Rolian didn't even know what hit him. One minute he was shaking snow out of his sweater, and had opened his mouth to ask Raie what he thought was going on, and the next minute he was face down in the snow with a mouthful of the crystals and a very angry looking female snow leopard on his back, snarling and baring her fangs and part of a snowball on her head, with Faeran no where in sight.

Then suddenly, the fangs and snarling were gone. The leopard was sniffing Rolian, then swung her head up, looking at Petru and growling.

Petru squeaked and scrambled back off into the trees, through pine needles and bare branches as he dissapeared into the forest. Fun was over! Time to go!

((Okay, super long wait for a crap reply. Sorry. D:))

(('Tis alright. :D))

The leopard caught up with him in no time, leaping onto the gargoyles back and pinning him to the forest floor, surprisingly heavy. She daintily licked one of her paws, sitting on his back, then growled at Petru.

As Petru was half the size of a house cat, this was understandably very frightening for him. He squeaked and struggled to scramble away, feeling his wings crack under the leopard's weight- oooh, hopefully Medea would fix those for him.

Hearing the crack, the leopard shifted from sitting to laying across Petru's bottom half so her weight was more distributed and his wings wouldn't get crushed under her weight- she wanted to frighten him, not hurt him.

Petru started to squeal from terror when she moved, fighting even harder to get away. Oh gods! She was probably going to eat him! He did not want to be eaten! How would Medea fix him if he was... if he was leopard poop!?

Almost as if the leopard sensed Petru's rising fear, she leaned forward and rubbed her muzzle against his face, her fur silky soft against his skin* purring softly. She moved off of the gargoyle completely, laying in a semi-circle in the snow, and used one large paw to pull him back against her when he tried to escape. All in all, she was acting like a mother cat to a kitten who had misbehaved and was frightened of the consequences. Petru had angered her, she had scared him when he was just trying to have some fun, and now she was letting him know that he was forgiven.

((* I'm guessing skin, at least. o_o If not, just, um... fill in the blanks with the correct answer? XD; ))

((He's just made of stone, really, not skin. o_o He has no living tissue, he's basically just a moving rock.))

In Petru's mind, that did not register as 'you are forgiven' it resgistered as 'I am toying with you before I make you a delicious snack.' So Petru turned his head and attempted to bite and claw at her, though that didn't work very well. His mouth was small and his teeth, though sharp, couldn't do much through the leopard's thick fur. Neither could his claws- while they were more formidable, Medea had not sharpened them in a long time.

((Mkay. I had figured that, as that's the traditional gargoyle, but people each seem to have their own version so I wasn't sure. o_o))

The leopard gently butted her head against Petru's tiny chest, softly enough that he didn't fall backward. She stayed in that position, purring. Her ears and tender nose were open to assault by his teeth and claws, yes, but she thought it a submissive enough gesture for the time being.

Petru backed far, far away from her mouth.

...Okay. Maybe she was a little nice. And wouldn't make him her lunch. So that silly gaergoyle began pushing his luck, and started to chitter angrily at her, rearing onto his back legs to shake his fist at her and stomp his hind paws. They left tiny impressions in the snow, three clawed appendages sticking out from a base 'foot'.

A smile tugged at the corners of the leopards muzzle. She shook her head and made an odd noise that sounded like a cross between a purr and a growl; she laughed. She stood up, stretched, and turned to head back to the clearing.

Petru fled for his life. Dear gods. He was never ever messing with Faeran ever again, ever.

Until next week. Then he'd think of something new. Something that would involve not being caught by her.

Faeran returned to the clearing, a smug smile on her now human face. She scooped up a snowball and tossed it at Rolian. It hit his face and trickled down his shirt, much to his dismay - "oh SHOOT THAT'S COLD!" - and Faeran passed him completely ignore the commotion. She settled down and struck up conversation with Varkal again, acting as if nothing had happened.

She was fairly sure that Petru wouldn't try something like that again. If he did- Hmph, well, his loss. Because when she wanted to catch something, she caught it. And he would find that out the hard way one of these days.

Varkal continued the conversation coolly as well, shooting sidelong glares at Raie, who cowered at each glance. Suddenly, he did not want to throw snowballs anymore...

On the other side of the clearing, Viv, who was walking along the edge of the woods with mehen, laughed at the whole scene. "Silly men," she said, "They're supposed to fight back..." Well, at least werewolves did. In werewolf culture, males and females were not nearly as divided as they were in demon and human cultures- everyone was equal, everyone was part of the pack, everyone put aside difference to work together. A male werewolf going on the offensive againset his mate if she was acting the same way Varkal or Faeran was was not nearly as taboo as it was among other races- it was considered only fair. Although, a big part of the reason it was not such a problem among werewolves was that because of the knowledge that either party could retaliate without consequense. No one wanted to get their butt kicked.

"Rolian's never been one to fight back when him and Faeran get into arguments or small fights like this," Mehen commented, "Besides myself, she was pretty much one of the only people he would speak to when he first rejoined the tribe, and she nursed him back to health. He feels indebted to her, so he doesn't fight back- not all the time, anyway,"

He didn't know how things worked in a werewolf pack, but in the demon tribe everyone was equal and treated the same, whether they were full demon, half demon or human. Everyone was suppose to be treated the same as well, but when ever the leader was in trouble everyone else in the tribe would put their lives on the line for his. It was redundant, Rolian had said countless times. If the leader does something stupid and digs him- or herself in to a whole, the rest of the tribe shouldn't risk themselves for the leader. Twenty or so lives were not worth the leader's one.

His opinion had been very thoroughly, very vocally shot down.

But that was completely beside the point. Demon males and females were allowed to fight each other if they got on each other's nerves like with what was happening with Rolian, Raie, Varkal and Faeran, but few rarely did. Mainly because since - for their tribe, at least - life was so very willing to snuff them out, it was dangerous for the whole tribe if several of their males and females were greatly injured fighting each other over some silly dispute.

But things were probably different in Viv's pack, so who was he to say?

"That's sweet," Viv commented absently, looking over at them, "Like a love story right out of a book. Only real."

Oh, if only all love was like that. Marriages that worked out like Faeran and Rolian's, or Raie and Varkal's, or her own daughter's never failed to make her smile and amaze her. She'd never really been exposed to love like that directly, her mother hadn't even known who Viv's father was. (Heh, she thought, Like mother, like daughter.)

And when Viv had gotten married... well. That ended wretchedly within a year and a half. Not much love there, especially once one considered that werewolves were very serious about staying with a mate for life once you'd chosen one, and breaking that bond was very, very rare. And since then, she'd not allowed herself to fall in love again. Well, until Mehen, but she wasn't quite sure what she'd done wrong- or what he'd done right- for that to happen.

But maybe that was all a good thing. It left her more appriciative of such things, for certain. She was the only person she knew who thought that fluff-stuffed cute-word vomiting couples were fun to hang around.

"Haha, yeah," Mehen agreed, "It really is like that, isn't it?"

"Mm-hmm," Viv answered, "Those two are lucky, despite the fighting and all of that. It's a good thing they found each other."

((I am listening to a love song right now and it's making me smile, given what's all being said right now. XD))

Mehen smiled instead of answering, reaching the short distance between them to tentatively hold Viv's hand.

((I hear ya. XD I'm listening to that "Peasents Promise" so... yes. :<))

Viv didn't mind- in fact, she even laced her fingers togwether with Mehen's moving so she was walking a bit closer to him.

Goga glanced up, and then let her gaze linger on the two. So, her mother was finally setting down with a man... And one her own age, at that, an added bonus. She was happy- she'd wanted that for a long while. ...Plus, it was about damn time her mother grew up enough to make a commitment to someone she wasn't obligated to do so with, like the pack and Goga herself.

Mehen leaned his head to the side so his head was touching Viv's. He liked her; her personality, how she worded things when she spoke, everything. Despite everything that had happened to her over the years before they met, she was a good person.

((D'awwww! :squee: How adorable.))

"You're sweet, baby," Viv told him, resting her head against his. She was quiet for a moment before she said, "Goga likes you, you know. She told me so the other night."

Viv, being a mother, thought that she was giving him a rather nice compliment by telling him that her daughter liked him. What she didn't tell him was that Goga was insisting Viv get him to put a ring on her finger, because, in Goga's words, "no other guy in the world who wasn't a scumbag would date somone like you, ever." Viv didn't take it seriously, of course. Goga tended to overreact to these things, and she'd known Mehen... not very long.

((Okay. Do you know the song Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows? 'Cause it totally makes me think of these two. :D And not only does the whole song make me think of them, but the first line is,

So she said, "what's the problem, baby?"

I was just like, "OMG YES. 8D"))

((OMG YES. 8D I have never heard of that song, but now I feel the urge to listen to it. ... Oh GAWDS. D: I love what Goga said. I'm not sure why, even. I just do.))

"Really? That's nice of her,"

It was a good thing that Goga like him. Otherwise things would be awkward if him and Viv get more serious with their relationship.

((You can probably find it on YouTube. Or I'll for it for you if you'd like. :D Goga's just a jerk sometimes. XD))

Viv laughed, "I've always been amused by how she's been under the impression she has to approve of everything I do or else the world will end. She might as well be my mother half the time."

((I am so tracking it down on YouTube. :D))

"Goga probably just feels that she has to be responsible for you, that's all," Mehen said, tugging Viv's hand so her shoulder touched his.