You guys should totally have my information down on file by now, haha. If Gabriel, Ryan, and/or Kaena could snag this, that would be great, but I won't cry if someone else replies. Set in the southern/western edge of Inferni, not really at the borders at all. Awkward post is awkward, because I can't remember how long it's been since I even made a new character and therefore fail at writing for said character. *fails*
[html] Somewhere above his head, a murder of crows took flight and scattered and the sound seemed louder than it had ever been before. Loud enough to be frightening, which it was, but his reaction to it was delayed; by the time he looked northward towards the overcast canopy, the birds were gone. His head ached more than it ever had, his legs felt like the most untrustworthy things beneath him, and his ability to focus had started to betray him even more. There wasn’t anything familiar about the thinning, dense hollow wood he was stumbling through, though he had caught fleeting glimpses of the sea that stretched out after sand. It was the shoreline that he was heading towards and it would be the shoreline that he thought he would follow.
But somehow, that wasn’t exactly where he ended up. Disoriented and unaware, Hezekiah had gone in plenty of circles already through the same expanse of forest. The shoreline never really got any closer, though by the time it actually did, sunset was fast approaching and he no longer had the energy to persist in doing anything but resting. He all but collapsed at the base of a hemlock tree, allowing the gnarled and exposed roots to cradle his tired body, and it was there that the ringing in his ears came-to to drown out the sounds of the earth. And in both his chest and ears, he felt the frantic and unheard rhythm of his heart.
Despite being lost, it hadn’t really been at the top of his priority as far as things to fear went. Waking up in the middle of the afternoon in a completely unfamiliar place had topped that list, and then only became amplified when he had found a gash on his side with no recollection of what had occurred. He tried to remember again when he had gently parted the stained patch of fur to peer at it with an shaky hand, but as to whether or not he had obtained it on his own or because of someone or something else continued to evade him.
The bleeding had long stopped and the wound had clotted, but for the longest time he had thought maybe it wouldn’t. And that had been another place in which fear had been founded for a young coyote who was still very much a child; he didn’t want to die. But it was also an inevitable thing, this he knew, because of the circumstances he was in. Hungry, injured, utterly alone and completely without a clue where he was — what were the odds of survival in that case? He knew how to fend for himself well enough and had on a number of occasions, but this was simply too much. For the first time in his life, Hezekiah wanted to go home. He wanted to go home so badly that he damn near felt like crying.
But he closed his eyes instead, far too exhausted to put in the required effort. [/html]
[html]  We can totally spree this if you want.  <3
The day was growing long and late. Normally, Kaena preferred later hours—but her injuries as of recently had driven her to sleep more than she usually did. She retired earlier and rose later, resting as much as she could to recharge her body and stitch it whole again. She was no stranger to injury and pain, but the knotted lump of red-raw, still-healing tissue low on her neck was evidence enough that her last fight had been most seriously, indeed. The hybrid woman was lucky to have survived that one, she knew. She had no idea it was Haku Soul, infamous Dahlian subleader until after the fact , the very one she'd been expressly warned about. The lump of tissue missing from her flesh spoke volumes about how close she'd come to the edge again.
Even so, Kaena was a resilient coyote. She had bounced back from injuries just as severe, and she had experienced a lot of pain throughout her life. The hybrid woman also had a new weapon in her arsenal—the healing technique Naniko had taught her. Kaena was hardly versed enough in medicine to even begin to call herself a healer, but she had been able to avoid severe infection of any major wound throughout her life. Prior to the acquisition of the bark powder, she had always used the sea. Now, she used salt water in conjunction with the natural remedy given to her by the pallid she-wolf. Kaena had found it difficult to tolerate wolves in the past, no doubt, and it was an extremely strange turn of events that she now considered herself indebted to one.
The hybrid woman was busying herself with the borders now, shifted into her Optime form, a force of habit now. Over the last three weeks, being two-legged had been a necessity. The grevious wound on her shoulder had given her a limp, though fortunately as the wound healed, the limp faded. Her mind wandered to the thing that had seemed to possess her before she had come home to Inferni again, perhaps some forgotten remnant of Astaroth Kimaris still leeching her soul. That had not haunted her since she had passed the border of Inferni, however, and it would be forgotten with time. She began near the coast, as always, walking along the sandy beach, headed to the very edge of the inlet, where Hades Beach ended and neutral territory began.
It was not too long into her jaunt around the borders she detected a scent, unfamiliar and masculine. It was laced with that coppery twinge, that familiar scent of blood coating the air as if the world was covered in it. Maybe Kaena just had a nose for it. She was curious now, and headed forward at a quick pace, wandering sharply away from the border territory as she went. Confused, she halted, peering around with that sharp raptor's eye for a moment, confused. It smelled as though he was quite close, yet the coyote woman did not see him. The woman crossed her arms, her gaze drifting to the ground, finally spying the crumpled form of a young coyote, cleverly camoflauged by nature. She wandered closer to him, crouching down close to him. "Hello?" Her voice was its usual rasp, but spoken softly to the younger creature. By her estimate he was no more than a year old, and there seemed to be an injury to his side. Concern for him brewed on her face, twisted by that old, stiff scar tissue.
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Sounds good to me... maybe I'll remember wtf I'm supposed to do in my psychology class for Tuesday while we're at it. >_>;;;
[html] Even though he had heard the sound of someone walking up on him, Hezekiah didn’t stir. He drifted back and forth over the thin line between lucidity and unconsciousness, dipping once into the realm of dreams before bobbing back up at the absence of sound. Where he was lying wasn’t hardly comfortable, but it was better than being flat out on the ground and open to anything. His slight build was just right for the curve of the tree as it rose from the ground, so his back wasn’t open to anything that might have viewed him as a snack. A monster maybe, like a bear. Or maybe something else; lore wasn’t too far behind the reality of what was out there. That was when he heard it, that soft little rasp, almost drowned out by the ringing in his ears.
Even if it seemed like things happened very quickly, he came around slowly, at first opening his pale blue eyes to focus on nothing at all. The world was shadowy and blurry, indistinguishable from the splash of colour (or lack thereof) behind his eyelids. But where there should have been light through the forest, there was some sort of darkness. He blinked once, then twice, drawing things into a much sharper focus for a moment before it doubled and lost detail. That darkness had a peculiar shape to it, almost canine. But things were far too fuzzy for him to tell the difference between limb and animal, and all he really saw was an almost canine with a crown of branches of leaves. Surely that wasn’t real.
Instead of making any intelligent sounds at it, he groaned, and then opted to close his eyes again. [/html]
[html]  | D: Psychology was really interesting, except for the parts where they went all in-depth about the brain. -gives you a planner!-
mall-caps;">In Character
For a moment, the coyote remained still, her single golden eye searching over the injured canine. He was indeed young, perhaps a year at best. The only injury she could see seemed to be the days-old gash across his wounds, certainly not fatal, but ill-cared for at best. Perhaps he had cleaned it by licking it, perhaps not—she instinctively reached for her bag, only to find it was not at her side as usual. She had left it in the caves this evening, thinking she would not need it on her jog about the borders. She'd planned to head home after she was done here anyway, and an hour separated from her possessions had not seemed so long. The coyote before her seemed to stir, and the grizzled woman watched, hopeful, inching closer to him by the second.
The silvery canine could half-recall snapping at Jezebel in her half-consciousness a month prior, and though she was intent on helping this stranger, she didn't wish to be on the receiving end of some semi-conscious self-defense. There was a soft noise from his lips, and the coyote woman frowned, her sable ears pressing to her skull. Perhaps his injuries were worse than she'd first suspected, or maybe he was just exhausted from travels—in any case, the coyotes Inferni had been taking in as of late had been more in need of a home, and it was up to Inferni to rehabilitate them to good health. Still, when their newest members were older and stronger, Kaena was certain they would be proud contributors to the clan's well-being.
Cobalt eyes opened for a moment, and fluttered closed almost as quickly. The coyote woman reached out with a hand, her fingers lighting gently on the coyote's paw for an instant. He was warm, but not as much as he should have been. "Wake up," she said, her voice somewhat firmer this time. "I can help you," the woman added, removing her hand from his paw. "But you have to get up." He could not stay here, not in this condition—before long the sun would set, and the morning's arrival would almost certainly spell the end for this one, stolen by the chill of evening and the long night.
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Psychology has always fascinated me, I just wished my instructor didn't babble so much and give us simple assignments (which is why I forget them, because they're things like "read this article so we can discuss it on Tues./Thurs." and I'm used to having to do more... so I think I have to do more and panic because I think I don't remember, asdkfjfj) even though he's pretty amusing. And I'm sorry these posts are crummy, I spend about half my time trying to make them sound better but I think I'm making them worse. :| *stomps on them*
[html] This time around, it was touch that got through to him the most and then the persistence of a voice that persuaded him into opening his eyes again. Even if things were still out of focus, he couldn’t deny that indiscriminate blotch of dark against the lush green was really there. And the more that voice reached him, the more it pulled him back over the line of reality, the more switches were flicked and lit up across an invisible panel of controls behind his eyes. But the one switch that didn’t get tripped all the way was instinct; another was judgement. He should have been afraid of some random woman having come along to poke and prod him and the disorientation should have been playing into fear and giving away to aggression. But at least for now, it didn’t.
As her features became more distinct, he was able to separate her from the trees and the earth, finding colour where the grey on the edge of his vision receded. She wanted to help him and that was something Hezekiah needed, something that he most definitely understood. Getting up would be another story, because getting up required moving and moving was something that he really didn’t want to do. But there was a quiet nagging, an inner voice of conscious that told him that he knew what happened when he didn’t do as he was told. So groggily, he peddled his feet against the earth and righted himself some with a grimace.
From there, getting to his feet wasn’t done so easily, but it got done nevertheless and much easier than it would have had he attempted to try it slumped to one side like a drunk in a stairwell. The tree, rather than being an uncomfortably cosy place to possibly expire was only there to steady him now. Gazing around with a half-lidded view on everything, Hezekiah fought the urge to shake and heave the non-existent contents of an empty stomach and absently covered the left-handed gash with his right hand as though he meant to hide it.
And maybe he did, for all he knew. [/html]
[html] Ugh. Class is only interesting if you make it interesting—I've had some really terrible professors before, so I feel you. This one lady used to scream at us if we forgot our art supplies, like we were gradeschoolers or something. |: But it sounds like you've just got a nice guy who goes on tangents, which is nice until you actually want to learn something. XD Don't worry! Hezekiah (Zeki?) is half unconscious and brand new, no worries. XD It takes a few posts to get comfortable with a character.
The hybrid woman recalled the last adult loner she'd encountered on the borders, young Merilin. She was not much older or younger than this canine here, but she had been in far better shape. At least she'd been conscious—then again, she'd only had a small ding to her head, not a gaping wound in her side. The coyote woman's yellow-orange eyes studied his ribs again, tracing over that separated flesh on his pale brown fur. He had much of the typical drab tan of a coyote, shadowed with creamier tones on his underside. With her voice and touch, he'd seemed to stir more than he had before—his pale blue eyes opening once again, blankly staring forward until the details melded together to form a coherent picture for him.
Kaena remained quiet as he stirred, not wishing to goad him to do too much too quickly—such a thing could surely plunge him back into the depths of darkness, and she did not want to have to drag his carcass back to the caves by herself. Hell, she didn't even know if she could—her one arm was severely weakened thanks to Haku's wound, glaring red pulp against the otherwise dingy color of her fur. If he passed out again, she'd have to call for someone else's strength, something that bothered the one-eyed coyote. She was growing steadily older; if she had been three years younger, she'd be healed and whole again, more elastic and resilient to severe wounds than she was now.
He sat up at long last, shifting and looking around blearily, as if he still did not fully comprehend the world around him. "Kaena Lykoi," she offered, blazing yellow eye regarding the coyotel. "You don't have a home," she observed. He did not smell of any of the other groups of this land, though the silvery coyote did not know if they would accept pureblooded coyotes such as this one. "Can you walk?" she asked. There was little point in entertaining the formalities of joining up with Inferni here and now; she would ascertain if Gabriel would allow him into Inferni for a short time under her supervision, feed and tend to him, and send him on his way if he wished. If he expressed interest in staying with his kind, it was better, certainly—but there was something in Kaena which would not allow her to simply turn tail and walk away from this creature, leaving him to die in some spit of forest just outside of their borders.
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Knock on wood, all but one of my instructors were/are awesome. The one instructor I've had who was basically a bitch and I dropped her class after the first night. For a school that prides itself on flexibility, she was about as flexible as a cinderblock. XD And I'm kind of surprised that Hezekiah isn't coming out as smooth as I thought because I've actually had his character worked out for the last four or five months in my head. I guess it's just translating the idea into something concrete where I'm having the problem. XD (I also like the tables you've been rotating in and out!)
[html] It was an unconventional meeting by all means, but it was a meeting. However doubtful it may have been that he would remember her name, it was comforting on some internal level to put a name to a voice and figure. A name that was unique as far sounds went to his ears, almost to the point of sounding a little bit foreign, but it was easy to say. Short syllables, soft ones. His eyes drew to the rush of copper on her muzzle as she spoke, catching the indiscriminate movements of her lips before moving on to try and see her better. In the fading light, he could see a few of the scars that were highlighted, but they didn’t come across as scars to him initially. In that proverbial haze he was in, they were just faded touches of colour to her face. The absence of an eye went unnoticed and before too long, he closed his eyes momentarily in a slow blink.
He almost contested her observation that he didn’t have a home, but there were just too many words to say all in a row. He went as far as to open his mouth though, only to find that it was dry—when had it gone dry?—and he closed it for a moment, long enough to hear her last question. When he opened it again, the first sound he made was entirely uncertain, but he finished with a dry and quiet, “I think so.” And just to test his coordination or lack thereof, he took a careful step towards the dark-haired canine. It was less than straight, but he didn’t list too far to one side or the once his hand had left the only thing keeping him grounded and upright. Aside from the prospect of help, that was at least a good sign.
“I, uh, I’m Hezekiah,” he told her, finding her steady one-eyed gaze again, and here he may as well have been trying to swallow a jar of cotton balls trying to say his own name. He didn’t even recognise his own voice, but it had come from him, somehow. It sounded like it belonged to someone who was smaller than he was and if not that, then to someone who was old and frail. Weak, he mentally supplied himself, not realising that he fit the synonym he had been after. He wasn’t weak, he was just weary and confused. Whatever had happened, wherever he was, he wasn’t supposed to be. He had a home somewhere… wherever that was. [/html]
[html] http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_columbus.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat;"> I've been lucky aside from that lady, too. Only instead of being a mature adult I stopped going to class. >_> Did pay the price for it, though. XD Proud "administrative watch" graduate. I forget what the actual term for that is. Ahh, no worries, I'm sure he'll come to you better as time goes on. Thanks much! Mel made the last one, I drool over her graphics on a regular basis. ;___;
The silver hybrid was quite glad to see the stranger was up and at least half-coherent; even if he hadn't spoken yet, his cobalt eyes were becoming clearer by the second, losing that cloudy, confused edge to them. She was relatively certain he was a full-blooded coyote; there were none of the blunter hints of wolf in his features or his coat, and he was the familiar sandy-brown color or the typical coyote. His eyes were particularly striking, the color of a steely-blue summer storm, unlike the brilliant baby blues she'd seen before, or deeper indigo shades—an interesting color, indeed. The hybrid woman almost wished her family had been given with a more unique color than golden-yellow—certainly there were many with the same shade of eyes with no relation at all to them. Their Lykoi eyes were not the same as that de le Poer red, that flaring crimson which proclaimed its' members "de le Poer" as clearly as if they'd all tattooed it across their foreheads.
He still seemed lethargic, but as the moments passed by, he grew more coherent, speaking an a positive to her question, and taking a cautious step forward as if to test himself. He wavered a moment, and the hybrid twitched imperceptibly, a slight move forward that would have sought to catch him if he were to fall. There was a faint smile on her scarred features, and the hybrid woman nodded. "Good." She was still crouched in her Optime form, but now she had relaxed some, leaning backwards and taking up a less interested pose. Her single eye watched him for signs of distress. she said, though she still hadn't spoken her intention of taking him closer to Inferni.
"I'm from Inferni. We're a clan of coyotes—it's not far, if my son is alright with your presence, you can stay and recuperate. Or make it your home, either way," she said, looking to him for a response. He didn't seem to be in any condition to deny assistance, but stranger things had happened. Some canines were too proud or scared to accept another's help, even when it was needed most. "If you'd like, you can lean on me," she offered, gesturing at his wound with her russet muzzle. "That doesn't look too pretty." It would be easier if she shifted, certainly, but then she'd have to keep him on her uninjured side. |
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Rofl, that one class I dropped is a graduation requirement and I honestly don't want to take it so I don't even know if I'll bother trying to graduate. I figure, at least I went and tried. XD
[html] She had a son, so she was a mother. Whoever that son was, he had the final say in things. Hezekiah wasn’t so sure that he followed what that meant in detail or even what kind of a place this Inferni was, but it was close and right about then it sounded pretty good. He reckoned that they couldn’t have been too bad, because here he had been found rather than left alone and was being given the offer in the first place. Such kindness wasn’t something he saw often, but he had seen it. Such kindness was the thing that he associated with the idea of mothers. He certainly liked it, even to the point where he attempted to smile back when she did, and it was a lopsided attempt.
“I think I better,” he decisively replied, not trusting himself to stay with it and still have the coordination to remember how to follow. “Just in case, at least,” he had to add, just in case what she was saying was just one of those kind of things — a saying, not a promise or guarantee otherwise. He tried to straighten his posture a little more, giving every indication that he was ready whenever she was ready to go. There was a little more semblance of reality coming back to him, which only coaxed what had been bothering him some time before he had ever settled down in the first place back to life, but this time it wasn’t as intense or foreboding feeling. Instead, he felt a little bit hopeful, a little lighter; things he needed to be right then and there. [/html]
[html] http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_columbus.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat;"> Aww, worse comes to worse, save it for the very tail end of everything and force yourself through it. <3 But even so, I'm right with you--I'm sure I need science and math classes to graduate, but I haven't taken any and I'm in my third semester already. >__>;; I don't really care about graduating, I'm in it for the health insurance. XD I powerplayed him leaning on her and the beginning of the walk, hope it's alright. In your next post they could find the borders, and in mine after that I'll have her call for a leader and such.
The coyote hybrid had been quite active in patrolling the borders as of late, though she certainly did not intercept every coyote to stroll into their midst. Most of them seemed to be in need of a place to stay more than Inferni needed their presence, but in that there was always the simple hope that the newcomers to the clan would last longer than just a few months, a few weeks. Just because a coyote came to the clan in a weakened state did not mean that such a state would persist. Even a half-dead coyote would grow stronger and eventually give back to the clan—and that was just Kaena's hope here. Even if it didn't come immediately and this man was simply passing through, in some years time he might return again, remembering the kindness someone once showed him.
The silvery canine again offered him a nod of her scarred head, immediately beginning the shift to her Secui form, figuring it was best for their purposes, offering a larger side and shoulder to lean against. It was a lesser-used form of hers, preferred for fighting, but it had its rare other uses, it seemed. The hybrid shrank in size, falling forward onto her hands as her fingers sucked back up and became fatter rather than longer, her deadly claws retracted into the paw. She was done in a moment, turning and offering the younger creature her scarred shoulder. Though her eldest son had given her those slashing marks, there was forgiveness in her heart, and an ache for the lost child, the only remnant of Zulifer Yfel left in the whole wide world.
The tawny coyote did not seem enthused or derisive toward the idea of a clan made up of his kind, but nonetheless, Kaena wished he might grow acclimated to Inferni and the creatures who lived there. She hardly wished to pressure him; he was in such a sorry state the hybrid woman had certainly pitied him. The silver woman had known hardship in her young life, too—and generally such a thing did not bode well for the rest of one's existence, if her scarred face was any indication. Still, there were other paths to walk rather than the one she'd chosen, and perhaps things for Hezekiah would turn out better than they had for Kaena. There was warmth against her uninjured shoulder, and he leaned against her, although not too heavily. They began walking at a slow, steady pace—the limping old woman and her younger, injured companion. "How did you get these wounds, Hezekiah?" she asked, wishing to make conversation as they walked.
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Yeah, mine is a public speaking class... which I don't see the point in taking because I don't see myself going into a career that requires massive amounts of public speaking (and not to mention that I'm anti-social, which makes it ten times more difficult, rofl) outside of things like "hi, how can I help you today?". I'd sooner saw off my legs than take that class, really. I'm liable to. Anyway, the powerplay is A-OK with me, just so long as we don't go throwing poor Hez down a canyon and into the river. Otherwise I don't really care too much. XD
[html] As they started towards Inferni, there came the question that he had been trying to answer for himself for quite some time. How did you get these wounds? Hezekiah tried to remember what had happened, but the only things he could really recall was where he had been and where he had woke up. Where he had been was most definitely not where he was (something that he had established several times with himself and continued to do so every so often), though he remembered what the place was where he had been. But he couldn’t have pointed in the right direction to say from whence he came. In the right light and time, he could have probably found the place where he had woke with a start, damp from the rain and full of fear and pain.
“I… don’t really know,” he said, picking and choosing his words as if they were that hard to string together. “I don’t remember how I got here.” Maybe it was amnesia, maybe it was repression, who could say? It could have been both. He swallowed the dry taste in his mouth, only to find that swallowing didn’t really help it at all. He shrugged his shoulders gently, truly at a loss for figuring out what had even happened to him. His gash was just a gash to him, he wasn’t able to tell or decide if it had been caused by tooth, claw, or some sort of other sharp object. It wasn’t in his nature to provoke anyone, so he doubted inwardly that he had tried to fight. Still, it could have been from a fall, a hunt gone wrong, or some sort of other applicable accident that didn’t readily cross his mind.
But all things considered, for as young as he was, someone had to notice that he was gone. Surprisingly though, he felt remotely indifferent about that as well. Someone would notice he was gone, maybe they would look for him, maybe they wouldn’t. For all he knew, he could have been gone for minutes, hours, or days; to take a guess at the expanse of time was too hard to do right then and there. And it didn’t matter either — something else caught his eye through the underbrush and tall grasses. The pikes and skulls, the increasing smell of something that flipped the mental switch marked instinct on: a border.
Hezekiah stopped dead in his tracks, no longer leaning against Kaena as he took in the sight through the cover ahead of them. From the distance that they were at, the detail was less sharp than it should have been—a visual reminder for him that he was nearsighted—but he had enough imagination to know what it was that he was looking at. “Is this… your Inferni?” he queried, uncertain more than ever now that they were there. It was grim, but very much something he had never seen before and therefore quite fascinating. But a border was still a border and though they had no front door to march up to and knock, he thought maybe they had come far enough; almost too close to the strongest points in that border.
Even worse for wear, he knew when he had gone far enough not to get into trouble. [/html]
[html] | http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_skulls.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat;"> OHGOD. I hate public speaking so much. I've never seen the point of it, myself. |: I mean, I get it, yeah, it's supposed to make you more confident, but I've never understood why they force people who dislike/are terrified of speaking in front of others to do it. D: Just not fair.
Kaena's general dislike for wolves did not usually translate into an omnipresent hatred of all creatures. On the contrary, she could be rather cordial to even wolves if she believed they had something of value, whether it was information or knowledge. Coyotes and hybrids, even high percentage wolf hybrids, typically received the lighter side of Kaena, that reserved, stoic individual who did not generally offer her thoughts or emotions to others. This creature had aroused in her something vaguely akin to pity, though such an emotion was almost beyond the monochromatic hybrid. She was curious, too—curious about why all of these bedraggled coyotes were showing up here, on Inferni borders... not that she was complaining, not at all. They could always use fresh blood.
They were some distance away from the coyote clan's borders, though it was not a particularly grueling walk. The old woman tried to keep her weight off of the injured leg best she could, but it was hard to do that and support Hezekiah's extra weight. He responded to her question, and she nodded, troubled by the revelation but hardly suspicious or wary of the other coyote. She had holes in her memory, too—sometimes that dark thing from somewhere inside her surfaced, rearing its ugly head and swallowing her consciousness, leaving her with nothing but darkness in its place. "Maybe if you take some time to sort your head out, you'll remember," she offered, optimistic for him despite never having recovered her own lost memories. One could never be certain.
The pair of coyotes walked this way for some time, until in the dying light of day, Kaena could see the glittering white shapes of skulls adorning their borders. The hybrid woman halted, stepping away from the tan coyote's side for a moment, watching him closely for signs of fainting before she spoke. "Yes. Wolves aren't so respectful of coyote borders, so we try to make it extra clear we don't welcome trespassers," she explained, discussing the gruesome skulls as if it were the most natural thing in the world to take the bones of the dead and string them from the trees. The hybrid woman left a few feet between them, tossing her tapered muzzle to the sky and calling for the leaders with a few short, high-pitched yaps.
The silvery woman settled to her haunches, her piercing eye focused on Hezekiah. "Gabriel is the Aquila, our leader. He should be here shortly," the coyote explained again. He didn't seem to quite know what to make of them. It wouldn't be so strange if he'd never heard of a coyote clan before—after all, they weren't social creatures like their larger cousins, and forming social groups was generally outside of the norm for them. "He'll probably want to ask you a few questions himself, but I have one I must ask in duty to my clan. Would you seek a home here, or are you passing through?" Either way, the scarred hybrid had already offered her help, and she would not be so callous as to revoke her offer. Vicious as she was, Kaena was not evil to the core.
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The crappy thing is that I'm actually really good at public speaking, but I just don't think anyone wants to listen to me go on about whatever in the hell I want / whatever I have to talk about for 9+ minutes. It seemed to be a mutual feeling I discovered from my pile of classmates. XD On the other hand, I have been trying to write this reply for two hours and I can't seem to wake up, omg. *headdesk*
[html] He shifted his weight slightly as Kaena explained why they had such a grim-looking border and let the image go out of focus. He did understand the logic behind doing such a though and perhaps on any other day, he may have thought twice about stopping too long along the borders of Inferni, coyote brethren within or not. When the silvery hybrid pitched a call for the leader, he flinched at the first yap and settled his attention back on her for the time being. While there was definitely something about her that was distinctly not coyote, he hadn’t expected the sounds to come from her to sound like one. Then again, he honestly didn’t know of very many large groups of coyotes to just band together, either.
Moreover, he had no idea just how cliché and typical his situation was, either. It wasn’t every day that injured whatever turned up at the borders of anywhere, but it certainly happened. It happened a lot more than what was went on about. But that aside, her next question tugged at indecision within him, stirring up conflicting emotions. A few minutes ago he had wanted to go home more than anything, but now at the prospect of having somewhere to stay, he started to weigh the pros and cons.
“I don’t really know, I guess maybe a home,” he said, not entirely sure if it was an answer based on inner emotion or simple logic. Emotion stated if he went home, the only one who wouldn’t receive him well would be his father. Logic stated he didn’t even know where home was, so it would have been a little pointless to wander. What if what had happened to him happened because he had wandered too far from home in the first place? [/html]
[html] Horray for Akumu! I'm super glad you're back. :]
Gabriel had only been awake for a few hours. He had spent most of this time attempting to stir up and chase down dinner. Even they had become scarce in the plains, chased out by the rain. For the first two hours he had been unlucky, finding nothing but mud and the tall grass, all the while getting closer to the borders and to the forest that had become a necessity. That was when he had startled one, and given chase. This had been lucky, and he managed to take it down quickly.
With a few pounds of meat in his belly, the Aquila had been cleaning himself off when Kaena’s voice came. Puzzled, but not surprised, he rose in the twilight and made his way towards the noise. The sun had dropped low in the west, and now only left a dull orange-pink glow in the clouds. Further east, it was dark blue and there nearly black. He found the two further along, his own scarred mother and a young boy—the smell of blood was hanging in the damp air. His eyes narrowed slightly, puzzled, and managed to capture the fading light and glow as he advanced. “I really hope you aren’t bleeding again, Kaena.”
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[html] | http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_disorder.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat;"> Shortpost is bad, because I have to write it in 10 minutes before I go to work. XD And I will be at work all day, so if you guys wanted to just finish without me posting again, definitely good by me.
The tan coyote was on the quiet side, but the hybrid woman assumed it was due to a lack of energy and disorientation rather than a lack of friendliness. She was quite alright with this, however curious she was about Hezekiah, since the grizzled hybrid herself wasn't often inclined to excessive talking, anyway. Hezekiah gave a positive answer, though he didn't seem certain about the coyotes—which the coyote hybrid supposed was natural. After all, if he couldn't remember what had just happened to him, how could he be certain of anything? She nodded, pricking her ears as she detected the approach of paws. Gabriel must have been close already. She pointed her tapered muzzle deeper toward Inferni's center, her glittering golden eye watching as her tawny son approached. He appeared displeased, and spoke, his voice a familiar rumble. The hybrid woman smiled, though it was slightly terse; she was reminded again of the incident with Haku, and thinking about him sent only the briefest flash of anger across her face, replaced in a moment with her usual look, which was none too pretty anyway. "No, no. Not this time, anyway," she said as lightly as she could manage. "This is Hezekiah. He's the one who's hurt," the coyote explained. |
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Work is evil, but money is good. And I am glad to be back, haha. I was going to wait a while more before rejoining but I figured I waited long enough. *impatient*
[html] The figure that came forth from the looming unfocused darkness wasn’t any more coyote than he could have been something more. This figure, this Gabriel that Kaena had spoken of, was every bit as different as his mother in comparison to Hezekiah, who averted his eyes as soon as he felt Gabriel’s sharp gold pass over him. Briefly, his vision seemed a little more grey than colourful around the edges, but it went away after he had closed his eyes for a second or two. It was Kaena’s voice which convinced him to look back between the hybrid pair, though for a moment his eyes rested on her before switching to him, albeit off-center out of respect.
Not this time, she had said, which prompted something in him to say that it happened before. And of course it had, he managed to remind himself — she had been going around limping, hadn’t she? And there were the scars too, not that he was entirely able to see them in the fading light. Not that he wanted to go looking either, but things were slowly being added up in his head. Wolves that didn’t mind their borders, prompting them to make them look gruesome; scarred up individuals who were, at least so far, primarily concerned with the well-being of each other. Inferni clearly was not very well liked at all.
Hezekiah could relate to that, though he had yet to remember why. [/html]
[html] You are free to start other threads, Akumu, I'm just playing this out. :]
The boy certainly had a unique name. Gabriel regarded his mother silently, then turned his own eagle-eyes to the tawny youth. There was nothing distinctly unique about their companion except for those pale eyes, which unnerved the Aquila slightly. It was a color he was not used to seeing; blue eyes were uncommon in Inferni, especially given how thick the Lykoi/de le Poer bloodlines were. It was not Hezekiah’s eyes that interested him at the moment, however, but the wound in his side.
“How did you get that?” The Aquila asked, advancing to examine it closer. He did not show any signs of aggression and very little in the ways of dominance. Still, Gabriel could not prevent this from happening. So much of his blood was wolf that it demanded the hierarchy that was deeply ingrained in the canis lupus half of his brain. Perhaps this was why he had managed to hold Inferni together so well; unlike the previous coyote leaders, who had cared little for such things, Gabriel made a point to let his members know there was a reason he had become the head of the clan.
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The hybrid woman was eager to get Hezekiah to the caves and try and fix him up. She was no healer, but she had those healing herbs given to her by the lone wolf in the city. By now, she would be getting low on them—she would have to find a willow tree and scrape some more of its bark off, another trick Naniko had taught her. By Kaena's count, she owed a lot to that wolf. It was not a feeling she enjoyed; indeed, it was a burden she wished to shrug off immediately, if not sooner. The faster she rid herself of that heavy weight, the better. There was no reason to owe anyone anything, much less a wolf.
The silvery canine's gaze shifted to Gabriel and then quickly back to the newcomer coyote, keeping her mouth shut tightly. He could answer his own questions—speech wasn't beyond the coyote, and it wasn't her place to go answering for him. There was encouragement on her face for the youngest of the trio, a warm smile. Inferni was no stranger to craziness and faulty memory—they were home to all sorts of madness. There was little for her to actively add to the conversation, so she simply remained, settling down to her haunches in case Gabriel wished to converse with Hezekiah further before allowing him to ehter the territory.
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*smashes this crappy ass keyboard that goes to this college campus computer* And I apologise for the crummy quality and/or length, it's kind of weird for me to write posts out in public. Even if the nearest person is five feet away and can't see wtf I'm doing anyway. >>; *does not like being watched, sits in corners!*
[html] “I don't remember,” Hezekiah told Gabriel, drawing his gaze to the doggish-looking hybrid for a moment. He tried not to sound as meek and lost as he really was, but it was nonetheless evident with him as his gaze faultered a second later. “I don't know if it's something I did or something someone else did; I'm not sure how I ended up here, to be honest.” Somehow he managed to keep his dry mouth from gluing his tongue to the roof of his mouth, somehow he managed to not let his tone of voice shake. At this point, he felt he didn't have anything to fear but death itself. After all, now he was in the company of those who wanted to help him, or at least that seemed to be the general consensus.
And despite the ache in his body and in his head, the idea that perhaps he didn't want to remember was creeping up there too. It seemed reasonable that if something so cataclysmic had happened to him that he would block it out in the same way that he would have held up his hand to cover the bright sting of the sun. Hezekiah shifted his weight uneasily then, trying to alleviate some of the ache that had returned with a vigour. He had no idea how his unability to recall what had happened would do for him. Maybe it would make him an undesirable creature to house for the time being, whether or not his stay was permanent or temporary. He hated uncertainty and that was a trait that was seemingly shared by many. But without anything more to offer, he pursed his lips and hesitantly glanced to see what sort of reaction Gabriel would make. [/html]
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There was no explanation, only the fact that the wound was there. Gabriel supposed this was not unheard of, but this seemed peculiar. Something seemed off about the whole situation. Still, the boy was young and Inferni was loosing members by the day. “Well get out of the rain and try and get cleaned up. If I see Jezebel I’ll have her come look for you—she’s our healer.” With that, the golden hybrid turned, offering nothing further then that. The Aquila headed off opposite of the way he had come, leaving Kaena and Inferni’s newest member to their own devices.
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