[OTP] Night Terrors (Manslaughter and Unsung Valor)

[lostandtold]

For days now, she had felt it -- the dreadful fear from her dream, a pit of black terror twisting tighter in her chest. It came from the north, and she wavered, wandering the paths familiar to her, torn between fleeing from it and confronting it head-on.

And one day, she had simply decided -- no more quailing. She would not fall victim to weakness. She set off towards the north, with Ashes at her side, determined to face her terrors and set them straight.

As darkness fell, she finally broke free of the swamp -- to find a desolate plain, mud cracked by the heat of the sun, and her heart almost failed her. It was terrifyingly empty, the claw-like cracks reaching hungrily towards the horizon.

She froze, staring at it all, taking in the sight, her mind nearly blank with terror.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

And with the perfect opportunity presenting itself to him so nicely, how could Manslaughter resist?

This doe had intrigued him, he need only to have watched her for two, maybe three sun-cycles to become interested. She was strange, he would say, in the way that she fought. She pushed herself and she pushed herself into places that most others would pee themselves in terror just thinking of them, let alone going there! And this made his little brain work double. How was she doing this? How was she fighting her fears? And how could he get her to stop doing it?

And with the doe finally coming to a stop, and with such a heartbreaking look on her face, how could he not jump on this opportunity?

The doe standing there, staring at the open flats, fear practically overrunning her eyes, Manslaughter tensed all his muscles and leapt out of the swamp behind her, aim precise, and landed directly behind her and skid to a stop, with his front legs one on either side of her haunches, chest hovering over her rump and evil grinning maw stretched forward over her back so that he could rumble a deep growl into her ear. Simultaneous with his exposure, his hound Massacre erupted into a fearsome howl, that was hollow and eerie and seemed to fill up the entire night sky, all at once.

Now that was a good pounce!
 

[lostandtold]

Valor had been so intent on the plains that she hadn't even noticed the shadow creeping up behind her. Then, from behind her, a jump, a thump, a dark form behind her, a growl in her ear, and a howl!

She shrieked, acting on instinct -- she kicked backwards, towards the beast and sprang forward, dancing around on four legs to face the threat. All of her was ready to run, except for that bright spark in her throat.

Don't run, it cried to her, face it, hunt it, keep it from hurting another -- and she stood her ground, ears going back, and bared her teeth. Ashes fluttered at her side, lifting and fluffing her feathers, spreading her wings and hissing at the attackers.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

He had anticipated some sort of retaliation, and thus had braced himself for the impact. Getting out of the way in time had a slight chance in being plausible, but instead of showing that moment of weakness, he stood his ground, and kept the air in his lungs, puffing his chest out as much as he could so that he could breath it all out at the time of impact, and that is precisely what he did. As her hooves hit hard, he breathed out, and thus lessened the pain. His body flinched from the force, but his expression only deepened.

His grin opened up to reveal his lethal rows of teeth and he allowed his eyes to open to their regular width, casting a sinister red glow on anything within reach. As she turned to growl at him, he merely shifted the weight from all of his legs towards his hind ones and lowered his head just slightly to let her know that he was not going to be an easy target. His tail swung back and forth easily and his ears were up and listening, focused on the doe that was suddenly being defensive.

Massacre, seeing this as a chance for a snack, rushes out from the bushes and makes a beeline for the crane, intent on latching her jaws around the pretty little thing's neck and then gnawing on that delicious piece of meat...
 

[lostandtold]

Valor was torn between horror and amazement. The Motherfather's creations never ceased to amaze her -- and, in this case, terrify her. She blinked her eyes twice, meeting the red glow of his eyes with her own. The featherlike markings along her side cast light all about her.

The strange buck growled like a bear, had teeth like an alligator, and was as aggressive as a lynx, it seemed. She braced herself, either to fight or to run.

Then the hound burst from the bushes, for her familiar. Ashes hissed and spat, dancing to the side and counterattacking, sharp, long beak darting to stab at the hound. And her master leaped forward, kicking out at Massacre, with a fierce cry -- surprising herself.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

Massacre, having lightning quick reflexes, managed to twist herself out of the way of the crane's stabs, and only just barely managed to escape the vicious kick that had been sent her way from the doe. She could feel the hard edge of the hoof graze along her entire side as she turned 180* and bound once, twice and then repeated that turn to face her enemy once more. With only eyes for the magnificent treat before her, Massacre's tongue lolled out and her front end bowed down in a way that many young things do when they ask to play, and indeed she did ask to play, but her game was a lethal one, and came with a spitting snarl and a pair of red glowing eyes of its own.

Manslaughter, on the other hoof, couldn't bring himself to get involved in the fight between the familiars, except to laugh. He raised his head, and laughed so hard that his eyes even dimmed as they slid partially shut once more, and his laughter was not even close to being warm. It was as cold as the ice that was so rare in the swamp, and it was deep, rumbling, threatening somehow, and offensive because it was meant to be a happy sound.

When it finally subsided after several moments while Massacre ducked in and out of her game of stab-me-if-you-can while cautiously staying out of reach of the doe, he closed his mouth for a split second and then opened it once more, this time to speak. His gruff voice was gravely, harsh and low, a heavy voice that said, "Don't be so overprotective, Mother. Let the children play!"

A little gleam in his eye wasn't all that revealed that he was being coy, tempting her out to direct her attention to him, there was also that grin, that grin that grinned a thousand teeth, if not more.
 

[lostandtold]

As Massacre attacked again, Valor lunged, kicking for the hound's side. Ashes shrilled and leaped back, dancing on long, thin legs, out of the hound's reach. The moment Massacre started to draw back, the crane lunged, stabbing with her long beak.

The laugh made Valor's blood run cold, but she rallied as best as she could, helping her crane defend against the dark dog.

The moment the buck spoke, she whirled, baring her own teeth. "Tell your mangy cur to heel, you wretch." Such terrifying creatures seemed more fit for nightmares than for reality.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

Massacre lolls her tongue, grinning in that canine way as she plays, and as she does, and the doe lunges once more with another vicious kick, this time, she does not dodge it completely. It clips her shoulder and it causes her to wince and snap once at the doe, aiming at her ankle, keeping her eyes on the crane.

Manslaughter watches the fight, and still doesn't move to get involved. Instead his eyes watch the doe, following her every movement and watching her every tensing muscle. Aloud, he replied hungrily, "Attitude! I like a doe with kick..." His tongue slithered out of his mouth and over his lips before he straightened back up again and replied, "I am not her master, and nor is she mine. Massacre will not get the better of that crane of yours unless it lets its guard down. She's only managed to catch them when she sneaks up on them unawares, say, in the dark hours when they roost on their beloved eggs. And yours is doing neither of those, so I would deem it - and you - to be overreacting. Besides, couldn't a thing with wings just... fly away...?"
 

[lostandtold]

The snap of Massacre's jaws just nick's Valor's ankle, but it's barely a scratch, and just an annoyance. "Come a little closer, and I'll show you kick," she snaps at him -- brash to cover the fear still trembling in her bones. "We're defending ourselves. Ashes will not fly away and leave me behind. What did you intend, leaping out of the darkness like that?" She snarls at the hound again, warning her off.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

A raised eyebrow and a smirk of amusement dawned on Manslaughter's face. "How could I resist an invitation like that?" And with that quick little line, he steps closer, lowering his head, flicking his tattered ears and transferring most of his weight into his back legs, all in one fluid movement, in a matter of a second.

As far as her second response, and demand, he simply ignores it, and instead proceeds to reply to her body language. He opens his jaws just the slightest, and curls his lips up to reveal those pearly sharps to the feisty doe allowing his voice to grow deeper, practically a growl as he offers a response, "Intentions are failed attempts, and that is simply nothing I waste my time on..." Leaving it more up to interpretation for the doe, afterall, why give her straight answers? It was more fun this way...

Massacre even joins in with her own lifted lips and a low growl, eyes suggesting that she hadn't even been trying when she nicked the doe, and that she'd be willing to do much worse, should she get any more involved in her match with the crane.
 

[lostandtold]

Her ears go back, and she braces, ready to repulse an attack. "Then why are you still here? Your attempt to frighten me has failed," she answers, watching him with glowing red eyes. "Whether the hound is yours or not, leave. I have no real quarrel with you." So he is not truly dangerous, merely bored and malicious. Ashes spreads her wings and hisses, backing up her mistress's orders.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

He straightened up and... laughed. More of a chuckle really, but it sent birds flying up into the air and away from the scene. "Oh, don't even. Darling, you were shivering in your fur, hardly able to keep your eyes open and your hooves still when you turned to face me. I scared the tiniest sparks of warmth from your..." he looked over her frame now, not hiding in the least that he is checking her out, "... appetizing figure..." his eyebrow raises and his growl turns into a sly grin, "...not that I would ever lay my teeth into that enticing hide of yours, without any provocation...buuuut...." and he let it trail off there.

Massacre could not hold out any longer. She tensed her muscles and took one carefully measured leap at the crane, but instead of aiming anywhere vital, she aims for the very tips of one of the outstretched wings, mouth open just enough so that as her maw brushes against the feathers, it slaws shut on just one. With a quick jerk of the head, the hound lands neatly with that singular feather held in her mouth, and then she is off, running into the trees and away from the kimeti, on this rampant chase that she hopes will entice the crane --and only the crane-- will follow.
 

[lostandtold]

If that was laughter, Valor had wings. When he runs his eyes over her, she braces, with a snarl that bares teeth. "You did not. Try to lay teeth into my hide, and all you'll get are hooves to the head." She's forgotten fear of the plains at her back, in favor of fear of this terrifying buck.

As Massacre lunges, Valor's head whips around and she leaps to defend her crane. Ashes shrieks as the hound snatches one of her feathers, then goes bounding off, and the crane follows with a swift flutter of wings and an outraged hiss. They're too quick for Valor to catch, and she stops, watching as they disappear into the forest -- and not paying enough attention to the danger at her back.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

And with that perfect opportunity, Manslaughter makes his move. He takes one calculated bound closer to the doe, and in the close proximity, uses most of his power to relay his strength into a shoulder that meets her side, hard enough to knock her right over. The knockdown is quickly followed by a lowering of his stance and his front hooves to be placed on her shoulder. Not all of his weight is put down on her, as that would be rather stressful and painful, no doubt, but he puts down enough weight to hold her there, while balancing mostly on his hind legs.

His head lowers and nears hers, though he stays just out of nipping range, and his bright red eyes stare straight into hers. Intimidating? Most would definitely think so. He whispers to her, voice gravely and rough, "Don't pay them any attention, they're gone, and I'm sure your bird can take care of itself, as it demonstrated it could fly." His tail found it's way around his body and slowly began to brush back and forth along her back leg and side as he continued to speak. "You should focus on me, precious. Pay attention to all the affection you're getting. All of my attention. Surely there's nothing else you'd want more in this world?" His grin turned malicious and then he cut his direct gaze away from her eyes and turned them to the glowing pattern on her hide instead. "Such a pretty coat...." And as he continued to growl, his teeth neared her body, and eventually he was gnawing on her, not puncturing her skin, not even scratching it, but he gnawed on her as if she were merely a bone he was trying to soothe a toothache on. "Very lovely..."
 

[lostandtold]

She screams as he hits her, before the impact knocks the breath out of her. She hits the ground on her side, stunned for long enough that Manslaughter can pin her. At least he didn't put down all his weight -- that might've broken her shoulder. She struggles, trying to worm out from under his front hooves, well aware that being on her side puts her in a very vulnerable, awkward position.

As he lowers his head, she lunges, trying to bite, but she can't quite reach. The twitch of his tail makes her shudder violently, and she freezes for a moment. "You -- Swamp curse you!" she yelps, trying to get a hind leg around to kick him as he chews on her. "What I want right now is for you to turn your attentions elsewhere and leave me alone!" She thrashes, trying to land a wild kick or bite.