Bearclaw Valley [intruder] pack, pack, kill, kill

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a week after this thread, a daughters revenge.
dated for september 3rd.

Her mother returned home, crying, bloodied, a mess overall. She was always a fragile woman, especially when men would whisper sweet words to her, and she would believe them so. Faust watched for all her life of her mother being toyed and played with by various of wolves, but never to the point she came home hurt.

Eventually, all their siblings had dispersed into their own packs, but Faust, remained a loner. Her mother Shisu though, seemed to tracked her down in tears and sorrow, expressing what had happened. A trip to the past, a place where her life had started all-over-again, but it was not what she dreamed to be.

But someone hurt her mother.

Someone who would need to pay.

Shisu may be a fool, and a crybaby, but she was till Faust's mother. 

She needed to find the black wolf with purple eyes, Astara.

Evien had been working. With all of the chaos going on between the packs, he'd had to gather more herbs and ensure that everything would be in order for injured packmates should they come in. When they came in, that is. It was inevitable. Luckily, the rain had been excellent for most of the flora in and around the Valley, so they were not short on healing herbs. 

He toted back some marigold in a sheath of leaves to keep them bundled together, padding back into the territory. And perhaps if he hadn't been paying attention, he wouldn't have noticed it, but there was a lingering scent that was distinctly not Ursus.

Dark brown ears angled forward, and he sat the herbs to the side. 

Following the trail would not prove difficult. He was intimately familiar with the territory, and the stranger's scent stuck out like a sore thumb. 

"What are you doing here?" he asked when he caught sight of her. "There are some wolves who'd eat you alive in this Valley, you know." Himself included, if she tried anything stupid. His tail was held straight out behind him - wary, anticipating.

The wolf ignored his words of warning, and raised her head in a demand, "Where is she?" Faustus prowled closer, noticing he was not the one she sought. He was brown, green-eyed, a male at that. He had a wary look, as he should as she was getting close this face, "where is the black wolf with an amythest eye, Astara?"

Her mother gave a simple description, not of where they were, but the design they bared. She only caused this was the pack, as it was the closest she found at the chosen meadow of Shisu's delight. A black wolf, solid in color, like a cougar of the night, prowling with a murderous, glint of an amythest sight. 

Astara, so Shisu said she was. Once a pup she knew, but now a tormentor so.

Her mother begged her not to, but how could she? Faust wanted revenge- for her crybaby of a mother.

Astara. Of course he knew a wolf by that description, but certainly not by that name. It would make sense, though, if that were here real name - perhaps she'd just never told anyone. Evien didn't flinch as the woman approached him, just raised a brow and lifted his chin a bit. 

"Never heard of her," he responded coolly, still meeting the intruder's gaze straight on. "You've got the wrong place. There isn't an Astara here." 

His voice was level and his posture didn't change. "You should probably get out of here," he suggested. Evien wasn't one to attack onsight, but he would if he needed to to get this stranger out of his territory.

evien may not be one to attack on sight, but the same could not be said for the blackbird.

furious as she strode along the red path, astara’s form bore down upon the two of them — a decree of wrath writ clear across the dark mantle of astara’s face.

no mercy then, for shisu or her arrogant daughter — the blackbird traveled keen as a blackened arrow towards faustus.

Faust was about to accuse the man as a liar, surely the wolf had to be here. This was the closest area, the closest pack she had found. She wanted to interrogate more, to make absolutely sure what was the truth, as the wolf would not leave without a vengeance.

"You!" Faustus howled, "my mother didn't do anything!" It was the quick words she was able to scrabble out before the black panther tackled her so, and down did the wolf go. However she wasn't without a fight, as her claws, her fangs, rapid attacks anywhere she could go. However, especially so near the eyes, the vibrant purple-hue of the blackbird.

Well shit. Almost as soon as he'd said Astara wasn't there, she swooped in on the scene like a hawk might its prey. The brown and white woman was tackled to the ground, and the shadow atop her.

Evien wouldn't intervene until he had to - he didn't want to be the recipient of any of those flying teeth or claws.

Instead he stood off to the side, letting the two duke it out on their own. For now.

four strides, and the blackbird was closing

three, and the duskpelt she-wolf was howling —

two, and astara’s hind legs reached deep underneath her

one — collusion

a snarl tore from her muzzle as she flung herself atop Faustus, eyes sheathed by the blind fury of territoriality. fangs and claws met her, Faustus’ teeth marking a pretty red line to her shoulder —

but the blackbird was climbing over Faustus in furious snaps, and with a staggering charge dove deep for throat.

evien, where was evien — was he not

leader
healer
helper
visionary

— and yet, he was off to the side as if his own home wasn’t worth protecting.

They were no fool, and hunched their neck down to avoid any lethal attacks. Though she could not hold forever, because she felt herself weaken by every attack. However Faustus could feel her skin tear and rip, flesh disappearing and pools of blood slipping down her skin. She wasn't sure if any attacks were aimed, only a line amongst the black birds shoulder.

She tried to kick the other off, but it was a struggle.

Eyes glanced over to the brown man, he stood by, nothing.. She worried not about him, and focused on Astara.

giving evien permission to PP anything in their next post

This was more of a struggle than Evien had anticipated Astara having with the intruder. He had to get involved - he didn't want to, but... well, sometimes it was necessary. This was brutal and bloody and dangerous, and he couldn't let a packmate just get hurt like that. 

The medic lunged forward, aiming his jaws at the stranger's neck. He intended to go for the scruff, but at the angle, it was impossible. Teeth sank deep into fur and flesh, and Evien yanked her backward in an attempt to get her away from his co-lead. Blood flooded his mouth - more than he thought he had drawn from the she-wolf - and he nearly choked on it. 

But he was not without injury, either. Sharp pain bloomed on the left side of his face, right over his eye, and he belatedly realized that the world had gone dark on that side of him. Teeth would clench harder at the pain, a deep growl rattling in his chest. He didn't know what had become of his left eye - whether it was still there or not - but at the moment, it didn't really matter.

it was a good thing evien joined in -- for if he had remained on the sidelines some passive watcher, astara would have torn into him next.

her vision was clouded by fury -- she dove and lunged and fought and bit -- while her opponent gave it back in spades.

brilliant red doused her coat -- whether it was hers or the intruder's astara did not know. she continued on, incensed by every blade of pain. she continued on, unaware of evien's dulled sight, watching only as the healer ripped the intruder (NO!! MINE!!) out from under her.

a scarlet wreath splattered out from under him; rivulets of blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth. at first astara feared it was his own -- but as she trailed the healer's darkly matted throat, she realized what had transpired.

a sick grin split across her features, revealing teeth filmed by blood. astara's tail rose and she stepped towards evien with a victorious smile -- welcome to the fold, brother.

A figure came forward, one that was the sidelines and wished to grab her so. Perhaps he wanted to grab her scruff, but instead her throat was lunged toward instead.

With blocking the blackbird, she could not do anything- and watched the foe grab at her. Horror flashed across Faustus's face, and she made a desperate move.

An eye, now gone, but her throat, as well.

"You.." Choking on her own blood, she had no time.

So little time.

"She was.. right about this hell."

I'm sorry mom.

Oh, fuck. 

That wasn't what he had intended to do. Evien's eyes widened and the taste of blood became more apparent - it was nauseating, sickening. The world was spinning as the breath gurgled in the intruder's throat. He simply stared down at the dying female, watching her struggle to breathe. 

She was... right about this hell.

Hell? Was that what this was? Evien had thought that, too, at first, but... was it really? 

Maybe he was just getting used to it. 

It didn't stop the chill of blood in his veins as her gaze unfocused, the light draining away. He was never supposed to take a life. All he wanted was to help others - to heal and fix injuries, not to cause them. This was... a grave mistake. 

Leila - Astara - looked proud. Evien did not feel it. 

It took a moment for him to recall that he had to move. His eye - the uninjured one - fluttered as he tried to focus on what was happening. The blood that had frozen in his veins was now rushing in his ears. 

The medic swallowed audibly, wetting his dry throat. 

"If... if she thought this was hell, she shouldn't have come here," was all he could say. Evien would then nudge the body over and grab her by the scruff, aiming to drag her out of the territory. It would be a struggle, but they couldn't let the corpse rot here. 

Whether his co-lead would help or not was up to her. Evien didn't mind taking on the task of burying the intruder on his own.

from the blackbird's lips a great goblet of blood ran, the taste metallic and bringing forth memories of great violence. indra. the child merrick tormented so.

and now, evien.

she could think of no finer initiation than one strove by blood; here lies shisu's idiot child, killed
here lies evien's past life, killed
now comes the scarlet path, forward forever -- evien and ursus until they were bled of the same vein. eternal.


but he was reeling -- drunk, no doubt, by the astounding power that was one's first adrenaline rush after a kill. his eye was pulpy, matted by gristle and a steady stream of thin liquid -- a grim look for a fresh killer.

astara considered lunging then for the woman and grabbing her by the skull. seizing her and shaking until her brain turned to liquid pulp, battered around in her bones until it seeped out of her ears and eyes -- until she was torn and shredded to an unidentifiable grease spot -- but evien came to his senses and began to drag the body forth.

astara had no intentions of giving this trespasser a respectful burial. she grabbed a leg and snapped it with a brutal shake, and then another -- until the wolf's limbs were disfigured and bent in ways that were viscerally uncomfortable for the unwhetted appetite to behold. it was only then that astara began to help drag the corpse -- but to no hole.

no, this woman would be propped against the stones that marked their borders; her skeleton left to greet those that might enter their sanctum, and ward those that might trespass away.

a sigil that demarked not the gates of hell, but the indomitable reign of ursus.

Leil-... Astara's assault on the corpse made Evien's stomach turn, but he kept himself in check. Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it. It was too much, right now, so he just continued to drag her body until she was just on the edge of the territory. 

Evien stared at the mangled body for a few moments, then looked to his co-lead. 

There was a lot he wanted to say. Questions he wanted to ask. But the wrenching pain in his chest and the swirling of his stomach and the tightness of his throat made speech impossible. Perhaps later he'd ask her about that name, and how she knew this wolf. 

But for now he simply sighed, ignoring the burning of tears in one eye and the burning of gore in the other. 

The medic would offer her a nod before he turned to head to his den. The herbs he'd gathered from before were entirely forgotten, left settled at the roots of a nearby tree.

their work here was done. faustus was propped against the stony arch of bearclaw like an obscene scarecrow, bloodied and disfigured beyond reckoning. astara eyed that grim token approvingly, turning to evien with a content gaze.

her counterpart did not look so pleased. if anything, astara thought his expression was one of thunderous confusion. had not his first sting with quelling an adversary roused his blood, his appetite, even his libido? astara felt a headiness cloud her, the wake of red battle keening her senses and heightening her drive for conquering -- in more ways than one.

for a moment she wished to stride to the healer, and make him her own -- to bathe in the gleaming twilight of their carnage, to meld their bodies as one and lustfully seal their hearts in both blood and desire and indiscriminate power -- to share what she and merrick had shared violently and lovingly at once -- but something stayed the licentious wandering of her eye. the very same darkening that soured evien's complexion.

she let him leave, silence billowing after the pair of them like a cloud. gradually, astara's hunger for the healer abated -- replaced then by a flood of confusion and guilt for merrick.

she would find her bear -- her one true bear -- and yield her body to him. and she would forget that she had ever nearly strayed from merrick.

Had the circumstances been right, and they hadn't just killed a wolf together, Evien might have been flattered - or even reciprocal of Astara's... desires. Perhaps those two - Astara and Merrick - would be the death of him one of these days. One or the other, or both. They were the ones he felt this... deep warmth in his chest for. This want to be near them. 

But those were thoughts for another day. 

For now, Evien was numb.

fade <3