back of her neck, Towhee used her new perpendicular position to her advantage. With a savage snarl that ripped from her throat, the Xi took a page out of the stranger's book and lunged for a spot just below the she-wolf's nape, near the pulse point in the side of her own neck.

This kid was feisty. No sooner had Juria found purchase upon the stranger's scruff (a thing she meant to do as a warding technique rather than cause actual harm, but alas -) the defending body dropped, rolled, and pulled themselves free with some haste. Juria tasted blood in her mouth and instantly felt nauseated; she might've been a warrior and a defender of her own people, but she'd never actually fought another wolf or tried to maim them. This time was no different. The only reason there was blood in her mouth now was because of the girl's twisting and rolling - a fact that had Juria's stomach rolling.

But she didn't have time to apologize for the wound she'd absently inflicted, she had to try and defend against the kid's vaulting strike towards her throat. The girl's body jolted up from the soil and Juria brought her chin down, twisting so that her shoulder was thrust towards the oncoming set of teeth, and snapped her own fangs near to the girl's face as a deterrent.

This time she hit, albeit not quite on the mark. Her nose smashed into the other wolf's shoulder blade—more blood sprang free—and before she could think about attempting to latch on or back off to attempt a third assault, the stranger's jaws were snapping in her face. Towhee reacted by taking a hasty half-step backward and turning into the onslaught. Her own mouth opened wide and their teeth clashed noisily together.

She had hoped to inflict some damage, maybe even kill the outsider for her audacity... but Towhee now realized she was outmatched. "Why," she grunted breathlessly, disengaging from the tooth-sparring and backpedaling to put some space between them. She remained crouched, lips peeled backward and teeth bared. "Why won't you just leave?" She could taste her own blood now as it dripped from her busted nose and the Xi was relieved when her stomach only gave the smallest of rolls.

She kept fighting, which was annoying, but also somewhat refreshing since Juria had spent so long on the road, or dealing with stoic weirdos. Having someone with some fire in their belly made things more interesting - at least until the fight stopped, and the fire flickered before her.

Why won't you just leave? the girl seemed to plead. It was a good question. Juria should've just turned-tail and run off when the slightest resistance was brought upon her - but she wasn't a bright woman. She was a stubborn, obnoxious, somewhat obtuse woman.

She pulled away from the altercation when the other girl sagged in defeat, although she kept her attention upon the younger wolf in case she recouperated and came back for more. With a bit of a smug attitude Juria looked directly at her and proclaimed: Didn't wanna. Seemed like more fun to stay.

Phox and Towhee were never far apart, and today was no exception. He had been tracking a raccoon (or at least he thought it was a raccoon), but the sounds of Towhee's voice and the subsequent scuffle were enough to pull him away from one of his most beloved passions. If his sister was in danger, he couldn't risk letting her handle it on her own... even if she was more than capable of being a big girl and making decisions.

When he caught up to the scene, he stood beside Towhee, glanced at her, then gave the stranger a venomous look. "Leave her alone!" he demanded, lips curled back in a snarl. "Get outta here or I'll call for backup." He was pretty sure Raven was back at the caldera, but surely one of their pack mates was nearby and would hear the summons.

She glared icily, eyes slightly squinted. Now that the stranger was only a few feet away, Towhee could actually read her lips. "Didn't wanna. Seemed like more fun to stay." A sharp growl burst from the Xi's throat. This she-wolf was goading her on purpose, toying with her, and there was nothing the youth could do about it. She was too young and inexperienced to defend her own borders, try as she might.

There was a whoosh of air and suddenly a familiar scent filled her busted nose and a welcome presence took up residence at her flank. Towhee glanced at her brother, who cut an intimidating image, especially here in the dark. Her brassy eyes then flicked back to the interloper and she resorted to signing, -Get away from our home, you asshole!- The stranger wouldn't know ptero but the latter word—which involved clapping her paw rapidly against her own ass, then making a circle with her toes—didn't leave much to the imagination.

When she could hear the stomps of another body coming in, Juria raised her head and looked away from the girl - she saw a blurry blob, another black wolf but this one male and of a similar age. They bristled and shouted, showing no slurring to the words the way the agitated girl did; Juria thought she could take them both on if she had to. Not that she wanted to. Fighting strangers and being a dick wasn't exactly on her agenda, she just excelled at being an accidental jerk.

But she'd obey, this time. Even if they were kids, two versus one was a bad call. The threat of backup of the adult variety also spurred her to leave. Juria was full of herself, she was big and strong, she knew how to handle a fight - but not to that degree. Before she left she leveled a smile at Towhee and again, her smug tones prevailed: See? I knew you needed backup.

Then she turned tail and began to depart, her strides lazy at first, then picking up to a brisk trot until she was gone.

Once the threat retreated and Phox's heartbeat slowed to a somewhat more acceptable rate, he softened his expression and turned toward Towhee, assessing the damage. Raven would definitely need to have a look at it. -Come on,- he said, licking some of the blood of her nose. -Let's go find Raven.- He would most certainly get a retelling of the story straight from the horse's mouth on their way there, and although he was eager to hear it, he was more eager to make sure that Towhee was going to be okay.

The stranger shot her a smug smile and Towhee read her lips. Her eyes narrowed and she snarled, though the remark confused her more than anything. Was that supposed to be an insult? Wolves were pack animals; of course they would defend their territory as a group. She didn't dwell on it long, a sense of relief flooding through her as the she-wolf finally swiveled and loped away into the darkness, not without a leering Towhee watching her every move until she disappeared.

-I'm fine,- she reassured Phox before he even said anything. Nevertheless, she nodded at his suggestion. -You need to teach me to howl sometime,- she said as they began striding back toward the caldera proper. -I need to be able to summon backup. Will you show me? Maybe tomorrow?- Right now, all she wanted was to clean the loathsome blood off her face and neck, then get some rest; as they walked home, the exertion caught up to her and she realized she was exhausted.