Demons Are Like Obedient Dogs,

They Come When They Are Called

Set Right After ChokePoint

Worry knotted in her stomach as she made her way home, her ears pinned tight against her head, the image of her mothers limp form burned into her brain, her paws felt heavy as she trudged back to the Rainforest. She knew she was in trouble, she knew they all were in trouble, all except Lucifer who hadn't followed her when she had motioned him to.

The piebald cub plopped her butt down at the mouth of the den, her eyes welling up with tears that caused her to tuck her head down and turn away from any possible pryng eyes, the anxiety in the pit of her stomach was threatening to spill over and exit as breakfasts contents.

Any moment she would hear her fathers voice, and have to face him, and she didn't quite know if she was ready to do that. She thought protecting their mother was something to be proud of, of course she hadn't added in the fact she had deliberately disobeyed @Ryker.

@Haider @Iskra @Lucifer

code by corvus

[[probably safe to assume they got out fine now lol]]

It had been a longer trip than usual, his pace slow and careful under the limp weight of his wife and with several of their cubs in tow. One he noted as missing; Lucifer's coat was easy to spot but it was absent from the mix. Did that mean the boy had listened and stayed home? Or that he was already learning how to sneak and hide and watch from a safe distance? He didn't really want to think about the possibility he had followed his siblings and gotten snatched up by an enemy before he could reach them.

Once just outside the den, Ryker finally stopped and carefully lowered @Levana to the ground. She would need a healer, but her breathing and heart were steady so it wasn't an emergency. Ryker, himself, would lie near her and take a moment to rest. Anger still burned in him, mixed with frustration both at not being able to tear into Alexander himself and at having to miss the outcome of Rainhart's fight.

Only when all of the cubs had gathered would he finally speak, You could have died. Blunt, cold. Do you understand that? Curiosity was a great thing, and it was important to keep up-to-date on whatever shifts were happening across the land, but...they were very small and untrained, and Ryker had enemies. One of which he'd personally witnessed threaten a small cub.

@Haider @Iskra @Abaddōn

No shackles on the demon in me

I'd rather be dead than average

code by corvus

Demons Are Like Obedient Dogs,

They Come When They Are Called

Abbadon watched as her father laid her mother down, she grimaced at the limp form, ears flattened against her head as she waited for the inevitable scolding from their father, her body tensed, eyes now glaring at the ground because shed rather be angry than hurt. She refused to look at her siblings, the knot in her stomach was growing bigger with each moment.

The pause between laying Levana down, him laying down, and the resting feels like forever and to soon all at once, she feels heavy.

You could have died

His voice breaks the quietness that had settled in and she visibly wines, ears flattening even further back against her skull, he asks if they understood and she stayed silent, how would they have died? He wouldn't have let them be killed... And they were trying to protect mama.. She looked up finally, tear filled eyes full of questions.


@Haider @Iskra @Ryker

code by corvus

You could have died, do you understand that?

The words from @Ryker were meant to cut deep - and they did, but seeing his mother hurt and motionless had cut deeper. The image stayed with Haider, so engraved into his mind that it consumed him the whole way home. He was agitated, on edge, snapping at any little thing - this would be no exception.

Haider moved closer to @Levana , prowling around her protectively, low growls vibrating from his small chest as if he might be able to actually scare someone. A hiss, then, head snapping to his father swiftly. "Make it to where we won't die next time. Because I will do it again - for Mom." The declaration was bold, brave - meaning behind it that even his young self didn't know. But he would do it again, and again. "I will get back at him too." He adds as a side note, huffing at the thought of the odd-colored male whom tossed her around like a rag doll.

Iskra followed along back to the Rainforest with the rest of her family. She could feel the heavy tension in the air, a strange weight in her own chest, but willfully disregarded it as she sat down near her mother. Her sister, like usual, seemed to be barely holding it together, and the young princess had to fight to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Her mother had been hurt, but in the end, everyone was fine, right? Her fathers voice brought her attention back to him. They could have died? If that were the case, was it not impressive they had come out unscathed? In her mind, it was a testament to their strength, however misguided that belief was. “But we didn’t.” She replied, her voice flat, nearly a challenge to @Ryker’s assertion. Her inability to fully grasp the gravity of the situation was evident, far too cocky for a child her age. A boldness only granted to the young and naive, those who had never really faced any true defeat @Ryker @Abaddōn @Haider

art & code by vasilia

@Haider, the little shadow, was the first to speak up, a little ball of anger. Ryker scoffed, dragging himself back up to his feet to tower over the boy. Do you see more than one of me? His gaze narrowed, staring down his nose at the pitch-black child. I am one lion, Haider, and I'm not sure you understand how small you still are. Could you defend against me, boy, if I came for you? Fight a full-grown adult? Survive long enough to escape if his attacker genuinely wanted him dead?

An ear twitched toward @Iskra as she spoke up, his head swiveling toward her a second later. You got lucky, he snapped, a click of fangs, a first thin crack in the icy attitude.

I will do whatever I need to do to keep you all alive until you're old enough, and big enough, to defend yourselves. But I am not invincible. The scars littering his pelt told a story of a violent life, but there was little difference between the ones gained in victory and those suffered in defeat. Very soon, you'll be old enough to start learning. I'll teach you what I can to make sure you can at least hold your own by your first year. Until then, I expect you to trust when I say it's too dangerous, and that I, and your mother, will come home alive. Perhaps a little worse for wear, but breathing.

Moving to sit once more, he sighed, ears tipping back as his tail twitched, agitated, behind him. The man who attacked your mother is her own uncle. Or was. It wasn't exactly a talk he'd planned to have so soon, but perhaps it would put things in perspective for them. Her family disowned her, so that connection will not help you, and I've personally witnessed another of her relatives threaten a much younger cub. Don't expect them to show mercy because you're young, or even because you're her cubs. Actually, he was a little surprised the nonsense hadn't put a larger target on the kids. When you're older, his gaze slid to Haider again, aiming to meet the boy's eyes steadily, you can seek whatever revenge you like. Ryker, himself, still itched for a piece of a certain piebald male's hide.

@Abaddōn

No shackles on the demon in me

I'd rather be dead than average

code by corvus

When @Iskra spoke up against their father as well, siding with Haider - he felt smug at the support. It wasn't often that he and his sister got along too well, but when they did... it could be dangerous.

@Ryker didn't seem to hold a patience to them, though, and his father scoffed and drew closer to him. Staring up to him, his black eyes watched his father's expressions, their faces so close. At his baiting question, Haider huffed loudly. "Don't underestimate me!" Sure, he hadn't been in a fight. Or been trained - or really anything. But he believed in himself... that was something.

"Soon? No. Now." He cuts in and demands of his Father, arguing against being able to learn 'very soon'. His brows furrowed when he heard it was an Uncle who attacked Mother - and they had a whole hidden part of their family... that were what, enemies? They had to be if they were attacking them. Ryker gave his approval for Haider to get his revenge, but only when he is older. It calmed something in the wild boy, knowing his father would not hold him back but perhaps... help wield him. "Their lives." The twisted child exclaimed, wanting to see those enemies turned into the corpses he'd play with after killing his prey. To be less than another participant in the circle of life. An unlucky one, of course. "I behave - I learn, I listen to you... and you help me slaughter any and everyone who has harmed Mother or our family." He proclaims, his goals beyond reach; so high in the sky, but he is young and his ego is soaring... he believes in the impossible, so the impossible he would chase.