Bearclaw Valley Friends, or Foes?

Date: forward dated to the 10th! 
Setting: Border of Bearclaw Valley, early evening
Tags: @Astara @Merrick @Evien 

Nyra finally found a moment to go visit the allies of the Saints. After the vague information Donovan had given her about the Bear wolves and Easthollow most likely being at war, she wanted to see if everyone was okay, and thus set off on her journey earlier in the day. 

The Titaness stopped a few good yards before the border at evening, and let out a howl for the leaders, and waited quietly for Astara or Merrick to arrive, for she currently knew nothing about Evien's promotion.

Skoll was... Well. Taking an evening walk at the borders as he always did. As it turned out he met a lot of wolves at the borders faster than any others did, but the other wolves also did the same. Perhaps it was due to him only patroling on early mornings and late evenings. But when a howl came to his ears, they pulled forward and his legs took stride in that direction. He knew about the alliance between Ursus and the Saints - though Skoll himself hadn't been at the meeting so he didn't know the smell of that pack when Nyra was spotted at the borders, so he was instantly on the defensive. 

"What are you doing here?" He questioned, rather than letting the silence hang as he normally would. Even if he wasn't a leader, he still could face those that came to the borders and see what they were there for.

Edited a little for ghost posting.

Quick to arrive was a boy in raven's black, and he remembered her.

Aventus did not like Donovan or his sleazy grin or the way he talked. He did not like his pack. Most of all, Aventus did not like the yellow-eyed Nyra. She had insulted his mother with her behaviour, which was tantamount to insulting all of Ursus, Aventus included. That wasn't something that Merrick's son would forget or forgive.

He prowled up the slope leading out of Ursus' valley with proud Nyra fixed in his sights. His usual opportunistic habit of sneaking around was tossed aside in favour of a very direct approach. Next to his half-grown stature, Nyra was positively colossal, but that didn't stop Aventus from angling his ears sharply toward her, lifting his tail and furs in the way he'd seen the adults do time and again, and skimming his lips back in a quiet growl.

There was nothing he could do to her if she chose to lunge at him, but thankfully, Skoll was there as well. She would be stupid to try anything. So Aventus stood as tall as he could and snarled at her, determined to show her how unwelcome she was here.

Nyra looked at Aventus with a raised brow. She remembered him as well, though didn't pay him much mind before, thus he caught her attention first with how he had grown. 

Turning quickly to Skoll, she slanted her ears back and kept her posture unchallenging as she answered "I hail from the Saints. My name is Nyra, my alpha is Donovan. I was told your pack was most likely at war with Easthollow, and I came to make sure everyone was alright, and to see if I could help in any way." 

While it was very much the truth, by now she was used to not being believed and from her previous behavior at the gathering, she didn't really expect to be believed.

Skoll watched how Aventus became aggressive at the wolf that had tresspassed, and that made him wonder if he met the girl before. If the kid was acting like that, Skoll didn't trust the girl. He did know about the alliance, and the leader's name seemed about right. But still, Aventus' reaction threw him off, he wouldn't let her inside the borders. Skoll wouldn't correct the child about anything, he could make his own choices to be mean if he felt he needed to. It wasn't the dark man's job to parent a child that wasn't his. 

Head turned back to Nyra, and as her ears went back his seemed to get straighter. "Everyone is fine." Though he truly had no idea how every wolf that had been there was doing - but they had a skilled healer that would take care of it. 

"You should go worry about your own pack." He said. "Or help when you are called." skoll really didn't know the plan Merrick and Astara, and Evien had for their alliance with the Saints, but if Aventus was going to act like that, Skoll was going to act like it didn't exit. Something had to throw the kid off, right? Whatever it was, he didn't trust that woman. 

Maybe Ursus wouldn't even call for their aid at all, or maybe they would. it wasn't his choice to make. The woman was the same height as him, but bore more weight in her body and that much was obvious. He had beaten stronger opponents before if it came to that, though he didn't think it would. She didn't appear to have too many weaknesses right off the bat, but she would be less swift with the weight toppled on her body compared to skoll, who could outrun someone like her any day.

Aventus’ intelligent eyes picked over every inch of Nyra as she addressed Skoll, searching for signs of deceit. She addressed him with significantly more respect than she’d shown Astara. Surely she meant to right the wrong she’d committed in the meadow, but it piqued Aventus’ ire all the same.

Why did Skoll deserve more respect than Ursus’ Bruin-tooth?

Aventus wasn’t foolish enough to turn the altercation physical, but his body stiffened as she spoke and tension crackled along his features. She’d proven once already that her words and her intentions were misaligned. Because of her previous dealings with Astara, Aventus didn't trust Nyra. He didn't think his mother would want her knowing anything about Ursus at all, ally or not. He slid his gaze sidelong to Skoll when the man suggested she worry about her own wolves and less about them, and in agreement, he addressed Nyra with a chillingly quiet rumble in his throat. Get lost, his cold eyes screamed.

vague about injuries

 

recovering in the aftermath of the battle, toad was sticking to home again. patrolling borders was his favorite- and so when he caught sight of skoll and aventus and rosina- no, not rosina, someone- at the border, he went to go investigate. the child was postured, and lips pulled back in a little growl- while he heard the tail end of skoll's words, worry about your own pack.

also not present at the time of the meeting with their "allies", toad did not know this woman- but based on his member's reactions to her, he fell into the mob mindset. toad slid quietly up beside skoll, narrowing his gaze slightly at the woman before them- if she had no good reason to be here, why come? he was late to arriving, and thus not entirely informed about who this woman was, but toad was ready to back up skoll in whatever moves he made here.

If she was honest, she expected the reaction she got. From the kid, from the bigger wolf, from the one who ghosted up behind him.
That didn't mean it was any less insulting. 

Control your temper Nyra told herself inwardly, multiple times. 

The Giantess' previous respects she was trying to hold were quickly dwindling, but she had to choose her words carefully, her actions just as much. She didn't want to face the fury of her Master a second time. Nor make matters worse. 
She had to try to make amends. 
With a deep breath, she turned, looked at Aventus with the same unchallenging body language, and a soft, unchallenging tone to match "Young Prince, you were there when I disrespected your mother, yes? That was wrong of me, and I apologize to you, and if I get the chance someday, I will apologize to your dam as well. I understand your anger. I would be pissed as well, if I were in your paws."

She would not lower herself to the lengths she was about to for just anybody, in front of a gathering audience. As she spoke, she let her ears fall flat, she lowered her body to the ground, crawling a little toward Aventus with a submissive set of wags from her tail, which stayed wagging as she rolled over, baring her stomach and her throat to the youth. All the pride and dignity she had made herself out to have fell away.

Skoll waited. And waited. The silence was stifuling. This woman needed to leave before he sunk his teeth into her neck. Ally or not she had no right to come up to the borders and not leave when asked. She turned to the kid that looked like he was just about as much done with her as Skoll was, and started muttering out some apology he didn't understand. But it sounded like she disrespected Astara. Skoll wasn't going to let her live if she stuck around. He wondered if the raven woman would have killed her by now. The dark man didn't have any pateince left, and even more so when Toad showed up to back him up. The three of them would surely win. Skoll himself could, too. 

"The raven woman won't accept an apology. And it looks like Aventus doesn't want you here either." He replied, ignoring the extremely vulnerable spot the woman was in. One of them could just rip and tear.... And she would be done with. Except Skoll wouldn't He would not put Ursus into another situation. He would not let him get himself in trouble with Merrick and the wordless wolf. 

Especially not Merrick and her. 

"You should leave. Come back when you have an actual apology, that just sounds like an excuse." He grunted out. It wasn't his apology to accept, and the raven woman would surely get at her if she disrespected the her. His heterochromatic eyes shifted to Toad in an attempt to make eye contact.

Evien padded up to the border unevenly, one eye shut tight and the other halfway open. He was slow getting there, still recovering both physically and mentally in the aftermath of the fight within the territory. He was sure he looked like shit, but he couldn't be bothered with that right now.

"What is happening?" he asked, arching a brow at the small crowd gathered. "Nobody's leaving right now. Not until someone tells me what's going on." Ah, yes. That was something a leader did, right? There was no heat behind his words - little energy - but he didn't want to fuck up their one good alliance just because Ursus wolves were too prideful.

Aventus blinked twice, surprised, when Nyra apologized to him and then lowered herself to the ground. His silver eyes tracked the wagging tip of her tail, the way she rolled and presented herself supine before them all. They remained fixed on Nyra as Skoll spoke, dismissing her apology. They lingered on the muted pink of her belly as Evien drew up.

This was Ursus, god damnit! We all know how this ends.

Aventus didn’t know about Easthollow. He didn’t know about Evien’s authority. All he knew was that he didn’t like Nyra. He didn’t like Donovan. He didn’t like his pack. And now here she was, making herself vulnerable in front of him, handing an opportunity up on a silver platter.

With a snarl, the boy dove for Nyra, snapping his little jaws.

toad was silent as skoll spoke, and his expression remained dead stagnant, but he agreed with his pal. whoever this goddamn woman was, it sounded like she disrespected merrick's girl. toad had learned quickly not to do that around here. she was just as ferocious as he if not moreso, and her actions came without verbal warnings. 

the thought that this girl, not even ursus' own, would come back to grovel for forgiveness at the feet of the son of the woman she had wronged... toad found it a tad pathetic. submitting to the child. if anyone deserved an apology, it ought to be astara, but toad was not sure how she would take one anyway. after all, he did not know the circumstances of the the disrespect. only that it had happened, and the blackbird did not have the air of a forgiving individual. 

then evien arrived. toad did not pay him a glance yet, only an ear tilting backward- as the new leader demanded to know what was this situation. evien, with his voice that sounded so shrill to toad's ears, evien, with his love of keeping the peace. what bullshit it was now that he had to keep himself on a leash if evie thought it seemed right- but toad's loyalty to merrick came above all else. if merrick wanted evien in charge, evien was in charge, no matter how much the frogboy detested what he perceived as bossiness. 

this woman came with an apology to the boy, about disrespecting his mother. toad summarized quietly to the little healer-leader, before his ears angled back forward- just as the boy child leapt with teeth snapping. now, if this were someone else's child, he might've had the balls to scold them about behavior. but this was merrick's son. in a way, he had his own sort of authority- prince of ursus, an unofficial heir to some kind of throne here. if he felt angry, let him attack. toad only paid a speedy side glance to each of his adult companions, but made no move to hold the prince back from his attacking. if anything, toad would watch on like it was some sort of sport until commanded to do otherwise.

Permission to YEET BABY from Chelsie OOC 

The child lunged at her. 
oh really? Nyra thought as she whipped to her paws, grabbing Aventus while he was mid-lunge, full on by the jugular with ungodly force and malice. 
Snarling like a demon the pale Blade slammed him into the ground harshly before ripping him back up into the air with a violent ragdoll shake before she threw him as hard and far as she could. 
If he broke something, hit his head, or snapped his neck as he made impact with whatever he hit, she didn't care. 

Now the Giantess was livid, angry. Her tall posture was back in full glory as she bared her teeth with raised hackles "ANYBODY ELSE GONNA TRY AND SPIT IN MY FACE TODAY?!" She spat venomously.

merrick was bowled and bitten and lacerated from the fight within easthollow, but the trails of both his children and evien led to the border. unable to help himself, along he came as well, wincing as flesh pulled again his barely-covered wounds.
he came upon them in time to see the pale disrespecter of his mate seize his son. merrick was galvanized, bull-blind; anger choked him and murderous intent shouldered him beyond evien and toad and skoll to slash nyra's cheek, the side of her neck: face; shoulder; kill end maim devour. the other hellwolves would follow, of that he was sure.

arriving in this post, attacking next round to keep it fair<3

wounded as astara may be, the scent of her son threaded out from the redpath, and the blackbird followed.

soon his scent was joined by others; a braid of footprints marked where a small congregation had gathered just beyond the stonethroated borders of her home.

first the blackbird saw Aventus’s back to her, then her packmates — Skoll, Toad, Evien — a chill raked her spine as she saw Nyra, followed by a full flush of contempt.

and yet nothing — nothing at all — measured to the red imperative that burgeoned in astara’s eyes as she saw Nyra seize her son. her jealousy, her insecurity, her dislike for Nyra all seemed mild in the face of that forbidding and immutable instinct — which now bade the raven to protect and kill at any cost;

merrick came to her vision in a blur of dark smoke and russet. astara broke into an open run, hobbled by the injuries given to her at Easthollow.

no matter her slow progress, one thing was certain — the moment she came within the woman that dared strike her child was the moment Nyra’s life was forfeit.

Avicus is also arriving in this post -- still very far away!

she's been following her father's scent, looking to see if he'd be up for another hunt. his scent leads toward the borders, though, and perhaps he can teach her more about the tensions that seem so prevalent lately. she follows it at a slow trot, in no hurry. yet.

as the ground flattens out and she's able to see across the distance, she notices a group of wolves gathered. her stomach tightens—it's the skirmish at the standing stones all over again. shouting, and then she sees the woman—she looked familiar, yes?—seize a shadow in her jaws and begin to fling it about. 

at first, Avicus thinks it's one of the dead mother's whelps. but the body is too big for that, and so—

NO!

heart pounding, she quickens into a gallop, running heedlessly along the trail to the mouth of the valley. she sees red. she doesn't know what she'll do upon arrival; all she knows is she has to get there, and soon.

and she sees her mother ahead, also running (good!). despite Astara's injuries, Avicus still isn't strong or swift enough to catch her up, and follows the blur of her dark tail.

the seconds feel like hours. the wind feels like teeth against her face.

Nyra reached for the child and Skoll surged forward for her face - her eyes. If she couldn't see then she couldn't find wolves to disrespect. Couldn't find her way back home and sure as hell couldn't come back here. If she wanted forgiveness she lost it the moment the child was attacked, even moreso when he saw Merrick come forward as well, and the scent of the dark woman reach his nose. 

Whether or not his attack hit was not decided, but even if it missed the man would rip and tear until there was nothing left. If she had the fucking audacity to disrespect Ursus' leaders then she wasn't going to survive. And Merrick seemed to agree with that statement. This surely was a broken alliance, sadly.

The woman could have dodged the attack from the child, or even waited for someone to pull him off. Could have gently pulled him off of her fur herself. Instead she chose to toss him and Skoll was having none of it. Even if Aventus was not his child, he lived in Ursus and it was his job to protect those in it.

Toad fills him in, and for once Evien isn't all that concerned about what would come of this encounter. This was an ally, after all - they'd be able to talk things over and everything would end up alright.

Aventus did not accept the woman's apology, which Evien thought was funny at first - the kid was a lot like his parents, and it brought a brief smile to his face. Surely the woman would take it well. That this was a puppy and he didn't really know better. Absolutely nothing could've prepared him for what the massive woman did next.

His heart absolutely dropped when she took him into her mouth and tossed him around like a rabbit rather than a pup. Green eye widened in shock, and he immediately sped over to try and at least break Aventus' impact with the ground. That was pretty much the only thing he could do at the moment, to cushion his fall and hopefully prevent any further injury.

Whether he was successful or not, he'd immediately go to work steadying the boy and triaging his injuries. If his co-leads had not shown up, he probably would've attacked the white wolf too, but as it would happen, the boy's parents had that part covered.

"Can you talk?" he asked the dark pup, shifting around so that his body was blocking the fighting from Aventus' view. "I'm going to check you over and see what's hurt, okay? I won't hurt you." Whether he was given the affirmative or not, this was something that was gonna have to happen. Evien waited a moment on the response, before he'd crouch down and gently seek out any broken bones. Spine and neck were most concerning here - he could work with anything else.

Aves will stay unconscious for the remainder of the thread! Feel free to PP his body from here on out, I won't be posting again!

Aventus had made a grave mistake.

Even though Nyra towered over his four month old self, while he was surrounded by his pack, he felt a sense of superiority over her. With her throat and belly exposed to him, Aventus felt like the god he saw his father as. He felt certain he had the advantage.

But he underestimated both Nyra and the speed of wolves, and overestimated himself. He felt jaws clamp firm around his throat and every muscle in his body slackened, shaken loose by the cold hands of dread. That was all he registered before he was lifted and then slammed into the ground.

The gentle snapping of several fragile ribs as Nyra drove him into the packed earth was the last thing Aventus heard. A flash of white lightning across his vision as his head impacted the ground, the last thing he saw. Pain exploded through him, followed abruptly by numbness. By the time she lifted him and began flinging him around, Aventus was already unconscious. The ragdoll limpness of his body was likely the only thing that saved him from having his spine snapped.

He was tossed carelessly aside, crumpling against Evien as the man ran to catch him. It was not enough to wake Aventus. The deep claimed him for now.

a shitty apology. 

the child was only a child; there were easy ways to ward him off if she was really too sensitive to be touched by his fangs. toad did not expect that ridiculous move that came- and watched in sheer horror as the girl who had been asking for forgiveness shook the boy, and threw him like a scrap of meat. breaking the bones of an ally leader's child, that was an easy way to get yourself into deep shit.

there was a thin line between bravery and stupidity, and in ursus' territory, nyra had just crossed it. 

this, toad thought, was why ursus did not often spare time to chat with visitors. there was an instant, a fragment of time, in which his worried gaze shot back to evie, trying to see if he was with the boy. he did not look long enough to see if the prince was unconscious, only a blur of brown and black in his vision and then he was whirling forward into nyra, jaws outstretched. somewhere along he felt skoll and merrick join too, and toad knew it was time to maim. whatever flesh he could find there, he would tug with his teeth, skin the bitch alive if he got the chance. surely if she made it out of here alive she would be dragging herself along, a trail of blood on her path. they'd make sure of it.

They all watched in horror as the brat hit the ground. 
Then they swarmed like angry bees.
There was absolutely zero way she could take on half the pack by herself. She knew they were all aiming to kill her, and the though outnumbered greatly, the Titaness fought back viciously, biting, snapping, slashing with her teeth and snarling, roaring like a hound of hell. Nyra didn't care if she blinded anybody or what have you. 

As soon as an opportunity glimpsed itself she landed every possible blow she could to every wolf she could reach coming for her in that brief time frame, and with wounds and blood littering her body, she tore into a dead sprint the opposite direction toward home. 

Fuck this, she's out. To hell with Ursus, let them all burn.

Teeth connected with a body covered in white fur, pearly whites stained with red along with the white that dawned his face. Skoll himself did not go without injury however, gathering a few scrapes along his jaw and noseline - one on his nose, the rest on his muzzle in various places. They would not cause too much damage two his form. He was only thankful that none of those bites reached his eyes. 

The other Ursus wolves were attacking too, they were a force to be reckoned with. Bears all in their own right. Ripping and tearing at the flesh of their enemy, strong and stable though unmoving. 

The woman kicked back, and ran, and Skoll followed. 

He does lose her trail but this is his exit from this thread aha

i'm... a little lost on the posting order so please whack me if i am out of turn <3

her son's silhouette arced against the sky -- careening, cartwheeling, colliding --

astara roared as she surged after nyra, biting and clawing what she could. she was joined by a swell of ursine fangs.

but her son was unmoving

astara slowed as merrick and his soldiers gave chase, her heart thrumming in fear and wrath. she stole to aventus' eerily still side, toad and skoll were somewhere in the distance, hell on the heels of nyra. astara wished fervently their fangs flew true.

he was not moving. alarmed, astara fought every instinct to shake him. her panicked gaze trailed to evien in budding horror that was augmenting to something akin to terrible and senseless fury.

teeth and clash,
bone studs snapping and tearing tufts of fur from maimed flesh,
merrick's old scars opened upon his lips; her blood mingled with that smearing his own mouth —
he returned to himself and blinked. skoll and toad lunged after the intruding she-wolf.
merrick blinked.
ribcage shuddered with breath, and then he was turning back, sweeping immediately grim-eyed and silent and bloodstained to hover with eldritch focus beside his blackbird. 
the single eye did not move from aventus.

the clash between her family and the white witch does not last long. the woman sprints away, bleeding, with two Ursus warriors in hot pursuit. she spares one brief glance for Aventus, attended to by her parents and the healer, then surges on by.

she bursts from the valley like flames out a busted window, snarling. but she is not yet swift enough to catch up to her brother's attacker, nor even her comrades.

eventually, she tires and slows, cursing herself. panting, she stops and stares at the retreating pale form, imagining that her eyes sear a hole in the back of that wretched skull. she will remember. she will not let this deed go unpunished, not as long as she lives.

Nyra had hurt Aventus, but her first and most serious crime—at least in the girl's eyes—was the flagrant disrespect of her mother.

she will pay for it. all of it. eventually.