CARNIVORE, CARNIVORE
WON'T YOU COME AND CHANGE ME!?

// Trigger warning for gore after the first paragraph//

The small feline weaved her way around the swampy mess of Tanglewood's territory. Dainty paws skirting over soaked earth and mud, said mud starting to cake onto her legs. The slight stinging on her back, the scars from her wings still aching, kept her in reality. Soon, something else would keep her stuck in reality. The metal tang of blood hits her nose, and her once stoic expression changes to that of curiosity, and she went to investigate. The sudden scent of Coalition, though muddled with the scent of swamp and Tanglewood, caused the curious expression to become that of mild annoyance. Weren't the two groups in mutual neutrality?

Muddy paws froze at the sight before her. Wordless, she stared upon the corpse of the cheetah, blood soaking into the ground beneath him. It seemed as though he didn't go down without a fight, though, as she stared at the clumps of fur around his own body, and the fading paw and hoof prints leading away. Within her mind, something snipped. A thin thread of hope that someone she loved would stay. Claws unsheathed and she shook violently, biting her lip until it bled, and then her teeth dug deeper, holding back the scream that was sure to be free.

Bones broke and reorganized into a bipedal structure, fur became feathers and scales and paws became killing claws that would rip into those monsters who killed Ximen. The violent start of the shift left lesions and open wounds in the skin, a deep crimson pooling from various small and large wounds on her body. Vibrant black wings sprouted from the raptor's back, leaving blood to flow from the wounds on her back. And she staggered, opened her jaws, raised her head, and screamed.

It was a wild, wordless screech, full of pain and mourning. Foreclaws scored down her own arms, shredding flesh and feathers and leaving them scattered around the ground. A sharp inhale followed, and then she let out another screech, a bright white fire flying from her mouth, a line of it reaching up toward the trees, and then it died out.

Ares breathed heavily, deep, long breaths that shuddered more and more. Tears pooled at the corners of her eyes, silvery in color. "Please... please come back, Ximen! Please...!" She sobbed, hugging herself with the killing arms her body wore. And suddenly her body collapsed, wings unfurling and then covering her head and face. There, she quietly sobbed, just like when Ana died.

The screeching that echoed across the territory as loud as a siren's song, bringing forth the unknowing to discover a brutal murder. It was a sound she wished she would never hear again. It was a sound she knew personally, in the worst of ways. She'd screeched and screamed like this before, they all must have at one point or another.

How cruel the fate to bring herself to her paws, bending her head to pick up Amalthia and strap the sword to her side, the lioness walking from her home as she followed on the path left by others, towards the final resting spot of a Tangler she hadn't known much of. He had been Elsewyr's brother, and he had looked after the former Luminary's children when she had died.

Ears sweeping back as she came across the scene, the first thing being the strange creature that Ares had become, leading the woman forward. She didn't know what had happened when Jormungand had taken her so many years ago but she knew it had to have been quite the scene. The scars this body didn't bear still ached, her lips curling back automatically at the memories of the agony her body had gone through, enough to be remembered by her very soul. Padding to a stop at Ares' side, bowing her head down to sniff at Ximen's body, taking in and remembering the scents that clung to the fallen Reaper's fur. Closing her eyes and lifting her head to look at Ares with sympathy in her eyes, "I'm sorry, Ares.", she remembered Ana. She remembered the agony that she'd heard of for this poor child. Everyone around her kept leaving or dying.

Swiveling her head as she carefully stepped around Dion, locking eyes with Kiara and gazing at Lucinder. "Ximen has departed from us.", the words were quiet as the swordswoman gently departed the fallen's side. Staring down at the tracks in the dirt and mud, sniffing at them as the scents matched. Murder. The Coalition's scents was heavily thick in the air, causing the lioness' pelt to prickle and settle along her spine. "The offenders will be found and punished.", she spoke as she raised her head. "I am the Ambassador to The Coalition of The Condemned. I will not let this slide by.", her gaze returned to Ares. Revenge was warranted, but the children of Els were in too much pain as it was. She knew that she would be the first to demand the bastards who did this be punished.

"Prepare Ximen's body to be brought to the main camp and prepared. His life will be honored, I refuse to see a warrior leave us without recognition.", she spoke softly. She looked at Ares again, sorrow in her heart. Loss was never easy, it always stayed and haunted the surviving ones. If Ares herself didn't have a chance to set this horrible wrong, right, she knew it would haunt her; yet she couldn't bring the younger woman with her. She wanted to allow her the time to grieve, yet she also wanted her to have the chance to see the wrong-doers punished.

Exhaling softly, "I am going to The Coalition immediately. If you can't handle yourself, you must stay behind. If you can handle yourself, you may accompany me. If you step out of line and show aggression against the Coalition, I will handle you. We are going to make our stance known, and there will be a punishment handed out to them, either by their side, or by the affected.", she stepped away to look at the gathering grieving people. Ximen had a central role no matter how little it might have seemed to those who didn't know him. Gaze firmly holding Dion, Ares, Kiara and Lucinder, tail slowly swishing.

Gods, what the hell had these stupid Coalitioners done? This was one too many attacks. Fur ruffling slightly, "If you follow me, I expect you to listen to my words. I know we are all grieving, but this must be rectified and the perpetrators punished. I will not allow us to fall to their level.", technically she had no right to lead anyone else to the Coalition and it might be seen as an acclamation of war, but this needed to be taken care of, kindly or not. An eye for an eye, afterall, but she would take the tongue. It was time to cut the head off the snake.