[html] The city sprawled out before them like a monolith, almost endless if it hadn't been for the smell of salt carried on the west wind. It had been a while since Laurel had seen a city, though it wasn't necessarily the first one he had ever seen. They were always so foreign looking, like earth-affixed things from another planet. Build entirely by another species, now left to litter and waste the face of the world. His olive eyes scanned the tarnished metal frames as he meandered, no real direction to his actions. It wasn't so bad to be following whims anyway and frankly, it had been a long time since he had even come across Halifax. It should have been familiar. It smelt familiar, but it didn't look it any more. He cast a glance back to Nikita for a moment, picking the conversation back up after the silence that had fallen between them. “It's something, innit? Bigger and uglier than the squat little things we passed on the way in.” [/html]
[html] Nikita had seen plenty of impressive cities — none of which she had any particularly fond memories of. She had seen places where lycanthropes had taken over and molded them to their own use, and they had only grown to be hives of foul deeds. She forced her face to be impassive as they faced it, though she couldn’t help some amazement seep into her green gaze. The size and architecture of it all was still hard to fully realize. She stopped walking when she reached his side — her near-six-foot frame looking rather diminutive next to his seven-foot-something height. “You’ve got that right,” she muttered, her olive gaze resting heavily on the crumbling steel and concrete. “Let’s get around to whatever we came here for,” she hurried, feeling antsy around the sprawling place. Besides, she was pretty eager to see what lie in wait in their future. This place certainly seemed promising… as long as they stayed a bit away from this ruin of a city, that was. [/html]
[html] The dark male dragged himself away from his little love, sighing through his huge yawn as he untangled himself from Jasper's limbs. He left the boy sleeping that morning, curled up and looking in the big lug's eyes nothing short of breathtaking. He smiled to himself as he brushed his dark hair from his face, feeling the curls tug the edges of his ears. Today he wanted to go find something nice and big for Jasper, something worthy of his impressive stew. Laurent still wasn't worth two cents when it came to cooking, but catching things, that he was good at. He crossed the pavement, intent on picking up some supplies first when he spotted a pair of figures up ahead. He squinted his eyes, the blue eyes little more than slits from the distance. "Who's out there?" he called out gently, voice probing the area in front of him. [/html]
[html] In a world where coyotes were still often frowned upon in some places, Laurel couldn't help but brush off Nikita's words about hurrying things up. Meandering, at least in his mind, made them seem as harmless as they were. But at the same time, it still didn't mean that someone would call out to them. In this case, someone did and Laurel regarded the dark figure passively. That voice sounded familiar, however distantly it was. “Couple of travellers?” he answered meekly. Maybe they weren't supposed to be out wandering in broad daylight for fear that a gigantic turkey vulture would fly down and attack them. And then eat them later. [/html]
[html] She couldn’t help but smile a hint as Laurel shrugged her words off — he was one of the handful of others in the world that could deal with everything that she might have happened to have said. When it came to Nikki, there was a very short synapse between her thoughts and her mouth. She was about to say something else when a call made her ear prick. Clapping her mouth shut, she diverted her olive eyes around her bandana to see who was calling out. She had no recollection of the voice at all, but she carefully interpreted a spark that traveled through Laurel’s eyes. Pressing her lips into a neutral frown, she crossed her arms and angled her body slightly towards the stranger. She didn’t really have much to say; Laurel had taken care of that for them. She just stood there and looked… as intimidating as a diminutive coyote lycanthrope with a knife could look. [/html]
[html] Unfortunately for Laurent, there was very little if anything in the world that would intimidate him. He approached at a rather casual pace, attempting to work over his memory to discover just why that voice was so familiar to him! At last he was close enough that he could clearly see the two figures, one male and one female, the male at least he had met some time ago. Grinning almost sheepishly he ran his hand through his hair,brushing it out of his eyes. "Laurel?" He asked gently, hoping that he hadn't missed the mark completely. He'd been lucky enough when it came to Jasper, hopefully this would be different. [/html]
*posts one fail post after another* :|
[html] “Ayuh,” he slurred with a nod, daring to crack a very faint smile. “You haven't changed a lick from how I remembered you last, Laurie.” Since Laurent's shot in the dark had hit its mark, Laurel figured he could do the same thing. He didn't know too many others who possessed such an electricifyingly pair of blue eyes. He balled his hands in his pockets for a second more, finding his voice once again. “Long time no see, looks like we said we'd met up where we planned from way back, huh? How've you been?” This time however, he was far from alone in his wanderings. “This is Nikita,” and so he gestured to the short-statured girl at his side. [/html]
[html] Her green eyes widened considerably when the stranger seemed to pluck her companion’s name clear from the air and present it to them. Clenching her jaw as to prevent it from dropping over, her green eyes searched to the coyote beside her as he replied amiably to the one who had called them. She felt out of the loop, of course, but that wasn’t anything new. When Laurel had been wandering around, making friends, Nikita had probably been doing the same, except making enemies. That was a story for another day, however. Her green eyes flickered suspiciously between Laurel and Laurie (oh, God, she could sense a headache coming from that) as the former mentioned that they were meeting as they had planned. She innocently raised an eyebrow, but kept her trap shut. Laurel was kind enough to introduce her, however, and she allowed a small smile to flicker into existence. “Nice t’meet you, Laurie,” she said, her voice low and yet decently soft. She kept her arms firmly crossed, however. Nikita wasn’t exactly the type to unwind very easily when meeting strangers. [/html]
[html] A true grin appeared seconds after the two males made that connection. His eyes did sweep the female's figure as a name was given to her - Nikita sounded exotic! Although, how many 'Laurent's were running down the street on the average day? He smiled at her gently, nodding his head as she spoke to him "Pleasure's mine!" He said, perhaps being overly eager, but oh well, it was just his personality. Bright and chipper, the male remembered saying he was headed up past halifax in search of Fatin. "Oh yeah! Well....I did find my sister, Fatin, but she dropped her pack here to try and track one of our brother's down. There was a huge fire up north, where I was headed, so I stuck around here with my boyfriend." This information was given freely, and as soon as he said it, he seemed to get embarrassed. Gazing at Laurel, he coughed lightly. "I don't think I mentioned him the last time we met - I don't even remember when I met him! But....uh. Yeah. I guess I found myself someone to settle down with..." His gaze drifted across Nikita again, wondering if they had settled down together. "Have you guys been traveling together long?" [/html]
*insert lazy*
[html]His brow quirked briefly at the mention of a ‘boyfriend’ but Laurel didn't think anything of it. It was something new, but not in orientation-sense. “That's nice to know, I was always wondering when you'd find someone. But, ah, we've been travelling for about a year. Sometimes with groups, sometimes alone,” and that was all there really was to what he had been doing. “I've been thinking about setting up camp off to the west of this place, came into the city to see what supplies were hanging around for pickings.” At least, that was kind of what he was coming up with now instead of wandering around. “You live around here?”[/html]
[html] She smiled pleasantly at him, thinking that it was nice enough to find someone amiable enough to go through the trouble of pleasantries every now and then. She settled into her stony silence — though not uncomfortably — as Laurent went on to explain some things. There were names and such floating around; nothing of much importance, though Nikita thought it interesting that there had been a fire up north. Laurie said that he had remained around here because of his boyfriend; something that really didn’t faze Nikita much. She extended her good graces to him after Laurel, and settled back to listen. She didn’t bother trying to ask her new acquaintance’s question because, usually, she let Laurel do most of the question-answering. She simply nodded when he provided the answer. She was glad, however, when he explained in shorter details why they were there. She knew, of course, but so many times their staying in one place simply morphed into them setting out again. She shifted her gaze, hooded by her bandana, to Laurie when her traveling companion asked a question, but that was pretty much all she did. She was boring in large groups. [/html]
[html] So, he had unleashed his biggest new without so much of a hitch. Good. He only managed to grin sheepishly at Laurel, his blue eyes full of mirth and that typical playful light - Laurent wasnt the best at staying serious, it seemed a trait that was deep set into his blood. "Aye, up a ways in the college nearby. The boy lives with me, and his dad runs amuck around the city on occasion. There's a good number of packs dreaming themselves powerful and strong, but none of them strike my fancy. I guess I'm just stuck on the family life, like my birth tribe." he said with a gentle shrug of his shoulders. "And there is some mess with the local coyotes - some war they're waging with one of the packs. That's about the most interesting thing going on at the moment around here." [/html]
Morgan Freeman narrated the first half of this post in my head, don't ask me why or how. XD
[html] Parents that ran amuck throughout the city, the streets, and the fields outside of the town; Laurel was oddly enough, familiar with that too. As it were, there were always a good number of packs just about anywhere they had gone thus so far, man had died and the canines and every other species on the planet probably had populated like mad. The notion of other coyotes caught his interest, but the talk of war turned him away just as quickly. “At least there's some action somewhere, probably enough to equal out the quiet in the world.” Smiling thinly, he pressed on. “But if you n' the boy don't got anywhere to go, you could always tag along with us. There's probably enough folks to shake out of the trees to run some sort of ruckus troupe around.” [/html]
[html] My posts are getting more scatter-brained as I go along. >_<;
It sounded to her like this place was just beginning to become really populated. New packs, a great amount of loners settling down at odds and ends places, and war — all tell-tale signs of new settlement. She found a bit of humor in the fact that the local coyote band was one of the ones waging war; mostly because it was one of the more obvious stereotypes that could have been plucked out of nowhere. She had to respect Laurent, however, for picking family over simply joining a pack. She had been the exact opposite in her youth, of course (she had left her family before she should have), but sometimes she wondered what she might have missed. Laurel’s idea, however, of them joining up with himself and Nikita was one that made her pensive. The thought of a band like they had had prior was a nice one. So Nik, saying more with her silence than she probably could with words, shifted her gaze back to Laurent for his reply. If he said yes, well, this might be the start of a new chapter in all their lives. [/html]
[html] The idea of combining their efforts at survival intrigued him greatly. A small smile began to quickly grow, catching like a wildfire until the brilliance of the idea even touched his eyes. "And under what banner would we thrive Larr'?" For whatever reason, he wanted to test what he imagined his nickname could sound like if he said it how he wanted to. Grinning still he flicked a few dark curls from his face and looked at Nikita "I only have a few skills, basic stuff. My size makes it hard for me to do much with finesse....still want us?" He said, flashing his eyes back to Laurel. "I figure Jasper will stick with me, maybe even his dad would pitch in with us. But there are plenty around here that would most likely want a decent place to stay." [/html]
[html] Chuckling at his new nickname, Laurel shrugged. “Of course. Even if you end up just being a clumsy oaf, at least you'll provide entertainment.” And if push came to shove, teasing always seemed to work out. “Maybe it'll be a little bit like the old days, good food, good drinks, good music… little bit of everything. This place we scouted out back has a nice little lake and everything, good ground to pitch a few tents on.” Whatever else it had, well, he hadn't the chance to explore every nook and cranny possible. [/html]
[html] She grinned openly when enthusiasm over the idea spread over her new acquaintance’s face. Thinking about it now, she was pretty fired up about it as well. The life of a traveler, while it had its perks and romanticisms, wasn’t really all it was cracked up to be. A sedentary existence where you didn’t have to worry about finding something to keep the rain off your shoulders was a pretty nice thought. “Of course,” Nikita replied to Laurent’s question, a half-second away from when Laurel replied with the same expression. She laughed quietly, allowing her companion to speak for her. She indeed remembered the little spot of land they had crossed, and it had seemed pretty idyllic. With the lake and everything. Though she decided not to really add to the conversation, her olive eyes were alight with this new prospect. [/html]
[html] Things seemed, for the most part settled. He couldn't help but keep smiling, everything seemed to be picking up for his little family. "You know...I should go find Jasper, see what he thinks about all this!" He shuffled his feet slightly, looking down before he return his gaze to the two of them. 'How about we meet up later? We live at the college, if you want to meet us there later......we could probably show you around the city some then too." With plans made, he left the duo to return to his love's side, giddy and full of excitement. [/html]
[html] “Yeah, that might be a good idea to include him on this stuff too,” Laurel mentioned with a laugh, peering to Nikita then. She had been quiet, like always, but hadn't really had much of a say one way or another. But ah, there was later to deal with that, he didn't think that she was bothered one way or another or she probably would have made it clear. “I guess we'll see you later then.” And with that, Laurent had strode off, leaving the pair to their devices. Turning to Nikita, he grinned. “Shall we?” [/html]
[html] She nodded as Laurent proposed to go and find Jasper — his boyfriend, presumably — and then rushed off. With the good nature of the ideas they had pushed around still lingering in her mind, the thought of having to go in the city didn’t really bother her anymore. “Yeah, see you,” she bid just before Laurent had turned, and then switched her gaze to Laurel. She was smiling, and relaxed enough to uncross her arms and place her hands on her hips. “We shall,” she replied with a grin. She picked up the worn handle on her specially-made cello case and set off to follow Laurel wherever he happened to go now. [/html]
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