Celestia was bored, life in the raiders was different than her life in the syndicate and she wasn’t adapting as well as her siblings were. She felt like she didn’t belong, and maybe she didn’t. She was more her mother than her father. And she’d only left home because her siblings were leaving.

Venturing out to clear her head, it was her newest thing. She was venturing towards her mothers home when she stopped at a land that piqued her interest. Littered with times and beasts long forgotten. Old and forgotten pieces of weapon were littered about. And slowly she meandered through them.

Looking over the broken and ragged pieces of metal, the way some were rusted and others had crumpled into ash. She continued to wander through the Plateau.

Xina ventured further afield, away from home just for the sake of satisfying the itch in her paws to explore. Her eyes settled on the detritus-covered field of old blood and old battle. She could almost feel the way the land thrummed with the death of thousands and thousands. She mused to herself as she scanned the earth. How the blood must have soaked the ground and made the mud thick long ago. Weapons and strange metal fragments caught her eye with every twist of her head.

A familiar figure also caught her eye. Something new sparked within the syndicate girl. Something strange as she saw ex packmate. Hadn't she and her siblings been taken by the Raiders? The feeling was... warm... She was surprised to see the girl out here!

Which one was this again? It wasn't Mealy boy, and not Purple Paws Cressadee pants...

"Hey!" Xina called out, "Don't I know you? You're not Cressida... What was your name again?" The firey pup bounced up to the slightly larger dark blue merle girl. Her bouncing meandered around a few standing poles and over several helmets, shields, and other shiny bits.

"speech"

coded by NachoMumma

She was still studying the stuff around her when the smell of home wafted through her nose. Snapping her head in it’s direction just as the slightly smaller girl began to talk. She was a child of fire and brimstone. There was no mistaking who had sired this girl. She was clearly Auntie Sin’s child.

“Hey!” Cele offered in a cool nonchalant tone. Cocking her head in a mannerism she must have gotten from her father.

“Nope not Cress, I’m Celestia. And I don’t believe that we’ve officially met before. But you’re one of Aresenn and Auntie Sin’s children I assume?”

Celestia wouldn’t show it but she was happy to have the girl near. To smell the lingering smell of home drifting off her. It made her tiny heart ache for her mother, her uncle. It was a nice reminder of home.

”What brings you so far from the Syndicate? I had assumed they’d be keeping the rest of the kids on lockdown after…” she paused.

As Xina grew closer to the other girl she hopped over a discarded shield and landed on the smooth dirt and grass that seemed to permeate the area despite the potential of nourishing blood to feed the plants. She wondered if there was a deeper cause to the shortened stalks around her and why it looked like the plateau here was so barren. Could they have salted the ground as the ancient warriors fought?

Xina's tail, as if it held a mind of its own, swayed back and forth as the other spoke! Soft melodic tones rang in Xina's ears like honeyed bells. As if the bullet casings at her feet had chimed together while Xina's paws brushed over them.

"Yup! I'm Xina! The best of Absinth and Aresenn's kids." She exclaimed with a little shoulder shimmy of self-importance. One day her boasts would be less obvious as she fully learned the art of subtlety.

Her question had Xina's head tilting.
"After...? Wut? Oh! After you guys got nabbed? Hardly." Xina shrugged, she assumed the grownups who were not directly involved, namely Kaino anyway, probably sighed with relief at the loss of mouths to feed. She hopped up a strange hardened hill. It was covered in green metal and had harsh angled sides. In another world, it would have been called a tank. She sprawled over the top of it as she spoke. "They don't seem too bothered by kids even fucking dying. My brother died in his trial and Mom and Dad were upset by it but it wasn't like anyone else was bothered by it much. You guys probably got lucky you just got nabbed." Xina shrugged again, her tail flopping over her ankles as she felt the cool metal under her side.

"You smell fresher than home, is that pack any fun?" She asked with a mischievous grin. Avoiding the question of why she was out here.

"speech"

coded by NachoMumma

Celestia smirked at Xina’s response. “Well from the best of my own litter, I completely understand” she mused her voice playful as she watched Xina shimmy her shoulders. She couldn’t help the giggle that erupted from her maw. But only for a moment before Xina was answering her statement.

Nabbed. So that’s what they were saying back home about her siblings and herself leaving. Interesting. “Is that the story then? That we were nabbed?” She was amused, she gave a small eyeroll at the theatrics of her maternal family. “We weren’t exactly nabbed. We chose to go see our dad. Or rather my three siblings wanted to, and I tagged along. Didn’t feel right to be separated from them, ya know?” She shrugged her shoulders a bit. Once they’d gotten there and her siblings had voiced their desires, her father and his family had force claimed them so they wouldn’t get in trouble with Sephrian and the Syndicate.


“Death has never been a big deal back home. Even though they preach, or well my mama would preach, that us kids were the future of the syndicate, I’m not surprised they seemed not care” her tone flat, and matter of factly.

Xina’s energy was contagious. And Cele felt herself smirking back “dreadfully boring actually. It’s the complete opposite of home. No one busting your balls to train and to never show fear. In fact I spend most of my time having… picnics, as weird as it sounds” she laughed.

“Almost sounds crazy to say that I miss my life at the syndicate”

She lifted a brow with glee as the other girl giggled at her shoulder shimmy. She did it again for emphasis, her expressions playful and sly as she smirked and looked away then back again. Her claws scraped against the tank as she shifted her position.

Xina shrugged at Cele's question of what the story was back home. The firey girl flipped over onto her back and watched the other girl upside down as she filled Xina in on the true events. She couldn't imagine being separated from her father. Interesting how the land started looking like a reflection in a puddle from this position. The hard surface of her current bed was getting irritating. It did not make a soft lounge chair.

"Picnics?" Xina asked, flipping back over and shooting the girl a disgusted look. All she knew about picnics was that life and fighting wasn't one... "Well then! Maybe I can bring you home! We can spar and do all kinds of things! Wouldn't want to have any more boring picnics." She scoffed, leaping off the tank and landing on her feet. Her paw narrowly missed the edge of a sharp knife. She picked it up and looked down at the blade. Then aimed it at a fabric target a little ways away. She held it in both lip and paw. With a flick, she sent the knife sailing at the old fabric bag rustling in the wind. It missed.

"Fuck." She softly cursed under her breath and looked through the sparse grass for another knife. She found a longer skinnier one stuck in the treads of the old tank. She grabbed it, noted the blade was bent, and sent it flying at the canvas. This time she scored.... with the handle hitting the bag instead.

"Fucking wind. - Wanna try?" The wind was picking up some, "Maybe we can grab some of this cool shit and make some armor or something." She mused to the other girl with a wink.

"speech"

coded by NachoMumma

Celestia laughed at the girl's facial expression. She knew how weird the thoughts of picnics and gentle lives must sound to Xina. Because when she first moved to the raiders it was like a culture shock. She didn’t know how to live like that and it was still weird to her. It wasn’t bad, and she could see why it might appeal to others who weren’t raised to be forged in fire and stone. But for her and her maternal family. It wasn’t normal.

Home. Xina was offering to bring her back to the syndicate. To her mama, and uncle Ezekiel. To the rest of her family. But that would mean she’d be leaving behind her sibling. Her father, who she hadn’t seen in a while. And her Grandmother. Her family was torn, and her loyalty was being tested deeply. She’d left the syndicate to stand by her siblings, but would she now abandon them to rejoin her mother…

“Take me Home Xi, we can raise hell there. Make em pay for not mourning your brother” she smirked. “Spars you say, I don’t know… I wouldn’t want to accidentally scar that pretty face of yours” she teased in a flirty way.

As the girl leapt down for the strange metal platform she’d been hanging over Celestia moved closer. Watching her as she looked over an old knife she’d nearly landed on.

She watched as the girl tried to hit a bag with it. It missed. She grieved to see where the blade had landed, but with all the other bits of metal scattered about it was hard to tell.

“Sure but you’ll have to teach me, my mama didn’t go over weapon use” she shrugged.

“Let’s do this shit Xi” she laughed and returned the girl's wink with one of her own.

A gentle life sounded dull, weird, like a thousand tiny deaths. What good was this gentle life if any trouble that inevitably came knocking on your door ended your life early? Maybe she should pay a visit and show them what a soft life was worth.

The grin that played over Xina's lips was a genuine smirk back. The other girl's words made Xina think. Make them pay for not mourning her brother? Huh, she hadn't thought of that.

"I like the way you think." She mused, lifting her pretty face for Celestia to get a better look at it, gently pursing her lips and fluttering her lashes for emphasis.

Xina bounded after the two knives she threw, retrieving them and bringing them back to Cele. Since her mother was a master at knife play she knew a thing or two about proper handling.

"All right, first things first, always use the handle and never try to catch a knife. You can try knocking it away if it's thrown at you, with something else, or dodge it. But never try to catch one." She started and offered the knives out for Celest to choose one.

"speech"

coded by NachoMumma

Celestia gave Xina an award winning smile. ”aww you flatter me with such sweet words” she flirted with her. She was beautiful, one of the most beautiful girls celestia had seen, besides herself and her sister of course.

She watched the girl prance off to get the knives, and her head swayed in time with Zina’s hips. Stopping only when the girl turned back, knives in tow.

And as the lesson began, celestia gave Zina her full undivided attention. Nodding along as she took mental notes. The way Zina held the blade, the words that were spoken. She watched it all.

Celestia looked over the knives presented to her, she didn’t know if there was much of a difference so she picked up a random one before her. She tried to mimic the way Xina had held the blade. ”ike his?” she asked with a mouthful of handle.