Bearclaw Valley king pest
899 Posts
Ooc — mercury
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#1
All Welcome 
Avicus has been naughty today.

she stands outside @Ikkalrok's whelping den, having followed the one-eyed man's scent there, as well as the trails of others. it is a frequently-trod route, and she wonders. . .why?

well, now she knows. her ears cup forward at the muffled sound of mewling infants. she remembers, if vaguely, the smell from her own early days. she wonders if they look like her, like @Aventus. she wonders why they are not with Astara, the Supreme Mother.

the girl is far, too far, from her own den, and surely both Ikkalrok and @Astara would be furious to know she is so close. but curiosity, as usual, supersedes any potential punishment. after all, she couldn't stay in one place forever—not when others were allowed to roam.

she wants to roam, too.

tags for ref but feel free to join :)
but see, amid the mimic rout,
a crawling shape intrude —
a blood-red thing that writhes from out
the scenic solitude
Ghost
"God is every bit as feral as that which he creates."
816 Posts
Ooc — Talamasca
Master Warrior
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#2
Ikkalrok hadn't come out of the den in a while according to Revui's estimation. He was growing increasingly frustrated with her lack of attention. The mewling children she harboured within the dark were meaningless to him; she was meant to come out and spar, to patrol, to do her duty, and most of all he craved her for the sex. His eye had not yet begun to wander and he did not yearn for the carnal pleasures of anyone else within the pack — in his mind his sole partner in this physicality was Ikkalrok, and she was dropping the ball.

He'd taken to increased patrols around the territory, or venturing to their neighbours for some entertainment (read: harassment), however today he was closer to home, pacing a circuit at some distance around the den. Perhaps Ikkalrok was sleeping. Bad enough that she sequester herself away from her duties (and away from him and his desires), worse that she spend so much time asleep. He had begun to doubt her strength, unaware of how strenuous childbirth and childcare could be.

As he swept in to yet another circuit by the mouth of the den, he saw a small reddish creature moving close to the entrance. How he'd missed the approaching child initially was a mystery; then again, Revui was becoming a low-grade incel at this point so maybe his molasses-thoughts were filled with lewd images on repeat. He saw the child and thought it was a coyote or something, and lunged towards it. He got about a foot away from where it rested and recognized the scentmark of Astara woven thick upon them, and stopped short.

Revui huffed a breath across the child's back and watched the fur wave, close enough to hurt them, but merely stared.

The woods have always been filled with these soft doe-eyed things;
with hearts beating for the arrow, the bullet, the lance.

I have always been the huntsman.  ⤑

38 Posts
Ooc — Laur
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#3
Feel free to skip me as needed!

Only two days ago, his eyelids had finally become unstuck, peeling back to reveal a dark pair of baby blues. This newfound sense of sight, of course, could barely be called as such, as the pup could only barely make out the dark shapes that occupied the dimly lit den.

While he was mostly concerned with the dark mass that was Ikkalrok - the source of food, he had come to find - he would briefly swing his head towards the light filtering in from the outside curiously. As if entranced, the boy had wandered towards it on more than one occasion, only to be roughly dragged back by his mother.

This time, however, she was facing away from him, and Astyanax was free to make his way up the narrow tunnel towards the light. On unsteady limbs, he awkwardly clambered upwards, squeaking in effort as he did so, entirely unaware of both the strangers and his father outside.
i'm going to bring it all back to you
848 Posts
Ooc — Lauren
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#4
one of her little birds had flown the coop, wandering --

it was not uncommon these days for the black one or the red one to speed off, only to have a shadow pulling up the rear-guard.

she was unorthodox as a mother perhaps, but she had no idea what she was doing, and everything, much like her life, was simply winged -- including how to raise ursus' princeling children.

all was fine until she saw a leviathan's shadow swoop down upon her little red dove; all was fine, until she smelled the scent of other children, and drew the most erroneous conclusion.

was this merrick's other family? had he sown his seed in some other wretch? was this the answer for why he often skulked, not quite within her proximity, and not always in her periphery?

and secondly -- who was this insensate beast, who dared threaten a child of ursus' royal blood?

astara made very few noises in her life, but today was not that day.

today, she surged towards revui like a black swan unfurling; her teeth bared, a deep boom like thunder caught between her clattering jaws.

her tail arced behind her and her hackles flared as the mother threw herself against the mountain;

she would deal with merrick's bastards later.

»» they may promise you that the river ain't too deep. ««
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899 Posts
Ooc — mercury
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#5
she is not expecting the giant of stone to come barreling forward, only to stop what seems like a hairsbreadth away from her face. having folded herself low against the ground, she feels his breath against her pelt and shivers slightly, then takes a step back. her lips are lifted in her customary snarl, grown more toothy with age.

he may not be a threat, but she doesn't trust him. maybe with time—

but Avicus has no opportunity to ponder it further, for now Astara has arrived, a malevolent shadow hellbent on protecting the fruit of her womb. the two collide, and she watches it with an expression bordering on bemused.

oh, what chaos she has wrought today!

the small figure at the entrance to the den catches her attention. it looks much like how Aventus had in their early days, and she is intrigued. intrigued enough to leave the scene of battle, though? she is caught between two curiosities, gaze flickering back and forth.

bloodshed or babe. . .bloodshed or babe. . .hmmmm.
but see, amid the mimic rout,
a crawling shape intrude —
a blood-red thing that writhes from out
the scenic solitude
Ghost
"God is every bit as feral as that which he creates."
816 Posts
Ooc — Talamasca
Master Warrior
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#6
Astara: [Image: gooseattack.gif]


He was not there long, looming, agitated and unsure of his next move. It would be so easy to take this little thing and crush it, but he cannot tell if it is meant to be there, or meant to be inside the den with the others. Revui has not had any exposure to the bearberries and he does not know the difference between newborns and not; he moves in to grasp at the child as they cower but before he can make up his mind (to throw them inside the hole or toss them aside --?) something slams in to him.

Astara's body collides with his rib cage. Her chest knocks his shoulder. A bellow booms from behind her bared teeth and then they slice the air, and he feels them sink like hooks in to his flesh. The pain is hot fresh and instantaneous - and so too is his rage. Revui rises up with the woman hanging from him, he takes a half-step as he twists and tries to grab at her in retaliation. In his mind this attack comes out of nowhere; she is a seething shadow and regardless of the rank she holds (or Merrick's favour) Revui tries to rip her off of him, or shred what he can reach.

The woods have always been filled with these soft doe-eyed things;
with hearts beating for the arrow, the bullet, the lance.

I have always been the huntsman.  ⤑

i'm going to bring it all back to you
848 Posts
Ooc — Lauren
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#7
astara -- mother goose incentivized -- flew at revui, none too kind. she got what she could, in claw or tooth or otherwise, feeling her heart thud against her ribcage and a mother's adrenaline drunkenly governing her.

before she could make a clean escape the beast rose and hauled her with him: she glanced to the side and saw her child -- indra -- bemused and torn; let her not come close! she tried to snarl discouragingly, just in time for revui's sharksome teeth to find her nape --

her eyes were wide as she fought then, tooth and claw, against the pitbull that doggedly held her. with whatever she could -- claw or bunnykick or howling, astara would do her best to free herself from the tigertrap of revui's jaws, and hunch over her daughter.

»» they may promise you that the river ain't too deep. ««
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899 Posts
Ooc — mercury
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#8
maelstrom. adrenaline and rage is a heady combination of scents in the air; she feels herself stirred by it, watching the battle with bated breath. it is like her wrestling bouts with Aventus, but fiercer, more real. it is this realization that stops her from leaping into the fray for her own pound of flesh—this is not her fight.

should she enter, she will be crushed by the mountainous man;

then Astara is looming over her, a cloud across the sun, blocking him from view. Avicus lets loose an inquisitive whine, and tries to peer from between her mother's legs, sneaking another glance at the puppy in the shadow of the den. she has no notion of the precarious position she has put herself in, of the social ramifications of her wandering.

but there's a beetle, a pace or two away.

it moves.

she pounces upon it, feeling a liquid crunch beneath her paws. she lifts them,

it moves no more.

dead, she remarks. oblivious.
but see, amid the mimic rout,
a crawling shape intrude —
a blood-red thing that writhes from out
the scenic solitude
Ghost
"God is every bit as feral as that which he creates."
816 Posts
Ooc — Talamasca
Master Warrior
Ecologist
Offline
#9
Hope this makes sense / is okay. Let me know if I should edit!


Astara's slender body attempts to eclipse his own, swarming upon his shoulder, gnashing teeth and becoming a putrid fury of motherly rage. The beast twists and snaps of his own accord without care if he should cut her, break her skin or her bone or any piece of her; he is awakened by her violence and loses sight of the child in the heat of the moment.

He is standing, striding from the den mouth, looming over Avicus while they mindlessly crushed a beetle beneath two spead paws. Revui could do as much to her without thinking; he would have felt the crunching of her skeletal system to much the same effect. Astara's whirlwind assault pivots him close to where the girl has settled and he briefly looms there, as if he is a mighty oak about to be felled, and lands a step beyond her just in time to miss that frail little body.

He grasps for the mother and when he feels something give between his teeth, he pulls, using the momentum of her destabilizing presence to aid him; he lifts her clear of the ground and essentially throws her aside, listening as she hits the dirt—and as soon as he is free he is moving back from the den mouth, from Avicus, from the chaos of the scene, breathing raggedly while his silver coat streaks with crimson.

The woods have always been filled with these soft doe-eyed things;
with hearts beating for the arrow, the bullet, the lance.

I have always been the huntsman.  ⤑

38 Posts
Ooc — Laur
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#10
Slowly, slowly, the infant made his way up the slope of the den, squinting against the sudden brightness that assaulted his newly acquired sense as he reached the entrance. He was entirely unaware of the fearsome battle going on just meters from his home, the seething fury of the shadow and blood-thirst of his father. The boy only saw shadows, shapes, flashes of light as the adults quarreled fiercely.

Remaining by the den's mouth (if only because the commotion of the battling blurry figures was enough to keep him put), he suddenly seemed to focus when he spotted the smaller shape, brighter than the others. He stared at it, not quite seeing, enamoured with the vivid red of its coat. It moves, up and quickly down, before the darker shadow is sent through the air and his head snaps to its position.

He huffs a confused little noise, before deciding he had seen enough of the Outside for now, and trundled back to where his mother and brother lay, nosing his way into Ikkalrok's thigh and disappearing into the dark fur there.
i'm going to bring it all back to you
848 Posts
Ooc — Lauren
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#11
astara did not see her daughter crush a beetle between her paws -- but she saw a brief glimpse of avicus' proud gaze as revui lifted astara up like a trophy, hurling her aside like some small, annoying trinket.

astara did not land like a cat. her spine hit the wall at full force, sending a crack down her back and a yelp from her jaws. she landed in an uncoordinated heap, incoherently snarling -- readying for an assault that never came.

instead the beast slunk back to the den, and the small child he guarded with it. astara's breath came in heavy gasps in the aftermath, her eyes white rimmed with shock and pain as she panted through bared teeth.

for a long time, she stood there hyperventilating at the entrance -- but at last, astara collected her shaky breath and growled for her little murderer to come and follow her mother home.

»» they may promise you that the river ain't too deep. ««
»» player policies ««
899 Posts
Ooc — mercury
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#12
then the fight has come closer to her and she is cringing, snarling, folding into herself as the giant man just misses crushing her under his massive paws. her eyes are cold fire as he hurls her mother up and then aside, and she feels the thud of Astara's impact in her bones. she is angry, then, a kind of fury that she's never experienced before.

Avicus hurries over to the fallen dark woman, beetle forgotten. she noses a little worriedly at her mother's fur, and then obeys the growl immediately, following after Astara back to where she belongs.

she does not do so, however, without a parting glance behind her at the retreating form of the mountainous wolf. he is persona non grata now, enemy number one, and she will not forget the injury he has given her mother today—nor will she forgive. at least not easily.
but see, amid the mimic rout,
a crawling shape intrude —
a blood-red thing that writhes from out
the scenic solitude