Wapun Meadow survival of the fittest

@Merrick <3

He remembers this meadow; the place where he'd realized Helios wasn't anywhere near, wasn't coming back. He'd run too far, he remembers, in his desperation to get away from the stinging lick of flames closing in around him. He stops in his tracks, wondering suddenly where @Kratos is. They'd gone off exploring together, but he must have gotten distracted by the familiarity of the place...
He blinks and takes in a breath, disoriented, and turns in a slow circle. But he doesn't see Kratos. He could call for his mate, but he doesn't know who else that might bring too — so for now, he sticks to searching. His nose dips toward the ground, and he starts to move back the way he'd come. There's no scent trail by now, far as he's wandered, but he's sure he can find one soon.

<3

merrick ranged out, a low tuneless humming beneath his breath. the edges of ursus were pulling together nicely, and he had much reason to rejoice. he would allow himself delight tempered with wariness, and this hour his thoughts were upon easthollow and how he might foist his own reputation toward them.
tongue explored the ridges of his teeth as he watched a slender gunmetal seraph approach. too distant to know who this way, the cyclops boy quickly closed the distance between himself and the slim-legged creature, feminine to a fault despite the faint hints of masculine build.
"looking for something?" the madman murmured, smile flashing like a drop of absinthe in a glass.

The stranger's approach slips past him until the moment he speaks, leaving him startled and immediately wary. His head lifts sharply, hackles rippling for a moment as he stops in his tracks. For a moment, he simply regards the tattered man in cold silence.
Yes, His answer is sharp and to the point, ears tilting back just slightly. He doesn't like this man, no more than any normal person would like being stopped by a hooded stranger on a dark street. He feels suddenly cornered and eerily unwelcome; as if the atmosphere itself changed the moment this one-eyed man in rags addressed him. Why?

"because i could help you find it," merrick chirped back, a sardonic edge to his voice. single eye smouldered in its smudged socket, and then he stood back. "this is my land," he told the pretty interloper. all of it was, and this particular meadow he had deemed the extended hunting grounds of ursus.
"so i'm gonna ask you again," he murmured in a warm tone, taking another small step forward as ragged ears flicked to their full height and jaws parted in a glasgow grin, "what the fuck are you doing here?"
merrick wasn't about to be disrespected in his own dojo; he was still drunk with the bloodstains of santiago, ready to draw more living fluid from even this angelic boy.

The edge to the stranger's voice grates against Zephyr like nails on a chalkboard, sending a faint shudder through him from disgust more than fear. He's never encountered this before, malice cloaked in soft buttery tones, but he's felt enough hostility in his life to feel it radiating from the man even before his final words. His lips peel back as the other draws closer, hackles spiking fully with the final words. A snarl is his only response, body going rigid as he prepares for an attack. He has no intentions of telling this lunatic anything, and he's certain that the response he does offer won't go over well.

arriving next round

He’d stopped for one moment and his mate managed to wander off without him. Kratos is far from pleased, it isn’t often that he gets left in the dust without word—even when they go their separate ways it is done with silent understanding. Black tail tip twitching, the behemoth searches about the meadow—turning every leaf akin to a brewing storm.

pops an Evie in

"You!" the shout came from several meters behind Merrick as Evien approached, fur fluffed out and green eyes furious as he looked at Zephyr. "No, nope, nuh-uh. No fighting today, please, thank you." The brown wolf padded up beside his leader and brushed their sides together just slightly in an attempt to calm him down. It would not be beneficial to start another fight so quickly after their last, and he hoped Merrick understood. Of course, he would not stop the leader if he did want to fight, or if the silver wolf started it. 

He flicked his gaze back to Zephyr, ear flicking in annoyance. "Here to throw another corpse at us?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

what a foolish, stupid individual. merrick grinned with the glib air of a fraternity kid, eyeing the slender throat and slim limbs of the errant fighter. tongue tested the air, the goblin-cackle, and then it was swallowed as he thrust his ears toward arriving evien.
his rage turned to annoyance, then to curiosity. quelled by the doctor's assuring nature, at least for the present, the madman scoffed. "you know this moron?" well, this changed everything: now merrick would give their guest another bonus minute before he tore into that pretty face and scrubbed its glow to ash.

super sorry for the wait, i didn't realize how long it'd been!

The fight he expects is delayed by the arrival of an oddly familiar face. Irritation sparks at the sound — it's rather inconvenient right now, when he's trying to be taken seriously. The mention of his last encounter with the chocolate-furred boy definitely does not help that. His gaze never leaves the boy with the torn ears, though, jaw clenching as he insults him openly. There's little he'd like more than to tear up the rest of his face to match his ears, but for now he maintains his icy silence, silver eyes watching intensely for any sign of an attack. Nothing else matters right now — not the limping boy with his annoying question, not finding the mate he'd accidentally left behind. The possibility of a scuffle has, as always, captured his attention entirely.

By chance the growing crowd catches his attention. Typically the dragon would leave it as a glance over, yet the thin frame of the ice wraith catches his eye and beckons him to look again. With two standing before his mate and hostility in the air, Kratos bulldozes his way over. Pale gold eyes narrowed, striding forth to tower at the side of his mate.
A snort is all he gives in greeting.

"Yeah - threw a dead rat at me," Evien growled back to Merrick, fur standing on end as he looked the silver wolf over. He tossed his muzzle at the big red guy. "And that one picked me up." Embarrassing, yes, but true. Had they hurt him? No, but he still didn't like them. 

Green eyes narrowed at the growly pair and he lashed his tail. Annoyed, but not aggressive. "Like I said, fighting would probably be really stupid for all of us right now, so can we all just drop it and go our separate ways?" He looked over at Merrick, arching a brow. He'd fight if he had to, but he really would rather not. Especially not with a wolf that could lift him off the ground by his scruff.

the lovely boy was joined by a behemoth of a man, but merrick remembered the dark hunter who had come to avenge his son.
he had killed that man — through luck, of course, and it was not something the boy counted a true success. but he had done it all the same, and since then had felt absolved of any fear toward brutes larger than he. he stared between the pair of them, arching a brow as evien recounted their misdeeds.
the bearwolf, still stippled in the blood of the last hulking beast who had challenged him.
merrick said nothing, only remained as he was. there was little need for a tangle — so long as they left. ursus was at his back, and he would not step down from defending that which was his.
as always, with no thought for those around him; selfish, prancing madman.