the old switcheroo.

Barrett · 05-24-2011, 06:41 PM

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The shrill hum of cicadas, interspersed with a chorus of chirping crickets, sang an ode to the day's final hour as Barrett at last came to rest on Inferni's southern border. The first leg of his journey--which took him through Ethereal Eclipse and forced him to circumnavigate the Dahlian border--had been convoluted and tedious, but he made up a lot of lost time once he reached Halifax. Broken and uneven as the pavement was, old Highway 102 still offered a pretty straight shot to the coyotes' territory from the old human city.

And so here he was. The yearling wasn't sure what to expect; on one hand he'd never met Gabriel, but on the other the Aquila and his Grandfather had been close enough that he had no need to worry. Gabriel had even met Barrett's mother once upon a time, but that was years ago and he wouldn't expect his "uncle" to remember Maserati. This reasoning was all well and good, perhaps, though it had one fatal flaw: he never really considered that Gabriel might not be the big Kahuna whom he specifically addressed in his call.

Fortunately, Barrett did have a couple of things going for him. He had legitimate business with two of Inferni's most prominent figures and the cry that sounded was remarkably coyote-like for his genes' heavy wolf influence. In truth, Barrett wasn't much more wolf than Anselm; his father's side afforded him whatever was lost to Maserati's pure bred mother (though some of the difference was made up with a pinch of domestic dog).

The yapping, rapid call was something he'd practised and perfected with the Thirteens for just this occasion. If he didn't pay attention to it his howls would still revert to the low, smooth notes of the wolf, but for now his performance was impeccable. With the summons complete, Barry settled into a submissive hunch and tried to look generally unimportant on the off chance anybody else found him while he waited for "Gabriel."

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