Howl at the Moon [Mjolh]

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The full moon was always a difficult time to be in the city. With the scents and sounds that much more potent, his instincts could become almost dangerous at night. The closest forest was really the safest place for him to be, where he was unlikely to run into anyone. Here, he could transform if the urge became too overwhelming. He wore only simple clothing, a pair of ragged jeans and a sweatshirt that hung loosely over his lean muscles. His shoes stayed back in his car a few miles outside of the edge of the trees, but the earth underfoot didn't bother him. His hide was thicker than any normal human, and that extended to his bare feet. Brushing his shaggy hair out of his face, he looked up through the dappling of the trees across the full moon, his eyes glowing faintly.

The air was chilly, which made his hair stand on end as his body temperature, already slightly elevated, emanated more heat to protect itself. The thick covering of trees kept the wind from moving too much, regardless of the cold front that was trying to move in. Arriving at a rise, he stood on the edge and sniffed the air, going very still to listen for intruders on his solitude. Human scent was faint on the air, overlaid with other forest scents. It was stale, which meant that there were no humans around. No werewolves either, and werewolves were more likely to be the ones running around the trees in the full moonlit forest.

His fangs extended as he sensed rather than heard the intruder behind him. Turning, he released a warning growl at the female. It was the Lycaness, the one who had come to his apartment a few weeks back.


tag;; @stone

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    "Bite y'ur tongue boy, or I'll do it for yoo'." Mjolh snapped at him as she climbed down the side of a large fallen tree, her own attire much like his, only a bit cleaner and more worn. So he had come to the forest as well during the full moon? Made some sense, although it was a little odd in her mind that he should come to this part of the woods. She had been exploring the area for the last few days, diverting herself from her hunt for any other of their blood in the city, as the Elders in the Southwest were taking their time getting back to her with any further information about the other young male. OH well, the Elders were about as old as she was, as well as older still, so in their minds, they could afford to take their time. Herself, was less inclined to waste time on such matters, but she could hardly be expected to go tearing the city apart looking for him.

    He was still so very young compared to her, and so she was not at all surprised at his raw manner. But then she knew all to well that anyone of the Ly-Ceen blood had the most impressive and sometimes overwhelming instincts. It was humorous really how "Savage" Humans sometimes thought themselves, when compared to the much older and more evolved Ly-Ceen, they were really just young and unrefined. But if you distilled mead, it became more potent, and all that took, was time and pressure. "What brings you out to the trees Mister Schultz?" Mjolh asked as she
softly padded to the ground holding a leather satchel stuffed with some
wild forage she had been gathering. she eyed him closely, her nose
flared out as his scent filtered over to her. Hmmpt. Young buck indeed...

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The growl deep in his throat deepened further at the threat, but he kept himself from attacking, trying to clear his mind of the influence of the moon and finding the task somewhat difficult. He had been born this way, and yet sometimes it felt as if he was little more than a freshly turned werewolf. That young race was descended from a mix of his kind and their darkest earth-bound enemy, and the instincts to kill and eat even their own kind was something that could never be found in the Ly-ceen themselves. So why was it that he was finding it so difficult not to attack the female before him? Perhaps it was the fact that she'd rubbed him the wrong way the last time they'd met, or perhaps it was that he felt threatened by the ancient female, and his instincts didn't take kindly to the threat.

Whatever the reason, he snorted and turned away from her without answering, trying to divert himself before he did something he would regret. His pupils were already narrowing to slits, a trait that was rare among their kind and signified a type of power that few remembered even existed. She'd been obnoxious, sure, but that was no reason to try to draw her blood. Under the potency of the full moon, it could very well turn into something else, and he'd spent far too long getting that urge under control to allow himself to fall prey to it. No matter how powerful and fertile she smelled at that moment...

"The answer to that question is obvious," he rumbled, his voice deepened by the awakening transformation he was just barely staving off. "Go find your own trees."

He didn't feel capable of being more civil than that, especially with the headache that he was getting from keeping it together. There was no way she didn't realize how much she was pushing him. Was she doing it on purpose? Did she find it amusing?


tag;; @stone

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    Mjolh sighed deeply as she rolled her eyes at him in utter exasperation; He clearly was not as mature or developed as he thought he was. Granted, being as old as she was, she had far more practice at constraining her impulses than he, but it was always an irritant to her to come across another of The Blood who was so raw and unrefined. An ancient and noble race such as theirs deserved better.
Granted, as a Female her impulses where more subtle and varied than his, but in her mind, that should honestly not be an excuse for poor manners.

    "Bad form Drew, I was here first, by rights you should leave, but then if it's all just words, why should you, ehh?" she teased as she arched her back and pulled the outer most layer of her top off, bundling her bag and the sweatshirt up in a tight ball, the thin and flimsy white camisole that clung to her strong but soft curves was the only garment other than the worn jeans she had on her person, her feet bare and covered with dust and leaves.

    Taking the sturdy looking walking stick she had in her other hand, she carefully ran it through a small gap in her bundle, and then swung it over her shoulder as she eyed him, a small hungry smile playing over her lips as she spoke again, in a soft breathy voice; "Come now lad, that is hardly any way to talk to me, your blood kin, an elder and a lady, now is it?" she tilted her head as she gazed at him, her eyes shimmering lightly.

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Drew laughed at that remark, a deep and rough sound that was only quiet because of how low his voice was becoming. His eyes glowed as he met her stare, the pupils of his eyes narrowed to a slit. There was no question in his mind that she was doing this on purpose. There was no way that she could be as old as she was and not know the effect that the lunar cycle could have on a wolf that had lived in the city the rest of the month. Granted, his Ly-ceen blood was more potent than most because of his lineage, but he shouldn't have to explain that to her.

"You're not a lady," he accused, his canines slightly elongated. "Blood kin who deliberately provoke others during the full moon do not deserve that title."

At her blatant aggression, he took a moment to absorb the surrounding environment to ensure that they weren't being watched. No humans around, but with his powers, it wasn't hard to draw attention at night. He would have to go low light and high heat. Pulling the shirt from his back, he bared his chest to the air. His scars were numerous, and his tribal tattoo rare, but that was the last thing on his mind. He was still trying to decide whether or not to transform.

The moon on his back helped sooth the ache of cold air across it, and a line of black fur rippled down his back from the base of his scalp, only to recede a moment later as a cold breeze prickled across his skin. The discomfort of the chilly night was only making his headache worse, confusing his body. A low grown rumbled into a growl in his chest, the glow of his eyes growing.

"Why?" he asked her, his deep voice barely human. "You know better than to push, so why are you doing this?"


tag;; @stone

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    Mjolh smiled coyly as she leaned back against the tree and searched him once more, her eyes gazing at the marks of war across his torso, and the tattoos on his arm. More than a few of the marks she knew had not been given in a very long time. Longer than this boy had been alive in fact. Her eyes lit at that thought, but they quickly simmered as she took another deep breath, then gingerly set her stick and bundle down, spreading her hands wide very slowly; "Provoking? You act like I've thrown mud in your face and cursed your parents, when all I have actually done is stand by and make idle talk and tease you."

    Point of fact, her arms raised from that of beseeching, into a posture more of defiance and challenge as she stood upright again. HE had such narrow limits and such a ragged and raw sense of self and place. Full moon or not, there was a mean streak in Mjolh that could not let such impudence pass without challenge. Her mother had blamed her father for it. But Stonefist knew herself better than that.

Poor taste or not, it was high time to put the boy to the test then...

    "I'm a five fold score older than you boy, I've rutted more than you've killed and killed more than you've ever met, only the Elders be older still than me, and you've no right to valor you've not earned in blood." she tore at the thin cotton wrapping that wound around her arm, catching a corner of her Camisole as she exposed her own tattooed arm, four times as many marks, scrolls and runes, some faded almost brown, others colored a brilliant blood red or a bright but cold royal blue, her tattooed hand glinting in the moon light with the gold she had inlaid herself into the mark she had taken as the high general of the Ly-Ceen Nation during the last Blood War over two hundred years prior.

    It might just be more of the moon than her, but she was feeling young
and rebellious at the moment, and such moments did not come often for
her anymore; "Come now Drew... You long to taste of me, and I aim to taste of you, what better time than now, under the fullness of the moon? Come boy, see how a real warrior fights, if you dare."

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Drew laughed harshly at the naked challenge, that deep part of his mind enjoying the prospect of the fight to come. There wasn't anyone of the Blood that could completely escape the desire for contest that ran deep in their line, especially under the light of a full moon. There was no fooling himself; this was likely one of the more foolhardy things he'd ever done in his twenty-five years of life, but then again, that was part of his charm.

"Always wondered how I would fare if I crossed blades with the High General," he said, his smile mismatched with the intensity of his glowing eyes and furrowed brow. "Makes me wish I had brought my sword."

The odds were that this version of General Stonefist would not have the same injuries as the one he remembered, which meant that he would have to evaluate her physical weaknesses anew, instead of relying on old information. Luckily, he doubted that her power set had changed. Not that such a thing would make it any easier to defeat her... She had one of the more unique power sets of any Ly-Ceen in the past millennium. He had yet to discover the weakness to it, but no time like the present... Assuming he walked away from this at all.

His speed as he attacked was calculated to give him an advantage before she could realize that his density was far greater than that of the average wolf his age, and he leveled a punch at her that left a streak of blue light in its wake as it aimed for her stomach. Holding back would have been a foolish mistake.

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    Mjolh saw the attack coming, but with the insanity levels of speed he was apparently capable of, she could do little more than brace for the blow, and move to counter strike as he struck. There might not be much blocking with this one, given how quick he moved.

    Taking the blow square, Mjolh grunting as the breath was partially driven from her lungs, and she brought her knee up into his thigh, directly on a bundle of nerves that was placed in an area that was singular to Ly-Ceen, hitting just off of center front and near the side, where a human had their sciatic nerve. the blow would only slow him, but as she grabbed his forward shoulder and pulled herself up, she then kicked her base foot up and behind her, to add to her momentum in vaulting over his head.
   
    Landing, she brought her elbow back hard, aiming for where his hip would be if he had not already moved away, even as she rolled herself over to face him, her eyes alight and a smile on her lips as she moved like hot liquid metal, flowing back to her feet deftly.

    "Fast huh? Not too fast I do hope." she chided as she winked at him and started circling.

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"My wife never complained," he replied, landing on three limbs to give his nerves the chance to settle.

The blow to the side of the knee was painful, but far from debilitating. His toes were tingling, but he managed to keep his feet as she flung him away. She was every ounce as strong as he remembered, and he knew that she had the experience and skill to outmatch him if he let it come down to a battle of wits and strategy. Cunning as he could be, he simply couldn't match her experience in combat. He'd not lived nearly long enough for it. Perhaps, though... Perhaps there was a strategy he could use that she'd never see coming. It was one that they'd become particularly adept at during the war, to take skilled opponents off-guard. After all, someone of his size should not have been capable of the sort of speed and agility he had.

Bracing his back foot against the base of a tree, he launched himself toward her in a spiral, his claws forming on the ends of his fingers to complete the attack. His bulk in combination with his speed would make it a difficult blow to deflect, and his claws would allow him to land and maintain traction when he touched down. With his adrenaline granting him energy, he was only getting faster in his attacks. The moon drew out his power, lending the glow to his eyes.

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    "Easy enough to say, less than easy to prove." she said as she crouched low then launched to
the side as he dashed forward at her in a rather wild and unorthodox attack. Tumbling out of the way, she felt the barest of tugs at her hair, and she hissed loudly as she saw the faintest glint from a few of her hairs that had been clipped by his claws.

    Digging her heels into the dirt, she clenched her fists tightly, her knuckles cracking as she leapt forward, aiming squarely for his middle as she stretched herself out, moving more like a cat than a dog, her coiled legs and back extending as she reached out for him with every ounce of speed she still had in her old frame. Fists out , she reached for him in a full on tackle, hoping to close in tight enough to negate his speed advantage, and exploit her lower center of gravity.

    'Close enough to make love to a razor.' one of her former lovers had once said after a similar tussle out in the old Oklahoma Territories just before the civil war. The random memory made her smirk slightly, even as some tiny part of her mind became alarmed at how readily the thought had interposed itself into her train of thought, while she was battling the young buck before her. 'You're getting old girl, soon enough you'll be slowing down, and your age will show, and then it will be no more bar brawls and frantic ruts with handsome drifter warriors...'