08-11-2009, 06:13 AM
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No problem. ♥ mall-caps;">In Character There was much more Kaena should have known about her son, but she did not. The coyote was regretful she'd ever let him slip out of her fingers; she did not know how he had survived so long on his own nor why he had returned to her so changed. The hybrid had known only a touch of the Scintilla War and what had happened in that dark part of her golden son's history. There were just the faint traditions carried from the west coast by her son and the story of fire and pain he'd brought with him. It was a clipped, censored version—the woman had known it even then. The scars on his body had spoken volumes themselves, though, and the grizzled coyote had been smart enough even then not to press too far into fresh wounds. The dark coyote spoke again, and the hybrid woman offered her a smile. She was glad Jezebel hadn't taken offense to her seeming interrogation; it would not have done to cause any tension between clan members. "Too true, she said softly. It hurt to think of the people she'd lost, but in time, the memories seemed to become more bearable. It did not pain the coyote as much to think of Zulifer as it had when he'd first died, though it still hurt to say his name aloud, surely. But the grizzled woman was not the distraught, frail creature she'd been when he passed. "I wonder if they ever go away completely, hm?" she wondered aloud, though it was more of a rhetorical question than anything. She did not expect an answer; she had years on the coal-furred canine before her and her oldest demons had yet to die. Kaena's sable ears flicked toward the coyote and she smiled, indeed proud of her family. It was a subject she could discuss at length, though she was still feeling rather lethargic from her large meal. "Yeah, I'm glad you're here, as well." The woman agreed soundly; this meeting was beneficial on both sides, for certain. Her face twisted into a smile, mangled by the knotty, hardened scar tissue criss-crossing her face. "Thank you. Gabriel is everything a mother could want in a son," she said, though she would never deride her other children or play favorites. They simply had not shared that dedication to the clan Gabriel held. It was a strange thing, too—all of her children had been born in Inferni, and most of them had been raised in Inferni. Yet Gabriel, who had been witness to his brother's murder and driven in fear from Inferni's shores so long ago, had returned to her twice and had worn the clan's crown after she had gone, making it strong and founding it on this side of the mountain. What more could a mother want? The woman spoke and sprang to her feet. The gold eye in Kaena's skull watched with envy; she could no longer leap from the ground in such a fluid motion. Still, she stood quickly enough, moving slower than the coal-colored coyote. "I think we could manage carrying it," the woman said. She was already in her two-legged form, but she could easily become four-legged. Their halfling forms could easily carry the thing between their jaws, but it would probably do to keep the carcass in good shape for the others. She shrugged her coal sholders. "It's up to you, though. Whatever you think is best," the cloud-colored woman said, the tips of her yellow teeth showing in a smile. |