[html] Armis is a PNPC, powerplay at will 
Dated: August 11/12, after the raid returns to AniWaya
One of the Guardians, Armis, led him to where they had taken the prisoners. With hiscloak wrapped tightly around him, he stepped carefully, but quickly. Sikyatavo jumped with ease next to him as they traversed the paths, almost impatiently. The gray wolf shot the guide a quick smile, but there were nothing he could read in the Hare's body expression; no hints of whether he was satisfied, disappointed, contempuous. He merely appeared to be in a hurry, and so Maska hurried, sometimes offering sparse words to Armis, telling him to speed up. For the first time since arriving, Maska saw the outside of the AniWayan Village. The land was much the same, but they were headed towards strange buildings, the likes of which Maska had not seen before. Sure, they were not that much different from their own Town Hall, except for the deterioration. Strange scents reached his nostrils and Maska sniffed it in eagerly, looking to the old human hut eagerly.
Armis showed him to the door and remained there, his face silently asking for Maska allowing him to enter. Doing no such thing, the councilman instead halted as he was nearly inside the hut, one leg on the outside. "Wait here." he said in a low voice, before entering. And then, as he took a few steps inside, through a little doorway, the main room opened and he saw three figures sitting there. He had not known who they were until he had pressured some of the AniWayans to tell him. Sikyatavo hopped inside the room ahead of Maska and stopped in front of the one they knew to be named Anu. "Well well." the Hare snapped. Somehow, Maska knew the wolfess could hear his Guide. Something told him Sikyatavo had been waiting for this.
[/html]
[html] Her head pounded, clarity hardly reached as she had tried to study her surrounding and understand what had happened. Blood had oozed and dried on her skull, matting around her ear and making her itch. The back on her neck ached, more blood caking her ruff. The rope they used to bind her was tight and biting the thin skin of her throat and wrists. Her lupus form looked frail in the dark room, its silver sheen dulled and dirtied by her capture and mistreatment, as she tried to keep herself propped up against one of the rooms walls. Her blue eyes looked up, first at gray wolf and then lower to the beast that spoke.
Anu had waited for the wolf since she had awoken, and knew that he would come to her in time. The tribe's new leader that stood before her was different then she expected. He was tall and thin, featured almost pointed and accented the pompous way he held his shoulders. Had he thought he won? The Dreamer knew he didn't if the Utinas were still in her homelands, safe. She had accepted them into their Crimson sanctuary without question, and she was paying for her hospitality. But Anu had no regrets.
A rat speaks for you? She wondered, her naturally soft voice no different but just raw and cracked from her cries earlier in the night. Eyes met the face of the wolf, ignoring the guide that wished to converse with her. The Dreamer had always had the utmost respect for the tribe, their beliefs and their Spirit Guides. In a different situation she would have shamed herself for being so rude. But they were far beyond pleasantries. [/html]
[html] Permission to PP a little? :3
He liked to think he was able to stay calm in moments of chaos. It would appear it was the other way around; rather, it was Sikyatavo. Maska could hear many an insult aimed at his own person without even raising an eyebrow, but one did not insult a Spirit Guide. It was unheard of! The Hare hissed at the female, but said nothing. The pathetic female did not even know what she had done. Even the most placid of AniWayans would have asked for her punishment for that. He growled furiously as he moved towards her. In a flash he was right by her, his face mere hair-breadths from hers as he bared his teeth and growled, radiating fury. Sikyatavo mumbled something to him in a low tone and Maska glanced at him, retreating somewhat and calming himself with a controlled smile. "Perhaps we shall see who is the rat in time" he said, looking as if he was enjoying her lack of wits. Clearly, she did not value her life, and it would be easy to kill this one. Her life was only of any worth as long as Crimson Dreams wanted her. "You are injured." he stated slowly. Good. Perhaps the Marino woman would realize that she was in a hurry - she would need to retrieve her little stars quickly. There would be room in this cabin for more, if she did not give him what he wanted. He stared slyly at her as he waited to see what she had to say for herself.
[/html]
[html] course!!
Anu had known the risks when her friend had come to her with his simple plea. He had told her, and the scent of fear that had trailed from their bodies made the words more then simply believable. Their sincere thanks were proof to the atrocity they had left behind, and she now understood first hand the menace that had brought them to the Dreaming door step. She hadn't thought a war would be started, but she had known they would need to fight. Anu had prayed it would begin with words, she was far better in negotiations then in battle.
But she lay, weakened by her mistreatment and the fighting in the brush. Fear touched her heart, and she fought that instinctual urge to surrender to the obvious dominate creature. Though fear and pain was not all that she held.
He came at her, and Anu flinched as if he was about to hit her. But he merely breathed in her face, her eyes closed slightly as the stench filled her nose and she fought the urge to lean back. Anu was silent at the insult she expected in one form or another, her mouth in a tight frown. She was not a beast of anger, but one of understanding. Yet, as her previous words indicated her patience was nil and she was beyond trying to find a common ground. You will not have the Utinas She stated, as slow as he had spoken. He would never have what he wanted.
With her fear, her pain... Anu held pity. Anu pitied him, for she knew that Savina would come. Her alphess would come for her, and he would see that he was no longer simply against a wounded blood matted rat beneath a silver tipped pelt. [/html]
[html]
She did not comment, and he followed up, as if to explain his intent. "You are no use to me dead, precious." And how precious she were, in so many ways. He felt a surge of power in him as he looked at her. Perhaps it was the ropes she was tied with or the fact that he held all the opportunities in the world and she held none, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. He did not stop to think on why he enjoyed it. All he knew is he was utterly responsible for this one's continued survival - or death. "I will send someone to look at you." The Itawamba, the Amara insect. He was skilled in these sorts of things. Perhaps, if it impressed the councilman, he might be allowed to shift onto two legs for once.
The thought left him quickly as he observed her and listened to her defiance. Such fierceness in her. Was she dumb, naïve or both? Maska had her - why should he not get the Utinas? "Are you blind? Did you not see my warriors?" Nayati was many things, or so he had heard, but he was not a warrior. Not like these. Crimson Dreams did not stand a chance. "I ask them to fetch me something, and I will have it." It was quite easy to see that fact, unless you were blinded by stupidity.
[/html]
[html]
Anu cared little of how useful she was to the male. Though fearful and in pain she was far from despair, knowing that Savina would come for her. The black wolfess had a power inside that Anu lacked. It would shock this mock-king, and he would regret ever having his minions step over the boundaries of Crimson Dreams. It did surprise her that he would have a healer look at her, if that was what he meant by his words. She practically scoffed at him, suddenly hoping she did not look wounded by his warriors. The woman was more prideful now then she ever had been in her long life. But instead of smiling at his tone she kept her eyes away from him completely until he returned with words of the Utina's.
Blind? She turned to look at his pointed face. A growl grew inside her stomach and proceeding into her chest where it came to life as a low momentary rumble. Anu had seen many things, she had been many places and she was certain lived among far more diverse beasts then this creature. She knew his way; he saw a single straight path through a winding maze. He would rather break down the walls then take a single turn. She was far from blind, she saw through him, and what she saw sickened her and made her pity him at the same moment.
But the pity did not cross into her tone, disgust was all that penetrated. Then you are nothing but a thief. Stealing the lives of others, stealing her from her home. He was as filthy as a scavenger that stole a meal rather then exuding the effort to kill its own. [/html]
[html]
<style type="text/css">
.maritlala {padding:15px; line-height:1.3em;}
.maritlala p {font-family:geneva, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size:1em;}
.maritlala b {font-family:tahoma;}
</style>
<3?
She growled at him, and Maska smiled as he reached out to pet her. So dumb - it was not her fault that she did not understand. He was the opposite of thief - why, it was Crimson Dreams who were the thieves, as long as they refused to give him back what was his. "Tsk tsk. Does a thief take what is rightfully his, or what is someone else's? I would be wary of accusing someone of stealing in these parts of the world, Anu. I do not steal but demand what was taken from me. I demand that the thieves welcome justice. Nothing more." If all of them were as dim-witted as this one, Maska had no doubts that Crimson Dreams would never truly understand what he was talking about. Or, perhaps they did not want to understand. Perhaps they longed for AniWayans to liberate them from the stupidity of their leaders, to join their family. It was more likely, though, that they simply did not have the capacity to understand what they were doing. Sooner or later, they would have to accept it, though - when he poured his warriors into their territory to fetch the Utinas once and for all.
He smiled again at Anu. "Did you know that your salvation from the pain--" he prodded a bruise sharply. "--you are experiencing... that's me. No one will help you here, but me. Crimson Dreams can certainly not liberate you -- they do not know where you are." He took a step away from her and smiled again before glancing out a broken window. "And neither, my dear, do you."
[/html]
|
