05.16.09 - Existential Quandary
Location: Western Shore
Characters Involved: Tameus, Ender, spoof-foxes
It's dark out and Tam is a good distance down the shore, north of Salamandastron. Him, and a pair of foxes - two older boys, though the tall leveret is nearly their size. There's some sort of argument taking place and then Tam lunges forward, shoving at one of them, hard enough to knock him back on the sand. And those two start wrestling and kicking in the sand while the other tries to yank Tam off his friend.
Reasons for Ender to be out of the mountain are few. But there he is, sitting on a rock looking towards the sea. Sans a companion, he cuts a rather lonesome small figure. One of his ear flicks as the wind carries the sound of a struggle towards him, and he turns his head to see figures tussling in the sand. Squinting, he can make out that one is a hare. And the others...the rabbit glares furiously and hops off his rock and sets off towards the trio, fists clenched.
Tameus is being kicked and punched in the shoulders and head by the fox who's still standing, but he has the other pinned - one hand fisted in the older kid's shirt, the other curled in a fist that he drives into his muzzle. Over and over and over.
The fact that they're kids, or something like it, doesn't register in Ender's mind. He's already enraged when he sees that the hare on the ground is Tameus. And then he becomes absolutely livid. "Oi, vermin bastard!" He raises his cane into his fist.
Tameus might as well be a canine, too, because by the time Ender gets there he's latched his teeth onto the side of the fox's face. There's blood from both of them. The two kids tumble over each other, clawing, kicking, throwing their weight around but Tam mostly keeps on top. The standing tod scampers off a little as Ender shows up, spooked by the presence of an apparent Long Patroller, and barks at his friend, "Hey, watch out!"
Ender's eyes blaze, forgetting the bloodied hare on the ground as his face begins to shake, the cane still raised in a very..old-person style menacing manner. He bares his teeth, reduced to animal instinct fairly quickly, and dives at the fox, cane swinging in from the left. There's a satisfying thud as it connects with the fox's side, the rabbit barreling in, just a /bit/ off balance.
Tameus and his 'foe' wrestle around on the ground still, neither paying much attention to the rabbit. It's like a fight to the death - miniaturized. Tam rips into the tod's face with his teeth, claws digging in, the strength in his legs especially helping him keep on top. The other fox jerks and tries to avoid Ender's attack, but he's bowled over by it, yelping and landing on his butt.
There's a tiny inkling in Ender's mind that he needs to help out Tameus. But. The kid will be in the Patrol soon, this is just more training. And there's the fox right there - waiting. Plus he's already moving pretty quickly towards him. Ender smashes into the seated fox, crushing the fox backwards under his torso. This in itself takes the wind out of him, and he only gets in a weak couple of hits before he is rolled over and pinned, snarling and snapping.
Tameus finally gets a firm upper hand with his fox, teeth ripping free, leaving the tod's face bloodied and torn. Straddling the tod's stomach he grips around his throat with both hands, shoving his weight down, choking him as the fox claws at his arms and chest desperately.
Ender wrestles one arm out. He /has/ managed to hold onto some bit of fitness, and brings his fist up and around, smashing into the side of the the fox's head. This surprises the fox, almost lifting him up and off the rabbit entirely. Ender stands and holds back a kick. They.../are/ kids. But they're foxes. Existential quandary! "Tam. TAM!"
Tameus's ears are pinned. Little growls rip out of him while the fox grunts out breathless choking noises, starting to move more sluggishly. The leveret is too focused on /killing/ him to respond to Ender.
Ender struggles with this, not paying attention to the fox he just attacked. Should he? Shouldn't he? They're not old enough. Yeah, that's the answer. "TAMEUS!" He takes a couple steps and sticks his footpaw between the two kids on the ground, kicking up against Tameus to..half-heartedly end this.
Tameus isn't detached from the fox that easily. He jerks sideways and they roll over and over, down a slight slope in the sand. His claws bite into the sides of the older boy's neck while he keeps the choke hold.
Ender now takes a bit more of an urgent few strides towards them, cane retrieved and now used to tap against Tam's side a coupple times lightly and then hard. "TAMEUS SADE!" This is shouted, Ender's adrenaline beginning to slow.
Tameus doesn't let go, but the insistent nudge with the cane gets a reaction. He snaps at it, half-feral, while the other fox comes up toward Ender, a knife in hand, and lunges at Ender while he's distracted to try to stab it into his side.
Oof. There's a feeling Ender's been missing for a few seasons now. The one where he's freshly stabbed. Looking down to his side, the rabbit sees the knife on his left and drops his cane, quickly grabbing the fox's wrist before the knife is pulled out. Twisting the wrist, he turns to get the fox's hand off the hilt. Ow. This is painful. Struggling to remain standing, he brings his stump in hard from the right and pounds it into the vermin's head as hard as he can, trying to yank him back for a second blow, but instead going to to one knee on the sand. Owww.
Blood spills out of the fox's neck as Tam finally lets go. Death by bleeding or suffocation, who knows - but the tod is definitely dead. Tam pushes up, bloody and cringing, his teeth bared as he /throws/ himself at the fox who just stabbed Ender. Knocks him to the ground, sinks his teeth into the side of his neck, and yanks. Trying to rip his throat open.
Ender would probably freak out if he saw this. Or maybe he wouldn't. Either way, he's now on both knees on the sand, trying to keep his breathing even as he feels the hilt of the dagger. This is probably not a good thing. The blood is just starting to trickle, and Ender weighs the decision between ripping it out and leaving it there. Hmm.
Yank, yank, and out comes a chunk of fur and flesh, gripped in Tam's teeth. Blood gushes out, onto him, the sand, and the fox's struggles end. Tam gives the tod a punch in the head, just to be sure, then gets up, spluttering stuff out of his mouth. ".. End?"
Ender makes the decision now, unable to stand while the blade's still in him. He quickly graps the dagger and yanks it out, immediately dropping it and clapping his paw over the wound, beginning to stream blood. He stays on the ground and looks around for a moment, face growing pale. "They're dead? The foxes?"
Tam nods, stepping toward Ender. He pulls his shirt off over his head, balls it up, and drops to his knees next to Ender. "Aye, I killed 'um. Use this, it'll help stop th' blood." His own arms and chest are scratched up and bleeding.
"Okay, okay. Good." It's a start. Step two probably being to prevent him from dying out here. "I think one of the bastards managed to stab me, eh?" It's not obvious at all. Now Ender begins to rise, just a little paler, accepting the shirt before halting halfway up. "Hurts quite a bit. ...I'll be alright. But. Let's go back." To the infirmary! His favorite place.
Tameus takes a half-step back and offers out his arm to Ender. "Lean on me, 'll help y' back inside. I don' have a healin' kit wit' me or 'd fix y' up here." Very calm for a kid who just killed. Times two.
Ender's got his legs straight now, but his torso is still bent over, leaving him looking..even older, as if that was possible. "Not been stabbed in a while. Long time since I've even seen a fight, eh? Not that this one was all that good. But we won, and winning is what counts in these things." His nervous prattling may asway his fear, but the pallor in his face is quite unmistakable.
The leveret worries at his lip, grasping Ender's arm to take some of his weight and guide him along toward the mountain. "Y' mean I won," he points out. "'m sorry y' got stabbed, y' should'a jus' stayed out'a it."
Ender's now being made out as old! He would protest this, but..not this time. Next time though. "You're probably right. Thought I was a bit younger for a moment, eh? Guess I learned my lesson." He awkwardly avoids the fact that Tam killed them. No one likes their grandson killing, especially not in front of them. Even if they are foxes. "Just get me back to the mountain. Quick, if you can." This last bit comes out a little strangled as he takes a step into soft sand.
Tameus pulls Ender along, guiding him back toward the mountain. "Jus' keep pressin' on th' wound, we'll be home soon 'nough..."
