Moonspear the devil's on the loose

She wove down the jagged trails of the higher elevations, motivated to head back to the lower reaches of the mountain with an idea of a hunt taking shape. Once she got further down, she noticed the steady increase in.. bugs?

At first, this was not so perturbing. It was a humid spring deepening towards summer, and bugs happened.. but every stride and moment brought her into more of them. By the time her pathway met up with their boundaries, there was nothing else to focus on besides their awful buzzing interrupting the quietude of the mountain's base

Her ears pinned back and she snapped her teeth as one awkwardly flew within reach. They were decently sized things, not just gnats or flies but almost like a grasshopper now that she got a halfway stationary look at one. She remained unimpressed and then, a vague worry crept on her once she moved deeper into a stretch of forest. After she had to swat another away from her space, annoyance became clear. A swarm? It only seemed to thrum louder with the noise of wings the further down she went.

Nothing had hinted at this before now and this bothered her. Not even a gradual increase in their presence in days prior, and neither was this.. what she'd expect of this time of year, only a handful of weeks after the very last frost. It seemed.. early, and deeply unsettling among other things. Her furs bristled and when she saw them gnawing away at the shrubbery and with that, realization set in.

Amekaze remained on the move, now restless and worried in full as she weaved through the woods. She slung back her head and loosed a low, confused howl. Protect yourself, and whatever resources you can..

It did not feel like much to say, but it would have to do until she could come up with a better approach to this brand new problem.

Lazarus had slept fitfully through the night, resembling a hibernating bear within his den, and woke to the incessant buzzing on the wind. His eyes were closed even after he felt the world shift around him; as he moved from a dreamscape in to reality, the buzzing caught in his ears. Then, the howl shot through the air. Lazarus heard this, the voice of Amekaze, and finally opened his eyes. He began to pull himself free of the den he had made, the white of his pelt holding a layer of ruddy dust. As he emerged he saw the first signs of strangeness: a chunk of what appeared to be bark, with legs, twitching at his feet. 

He was not a smart man and assumed hastily (as he bent low to inspect the creature) that this was not at all the reason for the woman's howl. He took a few more steps, and heard the buzzing in the air intensify — but the man was more interested in finding the dark woman and protecting her from whatever dangers lay about her mountain. This was his time to prove himself, to make his prowess known. He got only a few feet away from the den before his paws connected with heavy steps upon a pile of creatures, and upon looking down Lazarus saw not one bug like before, but a multitude. So many that they crawled over each other in an endless fashion, and he let out a low rumble at them, warning them away in his discomfort.

Still, Lazarus did not make the connection that Amekaze was warning the mountain wolves about these bugs; they were mere insects, he thought. Small breakable things hardly worth the energy to hunt. They were amassing in such a swift manner that Lazarus was unsettled - but he wasn't afraid of them. He did not understand the damage they would do to the mountain, at least not until he ambled in to a line of trees and saw them there, feasting upon it. Confusion wrought his features while he witnessed this, and then a stray locust sprang up beside him -- too close for comfort -- and he caught it with a snap of his jaws.

What in the world was going on?! Big ass bugs that bore some resemblance to grasshoppers were clinging to the wolfdogs feathery fur, and he pranced around trying to throw them off as if he were a bucking horse. Ame's call, however, brought him to a halt. Something more was happening, and already he knew this wouldnt be fun. Her call was clear: protect what you can. Harley's brain began to work fast, wondering what they would need more than anything. By the locusts' eating away at any plant life, it was clear that prey might be an issue. If they ate all of the food that normally the prey would eat, said prey would need to move on or die.... And where did that leave the wolves who counted on that prey to survive? Dead. The milky male worked fast, sniffing out the closest cache and snatching the few items within it. Where they would be taken, however, depended on where the pack would be. Would they huddle together and face this storm, or would they be expected to survive alone? The red-tipped male howled for anyone to come who needed support, as well as asking for help.

Every step and the bugs seemed to increase with no end in sight. Darkening the skies and thrumming with a noise she was swiftly learning to hate, she couldn't decipher where to begin and scarcely how to process this. The notion of them eating everything was what spurred her most viciously, but even then, she drew an aggressive blank on how to respond; she could not stop them, could she.

In the face of an enemy so unknown, how were they meant to combat this? Should they.. hide? Wait it out? Was there anything to do besides that? And how long would it go on? Until there was nothing left, perhaps? This helplessness against mere insects was deeply unnerving, and watching them eat away the verdant spring greenery she'd only just begun to get to know here gave her the ugliest feeling she'd known in moons.

Over the din of her mountain's ongoing destruction, she realized Lazarus' company -- the first to join her, on what, exactly, she didn't know yet but the comraderie was welcome amongst so much growing sorrow. She cast him a quick look, one that implored. Did he know any more than she did? She was still glad to have someone with her, though, and wished to keep moving for her own sake.

Not long after finding him, and striding closer to Lazarus' proximity, Harley's howl caught her attention. She contemplated a moment, then called back before she could move to rally closer to his location. "Head up the mountain, they seem to not have spread so badly up further yet, and shelter in the caves," she messaged back. She still did not know exactly what they would need to do, and this made her hugely uneasy.

Bits of locust fell away around his maw, but a leg stuck out from where it was wedged between his teeth. While he worried it free - then spat it out - he caught Amekaze's gaze. She appeared worried, but for what reason Lazarus remained oblivious. He would not understand the importance of these bugs until much later, when they'd had their fill and the land was stripped bare. He too heard the call of a stranger, and was prompted to ignore it — coasting along the mountainside towards the Alpha as if to greet her, yet just as he reached her she was canting her head up and howling in return. Following this, Lazarus witnessed her departure from his side, which irked him somewhat. Did she not see that he was here to aid her? That he would protect her against whatever made her so fearful?

He followed after her, snapping at more bugs as they flooded the mountain. The beast used them to let off some steam, and to keep his temper in check while he followed after the dark woman. She was the only reason for his attraction to this mountain place and his continued servitude upon it — after such a brief encounter, Amekaze was all he thought of, all he coveted, so simple was his mind. This was to be his chance to prove himself, and yet she fled from him. The swarm descended and he briefly lost sight of her along the ridge, and let out a bellow when the bugs clouded his vision. How dare they, he thought. I will end them all.

Harley didn't have to wait long before his alpha gave him another clear order. To the caves, up, away from the storm. He let out another short responding howl, "Clearing the caches, bringing them with." Carrying what load he could, the milky male headed up the mountain. His jaws filled with kill, he would no longer be able to communicate. There was no reason to keep stopping and letting the bugs grow closer, wasting time to clear more caches and take them back. Amekaze didn't need to know EVERYTHING he did, but he was hoping they would also clear caches on the way. Who else was around? Where was everyone? He might not yet personally know everyone (including his alpha), but he knew they resided in the same borders as he.

Short post is short *Sadface*