Private for whoever calls it in this thread first. This would be the aggression thread. :3


    The hybrid had ventured out of Inferni again, deciding it might do to check out some of the forests of the surrounding area. Inferni was well-protected and far from the closest pack—she'd determined those were Phoenix Valley and Dahlia de Mai, both roughly the same distance from Inferni's borders. There were plenty of miles of woods between the two, though, and Kaena felt secure enough. There were no packs to the north, and Inferni stood in the way of those territories, meaning anyone who didn't want to traipse right through claimed territory had to wander across Halcyon Mountain in order to reach the upper territories. Kaena liked it a lot that way—if they found any special sort of resources in those territories, they would be easy to annex or protect, whichever Gabriel decided to do.


    These woods were quiet, though her sable ears could detect the noises and movements of many different animals in the trees and on the ground all around her. The thick coat of leaves and other debris on the forest floor deadened much of the sound, and though the forest was bursting with life, the Lykoi meandered through it undetected. Her footfalls were soft, and crouched for a moment, leaning forward onto her hands to smell the ground. There was an old scent of a wolf here. He was vaguely familiar, but Kaena could not place him. They had met somewhere before, she knew that much—but with just a fading smell and no face to accompany it, she had little hope of identifying the wolf. It was probably no one—perhaps someone she'd simply smelled before.


    Continuing on, the Lykoi ambled forward again, coming to a break in the trees as they began to thin out. She could see Halcyon Mountain in the distance, and she knew beyond that lay the former territories. She wondered whose bones had burned in that fire, and how many names and faces would be lost forever. It hadn't changed a thing about Inferni—but all of those wolf packs she had known for all her existence in 'Souls had been obliterated, unable to survive the trek over the mountain range. For that, she was glad—it meant the force that bound the coyote clan together was far stronger than the bonds the wolves had forged. The miscreants, the monsters, the loner, unfriendly creatures who hardly took to the social life like their wolf cousins—they had survived the flame and smoke and the wolves had not. Something in Kaena swelled, that familiar sense of pride for her clan.


    She stopped on the edge of this almost meadow, pausing to again smell the ground. There was no scent of wolf here, though she could clearly smell Gabriel here. She was not so far from Inferni's territory, so it was not improbable that he had passed through this spot in recent weeks. It had begun to drizzle again, the mid-afternoon break in the near-constant rain coming to a sudden close. The threatening clouds hadn't stopped her from taking a stroll out of the territory, but the threat of worse storms looming over the mountain was enough to give her pause. She did not want to be caught in a severe type of storm so far out from the shelter of Inferni's caves.

Hooray. X3 Do me a favor, though, and don't let Brooklyn drop her last name? She knew Misery and she knew Ahren was close with her, and Brooklyn sharing her last name would just cause too much curiosity for Kae to be all "RAWRIAMKAE." XD



    The coyote considered her predicament, wondering whether it would be smarter to just head home for now and come back later, maybe tomorrow—if the rain finally broke. It seemed to have rained for the last two days straight, only occasionally offering the briefest respite from the constant precipitation. Kaena had always been rather neutral regarding the rain; it didn't bother her, and she wasn't afraid of thunder like some she'd met, but neither did she adore storms. They were irritating, more often than not; storms dulled the senses and made it more difficult to see, smell, and hear.



    As the hybrid considered, she did not have to wait long to make up her mind—it was made up for her. A white bullet sprinted across the meadow, making a beeline for Inferni. Kaena smelled an unfamiliar, distant pack, and took off after the she-wolf without hesitation, picking up the pace. She was not a particularly great runner, but she was determined to catch the wolf before she entered Inferni territory. The coyote bolted after the wolf, using a far more wolfish run than the coyote trot she usually preferred.



    "Hey," she called out sharply as they came to the Inferni border. The white skulls gleamed and beaded water from their flat, white surface. "Stop," she added. She didn't have much of a right to do anything on neutral territory, but the wolf was clearly headed for Inferni's borders. The coyote's tail flicked back and forth, and she caught up, closing the distance between herself and the ghost-white she-wolf. Her golden eye flared anger. "Going somewhere?" the ashen hybrid said, glaring at the white wolf.

No worries! How would you like for this to end up going? Kaena might let her pass with the right answers, and the warning that anybody else who catches her trespassing will attack her, or if she's insistent and trespasses in front of Kae, Kae will end up attacking herself. xD Or if you have another idea other than aggression, let me know. I have a fight thread going right now so I could do something else. :O And I'm sorry this post sucks, I'm tired. D: OMG LONG OOC IS LONG.



    The ivory she-wolf seemed so rushed; it aroused every suspicion in Kaena's body, and she moved around the woman, giving her a wide berth, planting herself squarely between the young woman and Inferni's territory. The coyote glowered for a moment, listening to her speak, though there was no snarl on Kaena's face. The woman hadn't trespassed or done anything wrong—yet. But she was making quite the sprint straight for the border, which was clearly within view, marked with gleaming white skulls, some of them splashed red with paint. Even if they were technically on neutral territory, Kaena wasn't going to just let this stranger wander unmolested into her clan's territory.



    "Over there belongs to Inferni, and so do I," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. It was pretty clear the coyote wasn't going to stand down without a fight, and her scars attested to her skill in battle. The single glowering eye focused on the pallid she-wolf, narrowing. "Who's your friend?" Inferni was sixteen large, but Kaena knew the faces of almost everyone in the ranks—the only one she hadn't had a chance to catch up with was Hybrid, but he had seemed rather distracted and busied as of late. He was a Hydra, and he kept pretty close to Gabriel, as was his duty. Kaena was glad to see him fulfilling them still; Hybrid was one of the only coyotes she recalled from her former days, and he was a good one to have in the clan's ranks.



    The coyote woman studied the pallid wolf before her. She didn't appear dangerous and they were on no-man's-land, so there was no hostility in the ashen hybrid's demeanor. All of that could change at a moment's notice, however, and Kaena was at the ready to defend her clan from invasion—if she was smart, she would wait on the borders or call for her friend there. She was a wolf, and full-blooded by the looks of it, so Kaena wasn't sure what would happen. Many wolves trampled coyote borders as if they did not exist, and it enraged Kaena to no end. She was at least respectful enough to keep off of claimed wolf land.

Welcome back. I don't think they should end up straight-up fighting, since I wouldn't want to cause too much drama for Brooklyn and Gael, yanno? XD Unless you want it. ;D But we'll see what's going on, agreed!



    Kaena could certainly understand love between a coyote and a wolf; she had it happen to her at least twice with full-blooded wolves, and once with a coyote hybrid who'd chosen life as a wolf. The grizzled woman herself had known the thrill of loving the forbidden, the other side which they were supposed to hate and kill just for their blood and their heritage. She had actually never met Gael, so dropping his name would have been relatively useless, though she was aware of a few presences in the clan which were unfamiliar to her. Still, the woman did not like the smart answer, and it was surely visible as he features twisted into a snarl, half-listening to the pearly wolf's next words as the rage in the Veritas's chest brewed.



    It was a brief show of anger, the snarl twisting her scars and knotting her muzzle disappearing after only a few moments, though there was still obvious irritation on the monochrome coyote's features. "Because if you don't, you aren't seeing him tonight," the coyote responded, her words short and condescending, as if she was speaking to a child. Her tail flickered in annoyance; perhaps she would have been willing to call whoever was the friend of this female prior to that answer so the two could meet (outside of Inferni, of course) but now that possibility was dwindling. "Oh yeah? If you were so respectful, you'd surely understand I'm trying to protect my people," she answered, surly voice now rather indignant. Both of them were opposite sides of the same coin; while there were only two children amongst Inferni's ranks and neither was Kaena's blood relative, there was still that maternal instinct to protect them—and the other members of the clan—at all costs.



    No, Brooklyn didn't look particularly dangerous. Hell, Kaena was sure that a nip to her rear would send the pearly she-wolf scrambling for her life, but still. Danger wasn't always blatant and presented as it was within her. Anselm was evidence enough of that. He could have easily passed for full-blooded wolf if he chose to disguise the scent of Inferni from his pelt, and in time even that familiar badge would have faded, allowing the russet-gold hybrid to flit openly amongst the wolves, slowly and surreptitiously gathering information. Nonthreatening as Brooklyn appeared to be, the gray hybrid took no chances, and sneered at her. "Yeah, those are meant to keep people out," she said, her voice growing caustic.

♥ No problem. I was not sure if you were going for provocation, so I held Kaena off a bit. XD



    The hybrid woman crossed her arms over her chest tightly, half obscuring that brilliantly red star on her chest. Kaena would have been shocked to know this white wolf shared a surname with that dark, coal female Misery—the very wolf which had forever marked her skin with the symbol of the Lykoi, hand-picked by the matron of the family herself. It would have given her pause, anyway—but the girl's attitude was nearly too much for the ill-tempered coyote. It was only their present position on neutral lands which made the coyote hesitate to act in violence. "Hardly," was all she said in response, her lip curling to expose one long, sallow fang against the black of her lips and the pink of her gums.



    Still, the sneer did not fade from her face even as the woman spoke to Kaena's better senses, complimenting the coyote clan. She smirked, and shook her head. No—she did not think this single ghost-pale wolf was a threat to Inferni. Not by herself, anyway. She shrugged a coal shoulder. "Threats aren't always obvious," she said. It didn't matter what she thought—she was not the Aquila of Inferni and she was bound only to protect it. There was no responsibility to judge those that walked on their territory, let alone power to grant that freedom to outsiders.



    The derisive sneer on her face was replaced with amusement, and the hybrid actually laughed, a raspy, throaty sound echoing from her muzzle. "Peace?" she asked suddenly, the laugh dying as suddenly as it had come, that searing eye focused on the girl again. The woman stalked toward her, fist twitching and the snarl writhing on her face. "Why should I try to find peace with a species that has killed us for centuries, just because we are smaller competition?" The grizzled woman was quite close now, that golden eye narrowed.



    "You said it yourself. Wolves hate us. So why should I make peace with you?" There was mockery in her tone; Kaena did not give a damn if every wolf in these territories carried hated coyotes. Inferni would still stand strongly against them through the flow of time. The wolves could not crush her beloved clan, not so long as Gabriel wore its crown. Not as long as Ryan and Anselm and Kaena herself roamed the ranks of the clan—they were a dangerous, ruthless bunch, and the coyote clan was far stronger for it.