The explosion of magic caught Mardicos off guard, but he immediately went back to attacking Reyna. He hated witches with a passion. And Reyna was one whether she liked it or not.
When she grabbed his neck, Mardicos snarled and bit down harder on her leg, rolling over several times to dislodge her. It was barely more than a surface wound, considering how thick his black fur was, but he wasn’t about to let her get a better hold.
Reyna growls, a sound that starts low and ends up as a high pitched whine, as Mardicos clamps his jaws around her leg. She flexes it sharply, forcing him to release her, then goes for his throat. She doesn't release his neck, instead clamping down tighter than before.
Adam chuckles. "Well, seeing as how neither of us have a pack, we could form one ourselves. One that possibly includes them, once they stop trying to kill each other."
Mardicos snarled in frustration when Reyna’s leg escaped him, a short whine bursting forth as she bit down harder on his neck. He paused a moment, calculating, then rolled over, burying Reyna’s head beneath him in the snow. He put all of his weight on Reyna, hoping to crush her.
(Can I just say- I love these two.)
(Lol, thank you)
(Mm-hmmm! Now I'll go back to watching to avoid cluttering this place, lol.)
Reyna growls and twists over, flexing her entire body to get him to release her in the process. She grabs his throat in her jaws and stares him down, daring him to try something and get his throat ripped out.
Mardicos howled, becoming even more frustrated as she escaped again. When she grabbed him by the throat, he growled, his eyes still challenging her.
A long moment passed before Mardicos moved, then he kicked her hard in the side with his powerful hind legs. He kept kicking her, even scratching her, relentlessly pounding at Reyna’s side until she decided to release him or kill him.
Reyna doesn't flinch, only tightens her hold on his throat slowly to choke him, to wear him down, glaring the entire time.
Mardicos kept kicking Reyna as he started choking. At some point, he heard a rib or two crack, but from there his consciousness started to fade. His kicks became gradually weaker, until he finally passed out.
Reyna releases Mardicos, then stands up and winces slightly. Broke a couple ribs. She looks to Adam and catches him staring.
"What are you looking at?" she growls.
He smirks. "Nothing."
"Do you think they'll ever stop trying to kill each other?" She asked with a huff of amusement, scanning the area as the two other wolves rolled around, seemingly trying to rip each other to shreds. "Forming a pack with those two idiots would be less productive than trying to find prey downwind of you." Still, she considered the idea for a brief moment. If they figured out how to get along, it wouldn't be a bad idea to try. At very least then they would have others to watch their backs and work with instead of flouncing around alone.
Adam smirks. "No, I don't think so."
Reyna snarls. "Who're you calling an idiot? I'll choke you out like I did this asshole."
Mardicos was unconscious for a long moment, but he slowly started to stir. His legs twitched and a faint wheeze came from his throat. After a long moment, he groaned, one eye trying to flicker open.
Reyna whirls growls, looking down at Mardicos. "You done?"
Mardicos’ eye finally opened and he glanced at Reyna without responding. He then climbed to his feet and stumbled over to his shredded clothes, picking up a shred and spitting it at Reyna. His stern expression seemed to say something like ‘You owe me a new set of clothes’.
He then moved to where his axe and dagger had fallen, scooting them together and sitting down next to them. His giant paws covered the weapons, protecting them as much as hiding them. He finally settled into glaring at everyone, but he was clearly in no mood, or shape, to fight again.
Reyna glares in response, then huffs, indicating she has neither the money nor the kindness to buy him new clothes.
Adam raises an eyebrow at the pair. "If you two are done tearing each other apart, let's turn to something me and Vitara were talking about. A pack."
Reyna glowers and picks at her nails fastidiously.
Mardicos snorted disdainfully at Reyna’s response. He hadn’t expected her to be generous. Not like he needed someone to purchase clothes for him anyway. He could make his own clothes. All he needed was animal skins and patience.
Mardicos then glanced at Adam and huffed, a short growl accentuating it. The last thing he wanted to be in was a lycanthrope pack. Wolf packs were tolerable, even pleasant, but werewolf packs were unbearable and petty. And, Mardicos was the oldest of the four, and he guessed by, at least, a few centuries. Which meant that he would likely become the mentor of three naive, moody toddlers, something he wanted no part of.
Reyna glares at Mardicos, then finally speaks.
"I am no teen, nor am I a pup, nor am I by any means young. So quit your whining, asshole." she snarls.
Adam tilts his head, listening. "And I never thought you were."
He turns to Mardicos. "You think me young. I am far, far older than you think. You think me a normal werewolf?"
He shifts, his wolf form revealed properly now. It glowed like a constellation, dotted with white specks that shimmer and gleam like the oldest stars. Reyna watches him, now wary.
"Astral wolf. A now extinct sect of weres. Just who are you?" she growls.
(Abrupt question: How do they know what Mardicos was thinking? He can’t speak in his wolf form, and all he did was huff. [If I need to edit my previous post to clarify that, let me know])
(He's made it clear that he thinks of them all as children, and so Reyna's readdressing it in case it didn't make it through Mardicos's thick skull, lol.)
(Ah, lmao!)
(Sorry for butting in here - If I may add, wolves have a way of communicating and expressing themselves in huffs, growls, snarls, nips, and other such behaviours. It only makes sense that some of that would be passed onto werewolves.)
(Anyways, bye!)
(Oh yeah… I forgot some of that [Thanks, Sam, for the reminder]. So, it actually does make sense that Mardicos could express that ‘elderly disdain’ in a way)
Mardicos turned to Reyna and huffed. He then looked away, pointedly ignoring her. He started pushing his muzzle into the snow just to have something to do. All of his wounds were healing, but it was far too slow for his mood.
When Adam morphed, Mardicos glanced at him, but he otherwise ignored the male. Reyna’s comment only seemed to irritate him, and he shoved his nose deeper into the snow.
The soft, cold sensation of the snow soothed Mardicos somewhat, and he closed his eyes. If only he could remove the sound of the others now.