[VIKINGS] Muddy-Battles

[Velveteen Angel]

Diya'ali was on his first viking in a fair while. He had spent a lot of time at home in the pride, but his paws were certainly itching to get out into the rogue lands, maybe find a thrall or two, impress some of the ladies and generally enjoy himself.

What he had not been expecting was for two of his adult children to invite themselves along. He would not have minded Aemilius tagging along, as the somber male would likely not bother him, but when Linnea decided she would also come along despite her disinterest in becoming a Reaver, he was rather disappointed. He had no issues with his daughters becoming reavers, but Linnea had made it perfectly clear before that fighting was not her cup of tea, but it seemed she liked the idea of the freedom of a reaver more than she disliked the idea of fighting.

He was considerably unimpressed with his viking party.

Aemilius walked slowly, methodically, alongside his father, his cold eyes scanning the landscape around them. He wasn't the most keen fighter, but at the same time, he had gotten rather interested in the whole thing after the pride-wide competition. He knew his father was rather disappointed in his litter for their lack of ambition but Aemilius did not have dreams of greatness. He was neither content or discontent with his life as it was. As it stood, he was rather...apathetic to the whole pride.

Perhaps becoming a reaver would bring some excitement to his life, he mused to himself.

Linnea, unlike her brother and father, was not that interested in the landscape, rather she was concerned at avoiding the assorted puddles that were littering the ground around them. She turned up her nose, looking disinterested at the surroundings.

"Ugh, it's disgusting here, why are we here? Can't we go somewhere nicer? We should have stuck along the coast line. We aren't going to find any creatures stupid enough to live here. I suggested this earlier but did anyone listen to me? Noooo of course not, that would be logical and heaven knows that boys cannot be logical and cocky, of course." She huffed.

Both Aemilius and Diya'ali winced at Linnea's rant, exchanging annoyed looks behind the female's back.
Aemilius had been rather interested in getting to talk to his father more. It was not that Diya had been an absent father, but at the same time, he had not been a particularly hands-on father, and so Aemilius felt as if he hardly knew the male now that he, too, was an adult.

It seemed with Linnea tagging along, that was unlikely to happen.

"We will find something," he said, his voice cool, talking to his triplet with a heavy level of disinterest. He was disappointed that his other sister had not chosen to come along, as perhaps then she could have distracted Linnea.

Linnea frowned, obviously displeased at her brother's response. "No we won't!" She protested. "I will bet you a thrall, we do not find a single creature on this god-forsaken journey and we go home utterly disappointed."

"We will go this way," Diya said, trying to cut over the two and hoping to end their bickering, his tone was cold and no-nonsense, making sure the now-adults would not protest his decision.

He motioned towards a vague image in the distance, a watering hole that would surely have some sort of creatures surrounding it.

"Of course, Father," Aemilius said, before Linnea could protest. Both males set off towards the watering hole, while Linnea was forced to do nothing else but follow along, muttering to herself in annoyance and being generally unhappy with the whole process.

As they drew closer to the watering hole, the sound of creatures inhabiting it caused both Aemilius and Diya'ali to shush Linnea's whinging and encourage the disinterested female to quieten her steps. The trio approached the body of water, low to the ground and moving as quietly as they could. They had the disadvantage of not being coloured naturally, but they did have the element of surprise on their side.  

[Velveteen Angel]

The watering hole was inhabited by a few prey beasts, a wild dog and two male cheetahs who all stood nearby to one another, seperated fromt he prey beasts by the main body of water. Probably at the request of the prey beasts.

Aleu was not a delicate looking Wild Dog and so she was unsuprised that the prey beasts were uncomfortable being too close to her, even though she had assured them that she was not hungry. Also, one of the male cheetahs seemed rather...ragged and rough, so again, she was unsurprised.

One of the cheetahs, a dark coloured male, littered with the scars of many, many of his battles, including one that ran across his breast-bone in a jaggered formation.

He drank from the watering hole, keeping one eye on his unchosen companions. He knew he would be unlikely to find a private watering hole, but the blue cheetah who also resided there seemed determined to make friends with them all, and that was nothing but an annoyance to Keito.

Sa'chiel had been thrilled to find the watering hole inhabited by other creatures. He was a very social creature and he had been rather lonely since his home pride had disbanded, he had not really adjusted to the rather lonely life of a rogue.

He bounced on his paws, excited at the 'friends' he had made. "So what is everyone doing after this?" He asked, cheerfully. "Perhaps we could go for a hunt."

The prey beasts across the watering hole looked startled and began to inch away from the watering hole, to the amusement of Aleu who was watching them. She had not been lying that she wasns't hungry, but clearly they still didn't believe them. This blue cheetah wasn't really selling them on the idea either.

"I'm not hungry, I ate early," Aleu said, rather apologetically. "I'm on my way home to my pride."

"Oh, you're in a pride?" Sa'chiel perked up. "Maybe I could come too."

"Sorry dear, but the pride is for wild dogs only. You're not really the right species," she said, amused. "There are plenty of other prides around, I'm sure you'll find one."

"Why would you join a pride?" Keito said bitterly. "Don't they just encourage backstabbing and death?" He was aware that gave away a bit of his history.

"Is that what happened to you?" Sa'chiel asked, with wide eyes.

Aleu winced at the blunt question. "Not all prides or packs are like that," She said, trying to avoid the awkwardness that would come if the dark cheetah killed the blue cheetah over the stupidness of his last comment. "You just have to find the right pack for your sensibilities."

Keito glared at Sa'chiel, waiting until the blue male shrunk back in fear before turning his gaze to Aleu. "That's why I am alone," he said with a growl. The only one who had shared his honour had been his siblings, and they would be disappointed in his failure.  

[Velveteen Angel]

The trio of lions crept closer to the trio who stood near the watering hole, Diya motioning to Aemilius to go around the side and for Linnea to go the other way. His son did so obediently but Linnea rolled her eyes and did so with the greatest deal of reluctance. She only really began to move once Diya glared at her. She huffed - annoying Diya further at the noise she made - and began to move in the direction she had been directed.

Diya scowled and rolled his eyes, frustrated at his own kin, but focusing on the task at hand. They were cheetahs and wild dogs, so they weren't the best thralls but they would do.

He waited until the two lions were in position before he motioned for them to move quickly.

He launched himself forward, aiming towards the well-scarred male, because he figured that he would be the hardest to take down and he did not trust either of his offspring with such a task. They were, after all, just newbies to the art of being a Reaver. It would only be once they returned to the pride that they would even be considered Reavers. They definitely did not have the skill to bring down a seasoned fighter.

Diya snarled as he threw himself at Keito. Keito flinched at the sound, managing to duck just in time and use his smaller stature to his advantage. Unfortunately for Sa'chiel, he had been standing near Keito and was hit with the full weight of Diya as he missed Keito.

Aemilius launched himself forward seconds after his father, running at the wild dog. However, similiarly to his father, the noise he made gave him away and the Wild Dog firmed her stance. It was only as he drew closer that he realised how muscular the female was, and his eyes widened as the female did not back down, but rather launched herself at him, firming her small form into a missile sort of form. She rammed into his ribs at full speed, and Aemilius yowled in pain.

Linnea had run towards the trio half-heartedly, but as she saw her brother and father having trouble, she slowed to a walk and generally lost interest.

Sa'chiel cried out in surprise at the sudden ambush, his eyes widening as he was hit with the full force of a lion. He crashed to the ground and yelled in pain.

Keito, instead of turning tail and running as he could full well have done, felt a ping of guilt that Sa'chiel would be injured because of him, and he, instead, launched himself at the back of Diya. He latched his teeth into the male's shoulder, and heard the lion roar in pain. He tried to buck him off, but Keito dug in further, using his paws to keep hold.

Aleu was proud of herself for taking the male off guard, and snapped her teeth at the stranger, latching onto the male's tail. Aemilius yowled and swiped his paws out, catching Aleu along the hindquarters, his claws digging in and drawing blood. Aleu howled, but did not let go. She didn't have the claws to attack, but her teeth could do severe damage, especially to the slender tail of the male.

Diya rolled onto his back, squashing the male cheetah who was formerly on his back into the ground, and therefore releasing Sa'chiel who he had pinned before. Sa'chiel rose to his paws, aching from teh impact and wondering if his paw was broken as he could barely put pressure on it. Keito continued to bite and swipe at the lion, and managed to spit out.

"Run!" to Sa'chiel, in between the attacks.

Sa'chiel's eyes were wide and he looked towards Aleu, who was also doing battle. She released the lions tail for a second, to repeat Keito's command, "RUN!"

That was all the reinforcement that Sa'chiel needed, and he did the thing he did best. He ran. He shot between the fighting pairs, past the disinterested looking female who, half-heartedly, swatted at him as he went past. He felt horrible, leaving his companions, but he was actually useless in battle. Absolutely useless. He whimpered to himself as he left, his paw aching and his body sore. Man he missed being in a pride.

Aleu howled in pain as Aemilius swiped at her again, his claws digging into her neck and drawing blood. She snapped at him, her teeth bloodied and her eyes furious. They stalked each other in a circle, both trying to outmaneuver each other. It was then that she noticed Keito had also managed to get some distance between himself and his attacker. She met the cheetah's eyes, and they nodded at each other. Both were bloodied and sore, but both were strong fighters and so the lions were also quite injured as well.

Almost at the same time, both Aleu and Keito ran towards each other, crossing over just in front of each other. Aemilius and Diya sprinted after their prey, but both being smaller and quicker, were not able to change directions as quickly as their prey and so they ended up colliding in the mud surrounding the watering hole.

Aleu yipped in laughter, and offered a howl of victory as she sprinted off, casting a parting bloodied grin as Keito as they left in separate directions. Keito inclined his head, but did not offer a word of parting as they fled their attackers.

Aemilius and Diya growled in anger, realising that their prey had gotten away.

"You could have helped!" Diya snapped at his daughter, who walked over to stand near them.

"And get all muddied and bloody?" She sniffed. "No thank you!"

Diya snarled, rising to his paws and stomping into the watering hole to wash off. Aemilius rose a little slower, his tail stinging from the bites it had received and his body littered in mud. Perhaps he wasn't made for fighting, he mused to himself, as he walked slowly into the water to wash clean.