There were shadows in the forest, and there were darker shadows, those that were present no matter how brightly the sun shone. Some shadows were of the heart, and these were kept and held deep inside where they could no longer cause pain. Memory chased and hid with these shadows, hid because it was too painful and would eat and eat at the one who captured it until the one was but a shadow, merely passing through the world of the living.
The Luperci known simply as Cicatrice moved through these shadows, at once apart of them and yet something wholly different. Inside she had a heart that beat fiercly, a heart that could again love, given the right chance. Some would say she was a killer, and they would be right, for she had killed, and not always out of necessity. She had killed for the mere taste of blood. She was not proud of this, it was simply part of what was, and she would kill again. The scents of those she would defend, the Wolves, were present, and those she would kill, the Coyotes, were also present. Cica bared her teeth in a subconscious reaction as she moved through the woods in lupine form, silver eyes glinting in the dim light. She did not expect to make friends, she wasn't an easy Wolf to get to know, and this was habit. Keep people away so you couldn't lose them.
She came upon a stream and looked at her own reflection. There were scars, each dug deeper than memory. The ones on her face were the oldest, when she had first met the enemy face to face. She did not think of that day when her puphood had so brutally ended. The others were badges of honor, won in fights. Drinking from the water the female watched dragonflies dance over the surface. She smiled, enjoying the small beauty of the scene.
This post fails... I have no idea why I can't focus today but I wanted to reply, grgrgr. ;__; *offers cookies*
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_____It was far too easy to lose track of how many days were already passing. Normally she kept better track of them but the days and nights so far had done nothing but bleed together. But they were straightening out more and more and she was beginning to find a rhythm and routine to her days. The Dampwoods was a frequently travel-through place for Corona, despite Anselm's warning about going to Esper Hollow she did venture that way all the same. But this time she was on her way back instead of going, only choosing to stop along the way.
_____She had set up snares not too long after she had run into Draco and thought it was best to check them before too many more days had passed. Corona didn't get too far off of the trail and into the brush before she came across the first one and found the rabbit strung up high in the tree. Smiling to herself as she pulled herself up into the lower branches of the old tree, there was a sense of accomplishment to follow her motions. She had set snares before but the hares had always eluded them, at least until now.
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OC: Since Corona is only a quarter coy, she doesn't offend Cica's sensibilities as much, lol And... Cicatrice is in a good mood (she has a sense of humor)
IC:
The easy rhythm of the forest broke as the She sensed another. She inhaled, testing the air. Hybrid. At least she, it was a female, was low percentage coy. It wasn't as if she could help her own birth, though Cicatrice thought that any wolf who chose to willingly mate with a coyote had to be a bit addled. The big she wolf shook herself, then shifted to Optime. She could fight in any form, but as the stranger was not in her immediate vicinity... Using her senses, she located the stranger soon enough... and up a tree too. Watching in mild interest, the silver eyed huntress studied the hybrid, the snare, and what she was doing. Walking over to the snare, Cicatrice thought it was a lot of work climbing up there if it wasn't necessary. Experimentally, she gave the rope attached to the hare a tug.
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_____She had been working at undoing the knot when she hear the gentle approach of another. Corona was hoping that they wouldn't notice what she was doing as much as they would notice what was at the end of the string, but as luck would have it, she saw the dark figure approach and give the line a tug. Her ears pinned back apprehensively and she stopped undoing the knotted string out of the fact that it was a bit hard to do while the branch was going all over the place… and she didn't want whoever it was jerking the line to run away with it either.
_____Hanging onto the line in front of her, she peered down through the leaves and skinny limbs with a frown. “I'd ask what you're doing, but that's a bit obvious. So why are you doing that?” It wasn't going to come off just because someone pulled on it, she had made sure to tie it as to avoid that. Leaning out a bit to get a better look at the stranger, it was her peculiar scars on her face that gained her attention next; definitely someone she had never seen before. Perhaps a native to the area?
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OC: I'm a dork, needed a new av before I posted XD
IC:
The craftsmanship wasn't half bad, Cicatrice noted with mild interest when the rabbit, hare, whatever, it was all meat to her, didn't fall out of the tree. She smirked when she heard the voice of the hybrid above her. So, she had annoyed her, what a pity. Silver eyes looked up, glinting in the shadows, spotting the tawny female above her. She twirled the rope absently in her fingertips. "Not so obvious. If I wanted a meal I wouldn't steal it. At least not from you." She'd steal it from a pureblood coyote out of spite, given said yote didn't have pups. Cicatrice had an odd thing about pups, even coy pups, though they would grow into what she despised. She let the rope go so that it swung gently from side to side, keeping her too keen gaze on the treebound female.
It's pretty!  *gnaws on Cica*
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_____“I didn't think that you'd steal it out from under my nose,” she returned with a faint smile, “at least if you were going to, I would have expected you to run right by instead of testing the line.” Which would have been amusing, no doubt, because by the time she had gotten out of the tree, the sable woman would have been gone into the depths of the forest. Pulling the line up after it had been left alone, Corona continued to untie the other end of the line as she continued to speak. “Though if any of the other snares I set have anything in them, I'd be glad to share if you're interested.”
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*gnaws back* Revealing a bit of Cica's backstory here, at least in thought. 
Cicatrice resisted a snort at the female's comment, "I don't run," She said evenly, feeling her hackles bristle at the thought. Flicking her gaze back up to the female, she blinked consideringly. This hybrid was currently no threat to her, and unless she became one, Cicatrice saw no reason to be standoffish. This was the first canid she'd met in a while, and while Cica had a definite distaste for the coyotes and the hybrids to an extent, she saw no reason to start anything until she knew more of the area. The scarred female considered the hybrid's offer. How odd, to offer to a stranger. The coyotes and the hybrids in the pack that had stolen her as a pup would never have made such an offer. "No... Thank you though," One thing that Cicatrice was not used to doing was thanking a hybrid, let alone havig any reason to thank one in the first place. Black ears flicked alertly, listening to the sounds of the forest. "I am... new to the area. Is there anything I should know about it?"
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_____Climbing down from the tree with the rabbit and line, Corona was soon able to get a better look at the taller canine. There was a little denying that she was built for the very way she had gotten her scars, explained her personality a bit, which made them quite different from one another. She pondered her question for a moment though, letting a soft ‘hmm’ go into the air before her words. “Well, the thing that comes to my mind foremost is to tell you to avoid Esper Hollow right now. It's a little pack to the southwest of here and right now they've got a few who are pretty sick with something.” No one wanted to be sick, anyway. “And you'll probably want to stay away from Inferni to the north too. They don't take too well to strangers wandering around their borders. Other than that, I can't really tell you too much because I haven't been around for very long either.”
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Cicatrice looked down at the smaller canid as she climbed down to the ground. It seemed to her that anyone who had coy blood in them was that tawny buff color. She'd seen a few wolves with it, but not too many. It wasn't a rule, so she didn't use it to identify the coy kin; scent usually worked there. Cicatrice frowned. Sickness was never good. She looked at the female, cocking her head, "Inferni?" Her quizzical expression said she plainly did not know of the area, or its volatile history. This female smelled of the area to the north, this "Inferni", which also smelled strongly of coy, a smell which brought a chill to her blood and a hidden fear to the strong she-wolf's heart.
Sorry if this is kind of jumbled / bad / whatever, I've just spent the last five and a half hours at a hospital and my brain is stuffed with medical jargon. @_@ *gurgles as she processes the day*
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_____She nodded at her question, ready to clarify, though not in so much as what they were about as to where they were located. “You can't miss it, really. There's a row of spikes with skulls on them to give a rather visual notice of the border.” In the same sense, she even felt like she was giving the dark-haired wolf reason to go and visit it, which if anything Corona probably should have been avoiding. “They've just come out of a war with another pack called Dahlia de Mai, which I'd suggest avoiding too, though I can't say how they act towards strangers.” If she went there, there'd be little doubt about getting torn to shreds in her mind. Plus considering how well they kept track of their borders, it was obvious that anyone could just saunter in without notice, just like Andrezej had done. Though in her mind, she was fully inclined to believe that they had let him, that possibly they knew his true intentions.
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OC Your post was fine 
Silvery eyes considered the hybrid. Coyote kin they must be then, these Inferni. She remembered the use of staking the heads of the enemies had been a ghoulish trait of the coyotes who'd held her captive. She flashed her teeth in a feral smile. "I've seen such things used before, by a coyote clan I once had the misfortune to know," She said this last with a hiss of a snarl, unconsciously running a claw along some of the vivid scars that traced her muzzle. Cicatrice took in the next bit of imformation. If this other pack ever needed aid against these Inferni, she would be willing to lend her skills. "And from where do you hail?" She asked, watching the female. Cicatrice had already noticed how much information she had gained without giving any in return. Either this female was very trusting, naive, or simply not curious about a stranger in the lands, none of which, in her opinion was a good thing. If she were in the female's skin, she'd have asked Cicatrice a few questions by now, and yet she hadn't even asked Cicatrice her name yet. Cicatrice had not asked of her name because she would rather gain as much information as possible before diverting the female's attention.
*now tries to process the day with a vacation looming down the road*
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_____“Just around, I'm a bit of a traveller,” she returned, surmising that the way the present company had been scarred up was a likely result of coyotes. Little denying that she had an evident distaste for coyotes either, though Corona kept up a rather stoic face to the matter. She was used to it, that dislike, that very visible bigotry. But she didn't have the grounds to speak any more, given what side of the fence she was up against those days. “I should probably get back to what I was doing though,” she went on to say, “don't want anyone running off with the rest of my catches. Anything else you wanted to know before I go?”
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