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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/FifthMovement|Fifth Movement]]
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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| − | == Gallery of Wolves ==
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' Selina was gone by the time Moon finished talking with the group of soldiers. He had known she was there. It was easy to see he across the room. Most people were still keeping clear of the mansion until they were sure the fighting was over and the Exalted weren't clustered in one spot. He watched her speak with Iselsis from the corner of his eye, then get lead off by one of the few servants around still dressed like a servant. Hadn't felt much like joining them though. Probably would have ended up growling at Selina if he had...
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| − | The group he and Iselsis had rumbled with briefly were an alright lot though, for garrison flunkies. Seemed they were all here because they'd done well during the fighting. The big red head Moon had hit first had personally managed to hold a whole street against a blackcloak patrol by himself. The one who'se ribs Moon broke snuck far into the dead-held parts of the city to set fire to sabotage a pair of warmachines they'd built.
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| − | Any day before, he'd have soon spat on men like these as look at them. And they'd as soon try to gut him. Now they were swapping stories and showing off their scars to one another.
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| − | Kinda funny what almost dying could do patch that stuff up.
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| − | As soon as he saw Selina step away, the Lunar left the soldiers behind with a wave and stalked back over to Iselsis. "What she want, darlin'?" he asked the moment she was in ear shot. There was a new lady next to demon-girl, one he hadn't seen before. Mismatched eyes and pale skin. Moon gave her a once over, but left a more through examination until ''after'' he'd gotten his answer.
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Straight to the point, aren't you Moon? She just wanted to talk about the little rumble and how I'm not enjoying myself here." she gesticulates with a hand for emphasis "And the conversation drifted a few other places. Nothing important though."
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| − | She eyed the lunar carefully "Why do you ask?"
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| − | '''Acelia: ''' Her wandering gaze, that took in the sights of Gods, of Exalted, nobles and Shadows of Divinity... seeing wonders, beauties, seeing so much, that she had never seen before... her face in awe, pure awe. Like a child listening to a faerie-tale for the first time, one who saw a wedding for the first time... she takes a moment to notice Moon coming... "Oh! Seventh Moon!"
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' He shrugged offhandedly. "Curious." Mostly if Selina had said anything ''more'' about the plans she'd never bothered to let him in on. That still stung to have found out like that...
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| − | That was out of the way at least though. He turned his attention back on Red's new friend, smirking at her greeting. Felt odd having people he didn't know call him name now, but it was happening enough he was getting use to it.
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| − | But at least this girl wasn't a ''total'' stranger, even if her name escaped him. Same girl who'd appeared on the roof when he first met Iselsis. Those eyes were hard to forget. "Hey darlin'." He greeted her with a grin. "How's shit?"
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' Her arms cross beneath her bosom, making it even more prominent than the dress by itself.
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| − | "She lacks faith in my abilities.", she says, halfway between stating a plain fact and perturbedness at said fact.
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| − | '''Acelia: ''' She was dressed in a... plain dress, for this party. A simple dress with long sleeves, white and pink mosly, with flower motiff that gives it many other colors here and there. Plain, simple, common, for the party they were in. What an artisan's child might use for her teen-age birthdays, not what some godly noble might.... she holds herself, shrugging. "'ey, if she's what she is of you and all..."
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' She blinks and snaps around to stare at Acelia, dumbstruck that she'd even hint at that in front of moon right after they agreed never to speak of that again. Well, Ise had agreed it, that should've been good enough, really!
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| − | "Acelia! Didn't we agree not to ever bring that up, ever again? Ever?"
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' The Lunar stared silently at the two women a moment, back and forth to each until he settled on the strange-eyed girl with a baffled glare. "The fuck ya talkin' 'bout?"
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| − | '''Acelia: ''' Her eyes widen, her face sheer embarassment... "Nothing, nothing, '''nothin''' --... sorry!"
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Not something ''I'm'' going to tell you about, because ''she'' will gut me for telling you, and then probably gut me again for telling you in the wrong way. If you want to know, you'll have to ask the Dark Angel.", she glares a little, though wether that's to emphasize her point or because she's annoyed with Acelia is unclear.
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' "A'ite, whatever darlin'." Moon held up his hands protectively. "Don't mean shit ta me, ya wanna keep that quiet about it."
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| − | And he ''could'' just ask Selina later like they said. He was going to bump into her again during the night sooner or later anyway. He'd make sure of that.
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| − | Moon lifted his eyes suddenly and peered past the pair, out the door beyond, scanning the front lawn and the distant gate. "Seen my boys 'bout yet?" If the people down in the kitchen had actually gone and found Red's girl, meant they might have actually gone out to find the Pack too. His ears tightened and waited for the sound of familiar voices or the high pitched yowl of their arrival.
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Not yet. Maybe they ate the poor messenger.", she remarks flippantly.
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' "Naw." Moon said, waving off the comment casually. "They ain't been hangin' 'round the Angel ''that'' long yet."
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| − | '''Hanna: ''' "Hey, who knows!" Comes the voice. Moon would not be surprised, though, he could feel the scent.... the step of hard jade boots on the ground, the other steps around, the scents of Hanna and Blue and the rest. "Isn't that what Chosen people do? Eat people and all that?"
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| − | She was non-chalant, a scant fighting cloth making sure she told everyone how little cold she felt those days, bracers and gauntlets of jade on her hands, sporting her Chosen status for everyone to see in what are actually roughly-cut poor grade items scavenged from the dead. But still. It felt good to show off!
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Personally, I just shoot things in the face until they die. And in the case of deaders, I shoot the ghost in the face too, just for good measure.", she shrugged. Apparantly her fighting spirit and indignance had slowly given way to a sort of apathetic kind of sarcasm.
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| − | "That them then, Moon?"
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' Finally! Moon hid the grin that tried to rise on his face as Hannah sauntered into the room. He shook his head instead, answering in the wise voice of authority. "Just half us. Other half try ta bed everything we can. Couple tumble back forth between though. ''Those'' the ones you gotta watch out for."
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| − | A pause, then Moon let out the grin he'd been hold back, stepping closer to greet the Packgirl by pulling her into a tight embrace. "The fuck took ya so long?" he demanded as he pushed a little distance between them. Just a little though. "Don't tell me ya spent hours gettin' dressed."
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| − | Given what was wearing, shouldn't have taken more than a few minutes. And even less to take off. Which was probably the idea. And the reason he didn't quiet relinquish his hold on her hip yet.
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| − | '''Hanna: ''' She held Moon back, tightly, as if it had been... ages. It had been just yesterday, or earlier today in the ceremony, really, but it felt... it felt so long.... "Nah, we were just thinkin' wether or not it'd be a good idea! Dunno if another fight is good fer now, we are all a little beat!"
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| − | "Who's the red?"
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| − | '''The Pack: ''' Blue stepped foward, patitng Moon on the back, the rest longing around...
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| − | ... leering at all noblewomen and men they can.
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' "This is my lotta useless bastards, yeah." Moon nodded back at Iselsis as he clapped a hand together with Blue and squeezed. He swung Hanna around to face the other Terrestrial and pulled the Pack boy along with them. "This Hanna and Blue, kinda my seconds. Guys this is..." Moon faltered a moment, glaring at Iselsis. What the fuck was her name?
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| − | Hanna filled in for him nicely though. He nodded at her, passing Iselsis a wicked grin as he introduced the Winlandian. "Red."
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "My ''name'' is Iselsis. Though apparantly my name is now also 'Red' and 'Newcomer', depending on who you're asking at the time."
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| − | She seems to pause for a second for unknown reason then says "I'd tip my hat at you, but I seem to not be wearing one because I'm at this party, heh. You lot missed a good, though short fight, too."
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| − | She pats Acelia on the head "And this is Acelia. She's tagging along with me, I guess you could call her my sidekick.", she grins a bit.
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| − | '''The Pack: ''' A bunch of waves and heys to her. A good few whistles. "Walking with pretty noble..." the word for her didn't come. "... noble stuff now, eh, Moon? All important, aren't you?"
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| − | '''Hanna: ''' "Hey there, Ise. Hey there, Acelia." Hanna waves, "Wha, you guys started a fight ''already''? Like, normal fight? We just saw some lights and explosions, and I'll be damned if I want to be on a brawl like that for fun."
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' ...
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| − | ''Noble stuff? What, the hell, are they talking about '''me'''? ''
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| − | She shouts at the one in the pack who'd shouted that "Oi, you! Come up here and call me a bloody noble to my face! Not like I ''wanted'' to get all bloody dressed up!"
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| − | People in power were always bastards, she definately didn’t want to be associated with that.
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| − | '''Hanna: ''' "Got a frilly dress like that, don't ya? Got the look like one o' those things, don't ya? Not that hard ta see. If you say so, though." She shrugs, "If ya didn't want to be frillied up, why are ya even around? If ya dun want to do it, dun do it."
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' "Hey, I'm a fuckin' ''hero'' now. Didn't ya see the medal they gave me 'n shit?" Moon stepped between Iselsis and the rest of the Pack, mostly to impose a barrier between them before they started trying to rip into each other. Was too early to start that again. And there were ''much'' better targets around. Continuing, he tapped a finger on his chest, where the piece of the medal he had actually kept for himself still hung from his neck. "Hangin' out with ladies is what heroes do."
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| − | "Tch, sides, she ain't noble..." Moon sniffed dismissively, turning his head just a little to watch Iselsis from the corner of his eye. "Too fuckin' fond'a sneakin' 'round rooftops for that."
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "And you of all people should know I usually don't dress this ladylike. But who am I to say no to the Dark Angel? Her and Gennadi insisted you know, mostly her.", she shrugs.
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| − | "Any of you got any cigs? I would've taken my own, but", she gestures at herself, "there really wasn't any place to put them, obviously."
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| − | '''The Pack: ''' One of them walks foward, a man with a strong beard and a somewhat long hair, opening a little box and offering some " ere. Not saying it might be up to your princessness, tho'."
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| − | "Yeah." Blue says, leaning down on one of the trees on the garden, "They dun think people will actually use that stuff, apparently, for anything but showin' off..."
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Anyone can dress up in fancy clothes.", she picks one out of the box and blows on it to light it before taking a few puffs, and for once trying extra hard at blowing out nigh perfect circles of smoke.
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| − | "Moon, would you stop standing there and stick up for me? At the very least tell them how I covered your back against that soldier's three angry friends, or something.", she gestures, obviously annoyed with the sudden stigma, considering she didn't even like being dressed like she was.
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| − | '''The Pack: ''' It tastes horrible. Absolutely horrible. It is like it is made of... well, the air of the Boil. "Was jus' kiddin, sweets. You take everything too seriously. Would end up roughed up on the Red. Or standin' on a pile of roughed-up people, whatever comes first, I guess." The man says, stroking his beard as he watches her smoke, wondering how she'll react.
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| − | Blue giggles. "Dearie, you ain't getting ''half'' of what Moon here would've gotten if he had dressed prissy. Deal."
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' Gen-who? Moon frowned at the name, then shrugged it off. Plenty of people around here he didn't know. Could have even been someone else from Windia. Coming chivalrously to Iselsis's rescue, Moon turned suddenly on Hanna. Flashing the new Terrestrial a playful grin, he leaned into her. With the efficiency of a craftsman, his broad hands explored her body, finger tips exploring under the edge of clothes, stealing a squeeze on whatever made a proper handful. Prodding, squirming, he tickled her belly, under her arms, swept the hair from her ear and blew against it softly - all the little ticklish places on her body. The sort of thing you learn when you live with someone most of their life.
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| − | "A'ite," he declared, leaning back from Hanna, ready to leap away to avoid the fierce left-hook that could fall on him at any moment. "''She'' ain't got any. How 'bout the rest'a ya?"
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| − | '''Hanna: ''' She giggles, a warm blush coming to her cheeks, and she nearly squeals as he plays, then nearly pouts as he moves away. "Awwww..." and then, they speak of the teasing. And begun to imagine herself, dressed like Ise... "Or me, Lover forbid."
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' "Yeah, it ain't personal darlin'." Moon grinned at Iselsis, his arm around Hanna's shoulders. "Think'a it kinda like a friendly welcome."
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| − | ''We can usually smell our own... ''
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| − | And it didn't matter too much where Iselsis came from. Or how red her skin was. The Pack had managed to feel her out pretty quick. Selina hadn't gotten that sort of quick acceptance out of them. Most of them were just plain scared of her. Said a lot they were already being so familiar with Iselsis.
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| − | "Just expect ta get a lotta shit." And a few swats to the ass if you're not careful. But after the way this party had been rolling, that would be a mild offense.
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Hmpf. Well I suppose I can't blame you lot for poking fun. There's some crazy stuff going on here. Not enough fun crazy shit though, if you ask me. Being leered at by a bunch of leches bothers me.", which she illustrates by taking a few more puffs of the cig, smoke flaring out her nostrils.
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| − | "So now everyone's here, what's the plan? I ''could'' stand here all evening smoking horrible cigs, but that'd be boring."
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| − | "Plus, the booze is elsewhere." she smirks a little.
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| − | '''Hanna: ''' "Wait, you are worried about being leered at?" She giggles. The pack laughs, as Hanna leans on Moon, feeling his chest, holding to him... "Dear, you ''would'' end up beating half the red-lantern. Guys'll leer, girls'll leer. It's life, deal."
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "''Or'' I could rough up everyone who leers. I much prefer that solution.", she huffs, "Besides I never dress like this and in my usual outfit people mistake me for a guy, so no leering then, and I'm fine with that. Thank god none of them touched me yet."
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' Hanna's hand stroked his chest... and Moon's jaw tightened until his teeth hurt. His eyes flashed, not their usual silver gleam, but something brighter and less plesant. "Easy darlin'." He whispered to her, pain tightening his voice. Discreetly as he as able, he took hold of Hanna's hand and directed it a little further down. To where his chest was riddled with necrotic scars. To where her touch didn't send waves of icy-burning through him. Funny how easy it was to forget about that, until someone prodded him there.
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| − | Plan...? Moon looked around at the rest of the Pack, the expression on his face clear. They were supposed to have a ''plan''? He scratched behind his ear a moment, shifting his jaw as he thought that over. What would be fun? What would be interesting? Most importantly ... what would get them in the most trouble later?
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| − | "A'ite, plan. First, toss half these fucks outta here," he said, waving the other guests who'd braved it out in the room or wandered back in. "Just keep 'round the ones that interestin'. Second, get wasted. Fuckers hordin' like twenty crates'a vodka downstairs, so that should help kill an hour at least. Third, trash the place." Moon paused a moment, giving the punks time to take in the complexity of the genius scheme, then lifted his voice higher. "Good on?"
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| − | '''The Pack: ''' "Good on!" all voices said in unison, spreading out, laughing... laughing like a bunch of people going to a party. Which was exactly what they were about to do. Their kind of party. Soon, they were throwing others out, pushing people, holding little fights with those who resisted...
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| − | While Hanna moved her hand away from Moon, and smiled to him, saying she would go downstairs, and get the booze. And then she begun to walk away, ignoring all the fights around her, whistling a folk song as she disappears under the stairs...
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' Ise meanwhile cast a glance at Acelia, half to make sure she hadn't bolted yet.
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| − | "Hanging out with a gang and doing bad stuff. Funny how much 'living the high life' can be just like what you always knew, huh?"
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| − | '''Acelia: ''' Acelia was talking with one of the people from the pack, smoking a cigarette herself, used to the scent of what the Boil had to offer... she turns as Ise talks to her. "Hey, people are dressed better! Well... you are, at least. And I don't always dress like this!" She pouts. Not quite what she expected either.
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' Moon looked around the room with grinning approval as his gang got to work. Doing what they do best. And Hanna he watched saunter like a she-cat through an alley fight, untouchable by the chaos around her, tail swaying arrogantly. Moon tilted his head slowly to the side.
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| − | She ''did'' look good dressed like that...
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| − | He whistled sharply to a pair who were slowly stalking to the cluster of soldiers Iselsis and he had brawled with earlier. "They can stay if they wanna, a'ite?"
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| − | Waving them on to deal with others, Moon glanced over to Iselsis. "Wanna help 'um clean shit up here?" he asked, turning on his heels as he started to walk away, taking heavy steps backwards them the Terrestrial. "Gonna go give Hanna a hand with the booze."
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| − | With the booze. Right.
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' And she obliged. She felt like she had something to prove to this gang, this 'pack'. Maybe it was the teasing, maybe she just felt better when at the top of a certain pecking order, maybe she really was just that bored and into fights. At any rate...
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| − | She picks out the biggest and meanest looking of the ones about to bounce from the mansion outside into the garden. They'd all notice she didn't have the superhuman strength moon had, but she still cleaned the floor with them without them ever laying a finger on her.
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| − | What she lacked in brawn she made up for in speed, and she made damn sure the pack has a front row view of what she could do even in small scale brawls.
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| − | ----
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/FifthMovement|Fifth Movement]]
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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