Never .Too. Late [Open]

[Destiny]

"Measure my faith, the devil's awake..." Lyrically gifted? Singing - or as close to such a thing as wolves may come - in an unmistakeably practiced baritone, that grated on unnatural, is generally not the most intelligent way of going about hunting. Not that it mattered, though - starvation was the last of his worries.

Having been reincarnated some time ago - the exact amount is questionable, as days run together when you have very little to do but run - the motley coloured wolf had enjoyed not a single second of it. Not that one could blame him, what with always trying to be two feet ahead of the malicious, vendetta carrying nose of Ashur. As it was, things were getting boring. Yes, boring. The bland life of killing a deer here, a wolf there, mutilating some old sickly elder on the side.. It really just wasn't for him. After all, when you're given a second chance at life, how can you be expected to live it lurking about like a shadow?

At the moment, the average size of his bulk was strewn across a flat boulder next the lovely little stream. Assuming that he would hear the approach, should anyone choose to descend, Lust was content to sprawl out and enjoy the day while he was still 'alive'. What harm could it do, after all?

[.Rabid Lycan.]

(( “assuming that he would hear the approach”? How about magically reincarnating dames? xD ))

Argh… what happened last night…
Air impaled her lungs, drilling down her throat in a single violent thrust. The paranormal fog of heat that had suffocated her for so long finally dropped away in a brilliant release, and her fiery prison dumped her back on the grounds of her loyalty. For a moment, she felt only vertigo, and the sizzle of her burnt paws as they met solid earth. And then, there was a sigh of relief, and several moments of frantic gasping for fresh breath.
…that was… unpleasant.
The white fae daintily wandered to the stream that trailed through the center of the gorge, still numb to sensation in her paws, and began to cleanse the ash from her coat. It was her first visit to Hell, and now that she was back… well, she just wanted to stay as far away from fire as possible.
Where’s my lousy brother when you need him…
Bathing herself in the unnatural cool of the water, Frenzy relished in the water… when she suddenly realized that there was a wolf sitting a few yards away. She jumped up, and fast, in a whirl of splashing and so forth. Frenzy was rather low on the food chain as far as Blood Mist went, not that she’d recognize Lust anyway after he’d been gone for so long. But she eventually managed to summon her typical temper, and growled at the strange face. “Who the hell are you, boy?”

[Destiny]

For the first time in what felt like a decade, or at least since rising from the fiery inferno of Hellfire and what not, the canid had permitted a momentary wandering of the mind, shall we say. Drifting in and out of pleasant daydreams involving lust-filled - Get it? - dancing with that lovely hellion Risika. It had been quite a while, though, since their paths had crossed and he would not have been taken aback if she were to treat him harshly when they next met. All negativity aside, the peacefulness was rather gratifying.

Rudely stirred from his mischievous thoughts, the decently sized gray and, well, sort of a 'caramel' colour really, with flecks of 'hazelnut' here and there, wolf rose from his smooth, comforting 'bed'. Dismayed at first, his brain soon registered that this must be yet another Hellfirian pain in his ass and with that he simply looked highly annoyed. While she went about apparently ignoring his existence - How dare anyone ignore him! - his buttocks were 'content' to plant themselves back on the boulder. Nothing better to do anyway.

Ugh! There was a notable 'thwap' of tail on rock as his muzzle pulled to the right, avoiding the spray of water with a disgusted look, and an ear rotated back a little in a highly pissy looking manner. In response to her question he gave her an Are you fucking kidding me? stare, in a very obvious manner, for several seconds before puffing out his chest and looking generally intimidating and 'more important than you'. "Who are you?" It wasn't a friendly question. In fact, he was rather clearly aggravated by the fact that she didn't recognize the highly esteemed son of Babylonia, the brother of Assyria.. And that useless lump Sumer, but regardless.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

(( “lust-filled”, ohoho ))

Somewhere, deeper into Blood Mist territory, resting in the shade while his sister forged her plots for war, Sumer suddenly felt unloved.

Meanwhile, the Hellfirian minion stared challengingly back at Lust, who hardly made a dent on her memory. Half of the Blood Mist pack were new recruits anyhow, and Lust’s, erm, complications with the family didn’t exactly nurture a brilliant image of the Assyrian litter’s third sibling. As far as she knew, Assyria and Sumer were the true heirs to the Blood Mist throne… now living in the pack, that is. So who’s this bozo?
“Wolves call me Frenzy; who are you? Actually, I take that back—I don’t give a crap who you are. The real question is, what are you doing here? Don’t you know where you are? ‘cause I suggest you turn your butt around and scoot along there, buddy.” Frenzy eyed him, an unenthusiastic expression permanently etched onto her loudmouthed muzzle.
After getting thrown off a cliff into a river of fire by a psychopath wearing a skull mask, it would seem, she was not so easily wooed by intimidation. But that’s just her.

[Destiny]

Balderdash! Hogswabble, blasphemy, slander and downright codfoolery! Who am I? I? What is this bitch ON? There was no slight inkling of doubt that every single word the bitch managed to utter only served to further grate on his nerves. Though not a particularly massive wolf, Lust had the build of one who could dance circles around you in the middle of the night with one eye closed and still dodge every offensive move thrown at him. Right about now, he was using every bit of that build, accompanied by a growing volcano of hatred, fueled by her ignorance after he'd spent so many years running from Ashur, that only added to the over-all nastiness of his appearance. Now bordering on viciousness.

"Excuse me, bitch, but I think I fucking know who I am, and so should you." Was that a threat? It might've been, had he made a single half-step towards her. Rather, he remained seated on his rock, enjoying the luxury of holding higher ground, and bristled, growling deep in his chest. "I, for your information, am Lust. Younger brother to Euphrates and Tigris, littermate to Sumer and the esteemed Assryia, Son to Babylonia" He hung on the name for several painful moments. "And Ashur. The dislike for his father was evident there, too.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

Her snow pelage bristled as a slight gust crossed their path, but hardly a blink was shed otherwise. She held one brow raised, studying—or judging—the wolf before her, but still never quite acknowledging his supposed heritage. He flaunted his authority like a royal heir, and was certainly arrogant enough for the title, but lacked the dignity that would earn him the name. Not to mention, he hadn’t exactly made his presence known in quite the long while.
In short, he had expanded a rather large bubble that needed popping.
“…never heard of ya.”
She flicked an ear, the thin henchman losing all interest in whatever Lust was going to say. “Listen, buddy, if you’re going to impersonate somebody, at least get your facts straight—who the hell is this Tigris? Stop making up names and deal with it.” She resumed the cleansing of her burn wounds. “The resemblance isn’t coming to me either, to be honest… no offense, of course, but I’d have expected a little more regality in a son of Babylonia. Don’t worry, though—you’ll get there eventually. Just practice your posture.”

[Destiny]

Really? ... Really?... There were several stupidly long moments of eerie, unsettling, angry silence. And then nothing. Not to say that he deflated, oh no - rather, he continued to look a bit larger than he actually was, rather angry and more arrogant than three other wolves put together. "You know what, ask Euphrates who Tigris is. Or Babylonia. One of them will tell you that you do not know what you are talking about. This isn't worth my energy."

With that, rather than turn his back like a moron, Lust settled down on the boulder once more. Head resting on top of his front paws, tail thumping against the stone every few moments, he was content to stare at her. No, not stare, leer like the nasty little cunt that he was.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

While his anger was sort of irking, her pride and confidence as a Hellfirian kept the fae as skeptical as ever. “Euphrates? Babylonia?” She scoffed a little. “Old news, princey—those guys already skipped town a while back. But, anyway…”
She leaned back toward the waters, inhaling the ice-laced liquid greedily or, dare we say, lustfully? No. Perhaps not to that extent, but a week or so of breathing nothing but embers and ashes can warp one’s perspective of the goodness of nature.

But the thing about nature is… it isn’t always pleasant.
While the two at the canyon’s belly bickered away, a twig of a fae teetered amongst the rocks, tongue parched and puffy eyes fixated on the stream ahead. Fierce burns ripped across her paws, and mark or two—judging by depth, most likely from the wrath of enemy fangs—interrupted the flow of her arctic pelt. The gold fringes of her crown bowed and bobbed with her ungraceful movements, like a buoy in a tempestuous tide. But the goal, the water, was so close.
A cramp crippled her form, and she tumbled off the remaining steps to the gorge’s bottom.
Slamming down, her seemingly twigish form now revealed a rather peculiar oddity—though her bones were unnaturally pronounced in most areas of her body, her stomach remained semi-plump… and a groan, followed by a small smear of crimson as she came to a stand, reinforced any suspicions.
The fae gathered herself best she could, and half-dragged herself to the stream—nearly scaring Frenzy out of her skin as she did so.

“—the hell!? Are you… alright…?”

(( free puppies for sale! ))

[Destiny]

Stupid bitch. Thinks she knows everything. The malice on that handsome face, twisted in a sour, unattractive manner, could have bloody well personified itself as a living thing had he the godly divine powers of Golden Wolf, and so on. Luckily, he did not possess such life-altering qualities, and so no fire-breathing, spike-spitting creature of the night attacked Frenzy like a rabid cow. Instead, the loathing continued to ooze from Lust, filling every inch of air between them with negativity and hatred. All the things any good Hellfirian loves! I'll show her.. I'll show her yet.

Completely absorbed in his pondering regarding various methods of cruelty, torture and generally horrendous and gruesome acts which may benefit no one at all but make him feel very, very fulfilled, and make Frenzy very dead once again, he did not notice the wolf climbing down to join them. Which was the very thing he had been certain that he would see, that being the reason he'd chosen this place to stay for a day or two. Apparently, he had been wrong, as his ears relayed the sound of rocks sliding and something thumping down the side of the gorge with the grace of an ungainly, pregnant walrus. Classy.

It took several long moments of staring for the arrogant, nasty not-so-old arse to realize exactly what he was looking at. And the moment he did, that painfully nurturing portion of his personality - which had run off to some corner after the disappearance of Risika - blossomed with the speed of a sunflower on steroids and miracle grow, sped up 1000 times. Must.. Not... Offer... Help...

Oh but it was too much. Disregarding the existence of his previous grievance, Lust hurtled forward off of the rock to the scrawny lady's side. "You look like you could use a paw, darlin'.| It was not flirtatious. If anything, it was concerned. He offered her a shoulder, and Frenzy a look that said I will fucking gore you and feed your insides to the fish. With an added Bitch. as an after thought.

[ORLY.]

[.Rabid Lycan.]

(( YA RLY ))

As her skeleton limbs began to buckle, there was little option other than to accept the help of this, erm, quite random stranger. The pouch of plush hairs beneath her eyes dampened, and though her features might have caught the eye of a well-bred brute at some point or the other, only a prey-like instinctual fear and despair radiated from her miserable being today. Shaken like a lone rabbit in a turbulent thunderstorm—on some coyote-infested prairie, no less—Juno choked out a small gurgle that bordered on “y-yes” and “yigaos”. Whatever that meant.
With the warmth of support at her side, the slim figure slid to the earth, the great globe of her belly shivering as if with the cold. But the heat of summer had already baked the gorge to a comfortable crisp, and there was little if any breeze to be found. She groaned weakly, softly, but even her high-pitched whines gained volume and fervor as the pain kneaded saws into her belly.
And then, much to the spectators’ delight I’m sure, she began to strain.

Oshitoshitoshitoshit.
Despite the somewhat maternal instinct that, if you could call it that, flushed through her veins, Frenzy could hardly offer anymore than a fixated stare of horror as the skeleton began to not only come to life, but start giving birth as well.
Whatdowedowhatdowedo.
Despite the ever-so-cordial vibes that Lust seemed determined to telepathically drill into her skull, Frenzy bounded to his flank and asked, “I don’t suppose you’ve come across this situation before, princey?”

[Destiny]

Well, this chain of events was certainly not going in the particular order to which he had been expecting to spend his day. Not in the least, in fact. Despite this fact, Lust was more than okay with supporting this definitely pregnant total stranger, and made sure her 'change of position' was as easy as possible. Wouldn't want to thump those pups now or anything, would we? Vaguely, he pondered what she'd said, and thought to ask her about it later on, should things go well.

Initially, his reaction was to glare at Frenzy as if she were a rabid cat. But considering that he was no professional and not about to help some random wolf deliver someone else's brats by himself he at least half retracted the hatred. "I've been around wolves giving birth before, yes. It's a fairly common occurrence for everyone who doesn't get re-spawned every time they die." He raised an eyebrow, wondering Are you not female yourself? and then turned to look Juno over again. "It's about five thousand degrees out here; we need to find some way to keep her cool so she doesn't get heat exhaustion on top of this."

[.Rabid Lycan.]

“Yeah… common but unpleasant,” Frenzy grunted, eyes dragging upward in search of some spontaneously materialized umbrella peering from one of the canyon crevices. Female or not, she was born and bred a hire fang in the outland gangs. Considering the crowds that rolled through their company—Black Fury and the Mephisto troop and the like—in-gang birthings hardly garnered a share of volunteers.
Considering his enthusiasm, this ‘Lust’ guy would’ve been perfect for it. What is he, a midwife?
Finally, Frenzy began to move her paws. “I’ll bring something to shade her; ‘til then, use the river!” The ivory femme traced the bend of the stream, loping speedily toward a strange lump of shrubbery that had washed along the shore—most likely a gift carried from the waterfall above. She scented it experimentally, loosening the kelp-ish clump from the pebbles with her teeth. What the hell else are we going to use—there’s nothing else down here!

Meanwhile, Juno continued emitting a stream of whimpers. Embarrassment and unyielding agony slithered beneath her skin—everything was too unreal. What happened to her paradise, her heaven? It wasn’t the rape, it wasn’t the flames that bothered her—it was that unfairness. That loss. And why was it all happening…
She grimaced and buried her head into Lust’s leg, which was the best substitute for a pillow that she could locate. Unable to concentrate long enough to utter a word, the starved ‘walrus’, as it were, began to claw for support. The pups, it seemed, were wasting no time in seeking better, less corpse-like surroundings.
No heads yet, but plenty of red.

Frenzy finally returned, an almost monotone expression on her face. She was carrying a large stick with a few strands of vegetation dripping along its edge. “…yay or nay?” Dropping the branch without waiting for a response, she mounted one of the nearby rocks, and adjusted until her shadow cast over the two. Or… one and a half. Close enough.
“Happy?”
Partial head, now.

[Destiny]

Truth be told, Lust's inside were spinning around like a Ferris-wheel on crack; and not the regular kind either. The kind that spins around in the midst of the regular day-to-day Ferris-wheeling. Regardless, he knew how to handle a lady in great distress; it had always been his most redeeming quality, to be perfectly honest. Therefore, as Frenzy took off, he saw the opportunity to give the highly distressed mother-to-be a nose to the shoulder far more comforting than one would have thought possible for a wolf like himself.

Immediately after this, he tore towards the cliff-side, scouting around until he found a clump of moss which was then unceremoniously ripped from its stony home. Dunking it in the river until it was good and soaking wet, he then traipsed back over to the bloody corpse and began dabbing face, neck and shoulders. Frenzy could shove it up her ass if she thought he was being 'womanly'.

Finally, satisfied that she was cooled down enough, he set the still very wet clump by her muzzle. Just in case she wanted something to drink, of course. Eying the newly returned Frenzy's excuse for 'shelter', and then glancing around the gulch in the way one might look for a slightly riper apple, he finally gave her a nod. Not an approving nod. Just one that said what she'd found would do.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

If someone were to say… fish out a half-starved flounder from the depths of the ocean and toss it into the Mojave Desert for a rousing afternoon of (assuming you could keep it alive) cross country practice followed closely by a spontaneous lemon-eating contest, one might get a close to the expression strewn across this poor mother’s face. Maybe. Considering you didn’t go out and get some Herculean steroid-injecting flounder from the lost city of Atlantis, but hey, it’s your call.
In any case, Juno was having a hard time of it. But for the smallest of consolations, at least the creature beside her—she had yet to register whether it was indeed a wolf and not a mystical levitating pizza topping—seemed to be comforting her. Freckles of cool sprouted along her flank, and though she was far too dazed to identify the source, she was grateful. But as much as she wanted to inhale heaping swigs of river water, mother nature came first, and as her cries rose to a climax, the first pup sprouted into the world.
It was a tight bundle, encased in a filmy, unbecoming mess of no-one-wants-to-know, but a caramel, pup-like shape was buried beneath. Juno, too weak to address her first newborn, instead focused on the strain—and soon the second pup was entering the world.

While all this excitement was going on, Frenzy observed with a petrified expression, a blankness washing over her at the sight of the two newborns. Useless.

[Destiny]

Granted, there were several dozen wolves that would've been far better at dealing with this nasty mess than he. However, under the particular circumstances - what with being somewhat stranded in the territory of a pack he no longer belonged to, with a random wolf he didn't know and a very sloppy birth ongoing - there were simply no other options. With the look of someone who would much rather be fighting with his father at the moment, and that wasn't something you generally 'rather-ed' to do, Lust began to examine the first pup.

After several moments of hesitation, the fatherly side of his personality decided to take over once again, and he began, with mild levels of disgust, to pull the .. nasty little bundle of gunk with a pup-surprise in the middle towards Juno's belly. In the midst of doing this, he had also begun to 'lick' some of the 'stuff' off the the little caramel creature so that it might be able to start breathing and being generally warm while its mother attempted to push out a brother and / or sister.

With the first taste of air, the little pup made a noise that might've been a whuff, and might've been a squeal. Regardless, it was definitely alive. That was a start.