Ankyra Sound One time friends, I had a ma, I even had a pa

AW

They had been instructed to wait here by their beloved mother, and even though Raleska bore red-daggers into the back of Caiaphas' receding skull, she did not question her mother's command. @Svalinn would probably have ousted her to the sylph even if she had the gumption to defy a direct order, which Raleska didn't, because she knew exactly how terrifying her mother could be when the whim took her.

She kicked a pebble along the beach absentmindedly as she waited, wondering when Caiaphas would be back. From the tone of her voice and the resolution in her mother's lambent yellow gaze, she had surmised it might be a while.. She didn't know what was next in their journey, but was glad for the brief respite this unknown errand of her mother's caused.

Slumping into the sand with a huff, Raleska watched the tide. She hadn't remembered much about this place (being so young when they had left), though her mother told her she had been born here (Svalinn too).. but occasionally she was struck with a sense of familiarity, and occasionally, felt like maybe she had been here before all along.

wc:319
Sorry, I absolutely could not help myself...

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Niamh had taken to wandering along the shore, but she couldn’t quite determine why it was that she’d undertaken such a journey on her own. She travelled quickly, trying to satiate a certain curiosity that she had that wouldn’t seem to go away. It was only when she passed by the ragged Ravenshook cliffs that she realized why she roving along the coast. Part of her still couldn’t believe that Screech had survived such a fall and a killing blow. And part of her believed that eventually he would return to this place, and it would be there that she would end his life for certain.

Instead, of finding his scent, though, he made one that made her hackles stand up. Caiaphas and her two children were in the area, though she was careful to sneak along their trail until she noticed that not only did Caiaphas veer away, but Svalinn as well. Warily, she chose to pursue Raleska, as she figured Svalinn had become more of a momma’s boy than she would have liked and maybe, just maybe, Raleska would spare a minute for her without calling out for her mother. They’d had something of a relationship, hadn’t they? Niamh hadn’t wanted Raleska to leave…

When she caught sight of her, Niamh remained low, and kept a wary eye out for Caiaphas, who would undoubtedly try to pummel her ass into the ground if she caught Niamh sneaking up on her daughter. Harmlessly, though, she regarded the girl with something akin to regret on her features and after casting a glance about, she called out, nothing more than a quick ”Psssst!” To catch her attention- hopefully without causing enough of a ruckus so that if Caiaphas was nearby, she might hopefully go unnoticed. It was a bad idea...But Niamh didn’t care. She had to try and talk to Raleska, even if only for a moment.

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Raleska, for all her time spent in the wilds, was still only a child - therefore, she did not hear or see Niamh until a sharp “pssst!” announced her solidarity was disrupted. 

The girl jerked her head, ears flopping with the sudden movement. Her eyes — Caiaphas’ eyes — settled on a vision she was all together happy to see. At first excitement flushed her features, for she had missed the plateau and its inhabitants, particularly Niamh, who the girl had regarded as somewhat of an idol. Niamh!!

And yet for all of her fondness of the Amazon, Raleska remembered she had threatened her mother. Raleska hadnt understood the circumstances surrounding their exile, but she knew exactly what nearly happened that day the pack had turned against her mother. 

A coolness chased away her eagerness, and a trace of her old protective sullenness descended across her features. Her tail stilled, and Raleska seemed to time her reactions carefully. What are you doing here? Her voice was layered with conflict — on the one hand it did her some good to see her friend so far from “home” — but on the other hand, could Niamh really be trusted? The girl’s features remained conflicted with crestfallen emotion.

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Niamh was fully prepared to be met with anger or betrayal, as she had been one of the first wolves to turn on Caiaphas...Raleska hadn't been present when she'd first answered Caiaphas' challenge, but she supposed that the girl's mother would have informed her that Niamh had advised her to pipe down and stay in her place, before the rest of the pack had shown up and forced her out into the wilds on her own. She suspected that any ire Caiaphas had had upon her exile would have been passed down to her kids- but when Raleska heard her and turned to face her, she didn't look angry at all. Instead, she looked a bit worried- but pleased, as well.

Niamh smiled, tail wagging from hock to hock as she crept forward to greet her former packmate. She was given reason to pause when Raleska's features fell, and her tail stopped waving, but she continued forward, calm warmth still softening her features. She shook her head when Raleska seemed to imply, with her question, that she was doing something wrong by checking in on the girl. Niamh, however, felt she needed to touch base with the wolf she had hoped to take on as an apprentice, and let her know that she was still fondly remembered. 

"Found your trail; just wanted to make sure you were doing alright," She said. Naturally, Niamh spoke in a hushed voice, aware of the fact that if Caiaphas showed up, she could be attacked without being provoked. She reached out, wanting to touch her nose to Raleska's dark cheek, though she knew her kind gesture might very well be rejected. "I didn't want you to have to leave." She confessed.

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mind if I join? She's just lurkin.  Also timeline wise makin a few assumptions that can be easily edited <3

feel free to skip if she isn't addressed

Caiaphas was gone, moved north on some sort of something, and had left them to the shore.  Rosalyn wasn't thrilled to be left with the woman's progeny, but she was surprised to be trusted with it.  She supposed their alliance came with assumptions, and figured Erzulie's presence had helped to smooth things even more.

She was on her way to find Raleska, but stopped short when she noted that she wasn't alone.  Her fur rose when she saw who it was talking - the Redhawk bitch, one who she had once thought a friend.  She considered chasing her away, but their meeting didn't seem unfriendly and she feared shifting that.  So she stopped where she was, a ways away, her intense golden gaze burning into Niamh as if daring her to make a move against the younger girl.

"Raleska!" Svalinn shouted from somewhere far away, charging down the beach as he roughly followed his sister's most recent sand-trail. He was employing his answer me or I'm telling tone of voice, while also trying to conceal how excited he was about something he wanted to show her. It made sense to him, in that moment, that alluding to a threat would produce the quickest response from her. "Ra-le-ska!" he demanded again, before deciding he needed to change tactics. "C'mon, Les! You have to come see what I found. It smells so damn ba—,"

He stopped calling out when he spotted his soot-furred sister, with her tell-tale swathes of gunmetal muttonchops, standing next to... was that, Niamh?!

In his shock, he failed to notice Rosalyn there too, though he would have scoffed at the notion of needing any kind of supervision, despite it being inherently true. "Whoa," he gaped, coming to face Niamh and stand at Raleska's side; "you followed us all the way out here?" the boy asked without having heard any of the conversation prior. "You made the right choice," Svalinn affirmed then, almost in the same breath.

Whatever misgivings Raleska might've had about the Redhawks, Svalinn didn't share them. They were a stupid lot, but they could learn, right? Ma could whip them into shape. Niamh had simply seen the error in her ways, and was here to confess and repent. Nothing else.

erz uses 'ruin everyone's day'

unlike the other three, erzulie had harboured a great and seething distaste for the redhawks since the woman's attack on rosalyn. it was presently that she came upon the scene unfolding, and her hackles spiked with a great indignation, followed by a rush of annoyance that her lover made no move to drive the honeyed bitch away from caiaphas' children.
it had been much farther down the coast that the altercation had happened; the redhawk had thus followed them, for miles, and it was enough to cause both suspicion and loathing in the harlot's spirit.
whatever the craven had been to the children before, now she was enemy, and erzulie quite doubted the dour, dark-faced mother would tolerate a member of the pack she had departed so near her children.
thus, the chai-tea creature lunged past rosalyn, close enough for their pelts to brush, stride unfurling into a low, silent run that intended harm, her willingness and desire to brutalize the redhawk cur etched in every line of her body. this was their land; the other was trespassing, and her sheer gall enraged erzulie more than the rest of it. 
let the children loathe her for the actions she would take; cold sand churned beneath her paws, and her teeth ached to rend flesh.

Whatever response Raleska was planning to launch (something like ‘I don’t need to be looked after’ or ‘I’m not a kid anymore’ — both of course untrue) was cut short by Svalinn’s bouncing arrival, and the confident ease in which he commandeered the situation. 

Raleska couldn’t hide the hopefulg glimpse that stole across her dark features as her eyes sought the honeyed hue of Niamh’s for validation.  Was it true? Had Niamh changed her mind and come to live with them instead?!

Her tail stirred of its own accord, betraying her excitement at the prospect - but a darkness soon descended across their happt reunion. 

Raleska hadn’t noticed Rosalyn lingering, and she wouldn’t have noticed Erzulie either, except the tawny she-wolf was coming towards them at a hellbent clip, her mint green eyes cold and savage. No! Raleska blurted in bewildered hurt, trying to stand between her old friend and new, and feeling woefully inadequate in the process.

Truth be told, Niamh hadn’t expected a terribly upbeat, warm welcome from Raleska- she’d half-figured the girl might resent her. What she got instead was confusion, which was at least better than spite. Still, she reached out to touch the girl’s cheek to let her know it was OK to be puzzled...And also as an apology. She knew the questions that Raleska would want to ask- and heard them voiced instead by Svalinn, whose presence stole her attention away for just a moment. 

She offered them a somewhat sad, wan smile, knowing that she couldn’t validate what appeared to be their hopes. Raleska even brightened up at the suggestion that she’d followed them with the aim of joining them. Niamh only had the chance to partially shake her head when the turn of her muzzle brought two other forms into her line of vision.


Neither were Caiaphas- and she instantly regretted seeing both of them, though Rosalyn held back. Her companion, though, charged boldly forward and had already zipped across the distance between them by the time Niamh looked up. Raleska moved and Niamh gritted her teeth and hissed, wishing she’d spotted or scented Erzulie earlier. In that split second, she’d closed in- and Raleska, bless her heart, had moved in to protect Niamh. 

Niamh didn’t associate the two pairs, and assumed in that fragment of an instant that Erzulie was attacking simply because she spotted Niamh- not because she knew Raleska or Svalinn. There she’d been standing, calm and peaceful as a lamb among sheep when Erzulie made the decision to attack, leading Niamh to believe she didn’t know the adolescents- as surely she wouldn’t have endangered them had she known them. 

There wasn’t much she could do to avoid hurting Raleska at this point- had she lunged, she would’ve pinned the girl between them. But Niamh wasn’t going to allow a youngster to take a hit for her- so she sidestepped briskly, hoping to shoulder Svalinn, at least, out of har’s way and launch a slightly delayed attack at Erzulie, hoping she’d managed to veer away from Raleska enough to avoid hurting her.

Rosalyn was content to let them be, as it didn't seem the children were upset by their presence.  As far as she knew, they had no claim to protect here; just individuals, who seemed to not be in danger.  That changed when Erzulie flashed by, seemingly on the attack.

Her first response was annoyance, an ironic echo of Erzulie's own only a minute ago.  They had enemies at their back right now, and she would invite more?

But no matter if she disagreed, when her lover attacked, Rosalyn would be at her back.  Hopefully the woman - what had her name been? - would see sense and run.  Rosalyn sprang after, on a slight delay from Erzulie's approach, and tried to look as threatening as she could.

Svalinn could barely begin to frown over Niamh's apparent dismissal of his claim, when Erzulie came forward with a victress' aim, jaws borne wide for Redhawk flesh. Bewildered, he did not react as fast nor as dramatically as his sister, impassioned as she was by sentiment. He watched—woefully slow—as the black lamb threw herself sacrificially in front of Niamh, and before he could finish gathering his muscles together to leap in front of her, he found himself shoved aside by the intended target and thrown completely off balance.

His forelegs went under him and his hindquarters bent in an effort to get back on his feet. It was an awkward, messy affair, but he scrambled back up and dove blindly forward in an attempt to bar Raleska from the surging harpies.

”Consider yourself marked- next time, I won’t be alone...And next time, you’ll die.”
the promise of the golden wretch had not been forgotten, and fired erzulie further. there was a certain cruel irony here; rosalyn was not alone, and the pirate certainly would not die. 
annoyed anew by the refusal of the young ones to get out of the way, the harlot shouldered her way past the yearling girl, hoping to nudge raleska roughly aside before the redhawk's attack met her. teeth vied with teeth; erzulie snapped viciously for any part of the other's face or throat, the scent of rosalyn swimming forward, and here her throat quaked a dark laugh.
which, again, would die today?

Raleska was too inexperienced to present much help to Niamh. If anything, the young girl had the opposite effect, seeming to hinder the very wolf she had tried to protect. 

Things were happening way too fast for Raleska to keep up with: Niamh sidestepping, Rosalyn closing the gap, Erzulie incoming like a hostile missile — and then Svalinn, trying (and succeeding) to pluck his sister out of harm’s errant way. 

She was pulled to the ground and rolled well clear of the ensuing havoc - but what happened in those next seconds was beyond the Eyjolfur’s control. She could only look on in horror as friend clashed with friend.

Niamh squared her feet, preparing for the onslaught that was finally released in her direction following Svalinn's successful attempt to shove his sister out of harm's way. With Rosalyn joining her comrade and surging forward to yet again spark an unfair two-against-one fight, Niamh snarled viciously and backpedaled, hoping to avoid as much damage as possible- but Erzulie had the benefit of her momentum and built-up speed, so Niamh felt the slash of fangs and fur of her shoulder. Tail tucked, and snapping sourly in the air to ward Erzulie away from her, she picked up a gallop, hoping to draw the two females away from the adolescents.

"Get outa here, kids," She shouted, forgetting that they weren't exactly children anymore. "Take care of each other- and your mother," She shouted, leaning to one side to snap in earnest at Erzulie, though she really had no interest in an actual fight if she and Rosalyn were going to gang up on her unfairly again.

Rosalyn wasn't looking to fight the woman, though it was tempting.  Erzulie seemed keen on injuring, but Rosalyn didn't fear her, and feared more the Redhawks turning their attention to the shore.  They didn't need more enemies.  She didn't need more.

But, well, this bitch had done a lot of talking last time they met.  And a few scars wouldn't earn them too much ire.

Coming in behind Erzulie, Rosalyn snapped at her side, positioning herself between the children and Niamh.  They'd chase her away, out, and do what they would on the way.

Standing rigidly over Raleska, so that she had to peer frightfully between the slats of his long salt-washed legs, Svalinn remained in a position to both shield his sister and control any advances she'd want to make on Niamh's behalf. He didn't want to see her hurt, but she obviously wasn't there to join them - she didn't belong here. "Rosalyn! Erzulie!" he shouted, as the harpies snarled and scratched after the graceless angel who fled in the direction of Tuktu. It was a pitiful and likely futile attempt to call off the razor-sharp hellcats, but he couldn't just stand quiet; and it was also the biggest effort he was willing to put forth for the sake of their former packmate. "She's not worth it, let her run!"

foolish foolish foolish
the redhawk bitch snapped at her — had erzulie known that the other felt their attack was unfair, she would have laughed aloud. there was no fairness in stalking and trespassing, no fairness in seeking to wound her lover so many weeks ago. and so the harlot growled low, keeping herself upon the coward's heels.
she had almost gotten out of reach of svalinn's call when it rang out, mirroring what she had said to rosalyn the last time they had seen the redhawk. and though anger burned in her, erzulie regained some semblance of a level head and slowed, clipping her teeth audibly one final time as a warning.
when the redhawk had sped off, becoming a speck in the distance, the woman whirled, stalking back along the sound toward the children, tail flung bannerlike.
"i do not care what dat woman was to you before," she spat coldly, eyes flashing between the tall boy and his willowy sister. "she is not dat now. she would have killed rosalyn before we met your mother; she followed us all this way, and for what? she is not to be trusted. no redhawk is. if your mother went back to dem, i doubt she would be so warmly received. only family, oui? only de wolves who follow caiaphas in de sound."
angry, yes, and worried that the young ones had no idea how to break prior ties. it would not do well for them in the future if they could not move on now. she glanced between raleska and svalinn again, waiting for whatever they would say, and then glanced to rosalyn.

Gonna pull Niamh outa this one...I'd assume we can archive? Just to tidy things up :) This was fun!!

Niamh cried out sharply as she was herded away from Svalinn and Raleska by Erzulie, and she cast a glance back when her harrier finally let her go. She watched from a distance, with a simmering gaze, as her former foes approached her former packmates- but thankfully, they didn't attack them. Suspiciously, she watched as Erzulie spoke to them. She was too far away to hear anything, but from what she could tell, something had transpired between them...Rosalyn and Erzulie knew Svalinn and Raleska. Though she didn't like it- simply because she liked the young wolves, and because she disliked Rosalyn and Erzulie- she was glad that at least she hadn't needed to protect them from the two females. She didn't approve of Raleska and Svalinn's new companions- but as long as they were treated well, she supposed at least, they'd be well protected. She huffed, dignity wounded yet again, and left them to be as they would.

((Ahhh crud it's my turn sorry!!  I'll leave it in case the kids wanna respond))

While Rosalyn was starting to realize making enemies had come back to bite her, there was true wisdom to what her lover said, and she gave a nod.  There was danger in allowing strangers to walk here, even ones they thought they knew.  I thought she was a friend too.  And yet last time we met, she turned without a word.  Friends can easily become enemies when tried.  She looked after the fleeing form, then pressed her nose to Erzulie's shoulder.  She was fierce in her defense of the pirate, fiercer even than Rosalyn was for herself, but if the tables were turned, she had few doubts it would be the same.

There was little Raleska could do, even with Svalinn alongside her. The adults had already hauled ass across the beach, leaving her and her brother in the smoking sand. Looking helplessly at Svalinn with a small shrug, the bony girl sighed and went back to where her mother had instructed her to wait.

She felt sorry for Niamh in that moment, and even more sorry for herself. All she had wanted was to see her old friend, but her mom's newer, meaner friends had chased her off.. and Raleska wondered how long it would take for them to turn on her mother the way Niamh had -- if that would ever happen.

She sniffed and crossed one paw over the other as she sat down, and there she waited for the adults to come back from their hounding, or for her mother to return from her expedition.