nobody trying to figure out if they're good or evil / pitt ardent

[ninazu]

BURN
BRIGHT

Breathing never failed to calm the lioness – except now, in this filthy swamp. Putrid funk filled the air, causing the woman’s nostrils to flare in quiet disgust. The Pitt’s slaves lived in better conditions than these savages; perhaps she ought to threaten the lazy with endless drownings in the Tanglewood’s territory. But Ninazu pushed those thoughts out of her mind; she came here for more than a fight. Something far better, actually.

Fire-tipped tail lashing behind her, the ardent looked into the rednecks’ territory. If she came here for anything other than political games, the woman wouldn’t have wasted her time with waiting prissy and proper by the scent lines. Yet wait she must, if she wanted to avoid the hassle of flaring their tempers.

“Tanglers, I hear you’re allies with the Rosebloods. I have some news – a firsthand account, even – that might interest you,” she called out, mirroring her earlier message to the Ascendants. As an afterthought, she appended, “I am Ninazu, leader of the Pitt. As a show of diplomacy, I have come alone.” Though she would not hesitate to fight if threatened; she remembered their raid on her home, with that ice masked mutt deflecting her lightning.

Ninazu wasn’t looking for a repeat of that day – not yet, anyway – but she wasn’t naive enough to think that the Tanglewoods were sure to take the news as passively as the Ascendants.

© MADI

[arrow]

[glow=black,1,400]DID I HIT THE SPOT, PISS YOU OFF, MAKE YOU A FOOL IN FRONT OF EVERYONE — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

The Pitt.

Oh, boy.

Arrow had let go of her grudge against the Pitt, or at least most of it. After all, Delilah was dead, or at least missing, and whatever happened once didn't matter anymore, she was gone. Her scar had healed, a very slight limp being the only thing left of her mutilated leg, the bone fixed itself. She couldn't even remember most of the details of her earlier torture, all she could grasp was pain, cold, and the loss of air. Background noise. She felt a strong grip of fear upon seeing a member of the Pitt again, especially when alone, but managed to somehow drag herself out to face the lioness.

"Alone." Arrow nodded, taking a seat and tucking her scarred leg as far under as her as she could. "What kinda news?"

[imali]

ONLY MY LOVE CAN CONQUER—Imali was a pretty chill creature.  Pitt?  she didn't care if thye were bunch of smelly murderous weirdos, she just rolled with whatever came her way.  Would that hurt her in the long run?  Maybe, time would tell.  She such her reaction wasn't aggressive or suspicious or anything to that accord.  She just trotted up like it was any other normal day for her and looked at the lioness with a curious gaze and a tilted head.  News?  About an ally?  Weird.  Well, might be interesting or entertaining.  And Imali wasn't about to make a scene and speak out.

"Shoot."  The ebony bobcat said casually, plopping her rear down and allowing her fangs to hang at her side limply, a peaceful expression she hoped.

—I AM THE, I AM THE HUNTER

"SPEECH"

tags

[suvi.]

[div style="width: 430px; line-height: 1.4; text-align: justify; font-family: palatino; font-size: 11px;"][align=center]
— kiira | tanglewood | medic —

Shimmering into existence, a small body seeming to flicker like a faulty hologram, the youth only offered a frown and furrowed brow towards the visiting leader.  Eyes of fall and winter flickered and narrowed, not a trustful creature in the slightest -- not for some time now truthfully.

Alone or no, this seemed a little... Suspicious.  Perhaps an over reaction, but Kiira knew she could not get by without knowing who's who.  The Pitt weren't friendly with anyone, quite the contrary as far as she understood, so she expected no good out of them and doubted their word was any good.  D́̕i̶͡p͏l͝o̶͞m̧͜a҉͏ćy̛.̵͝ R̶̛͝ì̧͢g̸̡h͏̵͏t̡͜.̵̢

D̶͡i͟͠p̕l̢͘ò̸͞m̶͜á͠͡c̶͘͡y̛ ̵̸͏f̴͏r̵̕o͏̸m̵ ̡a ́s̡͘l̀àv̶e̡͝r̡̛.̕͜

A single alabaster ear twitched, phasing as it did, though the youth seemed to pay little notice.  An attentive, but wary listener.  Don̕'t̀ ̢t͜r͝ust̕ ̀a ̸w҉órd fr͡ơm suc͢h͟ ͢f̴il͘t̴h́. S͞he҉ ͠do͢es̕n̴'́t͠ ̛de̛se͜r͟v͜e̛ i̸t́. "…"

[color=#da1633]— N̶̶OW͟ [color=#c32452]WE͢͜͞'͜͟͞R̸̡E LO̷͟Ś͜͞T S[color=#ad3271]O̷UL̵̛S̵҉ AL̛͏[color=#9e3a85]L ST[color=#8f449a]U̶CK I͞͠N T҉̵HE͡ PA[color=#804cae]S̷̶͘T̕͟ —

[Crow Roux]

[align=center]action — "speech" — thoughts

PHYSICALLY HARD | MENTALLY MEDIUM | MAGICALLY MEDIUM | ATTACK IN [b]#757f96[/b]

[div style="background: linear-gradient(to right, #464C5A, #757f96, #464C5A); width: 500px; height: 2px;"]

Crow had not hung around long enough to fully understand the feud between the two groups that showed their faces, but the tension cut the air like a blazing knife so much that his arrival was slow paced and hesitant, and upon becoming close, his brows furrowed with unease and gently shielding his open eyelids. Gradually, his form placed itself in between his already present comrades, nervous glances being offered to the both of them as he took in the situation that had arisen.

What had been spoken by Arrow was enough; the feline merely offered support, moral and physical, by standing close.

[ninazu]

BURN
BRIGHT

The lioness waited as the four fell in around her, unbothered by the growing group. Though she planned on telling their leader in person, the woman’s impatience prevented her from wanting to spend too much time standing around here. Sweeping a look across their faces, she nodded to them before making her little speech.

“My news concerns your ally, the Rosebloods. A while ago, I was captured by them – and I heard and saw them sacrifice sentient animals to their gods. I was tortured and killed in the name of one of their fictitious delusions,” she explained, lashing her flame-tipped tail. Ninazu hated exposing her own weakness – how pathetic, to let such things happen to her – but if she wanted to chip away at the Rosebloods’ alliances, she wouldn’t hold back any details. “I also saw, through my mental abilities, memories from one of their high positions watching and doing nothing as their leader sacrificed sentient animals during regular meetings. I don’t believe the Rosebloods are simply sacrificing known enemies – as I witnessed, through those memories, their fanatic leader calling for senseless violence and murder to appease their bloodthirsty gods.”

Clearly, Ninazu disliked religion. Given her experience, however, that was understandable. “Their other ally, the Ascendants, wasn’t aware of their barbaric practices when I told them. I’m assuming neither of you knew?” she added, with a curve of her brow. Ninazu heard that the Rosebloods dropped the leash on at least a few of their members; though the Ascendants hadn’t personally witnessed their cruelty, Ninazu assumed Tanglewood might’ve experienced some secondhand shit from the religious dirtbags.

© MADI

[Anubis.]

[align=center][div style="width: 450px; line-height: 12px; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; font-size: 8pt;"]"Tch." This is boring. The Egyptian furrowed his brow as be approached, settling beside Kiira with rather bored eyes.  The youth didn't understand the  big deal.  Mortals have been sacrificing since the dawn of religion. Especially their enemies. Was it no longer the norm? Yet slavery remained just fine?  He huffed, rolling his eyes.  I can't ask for consistency once in a while?

"I see you're covering all the bases," the youth pointed out dryly with an air of apathy.  "Regardless of truth, all your words are biased by the fog of war, by belittling an enemy.  Do you take us for stupid?  You are allies to none, but you clearly gain from the Rosebloods finding themselves in the same boat." At least try.

"You expect us to listen about how horrible some sacrifices are from the mouth of a slaver.  We won't hear the whole tale from you nor do we have any legitimate reason to trust you when the ulterior gain is obvious."

// Mobile

[suvi.]

[div style="width: 430px; line-height: 1.4; text-align: justify; font-family: palatino; font-size: 11px;"][align=center]
— kiira | tanglewood | medic —

Softer and more sensitive of heart, the little fox's eyes flickered like a dancing candle.  Paws shifted over each other, antsy before another, more indifferent spoke.  Anubis.  Her head turned sharply, on cue, blinking up at the Egyptian, quick to flip through her memories of the research on ancient religions she'd done since his arrival.  Numerous religions believed in gods that needed to be appeased through blood. 

She felt ill, her stomach twisting into knots.  Both sacrifice and slavery simply translated as monstrous practices in her eyes.  As such, she straightened her back and took a quiet but deep breath.  The Pitt gains by any animosity between the Rosebloods and their allies.  This is a selfish endeavor on her part. Distrust and wariness quickly won over her heart as her eyes turned colder.

Anubis is right.  "W-we h-have little c-cause to l-listen to you f-first," Kiira agreed, softer in voice but firm despite herself, "con-considering your st-stature as our al-allies' enemy and y-your own im-immoral tr-traditions."

Selfis҉h. ͏Ma͏n͠ip҉ulative. ̀ ͘Slave͡r.҉ "S-so f-forgive me fo-for not t-taking j-just your word, e-especially of s-such p-painful ex-experiences, b-but I'd rather he-hear b-both sides b-before just an enemy's.  An-Anubis is ri-right, th-that you are b-biased."

[color=#da1633]— N̶̶OW͟ [color=#c32452]WE͢͜͞'͜͟͞R̸̡E LO̷͟Ś͜͞T S[color=#ad3271]O̷UL̵̛S̵҉ AL̛͏[color=#9e3a85]L ST[color=#8f449a]U̶CK I͞͠N T҉̵HE͡ PA[color=#804cae]S̷̶͘T̕͟ —

[arrow]

[glow=black,1,400]I GRIEVE IN STEREO, THE STEREO SOUNDS STRANGE ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

"Huh. Guess this torture thing is awfully popular with you crazy kids." Arrow's whiskers twitched as she let a strangely timed smirk cross her chocolate face, albeit strained. Anubis's indignant interruption and the ever so soft Kiira following up close behind made her ears perk up, feeling her bitter nervousness ebb away slightly with more company. Not that Ninazu couldn't still snap their necks with a single swing, but it was a nice gesture to have the group and quiet support of Crow.

She waved a paw shortly after the two. "Ey, ey. Take it up with Morgan later, you two. Strictly business right now, play nice." She could still vaguely recall the glorious incident involving a certain jackass and some young ambassadors some time ago, a knot wound itself up in her stomach at the recollection. She almost died that day pretty sure, what a blast. Arrow chewed at the inside of her cheek. Given that the lady had showed up on her own, no violence or nothin', she assumed there was some capability for manners and proper social interaction in the Pitt somewhere. "What do you have to gain from this, anyway? You gotta know as well as we do that people are gonna throw the Pitt's flaws back at you first." Just like Anubis and Kiira already got around to doing, but she'd keep quiet.