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>>>>>It was dark as the wolfish figure moved silently about Inferni's borders. Each footfall was muffled by the soft grass as Anselm sought to be as quiet as the stars themselves. His ears were pressed forward intently and his eyes were intense--he was on the prowl. For what, exactly, or whom, was yet to be decided. Already he had happened upon a young fawn and her mother slumbering between a massive pine and a smaller oak--but he was not hungry. Anselm had always kept himself well fed, and now was no exception. Food was not at the front of his mind.
>>>>>For the time, neither was training. He'd been literally running around in circles since the war had started, and he had been practising his techniques with Gabriel regularly. For now, he could only assume that his cousin was asleep. It seemed that most of the world was, for little stirred about him. It was almost as if the land itself was holding its breath, lest the rage of Inferni be brought down upon it. Maybe that was why there was nobody here.
>>>>>He could only hope so.
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Yet someone still breathed. Dhalia, perched neatly atop on of the many random rocks that were strewn about the borders of Inferni, kept careful watch over what was going on inside. At least, as much as she could through the darkness. At some point she had wandered away from Oxford's den and returned to her spot at the borders, having yet to encounter the creature that she had been seeking. As she had told Oxford, Dhalia would wait for the Inferni leader to come on his own accord, unwilling to disturb him no matter how long it meant that she would be waiting.
Icy eyes swept carefully through the darkness, back and forth as they searched the borders. As always, unless invited in, she kept herself positioned just outside of them. Soon enough it would be time to retreat to the rear of the rock to lay down for a rest, but for the time she was intent on watching. Paranoid as her new friend seemed the first time he came upon her, Dhalia had a sneaking suspicion that they were waiting for an oncoming attack. Perhaps Gabriel would show himself in the night, then. Red ears jerked forward suddenly, certain that she had heard something through the silence, but as she waited and listened, nothing came. "Is that you, songbird?" Certainly it wasn't Oxford, he would have likely been less sneaky, assuming that it was anyone at all.
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>>>>>Is that you, songbird? Anselm stopped dead in his tracks, and his tail lashed out like a viper behind him. Squinting ahead into the faint light cast by the moon, he inhaled deeply and drank in the scent of a young female. Quiet as a mouse, he tiptoed closer while remaining low to the ground and always behind cover, be it a boulder or patch of tall grass. Just outside the borders she sat, her scent of no particular affiliation (he knew all of the packs' scents). Interestingly, she did not seem to be of pure blood, either--her scent and figure suggested otherwise. Oddly, she also smelled like somebody he knew... Oxford!
>>>>>His brows furrowed as he rose rather suddenly to his full height, tail arched high and red eyes blazing in the moonlight. Whoever she was, she had not seen Gabriel or Faolin recently--and so, she was not part of the pack. Was this an acquaintance of Oxford's? If so, why was she just sitting at the borders like that? Was it a joiner? Why hadn't Oxford gotten anyone's attention, assuming he had found her first? "What is your business here?" he demanded, features stony and tone stern. The scent of blood was absent from the air and she did not appear to be a threat. He could have relaxed and nobody would have been any worse for the wear. Then again, Anselm took his job very seriously.
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Intense eyes were carefully as the swept the immediate area, watching and waiting for what could have been another canine. Finally, as she was bringing her gaze back around, she spotted him, seeing him before she heard him. Ears tipped forward rather curiously, taking in his form and the way that he held himself. He was large, much larger than she, and for a moment Dhalia wondered if he was the creature that she had been sent to find. It was the words that told her otherwise though. Stygian and Ahemait had assured her that he would know, at least vaguely, who she was, and this male didn't show any idea of it at all.
"My business here is just that. Business." She commented quietly, head tilted to the side and tail sweeping across the top of the rock to snake around her body. "So it wasn't just Oxford." She mused, leaning forward just slightly, to get a better view of him. "You're all fairly uptight at first, hm?" Though she supposed that she couldn't blame them. She was a stranger on their borders after all, though Dhalia found it mildly amusing that they seemed to think someone in plain view, just outside of the lands, meant they were a threat. Were the creatures around here really so stupid as to attack from plain view? "But I digress. Actually, I've come here with a message for Gabriel."
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>>>>>Anselm generally disliked it when others told him what to do, and he definitely wasn't a happy camper once anybody else decided to start telling him what he thought. Uptight, huh? His face convoluted into a sneer for a fleeting moment as he looked off to the side. By the time he looked back, he was normal. She was dangerously close to their borders, she wasn't particularly submitting, and he knew he had every right to act as he damn well pleased. Still, she claimed to have a good reason to be here, she apparently knew Oxford, and she had a message for Gabriel. For some reason, knowing the crafty male made her weirder. It wasn't too unusual for someone to go looking for the doggish hybrid, after all--he was the leader here, and he was infamous in his own right. But Oxford? Okay, whatever.
>>>>>"A message concerning what? I shall deliver it to him immediately if it is important," he replied, tone business-like and formal. "Otherwise, I can call for him or let him know you are in the area. What is your name?" Under normal circumstances, he'd be the last one to want to play messenger boy. But if this was some critical detail about the wolves staging an attack, or forces gathering somewhere yet to be seen, etc., he would make sure Gabriel knew at once (and he'd like to know himself, obviously). If it was just personal nonsense, he didn't care as much. He was closer to his cousin than anybody else in the entire clan world, but he still couldn't be bothered to get hyped up over someone else's personal life.
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Dhalia was, in reality, actually quite pleased with herself. She's been sent on a mission with a message only to arrive back home to find the whole place burned to the ground. That wasn't the pleasing part of course, but rather the fact that she had simply crossed a mountain and found herself exactly where she needed to be. That in itself was enough to keep the girl from even giving a thought toward the sneer that had been directed her way, despite hardly ever letting anything get to her anyways. Ever curious, Dhalia still had to wonder what all the fuss was about. She had yet to see a wolf around, aside from on the other side of the mountain, and if Inferni was as all powerful as she had been made to believe, then they didn't have anything to be so worked up over, right? It hadn't yet occured to her that Conri might have been in the area and that she could have easily been mistaken for him were in not for the fact that all of her legs were still intact.
"It's important enough, but not life or death important. No reason to call him and get him running for the borders because of it." He was supposedly a busy man, after all, and Dhalia was certain that Ahemait wouldn't want her to disturb his work. "I'd imagine he'll make his way around to these parts at some point and I can wait until then. If you happen to see him and can tip him off that someone is waiting for him, though, then I wouldn't argue about it." Then, at the very least, him rushing off to the borders would be because of curiosity, rather than thinking there was something terribly important. "But for my message to hold any ounce of truth, it needs to come from me." In other words, she would indeed be staying. "Nonetheless, it is in regards to family. And I am Dhalia." As always, offering only her first name.
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[html] Lmfao. >>; Poor Dhalia. But it is kind of interesting for me to have a chance to really .. er, "showcase" the extent of his paranoia. XD;;
!@#$%Anselm waited patiently (in his mind) as she babbled on about this, that, and the other thing. It is in regards to family would have sufficed, but apparently she thought it was a good idea to explain every little thing that went on inside of her own head. Humph, interesting. He generally preferred to be more aloof and seldom offered such detailed explanations for his actions. Then again, given her role as guest and his role as clan member, it made sense that she elaborate somewhat. It certainly was enough to reassure him that she was no threat, she brought no news of a great threat, and that none of this probably mattered to him. Plus, she clearly respected Gabriel enough not to hassle him, which was nice. He guessed. Now all he had to figure out was if this was a waste of his time or not.
!@#$%He flicked his ears absently as she spoke (the least he could offer to show that he was listening), gave a more definitive nod on the "regards to my family" comment, and then snapped to attention when she gave her name. Something akin to a flame lit up in his red eyes, and he focused his gaze directly on her own as a growl tore through his lips. Dhalia. "WHAT?" he half-roared as he physically advanced a step or two. You see, even though she clearly meant no harm, and had already explained her purpose, that simple title was enough to trigger a series of paranoid-aggressive responses. Dhalia sounded exactly like the "Dahlia" in Dahlia de Mai, and those were the fucks that had killed the coyote mother and her child. They were the enemy in this war. Was this the princess of their pack, here to play head games with him??? Who would suspect it? Those bastards!!! "Dhalia de Mai?" he demanded. Even he wasn't sure what her answer should be to this one.
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Can you say Amber sucks? Lets say it together. Amber sucks! Congrats on promotion btw. ;O
It all now seemed simple enough, at least to her, and she was almost certain that he would either question her further or simply leave her be there until Gabriel made his way 'round the borders. The turn that the situation took, almost as soon as she uttered her name, was shocking, to say the least. At first the young female was unsure what to do, only staring at the larger male, until finally a reaction kicked in. One brow raised slightly, head cocked to the side as she watched him. During those moments the muscles in her legs tensed, ready to spring herself up if need be. And then she was left confused.
"Who?" She questioned in a fairly flat tone. As much as she would have liked to have had things planned out smoothly, the young girl had no idea about the Pack, which shared part of her name, that Inferni was at war with. "I don't know who Dhalia de Mai is and if you think that is who I am, then you're mistaken." And she simply hated being mistaken for someone else when it should be so clear and obvious whose blood ran through her veins. "Ahemait Lykoi sent me."
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[html] Thanks. :]
!@#$%The innocent had nothing to hide and nothing to fear. His eyes bore into her, but immediately he sensed something was amiss. She was confused by his reaction, and she didn't start screaming defensively or react violently. Furthermore, when she spoke again, she seemed genuinely under the impression that Dahlia de Mai was a wolf. Then, another name. Lykoi. Ahemait was a name he'd never heard before, but the surname was enough. Whoever sent Dhalia must've been a relative of Gabriel's, somehow.
!@#$%His hackles had settled back against his neck, although he otherwise failed to move for at least a good minute. It was almost as if he was waiting for something else to happen... either the girl would run away, or suddenly there'd be an ambush, or something. His tail flicked like a whip when nothing did, and his stony expression softened. A degree. "A wolf from a pack to the west called Dahlia de Mai recently came into Inferni and killed a mother and her child." An explanation was the closest thing to an apology she would get, and even as he offered it he continued to watch for her reaction carefully.
!@#$%"You oughta watch yourself, too, then... it seems like you're already tangled up with a bad crowd." They all had a right to be paranoid. If she stuck around Inferni too long, the wolves would probably assume that she was one of them and consider her to be a target. In the back of his mind, he wondered why she didn't want to seek refuge in the clan to begin with. Allies were a good thing to have in time of war.
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There was a silent moment between them shortly after she spoke, a moment that he was certain meant that he was taking the time to decide whether or not she was genuine in her claim not to be the person that he mentioned. Finally, the older male seemed to settle, and Dhalia herself did so as well, allowing her muscles to relax back to comfort. Most of all, it was his words that intrigued her. A Pack, one after her own name, that was surely the cause for all of the tension she had felt around the area. Oxford hadn't revealed to her exactly what was going on, he had just been paranoid enough for her to figure out that something was amiss. Now, though, she knew exactly what all of the fuss was about.
The new information also brought to mind many other questions, such as why they hadn't raised their army to go and conquer the pack, just as her brother and 'sister' had made it seem like they would do. Why were they slinking around their borders and snapping at anything that came in their direction instead of taking out the problem immediately? "I see.." She stated quietly, after some time, brows furrowed in thought just slightly.
"I can assure you, that if I had anything to do with that, I wouldn't have stopped with one mother and child." She noted with a nod, quite serious in her statement. They must have been stupid, that other pack. Picking them off a little bit at a time just gave them warning. Taking them all out at once, now that was a feat. "And I suppose that's why everyone around here seems to uptight around here?" Easily disregarding the statement that she should watch herself.
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[html] Anything else you want to happen here? :o
!@#$%He wasn't sure that she understood how deeply the knife had been thrust, or the demented ceremonial essence of the slaughtering. He had never before seen a body strung up like that, like some sort of lynching. Perhaps, if he stopped to consider it, he'd realise that Inferni's wolf skull decor was not exactly civilised itself--but at bare minimum, he was fairly certain most of those skulls belonged to adult males, most of which had probably trespassed. It was another story entirely to slay the innocent who were on their own damned territory.
!@#$%You did it, too. He had honestly believed that the wolf he killed over yonder was the one that had done it. The flowers, the pack scent... he'd been too angry to realise that it wasn't the same exact wolf. Something in him dropped, and for an instant one of his legs felt like it might give out. They were all hypocrites, but sometimes he felt that he sensed it more than the others, Gabriel especially. Whatever. There was no room for this emotional nonsense now. He stiffened his leg (and mind) and glanced off to the side for an instant, only taking a moment to nod in response to her words. Yes, this was exactly why they were all so stressed out.
!@#$%What a day in age they lived in. He glanced back to her, at this point uncertain of anything else to say. He had his answers--did she have any more questions?
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I'm kind of at a loss for anything for them to do since she is just waiting around for Gabe. XD We can end it here then. Perhaps she can ask him for help sometime and drag him off to the city? ;o He can learn about her hobby or something. >
The girl gave a very light shrug of her shoulders at his nod, mostly for herself. It was what she figured, that there was something going on between Inferni and one of the local packs, at least by the way that everyone acted. She found it slightly funny though, the stories that her brother had told her of Inferni's terrible take over of another pack, while they seemed to be faced with the same thing and running around paranoid, rather than plotting out what they might do to take them over.
"I'll be fine here.." She said finally, something to break the silence and let him know that he really didn't need to linger. It wasn't like he had to worry about her wandering in to the lands, though she would have if she really wanted to, she simply thought that her best bet when meeting Gabriel would be to make sure that she was at the borders. Besides, she'd already been inside Inferni when Oxford had invited her in.
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[html] Sure, I always enjoy having multiple threads with people, doesn't seem to happen enough. :x
!@#$%After a moment of deliberation, he nodded and began to turn away. "Alright.." She certainly seemed fine, and he figured that if she really needed help she could always just howl. In the meantime, he'd done his job and established that there was no threat to be found, so he felt okay with moving on, too. In reality it was silly for him to think there was a major issue to begin with, but it was also somewhat remarkable he even got past that. His paranoia could really get the better of him at times--but at least she knew a few good names, even if her own left much to be desired. (Coincidence.)
!@#$%"Well, take it easy. I'll let Gabriel know you're looking for him if I see him." With that, he turned fully to the right and continued his jaunt along the borders, very much in search of anybody else that might choose to intrude. After this circuit, he decided, he might go and take a nap... or perhaps look for his cousin directly, whether it was against her wishes or not.
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