then leave - [COTC VISIT]

[number nine.]

A raid. The thought of it disturbed Number Nine slightly, although not because he was opposed to battles as a whole. In fact, he loved battles. He enjoyed the thrill of the fight, and loved the thrum of energy that was ever-constant whenever he was in the middle of a good duel. However, it wasn't as if Palmclan didn't have enough to worry about already. Not only did they have their own issues concerning the whole unseasonably cold winter season, but they had already agreed to help Alithis Evgenis with their bandit problem. That was already one battle, with a potentially weakened fighting force as a whole. The jaguar was far from writing the whole thing off entirely, though. If what Stryker was offering was a true reward, then they could have plenty of prey to last them through the winter, and perhaps even longer than that. The male was sure that was already going through Rhine's head, but he found himself needing to speak up as he approached, "Interesting offer, Mr... Stryker, right? An entirely new home for us if we help out? That's not something you give away lightly, which must mean that this is something big. I know you said Tanglewood has fallen, but you wouldn't be coming to us if you knew this was a shoe-in. Are you absolutely sure that now is the time for fighting?" Nine doubted that Stryker would even entertain the thought of standing by until they had more power to back them up, since he seemed like the type to have utmost confidence in his people.

Tilting his head to one side then, Nine questioned curiously, his tail twitching and flicking in thought, "Also... what are you going to do with Tanglewood's land after all of this? Not that we necessarily want it - I'm not leader here, after all - but I'm mostly just curious. Is the Coalition's empire going to span both Tanglewood and The Typhoon's territory?" Frankly, the bounty hunter didn't entirely trust Stryker. While he had initially tried to cool things down when the other had first visited, that didn't mean he had to like the guy, he just hadn't wanted a fight to break out. As far as Nine was concerned, it really seemed as though Stryker was growing a bit too big for his britches, and he was trying to drag them into it. If he was so willing to take over both Tanglewood and The Typhoon, how long until he turned his little reptilian gaze on them? Many a worry swirled around in Number Nine's head, but he had a feeling that Rhinestone was already too far gone to reconsider. They had just been offered up land and prey on a silver platter, in a time where they desperately needed both. Of course he would end up taking the deal.

HELLBENT ON MAKING YOU LOVE ME TOO