11-27-2009, 02:18 AM
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| http://sleepyglow.net/rp/kae/kae_razor.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat;"> The silver-furred hybrid regarded the younger canine before her with that curious golden eye, already sizing her up. The coyote had lived too long to mistake the young canine for anything but a vagrant in search of a home; she was thin from months of travel and her body appeared worn, ragged. Still, that was the condition most of the newcomers arrived in, and it showed little of their potential once well-rested and well-fed. The hybrid woman herself had dragged her carcass to these borders, lagging and starving half to death from the long months on the road. Kaena didn't figure there was anything particularly unique about this coyote before her at that immediate moment. Clearly, she was a coyote—if she was a hybrid, her percentage of wolf or dog or other canine was quite low (or negligible). There was still something vaguely familiar about the canine that Kaena could not place, some structural echo of someone she had once known in the girl's face, but the canine could hardly identify it, and she simply gazed at the tawny canid for the moment, trying to determine where that vague tingle of familiarity had originated. Her ears swept forward to listen to the coyote's words. The younger coyote spoke the Centurion's name, which definitely drew her attention. Immediately her posture changed; the silver-furred hybrid leaned forward, wondering what madness this was—she was utterly confused at the ash-dusted canine's words at first. There was clear nervousness in the canine, and the words sounded almost... scripted, as if she had been instructed to say them. Bewildered, the hybrid stepped forward to examine the other coyote closely. "Eris sent you? As a gift?" she asked, bewildered. That was the more important connection. The canine did not think for a moment this was Eris's child; Kae was almost certain this coyote was older than her coal-furred daughter. Even then, the stranger's percentage of wolf was either not present or negligible. It was clear to Kae she was looking at a mostly or wholly purebred coyote, and the strange, tingling familiarity was most certainly that of Astaroth. The coyote almost expected rage or hurt at the mention of that man, but none came. He had paid his debt to the hybrid with his life. "Who are you?" the coyote asked, a hint of gruffness creeping into her voice with her confusion. There were too many new things to deal with in those simplistic statements, and they had given the hybrid too many answers to questions she did not know how to begin asking. |