Anthem could do no more than cower beside his sister, pressing tightly into her for safety and support. The process of remembering was painfully slow, but as he peeked out from his safe spot besides Novella, she became more familiar to him. His brain struggled to process it, to understand why everything was fighting and so upset. They continued to talk about him -- he knew his name, and easily recognized it -- though he could not gather to context of the situation. It took far too long for the man to realize he had done something bad. A small whimper escaped his throat and he pressed tighter into Novella. He felt guilty suddenly, as it dawned on him that they were all talking about him, and he felt painfully small. "Stupid." he cried to himself, a painful moment of insight for the man -- who was referring to no other than himself. Everything confused him and he did not understand, and for a moment he was blessed with understanding of one thing alone; that the others all knew something that he did not get. He had grappled with such things before, with being different from his siblings, but they had always loved and cared for him. But these strangers seemed so angry with him, with his family, and he could not help but begin to cry when he could not understand why. Novella brought him back to reality, asking him gently if he had seen the woman. He peered at her through his misty eyes. "Yes," he answered somberly, his voice quivering slightly. He felt suddenly alone, despite his sister's comfort, but he would not move from her.

Satu

The younger wolf's threat made Satu bristle angrily, any idea of trying to make him see reason flying from the impulsive young wolf. "You can try," she spat back, but a moment later the mean lady had pulled back from her unreasonable attack on Anthem and the red-eyed boy had shoved rudely past Satu. "Hey!" she yelped. "I wasn't done with you yet." But personal vendettas would have to wait in favor of family. Satu whirled in place, bounding back to Novella's side just as the mean lady dropped a bombshell of a statement, and she stumbled in shock. Anthem rape someone? She'd never heard a more ridiculous thing. She might not know Anthem quite as well as his siblings, but she certainly knew him well enough to believe him quite incapable of hurting someone. Catching the young red-eyed stranger's growl she spun back to face him. He spoke angry words that for a moment completely went over Satu's head, but a moment later she put two and two together and squeaked in mortified rage. He was talking about castrating poor Anthem! "That's not reasonable at all!" she cried, but whatever further protest she may have made for Anthem's innocence was interrupted by the harsh words of the older male stranger to the red-eyed boy. Ha. Even his own people didn't approve of his strange definition of 'reasonable'. Satu couldn't resist sticking her tongue out at him this time, as Song explained to the strangers about Anthem's peculiarities. Surely now they'd understand just how silly and wrongful their accusations were. Her self-righteous mirth was short-lived however. The dark, authoritative woman spoke again, explaining that the mean one hadn't been attacked, that she'd been injured and in heat when someone - they kept insisting it was Anthem, why couldn't they just accept that they were wrong? - had come upon her and taken her without her being able to stop him. Satu's certainty was shaken by anxiety at that almost-plausible explanation. It wasn't possible, Anthem would never hurt anyone. He was a good man. Wasn't he? Of course he was. Her stomach dropped when Anthem said he had seen the mean lady before. She didn't like the way the conversation was heading, not at all. Her brown ears flattened out to the sides as she glanced uneasily between Song and the strangers. But Anthem was the most-good guy she had ever known. He couldn't be capable of doing something so awful. Could he? If even Anthem could do something like that... Satu started feeling distinctly queasy. "Anthem wouldn't hurt anybody," she insisted again, though her voice quavered. Anthem was family. She wouldn't let these strangers hurt her family.

"Hermes control yourself!"


The boy flinched, turing to stare at his father, one ear flicked back. Why was he taking their side? That piece of rotting feces had raped their queen! He frowned but nodded, muttering an apology. Helios was right, they were sorely outnumbered and the Ludicael wolves could potentially wipe them all off the map regardless of whatever high-ended rhetoric they declared to believe in. But he hoped Helios was right. It would be a base wrongness for them not to try and make some sort of amends. Even if they would not be allowed to maim Virgil's rapist at least they could offer something?. prey, stock piles of herbs? something but to leave here without anything was unacceptable to the young brute.


Hermes blood continued to boil though as he listened to the white bitch speak. Mistaken? The Queen of Olympus? Such arrogance for her to immediately assume that she was right. Hermes knew Virgil would never lie. He managed to bite back his tongue but just barely.


Talk of Anthem's disability was brought to light and that was the last straw for Hermes. Despite his father's warning his words let loose again though this time, cold and sharp compared to the heated rage he spoke with before. "If he's so helpless then why did you let him wander about without an escort?" If he was so precious to them why let him wander alone where he could be eaten by a bear or lord knows what. Had he been caught on a foreign pack territory he could easily have met a nasty fate. It was fine the if they wanted to deem Anthem innocent for his disability, but that meant the alphess or whoever was supposed to be watching the invalid was responsible. Ludicael could not escape from this blameless, in his mind. They could not.


His eyes caught sight of that annoying little woman sticking her tongue at him and he returned the gesture. What an irritating, immature little brat! He felt some satisfaction though as he saw her resolve weaken. That was right? they could sing Anthem's praises to the sky all they wanted but that would not change the horror of the act he'd done. The truth of what he'd done.

talk, think

Her family jump to her defense, and Virgil feels prepared to destroy. They are not yet large in number, and yet she knows the might of the Olympians. They can destroy in the blink of an eye. The leader says that she is mistaken and she growls, deep and vicious. Natalya explains, however, and then one girl has the nerve to try to make it right. ?If one of the men of my family had done that to the men of yours, condition or not, I would rid him of his balls,? she snaps. ?If he is truly a child, he has no use of them anyways, and it would keep another woman from coming to harm,? she explains, calming down. She doesn?t want to think about it; doesn?t want to think that her children have the blood of this weak man. She wills them to take after the gods, to step into the world warriors without hint of their other side. Hermes brings up a good point, and Virgil debates for a moment, tail wavering behind her. ?I demand a punishment of some form. Otherwise, he will not know what he did is wrong, if he is truly a child. He, nor any of you, will make any attempt to know my children. They belong to my family and I alone,? she says. It is harsh, but it is better than what she had been planning. The gods can be reasonable, and this is her peace offering. If they do not take it, she will challenge for the fool?s balls. Table by Lu - Image by Poison - Code for Ala Only

She would sigh heavily as the weight of the situation would fall completely to her. She did not have Cherokee there as her moral support and protection. She still could never believe that Anthem had purposefully laid with Virgil, from his reaction she could not believe he knew what was going on at all. She would ignore all but Virgil, the irate queen still could not see that the handicapped wolf had not a clue what he had done. Punishing someone who knew not their crime would not bring them any closer to solution, it would only hurt Anthem in the end. Her Sas bicolored eyes would find his form, years falling from his eyes as he cowered beneath Novella's legs. How her heart hurt for her brother, and she would feel sympathy towards the Olympian. She had not asked for his seed. "Though I think it not of use, he seems to not even recall his transgression..." the decision would weigh heavily upon her, would she be able to deliver a punishment so harsh. "To prevent such a situation again, my brother will be removed of his ability to procreate." she would say sadly as her eyes had not moved from his sweet face. "You may return to inspect the punishment within the week." for she would not make him endure such agony awake. He would be drugged, and while forcefully put to sleep his testicles would be taken. It felt so harsh, her sweet brother having to go through such drastic actions. What else was she to do? He would not know what he was being punished for, her best option was to remove the cause of the problem together. She just hoped her family would not fault her too harshly.?

At his murmurs of stupidity, Novella would comfort her brother once more. "No, you're not stupid" She would reassure him softly. Anthem may not have been all that bright but she certainly would never had used the words stupid to describe her brother and would soon set straight anyone that dared to, even Anthem himself.



The bickering would continue with the one known as Hermes continuing to speak up. Whilst she herself was adding the conversation of course she could hardly fault him for contributing though all the same he was getting on her nerves and apparently Satu's as well. "One of our sister's has recently left the pack, he was likely trying to find her." Novella suspected that was the reason, he had after all been very close to Symphony.



At Virgil's words Novella would quickly fall silent. With family so important to her she couldn't imagine not being a part of these pup's lives. She glanced to Song, hoping for her sister to fight back against these absurd suggestions. To her shock though Song would only agree to the family's requests.

by macabre

Hermes jaw parted slightly in surprise as the queen of Ludicael gave her judgement. He quickly shut it. In truth when he'd made suggestion it was just to get a rise out of the, purely out of spite he hadn't considered that his words would actually become reality. He felt? strange about that. Uncertain. Of course it was Virgil's ultimate demand but he'd been expecting more resistance, a bartering back and forth until they settled. He found himself with a new respect for the white queen and with that came a sudden feeling of shame for his earlier actions born of heated fury and indignation.


talk, think

She was certain when she spoke up that her family would not be pleased, but if there was one thing Natalya truly prided herself on it was her judgment. Fighting would do them no good other than to damage relationships here in a way that could turn out nothing but negative. While there would never be a "positive" connection - so to speak - for Olympus with Ludicael, they could maintain somthing closer to neutral by keeping their heads on straight. Natalya listened closely as the wolves around her settled slightly, and was proud to hear most of the hostility drop for Virgil's voice as well. The Empress had made a reasonable demand in her eyes - she left the punishment up to the opposing queen while asserting her right to her children. What good could it do, anyway, for the poor soul to see the offspring he had unintentionally created? He would never know them as his, and it would be far better for the children to avoid such confusion and such weakness in their upbringing. However, there was still surprise to be had. Eyebrows raised as the Ludicael Oracle spoke her punishment, one Natalya was sure even her own family would not have given immediately under the circumstances. Her surprise at this only bolstered her respect for the woman, though. Such a punishment would prevent any future problems, lessening the risk of similar confrontation for the family of the boy and perhaps even saving his life. Natalya knew for certain that if a member of Olympus had found him in different circumstances, his life would not have lasted. She closed her eyes and nodded in understanding before turning to take her leave. She would return again to make her respect for the queen known, but now was not the time for such trifles. Olympus needed to return to its lands and the wolves of Ludicael needed time to themselves. -exit-