Sun Mote Copse yesterday I hiked over a river that was not there

@Liri | sorry this took so long :P

     The world was a dastard display of warmth and fertility, blanketed in a swathy mist of vibrant yellow pollen (no doubt fragments of the sun itself) and rolling straths. Deep, honey-golden hues of shimmering scarlet leaves and rosy transients filtered in and out of perception. The breeze thrummed across his chest, buffetting at his flaxen coat with humble tenacity. Sea-green orbs scanned the horizon, serene amidst the swirling masterpiece. If ever there were a more accurate depiction of spring, it would be here and now. Its very conception was taking place before his eyes.

     He was admittedly vulnerable as he stood there, tail tucked around his paws. His mass was large, but not astoundingly conspicous, in the afternoon luster. The valley swayed and dipped beneath him, tumbling strands of nectar-coated beeds arching at the wind's whispering command. He wanted to lay across the earth and submit himself to the cause, but instinct told him better. Already, the sweet scent of the cedars was losing potency to that of a new, encroaching rift. His ears cocked unwittingly in anticipation as he stood, drawing himself to his full height, to address the stranger.

[table width=85%][tr][td]The nausea had not disappeared as Liri had hoped. 

Often she found herself sick at the most random of moments. She had been standing in a stream, still as stone, watching several tiny silver fish flicker by as the sun caught their scales. It was when a particularly tasty looking fish swam by that the ivory-pelted woman struck. When the brief burst of triumph had faded and the taste registered in her mouth, Liri had promptly spat it out and vomited right there in the water. 

Sickness was not the only thing she suffered from; for the past several days she had been craving blackberries. It wasn't the season for them but the snow-crafted fae hungered for the wild berries all the same. 

The wind was blowing away from her as she is drawn into the small protected cove with the hope of some early berries. The beauty of it makes her pause. 

The copse is afire with the golden sunlight, turning everything a burning hue of yellow and orange and red. So enraptured is she, Liri almost doesn't see the stranger. It's not until he moves that her dark optics lock on him.

He must be a good head taller and quite a bit larger, unsurprisingly, given her tiny size. The golden stranger, reminding her vaguely of Ikari, does not appear friendly in the slightest. 

After a moment of alert observation, Liri's ears flatten defensively though her stance remains tall and her tail the same high height it had been when she padded into the clearing. Earthy eyes stay on his, a clear signal that she will not cower before him.[/table][/tr][/td]

His gaze was cool, if not imperious, as he faced her. She looked neither perturbed nor frightened, which both accounted her for an odd creature at that. He could already tell that she would be difficult - not so much in the battle as much as in mentality - but he kept his outward bitterness at a minimum. The last thing wolves of this potency needed to betray was their recognition of the other's cards. If they chose to act like an ace, he would certainly show them his own.

     His hackles rose slowly, golden pelt bristling at the nape and tail. Lips curled back in a definitive, clean snarl that brandished (if not emboldened) the pearly whites of his fangs. He would have cued some sort of devilish flaunt, such as was his custom for skirmishes as these, but he was too engrossed in the charge to relay his default humor. He lunged straight for the neck, hoping to balance his fangs nice and deep somewhere above the shoulder, but he could feel his stance slipping the moment his feet lifted. Dust trailed from his claws, loping forward, head tugging the body along. Somehow, he just wasn't accurate enough. He felt his teeth only glance off the skin, snout skimming the female's fur as he barrelled flank-to-flank into her. It was hardly an appropriate advance, so he retreated with the momentum, doubling backwards with a more proportioned agility. He would need to slow down his motives, he realized.

[table width=85%][tr][td]She could see no reason for attack. 

In the short moment it had taken Liri to enter the clearing and for him to stand, little over a heartbeat, no words had been spoken. No move had been taken except to lower her small ears and the move had not been out of aggression. 

Within another heartbeat the strange, silent man was lunging for the tiny healer, not unlike a snake striking out. 

The golden man made one error as he attacked: he did not account for Liri's much shorter height and as such, was off balance and merely glanced off her pale coat like a harmless bug. 

He would not get away so easily. She had not asked for a fight but if he wanted one, by hell, he'd get one. 

Liri turned on nimble feet, lips peeling back in a snarl that matched the man's own. With every ounce of muscle her short, stocky frame had, Liri launched herself at him. 

Thick, powerful jaws aimed for his face. They sought to tear into his eyes, his ears, whatever vulnerable and sensitive places she could reach. 

When the ivory fae had come back down from her rear, not unlike a wild stallion, she thumped down with a lazy flick of her tail reminscent of a tiger waiting for the right moment to attack. 

She danced away on small paws, her face stormy and her snarls betraying the force of her rage, like that of a tiny hurricane.[/table][/tr][/td]

     Embry recoiled, ever so slightly, to absord the female's impact. A grunt escaped his maw at the fae's sudden ferocity, teeth gritting at the accuracy of her canines. Ever so quick. He sussed. Quite the madcap, indeed. His tail lashed heatedly as he madly thrashed out of range, jaws snapping haphazardly as he sought higher ground. She was admittedly quicker than he had anticipated, which somewhat offset his erstwhile hopes. Sure, she had agility, but she was far from onerous and lacked a certain discipline. 

     Breath flaring from his nostrils, he emit a low, throaty growl. Sea-green orbs flickered viciously beneath molten depths. Beneath the quivering bristles of golden fur, his muscles were tensed - primed for action. Within seconds, he was engaged once more with the woman; locked in a wild wind of pure rage. His large paws bounded from the earth in one fluid motion, so that as he lifted he was much closer than last time's preemptive attempt. Fangs bared in anticipation of contact, muscular length closing the small gap in hardly a stride. His flank collided with hers with a dull thud, teeth ripping at her shoulder. When he felt he had done enough, he bounded back out of tailshot. 

[table width=85%][tr][td]The man fought with a fierce tactical advantage that spoke of experience. He had an advantage with size and skill but it was clear he had never fought someone like Liri.

He was expecting a soldier - someone with discipline. Liri lacked it; what the black-tipped nymph had was spirit not strength. She was fierce in a different way from this strange, golden man. Liri was a wild animal, literally, and she fought like one.

​A pained snarl accompanied the various noises of fighting - growling, snapping, the sound of bodies thudding together - as his teeth tore into her shoulder with vengeance. 

With her blood boiling within her veins, Liri turned her head to the side and bit deeply into what she could reach of his throat. Her short jaws worked to jerk free as much skin as they could, tearing with a savage anger.[/table][/tr][/td]

   Embry grit his teeth, grinding his jaw as the pain flashed across vision and mind. There were new colors dancing across his painted view, colors hazed and blurred. He didn't care. This was savagery that he faced, and he intended to meet it full force.

     He grunted as the female twisted her snapping fangs to rip at his neck. Heck, she just about managed to mangle his jugglar when he finally shrugged her off. His shoulder, formerly tangled, let loose and slammed upwards to meet her lethals.

     Aggravated, he followed the motion with a smooth twist. His hips surged upwards in place with his upper body, so that he snaked through what little air time he was given before wrenching his claws across her flanks.

[table width=85%][tr][td]He was getting aggravated and it showed in the sudden surge of anger that fueled his movements. His orderly attacks were left behind for a feral nature not unlike her own strategy. 

If it was anger that fueled his, it was panic that fueled Liri. The moment he touched her flanks, she twisted and writhed and struggled with everything she had.

It would not happen again.

Pupils blown with fear, she saw him not as a golden stranger but as the red-cream man who raped her. A violence, almost possessed in nature, took over her. 

Liri thrashed and bit and clawed and tore without recalling what she was tearing into or whom she was hurting. There was one thing alone in her mind: blood.[/table][/tr][/td]

Embry felt the shift in atmosphere almost immediately. The change was tangible, even in the midst of his frenzy. A chill rolled down his spine as he met her gaze, briefly, to find the quiet ire burning within. This woman was different - she was scarred.

     He backed off, hesitant now that she had turned so ominous. Wild rage was a completely different animal. His wounds were aching from her previous barrage, and already the stench of sweat and blood was drifting throughout the clearing. 

     He kept his stance low and even, preparing for the coming flurry. His sea-green gaze hardened as he stood there, cold and staid; prompting the female to attack. He was ready for whatever should come his way. Civilized or not, he was a soldier - not a stray.

[table width=85%][tr][td]Stray though she may be, Liri was no coward. The Tiny Voice did not monopolize her movements though she remained still and hunched with fear. 

The fae's face contorted with twitches, her lips alternating between pulling back in a snarl to bare her teeth and closing to lick her lips nervously. 

When she struck again, and missed, the woman fell back with a cautious curve of her stomach. Though unsure of their existence, Liri had more things to protect than herself.[/table][/tr][/td]

Embry watched the female recoil and knew in his heart that there was more to the reaction than sheer instinct. 

She carries.

His eyes widened at the realization; the dense fog of action settling into lucidity within his sea-green gaze. Everything about her body language indicated a mother's vigilance. 

There were few instances in which Embry would ever submit. He could face peril nose-to-nose and hardly waver but to prepare himself for the fight. Indeed, only a paucity of the right combinations could draw the brute out of his adrenaline-induced state of war. However, Embry knew that no pleasure could be derived from the wresting of victory from an impregnated creature. Thus, his vigor fled in a single draft of the cool, wintry air; great, tawny chest heaving in the sudden stillness of night. His eyes swept the girl with no emotion, and ghosts spiralled eerily from his lips. He dipped his head curtly, and within moments his aureate pelage was drifting among the trees. He wished the pups well.