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Neutral
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Axe's paws pounded against the hard ground, each step sending a jolt through his tall, emaciated frame. His breath came in short gasps, his chest heaving with every sprinting movement. The lack of extra weight on his body only amplified the sensation of his bones rattling together, like a skeleton trying to break free from within. But he pushed on, knowing that if he successfully caught this outsider, he might just get an extra scrap of food to fuel his already desperate mind. A fierce growl rumbled from deep within his chest as he motioned for the other wolves to intercept and stop their fleeing target. The air was thick with tension and the scent of fear, spurring the pack into action. With bared teeth and determined eyes, they broke through the underbrush with ease, each one a blur of skin and bone as they chased down their prey. The sound of paws thumping against the ground echoed through the forest, signaling that their mission would not go unfinished. This was their territory, their hunt, and they would not rest until their quarry was caught. The wolves mercilessly closed in on the intruder, encircling him with their sharp teeth bared and panting hungrily. Axe's deep voice boomed through the air, dripping with malice. "You have two choices: surrender now or suffer a painful end!" His snarl echoed through the tense silence.
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Neutral
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This really wasn't good for Nikolai. That was also the understatement of the year. Surrounded by - albeit emanciated - big wolves, he didn't know how much of a chance he stood. There were three surrounding him - though there were probably more coming in from other directions - and his instinct to fight or flight came right back up. Nikolai was marginally dominant. Enough to earn a relatively high place on the social dominance ladder, and enough to work around some orders. He had gotten his fair share of fights. He pivoted in a circle, taking in the three wolves looking right at him from three different angles, before picking one at random and cocking his head at them. By chance, that wolf happened to be Axe. "I think I'll take the hard way out." That was all Nikolai said before he flattened his ears, puffed out his fur and charged at the wolf, who was bigger than him - but now Nikolai had the urge to survive with him too.
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Neutral
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Axe had his muscles ready and lunged as soon as he saw the adversary move. Going at first for the back of his neck but missing, misjudging the wolf's height. He probably uses that to his advantage a lot. Axe subconsciously told himself. After a moment of clawing, biting, and tearing anywhere they could get a hold of, the two wolves took a step back, the hair on the back of their necks raised. Axe growled as deep and as menacing as he could and spoke to the outsider. "You think you have a chance," He scoffed. "you think you can just escape, run far away to a place we won't find you. That sucks for you. I've been forced to track runaway wolves for days on end, no sleep, no water, no stopping." He took a breath, snarled and jumped forward again, trying this time to aim below, for the front of his neck and his underbelly. Edited at January 19, 2025 10:58 PM by Spirit Wolves
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Neutral
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One thing that Nikolai did not expect was for the malnourished wolf to actually be strong. And skilled enough that he hadn't exactly realized for a second. Well, that complicated things. He was still formulating some smart-ass remark to just piss off the other wolf when he leaped. A frantic swipe got him space - but only for a second. He wasn't fully conscious of it until then that he was literally fighting for his life. The other wolf could probably just run if he got close to dying - Nikolai actually couldn't. That also put another drop of desperation into him. "Okay, fine, what do you want?" Nikolai finally grumbled as he bought himself a second's respite. Because, right or not, this wolf would be a worthy opponenet for him. But he was clearly at a disadvantage here - and the advantage he had tried to take for himself had just disappeared as the malnourished wolf seemed to act fine. How, Nikolai had absolutely no idea. But it wasn't really an advantage anymore.
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Neutral
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Axe stood over the other wolf, his jaws quivering and his companions surrounding them. "I want you to come to my Alpha, you need to be punished for trespassing. It's not a very severe punishment, just maybe a few small bites and scratches." He lied. "We don't like wolves to find our valley, it might bring in opposing packs, or males like yourself that try to breed with our females and start their own pack. Not that any pups of yours would be much to look at." He taunted, trying to get into the wolf's head. "Sir, do you think Alpha will be mad if the outsider comes to the pack injured?" One of the wolves behind Axe asked. A flicker of deep fear went through Axe's eyes at the mention of the Alpha being mad, which he quickly covered up with fury. "No- no of course not, Alpha won't care." He replied. "So, are you gonna come? Or do I have to drag you by your soon to be broken legs?"
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Neutral
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Okay, so Nikolai was in quite serious trouble here. Not only had he been captured by an enemy pack - although he couldn't really define the word enemy as such, as he had no idea - but now he had to go to them, on bad terms. Which was precisely what Nikolai had hoped to avoid. Sighing, he looked at the other wolves that had gathered. They all seemed to be of similar build of the wolf that had spoken. And while he didn't trust them and their words at all, it wasn't like he could do much about it. "All right, then. Lead the way." He was pragmatic enough to know that he was outmatched. He couldn't hope to fight all of these wolves at the same time. Hence, he was stuck in this predicament. Well, it wasn't really a predicament - he had one choice, and just had to accept it. Great.
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Neutral
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"Bear, run ahead and tell Alpha that I've got him and we're coming back." Axe firmly ordered a rather larger, cinnamon colored wolf, who rolled his eyes slightly as Axe said "I've got him." As though Axe was the only one who did any work. But bear ran as fast as he could back to the den. "Boys," Axe addressed the two remaining wolves. "This wolf makes any move to escape, break his legs. You hear me?" He growled the question. "Yes sir." They replied as quickly as possible without sounding nervous. Taking up the rear, Axe nipped at the lone wolf's heels. The other two sentries took up position extremely close to the wolf's sides, making him walk forward. As they got to the camp, they could clearly see that Bear had made it back much before them, the whole pack was gathered in a semi circle, awaiting their return. In order not to risk the lone wolf getting away, Axe had made them barely trot all the way back, which had given the terrified pack lots of time to ready themselves. "How dare you come this close to my pack. Tell me, did you come to challenge me? Take our females away from us? Why are you this close to our territory?" The cruel leader demanded as soon as the circle was closed by the wolves that had just arrived, the trespasser in the middle of them all. Ada studied the small wolf, and their eyes met for a moment. Instantly she got an overwhelming feeling that he was an amazing wolf that would take care of any other animal that he came across. This was a kind wolf, one with a warm heart. Something Ada hadn't seen her entire life.
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Neutral
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Nikolai kept his head raised, not really in a threatening manner, but simply to view where exactly he was. Now that he looked around, from where he was earlier he underestimated how the pack looked. They... didn't look in good condition, really. At all. In fact, they were beyond underfed. Nikolai shook his head in response to who seemed to clearly be the alpha. "I'm just a wanderer. I didn't mean to offend you or cross paths with you in any way, and I apologize if I did. It's... just been a while since I found a pack that wasn't my own." No good telling the alpha that he was a loner wolf - loner meant nobody would care if he went missing. But he almost said it, anyway. Now that he looked around, Nikolai could tell he was more than outnumbered than before. He was in serious, deep trouble, for reasons that he really couldn't understand. What was so bad about accidentally crossing paths with another pack? Nikolai couldn't tell, but this alpha - even from the threatening way he had adressed him while the rest of his pack looked from the sidelines, gaunt and hopeless - was definitely not something that he was a fan of. Not that he'd said that either. Right now was about less dominance, more understanding. The understanding part was easy for him. He didn't mean anyone of this pack or any other harm, and he'd apologize if he did. It was just what this alpha thought. Which didn't seem to be good, although Nikolai still didn't understand why.
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