thank you for joining! <3
the harlot began to lap waterdrops from the honeyed fur of her chest; the heated scent of another rasped through her awareness, and the two-toned gaze rested on the sudden presence of another woman. young, lithesome, the cast of the desert to her fine-boned features. erzulie paled with pleasure, if only for the beauty of her new companion.
"hello," came the smoke of her own tones; the spice-hued ears swiveled toward the stranger. "be you from dese parts?" curiousity edged her tones, the jezebel was not ashamed to let her gaze travel the details of the other's face approvingly before returning to a more appropriate expression as she awaited a rejoinder.
the other girl looks up and for a moment blixen is struck by her beauty, caught on her two-toned eyes and honeyed mask. a beat and she can breathe again, only to be captivated by her strange accent. it's not something blixen has ever heard -- though admittedly her exposure to foreign tongue is limited to the smattering of french being passed around drageda these days. "sha," she exhales, realising a moment later to switch from trig, "yes, yeah. up on the cliffs that way."
with a slightly awkward gesture the yearling tosses her nose in drageda's direction. she returns her gaze to the woman quickly, feeling a blush build under mahogany fur. "what about you? your accent is, uh --" pretty " -- i've never heard it before," blixen finishes lamely instead, embarrassed with her schoolgirl fumblings.
flirting -- and being flirted with? if that's what's happening? -- not her wheelhouse. straightening up slightly blixen chooses to nod, not trusting herself to speak again as erzulie introduces herself -- and oh! ironsea. that uncomfortable man had been from ironsea. "my name is blixen," she offers in return, "i've heard of ironsea -- i spoke with one of your scouts. engel?" she says it more like angel, not quite remembering the exact tilt of the word.
oh god how do you continue a conversation.
"you're pretty far from home," blix says, positively melting underneath her gentle scrutiny. "i mean, i am too -- i don't normally leave even, but my -- my uh, friend, was around here for a bit, so i was hoping to catch her." this is a perfectly normal thing to say and somehow she feels as though she wants the earth underneath her to give way so that she may be sucked into the dark deep sea forever. (is this how furi feels, she wonders, because if so -- wow she gets it. sort of).
under erzulie's gaze she cannot tell if the honey-spun woman is only indulging her, and whether or not she likes it. nervously she licks her lips. "he was -- kind of weird," blixen admits honestly, then pauses -- oh maybe that's offensive. "uh i mean, like, harmless enough, but he winked at me." surely the sea-wolf will agree with her, that is a weird gesture to make when you're going for interpack diplomacy.
she's more than happy to depart the topic of engel and his affectations, though erzulie's words make her shiver for a reason she can't name. "drageda," she answers immediately, "it's named drageda. why'd you decide to come up this far?" maybe she's a scout like engel -- or maybe she just likes to explore like furi, an impulse blixen has never understood, try as she might. to the outside view maybe the shilkru's world seems small, contained as it is within the borders of the cliff, but to blix it is enormous in its entirety, the weight of her cultural history and drageda's legacy more than enough for her to keep her paws busy.
ah -- so she is like furi. an observation normally kept to oneself, but we know blix, don't we. "my ex girlfriend liked to wander, too," the shilkru says, a smile stealing onto her mouth, "the one i'm looking for, i mean." in a weird way she wonders if this is an opportunity to -- work on expanding that worldview of hers. but erzulie asks her a question back and gestures them to walk, and blixen obliges, sliding easily after the honey woman. "mostly i guard the pack -- border patrols and that sort of thing," blix says, feeling suddenly embarrassed by how small it seems, comparatively, "and i also -- i like to garden."