Elissa ducked out of the way so she wouldn't be caught staring, trying to come up with a plan. She sat leaning against the cold wall in thought. Maybe there was a way to get this guy onto her side. She just had to find it. And also, not break down.
Fox sat up slowly, letting out a ragged groan, mopping at the blood on his face with his hands, shaking his head slightly.
Not moving from her spot against the wall, Elissa called out, "Hello?" She didn't know what else to say, because asking if he was okay would be pretty useless, and she didn't think that speculating the events that led to him being here would be treated kindly. So she blurted out the first hing that came to mind.
Fox glanced over at her. "Mm. Hi." He greeted slowly, shaking his head a little bit and mopping up the blood.
"So your own leader threw you in here with me, huh?" she asked, actually curious about it but trying to pretend that she wasn't. She was new this to whole thing, but she had always been a decent actress.
Fox let out a rusty laugh, touching the cut on his neck. "The Wolf runs things different. Dissidence in the ranks is not permitted." He replied, shaking his head a little bit.
"What was so bad that he had to throw you in a cell?" Elissa pressed, realizing that she probably should have less direct. She brushed some hair out of her face with her good arm.
He arched an eyebrow. "Differences in views. I was merely the one he punished, not the only one that disagreed. He made an example of me." He shrugged.
Elissa raised her eyebrows, leaning over to glance through the window for a moment to take in the boy’s expression. “And now what? How long is he going to make you rot in that cell?” she asked.
(gtg sorry)
"We'll see." Fox replied, looking up at the ceiling with a blank look on his face. "Depends on how mad he is."
(it’s all good)
“Damn, that’s harsh,” Elissa muttered. “Is he always like this?” She pursed her lips.
Fox frowned slightly. "Uhm…not always." he replied slowly. "Just when we mention his father." he shrugged his shoulders. "'s a bit of a trigger for him."
Elissa frowned as well. “Oh,” was all she said. She had no idea about the politics at play, and whether his father was alive or dead or god knows what. “So, um, what’s your name?”
"Fox." he replied simply, sitting up and gingerly touching the cut on his neck. "And you are…?" he arched an eyebrow at her, shaking his head slightly.
“Elissa,” she responded, giving him a small smile. It faded quickly, due to their environment and the pain she still felt in her shoulder. It was more of a dull ache than a throbbing pain now. “Are all of you guys named after animals?”
"Yes. We are a Pack." He said simply, leaning his head on the wall and closing his eyes for a moment. "We all choose new names. The Wolf is the only one that transfers. The leader is always the Wolf."
"I suppose that makes sense," Elissa muttered. She wondered about how this strange group of people had started in the first place. Probably just some sort of criminal stuff; she'd never known or cared much about the gangs and notorious criminals in the city until now. "How come you picked Fox?"
"Because I wanted to. Plus…red hair, so why not." Fox replied, keeping his eyes closed and his head angled back, one hand still gently pressed to the cut on his neck.
Elissa bit her lip, thinking that this guy sounded kind of young. She’d always imagined guys like him to be older; when she thought of criminals it was usually older, grittier people. “If you don’t mind answering, her old are you?” she asked carefully.
"20." Fox replied. "Wolf keeps his inner circle young, because the older ones remember too much of his father." He kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling.
Only twenty. He was barely a year older than Elissa herself. She frowned, then let the next part of what he said sink in. “You keep mentioning his father. What happened there?” she asked, in her mind scanning through her scant knowledge about the Pack. Her grandmother always kept track of these things, but her father had never bothered and didn’t like it whenever Elissa did. Luckily for her father, Elissa hadn’t really taken an interest in anything like this until now.
Fox let out a raspy laugh. "To challenge for leadership of the pack, you fight the current leader. To unconsciousness or to the death. Whichever comes first. The challenger picks the weapons, the defendant the time. His father was the leader of the Pack before he was. He killed his father in the combat."
Elissa couldn’t help the small gasp that escaped her mouth. “That’s barbaric,” she whispered. “Why would anyone use violence unless they absolutely have to?” She was talking to herself more than to Fox, not thinking of the ways that she was showing her complete naïveté.
Fox raised an eyebrow at her. "That's how the Pack does it. The killing was, admittedly, unnecessary, but still." he shrugged his shoulders.
Elissa frowned. “How long have you been a member?” she asked, seeing how obviously desensitized he was. He’d probably been a member for a decent amount of time. Either that or he had seen a lot of violence in his lifetime. Maybe both?