Drinks and Lambs

[Gabriel Hynatos Umberhorn]

5 Days Earlier -

Gabriel had sentenced himself to ten days in his meditation chamber so that he may focus the turbulent winds of the force and perhaps see what is to come. Whispers swirled around his chambers, and brief visions caught his attention. While nothing was substantial he was able to string along a thin line of sorts that served as the correct order of things. "The lambs..." He mumbles repeating an echo of sorts. This continued on until he decided it was time to execute what he had forsaw

Present -


Two droids ushered a line of lambs, ten long up the side of a mountain kissed by snow. At the front was Gabriel bearing a torch against the jests of the winds and the smothering of the dark. "Soon.." The journey continued up the side of the treacherous landscape until finally he reached a cave near the peak where the air was thin. The two droids were used as heaters of sort to keep the lambs and Gabriel alike living comfortably.

The lambs seemed to carry satchels all of which contained resources of varying types, mostly alcohol, with some survival rations to last a month or so. He'd remove a single bottle, the cap came off with a precise strike from his finger tip. "I wonder if they will come.."

 

[Alwine Daye]

[member="Gabriel Hynatos Umberhorn"]

The low growls of the small wolf were only heard by those who were sufficiently nearby. Alwine's legs were folded, her body close to the snow as she looked at the lambs crossing. It had been more than three days since she'd eaten last, having gotten stranded here with her comms malfunctioning and being unable to repair the ship. So she had done what any Lupine would have done, and shifted into the wolf. Wolves were better against snows and blizzards, and could survive on less food as well. She'd been certain it was a single day trip, so the ship she'd taken had not even had rations on it to help her out.

And then she'd found that this planet, wherever she was, was almost bare and empty. She had not found game, and she had not even found flora that she could chew on as a human. Nothing that she knew was safe, anyway.

And then at last, she could scent them – lambs.

It was a strange thing to discover. Lambs had a distinctively different scent than goats did, and yet she had never seen wild lambs anywhere. If there was lamb, it meant that a settlement of sorts had to be close too. Yet at that point she no longer cared. A single lamb would give her enough energy to feel okay again, to not starve. She could already tasted the phantom blood running down her jaw.

Not thinking to conceal her presence in the Force or take any sort of precautions, Alwine stalked her prey. Her brothers had taught her, when they were all younger. Look for the weakest one in the pack, and attack them when they got split up from the rest. It was the safest method, and had kept them fed for most of their lives.

Eyes that remained brown in her wolf form followed the lambs to the slaughter, now that she could see them. They looked so docile, so… Fat. She wanted to eat them all.

And so, not thinking about where she was or what else loomed in the background or around her, Alwine pounced. She was small as a woman and she was even smaller as a wolf, being slightly bigger than a cub, though the adult wolf proportions were still all there.

Yet that did not mean she was not ferocious, and her jaw clamped down now on the neck of the closest lamb to her.

It tasted wonderful.

She wanted more.

 

[Gabriel Hynatos Umberhorn]

While in the cave Gabriel had the time to focus his senses once more, to hone his connection to the force while the storm outside raged. Soon something caught his attention, while the storm had been fierce enough to weaken his focus, but not enough for a presence to be missed in such a cruel unforgiving environment. There seemed to be a military base a few kilometers off, however Gabriel knew this area to be unpopulated, by prey and predator alike.

Perhaps the force guided him well. He was far too late to save the closest lamb, however Gabriel was quick with his step, going on to intervene before any further losses could be wracked. Not a word was spared, his arm moved fluidly as his palm was put forward in protest, at the end of this gesture manifested a force push of considerable power. His intent was to not only clear up a line of sight for the briefest of moments, but perhaps disrupt the beast's balance.

Without a moment wasted his lightsaber was drawn, it's ignition disrupted the cold air around him, a ghastly yellow fog mirroring the blade itself, ran in trails off the blade. The young prince held the blade off at his side directed towards the ground, using it more as a threat, likely testing the beast. No words were exchanged, with his aim obvious he was sure they weren't needed. However he was ready..

"Are you the next trophy...or something more.." He questioned in deep thought, knowing he was brought here for a reason.

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Alwine Daye]

[member="Gabriel Hynatos Umberhorn"]

She had not scented his approach, nor had she intercepted any warnings from the Force that he would be coming. One moment, Alwine was feasting on flesh and blood and wool, and the next moment, something invisible had pushed away, thrown her backwards. The tiny wolf yelped as she fell, needing moments to realize that the Force had been used on her, and that it had happened against her wish.

Rising back to her feet, the petite canine came close again, her eyes looking at the lightsaber that had been ignited. Her legs folded, the snarls coming from her indicated that she was both feeling threatened, and was letting the thread that she was be known, at the same time. One did not strike a Lupine. Not if one had brains. On the occasion that this one did not, she would gladly correct him.

I am no trophy, she roared into his mind via the use of Telepathy, and snarled at him, and you will put your lightsaber away, pathetic human. I am here to eat and then I shall depart. Do not stand in my way or you will become my next meal.

 

[Gabriel Hynatos Umberhorn]

With a flourish of his blade the cold air before him was tainted by the afterglow and fog of the yellow blade, highlighting his features for a few brief moments. His expression was that of amusement, the man held all the cards and this was something he knew almost off the bat.

A jovial laugh disrupted his thoughts, laced with theoretical and arguments he could possibly make. His final decision came not from thought, but perhaps a noble's reflex. "On what ground do YOU order me around? From my perspective you're a lost wolf in unknown territory. If you knew better you'd recognize that your survival is in my hands." His smile only grew brighter after the jest. "Quite obviously I have the high-ground."

Perhaps due to a flair for the dramatic he had put on this show, but in the end he recognized that there was no need for the two to fight. "Do you drink little wolf?" He questioned. His lightsaber was deactivated, yet he still held it in his firm grip. There was some confidence laced in such an action, his body language told as much.

 

[Alwine Daye]

[member="Gabriel Hynatos Umberhorn"]​

Alwine growled again. Oh, how much she wished she could just shift right there and then and show this man how wrong he was about it all. She had a wolf form, but she was not a form; she was a Lupine, shifting eternally between 'human' and 'wolf'. In neither form did she look like an actual thread; barely larger than a cub as a wolf, only five feet tall as a woman.

Your perspective is wrong, she sent right back to him. She was ready to pounce – not on him, but on to a nearby tree. It was early on in her official Force training that Alwine learned that she could control it in her wolf shape as well; often, much easier. And the tree… It offered her the chance to make it grow, to move its branches around like vines and use them as weapons.

But instead, the man asked her if she wanted to drink.

The wolf blinked in surprise.

I am hungry, she admitted to him, eyes watching him ever so carefully, ready for the first wrong move.

 

[Gabriel Hynatos Umberhorn]

His guard was lowered only for a brief moment, almost as though to test the wolf, regardless he kept on until he was once again in the safety of the cave. He brought along two lambs as leverage over the canine. The prince seemed pleased with himself. In his possession was a truly potent alcohol, some on Cantoi had sworn on it with their lives. This was their drink of choice. A brown fluid with a carbonized feel to it. It was flavored to some degree, offering hints of root beer and tumeric at base consumption, but slowly it would warp into a far more sour taste in ones mouth that would linger the more you drank of it. It was more-so a laymans drink, however the Prince was not above such a thing.

The cork was removed briefly and the bottle's contents had taken a good hit from the man in one fell swoop. He shook his head as the taste hit him before placing it between the wolf and himself. "Drink, it will seperate you from the cold." He suggested before pulling out a few things of rations for himself. He'd motion towards a lamb for the wolf. This was not Gabriel's first rodeo with a force sensitive, however this was one of the more unique ones. Usually he had aimed to recruit them into his fold, train them and have them serve Cantoi to some degree, however this had been a truly delightful occurrence, so much so that he simply forgot to put on the face of a politician, who could in this cold.

"Now tell me, how would one as young as yourself reach such a desolate place?" He knew that deep underneath the ground there had been life, human lives who lived fairly well due to modern technology, but this was not something the wolf would need to know.

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Alwine Daye]

[member="Gabriel Hynatos Umberhorn"]​

Two of the lambs had been tossed to her. Alwine regarded the man with a suspicious gaze. This was… Almost too easy. A few words and he removed his lightsaber? From enemy to almost friend? Yet the hunger in her stomach spoke volumes about her ability to be too choosy on the matter. Never removing her gaze from the human, she sniffed at the carcasses, trying to see if they were safe indeed. A lupine's nose was sensitive, and even in wolf form they could scent much more than either humans or wolves ever could. It had saved their kind on more than one occasion, when poison had been how some chose to undo them.

A moment later, deeming it safe, Alwine lunged for the lambs, her fangs ripping apart wool and flesh from bone. The blood warm ran down her face, seeping in the fur, covering her with the bright and sticky redness of it all. She ate until her stomach was sated, until her hunger was quenched. Only then did she look at the bottle between them, but shook her head to that. Wolves were more susceptible to liquor than humans were, and she would not be clouding her mind with the stuff. Not in a strange place surrounded by nothing but a single strange person.

Dropping her body onto the snow, she let the heat of her body combined with the frost of the snow melt it so that her fur could be washed. It was not a perfect process, far from it, but she did not particularly enjoy running around with her food stuck to her hair, regardless of the shape she wore.

Her stomach full and her nerves no longer on edge, she permitted herself to finally it down on her hind legs, My ship crashed here and I have been unsuccessful in getting a signal out. I have been stranded here for some days now. She paused, regarding him again. Would he tell her if she asked? Where am I?

 

[Gabriel Hynatos Umberhorn]

"Cantoi, within the midrim, galactic east of central Confederacy territory." He explained briefly, not too much was give, "To be precise you landed in the coldest region on my planet." There were many mountains that cut off the beautiful plains of Cantoi, this was not the largest of them, but it was one of the more treacherous. The winter storms had claimed many lives, the sorrows of those who had lost everything here could be heard at the heart of the blizzard from time to time.

Gabriel foretold of this meeting, there were not many details he had received in his visions, so much was left un-written and foggy to him. However the more he interacted with the wolf the more he came to see. "Tell me, who or what are you." It was more of a demand than a request. Gabriel had a certain potency to his word, powerful by design. He had studied the creature for a few moments. Just as he had many others he read them, searched for their flow of movement so that he might move to their same beat as well as add to his probability of detecting even a hint of hostility. A warrior would always meet violence with even more violence.

"The storms will rage for a week or so, they are devastating and hard for many to withstand, if you wish to survive, your only option is to go down," However this statement was likely to bring only more questions to the wolf, why would he come here then? With Lambs and drink especially. He'd unpack a series of bedrolls, four total had been brought. Three as backups. Gabriel used a single bed roll as a chair of sorts and the other as a cover. Even the cave was victim to the cold air that could easily trouble a normal man.

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Alwine Daye]

[member="Gabriel Hynatos Umberhorn"]​

Cantoi. Alwine blinked, looking at the man. She had never heard of this planet before, but there were many such planets that she did not know about. If his words were true, then thankfully she was still in Confederacy space, which meant that she was still, relatively, safe. And of course, she had landed in the coldest area. A moment ago, she had been certain that she would be able to return to her ship and, now with a full belly, manage to fix her comms. But perhaps that was no longer necessary.

Her tail began to wag, an obvious sign that she was much calmer – and much happier, now that she had that information. She could even forgive his silly little demand now. As he had said that they were in Confederate space but had given her no rank that would show he was above her in the Confederate hierarchy, Alwine was fully within her right to deny that demand. But truthfully, there was no reason to.

I am Alwine Lechner, Executor of the Knights Obsidian of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, she spoke directly into his mind again.

Only now did she look around, seeing the different bedrolls, the inventory, the rest. If he spoke of going below, why would he be up here, in the cold? Shaking her head, Alwine decided to help herself.

Don't panic, she said, This is going to take a few minutes..

Getting up, the Lupine strutted over to one of the bedrolls, and lay on the ground. What came next were four minutes of shifting – she said nothing, made no sound, yet her limbs began to change. Where short cub legs were a moment ago, bones and muscles elongated themselves and fur began to grow backwards, into her skin. To a newcomer, it looked as though her body was fighting itself, bones breaking only to rebuild themselves. And this is truly what was happening, for such was the difference between wolf and human.

Her face changed last, the snout moving backwards, eyes moving in, until instead of a wolf was a woman, standing there in her birthday suit, her blond hair falling down matted to her shoulders. She hated shifting when there were no showers around.

Without wait, Alwine grabbed one of the bedrolls and wrapped it around herself. While her fur had kept her warm, there was no comparison to synthetic means of warming one self up.

"Now what's all this about going down?" she asked, using her voice. Even as a human, Alwine was small – five feet to be precise, and needing to stand up straight to reach the full of them. But for such a small human looking female, her voice was surprisingly deep. Wolf or human, Alwine was made up entirely of harsh parts. Life had rarely been kind to her, and she in turn had learned to steel herself against it. "And what are you doing here anyway, instead of being somewhere safer or warmer?"