Behold: a behind-the-scenes excerpt from Hybrid pre-canon.
This scene takes place about 4 months before the start of book one. Featuring Caecius, the captain of the Hybrid clan (and local bleeding heart), and his musings to his loyal confidante, Pinnavoche.
(posted below the cut)
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Thump... Thump... Thump…
Pinna glanced up from her sewing as the sound continued: a balled up pair of gloves hitting the wall in a dull, but consistent pattern. Her eye followed the line of Caecius’s arm as it wound back and tossed again, hitting the same spot with surprising accuracy.
Thump.
It was a good thing his room was isolated, Pinna noted, or the noise would probably annoy someone.
She gave an almost imperceptible sigh as she returned to her own distraction, holding the circle of cloth up to her good eye to judge the seam. Caecius continued his listless assault on the wall, splayed across his bed in companionable silence. He had long since finished his report, but Pinna stayed because she knew he enjoyed the company. Frowning at her work, she folded over the fabric to start on the other side.
The thumping relented for a few moments, as Caecius emerged from his reverie, passing the ball between his hands.
“... Hey Pinna.”
She looked up.
He hesitated, collecting his thoughts. “... Do you think I should consider… courting?” He frowned at the ceiling, stalling over the word.
Pinna blinked, genuinely surprised at the direction of his musing. But as usual, she had a ready response.
“Are you considering it?”
Caecius sighed, resuming his activity.
… Thump.
“I don't know,” he said after a moment. “Talon brought it up the other day. It was... hard to relate.”
A pause. Another thump.
“And Daemar and Mabi always look so happy…” he admitted. “I've been thinking maybe I should try…?” His words trailed off, as if he were rambling to no one in particular.
Pinna raised her eyebrows at him. “You know they had a reason to consider it,” she reminded him pointedly. As if either of them could forget the antics of full-moons. “Even if Talon’s compass is a bit... off,” she amended.
Caecius shrugged from his place on the bed.
“Maybe that means it's possible? For crossbreeds to be compatible?” He sounded almost hopeful.
“Or perhaps it is the reason Talon has not made any progress,” Pinna countered. “It has been three years, non? I see no courtship happening.”
Caecius pursed his lips. The gloves continued to hit the wall.
“I just… thought it might be nice,” he muttered.
Pinna went quiet, thumbing the fabric in her hands. As the captain’s confidante, she really would have preferred him placated.
After another few moments of silence, she spoke up.
“... Typhona is nice,” she offered.
Caecius turned his head to give her a dry look, his dark hair fanned out around him on the covers.
“Very funny.”
Pinna set her chin in her palm, her work abandoned on the table. “You wanted options, did you not?”
He looked vaguely amused.
“That one's not exactly viable.”
“You might not have that luxury,” she reminded him.
He blew out a sigh.
Pinna thought for a moment. “...Your closest match would most likely be Arcana,” she told him, her flat tone a clear indication of her judgement on the prospect. “She is at least a canine...”
Caecius shook his head.
“I thought that too,” he said, sticking an arm up in a hopeless gesture. “No reaction though.”
Pinna rolled her eyes at the disappointment in his voice. Males. They only want a full-moon until they actually have to deal with one.
“Compatibility is going to be hard to find,” was her blunt response. “If you want to court, you will have to settle for the options in front of you.”
Caecius was quiet. Shuffling his wings against the bed, he leaned up on an elbow. He turned his projectile over in his hands, looking like he just ate something sour.
Pinna drummed her fingers.
“You get along with Sergeant…?” She suggested. “Mentirosa?”
The grimace only deepened. “That’s… not the same.”
“The same as what?”
Passing the ball between his palms, Caecius looked to be weighing his answer. Pinna held her hands out, and sitting up, he tossed it to her. She smirked under the mask as she threw it back. The last time she’d thought it funny to tell him “fetch”, she’d earned his cold shoulder for a week.
“The same as… what it should be,” he floundered to a conclusion. “I don't know. It wouldn't feel right.”
Right being what he saw in his lovestruck Clanmates, Pinna thought to herself. And she had to admit, staring at him now, that she had a hard time imagining her captain with the same stars in his pale eyes.
“Well if you are after what it should be, I’m sure you could easily court your way into the bed of a Hyena.” She cocked an eyebrow.
He blanched.
“No, not… not like that.”
Pinna caught the ball again, toying with it as her good eye narrowed at him. “Is that not the point of courtship?” she prodded. “Finding a mate?”
He looked uncomfortable as he shrugged, ears flipped back. “I suppose,” he muttered.
She fixed him with a flat look, holding the ball hostage.
“I don't know, Pinna.” He rubbed his neck. “Haven't you ever wanted to… have what they have? Find someone that made you yearn so badly your heart hurt? Like in those stories...?”
She knew what he was getting at - after all, she had all the stories memorized. But heartache... she held her tongue about that.
Caecius shook his head, still entrenched in his musing. “That’s what I see when Talon is pining. It’s more than just… finding a mate.”
Pinna looked away. She knew the truth of his words. She could remember a time when she heard stories full of passionate pairings, romantic affections that sounded so saccharine they had to be embellished, and hoped for that too. The way she used to muse about pursuing the docile, carefree males from the Alphas’ manors, and hope to find one with eyes only for her - a daydream of her youth. Or even since then…
...Pinna held in a sigh as she turned her gaze back to Caecius in his brooding. She could remember a time when she’d thought about pursuing him too.
Heartache, she concluded, was not as glorious as he made it sound.
Still, it disheartened her to see him sulking like this. Perhaps that’s why she learned to do her job so well. Tapping contemplatively on the ball, she tossed it back.
“You know, someday the war will end, ami,” she said, softening slightly. “Perhaps then you can find what you’re looking for. Find a Clan and meet some proper she-Wolves for a change...” Her tone was only half-joking.
If anything, Caecius seemed to sour further.
“Not likely.”
His ears lowered, but his expression was resigned as he flopped back onto his back, the gloves wedged under an arm. “...This Clan is my home - war or no war. I can’t leave just to go... looking for something that isn’t out there.”
His sullen tone was enough to end the conversation. Pinna sighed and turned back to her sewing, picking up where she left off. There were only so many reassurances she could offer.
As the thumping started up again, she made a mental note to sew her companion a sandbag for his restless habit. He was going to mark up the wall.
~