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!@#$%The scents he found here puzzled him. Male and female, coyote and wolf--what sort of nonsense was this? The marks were fresh, but they definitely signalled the rise of a new pack. Originally, he thought it might be Insieme or Labyrinth Glen trying to revive themselves, perhaps as a merge, but he had never noticed coyotes running with either of those groups. Even more bizarre, the dominant markings seemed to be from the coyotes. Beyond his innate nosiness, he was genuinely curious about this crew. Where had they come from? Why were they living in such a strange, mixed group? What wolves would submit to the rule of their smaller cousins?
!@#$%Clearly somewhat perplexed, he shook his head and painted a stony expression on his face. He took a seat at the fringes of their border and peered into the thick woods with rapt attention, his ears pressed forward as he listened carefully for signs of life. Having discovered long ago that slinking about often generated unwanted attention, he decided to announce his presence. He let out a short, relatively quiet howl that should only be audible to those in the immediate vicinity. He was content to sit here mulling over it by himself, for now, but if anybody was around he'd rather not appear suspicious.
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[html] The coyote cursed loudly as the tent she had been trying to pitch once more decided to cave in. She had become pretty good at setting up such temporary shelters along the months of living on the road, but she was becoming pretty sure that this one was possessed… or just generally wanted her to fail. She was just beginning to gather everything up and was half-way between a decision to try again or just toss it in a pit somewhere and burn it when a soft howl rose to her ears. Pausing to see if Laurel would want to go and meet with whoever was knocking at the door, she decided this visitor would be hers. She dropped the various tent supplies and rushed off towards the sound.
She met a wolf on the borders, though his slightly tapered look gave her the feeling that he must be some percentage coyote. That was fine with her. Coming up close enough to greet him with a, “Hey,” she stood with her arms crossed. On several occasions she had been poked fun at, seeing as though such a small creature looked comical in the process of looking so intimidating. She found it positively infuriating. Nevertheless, she didn’t move an inch from her somewhat defensive position (call it a bad habit) though she did attempt a neutral facial expression and equally nonthreatening words. “You rang?” Despite how she might have appeared, she was quite curious. [/html]
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!@#$%As his eyes may pick up on smoke visibly swirling around in the air, his nose picked up on her scent as it grew in potency. Her gait was that of a biped--he could tell by the sound of her steps before he even saw her. When she did appear, he immediately curled his tail up neatly at his side and allowed his ears to fall back. Half-shifted, it wouldn't be hard for him to make himself lower than her, but he wished to be clear. This was meant to be a peaceful encounter, and he was being respectful of the borders. Nobody sane could deny him that.
!@#$%Then again, she was wearing clothes. And her scent was definitely that of one of the leaders here, and she was definitely very coyote--her build was too small to even suggest much (if any) hybridisation. Despite any confusion that may have been going on in his head, he did a good job at keeping it off of his face. When she addressed him he dipped his head low, and then spoke with no hesitation. "Hey," he said. "I'm Anselm." He might have used an alias once upon a time, but he'd gotten into a really bad habit of giving coyotes more information by default since he joined up with Inferni.
!@#$%"I was just coming to check out the pack here. It's yours?" he asked curiously, to the point. He was interested, but it was hopefully clear by his tone that he wasn't looking to actually join or anything. It was natural to be curious about the neighbours, was it not? And so far as he was concerned, these were definitely the weird neighbours that moved in and painted the house bright purple and green, and stuck up pink flamingos in their yard. They were different, but he didn't know exactly why. That was what he was here to find out.
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[html] Perhaps it was the rarest to see someone in a half-shifted form, but she didn’t really mind much at all. She simply nodded at his reaction — thinking about how much better it was than the other wolf she had found prowling around on claimed lands — and loosened her defensive position up marginally. She ignored the curiosity in his eyes as she had mostly gotten used to it (with the whole coyote-shifter and clothes thing) and went on to glue his name to his face. Anselm. “Nice t’meet you, Anselm. I’m Nikita.” With the introductions through with, she focused more on what the meaning of this meeting would be. From his scent, she noticed that it was overlaid with that uniformity of a pack. From the percentage of coyote she could tell in him and the disgust at the other wolf’s thought of coyotes being anywhere but Inferni, she wondered if Anselm was one of them. It was all the more interesting if he was, of course.
She answered his question with no hesitation. “Yeah. Well, kind of. I’m a leader along with my good friend, Laurel.” She paused, wondering what else to say, before continuing, “And, since I can guess you’re from another pack, I imagine you can take home the news that we’re totally peaceful. Just a bunch’a folks trying to settle down for a little bit.” She didn’t want neighbors to think that they were rampaging warlords coming to try and take all the land, did they? [/html]
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!@#$%Nikita. Her name had a delightful foreign ring to it, and he made sure to register it in the catalogue in the back of his mind. He wondered briefly if the clothing was connected--then again, Poe had worn clothes, and she didn't seem to be from far away. Then again, would he have known the difference? He should have known better than to question his own judgement, ever, even barring the extreme circumstances of their meeting--but perhaps it spoke better for him that he did. Trusting a foggy mind seemed naturally questionable.
!@#$%Shoving those thoughts aside, he concentrated on the female as she elaborated further. She was one of the leaders here, along with someone else--perhaps that male coyote he'd scented along the borders? "The other coyote I scented here, then?" he wondered aloud.
!@#$%To her next statement he nodded. For some reason or another, he felt compelled to be honest with her--besides, if this new pack paid attention to anything, they'd already know about Inferni and their misdeeds. "Well, I'm not Inferni's absolute authority, but I see no reason why there would be any tension between our clans." He frowned slightly, still trying to wrap his mind around something. "You must be an extremely peaceful bunch, for wolves to accept the rule of coyotes," he stated. Quickly, he added: "No offence intended, of course, but... those kinds of relationships aren't the usual around here. I've got less than a quarter coyote in me, but I still get the worst of it." Not that it wasn't his own fault, in some ways--and he knew it.
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[html] “Yep, that’s him,” she responded, nodding. She had thought it somewhat amusing at first, two coyotes who were practically brand new to this place had just waltzed in, collected a handful of wolf buddies, and created a pack. From what she knew, theirs was the only pack in the area that didn’t discriminate what kind of canine you were… at least, they didn’t to any point. Anselm here was part of Inferni — the definitely coyote clan, as she had learned blisteringly from the words of the wolf trespasser before — though he seemed more wolf than coyote. Oh, well; go figure.
She listened carefully to him, trying to largely restrict her emotions before he was done. Once he had stopped talking, she didn’t know where she stood as for emotions. They were kind of mixed up. It made sense, nonetheless, that he got the blunt end of the stick when it came to his being wolf in Inferni. And yet he seemed to get along, if she could tell authority in others at all. She understood his perspective, however; it was just as strange for her. She hadn’t ever really been a leader in a group, though most of them had been mixed-species. “I have to admit, it was strange for me at first.” The time from living with her family to living in the city — prior to meeting and traveling with Laurel — had largely been lived with only coyotes. “It… doesn’t seem like much of a big deal anymore. If the wolves that joined up with us don’t have a problem, there is no problem.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Unfortunately, not too many others around here share our thoughts.”
A frown crossed her features for a moment as she remembered her quick skirmish with the loner that had wandered through days ago, refusing to leave and beleaguering Nikita for her coyote blood. None of that coyote blood had been spilled, though Niki had drawn some of the wolf’s. Her shoulder would be sore for a while, though it left a foul taste in Nikita’s mouth. She hadn’t held her temper like she should have… That was definitely something to think about more in the future. [/html]
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 Rules meant little if nobody ever broke them. A spitfire personality was all fine and dandy, and great skill and loads of experience would always help, but without the weight to back it all up things could still go very, very wrong. Inferni needed some amount of hybridisation in them--he and Gabriel were the largest there. How much of their game was mental warfare? He often wondered how some of the smaller members of the clan were still around; perhaps they just caught their victims unaware, or maybe they took advantage of their optime forms (which seemed to even the playing field).
He nodded in agreement--she was right. Not only was it not a problem, but it was probably for the better. If nothing else, they were extra bulk if things ever turned sour. Maybe the mere existence of compatible wolves would deter others from going after them, but he wasn't going to count on it. He didn't even know about Mew, but he could guess that sooner or later some jackass would find trouble for the sake of prejudice alone. "Yeah... certainly unfortunate," he mumbled, shaking his head. "Though your words imply that there are other places where this is not an issue. Is that where you met the wolf members of your pack? What... were those places like?" he asked, with almost childlike wonder.
He wanted to hear about this. Were they very far away? To the north? To the south? To the west? How far? (It didn't occur to him that it might be across an ocean.) In his experience, he'd run into these problems where ever he went. They existed around his birth pack, and they existed here. During his time as a loner, he'd run into a load of problems as well--although he knew better than to chalk this one up to his heritage alone. Trespassing, stealing food, etc. might have also played a minor role in that. Yeah. |
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[html] Nikita quirked a curious eyebrow at his awed tone when he asked about places where coyotes and wolves co-existed so easily. It made a small smile spread across her features, though she made sure that there was no other emotion belying the expression. “Well, Laurel and I wandered a lot, so it was all around here. Mostly from the north, around to the west, and a bit in the south. We were all just gettin’ along, so you learned not to care who — or what, in this case — you were traveling with. Just as long as they helped you and you helped them, no one could care less.” She set her jaw thoughtfully. “It’s kind of… callous, but also somewhat interesting. It breaks down a lot of those old discriminations that seem to live so vibrantly here.” She sighed. She barely saw a difference between wolves and coyotes; they were practically the same thing, minus size and a few other physical characteristics. This place was fine, but these people had a way of making a mountain out of a molehill on that issue.
“Oh,” she murmured, interest sparking in her olive eyes as she remembered something she had meant to ask an Inferni member. “I heard on the wind that there was some bad vibes passing between you and some wolf pack?” It was a light question, though she was very interested. All that she had been thinking about before, possibly brought to life in a conflict between the coyotes and the wolves that lived around these parts. It was… interesting. In her nomadic life, there hadn’t been time for many conflicts; mostly just moving from point A to point B. They hadn’t stuck in one place long enough to really get under anyone’s skin… [/html]
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The way she spoke made it seem like those happy places were just around the corner. He had to admit he was somewhat upset that he had missed the invite to these mystical regions. At the same time, he wasn't sure how he could have possibly overlooked such areas in his travels--maybe this was all some sort of fairy tale, after all. Maybe she'd just gotten far luckier than she realised. They were travellers, after all--if you went through enough places, sooner or later you were bound to accumulate folks who could care less about the whole species difference, right? And if you were on the move, you were also less likely to be around long enough for the locals to get ticked off, right? It seemed logical to him, whether it was actually the case or not.
The topic of war was not unexpected, although he hesitated for a moment before speaking. It felt strange to him to discuss these matters with anyone outside of Inferni--it was almost like nobody else had a right to know. Anselm knew that information could be used to hurt others, and so he was always wary of giving away too much. In this case, though, he figured the coyotes should know, just in case they caught some of the shock waves from it. "Yeah; one of our members apparently attacked one of theirs. A relative of the wolf she attacked came and got her back, but then he decided to keep going. He killed an innocent coyote mother and her child and strung them up in the trees. Obviously, we have to fight back. And now, I think they've captured one of our children." In some ways, it was nice to explain it like this--he looked at her expectantly. She could see that Inferni was the real victim here, right?
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I hope your elbow's doing better!
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She smiled grimly at the glimmer in his eyes as she spoke, knowing that his interest in those places was very misplaced. The reason why there was no reason to hate someone’s species is because no one cared; you pretty much hated everyone anyway. You were always looking out for the number one, and whoever you could manipulate to get your ass through without dying was fair game. Nikita had been the manipulator, and the manipulated, to get herself through those toughest months of her life. In her mind, the strains between the Inferni clan and the wolf pack were minor compared to the stress and tension of every-day life back there.
Nikita did not judge based on species often… though it was all too easy to fall in favor with those of coyote blood. As she listened to Anselm explain the situation more, she immediately found herself swaying to Inferni’s side. From what she saw, there was one fight that had turned to multiple ruthless casualties and kidnappings from the wolf pack. Before opening her mouth to speak, however, her mind put on a rare sprint and reminded her to keep neutral. Their little band of gypsies wanted nothing of war — they were, minus her keeping an eye on the territory and such, totally neutral and peaceful here. She cooled her quick temper down and spoke simply, though her sympathies were easily seen through her words. “Well, what they’ve done is surely unforgivable. There’s just the time when you have to wonder if fighting will do any good or not.” She paused, biting her lip for a moment. “In your case, quite frankly, I have no idea. Personally speaking, I side with you.” This coyote wouldn’t be leaping into battle with them anytime soon, but they at least they had the graces of someone’s thoughts and wishes with them. She would want nothing more for Anselm and his pack than to have everyone back and safe in their home, without the threat of war and aggressive wolves.
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Hrm, I suppose we can wrap this up moderately soon? Unless you wanted something else to happen? :o
Understanding was all that he wanted. Anselm expected nobody to assist in Inferni's fight other than Inferni members. It was nonsensical to expect other packs to put themselves into danger when they didn't need to. Furthermore, he had a hunch that the second other packs started taking sides the war would become that much more complicated and horrible. Even if Esper Hollow did side with Inferni, that may prompt all of the other wolf packs to gang up on the coyotes. He doubted that a single tear would be shed if Inferni was wiped out permanently, so creating those circumstances was highly undesirable.
A rare emotion swept through him, then--gratitude. It shone in his eyes a bit, and his posture, although outright expression of such emotions was near impossible for the stoic, hardened male. Regardless, he was thankful that she could see the sense in Inferni's actions, although he supposed it might be an even greater victory if he could get a wolf to understand. "Unfortunately, I don't think we can stop until we have Talitha back safe and sound." That was bare minimum. "Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later; there's really no need for any of this. I think one of their leaders is definitely the ringleader in all of it, but ... I guess that's how it goes." Gabriel was most certainly the ringleader of Inferni, after all, but even he hadn't gone after random women and children. It was unfortunate that those wolves chose to align themselves with a senseless murderer. Maybe one day they'd follow him off of a cliff. |
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Sure thing. ^^ You can have this fade out in the next round or two, if y'wish.
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She took it that Talitha was the name of the coyote that had been kidnapped. Nikita’s green gaze became somewhat hazy as she stared into the distant past for a moment, though she returned to the present a short moment afterward. Now wasn’t the time for lingering on memories. From what she saw, there was violence going between Inferni and this wolf pack just for the sake of violence — that was what it had stemmed from, and that was there it would probably end. It was how a shove became a fistfight, and a grudge became revenge. None of it really ended — it was all infinite. And it was all sorts of things that she had been letting go of. As much as she felt sympathy for the hybrid of Inferni, she knew that she shouldn’t get involved at all. She didn’t want to dig up that side of herself that she had been working on minimizing.
The female coyote nodded finally, trying to divert her attention to some other matter. They were still mostly lingering around the borders, and she suddenly found that somewhat inhospitable. These were grounds claimed by a gypsy band — it wasn’t some fortress that she had to keep totally protected. And Lord knew that this guy needed a bit of kindness in the world right now. “Well, if you don’t have to head back real soon, you could stay for a bit. We’ve probably got some stew left over from dinner last night, and y’might find some interesting conversation if anyone else is left back at camp.” Surely a few hours distraction from the tension of home would do wonders for Anselm.
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His heart beat quickened and his eyes widened ever so subtly at her offer; an invitation inside, the prospect of an exotic meal (by his standards), and the implication of acceptance. He'd gotten all too used to others driving him away or showing indifference towards his presence at best, and now that he was confronted with something different he wasn't entirely sure how to respond. His eyes dropped off to the side for an instant, but when he looked back up there was a light in them that nobody had seen in a very long time.
A soft smile crept across his face, and he nodded his head in a bow. "You know, that sounds like just what the doctor ordered." His tail swept along behind him once or twice as he rose to follow her inside. Inferni would be okay, and he wouldn't stay too long. He didn't want to overstay his welcome, and already he was reminding himself not to get too carried away. Then again, even the prospect of a friend--not just a comrade or a business partner or a fling--was very warming, indeed. |
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