The Tangle queen so strong thought she was a machine

a dust-colored bird with a white breast navigated the long spikes of the branch it stood upon with ease.

in its beak a writhing mouse fought. the bird canted its head from one side to the other, slowly — and then!

a sound unlike any miette had ever heard: the soft grunt of something piercing flesh. the bird flew away, the mouse left to struggle against the long blade that now pierced clean through its stark white belly.

miette watched until the mouse moved no more. a quiet settled in the brush as she rose, idly wandering off in the direction the bird had flown.

sorry to hog ur threads but (A. not sorry) I figured this'd be an interesting character combo >:)

Having declared themselves, the Toweards of the pack would be put to work. For those who had chosen to become Bjern, they would need to learn to guard the pack, so she went off to reinforce the borders to make their markings more clear. They could follow along at their own pace, without being worried they might go awry and start marking off in territory which was unclaimed. 

But not even Lilia could shirk the call of the wilderness, and often found herself straying into the Tangle. Perhaps some morbid part of her wondered exactly what the destruction had looked like when the bear had ravaged Sapphique's ranks and destroyed some of its most fearsome leaders. Typically, though, she chose to use the Tangle as her path to go and visit her sister so it had become a habit of hers to swing by while she was already on her way. 

Wayward children from Sapphique were often in the area, and she'd returned one or two of them to their pack by now. She scented yet another, a young, masked girl and when she caught sight of her, she was looking up. Lifting her gaze, Lilia noted the impaled prey, and uttered a soft, impressed Hmmf.

she and the impaler were not alone.

another figure brushed through the shadowed boughs, artfully ducking the spines and thorns with the practiced grace of a wolf accustomed to their blade-prick.

miette’s gaze turned slowly from the tree studded with corpses, to the darkling shape beneath it. muscle corded this one; her gaze had a bite to it as intuitive to miette as the brush of seawater. the girl, unafraid but not foolish, kept distance. who you be?

When she spoke, Lilia smiled faintly. She looked the young one over, and came to the conclusion that this must be one of Mireille's babes. She remembered the last time she'd seen the seawolf, and how she had been just about ready to give birth. The other kids of the pack were slightly older, and had already ventured out into the Tangle only to be guided home by the wandering guardian of the Rise. It would track, then, that this be the Obsidian's child. 

"Lilia," She said. "An' I'm guethin' you're one of Mireille'th kidth, right?" She asked, even though she knew the answer was likely affirmative. "Y'know, I heard if you Thapphique wolveth go too far from the thea, you thprout antlerth like deer an' forget how to thwim." She lifted her head to peer at the child's crown, eyebrows lifting. "Yup, I can already thee antler nubth."

miette’s small brow crinkled. this woman spoke funny, with none of the graceful affectation of sapphique. and she spoke nonsense!

with a raised paw, miette felt about the front of her forehead. she felt no nubs. i don’ ‘ave any horns! and i won’ ever forget ‘ow to swim. she informed, letting out an enduring huff between her nose. her maman sure had interesting friends. ’ow come you be talkin’ funny?

Lilia didn't allow herself to seem convinced. She eyed the girl's brow with meddling interest, though she told herself not to touch too many nerves. She felt that Mireille was a pretty cool-tempered wolf, but that might change if her baby came home crying about being bullied by their neighbour. The seawolves were tough- Miette could deal with a bit of teasing. 

After all, if she was going to give it, she was going to get it. Lilia laughed. "I'm not the one who talkth funny, you are," She said, dipping down into a playbow.

why would the funny lady keep looking at her head? there were no horns there! miette knew this. she thumbed her forehead, perturbed.

her scowl deepened momentarily as she realized lilia threw it back in her court, saying SHE sounded funny. what! her mouth parted in preparation for the world’s best comeback, but at that point lilia had dove into a playbow.

miette was not above the temptation of play, despite the very serious matter of her character being smeared by a wilding. she sprung to life with a playbow her own, her ropy tail flopping behind her as she took off in a puppy-scamper.

There would be a moment where Lilia had to prepare either for the onslaught of puppy teeth and unusually sharp claws (why was it that children always had the sharpest claws?!) or that she would have to give chase. She squinted as she saw Miette ready herself for movement, and Lilia breathed a light sigh of relief. She hadn't really wanted to have to defend her eyeballs from puppy claws. Chasing a child was much more fun for her, anyway. 

She lowered her head and began to lope after the girl, thrumming a low, warning growl as she swept through the undergrowth after her. At times, she would put on a burst of speed to snap her jaws together at Miette's fleeing heels, before she fell back again- grinning the whole while.

miette galloped off. lilia stuck to her heels; occasionally her form would collect speed and close the distance between them, eliciting a childish shriek from miette each time as she thrust the afterburners full throttle.

unfortunately puppy afterburners were not so fast or graceful; a few times miette nearly ate shit. regaining her footing, miette whirled around to face her pursuer, imitating the low growl lilia initially slung her way. her thin tail, comical in its ropy inelegance, rose over her hips in a youthful show of defiance.

"Jeeeez she'th quick!" Lilia breathed between strides, intending the earnest comment to be faint, but still audible. After all, she wanted the girl to eventually return home with good stories to tell, which would further strengthen the bonds between the two packs. While Miette's movements weren't necessarily graceful, she did save herself from going completely arse-over-tea kettle, so in the very least, she was certainly nimble. 

When the pup whirled, Lilia slowed her momentum so she wouldn't just bowl the younger wolf over, but she lowered her head and aimed to thrust her shoulder forward in an attempt to simply push her backwards and to give her something to chomp onto that wouldn't hurt as much as other places.

behind her, lilia exclaimed after her speed — which earned a throaty giggle from the girl.

miette expected lilia to slow when she did; but instead the pursuer lowered her head as a ram, turning towards miette without pausing.

miette hadn’t planned for this. with a yelp she was caught broadside, her teeth dealing retribution in little snaps before she sprung back with a hiss.

things had been pleasant up until that moment, but miette was proud and temperamental, and she didn’t like being upstaged by an adult. with fur on prickly ends, miette huffed. no fair! you be twice my size.

perhaps this was the origin in which miette learned to play dirty.

She chuckled, but pulled back as Miette faced her with an accusation. Lilia's tail lashed, and she grinned. 

"Tho what? Motht wolvth out there? They're twithe my thithe." She said with a shrug. "You gotta uthe what you got." She said, dipping back down into a playbow to invite another round, if Miette would have it. She was definitely feisty- she had the conviction Lilia believed that it was necessary to have in order to walk in today's world- she just had yet to find out how much power she really yielded. The Berserkr intended to tease it out of her, and even if she did get sent home a bit bruised and dusty- she'd hopefully go home at least a little bit inspired.

the haughty girl's eyes narrowed. she did not like being upstaged, and even though lilia's intentions were to bring out the best in her, the girl was childish and saw none of that. she only saw another adult, telling her how the world was like, and how to be -- her little eyes rolled.

not even lilia's inviting playbow would coax the dark humor from the sapphique girl. miette was clearly outmatched. but she had another crueler weapon, far formidable than her size. why don't you use your tongue?

Clearly, the girl could use hers. She expected nothing less from a girl of Sapphique, though she was a bit taken aback by her rudeness. She felt let down that the girl seemed disinterested in continuing their physical engagement and straightened up, with a shrug of one scarred shoulder. She arched a brow at the girl, an indication that she'd not been wounded by the comment at all- but was instead quite disappointed.

"I exthpected more from one of Mireille'th daughtuth," She answered with a sigh, her tone bored. The interest she'd invested in the girl faded. She flicked her jaw back in the direction of the Cliffs. "Go home an' grow up."

<3 fading, thanks for putting up with this brat

sobeille was a poor sport. her barb was undeserved; it did not stop her.

she straightened up haughtily as her playmate disengaged. all that quip earned was a cold assessment.

there were things she could say in retaliation but for once miette refrained. dusting off her fur, she turned back to sapphique with a saucy flick of her tail.