not the man i thought i'd be.

Rurik Russo · 01-26-2010, 10:00 PM

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So, the silver-furred werewolf had quite a bit of nervousness bubbling in him today, though his merry, bright-eyed face did not evince this well. He was very close to Inferni, the closest he'd come in a long time, and he knew that might anger the clan. The Russian wolf had absolutely no idea what was going on in the clan these days, and that downright bothered him. He certainly trusted Gabriel to know what was best for Silas, but he still felt that pesky, fatherly need to come and bother his adolescent son and make sure he was getting along alright. That was, after all, what fathers did, and Rurik was quite interested in being a good father to Silas. The boy—no, he was a man now, Rurik was sure—did not deserve to feel abandoned by his father as Rurik's elder children had.

The grizzled wolf plodded closer to the borders, giving respectful distance between himself and the edge of Inferni territory. He wasn't about to go wandering all up and down their coast; just because his son was a member didn't mean a damn thing where he was concerned. Leaning back against one of the trees, the werewolf decided to have a smoke, figuring the scent of burning tobacco might draw an attentive nose as well as a howl might draw an attentive ear. He flicked the match against the pack and tapped lightly at the hand-rolled cigarette, the freshest tobacco spiced with flavorings wrapped up inside. Though it was early afternoon, it was not particularly bright or sunny today; it was as overcast and cloudy as any winter day the Russian had ever seen.

Table by Erin
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Vieira Lykoi · 01-26-2010, 10:43 PM

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Kaena decided earlier that morning to get Vieira out of the cave and to the borders again. The woman had rarely left the cave since her attack. Leaving the cave for a few yards scared the slave and she returned as quickly as she could do complete a task for Kaena or rest in her room until she was called. Being abused and beaten by her owners was one thing, that much was driven into her mind, but the attack from a complete stranger that had nearly taken her life put a fear in her she had not felt before. When Kaena said they were going to the border, ever muscle in her body tightened and she wanted to object, but no matter how much she did, she was not able to stick up for herself.

The trip to the border, Vieira walked as close as she possibly could to her owner and refused to step away until an irritation was announced. The slave would have been content never leaving the cave again but her owner had been intent on dragging her out here and she could not object. The bandage around her torso had come off several days ago, the wound on her back scabbed over and ugly and sure enough to leave a large and unattractive scar. Vieira did not concern herself with what she looked like, it never seemed to matter to anyone. She was a slave and she needed nothing more. Canines would take that they wanted and when and she was no more ugly or attractive to them. She was a source and that was the extent of it.

Vieira gripped the knife in her hand, a tool that felt awkward when she was not using it to cook a meal for them. Anything more than that seemed strange to her and using it as a weapon to defend herself was far from her mind. It was weird to think that she could put damage on something but she was not sure she could make herself. Astaroth laughed in her head. He made sure she could not get to something that could hurt him or herself and when he was comfortable she would do no such thing was when she had access and he knew then that any control she had over anything was gone and she was forever helpless.

Walking on the borders was quiet and Vieira did not pay as much attention to Kaena. She was sure the woman was nearby but when Vieira spun on her heels, the hybrid was gone. Her golden eyes widened unnaturally and her breath lodged in her throat, feeling lost and panicked. "Miss Kaena?" she called, her voice high as she moved a few steps forward and finding she could not see the woman. Her scent was everywhere, making it difficult to follow, and a few minutes later she ran into a man leaning against a tree. Finding Kaena was top priority but her feet became glued to the ground as she watched the figure, the scent of smoke lingering, and she took a step back. Remembering the knife in her hand, the woman robotically lifted it in front of her face to show she had a weapon but her movements were enough to show she had no idea what she was doing.

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Rurik Russo · 01-26-2010, 11:07 PM

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The pale-furred Russian tapped at his cigarette gently, drawing the smoke into his lungs. He had been a smoker most of his life, though the habit was not as heavy as some others—he generally restricted himself to a single cigarette per day. He was not so careful with his other substances, but it was not as if he derived great pleasure from smoking tobacco. It was not the same as drinking or smoking marijuana to him; there was a little bit of a buzzed reaction to the tobacco but on the whole, it did not bowl him over as some other substances did. Anything that felt good was alright by Rurik, however, and perhaps that was why he did not grapple with his bisexuality beyond feeling social awkwardness about allowing it to come into the open. It still felt good, and it didn't make him feel weird anymore, so what was the point in denying it? Hiding it was another matter entirely; the silver-furred werewolf pictured himself as quite the ladies' man, and he was not interested in tarnishing that reputation.

By the time he was flicking off the tiny butt of the cigarette, the could make out the sounds of an approach—they were quick, light little steps, and Rurik mistook that for some type of border patrol, straightening himself up. It wasn't as if he was a representative of one of the packs, but he was the father of one of the hybrid members here, and he had to look good. The tiny little coyote who approached him, however, did not appear to Rurik to be any sort of border patrol; the silver-furred Russian was shocked, his pretty face beginning to evince his surprise at the smaller canine's appearance. He had been expecting bulk, muscle—someone like Gabriel! The frightened way the smaller coyote waved her little knife at him caused a huge grin to split across his cloud-colored muzzle, and he tilted his head to the side, peering down at the other canine. "Ain't no need for that, love," he said, still grinning his amusement down at her.

Vieira Lykoi · 01-26-2010, 11:29 PM

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Even if she did not look at his face, she felt like she was being laughed at or mocked. She knew she did not know what to do with the weapon and she was sure that much was obvious; it did not even make her feel any better having it. The other could make an easy demand for her to drop it and naturally, the woman would comply. His voice had a laughter to it, and Astaroth had the same. He had a few things to say, as well, and that started to drive her a little crazy. Vieira found silence after Rurik spoke and her eyes stared at his chest, watching him breathe. The only way to try and tune the voice in her head out was to focus on details, and the grain of the wolf's fur held her attention for the time being. Sometimes it was all she had to get her by and her golden eyes did not stray far from this point.

Her height at holding the knife faltered slightly and dropped a few inches but it remained in the air. Her arm was tired but she held it out and took a careful step backward. Trying to run had done little for when the last wolf attacked her and she knew it would be the only way to make sure she stayed safe. Stalling seemed like a stupid idea but perhaps if she managed enough time, Kaena would find her and make sure she would be all right. The longer she stood, the worse she started to feel. The seconds felt like hours and she waited for his move. The muscles in her arms were crying out against being held for so long but she could not put the knife down. She had to try, it could help save her.

Rurik Russo · 01-26-2010, 11:50 PM

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Rurik hardly knew fear. He was the adventurous sort, and as he sensed no danger from this coyote, he was not afraid of her. The clan behind her was a different story, however, and he knew his fatherhood to Silas and friendship to Gabriel would not save him the clan's wrath if he did happen to cross them. So the Russian wolf was on his absolute best behavior, grinning broadly at the other canine even as she dropped the knife a bit. "There you go, love," he said, still grinning his encouragement. "I am not here to hurt you—I am looking for someone, maybe you can help?" he said, perking his coal-tipped ears up, the tip of his tail wavering in the air.

He was wearing Strel's new pants, naturally, and they hugged at the werewolf's sharp hips, their numerous pockets and rather manly designs absolutely perfect for the Russian werewolf. He hadn't really expected anything in return for the alcohol; he knew trading and barter was not so big on this continent, but it had been more than a pleasant surprise to receive these, and the werewolf's continued use of the new garments were enough to evince this fact. Strel surely would have been pleased to find Rurik wearing the gifts. "I'm a friend of Gabriel's," the Russian wolf added, his white-blue eyes focused on the pale yellow of the other canine's gaze. He did not drop the name to impress anyone; the tawny coyote appeared rather scared to Rurik, and he wanted to comfort her with familiarity—surely she knew the Aquila of the clan.

Vieira Lykoi · 01-27-2010, 12:06 AM

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The man spoke again, trying to coax her out of holding her weapon and Vieira lifted her gaze only slightly to look at his expression before she looked on to something else; his tattoo. Her eyes narrowed a little as she looked at it, her arm slowly dropping and the knife hung lazily at her side. Her fingers gripped it again, wanting to raise it up against her face but she did not. Having it in the open made her feel better but she could not hold it up any longer. Mainly because her muscles were giving out, tired now, and Rurik had explained himself. The woman did not know whether or not to believe him and she did her best to keep quiet. She still had no words, even if he wanted her help. In the back of her mind, her goal was to get him out of here or to get her away from this area.

Her heart beat heavily against her chest, as if it would break through the ribcage that held it inside. He spoke again, a few moments later, to speak of his relevance to Gabriel. Her jaws parted and she offered a silent oh that did not escape to anything audible. Vieira still said nothing and waited for whatever he wanted to find out, whoever he wanted to find. She really did not think she would be help but she knew Kaena could be. Her head turned to look around him, trying to find someone that was nearby. Snake had just happened to be there when she needed him and she knew Kaena was not supposed to be far off, even if she could not find her. Her jaw tightened, trying to look through the trees to find the woman that was supposed to be out here with her.

Rurik Russo · 01-27-2010, 12:23 AM

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The werewolf was puzzled by the other canine's silence and fear; he did not understand why the other canine seemed so fearful. She was on her own territory, home free, with the entire clan at her back. The silver-furred werewolf had no idea how large Inferni had grown recently, but he knew that Gabriel was a force to be reckoned with, and the man was quite glad that he had never been on the golden hybrid's bad side. His bright blue eyes sized up Vieira and his grin became more friendly and less amused, almost determined to prove he posed no threat. Lifting his hands up to show they were empty, the man didn't move from his spot on the tree; he remained quite still other than to raise his empty hands. The last thing he wanted was to scare her further, possibly even into running. That would not reflect well on him.

She didn't seem entirely averse to him now, as if perhaps his link to Gabriel had provided her with some comfort, though her bright yellow eyes were still quite fearful, their width and openness serving to evince her fright to Rurik. His smile didn't fade, and he spoke again, thinking to expand on his purpose. "I'm, uh, Rurik Russo. My son, Silas, he moved here to Inferni recently... I was kinda hoping to see how he was doing," the werewolf said. He assumed Vieira was like any other member of Inferni, capable and willing to tread out in public to meet her clanmates; he had no idea of her true rank and purpose within the clan, and it might have weirded him out a fair bit if he had. Arhkangel'sk did not engage in slavery, though he had certainly seen evidence of it in other parts of the world.

Vieira Lykoi · 01-27-2010, 12:49 AM

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With her staring at Rurik in order to keep her mind away from listening to Astaroth, she started to see his fur color change into what she thought was the wolf that had attacked her. A tawny golden color started to take him over and she had to shake her head in order to stop it. Her fear was exaggerated and she could not stop it from getting too far. The attack she had gone through had been as frightening as anything, she had not been able to protect herself when she wanted to, and it was as if Astaroth's work was in process. He made sure she could not defend herself, it made her far more inferior than anyone else in her race. She was far less than a coyote or a wolf or any other canine and he had succeeded. It was the first time a stranger had attacked her and could have very well been the last.

Rurik's voice held her attention and she blinked, trying to think of the name but she was not able to place it. "S-sorry," she stuttered quietly and shook her head. "I do not know that name," she said and lifted one of her feet to take a step back but she did not move. She wished Kaena would show up to take over, to give her a break, or even see how she was doing. Perhaps it would be enough to send her back to the cave but she did not get that relief. Her owner did not show up through the shrubbery in the background and she was left standing awkwardly, holding a weapons he did not understand, and waiting for something to happen. She hoped this would be the end. She gave him the information she had, though it was not what he was looking for.

Rurik Russo · 01-27-2010, 01:33 AM

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The silver-furred werewolf might not have been so surprised to hear that Vieira had not met Silas if he had known how big the clan had gotten. Thirty-two members was unheard of; that rivaled the size of his own known family, for sure—and there were a hell of a lot of Russos. The werewolf did not hold any prejudices toward coyotes or their far-continent cousins, the jackal, though he had heard stories of jackals making war on entire cities, overthrowing their wolfen owners. Such things happened far to the south of his own snowy homeland, however, and he doubted Sobirat'sya was under any direct threat. The cold was clearly too much for the warm-weather canines to handle; they were built for the desert life, as their large ears clearly served to evince.

"Ah," he said, disappointment on his grizzled face. It faded quickly, and he offered her another smile. "No matter, perhaps he will come by," he added. He didn't want to seem like a creep, standing around on the borders all by his lonesome, so he thought to start a conversation with the tawny-furred woman, having noticed she hadn't offered her name. "What's your name?" he said, his hands dropping to dawdle around his hips, though he kept his fingers away from Ilya. There was no reason to pull out a sword here and now; such a thing might cause the smaller canine some kind of heart attack or something like that, and that was the absolute last thing Rurik wanted to happen.

Vieira Lykoi · 01-28-2010, 11:17 PM

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This was one of the reasons she did not like coming to the borders, when others were here. She had been awkward around Anu, attacked by a wolf, and was no less awkward around this man. Him being a man only amplified it and she had a hard time standing in place. She wanted to turn and run but at the same time, she wanted to make Kaena happy. She had wanted her out here and only separated her for a moment, the woman could not be that far off? It would not take much to break the small slave and her life could be over in seconds, Kaena surely would not make it in time if something happened. Her jaw tightened as she brought these scenarios to her mind and added weights to her feet to keep her planted. Vieira hoped her owner would come in at any second but the longer she waited, the less she was believing this would happen.

"Vieira Lykoi," she said quietly and her lips twisted slightly as she spoke the name. Anselm had been set on trying to find who she was related to in the family and ultimately made her feel a little alienated more than she already was. It stressed her out that he was finding her ties back to whoever or trying to push her out for explanations. She did not understand the extent of the name as much as she should have, perhaps, but Kaena never objected or taken the name from her and left her with that of her father's. If Lykoi was taken away, Vieira doubted she would tag a name onto her. It was not important to her, nothing really was. Even Vieira was just something to respond to and she would easily respond to something else should someone decide it.

Rurik Russo · 01-29-2010, 12:02 AM

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The furthest thing on Rurik's mind was attempting to hurt this coyote. She was a member of Gabriel's clan, and anyway, Rurik didn't generally stoop to violence. He would not hesitate to protect his family, of course, but when it came down to nastiness... well, he wasn't a fan. He had been known to lose control of himself in the past, of course, but that was when he was quite thoroughly drunk, and someone had provoked him. He was not drunk now, and there was nothing in the tawny female's body language or face that told him she would try to prod at his sore spots. She was more frightened than he was, anyway, but Rurik was determined to make a good impression. He was not normally one wont to machination, and this was no different. He sank down a bit lower, moving slowly still to keep from startling her, and finally settled down with his back against the tree, thinking perhaps lowering himself to her level might help her relax.

“Good to meet you,” he said warmly. He recognized the name, of course—he'd heard of that surname many times, but he wasn't entirely familiar with their structure, naturally. He was no more a Lykoi than Vieira was a Russo. “Have you lived here long?” He was quite aware that Inferni had existed for a long, long time—these coyotes were far more ingrained into this society than his own brief Syemv. The silver-furred werewolf did not desire his pack to come back, however; he was not leadership material and he never had been. Captaining a ship was an entirely different matter from leading a pack; there were similarities here and there, and while Rurik did possess the charisma to rally canines behind him, he lacked tactical knowledge as well as knowledge of how pack society truly worked. He had been raised in Sobirat'sya, after all, and his family's structure was radically different from any pack.

Vieira Lykoi · 01-29-2010, 02:11 AM

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Vieira did not return the same greeting as he had. She did not find it was necessary for her to say such a thing. To her, she could have gone on without knowing the man. It would have saved her a bit of stress and she would not be far from her owner. She felt such a dependence on her out here more than usual but after her attack, it was to be expected. Her idea of fear was heightened and she flinched at any little sound that happened around her. Already paranoid and worried by nature, this on top of it was enough to make her look a little crazy. Anselm had pushed her to a point that she could not take anymore, just as Rikka had, and it was bound to happen with Rurik. He was asking questions now and soon he would run into one that she would not be able to handle, that pushed too far into her mind that she had no other reason to linger and did her best to get away.

"N-no," she said quietly her free hand flexing and then tapping against her thigh. The hand that held the knife gripped even tighter, the rough insides of her hands scratching against the handle. "A little more than a month," she added with explanation. It was the only place she had ever lived (that she remembered) besides Eterne. She had spent almost two months in her mother's care before Astaroth had taken the woman's life and taken her to a long life of abuse and fear that controlled her even today. Astaroth had been dead for almost two years now and he still succeeded in controlling her. Even if Kaena was her owner, there were parts of herself that would never leave the bindings of her father.

Rurik Russo · 02-12-2010, 08:19 AM

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The tawny-furred woman was meek and mild in this interaction, and she still seemed quite certain that Rurik had been sent here to hurt her. Rurik was woefully ignorant; he had no knowledge of Inferni's war dealings and he certainly would have taken far greater interest in Silas's presence here if he had, so for now the other canine's behavior was virtually a mystery to him. The silver-furred werewolf could not figure out why she seemed to have a permanent quietus applied to her; it was as if there was some sort of muzzle permitting her to speak only occasionally. The silver-furred werewolf wasn't certain what that was, but he was determined to fix it, or at least make her more comfortable around him. He considered her answer with a smile, and nodded his head. “Do you stay in one place for long? I like to travel,” he offered. “I've seen a lot of the world,” he said, thinking it was a good avenue of conversation—many canines were intrigued by his adventures. Maybe this one was no different.

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