suburbia will be just as easy
#1
Name: Rikka de le Poer
Birthdate: August 31st, 2005
Luperci: By birth.
Species: 62.5% Wolf, 25% Coyote, 12.5% Dog
Gender: Female
Contact: o petit mort (AIM)
How did you learn/hear about 'Souls?: I was a member here before.


Rikka didn’t know what had possessed her brother to put wolves’ skulls on the tops of pikes in the ground, but she knew that their former home had been devastated beyond recognition. She had first ventured home, and had been hurt by the appearance of the burned lands she had once called home. Both Inferni and Chimera had been burned and neither could sustain life. A few of the territories had almost escaped total destruction, but everything was sadly uninhabitable. So after a few days of searching for any sign of life, Rikka turned south and came upon the lands that her family now inhabited. She could smell Gabriel and Corona along the prairie’s border along with others she didn’t recognize.

The golden woman who favored a coyote’s appearance stood on two legs staring at the skulls mounted atop the pikes, and wondered who her family had killed in order to get those skulls. What kind of warning was that? Gabriel and Corona were both mostly wolf, like she was, so what were they getting at? The wolf and coyote blood were too similar to be enemies, in her eyes, but she wasn’t here to argue with her family. She was here to reunite with them, and perhaps find a home in their ranks once more. She stood before the mounted skulls fingering the daggers hanging on her belt, clad in torn and tattered leather clothes. A skirt and a tattered leather vest were all that adorned her frame, aside from the traveling cloak tucked into her bag and the daggers that hung on the belt surrounding her thin waist. The golden-eyed girl waited for someone to come along—she was sure that they didn’t appreciate someone yelling for attention, so she simply kept her mouth shut and pondered the deeper meaning behind the skulls facing her.
#2
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She'd been to the city twice now and both times without incident. One of those trips she had encountered Ahren, but this time she had been solo throughout the whole thing. Even though she hadn't come back with anything that she hadn't another time before, getting out and getting away seemed to work best for her. She liked the time alone, if only to think. It didn't matter what she thought about, it was more or less thought organisation.



Adjusting her grip on a backpack that was mostly empty as she approached the strongly marked borders of Inferni, she didn't recognise Rikka at all. At least from the back anyway; what Corona saw was just another lost soul eyeballing their choice of visible warnings. Cross had been the last one and his lack of manners automatically made her dread what the behaviour of this one would be. Whoever it was, they were distinctly female from the build of their body—an anatomy she knew too well—and armed, as the glint of the knives caught her attention.



“Hey,” she called out from behind the woman, tensing slightly as her gait slowed, “did you already call for someone or are you just looking around?”
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#3
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The voice from behind her was somewhat familiar, but Rikka didn’t realize it was her sister until she turned around and saw an almost mirror image of herself. Of course, Rikka was now thinner than Corona and their eyes were different, but the resemblance was still shocking. Letting a soft smile curve her lips, Rikka stepped forward slightly and opened up her arms, as a sign of peace and friendship. “Just looking around,” she answered softly, wondering if her sister recognized her. It had been a long time since they had seen each other last, and since then their bodies and minds had changed drastically from their childhood selves.


Rikka turned her eyes back toward the skulls for a moment, and returned her gaze to her sister’s beautiful face. “Corona, why have you killed these wolves? What have they done to provoke your wrath?” She didn’t ask any of this accusingly—honestly she just wanted to know if there was a real threat here, and if she should be on her guard. Wolves (as well as coyotes) could be fickle creatures, and knowing what you’re up against always improved your chance of avoiding a confrontation. The golden-eyed, golden-furred woman watched her sister for a moment longer and then finally introduced herself, unsure if her sister knew it was her Rikka that was home. “It’s me, sis, it’s Rikka.”

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#4
I think Luka Russo's player (who's name evades me at the moment) made your avatar.
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She stopped in her own tracks from earlier when Rikka turned around, catching the same sort of recognition that her sister had in a halted breath. How many years had it been? One, two? She hadn't seen Rikka since they had been literal children and all things considered, it surprised her to realise that she was alive. They always came back eventually, that was the only thing she could remember through a long silence. Something that she thought she had heard her mother murmur once. But she was snapped back to reality by the accusation that came from Rikka's lips. Though it lacked the tone to be something she could have said distastefully, it bothered Corona that she would think she had done it.



“I know,” she finally answered once she had been prompted. She knew who Rikka was, even if she barely recognised her. Her mannerisms were different, she supposed her outlook, and she had grown. Changed. Just like she had. “But I didn't have a hand in decorating our borders, so for a moment I wasn't sure of who you were. I thought you knew you me better than that,” she laughed half-heartedly, almost absently. They were always guilty by association. “Those were here when we got here as far as I know. But why are you here all of a sudden? Where have you been?”
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#5
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Rikka’s ears immediately fell back to her skull when she learned of her mistake. It wasn’t as if she would be angry with Corona if she had had a hand in it, but having a murderous sister wasn’t something anybody could take lightly. Rikka was both relieved and somewhat horrified to find out that her sister hadn’t done it, because it got her off the hook but it also begged the question again: who did this? “I thought I did, sister, but your scent is all over the borders. How is a traveler supposed to know who did this and who didn’t?” Rikka wasn’t sure how anything was going to turn out today, but she was glad that she had found her sister, and that they were reunited again. Hopefully it wouldn’t go badly just because she made a mistake.


Then Corona asked why she was here and Rikka had an answer for that immediately. “I came home because I wanted to. I went to Hell’s Coast and found nothing. What happened?” she asked, wondering what had caused the terrible destruction of her former homes. But then she wanted to answer her sister’s second question: where had she been? “Everywhere,” was her initial answer, simply for the fact that it covered the question completely. “I went to Europe with you and dad, if you remember, but after a while I just couldn’t stand it there anymore. So I came back on a boat, lived in a coastal village for a while, and then came back home. I didn’t like what mother was doing and I was angry at every one, so I left again. I traveled further west and south than I had ever gone before, and met some pretty fantastic wolves…and coyotes, too. Everyone was very welcoming. Well…almost everyone.” She chuckled at the last words as she indicated the daggers on her hips, and the bow and arrow slung across her back.

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#6
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Corona felt the urge to point out that while her sister may have been or was a traveller, she was no stranger to her family. At least the vast majority of it, anyway. But she had no desire to argue it, long beyond trying to change anyone's opinion. The same phrase rang distantly in her head: guilty by association. Besides that, the conversation had moved on to things that were much more interesting. She remembered that Rikka had come to France with them, though she had left herself. Their stories were somewhat similar, though Corona hadn't seen her mother again or had the total misfortune of meeting those who were unkind towards her. But perhaps that had something to do with her self-proclaimed procession of being a healer. A doctor. Medicine woman. She had been called many things and at least half of those things since she had been back.



“A fire happened,” she said lamely, stating the obvious absently and without thought. “I don't know how because I found it the same way you did. I presume it was a wildfire that just got out of control,” because she had no idea what the weather had been like earlier in the year. She hadn't even been back that long in hindsight, not compared to those who had never wavered from the place. “Marlowe told me to go south, so I did. I found Gabriel and the others here.” It didn't even dawn on her that perhaps Rikka wouldn't know Marlowe either, but it didn't matter. Everything would be explained in due time.



“But if you're here thinking everything is sunshine and flowers now, you'd be better off going back to wandering. Wolves are still the bane of Inferni, you know,” and if it had angered her dear sister once, then Corona wanted to spare her the second coming and going. Conway had never come home. Molochai hadn't either. As far as she knew, Arkham burnt up in the fire, Rachias hated all of them, and the rest of them would never come back. While she once dwelt on the past sometimes, Corona didn't care one way or the other in the present if they came back. She didn't want what was set in stone to be the thing that caused discord within their foundation.
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