08-19-2009, 04:01 AM
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mall-caps;">In Character The silvery hybrid could understand her pallid cousin's desire for safety. It was all she had desired for her children—a solid, good place for them to grow strong and healthy. Most of them had; for as many litters as Kaena had bore, she had lost remarkably few of her children, with only one or two stillborns aside her viable children. Only three of seventeen had died under her care, and Andre's death was hardly her fault, though she might have been able to prevent it had she been around for him. Still... the warm gray canine shrugged her coal shoulder, nodding her head in agreement. "Maybe you should get out of the city. It can be dangerous here," she said, speaking an honest opinion. The chaos star emblazoned on the woman's chest had sparked some interest, and at the question, the woman grinned. Pain was a relative concept, and she was certain her tolerance for it was higher than most. "It hurt no more than this," she said, offering the scarred right arm. The wound had been shallow, and it left thin scars tracing across her forearm. "They can come in any color and any shape," she said, nodding her grizzled head. "But I can only copy pictures I see. I can't make new ones," the woman said, shaking her scarred head. The hybrid did not respond when she spoke of Misery, knowing this to be true—with time, details and specifics disappeared, leaving only the vaguest images of faces and only a name to go with it. She smiled, a bitter, wistful thing twisting across her features. The hybrid woman's smile changed as Naniko continued speaking. She listened, pricking her sable ears up to catch the soft sound of the other woman's voice. One of those ears was tattered, the tip of it missing in pieces, as if it had been bitten off—which it had. The other was in good condition and heard her slightly better. "The city is not a good place for you to raise children alone... when you are close, maybe you should go home? Or if home isn't... home anymore, find a new place." The coyote knew there were many packs in this area, and Naniko would have to try her luck elsewhere if the place she had departed was no longer welcoming. Kaena was lucky enough to have had Molochai by her side when she had raised Samael's litter in the old city—without him, it would have been far more difficult. The white hybrid moved for something else, and Kaena watched with muted interest as something fell. When the hybrid recognized the object, the stare changed and intensified. "No need to worry about paint fumes if you've been smoking those," the coyote said, gesturing toward the pack of smokes with her finger. "Those aren't any good for your babies," the hybrid warned, not wishing to admonish Naniko for her behavior but feeling she ought to know anyway—damaging her unborn children was certainly not something the coyote woman thought her newfound wolf friend would do purposefully. |