a friend is so hard to find

The Fae Forest, more and more, drew him in. Aphelion had a tendency to conduct his studies where the faraway forest was visible, dark peaks swaying against the skyline. No matter what time of day, be it blushing banners unfurling brightly from across the way or in the evening when every hue was enriched, the trees stood sentinel; faceless watchers, seemingly expecting the shattering of his resolve. Aph studiously resisted, but his eyes always slid back that way...

Until one day, with wispy white clouds cutting through the friendly blue in so many places that the sky looked like broken glass, he found himself moving closer. A chittering at his feet made his ear flick. "Easy there, Frik," Aph coaxed the worry-prone creature, glancing down at his faithful hedgehog. "I ave it applied, no need ta worry." Indeed, his scent carried an additional fragrance today: An aloe-based ointment was slathered through his fur, bequeathing him a somewhat disheveled appearance—his fur was gelled in all different directions—but giving him a bit more necessary protection from the sun, too. He rarely left his dorm without applying it; Frik never let him forget. In some strange way, he suspected that his father had something to do with it. Perhaps it was Arythmetik looking after him from beyond the grave.

Either way, Aphelion appreciated the concern, even from a hedgehog. It felt good to know that he mattered.

He tried to reciprocate that same sentiment in return by offering a steady presence to combat Friction's anxiety. He was a worrisome thing, but it was especially obvious right now. They were approaching the forest, and the closer they drew, the tighter the circles that the brown-and-white mottled mammal wheeled around Aph's feet became. "Jes a peek, okay, Frik?" He couldn't identify what had his companion up in such a fuss. The forest wasn't quite so forbidding up close.

Aphelion peered past the changing leaves, jumping back in sudden fright when, quite suddenly and too late for him to react, he realized he was being watched.

code // art

B

lack soulless eyes had been guarding this forest for many years, since they first opened. He was a vessel to ensure that the fae were heavily protected, guarded, and respected at all times. In the early years of his upbringing, he was called many things by the one who had claimed to "love him". Luckily, she was killed - taken care of so she could not bring harm to anyone else that was considered guardians. From his nose to his toes, black as night he was. His fur had never changed, never been altered. Kahru had chosen this particular to explore the forest, searching for others who were not supposed to be there. He had left the cult a long time ago, but still he felt like he had to do what he was raised for. The fae had not shown him their anger for him to continue in his ways. Something caught his attention, when the forest was so still. He was used to the normal noises he had heard, almost tuning them out completely.

Ducking low to the ground, he quietly crouched and hid among the foliage. His dark coat helped to keep him hidden, and his eyes would give no reflection of possible light. He was as silent as a light breeze. A true predator of the woods. He followed the sound of the noises. One was definitely a wolf, while the other was - something else. Intrigued by this odd pair, he moved just close enough to see them better. A spiky thing and a very large white wolf. The wolf was almost the opposite of himself. While it was impossible for wolves to be completely white, the colorless eyes and pink nose was a dead give away. Kahru watched in the shadows, listening to them only. The spinning thing moved rather odd, like nothing he had ever watched before. He didn't like it. He sustained the growl that wanted to leave his clenched jaws.

As they got closer to the woods, he knew he needed to stop their entry the best that he could. He could tell the other wolf was larger than him, but he could only hope that the alabaster wolf was less skilled in fighting than he was. Kahru didn't have a choice but to grow up and know the ways of challenging others - of taking lives or being killed himself. The cult may have still been lingering in the forest, though he had not seen them for a long while. Finally, he could wait no more. Pushing back on his haunches, he lunged out of the foliage, no longer protected from the other being's sight. His jaws opened wide and his paws spread open to help block any moved towards his own neck or shoulder. He could give the other an opportunity to talk - maybe later. Right now, it was a time of action.

@Aphelion

code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

Aphelion's body and mind, while never operating at the same speed, converged in sudden, splendid synchrony. He knew what he must do, his sole purpose: Protect Friction.

As the shadows coalesced to attack, his hind leg came forward to hook around the hedgehog's pudgy body and send him careening backwards. Frik's squeal was more fear than anything else, but it was lost beneath the sound that tore through the white wolf's throat. Guided by instinct alone, Aph let his body succumb to the impact, black paws embracing him like a reaper's cloak. But his soul wouldn't go easy, and he planted his paler paws against the exposed underbelly of his shadow self and pushed, hoping to turn the other's momentum against him. He knew, intuitively, that this was his only option. There was indeterminate strength and experience in his attacker that outclassed Aph's casual drills. He was far from out of shape, but by no means prepared for a fight.

Even still, it wasn't his own life on the line. Friction was all Aph had left of Arythmetik, his father lost to senseless savagery not unlike this. For them, he'd forsake his pacifism; for them, he'd answer that unfamiliar voice sounding from deep within—that call to violence that Grigori wrestled with, which now came alive in his son.

Rolling combat 1d20: 7
Poor - You barely hurt your opponent

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I

t was the unknown squeak that had forced his eyebrows to point inward, and his eyes squinted. He was not going to stop himself from trying to protect what was his just because some odd thing made an even odder noise. Kahru snarled and growled as he was met by the white one. Colorless paws pushed on the underside of his torso. They were big, slightly bigger than his own. He thought to go for the legs, to get them off of him. But the throat was far more a better place to grab someone. It was a much larger target area, and would allow a better chance of actually doing some damage. His jaws were open wide, snapping at the other and trying to bury his fangs deep into the other's flesh. He forgot about the small rolley thing he had watched earlier, not really sure what it was anyways. Now it was only fighting that he was concerned for. That, and making sure that the fae knew they were safe in his care. The sounds that came from him were nothing like he had ever heard before. He had faced the members of his "family", but the primal urge to obliterate his opponent had caused these demonic sounds to erupt from his throat.

His muscles were loose, ready to move any which way the other male might have tried to escape from him. He was not going to be getting away - not this day and never would he be allowed to cross into the woods until he was confirmed not a danger to the fae. The idea of bathing in the blood of the white wolf seemed like something he deemed himself worthy of - to keep his young complexion going strong and jovial. He wanted to stay dark as the night sky for all of his life, hoping the grey fur never found its way to his flesh.

Rolling combat 1d20: 16
Competent - You deal a painful blow

@Aphelion

code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

As expected, his assault proved hardly successful. The flesh his paws paddled against was surprisingly firm and unyielding, hardened by a life that must have been filled with constant strife. Aph knew he didn't stand a chance, but he couldn't submit either, not with these snapping jaws a mere hairsbreadth away from his throat.

He winced when a bite did manage to connect, the bloom of red like draped vines sullying the otherwise purity of his fur. "What's wrong with yeh?" he cried out, wondering if his panic might appeal to a humanity that he couldn't find in those soulless black eyes. Heart hammering, he looked around helplessly for something within reach, anything that he might grab and use as a blunt weapon, but there was nothing and there was no one and Aphelion was faced for the first time with the prospect of death.

Another squeal, this one fierce, broke through the frantic haze long enough for Aph to realize that Friction had returned to bite feebly on the wildling's tail. "Frik! Don't!" But he knew it was too late for that, and tears welled up in his eyes as he lay his desperation out before him. "P-please don't hurt 'im. He's— my father— all I have... Please."

code // art

W

ithin himself, he knew what he was doing was right. Even though this ivory menace was larger than he was, he was not afraid of him. He could never allow the fear to bubble to the surface. He didn't know what the beast was, but he felt the teeth upon his tail. Anger rippled through his spine, sending a message to react with fury as the other tried to stop him some way. This creature was small - very small. But the teeth were more bothersome than anything else. He had half a mind to whip his tail and send that little creature flying through the air. His intrusive thoughts might have won, but when he heard the shrill voice of the white demon, his head jerked towards it. He understood the language that came from the other's lips, but the words - just did not make sense.

"It's not your father." His voice held no emotions in it, as he moved to pin the other to the ground. There was no struggle from the white one, just that shrill voice that escaped through his pipes, trying to save the little thing - whatever it was. He shook his tail a little bit, trying to get it off, but if the thing did not release him, he was ready to allow the intrusive thoughts to finally win. "This is between you and I, intruder," he growled as saliva dribbled from the corner of his lips. He had every intention of taking the boy into the forest, questioning him further and getting whatever information he could out of him.

@Aphelion

code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

The thought that he could lose his dearest friend constricted Aph's racing heart. Fortunately, his outcry turned the brute's attention back to him and off Friction, but it was fragile relief, broken by a ragged breath. "N-no. That's... not w-what I meant," he corrected as steadily as he could. The words were disjointed from the effect of his body's violent shaking but he was trying to form a coherent explanation regardless.

"H-he belonged to m-my father. We didn't mean t-to... to t-trespass." Moving his paws in a gesture of surrender, Aph hoped his eyes could convey the sincerity in his words. He'd just been curious about the woods, the shadows within them, but he hadn't meant any harm to them or the one that lived there. "We'll leave, I p-promise." Did this creature understand honesty? Malice was all he could see within those endless black depths staring down at him, unfalteringly intense.

code // art