burn out the day, burn out the night (Vyn!)

[Eve]

((OKAY SO 90 PERCENT SOME OF THIS MIGHT BE A RECYCLED POST LOL. OH WELL.))

The night had been a long one - the escape from the monster with the light in the box had visibly shaken her, and she'd run on 'til morning. If she'd had no direction before, she was now completely without orientation. The forest was a dangerous place, the world was a dangerous place. And Rosalind hadn't been prepared.

She was at the edge of the forest now, limbs looked less gnarled, the air felt less oppressive but more...dusty? It smelled like dust, if dust were black. She couldn't know how close she was to the dirtiest, most crime infested city in the nation. How close she was to more of them, more hairless tall things that put light in little boxes and chased her through the darkness.

The dawn light began to trickle between the trunks and branches, vines and upraised roots, and the fox was panting heavily now, muscles turned to jelly. A lantern almost too big for her to carry was with in her mouth, the light having long gone out. She dropped it unceremoniously to the earth with a clunk, and her body followed soon after.

No one had ever told her that adventures were so dangerous! She was convinced that the creature she had seen was a human. He'd certainly been the first humanoid that she'd ever seen. How was she supposed to know that the demonic details of his figure set him apart, that he was something very much /other/ than human.

All she knew was that he was not very nice, and that she was definitely going to be more cautious next time one of his type was around.

Halfheartedly, she curled around the lantern, eyes nearly closing. She couldn't go to sleep like this, out in the open, but she knew she had to rest before she was going anywhere. Her legs felt as though they were about to collapse.

Weren't adventures supposed to be like in the stories? Where the heroine was powerful enough to fight instead of run away? And in stories, the heroine had companions, not horned, hunched creatures who called her "a pretty thing" as they reached out to snatch her!

Then again, in stories, the innocent maidens were always beautiful fairies and princesses.....not naive little foxes.

[Locke (DP)]

[OoC: Obv she may escape him. I thought it was a funny idea so I went with it. XD Also I didn't proofread this SO. I'll just leave you this warning.]

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The fox would not be free from fel’asar claws that night. Of course, Carden was an excellent place to find strange individuals who donned horns. Ilvyn Daleroth had the grandest horns of them all- aside from his father- great straight thing jutting out from his forehead, sheathed in soft wrinkled flesh. If the fox had been searching for safety away from horned bastards with dark interests she wasn’t about to get it, because Vyn was hungry, and he had no qualms about eating foxes.

The fact that the beast was carrying a lantern should have been a red flag. The question is whether Ilvyn is above eating those of the folk. Foxes, whether they could speak or not, weren’t anything close to human, correct? He wouldn’t have to feel guilty about being some kind of cannibal. Nivali were too human-like, but a talking cow was fair game, as long as no one heard them scream. Cows, foxes, they were meat. Also, he felt starved, and when one is driven by their belly they aren’t always considering the morals of it all.

Fortunately the vixen had let her guard down, curling up around the lantern for a rest. Ilvyn was no hunter, so his plan had flaws. First, he was going to sneak up on the fox and then he was going to pounce on her. Slitting her throat would come once he had her pinned down. Shanking her right in the back while she rested was an option, but Ilvyn wanted to save that pretty hide for later. That skin would be worth something down the road. Careful placement of his hooves allowed him to draw closer. The critter was almost in reach. Just a little father.

The young fel’asar pounced on that fox like some sort of wild cat. The boy hadn’t really thought about the lantern, which jabbed him right in the cheek as he fell. That would leave a bruise later, but now, fox. Sneaky little creatures were difficult to get a grasp of, so he struggled to hold that furry little beast, maybe get his hand around her muzzle if it kept her from squealing or from biting him.

I wonder what fox tastes like…maybe…chicken… AGH I’M SOOOO HUNGRY!

[Eve]

Of course it would be just as her eyes closed that the danger would come.

It was downright stupid to be laying out in the open like this. If she'd been a regular fox, she would have been driven only by instinct and never would have dropped to rest here. But she wasn't a regular fox, and she'd been blessed and cursed with human thoughts, and some of the humanity that made her so clever also made her remarkably dumb and out of touch with the impulses that most animals use to keep themselves alive.

She felt him on top of her and vaguely thought it was a dream, a nightmare. But she heard the clinking of the lantern, felt it's cold metal on her fur, and was jolted awake. And before her? Another creature she could only guess was "human."

And he was trying to kill her.

So maybe Rosalind was a bit slow on the uptake sometimes, a bit dreamy and with poor focus, but she had sense enough to know that if his free hand, the one that hadn't grabbed her around the middle, made it's way around her muzzle, then she would be doomed. Doomed doomed doomed. Game over, adventure over, THE END. And as far as Rosalind could judge, she had just gotten started!

But she opened her mouth and when he reached his hand towards her to grab, she clamped down hard. Not bothering to hold the grip until he could switch hands, she used the moment of pain to SCREAM out the first thing that came to her mind -

"YOU CAN'T KILL ME!!!"

Very persuasive to a hungry man, surely. Ears pinned back and she did her absolute best to appear confident and threatening, a snarl curling her muzzle. If she'd had a mirror even she would have had to admit that despite the snarly-confidence....she still mostly just looked cute and fluffy. DAMMIT.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that her teeth weren't what was going to get her out of this. Think fast think fast think fast.

All she managed to do was wriggle around like a slippery fish.

"I WOULDN'T KILL ME IF I WAS YOU!!"

[Locke (DP)]

“AGH! SONUVABITCH!” This was Ilvyn’s response to having vulpine teeth clamp down on his hand, followed by a string of curses that may or may not have been made up words. The fel’asar could not say he was unaware of this outcome. He just wished he had taken more precautions to avoid it. “Stupid fox! Bullshit I can’t kill you! You just dug your own grave you little-!”

Vyn didn’t switch his hands- the last thing he wanted was to get bit again- instead he had what he had very tightly in his grasps. The boy’s bloodied hand went to his belt and he unsheathed his dagger. The rogue would make quick work of this, although after biting him this fox hardly deserved a pain-free death. Stupid fox.

“Why would you refrain from killing such an easy target, my girl?” Vyn muttered with a chuckle. “If you were me you would be a hungry fel’asar that has just found a meal.” If it wasn’t obvious to the fox by now, that would also make her a fel’asar that was lacking in the moral department. “My bet is that folk foxes taste the same as normal foxes. No one can tell the difference when you’re dead.”

This may have been the vixen’s last chance to plea for her life and she ought to make the argument rather convincing. The clock was ticking. Ilvyn was preparing to carve a pretty scarlet ribbon on that slender little throat.