Bahah. XD No worries. I feel like I've done fifty joining threads in three days. XD Not that it's ever a bad thing! And I powerplay, that since Anselm & Kae strung him up together, he'd have called him Bastardo, where she picked up the habit. XDDD We should make everyone do eet.



    The hybrid woman was headed away from the borders herself, having just finished accepting another new face to their midst—one Armistice Shanti. The cream-colored coyote had made a rather good impression on Kaena, and she had gone so far as to mention Anselm himself to the newest acceptee to Inferni's ranks. The fresh Tirones had professed to have exploratory skills in the same line as the Caelum, and Kaena rather imagined the two would make quite a good pair. He was also a hybrid, which was just a passing fact in the Centurion's head anymore—many of their ranks were, and amongst them they had perhaps two or three whole-blooded coyotes.



    This was a good thing in Kaena's opinion. The more muddled blood, the better—that way the wolves would have less resolve to hate them. It pained her to think of strengthening themselves against wolves by using wolf blood. Then again, it was the same line of thinking as the skulls—their size and shape made the skulls unmistakable as canis lupus, and they prided themselves in their keeping. Bastardo, as she had taken to calling the lone wolf who had traipsed on their land and broken their bones—not their actual bones, their ornamental ones—had made quite the addition to their decor.



    Kaena detected sounds behind her, and she turned, waiting to meet whoever it was. There were many more new faces on their territory these days, and from the simple sounds of a comfortable gait Kaena could only determine it was one of their own. The sun was setting now, and shadows were streaking across the forest, devouring the moving figure within them. There was a flash of red eyes, and a wolfish face. Anselm. Despite her easy prior mention of the coyote, the hybrid woman could not help but think of their encounter in the city now. She wondered what the hybrid thought of her and Jacq; if it hadn't been obvious from their easy regard of each other, their lusty gazes and general innuendo as the night wore on had certainly clued him in. It really wasn't his business, no, but the hybrid woman wondered if he'd given it a second though. Jacq was, after all, King of Cour des Miracles, a wolf pack nonetheless, though hardly one Inferni could consider threatening.



    The leaden hybrid gave no outward indication of her thoughts, and she greeted her friend with a rather easy smile, her single brilliant eye meeting his crimson gaze for a moment, fading quickly as she determined his sour mood. Kae herself became more somber, straightening up and approaching him with a murmur in her throat, a growl that dissolved into a whine. "You're looking sour," the coyote commented, settling down to her rear in an invitation for him to lay it on her. They were friends, after all, and if there was something Kaena could do to ease his ill mood, she would help him where she could. The hybrid leaned forward a bit, peering toward her comrade with her striking golden eye, wondering what had gotten him to carry such a bothered face.

    The hybrid woman did not consider age often, as was clearly evident from her pursuits. The closest in age had been Zulifer, right in line with her own age. From there, the gap only seemed to widen, dancing on indecency with Ahren. She had thought of that, giving him children so early in life, maybe it was wrong—but it was long in the past now, and she would hardly forsake her de le Poer children given the chance to go back and do things over again. She didn't know Jacq's exact age, but there was at least five years between them. It hardly bothered her; she had certainly enjoyed their encounter and she would leap at the chance to repeat it. Except for Fatin. The hybrid woman kicked herself inwardly as she thought of the russet female. She still hadn't resolved that particular conflict.



    The man's spirits seemed to lift a little with her presence, which was a good sign to the silvery hybrid. He wasn't so down he couldn't still smile. She nodded in agreement, thinking of their many new faces. The hybrid woman wondered how many would stay; the coyote clan seemed to suffer from drifters' syndrome, and the hybrid woman did not expect more than three would ascend to the Immunes ranks before they left again. It was a disheartening thought, but the hybrid woman could always be proven wrong. There were quite a few of them, after all. "It'd sure seem so. Our numbers have picked up, at least," she said brightly. There was no reason to have reservations about any of their new faces—none had given her reason to suspect they would flounce off again, otherwise they would not have gained rank amongst them. Of any of them, the hybrid woman hoped Razekiel would remain most of all.



    His question confused her for a moment, for Anselm had certainly been present for Razekiel's return. It occurred to her, then, that he might have been asking about his own ilk. She had met Ryan previously, and the woman had mentioned her relation to Anselm. Prior to that, she had met Valkyrie, and through that meeting she knew of that youth's relation to Anselm in turn. Frowning, the hybrid shook her head. "Aside from Razekiel, no," she said, the apology apparent on her face. "Do you know why they left?" the coyote asked cautiously. She only knew that Ryan had gone, other than that the circumstances behind her promotion were unknown to the hybrid woman.

A Flogging Molly song! I forget which, but it's on their newest CD, "Float."



    The coyote woman gave a half-hearted shrug of her shoulders. None had stood out exceptionally from the others, and it would seem they were all on about the same level."All in good condition," she said. "There's a good variety of skills. I suggested to the very newest, Armistice, to seek you out. He said he liked to explore," the coyote said with a smile. Perhaps if Anselm was feeling up to it, he could immerse himself in work; it generally helped to keep the mind on busy tasks, otherwise ennui simply gave ill thoughts time to brew and sour.



    The coyote woman knew nothing of DaVinci, and if she had she would have disapproved of him just as strongly as others had. He was a good-for-nothing little brat, and Kaena could not see what Ryan could have seen in him. She'd encountered him twice thus far, and both times she'd been mocked, and both times she'd tasted his blood for it. Simple, really—but the hybrid woman would have kept her mouth shut, unless the auburn coyote had flaunted their relationship, which had not seemed to. The ash-colored female was not unfamiliar with liasons that nobody else seemed to approve of, but she had a rather personal reason to dislike DaVinci. Still, this did not register on her head as Anselm spoke.



    In the minutes of his speech the coyote remained silent and contemplative, listening with care as he spoke. The hybrid woman hardly knew the specifics of his relationship with his family, although she had gotten the impression things were somewhat strained. Then again, looking at how Kaena and Gabriel had acted toward each other on occasion, one could hardly call their relationship absolutely peaceful. "You know that I have had many children. All of which were born in Inferni—every last one. How many remain now? Two? Three?" the hybrid shook her head. The numbers spoke the loudest, and her kin were growing scarce.



    "But with Razekiel's return, I can tell you that all but one other has returned to me at some point," the hybrid woman said, thinking of Conway. "I do not think that will be the last of either of them you see," the hybrid added reassuringly. "It's not easy." The coyote's voice took on a new sort of tone to it with this last statement, thinking of Kerberos and Maeryn. Oh, what she'd thrown away there. "It only seems it because I've had practice now. I was not a good mother to my first-born children." It was difficult for Kaena to admit failure, but here was one of her most glaring errors.

Wow, fail for not having this thread on my log. :/



    The coyote woman was pretty satisfied with Inferni's level of defense; they had their strong, well-marked borders. You had to be stupid or just crazy not to notice the skulls dangling from the trees and placed oh-so-casually on pikes, after all. Then there were the scent-borders, which they made sure to keep up quite well with. The hybrid woman didn't suspect anybody would or could try to enter their territory through the inlet, unless of course, they had a boat. The coyote nodded, and grinned. "Of course. No use being sneaky if everybody knows your name and your face," she said almost cheerily.



    The silvery Centurion often wondered when she would see some of her lost and forgotten children again; it had been a long time since Kaena had seen some of them. She still wondered what had become of her eldest, Kerberos, who had not shown face since Gabriel was a young child. The hybrid coyote supposed that was entirely her fault; what connection did Kerberos have to Kaena, anyway? The hybrid woman had hardly been a mother to the poor boy, and he was the only remnant of Zulifer Yfel left anywhere in the world. "The world isn't such a large place, and a mother and child have a special kind of bond. I think they will find each other out there," the coyote said, smiling and almost wishing the same could be said for Eris and herself. Whatever bond had existed between those two had certainly shattered.



    The coyote did not know Anselm had family extending beyond Ryan and Valkyrie; it intrigued her to learn this. The de le Poer line had continued somewhere else, it seemed—or several somewhere elses, if she understood Anselm correctly. The hybrid appeared contemplative, churning his words over in her head before offering her reply. "At least you sought them out to make an offer—and I'm sure the rest of your children know it still stands. Someday they might come. Attitudes change, minds change," the coyote said. "Besides, I do think Ryan considers this place home, and if that is the truth, she will return to you," the coyote added, confident of this. So long as Anselm remained accessible and here, he would see his daughter again.

WUTWUT? :O



    Kaena often missed her own children, thinking where they might have spread, where they might have gone—how far had they all traveled? The coyote woman missed her children sorely and quite often, but at least she was secure in the knowledge that they knew where to find her if they sought her own. True, she'd been absent for quite some time, but even then, Gabriel had been here to receive his siblings and half-siblings. Gabriel had remained here to carry on the Lykois into the next generations, taking the torch from his mother and carrying it onward. For that alone, the coyote woman would always be grateful, though there were many more reasons to love her golden son. In truth, she hardly needed a reason—until he gave her a reason not to love him, as Vitium had, the hybrid would remain in her devotion.



    Though Anselm had seemed rather down when they'd first encountered each other, his mood seemed to be lifting as the conversation progressed, and for that the hybrid was glad. She considered him a friend, and she didn't like to see friends with heavy hearts, so where she could help, she would. The hybrid grinned at his words, though she didn't know why one would rewind a watch. The only kind she'd ever seen were broken modern-styled ones, the digital type that no longer displayed numbers properly. "The past is the past," she agreed with a nod. "I'll hold you to that," she said with a grin, referring of course to his assertion that he would remain here in wait for them.

Dawwww. Kae should give Anselm a tattoo as a gift. XD



    The hybrid woman was glad to see her friend's spirits lift up; she was quite familiar with his pain and she did not like it one bit, so she could not imagine any other creature appreciating it. It was one thing to be separate from one's children by their own choice; that seemed natural. Children were given to wandering when they hit a certain age; that was simply par for the course. But Anselm had not been around for Ryan's childhood, so Kaena had gathered, so perhaps it was a greater blow to be teased with the promise of a stable relationship with his daughter, only to have it yanked away again. The hybrid woman could very well be subject to the same thing herself, someday—hadn't she walked away from Rachias and Arkham, after all?



    The silvery coyote was intrigued by Anselm's request, so she hopped to her feet and followed after him quickly, meandering in the direction of the caves with him. They weren't far, and the hybrid waited beyond his door, peering curiously toward the shadow where Anselm had disappeared off to. The coyotes were extremely territorial and possessive of their own space when it came to outsiders, and Kaena was not keen to find out if that same protective instinct extended to expressly personal space. After all, Kae wouldn't have enjoyed an uninvited intrusion, no matter who was doing the intruding. The coyote waited, watching as the wolf hybrid reappeared a moment later, something shining and gold in his mouth.



    The hybrid listened to his explanation and dipped her head for him to place it around her neck, picking it up from her chest as soon as it had landed there, her yellow eye flaring upwards in confusion for a moment as Anselm said his good-bye for the evening and made his retreat, scarcely in time for Kaena to utter her thanks. "Thank you," she called, though she still wasn't absolutely certain what it was he'd given her. Studying the face of the watch, realization dawned on her, and a slow, simple smile spread across the Centurion's face. A watch—Anselm given her time, perhaps not in the very form she desired, but ridiculously appropriate nonetheless. Time stretched behind and in front of then indefinitely, and the hybrid was certainly still trapped in the past.