OoC: Your post made me laugh, Aardwolf. Very nice. :) Reminds me of the way I write when not RPing...

Steel rolled onto his back, batting at the sky like he could snatch up the clouds. He certainly was glad no one was here to see him act so immaturely. He rolled in the leaves, listening to them crunch. Nice crunch, Steel thought, praising the leaves for their fun, crackling noises that they made as they were crushed and killed. He woofed and thumped his tail, rolling about in all the fun smells he could manage to find. Deer dung- Yum, Coyote Urine - Good! Everything smelled so fresh, so new... so intriguing.

Steel rose as he heard a twig snap, imeadiately tilting his head in curiosity. He looked and saw a red-gold colored wolf trotting - no. Prancing. Steel tilting his head in a pup-like way. He looked at his own paws, testing the way he trotted... Mmm. No, he did not prance as well as this other wolf. Perhaps he could teach him? Steel pranced in place, trying to mimic the wolf before stumbling over a twig and falling onto the ground with a exhausted snort. 

OoC: Bump?

OoC: Bump. *Sigh*

Howdy looked at her leg. No, not good. She tried to walk steadily, and then moved onto a small jog... she yelped as pressure was but on the snapped bone. She could see her skin was being pressed on by a bone shard. Howdy suddenly realized this was an injury that may not be fixable at all.

OoC: Omj! (Omyjelly!) What is with you guys? D:

(( Heh, thanks. My head's full of Dougla.ss Adams right now, which 'prolly accounts for the silliness.))

No more burps, but now leaves snapped under the weight of something, but it didn't sound like it was moving towards him- no, it was, it was definitely walking, or trotting, but not towards him, at any rate- and then there was a snort, and a dull thump.

Confused and a little frightened, Copper pressed his ears down and curled his tail even more tightly. He flipped through his thoughts for answers, and his mind fell upon an explanation which had for centuries been used as a logical answer: demons!

Why hadn't he listened to ma when she'd told his brothers about demons? No doubt the fiery beast was preparing to spring on him right now. He'd go the same way as the poor shrieking thing, fur going up in smoke and flesh searing off his bones. Not a nice picture at all.

At the thought of his horrible plight, a low wail escaped from between his jaws. Almost immediately, his eyes squeezed shut and he cowered in his spot, screaming even more loudly in his mind.

Steel heard a shriek - he tilted his head in curiosity, then woofed. Perhaps the wonderful prancer? Steel padded through the bracken, nosing along, his nostrils quivering and snorting and making all sorts of peculiar noises as he sniffed and snuffled. He yelped in alarm as a fire started beneath his paws unexpectedly, charcoaling his paws even further and making his hackles rise. "Bad! No." Steel commanded at the dying flame, before stomping it out in punishment for its surprise attack.

He's heard somewhere that when you were about to die, your life flashed before your eyes. Copper cracked one eye open experimentally, and to his disappointment, saw only a small red leaf detach from a tree and float gently on to the ground. He'd never been good at this metaphor-poetry stuff, and now he'd never understand what his life had to do with a small red leaf.

The spirit was snuffling and snorting in the distance, barking a few indistinct words (words of evil, no doubt) then there was more crunching and crackling and indistinct fizzling that all sounded horribly nefarious. 

Steel lifted his head. The wonderful prancer! He thumped his tail and surged forward swiftly before slowing into a trot - mimicing the dog's previous gate. He trotted across the crunchy leaves until he reached Copper. What a peculiar canine! On the ground as if he were sleeping - but instead of the rythmic breaths of sleep, the wolf's sides breathed shakily as if he were afraid. Steel imeadiately yelped out loud, hitting the ground. How foolish of him! There was probably a hunter around that this wolf was hiding from!

Steel dropped to the ground, closing his eyes and burrowing into the leaves a ways off from the dog, ears flattening as he tried to blend in - but his thick black pelt stood out from the golden and orange leaves much too obviously to be anonymous.

And oh dear the demon was right next to him now and he was too young to die and he thought everything had been going well but now he was going to be eaten and- his mind paused to gasp for an imaginary breath.

Clover didn't have the heart to look at the monstrous beast than no doubt was laying right next to him, and he certainly didn't want to picture the crackling flames it had for eyes and it's savage tusks that could tear him in half with a single thrust but it was all too late for that now. 

What had the heroes in the stories done? Well, that didn't work, he didn't have any wings. He quietly snuffled the leaves. No, no rosemary there. Maybe he was supposed to offer the demon something? Not his soul, he was quite fond of it and didn't like the idea of a nasty bear-boar-deer gnawing on it.

"Do- do you li-like sq-squirrel?"

Copper first thought was that the demon didn't sound particularly fierce. Nothing at all like the crash of thunder in the sky, or even the challenge-bellow of a boar. So, of course, this was obviously a small demon who happened to sound a bit like a wolf.

Now, this was truly wonderful! He didn't even have to offer it squirrels, he'd just defeat it in a deadly battle with his fighting prowess! Well, he'd never really got in to a fight with anyone but his brothers, and they always ended up taking his fish, but he'd work out the finer bits as he went along. He didn't need wings or rosemary or anything but his wit and might, and that would show them not to laugh when he was the only one who didn't get any trout!

Ah, the fine art of battling. He was sure that there was something about finding your opponents weakness, or catching him off guard. Copper cautiously peered at the demon next to him, and to his surprise, he resembled nothing more than a common wolf. A very smoky-smelling, well toned kind of wolf, but still very, very demonic. In this case, it looked like his opponent's weakness would be being caught off guard, which was absolutely fantastic.

Copper continued to crouch silently, trying to give off the impression of terror. This was a tactic historically proven to ensure his victory; in all the stories, villains attacked first. 

Haze grunted. "Whatever you say," and she placed her furry paw onto Nala's. She was suspicious and skeptical, but she decided to put her trust into this female wolf.

Steel woofed in surprise, looking around in confusion. Was the hunter gone? He growled. The hunter! The clever hunter! He was just hiding with his evil wit behind some tree with his nasty gun. He leapt on Copper, woofing, "The hunter! He is not gone, silly wolf!"

OOC: *Failpost.* D: Gotta go.

So the first strike had been struck! Clover mentally checked himself over for scratches, burns or broken bones. No, nothing at all. This was an incredibly nonaggressive demon, it seemed. Perhaps he'd just have to make him surrender to his awesome might to earn his victory, as it seemed a shame to kill him.

As Copper attempted to squirm out from under the wolf, he contemplated his statement. What hunter? Could it be? Was there a demon hunting a demon? Did demons hunt demons? Was there a demon that hunted the demon that hunted this demon?

Of course, the ancient tacit of confusion! Of course, he had failed to anticipate Clover's cleverness. As he paused to rest from all that squirming, it felt imperative to tell the demon:

"You cannot fool me, foul beast! There is no hunter!"

It had sounded much better in his head, he had to admit. He had tried to adapt a bit of an accent, too, which only half-worked, but he had to give himself credit for making a statement that would sound better in a fierce roar work in a breathless growl.

Steel leapt away, offended. Foul beast? The nerve! His tail inched between his legs and he backed away in confusion. No hunter? Mm. Perhaps! Pehaps this strange canine was trying to trick him so he could ambush 'em! Steel's jaw dropped momentarily before he snapped it shut. What an unfriendly canine!

OoC: Will edit this *ah hem* suckish  shortish post soon. :3

"Ah hem," Steel started. "But I don't believe flames come out of my eyes," or do they? Steel wondered, cringing at the thought of unknown fire leaping greedily from his chocolate orbs. But with an invoulentary shudder, Steel continued. "And horns..." He pawed at his head with an anxious whine. Horns? Had it come to this? He didn't feel any supernatural bumps, but he kept that a secret, frightened to embar*censored* himself in case looming horns were really hiding in his fur.

This wolf had insisted he'd had a rough day - perhaps horns sprout from your head, and flames spring from your eyes when you are exhausted? Steel was rarely exhausted, so it suddenly made sense that he hadn't known this. Confusion loomed in his mind, but then it all came together. Ha! He was so blind not to have known wolves had horns and flames. So obvious!

Steel sighed in content, glad he had everything figured out without further embar*censored*ment. He flashed an uneasy smile, trying to look awkwardly at his gleaming fangs, unsuccessfully stumbling over himself as he tried to get a glance at his chompers. Steel shot up, smoothing his fur quickly. He shut his mouth after spitting out dust, figuring that if this wolf said he had fine teeth, he was right.

Fight? How peculiar. "I - I didn't know you wanted to fight. I'm uh - not really in the fighting mood at the moment." Later?! "Um, like you said, if you want me to ... I can uh, wait until later."

OoC: We have clueless characters! Weee! :D