[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

But Thire needn't have worried about the slumdwellers. The story frightened them, but they had other, more important things to deal with... Feeding their families, for a start, and the recent arson attacks. Plus, there was a new gang of females which had formed, and was beginning to cause trouble. Thire sighed and shook his head, when he saw them... he didn't even notice the looks he was receiving in return...

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Thire went about his daily business, unhindered by the now mended foot. Though the thoughts of how it had healed bothered him, he was practical enough to know that the world wouldn't stop turning just because something happened to him... And it hadn't happened before or since, to his knowledge, even when he stubbed his toes, or banged his head on a branch. He had more pressing matters to deal with; the leader of the gang of females had apparently chosen him as her mate, and her parents weren't too happy about it. The slumdwellers had decided he was to blame for her corruption, as well, and he was having a harder time than usual ignoring their behaviour...

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

They had never actually attacked him, but they were becoming more...edgy, as if there was an underlying current of anger and hate flowing through the village. Though he was unresponsive to the female, Cassus found himself being hounded by her, and he didn't like it. She was far too arrogant, and though ordinarily he would have been expected to relish the feeling of being wanted, he couldn't stand this obnoxious female, and all she was doing was giving him more grief! Cassus escaped to the rainforest as often as he could nowadays, safe in the knowledge that she wouldn't follow him there... or would she? She couldn't be that daring, or downright stupid, to go into the rainforest after the demon spawn without a guide, could she?

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Apparently she could; he found her one afternoon, cowering behind a rock after almost encountering a passing troop of moonlings. She shied away from him when he bent down to check if she was alright, and snarled at him when he picked her up to carry her to the edge of the forest. Once there, she bolted towards the slums, and though she didn't come near him again, he got the blame for her personality shift. She left the gang, and her family moved to the other side of the slums to get away from him. The slumdwellers were still talking about the awful things he must have done to her weeks later; more so when she gave birth to twins, though neither of them looked anything like him.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Cassus was sick of it all, and was seriously considering leaving, though he had nowhere to go. In the last three weeks, he hadn't had a moment of peace, and had woken up to find his shack pelted and littered with stones and rubbish. He was still being blamed for the female and her pups (though the father had come forward and lifemated with her), and the other females had redoubled their efforts to get his attention. They seemed to have been motivated by the events of their leader, rather than put off, though none of them would enter the rainforest... Presumably they had learned something from it after all.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

But apparently not enough; they started hanging around on the outskirts, waiting for him to emerge. It was one normal morning, however, when it all changed. Cassus had had a really rough few days, and that morning had been hunting. When he exited the rainforest, the females all crowded around him, saying they could smell blood on him, and asking him if he had been in a fight. He pushed past them, intent on ignoring them, when one of them noticed cuniflare ears sticking out of his bag and pulled them...

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Cassus turned so quickly, the females didn't see him move. The one who had pulled the cuniflare ears looked down to see her paw empty, and looked up with wide eyes to see Cassus snarling for all he was worth. He was livid; how dare she think she had the right to examine anything that belonged to him? Baring his teeth, he snarled at all of them before making his way home with a mean scowl on his face. The females watched him go with a mixture of awe and fear; far from putting them off, his display seemed to have made them more determined...

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

He reached his shack and threw the bag with the cuniflare in it on the ground. How dare they? Did they not know who he was? He snarled to himself at that thought; of course they didn't know who he was. Heck, even he didn't know who he was. He kicked the bag and sat down heavily. All he wanted was peace!

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

He moped on the floor for a while, then stood, sighing. Grabbing the bag, he took the cuniflare over to the cupboard and pulled out a pot and his knife... He would make this into a stew, which should feed him for a few days. Provided nobody tried to steal it or throw it away, that is. He sat on the front step and began skinning the cuniflare, not realising he was being watched...

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

She approached Cassus slowly, hesitantly at first, then merely cautiously, and came to sit beside him with her knees up. She watched with interest as he skinned and de-boned the cuniflare, and simply regarded him inquisitively when he looked up at her. Cassus stared at her a moment in confusion, then snarled at her. Who was she, and what did she want with him? She flinched when he snarled at her, but didn't bare her teeth, choosing instead to submit and slowly crouch down, tail between her legs...

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[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Cassus stared at her, feeling confused and a little lost. He was used to the slumdwellers ignoring him, or annoying him (in the case of the females) or even reacting aggressively towards him, but never... submitting. Eyebrows raised, he stared at the female who held herself still under his gaze, never breaking eye contact, though she remained on the ground. When he didn't react further, she shuffled closer and was rewarded with a snarl from Cassus. She retreated, still not breaking eye contact until she reached the middle of the street, then she turned and ran from the bewildered Cassus...

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[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

As he made his stew, Cassus' thoughts strayed to the female who had submitted. Though she had flinched, she had been unafraid of him, unlike most other people he had met. She had also been in anthro form, which was fairly unusual in the Slums... He didn't notice when she poked her nose in through the door, and sniffed the air, or when she sat down in the dirt just outside the doorway, watching him. He only noticed her when a loud rumbling sound filled the air, and for the first time she looked afraid as he scowled at her, clutching her stomach on the ground...

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[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

"What do you want from me!" Cassus snarled, advancing on the female who seemed frozen to the ground. "Why are you staring at me! Why have you come here!" She cowered on the ground, bent double to silence her stomach. He paused as she held something up towards him, and as he took it, his paw brushed hers and he felt her trembling. He felt a strange stab of pain in his chest as he realised she had just handed him a coin, and as she looked at him with big eyes, he scowled at her again, and said "What is this for?", and his voice, though not as menacing as the tone he had spoken to her before in, was icy and venomous.

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[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

She didn't need to answer. Her continuous loud stomach growl, and the pinched look of her muzzle confirmed that she hadn't had food in a while. She wasn't one of the pack of females who followed him around, and he hadn't seen her in the market either... He looked at the coin in his hand. It was old, and tarnished, and wouldn't be much use here in the slums where food was the currency of choice... But in Aldrecht, it would have bought food, and shelter... or perhaps medical training...

75

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[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Her stomach growled painfully again, and she looked at him and whimpered. He looked at the Goddess Tear he had been handed, and sighed, relenting. Perhaps it would come in useful sometime, he thought, as he went and placed it in a jar. He turned to look at her, as she sat cowering in the doorway, unsure of his intentions... "It's not ready yet, so you might as well come in and wait." he said to her, and she quietly scampered through the doorway and sat in the corner, her wide eyes focused on him as he went about his cooking...

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