Sleepy Fox Hollow BWP: LEAVE NO TRACE

Things were beginning to escalate fast and despite the strong desire to hold her ground and continue to stake a claim on the creature that wept blood from her arms, they truly were outnumbered. No amount of fighting could ensure their win, and it was likely that even if, somehow, they did manage to succeed, the resulting wounds would not be worth the foreign meal. No, the Nightstalker was not stupid. She knew how to recognise when odds were not in their favour. Nikan appeared to be determind for a bite of the two-legged stranger, but Kelina was not so certain anymore. It was pointless to fight for something that truly mattered so very little - after all, there was no shortage of prey. The only thing that had drawn her in the first place was the mix of new scents that entranced her senses and caused a great wave of curiosity - of course, she would very much have liked to take the thing as a meal, but this commotion was useless to them.

"Halt, Skullchaser." She commanded in a voice of the night spirits, that melodic tune that haunted the tortured souls in their twisted dreams. She was the bringer of death, at least in the views of her followers and her own arrogant mind. If Nikan went against her word, he would know that there would be consequences - nobody disobayed the Nightstalker. Then, when it had quieted for just a heartbeat, the leader of the shadow wolves did announce her decision. "Despite what you may believe, we are not fools. Perhaps he," She grinned toward Nikan, "May be, but I am not. I know our numbers are fewer than your own, and as delicious as spilled blood may taste upon my eyes, I will not lead my wolves into a pointless scramble over different prey. If you believed that was what I would decide, then you are the foolish ones." 

"This entire display from you was rather petty, but it matters little. Enjoy your meal, oh brave warriors." The woman of ink chuckled deeply, eyes glinting with amusement as the taunts fell from her lips. Then, she prepared to take her leave - if none opposed her actions, she would slip away into the shadows where she so belonged, assuming her wolves would follow behind.

It wasn't unexpected that someone would retaliate after he threw the small ballsy woman back at their paws but the ferocity and skill of this male was definitely the unexpected part. He growled and was about to begin fighting back when the Nightstalker's command snapped through the air and he froze. He had yet to see Kelina be nasty and he didn't want to see it here in front of other packs. So when she commanded it he obeyed, dropping to the ground beneath the male and tucking his tail and pressing himself to the dirt to allow the male to win. Embarrassing yes, but smarter than disobeying his alpha and ruining all the credit he had from her so far. 


If he was let go he would stand up and follow after Kelina. Nightstar and Serem already moved closer to Kelina to head back, it would seem he was the only one left behind.

From her vantage on the edge, she observed tensely, and knew that if her packmates warranted it, she would descend to aid them.. but it did not look to be going that way yet. She trusted Queenie to hold her own as well, which kept her game, and poised to watch in the meantime.

Her sights darted eagerly from the wolves gathered to the strange fleshy bleeding creature until it seemed the leader of the mystery pack called them off. With an icy squint, Jomyo zeroed in on her--the one who gave the order, and the scout wondered what this would mean going forward for the packs further north in the range, too. And, now, what it also meant for that oddity among them. To find out that much, she did intend to stick around a while longer..

Watching the other wolves begin to take their leave, she faded back further and saw them go with interest. When the winds worked in her favor, she tried to note their scents even better.. and would keep an eye and ear out for their sorts in her travels just in case. 

While Seabreeze wasn't one of Queenie's wolves, she was one of the Sunspire's. It wasn't her place to decide what happened to Nikan next (she would have recommended letting him go with an injury as a parting gift); whatever her allies decided, she would follow suit. The Tindómë wolves were only there as reinforcements as far as Queenie was concerned, so as long as they stayed out of direct danger, she planned to make sure they each stood their ground.

That being said, Queenie continued on with her dominant display, eyes never leaving those of the Mountain bloke.

As I mentioned in Discord, a final post to wrap it up!  I won't archive it right away in case anyone wants to go and say specifically what their char does in the next few days.  So, let's say by the 9th!

So, it was a victory, wasn't it?  The Shadow wolves were retreating.  Treason snorted disdainfully as she saw them turn on heel, And they even monologued.  Seriously?  She briefly glanced to see if anyone agreed with her sentiment, but didn't much care if anyone did.  The Shadow Mountain wolves' words were useless but they'd still decided to throw them.  Pathetic.  She hoped to not see them again, and in many of their cases she likely wouldn't, for perhaps this encounter was the death knell to the pack they had been trying to form.  She was still very uncomfortable being here around the blazes and the strange scents, and eventually dismissed herself from the group without fanfare or any attempt to hunt the human.  Treason did pick up a warped piece of metal to bring along home to study, some sort of access panel that was maybe 4" x 4" with some vents cut into its surface, the hinges on one end ripped and torn.  She'd hide it in some crevice to study later or forget.



For those who remained, the victory might be sweet at least until they looked around for their prize.  The human was gone, having fled while the wolves were busy posturing, likely up a tree that would be far too hard for things without thumbs to climb.  Eventually everyone would have to head home, the fires burned out, and an eerie calm settled down onto the area for a time.

As the fog cleared, another helicopter arrived on the scene to survey the damage, dropping a pair of rescuers to search for survivors, but they found only the one.  Over the coming days more humans arrived to recover the remaining bodies and survey the damage, taking relevant parts elsewhere for study.  It was probably a frightening sight for the wolves -- a hive of activity to the song of generators, more flights in and out, and the faint buzz of the work lights in the later hours of the day, where even freakier looking people in Tyvek suits scooped up contaminated soil and sifted the earth for the odd bolt, bone, or wire that might hold the answer.  Everything was measured, photographed and probably GPS tagged before it was taken away.  Almost all the wreck was eventually retrieved (didn't want to clutter up the nice reserve!), aside from the few odd bits that went missing due to the curious wildlife.  They had data to study and reports to write.  Surely the crash made the news through most of the continent -- maybe the survivor would write a book about how she was discovered by wolves, but it wasn't like any of the creatures would ever know.

Eventually here in the Teekon Wilds the excitement died and all that was left was a charred impact zone and the few final scraps that had gone unseen, the foreign scents eventually disappearing into the winds.  It would take time for the scar to vanish, but given some years it would likely blend back in, overrun by the power of nature like all abandoned things.