[Genim]

The day had started out well enough for Genim; a slow rise long after the sun had already risen it was the kind of day the youth enjoyed most. You see ample time given to actually getting out and about meant the day was automatically going to be awesome, the boy was sure of it. And what with few real responsibilities to speak of yet (Nim would have to make a note to himself to get on that) he was free to simply meander about doing whatever he felt the day would be good for, and today that was foraging for new supplies.

If only he'd known what that one decision would set into motion.

It was supposed to be a nice, leisurely, trip around the woods and maybe even the crystal trees (he could make some beautiful things out of the colors found there he was sure of it!) to gather twigs and other such things for a new idea he had in mind. And had it no been for a strange bit of clumsiness not far into the woods, clumsiness he would later blame on still adjusting to his newly grown features, the trip probably would've gone just as expected. Instead, however, Genim's stumbling over a bit of god only knows what resulted in an all but flailing motion through some brush and straight into a gathering of...he wasn't really sure what they were. Not that there was time to really think about it anyway! Not when one strange noise brought about by his surprised call of, "I'm sorry!" was quickly followed by another before he registered a sharp pain in his leg bringing him to his haunches.

Oh god, what were they?! A startled yelp would escape him as he tried his best to scramble to back to his paws and away, which probably would've been easier if there didn't seem to be a million of the weird, angry creatures coming at him all at once and each armed with a beak coming straight for wherever they could reach. Another hit, this one aimed well enough to snag onto an ear and tear painfully at it, would result in the boy lashing out with a snarl and scrambling up with his back to a tree.

Oh god, this was how he died wasn't it? Taken down by some kind of bird things.

[Harriette]

The day was slow. There didn’t seem to be quite as many booger-faced pups stumbling into the tree any longer, which Harriette was silently happy for. It was nice to get a chance to catch her breath. She felt she’d been working tirelessly for quite some time.

She loved her duties in the pack, and she loved to help others. But today would be a good day to restock some low supplies. They needed a few things in the tree, and she was more than happy to wander about to find these herbs. She announced to whoever else was there that she’d be gone for some time, but would be back with as much as her mouth could carry.

Setting off, she wasn’t sure what to seek out first. Rather than making a plan, she decided to simply put herself out there and see what popped up first.

However, the pale girl didn’t get too far before she heard the noises of a struggle.

A yelp pierced the air and Harriette’s ears perked instantly. Was someone in trouble?

Changing direction, she headed for the source of the sound, picking up her pace to a light run. She had no idea what she’d stumble upon, but she’d never guess to find Genim in a swarm of … Angry birds? Were they even birds? They were so much larger. Much larger – bigger than Harriette, in fact.

At first, Harriette really had no idea how she could help this poor soul (who was actually her nephew, which she would later find out). She was unsure whether she could really do anything to save the boy.

But of course, she could not let him die at the hands of these very … Scary … Birds.

“Hey--!” She hollered to him. Which turned out to be a bad idea. Rather than simply catching the attention of the boy, a dozen pairs of eyeballs turned to look at her with dumb stares. A brief pause. Then: chaos.

Changing their tune, they turned for Harriette, waddling at her with snapping beaks and odd noises emerging from within them. She looked around herself in a panic, trying to find anywhere to go. She had the advantage of being smaller than them, so perhaps there was a solution there.

She turned to see a hole within the gnarled roots of a large tree, and decided she’d be able to fit in there, but the enemies would not. Making a move, she ran for the small “cave” and wedged herself within it, wiggling he way in and doing so successfully. However, it was a tight fit, and her tail was still hanging out. She didn’t have any room to move, so she was kind of … Stuck like this.

“Oh no…” she muttered to herself, feeling the birds at her tail. She wagged it this way and that, figuring a moving target would be harder to grab with a beak.

She hoped Genim had the next smart move in this little plan, because Harriette was all out of ideas – good and bad.

A E S T H E T I C

[Genim]

Oh, oh good, someone had heard his desperate manly yells and snarls and come to help! And he would've replied to that greeting only...now wasn't really the time even if the angry birds of death were turning away from him. Yes, freedom! Painful, bloody, freedom admittedly but at least he could finally see it coming his way.

The pause, ensuing chaos, and quite frankly the boy was tempted to make a run for it while he had the chance. They were distracted by fresh blood, he could totally sneak off and the birds wouldn't even notice. Yes, Genim quite liked that plan and even began a slow inching away from the tree and away from the danger before stopping with a silent sigh. He should really go, stay alive to fight another day and so on, but for once something pushed him the opposite way and straightening himself the youth would turn back to the hoard.

Knowing that he'd stop in his tracks if Genim stopped to really think things through he would instead charge right in and take a few snaps and swings at the birds closest to the back.  "Hey," he would hiss under his breath as not to attract the whole group (again), "I'mma try to lead some of them farther away so you can get out." It probably wasn't the smartest move but if he could just distract a few of them then maybe they'd have a real shot at getting out of there relatively intact. Just a few that's all he wanted/needed, just enough that his potential savior could get back out and hopefully help him take out the rest of them. Or at least enough to scare the others away, preferably for good.

So far so good at least, so far a few had already turned away to go for him and though he really didn't want to the boy would snarl just a little louder to try and get a few more before turning and darting away from the roots and toward one of the other trees several feet away all while muttering to himself, "This'd so better be worth it..."

((Ah! I've had this half-finished and completely forgot about it, sorry!))

[Harriette]

So Harriette had successfully wedged herself into the roots of this tree, and chaos was ensuing behind her. The clucking and groaning and chirping of the terror birds was evident behind her. She took resolve in the fact that she had at least distracted the stupid birds and … saved … that poor soul. Perhaps ‘saved’ was the wrong word to use here, but she needed to find some form of positive light in this very, very dark situation.

It felt as though she’d been in this mess of tree roots for ages, and she had no idea what to do from here. Every now and then, she felt a small tuft of fur being plucked from her rump, a small yelp escaping her lips as it happened each time.

After what felt like hours of heart-racing anticipation, she heard a voice being directed to her. “Hey, I'mma try to lead some of them farther away so you can get out.”

Harriette breathed a sigh of relief, hoping this was the answer to her problems. “O-okay… I’m pretty… Stuck. So just. Uh … Give me a good window of time, okay?” She spoke nervously, waiting for the right moment.

Harriette could hear the birds being guided away from her, and she began excessive wriggling. Side to side, twisting, sucking in her breath, shooting it all out at once. She tried everything, and she was hardly making any progress. Oh man… What was she going to do now? She couldn’t exactly ask her new partner in crime to help her – he was distracting their enemies.

Huffing dramatically, she dug her paws into the ground and pushed with all of her strength (it wasn’t much), pushing, pushing, pushing. Squeezing her eyes shut, she put all of her force into this movement, hoping it would score her freedom.

She sucked in her breath again, and gave one last OOMPH.

Then – FWOOMPH.

Shooting backwards, she flew from the grasp of the tree roots, landing on her rump and tumbling backward.

Right into the herd of dodo birds.

A shocked bark flew from her mouth and every stupid bird head turned to look at her, and they immediately came at her, surrounding her.

“H-HELP!” She yelled to Genim, not entirely sure how he could help her anymore than he already did. This was not Harriette’s territory – she was not a fighter. She wasn’t exactly trained in the art of combat. Perhaps he was.

She hoped he was.

A E S T H E T I C

[Genim]

Give her time...Wow, Genim would've given a major unimpressed face had it not be a situation where he was pressed for time. " 'Can't promise anything," she should just be happy he was at least offering to try and get them away at all.

This just in: not worth it. Not worth it at all. "Go away," damn bird-monster-things! It seemed like they never ended, every single time the youth would knock one away another just popped up. It was like spontaneously generating birds and that just shouldn't exist even in nightmares. No, he was pretty sure even in his nightmares wouldn't have come up with something like this. But hey, they were distracted at least and that was all he was really aiming for at the moment (well, that and staying alive with hopefully only minimal further injury to himself). God, she'd better have gotten out because Nim wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up before drowning in angry critters. Oh hey she was out- "What are you doing?!"

...Fuck his life man.


"You're not supposed to flail into them," the stupid was well and truly implied by his tone. But, wait a minute if they were all distracted by a new target then they weren't all on him. So maybe one or two stayed, but that was alright he could just knock them off course and then freedom. Help? "I already tried to help!" would come an incredulous whisper-shout, "Look where that got us!" What more was he supposed to do? He'd already taken one too many pecks in the name of being helpful, and there was blood dripping down his face (his poor, beautiful ear!), and he was just so over this. "What," a sneaky sideswipe toward a nearby dodo would interrupt him momentarily, "do you expect me to do?"

Forget it, every moment spent arguing was one more minute where the enemy could turn their full attention back to him and he wasn't stupid enough to just stand there and wait on them. Nope, the boy would instead start inching away step by slow step and hopefully few if any of them would decide to follow and he could go find somewhere safe to curl up and hide. The unnamed lady? Well, good luck to her he supposed.

[Harriette]

Harriette stared around her in fear, wishing that this wasn’t happening. Wishing that she’d just stayed at the Living Tree today. Why did she decide to venture out today?

”What are you doing!? You’re not supposed to flail into them!” Said the boy, and Harriette felt tears welling in her eyes. She knew that! She didn’t mean to do this, she didn’t want to be here. At her call for help, Genim only offered more unhelpful remarks, and Harriette could feel the frustration rising in her chest as the tears began to dampen the fur on her cheeks.

A couple birds came towards her and she did her best to shove them away, not wanting to hurt them, and not entirely sure how to hurt them, anyway. They pecked at her, and she yelped and whimpered as they did so.

She couldn’t see the boy, who she didn’t know was her nephew, and she wasn’t sure if he was even doing anything. Another yelp erupted from her mouth as a dodo grabbed hold of her tail briefly, and another pecked at her feet.

She hated this. She hated this!! There were far too many for her to handle. What was she supposed to do? Just lay down and let them peck away at her flesh!? The anger rose higher and higher in her throat, tears flowing heavier and heavier. Harriette wasn’t an aggressive girl, she wasn’t a mean person. She hunted when she needed to, and she didn’t kill for sport.

But could this really classify as sport? Honestly, this was survival at this point – considering her nephew was actually abandoning her, which she was completely unaware of (Tauro, your son is a turd).

Suddenly, a growl erupted from Harriette, and she found herself snapping her teeth at the birds, watching as a few of them backed away while others continued to peck at her legs and toes, breaking skin here and there. The Acolyte felt herself losing a bit of control over her actions, a snarl bursting from her maw.

It did seem to be working, but she was still outnumbered, and she was still being pecked at by these stupid birds. “GET OFF OF ME!” She’d scream, face wet with tears, teeth bared. Using a paw, she swiped at a few of the birds, knocking them into each other and off of their feet. They were just so big.

“Why aren’t you helping!?” She yelled to Genim, but she didn’t know he was on his way out. She growled and snapped her teeth at a few more of the birds, turning her body to look around her as she got no response from the boy.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him. Escaping. He was leaving her! “HEY!” She called to him, actually shocked that he’d just leave her there. They were a pack! How could he do that? She was in trouble, she was being hurt, and he was just … Leaving?

This only added to her anger, and she felt herself blacking out a bit. Growling deeply, she swatted at a few more of the birds before recoiling and then bursting forward to try and blast through them. Jumping over would be hard – they were too tall – so she aimed low and ran forward, maneuvering around their legs, knocking them over if she had to. There were so many but she was quite dainty and had the advantage of speed and agility.

Breaking through them, she just ran. She ran past Genim, brushing against him as she went by and growling as she told him to run. She was not mean, she wasn’t going to knock him down or anything, but she made it blatantly obvious that she was leaving him behind.

The dodos were in hot pursuit, so if he didn’t run, then he was going to be stuck fighting them off just like she was.

She didn’t stop for a long time. She didn’t look back. Genim was bigger than her, if she could handle herself then so could he. And to be honest, she was pissed. How could a packmate leave another packmate like that?

Once she felt that she was far enough away and she couldn’t hear the dodos squawking anymore, she’d stop. She was near the water, she could hear the waves lapping against the rocks down below. Breaths heavy, chest heaving, she sat to catch her breath. She’d wait to see if the boy showed up, so she could give him an earful. If he didn’t, she’d just rest for a while…

A E S T H E T I C