shine bright like a [ diamond. ]
#1
It was fall in the mountains.

Colorful leaves were carried by the lovely crisp autumn breeze across the worn trails. The forest was thick with sunset-hued debri, the smell of rotting vegetation hung in the air. It was not an unpleasant scent, one that warned of cool mornings and chilly nights. Under a large maple tree rested a dusk-colored coyote, her pelt riddled with dark points and lighter undersides. Her mismatched eyes were closed as she dozed, the vibrant violet and fushia colors muted by cream eyelids. The girl had inherited the differing hues from her mother, a sunshild by trait. She had earned the dark points from her coal pelted father, but carried neithers hair color. It was reverse ombre, a lighter, mousier brown at her roots which eventually stained into a darker grey-brown color at it’s tips.

Her mother had been a bright, happy soul. Her life hadn’t been easy, but her green and blue eyes saw what was right with the world and made light of the darkness in others souls. Emmanuelle hadn’t been a Nova Scotia native, and it was a different area from what she had been used too. The landscape had beaten her, the wolves wounded her, and another raped her whilst she had been pregnant with Nevada and her brothers. The wheat-coated coyote had never told her about the man that had sired her, and Nevada had been curious since she had been a puppy about the shade that was her father. Her mother, a broken spirit, had ran away from Inferni and had squirreled her pups away in a secretive den far away from the well-travelled paths of the trading routes. They had been alone since birth, until a Golden Eagle had attacked her brothers and killed both of them at four months of age.

The seal-pointed woman was the only one left, her mother succumbing to her depression and emotional scars. Emmanuelle had simply died in her sleep, a small, sad expression on her golden features. The sun, the light in Nevada’s life had been extinguished at 7 months of age, and now here she was. The girl had remained in the shadows thus far, only travelling at night and resting at secret locations during the day. Slowly but surely she was making her way to the well-known coyote pack and there she would finally find the man that was her father. A light sigh escaped her coffee colored muzzle and she stirred, finally waking. It was morning, the girl changing her sleeping patterns to adjust with how close she was becoming to the pack. She picked herself up and brushed the leaves from her plush, downy pelt and looked around brightly. It was time.
#2
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Hi there! I steal this. <3

Havoc hadn’t anticipated how hard it’d be to get through the mountains with a party consisting of an inexperienced cheesemaker, a loudmouthed lurcher, and a milk cow. She wanted to smack herself in the face for not planning this through, but in all honesty this was better than the alternative they’d had a couple of days ago. The wolf trader had offered them a ride on the back of the cart in exchange for “a roll with the jackal girl.” She’d been quick to jerk away from him, and only Calloway’s inexperience with fighting and the wolf’s disinterest in killing strangers prevented a grave being dug on that side of the mountain.

The tan hybrid still shivered at the thought, but she was quick to hide the unease from Calloway whenever the long-muzzled lurcher glanced over at her, blue eyes captivating and concerned from under his trilby. Men didn’t show fear; a man would have probably punched the trader in the mouth for the suggestion. Calloway had, anyway, and come away with a bloody hand from the wolf’s teeth. Havoc avoided staring at the bandages, though, because while she could be concerned she shouldn’t baby her friend over it.

“Do we have any cheese left?” Havoc asked instead, shaping her voice as she usually did to let it roughen and deepen. It’d become such a part of her by now that she didn’t have to think about it.

Calloway tipped his hat up with a finger then looked back at the color-sided cow, who was walking along gladly except for the occasions she stopped to browse along the very few still-green leaves on the foliage lining the rocky path. Her packs were beginning to slip, and so the sighthound crossbreed stepped back to adjust them, while searching for said cheese. “I think we ran out, not that it’s a good idea to cram our mouths with all cheese and no meat. I’m already feeling queasy.” He rested a hand on his thin, brindle belly.

“I’m just hungry,” Havoc grumbled, but didn’t say anything else. She was a terrible hunter, with Calloway doing most of the prey-catching for them, but it’d been chilly lately and Havoc somehow doubted there’d be anything out to catch other than, perhaps, a stringy squirrel. A stringy squirrel actually sounded quite good.

Licking drool from her chops, the jackal mutt glanced around at the autumn canopy in search for one of the little creatures, but her attention was jerked away by a grunt from the bovine behind them. Quickly Havoc turned, noting the direction Dhenu was staring and following her gaze; she thought she could see a greyish shape further down the narrow trail. She couldn’t tell what species it was, other than being a canine, but from Calloway’s expression he’d decided it was a girl.

Great.

Frowning, Havoc quickened her pace to pass the brindle dog and raised a hand to her mouth, calling out a greeting to the dusky-colored Luperci, trying to sound and look more confident than she felt. “Hello!”

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#3
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The girl hadn’t noticed the crunching behind her and the chatter of voices until a deeper tone rang out through the trees. ‘ Hello? ‘ The stranger said, and momentarily she was confused. It sounded manly, but of higher note than a typical male. But then again, what did she know. Since leaving her mother, who essentially kept her hidden for six months she hadn’t had any contact with another being. Sure, Emma had taught her the basics of socializing, but nothing compared like real interaction. This was one of those cases that it might have had been handy, seeing as as soon as the word rang out in the crisp autumn air she froze and dropped to the ground, scooting along the debri covered dirt until she was safely out of sight.


Closing her eyes tightly Nevada imagined that the Luperci behind her were carrying weapons, that there was menace in the mans tone, that the cow with them had horns that would be used to gore her and carry her corpse to show off their great slaughter of a young girl.. Wait. She opened her eyes. Cow? Now doubt was being planted in her mind. Surely mercenaries sent to kill her and drag her back wouldn't bring a cow of all things, right? Nervously she wrung her dark hands, glancing to her side. Moving her fingers to her temples the girl thought hard, then came up with an idea. She moved onto her hands and knees and crawled through the still-thick underbrush that was present through the mountain forest. As quietly as she could, she moved from ahead of them to directly west of them, keeping downwind.


Once she was safely behind them, she poked her head out of a place where she thought she wouldn’t be observed. Her violet and fuchsia eyes widened at the sight of them, and she almost had to giggle. The cow was probably the least threatening thing she had seen in her life, and looked like it was a dairy cow anyhow. The other two she couldn’t be sure about, and she lifted her stained muzzle to the clean smelling air and sniffed daintily. Well, one of them was definitely a girl. It was possible it was the brindle-coated male that had spoken, though the slightly feminine voice looked as if it had matched the dark-coated female leading the group. “ Hello. “ She called out lowly before ducking back under cover and observing their reaction.


Would they notice that whoever was in front of them was now behind them? Maybe a small game was what was needed to drag the meek female out from under cover.

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#4
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There was silence rather than a response, and Havoc was beginning to wonder if she’d been seeing things—things that the sighthound and the herbivore had seen instead. She huffed a sigh, one that was both resigned and relieved; the female Luperci hadn’t been a product of her imagination, but it didn’t seem like they’d be sticking around, either. Maybe they were shy, or they had somewhere better to be, or they hadn’t heard her at all. Anything was fine with her.

Calloway came to stand beside her and lifted a brow, pointedly staring at the empty space of foliage where the other canine had once been. “Good go—”

“Shut up,” Havoc growled.

The lurcher shrugged. “I’m just say—”

“Shut up,” she growled again, and shook her head with a wry frown to soften the blow. “I don’t want to deal with this right now, anyway; we’ve got to get through these mountains if we want to—ahh!”

The little call from behind them had Havoc whirling around, nearly losing balance, her voice edging upwards into its normal range in shock. Bristling and now in a decidedly worse mood, she narrowed her red eyes at the source of the noise before confirming it wasn’t a hallucination with a glance at Calloway, who at this point was bewilderedly adjusting his trilby.

“Show yourself,” the jackal-dog barked in the direction of the vegetation, very much resisting the urge to fidget or add empty threats to the command; she couldn’t very well defend himself if the person or persons playing hide-and-seek were doing so for less-than-honorable reasons. “Dhenu, come back,” she added, suppressing a whine, as the dairy cow stared into the foliage.

Dhenu ignored the order, though, and lazily stepped toward the bushes and began to nudge at them with her nose before beginning to browse.

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#5
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ooc; this is actually really fun! figuring out some of her personality traits here, like hallucinations caused by fear! 8D


Nevada watched with delight as the leader whirled around in shock at her little call and suppressed a giggle, if they were capable of being scared maybe they wouldn’t be capable of hurting her. The expression on the brindles face was equally amusing and behind her, her bushy tail wagged back and forth, very much enjoying this little trick she had decided to play on them. It had certainly made her morning a little better. However, the harsh tone that came from the woman stopped her tail dead and she pressed her ears against her skull again. Now fearful, she pressed herself deeper into the foliage to avoid being seen. “ No. You’re going to hurt me! “ She said accusingly, the tremble in her childish voice evident as she spoke.


The cow, apparently named Dhenu, had other plans. It ambled towards her and she let out a little squeal of terror as it thrust it’s large nose exactly where she was hiding. It was an attack cow! She knew it! Right before her eyes it grew horns that were six feet long and covered with blood, and her heart pounded in her chest. Nevada had never felt fear like this before and she had to stifle a blood-curdling scream by clamping her muzzle shut, mis-matched eyes wide and unseeing. The leader-woman plaintively called the cow back and rapidly the hallucinations disappeared as some of her fear was quelled - it was just a cow. Clutching her forehead in a confused fashion as the cow ignored the order and began browsing beside her, she decided to do something daring. Nevada reached out with a trembling, stained hand and lay it against the cows side, palm flat.


Dhenu paid her no mind as she touched the female cow, and breathing a sigh of relief Nevada began to stroke her surprisingly soft coat. Now entranced with the cows loud patterns, she moved out of her hiding place in the foliage and hid behind the cow, using her side as a barrier. Poking her slender muzzle over the straight back of the cow, she eyed the two Luperci who were waiting for her to come out. They didn’t look all that threatening. “ I like your cow. She is soft. “ She said softly, bright eyes watching the others moves. “ I mean, if you try to hurt me I will hurt your cow! “ She stammered out in the least threatening tone possible, ducking behind Dhenu once more. So far they had done nothing to make her trust them, but, she reasoned to herself, neither had she.


The thread was empty, Nevada didn’t even possess any weapons, but it was imperative that she protect herself. If she died before she reached Inferni she wouldn’t any use to anybody. The girl held her breath as she waited for the answer from the jackal, muscles clenched and ready to run if danger presented itself. The cow would be her cover.

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