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Apsalar frowned for a moment. Thrown off by his phrasing, she caught herself glancing upwards at the sky to check. Then it clicked - right, Smoke had told her about that one once. It meant what is going on. It was a 'slang' term.

She found herself turning her gaze away while she blinked to subdue the sudden surge of grief. She didn't want to lose either of them to a battle for leadership. Tobart, who was always pushing her to learn more, to get better, and John, who kept her from being pushed or pushing herself too far.

Once she was sure she had herself under control, she turned to face him again, and took a slow breath. Tact and diplomacy had never been a strong suit of hers, and she wouldn't have known how to approach this subject any way other than bluntly.

"Tobart, please don't fight with John," she said, keeping her voice low so that it wouldn't carry to Lonomia; even though they now stood by the front door, she was being careful about it. There was a hint, a faint undertone of a question in her voice as she spoke - the equivalent of Why do you want to, anyway? "If you do, it won't matter who wins. The pack will splinter, and we'll all lose. We can't afford to be separated right now."

The words were the same as what she had been thinking while she'd been talking to John, and they came out in much the same way - a nervous rush of fear and concern and tension all wrapped up together. "I know that sometimes it's hard, but..." No, she didn't. She had no problem following the orders of a leader. "We have to stay together. If you have to challenge him, if you have to, can you please wait? Wait until we're safe?"

She had more to say, but it was stuck in her throat; she hadn't learned enough vocabulary to express the feelings of grief and stress that hit her whenever she thought about either of them walking away from the pack. She didn't know how to explain that they all needed each other right now.

So she trailed off into nothing, shrugging her shoulders apologetically while she waited for his answer.

Wait, what now?

Whatever response Apsalar had been expecting, it certainly hadn't been one that so perfectly mirrored what she would have said he would say before her conversation with John.

She let out a breath. "Good. That's good. I..."

Well, she wanted to give an explanation, or maybe to get one. Why would John think that Tobart was going to challenge him if Tobart seemed as confused as she did about it?

Forcing her mind to click back over the conversation, she looked thoughtful for a moment.

No. John hadn't said it, not straight out. She had been the one to ask him if that was what he'd meant. What if it hadn't been? Well, what else could he have meant?

"We can lead the pack the way we want...Tobart wouldn't know how to do that. Wouldn't know how to help."

Seemed pretty clear to her.

Even now that she understood it, this language was so frustrating.

"...Maybe he doesn't know himself yet."

She managed a weak smile. "Well...if...something were to happen. If. Would you...remember, what we talked about today?" By 'something', she meant if Tobart were to become aware of wanting to make the challenge.

But her vague phrasing left it open for interpretation.

What with animal instinct conflicting with inner human emotional turmoil, the last thing John wanted to hear was Hiccadu's derisive voice. He whirled around on her, tossing up sand, wanting more than anything to bite her as hard as he could, until he could feel the blood trickling through his teeth. He knew this would only lead to further troubles down the line, and so he sought for a witty retort that wouldn't come. In the end, he froze up, doing neither. He stared with smoldering eyes before he clenched his fists and looked away. Her words had some truth to them. John hadn't said what he had meant to. Now it felt like, to him, he had caved in.

"What did you want me to do? Rape her?" Despite his response to Smoke's words, John still hated the idea. He wouldn't hurt Apsalar, a friend and pack mate, not like that. The very idea was horrible.

--

Whenever Hound decided to make his move, Jared would be ready. But in the meantime, he would start getting Smoke out of there. He was the only target worth pursuing at the moment; Hound was simply a nuisance, albeit a significant one.

Jared holstered his weapon, the AutoMag, keeping the Glock out and at the ready. With his now-free hand, he reached into the pit where Smoke had half-way sunk and was resting against the slanted dirt wall. He was coming to gradually, but still seemed in a sort of haze when Jared pulled him out with a grunt of effort. Perhaps the bloodloss had gotten to him; perhaps the pain. In any case, it made Jared's work easier. He listened for Hound, but stopped every now and then to keep a look out for the chimera, making sure he kept his back covered whenever possible.

((I've hit a dead end of mind-numbing-ness. I blame school.))

John needed to let out some frustration. Not at Hiccadu, and not exactly at Apsalar or even himself. It was mostly undirected, general irritation. He kicked the sand, watching the individual grains travel through the air and plummet back to the shore again.

Treat Apsalar like a child? She wasn't a baby. When John thought of a child who needed to be treated like one, he instantly thought of Panther. Someone who didn't quite understand, someone who needed to be protected. Maybe Apsalar didn't always understand words, but she did understand. And she didn't need individual protection, not the kind that Panther had needed.

Now he faced a dilemma. Either continue to pursue Apsalar, breaking her promise, confront Tobart without telling Apsalar (which was, in itself, stupid, because Apsalar would figure it out eventually), or let it go and hope it wasn't an act of defeat.

John sat in the sand and looked out to over the sea, squinting in the sunlight. He wasn't sure anymore.

((Going to work on said character. Wish me luck!))

((bumps))

Near Jarreds Car, there was a very loud bellow, followed by a loud cracking sound and a feeling of the ground shaking, as a tree as big around as a barrel of oil started to lean and then fall towards the front end of Jareds car from the side. If Jared wasn't fast enough the tree would crush the front end of the car, and it was unlikely that Jared would be that fast. Hound had inded followed. And Now he was pushing over a tree with all his might. He was having a moment of sanity, and was trying to get smoke back. "Leave him alone, I'll not let you kill my family!!!!!!"


Little Neo hugged Yani and snuggled, "Daddy...."

"Well...if...something were to happen. If. Would you...remember, what we talked about today?"

Tobart cocked his head. "Of course," he said, a little puzzled. He hoped he would not be pushed to fight John. They'd been friends for their entire lives; how could they?

Then the thought came. If they did fight, what would the outcome be? They both had fast-acting, deadly potent venom. He didn't know if Smoke had kept any of the antivenin from the slaughterhouse and wasn't willing to risk it whether he had or hadn't. He'd felt the effects of his own venom and wasn't going to forget it any time soon and would never wish it upon any of the others save perhaps Hiccadu if he were feeling particularly nasty. John could fly where Tobart could not, but Tobart was strong. John was light and and fast.

It would indeed be an interesting spectacle, to say the least.



[[I am so sorry! I didn't even notice the replies until today. Forgive me m(_ _)m ]]

Tobart nodded. The boy was probably frustrated with them, a thing they discovered upon returning to the living room.

Apsalar offered to play again. Did that mean he won? Frustration grew within Lonomia. He used to understand Apsalar better than any of the others. Now she spoke like they did most of the time and he was just stupid. "I win?" he asked about the game they'd just played.