Dawnlark Plains I'm so sorry. I thought you were the waiter.

@Skagos

She wasn't sure why she lingered in the area. She was a free wolf now which meant she could venture off in whatever direction she so desired, save that she was hungry and she was following a trail of a rabbit. It lived somewhere around here. She'd found its scat, something of a shape, size and smell she was beginning to identify as lapine excrement. It wasn't the least bit marvelous, but a meal was a meal and something fresh was far better than consuming rotted stores.

There it was. She spotted it and immediately dipped into a crouch. Lower and downwind, she was primed and ready to sprint after it... save for a rabbit had a significant amount of speed. Hmm. It was some kind of predicament wasn't it? She would be able to easily overpower it... but she had to catch it first. Squinting at the creature, she contemplated her options and the surrounding terrain. Seemed as is she'd have to go for it.

Taking her chances, she set out at a full out sprint to catch it. The rabbit clued in and darted off, making a quick line for its burrow. The chase ended there; with the rabbit gone and Citali's face tucked in a burrow as she tried to snatch it unsuccessfully. Damn it. Perhaps she would have better luck next time, or she could widen its burrow by digging and snatch it from the hole... Yup. Digging it was.

Thank you for starting. :-)

The days had stretched on in a mindless blur to the Gladiator as he walked, his purpose fueling him to continue, to push himself until there was nothing left to push but exhaustion. Quetzalcoatl had given him a mission: deliver the news of her birth. When he had left her she had been quite rotund, her sides round with Five's growing children, looking like she was fit to bursting. Though she had mourned Tezcacoatl, she had looked happy, at least; the promise of her children soon to be born into the world lighting up the spark in her crystalline blue eyes. A pretty, tempered blue. Warmer than his own. Which gave to say, it was a warmer blue than the Old Queen's, which cut like sharp, icy knives with just a glimpse. He'd seen the Old Queen's stare give the strongest of Gladiators pause. He had departed weeks ago now, and after doing the quick mental math in his head he assumed that by now the Amazon Queen's children had been born into the world. Perhaps this time she would have learned her lesson. Perhaps this time she would be blessed with daughters instead of sons rose to arrogant status because of misplaced affection. There was nothing special about Tezcacoatl, there never had been; but he had joyous news to bring, nevertheless and did not allow the stinging and bitter thoughts of his nephew ruin his mood.

He had spent his first few days in the Wilds resting. He'd pushed himself in his haste to breach into Teekon Wilds, the importance of the message he carried bearing down upon him heavily. He was eager to please, and the mere thought of failing his mission was nothing short of disgraceful. It was not often that Gladiators were chosen to undertake things of such important but he was loyal. He knew his place, and after winning his battle against the Doctore, leader of the Gladiators beside Five, Skagos had proven himself capable of the mission. The favors the women gave him for his victories was something that the young Gladiator could easily get used to. Why not enjoy them while they were presented to him? If he lost, well his life would be taken, so he saw no reason not to take what was being given to him. 

It was only after sating his hunger that he headed out in search of Tezcacoatl, or Manauia. He was not sure which of Tezcacoatl's garrison had made it this far; and Skagos knew only what Quetzalcoatl knew: that Manauia was definitely with him and that the Pretender had been keen on claiming lands here. He'd been tracking a scent that had struck him as familiar for a while, knowing he recognized it despite being unable to fully put a face and name to it. He'd only hoped it was the right direction and not leading him astray. Frosted blue eyes lifted from his path, head rising from it's cant earth bound to at the sound of dirt being furiously up-heaved. Digging. Cautiously, Skagos followed the sound, a figure coming into view. “My lady,” Skagos called to her, affording her the obedience that he would any Amazon woman, unable to recognize her. Nevertheless, he sunk into submission, recognizing that she was his superior, whether she was stranger or not. It didn't matter. Serving women, and fighting for breeding rights, for sport and for their entertainment was all that he'd lived for.

You are very welcome!

She was covered in dirt. Her paws. Her nose. The rest of her. The surrounding area was a complete upheaval of earth and roots and the dried, crunchy grasses that made up this area. She'd made decent progress only to discover the rabbit's home was a far more complex burrow than she had imagined. It'd taken time to craft tunnels of these sorts. Excavating the entirety of it would take forever and she imagined the rabbit had an escape route elsewhere. It was lost and her interest on the matter was lost the second she heard a voice sound behind her.

Citali lifted her head, turning to view the male with narrowed eyes as she looked him over. Decent build... A faint scent of the Rise upon him... The markings beneath his eyes that were a tell-tale sign of a certain bloodline that existed where she'd originally come from. No doubt he was from Coatl's Rise. The only question left was why for. Was he here to collect the remnants of what was supposed to be (and no longer was) Tezca's guard and usher them home? Or was he here for something else entirely? She surveyed him as a several billion thoughts rolled through her mind. Why indeed.

"State your business, wolf," she snapped sharply. She made no efforts to straighten her disheveled appearance or introduce herself or anything of the like. Instead, she noted his submissive posture, as was appropriate for his gender, and regarded him with guarded curiosity. There was something faintly gladiator-ish about him which suggested he was one of the few males granted certain favors. If she'd had her way with things, she'd make eunuchs of them all upon birth and leave it at that. A female only ever needed one male to breed. The rest? There was simply no need.

Skagos' frosted blue eyes assessed her for a few seconds while she was distracted digging at the hole, presumably looking for something, noting that clumps of up-heaved earth and grass were scattered haphazardly through her brown fur. He was sure not to stare long, however, knowing his place in the world and in more importantly: in comparison to the female gender. There was a certain degree of gravity to her stare, not unlike like the stare of the Old Queen, how it pressed upon you though she did nothing but stare and examine. Skagos had always said that it felt like the Old Queen was slowly skinning males with her eyes, picking them apart, which probably wouldn't be far from the truth. After all, she made no secret to hide her particularly cruel habit of killing the males that sired her children after she affirmed the Gladiator's seed had taken within her womb. Why anyone would even volunteer to fight knowing that was their fate was beyond Skagos; and it wasn't as if he could just go and ask his father — her last partner why he'd taken to the arena for her. To have her? Skagos wasn't sure if it was worth the risk: to win but to lose your life? Especially when she would have only the best and legendary Gladiators to sire her daughters. Though it was true that according to blood and genetics the Old Queen was his mother (the term is used loosely) and so he could not see the appeal she held that might attract those not of her blood.

The earthen female's command was sharp, blunt and to the point. Used to this, Skagos didn't even flinch. “I have been sent by Queen Quetzalcoatl to seek the...,” Idiot joke of a prince; for a moment Skagos struggled with the words he wished to use knowing that likely the male he was partially sent to search for and share the news with wouldn't remember and likely wouldn't care. “prince,” The word was forced, harsh as it left Skagos' lips. The women were not alone in their disdain for his status, for many of the Gladiators felt the same. Of course only Five held any true affection for him, despite not being able to communicate with Tezcacoatl. Skagos happened to be one of the ones that shared the disdain. “and Manauia, or any of the other Garrison that the Gods have blessed Coatl's Rise. The Queen has given birth.” The specifics of the children he did not know, having left before he could find out as Quetzalcoatl had commanded him too; and while Skagos could not be sure she was of Coatl's Rise he told her anyway. There was no harm in trying to send some fresh blood to Quetzalcoatl if his sense of familiarity proved to be wrong, as far as he saw it.

“I am Skagos, second Doctore of the Rise's Gladiators and slaves, my lady.” Five mostly dealt with the children having a natural affinity for the young, though Skagos credited this to the fact that he was a father and he was eager to take the frightened boys under his wing, be the father he could never be to his own children. Even though he bore the rank of Doctore, Skagos still answered to Five, the senior Doctore; but both were still lower than the lowest ranking female. Their “leading” rank was only for the males and did not and would never apply to the females, as it should be, the gunmetal colored Gladiator thought. There was strength in their hierarchy and none of the males could complain that the Amazons weren't fair with them. Serving them, giving them strong daughters, it was an honor and what all of the Gladiators should strive for even though Skagos knew that was not always the case. They were weak and the weak were killed in the pits and arena; natural selection at it's finest.

Sent by the Queen was he? More messengers? More missions? She didn't quite understand it. For all she knew, Manauia had delivered message of Tezcacoatl's demise or was, at the very least, on her way. It was far time for the Queen to abandon her business in these parts or send a female to establish her reign here. Either way, whatever her madness had convinced her of to keep sending males? It was making Citali's head spin. They never gathered enough detail to make it worth any female's time.

"Tezcacoatl is dead," she informed before this wolf waste any time in seeking him. The rest, she listened to if only because it seemed as though he were in the right place and held some kind of information. Greedy for knowledge, she held her silence up until he announced another birthing. "How many females?" she asked immediately. It was the only question of any importance. The males would be neutered or sent to replace the mate the Queen killed this season. Only the daughters mattered.

At long last, he introduced himself. Citali looked him over once more. The title seemed appropriate for his stature, but she had no understanding of why they would send a male in place of a female who could travel more swiftly and better convey the appropriate information. "Is the Rise short of females that they would send you?" she asked, curious. Perhaps, in their failure, this makeshift garrison had been de-ranked, in which case their shame did not offer them the expense of a female outrider. Citali's ears flattened, now suspicious of her station. It seemed as though the Queen was intentionally slighting them.

No need to match the length ...I got a little carried away ... xD

A crease of Skagos' brows followed Citali's words; the information that Tezcacoatl was dead. Skagos might have held nothing but disdain (and perhaps a deep seeded hatred) for his nephew but this information did not settle easily into his chest and he knew that he would not be the one to break the news to Quetzalcoatl. He was his sister's chosen messenger because of his loyalty, because she trusted him despite Cihuacoatl's adamant protests. Cihuacoatl — or the old queen as the Gladiators knew her as — had insisted with her daughter that he stay, that she send a female in stead, especially after Five coming back to them on his belly, unable to function in the world outside of Coatl's Rise. Five had not been curious of what lay beyond, but there was something in Skagos that was curious. “I see,” Skagos responded to her statement with a heavy inhale before he let it out. “Queen Quetzalcoatl had assured me he was alive and well if not confused.” Quetzalcoatl had came to these Wilds, leaving Xiuhcoatl in charge during her brief absence, but that was some time ago. "This changes things.” If there was a silver lining for the Doctore to find it was in the fact that he wouldn't have to deal with Tezcacoatl and his false title. It was a boon, if not a bit bitter.

“The Queen was still pregnant when she sent me here, though she was close to giving birth. I heard her telling Five that she thought there was at least two females, something about women's intuition...” But Skagos didn't understand it and therefore put no stock into it. How could intuition possibly determine the sex of the children she'd been carrying? Or perhaps, he realized, she'd just been hopeful. How lucky Five was to sire not one litter to Quetzalcoatl but two; though Skagos hoped that his friend kept alive long enough to see it to three. Five was softer than Skagos when it came to training, more jovial to Skagos' stone-cold seriousness. Skagos' lack of empathy and sheer cruelty in the arena (and training grounds) he shared with his mother, apparently. He would have shuddered to think that they were more alike than he (or she for that matter) cared to admit; but Five was a beast in the arena and wouldn't hesitate to kill for Quetzalcoatl, which was why he harbored the respect (or as much respect as he could be given) that he did, friendly disposition forgiven. Still, the same male siring two litters to the same female was something that was almost unheard of in Coatl's Rise; and just another goal to strive towards for Skagos. Another notch that Five had in his belt already full of notches for experience. 

“I didn't ask, my lady,” Skagos admitted in a respectful murmur. “It is not my place to question Queen Quetzalcoatl, only to be obedient to her.” They had tempered him into exactly what they needed him to be: their entertainment, their servant. They made the unwanted castaway of Cihuacoatl strong, though his potential was high to begin with, if the stories he'd heard of Six were of any indication; but to him his father was only a myth and his mother ...hadn't ever been a mother. He was lucky she hadn't killed him, ate his body like she'd been rumored to do to any other male she gave birth to. Someone needed to replace Six when she'd killed him, and she was too old now to have any more children so he supposed she had no choice but to make him suffice. He hadn't even strove for her affection knowing that she barely afforded such a thing to her daughters (or perhaps it was just Quetzalcoatl for defying her), but he'd sought only her acknowledgment: at least that he existed, that she could brag that one of the Doctore's was hers. This was wishful thinking, dangerous thinking, the whims of a child that no longer existed; and he exhausted the thought of it just as quick as it came.

“I'm sure she's had daughters.” Skagos offered in some sort of consolidation, though he wasn't sure if it worked or not. Even one daughter would be better than none. He fell silent then, eyes lifting to level at the curve of Citali's chest (having previously been fixed upon her dirt smudged paws), not daring to look any higher, holding his submissive pose, as he would until she told him to rise ...if she told him. Sometimes, they didn't and he was forced to be sunk to his belly until they were finished speaking with him.

She didn't bother correcting herself. There was little point in acknowledging the fact there was a wolf who looked like Tezcacoatl, but was not him prancing around these wilds claiming to be a king. Better dead to the world than anything else. Short of actually killing him, something she was uninclined to do through her own teeth if only because she preferred alternative, subtler methods, abandoning him to that mountain was the best way to go about it. Or not. Whatever the case, she was done with that wolf.

This one? Was just as useless. She sighed, releasing the heavy breath upon the air as her ears fell just as flat as the expression on her face. What was the point? To announce a birth that hadn't yet happened? To leave before knowing the most important details? She found herself quickening to anger. "Then what good are you!? You deliver no news. Go back and find out their genders. That is the only important thing about a birth!" Women's intuition. What a joke. There simply was or wasn't. There was no imagination or intuition about it. That information was useless.

She found her throat caught in a low growl. It seemed as though this male was merely wasting her time at this point. If he had no true news, messages, or any other services to offer, she did not understand his reasoning for being here unless he'd somehow escaped and was looking for an excuse to pretend to still be loyal to the Coatl crown. She stared at him, scrutinizing as he thought further and continued to jumble up his message.

"Well..." she started, bristling through her impatience. "Is that all you came to say?" Nothing? She hoped it wasn't nothing. He'd given her that already and she was tired of hearing it. If he was done, she could get back to her rabbit hunt and hopefully have something to put in her belly by supper.

It did not take much of a genius to figure out what the Amazon before him was displeased with the lack of information he had to give her. For a brief moment, Skagos felt the struggle of obedience warring with ...disobedience (for he had no other word for it); the drive to let something witty and sarcastic roll off his tongue as he would have if it were another Gladiator or Slave he faced in the stead of an Amazon. The dauntless Skagos did not dare to compare himself to the Old Queen, though it was more than the markings of her blood, of the Coatl's, that marked him as hers. Six's personality had been forgotten in his legend, in his myth, twisting him to be the idea slave and Gladiator that all boys should strive to be. To be remembered. It took a lot to impress the Amazon women, after all, something that the young Skagos knew well; evidenced by the earthen draped woman before him. His assurance hadn't done anything but irritate her further by the deadpan and contempt colored tone she used for he didn't dare look any higher than her chest. 

He agreed with her, to some extent, though he agreed to disagree at her calling him useless. If he were useless he would have been killed in the arena long ago, nor would he have been promoted to Doctore, but he didn't bother to voice this. It was no use, he knew from experience. He was obedient, and the obedient didn't argue. They agreed. “As my lady wishes,” He'd already told her that Quetzalcoatl had sent him, though he had no idea why it had to be before the children had been born. Perhaps she hadn't expected him to know the details — after all the men were not allowed to see the children, not even those that sired them, not until they were old enough to be integrated either into the Amazon's society or as slaves to be trained. If death did not claim them before, or if the boys hadn't been left to die. Not all mothers were cruel as Cihuacoatl to actually eat their healthy living boys, but then again not all of the Amazon women were as twisted as the old queen. A zealot to the tenth degree if Skagos ever saw one.

“The Queen Quetzalcoatl would welcome you and your sisters back, if you wish to return. She did not anticipate Tezcacoatl's death,” Skagos paused and drew in a deep breath. “Is someone going to return to inform her of the grave news, my lady?” Skagos inquired, because it would not be him. He was playing the messanger boy here because Quetzalcoatl had commanded him to, but such news should be delivered to her by an Amazon sister that she trusted and cared for, as opposed to coming from a slave. Especially a slave that had wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth into that soft, pliable throat of Tezcacoatl's and tear his jugular from his neck. A desire born out of little else than jealousy that morphed into contempt and hatred the older they got.

She looked back at the male with anticipation. Would he say something of value? Would he continue to bore her with irrelevant information? She didn't know. She couldn't say. And so, she waited with curious ears and a larger part of her braced for further disappointment. She was craving some kind of intelligent conversation in these parts. It was driving her down right insane that she couldn't have some sort of dialogue that did not involve foolishness, or the obvious, but actual thought.

To make things worse, she was quickly becoming hangry. Hunger angry. A terrible thing that would leave her an absolute grouch of a monster... or at least more so than usual. None should have to suffer such a fate, but she was still without a rabbit and would need quite a bit more time if she were going to obtain one. That very same time was currently being occupied for a wolf who had yet to say anything the least bit impressive.

It spoke. She exhaled, listening as she sent forth the queens good wishes should they return. Of course they'd be welcomed back. She was one of the best healers in the land trained by many of the wonderful females in the Rise who'd committed their lives to such learning and training. Who wouldn't want such talent back?

Her ear flicked as he began to question her. This? This was where she put her foot down. Her business was of no concern to him. "It will be handled." He didn't need to know the specifics. There was already a plan set in motion that would inform the queen of all that had happened here. He need not concern himself with such things... or anything at all for that matter. Gladiators were not trained to think.

"As you were," she said, dismissive of him. Unless he had anything else to contribute, she needed to go back to tending her hunger pangs.

*swoops in* :D

She strayed far from the Heartwood, heading towards the north for no other reason than because she could. She a simple creature, prone to doing whatever her mind decided on on a whim. The magpie found herself in a wide open field, only ever so lightly touched with snow. It was cold, but not so much that she craved to burrow up in a tree. She actually enjoyed the space — fields actually being her native habitat.

The bird hopped along the rocks that scattered the area before voices caught her attention. She looked up with a curious chirp, spotting two dark, burly wolves. The darker of the two turned to leave, and Shiv watched as he went, tilting her head at his retreating form before looking to the other. She stood over a burrow, one Shiv knew belonged to the prey the wolves loved to eat.

With a cackle, the bird flew a few meters towards the woman, cautiously perching a little ways away from her (having had too many encounters with grouchy wolves with a taste for magpie). "Wolf won't fit in there," she tweeted with a whistle, gesturing with her beak at her beastly form. "Much too fat."

Thank you for saving this thread!

After a while, the gladiator removed himself from her presence. She watched as he left, letting her gaze linger as he faded into a dark spot along the horizon. It was only when he'd fully vanished that she allowed herself to sigh, pause for a moment, then refocused herself on the task at hand. oh yes... she'd been hunting rabbit. It was time to actually catch one.

Citali positioned herself over a burrow and lingered. She hoped and prayed one would hop out and into her jaws without too much trouble. She settled in to wait it out. Her focus was tuned upon the dark hole as she hovered. Soon. A rabbit would have to hop out of there soon...

The chirping of a magpie distracted her. Citali lifted her head, frowning at the bird some distance away. She was not sure what it was chattering about, but she waved a paw as if a wild gesture would scare it away. "Shoo. Off with you." She waited for a moment longer for the bird to be deterred. It wasn't. With a huff, the wolf walked off. She'd find a better meal elsewhere, she was sure of it.

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