◦Nala Garner

◦February 19th, 2009

◦Regular coyote

◦Male

◦(AIM) HuggleSquishGirl



Private for Zero and Anselm! <3 515 words.

     The small coyote yapped happily to himself as he trotted closer and closer to his destination. This entire area was new to him, completely foreign and very cold. Normally, this might deter him from his travels, but it simply was not going to happen today. He was too excited! There were rumors of canines that could walk on two legs, a preposterous idea in the first place, and there were also words on the wind that there was an entire clan of coyotes that could do this. Intrigued, Nala had left his own small family to seek out this supposed clan and to see the amazing two-legged canines. He absolutely did not believe the rumors, but a whole clan of coyotes was just exciting enough for him to want to see it! As far as he knew, coyotes never really ran with packs or anything, just in small family circles. He wanted to see this!

     Of course, his family had not been happy to see him go, but he only assumed that this was because he was so young and they loved him. “We just worry about you, Nala,” his mother had said to him before he left, and he did not begrudge them that. It was not something he knew, but they were worried about his ability to interact with others. Nala had never been much of a social creature, and his siblings often picked on him, calling him “stupid” and “dummy,” insults that were only met with deaf ears by the young boy. It had never occurred to him that they really meant those things—certainly his family could not really be that mean! He had always thought that they were joking around with him, and he had always laughed in response, much to their obvious annoyance. Well, it was obviously to everyone but himself, and it worried his parents.

     A sharp scent caught him then, and thankfully, he recognized it as scent-marked borders that he should not cross. He yipped louder, twice, and then waited with a large grin for someone to come greet him. Maybe, if the rumors were true, they would even be walking on two legs! That would definitely be exciting. With a small thud, Nala lowered his rear end to the ground, lifting one of his back legs to scratch an itch behind his left ear. Wide, golden eyes closed and the smile widened while he scratched, enjoying what was almost a tickling sensation until it finally was not helping anymore and he lowered his leg, resuming his open-mouthed grin while he waited for someone to show up. He did not know the usual procedure for such things, or even what he wanted, but he wanted to know if the rumors were true! For the first time, the skulls on their sticks caught his attention, and he stared at them in confusion. What kind of coyotes wanted skulls all over the place? Nala swallowed, growing steadily unsure if this was the best place for him to go. No matter his worries, though, the grin returned while he waited.

@&#&$The greenhouse operations were progressing nicely. The skeleton of the building had been completely assembled and anchored, and although it now appeared a rather inglorious network of PVC pipe and timbre, he knew soon it would be a nice little refuge for plants of all sorts year round. Only the roof was fitted with with the plastic sheeting; he'd left the sides all open so Cassius would have room to work with the stove and whatever exhaust system was necessary. Hopefully he would catch the mechanically inclined coyote soon; surely the man was aware of the progress being made in his own backyard.
@&#&$Anselm liked escaping to D'Neville Mansion to work on the little building--nowadays, it was his primary means of escape. The severity of the war was escalating; the little lull that'd fallen over them shortly after its declaration had been nothing more than the calm before the storm. He'd come across several smashed skulls and the scents of three Dahlians who were apparently met head-on by Hybrid, Cotl, Hezekiah, and one of the new recruits he hadn't met. Other reports trickled in periodically as well, and with each new development Anselm felt himself drawn more heavily to the borders.
@&#&$Today some unlikely exuberant yapping caught his attention and he immediately set a direct course for its source. He spotted a younger coyote sitting on their perimeter: one who came equipped with a big goofy grin that bespoke his ignorance to the war. Presumably, then, this was not one of the newer faces he hadn't met--if it was someone who was already accepted, they wouldn't be waiting on the border anyway. Although he was not shifted into his bipedal state, the wolfish hybrid towered over the youth in his transitional secui form, and perhaps--to the uninitiated--seemed other worldly large. "You look mighty pleased for a man sitting on the cusp of no-man's-land and a nation at war," he remarked, crimson eyes looking him over steadily as he approached.

◦520 words.

     The skulls were really starting to wig him out, but Nala did not quite understand what their meaning was. Really, they were just gross, even if they did seem pretty clean for something that came out of someone’s head—oh, gross! Obviously, he was not happy to see these decorations, if you will, and he was curious to know what their purpose was. They looked like canine skulls, but probably too big to belong to coyotes. He had never seen a human or a human skull or anything related to the humans, really; his family had been a normal coyote family, living in a den in the ground in an area further south than here. Nala had only seen a wolf once, and it had been much larger than him, so perhaps these were wolf skulls on the strange pikes. Even with this vague idea of recognition, though, Nala had no idea why the coyotes might want to surround their land with wolf skulls on sticks. It seemed most unpleasant.

     At the sound of another’s approach, Nala yipped excitedly again, grinning widely as he quickly forgot about the skulls on the border. His eyes widened in surprise at the sheer size of the coyote—he was massive! He was not walking on two legs, but he most certainly was larger than any coyote than he had ever seen, especially himself. “How come you’re so big?” he asked in complete awe and surprise, still staring at the clan member. Maybe this was what everyone had been talking about when they had been speaking of the two-legged canines. He supposed it was possible that they might mistake something so large for something that was able to walk on two legs, as Nala was still very skeptical of the idea that there were canines that really could do that. It seemed highly unlikely, because really, what creatures could walk on two legs? As far as he knew, the only ones he could think of were birds, but they also had wings to fly with and stuff.

     “What is. . . war?” he asked, crinkling his nose in confusion. Everything that the clan member had said was too much for him to comprehend, other than the fact that he looked pleased. Despite the skulls and the other’s massive, towering size, it was true. Nala was very happy and excited! “Well, never mind that. I was told that there are coyotes that can walk on two legs and that there was a whole clan of them here! I wanted to see what it was all about,” he added, as that was obviously all that he would need to say. It was pure curiosity that had pulled him in the direction of Inferni, and he was curious to know everything that the massive male could tell him. “Oh, I’m Nala!” he added excitedly, staring at the coyote expectantly for answers to everything he had said. He was certain he could find something to do here, once he figured out what was going on with the whole. . . Two-legged canine thing. Such a strange concept, that.

@&#&$Anselm's stature, while impressive for a hybrid, was hardly noteworthy otherwise. He'd give the average male wolf a run for his money, sure, but folks like Jantus or Jazper towered over him and every so often he'd even come across a female that had some height on him (like Naniko). Still, he was easily among the most sizeable in the coyote clan and the boy's question didn't seem particularly odd to him. He assumed the boy was questioning his blood. Werewolf lifestyle was so engrained in their culture he didn't give that idea a second thought. His tattooed ear flicked dismissively as he spoke. "My father was a pure wolf, and my dam a mix breed herself," he admitted readily, eyeing the other warily as if to say you got a problem with it?
@&#&$The boy spoke again and he frowned; maybe this one was simply wet behind the ears. Before he could explain, the coyote began to babble about "two legged coyotes" and here he reconsidered the boy's first inquiry. "Eh? Yea; most of the wolves and coyotes around here can shift. I'm in the halfway state right now," he offered, his dark tipped tail flicking behind him as he pondered where the youth might be from. It had to have been somewhere mighty isolated if he'd neither experienced war nor luperci before. "Anyway, we're in a large scale conflict with the neighbouring pack to the west; Dahlia de Mai. We're going to finish what they started when their psychopath of an alpha attacked one of our leaders," he explained, figuring that subject wasn't finished yet.

@&#&$"Not really sure what your plans are, but I'd watch your back around here if I were you. I've got a hunch they're attacking any and all coyotes on sight, regardless of affiliation," he said with a soft snort, red eyes rolling slightly. If they were dumb enough to pledge blind obedience and loyalty to Haku, they were dumb enough to attack first and ask questions later. "Name's Anselm," he added at length, peering at Nala questioningly--what was his plan now?

◦540 words.

     It had never occurred to him even that wolves and these so-called mixed breeds could mate together, but Nala could only assume that this male was at least part coyote, albeit an absurdly large one. Otherwise, he would not be hanging around in the area completely destined for coyotes, obviously. Anselm’s look after her spoke was completely missed by the young boy, so wrapped up in all of his questions as he so happened to be at that point in time. It was not likely he would have noticed it in any other situation, though, unfortunately. Nala had a knack for missing important parts of body language, tones, and facial expressions, but he never really seemed the worse for wear. He was scrawny, but not tattered and beaten and scarred, which was surprising, considering how many times he pissed people off. Oh well.

     “No way!” he shouted excitedly, bouncing up from his sitting position to stare at Anselm incredulously. “You mean that there really are those?” he asked in awe, obviously referring to the ones who could walk on two legs. The rest of the explanation went in one ear, out of the next as he was not completely capable of processing such complex information. The idea that canines could actually change between two forms was already an awful lot to process, and adding in a third form in the middle was more than he was, unfortunately, capable of handling. “That’s so cool! I didn’t believe it when I heard it, but I guess I should’ve, because it’s true!” He was very excited over something so common for most in the area, but he could not help it. This was all very new to him.

     Wrinkling his nose in confusion, Nala spent a few moments considering the explanation, tossing it around in his mind awkwardly. Anselm had used some words he did not understand, but he could gather that this other pack’s leader attacked their leader, and that really wasn’t cool. “Is your leader okay?” he questioned, finally deciding that would be a good question to ask. It was possible that the Inferni leader was still okay, but Nala did not understand the concept of war and he did not see why there needed to be fighting. Regardless, though, if the other ones had done it first, then the coyotes really should retaliate. It would be silly not to do so, just incase those wolves decided to try again.

     It seemed very unsafe to be wandering around alone, and he suddenly wished he had not come at all in the first place. So what if he wanted to learn about the two-legged canines? It certainly wouldn’t be worth losing his life over! Unless, of course, he could find somewhere to be safe, with his own (relatively speaking, since he could not shift) kind. “Could I stay here? Maybe I can help! I never really learned how to fight, but I can run really fast! I can!” He did not really know what else he could do to help and stay safe, but maybe his small stature and speed could be used for some crazy, strange, unknown to him war tactic. Anything was possible, obviously, or there wouldn’t be two-legged canines!

@&#&$His black nails dug into the cold, hard earth as if he were expecting some sort of charge to come along with the coyote's enthusiastic outburst. Though his expression remained neutral all the while, he was relieved that Nala managed to restrain himself. "Erm.. yep. I know more shifters than not," he confirmed, one brow cocked incredulously. "Guess it might sound weird if you didn't grow up with it," he added, giving the young coyote the benefit of the doubt. "Only a handful of ways to pick it up yourself if you weren't born with it, though," he continued, assuming that this concern might logically follow from Nala's general interest in the subject. Sex and blood... he wasn't sure if the boy was old enough for the former. Anselm had been screwing around by his age, but this kid didn't seem quite up to speed.
@&#&$"Kaena is fine; she'll be better when Haku is dead and buried, I'd assume," he said with a slight shrug. He really wasn't too keen on the details--all he knew was that she seemed fine physically though Vieira had spoken of her being "off" mentally. Truthfully, Anselm had been away in Halifax for most of her initial recovery--he hadn't witnessed the extent of her troublesome binge drinking, as he'd been preoccupied with his own personal projects and pursuits. "But yeah, feel free to stick around. Scouts for border patrol are just as important as soldiers for battle. You can always keep an eye on the perimeter, and if you find someone who doesn't belong, call for the rest of the clan to help drive them out," he instructed him simply, figuring that was that.

@&#&$Had the boy struck him as less naive, he might have suggested him for several espionage missions--if things got sticky, he could run away (or, if he'd found something particularly interesting, he could jet back to Inferni with the news). As things stood, he wasn't sure if the youngster would even know what information to search for (much less what to say if he was somehow caught). Not being too keen on indirect death sentences, he supposed another set of eyes and ears on the border was just as well. Figuring they were done, he offered a quick dip of his head to their newest Tirones and set off to continue his round.