Word Count → 349
Neela sat with her head cocked, listening intently as Pripyat described Ichika. It was evident from the mans tone that he was very fond of his home, and as she listened to him describe it Neela could see why. A place of peace, a haven from violence.
That struck a chord with Neela. Despite her own technical skill at fighting, actual violence had brought nothing but pain and misery to her life. Her mothers violence had nearly destroyed her life, and her own had finished the job. Ichika sounded nice, a peaceful place where Neela would be able to live peacefully and work on containing her anger, "Sanctuary… sounds nice." Neela muttered absentmindedly, twirling sand in her fingers as she thought.
Neela only noticed in retrospect how she was thinking, and shoved the thoughts down violently. While Ichika seemed like a nice place, and the thought of joining them was very tempting to Neela, from what she remembered wolf packs tended to be a bit selective about their membership and she doubted that the surly wolf in front of her would take very well to the idea of her seeking to join.
Neela visibly hesitated, before shaking her head a minute fraction and changing the subject. Or at least she was going to change the subject before she felt a sharp pain in the side of her head. Grynn, who had relocated to her shoulder at some point, had pecked her hard just below her ear. Upon seeing that she had Neela's attention Grynn launched into a series of squawks and clicks, rapidly vocalising something in low speech. It took Neela a few moments to translate what she was saying, which turned out that the bird was either insinuating that she was a cat or calling her a coward. Probably the latter.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
With an apprehensive sigh Neela turned her head back to Pripyat, asking him in a small, uncertain voice, "Ichika… wouldn’t happen to be looking for new members would it?" before ducking her head, waiting for what she saw as a almost certain rejection.
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