Hideaway Strath grub cub

Some days were lame.

Some days her Ma had to go do stuff and Lotus would be left behind for a little bit. Some days she got dropped off with all the bigger kids.

Well, today she toddled outside the den a bit. Playing just outside of it. She had found a grub. A literal grub. Who she had harassed by pouncing on multiple times.

Now, as it curled up with likely defensive shock, she covered it with two oversized puppy paws. Eager to scare somebody with it...whenever somebody came by.

Although she was also half tempted to put it in her mouth...

The giant war driven female was exploring her new home. She took in the new scents and sights and while exploring wasn’t the right word for it, rather scouting ahead. Her face didn’t give away any thought she might have of the place, green and lush she was oblivious to the fact she had arrived in puppy season. Seasons changed, War did not. She had never felt compelled to have children of her own, nor ever thought it an option. Instead she had trained her entire life to become a weapon of war.

Her walk made her come across a child though. A very young child who had her paws wrapped around something on the ground. War stood feets away from her, unsure what to do or what to say to a tiny wolf who couldn’t in the slightest relate to what War did, nor even talk about it – unlikely at least. War towered over the small pup and she did not move. Where were the parents? She looked closer and saw striking white fur with bright yellow eyes.

She knew those eyes.

The female who had accepted her had those eyes. This was sensitive situation – an alpha’s pup was alone and about in the territory, unprotected and likely an easy target to whomever had ill intend. War straightened up and walked to the child, determined that it was now her duty to protect the small one.

She did not speak as she came to the child, instead her ears were on alert, eyes on the lookout for trouble and the gigantic female would simply stand like a silent statue and guard over the child. Letting no one nearby but the mother when she should return. Anyone coming upon the unlikely little duo would be in a world of trouble. War knew her duty, knew her place and this was it.

for reference, she's right outside of her den that she'd share with @Nyra since she's still so young!

Someone came up.

Someone that little Lotus had never seen before. Nor smelled. Nor harassed with puppy antics.

She was some weird woman. All...red. Giiiiiaaaaaaant too!

Lotus didn't understand why she just stood there. Most of the wolves the young Dagger interacted with had wanted to move! Play!

Which meant Lotus had to find something that would make this woman want to play. Like...the grub! Which the young child promptly picked up between her teeth before she aimed to fling it at the red woman.

Tail whipped behind her excitedly, waiting to see if that would entice the stranger to move.

The small child threw something at her. War did not react as the child might have hoped, instead she looked down at the small grub with a slow movement after it had landed on the ground. She looked at it for a few silent seconds then she lifted her left paw, stepped upon and it watched as it squeezed out between her toes and became nothing but a gooey mess. Then she looked back up and out around the surrounding area.

The child was playing near it’s den, but she could still not see the mother. She had to keep watch then. War turned her head toward the child who had said nothing and done nothing but throw a grub at her. She did not wonder much upon the incident and rather than clean up her paw she kept a silent watch over their surroundings.

Socialize? Play? No. Guard and watch silently was all she did, and the child hadn’t said anything either, so that made War assume everything was fine. War’s ears were on high alert, and she simply let the child do whatever it pleased. She had not come to entertain it, but rather protect it.

Pings for wolves I think might answer a Lotus call :) @Nyra @Kynareth Deagon @Charles even maybe? :eyes:

Not once had she ever been so disrespected.

The young girl had known not much more than a life of easy luxury. Tussling with the bigger children had been the hardest thing in her life so far.

Now, this stranger, had squashed the very thing Lotus had worked so hard for.

She sucked in a deep breath. Filled her lungs to the utmost capacity then let out the LOUDEST call her still small body could muster.

A horribly shrill sound, full of all of her hurt in the world from seeing her grub crushed under paw.

Mayhaps not who you were expecting but Alduin does the protecc!

Alduin had been on his merry way to @Arlette’s den, happily sneaking off from his beautiful mother beast. Something he’s gotten fairly good at lately. He can help the arrogant and slightly prideful look in his ruby red eyes as he trots on. 

Until he hears a shrill howl. He thinks he knows that voice! Is that the white and brown ball of fluff he met when he was playing and sleeping with Nyra? His fat little paws move his pudgy body as fast as he can, tail wagging wildly at the idea of protecting a pack mate. 

When he arrives he realizes that, yes, it is Lotus! Then his eyes travel to the large red wolf that had put him in his place not too long ago. He doesn’t hate the big bloody wolf, no not at all! She challenges his fury and he’d meet her! 

Alduin moves past Lotus and does the orneriest little growl he can manage. He doesn’t care what happened, he just wants a reason to show off his skills. Though he tries to seem fierce, his eyes hold signs of playfulness as he steps up to the larger wolf. A bark falls from his mouth then and he hops forward and bats a little paw to War’s own. Yes! Slap the big wolf! That should make everything better! Look at how I’ve saved you Lotus! Look at me!

Here comes hellfire, I'm so sorry I could not stop myself ;w;

While Lotus was sleeping on the den, or at least Nyra assumed she was, the gigantic mother had slipped out to go find some food. A rabbit, perhaps. Something she could share with her daughter to get her into eating meat and not just regurgitated stuff or milk. 

And she had just barely taken down a rabbit too, when she heard the pained screech of her child.

One thing Nyra never considered was how extremely overprotective she would be with children, especially her own. The scream shot straight to Nyra's most primal instincts, making all rational, logical thought go straight out the window as the Empress dropped the rabbit then and there, and sprinted at full speed towards Lotus.

She did not slow down or even stop as she drew to the scene, glimpsing Alduin for all of a hair of a second before the entirety of her attention drew murderously upon War. 

If Nyra had even half her normal wits about her right now, she would have registered that the equally large she-wolf was a packmate. Friend. Ally. Not danger.

Instead, the Battle Phoenix had zero of that and with full force, aimed her fangs straight for War's face with a roar more fierce than any storm.

Charles once more felt caught in the crossfire as he showed up. Lotus was visibly upset and he felt instantly protective of her. As he glimpsed around, he saw Alduin who stood before her protectively, making himself seem big and strong even though he was still young. Then there was Nyra who was headed straight for the other wolf — a packmate? in the chaos, Charles couldn't tell — and Charles was unsure where his place in all of this was. It was like watching a movie unfold in front of him, a theatre play, where he had no power to change anything.

In the end, Charles moved towards Lotus and said, Oh, uh, sweetie — It felt so foreign when he said it, awkward even, but he tried. He felt that he cared about her, but somehow it was hard to speak the words. — What happen? In his rough voice with his choppy word usage, while he moved closer, but not so close that he could touch her; so far, their relation had mostly consisted of him offering playthings to her, so he wasn't sure if she would even want him to.

A cry. A very loud cry is all the child seems to be able to muster as a reaction. War looks at her and her rather pathetic whine or cry. A call for help. From what exactly? She does not understand but is certainly not pleased with the sound she makes. It sounds too harsh on her ears, and she wish it would stop. And just as suddenly as it began, she stopped.

Soon a dark child also appears, someone she recognizes. A spoiled brat. He barks and this time she reacts with a displeased look on her face. Did he want another scolding from her? Because he was about to get it. He bats at her paw, and she looks down at her paw as if something had irritated her.

Enough

”Stop.” Her tone is harsh. A warning.

One, and only one warning.

Then out of the blue something white appears, a scent she recognized without a doubt. Nyra.

She attacked and War’s reflexes just saves her face, but not her shoulder. With a large roar the white female is sinking her teeth into War’s left shoulder. She doesn’t feel the pain at first, then it comes sneaking as a jackhammer. She does no cry out loud but looks with a stunned expression at Nyra. Why?

Why?

”Why?”

If War knew emotion, she would have the look of betrayal in her eyes. She trusted Nyra, she liked Nyra and now she had her fangs in her shoulder for no reason. Was this another spar? Was this the playful part that the alpha had told her of? She did not enjoy it one bit.

Someone she didn’t recognize arrived. A brown male. He spoke to the girl about what happened. It was not directed at War. She looked down at Nyra again and this time her cold eyes turned – softer. Not too soft, just enough to strike an emotion. She didn’t know how she felt but betrayed. ”Is this a spar?” She wonders, she asks. She feels like a child being punched in the face by her own mother. This was an unfamiliar feeling.

mild assumptions made about relations/interactions, PM me if you'd like an edit <3

It all happened very fast.

Alduin, the big beefy boy she had tussled with once or twice at Arlette's, arrived on the scene. Quick to take charge. She was more appreciative of it than she would (or could) have vocalized.

Although quick was mother to crash the scene. The vision of nightmares and dreams alike. Granted she was not given much time as one more came to her call.

She recognized him well enough. A great provider! She had treasured a many sticks gifted from him. Which meant she so no problem in crashing against his leg with teary eyes. Surely him of all wolves would understand her woes of a crushed toy.

Sh-sh-she, A bumbling mess already as she replayed the awful squish in her puppy mind. 'USHED IT!

SQUISHED IT, CRUSHED IT, MUSHED IT!

Lotus could only feel the deepest hurt for the action.

Alduin tries his best to defend her, but the woman, War, just like last time, speaks down to him in a demanding tone. For a moment he thinks she might hold him down like she did last time, but there’s not enough time before he nearly gets crushed by the pale guardian known as Nyra. Her footsteps are heavy, like a galloping horse, kicking up dirt and grass. Alduin scrambles to move out of the way, briefly tucking a curled tail between his legs as he too runs over to the safety of Charles’ legs. 

Hiding himself next to Lotus his bloody eyes go wide as he watches the scene fold out before him. Slinking back further with a cautious look to Lotus, only to share the same look up towards Charles. What would happen? He’s almost terrified, he’s never seen an actual fight yet and the noises already terrify him, along with the flying teeth and bits of fur.

Her teeth meet muscled shoulder flesh before the scent of War meets her nose. 
And by then the damage is done, and it's with a stiffened shock that Nyra pries her teeth from War's shoulder and meets the war machine's eyes, which seemed to swirl with confusion and betrayed hurt.

Nyra opens her mouth to express an apology, but the words die on her tongue while her own golden gaze is visibly unfurling and exploding with instantaneous regret for hurting her packmate in such a way. 
As much as she genuinely thought there was an intruder, and maybe it would be clearer that this was the case given her expression. Nyra felt her throat tighten as she wrestled with herself not to start crying from knowing she hurt someone who seemed to, in a sense, look up to her. 

It was written and woven all over her titan form that she was sorry, and yet still, she couldn't figure out how to say so with her words.

Charles didn't expect to really get in the middle of it all so fast. Oh, he mumbled in surprise when Lotus rushed towards him and squished herself against his leg. He felt very conflicted: surprised that she noticed him at all, of all wolves there, and proud and happy at the same time that she should choose him to feel safe with. The coywolf for a moment forgot about the situation around him, with Nyra attacking one of their own, and saw only Lotus.

His reality was opened up again when Alduin joined by Lotus' side to hide behind his legs, too, looking at the battle. Charles himself was rather daunted by fighting too, and his heart beat rose for a moment until he saw the dust settle and Nyra looked like she had something — regret?

Lotus meanwhile tried to explain to him what precisely was wrong. Everything around him was a chaos, but he focused on Lotus above all else. Charles didn't have much experience with kids, but he knew that she was trying to say that the other wolf did something to her 'it'. What was 'it'? Charles looked around swiftly, trying to figure it out, but in the mess of the fight Charles couldn't see anything that could be it. At least Lotus seemed to be physically okay, that was good. It's okay, uh — mom — It felt kinda weird to call Nyra that, even though she was — Takes care of it. Even though Nyra looked like she felt sorry the moment he said it. Charles was majorly confused. We'll find you a new — What, exactly? He still didn't know. 'It'. ... Whatever you want, okay? Just don't cry. Not the best parenting, perhaps, but the best Charles could manage. His own mother would often give him things when he had cried, if he promised to shut up.