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_____The territory that Inferni had claimed was rather interesting compared to what they had before. Whereas they had taken over Syemv's old house by the coast, they had gained a mansion here. There was still a beach, but they had caverns and a fresh water source, as well as a forest that spanned over things in general. She found a natural wonder in walking down the trails, her sharp blue eyes scanned over every branch, every animal that scurried down the path to stay ahead of her, and of course anyone she spotted through the trees.
_____There was a certain silence there, however, which troubled her. There had been a fight and two sides reared their ugly heads, but even she knew that Inferni was nothing like it had been when she had lived in it once before. They weren't crawling with coyotes as they had been when she was a child. Things had really changed. Approaching the towering mansion that rested in the south-eastern portion of the territory, she started up the worn walkway and stopped, pausing to study the unique architecture.
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 Human buildings and tools had always fascinated him, and lately he had found a pretty good excuse to come down this way often--to check on Firefly. Or really, to check on the area around her. He had no doubt Garnet would do her job when it came to keeping track of the actual hostage, but he was concerned about rescue efforts. The borders in these parts had to be combed frequently for strange scents and any that were found would automatically merit an investigation. The thick forest would help to dampen any howls that the hostage let out, and he wasn't even sure if the wolves knew about the mansion, but Anselm wasn't one to take chances when he could help it.
He had been poking around in the area when he stumbled upon a rather fresh trail headed for the mansion. It was one he had noted elsewhere around the borders very recently, mingled with Gabriel's--thus, it wasn't particularly alarming. Still, Anselm was always curious about the members of the clan, and part of him was paranoid enough to worry about a member accidentally letting Firefly escape. As such, he trotted along with his nose to the ground and his eyes focused ahead. Before very long, he spotted a petite golden female in the distance. Intrigued, he padded closer, being sure to make enough noise so that nobody could claim he was sneaking around.
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I was hoping you'd reply to this. 
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_____The mansion was definitely old and from the looks of it, had always been well kept. From the shutters affixed neatly next to the windows, to the shingles on the roof, all of it looked pretty nifty despite being faded out from the sun. Corona didn't really get too much of a chance to venture on and explore the rest of the house upon hearing footsteps coming up behind her, though. Glancing over her shoulder, she almost did a double-take at the other coming up the walkway, partially because he looked like a wolf, but she thought he was moving too casually to be just any wolf.
_____Especially when he got closer, Corona recognised Gabriel's scent, and more importantly that he was the other unknown she had noticed at the borders. Brushing her bangs out of the way, she offered him a small smile. “I was wondering when I'd get to meet you,” she said, dropping the mundane hellos and how are yous. “You must be someone special for my brother to pick to lead with.” There was only one other time when Corona could recall someone else leading Inferni alongside of just the leader, and that had been when she was a child. “I'm Corona.”
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I'd been planning on it since I saw it. XD
It quickly became apparent that this wouldn't be the typical meeting--they already had some hazy lines connecting them, and those were the sorts of things that he had learned to cling to. Truly, Inferni was the only place he'd ever felt like he belonged; he'd loved the territory before they'd even gotten there, he had family here, and he had a purpose (as jaded as it may be). For Anselm, that was about as good as it got. "Hopefully you haven't been waiting too long," he replied smoothly, knowing damn well that she hadn't for even been around for a full week.
"Anselm de le Poer," he offered. "Gabriel is a distant cousin of mine. I was in the area already when everybody came from over the mountain, so I was able to show him around and help Inferni get established. Originally his mate was leading, but she left with the kids when the war started," he explained. To him, his position was logical enough--he and Gabriel were the largest in the clan and they trained the most extensively, so it made sense that they were charged with protecting the motley crew. Even then, they failed. His eyes subconsciously moved in the direction of Firefly's shed; she was a reminder that Talitha was still missing--their biggest failure to date. |
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_____She had been wondering where Faolin had gone to, but hadn't thought to track Gabriel down and ask him, thinking that maybe she had just missed where her sister-in-law was. But now it made perfect sense; a very wise move on Gabriel's part to send his mate and children away. Talitha must have wandered back at some point, or gotten away from her mother in the confusion of it all, or so she thought. She'd get the timeline of things soon enough. “Gabe said that Dahlia de Mai took his daughter, but didn't give me a lot of details beyond that. Can you fill me in?” Corona didn't doubt that Anselm would know just as much as her brother.
_____That aside though, she was truly glad to meet another family member that she didn't know about. When it came to the Lykoi side of things, she had never pestered her mother about those things; it wasn't something that she thought she would talk about. Kerberos was gone, so it wasn't like she could rattle him for information. But the de le Poers made up the paternal side of her family, though she didn't know overly much about them outside of a few details, she had never asked Ahren about them either, given his past with his own father. But either way, family was incredibly important to her.
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"Yeah, they did," he admitted, his ears falling back slightly for a moment. He'd gone snooping around since, but he knew that if he was discovered alone the whole pack would be upon him for very long. He hadn't managed to pinpoint the girl's location, and that made it impossible to do anything. The whole situation made him rather nervous, though--he knew that he wouldn't rape or senselessly beat on Firefly, and he knew that he would keep her well fed, but could he count on those stupid wolves to do the same in return? Talitha had been gone for much longer, and the whole situation was just horrendous. "She must have wondered over there on her own when she got captured. It was awhile ago now, but when they launched an attack on us I nabbed us a hostage of our own--she's actually kept in one of the sheds around back here."
He paused for a moment, considering. "Anyway, I'm hoping we can trade them off sooner rather than later. I'd like to go talk to them diplomatically, but I have a feeling if I go anywhere near there I'll just be attacked on sight." Then, an idea--Kol. He'd made sure to avoid her during the conflict, and he felt that if anyone would hear him out it might be her. Maybe he could explain the situation to her--explain that Firefly was safe yet, being fed, etc. Kol could tell her leaders, and then maybe they could arrange for everyone to go home. "This has all gone on for long enough..."
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_____His nervous feelings were also felt by her, already fearful of the things that could have happened to a niece that she hadn't even met. Any fighting that went on went on for too long, and while she had known there to be tensions with Inferni and wolf packs in the past, she had never known it to evolve beyond little squabbles and fights. But a full blown war may as well have been the green lights for anything goes. “Do you really think they'd be diplomatic towards us?” she asked softly, letting her gaze drop a little. Her concern couldn't help but come out there, wondering if she could have come faster. Sooner. Anything to prevent what had happened.
_____Of course, if she knew Gabriel to be anything like their father, she knew that he would be out for blood in the same way she wanted to be. How low of them, to take a child and to hold her hostage. “I wish there was something more I could do, I can't imagine how Gabriel feels right now but I know that I don't feel at ease over all of this.” There were too many things that she could picture going wrong, not that she was a pessimist. Realistically, maybe the hostage they had was of no importance at all. “What do we know about the hostage we have?”
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"For the most part, no... but I do know of one girl that may talk to me," he said, although he was unsure if he was willing to elaborate further. Maybe they had met on neutral terms, before Kol had fully settled into Dahlia de Mai, and maybe they had managed to avoid direct conflict, but he wasn't certain whether or not it was some sort of fluke. He hadn't had the chance to talk to her, after all, but something about it just seemed like it might work. Kol was young, yet sensible, and he hoped that she'd understand that Inferni cared about their kids and bled the same blood as everyone else, even if nobody else understood. "Call it a gut instinct," he mumbled. "It might not be much, but if it's all I'm given to work with I'll be damned if I'm not going to take it." Who could fault him for that?
"Most of what I know of our hostage I've gotten just by looking at her," he said. "She's also pretty young, maybe about Talitha's age. I'm going to try to talk to her in a bit, maybe after she realises that we're still feeding her and not total savages. I put a lot of locks and reinforcements on the shed she's in, which I reckon may be to keep some people out as much as to keep her in." He trailed off here, figuring that Corona would catch the gist of what he was saying. If someone like Hybrid got a hold of Firefly, he might just beat her to within an inch of her life. For Anselm, that missed the point entirely.
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Hope your arm is doing better! :3
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_____She nodded, most definitely catching the gist of what he meant. There were going to be those who wanted to inflict harm to try and get whatever they could out of her. At the same time, there were those who would attempt to befriend her well enough to find things out that way. It was reasonable and even she was curious about the prisoner. “Well, whatever way we can figure out how to get word across the enemy lines is worth taking. Hopefully they'll be willing to negotiate.” If not, well, she didn't want to consider that.
_____“And hopefully the girl we have is someone important to them as well,” she went on to say. If she was important to someone there, surely they'd push for some sort of trade off. Some sort of peace offering, even. But who knew how low those wolves would stoop? “I might try and track down some family outside of Inferni and see if they know anything too, or anyone who might be able to help us.” Provided of course, they hadn't all burnt up in the fire. But surely if not family, then some old acquaintances, even.
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Good cop, bad cop. If a life he didn't care about didn't lie on the line, he might have found it to be an amusing game. It would be a twisted, demented one, but amusing none the less. It was interesting to try to crack people; it was fascinating how everyone responded differently to certain threats, promises, or hopes.
"Well, she sure threatens me a lot about what will happen to us if we do anything to her, so I guess that's a good thing," he remarked with a bit of an ironic laugh. It died out quickly, though, and he snorted, shaking his head. What a mess. An ear flicked as he considered her words, which intrigued him. Family of hers might also be family of his.
"Well, that would definitely be helpful." He paused for a moment before changing subjects. "Is there anyone I might be related to, as well? Faolin explained most of the relationships in Inferni to me, and I met Ga... well... your father once by chance, but I wasn't sure if there was anybody else in the area." It was something he was at least vaguely curious about; part of him had assumed there was nobody else, but now that she said there might be others he wasn't so sure. |
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Anselm wanted to know about family. So Corona will run him over with the gigantic family tree. XD
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_____When it came to how the whole family tree worked out, Corona and Gabriel stood at the crux of quite a union. They were just two out of six other siblings that made the bridge between the de le Poer's and the Lykoi's. But it went deeper than that because her father and mother had children both before and after them, so while their ties may not have gone back generations, they were certainly more than just skin deep. So she nodded at his words, raising her gaze towards the sky for a moment to figure it out all in her head. More importantly, Anselm had just answered a question that had been burning in the back of her head—Ahren was alive.
_____“Even though most of them aren't around, there's a lot of family that you're related to. There were six others in our litter, but only four others that are still alive—Conway, Rikka, Molochai, and Vitium. Conway lives in France and Vitium's been exiled from the clan from some time ago… I don't know what's become of Rikka and Molochai though.” It was easiest to start with their littermates. “Our father had a daughter before us, I don't remember her name, but she's only a little bit older than we are. But my mother has a son who's older than us, and that's Kerberos. But I haven't seen him since I was a child so I don't think he'll be around any time soon.”
_____And then… her once least favoured siblings. “Then, as silly as this is, my step-mother and my father had six children. Jasper is the only one who came over here from France that I know of. The others, I presume are still with our cousin Mab and her mate, Bowie. Then there's… Ahemait and her siblings, which are my mother's and then whatever the last litter was.” Corona shrugged at that point, clearly amiss for the family that had been raised in Inferni after she was gone. “I actually haven't been in Inferni in a long time.”
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Anselm did his best to keep track of the flurry of titles, some which he recognised and others that he did not. He was surprised to learn that there was a second exile--Faolin had told him about Andre awhile ago, but Vitium was a new one. Since he hadn't heard anything about it, he decided that Vitium was less of a threat. Maybe he'd moved on somewhere else? "France" meant little to him, other than that it was "very far away," so maybe the odds of him running into Conway were about as good as his chances of meeting Vitium. Rikka he didn't recognise, but the other name she mentioned he did. "Molochai returned without your mother shortly after Inferni reformed here," he offered, figuring she might be curious about her brother. "Unfortunately, he didn't stick around very long... Maybe he went back to find her again, anyway?" he wondered aloud, relying on speculation and subtle hints alone. Faolin had told him that the golden son had been extremely loyal to Kaena, so it seemed like it might be possible.
He listened as she spoke further of her half siblings; there certainly seemed to be a good number of them. He didn't recognise Kerberos at all, but Corona had said herself she didn't expect to see him around. It was interesting and he made note of it, none the less, although he wasn't too concerned since he wasn't directly related to Kaena's side of the family, anyway. More interesting, then, was the fact that Ahren had nearly half a dozen more kids overseas. Was he the only one that didn't want to invest a lot of faith into some wood that floated along across the ocean? He'd heard of Europe, Africa, and Asia before, but never had he the desire to go to any of those places. Maybe he was missing out on something, though, since apparently a whole bunch of his relatives had gone there before, and some still remained. Odd; well, it was probably best to focus on the present--both in time and place.
Anselm wracked his brain as he tried to come up with some information that might be interesting to her. "Well, I'm sure you've heard of Ezekiel and Talitha by now, but Ahemait has also had children. Three of them, sired by a male I don't know. Stygian?" he shrugged a little; maybe the name would mean something to her. "Faolin also told me about your mother's last litter: Andre, Arkham, and Rachias. I don't know anything about the last two but I know that Andre is banned, like Vitium."
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_____It had been a long time since she had seen Molochai. It had been so long since they had even spoken that Corona was surprised to find a spark of disappointment ripple through her at the mention of his name. For those first few weeks, they had been literal twins of each other, gold-haired, blue-eyed. Then he had inherited Kaena's eyes and she had taken her father's coat and they didn't match at all. The closeness that they had was long gone, but the bond was still there. She also remembered Ahemait but the last time she had seen her, she had been a child. So to know that she had children of her own was just as surprising as anything, and Corona made a mental note to see her.
_____“I met Andre once,” she said with a frown, “so it isn't really surprising that he got himself thrown out. He'll probably get himself killed out there one of these days, with the way he throws our name around.” If it was one thing that Kaena and Ahren had both taught her and her siblings early on, it was that they were very unfavoured people. But she had in coming in more than one way, unfortunately. “I don't know a Stygian though and the last time I spoke to Ahemait she was still a child herself.” It had been quite a long time since she had been in Inferni, needless to say.
_____“But there are certainly a lot of us,” she laughed.
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Anselm could only guess as to how many of them there really were. Those that went away and stayed away, assuming they were still alive, had likely found niches for themselves elsewhere. At least some of them had probably taken mates or just generally reproduced--he could only guess as to how many illegitimate children he himself had. His testosterone driven tendencies lead to a lot more than just being territorial--he was also rather fond of spending random evenings with the ladies. So far, these had proven to be of little consequence, although he always wondered what he might do if one of the kids showed up on Inferni's doorstep demanding answers one day. Fortunately for him, ignorance was bliss and he was completely unaware that that day might come sooner than he thought.
"I wonder what makes some families so much more successful than others," he contemplated aloud. Good genes? Maybe, maybe not... there was enough madness in them to think it contradictory. Then again, without certain societal forces involved it was possible that physical strength and liveliness dominated. There were no police and there was no universal government to exterminate or lock away the criminal or the insane. The fact remained that the de le Poers had extended their bloodline to Europe, and that was pretty impressive. They were holding strong in 'Souls and he obviously knew of a few back near his birth pack. "Are there any other large families in 'Souls?" Obviously in Inferni the Lykois, Holocausts, and de le Poers reigned supreme. What about everywhere else?
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_____Corona really couldn't say what made any family successful, though she had ideas why or how. Good genes probably did attribute greatly in some, it also mattered on how many survived per litter and just how quickly they all bred from there on out. Especially if any of them were anything like either one of their parents in her sibling's case; pulling six to eight kids out and having them survive only made the tree explode. But she shrugged, sure that there were many other factors than good parenting and survival rates. Not all of them would end up with children, anyway.
_____“I can't really say that I know of anyone around now that is apart of some big family. But on the other side of the mountain, my father's step-mother was apart of quite a large family as well, the D'Angelos. But I don't know what's become of all of them either, to be honest.” Misery had been in Clouded Tears with her father the last time she had seen him or her, and then Jasper had come along. After that, she had been amiss as to what had happened and also felt like Misery would have passed on by now. She hadn't been doing so well the last time she had seen her. “I think the Sadira's were another large family too… I remember my mother talking about their grudge with Inferni from years ago.” But again, who knew what had become of all of them.
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-Doesn't know what else to do?- :x
The de le Poer had already done battle with a Sadira, although he knew nothing of the feud at the time and didn't know the bitch's heritage to date. He'd just found some cranky lady that decided to be short with him when he asked her a question on neutral ground--he knew she reigned over a pack to the south now, but he still didn't know her name. At this point, he hardly cared--if she was going to start something, she probably would have already. She probably didn't know exactly who he was, either, much as he didn't know her.
He hadn't heard of the D'Angelos, either--although once again, he'd encountered one before (and even slept with her). For now, he nodded as he committed both surnames to memory. Even though the families of Inferni could prove to be quite a formidable force, he didn't want to go around ticking off any other large groups that might oppose them. Either way, it seemed as though the two families she mentioned were relatively dormant... or maybe she just hadn't been around long enough yet to hear about more recent events? He'd keep an ear out.
"Who knows. Maybe some of them got separated in the fire," he offered finally. "I never really thought it made sense for everyone to show up here, especially since none of the packs other than Inferni stuck together and it doesn't sound like everyone got along to begin with." South wasn't the only way to escape the fire... surely there were some folks that made it west back to the mainland, or something.
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We could probably wrap this up in a couple of posts or fade it out, if you'd like?
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_____She supposed they had all scattered to the four winds, just like much of her family had. Even at that, she could insist that they'd all return home one day some way or another, but now home had been burnt to the ground entirely. Even though they were very much Inferni right where they were, it didn't feel like home to her just yet. Corona believed that was partially because she had spent the latter portion of her life constantly moving around looking for home. Finding that little niche in the world in which she belonged in like she had done before. Still, she nodded with his words.
_____“So is there anything about our territory I should know?” Aside from knowing there was a mansion and a prisoner locked up nearby, Corona hadn't really gotten a feel or a decent look around the place just yet. All of that would come in due time, but for know she thought she'd settle with asking someone who obviously knew the lay of the land better than she did. The faster she got a feel for it, the better she believed she'd be able to make herself more than just a useful body to put bandaids on people.
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Fade out sounds good!
(!@#$%)Well, this is D'Neville Mansion, obviously... situated in the wooded part of Inferni that runs along the south-eastern border. Further north the trees thin out considerably--there isn't much cover and the sun hits especially strong. It's called Occasus Promotorium. Anselm knew the territory like the back of his hand and it showed. Then in the west there's the bay; Inferni's largest river drains into it from the south. There's a ravine and underground lake along that river, too. That area had always particularly intrigued him; it was so easy to feel isolated there. The terrain was nearly unnavigable and far from inviting, so others didn't go there often.
(!@#$%)She'd probably already picked up a few of the next things but he figured he'd mention them just to be safe. In the centre are the caves, where most of us find our dens. The whole territory is located on a giant hill and from up there you get a pretty good lookout point. Other than the wooded areas, it was possible to easily survey most of the territory. It was a very prime location for anybody who might expect war... and they had some protection against flooding, too. Anselm had never seen the old territory but he would have liked this one better, anyway (hell, he'd chosen to live here even before Gabriel had). Here there was more fresh water, the hill offered more protection and they couldn't really be backed up against the sea, and there were more forested areas that attracted more prey. Hopefully, Corona would come to appreciate it as much as he did in time.
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I love the song in your table. >_>; *also fades out now!*
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_____She nodded and paid close attention to what Anselm was telling her, gaining a quick drawn map of Inferni and its new home. Compared to the shore of Hell's Coast, they had certainly expanded the diversity of the terrain greatly; caverns, ravines, they certainly had much more than before. For that she was glad that the fire on the other side of the mountain hadn't climbed over the mountains to their north, otherwise who knew what would have become of any of them. Or where they'd be, for that matter. “Sounds great, thanks,” she said when he had finished, already considering getting out there and scanning over the territory for the things that had stuck out in her mind as the most interesting. “I guess I'll let you get back to what you were doing and check out some of those places.” And with that, she parted ways with her new found relative and set foot past him and out into the remaining forest.
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