RISING FROM THE ASHES // o, discovering power

[Kold]

YOU CAN'T DEFY ME
OR JUSTIFY GREED!

The wind seemed to pick up as Kold approached, electricity crackling off her wings and fur. "Frankly, Jormungand, I trust Sweeney more than I'll ever trust you. She hasn't threatened the safety of two groups." She spoke in a militaristic fashion, head held high. She was done with him. "Do you want your kids hurt because of actions you've done?" She flashed teeth. "So don't speak about loyalty, you traitorous fuck." No emotion showed, though there was a challenge in her eyes. To see if he was stupid enough. But she doubted he would attack. He had kids. 

— Reggan

[DANTE NORTHWEST.]

[glow=white,1,400]I NEED A SHOT AGAIN, THAT SWEET ADRENALINE ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Oh boy, this took a rather quick turn. Before Dante had a chance to answer Jormungand's question, Sweeney had come over and the panther started to make a comment towards her. The kitsune was followed by Kold and Aine, with Jormungand casting a glance over at him to confirm whether or not Sweeney was the 'traitor' among them - thus, prompting the argument that was going on now.

Clearing his throat, Dante spoke up, "I dare say that Jormunagand -" And I. "- has more loyalty than any of you. The Pitt was once feared, you know, and it was by doing the very things Jormungand did. Yes Man created The Pitt to be strong on our own, no alliances and certainly no other ties to other groups." The hybrid's gaze was on Sweeney as he said this last part, referring to how he believed she had a dual membership going on with Tanglewood. "This peaceful bullshit seemed to have begun with Kydobi, and it has gone far from what Yes Man intended on us being." He had every right to speak about this, considering he had been Yes Man's right-hand man at one point. "Having ties to other groups makes us soft and frankly, quite frustrating. Gael is continuing this peacefulness and discouraging any rowdiness, don't you think it gets boring 'round here?"

Dante brought up a paw to his face, licking it and drawing it over one of his ears. "The only thing discourage was harming your own clanmates." Although the sharkcat certainly wouldn't mind a fight here-and-there. "Times were certainly more interesting before Kydobi lead." He heard about what Stryker had done while he ruled The Pitt - twice - and he had respect for the strange lion. He had made The Pitt feared once more, only for it to be shot back down by Goldenluxury and Kydobi. A shame.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[JORMUNGAND Di ANGELO]

JORMUNGAND

male — the Pitt — bio — pinterest board

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OC TEXT


IC TEXT | IC opinions only

Westley approached and Jormungand didn't even pay any attention to him at all. He didn't know the leopard and the panther wasn't keen on getting to know him anytime soon either. He was new so he shouldn't be running his mouth about what happened with who when.
The maurader spoke up, saying she trusted Sweeny more than she ever would him. Her tone was hard like she was commanding something, which amused Jormungand to no end. So she was trying to military him around? Given his history, that wasn't gonna fly. He straightened his back, curling his tail around his paws. He dominated the female by size alone and he'd like to see what she would do to him.
"Do you want your kids hurt because of actions you've done?" Came the baring of teeth from the female, and that made the panther focus his attention on her. Maw parted to respond with a short and quiet, "Hurt them and that will be the last thing you do." Rip her wings off of her too, whilst he watched her through cold, dead eyes. Just like he did Merlin's.
"So don't speak about loyalty, you traitorous fuck." She continued, then fell silent. His gaze hardened, saw the challenge in hers. The old him after blinded by rage would have attacked her and torn her to shreds but now he was different. No rash movements, especially not with tension this thick in the air. He simply stared back, optics flashing to blue once again, a tendril of smoke slowly snaking across the floor. He'd invite her to make the first move, so at least he would have an excuse to attack back.
His friend began now, and Jormungand swivelled his ears to listen. Northwest did bring up interesting points, a lot of the Pitt's history that Jor didn't know about. Head tilted in interest, smile graced his maw but cold glare still fixated on Kold.

#psychosocial.

[Kold]

YOU CAN'T DEFY ME
OR JUSTIFY GREED!

An eyebrow quirked, head tilted gently at Jors threat. "I never said I would hurt them. I'm not that cruel." slow words, trying to figure out where he got that assumption. He was smart not to attack. And she was smart not to initiate.

Ears pointed to Dante as he spoke, turning her head to look at him. "I can't say anything, I wasn't born here nor have I seen much aside from the coalition's little brigade." but she was still a pittian. At heart the desert was her, and she was the desert.

— Reggan

[trojan g.]

[align=center][div style="width: 60%;text-align: justify;font-size: 10pt;"]The bickering amused Sweeney, if she was being completely honest. The fact that the one trying to start shit didn't know what the fuck he was talking about made the kitsune laugh, but she kept quiet until it seemed everyone was done talking, at least for the time being. "If you must know," The kitsune would begin, paw lifting up to her face and she soon chewed between her toes, cleaning bits of dirt out from them before setting it down and continuing on. "My loyalty is only towards the Pitt. It's so much in fact only towards the Pitt that when the coalition - a group you decided to run off to to play pet to a whore if I'm remembering correctly - had taken over and the Pitt had decided to help with the effort to make sure they didn't spread-" Air began to whip around Sweeney as she spoke, as if showing off her own power in comparison to Jormungand's new one, "I had gone to Tanglewood to make sure that I could get reinforcements, to make sure that another member of the Pitt was able to help with the brunt of the fight." She would roll her eyes before the wind stopped, and she stood up, making her way towards Jormundand at that point.

"I fought for the Pitt to make sure that the Coalition stayed in their own place, I stayed in Tanglewood after the fact to make sure I was healed." She didn't expect him to understand, he was an idiot, just like Dante. "Don't talk to me about loyalty until you're willing to die for the Pitt, or until you're dead from the wrongdoings you did in order to show it. I was in another group for good reason, you were in another group to breed and spread your idiocy, only to come back here tail between your legs." Taking a step back the wind would begin once more, earth began to shift from the ground and dance around the kitsune, "Oh and if you're going to try and start shit, at least know who you're fucking with first. I can, and will, kill you if I wanted to." The only reason she stayed away from doing so was because she actually cared about what her actions did. Sweeney would move back once more, earth falling and the wind suddenly stopping. The second she sat back down the flicker of electricity shot between her paws.

[DANTE NORTHWEST.]

[glow=white,1,400]I NEED A SHOT AGAIN, THAT SWEET ADRENALINE ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

No one really argued back against him (though, Aine probably would, should she had the chance to speak up). Dante's tail flicked in satisfaction, watching as Sweeney manipulated different elements almost all at once. It was rather interesting to watch, though her actions didn't seem to faze the hybrid. He wasn't entirely sure if the threat she spoke was towards him and Jormungand but regardless, Dante felt nothing towards her. She was the only one here - other than himself and possibly Aine - that would remember the hardships that The Pitt went through.

So Sweeney had stayed in Tanglewood to nurse her wounds? Pathetic. Dante knew firsthand how hard injuries were to heal, especially on your own, in the desert - but that didn't stop him from attempting to do so. Even if he had some new scars because of it. And sure, maybe those scars wouldn't be there or be as prominent if Aine was allowed (or wanted to) heal him, but of course the already scarred sharkcat didn't mind.

"If anyone thinks I won't die for The Pitt -" Dante spoke, looking over and down at Aine with a cold gaze. "- you are wrong." He would lay down his life for this group. That was what he promised Yes Man, after all. Rolling his shoulders, Dante turned around and started to make his way back towards camp. He definitely needed a cigarette after all of that.

//out unless stopped![glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[aine.]

[table][tr][td]

AINE NÍ BROIN
FLESHWEAVER
FAE DRUID
INFORMATION

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[div style="max-width: 360px; font-family: palatino; color: #2e8b57; text-align: left; padding-top: 8px; padding-left: 10px"]HOW DO YOU RUN FROM Y[color=#5d8e93]OUR OWN MIND?

Idiots. Small pebbles rose around the fleshweaver in frustration.  Disgusted.  "No one- no one here is threatening your children, dumbass.  By starting shit- by picking stupid fights, you threaten to bring another war here.  You might- you might not know what's that like, but we do.  I do.  I'm done with idiot's wars." Jervis had been a slaver who didn't know when to stop.  Silentgrave killed Kydobi.  Stryker hurt and manipulated her friends.

"You- you might be stuck in the past," she snarled.  Dante knew nothing.  He hadn't been around when the jungle went up in flames.  He hadn't been around when she watched Aurum kill Kydobi in front of her.  He hadn't been there.  "But we've lost friends and family to unnecessary fights."

And there was nothing wrong, not to her, with having connections elsewhere.  Family could stretch borders.  And from a strategic angle, having those connections meant opportunity to trade.  To benefit.  It was common sense to encourage those relationships.  Bloodthirsty fools. "You dismiss- you dismiss the advantages.  Both the material gain- and knowledge.  The Pitt worked deals too, and that's what we want to do now.  Not easy if everyone hates you."  Dumbass.

"And you know what- you know what, Dante? I don't give a shit about some slaver's standards." If Yes Man founded the Pitt, then he was the arrogant fool who founded that barbaric practice.  And look where that got them.  Pain and death.

And while she believed him.  He would die for the Pitt.  It hardly changed the way she thought of him.  It changed nothing about how he somehow thought he was loyal when he acted without considering his clanmates.  Even if he missed the old ways, he should pay attention to what his clanmates wanted too.

Jormungand was not off the hook either, the fury still flaring in her eyes.  He still wanted to call Sweeny traitor?  Really?  "You're the only traitor here, Jormungand.  You want- you want to see what someone like you brings to the Pitt?  Go visit the burned trees in the jungle.  Go visit the Ashen City.  That's what you bring your children."

Ash and dust.

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[westley h.]

[align=center]

Westley shifts his weight, blinking slowly.  The discussion was interesting, but he found Dante and Jormungand's arguments less than valid on a particular ground.  He tilts his head, "if you were loyal, you would act in the interest of your clanmates.  But they clearly don't feel that you have.  Instead you cause them unwanted trouble."

That was not loyalty to him, plain and simple.  Moreover, it seemed the issue lay in some holding onto old ideals.  The leopard sighs, shaking his head.  "You should never forget the past, but the future shouldn't be restrained by it.  If your clanmates have moved on from a particular way, you shouldn't force them back."

"That's not loyalty." And it's more than a willingness to die.

It was no good holding the current Pitt to the status of the past's -- it was made up of different individuals with different lives.  They had paid the price of the old ways and were no longer interested.  It had hurt them, it was plain by the frustration and loss in Aine's voice.  It was something Westley wanted to see.  He wants to see them successful, without being covered in unnecessary blood.  He joined the Pitt, for what it was now, not what it used to be.

**antediluvian (adj.) —-- westley hawkins / paleblood / penned by petrichor

[JORMUNGAND Di ANGELO]

JORMUNGAND

male — the Pitt — bio — pinterest board

[div style="background-color: #292727; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; text-align: justify; overflow: auto; width: 500px; height: 340px; padding: 10px;"]

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IC TEXT | IC opinions only

Kold backpedalled, saying she wasn't that cruel, but Jormungand had no doubt she would gladly kill both him and his children. Optics stayed narrowed as they continued to linger on the maurader, head tilting slightly to match her's. A laugh from the kitsune drew a disgusted snarl from the panther, he watched her begin cleaning dirt from her paws casually and begin talking down to him and Aphra.  Sure he had no relations to Aphra aside from her being the mother to his cubs, he still didn't like himself being described as "running off to play pet to", and "returning with his tail between his legs". What the fuck did she know? It was so obvious she had never had children. If she did she would know why he left the Pitt temporarily to be there at their fucking birth. "Sweeny, I left the Pitt to watch my fucking children be born. I don't see how that's 'playing pet to a whore' with me going there solely because of my children. You think I wanted her to get  pregnant? No. You are a fool for thinking that. I literally went outside hunting." He shook his head with a snorted smile, looking at the ground, then up again as Sweeny started to play with the elements. Air threw sand into his eyes but he deflected it with a harsh gust of his own, tilting his head as if amused. "Sweeny, what the hell do you think you are doing?" She might be able to make the elements do damage or whatever the fuck she had in mind for them, but it wasn't like she discovered them mere moments ago.
"I am loyal to the Pitt. I  would die for it. I nearly died too, in case you forgot. And I, unlike you, actually returned to get healed, not stayed in another group to get healed. Like that Blooding time I was injured, I also returned home to get healed myself. I did not go help somebody else and get healed by them." He was confused as to what point she was trying to bring up, since they had a completely trustworthy medic right here in the Pitt so he didn't know why she would leave Aine to accept health somewhere else. If Tanglewood needed allies the entire Pitt should've gone to help, not individual soldiers like that wench. "So you are saying that you find it perfectly fine to go somewhere, help them out quickly, get injured and just use their resources and not return home when you had any opportunity to? We do have medics here too, you know?"

Gaze flickered to Dante, offering him a little dip of the head in a good-bye. Ignoring Sweeny as she stepped close and began fucking with the elements once more. "Very impressive, Sweeny." Came his familiar mocking drawl as he clapped his paws together.  He ignored her threat of killing him, they both knew he could beat her in a fair  fight - fair meaning no cheating with the elements. Using nature as a threat is just a pussy move. He shook his shoulders, fur waving slightly. He was more than confident he could hold his own, having had a soldiers' beating forever hammered into him by his tyrant of a father.

Hey! Aine began throwing around rocks in frustration. What was this, a gathering of power displays? Nice. He watched one of the pebbles rise, the let his gaze hover on her face. He didn't take her seriously, how could he? She was so much younger than he was, after all. She then addressed him, and his ears twitched in amusement. "Oh, I'll go visit the Ashen City alright. Don't you worry your little head about it." His voice turned dark, honeyed tone hardening as he rose to his full height to tower over the druid. Looked to the side, finally addressing Westley. Forcing his clanmates back? Back to what? His only interaction with Westley and he already was confused. "Force my clanmates back to what? I haven't been long enough here for other leaders' reign to know how they acted before Gael stepped up so I really do not know what you're talking about, Westley."

#psychosocial.

[aine.]

[table][tr][td]

AINE NÍ BROIN
FLESHWEAVER
FAE DRUID
INFORMATION

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[div style="max-width: 360px; font-family: palatino; color: #2e8b57; text-align: left; padding-top: 8px; padding-left: 10px"]HOW DO YOU RUN FROM Y[color=#5d8e93]OUR OWN MIND?

Still unimpressed.  Undaunted.  The druid raised her chin.  Defiant.  Stubborn.  Nodded as Westley spoke.  His words were more directed to Dante but the point stood.  Jormungand's unnecessary violence did not constitute to loyalty in any way.

Worse, his argument against Sweeny was pathetic.  The medic would hardly want a prospective patient killing themself just in an attempt to get to her.  "I think I can- I can speak for myself," she pointed out coldly.  "That if my clanmates are injured- too injured to make the journey home, they should accept help wherever its offered." It was common sense. "I care more about their health than that to be that arrogant." It wasn't about who healed someone, it was the fact that they could help in the first place.

She scoffed softly.  Kept her eyes level.  She wasn't scared of Jormungand.  And if he thought she'd offer him any help after doing so, he'd be sorely mistaken. "Besides, Sweeny was fighting- fighting for us.  You- you picked a fight when it wasn't needed or wanted.  You weren't thinking about us.  You- you put your clanmates and children at risk by nearly restarting an old conflict." 

"You say- you say you'll die for the Pitt.  Big.  Fucking.  Deal.  How about you live in a way that doesn't put everything we've worked for on the line?"

"And instead- instead of bitching about Sweeny getting help from another medic, a good medic mind you, how about you own up to the fact Sweeny- Sweeny never betrayed us.  You did.  You knew the neutrality.  You knew Dante's punishment.  But you still broke it.  You've proven nothing of your loyalty."

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