Big Salmon Lake chromosomes

She avoided the Caldera - Peregrine did not seem like he would take too kindly to a repeat visit, and Behati was smart enough to know that she couldn't take him. She would explore the other side of Lake Rodney, but not today.

Today, it rained. The wide banks of the depleted lake were slick and soft, swallowing Behati's paws as she trekked its northern rim. Unbeknownst to the visitor, a tornado had recently drained the water water and showered the surrounding area with fish. There was still evidence of the event, but nature had done much to repair the damage - frequent autumnal showers would see to it that the lake was replenished within the year.

But before Behati could see enough of the lake to guess at its story, the mud sized one of her paws. Then the other. Panic seized the young wolf, but the more she pulled at her trapped rear legs, the further they sank into the muck. Shit. Shit shit shit. Instinct told her to stop moving, but left no instruction beyond that. Quivering, and suddenly aware of the cold, Behati lowered herself onto her belly and looked further up the bank for any signs of life. She wasn't getting out of here without help.

AW! Maybe someone from Moonspear? :)

Orrrr maybe me! ;) At least for now.

He was on the southern shore, driven by the burn of an empty stomach, as he often was. Unfortunately, he had missed the banquet that the storm had laid around the lake not so long ago. All that remained were the occasional dried remains, bones, and eyeless heads - some detached from meatbare bones and others not. Rat was not particular, he inhaled these meager  offerings as he came across them. One especially large fish caused him to hack and wretch as he fought to swallow a tough, sun-cured piece that should have been chewed. It eventually went down, and he moved on, nose working to find the next bite.

But it was not his nose that discovered the next opportunity, but his falconlike eyes as the scanned lake's edge. He spotted a female imprisoned in mud, and he slinked toward her, his bony paws slowing to a stop several wolf-lengths from her on firmer ground. His head was carried low, below the sharp juts of his shoulders, his disheveled tail hanging limp as he stared at her. His nicked ears turned and pivoted as he considered the situation, saliva starting to drip from his lips.

Help came quickly - or did it? Behati didn't catch sight of the ratty looking creature until he was almost on top of her, deafened by the sound of her own panicked breathing. Her head felt thick and woolly, and tears were not far off. She turned to stare at her would-be rescuer, noting his scrawny frame and hard, dead eyes. Fear fluttered in her chest. This was the kind of wolf her father had protected her from - she knew it without having to be told.

"I-I'm stuck," the dessert-coloured wolf croaked, tugging uselessly at her hind leg. Her mouth was dry and she was desperate for a pee. "Can you.. can you help me?"

She spoke, asking for his help, but as if he could not understand her language, he did not but continue his dead stare and let silence fall between them. His piercing stare then dropped, running down her legs; her paws were out of sight in the thick muck. Slowly, his black lips twitched upward into a foul, toothy grin, revealing yellowed teeth that were destined to rot in his skull. "Hehehehehehe! Ya, I kin 'elp ye," he moved forward, and though he was not an intelligent beast, he was clever enough to test the mud, and one paw after another, he crept toward her along the firmer mud and occasional rock. His motive was hard to mistake. Drool hung in long strands as his hungry gaze locked on to her; he was a predator, and she was a trapped piece of meat.

It was the fairytale nightmare, the typical situation, the damsel-in-distress adventure. Sir Knight Starchaser had spotted the damsel in distress, stuck in the mud of Salmon Lake' previously water-filled floor, and so he had come into action to do his duty as strong manly Alpha of the nearby pack as well as the white knight, Sir Knight Starchaser.

When the young knight came nearer however, he noticed that there was more to the story than the damsel in distress and her mud problem. A gross-looking wolf was approaching her, drool dribbling from his lips. Everything about his appearance and demeanour made it very clear that he was the villain of this story. He was obviously here to hurt the lady, all helpless as she currently was, and abuse her in terrible ways, maybe even kidnap her and bring her to a dungeon where he'd lock her up until a handsome prince showed up.

Luckily the story needn't search far for the handsome prince, and Sir Knight Starchaser intended to skip a few steps along the story's proceedings now that he was here anyway. No need for the poor lady to go through being locked in a dungeon and kidnapped by this gross villain. He started to gallop forth, head raised into the air with ears cupped forward and tail flagged up high to make himself as big and intimidating as possible, while he bravely shouted: "You there, leave the lady alone!"

Behati soon realized her mistake. The creature laughed - at her plight, that much was obvious - and crept forward with its offer of help. The trapped wolf stopped breathing, bladder emptying around her legs as she stared, wide-eyed, at the face of her approaching end. This was it. She would be a rat's dinner, and that would be the end of it.

But her fortune did a 180 for a second time that day. A (mostly) white knight came riding into view, hollering at the snake-eyed villain to begone - away from this place! It was then that Behati regained control of her lungs; she gaped wide and screamed bloody murder at her false rescuer, snapping and snarling at him between a stream of ear-wilting screeches.

He was close, he almost had her. His stomach roared with the anticipation of food - more than he had in weeks, all at once! His tongue flicked out around his black lips as he moved to take a nip at his prey, to toy with it before he commence feeding, but his play and feast was not to go without interruption. So focused on the trapped female in front of him, he did not realize she had a rescuer, until the other wolf was bellowing at him and his victim was screaming, snapping and snarling.

He threw his ears back to his skull, springing back into a crouch and leaning away from the white male, his wide eyes quickly scrutinizing this newcomer as his muscles quivered with a flight response. But this one was just a yearling. The insolent creature decided to take a chance, foolishly spurned by such a bounty of flesh mere feet away from him. He lifted himself, standing to his full and mediocre height. His narrow head raised high above his shoulders, his lips peeling back to expose his teeth as his tattered ears thrust forward.

"Ger'away!" He snapped, spittle flying from his mouth. His eyes were sharp with hunger, desperation. "Or I 'ave ye for desert!"

Here comes the raven! Tell me if I'm intruding, and I'll delete it. 

Corvasa was hungry and tired. She had flown for over an hour, too much, in her opinion.
  She was about to perch on a tree, when a loud noise had appeared behind her. She turned around, curios to see what has happened. A wolf, two actually, were making the noise. Corvasa honestly didn't want to deal with it, so she tried to ignore it. 
 A second later, the noise had gotten louder. With a tired sigh, she flapped her black wings and went to see what all the fuss was about. Looking down, there were three wolves now.
   "What's going on?", she shouted at the wolves. She swooped down, landing near the she wolf. Tilting her head, she opened her beak again. "You okay, miss?"

It was good to see that some fight returned to the trapped damsel in distress when he came into view. Already morale was looking up, and it spurred Charon's belief that he was doing the right thing here, too. Charon bared his teeth and puffed out his fur in an attempt to make his yearling appearance look a little less narrow. Ears fell against his skull as he approached and he looked at the mud beneath his paws to make sure that he wasn't getting himself stuck. The villainous wolf before him crouched back a little, though he seemed to lack any desire to give up the kidnapped lady.

Charon knew that the heroes always (well, almost always, anyway) won though, and with the gross-looking state this wolf was in, he was quite confident he could take him on. The approaching bird was ignored (for a split second Charon's ears perked up to hear if it was Shiv, but finding that it wasn't, his ears were quick to fall back against his skull) and Charon focussed on the wolf before him instead, while he repeated: "Get the fuck out of here, or I'm gonna kick your ass. I'm not gonna say it again." He always preferred to avoid a fight if he could, but Charon's body was ready for a fight if it would come, his muscles tensed.

Things happened all at once. Charon approached the scabby baddie, spitting insults in the face of its threats. Behati willed him to just lunge forward and take the creature out, afraid that the rat would get a few bites out of her if they waited any longer. He looked like he might risk death for just one taste. Above her head and then to her left, there was a screechy noise as a black bird swooped in to see what was going on. Behati stared at it, bewildered by the ridiculous question. "NO," she screeched back, lips pulled high above her teeth. "Peck that guy's eyes out!" The command wasn't accompanied by any clarifying gestures, but it was quite obvious which wolf was the villain here.

He liked easy. This was not going to be easy. He eyed the other male up and down, but he knew he could not take him. Some female trapped in the mud unable to defend herself was more up his alley for targets. But he was not about to go without making some attempt to feed his belly. Like a snake he lunged, swinging his slavering jaws at the insolent bird that had pitched near them. Whether he got it, a mouthful of tail feathers or nothing at all, he would be drumming his feet and putting distance between him and the one who interrupted his dinner.

Send me a PM if I skipped anyone. @Rat , do you want a scar, or should Corvasa miss completely?

 Corvasa gave a loud squawk as the hideous wolf tried to eat her. "Oh no, you didn't!" She could feel that a tail feather had been pulled out. Now, she was mad. Very mad. She flapped up, forgetting about the she wolf. Getting her talons ready she was going to claw his stupid face off. That would teach him not to even try eating her! She swooped down, probably going to miss his eyes. 

same here, feel free to write a hit or miss, Kris!

The yucky villainous wolf pestering the lady seemed to hesitate a moment. Charon had ignored the bird completely, missing the conversation between wolf and bird. The first thing he noted was the villainous wolf's glassy, absent look in the eyes, as if he was looking past Charon rather than at him.

When the wolf lunged, Charon mistook it for an attack on him and without hesitation he sprang into action. Charon lunged at the wolf, trying to sink his teeth into any part of his face he could grab to teach him a lesson and, hopefully, send him packing.

skipping Behati, last post for me! :)

His stained teeth clutched the stolen feather tightly as the bird, not content to let him away with such a predatory strike, dove at his face. Fortunately, he could be as slippery as he looked, and he turned his face away from her talons, whose needle-like tips did little more than break the surface of the skin along his muzzle. But unfortunately, the bird distracted him from the real threat, which was the white wolf. His teeth managed to find purchase on the Rat's cheek, tearing a small gash as the parasitic creature bolted like a scald cat, yipping and hollering as his scrawny legs carried him away from his ill-fated attempt at an easy meal.

gonna wrap this up! i faded it and kept vague, but let me know if any of the pp is not ok karm!

Adrenaline gushed through Charon's veins as his teeth broke the bad guy's skin, but soon his nemesis fled the scene. "Yeah, run, you cowardly villain!" he shouted loudly while looking at him run off. The day was saved, his knightly duty fulfilled!

"Are you okay?" he asked the lady. Since he would not rest until the damsel was fully safe, Charon of course would help her get free if she needed his help, before he would depart the scene and go on home again.