[ P ] you were washing me down

"Damn it!" she hissed as she tried to place weight on her ankle and failed yet again. It had been days since the battle and still it felt no better. Something was wrong, she was sure of it....

As she trailed along the shore her gait was unsteady; she felt like a pup just learning how to crawl but most of all she felt stupid for having done this to herself.

The wounds on her face, head and neck were scabbed over and healing but she couldn't see them so she couldn't quite tell how they were faring. She knew she should see a doctor but she had hoped to avoid doing so for whatever reason. She didn't want to be told more bad news, she guessed.

An angry growl escaped her as she stumbled yet again. She stopped walking, sitting back in the sand and kicking some up with her good paw in her fury. It sprayed out before her and the whole thing felt very unsatisfying. She wanted to sink her teeth into something but there was nothing for miles but sand and ocean. She gazed along the shore and then out to the warm water that lapped at the world's edge.

How could she have been so careless?

The moment she saw Leo on the battle field something in her switched on and she just let her fury take over. It was like all her training went out the window and it had showed in her failed and weak attacks. She'd let her anger get the better of her and it had hindered her. She blinked away the tears that began to well in her eyes and then sighed. She knew this bitterness was no good for her but she couldn't seem to let it go. Maybe once she got her children back she would feel better... until he came knocking, no doubt. Then what would she do? She had no clue. She didn't know if he cared enough to come after her and the children, but seeing as he had taken them in the first place it made her think that perhaps he might. What would he do to keep their girls to himself?

Then there was the deal with Odysseus to think about. If war didn't get Leo, perhaps he would.

Then again... what if war got her?

Nora had not considered perishing while fighting for her cause but she knew it was certainly a possibility. Everything was just so... complicated.

art + code: clae

Don't Believe Everything You See The woman’s eyes held a darkness in them as she traversed the coast, having not touched this landscape since her rather unfortunate encounter with a man she mistakenly let go. Maybe she should have slit his throat so the ocean could drink it up and turn a brilliant red, tinting the reflection to that of a blood moon. The idea was pleasant but she wasn’t here to hunt the likes of him, her thoughts hardly on the man of many scars. There was a mild hope she would run into Caspian here more so than Lachlan, though the reason behind that was of hers and hers alone. It wasn’t like the reason would matter in the end, it seemed he had become a stain like every other man on this horrid planet and in a sense she wanted him to suffer to the very end. Emeralds haunted her and she loathed it. She needed to empty her head before her mind would be stolen away by revenge, her paws starting to drift more and more into the damp sands where water threatened to drag everything away. His fae blessing kept him safe from her teeth, touching him would be going against the goddess wishes. Steps would pause as seaweed got tangled up into her feet, looking down at the greenery that held many wonderful properties despite others finding its slimy texture disgusting. Perhaps she should collect some for her herb stock but now she needed to meditate into the waves, allow the world to claim her body once more so she could be at peace. Those thoughts would come to a halt when she caught the sight of another further up the bend. Her tail flicked at the dark blues, knuckles rolling in the sand as her ears pinned back, taking in a draw of breath to taste their scent in the air. It was familiar yet different, most of all it wasn’t Caspian. Her paws slowly started to move her toward the other, taking in it was a woman before realization would make her ears perk back. It might not have been him but it was rather close, his own blood. A smile pulled at her lips, moving to be more behind her creeping with a stalker's anticipation but would not lunge. Instead, her head would snake around her shoulder, just barely missing touching her at all as she looked down. “Where are they, darling?” she asked in a whisper, noticing the beach was rather vacant of little feet of children that should be old enough to be playing along this shore by now. Her muzzle tilted so her nose could gently nudge the tears that were brimming the other's face.

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Nora been so consumed by her woes that she failed to realize someone was approaching. She startled at the woman's presence, turning her head slightly towards the side and baring her teeth slightly in surprise-- but not yet biting once she recognized the voice belonged to the woman she'd met in jail. She only knew part of this woman's story, but not her.

"Where are they, darling?" she had asked, and Nora's throat tightened as she tried to blink away the tears in her eyes as the other woman's nose gently brushed against her face.

Resigned, Nora closed her eyes and tilted back her head. She felt like she should just walk away and not indulge this woman's curiosity but what else did she have to lose? Everything had already been taken from her. "Their father took them from me before I escaped." she said as she opened her eyes and peered up into the sky. Nora drew a long breath and then slowly came to a stand, turning to face the nameless woman.

She looked contemplative for a few moments before glancing down at her paws. "He won't have them for long. I plan to get them back." she said.

All she could think about was her children and getting them back but it would be difficult. She was up to the challenge, she liked to think, but had yet to formulate a plan. "What is your name?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

She'd like a name to this face she kept seeming to run into; mysteries weren't really her thing.

art + code: clae

Don't Believe Everything You See The little display of aggression would make the colorful woman humm, hardly affected by the prospect of being bitten as it wouldn’t be her first time and quite frankly she didn’t think the other had it in them to kill so indiscriminately. She had done nothing to warrant a snap of a maw into her flesh as far as she was concerned. This closeness created nothing in terms of sexual or threatening mannerisms, merely violating space. “If you wish to bleed me dry, I won’t stop you, dear. Maybe it would make you feel better,” she chuckled softly, not even attempting to cater to the other’s comfort level as she lingered in place. What did surprise her is that the other didn’t even attempt to move away from her touch after such a reaction, seeming to lose every little prickle along the spine in seconds. It made her wonder who she thought she was in the first couple seconds or alternatively, why she relented upon realization. Wisteria had done nothing to help her that day in the jail, only whispering things that could have set others off more. Murder wasn’t exactly smiled at among normal society but perhaps Caspian’s sister wasn’t normal. That fall away, disconnecting themselves from this realm to speak. She swore she heard the other’s heart pounding along in the air with an unwanted anxiety, it twisting and turning within a shallow breathing chest. She was beautiful just like her brother even as she collapsed to sorrow, finding her tongue gently brushing along the blue woman’s cheek to sap away the tears that fell against their will. Ears perked with a newfound curiosity at the confession that followed, finding herself being thwarted from the space she craved in order to turn to look at her. She would sit up more to match the shift in height and fluctuation in the air, observing as in the way they gathered themselves while showing nothing in return. Refraining from the desire to tell her that she told her so. “Oh, do tell. What is this plan? Will you follow the same shadow I left?” she cooed, raising her head as she took in how small the other really was. It wasn’t too often she came across another smaller than herself but that wasn’t her main focus in that second. What she was searching for most of all was that true resolve and not the craze of a lunatic. The request of her name would stil her thoughts swiftly, making that bloodthirsty glint in her potion pools dissolve far quicker than she would have liked, replaced by a tension. Upset that she felt all over again that day they met at the fact she didn’t already know from him. “He didn’t tell you? Should I be offended or honored?” she bit back her anger as she only smiled, making that crack fuse back together just as quickly as it came. “The woman your dear brother Caspian loves to sleep with but keeps as a secret, it would seem.”

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“If you wish to bleed me dry, I won’t stop you, dear. Maybe it would make you feel better,” said the woman, and Nora only looked at her with surprise. "No, I..." she said, a little shaken by the words. Why would she want that? The woman had done nothing to her thus far but invade her personal space and that wasn't reason enough to kill. "No." she said again, a little more firmly this time. She tried instead, to offer a smile to the stranger but it wasn't so easy given her mood.

The woman wanted to know her plan and Nora sighed. "I don't really have a plan but I... I did... I think I hired someone to... take him out," she said as she recalled her conversation with Odysseus. She'd not seen the man in weeks and had no idea what had become of him but she'd seen Leoric on the battlefield and knew he was still alive and well. She wondered if Odysseus had been serious about his claim...

“He didn’t tell you? Should I be offended or honored? The woman your dear brother Caspian loves to sleep with but keeps as a secret, it would seem.” Nora blinked at her.

"I see..." she mused softly.

She hadn't known of this woman but she had only just returned home not that long ago so she supposed she shouldn't be so surprised to hear her brother had found someone. Or rather someone to sleep with as she so simply put it. "I don't know whether you should be offended or honored, we don't really talk about that part of our lives to each other a lot, and I only came home a short time ago. I've been gone, with Jacob's men." There was a level of trust she was placing into a woman who still had no name by telling her this but she seemed... trustworthy, for now. Then again Nora could be making another huge mistake.

art + code: clae

Don't Believe Everything You See The quick rejection to her offer wasn’t one of surprise in the slightest for the pixie-like crone, not expecting her to be wholly violent by any stretch of imagination or she would have found peace by other means by now. An echo would make her ears perk, however, as she tilted her head curiously at how the other woman seemed so out of it she was being a parrot, making her wonder the extent of what may have happened to her. It wasn’t care that pushed her forward but morbid curiosity as that forced smile tried to rouse a worn face, pushing back a pain she was all too familiar with but had tried to keep in the past, only guiding her in her choices for the future so she wouldn’t make the same mistake again. What she didn’t expect was what followed, drawing astonishment into the older woman’s eyes, having not pictured this woman a killer even by means of another. The wording was off, making her smile with a small chuckle rumbling from her throat, tail swaying with amusement. “You think you did? Darling, you did, or you didn’t. Which is it?” She pressed her muzzle into the smaller woman’s shoulder, tracing the muscle there for only a second before drawing back and giving her some space that she didn’t often afford others. Close proximity kept an upper hand, Nora didn’t seem the type she needed to keep that leverage on, no woman truly needed her fangs unless it made their legs weak with lust. Her little vent about Caspian would leave her slightly embarrassed, having not complained about a man other than her husband in what seemed like a lifetime. It had to be resentment that fueled her, she refused to believe she had feelings for that piece of work she more recently wanted destroyed. Her lips parted ready to defend that rage but the girl before her didn’t laugh, didn’t mock. It was strange but maybe there was a reason for that sullen reaction, making her think it was simply normal for him then to treat women in such a way. The fur along her shoulders ruffled but unlike a second ago, she would shove it to the side and not dwell on her frustrations with the other’s brother. There was something else that was said that caught her attention far more as her amethysts came alight at the mention of the pathetic prince that couldn’t even keep his place, thwarted by a man that wasn’t even the original king. A crack of a smile pulled at her maw, shaking her head with a wave of disbelief of how many around her followed this little boy blue so quickly, enough to even follow them out of the country. “I follow no mortal as though they were a god with power over us. I can’t say I understand the allegiance one holds for either man pushing forth or war upon their foddered civilians. What makes you bow to him and follow him like a duckling?” she asked, for once not just dismissing it. She wanted a valid answer, a peek into the mind of someone so faithful to a man when Nora had just gotten scorn by her very own lover.

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Nora could see the surprise in the other woman's eyes and she felt it within herself. She still didn't know if she'd truly wanted Leoric dead at the time but she did know she wanted her girls back; that was the only thing she knew. "You think you did? Darling, you did, or you didn’t. Which is it?” she pressed her muzzle to Nora's shoulder and the dark woman did little to resist. She didn't know why the woman sought to be so close to her but it was slightly comforting in a way she could not explain. As she drew away, Nora simply shrugged her petite shoulders. "Well I met a man who claimed he could do the job but I've seen Leo since so I'm not sure if he was joking or serious." she explained. "He offered to do it for a 'favor' and I agreed."

A part of her wondered what this so-called favor would be, if Odysseus ever made good on his word.

“I follow no mortal as though they were a god with power over us. I can’t say I understand the allegiance one holds for either man pushing forth or war upon their foddered civilians. What makes you bow to him and follow him like a duckling?” The question pulled another shrug from the Seafarer woman. At this point she didn't know why she did anything. The loss of her children had messed her up and in the midst of war that was not good. It was all horrible timing. "I follow him because he promises change and that's what I want. He is the true king of Rionnach, not Adamh." she parroted. What more could she say?

"Have you no faith in anyone?" she asked curiously. The woman claimed to not follow anyone and that she did not understand having such an allegiance. What did she do with herself, then?

art + code: clae

Don't Believe Everything You See Those lavenders would dance over the other in mild confusion at how calm she remained toward her when she had been so jumpy the first time they met, when she had not gotten so close, only cornered her in a far from threatening manner. It seemed the woman favored touch more than distance or maybe she didn’t fully understand anything about this sister of her bed warmer, her thoughts contorted into ugly musings over anything entirely solid. It was quite an unusual experience, usually fairly set in a direction the pendulum swung but today was not that day, finding herself losing direction over and over as it swung back and forth instead of settling in one spot. It was infuriating, had it not proven to be more informative than she thought it would be. Her ears would flick at the sound of a name now upon her tongue, a Leo. A grin about split her face, now curious as to find this Leo to put a face to the name. That wasn’t the point of her statement, however, tapping down those thoughts just enough to focus on this supposed hitman the other spoke of that would be after this Leo. Her tail would give one eager swish, her ears tipping in mild amusement. “A favor? Hmmm. It is never wise to shake hands with a deal maker if you don’t know the whole contract. That favor could be more sinister than the request you are making, one you can never repay in any other way than your life,” she mused, her tongue running along the roof of her mouth as she paused, stilling the bloodlust that made her hairs tickle. “What if that favor has to do with your children? Keeping one to sell or enslave? It would be perhaps a regret even bigger than getting with this Leo you speak of that caused this mess in the first place,” she sighed with fake concern, not genuinely caring what became of her or her children. She wasn’t entirely sure why she still lingered, besides the story being told, finding it more entertaining than the books she read in her youth. The drama of others was always more amusing than her own misery. The detachment of this woman was starting to kill some of her muse in her presence, wishing there was some more emotion than this current display. No anger seemed to fuel her. Nothing fueled her, only the melancholy that hung on her every muscle. “Define faith,” she hummed, starting to teeter to the idea of leaving. “I have faith in the entities of this realm; the fae and their keepers, the moon and starry divinity,” she answered, having not perhaps answered the way the other wanted her to. “The very pulse of this earth.”

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