His paw pressed against her chest, holding her firmly in place. She yelped and looked up at him with big eyes full of surprise and Ridley's grin grew wider, the corners of his lips pulling back impossibly far, revealing full rows of teeth that were all pointed and sharpened. Ridley did not possess teeth standard to most wolves. Nay. His teeth were much more aligned to those of his ancestors: those who shared mutations with reptilians of all kinds. His teeth looked more like a monitor lizards, every tooth designed to rip and tear to swallow chunks of flesh or entire animals whole. It made for an eerie picture as he grinned down at the stranger, as he threatened to skin her and turn her into a satchel of his own.
She cried out, telling him 'no', and tried to squirm beneath his grasp. Ridley's weight pushed forward, pressing his paw down harder on her chest to stop her and her damned squirming. "Come now, this will be easier for the both of us if you just behave and cooperate." She kicked at him but Ridley held firm in his grasp, his head twisting and hovering to inspect the thickness of her pelt he had admired before. He ignored the shock on her face, ignored her yelps of fear, and continued to inspect. The prospects always squirmed and cried when they ended up such a situation. He had grown immune to it during his time in the kingdom serving as the King's surgeon... or something like that.
Unexpectantly, the squirming beneath Ridley's paw became too much for him to hold. There was some sort of pressure pushing back against him, a force he couldn't continue to keep still. Suddenly, there was some sort of explosion beneath his paw forcing Ridley to back away from his prize. He blinked, briefly looked down at his paw to ensure it was all still there, then looked up at the wolf to see not one, but two getting to her feet and bolting in different direction. "What the fuck?" he muttered with amusement and surprise, watching for a split second as the figure parted and went two different ways. How fascinating he thought inwardly, glancing between the two identical figures before leaping forward to follow after one of them. Was it the right one? He had no idea. He did know, however, that he wasn't about to let such a prize escape him so easily. "I wonder, if you lose your skin, does the other one do the same?" The question was asked with a mutter, not shouted after the tiny wolf. She was already on the run, no need to terrify her further.
Special: Tracks the real Braith
Success: Pursues the real Braith that is fleeing and keeps pace with her/attempts to catch up
Failure: Pursues the fake Braith that is fleeing and keeps pace with the fake one. If he chases the fake one, feel free to end the thread with Braith fleeing the thread (but is not necessary!!)
Get away. As fast as possible. Hide. Don’t think. Just run and hide. The words repeated in her head almost like a mantra, albeit a terrified one. She bobbed and weaved between larger rocks and plants with a clumsy yet practiced sprint. Running kept her safe. Hiding kept her alive. The question she should have been asking herself was how could she hide when covered in her own piss? A smarter, less panicked wolf would have thought about that. Unfortunately for Braith, that thought didn’t even cross her mind.
When the clone sprinted far enough from her own view, screaming and panicking just as she herself was, it simply vanished into thin air, like how a gust of wind would push a small cloud of smoke into nothingness. The last, panicked whimpers of fear from the clone vanished in that path like the end of an echo. It wasn’t like Braith herself knew this, though. Braith, in all of her humble naivety, would likely look back at all of this and think the giant created the clone from her. She had no powers, (at least, she never knew she did) so what was she supposed to think when a duplicate of herself popped out of her chest where the giant’s paw had been pushing on her?!
The knot of fear in her throat tightened as she tried to pick up her pace to get anywhere she could that wasn’t where the stranger was and, after a short amount of time, no more vocal whimpers could be heard. Her focus was on just running and hiding. What she didn’t expect, however, was the area she was running into didn’t just have plants and rocks to avoid, it also had entrances to some underground dens and tunnels of smaller creatures that called the oasis home. She saw the shrubs up ahead that seemed like the perfect hiding spot and that was all that kept repeating in her mind. Run and hide. Hide, then run some more.
Walk "Speak"Magic
ooc:
dodge:
success - manages to stumble through the little hedgehog den holes just skillfully enough to not fall flat on her face and continue running into the a clump of shrubs to hide in
fail - somehow, manages to get her front left paw stuck in one of these holes and, in the least graceful way possible, falls all over herself and scrambles to try and get her paw un-stuck
take special into account only if dodge is successful
special:
success - manages to hide herself from view (but still can be smelled, obviously. She smells like prickly pear and pee. Hard to get rid of that)
fail - only manages to start hiding in that spot by the time Ridley catches up
Like a monitor stalking it's prey, there was no urgency in Ridley's pace as he followed what he perceived to be the real wolf. His gait was easy as he trotted along rhythmically, one paw stepping inside the print of the other. His tail dragged along behind, creating an 'S' in the sands and dirts of the oasis as he searched. His tongue flicked as he tracked the wolf not by visual, but by scent. The wolf could get away if she tried by coating herself in mud or going for a swim. He would lose her odor and from there, she could take to her natural habitat.
For some strange reason, it seemed that she pursued the path of most resistance. His tongue continued to flick rhythmically as he tracked her not towards, but away from the watering hole out into the desert rocks and sands where very little vegetation grew. Perhaps she knew of some hole she could escape into. Maybe she would split herself once more and use the same tactic to try to lose him. Maybe she just hoped that distance and speed would separate the two of them.
She had broke his line of sight long ago, and yet it didn't take him too terribly long to track her down again. He continued his steady gait, conserving his energy whilst his silver eyes kept lookout for the small female. The vegetation thinned from quenched greenery to dehydrated browns, shifting healthy foliage into prickly brambles. Potential hiding places dwindled rapidly in numbers. Her scent (and paw prints, scrambling at the foliage) lead him to an area so thick, he wasn't sure he wanted to try to squeeze into it. It looked like she'd braved the brambles with her smaller figure and darted through and into whatever corner she could find, or so he assumed. "Neat little trick you have there." when he spoke, it was casual, like he was simply talking out loud instead of directly to her. As he spoke, he inspected the brambles both with his muzzle and front paws, poking and testing them to see if he could find a way through. "I wonder what else you have underneath that skin of yours."
Special: Attempts to maneuver his way through the bramble to get to the den Braith is hiding in. He big boi and can't slip underneath.
Success: He squeezes through the bramble, taking minimal damage and spotting the hole/bush she's held up in -1HP
Failure: The brambles/shrubbery is too thick and Ridley isn't willing to break through them.
