[html] And so it was done.
In practically a day, Esper Hollow had been established. It would make sense for someone to be a bit blown away by the swiftness of the change, but it didn’t really mean much to Nikita. For someone who had lived on the road, stopping and staying at intervals and on whims, it might just be another pit stop along the road. Or maybe it would be something more than that. Who knew? As long as it kept a roof above her head and food on her plate, Nikita could care less. She would simply do all she could and make sure their merry little band was as merry as they could be.
Someone could easily tell, just by looking at her in her shifted form, that she was a bit more human than usual for a lycanthrope. She favored her knife and her cello — both things left behind by the humans to be picked up by the were-creatures that now stalked the world. That, and her clothes of course. Nevertheless, she couldn’t turn her back on what some might call her roots. She still loved her unshifted form, and even her half-shifted form, though she didn’t find the use for it often. This mid-morning, however, she chose to resume her smaller quadruped form. She liked the swiftness of it; it made hunting — and eating, especially — so much easier.
And, being the so-called ‘Warden’ of the pack, she was not only charged with keeping the lands tidy and keeping the prey in good supply, she was also up to the task of keeping the borders safe. Thinking that a brunch could wait until after a quick run around the brand-new borders, she began to scout them out. They were very rough, having been developed only a few days ago. She was planning on changing that over the course of a week or so. [/html]
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Restlessness drove the two year old to wandering once again. Alexey was off on her own, and who knew where Umbra was? And those two were the only two that mattered, the only two Adelaida felt that she could truly trust. And so, if they weren’t around there was no real reason for Adelaida to “stick around” either. Which left her with a lot of free time. Having already eaten earlier in the morning, and having slept all night, Adelaida was charged with an usual energy. To burn off that energy, and cure her of her restlessness, she left the shoreline of Shattered Coast at a quick pace, and that pace carried her quite swiftly towards Ethereal Eclipse.
No packs, at least to Adelaida’s knowledge, called that forest home. In fact, for the first month she had returned to these lands, having discovered the massive number of wolves and coyotes that had appeared, she had kept herself hidden out in the forest, finding that aside from a few stray wanderers no one passed through on a regular basis. It was dark and secluded and it was where Adelaida decided that she wanted to be, at least for now. And yet before she even reached the forest line Adelaida stopped short in her tracks. There were heavy scents of multiple wolves and coyotes around and this puzzled Adelaida, and she dropped her nose to the ground, trying to pick up more information.
The scents weren’t too heavily laid, perhaps there was just a band of wolves and coyotes passing through? Which didn’t quite make sense either, why would wolves fraternize with coyotes? It didn’t make sense, and so stubbornly Adelaida discarded any worries and continued towards the forest. Unfortunately, having allowed herself to forget so easily about the scents meant that when Adelaida did run into the female coyote she was completely unprepared. It was almost a head on collision, as Adelaida emerged from the a particularly thick patch of underbrush before the forest became too dense and dark to allow the underbrush to grow so well. Adelaida stopped short, lifting her head up high and smirking at the coyote that blocked her intended path. "Excuse me, a little far from Inferni, aren’t we?" Yes indeed. That damned clan was were all the coyotes belonged, if they wouldn’t just fall off the face of the planet first.
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[html] She skittered to a halt as the brown-furred wolf nearly collided with her. Her olive eyes were thrown wide with surprise, but then narrowed to an instinctual intensity — these lands may be days-old claimed, but they were claimed nonetheless. It looked as though she would have to start educating the nearby residents that this wasn’t their neutral stomping grounds anymore. She might have to start with this little trespasser.
Nikita opened her mouth to say something, but snapped it shut when she heard the tone of the wolf’s voice. She had come across many, many wolves before — just as many as she had coyotes — and a small percentage of them had, yes, simply gotten riled at the fact that she wasn’t a canis lupus. The bandanna-clad coyote had to imagine that this female was one of those, since she had done nothing to agitate her too much… yet. Still, her words puzzled Niki. “Inferni?” she growled, rising one eyebrow, though this was mostly invisible due to her headband. That must be the name of that coyote band she had been hearing so much about. Well, this looked like it was going to be a pleasant meeting.
“Whatever. These lands are claimed, and you are trespassing. I’ll go easy on you since it’s only been claimed for a little while, but I suggest you leaving. Quickly.” She bared her sharp teeth, trying to make her small, almost fox-like form look as intimidating as possible. Sometimes she cursed her small stature. [/html]
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The other had seemingly never heard of Inferni, the wretched clan with the half insane coyotes, though in Adelaida’s opinion there was probably no better place for this female than there. However there wasn’t any time to explain, and Adelaida wasn’t interested in education coyotes anyway. The small coyote had words for Adelaida, and the larger wolf could help but smirk. Claimed? Claimed by who? Perhaps it was another clan of coyotes that was cropping up, that would just take the cake. How horrid it would be if there were two packs of those filthy creatures roaming around. The idea that this was an actual pack, wolves and coyotes together didn’t cross the masked female’s mind. It was unthinkable, unimaginable. No wolf with any respect for themselves would be caught dead, Adelaida was sure of that.
Although the stranger was becoming hostile, something about her only sparked a very rare cruelty in Adelaida. She had never really expressed her feelings on so many strangers in her homelands, coyotes and shifters especially, and now all those feelings surged up, and she could vent them at something smaller than herself. For such a normally timid wolf, she had a burst of confidence and courage. Coyotes were small than wolves by nature, and this one especially. That and the fact that Adelaida’s build was someone larger for a female evened the scores, even if Adelaida wasn’t much of a fighter. Her sometimes-too-polite-voice was now transformed with arrogance. "Claimed by who? You? Or are there more dirty coyotes like yourself running about?" There probably were, and they would probably come to the defense of their friend if she called for it. Adelaida wasn’t too worried, she wasn’t too deeply into what the female claimed was claimed territory, she could retreat if necessary.
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[html] Her green eyes widened slightly at the female’s bold, arrogant words before narrowing into angry slits. “Yes, actually,” she hissed, a line of fur prickling along her spine down to her tail. It was a natural instinct for her to try to look bigger, though it was a bit of a lost cause in her case. “These lands are claimed by me and my companion, and if you have an issue with that, I go back to my previous suggestion: get the hell out. That, or I’ll chase you out.”
Now, if she didn’t have her small size issue, no one could deny that Nikita looked absolutely furious. Perhaps not terrifying since some might call the aggression pressed onto her small frame somewhat cute, but she definitely looked pissed. Her eyes could barely be seen underneath her bandanna, which had slid forward against her nose. Her lips were drawn back in a ghastly snarl, and a tearing growl rasped from her throat. She lowered neck and head, tail thrashing. She took a threatening step forward, daring the other female to do the same. Then she would have the incentive she needed to go ahead and get around to tearing her apart. [/html]
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Under normal circumstances Adelaida would not have been so amused by the coyote’s threats, but the circumstances were not normal. Just what had gotten into Adelaida, she couldn’t explain herself, try as she might, but the angrier the female before her got, the more energized and excited Adelaida seemed to get. Despite the fact that this type of reaction was exactly what she was trying to pull from the stranger, she did not move forward. Adelaida was never one to throw the first punch, even when she was instigating the hostilities. Instead she simply stood her ground, blazing blue eyes meeting and matching those of the coyote, barely visible beneath the cloth that circled her head. Holding her head up, far too proud for one who was on another’s land, she let loose a little laugh, a very patronizing laugh.
"You? Chase me out? Come now, short-stuff, do you think that’s really going to work?" There was no doubt that the coyote looked vicious, Adelaida didn’t think it was cute at all. So much aggression packed into such a tiny creature, it was somewhat unbelievable something so small could become so riled, but Adelaida didn’t mind. Her anger had been building for almost two months now, ever since returning home, only to find home was not how she had left it. And standing before her was a symbol of all who had intruded into her home. Worse of all was the sheer amount of coyotes that had cropped up, this being one of them. Coyotes or shifters? It was hard to know which was worse, but seeing as she had a coyote before, Adelaida could trick herself into thinking that they certainly were the greater evil. "I don’t want to leave yet. I might not ever want to leave, you and your companion should just go join the coyote clan, it’s already set up for your lousy species. Full of rapists, murders, and madmen... I’m sure you’d fit right in."
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[html] I thought about this realistically, and thought this was what Niki would do in this situation. Just PM me if you want me to change anything, of course!
Honestly, Nikita had given up a long time feeling bad about her size. She was small, sure, but she realized that that didn’t really matter much in the grand scheme of things. She could still stand her ground — if size and strength was really a factor, she would have been dead long ago. Since her earlier, more violent days, she had learned to really keep her temper restrained. Much of that training had come from being with Laurel. Now, however, something deeper was fraying her concentration. Perhaps it was the core instinct that trespassers in claimed land should leave or else, or the fact that most of this was merely because she was a coyote. During the wolf’s final speech, her jaws snapped together in a fierce grimace. It was definitely the final straw. “I’m sure I would!” she snarled, the words meshing together to where they were hardly distinguishable in the fierce sound.
It was common sense that smaller opponents were quicker — it was perhaps their sole redeeming quality in fights and conflicts. Over the months, Nikita had made sure she had improved her faster qualities to a point where she was confident heading into fights with larger opponents. She rushed forward quickly, slipping to the wolf’s side. Once she was at her shoulder, she lashed her closer foreleg in the general direction of the wolf’s face — intending this roughly as a ruse — while using her hind legs to power her towards the wolf’s shoulders. She lunged her narrow head toward that spot, jaws snapping. [/html]
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Nah, I figured that’s where this thread would lead, what with silly Adey being such an ass. I just don’t want any major wounds on her. She really isn’t usually this self destructive.
The attack wasn’t much of a surprised, and maybe that was what Adelaida had been aiming at all along. At the time Adelaida had herself convinced that was not what she had intended when the coyote sprung at her, but later, thinking back, she would be ashamed of herself. Why put herself, and a stranger who had done nothing, in that position? Why provoke the coyote to the point of attacking, when she could have just as easily slipped away? Adelaida couldn’t reason that she was trying to vent her frustration at all the changes she had still not grown use to. She also wouldn’t be able to admit that perhaps she was trying to create a concrete reason to loathe and fear coyotes. And yet, both of these were true, even if she couldn’t or wouldn’t realize it.
The coyote was quicker than she had anticipated, and though the larger female attempted to dodge the blow, the lashing paw in her face and the swiftness of the attack got the better of her. When she felt the fangs sinking into her shoulder, instead of pulling away she focused all her weight towards the female, in hopes of throwing her off and springing away. "You stupid bitch..." The words came out more as a shriek of hurt and rage, although Adelaida couldn’t be sure that the wound was unwelcome. Now she could physically feel the emotional anguish she had been carrying around with her, now she would have something to show for why she hated the coyotes. See what they did to me? See how horrible they really are? Adelaida wasn’t even sure if she wanted to fight back, knock the coyote off her feet maybe or endure a few more blows, but her teeth hadn’t drew blood from another canine before and they wouldn’t today.
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[html] Of course; I won’t give her any wounds that you don’t allow me to!
The somewhat-familiar rush of dark satisfaction flooded through her once her attack seemed to work out alright. The wolf seemed dazed from the suddenness of the attack, allowing her darting head to reach the shoulder. She felt her teeth penetrate through fur, skin, though not going any deeper than that. Blood rushed up to meet her, but not enough to say that she had hit anything meaningful or long-lasting — no cut muscles, chipped bones, slashed arteries. Not to say that that was what Nikita was aiming for — she was half-way in the middle of a thought to go for a more vital area when the wolf shifted weight suddenly. Instead of going with the attack, which might have ended up in more fierce wounds inflicted by the coyote, she leaned towards her. Clever… Nikita thought to herself, her violent train of thought broken.
Something snapped inside of her, and immediately began to fight against the desire to inflict harm. This was not what a new pack needed — the reputation of savaging anyone who wandered in, even if they did bad-mouth the leaders. Though every muscle in her body wanted to go once more for another attack, her mind shut each and every one down. Rigidness seeped from her muscles and, a moment from the wolf perhaps collapsing on top of her from this, she pushed herself away from the wolf with her front legs. Her eyes were narrowed, though more in fierce concentration than anger. She was fighting to keep herself from fighting.
She ignored the words, the body language, everything. She restricted her thoughts to include only herself. “Leave,” she growled lowly, opening that restriction for a moment. “Leave. Now.” This time, it was a warning, but also had the tiniest shred of a plea. She did not want to fight the wolf any more, but, if she didn’t leave, it would be more of a leader protecting a land than a coyote attacking a bad-mouthing wolf. [/html]
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Suddenly they were broken apart, and it had happened so fast Adelaida paused to reflect. The wolf had been expecting more fury from the coyote, and yet the small creature stood before her, struggling for inward control. Part of Adelaida was disappointed, part of her was intrigued. She stood there with her shoulder bleeding, having anger the female to attack in the first place, and now they were just standing, staring at one another. It must have taken a lot from the coyote to willfully just snap off her momentum like that. Perhaps it was for the better, because despite her size and clever mind in these manners, Adelaida was not an experience fighter. Her trick of shifting weight may have kept her from a serious wound once, but it wouldn’t have worked twice, and although Adelaida welcomed such a response from the coyote, she did want to be able to walk away from this.
Her voice was still angry, it came out in a snarl, and yet as the masked female’s ears perked forward, she could hear a tinge of something else. Had it not been for that note, her mood would not have broken. Yet she heard it and it struck far deeper than her hatred of the coyotes. Adelaida was empathetic, and she did not usually go out of her way to cause stress and harm to others, so why was she here? Suddenly she had no answer. Blue eyes bored into the coyote, looking her over again, but Adelaida couldn’t bring herself to speak. No apology, no sarcasm, nothing would come out. She couldn’t put past the fact that the other was a coyote, but she couldn’t get the female’s words out of her head, and the longer she stood the more amplified that one note got into her head until she couldn’t stand to listen to the inner monolog any longer. With no word and no indication of why, she took a few steps backwards, keeping her eyes on the female, and then turned and left.
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[html] She waited, staring impassively, as her control started to get greater and her fury started to ebb away. It seemed like an eternity, but things were at least getting easier bit by bit for her. Finally, the wolf just stepped away and left. Nikita’s olive eyes were on her until she knew that she was leaving the territory — she couldn’t think of any reason why the wolf would deceive her, just to run around on land that really wasn’t that amazingly interesting (in comparison with the rest of the lands) anyway. Once she had lost sight of the wolf, she sighed. Tension released from her body, making it almost physically snap like a bowstring. She lowered herself to the ground, placing a forepaw over her muzzle. She ground her teeth and wrenched her eyes shut — her dark army green bandanna fell over them, putting her in the darkness for a bit.
While she could have been furious at the wolf for being so indignant on their claimed lands, she felt more angry with herself for losing it like that. She hadn’t snapped in so long, she had thought she had gotten over it. Working over the anger and disappointment she felt within her, she eventually allowed her body to start to morph. Muscles grew and retracted, sliding and meshing with bones that snapped and crackled to give way for an entirely different skeletal structure. Nerves realigned, making the process uncomfortable but not as painful as it once had been. Moments later, she was sitting on the ground, readjusting her bandanna so that it wasn’t covering her eyes. After that, Nikita sat there for a moment, regaining her grip on things. When she felt healthy enough to go on, she stood, heaved a shuddering sigh, and walked back to camp. Along the way, she wiped the blood from her narrow mouth with the back of her hand. [/html]
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