even dragons die

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@Aria for youuuuu

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It hadn't really been fucking fair. Kingsley was doing as he had done best, bred by accident but still he harboured the best of both worlds. Traits from both wolf and shepherd, surprisingly he had been a brilliant guardian dog -- even if when he had been younger there had been a few close calls as the instinct to eat the sheep had come, howling in the form of his inner wolf. These days, though, he threw all his aggressive energy into his job and it had been going well, until it hadn't.

Something had shifted as he had been doing his usual job, herding the sheep from one field to the other when he shifted. One had struggled to behave and follow in line with the rest and Kings had to veer off to herd them back into place. Out the corner of his eyes he had seen them, the way they moved through the trees and he barked at the sheep and nipped at it's heels, urging it to where it needed to be before the hulking mass of mutt skidded to a halt, throwing his body round to warn off the predators lurking in the forest.

They had come, two of them and he met them half way in a clash of teeth and claws, clumps of fur and flesh flying in the scrap. The sounds that had come from the little battle and the way the sheep had sounded, unable to calm down, brought the humans forth. Their guns held in the hands and fury, worry and venom lay in their hearts as they saw the way Kingsley fought the two who sought to take what was theirs. Kingsley had been blinded, tunnel vision turning him from half tame, half feral, to completely feral as their bodies clashed and writhed midst fight.

He had heard their calls, their demands, the click of a cocking gun but he had been unable to focus on them, their voices deafening as he carried on.

BANG!
BANG! BANG!

BANG!

He stood, panting, seeing the way the two bodies lay, convulsing with a fresh bullet wound to their side and flank and Kingsley furrowed his brow as he swiped his tongue along his bloodied lips as he felt something shift and change in him. Wounds littered him, flesh and fur torn and gone but it was not that had him tilting his head across his shoulder. It was the bullet wound in him. Kinglsey's vision swam as his humans came rushing forward, their panic at the entire event making them try and aim for the beasts and not their mutt but the way Kingsley had been deafened to them had meant their shots were risky.

A risk they took, thinking it was the best choice.

Kingsley stumbled, the adrenaline of the fight seemingly dying as the pain in his ribs flared up. He felt their hands on his cheeks and his hind, their voices muffled as Kingsley's vision and hearing swam and muffled. He knew what was coming as it happened, his body collapsing into his man. As his eyes closed he felt it; the drop of tears on his nose. Kingsley was silent as he went, hulking mass growing heavy as he exhaled one last time.
 

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He woke with a start, forelegs splayed out before him and hurriedly the wolfdog looked around, short gasps coming from his throat. No humans, no predators, no blood -- only... buffalo? A herd of buffalo. That weren't right, Kingsley thought as he glanced around, his icy blue depths drinking in the surrounding area. "Fuck," he rasped, knowing that whatever the fuck had happened, wasn't normal. A phantom pain flared in his ribs, reminding him of the bullet that had been lodged there and he grimaced, gritting his teeth together as he hoisted himself to stand. His body ached, hurt and felt as if he had been shot and beaten, because it had ---

Goddamnit. ^^

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She'd lurked in the woods as per instruction, a lesson to be had. Two of her kin led the way, trailing along a familiar trail toward the pastures where the men kept their prey confined within wooden and wired pens. Aria was the youngest of their adult ranks, born to the Alpha pair the previous year; while her mother tended to her newest brood, she expected her eldest to carry on learning the way of the hunt. It was not difficult to fell a sheep; the challenge came in distracting their guardian. Aria felt anxious as she watched her cousins rush forward into the open and toward the beast that protected the livestock but waited as commanded, pacing and very much aware of her own wild heartbeat.

She waited while they began to fight, waiting for the right moment to slip in and claim the life of a creature fat enough to feed her family for days. Aria sprinted forward when the time felt right, swift on long legs and eager for it all to be over sooner rather than later. The yearling did not see the humans as they trudged toward the scuffle of her wolves and their dog, did not hear their commands over the snarling of her companions, and her focus remained on the fleece of a sheep who hobbled closer and closer to its herd. She drew closer, close enough to smell the fear on it, close enough to prepare to slay -

BANG!

Then another, then another. Aria skidded to a halt, ears high and ruby eyes wide with surprise to see the spray of blood from whatever had pierced the flesh of her cousin. “NO!” Aria cried out as she watched him fall heavily, as his brother dropped with a yelp close by, and she froze. Rooted to the spot, with her body quivering from adrenaline and shock, she could not move even if she wanted to. The young wolfess willed her kin to rise, to pull themselves upright and run, run with her!

Humans gathered around the fallen hunters, and their protector did not rise. Aria stared, petrified, until one stood upright once more and noticed her there. He rose his shotgun and pointed it her way, took a few brisk steps nearer, and just as she swung away to flee everything went black.
 

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Lashes fluttered. Aria woke with a start, hoisting herself up onto her elbows to glance around with wild red eyes. She didn't recognise the open meadow in which she'd found herself, could not see the forest where her family made their home, could not smell a hint of the burning scent she'd come to associate with men after a lifetime of living in their shadow. The world seemed much larger there, fresher, more... inviting?

Aria did not feel any pain as she pulled her lithe frame onto all four paws, and she licked her teeth nervously. Where were her cousins? She searched the fields for any suggestion that they too had wound up there, but she could not see the warm shades of their pelts stand out among verdant grasses. Confused, Aria sucked in a breath and was about to call out to them, when another's voice caught her off guard. She padded closer, cautious with her steps, and felt her guard hairs stand alert at the sight of a very familiar, dangerous brute.

She pulled her lips back in a snarl, feral and unforgiving.


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He should have known peace wouldn't follow him wherever he had gone. The wolf dog heard her before his icy gaze landed on her and she was familiar. He had seen her from time to time as part of the wolves who hunted the very beings he had been given to protect. Young like him though unlike him her blood was all wolf. She snarled at him, her feral tongue calling to his own that often fought for dominance.

"Don't you fucking start," Kingsley snarled in response as he turned to her, his lowly curled tail coming to flag in the air as he bunched his shoulders up. He had died alongside the fuckwits who came at him but he hadn't seen her in the fray -- likely she had been shot had she come to their aid. "If you hadn't noticed, sweetheart, your boys came at me," the boy reminded her, tongue coming to sleeve across his teeth. Did she think she could blame him for what happened?

Kingsley had been doing his job and it wasn't his goddamn fault they had come, two against one. He watched her, unflinching, wondering if she would come at him like her kin had. Somewhere in him, something stirred -- knowing she was the only thing here that was tied to his home. ^^

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The lives of two young hunters, lost - forever, perhaps, as they had not woke within the same foothills as she. Aria's own, snuffed out purely by doing the very thing she'd been bred to do: provide for her family. She felt the gradual build-up of emotion within her, the ache right at the heart of her to remember how her cousins had perished. Anger bloomed and a red mist descended over her visage as she glared into the frozen stare of the only being present who she could blame. Her snarl continued, guttural and fuelled by fury, heightening with the parting of her jaws and reveal of an impressive set of young fangs.

He showed his own in response and the flagging of his curled tail offended her; how dare he try to assert himself over her! She who'd been robbed of her whole family, she who'd been so necessary in providing for her little siblings, she who would not press her brow to her mother's neck that night. Aria felt everything at once then, all the frustration and bitterness and hurt as the faces of her most beloved flashed through her mind's eye.

She would never see them again.

“YOU!” Aria boomed, outraged by his words; her kin had never wanted to slaughter him, only intended only to serve as a distraction while she swooped in for the capture of a sheep, “they're dead because of YOU!”

She vibrated, adrenaline coursing hotly through her veins, and had he not been such a giant she would've gone straight for his throat's pulse. She'd have enjoyed the taste of his lifeblood on her tongue, the metallic tang of vengeance. Aria wanted to do right by her cousins, those who were murdered by men and their weapons right before her very eyes, all because a dog offered himself as an obstacle to her kin who needed to eat. “YOU an-and YOURS!” Tears brimmed in the she-wolf's eyes as she pushed forward, screaming her outrage in the face of her enemy, but she did not move to snap at him. It all very quickly became too much, and she trembled beneath the weight of her overwhelming emotion until her knees gave way beneath her - reducing her to a sobbing mess in the grass at his paws.


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It was typical that she would only see her side, that she wouldn't see how he had to defend himself when they had come knocking. Wouldn't she have done the same, defended herself if two wolves had come for her neck? Was it the way they were, entitled and selfish? Kingsley would watch her, the way she fueled all of her anger to him, at him, her voice screaming at him.

Kingsle's tongue licked at his charcoal lips as he dug his claws into the soil, his ears swivelling with each word she spoke. Because of him! "ME?" He echoed with absolute offense, another snarl seeping from his throat. They had attacked him! Him! His humans came to his aid as their wolves came to theirs! He felt the way his body reacted in defense, uncaring to the way he offended her. Her emotions rode high and he could see the way it was eating away at her, driving her to the brink.

He hadn't moved when she had sprung earlier to scream in his face and all he could do as she fell was watch. Grief came in many forms and he was watching one of them right now. Kingsley stared at her as she cried and his lips thinned against his teeth as he sighed; both were wronged here and that was that. But she was dealing with her grief differently, loudly and on her sleeve. "I'm not sorry I defended myself and I'm not sorry that my humans came to my aid, thinking I was going to die when two wolves attacked me," he rumbled as he decided then that he would lower himself to his haunches so he was not standing over her.

"I am sorry for your loss, though. Family is family and a loss is always hard," Kingsley struggled with emotions on a regular basis but she was crying for fucks sake and he wasn't goddamn heartless and she was -- well, she was... was familiar, in a way and it was in his blood to defend. Protect. Even if it came strangely now as he likely failed to make it any better for her. He flattened his ears, looking at her with a frown. ^^

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Aria succumbed to her grief, muzzle beneath her paws in attempt to hide tears that she could no longer contain. Her sorrow overflowed and her cheeks were made sodden; she felt as though her chest had been torn open, exposing the very heart of her. She curled close to herself as though to shield it, to protect it from breaking further, and did not hear a single word that the wolf-dog had spoken.

Her family. Her mother would worry when she and the boys did not return home. What sort of pain would she feel for the loss of her eldest, for the sons of her brother? She imagined it would be akin to her own and her heart splintered a little further - for she would not wish the weight of it on her worst enemy. Aria's sobs racked her frame and she squeezed her eyes shut to will it all away, to wish it'd never happened.


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Oh for fucks sake -- he nearly sighed, loudly and annoyed but he swallowed it as she watched her succumb to her grief in a way he could never imagine. So goddamn emotive -- he thought grumpily. Kingsley had swallowed his own grief about what his humans must have felt to see him in such a horrible fight and then accidentally shoot him, killing him and tucked it away behind lock and key. It was likely to bite him in the ass in the future but that was for future Kingsley to deal with, all right.

How did you comfort someone that was crying their literal heart out? He stared at her awkwardly, a paw lifting and hesitating in the air. She might react poorly to his touch, given the fact she thought he was the root cause of the issue (despite him really fucking not being the issue, okay, fuck) and it really just made him want to pull his fur out at the way this was harder than it should be. He was sure even the goddamn buffalos were looking at her like she was crazy.

Well, if she was going to bite his head off for him trying to help then he would bite her back. So he licked his lips as he convinced himself this was the right idea, lifting a paw that was so awkwardly positioned above her and experimentally began to try and pat her head. "There, there," he rumbled, eyebrows raised as he tightened his lips against his teeth.

Fucking lord help him.
 

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She struggled, sobbing and trembling beneath the immense weight of her grief. Across the meadow, bison rose their heads and gazed blankly in her direction while they chewed lazily at mouthfuls of grass. One lashed their tail and another huffed heavy breaths, uninterested, before resuming their grazing.

The whole world could watch her weep, and she would let them. Aria didn't care - her family deserved to be mourned, and she would do so loudly.

The wolf-dog lingered nearby, silent and uncertain, and she remained inconsolable as he reached to "pat" her atop the head. Aria scrambled to the side, repulsed by his touch, and she stumbled off to the side with a warning hiss. “Don't-” she crouched low, her fur still bristled despite the tuck of her tail; fury and sorrow and everything, all at once, overwhelming her in such a way that she didn't know how to channel her wild emotions. “P-please,” the yearlings voice wavered, “just... just leave me!”


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He wasn't really good with emotions to begin with, okay, but the boy had just goddamn died, right, so he was allowed to fumble with them more than usual. It didn't help he had a mess of a girl at his paws, blubbering away and blaming him for all of her issues, did it? What made it worse that he had been somewhat vulnerable in his attempt to comfort her despite the way she had spoken to him, treated him -- and she was being unreasonable. Again.

The girl stumbled away from him, hissing lowly in her demand for him to not. Fine, he thought with a fire in his belly, staring at her as she became even more harried. He fucking would leave her alone, if he could, but he couldn't. It was in his fucking bloodstream to protect and defend and right now, she was looking a sorry sight and was likely even less likely to be able to think straight and properly defend herself from anyone.

He flared his nose in displeasure, wishing he could just get up and leave but no, he would feel guilty and horrible and he wasn't going to let her make him feel that way, thanks. "Leave you to what, huh?" He fired back at her, standing back up as he loomed, "cry yourself into oblivion, not see danger lurking up and just let you fuckin' die?" Kingsley had no doubt the sorry little shit would say something along the lines of, just let me! I'll be with my family that way! in response to him and it only made him more annoyed. She hadn't even said it yet he thought she might.

"Sorry sweetheart, that isn't going to happen," Kings snapped as he grit his teeth. He had died too. ^^

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Her energy waned, and with it her anger. Where sobs previously racked her slim frame, Aria's shoulders came to tremble weakly. The gravity of her impossible situation weighed on her, threatened to break her, and she was tempted to succumb to it.

The wolf-dog barked with frustration at her, but she had nothing else in her to bite back with scathing words. Fury would not bring her cousins back and would not return her to her family; she lifted bloodshot sanguine eyes to blink pitifully into the face of her who'd been enemy to her pack for as long as she could remember.

Aria exhaled a shaky breath, wondering why he hadn't just turned his tail on her and gone his own way. She blinked at the haze of tears and saw the farrowing of his brow, the clench of his jaw, and locked her lips. “What am I supposed to... to do?” Aria asked in a small voice, a note of pleading on her tongue.


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She melted.

Gone was rage, gone was the spitting words of blame and in it's place was a girl with tears, steeling herself against them with a question on her tongue that called out in a plead. He looked put out at he words for a moment as he thought on it, not entirely sure himself. "Well, I dunno," Kings grunted as he frowned. "Ya press on, I guess," because what else would she do? Lay there for an eternity?

No, she was a wolf. They were resilient creatures, even if he needed to push her into it. "Best to get to know the world you're in now, yeah? Unless you want to lay there and do fuck all," he shrugged, wondering if that might light some type of determined fire under her ass. She needed to realise that life didn't stop here, even if technically, moments before, both their lives had ended. 

They were alive now and that meant they needed to take advantage of it. Kingsley would swallow his pain, burying it to ignore. It was unlikely she would do the same but letting her wallow wasn't an option. ^^

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So what was it, then? Just move on, as though nothing every mattered? Aria gritted her teeth, supposing it was easy for him to do considering how he had not had a family worth losing.

She lay there, a crumbled and broken heap of the young wolf she'd been before, and he expected her to pick herself up and get over it. Her heart ached for the mother who waited for her back home, the father who would wear a brave face despite the sorrow, for everything she'd ever known and loved. They would never hold one another again and it was too much to think about.

Aria withdrew, then, and tore herself away with tears still flowing, and immersed herself within the dark loneliness of the forest when she found it.


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exit post!

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"The world ain't kind, best to remember that," he rumbled as he watched her, broken and crying, fleeing away to the forest. Kingsley watched and trailed a little behind but kept out of her eyeline, intent to watch her safety but not eager to engage her in conversation again.

She needed a minute. ^^

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