Arachnea's Revenge. Kaena is in Lupus form here. :3


    The hybrid woman had been wandering for most of the night, still rather unfamiliar with most of the area. It was not like the last territories—she had known almost every inch of them, crawling over that soil for years and years before it all had burned to the ground. It was still very early in the morning, and the half-moon was completely obscured by clouds. The night was deeply shaded, with only the occasional silver light filtering through the thick mass of clouds that surely promised more rain tomorrow. Thankfully, the downpour had stopped for the night, and Kaena found herself at liberty to explore the woods. The hybrid woman realized this was perhaps the worst place for her to be; Arachnea's Revenge was something of a crossroads for Phoenix Valley, Dahlia de Mai, and the other packs to the south, so she was too likely to find someone she wouldn't be too pleased to see.



   Even so, the grizzled hybrid hadn't allowed it to weigh heavily on her mind. As she cut through the thicket of deep woods, she felt light-hearted, and her step was almost carefree. There was none of that fast-paced, business-like coyote trot there, nor any trudging to her gait—it was simply the meandering walk of one wont to explore. The coyote was older now, but even still—the lifespans of the Luperci were virtually unknown; it was too rare that they died of unnatural causes. If she tread carefully, she might come to know these territories very, very well. It was strange to think that the previous place was gone—those were familiar settings to the Lykoi woman, territories she'd roamed for the better part of her long life. It hurt to think those familiar places were really obliterated—gone were those rotted city streets and those meandering streams, that ugly and wonderful strip of beach Inferni had called home. She had stopped now, and sat quietly beside a lake, her gleaming golden eye roving over its surface. The air here was deadly still, and the trees above and around were so thick the canine hybrid could hardly see the moon, except for this break here—this large lake on the edges of this wood, seemingly the hottest point between Inferni's two antagonists. It was surreal that an area so quiet and still could be so dangerous, but the grizzled woman was well-aware of the peril lurking here, and she did not lose touch with her alert senses for a second.



    The moon shone through the clouds for a brief moment, and all of the water in the lake glowed an unearthly, brilliant blue color, as if the water itself was phosphorescent. The Inferni coyote had never seen anything like it, and while the silver half-moon's brilliance danced off of the lake, the fascinated hybrid watched. Her pose was dainty and very coyote, her forepaws tucked neatly between her rear paws, her head held high and her large ears perked in interest. The raven tip of her tail darted back and forth, not so much wagging as it was twitching, an almost feline response from the elder canine as she looked over the gleaming blue lake. The water was mostly still, but here and there a breeze ruffled its surface, causing all of that lovely glow to shimmer and wave before her single raptor's eye.



  Then the curtain of clouds fell once again, and shadow enveloped the lake once more, the incandescence disappearing with the light of the moon. Kaena wondered if it was a trick of that or some unearthly thing; in her age she had become far more suspicious of the unnatural and the unknown, those otherworldly beings her son spoke of sometimes—she now pondered the existence of a higher power, instead of merely dismissing the concept as ridiculous. The multi-colored hybrid had never truly bothered to delve deeply into philosophical issues—indeed, most of her thoughts centered around ancient history and old wounds. When pried and pushed, however, she was not entirely useless in intellectual banter, if only for the fact that she provided a beautifully primitive, violent perspective.



    Kaena's coal nose quivered as she inhaled a breath of the night air; it was heavy and damp with the day's rain and tomorrow's pending precipitation hovering above her head. The condition of the air made detecting an approach somewhat more difficult, but it was very quiet here, and Kaena was confident she would not be surprised by another. Besides, she hadn't moved in several minutes—and her back was to the water now. The Lykoi woman had guessed why the region was named as it was, and she noticed many glistening silver webs strung between branches and beneath bushes. Insects had never bothered her, though she realized some were far deadlier than she if they delivered but a drop of their poison. She assumed those kinds were few and far between here, though it was certainly the season of the bug now—summer was in full swing. In a moment, she would start out toward Dahlia de Mai—though she would give them a very, very wide berth, and try to avoid any coming or going into the area at all costs. For just a minute longer, though, the coyote was content to enjoy the night and the blissful silence and stillness of this place.

Kaena usually is, and in her profile it says she's optime unless otherwise stated, so I stated otherwise! LOL. No worries at all, I always write forever on intro posts. D: Bad habit! <3 And what does your icon mean? I mouse-over'ed and it said Cwmfen, so does that mean they're like, mates-without-being-mates? XD



    The coyote woman hadn't been paying close attention to the trees, naturally. Her kind tended to remain earthbound, though their Optime forms made tree-climbing far easier for them than their non-shifting ancestors. When the voice rang out from somewhere above her, the Lykoi woman's head jerked, her eye narrowing as she peered around for the source, her eyes falling on a clothed werewolf perched in a tree. He had something wrapped around his eyes, and a strange sort of hat tilted down over them. There was a long, brownish looking coat, and Kaena took a closer look for the bulge of a weapon, but found none. Still, she knew he might still be armed—yet if he'd wanted to attack, he wouldn't have spoken first. There was little point in ruining the element of surprise, then—he had possessed a clear advantage over the otherwise unaware coyote.



    That single eye studied him closely, and she saw clear coyote in his features, though with most of them obscured by cloth, it was impossible to tell his percentage, and she could not yet tell that the creature before her was full-blooded. She had been startled, naturally, though she wasn't particularly alarmed at the presence of the other. If he'd meant to hurt her, he would have already, and she wouldn't have known a damn thing about it. "You know what makes it look like that?" she responded, acknowledging his statement with a question of her own. She was too curious not to ask, after all; his statement had merely been in observation of what she had been doing with her time, and it did not indicate whether he knew more or less about the cause of this unnatural beauty.



    The coyote crept closer to the tree, still peering at the coyote, curiosity displayed clearly across her scarred features. What manner of creature was this who dressed like a man and hid his eyes from the world? The coyote wondered if he was blind; such a thing would have made covering up a sense entirely more sensible. After all, if he couldn't use his eyes, why would he need to keep them uncovered? She halted quite a few feet away from his tree, still giving him a wide berth—his apparent coyote heritage immediately made him more trusthworthy than a wolf to Kaena. An encounter with a coyote—even one she didn't know—was infinitely better than an encounter with someone from Phoenix Valley or Dahlia de Mai.



    There was a strange odor masking this coyote; it was very strong and completely unlike anything she had ever smelled before. He did not smell anything like any particular place or even himself; the odor emanating from him was crisp, and very clean, but it was entirely manufactured and fake. The coyote wrinkled her nose; though the scent was not entirely unpleasant, it was strange and altogether unfamiliar to her. She wanted to ask what it was, but she would delay more intimate questions until they had at least passed introductions. The hybrid woman had yet to display any outward emotion other than surprise at his entrance, reserving her judgment until she knew more about him.

Pfft, I don't really expect people to in-depth read profiles! I'm just fanatical about it myself. XD Awww, that's cute and sad all at once. ;; And please excuse this post, I am extremely tired and I've been awake 20 hours and I probably should have slept about five hours ago! XD



    The hybrid woman was highly intrigued by this creature, and as she studied him she realized he was either an extremely high percentage coyote hybrid, or he was a pureblood. She decided on the latter after a brief moment, detecting not even the slightest hint of wolf in his few visible features. His muzzle had the distinct coyote taper, and what she could see of his ears were wholly coyote. The woman did not wonder why he didn't join Inferni. The clan life was generally rougher for pure coyotes, since they lacked many of the social tendencies of their larger cousins. The hybrid woman herself was often awkward in larger groups, and she felt drained after social encounters involving groups. Her time spent as the Aquila had better socialized her, though it was too little, far too late. Kaena was, for the most part, a lost cause; she was hopelessly inverted and asocial in most crowd situations. She supposed that was the coyote's downfall, and her wolf blood deserved a begrudging nod for having kept her sane when the coyote in her would have rather gone six months without speaking to another friendly soul. They often brought competing thoughts and impulses into her brain, and even age and experience had not given Kaena a remedy for that. There was brief envy in her eye of the perched coyote, though it faded quickly as the coyote spoke, an unrecognizable but vaguely familiar word slipping from his mouth.



    Her head cocked, confusion on her face. She had correctly identified the word as Latin, though she had no idea as to what it meant, and even if Onus had explained it, the hybrid still would have been at a loss. Her father's brief period of education had taught the Lykoi woman a smattering of Latin words—including inferni, which was translated either as "the dead" or, more poetically, "the shades below." It was also roughly how she knew her last name's meaning, though it was in a different language Kaena knew next to nothing about. The hybrid didn't wish to appear stupid, but she was too curious about the lake and the cause of its phosphorescence. "I don't know what that is," she admitted, though there was no shame in her voice. The world was vast, and at nine years and change, the coyote had learned not to scoff at potential knowledge, regardless of whether or not it came from high on a tree branch. Maybe "bacteria" was a human chemical remnant in the lake. Maybe she was lucky she hadn't taken a drink from it. That thought struck her, and she committed the word to memory, just in case the coyote before her refused to tell her for some strange reason, just so she could find out what it was and whether or not it was dangerous.



    Again, the coyote's head moved, though this time it was forward, closer to the treebound canine. She was extremely inquisitive, both for the matter of the bacteria and as to the condition of the coyote's eyesight. The elder woman herself knew the strain and change of eye loss, and she also knew how the other senses almost sharpened, making up for the lost sense. In Kaena's case, unfortunately, her ear on the side of her missing eye was also tattered, reducing her vision and hearing on the right side in general. For all her curiosity, the Lykoi wouldn't ask him about it yet. It was too forward a question, and they were far too unfamiliar. She supposed she would find out sooner or later. Experience and longevity had taught Kaena a lot, and she was also familiar with the art of observation, however rarely she chose to exercise it on the forefront. It simply wasn't her style—she preferred to swoop in, unexpected, guns blazing. There was no other way for her. In a past life, the grizzled old woman would have been perfectly happy swinging an axe or a sword in battle.

Ahh, no worries. I'm usually fanatical about reading the profiles of characters I have threads with, though I'll poke around a bit sometimes if I'm not RP'ing with them. x3 The Old Spice is actually a really good idea; I can't believe nobody else had ever thought of human deodorants/scented sprays to cover their character's scent before.



    The scarred woman herself was perhaps to blame for the majority of the hybrid blood within Inferni. Most of them were her own progeny, certainly, but if Gabriel's father hadn't been related to Anselm de le Poer, it was unlikely he would have aligned with the coyotes when they came over the mountain. He was of mixed blood, and so were his children and grandchildren, Ryan and Valkyrie. So in part, she could also be blamed or thanked (depending on who you asked) for Anselm's presence in Inferni. Her golden clanmate was a survivalist, to be certain; it was unlikely he would have offered Inferni any assistance whatsoever if he was not related by blood to its Aquila. They seemed to call to other hybrids, however. The coyote remembered a few from her time of leadership, halfbreeds sharing nothing but a residence with the Lykoi family, drawn to Inferni for its acceptance of those in-between creatures who found little solace elsewhere.



    That shining eye focused in on Onus's face at that, and she listened carefully, mulling his words over in her head. He had used another unfamiliar word, microscopic, but Kaena had been able to read into the context clues of his other words and she had discerned the meaning of that word as very, very small. For certain, they must have been nigh invisible, else she would have heard of them or seen one by now. He continued, and the Lykoi nodded, not entirely surprised she'd never heard of such a thing. She knew next to nothing about medicine, health, or healing, and if bacteria were the cause of illness, it was no wonder she was unfamiliar with the term. "Do you think that water is bad to drink, then?" she asked, settling to her haunches, craning her neck and peering up at Onus. The grizzled coyote was immediately more relaxed around the man, merely for his blood. It was a preference for coyotes and hybrids Kaena didn't bother to hide often; she was far more likely to play nice if she saw a smidgen of coyote in a stranger's blood.



    There was still curiosity apparent on her features, but her eye had stopped roving Onus, instead focusing on his face, waiting and watching for any indication he would do anything other than sit nicely and talk. For all her preference and prejudice, it was in the ashen hybrid's nature to be wary of everything, though her guardedness was buried behind the simple, subdued interest apparent in her features. Trauma and tragedy hadn't been kind to her, and it had instilled a deep sense of distrust for any breathing creature that did not share her bloodline. "I'm Kaena Lykoi," she said, knowing she would probably have to ask this coyote for an introduction in kind—he had only spoken once without a prompt from her thus far, and that was to announce his presence. Still, if some part of him didn't desire temporary companionship from her, he would have remained silent and unnoticed in the trees above her, and she would have never known he was there. The silver canine waited a moment, wondering if her introduction was enough to receive one in kind from the stranger.

It's totally okay. <3!



    The woman listened to the advice dealt out by the unfamiliar coyote and nodded, absorbing the warning and marking it. She would have to watch someone else drink from the lake and live for a few days afterward before she would dare to try it herself. Already this encounter had proven beneficial, and she counted herself lucky that she hadn't been thirsty upon encountering this place. She might have drank the water, then, and she would be sitting here paranoid as all hell that she would drop dead suddenly. The thought almost brought a smirk to her scarred features, but the coyote spoke again, introducing himself.



    The single word of introduction had not provided her with a surname or a place of origin, but Kaena did not absolutely need either of those things, and it was obvious enough to her that Onus roamed the earth alone. There was a slight inclination of her head, both greeting and gratitude for the reciprocal introduction. She didn't need to attach Inferni's name to her own, since she wore their scent proudly. She was not like Anselm; there was no need for her to conceal the badge of coyote that she wore so proudly. She would never have passed for a full-blood, anyway; there was too much blending in her features and too many awkward, un-wolf-like things about her.



    "You're a coyote, huh?" she asked, too curious to keep that question to herself. He was large for one, but the features she could clearly make out beyond his efforts to conceal his face did sing loudly of the trickster. There was extra curiosity to that question, though she hadn't voiced it. She now wondered what had kept him from the coyote clan completely; she had never so much as heard his name muttered amongst her clanmates, and an ally such as this one would have been a powerful thing. The ancient woman was forever calculating and cold, and these questions were almost natural in her own mind.

    The other canine was quiet after his affirmative answer, but Kaena felt no uneasiness in the silence that stretched between them afterward. She was still curious about him, but she did not wish to appear childish, rapid-firing questions at him like she was a newcomer to the earth itself. It was rare that a creature greatly interested her. More often than not, Kaena was simply neutral toward her clanmates which were not related by blood. Hybrid had been a part of Inferni for longer than Kaena could remember, and yet she hardly knew the man. She appreciated his lust for blood and his malicious personality, certainly, but the coyote woman could not recall a time when she'd ever specifically sought for him, nor he for her. They were sort of indifferent toward each other, surely willing to throw in their weight when help was required, but beyond clan-induced duty together, they were relative strangers. This was an odd thing, especially for creatures which had known each other for many years.



    The coyote woman looked at him for another moment, and then her head turned back to the lake, looking over it for a minute as she formed a question in her head. "You aren't related to any of my coyotes," she said, stating an inference she'd made to be corrected or accepted by him. It was less direct than openly asking about his past, and it would give reason to his clothing and that sharp, fresh scent emanating from his body. She had no reason to hide that she was from Inferni. Kaena would always proudly proclaim herself a part of that clan; it was just as much a part of her as she was a part of it. That familiar night on that old beach flashed into her head, the sand and the furious ocean. She had not thought of Inferni's first leader, Zarah, in too long. Now, she recalled the woman and her whole coyote blood, pure and righteous just as certainly as she was mixed and stained with wolf's blood.



    The woman regarded Onus again, wondering how he would react. So far, he hadn't shown much either way. There was cool disinterest about him, as if nothing in the world could phase him. There was something in that—though Kaena had given him nothing to fear, he had treated her as if she was just another canine. That was rare. The reaction was generally either fear or disgust at her and her scars, with a rare bit of admiration from a select few who understood their underlying meaning and what they symbolized. The wounds of war were nothing to be ashamed of to the gray canid, but Onus merely passed them by, a completely new reaction the hybrid had not encountered prior to this meeting.

Thanks <3



    Many creatures enjoyed the sound of their own voice; the Lykoi matron was not among them. There were precious few subjects on which the coyote woman would speak at length without growing tired the topic. Her family and Inferni were the two things she enjoyed speaking about, though she was careful when speaking to outsiders not to reveal too much about herself or her clan. Information was a precious commodity, and it didn't do to just offer it up without asking something in return. Kaena had never been one to rely on hearsay and rumor, but the world was changing subtly, and knowledgable creatures were just as valuable as creatures made of raw power in these times. If she did not adapt to it she would perish.



    That had tickled something in him, and there was a wry smile for a moment on the woman's face, followed by some undefined emotion that might have been sympathy, obscured by the jagged scars rippling her face. It didn't do to have no one; she wondered why this coyote had chosen to wander the earth alone. "At several points in its history, most of Inferni was related to me," she said. Her age made it evident enough that they were her progeny. There was a pause, and a tiny nod of her head given toward the clothed coyote. "I'm sorry," the woman said, and her apology was genuine, that touch of sadness in her voice. She loved her family very much and held it at the highest value; she could not imagine living a life where her children and grandchildren did surround her. She wondered if he had left them of his own volition, or if he was like she had been—abandoned and completely alone.



    When Kaena was much younger, she had figured herself the last living Lykoi, the sole survivor of a wolf line that had died with her father. He had always spoken of his family as though they were dead, and it was not until much later she had learned that there were indeed other Lykois, though her first cousin Brennen. Unfortunately, they were whole-blooded wolves and they would have killed Kaena as certainly as they would have killed her mother for her obvious coyote blood. Brennen had told her that, too. But he hadn't seemed to have taken to their teachings, for he had openly accepted Kaena as his cousin and they might have even been friends, had he remained for more than a brief instant. In any case, her ancestral family was dead to her, and she had created her own breed of Lykoi in these lands.

My turn to apologize. D:



    The silver hybrid was not much of a deep thinker; her mind was often jagged, disjointed, and difficult to follow. She was capable of delving into deeper subjects, of course, it was simply something her mind did not often wander to. The coyote generally kept her mind as occupied as possible, caught up in the present—but for her efforts, when she ceased to give her brain something to chew on, her head wandered into the past. The present wasn't nearly as blood-stained and dark, and for Kaena there was a strange mix of contentment and boredom in this. On one hand, it was good to have vanquished her nemesis at long last. It was good to return to this place knowing devils and demons were long dead, left to rot in that other, burned place. On the other, there was that restless sense of needing some goal, the idea that she required something to rally against. Maybe it was that lack of purpose which she was missing here.



    Still, the coyote woman did not believe she was young enough to incite riots and war anymore. She was nearing on ten years of age, and her body might not survive the rigors of war anymore—and surely she could not afford to engage in another four-year-long personal war between herself and another creature. There was only room enough for one of those in a lifetime, and the silver hybrid had wasted far too much of her precious time with Salvaged Eternity. The deed was done, vengeance for Zulifer exacted years after his death. The coyote woman did not think of him as often as she did in the past; it seemed with time, all wounds to the heart healed. There were other dead presences to concern her, anyway—too many after the years she'd spent on this earth.



    The coyote wearing clothes remained expressionless, carefully neutral. Kaena found him rather fascinating; he seemed to be a stoic animal, carved of stone. If she hadn't heard him speak or seen him move, she might have believed him to be a statue placed in the tree. He commented on her family, and she nodded almost vigorously. "I have many children, and grandchildren," she said, marveling at the word. "I wouldn't have ever thought it possible. When I was young, I was the only Lykoi left," the coyote added, silently tacking on, and I wanted it to stay that way.



    The silver hybrid no longer thought like that—the children which had come from her body were the greatest gifts the men in her lives had ever given her, each of them unique and lovely in his or her own way. Even Vitium and Andrezej, the traitors to their own blood, were still loved in some strange, distant way by the Lykoi matron. It was the absolute truth; if Vitium had been anything but her son when he had saved that strange wolf's life and proclaimed himself against the Lykoi and Inferni, she would have killed him. Kaena was not a merciful creature, and when the crown of Inferni sat atop her skull, if it was possible, there was even less tolerance in her bones.



    The ashen coyote understood what he meant, almost—when she was young, reckless and ruthless, she would not have wanted anyone to hold any attachment to her. When she had first come to this place—or the other, burned place; they were virtually the same in Kaena's mind, since they were none too far from each other anyway and many of the same canines and family names had migrated here anyway—she had fought mindlessly, chasing after death each day. Back then, Kaena couldn't have imagined living so long, and she had been convinced she would die every day, so for any creature to have formed attachment to her would have been a recipe for loss and heartache.



    "You know what's best for yourself, I would think," she said, adding that same eerie, scarred smile. "But sometimes others can surprise us," she said. The silver hybrid wasn't so crass as to suggest Onus should run out and start breeding rampantly or engage in a lifelong search for his family, no—but maybe if he accidentally came across family of his own, he would like them. Family was good to have—if they were good to you, anyway. Love was also strange in that way—for all her fury where wolves were concerned, she had loved more wolves than she had coyotes.