The small girl was determined to prove herself. She had learned to shift and had risen out of the puppy ranks. Now more than ever she had to prove herself. She had to show that she would be an asset rather than a burden. She didn't have the luxury of falling back on being a pup, not that such a thing had ever stopped her before. After all she was proud of the skull that she had on the border. She had gotten it before she could shift. Sure, she had only been bait and Halo had been the one to clean it for her but she still claimed it as her own. Now, though, she wished to show that she could do the work herself.
She had "borrowed" the same weapon that had been used to slay the prior beast. Symera didn't have any weapons of her own and so she had taken the one that she had seen Halo use before. She didn't even think to ask before taking but had just wandered into her caretaker's room and had taken it before disappearing past Inferni's borders. The girl has her mind set on taking down a stinky by herself. She refused to return until the task was completed.
No consideration was taken for the fact that she had no amount of training but only the drive. She didn't see where it mattered though. Everyone had to start somewhere. And well, she decided to start by showing Halo that she could do this herself. That she didn't need to be taken out and protected. Symera was an adult now. Symera was in the adult ranks so she had to do this. It wasn't only for her herself or for Halo but for the entire clan. She had to prove that it wasn't a mistake to take her in and that she could pull her own weight now. Sure, she was rough around the edges but she was still young enough to be taught and polished. With the right amount of training she could fit amongst any of the ranks. Of course genocide would always be her passion.
Symera had spent near about a full day out and away from Inferni, the longest she had ever been away since she had joined, before she had finally made it back. She was safe enough for the time being even if she wasn't sound. Her inexperience showed upon her body through the various lacerations but in the end she had come out on top. And well, the adrenalin rush of the whole experience had her numb to the pain that she should be feeling. No, she couldn't wait to get back and show Halo just what she had ended up bagging.
The small female had dragged the body of the wolf through the lands of Inferni and into the mansion. Her way was made directly towards Halo's room in order to sit and wait for the woman to get in from her daily routine. Symera sat herself upon Halo's bed and despite the bloody and dirty mess that she was Symera was grinning. The full carcass of the wolf had been pulled up onto the bed as well. As odd as it was Symera actually had the head of the deceased on her lap and was stroking it in an almost loving fashion. Of course Halo's weapon had been returned as well, it remaining speared through the eye socket of the wolf and had been embedded into the inside of the back portion of the skull. Symera had been unable to remove it and so she had just left it to show off.
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Hours had been spent with some of the dear rodent pets. As the pregnant woman carefully brushed a thumb along the silky fur of Thirtytwo, she wondered if it was time to up her game a little. She adored the small rodents and wrinkled her nose whenever she was confronted with the standard accusation about keeping dirty creatures in the cellar. They were clever little things, her darlings, though their lifespan something of a problem to her. It took time and effort to train them, and they quickly passed away for various reasons. Perhaps it was time for change.
The ascension up the stairs was heavy and lacked the bodily elegance she usually wore as she moved about. Visually, Halo was a stunning creature by many standards, but she didn’t quite feel it anymore as the belly grew. Hands had attempted to count the number of lives within her swollen womb, but it was impossible for her to decide. She was larger than she had ever been with Itachi, but he had been a lone runt. She couldn’t estimate what she was capable of handling, but she hoped for more than one, she knew.
But now, as the Triarii drifted upwards the final set of stairs up to the second floor, her pace slowed; became uncertain. Nostrils flared at the stench of death. It was not unnatural for clan members to drag whole carcasses home to the mansion, but it was not hard to detect the husky scent of her canine brother: the wolf. Intruder? Luscious fur bristled at this, and the absence of weight against her back was almost more than she could handle. She found support against the wooden banister, though she really craved to hold her one remaining katana in her hands.
Stalking through the open door of her bedroom, eyes swelled in a petite face with sharp coyote features. Pupils dilated with the initial shock and climbed the scene as best they could to offer some sense to her brain. Shock, disbelief, then anger. Eyes narrowed as black dots in red seas wandered over her precious blade, whose handle was sticking out of an eye socked stained with coagulated blood. Sharp teeth glared at the girl she adored.
”The fuck!” She spat, taking dedicated, hard steps towards the bed. The bloody fool had fucking spoiled the covers on her bed. Fingers dug into her auburn mane to avoid violence by fists. And a fucking wolf? ”Are you out of your mind?” the Lykoi snarled. Strength was something Halo had lost of, and the anger made it effortless to drag out the blade from the wolf’s face. With a quick twist of the katana, the eye actually followed. Classy. The corners of her lips twitched, though she needed to be sated. ”Explain yourself!” She was in the young female’s face now, the unoccupied hand pointing to the dead wolf with an angry finger.
The grin slowly disappeared from the female's face as she was met with a greeting that had been entirely unexpected. Slowly she looked down at the body of the wolf before directing her gaze back up to the woman who had taken care of her since she had joined Inferni. "I went hunting. All by myself." The words were spoken carefully despite how obvious they were. "I brought it back for you." After all Halo had wanted the pelt from the wolf that they had hunted together so she had brought back an intact wolf just for that purpose.
"I had only wished to make you proud, Mother Halo, as well as to prove that I was capable of hunting on my own." Mother Halo, it was exactly how she had come to think of the other female even if she had never used the title before. Halo had been the only living maternal figure in her life while she had grown up. She just wanted what any child wanted, to show that they had learned something from the lessons that were taught in order to make their parents proud. But it would seem that hadn't happen and that caused Symera to adopt a somber mood.
The girl slipped off the bed and winced as she did so. The adrenaline had subsided and forced her to face the fact that she hadn't left the hunt hunt unscathed. Her wounds didn't stand out for they were buried below her pelt and hidden by her short fur. But the tender way that she moved gave one enough inclination to believed that the blood that was embedded within her pelt was her own rather than that of the wolf that had been slain.
"I apologize." The words were spoken simply with a bow of her head. It was weird to find Symera like this. Especially since the small girl had proven to have a rather sharp tongue upon their very first encounter. And then upon their first hunt together she had shown that she wasn't the sort to back down from any fight no matter how outmatched she was. But this seemed to be a totally different Symera from those previous occasions. But then again at those times she hadn't come to think of Halo as her mother or had been trying to make her proud. She hadn't been trying to show off as she had hoped to do.
Keeping her head bowed in what could only attributed to be defeat Symera gingerly tried to slip around Halo that had come to stand in close proximity to her when Halo had retrieved her sword in order to make her way towards the door. Just because she thought of Halo as a mother didn't mean the affection was returned and that she was considered to be a daughter. Halo's reaction seemed to make it quite obvious that she didn't share the sentiment. Perhaps it had been rather silly of her to believe that just because she felt a certain way that the other party would feel the same way as well. But hey, at least she knew better now.
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Apologies for the quality of this post X_x
Forever and always, she would rather lash out in an attack before anything else. She was angry for a multitude of reasons, but it wasn’t pure and simple as she wished it could be. Air whistled through slightly parted lips as she drew a deep breath; a breath that got stuck in her chest as the strange title was spoken out loud by the younger girl. The auburn woman already knew that Symera was so much more than a stranger child she had decided to temporarily draw in under her wing, but to hear this forbidden word spoken out loud was, disturbing.
She turned her face away with a quick, dismissive snort, though she knew that she was behaving wrongly in the front of the girl. But she never seemed able to figure out the right way to handle situation that required anything from her, emotionally. Anger and violence was something she knew how to channel. Everything else was strangely difficult, and it had always been easiest to avoid it as best she could.
But she didn’t want to hear the girl apologize, but Symera was already moving, intending to slip out through the door. Halo turned around as the younger optime moved around her made an attempt to exit. ”Come back here!” the adult’s voice snapped, teeth partly bared as she moved after the girl, ready for a pursuit if she decided to ignore her command and flee. Too many people fled from her presence, and she didn’t want Symera to be one of them. But they both had to learn. A finger pointed at the bed with the dead wolf. ”Sit down!” voice, as usual, sounded so much angrier in her ears than she had intended it to be.
Symera was prepared to take this as a lesson learned. She had attempted to garner praise and had failed. By failure it meant that she was giving up such a quest. Normally she wouldn't allow for failure but emotions were a lost cause. Those were something that couldn't be controlled. She really had no other option than to end up giving up. While she could appreciate the guidance and lessons there was no way that she could force more out of the situation.
Symera stilled as she was fussed at. The only reason that she could figure that her return was wanted was to remove the wolf from the woman's bed. So the affection wasn't returned and the gift seemed to be deemed invalid. Ar least she knew for next time now. She wasn't as skilled as Halo was so Symera didn't doubt that there was some sort of imperfection in her technique that had marred the gift and made it unworthy to be accepted. So now she knew at least and wouldn't seek to buy Halo's attention with such a petty gift again.
The girl had reached out to grab the wolf but further instruction had come instead. With a depressed exhalation of breath Symera placed herself onto the bed again and sat down. The young female kept her head bowed, clearly awaiting for the scolding to continue. She had already apologized so she didn't know what more that she could do to make up for whatever wrong that she had committed. She waited to be corrected and set back upon the right path once again. While she wouldn't give up hunting wolves she would no longer expect halo to see them as cherished trophies. No, next time she could try Kaena instead and see if she couldn't summon some sort of praise or affection with a gift to the one that she saw as a grandmother figure.
