"Fucking... " [i]*cough*[/i] "Smartass, Nestor... " Veti grinned at the demonspawn though her eyes were still watering, the last of the cigar smoke expelled from her lungs in a hacking little half cough. She smiled, because she wasn't really the least put off by Nestor's words or that little smirk on his face. It was [i]exactly[/i] the thing she'd have said too, if she'd seen a friend make a fool of themselves so loudly and spectacularly. 

Nyah, she really couldn't blame the guy at all. She'd left the door on that jibe [i]wide[/i] open.

The wide, crimson-lipped grin faded just a little though - not entirely, but just a touch - as she turned to look down to Daisy. She felt the Reaper's approaching presence more than saw, and Veti was happily surprised. She honestly didn't think her desperate companionship could have ever competed with Henry's ridiculous hotness. But even so... ? 

Never in her life had Veti wished more for the ability to read a mind than she did at the moment. Daisy scowled at Semyon, though for the life of her, the werewolf could not imagine [i]why[/i]? Even as the Reaper seemed to pay silent "lip service" to attending the conversation, she was agitated, fuming - Veti had learned to read that much at least, over the past several months. The werewolf looked down to her friend quizzically, opening her mouth to say - well, she knew not what really, nor would she ever.

This was not the first time Veti had suffered the scrutiny of her own kind, the tentative, reluctant whuffles, the snorts of derision, the half-sneezes as if to expel her odor from their nostrils, followed always by snarls of disgust. She wasn't [i]truly[/i] one of them, not a genuine werewolf. She was incomplete, half-made like a pup born before its allotted time, an abomination with no right place in any pack. 

Her body stiffened, sapphire eyes wide and waiting on the verdict of this ancient wolf. Veti dared hope that for the second time in this life maybe, just [i]maybe[/i], there would be no suffering, no rejection. Incredulously, she watched the slow sway of the ancient wolf's tail peeking again and again from the back of her haunches, picking up speed as if... As if she might truly find her acceptable? True, the elder wolf was the last of Mr. Hoyle's pack, the Teachglach Mac Tìre - and he was exceptional in so many ways. 

Veti took a deep breath, unable to still the trickle of disappointment that welled up when Aislinn Hoyle asked her questions. She did not know what Veti was to the wolves' world. So be it then. She would not lie, nor flinch from the truth - and then only pray that sweet, endearing wolfish grin wouldn't fall to a growl of contempt, nor the puppyish wagging of her great tail diminish.

"I'm Victoria Blasko, but most everyone calls me Veti. You may too... If you like, I mean. I have no line - I was neither born nor blooded a werewolf. And I have no pack... " Veti's hand brushed the cold fingers of the Reaper beside her, squeezing Daisy's hand swiftly, gently, before her eyes turned toward Nestor, and then Semyon, and then back to Aislinn. 

"I have no pack beyond what I make for myself, and most all my pack are already here, to the last. It is so good to meet you, Ms. Hoyle. I respect and admire your brother like few others in this world. He is a very good man. As for a den circle... " Veti's voice trailed off as she chewed the inside of her lip thoughtfully for a moment, trying to imagine what it would be like to belong in a den circle, to speak and share, and laugh and reminisce with other wolves like herself. A den circle - a thing before this very moment, she would have sneered at, laughed off the very thought and sworn she'd have no part of such a ridiculous assemblage of fur and fang... 

But that was too simple, wasn't it? Far too easy to despise what she'd never known; never imagined she [i]could[/i] know, much less be welcomed to join.

"I've never participated in a den circle though... I should like to, I think." Veti's head nodded quickly, decided in that very moment. "Yes. [i]Yes,[/i] I would. If you would have me."

She let out a slow breath, and then smiled, genuinely. "As for Ragnarök? Yes, I do know of it in detail, but... I honestly don't understand how this could be. [i]None[/i] of the signs have been fulfilled for the coming of Ragnarök! There should be three continuous winters to come, with no summer to relieve the frigid cold. The god Baldr is murdered - [i]surely[/i] that has not happened? This makes no sense to me, how the Doom of the Gods can fall with none of the proper portents or prophecies fulfilled? I have to admit, I'm at a complete loss."