Completed A Position of Strength (Redd)

[Inoadar]

Inoadar

Thankfully, the Kelvic stayed silent as Inoadar waded through the remembered fluctuations of blood pressure and muscular spasms. They swirled throughout his body as he imagined himself on the glyphed platform on the floor of Miro's NHC housing unit. It faded randomly as he focused on one extremity or another.

It was only memory, he scolded himself. He needed to bring the sensation for real. He shook himself free of the memory and started again. This time, he focused only on his legs when the memory manifested. As it set into his mind, there seemed to be a greater depth to it, as if he was feeling it in his bones as much as his muscles.

He made an effort to hold onto the sensation as he tucked his legs slowly beneath him to stand on the branch. The sudden burst of strength nearly threw him off the branch as he started to rise. It had not occurred to him that if he felt the Flux, it could already be active. If not for the trunk of the tree, he would have fallen. Instead he slammed against it and rebounded beyond his ability to stop himself.

His inertia gave him no choice but to follow through with a desperate leap to a branch on a neighboring tree. The howling clamor of the wolves rushing below him, in anticipation of his fall, gave him the extra boost of motivation he needed to grab the branch on the adjacent tree. He hoisted himself up and lay against the trunk, breathing heavily in pain. A slowly increasing percentage of his thoughts hurled curses at Miro for encouraging him in the art of "Flux". "A useful discipline...if you survive learning it." he growled beneath his breath. But he reasoned that every form of djed-craft must have its inherent hazards.

He looked down at the wolves with a sneer. "Thought you had me there didn't you...petching flea bags..." he hissed at them. He worked his way around the tree trunk to find a closer abutting tree beyond it, and another beyond that one. In short order, he was several trees away from where he started, the wolf pack following his every move. "Hmmm...this just might work."

It got easier to make further progress, having already experienced the near fall. He was already aware that fear is often the most debilitating factor in a difficult exercise. Now that he'd already faced it, he found it not so hard to make jumps and grabs to increase his separation from the Kelvic girl. But it was still slow going. By the time he'd put a good hundred feet between them, he felt confident that the Wildleash effect had fully faded.

He bent down on the branch, facing the wolves with wild-eyed snarls and roars of challenge. They responded with a din of pure, snapping savagery. He yelled as if he were directing it at them. He could only assume the Kelvic would realize he was sending her his signal. "I'm ready if YOU are."

x

[Redd]

Her hazel hues had watched the male as he jumped through the trees, watching his progress as he went, noting the fact that the wolves had taken after him in a snapping rage, sharp teeth eager to take a bite of the male that always seemed to stay just out of their reach.

Upon hearing his words, she took several deep breaths to calm her nerves before she made her climb down the vine, feeling the pull of the wound on her ankle, of which she pushed to the back of her mind. She had a job to do and it had to be done right in order for her to even have the tiniest chance of survival.

Once her bare feet touched the fertile earth, she let go of the vine, tugging the blooded cloth from her wrist to drop it to the ground in a crimson streak. It was then that she felt the shift, borrowing her wolf form once again and the pale red light that surrounded her naked human form hid her from view for but only a moment.

All four paws were on the ground and she once more felt the crushing sense of loneliness of which she fought to push to the back of her mind, as her head dipped so then she could take the bloodied bandage into her jaws, biting down upon it as she padded forth towards the pack of wolves. Her hind leg limped ever so slightly and she tried to ignore it as she stood behind the pack of snarling wolves.

She lifted her gaze to spare the man a thought, just to see whether whatever he had done, had not killed him before she glanced back at the wolves, pressing her ears back against her head and a snarl passed her maw. At that precise moment, the wind had picked up to ruffle through her fur coat and send the scent of her blood in the direction of the wolves, immediately she had the alpha's attention. She peeled back her top lip, baring her teeth at him in a challenge and she knew then that she had most of their attention.

Turning around, she pushed forward into a sprint, extending her legs and pushing the pain back and out of mind as her flight instinct to survive kicked in, like it had when she was only two months old. Hearing the pack of snarling wolves follow her in a fit of rage, which then pushed her to run in fear. Her golden hues making sure to take note of anything that might trip her up, disappearing from the male's line of sight.

She felt her laboured breath force the breath in and then out in quick succession, as she ducked under logs, plundered through bushes and ducked around trees. Faster and faster her paws carried her form forward, her tired muscles screaming at her that she must rest, but she pushed herself forward ever still. They were of course gaining on her due to her injured leg which was now bleeding freely, her blood leaving dark red spots on the ground as she ran, making it a great deal easier to track her even if she could manage to shake them.

It was then that she was beginning to recognise some territory that belonged to the big black cat and her movements stumbled for a moment before her screaming muscles gave out on the red wolf, the momentum sending her nose diving into the ground, which made her roll over a couple of times before her right side crashed into a tree trunk sending the breath rushing from her lungs and a sharp pain indicating a fractured rib sent a whimper passed her maw.

She remembered then that the pack of wolves would soon be upon her and she struggled to her paws, her nose dipping as she struggled to take in a deep enough breath and she limped forward. She was trying to remain focused on the fact that she had to keep pushing onwards to give that human a chance to find his beast and go back to where ever he came from.

Yet, as she soon found out, the pack of wolves had certainly reached her and she felt the piercing claws that dragged down her left side, tearing open skin and she turned her head in retaliation to just bite into an ear, her teeth tearing through the skin and the other wolf pulled back with a howl of pain.

They began to circle her bleeding and bruised body and her ears pressed back against her head as she let go of the piece of cloth, baring her own sharp teeth with a snarl, challenging any to take her on. It was the alpha that was just about to step forward when a different kind of growl was heard from behind the pack of wolves, this growl belonged to a more feline being.

This was when the young wolf collapsed into a heap just before the very tree she had collided into, she was so very tired. The pack of wolves very much distracted by the black cat. Redd, her conscious spoke, you have to leave before you also become cat food.

The red wolf did not want to get up, but she forced her legs under her, to take her weight as she stood up. Taking note of the pack as they attacked the big black cat, defending themselves as well. The cat and the pack of wolves were of course, currently occupied and slowly, she limped away from the scene un-noticed.

Her nose was dipped, her tail hung low, her ears were lowered as she limped back to the site of her back pack. Blood matted the fur on her side and her back foot still bled freely from the bite the alpha had given her. Every breath she took would hurt because of her fractured rib.

The young wolf wanted to just lie down and sleep with exhaustion, but her conscious kept pushing her forward. She had to get her back pack, she had to leave this area immediately or she would attract the wolves once again when they were done with the big black cat. She only hoped that she had given the human enough time to reach safety.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar

After giving his signal, Inoadar stopped antagonizing the pack beneath him. Having given the red wolf girl the chance to get to the ground without the pack's focus, it was her time to GRAB that focus. Inoadar patted his blowgun, half expecting the girl to sneak off and leave him to find his own way out. He knew that yelling and pointing at her would accomplish nothing.

He felt a brief pang of guilt when the apparent leader of the pack did an astonishingly profound double take in her direction, his amber eyes growing wide as his nostrils flared with some newly detected scent. It looked as if "Red Wolf Girl" was keeping her end of the bargain. The pack milled suddenly in confusion as the Alpha snapped and cleared his way out of the prominent position directly beneath Inoadar. A few of the others were also turning in the direction of the new scent.

Inoadar slipped a dart free of his loop bracer and lined up the length of the blowgun on the leader's flank. There was already one loaded in the shaft, but he wanted to have a second one ready to go. The forward tip of the blowgun dipped with the effort though, and the dart pegged a lesser pack member that had slipped into the growing gap formed by the leader's movements.

He slipped the second dart into the mouthpiece end of the blowgun and settled for a second lesser pack member. He thought he could at least thin the girl's pursers somewhat. They lit out in her direction. A few slowing to snap up the bandage he'd applied to the wound from which he'd drawn the Kelvic girl's blood. Several simply sniffed at it as they passed, as if to verify that this was the scent they followed. Within fifty or sixty yards, two of the pack began to lag behind, showing signs of sudden, unnatural weakness. "Every little bit helps, Red." Inoadar smiled. His smile faded a bit at the realization that he'd never gotten the girl's name.

He shrugged and climbed down the tree, looking around cautiously to be sure there were no stragglers waiting on him. Now that the adrenaline of danger waned, he found the aches and pains of his recent travails setting in with renewed fury. His clumsy uses of The Flux had only added to his stressed muscles and strained joints, but he made his way with respectable haste toward the lake.

He whistled a few times for his mount, Handy. The wolves had never chased him, so he might not have run that far. His efforts were rewarded, after fifteen or twenty chimes, by the familiar snorting whicker and neighing of his horse as it appeared from beyond a grove of trees. Inoadar climbed gingerly into the saddle, wincing with each adjustment of his position. He sat for a moment, wrestling with the sense that he'd forgotten something. He did a quick check of his gear and found nothing missing. Only the broken strap on his back pack was different than whe-...

His jaw dropped open as he remembered the girl's backpack, with the hundreds of mizas in it! He pulled the reins back in the direction he'd come, but his back popped painfully with the twist of his torso. He sat for a moment, catching his breath. It quickly led to a resigned sigh. He slowly turned Handy back around, and started back toward the ferry. He was not going to hurry. It would not help his numerous aches and pains, and the ferry schedule was well known to him. Even if he galloped, he would miss it by a bell or more.

He wished "Red" good luck, deciding to check on the location of her backpack at some future date. He kept a steady pace, occasionally standing in the stirrups to take pressure off his sore back. He followed an oblique parallel to the track both "Red" and the pursuing wolves had taken, keeping his eyes strained on the land side horizon.

x

[Redd]

The young wolf made her slow way back occasionally stopping so then she could take a brief look around at the area before pressing forwards once more. Her conscious kept pushing her forwards but the wolf's body was in auto pilot as she scoped her memory for the best way to leave the area.

One thing was certain, Redd knew she couldn't leave just yet, if she left straight away, there would be a bigger chance of her ending up dead, her tired form told her that she needed to rest and she knew exactly where she could go.

On the edge of the lake away from prying human eyes when they crossed on strange beasts across the lake, was a cave. It was perfect because the wolves would not think to go there, it was too "close" to human eyes and activities. That could be where she could rest for the night, lick her wounds and if she had enough energy, change form so she could properly carry the awkward back pack.

Upon reaching the area where her back pack had been tossed around in, a small sense of relief washed over the wolf and she couldn't smell any other scents being in the area since she and the human had been there. Of course there was lingering wolf smells but she didn't lay too much attention to that.

She had almost expected the male to have come back and snagged her bag, but she could only smell his faint scent from earlier and her ears pricked forward, had something happened to him? Well, what ever it was, she figured that she might not see him again and she felt that pang of lonliness once more.

Oh well, she thought as she snapped up the strap of her back pack in her jaws, for the next couple of days she would rest and then move on, as was the way of life for Redd.

[Nemesis]

Inoadar

Knowledge :

Skills

Skill	XP
Climbing	+4
Flux	+2
Larceny	+1
Medicine	+2
Meditation	+2
Planning	+2
Poison	+1
Rhetoric	+3
Tactics	+3
Weapon: Blowgun	+1

Lores

*Admiration for the Female Form
*Effects of Wildleash Poison
*"Red": Feral Wolf Kelvic
*Working With a Feral Kelvic
*The Balance of Toxins in Nature

Micellaneous :

Injuries

*Bruises, cuts and scrapes - will heal within ten days.
*Lacerations to face and torso - will heal within fifteen days with treatment, 25 without. At very high risk of becoming infected.
*Hairline fracture to left arm - will heal within thirty days with treatment, double without.

Loot/Expenses

*Vial of Kelvic Blood

Redd

Knowledge :

Skills

Skill	XP
Climbing	+1
Investigation	+1
Medicine	+1
Observation	+5
Rhetoric	+1
Running	+3
Socialisation	+3
Tactics	+2
Unarmed Combat	+1

Lores

*Accepting the Help of Humans
*Learning to Apologise
*Pack's Reaction to My Human Form
*The Kindness of Humans
*Using Wolf Instinct Against Wolves

Micellaneous :

Injuries

*Punctured Ankle - will heal within twenty days with treatment, double that without. At very high risk of becoming infected.
*Lacerations to torso - will heal within twenty days without treatment, as per above. Moderate risk of infection.
*Two fractured ribs - will heal in thirty days with medical treatment, 65 without.

Loot/Expenses

*None

____________________________________________

Notes

*Really, really nice thread, guys; I like it when I can actually see the action occurring, and this was very visual. Good job!
*I just want to emphasise the risk of infection... the mouth of a canine is filthy.
*Inoadar... I think I'm falling in love with your character. That's all.
*Redd, sometimes you mix up tenses, switching to present tense on occasion - just something little to watch out for. Also, it is a little annoying to read center-aligned text. I don't know how other graders/readers feel about it but it is my suggestion that, going forward, you left-align your prose.
*Also, I want to make the note that, for the most part, your kelvic personas are one person, Redd. With having had little contact with civilisation, you would be a little more feral, but your wolf form and your human form are not two different people. Kelvics are not "were-animals"; you do not lose control of yourself when you shift, as you suggested in the trees. Also, there is no "pull" to morph into the other form. Changing happens at will and cannot be forced or stopped, unless by drugs/collars/exhaustion etc. The Wildleash poison made it hard for transformation to occur, but when it wears of, that isn't Redd's wolf side pulling her back, that's just the regained ability to morph.

Feel free to PM me with questions, comments, or concerns, if you have any.
Also, remember to either delete your grade request or edit it as 'graded'.
Thank ye!