Firefly Glen Could it be, this misery will suffice

AW!

Part of establishing a pack's boundaries was also policing the wildlife that inhabited the area, and making sure that they were able to drive out other predators who might be living in the Glen that would draw from their food supply- especially come winter. Some animals, like coyotes and foxes, seemed clever enough to notice the influx of wolves in the area and had chosen to vacate on their own, as they didn't have young hidden away somewhere that needed to be defended, and weren't keen on fighting with the wolves. But then, Bronco found a badger. 

He'd been patrolling the borders when he caught sight of the dark creature in the distance, its low-set build and bright markings making him think at first, potentially, it'd been a skunk he'd caught a glimpse of. He was fully prepared to allow a few skunks to live amongst them, so long as they kept to themselves, and warded off other predators. But when the heavyset creature emerged from the bushes and began stomping its way back toward the glen and right toward the borders, Bronco knew this could be trouble. Badgers were a lot larger than they seemed, and were even more ornery than the legends he'd heard about them. 

So when he placed himself in its way, baring his teeth with a growl, it merely lifted its nose enough to inhale his scent, looking at him with its beady eyes- and then tried to make an arc around him to get back to its den which was likely somewhere near the lake at the heart of the glen. Bronco stepped into its path again, which earned him a flash of teeth and a hissing, gurgling growl from the creature who warned him that it was in no mood to be argued with. It wanted to get back to its den- and Bronco didn't want it in his territory. 

And like two stubborn rams sizing each other up with growls, bared teeth and hackles bristled- they remained for several long moments- each waiting for the other to make the first move.

She was not a rule follower, too young to really understand the reason there were things she wasn't supposed to do and just old enough to be able to do them anyway when no one was looking; it was a precarious time for the speckled girl, and today she had knowingly venture outside the forest. 

As rebellious as she was, it had not been her intention to wander very far until a very strange scent wafted by on the breeze. She decided that she must learn what made this scent. She moved in the direction from where the scent had come, slowly making her towards the glen. The scent of other wolves was strong here, but she thought nothing of it; she was too interested in her adventure. And it was about that time that she saw the strange creature. He was large, and snarling at a wolf she didn't know. Nuala's gaze froze on the unknown man—he was so sparkly. Her eyes lit up with curiosity, and she bounded towards him, over the imaginary border, completely ignoring the snarling creature and apparently having no self preservation skills. 

It turned and hissed at her, and she froze, frowning at it. Her lips raised and she snarled at it as if to say get out of my way.

YES! A cousin!

He leaned his weight from one foot to the other, to see if the badger followed his movements- but it remained largely impassive, and the two were held in a grumbling, growling stalemate for some time. Bronco took a step toward the badger, but it didn't flinch. If nothing else, this was a learning experience for him, as he'd never really encountered one of these creatures before- but had heard from his mother that they were stubborn and nasty fat-rodents that could potentially pose a threat to their food supply, and possibly even their children if they were young and left unattended. 

The badger would turn to snarl at the young stranger though- who looked to be about four months old, and he recognized the hure of her eyes and dappling of her fur to mark her as being both of Neverwinter Forest, and one of Mal's children. This one was a warmer, more autumnal version of Liliana- and he would overlook her bounding toward him (and over the borders) so long as she at least kept out of harm's way. 

"No ya don't, badger," He said, warning the creature should it make any move toward the younger wolf, who had at least chosen to stop moving. With its attention fixed on the younger, more sprightly wolf, Bronco figured he might have an opening to attack so he bounded forward and snarled at the creature, which turned its head back toward him just in time to meet his attack. Fangs sank into shoulder fur as Bronco sank down to grab a hold of the badger, though his aim had been off and ended up putting himself within the surly creature's reach as well. Both bit into the thick shoulder fur of the other, and in an explosion of growls and snarles, the two began to thrash about- to see who would let go and give in first.

:D

The creature was as persistent as she was and obviously not at all deterred by her "vicious" snarl. Although she would never admit it, she was somewhat alarmed by the aggressive animal; it could do damage to her, and she wouldn't be able to do much about it. Still she growled and as it was busy worrying about her, the stranger took his opportunity to attack.

It all happened so fast that she could barely tell what was going on. They both had teeth sunk into the other and then they were going at it. Nuala just watched with wide eyes, not dumb enough to try and help. She silently rooted for the stranger, knowing that he was the only thing between her and the angry creature. Also, she wanted to ask him how he was so sparkly, and she couldn't do that until this dumb animal was dealt with and out of their way. 

Surely the stranger could win this. He was larger, and bigger seemed better to the untrained little girl. Or maybe one of his friends would come help. Nuala looked around briefly but didn't see anyone, so she kept her focus on the fight.

Antares had trailed from a distance. It was overlapping duties, and interest, that made it so and he didn't mind. He stalked upon the scene once it had already escalated though, appearing suddenly. Sights were first on Bronco, then the badger as they clashed.. stoking Antares' bloodlust easily. The Ostrega only noticed the mottled girl there too when he was already mid-lunge to help engage--so he didn't get the time to be properly annoyed about Neverwinter's wandering spots again. There were more pressing matters afoot, ones well to his interest. 

Surely two yearlings could take a badger, and he was here to tip the favor. He tried to catch the Blackthorn's eyes on his way in so he could get him on the same page, but he didn't want to alert the creature to another wolf unnecessarily. Antares said nothing, no snarl, as he rushed forward to grab at the badger's back--hopefully by its shoulders (he'd never tried to scruff a badger before though), should it not be expecting an extra set of teeth, and Bronco be able to keep it relatively still. His first priority was separate them. From there? Then he'd figure it out.

barges in also. hi

There wasn't much that Bronco could see or hear outside of the dark fur of the creature's shoulder and the sound of its ugly snarls in his ear. The badger had the advantage of being lower to the ground with tis center of gravity, and it surprised him with how dense it actually was- and as it whipped its head from side to side trying to tear at his shoulder, he did the same to it- which meant that both of them writhed and pulled against one another for a few moments, the tension mounting as they each began to feel anger brought about by growing pain- until something big and dark hit the badger in the side like an anchor being dropped into stormy seas. 

The force tore both wolf and badger free from each other for a spare moment, and the badger managed to slip in one last snap, snatching a chunk of fur and skin from Bronco's left ear. He was lucky that was all it got. But with a snarl- and with the badger now pinned by the the immediately recognizable form of his packmate, Bronco snapped once at the bridge of the badger's muzzle- causing the creature to lift its chin to snap in return- leaving an opening for Bronco to go for its throat.

He'd been trotting along doing a patrol when he'd caught Nuala's scent heading over the borders. Aibreann had done a good job keeping an eye on the four thus far, but if Nuala was now attempting to escape it could only mean the others  probably weren't too far behind pulling the same stunt. So, he quickly veered off from his track towards where his daughter had gone -- towards the newly forming pack that still hadn't come by.

Whatever, that was unimportant right now. He figured he'd be stumbling across her any moment, but when the growls hit his ears, that certainly put a spring in his step. His fur spiked on end, flying with a call of, Nuala! as he zoomed along what had been her trail. Thankfully, though, it didn't seem she was in the middle of things but there was a badger and that was a certain amount of unpredictability there. 

It kind of looked like the scene was under control -- or even ended entirely by the time he skidded to a halt at his daughter's side, but he wasn't gonna pause and watch. He nipped at her scruff briefly, tugging her back from them. A few pointed words to her, firm but not shouty enough to purposely distract Bronco & friend or anything, C'mon get back, get back, it's dangerous, for multiple reasons but he wasn't gonna say that. Hopefully she'd just follow because all his pups were way too big to drag around by their scruff any more, but he would do so again if she didn't move her butt back away from the badger fight and into what was more clearly no-wolf's land. Sure, she could still see the fight if that was the thing that so interested her, but he didn't trust the badger and he trusted Moonspear wolves only slightly more. If he needed to help, well, he would, but getting the kid to safety should be the priority of any good dad.

Nuala was captivated by what was going on in front of her, her focus only moving when a flash of black wolf appeared in the corner of her sight. But then he jumped in and the two of them seemed to finally have an advantage over the volatile creature. 

Just when things got interesting, she heard her dad's voice, and then he was suddenly at her side, pulling at her scruff and requesting that she move back with him. He said it was dangerous, blah, blah, blah. She shrugged him off, giving him a petulant side eye and shaking her head. No, she answered back. I want to watch and I want to be sparkly. 

She trotted forward away from her dad's reach and sat down again, watching the fight that seemed almost over. Couldn't dad see that she was fine here? He could be watching with her instead of trying to ruin the fun.

Bronco had the creature well-engaged and the Neverwinter wolves (plural, soon) were not a thought. Exchanging between each other, busied amongst themselves with teeth and fury, Antares could get the drop on the situation--hopefully, not to the detriment of his packmate, somehow but there didn't seem to be time for these finer details yet when the acrid scent of blood already prevailed. His focus was on grabbing that badger, somehow, and when he finally got his own jaws on the short-legged omnivore's back, he felt it give--and its muscles make a mighty writhe in his grasp, surprisingly, the sheer power behind it for such a simple maneuver. He had to sturdy his stance, plant his feet, and keep his hold before it could shake him and return to savaging Bronco.

Digging in deep with a chomp meant to damage, and hold, or hopefully both, he saw over the badger's ears for sure that the Blackthorn was mostly freed--though it still looked like the beast wasn't done with him, still snapping his direction despite them now able to gang up on it. The thing was not happy about this, not one bit.

Antares tried to hold it back, trying to pull it away and stabilize it somehow, but the mass of wriggling, pissed off mustelid did not make for a willing victim. Dredging with his neck and driving his front paws into its side, he chanced re-arranging himself when the last grip felt waning, and grabbed it on the back of the neck better--further up, closer to the back of its head after it made another snap towards Bronco. He used this to try to further hold its worst weapons, now with most of himself weighing against the rest of it as he tried to widen that opening at the neck by force. 

It began to wrench its body beneath him shortly after, making his footing iffy, but functional still. They wouldn't have long, he thought, as he tightened that hold viciously. Hopefully long enough for Bronco to finish what was started.

he rolled successes for his badger holds 

Goin' with the rolls and Bronco rolled a WOMP WOMP on his aim from the last post.

While he had the perfect opportunity, what with Antares gripping the creature and Bronco close enough to make a good snap at it. He faltered, though, when he caught sight of a larger, silver form in his peripheral vision which threw him off balance and he lost his aim. That was Mal. This was definitely one of the many children, and the second that Bronco had heard of wandering from the pack's borders. All these thoughts swirled in his mind, with the image of Miriam's saddened features making his cheeks grow hot. Cheek turned to the badger, he missed its throat altogether and sank his fangs into its shoulder only to find that the creature then had the angle to snap at his jawline, fetching the underside of the jawbone with its lower jaws and grabbing a hold of him there. He roared in pain. 

But with the badger's nape in Antares' grip, he wrenched himself from the miserable creature's jaws, which left two parallel slices along his jawline, he ignored whatever was going on with the Neverwinter wolves and lunged, gripping the badger by its steadied, exposed throat and putting an end to the struggle with a frustrated yank. 

He lifted his head, and gave Antares a dark stare followed by a nod- a means of thanking him that was without need for words. He wheeled, then, and turned toward Mal and his daughter; how those mismatched eyes taunted him. He resented being distracted. He resented the fact that this was just another one of his children who had strayed from the borders- another beautiful creation of his that had inevietably chosen to leave on her own. Another child left unsupervised just for long enough. Any longer and she might've been the one caught in the badger's teeth. Bronco wasn't a parent- and perhaps he was completely out of bounds to criticize someone else's parenting skills, and assume that harm was inevitable for young wolves left unsupervised. But he was bleeding, and he believed that it was Mal's fault that he'd been distracted, and that it was Mal's fault this young girl had nearly wandered into danger's path. At the best of times, it was almost impossible to anger Bronco; but he was definitely frustrated, and struggling with it now as he stood, panted, and stared toward the Neverwinter Forest wolves as blood dripped from his jawline. 

He kept breathing, and eventually passed his tongue over his lips. He reached back to brush his jaw against his shoulder, blinking as a droplet of blood from his ear landed near his eye. He turned his muzzle back to Mal and the young girl, having calmed himself down just a bit, though it was with obvious struggle that he restrained himself from saying more. "It's alright. Your Dad will be taking you back to Neverwinter, safe and sound."

He couldn't see what was going on well now either, so committed to the single task of hold this thing back from doing worse while Bronco finished it. So long as he kept the warm fur between his teeth, and its scrabbling claws off him, he shouldn't worry. Shouldn't, he thought, until he realized the badger was still putting up a fight. Not dying, and wait--fuck, now it had Bronco's face again! Antares caught enough of a glimpse, and heard the pain as it raised his own furs. He finally snarled now, angry but muffled, trying to deepen a grip that had nowhere to go. He would have to chew this things head off through the back of its neck if this pitiful rate of it all kept up.

Soon, though, matters turned back to their favor. He did what he could, and Bronco put a stop to all this fussing and struggling with a solid yank. Relief cooled his head, but blood stung his nose.

When the offensive creature finally fell limp, Antares let it down and shook the blood and fur from his face, panting now that he was able. His neck ached as he arced it back up, and he shifted his shoulders to free the exertion; it wasn't long spent on himself before his attention went after the Blackthorn, where his inspection would have to start on the outside first. Judging by that look, which had earned a subtle lift back at the time, he considered the darkness he thought he saw there. What had happened? Something had happened. Something potentially more than just this badger.

Once he was absolutely sure it was staying dead, Antares stepped over the musky thing without a word, and joined Bronco's side immediately in a protective, dark rush. He couldn't help but swipe his tongue below the wound on his shoulder, where normally he might've bumped him back.. but this was different, and up close he saw the damage better. However, he righted the splay to his ears the injury had prompted and pinned a new look right on the Neverwinter wolves.

hope it's okay i botched the order to wrap up the Badger Matter a little while i had the chance. let me know if not good and i can repost, i kind of kept it all on him/Bronco <___<

But Nuala apparently wasn't going to listen -- and this was not one of those times where it was ok. Mal basically never acted stern, he'd always try to get his children to just cooperate by convincing them that was the best choice, or more appealing at least. And even if they didn't, it usually wasn't a big deal. This was not one of those times.

As Nuala started forward again, he reached out and grabbed her by the scruff and started pulling her back and away. Just like you might yank someone back from stepping out in front of an oncoming car, Mal was pretty much doing the same, pulling his daughter back and away from the doomed creature -- and across to the no-wolf's side of things if he could manage it.

Nuala was in trouble, that was for absolute certain. Mal had missed the details of how Bronco got hurt while corralling his daughter, and when he did let go of Nuala, he was ready to practically tackle her if he had to, That was not a request, and you shouldn't be out here anyway. I'm pretty sure your mother is gonna have something to say about this, because I certainly do. He was ready to sweep her on back to the pack but Bronco's words brought his attention back to them. Mal looked back to Bronco and the other wolf, apologetic once he'd noticed the wound, I can bring some herbs back for that, a tip of his nose to Bronco, if you want. Her mom is a healer. I'm sorry we got in your way, this isn't a usual thing. And it sure as hell better remain not a normal thing.

The second Mal picked her up, it was all over. She screamed and kicked and squirmed against his hold. Why did he have to ruin her fun? She was fine and he was just overreacting as all adults tended to do. She flung herself around so hard that her scruff hurt, but she didn't care. 

When dad set her down, she turned on him and slammed her front paws against his leg. You're ruining my life! she yelled at him. I was fine before you came! Despite her complete disagreement with his pulling her from the action, she seemed to sense that she wouldn't get very far if she did try to get away, so she plopped down angrily and glared up at her dad as the sparkly man walked up. 

I don't want to. I want to stay here forever and be sparkly. she told the man when he assured her that her dad would take her home. Why did no one care what she wanted?

wc:417
I'm cool if someone else wants to fade and archive after this :) Hoping to get my threadlog updated a bit and some trades finished :)

Feisty feisty feisty. As soon as Mal attempted to clip a leash onto his daughter's proverbial collar she began to rebel against him, making claims that led Bronco to believe that this wasn't simply a one-time thing. She implied that this wasn't the first time he'd had to step in and intervene with her grand schemes, and Bronco raised an eyebrow at the young, high-strung girl. She certainly had a set of pipes on her, and a flair for being over-dramatic. Mal's claim that her behavior was unusual fell flat, given just how expert Nuala seemed to be at pitching a fit. Bronco had three younger sisters- he'd seen first hand just how loud, screechy and vicious they could get when they didn't get their way.

Of course, if he'd known that Nuala was actually a cousin of his, he might have been even less surprised.

Still, her plea warmed his heart a little bit, and it showed. Part of him- the part that judged the man for siring litters with more than one woman- wanted to antagonize Mal, and to offer the girl a tour, to give in to her request, and let her pal around with them. Part of him wanted to take Miriam and Liliana away from him too, so that they could have a happy home in the Glen. But he knew that he was probably just resentful because he was stressed, and in pain. He didn't want Mal's help, and he certainly didn't want to meet the other woman he'd chosen to have children with, whether or not she was a medic.

“Thanks; but we have a medic. I'll be fine.” He said, a little tonelessly. He would find Fennec later, though he knew the wounds were simply superficial. He wasn't sure about how Antares felt about the entire situation, but he wanted to get rid of the badger carcass, and then resume his patrol so that something similar couldn't happen again. That meant sending the Neverwinter couple back to their pack. Since it seemed like Nuala was at least paying attention to him, he figured he might have some influence in persuading her. “As you're from Neverwinter, we respect you as our neighbour; but we don't take in runaways.” He said softly. “You'll be going home now,” He reiterated, before he stepped back, and gave a nod to Mal. He didn't care how he got Nuala to leave, just as long as he left now, and took her with him.

Antares stuck close to Bronco, and watched the duo skeptically. He had little to say for most of it, thankfully, but it was curious enough to him to keep him rooted, stern look and all. His eyes were narrowed, mostly thanks to the young one's fussing, though he found no need to right the gesture when the male--father--spoke to them. For their sake, he did hope he was right; this did not need to be a regular thing for any of them.

He wasn't going to object as Bronco declined the offer, either. Antares was preferential towards their own anyway, so didn't think it needed said. He only licked his bloodied lips and let the Blackthorn set them down properly; it ended up being a lot nicer than anything that was going to come from his own mouth, anyway. Likely, it was best this way... so when he was satisfied with what he heard (and content without adding anything else of his own), he started to move away without another word.

Antares trailed after his packmate to go deal with the badger's body, then surely, Bronco's injuries. Maybe Kukutux knew a good trick to help get the distinct stink off their pelt to make the hide worth keeping.. but anyway, he'd cast one last glance towards the mottled neighbors, and hope they'd get the hint and get on back to their pinewood, regardless of what the girl wanted. Antares would sweep by later to make sure all the scents said so. He had no patience for it, anyway.