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It was all rather bothersome, Snowpeak thought with an annoyed expression. The mist female only seemed to be interested in getting the deep woods on her side and the prospect of an actual exchange of blows was diminishing rapidly. Still, he couldn’t help but frown at the odds. To Snowpeak, a fight always had to be fair and evenly matched. No point in fighting an old timer who could barely provide for himself or forming a group to tease a lone sentinel. Even if fighting Bracken and Minke at the same time sounded like an interesting challenge, the whole thing left a sour taste in his beak.

But then the female’s last words brought a torrent of thoughts to the male mist’s mind. His tufts flickered excitedly, his wicked grin widened and he eyed the female in silent anticipation. One-on-one fights were his poison of choice but he wouldn’t pass on a free-for-all.
Oh, oh, you silly little girl. Are you teasing him, too…? He just called you an inbred and you go around and say that? You’re going to get in trouble, yes you are.

But then Shorty lunged at Snowpeak(!) and he had to admit that the smaller sentinel was pretty fast. Delighted (and yes, a little surprised) to have been stolen the first move of the fight, Snowpeak raised his talons to meet the dark colored male. The older male attacked first! And so quickly, too. No introductions, no small talk, just an impressively quick reaction to a minor insult - seriously, with all the words being tossed around just a moment before, “shorty” hardly seemed significant. Apparently that really was the other male’s weak spot.

Talons locked and Snowpeak pushed the deep woods sentinel as strongly as he could. He barely felt a deep scratch on a foot but he was sure it would sting a lot more later. The mist male fluttered past Bracken and circled the deep woods moving higher in an attempt at finding a better offensive position. And then with a threatning hiss, he moved towards Bracken at full speed, adrenaline pumping into his veins and completely oblivious to Minke’s location.

Bracken was, to say the least, outmatched.

He'd been in fights before. Oh, he could remember the scraps from his fledgling days, and even older- he'd grown up a bully, and he'd grown up biggest for awhile before his peers began to rapidly outmatch him. But Bracken had always kept the cocky mentality that he was the strongest despite any odds against him.

He hated to admit he was losing. He hated the prospect that he was even going to lose.

But in comparison to a large Mist, the sleeker, smaller Deep Woods was just not a match. Snowpeak pushed and he went reeling back, fluttering to try and get his balance- and then the other mist was gone, faster than Bracken would ever give him credit for.

He tried to land on a branch. His feet were aching and he needed to catch his breath- when suddenly a huge weight careened into his back, ripping and pecking. Bracken let out a screech and flailed wildly as he tried to get the damn thing off. He was falling like a brick. He twisted around, smacking Minke in the beak with the brunt of his wing in an attempt to escape.

Bracken's moony, frenzied eyes darted to the side as he tried to get away, and out of the corner they caught the large shadow of Snowpeak diving towards him.
He screeched again, feeling honestly like he was going to die.

Snowpeak was dropping at a dreadful speed with his mind full of conflicting thoughts. He couldn’t deny he felt rather disgusted at the double attack that Bracken was receiving (not that he didn’t deserve it, mind you) but it was awfully difficult to stop himself at this point.

Hit him. Don’t hit him! Oh just hit him! Don’t… - oh why was he thinking so hard when the answer was so simple - … hit HER!

Swerving at the last minute as he tried to get a proper aim at the female, the male mist almost collided with Duskwater. The hunter struggled in the air as he did his best to avoid hitting Dusk, the others and some trees before he finally managed to land safely – even if rather heavily – on a lower branch.
Snowpeak adjusted himself with a dignified expression almost as if he’d made the most perfect landing, suddenly aware that his talons were hurting and the fiery gaze burned as it sent a glare searching for the grey sentinel. His mind nearly went blank as he saw the large ghost’s chevron and he stared at the new arrival with a dumb-founded expression adorning his tilted head. An Elite. Punishers and protectors.

“It’s a fight.” The mist replied bluntly feeling he owed the real authority figure a quick answer. There was no sign of confrontation coming from Snowpeak but he gave Duskwater an intense stare as he silently compared him to Moonstride, the only other Elite he’d met.

“… sir.” He added slowly and both his eartufts and eyes twitched as if rejecting the word he rarely spoke aloud.

Bracken had no such luck of landing- he fluttered and flailed wildly even with his attackers gone, and crashed through a few thick branches, before finally getting stuck upsidedown in a swath of leaves. He blinked, realizing that he hadn't hit the ground and he wasn't dead.

I'm alive! he thought, breathing hard from his awkward, tangled position. I'm alive!
Immediately his next thought was, I'm going to destroy those stupid-

But his thoughts were cut off by the stern, booming voice of authority. While Bracken didn't know the voice, he knew the tone; and if it were possible for a Sentinel to pale, he'd look like a daft Mist. That sounded like an Elite. Bracken gave a weak hoot from below, his feathers ruffling. He was immediately nervous- he instigated this fight and, despite being a Seeker, he still answered to elites on a regular basis. He was supposed to be with the law, not against it.