Flashback Where Do We Go From Here? (Razkar)

[Tinnok]

Where Do We Go From Here?
35th of Summer, 512 AV

"Ach, you just ate this afternoon you big tub of fat!" Tinnok complained as they trekked through the jungle. The boy cub, which she had taken to calling Leaf was mewling again from his makeshift little carrier upon his back. He mewled when he needed to piss, excrete other fluids, and when he wanted to go down and walk, but his cry for food was much more piercing, and made it bloody hard to hunt. Generally it was better if one of them stayed with the cubs, the other going out to hunt some distance away, but it made for slow moving with the two cubs, which like any infant, had a constant list of desires, needs, and complaints.

And while they hunted, they both searched for more jaguar tracks in the hopes that somehow...somewhere, they could find an adoptive mother for the two cubs. But it had been more than a week out in the jungle, and it was looking desperate. One of the last things Tinnok wanted to do was bring the cubs back to Taloba. She was sure they could get a high price for them in the pet stalls, but the idea of making them pets when they had been born in the wild set her nerves on edge and made her grit her teeth out of the blue, which was actually...what she was doing now.

Forcing herself to relax the half breed glanced over at the comparatively quiet female that Razkar had named, who kept almost dozing off in her cradle until the Myrian male stepped on a piece of particular bumpy or rough soil when she'd be jolted awake again with a little grunt before slowly drifting off again. Tinnok grinned.

Golden eyes scanned the brief pockets of blue that shone through the thickness of green above them. It was about late afternoon, the sun falling low in the sky, and her legs were sore from the constant trekking, and her shoulders ached from the long periods of carrying the cubs. Leaf was heavier, so they switched off every half of the day, once they stopped for their next break, so she had him till they broke for nightfall.

Tinnok sighed softly to herself, a feeling of guilt still heavy in her gut from dragging Razkar along. His wounds form the jaguar attack were healing nicely, they had made sure to clean them and pack them with river moss three times a day most of the time, two times a day when that wasn't an option, but she could still see him wince occasionally when a branch hit him on the spot where the cat had gouged him.

"Break for camp soon or do you want to go for another bell?" Tinnok called up to him.

[Razkar]

Gods, it certainly was tempting. Another hour carrying the smaller and docile Jorka would be appreciated, compared to the ever-mewling and twisting nightmare that was Leaf. His wounds were healing well but the stings had faded to constant, irritating aches that only worsened from their constant movement.

Falyndar as not easy country; the polar opposite, in fact. What few trails and paths they'd found had been long-overgrown and abandoned, the being that forged them either wiped out or moved on. Rolling hills were bad enough to traverse; now try it with a heavy load, a gammy leg and a continent's worth of fiendish and stubborn undergrowth covering every available inch.

Razkar sighed and shrugged, bobbing shoulders sending Jorka's eyes blinking open again, drowsy and swiftly deciding he was hungry.

"Never miss a chance to stop for a breather," he said, setting down on a moss-encrusted log with a visible wince, "Isn't that what they always taught us?"

The male had barely settled down before the smaller, much more active male stretched himself out like a snake with fur and padded around Razkar's lap. A smile creased his face, indulgent and childish, as he looked down at the serious little feline.

Aren't they all, though?

"Named for my grandfather," he said to the air, it seemed, as he finished taking a deep glug-a-lug of water from his skin and held Jorka steady so he could dribble some of the cool liquid into his fanged maw, "My sister used to have a hound. I always wanted to play with it, but..."

An expression of regret passed across his face as he snorted softly, Jorka's tongue wiggling around his fangs to get every drop of precious water.

"... I didn't earn it, my mother said. Whenever I wanted to go near it, she'd beat me." Another shrug, trying to be more nonchalant than he felt. "I learned, after a while. But now..."

He left the sentence unsaid. It would have been nice to say he'd earned the right... but adorable and amusing and fascinating as Jorka was (and why'd you go ahead and name it, anyway?), he was still ultimately a Child of Caiyha, just as he was one of Myri.

Do you have any right to raise it as a pet?

The subject of his concerns nibbled hungrily at his fingers, apparently unaware they were about as threatening to his callused hands as wet sponges. He was grateful for it, though. Apparently the little prince knew just how to snap him out of his reverie.

"Yes, I agree, Jorka. Time to eat..."

More wincing. Hissing. Movements stiff and pained like a man many years his age but when Tinnok's muscles tensed, Razkar's hand was flung up.

"I need to do it!" Yes, and mighty convincing, too, as you drop a side of meat, you moron! "It... Ah... Well... maybe you could just [i]help with the fire... I'll handle the cooking..."[/i]

He started to hobble around, looking for sticks to use as skewers, the constant patter and rustle of Jorka dogging his heels. Literally. Apparently his feet made excellent targets, and the jaguar cub needed to practice his pouncing.

Razkar paused in his work and looked up through the endless, choking canopy. Trying to find Syna's location up there, hidden by countless leaves, was hard... but not impossible. He sighed slowly and frowned.

"Well... we're heading the right way... but I'm slowing you down."

[Tinnok]

Tinnok gratefully set down Leaf, who promptly began chasing his tail as if it was the greatest adversary he had ever known, and then proceeded to collapse before shooting up and mewling oh so loudly.

"I think they taught us: Do good or get dead." She smiled proudly at her own joke and poured some of her water skin in a shallow indent upon a rock, Leaf lapping up the water hungrily. Tinnok rummaged around in her pack, fishing out a half strip of jerky for her, and a strip of...whatever the bird they last killed was, offering it to the cub. It seemed they had an easier time eating and chewing the fowl instead of meat from a rodent or pig. Once her jerky was softened up in her mouth, she offered half of that to the little male as well.

"Grandfather?" she mused, taking a swig of her water skin, scratching leaf in between his ears which was causing him to start dozing off. She listened to the beginnings of a story, wondering for a moment what life as a male meant, how his clan raised a child, and strange details she hadn't really considered before. Razkar had always seemed as if he had...well always been this way, that snarling face of her sparring partner that first day of training, a match that had ended with an arm of respect.

"I remember asking my mother if Myrian Tigers were pets. She slapped me so hard I crashed into a building." Her face was serious when she uttered the phrase, but the absurdness of the action caused her to emit a chuckle, which turned into a yelp as Leaf sunk his claws into the hand that was rubbing his belly. At the denomination of chores, Tinnok glared at the limping Razkar, but started clearing an area for the fire with her feet, making sure that all foliage was a good distance away before scooping out dirt to create and indent for the makeshift pit they'd be making. As sticks were returned to her, the half breed took out her flint and steel and began clapping them together over the fire, moving a bit of dried leaves to hopefully act as kindling. Sparks flew, but breezes caught their frail forms several times. Tinnok's arm burned by the time a curling flame shot up from between the sticks and began munching hungrily.

Jorka mewled in protest of the strange new creature in their midst, and Leaf had fallen asleep...

Tinnok chuckled, but her expression straightened at Razkar's comment. "Of course you're slowing me down, but I didn't think speed was precisely the point here, we go at your pace, which isn't a bad one with the two fat barrels on our back, yes you are, yes you're a big fat barrel....erm."

She chuckled, eyes twinkling with a twinge of embarrassment when Tinnok glanced up at Razkar. "We keep heading in the right direction, and hope we run into another jaguar that wants to kill us before we get there.'

A hand scooped Jorka up, keeping her from playing paw attack with the fire and lay her down next to her brother, which got them both up and rolling around the crackling fire. Tinnok's eyes narrowed with distress as she grabbed up the cubs and forced them upon her lap, many mewling complaints drifting across the campfire at lunch's cook.

"Cubs." Tinnok said in a disappointed tone, shaking her head.

[Razkar]

It was... somewhat disconcerting, seeing Wolf of all people coo and baby-talk a mewling ball of fur, but Razkar enjoyed the view nonetheless. Ever since they'd met, she'd been grim, loveless, even towards herself. Always the outsider, the scorned and marked by her tainted blood, Tinnok worked twice as hard for a fraction of what other recruits were given.

Razkar smiled wanly and shook his head, but it didn't last long when he turned to the infant fire. All her sweat, all her efforts... and for what? Disgust. Sneers. Her fang and even her blood, they still shunned her.

When does it stop? When do they stop seeing what doesn't matter anymore and realize how... blessed, we have been for such a wise and able female? Did not Myri work in strange and complex ways?

Then she spoke that one word and he saw the sadness in her face. It was... almost maternal, another word most did not associate with Tinnok. But Eagle was not "most". He had seen her devotion to Caiyha, and the love for all things that walked, crawled, skittered and grew in her heaving domain. Some would have seen it as weakness; Razkar saw strength.

Something she fought for.

"Yes..." He said slowly, positioning the makeshift skewers over the content but controlled fire, hunks of meat wobbling in the smoke. Razkar wasn't quite as quick as Tinnok, or maybe he was just better at denial... but reality could not be changed. "I suppose we can't just... keep them, can we?"

The question in his tone seemed to hope for the option, but the look in her face denied him that. They were wild animals, and they had... no right? Really? But they were Myrians! Lords of the jungle! Surely they could...

Razkar sighed and shook his head. Caiyha was mistress of leaf and fang before Myri was even born. She would not want her children stolen from her green womb and raised as docile playthings for the Children of Myri. No... they were to be cared for, protected... but ultimately, returned to her embrace.

"Not as easy as it sounds though, is it?" He said, face screwed up in concentration as he checked his wounds and scooped a generous dollop of river moss into his hand. "We need a female, I think. Urgh... our last... encounter with a male wasn't exactly promising, was it? But the same thing could happen again. Outside their own young, everything with claws and fang in the jungle sees everything else as enemy or food."

Depressing logic, but Razkar's furrowed brow refused to be deterred. There had to be a way. They'd seen it before, after all. Tigers and jaguars and even Akila's adopting young but strange cubs and kits, caring for them as their own. But that was work for the animal masters, and he certainly didn't have the training.

Then again, he wasn't Wolf.

"What do you think? Could we..."

He stopped, ears twitching, head jerking around. Rustling. Not the random background shifting of leaves that was common in the jungle, but... more purposeful. Tinnok seemed to hear it, too. The two Myrians sat like deer with the scent of a hunter wafting over them, still, barely even breathing, senses straining...

Then they heard the low yip, and Razkar's eyes widened.

----------

Some called them Akila's. Other clans called them Blood Dogs. Night Wolves. Dira's Jackals. The animals themselves probably didn't care one way or another. They knew their pack, their alpha, and their cubs. Everything else was irrelevant.

They sniffed the air with noses far more refined than the crude hairless apes they reluctantly shared the jungle with. Blood. Fur. Moss. Strange aromas that had names like "soap" and "leather" that were simply filed under "strange prey" in the narrowed but concentrated mind of the Pack.

The alpha growled lowly, and so much was expressed in that simple, rolling sound. Orders, backed by his scarred and muscled form. The half-dozen others began to spread out, homing in on their prey with the kind of instinct that was so perfectly natural that more "evolved" beings would think of it as eerie.

It wasn't. It was just without distraction. This was their territory, and there was prety within it. Fresh prey with hundreds of mouthfuls in total and their cubs were hungry.

----------

The growl washed over them, without a visible source but reeking of nightmares and campfire whispers. Razkar gulped and glanced upward at the low branches.

"Time to get off the ground."

[Tinnok]

Tinnok watched the smoking meat with eyes nearly as round as Leaf's, whose tongue was hanging out slightly, nose scenting the savory aroma wafting off of the fire. She kept the cub at bay in her lap, laughing Eagle's funny joke, knowing he couldn't possibly have any iota of seriousness in his tone when he implied keeping the cubs.

"These guys as pets? They'd eat you out of lodge and jungle, then kill themselves fighting young Myrian tigers, poor sods." She tugged at Leaf's ear affectionately, then glanced up at what she could have sworn was the crackling of leaves, but couldn't have been.

She saw Razkar's stance stiffen at the close noise, and immediately Leaf was already set in his harness upon her back, one hand on her dagger that she had been using to cut slices of meat. The half breed heard the growl, and as Eagle suggested moving upwards, she nodded in agreement, standing slowly and scouting out her best option.

The tree closest to her had no low hanging branches, but a few vines that might or might not be able to support her weight. A nearby tree, which would require a dash held a good low branch that would help in getting her up. Tinnok contemplated for but a moment before dashing through the foliage, her pack coiled about one arm, and leaf bouncing wildly upon her back, mewling his protests which were subsequently drowned out by a chorus of howls that must have surely been why the Akila Hounds received such notoriety.

As Tinnok leapt into the air, fingers curling around a branch and slowly hauling her weight up into the tree, she imagined being alone in the woods alone when you heard a pack of the beasts approaching. So many and in such numbers, you'd be overrun in moments. The witch had never tried her talents on such creatures, unsure if they truly belonged to Caiyha's realm due to all the horror stories told...perhaps tonight was a night to find out...or one simply better spent high in a tree.

Deciding one branch up was simply not far enough from a slobbering pack of hounds, Tinnok continued her climb upwards. She was low and methodical, knowing the meat roasting on the fire would keep the dogs for a little, and the potential or dropping Leaf, or falling with both of them onto the ground and compromising their situation was too much to bear. One pegged branch after another Tinnok went up, seeing the pack burst through the foliage a tick later to being decimating the cook fire, massive jaws snapping at one another for the bits. Her eyes darted around to make sure Eagle was safe, but she saw his form and the fuzzy head of the female cub pop up on the other side of the clearing, her breath exhaling in one long spell.

Now they just had to hope the pack would leave them be...or perhaps not even discover their existence.

Of course it was rather hard to hide one's presence when two uncomfortable kittens were mewling in your arms or upon your back...

[Razkar]

He was bloodied, battered, wounded. A mass of fresh cuts and stinging flesh groaned at him with every movement, had groaned at him for the better part of a day-

-but all it took was the first crashes through the undergrowth for his mind to block that pain as best it could and his body to react without it.

Flee. Higher ground. Danger. Predator.

Carnivore.

Razkar shoved Jorka into the pack on his back and jumped up at the nearest branch, gripping it with both hands and wincing as he pulled himself up. His shoulder howled in protest, stitches snapping, wound opening, blood and river moss making an ugly miasma on his already-dirty skin.

He ignored it. It sounded like... easily half-a-dozen. One was bad enough.

Jorka wailed and scrabbled at his back; he ignored him, too. The food and their weap-

Shyke! Their weapons!

Mouth open in stunned horror, Razkar's head snapped around to see the familiar glint of metal in the firelight. Fifteen feet away from him... or below him, rather, and they might as well have been miles. Already twigs were snapping, shrubbery was shaking as if in the same thrall of terror as he was-

"Petch it!"

He climbed higher. Beneath him shadows grew long and twisted as the Akila Hounds broke into their tiny campsite, raiding the sizzling meat, snuffling at the Myrian-stinking ground, growling then yapping then gouging at each other in single-minded fury.

Finally, Razkar dared to halt. Thirty feet. High enough for their scent to be lost among the leaves, hidden by distance and the shadows. Raw, primal fear was gripping him now, something far removed from the apprehension he'd felt in battle. This spoke to the same memories that he'd had facing that jaguar, but... moreso.

There was only one of them, after all, and they were quick about their bloody business. Dira's Jackal's, though... they seemed to enjoy what they did.

Jorka, on the other hand, had a different outlook. Larger and fiercer though they were, the Akila's were naught but interlopers to him. Smelly, rude, unwanted intruders in his domain, threatening those strange beings he had become attached to. And that would not stand!

"No... oh, no...!"

As Tinnok looked over, she saw a grasping shadow pawing desperately at the wriggling form crying for freedom out of his pack. Tiny though his claws were, they were enough to latch onto the branch, waddling across it, looking for a decent spot to jump-

-until Razkar lurched forwards, grabbing out desperately for the scruff of his neck as he hissed and leaped-

-catching him. Barely. Eagle met her eye, one arm stretched and shaking, holding onto the tree trunk. The other clutching the squirming ball of enraged, territorial jaguar cub. Sweat was running in rivulets down his face but he managed a weak smile, a roll of his eyes heralding a return of-

-claws digging into his wrist and raking downward-

"Shyke!"

Acting without any from the mind, Razkar's body betrayed him, jettisoning the useless load that was Jorka as the tiny cub slashed at him, unwilling to be denied his showdown with the prowling shadows with their shark-mouthed grins below him. Razkar's breath caught, choked, throttled the scream before it could go further as he watched him vanish... then land.

He is but one cub. One of two. Wolf has the other and a firmer grip that you. Such a creature is not worth your death, and strong as you think you are, against the power of the pack, you are nothing but meat with a heartbeat.

Razkar listened to that desperate whisper in his mind, and knew it was accurate. It was true. By the merciless logic of Falyndar, by the Children of Myri Herself, the few (or the one) had to perish so that others would survive.

He looked down at Jorka: suddenly afraid, shirking away from beasts ten times his size, slavering drool oozing down teeth like shards of smoked glass, deep-set red eyes blazing with reflected coals and internal hunger. Terrified, realizing in that simple, animal fashion what nightmare he'd hurled himself into.

Tasting the brutal intent in their eyes. The rotting meat on their mouths. The alpha, moving lithe and sure like liquid extinction, tongue already lolling, snarling away his underlings to claim the right of first, succulent bite...

That was true, too.

"Ah... fuck you, Eagle!"

Razkar dropped and landed hard on a branch ten feet above the pack. The crash and creak was enough to get a half-dozen boulder-like heads snapping upwards-

He tried to land next to his weapons.

[Tinnok]

OOCDon't you mean "Eff you, wolf?"

She had a single knife, her bow lying uselessly, neither harming nor hindering on the ground a short distance from the fire. She was no expert with her longbow yet, but she could easily take down a few of the pack, perhaps discourage them from staying next to their fire. Her eyes studied the pack. Not many Myrians got to see Akila hounds alive. Their rough pelts, thick skulls and bones, but not the full wild thing with a maw that looked too big to really fit inside that dog sized head.

They were like creatures out of a bedtime tale, and there they were, ripping apart that juicy meat that had been about to go in her stomach. Leaf wailed over her shoulder, not showing the same determined ferocity of his sibling. She watched them fight among themselves, nipping and snarling over the choicest pieces of meat.

Where was the alpha?

For now she didn't know, for the dogs were a frenzy of barking, snarls and slobbering mouths, but a noise brought her attention up toward the tree where Eagle perched, only to see a small form drop from a short distance and land with a poof of leaves and foliage upon the ground.

Petching Jorka?

Tinnok's eyes widened, and another whine went up form Leaf in his cradle. Suddenly the hound's attention went from their fire to Eagle who had dropped down among them, protecting the tiny cub.

And that was the perfect distraction. She grabbed Leaf out of his holster upon her back, leaping down one branch to another before taking a 10 foot drop to the ground, knees bent to cushion her fall, both the sound and impact. Noticing none of the hounds had noticed her arrival, she plopped the kitten down in the cranny between the trees roots, feeling his immense fear, and trying to send images of the dark cavern the cubs once lived in, safety would be associated with this one spot, darkness and silence ensuring safety. She wasn't sure how well the impression upon Leaf's mind would work, but it would have to do for she hadn't anymore time.

Whirling around Tinnok ran to the fire, grabbing her bow and drawing an arrow from her quiver. That motion, however did attract some attention. Two pairs of glowing eyes turned directly toward her, and she could almost hear the snapping sound of their necks with the quickness of the movement.

She drew her bowstring back, her arms quivering with exertion, but she spoke to the two heads. "I don't want to hurt you."

She saw the small flaps on the side of the canine's heads perk a bit at the noise. Surely they knew her, as all animals of the Falyndar wilds knew her for what she was. Slowly she lowered the bow, dropping it back onto the ground. The two hounds pawed toward her, trotting up to her with maws bared. She knelt down upon the ground. Unlike the time with Dog where she had displayed dominance to the canine in order to manipulate her, here she wanted to show that she was not their superior, and was not challenging them for their rights. One knee upon the ground, she bowed her head down. She heard conversive growls, speculative in nature, and hot breath upon her scalp as inquisitive noses brushed against her face.

Upon contact came a wash of senses and emotions. The hounds were riled up from the hunt, running fast through the jungle, they had already taken down a herd of small deer, a large male tapir, but their hunger was still high, energy up.

A wet tongue rubbed against her face, however. Their camp smelled of meat and had a light the hounds didn't like, more curious then hungry they had come to investigate. It was their fault for leaving tasty meat so low to the ground.

Tinnok could have laughed, but there were more pressing matter to attend to. Her eyes opened, and she pressed a hand to one of their snouts. Her pack was here, the aggressive male, and two pups of their own. Everything was fine, their food could be for the pack, but the pups had to be unharmed, her pack as well.

She stood up of a sudden, the two hounds on either side of her. "Hey!"

She saw Razkar with his weapons, a snarling cub between his legs. Four more pairs of eyes turned back to her, and she walked calmly into the midst of the canines, kneeling down and offering up hands for sniffing. exchanging of scents and thoughts had to occur, and the Alpha, a particularly stocky male took a long time in sniffing her, butting her experimentally with his head, and snarling in her face to make sure she was of a caliber to trust, but the power of her mark held true. They would not harm her, it was just a matter of convincing them to not eat the tiny cubs and attack the large male.

"Eagle could you, sit down? Make yourself look a bit...a bit less hostile?" Her lips quirked in a smile, but her fingers were scratching a slender female hound behind the ears. "They're not as hungry as curious, if you just, sit..." She walked over to collect a quivering leaf in her hands before sitting back towards the fire, letting the hounds sniff the small cub, who cried and mewled at the unwanted attention. She did her best to comfort him as well, but it was hard with this mixing of creatures.

[Razkar]

Well, Razkar found himself thinking a little peevishly, very nice. I get myself perfectly ready to go to my end with my hands swinging steel, facing down demons from the dark jungle, protecting a helpless infant (basically), and what does she do? Resolves it peacefully.

Bloody woman.

He'd hit the ground at a roll and half the bones in his torso had twanged like strings on a giant's harp. Adrenaline drove him forward, though, even as red barbs of pain lashed before his eyes, threatening to overwhelm them-

-until he saw his ax, and gladius, his own hands hurtling towards them as he dived, teeth white as Leth and marred with blood snapping as he went-

Gotcha!

He whirled, arms snapping into combat stance instantly, gladius held in his left and forward, ready to block and parry, ax cocked back to slash and hack, ground shifting between his feet as Jorka contented himself to growl and whimper in equal measure at...

... nothing, apparently.

All eyes were on the figure with shimmering skin and eyes like polished bronze. The Alpha was nuzzling her hand, like some jungle potentate considering the advances of a foreign dignitary. His pack growled or snarled at Razkar but a single rolling blast of thunder from his throat choked them off.

Razkar felt gyped. He frowned, tensed, ready, eager, gods-damn-it, and-

"Eagle could you, sit down? Make yourself look a bit... a bit less hostile?"

She might as well have asked "could you take your skin off, look a little less fleshy"? Razkar's jaw dropped open with an almost audible "click" and even Jorka cocked his head to one side in surprise. The other Akilas were just pacing around, sinewy muscles rippling under short, coarse fur, occasionally flashing dark looks at the Myrian and his tiny charge... but staying still. Waiting. Obedient to the law of the Alpha and, by extension, Tinnok's.

Razkar had to marvel at it, even feel a tremor of latent fear. Raging, snapping, almost-screeching hell hounds were now... almost docile. Restrained as surely as if the female had slapped leashes on them, though Eagle knew she would hate such a description.

He watched her in awe as she scratched behind the Alpha's ear, so at peace and confidence... and by all the gods and Myri Above All, the shaggy monster actually had its tongue lolling out happily. Inch by inch, he felt his arms lower and the buzzing adrenaline seep from his veins. Such power she had... and not the slightest inclincation to abuse it.

Now the male cocked his head to one side. Marked by Caiyha as Tinnok was, all of Falyndar was her domain... or, at least, she had some influence in it. Razkar had seen his friend speak to birds, commune with insects, even divine the tastes and smells and imprints of passing life from the whispers of trees and vines.

But didn't Myrians consider themselves part of Caiyha's great green tapestry? How far were they removed from the Akilas, the deer, the tigers and the uncountable masses of other living creatures in Falyndar? And if Tinnok could work her wyrd on them, then perhaps... one day...

No. Never. Whatever her mark, she is a Child of Myri. She fought and bled with you, saved your life... trusts you like no other, except perhaps Aya. She would never turn on-

"They're not as hungry as curious, if you just, sit..."

A ragged, nervous sound that could have been laughter trickled from Razkar's dry throat, and he felt himself lowering. Jorka scrambled out from under his incoming arse but stayed close, looking up with black, confused eyes. Razkar just shrugged.

"You heard her, little one. Relax, I suppose..."

Easier said that done, Jorka seemed to say with a disbelieving snort. He contented himself with nuzzling back into Razkar's lap, face tucked behind his tail save for a pair of glowering eyes. Eagle sat cross-legged, weapons at his sides, and...

"And how exactly do I look "less hostile"? Hmm?" He said with a wry grimace, gesturing to the ink and piercings and network of scars covering his nearly-naked body. "More to the point, when would an Akila be so inclined to-"

A short, sharp look stung him and his mouth snapped shut. He crossed his arms and watched what had to unfold do just that. Well, he told himself with a mental shrug, at least you get to see her truly test herself...

It would be an interesting sight, that was for sure... but he'd keep his weapons close, all the same...

[Tinnok]

A tense moment rose amongst the six hounds when Leaf swatted a paw at the alphas face. The dog snorted, which transformed into a collective series of growls and a slobbering muzzle up in the kitten's face. Leaf squealed in terror, but Tinnok let out a short laugh that sounded quite like a dog's. A female, perhaps the Beta of the pack, headbutted the Alpha as if dismissing the act in one fell swoop, and made amends in her own way by swiping a massive pink tongue across the jaguar cub's face, causing the fur atop his head to stand straight up. Tinnok laughed again.

There was something about canine's that simply resonated with the Wolf. She had lived among the great tigers of Taloba, haughty proud animals that knew their strength and beauty and strutted it with every step, along with their egotistical riders. It wasn't as if either party didn't deserve the praise, but it was just like a feline to exhume their personality through the pores in their skin.

Some might argue that canine's were simpler creatures, but as Tinnok watched the group dynamics of the pack, she wasn't so sure. The two hounds that had first approached her were clearly the main scouts, their build, while still comprised of rippled muscles, was leaner than their compatriots, and even as the pack settled in around the fire, those two remained standing, one on each end of the camp, ears pricked, watching the night. The pack had it's system, each canine in its own place, determining their strengths and weaknesses and forming that into a tried and true killing unit that could sweep through the under story of the jungle like a dark furred plague.

But her thoughts were distracted when the alpha stalked over to Eagle, one side of his mouth pulled back into a snarl that revealed teeth that so easily could crush bones. Tinnok's eyes widened. She could see Razkar, despite lowering himself to the ground, was tense, nervous. She supposed she couldn't blame him. It was one thing to touch these harbingers of death and feel their unity, to know they wished her no harm, but to live in silence as that aggressive maw drew up to your face? She shuddered at the thought. She had heard of first marked servants of Caiyha failing in their duties. The Goddess of the natural world would remove their mark, no harm done, but that person had failed. Sometimes Tinnok woke up with a start in the night, imagining that her Mother had come for her to revoke the gift which had changed her life, the greatest power she had ever known, and truly could ever imagine. The idea of such a travesty hurt the half breed's heart even now as the thought passed through her consciousness.

Focus.

"Lower your head so the nape of your neck is exposed. We are not here as rivals, we are simply lesser creatures who have come into their hunting grounds, he just wants to know you are not a threat to his pack."

Easy for her to say, the Omega of the pack had rolled upon it's back with his head in her lap, tongue lolling, slobbering all over her like a puppy. The other members of the Akila Hound pack looked upon the lowest member of their tribe with disgust, but Tinnok couldn't begrudge the fellow scratching under the neck and on his belly.

Yellow eyes danced in the firelight. It was a game she played here, and she hoped the pack wouldn't stop for the night with them, but she doubted it. The hounds seemed high energy creatures, and there was still a great deal of night to carry them on their way. She looked, eyes narrowed at Eagle, daring him to disobey her. She wouldn't dare command these hounds, but another Myrian? If he wanted his flesh on when this night was done he would do as she said.

[Razkar]

Just as the Alpha smelled fear like the cloying scent of weakness, so he detected the absence of it, too. The reaction was much the same, as far as Razkar could tell: ears pressed to its lean head, eyes wide and staring with pale pupils on red-rimmed whites, lips curcled back so harshly it almost looked painful... and then that rolling, roiling, nightmare growl that came from all the dark places of the mind and-

"Ah, go shit in yer ear," Razkar muttered under his breath, refusing to be intimidated anymore. "You want-"

"Lower your head so the nape of your neck is exposed. We are not here as rivals, we are simply lesser creatures who have come into their hunting grounds, he just wants to know you are not a threat to his pack."

"Are you fucking demented?!"

One look that nailed him like an arrow through the forehead told him that, no, she was not, and if Eagle didn't want to end up as fifty pounds of stinking dog links, he'd do as he was told. For a few long ticks, the two glared back and forth, Eagle's refusal to trust and Wolf's devotion to the order of the jungle... but Razkar knew which way it would tip.

This is their domain. It always has been. For all our power, we are just... passing through...

The Alpha growled again and even the Omega echoed it, the pack not impressed by this prickly male ape's attitude to their new friend. Under six canine eyes and one pair of reptile ones, Razkar slowly bent forwards...

Felt a shadow pass over him, and was it his imagination, or did the temperature seem to drop as it did? Not for long, because the thick stench of dried mud, dead ticks and wet fur was suddenly battering his nostrils. Wet, insistent stabs of breath prickled his neck hairs, the Alpha perusing him like some delicacy... but there was not hint of teeth, save for the snap of its jaws...

Then he felt it. A wet nose that was innately canine, but seemed to obliterate much of the demonic mystique of those creatures. He'd felt it before. On cats, on adopted jackals and even Tskanna... the nuzzling of something...

Razkar sighed. Curious. Gods, I hate it when she's right.

The Alpha's aggression seemed to bleed away once his nose perused Razkar's neck. Suddenly he was snuffling hungrily, curiously, attempting to categorize this strange meat. Carefully, slowly, Razkar raised his head until it was straight again-

-and found the Akila blinking at Jorka, head tilted and mouth closed, a bizarre little "aruoh?" sound rumbling from its mouth as it regarded the odd ball of fur, as well. The corners of the Myrian's lips quirked a little, sheer, giddy absurdity of the moment and his survival of it raising his hand as if it was attached to a string and he brushed it on the coarse fur of that sleek predator, feeling an odd kinship-

-until another, lower, more... friendly, growl politely reminded him where the boundaries were.

"Right." He muttered, clearing his throat and going back to petting a much safer Jorka. "Too soon, I understand... friend..."