She'd grown use to the confinements though she wished for her freedom once more. The lack of life in the cell was starting to crowd around her as she began to stalk and pace along the small space that she was allowed. The tiny guard had disappeared from her post though Firefly supposed that she had to be there somewhere watching and waiting for the girl to do something crazy. She wouldn't mind doing something crazy, something dark and dangerous, but when the opponent was always staring at you from the other side of a door it seemed a rather dull exisitance.
She paused at the door for a moment or two before worrying at the wood with her nails and fangs. Snarling in annoyance as the wood gave and cracked but never enough she was starting to lose faith in if her pack would even be bargaining for her freedom. Worse, her mind was taunting her with thoughts that the bargaining factor had already been lost. She knew how Haku became when the world wasn't going his way and she imagined that this was far from the way he cared for his world to be. She wished she atleast knew if the child was still alive, even if she only cared for the safety of her own life.
[html]
--
 There were three locks on the door, as well as a bar that hung across for extra reinforcement. This bar and one of the locks--a deadbolt--were originals. The second two he had added himself. Both were padlocks, one of which was a combination lock and the other had a key. He'd found the keys to both the deadbolt and the padlock inside the shed when he first found it, and the padlock he'd gotten from the basement of the mansion. It was still wrapped, and he'd found the combination for it, memorised it, and burned the piece of paper that gave it away.
Fully shifted and never too alone, he wasn't terribly worried about her escaping. "Stand back," he commanded. Anselm carefully undid each of the locks in turn, and only lifted the bar once he was ready. In a flash he threw open the door just wide enough for him to step inside, slammed it behind him, and thrust the key for the deadbolt into the lock (it locked from both sides, how convenient). He blinked for a few moments as his eyes adjusted to the dull light in the small room and set down his pack on the floor. He'd brought things.
Rummaging through it, he produced several books. "I brought you these. I didn't know if you could read or not, so I tried to find ones with lots of pictures. Destroy them if it makes you feel better, I don't particularly care." He tossed them down to the floor nearby her--to him, this was being extremely generous. At least in this way, she could distract herself in some way. "Also this," he said, and tossed an adolescent gosling in her direction. Its neck had been snapped, and it was still warm. Watching her carefully, he decided to feel out her reaction before continuing. |
[/html]
She'd caught his scent before he'd appeared and within seconds of hearing him at the door she'd backed away to the far reaches of the shack and sat there watching him with dark hooded eyes. He seemed to think she was actually going to do something when he'd warned her to stay back, she wondered just what he thought she was going to do, rush the door and slam it closed in his face? She snorted softly at the idea and flashed her fangs at the male as he chose to invade her little prison she called home. Her eyes watched him and waited, knowing that he wasn't just here to check up on her and say hello, though she wasn't really certain as to what it was he did want from her.
Her eyes flickered to the pack and back to the male as her hair rose on the back of her neck, a snarl breaking from her lips and a growl growing in her throat at the idea of what he might be hiding within the confinements of the bag. When he started to rummage inside and began to pull books out she stopped growling and eyed him with dislike as he brought the books forward. She spat back at him at the words he'd spoken. "Don't insult me.. I can read.." Her irish accent rested heavily on her words as she nudged at one of the books he'd tossed so carelessly to the ground. "It doesn't surprise me that you wouldn't care about knowledge though.." she said offhandedly as she patted a few of the books away from the pile, sorting through the ones she'd read before abandoning them to sniff at the dinner he'd tossed. She let a nail trace along the feathers of the oddly angled neck before staring up at him again.
[html]
--
Anselm had quickly grown immune to her snippy attitude, but that didn't mean he didn't feel entitled to point out just how ridiculous she was being. "I couldn't read at your age," he retorted. Before she could reply with something else asinine, he added "I guess I was too busy worrying about survival, and I didn't have time for such luxuries." He kept his eye on her, wondering if she understood the full impact of his words. Be a little more grateful, kid.
"Anyway, you're mistaken. I'm actually rather curious about what you know..." Talitha. He wouldn't insult her by telling her what he wanted to talk about, since she could probably guess. Surely she realised why she was being kept here. "I'm pretty sure we can all agree that the sooner everyone is back home, the better." In this, an incentive to just go along with it. Most of his cynicism stemmed from the belief that she'd be inherently uncooperative and stubborn. If he was captured, he'd have at least considered a hunger strike, and he wasn't sure that he'd do anything to make his captors happy. Rejecting their gifts, refusing conversation--then again, he was an asshole, not a young girl. |
[/html]
Her eyes showed little emotion as he spoke of what he couldn't do at her age, snorting softly she commented. "So, boo hoo? You had a rough life, so you naturally assume that I'm weak and spoiled." Her childhood hadn't been filled with roses and fluffy clouds. Everyday the two sibling and herself had learned to man the vessel just like the rest of the crew, in the times when there wasn't much to do the sailors had taken to teaching them to read and write. Her life hasn't been easy, but someone atleast had thought to keep them busy in their downtime.. for a while atleast.
She knew that the clan could have killed her, starved her or even tortured her til her last breath. Right about now she didn't care what in the hell the clan thought of her, soon enough she wouldn't have to think much of them and then this whole thing would be over, atleast.. for a while. When he spoke on of not caring about her she was relieved, she'd rather he just shut up and go but obviously he seemed to want to pick her mind about something. Baring her fangs at him slightly she replied sharply. "She lived this long because I made certain she wasn't harmed.. Now, her life is in your own hands." She hadn't exactly befriended the young hybrid because she'd liked her, but her mother had known the child's mother and spoke kind words of her. Firefly had felt that perhaps the girl would have needed a guardian atleast in the lands of the enemy, now there was nothing left for her except the darkness of Haku's mind. She wasn't sure who could keep him at bay now with few knowing about the prisoner.. but she expected that he'd made it known by now that they did have a hostage.
[html]
--
Anselm simply stared at her for some time, his gaze unyielding. He'd never said anything about being weak, and her comment made him pretty sure that "spoiled" was a good assumption. Although he didn't know of the manual labour she'd had to perform, he'd still consider it just slightly different than what he'd gone through. Fighting against wind and ocean currents when the weather got bad was different than fighting for your life on a daily basis. It was different being able to cast out nets into the sea and have enough food for everyone, rather than having to track down some of the little prey available and defend it against others. About the only thing they had in common was the scarcity of fresh water--although that was certainly a pain.
What she said next intrigued him more, and he scowled slightly. Go figure; irony would be the death of him, one of these days. "Well, I'll certainly keep that in mind," he stated evenly. He'd keep it in mind when it came to Firefly's treatment, and he'd keep it in mind when he went to talk to Gabriel later about getting things resolved ASAP. "Do you think your leader will cooperate if we try to set up an exchange?" he wondered aloud. In this, there was another question involved--one that was probably glaringly obvious. Still, the concern was relevant and he hoped she had a good answer. |
[/html]
She sat there and glared at the male as he continued on, his worries were plain, his wants even plainer. She flicked her black tipped ears back as she quietly watched him, wondering just why he even cared to come and see her besides the obvious. She'd almost wished he'd just have lefted her alone in her cage, but a small part of her wondered why he continued to return, why he showed tenderness and caring under the hard edge and blunt rude words. She wrinkled her nose at the male and shook her head. "I can't speak for him.. it depends on what mood he's in.." she said as she turned her face aside. She wasn't for certain what exactly Haku would do, one part of her worried for the child in Dahlia de Mai, the other didn't. She turned her emerald eyes back to the man before her after a moment, not wanting him to see the real uncertainty behind her words.
Flicking her tail back and forth she sneered at the male a moment as she asked "Why do you keep coming back.. do you not trust your little guard.." She sure was a moody little captive, but then again who could blame her, there wasn't much else to do around here.
[html]
--
Haku certainly seemed volatile, so it wasn't too surprising that she didn't have a straightforward response. His mind turned to the chocolate male who was clearly the ringleader of all of this--Anselm couldn't imagine serving under such a beast. At least Gabriel was systematic in his anger and seemed to follow some sort of plan. It seemed like Haku did things on impulse and barely knew what he valued more. Obviously he was viewing both the Dahlian and his cousin in a biased light--but that didn't change his opinion on the matter.
He stared at her blankly when she asked him about Garnet; the suggestion almost confused him. "Hardly, I trust her just fine," he replied without hesitation. "It's the others that I'm not too sure about," he said with a soft snort. Corona, Gabriel, Garnet--all of them understood the point of having a hostage. It was for bargaining power, pure and simple. Hybrid and Samael he wasn't as sure about; they seemed more likely to do something dumb without thinking about it.
He decided he had about all the information he was likely to receive--they had to act quickly (obvious) and there was at least some chance that Haku would cooperate. It was clear that she didn't want to be bothered and he could at least give her that. "Well, whatever. Do you want anything else?" he asked, feeling generous enough. Fresh blankets or pillows, more books--as long as it wasn't anything too inconvenient (or obviously anything that compromised security), he wasn't opposed to going and getting it.
|
[/html]
She narrowed her eyes and smirked as she taunted the second in command, "I'd assume that concern is for your little guard dog?" she commented. She doubted that the clan really cared what happened to her, in the end she'd either be dead or gone from their fur sooner than later. Moving away from the male she turned to the pile of books and cracked the spine of one of them as she flipped it open. She didn't worry about herself, there was two ways she'd be leaving this place and she knew it by now.
The silence was broken as he asked if there was anything she needed. She was beginning to feel more like a pampered pet than a prisoner and she wasn't sure how in the world to handle the change in treatment. She turned back to him and asked, "Is this some game?" She wasn't sure how to handle this male, she was the enemy, she'd killed one of his packmates and here he was piling presents at her doorstep. Something was ringing as fishy in her mind and she wasn't about to agree to anything.. "Should you be trusted?" she asked hotly, wondering just why he seemed to be making excuses to return.
[html]
--
Maybe it was a game, or maybe he was just trying to prove a point. Unfortunately, it didn't feel like he was getting through to her at all. This may have been disappointing, but at that point he did what he always would when he got too caught up in his emotions: he locked it away, hardened his gaze, and resolved not to waste any of his time. His offer had expired--she had more than the bare minimum already and mostly it didn't take a whole lot for one of his generous moods to wear thin.
"I don't care if you trust me or not," he said lowly, then stood. He undid the sole lock that he had secured earlier. Without turning back to her, he said one more thing before opening the door and stepping outside. "Maybe there's a point in all of this. Think about it." With that, he threw open the door and stepped into the fresh air outside. The door creaked and then lurched into place behind him, and he turned the deadbolt first before placing the bar over the door and putting on the other locks.
He was frustrated, but that frustration was familiar. Why did he think she'd get it? How he hadn't raised a hand against her since they'd gotten there, how he'd kept her moderately well fed. Why couldn't she see that he cared about Talitha and that he knew someone over there ought to have cared for her, too? Were they that truly that foreign and monstrous to the wolves? Bah, he thought bitterly, as his ears slicked back against his head. Anselm never stopped looking forward as he vanished past the mansion's gate.
|
[/html]
Firefly sat there and watched the leader as he seemed to suddenly decide that the meeting was over. It had been over for Firefly before it had even begun so his announcing that the whole conversation had come to a close really didn't mean anything to her, but the words he spoke made her laugh softly as she shook her head. She really didn't care who she could trust or not, as long as they stayed on the otherside of the shack's door.
While he exited the building and told her to think about it all she just let out a frustrated hiss of air and rolled her eyes. She knew there could be a million points to the whole thing but she really didn't care what the point was anymore, she just wanted to escape back to freedom and forget the whole few weeks of events. Moving towards the door she lowered her form to the floor and stared out through the small space to watch the second in command make his way scross the land and past the mansion's gates.
Turning away from the departing figure she moved back to the pile of books he'd left her. Flopping down on her side she began to flip through the title page of the one she'd opened earlier and sighed softly. This had already gone on too long and she just wanted back in her own packlands to be the wild child once more.
|
