Quote from Adriana on April 30, 2019, 7:19 pm

Bianca flinched, never looking up, but seeing Theo leave only from her peripheral. Her eyes filled with tears, and upon hearing Toby crying, she curled her head into her knees and her shoulders trembled.

"I can't.. I can't... I can't, I can't I can't..." she whispered, choked between loud sobs, growing louder with the passing moments. She made herself a tighter ball, and backed into the corner, shaking her head with her hands tight over her ears-claws digging into her fur.

"I can't I can't I can't I can't.." she shook her head still. She stared into the darkness between her knees, wide eyed, her body trembling miserably and her breathe beginning to wane between sobs and her strained words.

"I can'tI can'tIcan'tIcan'tIcan't..." her breathing was becoming panicked, turning into desperate gasps.

Quote from Kaqurei on May 1, 2019, 3:28 pm

There had been a tray with cups of tea in her hands. Now there was a broom. She must have thrown the tray and every cup with it in her startle of Theo's sudden dash. She had just convinced herself he was a teddy bear--a toy of Toby's that he'd somehow made animatronic--when he'd locked eyes with her. No--no there was far too much soul in those eyes. And just like that, he'd charged her. No, the door. But the tray had flown from her grasp and flailing adrenaline-charged hands had reached for a rifle without the mind to control them, for that had disappeared in a moment of self-preservation. Which is probably why she had missed her trusted stock of weapons and caught the handle of a broom instead. She hadn't even had enough charge of her senses to hear the tray clatter and the tea spill--let alone know where they landed. In her recollection, one moment there had been tea, and the next there should have been a gun, but she could see now that it was a broom. And all of it had happened without her moving. She found she had managed to scuttled backward in a hurry, as well, for her back was pressed against the wall.

Then she heard a strange noise, and she looked to the drowned rat that ought to have been the Buttermilk boy. He was crying. He'd closed the door and pressed his unseemly snout against it and was sobbing. Slowly her shoulders dropped, and she lowered the broom handle she'd had cocked and aimed. Self-consciously, she turned it properly to hold like a broom. But she wasn't ready to set it aside. Not yet. It was still some means of security and protection, there in her hand. At the very least it may prevent those hands from flying to a real gun the next time one of these....--Buttermilk Boy and Lost Dog... made an unexpected sudden movement.

Toby's voice was a little deeper when he spoke, but it was him alright. The drowned rat had the voice of Toby Buttermilk with a bad cold. Maybe he was inside there. With a bad cold. In his animatronic rat suit. Don't meet him in the eye or you'll lose the illusion, Kate. Made that mistake already. Terrible eyes. Terrible wolf eyes. And blood. Stop that right now--Buttermilk boy. Lost dog.

She meant to gesture to the door and gruffly thank him for fixing it, that was payment enough, wasn't it? But instead, like a stunned doe, she looked at Toby. Then her eyes drifted to Lost Dog. ...Speaking. And something changed deep inside her.

"Snap out of it! Toby, it's no bother--contrary to popular belief I actually like guests. I get lonely. Now give me a hand over here with your friend," she said sternly, dropping the broom and coming to Bianca's side. She reached out tentatively, caught her own hand shaking, and took a resolute breath. A firm hand was place on Bianca's furry shoulder. "All this nonsense about can't--can't what, I should like to know? But it doesn't matter. There's nothing for you to do right now. Your alpha put you in my care and I'm going to care for you--so quit worrying your pretty head and calm down a moment. What's your name, dear?"

Strange how she could be at once scolding and comforting, hard and soft, hot and cold in the same moment.

Quote from Kaqurei on May 1, 2019, 3:42 pm

****

How how easy it is to dismiss the ever shifting forms in the mist. Now a man, now a wolf, and back again to shapeless air. We are kin, you and I, they speak to the mist: One thing and yet another, together at the mercy of the ebb and flow of the wind, moon, and sun. Like the water, we have grown accustomed to this dance. There are others still with no respect for the balance. They kick and splash, their ripples turn to waves. They will learn in time.

Eyes. Suddenly the forms in the mist had eyes. Eyes that glinted under the flicker of the struggling fire. No longer were the swirls at random. They had order, and, as they drew closer, substance, as though the mists drew together to form mass: twelve of them, muscle, snout, and fur. Then they were as stone, sentinels standing all around, the flighty ghosts behind them either intangible beings or a real trick of the mist. The one at their head moved, a living thing once more, and invited himself to the light of their campfire with a guard on either side of his flank. They were all of them white as the mist and driven snow.

"Alfa na Calagrathorm," said the one at the center, tilting his head in a respectful bow, though his emerald green eyes were fixed into Kratos'.

Quote from Mae on May 1, 2019, 5:24 pm

Ulric heard Jackie's voice and regretted pulling his hands out of hers. With his thoughts cast so far inward, he neglected noticing how much comfort she needed.

It was too late now. Ulric heard a sound that froze the marrow of his bones and set all the hair down his back on end. The Alpha's growl; deep, powerful, and so low that Ulric hardly recognized its source, vibrated the air. He looked around and his heart froze. Then, icy shards began cutting through the narrow veins in his arms and legs, lodging like crystal in his fingertips and toes until he could not feel them.

The twelve beings materializing like phantoms out of their element were not like any werewolf the Calagathorm had encountered before. These were not creatures merely walking the land, but moving as if one with the landscape. Their presence spoke of action and intention, their eyes conveyed more than hunter-like intelligence, and their motions warned the senses of unequivocal danger. Each being was an effectual display of true mastery; the essence of everything the werewolf is and can be.

Ulric trembled seeing it. He knew only a few who possessed such proficiency, and never saw any acting in unison at one time. To see it now, moreover in the direction of his Alpha and brother, in the form of an unknown enemy, poured an admixture of fear and fervor like acid through the ice in his heart. Looking to act, Ulric might've jumped to his feet had he not found himself already standing.

Quote from Cat on May 1, 2019, 8:00 pm

Toby hadn't expected this legendary hermit woman to shout, nor had he expected her to say she liked guests. That was... Well, it was hard to swallow. But he'd swallow it without complaint, he was too tired not to. Besides, Granny snapped like that when he was being overly emotional or annoying.

Toby's ear perked at the sound of Bianca's crying and his heart leapt to his throat at the sight of her. She was trembling, panicking! He hurried to her side and began rubbing her shoulder, just as Kate was doing.

"Yeah, Bianca, it's okay. Everything is okay. I'm sorry I lost my head for a moment, my eyes leak when I'm tired. Look--" He paused, reaching up to his ear. A small electronic device had been pinned neatly in the bullet hole, but he removed it. "We're not going to lose Theo. He has one of these. I can talk to him through it and figure out where he is."

He then glanced at Kate for a moment, thinking about his next words carefully. Looking toward Biance, he managed an encouraging smile. "Miss Thompson is a good person. Don't worry. Try to ground yourself; I want you to take deep breaths and name three things you can smell. What are four things you can hear? Two things you can touch that feel different, and something nice you can see."

He specified 'nice' because he had not missed Miss Thompson's guns.

Quote from Indy on May 1, 2019, 9:57 pm

Every hair stood up at end at the nape of Jackie's neck, like needles digging into her skin.  Her eyes stared intently at the dying embers, her hands prodding them with futile effort, though the bulk of her attention was undeniably to the twelve phantoms that had parked themselves in front of her.  The wind kicked up.  The glow of the embers sank.  The turquoise of her eyes glinted at the stranger that had spoken, and suddenly another deep rumble was added to the crescendo of the alpha’s growl.  It took her a moment to realize it was hers.

Her maw drew back, revealing a hint of teeth to the growl.  One sweeping glance of her foes told her they were hopelessly outmatched.  Right down to the very way they'd manifested out of thin air, they knew themselves their betters. That fact alone just made her even more furious.  HER fire, HER pack… the growling grew, and her patience died down like the embers.

"Who are you?" her maw snapped with enunciated effort, then with some thought, "Are you here to talk, or are you here to kill us?"

Quote from Adriana on May 1, 2019, 10:17 pm

Logan's expression remained immovable. Even as the Alpha raised his throaty growl, and as Jackie spoke, Logan just looked on at the faces she could make out with an ever stoic countenance, almost as if she had expected to see such a strange anomaly in the night.

She sat with no regard to the strangers, crouched on her toes with her back pressed against the base of the tree; her hands dangled loosely over her knees. She studied the faces in the same manner one studies a large, lazy lake or the side of a building; with no fear, interest, even care. The most movement she made was in the form of unfurling her long furry fingers, and curling them back in one by one, each joint releasing a satisfying pop.

Then there was a strange sound, not a growl or a gasp or anything else.

It was a laugh. Quiet at first, just a hum in Logan's chest. Then it grew, and suddenly she laughed with her mouth open, growing louder and more fierce with the passing moments.

"This is..." she stood somewhat against the tree, one arm over her waist, "Aowch, agh, my ribs..."

She continued to laugh in spite of, until tears formed at the corners of her eyes.

"I am sorry-ahaha-of course," she shook her head, "It hurts-hahaha!"

Now she stood to her full height, "Are you here to kill us?! She asks! Hahahaha! That is honest. I did not expect it... ahhh... I laugh but I am scared."

Quote from Kaqurei on May 1, 2019, 10:37 pm

The foremost wolf's eyes moved from each of the others in turn, impassive. He raised his brows at Jackie's question--or accusation, which it sounded to him more like--and his eyes returned to the Alpha. He'd just opened his mouth to speak when Logan burst into laughter.

One at his right looked confused. The other, at his left, shifted uncomfortably and looked to him for reassurance. The wolf in the center, however, only stared at Logan. Then a series of wheezes escaped him, laughter in kind, perhaps, though he fought the smile from his maw. Uncertainty took the expressions of both his companions, as though confused whether they should smile too. But they did not. They fixed their eyes upon Kratos and waited.

"Forgive me, Calagrathorm," said the great white wolf in a lilting Irish accent, and he bowed his head deeply to them. "I have caught you unawares, and that is by design. Yet I mean you no harm. Alpha Kratos, I would not speak before you out of respect, yet the circumstances demand that I do, and perhaps ease some tension. I am Alpha Caspian Sabres. My companions," he gestured first to his left and then to his right, "Beta Sean O'Connell, Beta Darragh Walsh. The others, our Hunting Party."

Quote from Mae on May 1, 2019, 10:56 pm

The Calagathorm Alpha did not move. Long had he stared into the mists. Long had he felt the mood of the mountain. Was it really any surprise to him when they finally appeared?

Kratos' tail bristled with the sound of his growl, but the position of that growl was never made known. It was too low to discern. His face never curled back, and save for the tied ends of his mane and hackles that spiked, he appeared unmoved. Then, low and beautiful another growl joined his own and one of his white-tipped ears swiveled back in Jackie's direction. His golden yellow eyes moved slowly from the lead phantom to the phantom on its left, and then on its right. His hackles relaxed as his gazed fixed on the main figure once again.

That was when Logan began to laugh. Kratos' second ear swiveled this time. Almost it seemed he would turn his head and look, but his concentration was retained. The atmosphere broke. Kratos' low, steady growl rolled to a cease. His ears came forward again. His tail no longer bristled, but his head was still low.

******

Ulric watched each of the Alpha's motions keenly, each a subtle gesture, yet Ulric found enlightenment in their culmination. Every fiber of his own being waited on pins to leap into action at the Alpha's motion - to receive command for defense or offense, it did not matter. His flesh was afraid and prepared for the unknown; he waited for blood and battle. But that inner part of him, that intellectual, inquisitive, child-like essence of his soul was relieved and amused by what it saw. Jackie and Logan had responded in opposite manner, both were uncertain, and yet both contributed to the empowering change that came over the Alpha.

Ulric would never have known if not for the change he beheld. The Alpha reacted so subtly to the sudden danger that the true gravity of the situation might've been overlooked by those with confidence in him. It was an impressive display of control. But then Jackie spoke, and Logan laughed, and they both brought about a true sense of control in the Alpha's demeanor that revealed to Ulric the flaws in the prior display.

*****

Kratos raised his head slightly. It was not a complete disregard to caution. He accepted the friendly salutation of the ghost's leader, and responded briefly with a glance at the Beta on Caspian's left. "Some relation to the Spy O'Connell, I presume?"