train to nowhere

@anish-sahni

anish sahni general contractor. warwick.

97 posts

The sight surely was a blessing — the man could cook, and that's exactly how Colt liked them. Looking good with a pan and an apron around the torso. He'd get him one, an apron, if it meant the other man would spend more time in the rancher's kitchen. His steps were slow as he walked up to him, relishing the sight.

"What's that mean, challenging her? I hope it don't mean the same thing it did when you—" Saved me, he wanted to say, but kept quiet. Anish knew exactly where his mind had drifted, didn't he? A blonde head bowed slightly, his forehead coming to rest against the back of Anish's shoulder.

Then they moved apart. Colt used his good hand to pour himself a drink, taking slow sips to stop the volcano of words threatening to erupt from his throat. "Watch?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Watch what?

This was uncharted territory, and he had no wish to go where he was not wanted. "You want me to meet your... pack? Ain't that strange or somethin'? I mean, I know a couple of wolves I've patched up, but—" Colt straightened his posture, taking a few steps away from his date. "Would I be welcomed?"

Anish tries to busy himself with the task at hand, because thinking about it - talking about it. It scares the absolute shit out of him. Here he is, talking candidly about the fact that his best friend might takes his life simply because he wants a better world for the pack. "It, uh.." He starts, staring down into the simmering pan while he holds the spatula.

He stirs mindlessly, and his shoulders tense a little at the touch, because he doesn't want to start something if he's just gonna.. His mind wanders over towards dark places that don't have any business being in the moment. "It means we're gonna fight until one of us dies." He starts, and takes a breath, "I'm not gonna kill her - gonna try and find a way to win without that. But if she gets the upper hand.."

That's that.

"It's a fight. With a bunch of wolves there. You being there would show where I stand. I have a couple of people there who wouldn't let anything happen to you."

She slides food around her plate idly while he tries to be reassuring, and part of her appreciates it - part of her. The other side wants nothing more than to believe he's just telling her this because it's expected - that it's unmeant and unbelieved.

After everything, she still can't bring herself to believe she's anything more than a bundle of bad decisions and split-second mistakes - a bilious assumption that she has to bed down like indigestion. She doesn't know how she'll convince anyone to trust her when she can't even trust herself half the time. Cerberus, at least here, is a handful of werewolves, aging and quiet, save her and Liam. "I do have... Liam's there."

She nods at the sentiment, sappy as it might sound. "Yeah. You're right." That's another thing she's been learning, for years now actually - the people who care will be there. Aria's there. Remi's there. Even AJ's there. She and Liam have been through a lot together in a short time. There's no reason not to let herself lean on him.

"What about you? Do you have someone... in your... pack, or whatever?"

Anish knows Liam. Somewhat. Knows of him, more than anything. Glancing up and around, he tries to see if he's one of the number of Cerberus wolves here at the diner with them. He looks back down to Autumn, with a softer smile. "Good. It only has to start with one person."

Down at his plate again, he takes a deep breath. He'd had Yuisa. Other than that, Warwick is mostly fractured - not right down the middle, but enough so that he doesn't feel comfortable going to just anyone yet. It'll work out in time, but Autumn doesn't need to know the ins and outs of Warwick politics. Just how they interface with her pack.

"I got.. people. Yeah." He offers a smile. "Give it a few months, we'll come back together - talk more over, yeah? There's a lot of stuff we're gonna deal with separately and together."

Her people.

The thought makes her skin craw and makes it feel like the eggs and sausage are going to come right back up onto the table. What the hell has she gotten herself into?

She swallows it down, along with his assessment, nodding.

"I..."

Autumn sets the silverware down, pushes the plate away. "I don't want to fight them or fucking, go after them." She says. "I already did that and now-"

She cuts herself off again. Should she tell him about Jude? No. Switch tracks. "-now I'm... fucking running a pack of people who barely know me, let alone like me or... give a shit about what I've got to say."

What else could he say? Yeah, well, get used to it, bub. That's harsh - it's not the sort of dynamic he wants to foster with the wolf he's created or the alpha of a fellow pack. In his mind, they can be on equal footing. Or at least, attempt to be.

"I understand." He wasn't trained to be an Alpha. He wasn't meant to be anything other than an advisor at the end of the day, and here he is. He only feels a little more confident in his abilities because of his experience there, and because of his age. With time, he knows Autumn will sink into the role.

"You don't know if they don't give a shit. And you don't know if they don't like you." He's firm with that, but then softens as he continues, "You have to show them they can trust you. If you're not confident in your decisions yet, let them know. Ask for help. The people there who have been there longer, and want the pack to succeed, they will help you. Get someone on your side as a right hand to help you with hard decisions."

He clears his throat. "Being a leader doesn't mean you have to be alone." It's something that he wished Yuisa would have learned in her time as leader, too.

Not ousted. God, if only. She stares at him while he talks. "What'm I gonna do for you Anish? I don't..." Care.

She doesn't fucking care. Anish has, intentionally or not, thrown victory in her face, just by showing up. She understands right now why Warwick Alphas fight to the death, because it beats surviving with defeat hanging over her head. She will, forever, be the one who used to be the Alpha.

"Heard your little pup took out Kersey too. Rest of Warwick know she's yours?"

She doesn't take any more french fries, instead wrestling the lid off of a new bottle of - she takes a moment to inspect it- brandy with her teeth. Her eyes focus on him. "You know they'll kill me if she ever talks, right? Best come right about that, mijo, because I don't regret it and I'm not gonna apologize for it. I'd do it again."

No amount of Anish vouching for her will forgive cavorting with Hunters to kill a wolf, and they both know that.

Sighing, Anish lets his head drop while he rubs the back of it. It's not about usefulness or what she can do and he needs her to understand that. "I want you to be what I was to you. Help me." He looks up at her, jaw set - "I need your mind just as much as I need you."

Maybe not the drunken, angry version of her. But he'll help her, just as he always has.

Her question makes him pause, and he sighs with a nod. "Yeah, heard that. And they know, we had a meeting the other day. Both hers and ours were there." Anish stands up and moves closer to her. She's right about that. The moment Autumn starts telling people who really put the hit out on Jude, the moment Yuisa's headed for death.

"You're bullheaded as fuck, Yui. But you're my sister, whether you like it or not." A breath between them, "I'll talk to her. Take your time, drown in liquor. But I'm gonna start coming by more often."

"Kind of elminates the point of the booze," she says, voice smug, irritated, and flippant. Get the fuck out, she'd say, if it were worth it. If it were any other alpha, she'd go through with it, but Anish's merciful forgiveness is what makes him so fucking annoying. He'll see eventually why it's a mistake.

Yuisa scowls. "The fuck makes you think I'm hiding? Doing you a fucking favor, pendejo. The less they see me the less they think of putting silver in your back."

Big assumption on her part, maybe. Almost as big an assumption as his that things are settled.

"Ah yeah, the docks, parade me around with my fuckin' gimp arm. Sounds fuckin' fantastic." The last word is growled out as she struggles to her feet out of the chair, swaying as she crosses the space, and puts an empty bottle of something in the sink next to all its brothers.

"Pardon me if I fucking pass on that," she says, popping a french fry into her mouth.

Yeah, he figures that's right. But it doesn't stop his exasperated sigh. "Okay, alright, not hiding." Anish lets her have it, but finds his own seat and clears it of bottles and cans. He watches her struggle to get up, but doesn't offer help. He knows if he does, it'll be his head she rips off. "The pack's.. settled. There's some holdouts about old ways, but for the most part, with talking-to's and eradication.. we've been adjusting."

He scratches the back of his neck with a sigh. "I don't wanna parade you around, Yui. I wanna show you how things are changing, bring you back in the fold."

There's a pause here, and he follows her with his eyes. "You're not ousted."

She sits uneasy in her seat - the past few weeks have been madness - the city is sinking into something, something that's obviously not normal. The calendar says spring, but her eyes and her skin say winter. Three deaths sit on her shoulders; it had been enough to steal herself to plan one, but Astor and Kersey had seen to it that she'd fling herself into the deep end.

That thought hitches - no. She could have told AJ no. She could have stopped Liam.

Anish's words remind her that she's not here for breakfast, she's here for... well, work, she guesses.

Hunter. That word seems to stiffen her spine a bit, to wash a way a thin layer of guilt. They had it coming. Autumn nods, pushing food around her plate. "I don't know. I... I didn't mean for all of this. I..."

Shouldn't have done it. Or shouldn't have brought Liam along. Shouldn't have told the other Cerberus wolves about it. "Do you think they're going to keep coming?" It's dumb fucking question. She feels as if she's written a check she isn't going to be able to cash.

Anish pauses in his own eating, watching the looks pass across Autumn's face. He reaches for a napkin and wipes his face carefully, while he thinks. She's nervous, that much is obvious. And well out of her league. He wonders if she ever wanted to be any sort of leader before he'd bitten her, or if she was suited to blending in.

These are the kinds of things that he wished he was there for in the beginning.

"Autumn." He starts, keeping his voice as soft and gentle as he can muster. "You're here now. Neither one of us can change what got us to this point, whether we meant it or not. We just gotta do our best. I do right by my people, you do right by yours."

Because they are her people now.

"As for the hunters, I think they're going to keep going, yeah. Some of them are worse than others. Some will work with us, but the vast majority -- it's a danger, yeah." He rubs at the scruff on his chin more, hoping he's not making this worse. "Let's just take it one step at a time, you dealt a big blow - we can rest easy for the moment."

It was embarrassing, the number of times his good heart had gotten him into trouble. His sides burned at the thought. Not a peep left his mouth — he wasn’t about to risk another good thing because of his fairness and honesty. Maybe, once in a while, it was better to shut up.

“They surely do.” Colt nodded, then headed down to the cellar. It was dark; one of the lightbulbs had blown the other day, and he didn’t want to bother anyone with fixing it. His phone was in his hand, flashlight on, pointing at the good old whiskey bottles lined up on the dusty shelf.

With a solid bottle of bourbon in hand, Colt returned to his date — a man he wanted to charm into his bed, and maybe into having dinner with him. Anish’s voice drifted down the stairs and through the hallway, a deep baritone that always made the rancher smile.

"You ain’t gonna explain, if you don’t wanna, but I feel like I gotta ask—" Colt placed the bottle on the table and grabbed two glasses with his back to the wolf. "What’re ya sortin’ out? I know I only got one good hand, but I’m resourceful. I can still help. I don’t want you hidin’ things from me just because—" I’m human, Colt wanted to say. Breakable. Fragile. That wasn’t who he usually was, but compared to wolves the size of a pickup truck, he was just a human. Admitting it, even to himself, was a struggle.

When Colt returns, Anish has already pulled out a few things to toss in a pan with some potatoes and veg. Hash'll work - breakfast for dinner is a hit for the most part. Halfway through stirring it all up in a pan, he looks back behind him to see the glasses.

"It's, uh." He starts, nearly bites his tongue trying to figure out how to say it in a palatable way. "It's the pack. Current leader's gone off the deep end, and I need to find a way to.. fix it. I'm challenging her." The last sentence is said short and clipped because he's afraid of what the aftermath might be.

While the food is simmering, he turns to pour himself a drink and sip from the glass - leveling Colt with a stare after his words filter off. "I'm not hiding it from you, promise. It's just.. politics shit. I couldn't even get help from another pack even if I wanted to." It's supposed to be reassuring, but he doesn't know if Colt's going to take offense to that, either.

"You can come. Watch, I mean."

Nobody had seen much of Yuisa.

Not the docks, not the shipping yard, not The Portisde, and certainly not Warwick. One doesn't go to the hospital, not after your arm's torn off. Not after you're stuck in some strange half-state between woman and beast, where any paramedic that might try to help you might wind up torn apart.

No, she had skulked off to lick her wounds in private, and those wounds were deep and grievous. If Anish had come to her house in those early days, he'd have found nothing. Today he doesn't.

"Fuck off," She says when she hears him skulking about.

She sits, slouched in an old chair, staring at an empty fireplace, and her head cants towards him as he darkens the way into the room. Beer won't do much, as the place is littered with empty bottles, and she's already got one cradled against her, clenched in the arm he's left her with. It's hard to keep up with, drowning your worries, when your body seems to burn through anything you give it in short order, but she's managed; she's no blood-sucker, after all.

When Anish doesn't heed her, but steps in, and doubles down, Yuisa stays where she is. "Go away, Anish." She says - petulant, drunk, whinging. "I don't want your fucking kibble."

He moves in closer and finds a seat after clearing out some garbage. Looking around, Anish resolves to stop by more often - clean some of this shit up, help her out. She'll refuse it, of course, but neither one of them are particularly push overs. They'll just argue while he cleans. He pulls a beer off of the six pack and cracks into his own.

The two styrofoam plates are too full - filled to the brim with fries and a burger. He'd asked them to cut both in quarters, but Yui would know that's not a normal ask for Bun Intended. He opens both, and picks up a quarter of his own.

"At least eat some of the fries - it'll soak up that booze. You know I ain't going anywhere, when have I ever left your side?" Even after tearing her down - he never left, checked in on the medics, and now he's here after the healing is done.

"You don't need to hide out anymore. Things are settled. Come down to the docks with me, get some fresh air."

Been a bit of a whirlwind. And just as undesirable really.

She hadn't really set out for the Cerberus alpha - taking out Fortney had been kind of the end of the line for her, werewolf-wise. She'd been threatened with excommunication before - she'd sort of figured the whole thing would end with the pack tossing her out, not with her in charge.

She doesn't really want to be in charge - doesn't know what to do with it.

And then there's the everything else. Seemingly endless winter, Jude is alive, which rendered the whole payback cause even murkier, and the ongoing search for a way to reverse whatever had locked Aria off from her memories.

Breadcrumb trails leading into eachother, until the whole thing was just crumbs on the ground.

It makes Anish's congratulation ring weirdly in her ear. She nods, looking to him as he pats her on the shoulder. He sits first, and then she lets herself follow, sliding into the banquette across the table from him. A year and a half ago she'd been here, freshly bitten and not yet turned, running from inevitability. Now she's here to talk with another werewolf. Alpha to Alpha.

Autumn orders coffee and sausage and hashbrowns. She picks at it while they talk. She's not a talker, but Anish seems like he likes to. She nods - he makes sense - it makes sense. Cerberus is for the ones like her. Who get bit. She thinks back to that first winter, to the months where she lived out of a car, before she'd gotten back to herself. It was a nice car but... not everyone has a nice car. She nods.

"I just don't want Warwick trying to get us killed because we're not... whatever. Born or whatever you want to call it."

It's simple. She thinks it's simple. "It sucks enough without that on top of it."

She's out of her element, Anish can tell that much. Maybe it's too much too fast, so he focuses on the breakfast in front of him while she rolls around the words in her mind before she actually says anything to him. "Yeah." He agrees, simply, because that's easy enough and that's exactly what he was proposing.

"We'll start there, easy." He offers her a smile in between bites. Maybe he'll have to crack down on the stragglers who hold stricter beliefs, who are mad that he's the Alpha instead of Yuisa. But he'll do it, and he'll rehab the people who take to it, and excommunicate those who don't.

If it's under his purview, he'll try. It's a new era in Warwick and he wants to make good on his promises.

"And the hunter problem? We're a united front on that, I imagine." He doesn't want to push too much - but he knows how she got this position, and he knows what she's lost. "Are you wanting to take more of a defensive point on that, or you wanna go after them? No wrong answers."

closed starter for @autumnshowell

"Congratulations on your new position." She'd made it to Alpha, ousted the fucker that sold them out. Proud was an understatement, but he tamped the feeling down as much as possible. They weren't in a place where he could show it without it being odd for her - but maybe one day. He hopes, one day.

Instead, he offers her a single clap on the shoulder before they slide into the booth. They're in a neutral zone between Warwick and Cerberus territory - some old diner, not the one the hunter owned. It's practically empty, save for a few other wolves. Warwick wolves sit behind him, eating their own food, but listening for cues. Behind Autumn, he sees the recognizable faces of other Cerberus wolves.

It feels.. odd, being in the same place. But good. He likes it, he finds. A waitress comes by and refills his coffee cup, and sets down a plate piled high with breakfast foods for both of them. Anish takes the time to pour creamer and sugar into his cup before taking a sip. "Let's talk shop, though. Casually." He picks a piece of bacon off of his plate, bites a piece off.

"I want our packs to have a good, working relationship. That's where we can start. You know, Warwick deals a lot with the imports, shipping, shit like that - Logistical money shit. I wanna get our packs in a symbiotic sorta place. Any of ours who turn a human, they can go right to Cerb, no problem - with your blessing, of course. In turn, we can give you a portion of profits to help build up your resources. There's - a lot more to rebuild, I hope you know that. But tell me first - what do you want from Warwick? Name anything. We'll figure it out."

closed starter for: @mangemaw

Since the fight, he hadn't seen much of Yuisa. Which was to be expected, really. It wasn't as if he'd gone out of his way to check in - but it was time. He missed his fucking friend. His best friend. When she was leader, he'd done his best to support her up until it became dangerous for him to do so.

When he arrives at her home, he lets himself in with a spare key and a six pack of beer hanging from his fingers, and a bag of takeout tucked under his arm. "Yui. It's Anish." He calls, flipping a light switch on to illuminate the main entrance. How many times had he come here to help her plan strategy, to figure out how to oust Harford, to find the best way to get their goods to push Warwick supremacy?

He sets the beer on the first surface he runs into, and makes his way further into the house. "I brought us some beer and some chow."

She snarls when she feels teeth dig into her forearm, and her head snaps back at him, brows furrowing as they engage in a tugging match, both of their paws stumbling as they try to maneuver each other into death. Yuisa's feet slip though, her balance off in a stance she doesn't understand, and by the time she feels the wrenching jerk of being caught in machinery, it's like a sudden rush of cold washes over her as the snap of tension sends her flying back, snarling and flailing as deep read sprays across the snow and sand.

Her body ripples as the tattoo's magic, severed from the rest of her, the furry, humanoid claw dangling from Anish's jaw twitching as she feels the shift pushing her forward, her body snapping and twisting into its monstrous shape, no longer the halfway marriage of forms.

Yuisa is stunned and dazed, wracked with pain from the slingshot speed of a broken shapeshift but also from the white-hot fire of a severed arm.

For all Anish's prancing and her struggling, the crowd has grown silent, shaken, shocked. The world sways in her vision as she bleeds and bleeds - her stomach twists in knots as she feels her control slipping - no moon tonight means this is not her natural state, and as she tries to carry herself towards the assembled Warwicks and their other onlookers, she plants her face into the beach with a stumble, chest heaving as her heart races and confusion settles over the wrinkles of her thoughts.

She pulls herself forward with one arm before she rolls over onto her back - suddenly numb, not just freezing.

The clouds are low, she notes, as she hears the assembled werewolves begin mumbling among themselves. Words pass through the foggy filter of her mind.

Is he gonna kill her?

What does this mean?

If you're gonna cheat, at least win.

Reap what you sow.

He leaves the severed arm in the middle of the ring, and he sees Yuisa crawling back towards them, shifting back into her human state. Anish pads over and gently takes her shoulder - the uninjured one - between his teeth to drag her back next to the arm. While she lays there in between conscious states, he allows himself to shift back into his human form.

The crowd continues to murmur, but Anish ignores them and only focuses on his friend. After the turn, he bends down and helps her into a sitting position, then slings her good arm over his shoulder to stand with her.

"I am your Alpha now." His voice is loud, booming, but the tone is calm. Adrenaline still shakes through his body. "Yuisa does not die today. Her punishment for losing this fight, for cheating, for ushering us into an era of war is to live and atone for the wrongs she has committed against this pack and others."

He adjusts, and turns with her. "I am showing you all now that strength does not need to be ruthless. It does not need to result in death always. I am showing you my strength lies within my care for her, and for you. We do not need to be the villains of Port Leiry, not when so many of our brothers and sisters are being harmed by bloodsuckers and hunters. We protect one another, as I will protect you."

Anish gestures for one of their witches to come forward, and he hands Yuisa's limp body off to them. Voice quieter now, "Cauterize the wound. Heal her."

Stepping back without her, he raises his voice again. "If you do not wish to be a part of the new Warwick, or do not agree with my choice to let her live, step forward and challenge me. I guarantee you will not win."

They grapple, and she has the upperhand, standing on two legs, twisting to guard herself. But a werewolf is a quick beast, and Anish evades her grip enough to snap at her calf, which elicits a snarling yawp of pain and sends her to all fours with a snarl.

Anish bolts away, but Yuisa digs claws into the snow and sand and launches herself fowards, closing the gap between them in a single maniac pounce. This time, she lands a hand on the sway in his back, curling her claws around him and heaving him a dozen feet through the air into the side of an old beached trawler boat, loud enough that the steel bangs like a gong, eliciting a wave of reactions from those walking as she stalks towards him.

Closing the distance between the stunned wolf, she doesn't immediately go for Anish, but for the cab of the boat itself, bursting a hand through broken glass and pulling levers until the dying old thing's engine roils begrudgingly to life, the propellar blade a few feet behind Anish rumbling on to a blender's whir.

It's then Yuisa stalks towards Anish, reaching for the wolf's scruff as the crowd realizes what's happening.

"Yuisa cheats!" One of them shouts.

"Tooth or claw! That ain't how it's done! That ain't the old blood!" Another salty old wolf hoots.

"Get up, Ani'!" Comes another cry from the crowd.

The jeering stops her in her tracks as she reaches for his dazed state, and she bellows a howl at the crowd that seems to make the whole pack shrink back.

His paws leave the ground and his answer is a yelping whimper, fear overtaking his instincts as he's thrown. Anish scrambles and scrambles to get footing, and then he realizes what Yuisa is doing - not only is she trying to use something else to kill him, she's angering the rest of the crowd. Shaking his head, he plants his feet as the propeller whirs to life, slow at first.

Still somewhat dazed, he backs up, playing into the fear while she howls. Her paw swipes towards him again, and that's when he strikes - teeth latching into her wrist, and he wrenches his head back, feeling something crack and pull. If she cheats, then so will he -

He pulls.

And pulls.

It's hard to angle it, but he wrenches her arm into the propeller, watching it tear into her arm, slicing it just enough over the tattoo to where he can do the rest and tear the arm completely from its socket.

Arm in his mouth, he leaps out of the boat and back to the circle, parading around the edge with his prize.

#yuisa #amputation tw /#i GUESS?

So there's no plan. Liam couldn't help but smirk at the ridiculousness of it all. Anish seeking him out to discuss revenge for Matteo just to reveal that he didn't really have a plan. Did he expect Liam to have a plan? Liam wasn't organized enough for that.

"We as in who? Me and you?" Or are there others that are involved in this? While Liam had been a part of Matteo's life, he didn't know all of the people that his dad had called friends, or family. Liam had excluded himself in many aspects of Matteo's life, simply because he did not feel like he needed those parts. Liam didn't want to get close to others. And now... well, he knew it was biting him the ass when it came to Addie. He hadn't been thinking about her when he made those decisions. Not until he realized just how serious Matteo's illness was. By then, though, it had almost been too late.

"You don't think we could take them without doing all that shit?" Liam asked. It was a genuine question as he had no idea what they were up against. Not really. "I am angry and willing, but how long is this going to take? Because I'm not going to just wait around."

"We as in my pack." The pack that he's going to take from Yuisa, and finally make the moves they need to be making, not the moves she wants to because of some misguided attempts at control over Port Leiry. "Matteo was important to Warwick, even if our Alpha tries to deny it."

Does he think they could take them? Maybe, but it'd be a short-lived reign of revenge. They'd be torn apart, if Kanemaru knew what was good for them. So they need numbers, at the end of the day. And Liam, as close as he was to the man long gone now, needed to be a part of them in his mind. He won't force, though. That's not who he is and not who he wants to be.

"We could take a few." He relents with his answer, "But only a few. We start offing 'Maru vamps without numbers behind us, they rally their own." He doesn't know much about how the clans work, but the conclave taught him to be wary. "I won't expect you to wait around, and I'm not going to try and force you to. If you want to work by yourself while I get affairs in order, by all means. I'll do my best to help if things go south, but pack business is important."

Would it hurt his ego less if he'd gotten in a damn fight with old Bill or some other farmer idiot and lost, ending up with a broken arm? Ego was already in shambles. Colt gathered the nerve, took a deep breath, and finally gave Anish the truth: "No, this one’s all me. I saw a young woman slip on the street. The ice was real slick and when I tried to help her up, I went down on my arm." His good hand came up to rub the back of his neck. Peering through his lashes, Mercer caught the worry on his friend’s face. "What can I say, got two left feet and a good, old heart."

That oughta fix whatever hole he’d dug himself into.

Colt smiled, because it was about the only thing he could do, reassure Anish there wasn’t anybody out there looking to do him harm. That smile only widened, even when the rancher tried to keep his features from showing too much delight. What were they, him and Anish? They were involved, he supposed. Still, he wasn’t sure about the pace, if things were moving too fast, or too slow. It had been a long time since he’d had someone that special in his life. Someone to keep his bed warm and drink coffee with in the mornings. It felt nice.

"Nah, come on in. I can head down to the cellar, get us a bottle of whiskey if you want."

The door opened wide to let the other man inside. Colt told him not to bother taking his shoes off, the place had been a mess for a while now, seeing as he couldn’t do much with just one arm. Buck had been helping where he could, but the man had duties of his own. Colt couldn’t expect everyone to drop their work and come rushing to his aid.

Anish's eyebrows raise. "It happens to the best of us." Being Texas born and raised, it was hard to imagine the amount of injuries that happen due to ice and slipping. Even more difficult when you factor in the fact that Colt can't heal like he can. It's easier to digest that Colt had had an accident than someone coming to make his life hell. "Good hearts get in trouble in Port Leiry, huh?"

How many good men and women had died in this fucking town simply because they cared too much? He didn't want to think too deeply about it, or about the fact that his own time might be up here in a few days.

Colt leads him in, and the warmth inside is nice, comforting. "Whiskey sounds good." He murmurs out the agreement, and moves (it feels weird walking into a home without removing his shoes, but it's different for everyone) like second nature into the kitchen after squeezing a gentle hand over Colt's good shoulder.

Opening the fridge, he pulls out bits and pieces of stuff where he can throw together at least something filling for the both of them. "Y'know, I'd been meaning to visit earlier. Stuff's.." Anish knows that Colt doesn't want to know about the ins and outs of his wolf life, so he simplifies it. "It's been shaky in my life. I'm sortin' it out."

It's a fucking insult, that she sees outsiders runts here from Cerberus - Anish and Matteo's little pet projects. Maybe, when Anish is dead, she'll have them pulled in, to make the case clear - turned wolves are a blight, fit only to put out of their misery.

Tonight makes her think of a night, years in the rearview now; she and Matteo Lazkano, renewed in their fervor, talking about Warwick's future in a cabin in the woods. She'd trusted in the process back then. She'd had a clear goal back then. Get her sister back, ensure she stayed quiet. Of course, she'd never said that. It had been all pride and true blood and restoring Warwick to its former greatness. Best laid plans. It doesn't matter. Anish's blood on the sand will water the fields enough. She might even have them waltz into the other territories tonight, as a fun exercise in playful destruction.

Their shifts begin in full; two trueborns with no qualms with what they are, giving themselves form and function over to their true natures. But where Anish's turn is quick, hers only seems to slow, the sigil inked on her bicep months prior by a Lindon witch glowing its magical gleam as she seems to stop - something long and wiry-muscled, shoulders and seams lined with wiry black fur like Anishes, her mottled half-beast skin gleaming with sweat below her. Human feet crackle and human fingers flex, half wolf with their padded tips and vicious claws, at the end of long, gangly arms, a form meant for four legs standing immense on only two. The wolf smiles, it's jaws clacking kipping growls that seem like they could almost be words. There is a long, decompressing howl - part wolf, part woman. And then she leaps at the black wolf, grabbing at it with hands like daggers.

The dark wolf looks up at Yuisa's half form, and there is a trickle of fear in his eyes. He will have to be smart, not just strong - and that is where he excels against her. She is all brute force, brute strength, and he takes the time to assess, to plan. Paws cling to snowy sand, and he answers her howl with one of his own, it getting cut short by large clawed hands.

The claws slash at his side, but he runs into her space, weaving between her legs. He can't slash like her. But he can bite. And chew. And tear.

His teeth latch onto one of her legs when he slips behind her, trying to avoid that large maw and the knife-like hands that grab at him. He's large, but she's larger. Wrenching his head away, he tears at the flesh to bring her down low, and runs away from her regardless of the outcome. She will slow down eventually. He just needs to outlast her.

Autumn. Liam was looking directly at the man that had turned one of his pack mates. His only real friend. Although, Liam used the term loosely at times. It wasn't as if Autumn knew about his past or much about him, other than the fact that he needed a Pack and that he is taking care of his little sister.

If Autumn trusted this guy, then Liam would at least hear him out. But what if she didn't? What if this man was lying? Maybe not about turning her, but about wanting to help her? I'll talk to her about it later.

"Fine." He wiped his bloodied fingers off on the front of his shirt. "What is the plan for the vampires, then?" Liam was already dwindling the number of them in Port Leiry, but if he could do more than that -- exacting revenge for Matteo, then he'd do it. Maybe this man had more information. Maybe he didn't. But Liam wanted to at least try.

What's the plan? That's the problem - he'd been trying to figure out a plan with his Alpha when she threw it in his face. The attacking of the other packs, the misguided ambitions that were ruining them from the top down and inside out -- and Anish was left to flounder and figure out the plan on his own.

He couldn't, officially, pull other Warwick members out to avenge Matteo. It had to be only him, and that meant reaching out to other packs, and his own progeny.

Sucking against his teeth, "I'm figuring that out. What I want to do is something coordinated, make sure we're a united front before we do anything." But if Liam wants to go killing leeches on his own, Anish isn't going to stop him either, "I want to take the fight to them. Trash their communications, their lines of supply and income, then bring them down low." A long game is what he's proposing, but he wants blood now, too.

"I need people who are angry and willing. Once I take over Warwick, I'll be in a better position to plan." He doesn't say if, even though he knows that if he fails - he dies.

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