sickman
#1
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dampwoods. :3

Rain fell in a freezing, icy drizzle. There was a thick fog that her eyes could barely penetrate, but the woman was used to limited visibility. Her other senses were stronger. A creature of the wild could not be hindered by darkness or heavy vapor. Where pack wolves could resort to food stores if hunting was especially difficult, lone canines like her must simply adjust.


A sickly young elk bull was wandering alone and delirious through the tall forest. She sensed it before she even saw it, located it with her nose, and felled it easily. The flesh was tender. She spent several hours eating and resting until her stomach was satisfied, then slept deeply for no more than an hour. When she awoke, the female left the carcass for the birds and coons and moved on to her next interest, a nearby pack.


The scent of wolves and coyotes was pungent. There was something else, darkness, and maybe danger, but she continued anyway. The other packs she had visited had been hospitable, and she wondered if this group would be the first exception she encountered. She was too interested to turn the other way and leave it to the unknown.


The cola-toned hybrid was very close to the borders. With heightened caution, she slowed to a halt and peered into the trees. There was something strange about them now. Mingled among the trunks were wooden stakes, and as her bright eyes trailed upward, her lips parted in wonder. Fastened to the tops of the stakes were the fleshless skulls of canines, too many to count. Dusk felt a rush of exhilaration, understanding why she had sensed danger. Filled with the need to know more, she tilted her dark muzzle toward the angry sky and sang, instinctively taking a few steps away from the border.










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#2
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Word Count → 573 :: <33


The merciless clouds spat freezing, intermittent rain down on the forest, causing Vesper to scowl and flatten her ears against her slender skull. She loped with head and tail down through the woods, though each time she found some semblance of shelter underneath a bush, the rain let up, ambushing her the moment she walked onward again. Eventually she resigned herself to shivering and walking, her mood spiraling downwards though there was some grim amusement to the whole miserable situation.

Truly, Vesper should have been heading for one of the residence areas in Inferni. There were plenty of places to choose from, including the mansion and the limestone caverns deeper within the territory. However, she was uncomfortable about sleeping in a human building, and she hadn’t explored the caves thoroughly yet. Since becoming a clan member the weather had been nice enough that she’d been able to sleep outside, as she didn’t want to take up the patient’s room that had been hers during her original stint there. Enkiel was probably tired of seeing her around, and he might need it for others, after all.

Others who caught colds from this damn rain.

The coywolf smirked, resting her shoulder against a tree trunk. She’d picked up the habit since turning luperci, as in her optime form, she liked something to lean on with her unfamiliar two-legged body. Even though she was in her lupus form now, the inclination hadn’t gone away. She stood that way for a while, ears turning to catch the sounds of other animals fleeing the weather. A fog had coated the area, making sight and smell difficult, but she wasn’t too worried about it right now.

What she was worried about was the sudden noise, a howl muffled faintly by the thick mist.
Her large ears swiveled in the direction of the call, and expressionlessly Vesper broke away from the tree, loping in that direction. As a mere Tirones, she didn’t have the rank to greet those at the border, and she doubted that someone who was announcing their presence was a troublemaker. Then again, if coyote blood didn’t run in their veins, they would have to be turned away—and Vesper did not believe in the senseless killing of wolves. It would be better for her to talk them out of lurking around Inferni rather than having one of the more bloodthirsty members killing them for being a so-called threat. Though she wouldn’t be disinclined to bloody an idiot skulking around the borders.

She slowed her canter once the wooden stakes came into sight, able to distinguish a dark shape standing a healthy distance from the decorated borders. Blue eyes cold with interest, she padded from the fog into sight, pausing between two skull-decorated stakes for effect.

Scent told her much of a stranger—that it was a female wolfdog, older than her by a couple of years, and recently fed. Sight only confirmed her doggish features as well as other features that the she-yote couldn’t quite ignore. She let her eyes linger only briefly on her slender, pretty frame before drawing them up to the pumpkin gaze of the other hybrid.

“You’re at the borders of Inferni,” Vesper stated, her tone brisk and betraying little emotion. Then, some tooth showing in a smirk: “What do you want? I wouldn’t personally want to bruise a pretty face like yours, but some of my comrades wouldn’t be so understanding.”


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#3
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sorry about the delay.

Dusk knew that she was potentially in danger. One much simpler than she would realize that the ghastly border was a definite warning to outsiders like herself that the hybrid canines living beyond it were to be dealt with gently. Had she been less confident in her ability to adhere, she would be terrified,but the woman had approached enough unpredictable packs to know how to handle herself. If she sensed that she was being approached by hostile canines, she would simply flee before they had the chance to determine which direction she had gone.

Her ears flicked forward, alerted by the soft thuds of footpads on the brittle leaves and pine needles. There could not be more than one of them. She watched the darkness carefully until it revealed a pair of glowing blue orbs. Dusk tensed slightly, lowering her ears. As the distance between them closed and the stranger became fully visible, the wolfdog's muscles laxed. The dapple gray coywolf was slightly smaller than she, and her petite features hinted cunning, not malice.


The ears of the dark Kratuk were still pinned against her skull in observance of her location so close to a territory she did not belong to. When she spoke, the nameless female immediately satisfied two of the questions Dusk had wished to have answered. Inferni, as the pack was apparently called, was as sinister as Dusk had thought, from her greeter's cool insinuation that her comrades would have no problem destroying an overly curious explorer.


The corner of Dusk's lip drew up in a subtle half-smile and she spoke in a tone with blandness that almost exactly matched the other's. I am not here to make problems, she explained solemnly. I'm curious. I merely want to learn about this... interesting place. Her brow rose for emphasis as she motioned with her muzzle toward the "fence." Then, she eagerly watched the features of the smaller canine.








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#4
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Word Count → 403 :: I understand; been busy myself. :3 And sorry for the bad post. ><


The greyish-brown wolfdog adopted her expression and tone, something that Vesper noted but did not outwardly respond to. She was curious of this hybrid woman, very curious, but it wasn’t something that she was going to reveal to a stranger so close to Inferni borders. She doubted that anyone else would want to step out into this dreadful weather, but on the off chance that another clan member was scouting the territory, she didn’t want to be seen hitting it up with a potential trespasser. Perhaps a more established coyote would be tolerated, but she was new here.

Then again, those thoughts were probably just paranoid. The she-yote flicked an ear, told herself mentally that she could do whatever the hell she wanted as long as she didn’t betray the clan, and at last took a seat between the stakes.

The stranger assured her that she wasn’t here to cause trouble, and pointing toward the dangling skulls mentioned her curiosity. Vesper followed her yellowish gaze, smirking though not in a sinister way.

“Inferni isn’t a fan of wolves,” she remarked, and from her pointed glance at the hybrid indicated that the stranger would be considered one. “I mean, we aren’t full of genocidal fanatics, but no one would think twice before driving you off.”

She realized that she wasn’t painting a particularly great picture of her new home—not that her input was needed to damage the coyote group’s reputation. Inferni was simply protective of its own, biased toward one species, and misunderstood. The bias was something that Vesper did not completely agree with, though she got the vibe that many of the coyotes and coyote hybrids were justified in their anger against wolves. Ves would probably be right along with them if she didn’t put so much weight on the individual rather than the breed.

The tawny female stood again then, stepping past the border into the neutral lands that the stranger waited in. Her tail flickered behind her as she half-circled around the stranger, though her light expression showed that she didn’t mean to intimidate. In fact, stepping away from her own territory was, in a way, like dropping her ties with Inferni for the moment so that she could interact with the woman like Vesper would, rather than a new Tirones.

“I think you’d be better off sniffing around another pack’s borders. What’s your name, sweetheart?” Vesper asked, head tilted.


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#5
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I didn't think it was bad at all. Smile I am not sure this post makes much sense. XD


Dusk could read neither the woman's face nor her tone, and was therefore unable to determine whether she would be asked to leave or invited to stay where she was and learn what she wanted to learn. The other seemed so stoic that Dusk could not discount the possibility of her calling forth her pack mates and running her off more dramatically. She repressed a grin, wishing this would happen. Such shenanigans would easily make her day.


However, the coyote sat down where she was, flanked by the decorative stakes. Dusk raised her ears to their leisurely height, understanding that, for now, the gray female was going to humor her. She grinned and explained Inferni's prejudice against wolves, at which the swarthy woman's eyes widened slightly with intense fascination. Oh, she said smoothly, and then she grinned. The rivalry between the canine species was common knowledge, not something she ever thought about too deeply. She had not interacted with coyotes other than to chase them off her kills, or, occasionally, to be chased off herself, when they operated in groups too large for her to bother with. Although coyotes could be a nuisance, she understood that they and wolves must coexist, and considered it no further.


There was something thrilling about being so near to a group that inherently hated her. It was even more thrilling that the Inferni woman was one member who did not seem to share that hatred.


Dusk liked the smaller canine, content to let her approach and examine her. The wolfdog's heartbeat never quickened and not one muscle grew tense. When she was satisfied, the other spoke up again, punctuating her previous statement with the simple suggestion that Dusk might take her curiosity elsewhere. But apparently, not yet. Amused by the pet name, her lip twitched. My name is Dusk, she answered, paused to give the girl a chance to introduce herself, and continued. You say your packmates are not genocidal against my kind, but your fence is impressive. What did these unfortunate souls do to offend Inferni? Her monotone held up, despite her eagerness.









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#6
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Word Count → 265 :: This post is a little weird. xD


This dark wolfdog was spunky, Vesper would give her that. Whether or not this kind of spunk was dangerous or annoying was yet to be seen, but she did note the little flashed grins and apparent indifference toward her not-so-subtle warnings. She had been like this in her youth, foolishly, though for a female older than her to behave this way was odd. Odd, and maybe interesting. Maybe a little thrilling, if Ves wanted to get into it—but she was a Tirones who still wanted to prove herself to her clan, and gallivanting with wolves along the border was not a way to do so.

“Suits you,” the coywolf said with a sideways smirk as the other gave her name; it was a simple word that carried common sense behind it, but yet that was what the hybrid was most used to from her youth in an isolated, non-luperci world. “I’m Vesper.”

Dusk took the time to make a flat remark about the “fence,” and the tawny female snorted, tossing her a look. “Well, a lot of things—these skulls have been here for quite a time. They’re aggressive trespassers, mostly. A few fools who stuck their pretty faces where they didn’t belong.” Her coal-tipped tail began to wag behind her, playfully, her smirk deepening in a wicked way as she cast off her cool front and gave in to the taunting. “And we’ve gotta eat something, you know,” she added, clearly an outright lie but one accompanied by a pointed licking of her chops and—she dared—a nudge to the other’s shoulder.


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