Resonant Chords (Open, read first post)

[Deleted]

Mál'skra was, for the most part, concentrating. His belly just barely skimmed the ground, and his sensitive fur could feel the difference between the soft volcanic soil and the ferns and creepers hugging the surface. His padding paws were placed carefully in front of one another as he inched forward. Truth be told, he hated this sneaky, step-by-step hunting style. Unfortunately, birds were too skittish to ambush, as was his usual tactic. "Why don't you just use one of your spells if it bothers you so much?" Yershí asked innocently. Herein was the reason for his partial concentration. Normally, he would hunt alone, as Yershí could not keep her snout shut for very long, and would usually scare off any prey in the area.

"Because," he said, suppressing adding a growl for good measure, "my spells make too much noise before launching."

"Oh I know that," Yershí said, "but hearing you sigh every two steps is rather distracting."

"From what?" Mál'skra asked. In his mind, Yershí was in a continual state of distraction, so this ought not to bother her.

"There's somebody else hunting this bird," she said, now whispering and motioning to her right. "So it would be a good idea for you to catch it first."

"No, the food can wait," Mál'skra seethed. It had been so long since he had had to face another wolf, he realized he had come to regard a wide swath of the jungle as his territory. He signaled Yershí to back away, while at the same time he acutely scanned the area she had indicated. Now that he took notice of a scent other than a bird's, he could smell another wolf.

"I think it's a girl," Yershí said, more to herself than Mál'skra, but louder than he would have liked all the same.

"Ssh!" he hissed at her, still watching the area where the supposed invader hid. A slight rustle, only visible by one who was waiting for it, jostled the larger vegetation. In that moment, Mál'skra was one with his spirit of fire, the Lanes of Fire burning straight paths through the underbrush toward the hidden invader...

(Even though this thread is open, please apply in the rp discussion thread titled New Story in Fire Wells. Not doing so will be an easy way to get rejected.)

[Streak]

Damn! She was so frigging hungry and that bird looked so good. The only problem was that there was another wolf stalking it and Streak had no idea. She was concentrating on her stomach more than her surroundings. It was only when she heard a hiss did she turn. Her eyes saw not one wolf, but two. One was a mixture of pale green and pale brown and the other had different shades of blue. Streak stared at them, then noticed fire advancing towards her. Streak jumped out of the plants concealing her and stared in horror. She would have been burned! Anger rose up inside her like a volcano as she marched towards the wolf who did that.

"What do you think you're doing? Almost burning me like that. Think it was funny, did you? Well think again." Streak felt darkness surging through her and using her spell Dark Fang, attempted to bite the wolf. If Streak managed to bite the wolf, his body would have darkness pulsing through it for a short time and hopefully he would be in pain.

[Deleted]

Mál'skra's eyes narrowed at first, but soon widened. The bird exploded from the small clearing, shaking leaves as it cleared the canopy, but not from the roaring noise of the Fire Lanes. No, his opponent, a black female with a single dulled yellow stripe over her back, had dodged the flames by leaping at the bird. This alone was shock enough. Hardly anyone he had ever met had been able to dodge the Lanes of Fire. They moved too quickly, almost assuring a landed blow. But this she-wolf had managed to dodge his attack.

What was more, she had the sense of place to not be frightened out of her wits from being attacked unexpectedly. She was growling and shouting at him, but not much other than the anger and the result mattered. She was barring her fangs, and undulating darkness was gathering there. Of course, Mál'skra admired a competent fighter, but this wolf was more on his level, unlike many of the wolves he had met upon coming to the jungle. There was no way he would escape the blow, so better to force her to hurt herself in the process. He howled magnificently, a glorious call informing the world of his level of control over the situation. In moments, the sparks were flying and flames covered his whole form, the power of the Fire Wreath spell.
At least this way, Yershí would be able to finish off the enemy and take care of his injuries, with no harm to herself.

[cptkickercutleg]

Graal had been watching from a short distance, his fur caked in the ash he had rolled in to conceal his sight and smell, and was lying on his belly, amber eyes focussed on the scuffle which was rather quickly escalating, one wolf suddenly howling and cloaking themselves in fire and sparks, but compared to the Giaku, he doubted either compared, especially the newcomer when he remembered the princess' power over fire, and Drexyll's mastery of ice.
"No." he thought,"They wouldn't last a minute."
But he had had enough, and standing, ignoring the very slight ache that the heat of these lands gave his chest, he stepped forth.
"Enough!" he barks, seeming to rise from the very earth itself, only his thick accent from the far western lands distinguishing him from a native earth-elemental, come to stop a fight on its land.
"Stop bicker-" He stopped then, and coughed, as his inhaling had caused him to breath some of the shifting ash, causing to lose much of his power, or what little he had, to inspire awe or fear, but maybe still retaining enough to be a spectacle and make them forget their fight for an instant.
"Frag, frag, frag!" he curses under his breath and between his coughs. A second or two after the spluttering cough finished, and stepping forward again, he barks.
"Stop this ridiculous nonsense! Are you Draggas or Pups!?" he exclaims, his voice somewhat hoarse from the coughing, but nonetheless stern and disapproving.

[Streak]

She did it! She attacked the wolf. Except now she was being burnt. Streak jumped back and doing what any other wolf would do when on fire, she rolled like a lunatic. After being certain the flames were extinguished, Streak got up and was summoning darkness for her spell Dark Orb when she heard another wolf.

Stop this ridiculous nonsense! Are you Draggas or Pups!?

Streak turned to look at the newcomer.
"Don't poke your nose where it doesn't belong!" Streak returned to summoning darkness although the other wolf may have already attacked her.

[Deleted]

Mál'skra was lying on the ground wincing, though he did not appear to be injured as horribly as Yershí had seen before. His Wreath of Fire was extinguished, but he managed to stand back up, despite the pulsing points of darkness where he had allowed the she-wolf to bit him. Of course, said she-wolf was rolling manically in the dirt to clear away the fire brought upon her by Mál'skra's spell.
Kudos to her, Yershí thought pleasantly, though I suppose that's second nature when one lives here. She and Mál'skra both turned, she more astonished than him, as an aging wolf emerged from the ash, berating them for infantile stupidity. Of course, this did not bother Yershí overly much, as she had not been the one fighting, but for her mate, he viewed it as an attack on his pride as a packless wolf. As per the usual, he did not retort in anger, something which had saved the both of them in many an encounter, but instead, stared intently at the elder, hoping he would acknowledge them more respectfully and they might then be able to have a civilized conversation.

Unfortunately, the black she-wolf was, at this point, battle crazed. She snapped at the elder to be quiet, preparing another dark spell. "Oooh!" Yershí exclaimed, it finally dawning upon her that the wolf bore darkness magic of some kind. "You must be able to wield darkness magic! That must be incredibly useful. Though, I don't think you should be attacking right now, what with an elder here and all. He might be caught in a fight and be killed, and then I would feel terrible and then Mál'skra would feel terrible because I feel terrible, and then...."

"Yershí," Mál'skra sighed with enough force to stop her talking. "You, she-wolf!" he barked at the darkness wielder. "Keep your magic where it belongs and have some respect for those older and wiser than you. Maybe you'll learn something about keeping that short temper in check."
Whether this would stop the she-wolf, Yershí was unsure, so she began readying her greatest spell, Ice Cage, just to be safe. If the darkness wolf had any sense, they would all be able to calm down, and figure out what had caused this whole mess in the first place. But really it was Mál'skra that caused it all, Yershí realized. "If you're upset about the food getting away," Yershí amended to her, thinking this might the reason for her anger, "we can always find more. I mean, this is a jungle, so it's not like there isn't anything to eat in here."

[cptkickercutleg]

"Don't poke your nose where it doesn't belong!"
Graal's ear twitches in mild irritation, and he calls out to Streak,
"Have you already forgotten the strength of my ilk? Do not dismiss me as if I am some petty wanderer with no powers of my own!" he barks, glancing at the other wolf, nodding slightly, his tail dipping respectfully for the one who did not openly dismiss him.
"Oooh! You must be able to wield darkness magic!"
Graal pauses, before stepping forwards again, only now noticing the female,
"Drappa..." he mutters, shaking his head as she begins to drivel.

He continues to walk, stepping directly between the fighters as Mál'skra speaks about learning from him.
He smirks a little inside at that, "Learn from an old Vulf like me? All they can learn from me is how to get hurt..." he thinks, sitting down slowly.
"I think," he begins, before yawning slightly and continuing, "That Streak attacked because she was attacked, and over so very little as a single bird." he says, shaking his head in exaggerated sorrow, his tail flat against the ground, "But thus far, harm has been intended but not done, shall we retract the intentions before lives are lost?"

[Adurnak]

"I think that would be most wise of them."
Lunara's voice was deathly cold as she spoke, hidden by her Concealing Shadows, yet it was also eerily beautiful, like a winter landscape lit by a full moon. She had seen the whole thing; these two had a lot of nerve, in her opinion, picking fights and then blaming it on the one they attacked. If they tried to do so again, they would regret it.

[Streak]

She was pissed. Everyone was ganging up on her. Streak growled and looked at each wolf she could see with her dark eyes. She looked at the wolf who attacked her with her angry eyes.
"I was raised by an elder. Very wise elder, yes, but she treated me like a piece of shit! And it seems to me that all those older and wiser than you will think they have power over you so they can make you do things that you would never do if you kept your own mind. I trust my judgement more." Streak was burning with anger but she did not attack. Yet.

[Deleted]

Well, the elder at least has good sense, even if I don't know where his accent comes from, Mál'skra thought, dropping onto his stomach heavily, unable to ignore the darkness wound in his shoulder any longer. Yershí bent to sniff it, her tongue beginning for flash out to lick it. "Don't," he said sharply, though not unkindly, to her. "It might carry some sort of detriment that can pass from me to you."

"But you can't just 'work through it' like you did last time you were bitten," Yershí howled, very pitifully. "That time it wasn't magical, and that time I was able to help, and we were alone..." She stopped here, and brightening as if nothing were amiss, said to Graal and Streak, "No offense,..." She immediately gave her attention back to Mál'skra, and continued, "and we were actually staying somewhere you could rest, and I knew where to find some herbs."

"She-wolf," Mál'skra spoke authoritatively to his opponent, staring directly into Yershí's pleading eyes. "Elders may have treated you poorly wherever you came from, but I believe I may have you trumped, having spent my puppy hood in Giaku. Now, even because of that, I know elder wolves are greater than us. So, while you don't have to do anything they say, at least respect them for their having lived this long." He took his eyes from Yershí to penetrate her rage-filled pupils, glad she had calmed down enough to speak more than a single sentence.
"Most wolves carry a way to heal with their powers," he said, continuing to look directly at her. "If you take care of this wound, I will personally find you a meal as recompence." He laid his head down then, gazing straight ahead along the dirt, watching all the little insects moving through their daily grind.

"Elder, what's your name?" Yershí spouted energetically, convinced that the she-wolf would help Mál'skra. "How old are you? I think you should stay with us for a while. You and Mál'skra really are a lot alike, so maybe you wouldn't mind helping him once he heals. I mean, I know you don't know what he needs help with, but I'm sure I could tell you. Probably would be better if he did though... Oh, I'm Yershí by the way."
Turning happily and winking at the dark she-wolf, she said, "You heard right. My name's Yershí. You both should introduce yourselves too ya know."

[cptkickercutleg]

"I think that would be most wise of them."
Comes the booming, disembodied complaint, as if the ice from Graal's very heartland had spoken it's mind in his defence, and although Graal appreciated the support, inwardly, it erked him that another would simply stand by and watch.
"Perhaps it is safer that way, I suppose. No need for any more bloodshed." he thinks to himself, nodding his thanks to the voice, but Streak was not appeased.

"I was raised by an elder. Very wise elder, yes, but she treated me like a piece of shit! And it seems to me that all those older and wiser than you will think they have power over you so they can make you do things that you would never do if you kept your own mind. I trust my judgement more."

Graal listened patiently, and had a smile by the end of her words,
"Perhaps... Perhaps you were inadvertantly taught well, after all then..." he begins, nodding to himself as he thinks over her words, "For though you suffered much abuse, you are stronger for it, and no Vulf should blindly do as they are told, you learned to rely on yourself, a valuable trait in any situation! Perhaps though, you also learned the same habit as I, and you cannot see that I try to help you, not belittle you, voh ken?" he says, slipping back into his mother tongue as he did with Lilliana only weeks ago.
He smiles little wider and nods, turning his attention back to Yershí and Mál'skra.
"It might carry some sort of detriment that can pass from me to you."
"He means detritus, I think, but nonetheless he is right, do not worry, a strong wolf fights for life, and can overcome any darkness within them if they are given the help they need." and at this, he glances at Streak, and Mál'skra says, "If you take care of this wound, I will personally find you a meal as recompence." Graal nods, plainly matching the offer for the injured wolf's sake.
Yershí begins her chatter again, this time aimed at Graal alone, as she rapid-fires questions at him.
"Elder, what's your name? How old are you? I think you should stay with us for a while. You and Mál'skra really are a lot alike, so maybe you wouldn't mind helping him once he heals. I mean, I know you don't know what he needs help with, but I'm sure I could tell you. Probably would be better if he did though... Oh, I'm Yershí by the way..."
"My name i- I am sev- per-mayb-"
Graal tries to answer her first question, is interrupted, tries to answer the never ending stream of questions, and gives up, waiting for her to finish.
"Ash nom es Graal oh Otonami clan, yan pack, I am seven and a half years by my own count, though I am not precise, maybe I am like your mate, perhaps I will stay to help, but I've other friends who may call on me for my help also, and hello Yershí, it is a pleasure to meet you."

[Adurnak]

"You got those injuries by attacking someone without provocation, Mál'skra, on land that is not your own." Lunara said, her voice icy. "Perhaps your wounds should be left to heal naturally, as a reminder not to do so again."
As she spoke, she dismissed the spell that kept her hidden.

There was an eerie beauty about her, given that she was in her True form. She towered over the others at a hight of four feet at the shoulder, with long, black-feathered wings like rigid silk folded loosely over her back, the same color as her silken fur. Her paws were armed with savage, knife-like talons, and her long, prehensile tail ended in a jagged blade. Her eyes were unsettling and alien; horizontaly-slit puples surrounded by irridecent yellow, with no white visible.

[Deleted]

Oh no, Yershí thought in panic, eyeing the newcome creature. Oh no, not good, not good at all. But her thoughts were too slow, and she could not act upon her revelation before Mál'skra turned to see the winged wolf.
If miracles had a name, at this moment, Mál'skra was probably it. He snarled, deep, low, and lingering, every ounce of pure hatred locked in with the sound. But more amazing than such a show of dislike, he stood, as if ignoring the wound in his shoulder, even as it stained his leg with hot, red blood. His lips were curling back, revealing sharp fangs honed by life without a pack, and his growl became far more intense. His tail was erect, as if he were ready to pounce.
"This is my land, and I will not have some vile abomination without any pride as a wolf tell me otherwise," he breathed through his barred teeth.
"Mál'skra...," Yershí said gently, understanding his outburst when no one else likely would. "You're hurt, and now you're causing the marks to bleed. If you had just lain still, that wouldn't be happening."
"And I have let wounds such as these heal in their own course," Mál'skra continued savagely, completely ignoring Yershí. "Those sleepless nights remind me ever so clearly why I should never let any ill-meaning Giaku-spawn walk over my land." Mál'skra made to leap at the female, but his injuries flatly prevented it, his jump ending before it began, him collapsing in the ash once again.
"Shadow girl," Yershí pleaded hurridly to the shadow-wielding she wolf, "help me hold him down. He's going to hurt himself worse if tries anything so stupid again. I'll explain as soon as he passes out, which by the look of things, ought to be anytime now. Though, I suppose that would be bad too...oh never mind, would just come help me."
She turned to Graal and the newcomer before the she-wolf could answer, saying as lightly as she could, "Yeah...Mál'skra has a thing against...abnormal...growths...It reminds him too much of Giaku. Don't worry, I won't judge you on that, but, just forgive him right now. I think he might actually be delusional at this point, so as soon as he passes out, would you all mind helping me get him to our cave. There is actually a sizeable catch from earlier this morning, whoever's hungry." She hoped her attempts to smooth over the already fragile tensions had been successful, but she could not worry overly much about that. Mál'skra was, first and foremost, her greatest responsibility, no matter how much of a prejuidiced bird-brain he was being at the moment. He would do the same for her, especially on so unlucky a day as this...

(rper's note: Did anyone catch Mál'skra's Wolf's Rain reference?)

[Streak]

"Most wolves carry a way to heal with their powers. If you take care of this wound, I will personally find you a meal as recompence."
Streak shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't have a way to heal but my spell should be wearing off in a few moments." Streak sat down, still burning with rage. If that wolf had not tried to burn her, she would not have attacked. It all seemed to point back to that wolf. Streak looked down at the ground as if fascinated by it but really she didn't want to look at anyone. Her ears twitched as the other wolf by the name of Yershí nattered on.
"Funnily enough, this elder wolf knows my name. I have never met him before but still, he knows me. One of the few mysteries in life. For those of you who don't know me, I go by the name of Streak." She was still staring intently at the ground. Streak looked up at Yershí as she asked for her help and, reluctantly walked over to restrain the wolf who attacked.

[Deleted]

Mál'skra struggled beneath the combined weight of the newly introduced Streak, and Yershí. That the effects of Streak's shadow cloaked bite were wearing away was an understatement. Of course, there was still the blood and soreness from the actual bite to contend with, but he would certainly not be hampered by magical afflictions any longer. His struggles became more fierce as his eyes found the winged beast. Demon or no, he had believed he had left such abominations behind him when he fled Giaku. There was no way in hell he would be allowing such a creature to roam freely within this jungle. His jungle. Whatever everyone else thought, these were his trees and his ash, by right of conquest. So maybe he had not fought wolves and monstrous entities for his territory, but the elements had proved opponent enough.
He snarled and barked, putting far more effort into shaking off the two she-wolves, but it seemed loss of blood, even so small an amount, was taking its toll. Spells were useless now, or, at least they were useless with Yershí so close to him. He was tensing his muscles for his greatest push when a solid paw, whose he could not tell, batted him across the head, knocking him completely unconscious. The last he heard was Yershí thanking someone, and asking them to follow her to their den so they could talk more comfortably.