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Gabe
It was unfamiliar, and she was beginning to feel lost. It was hardly morning, and Anu felt it odd to have spent the night alone in the wilds beyond her Dreaming home. It was dangerous to venture beyond the safety of the pack, and yet to stay the night, Anu had suddenly found courage in her slim frame. Her heart had asked for a moment of exploration, a moment that became so much more. The timber pattered female walked through the wooded lands slowly, her thickening coat protecting her from the morning chill. The valley was a place she had never been, and it did not seem as if it were traversed often by any sort of creature. A whisper would have filled the forest’s serenity, and she was abnormal aware of each paw fall.
A river sounded ahead in the distance, and the forest began to thin. Cerulean eyes took in the sight of the running water as she approached it, the landscape picturesque. Nature had taken hold of the structure that clung to a useless life beside the river. Idly, Anu wandered towards it, stopping only for a moment to let a paw dangle in the river’s water, just to feel the chill it’s fresh water held.
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[html] http://sleepyglow.net/souls/gifts/gabrieltable.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; text-align:justify;">Is it okay if we set this on the 6th? -spaz about timelines, lol- Aaaand I think they should go hunting. And then talk over breakfast. :]
Gabriel had left Princess with the same warning Anselm did, and hoped she would not prove as foolhardy as he expected. It was not uncommon for young people to try their salt by braving the borders of the feared coyote clan. Though they had grown considerably less reckless, their numbers were still filled with vicious and dangerous men. Even though doubt plagued the Aquila’s mind, he knew that Samael would do well in their ranks. He would rather have the boy with them then against them. Inferni had enough enemies as it stood.
He had not returned to Inferni the previous night, believing that if he had Princess would no doubt use his trail to lead her on. Instead he had camped out in the forest, and slept throughout the day and into the night. Gabriel’s sleep pattern was peculiar, and it varied from week to week. In the middle of the night he had woken and begun to trek home. By the pre-dawn light he had become increasingly aware of the fact his stomach was empty, and this had turned his mood sour. Still, he pressed on, hopeful to scare something up before he reached home. To his surprise, what he scared up was a familiar figure. “Anu?” He called out, approaching her from behind.
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yes, & yes. 
It was crisp, clean and as cold as any memory of winter. The sound of the steam filled her ears, and she was glad to have only one paw wet. The Fall air would dry it, but only after the threat of turning it to ice. The building in the distance was intriguing, and Anu lazily wondered what it was that lay within. The human-ignorant wolfess couldn’t even tell why it had been built, though the lack of knowledge did not bother her.
The Dreamer heard her name among the calm winds, and she turned to find the beast that recognized her. Blue eyed found the figure of a large dog, his Inferni scent making its way to her nose. The slight wolfess turned to greet the hybrid.
“Gabriel.” she returned with a small smile. It was odd to see him, for the woman had for some reason though she would never seem him again. The sight of him made her wonder how close to his home lands she had came, it was her nature to stay away from the volatile group.
His company eased any fears, knowing him only as a thoughtful and spiritual canine.
“Are you well?” she asked politely
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This was entirely out of the way for her. Gabriel could not understand why she would be so close to his own home, and far from her own. It seemed out of character for her (though he had only spoken with her once). He was glad that they were still some distance from Inferni, for it would not have settled well with him if she had come to any harm. Even though they barely knew each other, he respected the woman and did not wish to see wrong done to her. It was rare to find someone who believed in a higher power, and it comforted him to know he wasn’t alone in such a thing.
“I’m hoping to scare up a meal, but otherwise well.” Smiling, he came to a stop near her. “How about you? This seems a bit far from your pack.” It was not a question, exactly, but there was no hiding the puzzlement in his voice.
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It was crisp, clean and as cold as any memory of winter. The sound of the steam filled her ears, and she was glad to have only Anu watched the male, her smile remaining on her face. The day had suddenly become something less forgettable, and the female was happy to have him to speak with. At his words Anu felt her smile grow,
“Maybe I can help?” She offered. Despite her size, she was a seasoned hunter and enjoyed the chase.
It was odd for her to be gone this long, but at times she felt like there was nothing keeping her in the pack lands every night. Her room was not always inviting, her bed empty. Under the stars and among the trees the Earth bound fey found comfort. “Fine.” She remarked before explaining,
“ I guess I just need to get away.” It was not exactly what she thought she had been doing when she left Crimson Dreams, but it seems like its exactly what she needed.
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Her offer brought a smile to his face, and his tail wagged once behind him. As stoic as Gabriel often was, something about her presence had him dropping his guard. “That would be wonderful,” he accepted. Any company during the hunt was welcomed, especially given their chances for success doubled. Motioning with his muzzle, the Aquila began moving again, opting to talk while they made their way towards areas more likely to hold prey. Despite his mixed blood, she was the smaller of the two, and thus Gabriel checked his pace in order to stay at her side. “Understandable,” he offered, tone suggesting he neither disapproved nor supported her activity.
“I ran into a girl from your pack,” he added, sparing a glance her way. “Yesterday, actually. She was looking for Inferni, so I sent her back home.” At least, he had told her to do so. Whether or not Princess had listened was another matter entirely.
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She took up the steady pace, happy to be moving and with a purpose. Idle wandering was always satisfying and a meal was very motivating. As he kept in pace her shorter gait Anu attempted to lengthen it to keep up with his. He was large, for a dog, but Anu light and lean and quick on her toes. As he spoke she let her nose work the air, testing it for the scent of any trail. They were close to him home, and she figured that Gabriel would know where prey would congregate. She followed his lead, a guest in the neighborhood of his clan.
Anu nodded and asked, "A youth?" Though they were all younger then she, but Anu hoped to know who it was that was risking their safety by approaching the coyote clan. Mati knew better, did she? The adoptive mother would have to speak with her, warning against the dangers of a pack that had rogue followers.
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The path he followed was not familiar, but as they walked his feet guided him closer to familiar ground. Slowly, his nose found scents it recognized; shed fur from antler scrapings, wet leaves, and under this the sickly-sweet smell of rot. Gabriel had no direct path in mind, but soon found a source. Low to the ground was a pile of shed deer velvet, which Gabriel slowed to investigate. Above his head, a tree bore the scars of a young-buck scraping this off. They were not far behind him; the scent was very heavy, and the ground had been disturbed recently. “Yes,” he answered, lifting his head. “Princess, I think she said her name was.”
For one brief moment, a radical thought crossed his mind, only to be dismissed. Flicking one charcoal-colored ear, the Aquila remained still. Anu would have to be the one to chase down their breakfast; Gabriel’s stamina could not withhold the strain it placed on his ruined shoulder. He would never admit such a weakness, of course. It was something that could (and had been) exploited, and he did not wish that singular weakness to ruin him.
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The trail of game before them was blatant, and she let Gabriel take the lead on the track of the buck. She wondered if they would reach a harem of his does, or if they would choose to take the buck if they found it. The Dreamer slowed as he did, following his reactions keenly. She was a seasoned hunter, and playing the part of follower was natural for her. "Thank you for sending her home." The woman appreciated his actions, no Dreaming wolf needed to be mixed among the teeth and claws of Inferni's clan. Though she was growing to trust the doggish male, she did not trust the rest.
She looked out into the forest. Blue eyes searching for the maker of a slight noise. It caught her attention and made the fey tense with anticipation. Light paws took a step, her brown and silver hues melting into the naked forest as she slowly moved. "Shall I bring him to you?" Anu asked with a polite yet excited tone. It was her favorite tactic, and her most suited role. She could herd the beast strait to his jaws if he wished it.
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An impassive shrug was offered, suggesting he would have done so regardless of her allegiance to the pack. Gabriel had resolved himself not to be like his parents; he had never intentionally harmed a woman or child, and never killed either. Letting a girl walk headlong into a lion’s den would be as bad as setting her up for slaughter. While he would thoroughly enjoy seeing a few faces ripped to shreds (namely Haku), a girl who had done no wrong to him was not deserving of such a fate.
Gabriel froze at the sound, one foot raised, tail high behind him. Only at Anu’s voice did his leg fell, and the amber-eyed hybrid turned to her. The idea of having a buck chased into his jaws made the same hunter’s anticipation rise in his chest. With a nod, he turned and made for a small patch of underbrush. With her guidance, breakfast for them both would run straight into their trap.
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Though she had tried to remove the part from within her, Anu still predominantly saw the better portions of a beast. She sought out the honesty, asking for it through the truth that she spoke. Knowing Gabriel only in this way, Anu was sheltered to the things that his past and his world held. Could she picture him killing a wolf? No. Though she knew his clan was violent, Anu could not bring herself to envision him in such a slaughter. Such naivety had almost killed her in the past.
At his nod the woman moved with a deadly silence. Quickly she traveled, an arch that was covered faster then many other wolves could have managed with such stealth. It was like a childhood game, practiced and known so well by so many, who the players might be didn’t matter. The rules never changed, the instincts so deeply engraved that the mind could slip away and leave nothing but the shell of a wolf.
Anu let it go, casting it all aside to show nothing more then the predator. She did not wait and ponder, she did not question. It was all written so clearly in the scents that lingered, the sounds and finally the sight of the buck. There was not time to count the prongs he bore, no time to configure a path directed to the hidden assassin. Anu ran, knowing the way, knowing when to avoid kicking hooves, knowing which side to threaten and pressure to urge him towards his death.
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[html] Would you maybe like to powerplay them eating so they can discuss stuff. :]
She was fast—much faster then any wolf he had seen before. This he knew only because of how quickly the noise came at him. Gabriel’s muscles obeyed years of practice, and centuries of instinct. The buck rushed towards him, though their trap was wide and Gabriel needed to rush forward. His feet flew from the ground, carrying him over cold ground and directly into the path of his prey. Almost instantly the white-tail saw his mistake, but there was no time. One powerful leap put the charcoal-brushed Aquila in the air, and like a bear trap, his wolf-jaws closed around the throat.
Gabriel weighed more then the young deer, and gravity brought them both down to the earth. It was risky—pronged antlers came dangerously close to Gabriel’s face, but he moved his body with agility that belonged to his mother. The wolf-jaws held fast, and slowly, choked the life out of the buck. He shook, but could not let out a death rattle (though Gabriel felt it vibrate through his bones). Only then did he release, and panting, focused his attention on Anu once more.
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The ground met her as she ran, paws knowing where to be placed without thought. The wolfess fought, pressing along the buck’s right side. Teeth exposed, hoping to turn the beast. Like a leaf blown by the wind he moved, and like a grouse flushed from the field the hidden hybrid flew from the brush. Before she could cease her chase the prey was fell, heart no longer beating and lungs no longer breathing. The she-wolf’s mind did not return to her fullest state until her own jaws touched the pelt of the buck. His skin tasted of earth, rough and yet soft under the pressure of her teeth. Blood filtered into her mouth, and as she lay against the cold ground the woman felt nothing but warmth.
There was no live left, drained in seconds. Anu breathed heavily against it’s skin eyes capturing the other canine in the corner of her gaze. Neither waited for the other to begin, and even as her body grew relaxed and tired she tugged at the belly of the fallen beast to open it. The two feasted, bloody smiles exchanged and taking their fill. Anu leaned backwards; tongue lazily taking in the blood that she wore along her lips. Anu wondered much about the thing that hung at his neck, the scars, and the markings along his skin. The clan he lead intrigued and frightened her beyond anything she would admit, but she found she trusted him. Blue eyes looked to the doggish male, smiling softly and spoke. “ Should we have prayed?” she asked, smiling and with a sense of teasing in her voice.
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It was primal, and instinctual. They gorged upon their well earned meal, barely chewing, and soon the hunger was replaced with a warm weight. She finished before he did, perhaps due to her size, though Gabriel swallowed what was in his mouth and lifted his head to her voice. The scar on his muzzle, darkened by blood, looked as fresh as it had the day a wolf had cut it into his face.
Gabriel answered her question with a peculiar smile. “We have,” he replied, breath exhaled in a burst of steam. He belonged in this world, despite the human relics around his neck, and it showed. For what he was—mutated, infected by this luprici gene—everything that was wild still lived in the amber-eyed beast. Less then one third of his life had been spent on two legs. “In a way, at least,” the charcoal-brushed hybrid added.
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He was right. There wasn’t a better way to celebrate and thank their creator then to fall back into their instinctual minds and forget any other influence. They would be fools to think that they were simply wolves. No. Evolution, their tainted Luperci genes and the remnants of humans had left their marks on their kind. But this, the scent of blood clouding her mind, the taste of marrow, and the feeling of lean muscle against her teeth. This was what had been intended with their conception. Purity and innocence of their species among the carnage and death that filtered into the air.
Anu smiled, white teeth stained by the dark crimson of the buck’s blood. It was a smile of agreement. She found that he looked changed, not the spiritual beast that she had come to know. His marked face was what looked at her, and she remembered how their alliance was not one of trust, as she wanted all her acquaintances to be. Anu did not know what he was to her.
“I do not know much of Inferni.” Anu admitted, watching him as she lay among the dismemberment. She wanted to trust him, for it was her nature, but before she could place that hope in him she need to know more. Tentatively she questioned,
“Is it your goal, to be feared?” perhaps he would mock her question, but if so she would learn from his arrogance.
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The disease that had made them like this—made them smart, given them the ability to change their very forms—was responsible for separating them from their cousins. Those few wolves who were not Luperci had been horrified by the idea, and indeed, many of them likely resented the fact. Gabriel knew that there was power in the ability to gain two legs, to think and act like a man, but he also believed in the power that their ancestors had left them. This certainly was why he so rarely found himself on less then four legs, having held tight to the old ways now that he had grown older and wiser.
Their feast slowed with talk, one which Gabriel found he might have expected. She knew little of the clan, as he found most wolves did. “If that is what it takes to keep us safe, then yes,” he answered honestly. Covered in blood and old scars, bearing the mark of his mother so it might carry power, he had donned his war-paint with a purpose. “The fewer wolves at our borders the better.” Even the skulls did little to deter them, instead turning the coyotes into some sort of bizarre challenge of courage.
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Anu held the image of their border, the heads swaying slightly on their pikes in the harsh winter breeze. She knew well what they were there for, but why? There hadn’t been a war in some time, certainly not one that touched the lands of Crimson Dreams. Part of her thought that those that lived in war brought it upon themselves in some way. It was wrongful thinking, and Anu dared not address the idea. Instead she listened to the wolf looking hybrid and fell silent in thought.
Perhaps she had never felt true fear, never known true distrust. It was only her own heart that had been broken once or twice. She almost pitted those that felt as if one species wanted to exterminate another.
“No need to fear this wolf.” She spoke about herself with a lighter tone. Anu was not one to threaten any beast, though she had her moments of anger. She remembered the last time she had bore her fangs at another, it was not something she enjoyed thinking about. Anu picked at the flesh along one of the young buck’s bones.
“I’ve never been intimidating.” She doubted he ever feared her, and now that she knew and understood him Anu felt no fear for him either.
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Even without the threat of war, Gabriel knew that the powers of intimidation held great sway. The Scintilla War had taught him that, long before he had come to understand The Voice and what it meant to him. Slowly, and with great intensity, the coy-wolf studied the lines in her face and found her to not fully understand him. She belonged to another world; one where the Sun and life were all that mattered. Gabriel’s world was full of blood and fire.
Smiling, perhaps more honestly then he ever had to a stranger, the amber-eyed coy-wolf let out a low chuckle. “I’m sure you’d be frightening if the time called for it,” he said, licking the thicker blood from his face. No part of him feared her—certainly, now with his children gone and no one to fear for but himself. Death no longer frightened the Aquila; only those now fading dreams of blood on the sand and screams, those alone still held power over him. Nothing, not alcohol, not drugs, not true love, could erase those horrors. “You weren’t afraid of me that first night we met,” he continued, wondering now why that had been. “I think that says a lot about you.”
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SSWM - 413
History did not sway her thoughts. It was only her own past that she could reflect on, those were not of wars and battles. She counted herself lucky for not having to defend her pack from another as Gabriel felt he must. There was history there, stories that Anu knew nothing of and tragedies that her heart would certainly break over. He was a spiritual being, and as he looked at her with a scarred face she wondered if he had fallen to god out of desperation, or if it was his faith he trusted to lead him to victory. His words were unfortunately true, even the peace loving wolfess would take to arms if her family were threatened. And when he brought up the evening they had first came to know each other, Anu remembered the anger she had been feeling at that time. The tragedy of her daughter’s attack had sent her into a tumbling fall towards rage and fear. And it was not something that she looked back on with pride. Even if he found it an attractive feature.
“In defense, perhaps.” Anu admitted, her features falling to something sort of sullen. Her halfling form was something that might surprise the Inferni male. It was brutal to look at, and was easily twice the size of her wolf form, if not larger. Anu could count the moments in such a state on own shifted hand. It was certainly a rare sight. His faith, and his calm energy that Anu could not ignore made him one she could easily trust. She did not believe that it was all in order to deceive her, and it were those attributes that Anu figured made him a suitable leader for the coyote clan.
She looked down at the dead beast the lay before them, smiling slightly as she remembered the chuckle he gave. She could not believe that he would ever fear her, knowing that the time he spoke of he had looked at her without a single ounce of fear or found her threatening at all. Glancing back at the doggish hybrid Anu lied,
“Your not that frightening.” acting like she had never worried about his presence within the Crimson Dreamers borders. Though, Anu didn’t forget how she felt that day, horribly panicked that Mati’s attacker would follow her back to the Dreaming border. Thankfully she had come to find Gabriel and not the ebony and white collared monster that had attacked her daughter.
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In Character
Gabriel’s history was one of blood and fire, as was the way of his family. He saw in her a perpendicular life, one that crossed with his one for one moment in time. She understood faith, but not as he saw it. She understood war, and the need for battle, but not as he knew it. One part of him wanted to be able to touch that, to understand what it felt like to live without the fear of death lurking around every corner. There was no terror left for himself, only for his family—and in two weeks time it would come to a head.
While he certainly could have been using her, the need for deceit had left Gabriel in his youth. It was no longer his place to hide behind false names or use lies in order to get what he needed. And with her, he needed nothing. Anu’s company was welcomed, and even though they had only met twice, he considered her something of a friend. These days, they were few and far between. It did no good for him to take up and bear arms against one of the few people who had not only accepted his faith, but understood it.
She was lying, and Gabriel smiled to show he knew it. “There are men much more terrible then me in the world.” Haku. Cwmfen’s father, whom had attacked his son without provocation. His own half-brother. The world was full of wickedness. He knew that all too well.
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