It had started out a decent enough day. Finn had woken just before the dawn to the sound of Alastair tip-tapping his antlers on the cave mouth. They’d gone for a run along the southern face of the mountains, Finn had caught a surprisingly plump hare for breakfast, and the morning had gone by slowly with nary a visitor nor a disturbance. It had been only a few days since Finn had joined the Anathemans, and already she was looking healthier and stronger than the pitiful, bony mess Naniko had found dying in a snowdrift. As she ran, Finn extended her legs to their fullest, and she flew across the white powder like a sparrow, darting in and out of the edge of the woods with precise turns. An exhilarated smile lit her face, and she strove to move even faster, streaking through the trees like a silver bullet.
It was the shock of crow screeches that brought her to a skidding halt, and Finn watched with no small amazement as a veritable cloud of birds burst from the trees and took to the sky. The she-wolf turned towards the direction they had come from. She could hear raised voices. Springing into motion, she surged between the bare tree trunks, breath coming in short, fast pants. Unbeknownst to Finn, even as she ran, her appearance altered. Her body grew larger, the muscles in her shoulders and legs becoming more pronounced, the fur shaggier and tougher. Without even realizing it, Finn had changed from Lupus to Secui form. She barrelled through the underbrush, pausing but a second to review the scene. A bear, standing atop a wolf, Alaki in the corner, bloodied, unconscious? Three pups off to the side.
This image securely lodged in her brain and a plan flickering to life, Finn only increased her speed, putting all focus on the snarling black bear about to disembowel his captive. Finn’s eyes had widened at the sight of the bear, but it was not out of fear. The content smile returned, even as the hackles rose and her ear pinned back. Gathering her breath, she let loose a cacophonous, broken howl and leaped into the fray, momentum giving her enough height to spring directly onto the bear’s back. It was a dangerous substrate, and Finn found herself slipping and skidding with each alarmed motion of the bear. His fur was thick, but not particularly sleek after a few months in hibernation, so Finn clawed at this, eliciting an infuriated roar. Finn landed a brief, tugging nip on the bear’s ear to raise his head, before his clicking and snapping jaws almost caught her own limb.
Finn jumped free, turning as she did so that her paws landed square on the ground, and she was once again facing the quarry. The bear had not managed to kill the wolf in his paws, and now his piggy little eyes were turned on Finn. She smiled wider and let loose another jarring howl. “Come on, ya lug, come get at me! Aren’t I just the temptingest little morsel?” She darted back and forth, nipping at his chin, his toes, his blanks. Her bites did little damage, but they allowed her to move fast enough to keep away from the bear’s paws, swinging like a ship’s boom in a gale, and annoy the creature to distraction.
Though her style was strange and unpredictable, an onlooker would be able to see that Finn was kiting the bear away from Alaki and the pups and the unnamed wolf. The bear was still fuddled from his lap and sudden awakening, so he went well enough, if a little ponderously. Finn laughed aloud, her heart singing. This was too easy! This was too simple! She’d have this bear laid out like a fallen tree in just a mo-. Smack Finn caught one of those dinner plate paws on the edge of her chest. It had been an off-balanaced swipe, and thus the heel of the paw hit long before the claws. The blow simply sent Finn spinning away, her pelt stinging with fresh, but shallow cuts, instead of cutting to the bone. Now her lungs failed to work at all, stunned by the sudden blow. Finn coughed and spluttered, scrambling up the small rise to gain some height and time so that she might recover.
“A little help would be of great use!” She wheezed.