Gyrfalcon's Keep ears ring and teeth click

@Tetsubō!

For one who had been so desperate to be a part of a pack only weeks before, Lilith sure did not care to return so quickly after departing a few days ago. She did not miss the members of Rosings, especially not their Alpha, who she wasn't sure she wanted to be ruled by, really. The man who had made things interesting there had left as quickly as he had come, and so the girl also took her leave. Permanent or no, she knew she hadn't long left to decide; they would note her absence soon.

For now, though, she journeyed the span of the Wilds, from the mountains bordering Blackfoot Forest to the coastline that spread across the northern reaches of the land.

Upon reaching the shores, she idly picked her way up a rocky mountain — though it could be barely called such — and surveyed the ocean with mild disinterest. The screeching of birds above grated against her ears and she looked up to them, wondering if any had perished recently. She could use a skull to add to her collection.

His body was mending. It was a slow process, but it would happen, as it always did. The various injuries he had sustained as a child had left him with hardly a mark, and had Tetsubo been the type to spread stories of his greatness, he would have had many by now. His head no longer bothered him; his one devious eye with the extended pupil had returned to normal, so he no longer had the capacity to look beyond the veil, or so some might think. The light no longer plagued his vision and everything was sharp, crisp, and brutal, as they were meant to be. The rest of Tetsubo would piece itself together in the coming weeks.

The boy revisited the witch doctor of the sands, the flighty creature that had tended to him before, and after acquiring further treatment he chose to depart from the bay. During his previous excursions across the meadow and through the vareigated forests, he had spied many mountains - and now he sought one in particular. It was the closest to the bay, rising through the mist and vanishing before him like a great wall. It would be the perfect stage upon which to test his body — even if it was not ready, he would find his limits and push at them, strengthen himself, and come back from his injuries with an even greater prowess than before.

Or that was the plan. In theory it could work, but in practice, as he was learning now through the laborious breathing and excessive force needed to propel his heavy body up the mountainside, this was all much harder than it looked. Tetsubo knew he was strong. Before the incident leading him to Skellige, he had been well conditioned and excessively, obsessively, trained for such feats upon the mountain slopes. Yet he struggled, and the struggling was off-putting. The boy was so beleaguered by the mountain that he passed right by the other wolf, and only stopped to catch his breath, which happened almost directly in front of Lilith. He should have seen her - sensed her - but every inch of his body was screaming in protest by this point, so he merely sank to his haunches and panted hard with his eyes upon the dirt.

Her attention was diverted from the falcons and back to where she stood as she heard something approach, its breath laboured and footfalls heavy. She stiffened somewhat, ready to run if the creature proved itself dangerous. However, when a male suddenly appeared and strode right past her, her features relaxed into an amused smirk. He looked to be on the verge of collapse, and she thought he might do so as he sank to his haunches.

Instead, the stranger sat as if defeated. Had he been running? Fighting? Lilith herself felt no exhaustion, though she had been at a steady, idle wander as she trailed up the mountain. She didn't let that stop her from giggling at the male, coming to his side with a mischievous quirk of her head. "Conquered by such a tiny mountain, are you?" she teased.

Dunno if this is PP, but I can change it if you'd like! Up to you if he grabs her, but I'm assuming he's too tired to be effective.

He felt the pulse of blood through his body, the vibration of his skin around the muscle, the strain caused by his movement and the stress of pulling his heavy figure up the mountainside, and through it all his heavy breathing. The one constant emotion that Tetsubo had always experienced, had used in his training and in his many battles, was his anger. He was angry now. Irrationally flustered by the activity, but more so furious at himself for the weakness of his body — the discomfort of his joints and muscles, and everything else that tried so hard to keep his body moving.

Therefore, when a voice rose over the pounding of his heart, he reacted in the only way he knew how: With rage.

The boy spiraled, his eyes going wide and his lips peeling back from his grimace of a mouth; and when he saw this tiny, pale, sneering thing, he pushed off of the soil and launched himself directly at her. She would survive because he did not move far, being too tired, and his muscles too tight, but the intent to grab and shake and pulverize the life out of her was obvious. He landed closeby to her, scrambled to give chase, but she, being so small and hardly affected by the mountain, would be able to run from him should she attempt it. And when faced with such a mess of a wolf, who wouldn't run?

Haha, pretty sure it's not :D No worries anyway! And I rolled from an outcome: she runs

Well, she should have gone by her first instinct the moment she heard the brute approach. Despite the obvious strain he was going through, the male still whirled around at her comment, teeth bared and yellow eyes ablaze. She was taken aback, a look of surprise crossing her face for a split second, before she quickly leapt back just out of his reach.

She heard the sharp click of jaws, fully aware of his intent. Was this man as bad as Aaron? Her own eyes flared, dancing away again from the enraged stranger. He wasn't the largest wolf she had seen, but when compared to her own tiny figure he may as well have been a dire wolf. She was at an advantage, though, with muscles that were not crying out in pain. "So close," she hissed with another grin, unable to keep herself from teasing him a little further despite the consequences should he catch her. She continued backing away in literal leaps and bounds, ready to spring away should he attack again.

His teeth sank in to nothingness, falling through the air so swiftly and so sharply that their snap was audible, and he felt it through his mandible and in to his own sinuses. It surprised him, for surely Tetsubo was a practiced warrior, and he could not imagine missing his mark. For a split second he watched her - not seeing her - and looked perplexed by the sensation of his teeth sliding back together like the beartrap his muzzle presented. And then, as she taunted him, he felt the well of his immesurable rage fill again, and ignite, becoming a great bonfire inside of himself. He launched himself again, ignoring his training as he sought her flesh and snapped, dove, snapped, dove, thrusting himself towards the white of her fur despite the spectral nature of her fleeting movements.

As expected, he dove again for her, the flash of his teeth visible. Being the size of a small coyote, the girl wasn't one for physical fights and preferred more subtle forms of violence, but the excitement the man presented was too tempting. His attacks were ferocious, her taunts spurring him onwards. She knew should he manage to pin her, that would most certainly spell the end of her, but the girl couldn't help but flaunt with death.

She dodged away from his snarling and snapping, tail waving behind her with glee. Her stifled giggles only stopped when suddenly she felt a sharp pain as one of his blows found purchase upon her scruff. She tore away with a banshee-like screech, blood immediately spilling from the wound. She wasn't sure how much he had gotten ahold of, but the pain was enough to put an end to her antics. With a curse, she spun on her heel, aiming to flee as fast as she could away from the beast.

I feel like this is gonna be very brief, but its been hilarious so far.

If he had the ability, he would have grabbed her and held her upon the mountain, then probably ripped her head clean off of her body. It was a death reserved for those of the bushido, but his rage was at such a grand level by this point, aided by her taunting and teasing, that Tetsubo wanted her dead, and that was the only way he could think to do it. She was no warrior. At most, she was a spirit — perhaps a ghost guarding the mountainside, or a specter of a long-dead vagrant that clung to the area. He could not exorcise her, but perhaps all he needed was a creature upon which to vent his anger.

So he barrelled after her, this fleet-footed thing, and traced an irregular route in pursuit of a thin line of blood she left behind. It soaked in to the white of her pelt, so now Tetsubo saw more than just the blur of white, but he caught the sharp red, smelled the blood, and was driven on by an unseemly lust that went namelessly in tandem with his rage. She would escape from him of course, and somehow he knew that. Yet Tetsubo did not relent in his chase — even though his body was already struggling and had been following his arrival. He needed to grab hold of this ghost and -- and -- no, he couldn't think of anything specific to do with it.

And with a gasp, his steps finally faltered, and he went down in a heap of heavy breathing once again.