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 Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2025 8:29 pm
She almost crashed right into Lavender Violet - her horn would've gored him, if not for Ruby Maxine yanking her head away at the very last second as she skidded to a stop, her hooves kicking up a huge trail of dust behind her.
"What?" Ruby Maxine panted. "What, is there something--is there more? Does it have friends, or a pack, or--?" Ruby's eyes were wild and frightened, and sitting still felt incredibly dangerous; she was too close to the action behind her. They were still fighting - she hoped. She hoped that the Shifter hadn't simply torn the Angeni apart, that he wasn't bearing down on them at this very second.
"We have to go!" Ruby said, without waiting to process Lavender Violet's answer to her question. Fearing the worst, Ruby ducked sideways, away from both the way she'd come and the direction Lavender Violet was coming from. She didn't have anything in her mind but survival - she couldn't listen to Lavender Violet. She set off at a canter, dodging trees and branches as she went. She could only hope that the Angeni was still alive, and would be able to find them later - Ruby needed to thank her, but to do that, she first needed to live.
The forest was unforgiving - Ruby was very much a mare who stayed on a clearly marked path. She was just as likely - more, maybe - to trip and break an ankle here than she was to get killed by the Shifter behind them. Somehow she kept her footing, only pausing when Lavender Violet whinnied for her to pause in a small clearing. She had no idea how far they'd run, just that she was sure they'd never run far enough to really feel safe - not until the Angeni reappeared and told them that all was clear.
((WC: 302))
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Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2025 8:52 pm
Lavender Violet was trying to be brave, and the universe just wasn't letting him. He was trying to help his friends, but his friends were also running, and who was he to argue?
"I came back to help!" Lavender Violet managed to tell Ruby Maxine, but she wasn't listening to him - her mind was scattered by fear, he realized. He glanced over her shoulder, trying to peer down the path to where the battle was taking place, but he couldn't make anything out. Not who was winning, not who was losing, not if anyone was alive or dead or what.
What was abundantly clear as Ruby Maxine took off into the woods was that Lavender Violet couldn't leave her alone - however scared she was, she'd be even more terrified when she calmed down and realized she'd gotten herself lost, alone, in strange woods, with a Shifter (maybe) on her tail.
But gods above, this mare was fast. Lavender Violet was fast too, his big paws soundlessly bounding him forward, but she was faster, and she had adrenaline; LV ran from danger so much it was a pretty common-place occurrence for him, but he was starting to think that might not be the case for Ruby.
He whinnied for her to stop when they reached a small glade, not much more than a patch of cleared earth, but was enough. They'd come far enough, surely, and if not - well, at least they had cover now.
"It's okay," LV said, through his own panting breath. "The Angeni - she's totally got it handled. We'll be okay. Let's wait here, okay? We're safe."
((WC: 269))
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Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2025 9:20 pm
Wink had managed to avoid getting seriously injured his entire life, up until that afternoon. He found he didn't care much for the experience; everything was ringing faintly, and either he was rolling around more than he thought he was, or the earth beneath him was spinning far faster than its usual pace. In either case, Wink was uncomfortable and unhappy.
More to the point, he was in the way.
He couldn't make out what the voices above him were saying - one of them was female, he felt, and one of them was...mean. Wink shook his head as he tried to get to his feet, a task which seemed monumentally difficult in a way that he could not recall it having been before. Four legs was too many legs to keep track of at once.
So he gave up on four and managed with two and a half - his back legs were strong enough to push him along, away from the chaos happening nearby. Or at least he thought he was pushing himself away from it; things were still kind of spinny so it was hard to really tell which way he was going.
Until he felt a heavy thud into his side, a heavy weight roll over him and scramble to the ground on the other side of him. He swung his head heavily to look - and all of a sudden things became incredibly clear. The fog in his mind evaporated like it was hit with a ray of sunshine, even though the site before him was anything but sunny.
It was the bear shifter, flailing to get up off his back, after having tripped over Wink's semi-prone body. He was snarling, spitting mad, and Wink - didn't think. He just leapt up and stabbed at him with his horn, getting it bloody for maybe the first time ever in his whole entire life.
It wouldn't be enough to kill him, Wink knew - he didn't want to kill him, not really, he just wanted himself and his friends not to die - but it was enough to hurt him, based on the way he yowled and cussed.
Wink darted away as the Shifter seemed to try to stand, but the Angeni took his place like they'd planned it, and just for a minute, watching her work, Wink almost forgot to be afraid.
((WC: 394))
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