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Here we go, apologies for the wait.  The male coyote was Anselm de le Poer, I tracked that thread down.
Word Count: 305. Worth 2 points.
Hanna came to a stop far closer to the Inferni borders than she had ever been, and in truth, far closer than was probably wise. She had not yet glimpsed the skull lined borders, but then, she didn't want to be that close anyway. She had heard plenty of stories of Inferni's ferocity, and wanted nothing more than to avoid the receiving end of that collective viciousness.
Not that every coyote was cold-blooded to his or her core. Even shortly after the Dahlian War, despite heightened feelings, she had peacefully encountered a male Inferni member. He had chewed her ear off about being quick to arm herself during a cease-fire, but Hanna had not known of the treaty, so she had apologized and he had dropped it. In fact, after the initial rough patch, the pair of them had explored a pile of old human rubbish, though they had never exchanged names. So it was not with distaste or prejudice that Hanna went along, but merely a watchfulness and a desire to preserve herself rather than risk fighting.
No, Hanna had no quarrel with the largely-coyote clan. Her sole purpose for being where she was located was to search for a way to get around the clan's land to the south. She wanted to explore the land she could see from Dahlia's eastern coast, to discover what it had to offer. But as far as she knew, she would have to circle around, far out of her way, to even approach the peninsula.
Her bags slipped from her shoulders as Hanna lowered herself onto a log. She was not worried, but perhaps, having come so close with no dice yet, she should wait for an Inferni clan member to approach her. After all, she sought information that was not, to her knowledge, forbidden to ask.
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[html]  AWESOME job on profile skin. 
The coyote woman stirred, the late afternoon sun falling on her body. She had been sleeping since earlier in the day, before the sun had reached its zenith and begun its descent. Kae was always one for the oddest of hours; she liked to remain awake and alert all night, sleep with the morning, and rise again in time for the sunset. Though that was her preferred schedule, she did not find it difficult to sleep with the twilight and rise with the morning sun, or whatever hours necessary, really—Kae was a versatile creature when it came to sleep, and she was finding as she aged she needed less and less of it.
Stirring, she peered over at Fatin, who was still half-dozed. The russet woman had taken to spending most of her time in the cave, drifting between conscious and unconscious. The hybrid woman rolled over to her size, that single, searing eye roving over the russet wolf's pretty face and her tapering, lovely features. As right and good as this felt, the hybrid woman could not quell the discomfort in her chest, and found after a few minutes she could no longer look at the auburn canine. Turning abruptly, the hybrid slipped from the bed, heading for the light-filled entrance of the cave.
Her steps were quick and light, though her head was down low. She did not pay attention to her direction, merely churned the thoughts over and over in her head. The silvery canine knew she ought to tell Fatin about Jacquez. It was her right to know. They were living together, they loved each other—mateship and eternal love were but a breath away, and here was the scarred Centurion with her skeletons and secrets again, that deep-seeded fear that had not surfaced since the opportunity to be with Zarah had presented itself.
As much as Kaena loved Fatin, as devoted as the ashen woman was—she was afraid. Kaena would never have admitted such a thing aloud, but she was truly and deeply frightened of entering a committed relationship with a woman. She did not know if she could exclusively convert to woman-only sex, she did not think she would be able to resist the wiles and charms of certain males— especially not Jacquez, not now that she'd had a taste of his flesh. He was a delight of another world entirely, the thrashing that the coyote woman had desperately needed.
Sable ears folded back against a scarred head, and for the first time in several minutes the canine looked up, her golden eye swerving about the forest surrounding her. She was somewhere just outside of Inferni now, having passed over the border without really noticing it. The silver canine was still quite close to her own territory, so she ignored this fact for the meantime, meandering parallel to the territory, figuring she could always chalk up her contemplative walk to a border patrol. That way, when she returned later she would have a good excuse for Fatin.
After a moment, an unfamiliar scent wafted to the woman's charcoal nose. Peering forward curiously, Kaena inhaled sharply, puzzling over the scent. She recognized the banner as the same Dawali had worn; this must mean it was an Aniwayan here. That was a relief; much better to find one of those wolves than a Dahlian or a Valley wolf. The silver coyote meandered forward, wondering what one of a clan so far away might seek here. Curiosity had taken its hold, and she approached the sable woman on the log after a few minutes of tracking the scent.
There was no aggression in the Optime's features, and it was unclear at first from her facial expression whether she was pleased or annoyed at this wolf's presence. Her raptor's eye wandered over the woman, noting the presence of scars. They were not her most defining feature, unlike Kaena's scars. Instead, it was the wolf's one eye that caught the coyote's attention. It was a strange, unearthly shade of deep lavender, at once ghostly and enthralling to the one-eyed canine. "Hey," she stated simply.
Her prior encounter with Dawali had given her a positive attitude toward anyone who wore his banner. They had discussed peace and something close to an alliance, though at the time Kaena had not been among Inferni's Legatus ranks and she could hardly agree to a formal alliance with any clan. Even now, she was the subleader, the whispering in the Aquila's ear. Just because she had good encounters with a particular bunch did not mean they would always be friendly to the coyotes. Her experience was hardly universal; the next wolf she encountered of Aniwaya might have a particular prejudice for coyotes or hybrids. One never knew.
"Looking for someone?" she asked the wolf, noting their proximity to the coyote borders. Usually when someone meandered this close to the gleaming bones of the Inferni borders, they had business... or a death wish. Either way, Kaena would be happy to oblige. As the subleader of the clan, it was her responsibility to accept such business if it came knocking on their door, and more importantly, she had every right to defend the clan to bloodshed and death, should ill-intent come barging across their threshold. Kaena was not afraid of dying to protect Inferni—rather, she likened it to dying in battle and heading to Valhalla as the Vikings would have. It was an honorable death, and one the silvery coyote would endure with pride.
There was something else about this wolf that the coyote woman had yet to identify. Kaena did not know it, but she had likely smelled this same wolf ten or twenty times. They had been within a breath of each other for many years, both of them members of that elite group that remembered the previous lands and the time before the fire had swallowed everything up. This familiarity had not surfaced to the coyote woman's conscious mind, but that strange tingle of recognition only grew stronger as she remained in the other woman's presence, her glittering golden eye studying the coal-furred wolf, trying to identify her or attach a characteristic that might spark her memory into recognition.
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Thanks! Now I'm gonna have to work on one for my Mew-pup, Keeleigh.
Word Count: 343. Worth 2 points.
After several moments, a figure joined her, also in Optime form. Hanna's blue and green eyes roamed casually over the other; she was at once beautiful and terrible in appearance, with scars that covered a good portion of her and missing one eye, a blank hole sitting where there should have been a golden orb. The dark woman did not look overlong, not wanting to seem rude, but simply smiled and returned the coyote woman's greeting. "Hello."
The presence of the scars on the other's body was indicative of one or several things. The woman might have been treated badly. Or she might be an aggressive figure, quick to pick a fight. Or she might just be unlucky, at the wrong place at the wrong time. But Hanna was sure of one thing. The female before her was probably not younger. There was a quality to her that Hanna could not quite describe that just shouted she had been around awhile. Perhaps it was the scarred flesh, as it appeared many of the wrinkled wounds had been there a long time. She glanced up to the grey and clay-colored face, avoiding direct eye contact.
No, I'm not really looking for someone as much as for something. I was in the area anyway, caring for my niece, and I started wondering if there was a way around the southwestern part of Inferni to reach the free areas northwest, or if I would need to go clear to the mountains and around. She instinctively avoided mentioning her prior membership with Dahlia, though the scent probably clung to her fur, mingling with that of AniWaya.
At that point, what logic had told her and what her instincts were trying to tell her clicked. This coyote was near as old as she was, if not older. Perhaps she knew of the old lands, and had been a part of the old Inferni. They might even have encountered each other, though Hanna doubted it; she had tended to avoid Inferni most of the time as a younger wolf.
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[html] | http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_jaws.jpg); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:221px; padding-left:25px; padding-right:25px; padding-bottom:10px;"> Holy crap. I did not mean to ramble at you so much my last post. DDDDD:
The ashen coyote peered at the wolf hard, attempting to discern that familiarity again. It was nowhere in her face; Kaena was certain she had never seen this sable-hued wolf before in her long life. It was in her scent, that faint recognizable quality that told Kae she had smelled her somewhere before, though nowhere was it in recent memory. Kaena could not attach a single memorable detail to the scent, try as she might. The woman looked over at Kaena for a moment, studying the grizzled hybrid just as Kaena herself had just done. She waited, her ears flicking at the greeting but her mouth remaining firmly shut closed. There was a question to be answered, and the hybrid woman would speak no more until it was answered.
The Centurion was always suspicious of presences close to the borders, though it did not spark her ire nearly as much as outright trespassing. At least when they lingered outside of Inferni's territory, they remained some semblance of respect toward the coyotes, though Kaena didn't think a wolf at the door was ever a good sign. Still, there was a chance that the wolf brought some word of formal agreement from Dawali himself, though her scent did not seem well-integrated with the Aniwayan smell. Perhaps she was just some newcomer, after all. The raven-furred wolf again spoke, and Kaena's dark ears flicked forward to listen attentively, catching each word from the wolf's mouth.
Surprise showed on the hybrid's face for a moment, her sharp golden eye widening immediately. The coyote remained quiet for a moment, and then made a noise almost like a grunt, tossing her head and crossing her arms. "You know, many of your kind wouldn't give a second thought to walking right over coyote borders," she informed the other wolf. This one was a smart cookie for staying on the neutral side of the borders, and for the first time, Kaena seemed to crack a smile, though one could never be exactly certain for all of the scarred tissue marring her features. The hybrid woman had not yet made the same connection that Susquehanna had; she had not pegged the sable-furred wolf to one within her age range, one certainly able to remember the old lands before they were burned.
Uncrossing her arms, the hybrid woman seemed to relax just a hair. This wolf was one of Dawali's kind, and she believed he had spoken the truth about their peaceful intents. "Your leader is Dawali, you belong to Aniwaya?" she asked, uncertainty flickering in her golden eye. If there was one good way to identify a pack's smell, it was from the alpha. Maybe, maybe if this wolf was one of them, she could maybe-possibly give her the short way, the trek through Inferni's forest, if only as a peaceful gesture toward Dawali. She still had not spoken to Gabriel about her encounter with him, but in the meantime it would do the coyotes good to show goodwill toward a friendly neighbor.
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I am so full of fail. I are sorry, Sie! Oh, that was close. I was within 20 seconds of getting caught with keys off the computer.
Word Count: 301. Worth 2 points.
Hanna didn't pretend to be unaware of the way the coyotes were treated by the wolves. She really honestly didn't see why there was such hatred between the two factions, but she knew it was there. At Kaena's words regarding most wolves' disregard for the sovereignty of borders when it came to the coyote lands, Hanna sniffed, grinned a moment, and pointed to her snout. "Not respecting borders is what got me this, never mind that it was for a good-hearted reason in a pack I'd been a part of before." As Kaena grinned, Hanna relaxed a little. Now that she was more comfortable around the stormy-furred female, the medic was not afraid to let her guard down, at least a little.
"Yes, I'm from AniWaya. I hold the rank-profession of Gata Hineyu, Fire Maker. It's not a high position, but it's a start. I'm here on my own business, though." Hanna paused, not sure just how much she should say, unsure of what relations were between all the wolf packs and Inferni. She didn't want to start making a good impression only to be chased off because she had been a part of a hated pack. But perhaps better now than later, at a time when the coyote woman could call for reinforcements. Not that she'd need them.
"To make a long story short, while I was a loner, I found a wolf who couldn't shift, scared the shit out of him, chased him into Dahlia de Mai to try to stop him, and ran into my nephew, Haku Soul. He attacked despite that we were within sight of the border, on the leaving side." She leaned back slightly, preparing herself for a barrage of questions as to her part in the Dahlian war and so on and so forth.
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[html] | http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_disorder.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat;"> Oh, durr. I said I was going to give you spare tiemz to reply, but I suck and I wrote a post anyway. D: I sorryz, plz2b a'takin your time in replying. ^^
Kaena herself had learned that same vital lesson that had earned Susquehanna her scars, evident in the slashes across her own muzzle. They were oddly similar in placement, and that thought struck the hybrid with amusement, clearly lighting on her scarred features as she tapped her own russet-splashed muzzle with a gray finger. There were many tiny nicks and cuts, as anywhere else on her body, but only two scars showed plainly, the slashes extending right across her muzzle. Beyond that, the encounter had nearly cost Kaena her life. She had been young and reckless, and unsuspecting of the vengeance the Clouded Tears wolves would take for her hunting on their land.
"A scar is one good way to learn a lesson," she commented solemnly, drly, though the amusement at the unexpected similarity between the two wildly females still clearly showed in her face. The sable woman had seemed to drop her guard, as did Kaena upon first recognizing Susquehanna's familiar scent-badge. Upon the woman's confirmation of her origin, the hybrid woman seemed to relax quite a bit more, listening with interest. A fire-maker obviously made fire, but what use did AniWaya have for fire that it was necessary to dedicate an entire rank to it? Curiosity burned in the silver canine, but she dared not ask, instead nodding and allowing her position to relax further, showing the woman she appreciated the gesture.
"Kaena Lykoi, Inferni's Centurion, second-in-command," she said, introducing herself and stating her title. "I held this position when Inferni was first conceived on the old sands," she said rather proudly, more boastful of the legacy and meaning in that than the title itself. Things had come full circle, and Kaena was quite pleased with the way everything had turned out.
For all of her ease, the coyote could hardly have predicted the next words from the raven-furred wolf's mouth, and her jaw dropped slightly, her yellow eye narrowing at first and then widening right back up again, at first intensely angry and suspicious and then simply shocked, somewhat appalled at Haku Soul's behavior. Kaena had been far less stable in her youth, and she had gone so far as to kill a family member, her very child—but that was quite some time ago, and that act was not a part of her conscious anyway. She clearly recalled the aftermath, but there was no recollection of actually attacking Maeryn, spilling her blood, and tearing her soul from her flesh.
Kaena had not been a part of the Dahlian war, and so naturally she did not recall such events, though she clearly understood why the riot had been incited if Haku was involved in any way. Still, that solo encounter with him was enough to sour most of the pack in her opinion, though they were not enemies which sparked her ire nearly as much as Phoenix Valley, which seemed to have a problem teaching its damn wolves to respect others borders. Twice she had caught wolves from that pack traipsing on coyote land like they owned it.
The ash-colored canid remained quite for a moment, absolutely uncertain as to how to react. She spoke slowly, regarding the woman with that flaming yellow eye as she spoke, scrutinizing the bi-colored eyes for any hint or sign of deception. "I would hope you are of a different breed than your nephew," the coyote half-spat, half-challenged, her anger barely concealed at the mention of the chocolate-colored wolf.
"This is thanks to him," the monochrome woman spoke, her fingers brushing aside the shaggy optime fur to reveal the horrid chunky scar on her collar where Haku had taken a bite of her flesh. Your family is as crazy as mine, she thought gruffly as she allowed the fur to fall back over the healed wound. It was still a shiny red scar, not completely healed but almost there. In the coming months it would pale and pucker like her other injuries, and eventually it would be nothing more than an aching reminder of the Dahlian subleader.
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Wow. I would never have expected to love wordcounttool.com as much as I do now. My post that I thought I lost was saved in the box. x.x
Word Count: 555. Worth 5 points.
The two women had become very at ease with each other, as by degrees their postures became less defensive. Hanna marveled a bit at this; it was not often she was this relaxed around someone, wolf or coyote or dog. It was a good feeling, one she could get used to. At Kaena's somewhat dry comment, Hanna chuckled. "They certainly are. Were it not for Mew, I would be nowhere near Dahlia now. A fighter I am not, and if it came down to a physical confrontation I would lose, probably forfeiting my life." Perhaps it was not a smart admission to make, but it was the truth. And she had no reason to lie to this woman, nothing really to hide.
Moments later, she stated her name and rank. Hanna had come at a relatively fortunate time to be discovered by the second in command. Maybe Kaena was not in charge of the most important decisions, but it was not as though some lower ranked member of Inferni had found her. That could be disastrous for both parties. Kaena went on to confirm Hanna's previous supposition, that she had been in the old lands, too. Her jaws parted again, explaining where she had been in the old lands. "I grew up some ways from the old Inferni, in Chimera. I'd gone there after learning of my mother's abandonment of my younger sister, trying to find her. Right before the fire, I came back to find Syemv, which I had considered joining, missing, and so joined Clouded Tears instead." She had spent a great deal of her time at the lower ranks of Chimera, coming in as the Omega and then climbing very little as she aged. It had rather sucked.
The sable woman was not sure whether Kaena's shock ensuing from the story she told came from Haku attacking his own aunt outright or from some other cause, but she nodded as the other woman fell silent for several long seconds. Hanna felt the tension between them rise again, if only a little, and the ashen hybrid stated, more than asked, that Hanna was different from Haku in that respect. The medic met her amber eye, wavering not one bit but clearly not as a challenge as she spoke. "I have been the initiator of a fight only once in my six and a half years that I remember. I attacked a member of Storm whose hide rivaled yours for scarring and got knocked flat on my ass." She paused, studying the scar on Kaena's collarbone and then shook her head sadly at her nephew. She was afraid that he would get himself hurt badly some day -- even though he'd attacked her, he was still her kin -- but did not know how she would approach the situation adequately anyway.
"He's a big boy and should be doing this himself, but I apologize for my nephew's actions, Kaena, past, present, and future. I fear he's not well, to be truthful. Something seemed... off kilter... when he attacked me. Like there was more to his attacking me than me being in that place at that time."
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[html] | http://sleepyglow.net/rp/kae/kae_razor.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat;"> Now, I mercilessly spam youz. XD <3
The silvery coyote had been taught her lesson well by the wolves of Clouded Tears, and she had done well to heed their teachings, carved across her face and reinforced with blood. The hybrid shrugged her shoulder. "Some of us are good at fighting, others are good at hunting, reading, writing," the hybrid said. Surely, her own life would be easier if everyone was a warrior, but the silvery canine didn't think the world would be a particularly interesting or friendly place if that was the case. The grayscale coyote listened with interest as the shadowy wolf elaborated on the many places she'd been. Dipping her head, the coyote nodded at the mention of Chimera. "Was your alpha Damian de le Poer, or his son?" the coyote asked, her interest piqued.
At the younger canine's mention of the scarred Storm wolf, the hybrid's eye turned incredulous, looking at her sharply. "Skoll, I presume?" she said caustically. The hybrid woman had known one particularly scarred male of Storm, and she had her run-ins with him several times over; it would please Kaena immensely to know he was dead and buried. The hybrid woman still seethed at his gall; it had been enough that he had accosted her on a pack border (which he wasn't even a member of yet, just a prospective one!) and interrogated her there. Then he'd attacked her children, and then he'd demanded an explanation for Inferni's behavior, as if he deserved one; as if his words were anything more than pebbles dropped into a veritable lake of hatred. He had nearly killed one of their own in her youth and cost Kaena her lovely Ahemait.
The silvery hybrid could not help but look at the raven-furred woman with a suspicious yellow eye now; the coyote was extremely distrustful of Haku Soul. She had almost killed him once, and she would not hesitate should she happen upon another chance. The silvery coyote listened to the woman speak her piece, relaxing again just a hair. Haku Soul was a bad thing, though if this woman was his aunt she preceded him in lineage, and whatever malevolence that had touched him was not present in the older woman. "He's a devil," she spat, shaking her head. "Stay the hell away from him. You can't help him," the hybrid said coldly to the woman. If Susquehanna valued her life at all, she would heed the hybrid woman's advice.
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Doobeedoobeedoooo...
Word Count: 555. Worth 5 points.
OOC: So Hanna and Kaena talked for a little longer, and then Kaena decided that she could prolly get away with showing Hanna around the shorter way to the peninsula. Hanna poked around and then Kaena escorted her back and Hanna went back to Mew's.
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