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She didn't know if she could go home yet...if she even wanted to. And she had yelled at Conri for leaving the pak unprotected. Well, at least now she knew that they wouldn't be attacked by the coyotes. She had gone to Gabriel and made a truce with him. A deal, of sorts. They stayed away from Twilight Vale, and Twilight Vale didn't back Dahlia de Mai when the fighting started. It worked well for Twilight Vale, because they didn't want to lose any members...and for Inferni, as well, because Twilight Vale was a large pack. And two entire packs against one coyote clan...those weren't good odds.
Her children were gone, the babies that she and Conri had been hoping for for so long...misscarried. How could she tell him? She should have been more careful, shouldn't have been paying so much attention to Sirius and should have been paying more attention to where she was putting her feet. But nothing could reverse it now.
The two year old sat down beneath one of the trees, looking at the thing that was stuck inside of it. Did it hurt the tree to have that in it? Maybe she ought to pull it out. Naniko put one hand on the spout, tugging on it a little. It wouldn't budge. She tried to pull her hands back, but found them stuck tight, attached to the spout by large amounts of sap that dripped out of the tree. "Oh...fantastic."
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The bronze werewolf had been all over the last few days, taking his injury as a chance to go out and explore that which was beyond his reach when he was on duty. He had been impressed by Whisper Beach, as well as Ethereal Eclipse...after a fashion. Now he was in a place calls Arachnea's Revenge, and it was a strange place indeed. Spigots protruded from the trees, and a human dwelling, different from others he'd seen, stood out, seemingly alone, within nature. It was while he wondered at all this that he saw a familiar face...attached to one of these spigots.
"You know," he said, approaching slowly, studying her hands that appeared glued to the tree, "Every time I find you, you seem to be in trouble of some sort." He was quite a sight, stitches all along the right side of his face and across his nose, his right arm heavily bandaged and useless at his side. Even though he could only use his left, she didn't look like she needed too much extra power to get herself loose. "Would you like a hand?"
~The lyrics are from the best song ever written.
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[html] Naniko's table colors are Barney the purple dinosaur colors D: ^^
She was in an odd position, with her hands up above her head on the spout. In her werewolf form she was very large, so the spout came out up above her right shoulder. She didn't know how she couldn't have noticed all of the sap dripping down the tree trunk herself...she had her back stuck to it, too. Naniko struggled for a few minutes before taking a break. She was still very weak from the "birth" and from all of the walking that she'd done that day, so maybe that accounted for some of it.
The stark white luperci stared up at her trapped hands, releasing a sigh. She was too tired to try again for a while...so she'd sit back and relax. She wasn't worried about being attacked; who would else would be all the way out here?
It was then that she heard the voice, and her eyes opened slowly. "Hmm? I...oh! Hello! And that's about right...trouble follows my every move, just waiting to catch me." She tried once more to pull her hands away, but they were stuck fast. "I would love a hand. I'm still kind of weak..from blood loss, and you don't look too good yourself. We make a good team."
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Skoll frowned at her comment about blood loss. She didn't seem to be terribly injured...maybe she was referencing something else. Walking over to her trapped form, he reached up with his good hand and grabbed her forearm, waiting until she was ready before he tugged. Her one hand came free, and then he switched to the other, keeping away from the sticky parts to prevent himself from getting stuck to the sap still coating her hands.
"Well," he said looking down at himself, "You're not the only one I fight to protect. Shadowed Sun had an unwanted visitor, someone with the same kind of fighting background as I have. I guess it's fair to say she cut me up a bit." He took a close look at this person who he had seen for the first time over a year ago, and then never again. Had so much had to happen simply because she walked across an imaginary line? He had to nearly die, a child had to nearly die, and six of them had to sustain damage, all for the twisted doctrine of Kaena Lykoi.
"Well...it's been a long time," he said, helping to pull her off the tree. "How have you been since that day near Inferni?"
~The lyrics are from the best song ever written.
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"We've actually gotten our own pack together, Conri and I, Twilight Vale...and so far things haven't been going too badly. We did have a surprise like the one that you just mentioned...but everything is all right now. Conri is still recovering." She didn't mention that Conri had been the one to follow the coyote home, and that the one he had fought with was the leader of the coyotes themselves. "I'm not too worried about Inferni right now, not for our pack. We're much bigger than them."
Soon one hand was free, and she used it to help him free her other one. With one huge wrench she pulled her back away from the tree, grimacing. The sap would take ages to wash off. "Thanks. I've never been out here before, and I didn't know what to expect. I could have been stuck there for a while. And you're right--it certainly has been a long time. You're a part of Shadowed Sun, aren't you?"
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"That's right," he nodded, reaffirming what he'd said earlier. "As for your pack...you should be ready, in case a friendly pack needs assistance. Even if Inferni avoids you, your friends and loved ones may belong to other packs who Inferni does not fear, and in that way you may find yourself with an obligation to help the oppressed. After all, if it was only myself that I had to protect, I would fear no one, because I generally respect borders, and am a very difficult target...too much so for any half-way intelligent thug to attack." This was true. Barring SteelRose, who had come for him based on the knowledge that he would be a challenging opponent, he would have no enemies if he kept to himself and let the wicked have their way with their victims. Even Urbald and Glaesring, who had initially come to kill him for starting a war, would have never heard of him had he not gone out to rescue Jarret and Lonnie.
"I'm glad to hear that you and Conri are having good luck, though I am aggrieved that he has been hurt. I haven't seen him since he was a pup...I should make a point to meet with him sometime in the future. Maybe teach a few fighting techniques for the next time he has a run-in with one of the Infernians...which he almost certainly will, given their history." The large wolf didn't know that Conri had lost an arm...it would come as quite a shock to learn, especially to now that he was not only injured but held down by responsibilities here, preventing him from going out and taking care of the person who stole the arm from his friends' son.
~The lyrics are from the best song ever written.
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"We can't. We can't help anyone else." That was the deal that they'd made with Inferni...that they wouldn't step in once the fighting started. "We're neutral. We don't agree with what Dahlia de Mai is doing, keeping Haku there...and even making him a leader...and though I would love to protect Ember...we just can't. We'll help with injuries and take any refugees that need a home. That's about it, though." It was a strategic decision, a very important one. Naniko had gone there personally to make sure that it would happen, to try and convince Gabriel that Twilight Vale was a good group to form a truce with.
"I spoke with Gabriel. We're not backing Dahlia de Mai, and they're leaving us alone." She listened to his offer to help Conri learn, and nodded. "I'm sure he'd take you up on the offer. Just because we're not fighting right now doesn't mean that we won't later on, if anything happens in the future. It's good to be prepared anyway." She moved away from the tree so that she wouldn't accidentally touch it. "How's Pilot dealing with it in Shadowed Sun?"
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Such...lack of responsibility. He would avoid this line of discussion. He pretty much certain that Inferni had done something to provoke anything that had happened, as per usual. Inferni just...wasn't led well. The Lykois were insane, and they just...got their people into trouble, over and over again. It really shouldn't fall to everyone else to manage a single population. It also shouldn't just fall to a handful of moral people to deal with this problem.
"I've heard about this Haku, and what he did was horrible if they're being honest about it this time...but if you think about it, it's exactly in line with the way the coyotes believe, isn't it? If one coyote hurts a wolf, any coyote will suffice as a target of recompense. Just as Gabriel's brother once tried to kill you, despite the fact that you had done nothing to earn their enmity." He let that final note hang for a few moments. He knew that the culture of duck and cover around here was too strong for him to affect any really change, but he didn't think that just leaving other people to deal with a problem that concerned all of them was reasonable.
"I don't support what I've heard of this Haku's actions, but I have to say that Dahlia has the courage to get its hands dirty, which is a rare and valuable thing in this place, I must say. Do you know why he did what he did, I've only heard the coyote's side, which...given how they told the story of what happened the first time you and I met, I don't know how accurate that side of the tale is." He was curious. Was Haku just a monster all around, or had he been driven to this by a similar travesty perpetrated by the coyotes? Chances were that the coyotes had done something horrible to a wolf, and were now crying out, knee-deep in their own hypocrisy, about how evil wolves were to treat them the same way they treated everyone else.
"As far as Pilot, I don't know. I haven't heard his stance on it yet. I doubt he would try to hold me back if I planned to join Dahlia. It's fortunate for Inferni that I had a recent battle with another professional recently."
~The lyrics are from the best song ever written.
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"Well...we know that by making no decision we have made a decision. I'm not worried about the coyotes, or about the other packs. I'm worried about mine. Self preservation." It probably seemed like she didn't care about the other packs because she wouldn't put her members up there to fight with them...but it was exactly opposite of that. She was offering the other packs a way out of this, should they decide not to fight. Whatever Inferni and Dahlia de Mai had against one another, Twilight Vale wasn't involved in it. Why should they fight the coyotes and make it seem like they stood with Dahlia, when they didn't? This was an opportunity to really get rid of some coyotes...but Naniko couldn't justify risking the lives of all of those living in Twilight Vale because of a few idealists.
"It's greedy, perhaps selfish...but none will die from Twilight Vale. We already didn't want to fight, so them leaving us be is an added bonus. What happened in the past is in the past." Hell. Inferni had driven her father Physe's pack from their own lands and taken them. Naniko could see where she might hate the coyotes. But she didn't. She was more a pacifist than anything else, her visions of peace overriding any anger or frustration. "I don't see how fighting them changes anything. They'll keep attacking wolves at random, like they've done in the past, and we'll keep fighting them back. Like I've said...as long as Twilight Vale is safe for now, then I'm satisfied with what I'm doing." Naniko had been wondering if Pilot would be in on the fight as well...or if he might be looking toward a more peaceful alternative. "If anyone from your pack wants a place to stay where they'll be out of the fighting...well, our doors are always open. Who got you from Inferni? You're a good fighter...I didn't think any of them could get the better of you."
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He closed his eyes and nodded at her explanation. He had heard the argument before. Just mind your manners and the belligerents will leave you alone. Sometimes it was the correct path, and it was certainly the right of her and her pack to take it...but he viewed responsibility in a different way, and felt that Inferni had proven its incapacity for peace often enough that it should be dealt with. Either way, he was the one trained as a warrior...it would be a much different thing if he refused to fight than if people like Naniko chose not to.
"I thank you for your kind words. It wasn't anyone from Inferni, though, but a coyote woman from my past...someone I'd met in the first war I participated in over four years ago, someone who dedicated her life utterly to this path like I did. Individually, she was a stronger combatant than any coyote I've met here, though thankfully she worked alone. Her equipment was better than mine...superior weapons and armor. I killed her, but I only lived through it thanks to a packmate who distracted her." It was a grudging admission, but he didn't want to sell Lubomir short. The man had pulled through for him in a big way. He knew that age and stress were getting to him...he had been taken unawares one night and Phoenix had saved his life, now he had needed another ally to survive a fight with a solitary opponent. It would only get worse with time, he knew. He would need to train even harder and practice longer to compensate.
"As for fighting...it isn't something that everyone needs to do. I've seen full-fledged war three times now, and sometimes there is no point. Sometimes war doesn't end the way it should, sometimes the opponents are so closely matched that there is no decisive victory, and so everyone suffers and no one gains. Other times, though, war is the only closure people can achieve, and the only way to solve a problem, if only one side is unwilling to compromise, which is usually the case. The past may be the past, but it has a tendency to repeat itself when those who remember it don't work to prevent its recurrence." He looked at the area around them, before shaking his head.
"This discussion is pointless, though. I've had this same conversation with people across many hundreds of miles. I am a warrior, there is no way I will ever believe that what I do is pointless. You are not, and from what I hear you say, you are deeply entrenched in your beliefs as well, far too much so for an old wolf like me to shake them." He smiled slightly, before sniffing the air. The world was made up of all sorts...he was simply grateful that she wasn't the sort to try and stop people from doing what they themselves believed needed to be done.
~The lyrics are from the best song ever written.
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She nodded. It was actually really nice that he agreed with the fact that they both had different opinions about the war. It was only natural that people would think different things, especially on topics like these...Naniko had been a healer her entire life, beginning when she was still a Lehrling back in Clouded Tears. She knew the raw side of war...that was one of the reasons she was against it. But she also understood that sometimes it was inevitable. It had to happen. "After it's all over, I'll be helping to fix people up. And if you ever need any medical help that Pilot can't handle, I'd be more than happy. I tried to teach him as much as I could, but we live so far apart now that it's hard to keep updated. I'm really glad that he was able to help you afterwards. At least...I'm assuming that it was him. I don't know a whole lot of other healers, there might be more."
She missed Pilot. She did go to visit him sometimes. But now with this pregnancy and all of the stress, she hadn't had it in her to see him. "I was pregnant...another reason why I went over there to try and strike a deal. We'd be vunerable. But...we don't have to worry about it any more. The pups didn't make it." He was the first one that she'd told, besides Deuce. How strange, that this warrior would be the one. "Conri doesn't know yet. I don't know how to tell him what happened."
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"Ah, if it was you who taught him, then we're even now. I helped you, now you've helped me. As for how to tell Conri, that isn't something I know the answer to. I've never had children, and unfortunately my life hasn't left me a lot of room for any kind of paternal role, so I don't know the pain that he will feel at the news. I think it would be harder if he had come to know them first, but that is far different from saying that this news will be easy for him to swallow." He did not envy the two of them the heartbreak that they would later share. Nevertheless, the love they had was not something he had known for many years, and not something he expected to know again.
"Though if you want to keep this peace of yours, it would be wise to make sure he doesn't suspect Gabriel had anything to do with the miscarriage." Inferni had a rotten history, and it couldn't be held against someone to suspect them of violent acts when evidence suggested that could be the case. If she had miscarried, and intended to tell him about her deal with Inferni, it would be imperative to tell him the news in such a way that he didn't make the false connection.
~The lyrics are from the best song ever written.
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She tugged at a piece of sap-covered fur, considering. She hadn't thought about the fact that Conri might connect the two. "Yeah. I don't want him to get the wrong idea. It was all me." Her stupid mistake. If she'd have guessed she would have thought that it would be something else that would have caused a misscarriage...a fight, getting knocked over by a coyote...something to do with the war. But it'd been something smaller, simpler.
"Again, thanks for helping me out. If there's ever anything you need, then come by Twilight Vale. Things'll get better with time...they always do."
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