fail post is fail. :|
[html] Back in the depths of Inferni, Corona found it hard to relax even though she knew there were miles upon miles between her and Dahlia de Mai. What had been troublesome was the fact that she had been quite a long ways away from it when that wolf had sprung out. It still told her that there were still wolves from that pack who went out of their way to track down those from Inferni. She mentioned Firefly, who Corona had no idea about (but on the other hand, she didn't realise that she had a conversation with the girl only weeks ago), and then some sister. The sister she could figure out easily enough—the wolf who had run from Hybrid and Samael and herself—and that became the only sole thing in her mind that explained things. She had mixed feelings about the whole thing, but if those two wolves were siblings, then it meant a couple of things in her mind.
Dahlia had spies lurking around, possibly, and that wolf had survived by some sort of divine intervention. Underneath the shade of the tall trees, she worked quietly and changing the bandage she had wrapped around her right arm. The wound was healing up nicely like she expected it to do and the cut that had been on her face had healed by then. But she had avoided sitting square in the middle of her home in any other state. It had taken her a while to put her thoughts together, to recall things and piece together what had happened on the off-chance that someone actually asked. It was hard to say exactly who's fault it had really been, because in the end, one side or the other was paranoid. Spies existed, assassins existed, otherworldly things happened for unexplained reasons. Leaning back instead the tree fully, Corona sighed, running over it all once again. [/html]
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indent Their family kept growing, it seemed. Anselm’s daughter was here, and had, as of yet, not struck Gabriel as being anything like her father. Then again, Anselm had been a bit off recently, something that settled ill with his cousin. Most people seemed to be off recently. Two-legged, Gabriel tied back his multi-hued hair and spared a glance up to the sky. Marlowe’s familiar shadow was not present, suggesting he was off annoying someone else for once. Still, the bird was useful—he told Gabriel what Anselm could not, and thus far, only three people in Inferni seemed to really know of his presence.
indent One of these was the scent he was following, drawing him towards his sister. When he found her, he was surprised—she had a bandage on her arm and was missing scraps of fur. The same held true for him (save the bandage of course) but he knew the signs well enough to know she had been in a fight. “Who got hold of you?” He asked, coming up towards her.
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[html] It did not surprise her that the first one to really find her would be Gabriel. She hadn't seen much of him since Andrezej had turned up, though she hadn't been hanging around Inferni in large amounts. Most of her time was spent on the move between there and Esper Hollow, making sure each and every time that she didn't leave with something she didn't want to bring back, however time consuming that process was. “Someone from Dahlia de Mai jumped me in the woods to our southeast,” she said, not really sure of the name of the strange wood. “Beige girl, gold eyes, had a puncture wound on one of her legs.” The verbal details she spared for later, tightening the gauze a bit more and casting a look upward to her sibling. “Looks like someone took a couple of swings at you too. You okay?” [/html]
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indent Gabriel had been in and out of Inferni and the surrounding areas for the past few days. He didn’t feel a threat in the air, and the clan had settled into a quiet rhythm. So often he walked, more often with no goal or purpose. The Voice had been quiet for a time, but he knew it would speak again. When it did, he would have to listen. As soon as the words left his sister’s mouth, his eyes narrowed and darkened swiftly, furious. They had promised peace, and now this? It was infuriating. “I’m fine,” he said automatically. “You haven’t been in a lot of fights, have you?”
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[html] “No, not really,” she answered with a faint smile. “I haven't really done much in the way of fighting since I was a kid. I try to avoid it.” But of course, as she knew and as it stood in her expression, avoiding fights could only do so much. It didn't help when the attackers emerged from the thick forests and around concrete corners. And knowing her luck, it was bound to continue to happen for as long as there were those nearby who had a hatred for Inferni. [/html]
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indent Scars twirled over his body, forming odd patterns and constellations all their own. Each one had a story, a name behind it, a reason and a meaning. Each scar was a lesson learned over time. Gabriel couldn’t remember the number of fights he had been in, only that he had come out of them alive. In the end, that was all that mattered. “I can teach you how,” he offered, returning that half-hearted smile. “I’d rather you be able to defend yourself then bury someone else.” Two brothers. One sister. He had killed one of the three.
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[html] She returned his smile with a thin one of her own, nodding her head in agreement. If anything, Corona would have preferred not to be the next one buried either, or any time before her life was supposed to be up. “I'd appreciate that. I suppose it couldn't hurt me any more or less to learn something, because I know I'm not always going to be able to shut people in burning buildings or stab them in the eye.” Not that she had stabbed anybody in the eye lately, of course. Thought about it, but decided in the end it probably wasn't worth it. The world had enough one-eyed pirates for now. [/html]
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indent Gabriel’s smile changed as she mentioned the crimes. It cracked, breaking into a half-mad grin not unlike his father or long-gone mother. The hybrid doubted that Corona would be the next to be buried. He expected that of Samael, who had staggered off into the wilderness. On that matter he had not yet breathed a word. “Can’t say I’ve ever stabbed anyone,” he said, leaning against the tree. “But if you want, we can go over basic defense and offense now. You usually stay like this, yeah?” One hand, the one bearing his stigmata, rose and gestured at her form.
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[html] “Yeah,” she replied, pushing up from the ground to stand. “I've never been able to shift back, though I've tried.” It was weird, but the circumstances that got her to shift in the first place were connected to an unhappy memory. She knew without being told that it put her at a disadvantage, though a bipedal form did have its advantages. It didn't always need to be tooth and claw when there were many things around to use for weapons and at the very least, she could climb things that four feet couldn't even begin to grasp. [/html]
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indent Rikka hadn’t been able to shift either. Gabriel remembered taunting her about it, and getting frustrated by her lack of effort. In retrospective, that was remarkably cruel of him. Then again, he had been showing those signs since then, hadn’t he? Not just to others, but himself. Some nights he barely slept, and sat for hours alone on the flat stones and thought of all those he had lost. His mother, his siblings, his mate, his children. It hurt. God, did it hurt.
indent “When you fight an opponent larger then you, what you really need to do is use their momentum against them. Throw off their center, get them down, whatever. Don’t be afraid to fight dirty—if you don’t, your opponent sure as hell will.” With that, he moved forward and swung out, intent on striking her wounded arm.
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They were outside already, but okay! And sorry about the shortness of this, akfjsfkj. *fails at these things*
[html] She drew in his words easily, finding that they made immediate sense from the things that she had learned before. How many times had she used Meth's brash way of charging forward against her? What Corona did not expect was for him to lash out so quickly, but she reacted accordingly and without thinking by lashing out with her good arm, trying to grab his. [/html]
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Lol, I totally forgot. Edited.
indent “Good,” he said, and then pulled his arm back. If she did not let go, he would throw her to the ground. At the same time, he stepped forward, and his open hand came at her face. That had been something Gabriel had been unprepared for in the past, though in that case it had been teeth from a man who refused to lose, and ultimately was the only fight Gabriel himself had ever lost.
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*decides Corona should fail at some of this too*
[html]At his praise, she let go of his arm and in return, was immediately faced with something new coming in her direction. With only mere half-seconds to spare, Corona twisted in towards him with her own arm reaching out, trying to avoid the incoming blow while landing on of her own. At least this time it was with her good arm, where as before she had grabbed him with the injured one. To make things even more perplexing (perhaps on her side), there was considerable force behind her somewhat clumsy reaction; Corona didn't know if they were seriously supposed to duke it out or just pretend.[/html]
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indent He felt her force, and though startled, reacted immediately. Using his weight, he brought down his arm, pinning her own under this, and twisted his weight around. The motion threw her to the ground, and he stared her hard in the face. For a split second, his eyes were ferocious, and then a switch flipped off and he was calm again, nearly serene.
“Use your opponent’s momentum, and find their weakest point.” In her case, it was the fact he outweighed her. That had been his winning factor against Kaena.
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[html]The world became that certain blur again and by the time her back hit the ground, Corona realised just what had happened. Even with the wind knocked out of her momentarily and her head spinning, she could make out the subtle fire retained in his gaze. Nodding with recognition to his words, Corona slowly rose back to her feet again and pulled a stray leaf from her hair. Readying herself again, she lashed out out again at him, this time ready to take him down with her if he tried to do the same. Assessing what her opponent could or couldn't do was nearly as important as a good defense.[/html]
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indent A sudden blow caught him in the side of the face, and he struck out, keeping his elbow tight towards his chest. He felt his head pulse, but the pain was momentary, and it faded. As they moved, the leather tie he had holding back his hair spilled out, and sent the too-long red-gold-black mane tumbling into his face and down past his shoulders. Unable to see, he hesitated and tried to shake the bangs out of his eyes.
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*is completely dead from trolling around in Chicago, asldkfslfj*
[html]It was beyond perfect, at least as far as luck went. He struck out and his hair went right into his face accordingly as his striking arm drew close to her. Corona didn't hesitate to employ the same thing that he had done to her only a moment ago and grabbed his arm tightly, pinned it in towards her body and used her own petite frame to topple him in a fluid motion, though not quite in the same way that he had her. Either way, it would send him down towards the ground and give her a brief chance to let a proud, if not a bit smug smirk plant itself on her face.[/html]
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indent He felt her body on his, felt her arm, and realized then he had miscalculated. All too soon his feet left the ground and his own weight sent him down. Gabriel landed hard on his back and let out a woof of air, and lay their for a moment before he started to laugh, leaning his head back and shutting his eyes.
“All right, you have it,” he chortled.
“I think that’s enough for today,” he continued, and pushed himself up to a sitting position. A dull ache in his shoulder agreed with this.
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She chuckled lightly at his words, glad to have learnt at least a thing or two about giving someone a little trouble if they ever jumped her down some back alley forest again. Extending a hand down to help him up, Corona smiled with gratitude towards her brother. “I appreciate the lesson. You okay though?” It was mostly out of reaction that she asked him if he was okay, seeing how getting thrown on the ground wasn't exactly the most comfortable way of ending up there. She hadn't knocked his brains out of his head, so that much was good.
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indent Nodding, Gabriel pushed his hair out of his face and rolled a shoulder back. It popped loudly, and he gritted his teeth. Though it was not as painful as he imagined it could have been, it still hurt. That arm had never fully recovered from the fight with Skoll.
“I’m fine,” he said, realized it was an alpha thought, and continued.
“My shoulder’s just been bugging me.”
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