ORIGIN

If there was one smell Athena would never forget, than that of the icky fluid within a chrysalis. Sometimes she still smelt it randomly and thought maybe some of that stuff was still in her nose or whatever, but right then Athena swore she smelt that stuff for real.

She immediately took off into the direction of the smell and soon found a red pelted creature between the trees. A freshly emerged gembound. "Hello." Athena greeted with a smile as she came to halt a few meters away from the other. "I'm Athena." The Alaskan Malamute introduced herself, blue eyes curiously drinking in the appearance of Eridanus' new inhabitant. "You?"


"Listen to me."

The 'fox' watched in an almost unnatural silent, fluids sliding off her face and dripping onto the soft moss below. She wasn't too sure what this other creature with a strange scarlet gem lodged in it's skull wanted, but what she was sure of was that it had to be unfriendly. Instinct kicked into the fox-like animal as she bent down somewhat, eyes wide and teeth bared.

The amber fur on her shoulders seemed to rise a little, bristling as the newborn pup snarled in almost near silence. Little known to her, the outward appearance was, in short, pathetic. Scrawny and strangely coloured, the gangly-looking creature shifted ever so slightly to the side; amniotic fluid clinging to her fur and showing the thin figure under all the fluff of a newborn.

Her knees were shaking like a newborn foal trying to stand for the first time, and she let out a shaking and wordless bark. At length, the 'fox' hesitated before she took a step back, still snarling quietly. The creature, of course, didn't know the intentions of the dog in front of her; whether they were good or not.Either way, the 'fox' seemed to decide to stand and wait.

Athena was shocked. No one had been as utterly rude to her as this tiny newborn. Hadn't she politely greeted the other and told them her name? A scold replaced the Alaskan Malamute's prior dorky smile and her stance changed too.

The fur on the back of her neck bristled and she stood wider, squaring her naturally wide shoulders. "Rude! You're rude and mean!" She barked at the other gembound as they barred their teeth. Athena didn't want to fight, but it seemed like the other planned to. While they did in fact step back from her, with their snarl and flashed teeth they were offering up a challenge.

If it were to come to a fight, Athena wouldn't hesitate.


"Listen to me."

As it happens, the nameless creature (still snarling) had absolutely no idea what Athena was saying - as she herself could not speak. The words simply flew over her damp head. Briefly, the fox-like creature shook it's fur, bits of gunk flying in everywhere before she immediately settled back into a half-crouched state, snarling.

She could identify the stance the other creature pulled - something threatening and not friendly -- at all. It too, snarled. If the dog didn't want to make friends, then she would have to get rid of this threat on her territory. The 'fox' spat, somewhat.

And then she lunged. It was a horribly abrupt movement, something that seemed like it couldn't be accomplished by a gembound born literally seconds earlier. The shaking of the not-fox's legs seemed to steady as she suddenly charged forward.

Unfortunately, what seems and what is can be two very different things. It seems like the creature's legs are steady, but of course, they can't be. This is to be predicted from a two-minute old beast. As she ran forward, her weak and unstable legs gave way and the creature found herself falling flat onto the mossy ground of Eridanus, hitting her snout off the cave floor.

She broke into several whines and squeals as her legs shifted and flailed uselessly, as if they were made from rags rather than skin and bone.

This young gembound actually tried to attack Athena. She growled and barred her teeth as the other tried to jump her, ready to bite and defend herself.
But the attack never came. The young one's legs gave out and it fell onto the ground, hitting its maw on the ground.

It's whimpers were pitful and as angry as she was, Athena couldn't find it in her to attack a crying baby. Instead, she stepped closer to the other and leaned down, close to her ear. "My land, my home." She said, her blue eyes searching for the red-pelted gembound's gaze. "No fight. Then you can stay." It was a try at an explanation that she supposed would again fall on deaf ears. But Athena could hope that maybe the intent behind her words wasn't completely lost to the other.


"Listen to me."

Once more, the little fox-creature didn't understand the words being spoken to her. What she did manage to pick up on, was the tone that they were spoken with. In short, she didn't seem to appreciate it. The little fox snarled and rather abruptly snapped her jaws at Athena's nose.

She was successful, to an extent. Her front teeth only barely grazed Athena's nose which would leave her with a stinging scratch. Nothing too bad though, obviously. The wobbling creature got to all fours again, hobbling quickly away from her (hopefully distracted) new-found rival, turning and growling.

Though, slowly, she began to step back, bit by bit, still growling, but not turning her back.

Alarmed and cautious the pup was ever silent - perhaps in order not to bring much attention to herself (despite having just outright attacked another gembound) or perhaps she just didn't even know how to speak. If she knew what the words were; perhaps she wouldn't have felt threatened or even a need to attack in the first place. But even the 'fox' herself couldn't be too sure of that.

She huddled somewhat closer to herself with a soft snort, legs shaking and fur still dripping.

Athena whimpered, if only for a moment, out of shock that the tiny creature had actually dared to attack her. The scratch on her nose stung and a droplet of blood fell from it, down into the mud. For a moment, the pup's blue orbs followed the red drop, but they almost instantly flew back to her opponent when the seriousness of the situation dawned on her.
Taking a wider stance and standing at her tallest, Athena opened her maw to throw a row of threatening barks at the other. Maybe that was a language they understood. The Alaskan Malamute concentrated on the heat in her chest and how it mingled with her breath when she cast her favorite spell.

POST ROLL EDIT
Athena howled fiercely at Soul, the air leaving her mouth being hot, although not as scalding as it sometimes was. She stared the Maned Wolf down as she cast her spell, only stopping when she was out breath. Angry, she approached her opponent, taking a step forward for their every step backwards. Crouched down, she waited for her enemy's next move, the scratch on her nose already forgotten due to the rush of adrenaline.


"Listen to me."

The pup began barking and yelping, flailing at the abrupt heat that was touching her fur, making it's way to her skin. She began to bounce in a circle before she collapsed, rolling along the cave floor, kicking the ferns that surrounded her.

She was quick to get back up again, eyes only half-open. She eyed Athena for a moment and snorted, head tucked down as she blindly began running towards the dog like a bull without horns, aiming to ram her shoulder straight into the malamute's chest.

The fox thing stumbled and even half tripped over her own legs but with a sharp, loud snarl she moved to make impact with Athena, more than likely falling down if the other canine falls, too.

The other's blind charging caught Athena off-guard. She only had time to jump into a normal standing position before the red-pelted creature barreled into her. The force of the attack threw both young gembounds off their feet, Athena caught under the other's weight. Pushing proved useless and would've taken too long anyway, therefore the Alaskan Malamute had to do something else.

Once again focusing on the heat in her chest, Athena willed it to expand into the rest of her body. The heat grew under her fur as the canine stared into the eyes of her bitter enemy.

POST ROLL EDIT
Athena's body grew hot under her double-coated fur, her thick pelt burning minimally and producing a black, coiling cloud of smoke and a rancid stench - all rising upwards, right towards the other gembound. Even through her pain - it wasn't that much, as the attack hadn't been what it could have been - Athena smirked and barked at her opponent, trying to deter them further. She had trained this attack often enough to be able to stand the smoke and the smell for a while, but still not for a very long time. The puppy could only hope her enemy would jump away from her soon and let her get up.


"Listen to me."