Northstar Vale I said don't look back, just keep on walking

There was a deep breath in.

There was a deep breath out.

She stared at the intruder with the prickle of discomfort along the back of her nape—the tingle that raced across her chest and threatened to mollify her into numbness, rather than take force and do what must be done in that moment.

A shiver coursed through her—an ear flicking idly at the sound of laughter and play from her young just outside the dark den she now stood—good, she thought… let them stay out there. Don’t let them witness this atrocity. This thing of nightmares…

And she clutched the branch with pine needles all the closer, beginning to inch to the back of the den where it rest.

The ugliest, biggest, hell, the stripiest, spider she had ever seen in her life…

Tentatively, she lifted the branch, ready to smack what was clearly a creature of mythic origin… or maybe a beast from hell (she didn’t know) right off the wall… and hopefully swat it good enough that it just died.

Or ran far, far away from her home, where she slept and nursed her precious children.

Yet as she inched closer, the spider scuttled—the hunch of its legs in response, the lift of the front—sensing an attack and looking fit to pounce.

An anguished squeak escaped her, and she bolted—tail between legs. “Nope, no, ith yourth,” she called back, muffled as her teeth clenched the branch to her, deciding then and there the only course of action as she stepped out into the dimming sun was they had to clearly evacuate and never be seen around here again—

—this den now belonged to something else.

Meadow had come outside from in their den grasped a stick and headed back in. He wasn't sure entirely what it meant, but she hadn't asked him for help so he let her be for now.

Though he stared as she came running back out eyes a little wild, tail firmly tucked. His hackles rose and he shifted and plodded towards her. A gentle sniff to her ear.

Meadow?

goah i feel so rusty with him

The feel of the sun’s warmth on her back helped shake some of the remaining jitters from her body—as if ridding a million tiny spiders from her spine—and when Reyson came to her, concern flaring in his eyes, she ditched the stick in favor of his embrace.

She inhaled sharply—he would have taken care of the thing had she asked, but she hadn’t wanted to bother him… He had seemed so peaceful…

“There’s a spider the size of your beastly paw in the back of our den,” she offered to him—trying to keep the words quieter, lest the kids want to see the damn thing… gosh, it was probably as big as their cute little faces!

“I was going to take care of it but it won.”

It had definitely won in the big balls contest.

She pressed into him amd a soft chuckle as he folded her tightly in the powerful forearms where she always belonged in his opinion honestly.

A snort and he looked down at his paw. That's pretty big.

She often cursed his size since the birth of their children. 2 of which at least would probably reach his breadth.

He nodded. I'll get it.

He looked her over muzzle skating down her spine in a movement to ease.

As if disbelieving the size, the man gave her a hug and then looked down at his paw for comparison—but rather then say anything else, he went to go slay the awful creature that was attempting a home invasion.

She paused, looking past him to the den. “If you don’t kill it, can you… make sure it’s set loose somewhere far, far away from here? So it doesn’t try to eat the faces of our children off, or something.” Rambling—maybe. And yet a shiver coursed through her spine at the thought of the eight-legged beast.

A soft stirring of whiskers and he slowly stepped into the den. He took a moment to let his eyes adjust and saw fairly quickly what was in the corner. And well it wasn't tiny.

It skittered and skated and moved about. But Reyson wasn't a warrior for nothing. Though his enemies were usually much bigger.

He shifted and darted a paw forward and caught the creature between floor and paw. It made a soft crunch when he pressed and guts went all over his paw.

Nasty. he wrinkled his nose, but doubled down just in case. When he was certain it was dead. He scraped up with claw and paw and found the nearest grass spot outside and began a scrape of paw along it.

He came out—victorious—though the wipe of his paw upon the grass told any detail she would want to know about what had occurred—her nose wrinkled. “Are there guts everywhere?”

Gross.

A shiver crept up her spine. She hadn’t considered herself squeamish until apparently right now, with the knowledge that the insides of a critter that was like the size of her own children’s faces was smeared in her otherwise cozy home.

And then—a cheeky smirk as her tail gave an idle flick through the air. “My brave man,”

He laughed and his blue ice eyes lit up.

No i scraped them up. Hence the paw wipe. I knew you wouldn't like them.

A cheeky smile at her words and he nudged her neck. I am brave. But it would be unfsir of me to ask for a reward from the pretty damsel wouldn't it? he teased.