Swiftcurrent Creek pack activity · fight or flight

As promised, a pack activity! A cougar has infiltrated the territory, threatening the wolves and their precious food. I'll start round two on Friday the 14th.

Fox was doing her normal round of the southern border when something sharp struck her like a ton of bricks. Her lip immediately curled, and she growled. How could they let something like this happen? A very bad predator had waltzed across their borders without so much as being touched, and Fox would have none of it. Not allowing herself to think for more than a split-second, Fox was speeding after the heavy scent trail of the cat, furious that it had such bravery to cross into their precious land.

It must have been dawdling at a slow pace, however, because she was upon it quicker than she thought. Wasting no time, Fox leapt at the creature, having no idea what she was getting herself into. She may have been quick, but this thing was at least two times as heavy as she was. Not only did it have teeth, but she soon felt the searing-hot claws sinking deep into her ribs. Letting out a sharp series of yelps while the cat carried on with its own hideous sounds, Fox could only hope that her comrades would soon arrive to back her up. If they did not, she was going to be one fine carcass.

The first to respond to the sounds of distress was the nearby Haunter. Yet unaware of the predatory feline, he was coming from the opposite direction, loping and slow as he had no current presence of mind to do anything important. So when the yelping and snarling erupted, his one ear perked for a second to listen before his spindly legs sent him rocketing in the direction of the sound—hackles raised as adrenaline coursed through his veins and sent him quickly to the vicious scene that lay before him.

When the smell of cougar and blood reached him, he howled, a booming alarm for the pack to come as quickly as their feet could fly them; and he burst in upon his leader and the cat that was quickly overwhelming her. No further sound flew the mongrel's lips, as he launched himself at the hindside of the dangerous intruder, slick jaws seeking vengefully to catch it on the hip and momentarily draw its wicked ire onto him instead.

Her route had begun in the north, far out of range of the mountain lion's trespass. It was no wonder, then, that Jinx, despite priding herself in being a very capable Warrior, hadn't noticed the cat cross into their territory. Even if she had, she wouldn't have gone after it, not because she feared cougars (being large herself) and not because she cared about the lives of her unborn offspring. No, Jinx would have left the cat alone because it was likely the cat would leave them alone. It would be an uncommon and desperate thing for a mountain lion to threaten wolves in a pack.

However, it was very different when the cat was involved with one of her pack mates. From where she was, heading south along the pack's western border, she could hear the yowling of the enraged mountain lion. That wasn't unusual in a mountainous area, but accompanying the cat's screams were the sharp, panicked sounds of a wolf in trouble. Her speed picked up instantly, her hackles rising in a sharp ridge as she came upon the pair, at approximately the same instant Haunter did and mere moments after his howl boomed out over the territory.

She had to infer what happened. Having some knowledge of mountain lions, and knowing they were unlikely to attack similarly powerful predators unprovoked, she correctly assumed the small Alpha had hit first. She would have torn a strip off the yearling for being so stupid if the cat hadn't already been doing it, but reprimanding Fox for disturbing the otherwise non-threatening mountain lion would have to wait, for she was already rushing in with her jaws widened to catch the cougar on its shoulder and shove it away from her Alpha. A cougar's odds were much higher when it fought one-on-one, so the more wolves that arrived, the better, for their foolish Alpha's sake.

Bones had retrieved the turtle shell earlier abandoned at the borders and carried it to the creek, where she now filled it with water for no other reason than because it was a neat trick. Perhaps it could even be useful, though any purpose for it currently eluded her. She carefully balanced it in her teeth and very gently set it on the ground, only to spill it all over her forepaws when a series of sharp cries startled her.

Blinking stupidly for a moment, young Bones took a few steps toward the sound, stopped, then abruptly broke into a gallop. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest as she came upon a very frightening scene indeed: Fox and two others tussling with a mountain lion. They appeared to be doing the hornpipe, though it looked a whole lot more serious than some lighthearted capering. Not to mention the scent of Fox's hot blood spilled on the earth.

"I'll send ye to Davy Jones's locker, ye scabby sea bass!" was her belligerent battle cry, fearless in the face of danger as she sprang into action to help her Captain and fellow members of the crew. The black wolf had leaped for the cat's hip and the pale one aimed for its shoulder. Young Bones decided to sink her teeth into one of the cat's hind legs to further distract it from its attack on the tiny, foxlike leader.

Tuwa is basically harry potter... my scar burnssss when the dark lord in neeaarrr

A baritone howl, spiked with alarm, shattered Swiftcurrent's silence. No wolf could ignore a call of such urgency, and Tuwawi, who had been up North hunting small game, kicked off into a thunderous gallop before Haunter's brief message died. She ate up the ground as she roared across the forest scrim, nothing but a scarlet flash amongst a palette of ash-colored trees who had yet to bud. Her legs worked like cylinders of a freight and drove her forward with immense speed and agility, rushing to answer the voice of the sombre man who had sounded the sirens.

First, came the pungent odor of fresh blood. Second, came the bays of Swiftcurrent and the yowls of a beast Tuwawi knew well. When she rounded the bend her stomach flipped at the picture that had been painted: a mountain lion and wolves tangled together like ensnared reeds besides a wounded Fox with gashes cut deep into her side. Jinx and Haunter berated the cat while their alpha recovered from the blow, and the much-too-young Bones snapped at the hocks. The raw, blistered flesh on Tuwawi's muzzle burned anew as she remembered how Tartok's cougar had once contained the power to rend her flesh apart. Eventually they had disposed of it, but not before it inflicted wounds on many of her brothers and sisters.

Tuwawi knew the feline possessed great prowess for killing. Unmatched speed and flexibility paired with hooked nails and long fangs made for a deadly brew. They could turn on a dime and bat you away as if you were a puffy dandelion with one smack of its broad paw. The only advantage the Swiftcurrent wolves had were numbers, but even then it would be an impossible task to come out unscathed. Despite this knowledge, Tuwawi ran forth without hesitation into the chaos. The hair from her crown to her banner stood on end as her face twisted into a vicious snarl. Every tooth became unsheathed, bared at their foe with the intent to maim... the gum above her right eye tooth peeking from beneath split skin. However, it would be unwise of her to go for the obvious hit — as she had learned before with consequences. Instead, she put herself between Bones and the Cougar. Her jaws threatened to puncture the lion's loin, but her body acted as a buffer to protect their smallest warrior. Only a short glance to their leader could be afforded; to evaluate Fox's condition.

Tuwawi became enrolled in their party's defense. She lacked the bulk of the others to drag the cougar down, but she would be quick enough to parry any strike aimed at their young or wounded. Their situation was less than ideal, with one wolf damaged and another but a half-year, and so she offered quick jabs to aid Jinx and Haunter's efforts. They swarmed the cat together in a collective assault as the animal deflected attacks and served its own. Tuwawi did not know how this had all started... but it would be finished one way or another.

How're we going to decide the cougar's hits? Rolls?

The call rang out when Njal was perched along the northern edge of the territory, and he was quick to react - already eager to prove his worth thoroughly to Fox for the sake of his wife, and just as eager to defend whatever it was that roused the current's wolves in such a manner. The man arrived in time to see a flash of red cut across his vision, as the familiar streaking ball of fire that was Tuwawi roared towards the gathering. Following with a turn of his body, Njal's blundering steps became direct and forceful; speeding up only when he heard (and saw) the cacophony which surrounded the target.

Njal was not knowledgeable of cougars. He had not been around when Tuwawi had dealt with the previous pest, the one which plagued Kindred during one of his many wanders away from the territory. Here he could make up for that failure to protect. With the fervour of a man possessed the man became a silver bullet, and joined the fray. There were wolves here he had not met, but they were kin - they were Swiftcurrent, and more importantly, they were wolves; had they been strangers he would have protected them, perhaps to the detriment of himself. The life of a wolf was superior to that of this invasive feline.

With a roar of his own, an outpouring of rage and defiance towards the creature, Njal ran alongside it. He watched as others snapped at it, tore at it, to reach and rend; and the fever within him to fight became too difficult to ignore. With the baring of his teeth Njal drove himself close to the cougar and snapped at it, attempting to herd and to slice, with intermittent moments of careful dodging and weaving. He was far from fast, but the large cat was preoccupied by at least one other set of jaws at all times - giving Njal enough leeway to avoid exceptional harm. At least for now.

Thanks for responding, everybody! I assume the cougar will be killed due to the sheer number of wolves involved, so I'm not going to bother with dice rolls. Next round starts Monday the 17th.

Haunter was the first on the scene, though plenty of damage had been done by the time he arrived. A large gash cut open Fox's side (though not terribly deep, it was far deeper than anything she had ever experienced before). She also felt several scratches make contact with her muzzle and cheeks, though the little fireball did not give up on the trespassing beast. It was possible that Jinx was right: the cat would have done no harm to the pack. On the other hand, Fox was oftentimes foolish and was not willing to let such creatures waltz all over their land like it was no big deal. They shared the same prey, after all, and Fox rejected the idea that anybody other than the wolves who resided here would be allowed to feast on it.

Fox was thrashed to the side by the cougar. Her lip snarled despite this, and she jumped right back into the brawl. There were several other creek members who had joined her, though she was not thinking clearly enough to name names. Nevertheless, once this whole thing was over, she would remember those who came to defend the creek.

The cat, with a piercing roar had discarded its first antagonizer and had rounded on the second, claws retching down the shadowy Creeker's right shoulder, leading him to snarl and quickly dispatch himself, lest his the cougar mar him permanently. He hadn't noticed until this moment, but Jinx was there too—a small trill of alarm sounded in the back of his head, vaguely recalling her pregnancy—and he tossed himself back into the fray at the exact same time as the scrappy little Crossbones.

Tuwawi was there next, though Haunter could hardly spare the time to watch her swift, dodging attacks as he went for the feline again, this time coming off with a torn bit of its flesh clenched in its jaws. There was another assailant as well, and suddenly the cat was becoming overwhelmed, unsure of which wolf to attack next and whirling about wildly and dangerously to defend itself. With the cat's attention definitely divided (as it was probably more concerned with escaping now), Haunter aimed his wide, slavering jaws for its tender belly, entirely unwilling to go for its neck.

Two others joined the fray: a flash of red and white. Bones did not have time to register their identities or anything else about them. Her needlelike teeth had sunk into the cat's ankle. She wanted to snap the tendons there and lame it, yet her jaws were much too small. Instead, Bones clenched her teeth as hard as she could and began to rapidly shake her head, mauling the flesh momentarily before a smart flick of the cat's paw sent her tumbling backward with shallow claw marks on the side of her gray neck.

She did not linger on the fringes, nor realize that she knew two of the other crew members present (besides Fox). Bones jumped right back into the skirmish. Somehow, she wound up beneath the large cat, so the youth took advantage of this position by snapping her jaws at the dangling belly folds, not far from where one of the black wolves (Haunter, though she didn't realize it) was also trying to disembowel it.

Tuwawi worked hard to flank the spitting creature, who was nothing but a flurry of tawny fur, teeth, and nails. It tried to remove the canines from its body, but when one was swiped away, another would fill its place. Soon, the blood began to spill, cat and wolf's alike, as animal's fate spiraled into damnation when the Swiftcurrent hounds began to pick at its belly. As Bones was shoved away, Tuwawi latched into its inner thigh, taking up a large mouthful of muscle between her narrow jaws and squeezing hard. The hot blood liberally flowed onto her palate as her incisors worked to shear the flesh from its bone.

The cougar yowled, preoccupied with Jinx still at its helm. Quickly they worked, as one hive mind, with an intention to eviscerate the animal like they would a deer, focused on leaving no trace of life. The wilderness was hard in Teekon, and there was nothing more cruel to witness than two apex predators hashing out control for a purchase of land to hunt on.

Suddenly, the granite dappled figure of Njal moved into her peripheral, and spurred Tuwawi's attacks to become more violent. She was kicked away momentarily, hind claws raking against her chest, but it would not do much to deter her exuberance. As they started to overcome the lion, she jumped onto the offensive, a deep a throaty roar bubbling from her chest. Her creamy bib, now painted in a deep shade of vicious garnet, was streaked like war paint as she came down hard upon the writhing cat's spine, eager to give the other's more time to work at spilling its guts.

For a frantic bunch of wolves, Swiftcurrent adapted to the terrain and the threat of the cougar. Their flurried movements became well timed, and when one wolf fell back, another took its place. Njal flanked the cougar as he chased it, following the pounding paws of his fellow wolves; watching for openings, diving in to snap or try to tear, but accomplishing little - for he was large and burly, ill-suited for this chase. The smaller wolves could weave in and out of the chaos. It seemed that the cougar was eager to escape and would not pause to face the wolves that pursued it, which marked Njal as an obsolete force.

Until such time that the cougar landed a firm grip upon his wife. He heard her hiss and watched her drop back, which spurred the man forward. He had little time to react when Tuwawi came tearing ahead of him, like a creature possessed. The scent of blood licked at the air, making Njal feverish with the desire to maim the wretched beast. He kept himself close to Tuwawi, ready to snap at the cougar should it turn to touch her again - spying the red that streaked her chest, which bolstered his need for violence.

Njal launched himself forward across the terrain with one goal in mind: revenge. He fought to keep pace with the quick cat and the equally speedy wolves, and overtook their position by a few steps. With the driving force of his rage at the helm, Njal tried to strike the cougar with his shoulder - as he would with any wolf in a spar - and ducked to grab at the animal's flesh. His teeth sank in to the feline's bounding front limb and the man, with as much weight and strength as he could muster, tried to pull and perhaps pop the cat's arm out of place. His teeth slid through its flesh and caused a cascade of fresh blood to leak from its upper arm. A new yowling, a hiss of ferocious hatred, and the cat was forced to re-evaluate its stride.

In that moment the cat turned upon Njal and tried to sink its teeth in to his face. Saliva sprayed at the man's eyes before he was overtaken by the shadow of the feline's riled spirit, with a gnashing of fangs that were set in to the crown of his head and pulled through the fur there. The wolf grit his teeth in pain and then released, snapping his teeth as he backed down while blood poured like hot wine in to his eyes.

Next post will be on Thursday the 20th.

Fox watched in stunned horror as the cat grabbed ahold of Njal's face. Another shot of adrenaline pulsed through her veins, and she darted at the sharp-clawed creature, going for the stomach like Bones was doing. With the cat's focus on Njal, it was not difficult to puncture the flesh and rip its abdomen open. Out came what seemed like buckets of blood, covering Fox's face, chest, and paws. She could only imagine that Bones would be covered as well. Though her side and neck ached (the two main places the cougar had managed to scratch and bit her), it must have been nothing compared to what the intruder was feeling now.

The lithe beast loosened its grip on Njal as the last fleeting moments of its life came to a close. Fox did not notice this, for in her frenzy to kill the beast, she had not stopped attacking it, even as it lay still on the ground. With fire in her eyes, she tore at the creature's throat, ripping it from its original place and tossing it aside. This continued for several more seconds, Fox ripping apart whatever piece she could find and tossing it aside. Only when the delayed realization came to her that the creature was no more than a mess of bones and blood did she cease her attacks.

Something jostled Bones even as the pup's teeth sank into a fold of flesh and fur. She hung on, yanking it along with her as she scrambled for purchase. She found it but, in the next instant, something blinded her. The scrappy youth didn't relinquish her grip until she found herself choking, her nose and mouth filled with fluid. She spat out the roll and backpedaled, bumping into things and shaking her head, sending a spray of hot, thick, wet blood in every direction.

Still half-blinded by it, Bones randomly shouted, "Ava—!" Her voice cut off when something fell down upon her, effectively squashing her to the ground. She growled and writhed, the blood smearing away from her eyes as she kicked her way out from beneath the fallen mountain lion. She emerged from beneath its slumped hindquarters, looking like some bloody, bastardized child borne from its corpse.

Coughing, young Bones cleared her throat and blinked around at the scene. Fox was tearing at the mountain lion's body while the other wolves hovered nearby, all of them splattered with some amount of blood. Bones didn't know if it belonged to them or to the cat. Licking the sticky liquid from her own muzzle, she peered at Captain Fox, waiting for some sort of instruction or other acknowledgement.

Haunter's teeth found and long belly-fold of the large cat and he pulled severely, hearing flesh rip and feeling warm blood spray and ooze across his face and muzzle. He knew not who was tearing into the cougar's gullet alongside him, but there were two of them and they were smaller than himself. As the cat's body went soggy and then completely limp, Haunter lifted his bloodied skull and bore his teeth belatedly at the dying feline. He stepped back, glancing towards everyone else to assess the damage.

His own wounds were minimal—a few thin slashes on his right shoulder that he couldn't feel at the moment and would heal quickly in time—but Fox, as well as Njal (who he only knew as a patroller and Tuwawi's mate) had suffered severely at the cat's viciousness. Fox was now tearing into the cougar's already dead-throat, which normally Haunter may have seen as overkill, but he was too pumped up on adrenaline to notice detail or think about anything but his own rage.

The black phantom took this moment—filled with a self-possessed energy—to take off in a stiff, long-legged lope, and scout the immediate area for more trespassing predators. He wouldn't let another get the drop on any wolf of the Creek, which was his assumption since he had not been there to see Fox actually instigate the animal.

Tuwawi's grip upon the cat's spine squeezed when Njal's face disappeared from her view, driving her fangs deep into its tissue. Her attack did not elicit a response from the beast like her bite had before; the creature feeble and fatigued. She kept a mind to wrap her forelegs across its loin, case their prey attempted to shake its assailants once more. Yet, soon the battle waned and ceased altogether, their struggle over.

How quickly life poured from the cougar. Its belly tattered and stained as viscous blood oozed strewn with innards. The large bloated stomach rolled out without walls to kept it in, connected only by the thin veil of fat. When no motion stirred beneath her teeth, Tuwawi unhinged her jaws and stumbled back as large exhales heaved from her chest, hot breath fogging in the tepid air. Her muzzle was coated in a deep garnet, equally as red as the cape on her back, but the iron taste was sour on her palate and caused her to grimace.

Immediately the Zeta took a headcount, finding all of Swiftcurrent still alive though exhausted. Her lips twisted when Fox continued to gut the animal, repulsed by the sight, but uttering no objection to her zeal. A dark smear that was Haunter assumed a lofty patrol, as Bones worked the blood from her eyes. However the crumpled form of Njal caught Tuwawi's peripheral, and caused her heart to sink. In only a few steps she was at his side, inspecting the damage that had been delt. Njal's assault on their foe had been tactical... and Tuwawi couldn't help but feel he did not deserve this wound. None of them did. "Hold still," she commanded so that she may more closely observed his ragged flesh. Without waiting for consent she cleaned it, hurrying so that the bleeding may be stopped.

The blood stung his vision for a couple of minutes but in that process, the blood became darkness. Njal was surrounded by this dark; a vicious shadow that tasted like metal, smelled like the bowels of an animal. He was unaware that the cougar had been eviscerated nearby - torn asunder by the raging Fox. Njal was not there with his fellow wolves as they put an end to the interloper. His body, bulky and burdensome, had sunk against the earth when the pain of his head became too much - and with the darkness swimming around him, the Delta lost consciousness.

It was a brief interlude, broken by the feeling of a wet tongue being shoved in to the chasm across his brow. Njal was dizzy and confused, blinded and shocked. At this point the man could not feel the pain that Tuwawi forced upon him. It was for his greater good, and in the initial shock Njal could not protest. Roused by her care, Njal tried to get to his feet and he staggered, stumbled, and lay prone once again. An insistent Tuwawi voiced sharp concern between licks; "Hold still, she commanded, and Njal obliged, more because he couldn't really function at this point.

The scent of blood did dominate the situation. The rending of flesh, a sound he heard after the kill of the deer mere weeks ago, was nearby. Njal thought of Fox then - he saw her in the distance, somehow thinking it was his wife being in two places - and noting the amount of morbidity at the scene, he pulled from Tuwawi hastily. The man was on his feet, swimming still but somehow stable. "No, I'm fine," He slurred softly. With a grunt he protested, shoving his wife away with insistence. "Fox is.. Fox is hurt, she is important. Go."

Njal stumbled back a step, and then righted himself; he motioned with his head (which was a bad idea, oh god was it a bad idea, sending him on a new series of mental spins); "Go." And when he saw that Tuwa was shifting her attention, he began to drag himself along in to the forest - away from the gathering and towards the dark, where he would feel safe.

Sorry I didn't have a chance to post last round. I decided to kind of throw a plot twist for Jinx in here. >_> It's a tad bit unrealistic, I'm sure, but it was only a short time period to work with!

Within moments, others had converged on the mountain lion's position, all of them singularly focused on driving it away from their Alpha. She felt no alarm when Bones charged in with a wild battle cry, reasoning that if the adolescent wanted to throw her life away by being the least experienced of them, it was her funeral. It was noble, at least, to try, no matter how stupid it all was. Tuwawi came in like a hurricane, fighting alongside her and Haunter in a flurry of lunging attacks and swift backpedalling dodges. Jinx's attention to the wolves wandered at this moment, for the mountain lion briefly turned its attention on her when she caught the side of its face with her jaws.

Somehow, she found herself colliding with the beast's front, and in a strange savage scene, rising on her hind paws to grapple with it. In a blur of motion, the cat went down on its back, and Jinx hunched over it, seeking its soft belly with her teeth... But before she could land any strike at all, the cat's feet found her. Its broad front paws hooked savagely into the folds of skin between her shoulders and her throat while its back feet came up under her and found purchase in her distended stomach. Before she could even comprehend what was about to happen, the cats claws were already raking through her flesh, leaving ribbons of blood, skin, and fur between her inner thighs and stomach and along the sides of her neck.

And then, with a great kick that happened only seconds after she attempted to pin it, the mountain lion's hind feet struck hard into her gut. Panic and alarm flooded the pregnant female as she was flipped over the lion and send skidding into the dirt, her wounds on fire and the impact to her belly making her heart skip a beat. It took only seconds for her stomach to clench painfully, for her abdomen to ripple with agony, and for her body to give out under her.

As the rest of Swiftcurrent battled the cougar, which had regained its feet in an instant, Jinx lay in the dirt, clutched with fear as pain wracked her body. The force of that impact had certain consequences, unavoidable ones, which were evidenced by the blood that leaked between her thighs. As they struggled against the cat, Jinx struggled to compose herself as she inevitably miscarried her litter. The trauma and the hard impact were enough to make it progress almost instantaneously, so that by the time the Swiftcurrent pack had lain the cougar in the dirt and collected themselves, Jinx had been forced to deliver in impossibly quick succession five premature, stillborn bodies.

It wasn't even the loss of them that shocked her the most. It was the failure. She had failed Sos by losing them, here and now. But Jinx didn't blame herself. As she lay there in the dirt, soaking it with blood from her neck, her scratched underside, and the miscarriage itself, with infant bodies still too small to have lived tucked beneath her hind legs, her eyes sought Fox and they burned.

"How could you be so stupid?" she grit out, unwilling to move or let them see her weakness, unwilling to let them know what their assault on the cougar had cost her... Largely because she was unwilling for any of them to come anywhere near her dead litter.

Going to go ahead and duck out / wrap this up, since you guys are AWESOME and all replied in less than 24 hours. Chelsie: No worries on the belated reply! I like to keep big events like this going quickly, so characters aren't stuck in limbo/uncertainty for too long. Also, lol at Fox being oblivious to everybody, yay!

Fox's body shook—no, rattled—as she stood over the dead creature. She was covered in blood. Some her own, but most of it belonged to the animal that lay at her feet. Its entrails lay all about her, scattered in her frenzy to make sure that the thing would not be rising to its feet any time soon. The little fireball felt she was vibrating with each breath that she drew in and out. Her ears rang, and she did not catch on to the fact that three of her comrades were seeking her attention. In fact, she paid them no heed at all. Still on some kind of kill-high, the tiny red wolf with clouded vision simply wandered away from the small crowd in a zombie-like state. She probably looked quite a bit like a zombie in that moment.

Somehow, she managed to make it back to her den and began lapping at her wounds. Fox continued to do this until she could no longer hold her eyes open. When that time finally came, she fell into a restless slumber. Partly, it was caused by the dull ache of pain across her shoulder and back, but also due to the fact that she would dream heavily of bears and cougars that night.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think it's only Bones and Jinx left? (I was vague about whether Tuwawi followed Njal, though...)

Fox did not look at her—did not look at any of them. Bones plopped to the ground and swiped a paw over her face in an effort to clear the syrupy blood off her face and when she looked up again, the Alpha female was gone. The youngster's bloodstained ears fell backward and she looked uncertainly to her pack mates. Haunter had departed before she'd ever known he was there, yet Bones recognized Tuwawi. She was tending to an unfamiliar male. The half-grown marauder took a tentative step toward them.

Yet the male took off into the forest and, sure that Tuwawi would follow after him, Bones made an about-face and looked at the dead mountain lion. Her pale green eyes then flicked sideways, to fall upon the grisly scene of the battered Jinx (though young Bones didn't know her name) crouched over five small bundles. Bones mistook them for parts of the cat's body, as its bowels and blood were strewn everywhere. But as she took a step closer and saw their exact shapes, dreadful and instinctive knowledge came over her and Bones's lips parted in silent horror.

Her head shook and she looked around but it seemed everyone had left the distressed mother all by herself. Eyes wide, Bones looked at her and asked with uncharacteristic softness, "Can I help?" She was pretty sure she knew the answer to that but Bones didn't know what to say—or do, for that matter. Her legs shook slightly from the exertion of the fight but she remained standing there, peering solemnly at Jinx's spontaneously aborted litter.

Posting again to respond to ^ :D

Jinx didn't notice as they left, many of them not even realizing what had happened. It wasn't unusual. Jinx didn't keep many friends, so she never would have expected them to rush to her aid. They left the cougar in a bloody heap on the ground, no wolf willing to consume its flesh. She wouldn't have opposed it if they had, for she herself might have stepped forward to feed off the predator's rich muscle. She didn't, though, but remained prone on the ground, waiting all the pack wolves to file away.

But they didn't all depart. Fox left without another glance, presumably wrapped up in herself. It was a lack of acknowledgement of what she had caused that Jinx would never forget, but she didn't protest it. In the end, the Kesuk wouldn't be able to hold a grudge, but neither would she ever let the image of that callous departure leave her mind. Tuwawi and Njal slunk away, and Haunter too, leaving just Jinx in the clearing... And the adolescent.

Jinx hadn't met Bones yet. If it had been a better situation, one less fraught with devastation, she would have enjoyed her breezy attitude. If she had been a better wolf herself, she might have found it in her to appreciate the juvenile's concern. But all Jinx saw in the young female's approach was pity. There was no room in her vulnerable mind to consider that Bones was only trying to help. Jinx deluded herself in that moment.

"No," she said in a voice that cut like a knife, recoiling from the younger wolf's approach as if to hide the dead pups. She felt guilt the minute her reaction registered in her mind, for Bones had done nothing wrong... Despite her usual bitchiness, Jinx knew this, and knew she would need to apologize at some point. But right now, she was weak, vulnerable, raw, and on some level felt the loss of her children on a more acute scale than she realized. She would never have admitted to wanting them, but there was nevertheless a deep part of her that mourned being a mother whose children were taken by callous circumstance.

"Leave me," she mumbled, turning back her ears and lowering her eyes as the desire to be alone swept over her. When Bones left, Jinx would clean up her mess... But she would not do it in plain sight. There was only one thing to do with the bodies, now that the cougar had snuffed out their lives, and it was not for public viewing pleasure.

Haunter was only gone for a moment, but this is my last post.

Haunter scoured the area, eagerly looking for any of the creature's family or companions that would have heard the massive ruckus and come to its aid. But he found nothing. Cougars did not run in packs like wolves, and this had perhaps been its downfall. His blood and testosterone boiled with adrenaline, but he had calmed considerably when he returned to the scene of destruction, and had only now begun to realize his shoulder was bleeding and painful. Most of his pack had already gone, but his yellow eyes immediately went to Jinks (lol) Jinx and Bones.

He lifted his muzzle, scenting past all the blood that had been spilled around them and zeroing in on the area around his pale-furred superior, at least fifty percent of her body stained red. The smell of her miscarriage trumped everything else about her, and Haunter stiffened as a curious sense of rage and loss rippled along his spine and then settled uncomfortably in his gut. Knowing very well how dangerous a mother could be over lost pups, he growled, addressing Bones' attention from the sidelines.

"Leave her," he rumbled, assessing the tense way in which Jinx's large frame jealously guarded the unseen, premature bodies that she was surely covering. Yellow eyes met Bones' body and saw that she was covered in blood, likely from having the dead cougar toppled on her, but he couldn't be sure. "Go clean yourself up and then come help me hunt if you can—our pack will need it." And they were not about to eat that damn cat.

With that he turned and melted off into the long, soft shadows, heading off to lick haphazardly at his shoulder and then start a hunt that he might be on alone. He didn't know (or care) if Bones had heeded his words, or if she was even healthy enough to join him, because either way he would do what needed to be done and would leave the mourning Jinx something to eat, though she would likely not accept anything from anyone for quite some time now.

Bones did not take the she-wolf's reaction personally, instead nodding silently and shuffling backward to give her her space. She didn't leave, though, as it seemed wrong to leave her here with a heap of dead puppies and no one to help... Instead, the youngster retreated to the edge of the clearing, her tail limp and her wide eyes shifting aimlessly around their surroundings. She didn't want to stare at the tiny corpses.

Haunter suddenly appeared and Bones's green eyes clapped upon him with a measure of relief. She saw his wounds and realized he must've been one of the dark blurs involved in the tussle. When he spoke to her, issuing instructions, her head bobbed again. There was none of her usual loudness or joie de vivre present but she was happy to heed the adult.

"Sorry," she said with unusual softness, her ears pressing forward as she tried to catch the black-footed female's gaze. Whether or not she found what she sought, she pivoted a moment later and young Bones turned and disappeared in the direction of the creek. She'd wash off the blackening blood and then go after Haunter as he'd asked, though even the scrappy youth didn't know if she could stomach any more bloodshed today.

She watched them go, her gaze fixed on them like steely bear traps. Even after they disappeared in the distance, Jinx watched the spot where they'd last been, firm in willing them not to return. When they didn't, she pulled herself shakily to her feet, disrupting her wounds and sending a fresh wash of blood down her neck and thighs. Everything inside her ached and protested, and her stomach throbbed painfully, but Jinx did her best to ignore the pain. It was the weakest the female had ever felt.

She crouched over the bodies. Curiosity got the best of her, and she ripped open the sacs to look upon them. Four of them were disfigured little things, doubtless having died in the womb even before this, but she could see hints of colour on them: all were white. The fifth pup was larger, covered in a layer of downy black fur, with the slightest smudging of white upon its stumpy tail tip. This one had lived... At least until recently.

He was dead now, however, just like the siblings that had died before him. When she was certain no one else was around, Jinx set to consuming them, cracking their bodies in her jaws one by one. In spite of her attempt to appear dutiful, each one took a small piece of her heart, previously steeled against them, down to hell with them.

Ahh you guys are too fast - didn't get a juicy post for Tuwa! She was still hanging around... but I think this is my last post & finishes the thread? She'll find Jinx again soon.

Blood continued to seep out Njal's gouged brow despite Tuwawi's urgent care. Unaffected by his spouse's efforts, smaller trails trickled down the length of his temple defiantly as if they were incognito, pretending to be tiny scarlet rivers cutting through his fur. She worked tirelessly, but her husband wavered and ushered her away; shifting their attention to their leader who now straddled the lion's body in a fit of rage. Njal was right — deep gashes oozed on her side, glistening with a certain wetness only blood possessed. Her grey eyes flickered back to her mate, but he had already shuffled away into the treeline. Tuwawi lingered indecisively. Should she follow him? A moment passed. No — Njal was a dutiful man and she shared his objectives. So, the exhausted woman crept closer to her alpha, unaware that the decision to let Njal slip away would haunt the Sveijarns for many restless moons to come.

For now, the chore of tending to the others spurred Tuwawi to step towards her leader. Fox moved in a staccatoed and unpredictable way as she stood upon the felled beast to land consecutive violent attacks. The two grew close, with all intentions to treat Fox as she had Njal, but a chalky body writhed in the corner of Tuwawi's gunmetal sight. It spun her focus to fall upon the downed body, and caused alarm to retch her gut in two.

Horror couldn't describe the emotion that electrified Tuwawi next. There, Jinx laid hunched. Deep wounds drained life without pause or remorse, her snowy fur saturated with rich crimson from neck to groin. However, worse was the dank scent of birth which wafted in the cougar's absence. Amniotic fluid stained the ground where the bodies of Jinx's prematurely birthed children laid in eternal sleep; thrust into the world before their time... still covered in membrane. Tuwawi immediately sunk to the ground, tail feathered tightly between her legs, bewildered by the sight.

No longer did she see Jinx as the perverse Mambo of Shearwater, but rather as a mother who had suffered an unimaginable loss. There were many ways to invent torture upon one's enemies... but not even Tuwawi wished for a fate this cruel. A low whine warbled in her throat as she crawled on her belly, ebbing closer and closer to the bleeding mother and her miscarried babes. Yet Jinx would not receive her, and so Tuwawi was forced to retreat though she did so unwillingly. Fox stumbled away, shortly followed by Haunter who had the foresight to usher the young urchin, Bones, as well. A sad light mingled in Tuwawi's gaze as she laid pinned and breathless. Something intangible lingered between them... something only a woman could understand... Yet, Jinx's guest managed to reluctantly remove herself from the clearing to find her husband, leaving before Jinx had begun the gruesome task to dispose of the small bodies which had never had the chance to seen the sun.