right back over the edge.

[Anselm de le Poer]

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-- Anselm sported a grin that mirrored her own--it was as if she'd gone in and read his mind, word for word. "Exactly," he said simply, nodding in deep confirmation of this belief. It really did have to do with family, he thought. When you got down to it, those called "friends" were most often acquaintances, agreeable yet fleeting individuals who held little loyalty to any save their own blood (as with anybody else). The preservation of your own genetic material was instinctual, and it was really no wonder that Inferni succeeded where all the other packs failed: they were bound by something far greater and more concrete than the whimsical alliances of the wolves in the packs. Perhaps this tied into why the leadership here was so lax while those elsewhere demanded more, too. The coyotes and hybrids of Inferni were family--they knew what the rest were capable of and there was inherent respect built into their relationships with one another. The wolves, being of random origin and blood, were forced to throw their weight around more to receive recognition. Maybe that lifestyle had its advantages, but Anselm couldn't see any that made it worthwhile. Yes, it might be nice to find someone to screw around with right at home (rather than worrying about them being a distant cousin), but what about when those things fell through? Living in the same pack as an ex-lover set the stage for lots of drama, and Anselm wanted no part of that. Life was chaotic enough. "Perhaps I assume too much, but it seems like they set themselves up for it. So far as I've seen, most of the packs are random agglomerations of vagabonds and nobodies. That's not to say we don't see that here, but we have a stronger core membership that's based on a little something more than Oh, I'm tired from travelling, can I crash here until it's no longer convenient?" He snorted softly, shaking his head. "More like a damn club than an actual empire." Anselm had developed more pride in Inferni than he himself had realised--in his mind, it was more a matter of everyone else's inferiority versus their superiority. To him, asking for what Inferni had everywhere didn't seem like it should be too much--it was just unfortunate that it often appeared to be the case. "So how about you, eh? I'm sure you've seen plenty; what drove you away from the other places you've lived?" What could he say? This whole little "we are awesome" pow-wow was good for clan spirit.

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