@Gada: Aw, come on... Jazz isn't that bad. She may be a cannibal, druggy and exceptionally to get along with when she's off and on her meds, but hey... what's life without a bit of unpredictability?
And so I bring forth 1 of 2 chapters I'm sitting on. The one that makes Ire almost able to liked!
Miscommunication Pt.41
Racing over hills and into the desert had left Ire contemplating her decision to just high-tail it away from Stalker. The toxic annoyance had long since halted communication with her, and the horned creature found herself pausing in the midst of the desert sands for a number of reasons. Having skid to a stop, the choking cloud of dust she created drove her to pad several paces off to the side before opening her jaws to gently lower both Tajo and Ghost o the ground below.
She'd been running and stressing over -their- safety. As respectable as her goal was, the panting quadruped could not control her anatomy. In the case of a dragon, or a dragon hybrid, stress was tied to two very important, and extremely dangerous things: body heat, and the intensity of the flames spewed from their innards. In Ire's case, she was most concerned with the former.
Even amidst the sweltering triple digit temperatures of the Chihuahuan, extremely distinguished waves of heat radiated from the vixen's frame. That coupled with the amount of steam that escaped her parted jaws coaxed her to halt and check on the live bodies she'd carried in the torrid climate of her maw.
Nose to the ground, her visored gaze analyzed the human and vulpine splayed upon the shifting floor. #Nothing too serious on the outside#. Her mind noted what her eyes received. Tajo was much easier to use as a reference, his lack of fur leaving all exposed skin easy to survey.
Aside from multiple red patches upon the browned skin of the primate, she noted nothing indicating that they were in dire need of medical attention. Granted, that changed when the drixen's ear twitched at a familiar, and shockingly close voice.
“So you're going to cook the human for me; how sweet” Stalker growled ever so bass-filled directly into Ire's right ear. The unexpected act led to a twitch of the hybrid's ear, but that clearly wasn't enough of a reaction for the unseen male. That point was driven home the moment he piped back up in her left ear, “I don't know why you're burning the traitor though, I thought you liked him or loved him or something like that.”. The female pinned her ears back in both a building rage and a futile attempt to shut out the seemingly disembodied voice. Needless to say, it just forced Stalker to project himself into both of her ears, “You can't get rid of me that easy. Just give up on them already.”
Ire snorted, a single fang baring as she glanced up and gave a visual sweep of the area around her. Sand, parched rocks and shrubbery, that is all that her eyes were met with. Her ears however, were met with further nonsense from the self proclaimed predator, “Oh, so your solution to being stressed and heated it to get pissed off and >more< heated? That's so brilliant that even I can't see how it helps!”
It was quickly becoming apparent to the drixen that ignoring Stalker was virtually impossible. Even if she did tune out his comments, she'd long established that he was willing to keep this up until she broke down and faced whatever facts he so desperately wanted her to. With that in mind she broke her silence in favor of giving the calmest growl possible, assuring the young one would hear it wherever he was, “Do you truly have nothing more important to handle than stalking me?”. Obviously used to that exact question, Stalker barked back an indifferent “Nope.”
Over the past minute or so Ire couldn't tell if her temperature had increased, decreased or just seen negligible change. Every second that this situation persisted left her battling a mixture of emotions that could spike her body heat to levels much more detrimental to Ghost and Tajo's health. Not controlling herself could easily cause even the heat radiating from her outer frame to become unbearable, let alone the scorching temperatures her maw could reach.
“Sometimes I curse my dragon heritage” the hybrid barked, though it held no anger, only calm. “This is not the first time being a walking furnace has come back to bite me.”. As to whether Stalker was listening or not was answered when the drixen received a delayed response from the male fox, “But it will probably be the last.” That ripped a confused “What?” from the drixen.
Stalker growled eerily into both of her ears alternatively, “Oh please, once your little snuggle fox is dead you won't be able to go on. I heard it all: the moping, the confessions, the 'need' to bare his kits. You couldn't go on living knowing you let him die.” Ire's attempt to retort was cut off by the male's further censure of her hopes: “Oh shut up and stop trying to talk back. We both know good and well that he's going to die. You have nowhere to go.”
Ire growled, her mind mulling over what options she did have. Much to her dismay, Stalker began to list them aloud for her, “So what are you going to do then? Take him back to our den: Aeris will kill him herself; Take him back down to our human base: they won't help the traitor, I'm sure they've been told what he's done.” The male fell silent, waiting and watching as reality set in on the hybrid. Her emotions smelled of a mixture he'd come to enjoy: anxiety; sorrow. She wasn't angry at him anymore, and whatever contempt she held only seemed to be directed at herself .
The drixen focused down to those two she protected, focusing primarily upon the charred white fur of the Arctic fox. Maybe Stalker was right, maybe saving Ghost was impossible. Every 'friendly' avenue available to her still wanted her mate dead, and it wasn't as though she was in the best of standings with her current detachment. After all, she'd prematurely bailed on being disarmed to go aid her mate. The thought of just letting him be killed while she was perfectly capable of stopping the atrocity didn't even begin to sit well with her. Come to think of it, many things that foxes did didn't sit right with her.
Stalker's voice snapped the female's ears to attention, “Come on now, don't just stand there and look at them. Hand them over and... well kill yourself for all I care. You know that's likely what you'll do once he's gone.”. Ire pinned her ears, eyes gradually shutting as she whimpered, “Why would I end my own life when that is not what he would want?”. The male was frighteningly snappy on replying, “You're a fox, Ire, your thoughts are your own and nobody else's. We're all like that, and don't sit here and tell me you're not. Selfishness is our motto.”
Her head shaking back and forth slowly, Ire felt her temperature dropping. Sorrow wasn't her preferred method of regulating heat, but it undoubtedly worked. “I am no fox,” she whimpered, “not according to Aeris.”. Had he been visible, the drixen would have seen Stalker roll his eyes. A frustrated rumble in the female's ears was all of the communication the male could give her though, “Aeris just said that to talk down to you like she does to everybody.” As Stalker continued he took note of several very 'strange' reactions by the drixen.
“You're just as -deceitful-...”
The female whimpered and splayed her ears.
“Murderous...”
She cast her slit-eyed gaze off to the ground beside her.
“Untrustworthy...”
The quadruped hybrid's shoulders slumped in depression.
“And dishonorable as the rest of us.”
…
The truth hurt. Ire made no response as the male's words seeped under her skin, nagging at her heart whilst freezing all outside movement. It wasn't because she was hearing this all for the first time, but because for once she couldn't just lash out at the one who brought up her faults.
Stalker broke silence once more to gnaw upon her psyche, “You act like you've never been called any of that, and we know that's not true. You should have gotten used to who you are by now, especially in your old age.”. It wasn't the 'old age' comment that made the drixen suddenly whimper loudly and shake her head in disappointment. No, that wasn't it at all.
“It's all true,” Ire whined lowly, “but it wasn't always. I used to be a halfway respectable being that could be trusted. One that could be relied on to perform her duties and uphold some type of moral standard.” Her head rose slowly to look ahead, eyes opening to reveal themselves flooded with disappointment and shame. “Ever since I dawned the title of VE I have done nothing but grow further and further from myself. “She sat down upon her haunches, forelegs resting upon either side of Tajo and Ghost. “Ever since I stepped off Scalaria and lived my life upon Antaria, I have forgotten what made me... me. I love violence, but to kill so senselessly... that developed from the deceitful, furry terrorists I -thought- I would enjoy working with.” She sighed, once more glancing down to the two below her before going on, “I did enjoy it while I was blind to how it changed me. I still had my sense of loyalty, and I applied it to you beasts. You spoke as if you were better than dogs in so many ways. Instead, all I have seen is murder and lies.”
Her forepaws dug into the sand beneath them, a very subtle ire simmering as she began to growl, “You turn your backs on one another without a second look. You abandon your allies and allow petty disputes to go on unsettled. Your entire organization crumbles due to the very values your species upholds: selfishness, dishonesty and complete disregard for morals in any fashion. If my Scaly brethren saw me now they would likely crush my skull. This is no way to live!”
Stalker may have remained deathly silent throughout Ire's rant, but the male was quick to yap the moment she seemed like she was done, “You finished? Good, because to all of your uselessly long monologue, I just have one thing to say.” He paused briefly before growling playfully, “If you don't like how we play, you could always just leave.” His growl turned to ecstatic yapping, “Hell, I encourage it! If you denounce your status right now I can kill you too!”. Ire snarled back quickly, “Kill me on what grounds?”
Stalker growled in annoyance as if he shouldn't have to be bothered to think. An answer to the female's question came quite a time after it had been asked, “Why, you ask? Well because you'd be a rogue VE. Besides, you've caused us all quite a headache, and you're in my way right now.”. Ire growled back vehemently, “More labels and excuses for vulpines to kill. You all will find as many of them as you want just to end one's life.”. Stalker snorted before offering a frustrated, “Will you just shut up and strip yourself of the title already? Aeris wants you dead anyway.”
“Aeris...” Ire growled lowly before upping her volume, “there are but two on this planet who I have ever considered worthy of being killed. One of them has already met their fate at my horns. The other currently leads a slaughter I want no part of.”. Stalker showed the barking-tongue equivalent of a disinterested “uh-huh.”. Ire ignored the rude kit before going on, “I can not possibly hold loyalty to one so heartless to all not of her immediate kin. No attempt at diplomacy of any kind; Aeris just wants an excuse to slaughter with no fear of retaliation.”. Stalker growled impatiently, though it was at least something of value this time, “So what then, you're going to kill Aeris? She'd sick an entire army on you if you so much as even joked about that.”
Ire rose to all fours, her anger, sorrow and other emotions subsiding as she growled indifferently, “If that army showed hostile intent toward me then I would destroy them to get to Aeris. She has made herself out to be a danger to me and the one I love. Not to mention an entire species that can not fight back. An entire species she more or less treats as an infestation in their own territory.”. Stalker responded with anxiety in his tone, mostly due to wanting the drixen to hurry up and give him clearance to kill her, “Yeah, yeah you and your mate voiced your opinions about all of this before. If you didn't get the message then I'll say it again: we don't care. I'm not about wholesale slaughter either, but if the ends justify the means then fuck it!”
Ire once more closed her eyes, but it seemed more so out of peace than sadness or anger this time. The lack of aggression in her response confirmed an absence of either emotion, “What ends justify slaughtering an entire race that is perfectly willing to cooperate after a show of force? They will only continue to fight because Aeris chooses not to speak with any that are not part of her hastily assembled army.”
Stalker purposely yawned in Ire's ear, though the bored fox offered a reply nonetheless, “Spare me all the drama, you didn't look like you cared the night all sixteen of us made initial contact. You know, the contact that left their forces in total submission and an entire city's worth of apes reduced to ashes. You and your mate both seemed happy to obliterate the primates then.”
The drixen snorted though remained calm, her low growl completely indifferent, “We did not wholeheartedly agree with that act, but we still both believed Aeris knew what she was doing. Our loyalty was gravely misplaced as time and time again the kitsune proved she was no more than a kit with a blood lust. She never stopped killing or ordering others to destroy. She knew she could hide it, and retaliation was futile on Earth's behalf.”
Stalker growled once more but he did find himself earnestly inquiring about one very important aspect, “Right... and when exactly did you start second guessing what you were doing?”. He didn't expect Ire to suddenly shoot back in a bass filled bark, “The moment I saw my own reaction to obliterating a town of people that didn't even have the means to stand in my way. I should have at least been ashamed for murdering such lesser creatures, but instead I felt nothing.” For a moment a somber tone escaped through a whimper, “It is as though being Aeris' pawn was draining me of any sense of values or morality I had. I-I-;” the drixen's whine crackled, a blatant realization culminated before her very eyes, “I was just a war machine to her, and that's basically what I have become.”
Stalker rapidly yapped right back at the female, the male enjoying obviously enjoying his chance to drive home a point, “Are you kidding!? All you ever were was a war-machine! An angry, angry war-machine with horns.”. He was instantly blown aback as the drixen tossed her head back and roared, none of it able to be comprehended by the vulpine male. “The hell was that for?!” the unseen fox yipped in mild panic.
Ire gently leveled her head again before growling in an oddly triumphant manner, “No... I am not a war-machine!” she blared, “I am a dragon-fox with a very short fuse! I am a warrior that has more anger issues than a room full of male dragons during mating season. I was a Black Scale before I was part of this vulpine atrocity! I killed for reasons, not for entertainment and the appeasement of a warmonger!”
Stalker growled in an attempt to silence the drixen, though only managed to be cut off entirely as she reared back and howled, “And I most importantly did not sit back and allow younglings to threaten me or those I was close to!”. Any response made by the fox was done so to himself, as Ire received no growls, barks or yaps in her ears. Not even as the drixen bent down to scoop up the two unconscious male's from the ground did she hear anything. In fact, it wasn't until she began to pad off with her live cargo between her jaws that Stalker piped back up.
“Haven't we already been over this!?” the reynard yapped furiously, “you have nowhere to go, you have nothing out there willing to help you! Where do you think you're going?!” Ire leisurely trotted away, seeming having confided confidence within herself from a plan she never spoke aloud. Even as Stalker continued to pester and follow her, the drixen did not stress.
She'd thought of something, something crazy, but is was something nonetheless.
-----
Jazz's cheek lay peacefully upon the top of Brackish's bloodied back. As promised, the Hunter had put her medicinal saliva to good use, and with the added benefit of getting to taste him they could both be satisfied. That was apparent by the pair having grown comfortable enough to sleep next to one another. Granted, whether the collie actually had a choice in the matter of being used as a pillow was unclear.
The fox Jazz KO'd earlier was kind enough to leave the two non-vulpine creature's alone when he came to. The other vulpine's that passed were sure to give the sleeping Hunter as wide a berth as possible. The amount of caution used around her showed just how well Farsight had kept her mouth shut about the entire 'cannibal' incident. Whatever the case, Jazz had become an object to avoid by all. That fact made it all the stranger when the Hunter was awoken by a vulpine hand gently rubbing at her shoulder.
It took a moment for the Hunter to actually react to the stroking upon her, though she eventually groaned and fluttered her eyes open. A bleary silhouette greeted her initially, but as she sat up and yawned her vision came into full focus.
“If I didn't know any better I'd mistake you for being cute” the voice of the one who awoke her spoke. Their tone was condescending, but too small and child-like to hold any weight with the Hunter. The mottle-coated lycan just kept her jaws parted in a gaping yawn that showed off the entire lot of her teeth. To that however, her vulpine alarm clock merely stood fast to their condescending tone, “Then we stop and look at the weapons you use to devour foxes, and suddenly all signs of cute are gone.”
Jazz snickered as she looked over the one who'd awoken her. It took but a second for her to realize it was the kit fox that had come to rescue Farsight from her earlier. They were fully clothed and armed, and behind them stood a much taller red fox male, bow drawn, arrow ready to take the Hunter's skull off at the first sign of resistance. Needless to say, Jazz's eyes lingered on the male whilst she spoke softly, “So... what's this all about?”
The kit fox stood with her arms crossed, eyes narrowed to a distrusting glare at the lycan. “Our vixen has need of you” she stated plainly, “Grab the coy-dog and follow us.”. Jazz could not help but smile and bark a playful, “Can I get a please?”. The vixen didn't humor her with even a minute response. “Let's go” the small one stated with but a hint of frustration in her voice. Thanks to the lethal aid at the kit fox's back, the Hunter found herself with no real choice but to comply.
-----
Outside in the vulpine Titan dock, Aeris was busy padding in circles around the bleeding body of the fennec fox she'd attacked, then subsequently sent out on a chore with no medical aid. Along with the fennec, she also happened to be hovering around Farsight, the currently 40-ish foot vixen diligently tending to Tilla's wounds.
“Why do I even bother with you?” Aeris growled, her inquiry directed toward Tilla. The fennec did not answer however, but silently looked to Farsight as if the medic would help her deal with the irate kitsune. “Silence...” Aeris lowly 'stated', “I guess that's the answer, huh? Just don't say anything and maybe I'll go away?”. Tilla's lips remained shut.
“Go ahead” Aeris went on, the kitsune never actually looking to the fennec vixen, “hide behind Farsight for now, but sooner or later we're going to have a word about you just blowing off something I asked of you.” The kitsune dug a claw into the compacted sand of the dock area ground: it resisted surprisingly well. “I swear it's foxes like you who drive me to kill. Why can't you be more like Koya and Farsight? I feel like they'd die for me.” While this was usually Tilla's cue for an annoying witty remark, she remained silent as a mouse in space.
The kitsune leader paused her vulture's circle for a moment as her ear rang with the sound of one of her lackeys. A single nod was her reply to the message she received from them. Upon flicking her ear to close communications, the 'tsune shot a glance over to the comparatively tiny entrance leading from the Titan dock to the den. Within seconds she spotted four forms emerge from within. “Koya.” she barked in greeting, following in suite for the others, “Dex. Jazz. Coyote.” It was a miracle she didn't snarl to 'greet' Brackish.
Koya and her mate bowed in return, leaving Jazz to wave and smile whilst Brackish stood stock still and uncaring. The border collie was just thankful to be able to walk again, though he remained sore all over.
“You are relieved,” Aeris growled plainly to the two foxes of the quartet, “I just need to speak with the dogs.” As the two vulpine's happily receded back into the den, Jazz lowered an ear to being called a dog. Aeris paid the reaction no mind however, instead focusing on the reason she'd summoned them. “I have a task for you two-” Immediately she saw Brackish turn tail and pad back into the den. She just barely caught the rumble from his throat, “I don't work for foxes.”
Aeris' jaws hung slack for a moment, eyes trained on the collie's retreating hind-quarters. “Okay” the 'tsune gradually began to growl lowly, her jaws still parted in mild astonishment, “that was... unexpected. I didn't even say what it was.”. Brackish made no attempt to respond, leaving the full-scale kitsune to direct her attention towards the Hunter before stomping her forepaw and demanding, “Get him back here!”.
Jazz wasn't quite certain if she reacted out of fear or respect, but the moment she was commanded to she whipped about and snatched the tail of the border collie. A surprised whine blared into her ears as she hoisted the dog clear off of the ground. As if Brackish wasn't 70 pounds of dog, she calmly tossed him back in front of herself like a half-empty garbage bag. He rolled and crumpled like one to boot.
The Hunter rolled her eyes prior to crossing her arms and glaring down to her future foodstuff. “Listen, dog” she started with a calm agitation in her voice, “I'm trying to get out of here, I don't know about you. How about we listen to what the giant fox has to say before we turn away and make them mad-” she paused to crane her head back... all the way back, “And potentially stompy.” The collie growled something incomprehensible as he stood back to all four paws, then shot a silent distrusting glare towards the kitsune, and a betrayed one back at the Hunter.
Aeris' throat rumbled with full bass, the 'tsune clearly not amused with the collie's antics, “I may very well still stomp on >one of you<. The nearly five-story creature flopped her rear upon the sand, compacted earth doing little to quell the shock of her weight. “Now as I was saying before, I have a problem I believe you could aid me with.” The kitsune found further elaboration hampered by the border collie letting off a forcibly intensified snarl, “Does it involve killing us afterward like usual? Or is it more along the lines of making us go get something for you, then have you snatch it and leave us for dead?”
The 'tsune raised a forepaw threateningly, her patience visibly and audibly running thin, “It would be wise of you to shut up, coyote. I would have no qualm smearing you into the dirt.”. Brackish glanced to Jazz and rolled his eyes. Whilst he once more began to pad toward the den entrance, the coy-dog snarled back at the imposing figure, “You can go ahead and try, blasted mutant! But then you'd just be left with a cannibal to do your bidding.” Jazz dropped a single ear at being called out, though Aeris merely stomped down right behind the collie. The impact caused him to stumble briefly, but the moment he recovered his slow trek back inside continued.
“Fine” growled, turning her sights on the Hunter instead, “I'm not bothering with one of those creatures.”. Much to her dismay, Brackish snarled back quickly, “I'm glad we understand each other!”. The kitsune ignored him entirely, once more addressing Jazz, “I've more important obligations to fulfill. Are you willing to help me in a bit of reconnaissance?”. Immediately the Hunter quirked her brow in suspicion, half tempted to retreat herself as she inquired, “What kind of recon exactly?”. Aeris gradually slid down to her belly whilst elaborating, “Oh, I just want you to find a certain underling of mine. She's already being tracked, but I'd like some extra assurance. She can be a bit hostile.”
“Is it Ire?” Jazz shot with narrowed eyes. Aeris growled playfully back to the Hunter, “Yes, but now all of the mystery's gone. That would have been half of the fun.”. The mottle-coated Hunter didn't seem amused, only giving a neutral growl of her own in response, “Okay, that seems easy enough, but why can't you just track her down yourself? You said you already had someone on it, and last I checked Ire was mostly still a VE.”. The kitsune stared blankly to the Hunter, but through the agitation of being questioned she humored Jazz with an answer, “All true, except Ire seems to have gone rogue after I ordered her to disarm. She took off when I wasn't looking to go save that traitor she dares claim as a mate.”
The Hunter snorted at the mention of 'traitor' and 'mate'. As if her mood wasn't already obviously soured, she sucked her teeth and struggled to hold back a surge of worry from slipping into her throat, “Oh, so I take it you weren't exactly thrilled about Ghost just up and letting the dog go? I guess I can't say I didn't see that coming.” Her mood became gradually more inquisitive the moment she thought over the entirety of what the 'tsune said however, “Now what I don't get is why Ire was being disarmed. Is it because she walked me back?”
Aeris crossed her forelegs underneath her chin before reluctantly indulging in a session of twenty questions with the one she was currently just trying to exploit, “I didn't even know she helped you; I was more concerned with the fact that she likely killed my daughter and would not dispose of her troublesome mate as proof of loyalty. Because of that, I sent another subordinate of mine out to rid me of the traitor. Well... I sent two.” Aeris glared back over her shoulder to Tilla who had now risen to a knee, the majority of their wounds sealed. The kitsune bared a fang before going on to the Hunter, “Apparently one of those two decided it was fine to abandon her orders... >again< I might add. All because of a few medical issues.”
Jazz took several stealthy sniffs, her mouth relaying what her nose suggested, “Kind of smells like she got stabbed with a sunblade. I know the scent of that weapon's wounds anywhere.”. Aeris abruptly derailed the Hunter using a yip fading to a growl, “Indeed, yes, but where was I? Right. You're going to help me find Ire and her thing, right?”. Jazz flinched at the thought of Ghost being referred to as a thing, though the Hunter recovered seamlessly to reply, “Yeah, I'll do it, but what am I supposed to do when I find her?”
Aeris yawned, her insistence on exhaling every ounce of humid air she could over Jazz drove the Hunter to avert her nose and frown. At least the 'tsune was nice enough to answer eventually, “Just provide a bit more incentive for her to give up and come back here. It's not that I'm so concerned with the lack of her presence as I am worried about the uncertainty of her future actions; my plans have been thrown off course enough times as is.” Her last 'words' were accompanied by a glare towards the Hunter.
Jazz stood firm with arms still about her chest. Her expression never broke to give Aeris a hint of submission. “Look,” the Hunter barked, “I'll do it, but I need your word that this is it. No more tasks after this one: just let us go back and have nothing to do with whatever is happening here.”
“Deal” Aeris nonchalantly shrugged and yipped. “You and that mongrel are free to go after I make sure Ire isn't planning on defecting, and she is also out of my fur. I've already arranged for a much better replacement anyway.”. Jazz quirked her brow at the 'tsune's mention of a replacement, but honestly her will to return home as soon as possible negated all further sense of curiosity.
With acceptance achieved, the Hunter had but one final question, “Alright, I'll need my things if I'm going to go track down a giant destructive hybrid.”. Aeris concurred with a barely visible nod of her skull. Not breaking eye-contact with the comparatively small Hunter, the 'tsune called back to her subordinates, “Farsight, would you kindly get the Hunter's equipment? Also, is Tilla well enough to stop being an insubordinate slacker now?”
-”Yes and yes, vixen” Farsight yipped back softly.
-”Good, because Tilla will be accompanying the dog.”
In unison Tilla and Jazz erfed a confused “What!?”. Tilla's was merely more prominent due to her being the height of a four-story building. Aeris ever so slowly rose to all fours before glancing between both Hunter and Fennec. With both of their jaws dropping in a confounded manner, the kitsune quickly explained herself: “I'm going to need to communicate with the Hunter after all, and it's not like I can just go giving out VE tech to dogs. So, Tilla, you will accompany the Hunter. Besides, you're both reconnaissance troops; I'm sure you'll get along.”
Tilla's eyes shot daggers to the Hunter, the fennec's fangs beginning to bare. Aeris was swift in shutting down any and all hostilities however, “You either do this, or you stay here with me.”. Needless to say, the fennec instantly fell into compliance like a slave shown a whip.
As the vulpine-to-vulpine issue was resolved, the Hunter interjected, “I guess that makes sense, but I just have one question then.” Aeris turned her full attention down to Jazz before perking her ears in legitimate interest. “Aeris,” the lycan commenced with a nervous slump of her shoulders, “did you have my bow brought back?”. The 'tsune's answer was not immediate, but it seemed honest, “Yes, I did. But, you will have to excuse me in not allowing you access to it.”. Jazz's fangs instantly became visible the moment she snarled back, “And why not!?”. Unfortunately, the daunting size difference left Aeris completely immune to the intimidation of the smaller female.
“Please understand,” Aeris growled calmly, “I trust you, but not so much as to let you have all of your power back. The weapon will be returned when you leave for good.”. Jazz's lips gradually sheathed her ivory blades as she relaxed and sought to retort, “Fine, but if you so much as glance at Symphony in a weird manner I'll tear your head off!”. The kitsune yipped a completely unphased, disinterested, “Okay.”.
The Hunter yapped aggressively back, though still her stature betrayed her, “I mean it! She's like my baby!”. Aeris rolled her eyes and slowly began to pad away from the emotional Wild dog. Yet, even with her back turned the 'tsune could not resist remarking, “Sheesh, you're as bad as Ire and her hunk of metal; it's just a weapon, nothing more.”
Jazz's aggressive stand petered out as the kitsune turned tail and talked her down. The Hunter's ears flattened and she sniffled to hold back an eruption of emotions. Symphony wasn't just a weapon, she was the only friend Jazz actually entrusted her life with. “You just don't know” she muttered solemnly, “You really just don't know.”
-----------
Brackish
-------------
