the north's most sensible (or, don't taunt the fox)

It had all started out so good!

See, the scene was set for it to end so good, too...

Before Mother and Dalmatia and Kuhn each returned, Tiberii found herself stalking out of the den after she feasted on her fill of breakfast, thinking herself to be rather integral to the pack with her endeavors of scent marking, patrolling, and overall ensuring her remaining sisters were well. Not only them now, she had to remind herself, Father had fallen ill of the body and he needed rest (a valid thing now that she had decided it to be) so while she presumed he was resting (though she could never be sure) she would be making morning rounds in his stead.

It would start with the sunlight catching her harshly in the eye, turning the snowy ground to something almost blinding, as she strayed nearer and nearer the border where she could see thick greenery in the far distance... and she would hike up her leg and mark, forgetting the true practice of it and ignoring any logic that would go into it, for she would merely mark when it struck her mind to rather than with any purpose. Twice, she would bark and holler at birds that were fighting over scraps of hide so that they wouldn't disturb Father (something that seemed entirely possible when they were so loud to her) and once, she chased a rabbit in hopes of bringing it home for lunch (which, of course, the young darkling was already pondering, stomach having begun a timid growling fit not even more than a short half mile ago) but it was too swift, zigzagging this way and that until she was heated and panting and having to catch her breath in burning lungs.

But more or less... the day was dull.

And then she had seen it.

White as snow save for the three dots of pure endless black; fluffy and not too big at all—a fox, she would see, and though she understood it was not doing anything particularly offensive or wrong... it was on Duskguard territory and was that not her purpose? To ensure the safety of the pack? "Ya' look mighty stupid!" she would holler at it, mock charging it once before quickly skittering back to where she stood before. It didn't really react, jerking backward once but nothing more.  If it had been bigger she would have been smart like she told the tiger boy to be, but she thought them to be evenly matched. It would be easy, she thought, to run it out of the territory like she had done the birds and technically even the rabbit. "Git on! Git!"

Again, she would mock charge...

...except this time?

The fox yowled something so ghastly it made Tiberii's butt thump the earth, short black ears slicked back against her skull. "What?"

It would yowl again.

Tiberii swallowed hard as she tried to scrabble upright, Father or Aries or Aurelia or anyone on the young darkling's mind for help.

Though, it would be too late. For in the next heartbeat, the fox ran for her, a burst of anger as snow flurried in the air. Tiberii whined out before she could even scream, making a scrabbling break back toward the den that was so far gone because she had traveled so far.

"Get away!" she shouted as she ran as fast her clumsy paws would take her though the panic of being chased made her all the worse for wear. "I'll eat ya'!" And then, when that did not deter it at all, she all the louder hollered, "I'll get my dad to eat ya'!"

But even that felt insignificant. Here she was... being chased!

"I'll make @Kuhn eat' ya, too!"

As it would go, this did not end good so the young darkling would think.

For as she tried to take a sharp turn left back where she knew familiarity lay if she ran fast enough, her paws would catch her, she would tumble in a whirl of spit and snow and a shrieked wah!

As... at once... she hit the earth.

And the fox, of course, simply beelined for her staggering form.

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Euphemia had an eye to anything that was colorful — the world of the tundra was often covered in that white, and even family dipped into the darker tones of so. Flowers were the difference and so was the green of the pines, but frankly to find someone colorful in the vale was a rarity. She learned to appreciate the beauty of her family, but a flame was always interesting to look — but as well as anything that seemed different. Seeing the same thing everyday, the young shakti's often rushed to someone that was new and exciting.. The corner of her eyes she thought she saw something move, but when Euphemia tried to follow it, there was nothing.

A mighty turn would go as she charged to the unfamiliar sound of a yowl, and her sister as well. There was something ahead, mighty in fur itself and pure white, almost like their mother but more of the snow itself. Was the snow alive? But she was hurting Tiberii — snow wasn't like that. Oh how the little girl who took more after their mother, within moments shared the similarity of father. She charged through, barking and yapping, "don't touch her!"

and headbutted the thing.

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^^

He should have seen it coming, truly. 

Should have known that she would take it seriously, take after him in all the worst ways and be as stubborn as a fuckin' bull but really, could he be blamed when he thought that for a split second, one of his daughters might be less inclined to take after him, if only for a moment? Yeah, a little bit.

Tiberius had been stretching his legs, fresh from a horrible bout of thrashing about as he feared another infection might strike when he heard her. Heard that familiar voice of his little look-alike with the blaze of her mother upon her chest and something in him all but snapped. He had been feeling a sense of fear for a while, regarding his daughters, his fiance and Kuhn seeing his mangled face but this was a different fear altogether. It was coupled with fury, too.

He heard the way she threatened her danger with him and something like pride ignited within his chest, the same way he heard Kuhn's name leave her tongue, too. It was gone as he scrambled forward, uncaring of the way his face hurt for what mattered most in that moment was the safety of his daughter. His daughter that was in danger, calling out for help whilst trying to ward off the danger. Air clogged in Tiberius' throat as he thundered through the Vale with every bit of urgency that he felt as he all but flew towards @Tiberii.

Her sister was seemingly having the same idea.

The titan entered the scene in time to see the way Euphemia went head first into the fox that was lunging for her sister, throwing them both to the side but with more skill and age behind it, the fox twisted and slapped a white paw towards her. Tiberius snarled loudly as he saw the way crimson startled to bubble in the slender marks across Euphemia's pristine pelt and he was forced into action when he saw the fox twisting to go for Tiberii, mouth clicking and snapping audibly as it's teeth cracked together as it went for the dark girl where she lay. "Not my fuckin' kids," the father frothed at the mouth as he all but lunged over Euphemia to embed his waiting teeth in the scruff of the fox. ^^

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There had only been a few moments between the fox lunging for her and her sister's arrival.

Sharp teeth went for her throat (but she tucked her chin close to her chest as she often did when she and her sisters sparred) and then they snapped for her face, missing her cheek and catching hold of her top lip, pulling something fierce and tearing from her a frightful sort of noise; she had been nipped and pinched and rolled before but never had something been so adamant to hurt—she would not even notice she was bleeding, that a bit of her lip had been cut into, all she would note is the relief as her sister slammed into the fox; surely expecting only one, shocked it sideways with a weird snap of teeth and a snarl that she was desperate to escape.

Unlike how the young pup approached the world as something built of spars and retreats when a whine rang out, the fox fought, something like war in the stupid thing's mind, and it coiled oddly, quick to try and lash out again at the darkling who scrabbled and clawed at the earth and the snow and the ice.

Tiberii heard him before she saw him.

Arriving all in the manner that made him fabled in the darkling's eyes—beyond something otherworldly, all the more like a legend come to life; a dark titan of a wolf emerging from the white around them who hit the earth with paws so large that she would swore thunder struck; for a moment, his frame blocked the sun, leaping over her sister and saving her the burn of the stupid thing's teeth as, in one swift swoop and snap of jaws, Father came down; rattling her as she lurched upright finally and skittered toward her sister.

She would hear the fox yowl and snap, truly stupid or truly intent to survive (was there a difference?) and then she would hear something close to the familiar whine of a bite gone too far—something spluttered, and then something snapped.

Tiberii would only catch the end of it, when her vision had recovered from the blur of pain, pushing close to her sister in both a search for comfort and an attempt to protect, the sight of the fox's white coat gone a bit red, its cries quiet, its body stilled.

The gore of this would not strike her; that it could have been very possible for the fox to overwhelm her and snuff her like a candle's flame.

Instead, through pants and a tiny, thin whine, she hollered, "I said ya'd get it!" she tried to be confident though her voice shook something mad, eyeing how the fox hung limp in Father's jaws. "It didn't believe me but I knew!"

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She was brave, but she was also stupid. There wasn't really any thought what to do next once she headbutt the other, who then did a quick turn and a swipe along her. There was a whimper from Euphemia, feeling the breeze along her ears and the faint tear that came ; the dripping that lightly was brought but was so unnoticeable that she most likely wouldn't notice if not for the first time to feel real pain. Her father was short behind, rippling through to grab the furred-creature with a sister who cheered him on. She was a bit more shock then maybe the other, whose lip bled lightly. She was standing there, dumbfounded as a paw lifted up to feel the skin that wasn't there. Brushing along her ears, the gliding of imperfection..

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^^

It fought but it didn't fight well, once it was within the titans jaws its fate was all but sealed. It had chosen it's path and it had walked it, Tiberius coming in swiftly to end its life for daring to come near what was his. It cracked and it snapped and it fell limp within his jaws, Tiberius' tongue lapping against it's fur and flesh as his chest heaved up and down from his fury. Tiberii spoke, her voice shaking -- understandably -- as she declared her trust in him. How she had warned the fox of him and he couldn't help the pride that welled in his chest at how highly she thought of him, trusted him. With an added chomp down of his jaw, the titan would spit the limp fox out to the snow at the side and curled his lip in disgust, "fancy a snack, darlin's?" He rumbled as he cast his molten gaze to both girls.

Euphemia was visibly more shaken though he had no doubt that Tiberii was too, her first real meeting with danger. Euphemia's shock was different, quiet and dumbfounded. As if she didn't believe the reality she was living. "Yer girls alrigh'?" Tiberius asked as he lowered down to nose at them, spying Tiberii's cheek and Euphemia's tear in her ear. Inwardly he winced, he had wanted them to remain untouched by teeth and claws for longer than this. He hadn't been able to protect him from a similar fate as he but he could only keep trying to ensure that never would they end up as maimed.

"Euphemia," he rumbled as he lifted a paw to wrap around her haunches to try and tug her closer to him, not long after attempting to do the same to Tiberii to tuck them both against him. He would lean his head down to run his tongue in a cleaning, tender sweep across Tiberii's lip as he cleaned the weeping blood before moving on to Euphemia, if she let him, to clean her torn ear. "Yer girls were real brave," Tiberius would tell them quietly, feeling the relief that he felt for their well being. He could have lost them. Lost them. His girls.

Tiberius felt sick and he tried to haul them closer, not wanting them to be even a smidgen from his being. ^^

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