[html] | http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_fall.jpg); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:240px; padding-left:15px; padding-right:15px; padding-bottom:10px;"> Halcyon Mountain.
Clipped, short steps brought the silver canine to the base of the mountain. It had been five weeks since she'd encountered Haku, and though she was still not completely healed on that pesky neck wound, she was no longer in pain. It showed; her body moved anxiously, almost desperately. For some time she'd been keeping to the coyote's territory, staying close to home. It felt like fearful behavior, though when she did take off from Inferni she had headed toward the mountain instead of the forest. It was still too soon to wander that way, not with Dahlian borders stretching so close to the city. That was a place to avoid—in the heat of the moment she might not have been apprehensive, but there was some lurking cold in her heart, the tiniest ball of terror that had seated itself in the silver hybrid's chest. The ashen coyote had danced too close to death this time, and she had plenty to lose now. It wasn't like when she was young and alone, the only one of her kind with no one to care about but herself.
Though Kaena disliked traveling in her two-legged form, though lately she had been resigned to it, since walking on two legs disguised and relieved the limp in her foreleg. She had not shifted in several days now, and she hoped by the time she walked on four paws again there would be no limp. Even so, the Veritas was older now, and her body was more likely to suffer permanent damage, even from a slighter wounds. Still, the coyote did not feel it. She was a Luperci—they tended to live longer than their Nonnisi counterparts by several years, and Kaena knew in her bones if she cared for herself she might survive the better half of another decade. Maybe. The grizzled coyote stepped lightly, tilting her head back into the breeze. There was nothing interesting to be read on the wind or heard in the air, so she put her head down and carried on. It was only late afternoon, and the hybrid woman was quite pleased with the overcast day. It was a drastic change from the storms, and one she rather appreciated.
The coyote woman paused on a rocky bluff, stalking to its edge and peering down into the forest, her single searing eye surveying the territory surrounding her. It was a quaint, enjoyable view; the slope before her was steep enough to provide her with a distant view of the waste, yet not so dangerously sharp an incline that it was dizzying to perch upon. The silver canid sighed heavily, breathing in the sweltering August air into her lungs. It was biting and heavy, and she could feel the humidity in the air dampening her coat slightly. She settled to her haunches, her ashen tail wrapping around her hips and settling beside her thigh. Her mind drifted, and she contemplated Inferni. It had been easy to return, and Gabriel had accepted her, crawling and piteous, back into the clan's arms. The warm gray canine had grown accustomed to the beat easily, that endless circle around the territory, the weight of the clan pulling at her shoulders. It was a welcome return on both accounts, it seemed, for Kaena felt more mentally settled than she had in a long time. Perhaps with age, she would not decline into dementia but arise from it? One could never tell.
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A large paw came down into the ground in front of him and Adonis dug up a handful of dirt angrily, tossing it aside a moment later. He had left Avarice back at their little den and once again was out and about searching for food. He had travelled from the coast up to the Phoenix Valley's pack borders, encountered a fiesty and grumpy female, and then continued through endless greenery and an overly damp forest to where he found the mountains. What sort of wildlife would he find all the way out here? Flicking an ear backwards Adonis had started his ascention up the mountainside. Standing once more with a grumble, he swatted a branch from his view the brute continued his push through the greenery. Mumbling irritations to himself Adonis grasped a tree branch and ripped it from its trunk. A growl erupted forth as he cursed the bloody forestry and vegetation. The shores were much clearer and cooler, up here it was humid and sticky. Tossing thick tresses of hair back over his shoulder Adonis' footing slipped momentarily and he went down on one knee with a growl.
Snorting with outright frustration he wandered all the way to the top and sniffed about in search of these mountain goats that would provide a nice meal for the evening. A scent was caught, but it was not that of a wild animal, but rather a luperci like himself. Remembering how the last individual he had run into acted like he wasn't about to put up with any more bullshit so he decided to take a peek then move on. Striding easily towards the female he paused just behind the brush to her left side. Ruby visionaries peered forwards to notice the missing eye, well now that was strange. Grunting Adonis pushed himself up to his full height once more and with a flick of his tail padded out of the brush. "This is a strange place for you to relax." He commented rather off-handedly.
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[html] | http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_fall.jpg); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:240px; padding-left:15px; padding-right:15px; padding-bottom:10px;"> The coyote woman remained for long minutes, her thoughts drifting about. It had almost been a blessing that she had not had to face the rest of her youngest batch of children again. She would never see Andrezej again, that was certain. Rachias had come and gone, leaving Kaena with the knowledge that she had more grandchildren, but nothing else. Arkham was gone, and Kaena had no knowledge of him. Would she even recognize him if she saw him? It had been nigh two years now since she'd seen him last, and he was all grown up now, an adult, far beyond needing his mother. That was a depressing thought; though she was his mother, there was little connection between them. What would drive him to return to her, then?
The coyote woman was lost in her thoughts, so lost she did not detect the approach of another. There was quiet all around, and suddenly, off to her left, a black shadow rose steadily from the bushes, gleaming crimson eyes regarding her. The hybrid's head immediately jerked to the side, her single, searing eye focusing on that scarred face. The coyote's jaw dropped, and for a long moment she could not speak. Instead, she scrambled backwards and away from the wolf, scooting along on her butt and propelling herself away from him with her arms. Her fire-gold eye was wide open, her scarred muzzle working up and down in wordless gasps. It was a ghost, it was a demon, it was Zulifer—dead six years now, and come back to haunt her. His voice rang out, and it was decidedly not Zulifer's voice.
The silver canine halted, her hackles settling as her eyes focused on his face. There were scars there, and now that she knew it was not Zulifer standing in front of her, she noticed the subtle differences, though the memory of the Yfel man was fading fast and she could no longer recall exactly where each scar had been. Her breath still came quickly and heavily, evidence of the fright that had just filled her head. It took a hell of a lot to scare the Lykoi coyote like that—and seeing the image of her long-dead lover rising out of the brush for her was more than enough to strike terror into her heart. For a long moment, she simply stared at him, as if trying to ascertain if he was real or not. His words had not even registered in her head; her mind had simply failed to process them.
After a minute of silence, the hybrid seemed to settle, her scarred face growing relatively calm. She brushed the confusion away, shaking it out of her skull, her eye roving over him differently now, regarding him with interest now. "I thought you were someone else," she said gruffly, knowing she would have to explain herself, glad this was someone unfamiliar to her. There was nothing to apologize for—she hadn't attacked him or screamed at him, just shrank away in fear. What else was there to do when you thought you were looking at a ghost?
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Pushing the brush back behind him Adonis grunted as he looked up to see the coyote female stumbling back and away. A brow quirked in question as he strode forwards and halted again, frowning slightly with frustration as the female gasped silent words and continued to stare him in what seemed to be fear? Then she shook herself from it, clearing outlining her reasoning behind such strange actions. Opening a large paw he plucked a few of the blueberries he had found from the palm of his hand, popping them in his mouth. " There is no one else like me," Deep vocals purred and he chuckled deeply while casting a devilish grin towards Kaena. Ruby visionaries scanned the coyote over again; he was interested to know what had caused all these scars to riddle her face. This female did not seem physically the type to engage in any form of violence, especially a fight. The missing eye was interesting as well, he had yet to meet someone other than this female whom was missing such a vital organ. " But do tell me about this look-alike." He inquired a moment later then gave the female another look over. " And how it is you came to loose such an important item." The male inquired, motioning to her missing eye.
While awaiting her response Adonis decided to take it upon himself to take a seat. Finding a large boulder buldging from the ground he easily settled himself upon it, casting his attention once more to the female. Was she going to get up off the ground? Perhaps dust herself off? Mentally grunting to himself he made note of the other female he had encountered. Were all the females in this land such, bitches? Avarice was a good girl, she did as she was told and obeyed directions quite well. Visionaries drifted off over the cliff a moment later and a small smirk of approval tugged at the corners of his mouth while he momentarily thought about the firey-hued female back home.
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[html] The ghost was gone, replaced by a stranger. Still, the resemblance was unsettling, and the coyote could not shake her golden eye from him. There were fewer scars on his face than her own, but he likely outweighed her by upwards of fifty pounds, and with her existing, still-healing injury the coyote was in no shape to be testing out her strength, and she would have to play nicely, for now. Still, her searing sun-gold eye sized him up, tiny mental notes flaring into her consciousness and disappearing as she filed them away. These were tiny, imperceptible thoughts beneath her conscious, a simple mechanical process in the predator brain of the Veritas. The silver canine straightened her posture, resuming the serene pose she had held before the interruption.
Mismatched sable ears flicked forward as his words, and she scoffed. "No, not anymore." There was concealed interest across her face as she watched him eat the fruit of a bush; the coyote woman had not known they were good to eat. That was an interesting tidbit to learn. She was familiar with the practice of eating fruit, but since she had no knowledge of plants herself, the ashen canine believed she was far more likely to poison herself rather than fill her belly. His next words brought immediate soreness into the Lykoi woman, apparent for just a moment in her features. "He is dead, and that's all you need to know about him," she snapped, bitterness evident in the hybrid woman's face. Zulifer had died perhaps two years or more before this one was even whelped from his mother. He was long gone, simple fragments of memory in her head alone. The hybrid woman did not think there was a single soul left who would remember him otherwise, not since Salvaged had perished by her own fangs. Kerberos, the only living remnant of his flesh, had never even been afforded the chance to meet his father, thanks to the devil Salvaged who'd stolen Zulifer just days before Kaena had given birth to them.
His second question brought her own smile, though it was really more of a sneer, marred and disfigured by the raw tissue criss-crossing the hybrid's face. She tilted that blind side of her head to him, flashing the dead and rotted old tissue of her toward him for just a moment before that fire-gold eye returned to the sable wolf. "Oh, some spunky brat of a wolf stole it from me some years ago," the hybrid canine stated, her words simple but rather caustic, the word wolf spat as though it was a curse. She still remembered his name, and she wondered if she'd outlived him by now. Surely they were around the same age when they'd met, and there were few who matched the Lykoi matron in longevity. There was little doubt in the coyote woman's mind that the other canine was long dead, buried beneath the dirt. And here she still walked the earth—one-eyed and mad, but alive. There was a fair bit of satisfaction in that simple comfort alone.
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Resettling a moment later by shuffling his rear upon the rock the charcoal brute turned his attention towards Kaena again with mild interest. Yawning slightly he leaned back upon large paws and listened, and watched through half-closed eyes. As she mentioned 'him' and that Adonis had no need in prying his interest perked slightly. Sitting upright he looked upon the female with greater interest now. Did he remind her of a past lover? Or perhaps mate? Maybe even one who had walked away from her.. Grinning deviantly Adonis disregarded her comment about the brat whom stole her eye. Slipping from the rock anxiously Adonis padded over to the female, crouching in front of her with a sneer-like grin. "But I would love to hear about him.." The male purred and observed the missing eye once more with an upclose and personal view. He chuckled lightly and tilted his own head up as if expecting her to do the same.
"Perhaps it was not a brat who stole your eye, Hoss." Adonis paused and chuckled as he pivoted on his large hand and toes to seat himself next to her. Grinning he leaned closer till their guardhairs were bristling against one another. "In fact I'm sure it was no youth who stole that eyeball of your's, otherwise you wouldn't be as marred and single-eyed as you are." Picking soil from beneath a talon Adonis flicked it from himself and the female and the corners of his lips turned upright in an engaging grin. "Plus you don't look like the frail, brittle little female either, Hoss." He crooned and plucked a pice of grass from beside his leg, snapping it in half and observing the fluids within it. "No youth would be able to snatch your eye either, such a task could only be managed by one your size or larger." The male paused again, "Perhaps it was him that stole your eye?"
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The hybrid woman did not know what to make of this wolf. She was not afraid of him, but certainly, she had reason to be wary. The scars on his face told stories of war and violence, just as certainly as her own did. Even so, if she were not already injured, this would hardly have bothered her. Kaena did not often give pause to think things through; she was a reactionary, volatile creature. In her age, she had grown more logical, but that did not make her immune to the emotions she had been governed by the first nine years of her life, not by a long shot. She could barely contain the snarl that writhed across her features as he pressed at Zulifer's memory, but she said nothing, fearing her voice would devolve into a meaningless growl.
The coyote did not so much as flinch as he crept forward, close enough to reach out and touch. Her face had frozen, that wrinkled half-snarl still showing across her features, though her sable ears swept forward to listen to his purring voice. His words and the sound of his voice were almost soothing, something like a compliment flowing from his mouth. The coyote sized him up again, her single golden eye flowing over his body and noting his strength and size. She could not engage him and hope to win beyond blind luck. She knew that, and though every fiber of her being itched for her to raise her paw and smack him across the face, claws splayed open to add a few more marks to his pretty face, she could not.
The silver coyote did not think she would encounter violence from his end; he seemed more simply curious than anything else. She could deal with that, so long as she derailed his train of thought. Speaking of Zulifer was still painful; in truth, his saga had not ended until only recently for the coyote, the night she'd finally defeated Salvaged Eternity and tore his heart out. She could still recall the hard muscular tissue between her teeth, blood oozing from its center as she ground her jaws down on it. "He would never have hurt me," she said crossly, knowing it to be the truth. As much of a monster as he'd been, Zulifer had never uttered a cruel word to the hybrid canine. Perhaps it was his death which had kept him so immortal and perfect in their mind; they had not had the time to deteriorate as all relationships eventually seemed to.
Kaena could only shake her head, thinking back to the wolf who'd taken her eye. He hadn't been much of a wolf, at that—maybe an alpha somewhere, but that had never mattered to Kaena, not after she'd abandoned the wolf life. "I was young once, too," the coyote stated, rather simply—she had not always had the experience, the memories, the pain. It had come from somewhere. Once, she had been young and reckless, and stupid, too. "I've been one-eyed most of my long life," she said, defending the old wound. She had not had the pleasure of using both of her eyes for more than a year of her life.
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Lowering his head just so that his attention could be eye-level to the female Adonis grinned as she scowled. Her frustration with him only furthered his interest as to why she refused to speak upon the male. Cocking his head ever so slightly and craning his back in a curious manner Adonis plucked a piece of grass from the female's fur on her leg. " Hm.." Deep vocals purred and he flicked the grass from his claws. " Would never have hurt you.. meaning he's, deceased." Long, pointed bat-like ears rolled forwards in interest and the male grinned with a volatile sneer. As she shook her head Adonis raised a brow, observing and trying to discern her movements. His semi-confused and interested expression dissipated into a flirtatious smirk as he chuckled and extended a thick, long finger beneath her chin, " Oh my dearest Hoss, you are not old." The male teased and flicked his claw lightly against the underside of her chin. " I'm sure you have some life left in you." Adonis crooned then settled his paw down onto the other side of her feet. Shifting his weight onto that paw he leaned over her feet.
He wasn't interested in her story about her eye, he was much more interested in what she had to say about this male. "You seem to have a great pride in this male.. perhaps you were lovers at some point?" Adonis crooned, throwing a suggested idea out to see how the female would react. "Or perhaps he left you for another female?" The tip of his tail gently swayed and flicked against the soft ground in thought. Family was the next shot.
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Thinking of him for too long always depressed her, and this stranger's similarity to him was doing her no good. Her sable ears folded back into her silvery mane, and the anger evaporated at once, dissipating into an endless sadness that seemed to permeate the very air around her. His words had hardly registered on her ears, that quiet, small thing taking over the fiery hybrid at once. There was that rare weakness showing in her now, that hurt side of herself she attempted to hide. Most of the time it worked well for her, but there was only so much pressure that facade could withstand before it cracked, only so much more prodding before it shattered into a million tiny pieces.
"He was my first," she admitted. She did not consider any of the previous sexual encounters she'd experienced to Zulifer "love," not by a long shot. The quarter-coyote half-brother who'd raped her and stolen her virginity certainly hadn't been a lover, nor any of the silly, young boys who'd followed him—no, Kaena Lykoi had not had a lover until she encountered the raven-furred, red-eyed wolf on the outskirts of Bleeding Souls. "He died six years ago, and he haunts me still," she said, her silvery head swiveling from the ground to peer right at the red-eyed wolf before her, an almost accusing look on her face. It died as her gaze locked with his, and again her chin fell to the floor, unable to meet his eyes. He was there, waiting for her.
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The malicious grin that had plastered itself upon the male's features slowly disappeared as his large paw was drawn back from her features. Brows furrowed slightly and eyes narrowed as the mood shiftly drastically. Her original fighter's aura had been diminished down to a moody, emotional one where the female did not even wish to make prolonged eye contact with him. An ear flicked and Adonis shuffled to plop himself back onto his rear with a light grunt. Visionaries settled on the female again as she hinted at her past sexual experience with the male, then his death. Adonis had been through a variety of deaths, none of them other than his mother had ever really bothered him. He had yet to experience real love so to speak. Shuffling to sit with his legs crossed Adonis grunted and gently lapped his tail against his left thigh. " But I am not him." He commented absently then crossed his arms over broad chest with a huff. " I am someone else. I'm quite sure you can see that." The male crooned and allowed himself to fall back upon his hands comfortably, cracking his thick neck in the process with a relieved sigh. " Its been six years- I'm more than sure that's been a long enough time of grievance."
His words were cold, withholding any sort of reveal towards his own personal experience. "I'm sure if you two were so damn close then he wouldn't be pleased to see you moping around after him." Snorting with a toss of his head the seemingly anxious male pushed himself to rise then shook grass from his pelt. "You seem to be a fighter, which, I can only assume could be apart of the reason you two were 'lovers'.. Which again would mean he wouldn't be pleased to see his 'fighter' miserable and down." He was actually quite surprised at his own words of 'wisdom'. Adonis had never been one to consider himself intelligent by any means. Perhaps slightly witty, but that was as good as he saw it. Turning ruby visionaries towards the drop off of the cliff he watched it momentarily in thought. The scent of a deer far off was wafted up to his leathery nares as the canine grunted, snorting the smell outwards and turning back to face Kaena again with an expectant look on his features.
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The hybrid woman had lived a long life, and though she'd taken many lovers over its course—some hardly worth naming, others of far more magnitude, love was a fleeting thing for Kaena. In many ways, she had loved Zarah, but she had been too afraid of loving a woman then. Perhaps if she was a stronger ceature, she would have been able to commit herself permanently to the coyote. That chance had long passed along, and Zarah was dead and buried now, too. Ahren had come after Zulifer, and though they'd raised children together, Kaena had not realized what she had lost in him (or never cared to culture with him) in the first place. The ache of missed opportunity was almost as terrible as the ache of loss itself; perhaps those missed chances and passerby had been her early ticket to everlasting love and happiness.
Than again, maybe such a thing was impossible for Kaena to attain anyway. She was a rather brutal, hard-to-love creature. Outside of her family and Inferni, she had few friends. She had several encounters with wolves in the past months since her return, but really, only two had cemented their place in her heart. Naniko had practically showered the silver woman with gifts, an almost certain way straight to her good side. Jacquez had made an obvious impression, what with his wonderful lovemaking. And this wolf, if only for his haunting similarity to long-dead love. Her sharp eye met his gaze for a moment again as he spoke, soaking in the words that seemed to well from somewhere deeper in the creature. Kaena smiled, though it was a rather bitter one.
She had not thought of Zulifer in some time before this instant, not in any detail, anyway. There were occasional, fleeting thoughts that hardly registered, but she took care not to dwell on him often. "I know this." She was not a dense creature, the resemblance between the two had simply startled her. Now that she had grown used to his features and face, she could no longer discern his lookalike or him, she had not gazed on the other wolf's face in so long. "I remember him in reverence, but dwelling on the past hurts," the hybrid said, indifference creeping into her tone now. She was eager to move beyond the subject of her dead beloved and her own weaknesses.
There was a sudden grin on her face and a gleam in her eye, and she looked at his face once more, fire smoldering behind her remaining eye. "Of course. I avenged him, I tore his killer's heart out," she said. Maybe the phrase was murky enough to be taken figuratively, but Kaena had meant it quite literally. She had torn out the devil's heart and chewed it to bits, swallowing the remnants of it. Maybe she had gained his power, maybe not—ancient beliefs were hardly her style, but that phrase had echoed in her head as she'd done it, and it did again now, speaking to a stranger with a familiar face.
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