Moonspear asphyxiated
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#1
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One of her starving cubs had ranged ahead, and this was where their trail led, just about. Rainfall from that morning caused the trail to become muddled, but Saghani was adept at tracking and knew that the last place her cub had been was here. Though, they were cub no more. They were full grown. Saghani traveled with them to find their father whom had disappeared long ago. Winter had been hard upon her and her children, but they had all, against all odds, survived. She was starving, her frame emaciated. A shell. And as Saghani lurked at the borders, despite the scent of pack and the upkeep of it, she wanted to try her luck. If she were quick enough, she could steal from a cache, and she knew mountains best of any territory. 

And so she did not hesitate when she moved onward, inward. She did this for her cubs, for herself; they had survived from her penchant for thievery, and for their scavenging. Her children were less adept at stealing than she—it was a wonder they lived still at all. The sky opened up overhead, the rain fall a blessed cloak for Saghani who moved with her nose to the earth and her senses honed for the sound of approach.
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#2
Hydra lurked through the territory, heading toward the borders to observe them again. After her encounter with the other wolf that had come too close, Hydra felt one could never be too sure. She was certain that the rest of her family was on alert, too. Downwind from her, as the rain began to fall, Hydra saw the inky coat of what she assumed was one of her family members. The torrential downpour disabled her from seeing the emaciated frame that would have cleared that up from the start. Hydra let out a low whuff, assuming it might be her mother; had it been her sisters, no doubt they would simply just know, as they always seemed to, she was coming for them.
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#3
Saghani skulked onward, unaware that she had been seen by another until she heard the low note of their voice. Saghani then heard their footfalls, and knew she had only a few seconds on her side before she was caught. If the number was only one, Saghani could do as she had done before—kill them, before continuing her business. Saghani was desperate enough to even harvest wolf meat, which was against all moral codes she had ever been taught. But those morals were gone; Saghani was more monster, now, than wolf. As a mother, she had to do many unspeakable things to keep her cubs alive. None of which they knew, except for her thieving—if ever she could not care for them, she wanted them to be able to care for themselves should they be alone and unable to join others. 

Seconds passed. The other was close, too close, and soon she would be discovered for what she was: a trespasser. And so Saghani whipped around, her yellow eyes flashing as she lunged for any part of the other that she could grab. It did not matter what came first, for the end was inevitable. It was easy to discount her own weakness, to forget it, with the adrenaline running wild within her.
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Hydra only had a millisecond to recognize her wrongdoing here. She had approached too quick. Though they were not deep (at all) into the territory, she had also imagined it impossible to be caught off-guard within. The yellow eyes were a shade she had never seen before on this mountain, and Hydra had no time at all to alert any as she typically would of the trespasser here as she saw them lunge for her. Caught off guard, there was little Hydra could do but attempt to leap to the side—though she felt, for the first time, fangs dig into the flesh near her ribs. Though the other maintained no grip, she experienced pain. Her eyes were wide with fear, and she forgot all she had learned as she glanced upward at the figure that was coming for her, again.
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Blood on her tongue was all that it took to drive her forward. She could see shock, surprise, youth; this girl was only somewhat younger than her own brood. But she was not hers, and so she did not matter. Meat was meat, flesh was flesh. Saghani lept forward again at the girl, jaws seeking to dig into something and hold it this time. A foreleg was closest to her, and this she could unbalance the other with. She assumed the other lacked the experience, the knowledge, to avoid her... what, with how shell-shocked she was in the face of her adversary. Victory, she felt, was nigh, and her tail lifted in (premature) triumph.
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Her mind rifled through all the things she had been taught, but the discomfort of the wound distracted her. But when the other came for her again, Hydra erupted into movement. Lost all train of thought. It served her no good to think, and so she, as her own adrenaline took hold, was able to ignore the pain. The rain made the earth slick, but she maintained her grip as the other dove forward. Hydra reared to grab the others scruff, firstly stepping to the side to get out of her trajectory, her goal to use Saghani's diving momentum against her and thrust her into the earth.
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The others movement was quick. Quicker than anticipated, thanks to her assumptions. The other was no longer in front of her, but beside her, then upon her; Saghani could no more stop her than she could stop herself, and she turned her face to feel it drag against the earth causing superficial abrasians as the rocks bit right along with Hydra. She felt the skin at her nape tear away as the other held, but there was release too as she slid. Disoriented, Saghani attempted to rise as quickly as she could.
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Hydra pushed with the others momentum, and when she felt her teeth connect she gripped perhaps longer than she should as the other tore away from her. Hydra held flesh between her jowls, but the effort of holding onto the other whilst they moved away felt as a bruise would and she grimaced, shaking her head in distaste and snorting, the flesh of the other released. As the other attempted to rise, Hydra rushed wildly toward them, attempting to grip the others rear leg so as to unbalance them and disable them from rising. If she was able to grab it, Hydra would apply all the pressure that she could, snarling fiercely all the while.
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Saghani watched the other come toward her again, quicker than she could rise in her disorient. She lashed out with the leg Hydra sought to grab, hoping to kick the others face and deter her from gripping—but she felt her leg slide into the others jowls, and panicked as she sought to rip it free from the clamping grip. 

She could not. The pressure increased, and Saghani snarled loudly as she attempted to bite at the others face, anything, but they were out of reach where they stood and it was then she heard the terrible snap of a messy break. Shock was written upon her features, but she made an attempt to tear the flesh free from its trap so that she could attack, attack, attack if she could; if she was to die, she would bring the other with her.
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Hydra had broken the leg, and she believed the other disabled. But as the other tore, Hydra assumed they wanted to rise. She pulled back, hoping to keep her down, snarling as she tugged and tugged, inevitably assisting the other in her intent of breaking the skin free. There was an ample amount of blood, but Hydra hadn't even the time to drop the limb before she saw the other lunging for her.
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There was space between them, what with the other stumbling backward as she tore her flesh apart. Blood spilled freely from her severed leg, and Saghani knew she had no time to lose. There was no doubt she would die of blood loss; she certainly would not be downed by the fangs of a child (though she failed to realize that she already had, as it was a child who had broken her leg, and severed flesh from body). And so she threw herself forward, seeking to cover the space between them, fangs snapping each inch of the way as she lunged toward the girl who clung to her limb.
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#12
The downpour didn't deter her. For the first time, it really, truly, was a rainfall speaking of springtime and she was caught in its allure, hungrily breathing deep the scent of the rain as she kept in motion over the trails despite the rain. She wouldn't melt, after all, but her distracted bliss for the warming weather came to its end when she smelled blood. Senses prickled up to a new poise and she was off towards the source with the very next breath.

The obscured smells didn't guide her on the truest path but she was brutally quick to cut the distance away as an expert at navigating these spaces. In the end, she couldn't say if it might have cost her anything for the scene she came upon looked plenty escalated already—worryingly so. A slim unknown female with dark fur, one of her daughters, and a broken leg just to start.. Her heart raced in her ears and after barely taking the time to discern anything else from this, she lunged silently for the stranger's side teeth-first, willing every fiber of her being to let her to get to her before she reached Hydra's flesh.
I ADMIT I READ THIS ALL VERY QUICKLY SO IF ANYTHING IS WONKY... blame that
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#13
Alya, who had been trailing several hundred yards behind her mother for the duration of her jaunt, discerned that something was amiss shortly after Amakaze did. She caught up quickly and stood frozen on the scene, remembered how helpless she'd been as her Dashie had died. But she was not a baby anymore, and Hydra was far more precious to her than anything else on earth - save Lyra, of course.

And, most of all, they could do this together. Mamakaze could help.

Alya ran around to the stranger's other side and grabbed the first thing she saw - a leg - and began tugging and pulling with all her might, snapping her jaws down as often as she dared.
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Saghani was gripped by the shoulder, pulled backward and pushed to the side before she could reach the dark bitch she had sought to kill. Her fangs snapped at open air, and though she yearned to attack the wolf who gripped her she saw the wolf she thought to be Hydra (Alya) coming near to her. And so instead of going for Amekaze, Saghani—who knew she was a dead woman now that the mother had arrived—curled around, recklessly tearing the skin off of her shoulder and bleeding freely as she snapped at Alya, her fangs aiming for her face, the nearest thing to her. She did not know if she landed a blow—the very next second, another shadow was upon her (Hydra), and she felt her throat catch fire and—
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Her family had successfully intervened in time. Hydra stood there for a moment, shellshocked, releasing the limb when she realized the yellow-eyed, yellow-bellied woman lunge at her sister. Hydra closed the distance, moving to the side opposite of her mother, and instinctively reached for the first vulnerable, unprotected thing she could—the throat. And Hydra saw only red as the other leaned toward her sister. She did not know if they landed a blow, she only knew that she would stop all this. And so Hydra tugged as fiercely as she could, taking out the others larynx. It was messy, inexpert, but it was efficient. The other toppled down uselessly two long seconds later, and Hydra, unsatisfied and angry, moved to savage the body of the beast that had dared attempt to lay a fang upon her sister.
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She dug deep and with everything she possessed in this mortal realm, she sought to bring forth enough speed and force to offset any ill fate befalling her daughter. All she had to do was redirect it, turn the outrage elsewhere, and open an opportunity for a strike; she could take the blows better than her juveniles should, but there was little doubt for their ferocity already—a severed leg was proof of this already. When her teeth found purchase, the rest of her momentum followed and only scarcely did she realize that now there were two of them here with her in the next breath. It might have tipped the odds further in their favor, but now, she had two very, very precious matters here and an aggressive rogue. This teetered the dark alpha to a delicate balance, one she couldn't even ignore in all of her rage: that absolutely demanded she protect their lives and see that this stranger's ended.

While the grip she got was a start, it was not meant to last; the rogue wretched free, leaving a piece of herself behind clamped in the vicegrip of her teeth so that she could turn upon the second daughter. Blood led the way, she spat aside the flesh and fur, and Amekaze's new lunge came roiling with fresh fury almost instantaneously— however was hardly any need. One of her scions got there first, and dug out her throat in prompt retaliation for turning upon one of her other halves.

Amekaze still closed in anyway, abruptly, and with her bloodied teeth barred as she glared into the crumpling attacker to make sure that she was done and dying. It was not a clean kill, yet few greenhorns would manage it with such certainty, and for a very first kill at that. And although it went unsaid, the motivations were clear. Family, and one that even went deeper than that which Amekaze could only perceive from the outside; one between them, cut from the very same, and so fascinatingly intertwined that a threat to one drove the other so far, so sharply, and so unwavering.

Her own tail was flagged at the thought (the occasion, somberly sang her histories), although she did not move to stop her from the finishing onslaught; the wrath was justified (she felt it too) and towards its expression, she was observant as her own heart rate and body began to ease back slowly. Amekaze felt nothing beyond foul contempt towards the invading female. Sight of her, taste of her, was bitter. Now, she was nothing and they were left to do as they pleased. Perhaps she was not even worth rotting here. "Are you hurt?" she asked once the dust began to settle, to either of them, or both, worrying over the answer with a lump in her throat already that drove her even nearer to her girls. She reached to lick comfortingly at Alya's cheek, should she have it, and kept an eye on Hydra in the meantime.
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Alya snapped her head back when the stranger turned toward her, and in the moment, she was sure she'd escaped the encounter unscathed. A moment later, the wolf was dead, and Alya had already turned to Hydra with excited praises when Amekaze came and licked her cheek. The girl paused her worship of the Conquering Princess ("You're so strong and brave! Thank you for saving me!") to offer her mother a kind (and entirely exasperated) lick in return.

"I'm fine, mama," she assured, tail wagging behind her. "Hy just has a little nick on her shoulder, and I think she might've gotten my... my...."

Alya wiggled her right ear, ignoring the sting that accompanied the movement. There was something strange and... loose about it. "Hy..." she mumbled, feeling dizzy, all of the sudden. "Hy, does it... do I look okay?"

And it was only a little notch halfway up her ear, along the outer edge - but a sick feeling was growing in the pit of her stomach. She turned to her mother.

"Mama, will you fix it?" she asked in a strained falsetto, failing to achieve the calm facade she'd been hoping for. Because she could not be Hydra. Not when she was so clearly marked as... as...

Who was she? Could she even still be Alya, or would Hydra and Lyra have to take up that part between them for good?
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It was her sisters voice which brought her to; the bloodied Hydra withdrew from the others ravaged form, her eyes turning to her mother when she spoke. She had not noticed anything amiss as she processed all that had transpired, and when her mother asked about her injuries, Hydra looked to her shoulder that now stung. The wound was superficial, but it hurt all the same. Still, Hydra, laden with adrenaline, said: Just a scratch, before looking to her mother and grinning. The gravity of killing a wolf had not yet hit her, and her eyes turned to Alya as she spoke of being fine too. Hydra's eyes assessed, but really, there wasn't a mark upon her that Hydra could see. Her sister was to her left, and she could not see the ear. When Alya paused, Hydra stood to attention. A millisecond of silence, a break in speech, was all she needed to hear to know something was wrong. 

Hydra adjusted where she stood. It was now Hydra finished her sisters sentence upon seeing it, your ear. Hydra felt the phantom pain, and her perpetual grimace seemed to deepen. She looked to her mother when Alya asked if it could be fixed, and Hydra wondered the same thing. Even of her own injuries. She'd never been injured before in her life; was this mark to last upon her forever, too?
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The stranger quickly fell away from all focus while everything that was left of her went cooling, bloodied, discarded in the dirt. Both of her concerns were seemingly well enough to take it in stride, assuring her with their just a scratch and I'm fine. Which at first glance, indeed, so it did appear. She smelled far too much blood, and spied little nicks and ruffled furs here and there--perhaps enough to suggest a bruise later on, who knew? But for fresh out of a hostile encounter, they were alright. She couldn't tell if she was proud, unnerved, or a little of both and then some but she looked them over the same. "Good.." she breathed, nodding softly.

Although realization seemed to creep on them both as it did for her, too. This rose a wary ripple of her hackles, and Ame's ears splayed back promptly. In the very first instant, she did not realize the gravity of the little, tiny nick on one's ear; scars didn't bother her, not on herself nor on others. It was seeing them both meet a similar cognizance in putting it together themselves that clicked it into place for her because of course, they were painfully identical and this was not.

Still, she measured a breath and exuded a powerful calm, in part for herself. She nosed her snout gently behind Alya's ear, the offending one, and admired the mark up close should the juvenile allow it. "It may take time," she murmured and attempted to swipe her tongue over the mark to clear any blood or otherwise. Her claim was surely not as certain as they wished, but a somberly realistic one. Ears were notorious, and painfully easy to collect the notches on. Even for her offspring, this could be the same. They'd seen notable the scars on their father's hide, and even her own more subtle ones. It was no different for Alya, Hydra, or Lyra. "Flesh may mend with no mark if it is kept clean and tended. Pyx will have something to help soothe any cuts or aches, but whether or not it will be the same as before, there is never a guarantee." Doubled in meaning, she passed a glance to the dead loner fleetingly as she began to move away from her young. Life's only certainty in death itself.

Swallowing, and worried to address the matter of what set the girls apart right now further, she looked upon Hydra. "Want to leave her here to rot, or take it elsewhere?" she asked, well, of the one who'd landed the loner in the position she was in now. As Hydra's kill, it more or less fell into her first preference. While not interested in putting a lot of effort into it, Ame didn't care to lure too many scavengers to here, and neither were times lean enough to warrant dividing her up for her meat (not that there was much to her) so she was hovering near indifferent about it--and just wanting to see it put behind them all, more than anything.
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Alya's heart was still thumping unevenly, but she found some comfort in her mother's words. It would be fine. Maybe... maybe not just like before, but who could even tell? Who could even tell? The words echoed around in her mind, made her legs all wobbly and weak - but she would see Pyx and Lyra and they would fix it, and it would be as good as new.

"You should take a trophy," she said to Hydra, trying to change the subject - anything to take her mind off of this. "And we can keep this for tug-of-war." She padded over to the severed leg to sniff it over, not seeing anything wrong with her suggestions. They played with other prey animals, and she didn't see how the carcass of a wolf would be any different.
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There was a chance it could heal, and Hydra held to that. But she was not known for her patience when it came to her most loved sisters. Still, Amekaze shifted her mind wisely to another topic, and Hydra looked to the dead beast when the inquiry came. Her sisters suggestion was not missed, and she peered thoughtfully at the unnamed she-wolf. She would keep the leg; that was trophy enough, to her... and equally she liked the idea of playing tug-o-war with her sisters. Looking at her mother, she asked, What is usually done? She did not mind being given a direction here. What is best?
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She noted, and supported, Alya's suggestions with a slow nod. A trophy, then, and something for them to terrorize if they needed to. It was nothing more than flesh and bone now, so her indifference towards that, at least, remained quite undisturbed. "Left to scavengers, in some manner, since not worth any more effort than that," she supplied. No point in any grave, and times were not tough enough to warrant eating her--unless the girls had a hankering for trying wolf flesh, but the mother would pass. "Either right where she fell, elsewhere to rot, tossed out the territory entirely, or even cached away in case there ever is a need to warrant it. At best she is food for something now," she said, then glanced skyward to wonder how long until the birds came circling. "Depends what you care to do. Leaving her be is easiest," she reasoned at least, letting the girls move forward, should they want to. She'd see to it beyond there, if necessary.
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Virtually unharmed, but feeling strangely vulnerable, Alya gave Hydra a soft bump to the shoulder before picking up the aforementioned limb and heading to the Cerberus's super secret hang-out cave. She'd catch up with the others later - for now, she felt a mysterious need to be alone.
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