Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:23 pm

Mae

As fierce as the silence of a red desert under the noonday sun Timothy stood still. No sooner had Jackie breathed her inquiry than Timothy vanished from sight and a silence soon to be broken began.

The danger was sure. The coming of the storm was eminent. In the shadows time moved like a steady stream of sap from the skin of a tree, people spoke, chains rattled, and then the quick prick and sting -

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:23 pm

Kaqurei

A loud rumbling half-bark half-growl shattered the silence. Its tone rose to a blood curdling noise that was something between a scream or a roar. I dare you it seemed to say to the wolfish senses. I am a danger. I am a threat.

I am Levi.

...Earlier...

After leaving the cabin, Levi had lingered on the back porch for a little while. It felt like a tight pressure had released from his chest to be out of the company of others. That was a relief. It had been making him feel sick. For that reason, his meal remained all but barely nibbled on in the kitchen still. It had always been difficult for him to eat in the presence of others.

The air outside was cool and fresh. He listened to the birds of the mountain singing their various choruses all around him. He took a deep breath. Even back home, he rarely sought out the company of others. He was most comfortable on his own. Perhaps it was due to his solitary upbringing, or his mother's wariness of strangers. Perhaps it had not been learned at all, but was in fact a fibre in the very fabric he was made of. But being a wolf, let alone a man, necessitated social behaviour. He had learned how to recharge when necessary so that he could continue to interact in regular company and even enjoy it sometimes. One-on-one interactions were easier for him than large groups, but he could handle both. He could enjoy both, he corrected himself.

He was ready to do it again.

There were certainly two members of this pack that he did enjoy: Theo and Chime. Theo had looked busy when he had left. So Levi decided to seek out Chime. She had been with Bianca--she was not typically his sort, for he preferred quieter individuals, but she was a pleasant one nonetheless. And, given as she was a new member of Kratos' pack, it might do to learn more about her.

Thus it was that he had trailed from the Main Den towards the cabin to which Chime and Bianca had retreated. He picked up the sound of their cheerful voices even some distance before he had arrived there. His steps were naturally light, though his gait was easy going. He had nearly made it to the door and intended to knock, but something gave him pause. Something was... off. Never one to doubt his instincts, he gave the area around him a double take. He could still hear Bianca's voice. She seemed as peppy as ever... no, there was a subtle shudder in her voice. Whatever it was, she must have detected it as well.

Instead of entering the cabin as he had planned, he assumed a stealthier stride and paced around towards the back. As the make of this cabin was similar in design to the Main Den, there was a covered porch there, and a door leading into the kitchen. He heard Chime's uncertain voice,

"Alright guys, you got us, come on out."

But he did not at once enter. The possibility it had been his own presence which caused the disturbance did cross his mind, but he did not long dwell on it. There was a sound of a scuffle, then the smell of blood. Carefully, Levi crept to the back door and peered in through the little window alongside it.

A powerful feeling surged into his chest and through his limbs as he saw Chime dangling limply from the arms of the stranger. He tasted bile. At once his whole body felt hot. His eyes darted this way and that, taking in all the information from the scene that he could as he fought every fibre of his being not to launch to Chime's defence. The stranger's hold on Chime was such that if Levi were to reveal himself, the intruder could easily cause Chime further injury--or even kill her. It was not Chime's blood he had smelled--it was that of the attacker. Chime looked to be all but uninjured. The serum had a scent, however, and Levi saw the syringe. He watched what he could from the door-window as the attacker dragged Chime out of the kitchen. His heart was racing. What was he going to do to her?

Be clever, lad: aye, be quick and clever, was his mental mantra. When it came to brute strength, he had little to offer. But he could hold his own against an opponent up to three times his size if he played his cards right--the environment, weak points... His greatest weapon for now was that the stranger did not know he was there.

When he had ascertained the stranger had left the kitchen, Levi slipped in through the back way. He tracked Chime's scent going up the stairs. But if this hall were like the Main Den, Levi knew that there were two flights of stairs that led to the same hallway. He decided to forego to possibility of coming up on the wolf's heels and slipped into the main room of the cabin, around, and up the other flight of stairs that would lead him to the opposite end of the hallway. From there he proceeded cautiously. The stranger was donning the form of a wolf. Levi wasn't in the mood to be gutted and skinned in the inevitable physical confrontation should he come upon him as a man. Like a shadow puppet, his form slid from man to wolf and he landed lightly upon four paws. His head low, he crept down the hallway to the crack of light from the door hanging ajar. Inside the room he was confident he would find them. Their scents were strongest there.

The fur on his back and at the base of his tail bristled. He braced himself for conflict. Yet, as he peered into the crack, he realized he did not detect the smell of the intruder. Nor had he ever detected his scent, further than the blood. Carefully he pushed the door open and found the room empty, but for Chime and Bianca laying bound upon the bed. His eyes widened. Quickly, he assessed the room again to be sure the intruder had gone. Finding this was indeed the case, he hurried to the bedside.

"Chime!" he whimpered, touching her hand with his nose. "Bianca!" Chime's hand was still warm. Both were still breathing. He suppressed a snarl within his throat. The intruder had worked quickly, and with great skill. Carefully, Levi cut the vicious cords and removed them so that when the girls woke they would be mobile, and hopefully less terrified than if it had been otherwise.

He had to find the intruder and alert Sabrina to warn her new Alpha before more harm came to this pack. What kind of creature would do this to Chime and Bianca? From his observation, these were two of the kindest souls in the whole pack! It seemed so senseless! And yet, it was so perfectly orchestrated. A lot of thought had been put into this attack. To what end??

These were the thoughts that raced through the scout's mind as he leapt from the window to land in the grass soundlessly outside. There was, albeit subtle, the scent of blood to track the intruder now. Its presence on the light breeze drew him towards the Pit. And he felt like his own blood turned to ice in his veins at the sight he met there.

Logan was transforming in broad daylight.

His eyes darted from his quarry, his darts, to Logan, the Pit, her eyes. He knew exactly what her wolf was thinking. What the other wolf, the stranger, was thinking, he was still completely uncertain. But transforming a first generation werewolf in broad daylight could only serve one purpose. And that purpose had to be stopped.

Present

The challenge ripped from within him and up his throat like the blade of a sword swallower. If his last encounter with Logan had taught him anything it was that her wolf was highly responsive to being talked to like a wolf. He had made himself impossible to ignore. She needed an enemy to focus on, and that enemy could not be a member of her own pack, as Levi assumed was the intruder's aim. So he was giving her one.

...Actually, he was giving her two.

While bearing in mind the intruder was armed, he'd made the sound in the exact instant he had launched at him at close range, aiming to catch him by the ruff and use the momentum of his leap to throw both of them out into the open.

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:24 pm

Indy

Diane was circling her in words. Like the wolf she was, she was circling slowly around her objective before she sunk her fangs in for the final bite. Melinda regarded her coolly, watching the bright flash of green as they settled upon her. Was it better to continue these games and allow herself to be toyed with, if only to prologue the amount of time she had to formulate a plan ? Or should she make this affair as short and sweet as it may be ?

The woman considered. This creature struck her not as one to play a game without first knowing she could win it. There was not much she would tell her that she hadn’t meant to reveal, and no weakness she would find that she hadn’t meant to her to find. Yet she had come to this encounter wholly unprepared and could only serve to detriment herself because of it. Time meant nothing, and Melinda was tired of being cornered and tired of being toyed with.

Short and sweet it was.

“If that is all you came to say, then consider your message received,” she replied crisply.

---

Timothy needn’t confirm her question for Jackie to know the answer to it. Almost as soon as those words had settled, she couldn’t miss the sharp prick of danger in the air. Was it a smell she caught, untraceable to her conscious mind ? Or was it merely Timothy’s tension she caught, whose movements had subconciously been made clear? As Timothy settled himself into the shadow of the wall, Jackie did not relax. Her concern only heightened and she drew up to sniff the air again, slow and with thought, only to catch nothing of interesting except…

Logan.

Her gaze lifted to the fence-line and spied her familiar form behind the lattice of the fence. Jackie shifted her gaze to meet Logan’s in question, yet did not utter her query aloud. Instead she simply watched, as though waiting for her to speak first, yet that occasion never came. Logan appeared to swat an innocuous but troubling insect on her neck. But it wasn’t a bug. It was something with a feather and something that glittered in the sunshine, as though made of glass. A dart.

Jackie could feel half a cry gathering in her throat, as though in warning, yet it was too late. She could only watch helplessly as the dart took it’s toll, as her friend… yes friend?... succumbed to the shape of a great massive beast. Logan’s lips drew back not in words, but in a snarl, so unlike anything she’d known the woman to be except for the first night on their meeting.

She rushed up to the side of the wall nearest to Logan, as though she sought to run up to her, yet the smooth cement walls stood in her way. She lay her palms on their smooth surface for a moment, until they slipped altogether from its surface. The wall was all that lay between her and Logan, yet so steep a barrier it was. She had long ago assessed it as unclimable, the drain too small to be of consequence, and even her bandages as too flimsy to be of much use. Even with Timothy’s help, should he have given it, there was no way to escape…

She exhaled a heavy breath, retreating a few steps until she lay in the center of the pit. From her perspective, she barely saw Levi’s approach and caught no more than the corner of Silas’s shape. But she did smell them, or Levi at least, and knew only something was taking part above which would be impossible for her to have part in. But she would not be audience to this show. She would not sit and quietly watch as this scene unfolded from the safety of the shadows like Timothy. She couldn’t.

She retreated a few more paces until her back was almost on the next wall, then exhaled slowly as though gathering her breath. Her eyes narrowed almost with fine-tuned precision to the wall closest where Logan was located. Then without warning she shot off, a full sprint, in nothing more than her bare feet and her bandages. If it pained her to move so quickly, she did not reveal so in the expression of her face. As she neared that wall, she did not slow, yet instead seemed to only increase her pace as the gap narrowed.

Then she jumped, flinging herself in the air as far as her legs would carry. It was indeed a good far jump, far greater than she’d have managed as a human, and her feet caught the texture of the wall. Her legs scrambled beneath her, for a moment seeming almost to gain head-way on the vertical, yet inevitably gravity won its battle and Jackie fell with a solid thud to her knees. Where her bandages had torn, abrasions had collected on the pads of her feet, on her knees, and the palms of her hands. A few wounds had reopened. The faint, prickling smell of her own blood hit the air.

Yet Jackie did not consider it long, if she did at all, for the next moment she retreated to that back wall and readied herself to try again.

---

Theo could feel his own apprehension boil away under Tammy’s voice, and even a faint pink tinge took the ends of his ears and cheeks. She didn’t hate him. When he had the courage to look her in the eyes, he could feel nothing but warm emotion and gratitude coming from them. The mood was infectious.

“I ah, alright, if you don’t mind… I’m sorry you don’t like the smell, because it really was g—err anyways”

He quickly left the hallway and entered the room as invited, closing the door behind him. He saw the contents of Tammy’s bag, and even recognized the familiar satchet of herb smell in the air, yet didn’t advance further into the room. Not until he was invited to do so, at least.

 

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:24 pm

Kaqurei

Sabrina considered the possibility of returning to the cabin and coming upon Melinda in her quarters in a civilized manner, but rejected it. If there was anything to Toby's suspicion that a... ninja... had entered by the window, it would be much more profitable to force a retreat via the likely unfamiliar route of the cabin interior rather than back the way it had come.

If there was something up there, she wanted to catch it. Not watch it vanish like smoke. She straightened her shoulders and shifted. The white pelt washed over her features as easily as surf on the sand and her body changed accordingly with the fluidity of a blossoming moonflower. Her hands, as though engaged in the motions of a dance, swept over her body and adjusted her clothing mid-change so that they would conform more easily to her new stature even as she assumed it. As was typical of her wolf form, she continue to stand on hind legs, though she was now a decent three feet taller. With only a parting glance to Toby, she bunched the muscles in her legs and sprang up into the open window.

Her landing was near soundless, a mere pitter pat. She perched on the sill with both hands and feet, her posture as casual as a summer afternoon, and the contents of the room surmised in only seconds. For at least one of those seconds, the fluidity of her body stiffened and her eyes widened briefly in surprise.

She had not expected there to really be a ninja in the room.

But her coolness returned in the next second, followed by a dagger-sharp focus in her eyes. Melinda was momentarily set aside as an object of interest, the emerald gaze of the healer being honed on the black wolf instead.

"Well," she said softly, slipping her foot into the room and entering. As she rose to her full height, she continued silkily, "Good evening. My name is Sabrina Sabres. I do not believe we've had the pleasure..."

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:24 pm

Mae

Ulric had left Logan's room a short time after his conversation with her, unaware of the visitor in the next room over and just in time to see Theo enter the room where Melinda had previously stayed. Was Tammy still in there, or had she gone someplace else? Ulric wondered, but he trusted Theo and did not dwell on the thought long.

It was as Ulric reached the foot of the stair that Levi's call went out. Ulric halted, completely lost as to what to make of it and confused by both the urgency and the declaration. In the midst of his bewilderment Ulric delayed any immediate response.

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:24 pm

Mae

Timothy watched Jackie from the shadows and studied her movements with his eyes. As her feet took their place in the center of the arena and her eyes became focused on the wall, Timothy knew what Jackie would attempt.
The woman ran toward the wall despite her physical limitations - where her footing was hindered by injury or the placement of her hands fell short - it did not matter. Timothy watched Jackie set aside her pain and disregard the natural boundary of her condition, to focus instead on the mental welfare of her companion and orchestrate a feat of discipline that could not be accomplished on a whim, and to do it with exceptional skill... It was something Timothy understood, and at one time, a time lost from Timothy's recollection, it was his release.

The art of propelling oneself beyond the supposed limitations of the body and obtaining heights inconceivable by a common understanding; Jumping farther, running faster, and climbing higher than the average man was freedom. But what was more it was a state of mind, and a way of being, the very discipline of becoming more than oneself. Timothy had not known Jackie was a part of it.

But reaching the top of the ditch singly was an impossibility. To scale the height of the wall with that skill, Jackie would be dependent on some kind of grappling or surface foothold, something the walls of the arena lacked.

By werewolf standards Kratos had made the ditch inescapable. The structure was a product of his mind; a structure that appeared to be an outcome of desperation in order to contain the uncontainable, but was in fact the revealed mind of its maker. From the height of its walls to the slanted ledge of its peak, the Werewolf Training Arena was the culminated experience of a cunning escape artist. A man familiar with his own strengths and weaknesses and one who knew how to judge the same of others. What was more, Kratos knew the very limits of his kind. He had not created the ditch merely to hold a stranger, but had tested it and perfected it while he himself was a captive within it.

Had Jackie's attempt been futile? In the sense of obtaining an escape or rescuing her companion outside its walls as intended, yes, the attempt could not have been anything but futile. But quite as a result of her effort now other doors had been opened that previously had been closed.

*****

Upstairs in the dark room the unwelcome visitor had not so much as flinched when the white wolf alighted through the window on the floor.

Standing in animal-like manner on the far side of the room Diane's green eyes met the green eyes of Sabrina, Melinda between them, and all was still.

"A Sabres? In Reknab Bend." The creature slid gracefully up from the floor, smiling still and asked with what was evident amusement. "Who have you come to kill?"

*****

Across the hall, all the rest of the world forgotten as the door was closed, Tammy at the bedside gingerly tucking away what little she always carried, only herself and the werewolf boy present in the room... yet Tammy was not afraid.

It was as if a silent agreement had been made long ago that disallowed all perfidy; a solemn, impassable trust so immediately placed for granted that anything outside its encompassment would be unnatural and would set at naught the very laws of reality.

Theo's presence was not only invited, but welcomed. No words need be said.

The pages of Zander's story had already been placed inside the bag, but for whatever reason, Tammy considered them and then pulled them out again. After all else had been set in order, Tammy picked the pages up off the bed and turned toward Theo with her eyes downcast.

"The other night," she said. "This was loaned to me. I didn't get the chance to return it..."
Here now Tammy met Theo's eyes. "Would you, please?"

It would be clear to Theo that Tammy was preparing to leave, and where she would go or when he would next have the opportunity to speak to her was unknown, therefore, the limit to what time there was could be felt.

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:24 pm

Kaqurei

Sabrina looked the other up and down. Her nose wrinkled slightly as though with some disgust. "You're a Svalnaglas," she uttered in the guttural tongue of the wolf, but went on in English, "What are you doing here?"

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:24 pm

Cat

Toby sat completely oblivious below the window as Sabrina ninja'd up through it. Though he noticed she paused for a moment before entering, she gave no call to alert him after the fact, so he figured it must have been his mind playing tricks on him. There was no intruder. He waited a few more minutes, just in case, then shrugged and turned from the building.

Was he disappointed there was no danger? Quite the contrary, he was relieved. If no bad guys were stalking around, this lovely peaceful morning could continue. Toby's only task now was to go back to his bedroom, get that piece of meat out of his drawer, and wait until Sabrina came to throttle him for sending her on a wild goose chase.

...But there was still that smell...

...And it couldn't have been carried in on the wind. The smell of the Phantom Plant on the wind was literally just the smell of the air. It wouldn't be as noticeable as someone brutalizing the plant and covering themselves in it's juices, which was what this not-smell smell was like.

Smell or no smell or not-smell smell, it was simply merciful of Sabrina to actually inspect his claim after that pathetic explanation he gave. If she didn't think there was an intruder, who was he to insist? Suddenly, Toby paused. Just at that moment an obvious and quite alarming scent had filled his nose: The smell of blood!

Toby's gaze was seized by the second cabin. He'd completely neglected to consider the not-smell smell intruder had gone into that one! His imaginary ninja couldn't have made the jump from the tree he'd been watching to the tree closest to the second cabin-- Even an imaginary ninja flying squirrel couldn't make it. But the second cabin was more secluded. A ninja wouldn't have to ninja up a tree in order to get in, they'd just have to walk up and---

Alarm suddenly filled the omega's chest. Sweet Cheese Flakes Covered In Homemade Butter!! He'd sent Sabrina into the wrong house! The intruder was in the other one with Chime and Bianca! Toby turned quickly with intent of alerting Sabrina, but barely had he opened his mouth to do so when Levi's strangled growl rent the air. It was too late...

Toby tore away from his position between the two cabins and hurried around the side where Levi's call had come from. Though he had only three legs to work with, he was surprisingly fast and agile in coming to his destination. He saw the pit up ahead and Logan in wolf form. He also saw Levi!

....It was probably a good thing he hadn't been too hasty in removing that meat from his drawer... He may have need of it after all.

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:25 pm

Deseree and Kaqurei

Silas went down with a grunt and a curse. "Bad idea," he uttered immediately after. A weapon was produced from his belt, tucked beneath the sash at his waist, and two prongs were shoved into Levi's side. Electricity was set coursing through both of their bodies as Levi had a grasp on Silas yet, and still the enemy werewolf managed to break away and get to his feet.

Not before Logan had closed the distance between between the two. Jumping back, Silas scarcely managed to avoid having his neck caught in her maw, and instead the attacker aimed her focus on Levi!

Levi swung backwards to duck under Logan's attack. At first the move looked like a dodge, and in fact it might have been, but about halfway he changed his mind to make the movement more effective. He went all the way down and hit the ground on his back while swinging his legs upward to catch Logan under the ribs. He used her own momentum to carry her over his body as well as roll himself back to his feet.

Without sparing a single moment, Silas took the break in his assailants attention to effectively slip out of sight. There were other matters that needed addressing, and his work here was through.

Logan was hurled a short distance from Levi, cast to her hands and knees from the throw. As she moved to stand up straight she paused, and flinching, ducked her head low-the movement accompanied by a cross between a whine and a snarl. Her head turned slowly back in the direciton of the stranger, saliva dripping from her maw. She made no move to attack yet, and stared on, growling towards him as though she dared him to make the next move.

“If you really want to help, you might fetch Ulric for me.” Silas uttered, resting in the window of the second floor of the cabin.

“We have business to discuss.”

Levi was standing straight and simply stared at Logan like a deer in the headlights, panting. He had stopped thinking after the electric shock rippled through his body and had acted merely on survival impulses. Somewhere between here and there, it dawned on him that his plan hadn't worked out quite the way he intended... and he still had a mouthful of Silas' fur clenched in his jaws.

He looked Logan up and down. He spat out Silas' fur. His eyes darted about to see if he might spot where the intruder had gotten off to, but between each glance fixed his eyes into Logan's again. His brows knit together in confusion. There was absolutely no familiarity in her stance. There was, perhaps, even a hint of uncertainty.

"Oh, yeh don't remember me?"

Odd. First generations often had memory problems, but the wolf typically remembered its excursions as a wolf, even if it did not remember being human. Then again, they didn't often change in broad daylight either. He wondered if it were a quirk of Logan's specifically, or another effect of whatever the intruder had hit her with.

Well, that had some advantage to it, at least. If she had recalled their last encounter, she might have made her move by now. He'd arrogantly challenged the wolf in a way that would make it impossible for any self-respecting pack member to let him get away with if they were familiar with him at all. Yet, he realized, the scream he had made might actually be fairly intimidating to one who was not.

Logan looked on, listening or so it seemed, her ears drawn back. The animal, woman and beast that had been induced by the drug were all but muddled behind those straining eyes, and what was left standing in place was hardly a shell of the woman in any manner of herself.

And yet something seemed to click. She raised her head and her ears perked up. Then, through a low and deep breath, a name was uttered;

“Lee... vi...”

She stepped forward once, then twice, considering. The moment passed however, and she shot forward, dropping to all fours and barrelling towards Levi, gaping jaws spread wide and her muscles aching to spring and catch him!

There goes that.

Every muscle in his body tensed. Like a released elastic band, he sprang, reeling in the opposite direction to flee from her. He tore across the field in the direction of the Main Den, tail tucked and back legs nearly outrunning his front ones!--Of all the confounded--Toby? It was too late for a course correction. Even if he did swing a wide left or right, he did not think Logan in her current state would have the reflexes to keep up with him. She'd barrel into the miserable Calagrathorm omega instead, and that would be the end of Toby. Nor did Toby look like he could easily manage to get out of the way himself. That left Levi one horrible decision to make.

He'd have to fight.

"Auch, signal yer Alpha, fool!" he cried, skidding--not to a halt, but to another spring in the which he launched himself into a backflip over his pursuer's head. He caught her scruff in his jaws and hit her back hard with his hind legs in hopes of pulling her off course!