[Vtoleni]

He was less than impressed with the group he had been paired with for this expedition.  He had worked with a few of them before, and one of them he had even stolen when she was a child.  They traveled together for the first few nights, Rannoch keeping to himself, listening to the oddities that the others spat out at each other as they traveled.  The veteran kept his distance from them all - as best he could anyway.

He slept away from the rest, turning his head from the snores and the late night chatter.  He wanted to stay focused on the objective, but it was hard to when there was so much noise from the others, particularly the loudmouth female.  He grumbled low to himself, before getting up and walking a few more meters away, and situating himself down onto the ground again.

All he wanted was peace and quiet - but something told him he would not find it anywhere on this trip.

[Vtoleni]

Vtoleni was what they called a veteran in this horrid profession. He’d made his living for years on the blood of children, stepping on countless tiny tear-streaked faces to get to the top... or his top, anyway, which meant a full belly, lovely trinkets, valuable gems, friends in low places.

It would stand to reason then that he’d worked with a number of trader groups in the past. This one was no different than the last, all appearances aside; to the coyote they might as well have been walking archetypes. He was a social creature, in that he liked to get to know them on their ventures regardless, uncover their respective buttons and press them experimentally, seeing what might happen if he said this, did that... It passed the time, you know?

Rannoch was correct. He would not find the peace he sought, not yet anyway, for Vtoleni was following him on his trek away from the noisy group. Time to crack this nut and see what was inside. When the old wolf stopped, got himself situated once more, that was when he’d hear Vtoleni’s call from behind.

“Good evening, herr Rannoch. Is something... ze matter?”

[Vtoleni]

He heard the footfalls, and dreaded who they belonged to. They were not heavy, or fill of anger as they fell. In fact they were soft, almost as if not wanting to be detected. Rannoch almost pinpointed who it was, but when the foul creature opened his mouth and the horrid accent came rolling off his tongue, Rannoch knew. What he wouldn’t give to turn on the coyote and throw him, literally to the wolves. The others that were bickering and fighting amongst themselves.

But he could not. He knew it, and Vtoleni knew it. So Rannoch would have to bear it, for the time being. “What’s so good about the evening Vito?” Rannoch growled out, giving the coyote a pet name because why the hell not.

“Trying to get any decent rest around here is like pulling fucking teeth...”

[Vtoleni]

The old wolf didn’t like him. Vtoleni was no mind reader, but he was perceptive, noting the way those broad shoulders tensed irritably and the edged quality that gruff voice adopted. His face split into a perfectly indifferent smile, the picture of feigned obliviousness.

“Vito?” he echoed, his voice breathy and halting as though hiding a giggle, whether at the nickname or the bitchy response. “Ah, how cute.”

One beady blue eye flashed craftily toward his partner as he circled around the bigger animal to face him. “I am sorry you are unrested, kumpel. Have you too much to think? I know ze malady myself, heh.”

[Vtoleni]

Rannoch let out another sigh. Of course the coyote would take his pet name to heart. Rannoch had never been on an assignment with him before, but he had heard stories, stories of how the coyote ran away when his life was on the line, but his silver tongue often got him out of that sort of situation. “It’s easier to say than your entire foreign name, your name is about as infuriating as your personality,” he huffed out, keeping one eye and an ear on him as he circled around.

“I always have too much to think about, Vito.. have you seen the crew we’ve been placed with?” he said. Two greenhorns and one that could barely keep her temper. If Farai had her way, she would have gutted them all looking for that rabbit, and they’d have to steal more. Rannoch did not want to have to explain to his superiors that the mission failed because of a hothead and two rookies. “What exactly do you think about, Vito... it can’t be anything too in depth.”

[Vtoleni]

Poking bears was fun, but he was canny enough to know when enough was too much, and perhaps that was the winning reason why he'd not gotten his head knocked off yet. Vtoleni eased up a little, keeping the big man in sight, but not moving to invade his personal bubble. Rannoch truly did seem overtired and irritable, poor thing.

"Hmm... is it really?" wondered the coyote aloud of his mouthful of a name. "In zat case..." He rolled his shoulders in an easy shrug. "I suppose I could let you call me Vito. Just because I like you, kumpel."

He sat then, seemingly unconcerned with how dwarfed he was by the big wolf's shadow, and scratched at something crawling on the back of his ear. "Zhey are silly newbies, yes... not good for much. Fun to play with, but I get ze feeling you are not ze playful type, heh."

Vtoleni had been looking full at Rannoch, capturing each considerable inch of him with bright blue eyes, but now he seemed to abandon that in favor of the full moon far above their heads.

"Ze funny type however, heeh heh, you are ah, vat do zhey say... a barrel of laughs. But you are right. It isn't." The moonlight, stark white, pooled over the two animals, and the coyote with his white coat looked particularly luminous. "I vas thinking about vat our itty children might fetch us. Our employers... I have not heard of them before this job, herr Rannoch."

[Vtoleni]

He supposed in whatever native tongue Vito spoke his true name was easier to speak, if that really was his real name after all. A brow raised in response to the question of a name, and lowered it when he was granted amnesty to pronounce his nickname. "Humph - you don't like me, Vito, you just have to deal with me," Rannoch grumbled out in reply.

No one liked the older male, they just dealt with him.

Rannoch scooted back slightly, as the small coyote sat, a mere speck in the shadow of the larger wolf, but he seemed not to mind. "Oh I don't know, Vito, I can be quite... playful, when the need calls for it, would you like to see?" He asked, clicking his teeth together, brows raised, his head inching closer to the silver tongued snake, before letting out a single laugh and lowering his head once again. Eyes lifted to the same moon his smaller companion gazed at, full and bright.

Not quite promising, though.

"Surprisingly, most refer to me as the stick in the mud - refreshing to be compared otherwise..." The male sighed out as the moonlight washed over them both, Rannoch's eyes drifting to the coyote for a moment, taking in the brightness of his coat as the moon seemed to give him a moment of stupendous spotlight. "Hmm...?" He hummed at the mention of the children - they would prove quite a price for them, if they got them all back in one piece, if being the key word. "Our employers are very... discreet, not even I have met them personally, though I have heard stories..." He trailed off, eyes lifting to the coyote. "Is it possible I have heard something you haven't?" He smiled, "Pity..."

[Vtoleni]

Little blue eyes slitted in some phony affability that so often guarded mean-spirited mischief. He liked most people, really, though the big male may not have believed it... or he may just understand the actual nature of that fondness. True friends valued each other as individuals. Vtoleni valued them as responsive toys.

“Now vhy might I lie to you, Rannoch?” The coyote’s tail wagged slowly to and fro, a menacing metronome, when the austere beast brandished a glimpse at some hidden side of himself. “Show me sometime.”

He watched the moon, that glowing white orb, almost a little hungrily, as though it was another treasure he could lasso and pull down for himself. “I’ve always had something of a soft spot for your type. Your severity, it’s a funny contrast to ze, ahhh, ze absurdity of ze world around you...” Vito trailed off, contemplating, until Rannoch gave his coy taunt and elicited another slimy black-toothed grin.

“I know zis, comrade...” The smile widened an inch, conspiratorial and unlikable. “Zey are hiding something terrible.” His voice grew hushed. “A monster.”