The waning gibbous moon rises into the sapphire blue of the night sky, dimming the light of the twinkling stars.
Wherever Wren was wasn't ultimately important as it was his day to do as he may, the chores of the farm were done in his stead. Volya was still working hard into the night. The woman was covered head to toe in dust, hay, mud, excrement, sweat, and more than a few tears. She was dressed for farm work at least, the color scheme leaned towards 'once', her denim overall shorts were once blue, her t-shirt was once red, her once-red cowgirl boots were dust and muck colored. Her greenish blonde hair was a complete filthy mess with individual strains had kinked and curled as if recoiling from the mess her head had elected to visit upon them. What once was a grunt of effort came out more of a sob as she locked her fingers on the band on the last hay bale. Leaning nearly 45 degrees as she dragged it have to the have stack, she tripped onto the first of the stairs. "Please, please, please..." she sobbed, rolling exhaustively over to the other end of the bale and let out a cry as lifted the end of it and rolled it onto the pile. It took her three tries, her arms and legs shivering from the total exhaustion before she collapsed onto the pile panting. Raising her hand, she muttered, "It's okay, ponies... I'm done..."
As the daytime was always so filled with work for Wren, he often made use of the night to relax, enjoy himself, and appreciate his life. Having half a day off so that he didn't even need to work until nightfall was like a once in a lifetime experience for the man and thus he made the most of that as well. To that end, he's currently outside sitting on his porch, in one of the low-slung Adirondack chairs. On the table to his left is a plate holding half a sandwich, goat cheese and a slice of tomato thick enough to be mistaken for a steak, along with some lemon aioli on fat, homemade white bread. It was likely quite good, because he was polishing off the first half of the sandwich and hadn't even taken a drink of his cold beer yet.
There was, of course, another plate near his own. It didn't have any bread or veggies on it, just a pile of 3 kinds of cheeses and at least 3-4 different cured meats, along with a few strips of crisped bacon. "VEE! Come on over here and at least take a load off, you should have left half of that to the hands today, girl." Wren chuckled softly. "I've got food for you, and some water, I'll even get you some mead if you want that instead!" Luckily, Wren had set up his farm so that his house wasn't all that far from the Barn. Or rather, his parents had set it up that way.
It was definitely obvious that he was done with his work day, as Wren was dressed in a set comfortably thin, black, athletic shorts that hit him just above the knee but had a waistband that rested quite low on his abdomen. Low enough that the line of his inguinal ligament was completely visible, as were the upper curves of his hips under that cut of muscle. For a shirt, he had on a short sleeved, button up, light pink Hawaiian shirt with bright blue and green flowers all over it, left open, so his chest and abdomen could be touched by the soft breeze that blew across his acreage. His hair had recently been washed, and was simply brushed back to curl a bit along his neck as it dried. His long legs were crossed in a relaxed way at the ankle, big, bare feet just left naked to enjoy the night without shoes.
As her name filtered into her brain, Vee let out a groan, "O sweet death calleth my name. And as I wish to slip this mortal coil, I say no unto you, spirit... Not this day..." She groaned as she forced herself up on unstable limbs, sucking in a breath before screaming from the top of her lungs, "I'M MOVING DAMNIT!" It was more than enough to upset the stalled horses, snorting and whinnying their displeasure. Volya cringed at the sound, shrinking back as she whispered a string of apologies to them, her boots scraping the floor as she retreated from the barn proper. Slapping at the sink to turn it on, she dipped her head under the stream of water soak half her head until she noticed the water running a dirty brown and shrank back from it. "No, I'll be here all night if I start..." Settling for scrubbing and washing her hands twice indeed, she splashed some water over the handle before cutting it off with her elbow.
The walking dead shambled with coordination than Vee as she whimpered with every step on her way back to the house. As she neared the porch, she tilted her head to the side, waiting for the tendril of muddied hair fall from the side of her face, eyeing it the whole time. "You MAY have left it for the hands tomorrow, but you would have ended up doing it yourself. If I manage to beat anyone to work... Oh, I've beaten the hands here when it was my second farm of the day... It's a problem."
Wren chuckled softly and picked up the cold bottle of water he had waiting for her, holding it out with a lopsided smile of amusement on his face. "Here you go, a little water will help with the aches, or at least help keep them from being even worse after you sleep. And I really do appreciate what you've done here today, Vee. It was the most relaxing day I've had in.. well probably years." He nodded his head to her. "But you really didn't have to go to the point you feel like you're going to collapse, I wouldn't want you to get hurt over giving me a hand. I'd rather you were still able to skip and dance your way home tonight than having to ask for a ride since it's either that or shambling like the living dead." Wren ate the last bite of the half sandwich he'd been holding, then motioned over to the plate of cheese and meat he'd set up for her. Lots and lots of cheese and meat. Once he swallowed his bite, he gave Vee another smile. "At least have a little something to eat, too? You worked hard for it today, after all, might as well enjoy some of what comes out of all that work."
Volya closed her eyes, drawing in a deep breath through her nose. Her mouth pressed in a thin line. "Fair warning to you in case the wind shifts... My mineral salt deodorant elected to quit hours ago... I have no less than the poop of three species of animal on me, four if we're counting birds... I want to say any hint of urine is theirs as well, but the panties have long since reached bog status and I can no longer sort that liquids... Maybe a hint of breast milk, but that's the cows' fault..." When she reopened her eyes that locked onto the bottle of water and she took it from him, "Thank you..." Her fingers tried in vain to twist the cap off, causing her to whimper. "No... The deal was to take a half a day of your work, Wren. That means your work." She offered an exhausted smile to him, her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she moaned. "I am STARVING." Oozing over to the plate, Vee started in on it like she have a Viking Minute.
Wren reached out and took the bottle of water back as Vee shambled her way over to the other chair, sat, and started eating food like she'd been starved for days. He twisted open the cap of the water and set the bottle down, setting the cap far enough away that it couldn't accidentally hop back onto the bottle and re-tighten itself. "Don't worry about the smells, either. I'm actually more used to them than you'd think, considering where I live. It's a wonder I don't have more people running out of here screaming because they could smell some poor cow's sweat on me." He motioned to the house and smiled to Volya warmly. "I've got an amazing shower, you can walk right in, and it's like going into a car-wash designed for a human. You don't even hardly have to do anything to get clean. Which... I'll be perfectly honest with you? After I have a bad day out here? I can't move much at all either." A glimmer came to his blue eyes then, and Wren shook his head. "Those are the nights I hope any visitors that come calling are in the mood for me to just lay back and be awed by them, because if I was totally honest, anything else might kill me."
The stars glitter like diamonds in the deep sapphire blue of the night sky.
Volya's jaw slowed and fell open, showing the partially chewed cheese inside as Wren spoke of the shower. Her eyes widened to the possibility of heaven, and she managed to close her mouth long even to swallow in an audible gulp. She had to run her tongue around the inside of her mouth a couple times to wet it again. "Uhhh...", clearly a thought worthy to be written in a volume of tombs, kept for the ages. Vee sucked in a hissing breath, "T-That's sweet of you, Wren, but I must... Decline? Please take this as sweetly as you can when I think of your bathroom, bedroom... Couch, kitchen... Basically your whole pad as this Bermuda Triangle where woman are kneaded into oozing piles of salt water taffy that is lovingly..." She visibly shivered, "A-and thoroughly digested..." Vee turned her body and arched her body away from Wren as she reached out and took the water. "I'm still kind of fried from our trip, so the willpower is shaky." Vee was staring at Wren, and had to squeeze her eyes shut to turn away completely and take a heavy drink from the water, "Was being so good, damnit. Somehow forgot he was that good. Mila, my goddess, Mila, Mila, Mila..." The woman trailed off in a mantra, her nostrils flaring, and the water dropped out of her hand, the bottle bouncing, spilling and rolling on the porch. Vee made a choking sound.
The wind picked up across the farm, then shifted direction. Beyond the scent of barn and pasture, it carried the strong odor of animal. It wasn't merely the presence of animal, it was far too dense a scent. This was the smell of herd animals drove to foam and froth. The air was moist and heated as if panted by the great bellowing of their lungs. As the wind pulled at the edges of the porch, the air seemed to hum as if it were carrying the sound of a horn from far beyond. The drive up to the farmhouse crunched with the slow sound of hooves.
In the darkness, a willowy figure marched her way purposely towards the house. The porch light edged its way up her toned and furred legs, illuminating the grace of movement flowing up to her swaying hips, moss covered abdomen and breasts all the way to her to the curved deer horns atop her head, her gaze zeroed on one thing... Wren. She strode right up to him, reaching out with a long limb to capture Vee's lip like a fish. "Shh..." was the only utterance offered to her, "Else I have you chased down by hounds and left in a pile unrecognizable." Her eyes refocused on Wren with the gaze of a hawk internally debating the best way to snatch up its prey. "She's not in the house, so guest she is not." She made a pleased sound, "But you may have guessed that already. You are strong, willful, and most importantly ever hungry for more. I have need of that. Are you interested?"
Wren's nostrils flared slightly as he caught wind of a scent that wasn't normally there on his farm. The movement of cows in their nighttime corral growing more insistent had his shoulders tightening a bit as he set his beer down and leaned forward in his chair, obviously planning to stand. But then he caught the sight of the legs walking into the pool of light that fell from the porch and he stopped moving. He blinked once and looked at Volya, directly in her eyes. "Volya, you're welcome to head into my home and take that shower. As always, you're a guest in my house, and I'd never think of you otherwise." He then turned his head to regard the tall creature that had come to speak to him, and pushed to standing. Wren still wasn't as tall as she was, by at least half a foot, but he smiled up to her with a winsome curve of lips and spread his arms slightly to the side. "It's a pleasure to see you, as I'm sure you realize, Miss. You're welcome to a drink or some food, if you're hungry. And I'm interested in learning what you would like to use me for, if you could tell me more?"
When Vee's lip was grabbed, the woman's eyebrows came together and the look in her eyes shred every ounce of exhaustion as it burned away only to be replaced by a gaze of pure rage. Once she was released, Vee hissed through her clenched teeth, a spray of saliva jetting through the gaps. The air around her heated by all of a degree before she let out a slack jawed gasp. The woman had enough Summer juice in her for the engine to rattle and cough before her knees buckled out from under her. Volya looked completely dazed, her head teetering atop her neck as she hummed out a sound in response to Wren. Blinking slowly, she sniffed the air once more, collecting scents beyond the rest of the nose-blind races. Her bloomed pupils trailed up from hoof, up seemingly miles of leg to the round of hip and ass and flicking whitetail. Her mouth opened to form a perfectly round circle, before she slowly slumped forward to place her forehead on the woodwork.
A pointed and conical ear tracked Vee's display and subsequent crash. Artio's muscles coiled and shivered under her skin as she slipped her hoof across the porch, away from Vee, widened her stance so she could pour into a stretch, the shadow of her flicking tail playing on the floor. "The offer of food is one that I'll refuse completely, though the asking is noted." Leaning her weight past the point her leg would have been hovering above the horizontal had she been on the floor. Motion was as natural to her as breathing, and it seemed Artio could have flowed into whatever stance or attack the moment dictated. Her sharp eyes stayed on Wren the entire time as she spoke. "It is a situation I believe you suited for as you have conducted yourself satisfactorily. Pixies are the sort to see and hear things after all. I need you to be you to handle a delicate situation with your strong and even hand as my proxy and the proxy of the Wyld. It is purpose, and I offer the necessary tools to aid in the task and others beyond." From her lowered position, she had to reach out to Wren. The movement was slow and directed as she pointed to the center of his chest. "This is a matter of the heart... The liver... The stomach... And the gall bladder... Words cannot sort this out, especial with ears about..." Her ear twitched in indication of Volya, "I can show you, but you must swore to silence of it in return until the matter is resolved. Agreed?"
Wren took a slow breath, watching Volya go to the wooden deck caused him to frown slightly, but since she'd not been dropped there, and instead lowered herself, he was a little slower to simply pick her up. Especially with all that heat flaring from her. "Vee, seriously, why don't you just head inside and I'll stay out here to talk to this lovely being for a little bit, alright?" He took his eyes from Volya, then reached over to open the front screened in door of his house, so she could even crawl her way in if she so chose. "Don't worry about any dirt or anything, it's easy enough to clean up after I walk in there after a long day, too." Wren smiled slightly, then motioned into the house for her.
When Wren looked back to Artio, he nodded his head once. "I understand not wanting to talk about it where other ears can hear the business of the Wyld. I'm happy to have you show me, and I'm more than capable of keeping it to myself. I'll even keep it to myself after the deed is done if that's a better course of action. But for certain, I can swear to silence about the matter you're here to inform me of and ask for myself as a proxy for until such time as the matter is concluded." He gave the woman-esque creature a wide smile, and bowed slightly, reaching out to take the hand she'd motioned toward his heart with, and if she allowed it, laid a soft kiss on the back of her moss-covered knuckles.
Volya dragged her mouth open, her lips pulling on the wooden in front of her face as she let out a long moan as she freely drooled. She moved her knees maybe a millimeter before she let out at a whimper, the muscles across her shoulders and down her entire back tightly. The ball of Vee started shaking, and Vee gave the slightest shake of her head in response.
Artio's eyes narrowed as she listened to Wren and allowed her hand to be taken and kissed. "So we agree." It wasn't the sort of movement that could be perceived with the eyes at all. There was the sound of hoof scraping across the wooden pouch like the handle of a mallet ran rapidly over a gyro. The sense of falling sideways and detonation of Wren's entire body striking the side of his house and his feet following when gravity realized it had forgotten to embrace them. A vice grip had captured the triangle of Wren's jaw as beyond velvety tongue and lips had captured and searched his mouth, and a single exhaled lungful of heated breath feed into his lungs until it grew beyond their capacity and was forced out his nostrils. Artio broke the kiss, only to suck his bottom lip and bite it with a measure fierceness that sent a shock of pain as she found blood, and released it to let it snap back into place. As she spoke, Wren could smell the blood on her breath, and the brush of her lips on his.
"You may use the name Artio for now. Just remember to breath deeply." That wave of velvety tongue rode from his upper lip and over his nostrils. Wren could feel the cartilage pop as his nose broaden by inches, the bridge of which grew into his vision in either eye. A bladed hand crashed to the wall between his thighs, turning horizontally to force his thighs to part as she took hold of his family jewels. With another twist of feral magic, he could feel his testicles swell to inhuman proportions, and as the man works of a farm, it quickly became apparent as the species.
Things are connected, and Wren's system was flooded with inhuman levels of testosterone, and Artio cover his mouth with an unyielding hand to force him to drew in all the scents of the world around him. The closer scents, the inhuman and wild scent of a feral pixie female seemed to radiate as her flicking tail was purposefully sweeping her feminine scent into the air around them. Volya oozing the scent of a hard day work with everything she described before and hopeless reaction of proxy to a god-like Fae. Wren could pick out every animals territory on the farm. There was something distance though, but clear as if someone pulled a thread of molten iron through his sinus. It was bovine... Male... And powerful enough that it may try to knock over every fence and claim that farm, Wren's farm, and the island itself.
Artio glared into Wren's eyes, waiting for the exact moment that scent had hit him before she released him completely and let him stand and fall as he may. "That is the problem. Will you accept my gift and you hunt at my call and the Call of the Wyld?"
There wasn't much in the world that surprised Wren, not really. He'd seen an awful lot, been with women that stretched beyond the edges of whatever rainbow people wanted to put them on, and had obviously been living comfortably within his own choices for quite some time. Being lifted and slammed into the wall of his own house, however, was a surprise. Especially when it was followed up with a kiss that he hadn't been prepared for.
As his body was literally forced into changes he'd never have chosen, though, his eyes widened. It was less about the scent of blood, less about the fact that he was bleeding at all, and far more about the fact that Wren was suddenly quite horrifically filled with urges and a rage that hadn't been a part of his life since he was a young kid, likely in High School. All of the scents and the shocking closeness of some particular emotions had him breathing fast and heavy, his chest rising and falling with enough force it could have broken through the exterior wall of his house if he'd been left against it. But Artio had stepped back.
When Artio moved away, Wren followed, rage burning and twisting his face into something that was so alien on his countenance, it really was a good thing he'd been shaped to look like another creature. He bared his teeth and reached for the Deer-Woman's hips, attempting to drag her closer as he narrowed his eyes, taking even deeper breaths to drag in the scents, like he was using them to pad himself to the deepest of his internal organs. Wren's voice came out as a hoarse, growling vibration that had to war against the thunder of his heartbeat to be heard when he spoke, "It can't have this. This is MINE. I accept."
Volya jumped in the place from the racket as Wren was speared to the wall, her fingernails biting into the floor as she lifted her head to look and elected for the deer in the headlights expression. She managed to take the tiniest of breath. At the first hint of the newest small, Vee slapped her hands over her mouth and nose, closing a tight seal over both of them and holding it. Her legs quickly untangled from under her, and her heels scrambled to slide her away on her rear end, ignoring the snags on the denim. Her wide eyes with her blue rimmed pupils said enough.
Artio seemed to be rooted in place or straight made out of uranium as she didn't budge an inch when Wren grabbed her and managed to pull himself into her. A steely thumb pressed to Wren's forehead, forcing horns to bud and to form until they were long enough to grab and jerk his head back. "We agree, you are of Wyld, my Masseriol." Once again, Artio pressed her lips to Wren's, that velvety forcing its way into his mouth to open once more as she breathed the Wyld into him, his scents sharpening to the point Wren felt like he could have counted the flaps of a fly's wings as it crossed a room. It drove in the understanding of every muscle fiber, sweating pore, and the blood coursing through his body so he could understand exactly where he existed in the spectrum of Predator and Prey. A jetted stream of urine was released to the floor at their feet, splattering droplets onto his feet. The scent of pure feral passed into his nostrils and it felt like talons were etching the message directly into his brain, 'This is mine. This man and place are Wyld. Trespass and you will be hunted.' The message was also clear that she was Hunting and not receptive at this time. Torquing his horn to force Wren into breaking the kiss, so she could press her nose into his neck, thoroughly taking in his scent.
Artio's lips stayed threateningly close to his throat as she spoke. "I want you to keep these gifts I have bestowed upon you until the sun rises. I want that scent in your nostrils to haunt you, so your blood boils and you HUNT. Be stealthy, be brutal, the tactics are yours, but you will prove you are worthy." Artio snorted the scent off his neck, the next words spitting on him, and the ivory of her teeth teasing his skin, "I want you to take your Prey, the wives, the husbands, the daughters, the sons. The Hunt is no place for morals, it is for blood, it is territory, it is laying your seed in their wombs, but it is always with purpose as there is no greater law than the Law of Nature itself." Leaning back from Wren, she released Wren's horn.
Wren's lips peeled back from his teeth, baring them as he made a low, grinding growl sound in the back of his throat, though it seemed to originate more at somewhere low in his body, around the solar plexus. He pushed at Artio's hips, and since she was so immovable, instead the motion caused him to fling himself away. Luckily, with Volya having moved off to the side, he had plenty of room to turn himself toward the two steps that led down off of his porch. He was moving fast, too. Real fast. Wren didn't always use his size to his advantage, but the loping, rushed movement of his legs carried him over territory very quickly. Even if his gait was a little hobbled by the 'gift' he'd been given that caused him to have to spread his thighs a little further apart. Might it have been faster to just get into the truck and start on a drive? Sure. But right now, the trappings of a machine would have been sacrilege. And so he ran, headed in the direction he seemed to quite specifically KNOW where his query waited to be faced. Waited to be handled, in whatever way that had to happen.
Volya was very literally holding a breath and refusing to take in a lick of scent tease her brain farther. It was until she rolled tried to roll into the back of her head that seal broke and she started gasping for breath. Blinking, she watched Wren gallop into the night and looked back to Artio. Her mouth opened soundlessly again, before she closed it again. Pulling herself up by the handrail, she stared at it for a moment, then back to Artio before vaulting over the rail on one hand, groaning at the protesting muscles as she started to follow after Wren.
The fact that Volya was a bit behind Wren might be the only reason he didn't turn around to face her in his current state. Which was good, really, because... One doesn't turn that level of rage and insurmountable hormonal need around onto one's friend. Especially not a friend you particularly know isn't yours to roll in the hay with. Instead, Wren kept running, and really, he was MOVING. Something out of some Olympian hand-guide for the terrifying heading down the road toward his intended target, prey, what have you. His breath was hot and heavy, sounding loudly out into the night without regard for what might hear him, and the animals he passed did truly respond. Cows mood. Horses whinnied. Cats hissed and ran in fear, dogs barked and backed up a bit away from their fences. It was also a good thing little MudBall had been in the house this entire time, and that the screen door shut on its own, or the poor little guy might have gone chasing off after his owner and managed to get himself in all sorts of trouble. It wasn't until he was about 2 pastures down from his own along the winding, back road that led to the ranching area of Oahu, that he sharply turned to the left and vaulted over a fence, gaining himself entrance into a pasture that was decidedly not his own.
Artio watched as Wren left without the slightest hint of pleasure, the deerish woman simply took a long step to Wren's door, releasing another jet of urine without a hint of shame in the message before she turned to watch Volya vault the rail. "He claims you as his herd, it's your fault. He does have his humanity, but he's still more the rest of him right now. Fair warning." And with that, she strode out towards the pastures, leaving her marks as she saw fit and disappeared into the night.
Wren may have been experiencing tunnel vision, but there was a clear light at the end. With every step he took, the scent quickly grew from a singular thread to an affront to his senses to a downright wall of claim, only a few days old. This was his pasture and the cows in it were his. Oahu didn't have a large number of dairy farmers, so it was safe to say Wren and Kaholo have met on more than one occasion. Pastures or barn... It only took another breath to know it was the barn.
Volya kept running as she tried to keep up with Wren. Tired limbs went from feeling bruised and overworked to just screaming at her. "Fuck..." Her boot falls became heavier upon her limbs slowly ground to slow loose limbed roll and she had to grip her side. Making a whimpering sound due to the pain, she yelled after him, "BE CAREFUL!"
Wren turned to look at Volya as she called out to him, sniffing the air soundly. He stared, then walked over to the fence and pressed himself against it as he groaned VERY loudly. "Vee." Heaven only knew exactly what he was saying with the mention of her name. Especially with the tone he said it in. Most likely women only heard their name come along in that tone during /very/ specific situations he was involved in. Usually with the woman in question, one would assume. The scent of pre-ejaculate was obvious in the air as he painted the post in question through the fabric of his shorts. Then he turned, and started walking toward the barn. He was going slower now, watchful. Not precisely wary, but aware. Part of hunting is making sure you aren't walking directly into a bear trap, after all.
Wren could sort out much of the usual that one would have on a farm. The obvious marks and scents of laid down fields. A mare in season was somewhere in the pastures. Most of the animals were asleep at the moment. Then he was hit by it, the clear scent of canine spore, Kaholo had a dog on the farm. The god bull, as it shall be known, was a yearling at most, a creature happily springing into puberty with a 'fuck the world' attitude, testosterone levels were insane though.
Volya pressed on in spurts until she couldn't hold the speed and she broke down into breathy sobs. As she neared the fence, she held onto it, gasping for air, letting a pained cry on every exhale. She started to climb the fence when the scent hit her. "Ooooh..." She just sort of froze in place except for her flaring nostrils. Letting out a breathy sob in some ill-fated attempt to laugh, she turned away from the fence, though her hand didn't realize immediately. That took a second try and a twisting of her shoulders to yank it free, sending a stumbling a few steps as she started to walk back to Wren's place. When she tried to hug herself, she screamed at her hands and shook them in the air, it was the sound of impotent frustration. It was a safe sound at least, as she patted her pockets, and endeavored to make it to her phone.
Wren continued toward the barn, heading on to the back door of it, not the front that would face the farmhouse. Either way, if the dog came running he could at least have time to prepare. And if the dog was sleeping, it might not notice him so far away from the farmhouse, especially since he smelled so much like a damn bull right now. Moving up to the door he opened it just enough to slip into the barn, and headed toward the sleeping area of the white bull so newly into its adolescence. He moved softly on his feet, luckily they weren't hooves, toward it. Huffing in heavy breaths to take all the scents, he let out a soft sound that was two parts suffering to one part gleeful at the overwhelming sensation of smell he had going on. Then, he spoke. "I smell you, little man. You and I just need to have a talk." His voice was low, yes, and gruff, but he wasn't being sneaky, and wasn't being overly clumpy or grumpy, he just mellowly walked along. Having dealt with the herds literally his entire life, he knew it was as much about intention as it was about tone, so both he did his college best to keep clear. And, he was at least honest.
Not-So-Little Wren may have had some definite ideas about the proper course of action, but Wren knew the proper course of action, and therefore did not set off the barn's general alarm of 'who the fuck'? The barn itself was pinch black, scented with the smell of fresh bedding tossed about. The oddity here, was the bull wasn't in a pen at all. It was in the center of the barn. It responded with a twitch of an ear to the man, snorting at the air with heavy puff of air before it rolled onto his hooves. The stark white bull was massive to say the least, growing in one year what took over bulls three to five years. Muscles shook alone its entire back, causing its coat to shimmer and shake. 'Talk? Or you mean mounted and broken under me, little man,' the beast pulled a hoof against the floor. 'I'm the balls on this land'.
Wren cocked his head to the side, of course the addition of his new horns made that a little different than usual, and his head rotated a slight bit farther than he'd expected it to. "I don't want your females. They're yours, I just need to know why you've been gifted to this particular man. Why you're here. And if you plan to stay here, or take other's females." He moved a little closer, watching the bull with a steady gaze, and decidedly NOT turning away from it, at all. As his pelvis was currently over-endowed, his back was arched over a little, and his shoulders looked broader than they might normally, but he wasn't flexing his muscles or stamping the ground in challenge. He did, however, smirk. Because... Well. Wren hadn't been the bottom to a guy in REAL long time.
The white bull tossed its head to mirror Wren's display of his horns, except a fully bovine frame allowed for the display to so much more wide sweeping and threatening, before it sorted again. 'I am the gift to everything, can you not see that?' A front hoof was dragged on the floor again, before it straighten a line as it aimed at Wren. 'No fence can hold me for long. I can take that whole door and you with it. All if there's a female beyond that fence, well she is mine too.' The bull's nostril pulled at the air testing it out before the bull snorted in response, 'Some predator rained on one your parade, so you decided to flee here.' Whatever the bovine equivalent of a laugh was, Wren held it. 'Ain't no pussy held for you, little man.'
Wren sighed deeply, then rubbed his hand over his face, a little curiously over his nose as if he'd forgotten that was no longer his own. "You know. Sometimes being the older person in a situation kind of sucks, kiddo. And you may well be able to take me out along with the door behind me. But I promise. You aren't any God's gift to Everything. I've met those, and they don't bother to be raised by men at all. They start out pretty much free enough to do whatever they damn well please." He stepped in a touch closer, watching the bull carefully, judging his movements. "But, we'll see about tonight. Even if you aren't standing when we're done, I'll still not take your females. Mainly because once you get a little older, you realize that you shouldn't take what's not yours."
The bull didn't strike the ground this time when Wren took a step closer, but it keep a keen line on him, lowing its head for a moment if okay to remind the man what happens if Wren decided to mess around. 'I wasn't dropped in the grass and shit like the rest of you, little man. My first breath was pure salt before I was unleashed by the kai pi'i. I'm here for the whole herd.' The bull thrashed its head in his cowish gesture towards the wreaked and splintered pen gate. 'I am free. And when every cow looks like my seed is falling from their holes, I'm gonna take the next fence, and do the same, crushing every little man and cow that confuses itself for a bull. There's one bull now.'
Wren shook his head once and let out a low sound. "Sorry son. Salt wasn't enough to make you king of this particular Island. You've got a whole mess of other shit that's gonna put salt on it's knees." And with that, Wren moved forward. It wasn't some sort of feint, or really even anything particularly clever. No, it was something direct. He rushed in, and in a powerful sort of grip cum strangle, he wrapped one hand around the bull's horn, then swung himself under its huge head. Then, Wren propped himself against the bull's side and wrapped his other arm around the neck, creating a choke hold on the animal with powerful arms.
The bull let out a loud bellow as Wren grabbed and locked onto him and it started to buck and twirl with Wren on him. Sure, the man got lifted from the ground and spun with his feet dragging on the floor, but it didn't loosen the hold in the slightest.
Wren let out a rushed billow of breath as the bull swirled him around and attempted to get loose. His arms tightened, cutting off the blood and Oxygen flow to his noggin as best he could. "Go to sleep, little man. I hear your mommy calling you home." A grunt of effort was made as his arms flexed hard, giving as much as he could to the hold around the massive bovine's neck, and that torque on the horn.
As it attempted to unleash a second bellow, the sound was completely cut off by Wren's forearm. The bull's eyes widened in panic, a nictitating membrane rolling white over its eyes. It thrashed about, carrying Wren through another ride until the cow stumbled, and it's front leg gave out.
Since the huge bull was now down onto the ground, and held tight in those strong arms of his, it was now time for Wren to actually put the creature in his place. Well, at least start off that way, hopefully. He didn't waste time with words, simply turned his head to where the sharp tip of one of his shiny new horns could dig into the white bull's neck, and included his own noggin into the grapple. He squeeze, and used the muscles of his neck to gouge into the Bull's neck hard, not quite able to get through the skin, but making one hell of an indent
The bull gave out a strangled sound as Wren's horn started to tear out its hide. The scratches started to weep red marring its perfectly white coat. Scrambling to its feet, it turned as it tried to pin Wren off on the wall of the barn with a thunderous crash as the tip of its horn dragged a gouge into the wood. Wren had just enough time to walk his feet up and out of the way as momentum spun him away from the wall.
Wren attempted to tighten down his grip on the bull again, just to make it so the bloody thing couldn't get a word in edgewise, or another one of those damn stabs with the horns. The grip was still there, and strong, but it wasn't quite enough to force the bull to see stars again.
The bull whipped its head wildly, managing to rip Wren off his feet a couple of times but the hold around its neck never moved. The creature now jumped its rear hooves in the air to try and force Wren into making a mistake. It wasn't working at all, and the scent of another viable male just made the bovine insane with the need for primal dominance.
Wren grunted at the sensation of being poked with rather sharp horns as they scraped across his skin. Then, as he kept his attempts up to get the animal to chill out and just stop fighting back, he felt his skin actually abrade as the huge White Bull managed to get a good knick on him along his cheek. "Well, shit." Wren managed to grumble darkly, as the creature tried to fling him about.
Once Wren managed to get himself a solid hold onto the White Bull, he didn't waste a breath. He brought his head against the side of the bull's neck again, sharp and hard, feeling the satisfying sensation of the skin actually breaking, and smelling the oh so delicious scent of the blood he'd been trying to get at as it sprayed across the floor while he held the young Bull in a vicious grip.
The bull started up stumbling and falling to the ground as it desperately struggled to get its hooves back under itself. It's thrashing attempts ultimately helped Wren stab the Cretan and a spurting crimson rain came out, officially updating the barn to slaughter house status. The beast unleashed of mooing scream that seemed to shake the place. Releasing its bowels in the panic, the bull managed to once more scramble to its unsteady legs.
Wren ground his teeth together harshly as the bull managed to stumble itself up again. "Buddy.. Just go down, brah." He grunted and held tight. "You're making me KILL you when you could just chill the hell out!" And, of course, when the bull didn't seem to want to listen, because... bull... Wren jerked his head in at the creature again, stabbing into the side of its neck just below the ear and giving a long, wicked slash that cut deep into the flesh.
The bull stumbled in an even slowing circle and its effort to gouge Wren seemed almost half-hearted at it was literally bleeding out its vitality in a crimson arc that painted the barn like a horror movie. Then finally collapsing under the combined weight of Wren and itself. Adding the last stab and tear to the beast caused it to thrash and kick as the blood grew weaker and weaker. The nictitating membrane oozed slowly and held half way on its eye as the bull gave out a long sigh, 'I was... The gift..." and it breathed its last.
Distant and frenzied barking was hear in the distance, clear from the direction of the farmhouse.
Wren waited a heartbeat or two, to make sure that there was no more blood spraying from the wound on the giant bull's neck. He let go, unwrapping his arms from around the creature, and took a deep, shuddering breath. His head tilted to the side as he heard the barking, and he simply leaned over and pried the eyes out of the bull's head, popping them out into his hand, to put into his pocket. And with that, Wren moved fast, heading out the back door from which he'd entered. He wasn't quiet about it, really. He was just trying to get a move on.
Door to the house opened and slammed shut, the dog came bouncing out and straight to the barn. Wren could hear the scratching of paws on the door, and it opening. There was a scream from inside the building and a moment later, a shot from a high caliber rifle thundered and echoed through the valley.
Once Wren heard the shot, he took off like a shot himself. He made it over the first fence into the field and just ran, like he had the wind at his back and his horns held a sail. When he cleared the second fence to the road, he ran into another farm, staying toward the outskirts. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he pressed his speed dial, and spoke once someone answered, his voice gruff and deeper than usual, "I need you at my place, Now." Then he followed that with a darker grunting sound before he hung up. Turning a little to the south, he ran along the far edge of the farm he'd fled to so he could jump into the water of the irrigation channel and get free of the blood that had sprayed him. Then, he just continued on toward home. With those trusty eyeballs now rinsed clean in his pocket.
Artio basically decided she was going to put some neon signs all over Wren's property. If there was a mare or cow in season, there was the strong and musky scent of urine communicating 'You are a beast, so claim it.' The Fae herself was long gone.
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