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Blood and limbs and body parts. The stench hit him long before the realization that anyone had been in there, moving things about. It seemed that, whoever they were, had been long dead, rotting away in the moist air that filled the lighthouse. However strong stomached he might have been, Conri could only manage a half peek inside of the lighthouse, just long enough to see what was strewn about inside before removing his head and taking a few steps back to get a fresh breath of air. Even a few feet away, the air was foul, and he could taste the rotted flesh in his mouth. The one-armed male frowned, moved back a bit farther, and turned again to face the lighthouse. It had to have been some kind of massacre.
Upon further inspection he managed to pick out an array of scents, some more recent than other, and this fact caused a slight paranoia in the red male. The moon was out though, there were no birds in the trees whispering their secrets, and not a scent could be traced in the very immediate area. Crouching then, he placed his hand on the ground to steady himself, hunching himself over and dropping his head to the ground. If there was any evidence of what had happened it would have had to have been inside, where Conri wasn't quite that interested in going. Lifting his head, jade eyes moved back to the door of the lighthouse, which he had left hanging ajar. From his position, all he could manage to see were the shattered remains of some kind of wood.
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maybe no names… for a few posts?
Running away again, the female didn’t look back as she swiftly left the territory boarders. Her soundless, numb chest felt empty and hollow but she knew better then to believe that what it held was absent. It was only quiet, reminding her that what it symbolized was missing. Again and again she ran, her legs carrying her further and further away from everything that made her so incredibly confused. The pain that surrounded her drifted as she let the wind pass over her moving body. She ran until the moon hung high over her, and her chest threatened to collapse inward.
Blue eyes looked up, finding that her paws had brought her to something that reminded her of all the heartache that she had hoped to run from. The lighthouse stood before her, a beacon calling her name. She shifted, becoming two-footed father then four. Her tired frame was rejuvenated with the difference, though it took her a moment to get to her paws. Not knowing why she felt so compelled to get closer to the tower, the scents that mingled through the air were nothing like the last time she had visited the ocean and changed her train of thought.
Walking slowly the female crept towards it, unsure what she might find.
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I'm not sure that Conri actually knows Anu, really. XD But yeah, he'll be paranoid of her anyways since she is from CD. XD
He could hear the feet along the ground, running, pounding in his ears, but as his eyes cast across the horizon, he could not see. The red male slunk back some, hunched over still, curling into himself as if it might keep him hidden. The scent came before the sight of the female did, the faint tinge of a pack that had once been his own, or at least, the members who had been there previously had been his own. The first thought in his head was Salem and, were in not for the paranoia that had already settled in, he might have called out in hopes that it really was his son. He kept himself from doing so, though, and luckily for him. She came in a flash, creeping up toward the lighthouse, though he didn't quite recognize her but she did smell strongly of Naniko.
She had a face and a scent that he couldn't recall and, even in his slightly messed up state, he was hard pressed to forget someone. Who was she though? Why had she been running like that and, on top of it all, running all the way out here? It was only then that the thought struck him, wondering silently if she might have had anything to do with the massacre that had taken place inside the lighthouse. Could Naniko be unknowingly harboring a murderer in Crimson Dreams? Even if she was, no one would ever believe it if Conri told them. All he could do was watch and pass on the information that he could manage to find.
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he wouldn’t know her… but she knows his name…!
The scents, ranging within her nose and sending pictures to her mind were overwhelming. They screamed to her, the blood the death calling to her but at the same moment told her furiously to leave. Still Anu walked closer. Eyes looked downward, looking for the blood that was so apparent in the air. It wasn’t until she met the door to the tower that she saw the first traces. Were they fingerprints? Anu peered at the dark smudges in the moonlight, wondering if it was evidence or just a soul attempting to escape.
The picture she created was to much, the smell far to overpowering and the sight devastating. Her face turned away, and a hand moved to her stomach. Unable to even look through the crack of the door the female took a step back and ideally took hold of the door for support. Once her gained her composure Anu realized she had touched the wooden planks. Only flacks of the dried blood came away with her fingers. The abrupt movement jarred the door, opening it further. Unable to look away her eyes found just a portion of what scent had brought her here. All the thoughts she held of the tall lighthouse against the ocean were wiped clean. Only the bits of massacre that were laid out before her filled her mind
Her nose sought clean air, facing the landscape that surrounded the place of death. Her heart beat wildly, though it was only a flutter in her chest. Blue eyes stared into the night, unable to focus with such a sight burned in their memory.
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At first Conri wasn't entirely sure what the woman was doing, she seemed unsure as she approached the door of the lighthouse. He had left it ajar though and his suspicion told him that, perhaps, she was nervous that someone else had discovered her secret. How often did others come to this area anyways? He'd lived in the lands for close to a year and yet this had been the first time, that he could recall immediately, visiting the area. Perhaps she thought that it was safe, abandoned, and was just now finding out that her thoughts had been completely wrong. Her reaction though, when she reached the door and took a look inside, was something that had been somewhat unexpected. Wouldn't anyone have reacted like that to the stench?
He was unsure, pondering the possibilities and the ideas that ran through his head until the moment that she turned around. He could see piercing blue eyes through the faint darkness, bright and alert, and he was unsure if she had seen him. Turning and leaving at that moment was one alternative, but in the case that she hadn't killed the group inside, wouldn't that have made him look suspicious? Instead, Conri removed his hand from the ground and rose to stand, on guard and cautious, ignoring the urge to be silent despite the fact that he now faced a wolf from the pack of his once mate. "The air isn't much better over here."
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Anu wouldn’t have noticed the male among the trees, with ever sense she owned overtaken by the scene. It was only his voice was brought her back from the beyond. It was startling, familiar and foreign at the same moment. Anu watched as he stood, but didn’t advance towards her. She grew stiff, finding things in his appearance familiar as she had his voice. It was his missing forearm that held her gaze the longest, but she landed on his green eyes and kept her orbs locked to his. It took a moment before his words registered, and she understood what he said. I cant imagine it is. Her voice was soft as she took in the clearer air.
A step forward brought her further from it, though closer to him. All the suspicion he felt for her was returned and doubled. A one armed beast, lurking in the shadows made the hair on her neck stand on end. For a second she even though he might be a victim, but nothing about him screamed the tragedy that was held within the lighthouse. And she instinctively knew that no beast walked away from the carnage, no one but the killer.
What happened here? The sudden realization that he may be the beast that caused all this, or one of many, swept over her. Instead of fleeing she stood her ground, though if she had wanted to run she wasn’t sure her legs would have worked.
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"I'm not so sure." He frowned, obviously distraught, and lifted his single hand to rub just under his right ear. Some small bit of who he had been, who he truly was, had found it's way out of the red male. It had been so long since he had said such simple words to anyone, no matter the horrible occasion, but it felt right suddenly. "There are to many scents around and, unless they all had a part in it, I can't tell who the culprit might be." And it didn't help that he didn't recognize any of the scents, either. Whatever the case, it was horrible, something that he would have been sick to his stomach over. After the things he had seen and done, though, he could just about stomach it, though the thought of such a thing happening made him sick even still.
He lowered his hand then, back limp to his side, and finally moved jade eyes to look the woman over. She was easier to see and, since Conri had actually been taking care of himself for the most part, he could assume that he wasn't imagining any part of her. Still though, he did not recognize her. "I was going to wait and see if they came back." Only a killer would willingly stand and face a killer. "But with that stench I'm assuming everyone will have the same reaction as we had." And again he frowned, disappointed. He had always wanted to be the Hero and, even if it was only him that knew he had disposed of the killer, at least he would have felt like one.
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If there was something off about him, Anu could only attribute it to the horrid sights that they had just bother seen. He looked as unsure and confused as she did, and the thought of it gave her a sense of ease, though she was far from relaxed. Agreeing with him, she tried to keep him on the suspect list. It was easy for her to join him in looking for the culprit, but she needed to be looking at him just as much as any other beast that was lurking in the shadows.
It wasn't safe, but still the fey stood watching him unsure if the scenario kept her planted or if it was just this male that made her stay. Did you know She paused for a moment her breath still uneasy. them? Only an ear flicking backwards indicated the souls that she spoke of, not wanting to catch another glimpse of the death that still waited inside.
I don’t think just one beast could do that. she added. It was all she was certain of. Though even as it passed over her mind again, there was doubt entering once again.
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"No.." He shook his head just a bit. "I don't think so." But he couldn't exactly say so with certainty, he hadn't hung around the door long enough to try and see who exactly they were. The stench had been enough to do him in but the sight of dismembered body parts was enough to make his stomach quake and the area where his arm had once been pulse with pain. He could only hope that they were dead long before they had been dismembered. "It might help to keep an ear out for anyone who might know someone who is missing though. I haven't heard anything like that yet." But perhaps that was what the birds had been whispering about most recently.
"You.." He pointed off in the direction that she had come from, turning his eyes to glance there once before settling on her again. "running from something over there?" If that were the case, if perhaps she thought she had heard something or was being followed, might mean that whomever had done the things in the lighthouse was lingering, possibly even watching them as they stood there speaking. Whatever little bit of humanity that was building back up inside him told him not to just leave her there, that it might not be safe, no matter if consorting with Crimson Dreams members could bring him harm.
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There were no familiar scents that could be taken from the gore that filled her nose. But still she couldn’t rule out that she herself hadn’t know any of the beasts that had been sacrificed. Of course when he spoke, only one face came to her. She was missing, lost from her life and gratefully Anu would not find her here. The scene here was cold, old and decaying. Happening far before this night. Still, the fey would search for the one she had lost to make certain that she was safe.
The only other she could think would need to know about all this was the masked yote, though her gut told her that he was already aware of it.
No. Her answer was quickly given as thoughts raced back to the other place of devastation that she had just fled from. I was looking for someone. the words felt like a confession, and were only half true. But, she’s thankfully not here. Her voice was low, almost said to herself rather then the male. They gave her comfort, though not enough to put her at complete ease.
Suspicions returned, but it was mainly curiosity that drove her to question him. Do you live around here? Anu knew what brought her here, pure chance. But she didn’t believe he just stumble upon it too.
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He had to wonder, even if only for a moment, who exactly the woman had been looking for. Could it have been Naniko? Then again, why would she have been so far away from her lands, especially with their children wandering about. He couldn't assume they were all like he had been, holed up in the pack lands the whole time with only members as acquaintances. There had been life outside of that sleepy little dream that they had shared, only Conri had chosen to ignore it for the most part. That had, perhaps, been part of his problem the whole time, ignoring the things that were around him, everything but Naniko.
"Lived around here a while, yeah. Just found a small house on the edges of the city." It had taken him this long to even both trying to find himself a safe place to stay. He hadn't been worth a safe place before but his growing faith in himself was starting to change those thoughts. He wasn't sure what to say suddenly, what might keep their conversation safe enough to keep his identity hidden. The way that Savina had attacked him that day, he could only assume that the rest of the pack had been told to watch out for him. "I take it you live in Crimson Dreams?" He asked then, taking another moment to explain himself. "I've heard the name, passed by a few times, but never really stopped to check it out." Liar.
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Anu had one for sleepy little dreams, she had once loved every inch of what surrounded her. It was hers. Every bit of it helped her survive each day, and she had thought it perfect. Her love for Naniko’s pups, the need to keep them safe and feeling of motherhood she held for them had been a dream, as well as the relationship that was her foundation. Nothing was perfect, and it was her own flaws that overpowered everything. That little fantasy was only a cloudy memory, and it had sent her to stand in front of him and be witness to such decaying remnants.
Something was off, and though Anu was new to suspicion it was easy to tell that he was more then just affected by the carnage. Not long ago she would have believed him without question, and though she didn’t lie, she understood that many others chose to. I do. Of course she was of Crimson Dreams, but she found it to be a very luck guess. Still, she watched him closely taking in his ever feature and searching for any indication of falsehood. Who do you know there? maybe he knew the scent, having met one of her packmates.
I’m Anu, by the way. she offered him her name, maybe he would return with his own.
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In an instant the very conversation that had wanted to avoid had started, though he could only blame himself for it. he had been the one to bring up the pack and to even acknowledge it, he assumed, had made her wonder. It was one of his downfalls, constantly wondering how his children were, what they were doing, secretly wondering how Naniko had been doing. He'd seen her that day, she looked good, seemed to be doing well. She had recovered, from the looks of it, far quicker than he ever would have, if he ever did manage to recover. "I know a few." He actually wasn't certain who all was still around. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of Lucifer of Kansas since that day, though in the quiet of the night he still wondered what it would feel like to have his hand around their necks. He still blamed them.
"Anu." He tested the name, tried to find something familiar about it, but there was nothing there. "It would be safer for me not to give you my name." He admitted after a moment of silence, frowning at the fact that such a civil conversation had the possibility of turning ugly at just the mere mention of his name. It had been so long since he had just talked to someone. "That alone would make you suspicious of me though, and then it really doesn't matter anymore." There was defeat in his voice, some painful hint that he hadn't wanted things to turn out like this. It would have been easier just to give her a fake name. "Conri Church."
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She wondered, who? And as he spoke the words fell from his mouth unevenly. Anu let them flutter to her ears, passing all the stench of death that hung between them. She didn’t understand, not until the very end. His name hung on his lips, and Anu strained to hear it. It changed her, but not the way she thought, imagined, it always would.
Conri? She questioned him, her tone light, cynical. A gem had led her right to the start of all the mess. The reason she and Naniko had fought, the reason she had fled, repeatedly. Blue eyes stared strait into the jade eyes her son owned. Her knight, the dragon slayer, bore such resemblance to him. It almost made her sick to think that he reminded her of her boy.
Nodding her head slightly It might have been. she spoke as she took her gaze from his and looked beyond him, trying to find the words she needed. You’re a rapist, and possibly a murder. The rage was no longer under her skin or boiling in her chest, she was even smiling. He had no hold over her, having done what she had been told to do Anu had let him go.
It was enough. Though just enough to not strike him on the spot. Your safe here, from me. Even though I’m Naniko’s mate, and mother to your children. Knowing simply that she would kill him, in an instant if she saw him step foot inside their land brought a grin to her mouth. Do I need to remind you? Her voice was even, but held a certain energy fueled by the continuous heartache and the constant pain she felt. A step brought them closer, and suddenly it wasn’t enough. Holding herself back, Anu realized that maybe he wasn’t safe.
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Only his name was spoken and she knew. Her demeanor seemed to change, even if it wasn't so obvious, but Conri knew it was there. She knew what he had done, they probably all knew by now, but not even that knowledge caused Conri to sway. He was used to being beat up over it, used to being degraded and insulted, even if it was usually by himself. He accepted it only because he knew that he was wrong, that he deserved it all, and he never wanted to let himself forget it. It was, perhaps, in part because of his children. He didn't want to chance hurting them, but it also might have been because he still loved her. Despite all that he had done and all that she had done, he still felt like he needed her.
"I'm not a moron." He told her matter-of-factly, despite the fact that everything he had done then had labeled him as such. "That's why I haven't been there." It was only kind of true though, it was hard not to pass by the lands, but he had never really gone inside. Of course, he'd never admit that he had waited outside for Salem to come and see him. "So long as they're being cared for, that's all that matters." He tried to hide the shock in his voice, the surprise that filled his eyes the moment that she said she was Naniko's mate. He hadn't ever known her to like women, it had always been the two of them even since they were young, but he supposed love had no true bounds.
"I tried to get her to kill me." He told her quietly, as she stepped closer to him. He could see it in her eyes, her wish to wring his neck right then and there. "My mother, I mean, but she wouldn't." He supposed she wasn't the best one to ask though, but even Deuce wouldn't do it when he had asked her to. None of them had. Did they all hold some ounce of faith in him still or was the world just that uncaring now? Conri wasn't entirely sure.
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sorry for her abrupt departure…
She froze, keeping the distance that stood between them. He was safe, Anu determined. Though his tone made her twitch with annoyance. She was far from the breaking point, now that she had one. She felt it, and wanted to hurt him more then she had ever wanted to hurt any other in her life. Violence was something she had believed she was incapable of; but she surprised herself, again and again.
He knew, good. But she wasn’t satisfied. Even asking his own mother for death wasn’t enough for the fey. Her face remained calm, but it took all the energy so possessed to keep it so. She would let him go, just as she was told. That’s a lot to ask for, from your mother. Though Anu would have thanked her for ridding her world of him. No, Anu corrected her vindictive brain.
You could have taken care of it yourself. She could have tasted blood on her tongue as she spoke. It was wrong, and even Anu felt it. Looking down, she thought of the children again. They are taken care of, and loved. her voice was lighter, as they left her mouth hastily. Her arms wrapped across her chest, and she forced her eyes to look into his. They will know, who you are and if I can help it be spared from knowing what you did. Just attempting to give him some sort of twisted comfort enraged her.
But if you loose your mind, her voice was suddenly filled with the hate she felt, unable to give him all the forgiveness she had promises, not at that moment. and think you can set foot in that territory. You wont have to ask your mother a second time. Light blue eyes blazed, and the threat came from the empty chest she possessed. It might have been nothing coming from the small wolfess, but it held everything she possessed.
Turning her back to him, Anu didn’t give the lighthouse a second glance before walking away. It felt wrong, but she left him. Only to hope he would rot with the rest of the corpses that lay strewn within the tower. That’s all he was, a walking corpse.
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