Noctisardor Bypass p[r]imavaera
194 Posts
Ooc — Talamasca
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#1
All Welcome 
When they had departed together Stryx, keeping to the rear, was not sure what to make of anything.

The cultists followed their one-eyed leader with a furor unmatched by anything she had witnessed before. Stryx was bade to follow and as it fell within the realm of her agreement, she did as she was told. She took her sweet ass time, but she obeyed.

Whatever hijinks these people were up to, someone would likely be required to patch up the wounded.

The initial raiding party crossed in to foreign territoriy. Stryx could hear the hyena-laugh of one rogue in the dark quite clearly, and saw another body race deeper, while she moved as necessary to try and keep at least Merrick in her sights.

Stryx was no warrior nor was she intent to hunt down this woman, Laurel, who so fixated the madman; she just kept her head down and her body alert to dangers.
Sapphique
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THE PULSE WHEN IT RESPAWNS
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Ooc — Lauren
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#2
val was no warrior, either.

he followed after stryx, keeping the rest of ursus in his line of sight. he was relieved that there was now someone newer to the cult than him; for so long, val had felt outsider. un. now the eyes of the bear were turned to someone new and a great tension released from his shoulders.

he knew this was wrong, but he went along anyway. adolescence, desperation to impress merrick, a general sense of something missing -- all of it quelled within him and urged him to this strange pack, with its strange people -- people who had never done him any wrong.

his mothers would be so disapproving. val buried the thought of them deep. he buried the thought of those yellow eyes deep, and he buried the thoughts of those new eyes in that same dark place.

he nosed the ground for any scent, his fur bristled and an electric energy thrumming in his spine and deep in his gut.
NEGATIVITY, WE JUST DEAD IT LIKE D-CON.
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Ooc — Chelsie
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#3
Let the record show that Wylla, who gave exactly zero shits about Laurel and would offer her up on a silver platter if it meant saving her own hide or Mahler's or Phaedra's, actually turned up to defend Rivenwood that day.

It was not for Laurel's sake. She didn't even know the woman and didn't care about her in the slightest. It was for her home, a home she meant to make for her family both present and future. It was for Mahler, who had done nothing to deserve his sanctuary being invaded by crowing hooligans. It was for her daughter, that she might not run afoul of these pathetic mongrels.

While sounds of fighting began erupting in the tree, Wylla dove through the undergrowth and found herself face-to-face with two slinking no gooders. She only had a split second to assess them or she might have found something familiar in each of those faces — Stryx because they had met before on bad terms and Val because of his ancestry.

All she had time for was a quick flicker of her eye between the two, enough to discount the younger wolf as less of a threat, possibly even a hindrance to his comrade, before flinging herself with snapping jaws at Stryx.
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Ooc — Talamasca
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#4
A shadow followed her, briefly. It split off to investigate the earth nearby and Stryx, unable to identify friend or foe, was reticent in following; but after finding her own path lead out to the open, she doubled back to where the boy stalked.

What was a boy so young doing here, of all places?
(And what the hell was she doing here, except to fulfill an agreement? She was too old for this; she was no warrior —)

A bear of a wolf erupted from a path unseen. Whether Stryx could recognize Wylla in that gut-wrenching moment was unimportant; she saw teeth, felt them snap so close to her that the air felt singed. She swung her body but did not retaliate, as it was so ingrained within her to do no harm that such a thought felt alien.

A crackling growl came from Stryx as she tried to retreat in to the shadows, drawing the attention of the wolf away from wherever Val had ended up.
Sapphique
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#5
nose deep in the dirt, val only had time to register the crunch of gravel underfoot before an eruption of fighting occurred.

his ears pinned as he tried to collect the scene: two wolves entangling. one his packmate, the other the color of grey gristle, of only one eye, coming down upon stryx with the most hellbent expression val had ever seen in a wolf.

not laurel - that's all he had time to confirm.

he nearly quailed, but something guided him forward. "HEY!" he bellowed, feeling his fur bristle out. he lunged after the tangled pair, teeth snapping at nothing in particular, just trying to distract the she-beast so stryx could get to her feet and either fight back (why wasn't she fighting back?!) or run.
NEGATIVITY, WE JUST DEAD IT LIKE D-CON.
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Ooc — Chelsie
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#6
Wylla's teeth missed their mark, her target swinging and pulling away in the same breath. She pressed forward, snapping again, but came up short when Val pulled her attention back. His own jaws narrowly missed her hock as he snapped into their midst, his goal to separate them, but Wylla was not one to back down. Her missing eye was a testament to it.

She had misjudged the threat. Stryx did not so much as show a fang, and so Wylla whirled away from her and aimed to grab Val's muzzle instead. She had no reason to believe the other she-wolf would not defend the boy, but she was fighting a battle on two fronts. All the while, her eye darted into the trees, searching for the other wolves of Rivenwood, this so-called pack of theirs.

Where the fuck was everyone else?
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Ooc — Talamasca
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#7
Their assailant knew better than to chase the silver-gilded woman, perhaps because the boy was so much louder; Stryx had no idea what went through a warrior's mind in the heat of the moment. Her own heart was thrumming beneath her breast and she wanted to bolt, except, something kept her from doing that.

The boy was being an idiot. She had to wonder if someone had dropped him on his head earlier in life — a flash of thought and then her mind was empty, propelled by adrenaline.

Stryx wanted to run and knew she couldn't leave the boy to this fate. It hadn't been either of their choices to be here; so she rounded upon the one-eyed woman and began harassing her from one side, to bait her away.
Sapphique
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#8
oh fuck. that was not the reaction val had hoped for. wylla rounded upon him instantly, her fangs wielded expertly. right onto his nose.

a flare of pain smartly rung his dome -- but before wylla seized him val registered the true yellow of wylla's eyes.those eyes? are those the eyes? that seizing fear was all wylla needed for her fangs to secure their mark.

a curdling, sour fear ran up val's belly. no. the malevolent eyes of his dreams were a pair -- this eye was singular.

all the same, chilling.

he had no recourse. submit or die; the old imperative snarled in his ear, crackled like hot energy in his gut which now roiled and bucked like a loosened horse. no - neither. merrick would do neither. i should do neither.

as stryx came alongside wylla to save the boydiot, val came to life with a grunt. "GET OFF ME!" he roared, reminded of the crazy little byotch that had pounced him from behind. only, this time he was being pounced by an adult -- a very capable one. he thrashed as hard as he could to free himself from his captor, ignoring the snarls of pain that clawed down his muzzle.

he kicked with his front legs and bit at the air, pushing back against his new oppressor.
NEGATIVITY, WE JUST DEAD IT LIKE D-CON.
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Ooc — Chelsie
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#9
Wylla’s teeth closed on Val’s nose. She tightened her grip and prepared to tear them down his face and snap again when he kindly went ahead and did it for her, shrieking and rearing like an ill-tempered stallion in his bid for freedom. Wylla parted her jaws in a flash of crimson and lunged for him again, aiming to use his frenzy against him to get ahold of his neck. His teeth sliced her cheek. She ignored the bloom of pain there.

Only there were also wasp stings in her flank, more insistent, that made her spin, wild-eyed, and aim that snap at Stryx instead. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Wylla knew this was a losing battle. It didn’t matter that both these wolves seemed like ninnies who hardly knew how to fight at all — despite her advantage in that department, she was still outnumbered. Even ninnies could use a numbers advantage. No amount of experience in battle could overcome numbers when it was just you.

She felt a flash of rage for Rivenwood’s inaction, for Mahler’s absence here, for every wolf who lived in these walls but cowered when called to defend them. Fuck them all! She would fight this battle alone if needbe! Seizing her adrenaline with both hands, Wylla shoved away from Val and went for Stryx again, her voice roaring out between her teeth with every clap of her jaws as she sought to tear at the healer’s face.
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Ooc — Talamasca
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#10
The baiting worked - too well, unfortunately for Stryx. The dark woman roared and set her sights upon the physician with a turn of the heel and a flurry of snaps.

Stryx felt teeth knock her orbital bone and swiftly cut through the soft tissue of her cheek. Then again, scoring her muzzle as she tried to pivot away, or duck, or whatever movement her frenzied, pain-riddled self could manage.

She barely fought back. Blood stained her face. Soon her eye would be black; it would need a treatment. Winter was a bad time to be warring. Her mind moved rapidly over remedies in the midst of the fight; she couldn't help it.

Some part of her knew to keep low or to zig, zag, grab at whatever she had to; nothing major, nothing that could really maim even if that was required of her. It just wasn't her fight. The other wolf was much more skilled and intent to harm but so long as Stryx could draw her away from Val, she didn't care.
Sapphique
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THE PULSE WHEN IT RESPAWNS
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Ooc — Lauren
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#11
Val was in trouble and knew it. he knew it the second he ripped his face from the she-wolf’s jaws — and how smartly that stung, too!

blood stung his eyes and pooled down his jaws as he swung away, seeing stryx fending herself now from the flashing teeth of their assailant. this wolf was not the wolf described to them by merrick — and any injury sustained then would be done at a lost cause.

pushed into action by that realization, val yelled over the din of the she-wolf’s snarls. let’s go! val aimed one last attempted shove wylla’s way to distract her and give stryx an opening to leave.
NEGATIVITY, WE JUST DEAD IT LIKE D-CON.
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Ooc — Chelsie
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#12
Assuming Stryx would run here as well but lmk if that's not the case!

Stryx hardly fought back at all. Somehow that enraged Wylla more. How dare these cowards come traipsing into Rivenwood only to distract her and refuse to give her a proper fight! She roared and dove for Stryx, but missed and stumbled into the undergrowth on account of Val shoving her from behind.

Then the two broke away and fled. Wylla knew she was probably needed elsewhere, but she couldn't help it; she charged after the pair and pursued them well away from the borders, believing that her fight here had made a difference even if the rest of Rivenwood was off god knows where doing god knows what. Later she would learn the extent of it and be frustrated that she had wasted time with two goons whose sole purpose seemed to be distraction; in a way, they truly had won.