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+--- Thread: Blackfeather Woods dreamcatcher (/showthread.php?tid=19709)
dreamcatcher - Relmyna - December 26, 2016
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the darkness enveloped vuk and it was only when the light of the borders faded behind her that she could breathe. on a violent whim, the woman fell to the snowy earth and began to wash seff's scent from her black ruff, teeth bared.
how could he abandon her again? she had given every moment of her life to him, only for the boy to throw it back into her face. logically, vuk knew that she had left him prematurely — she should have stayed and listened to his words, kissed him goodbye, watched him leave.
but she could no more do that than she could lie to him about how joyous she was for his departure. vuk shook the white flakes from her nape and then dissolved into weeping again, salt mingling with blood as she bit her tongue to stifle the sobs.
she picked up the scent of @Cicero and determined that she would follow it until she found him, until she was able to beg a boon from him. in the gloom, vuk's eyes glinted dangerously.[/tr][/td][/table]
RE: dreamcatcher - Cicero - December 26, 2016
Perhaps if it had been Cicero that walked this path, things would be different. Sheogorath had yet to do much with his newfound freedom — perhaps because he knew that culmination of said freedom would box him right back up — but consider his plans on how to gain back his dear sister's trust. It was while he walked through the forest to find her trail that he realised that he was being followed. Sheogorath turned his head to see that patchy woman come toward him — Vuk, he remembered. Watching Cicero do nothing with his life was a lot like sitting in the passenger's seat and being unable to steer the vehicle in the right direction. The only thing he had done right was claim a leadership position, even if it was for the wrong reasons.
She might notice that there was something different in the way that he held himself; still frail and bony, perhaps, but more fierce; more befitting of the position that he held here, and with more emotion on his face. "Vuk," said Sheogorath in greeting. He too could see that something was different about her. "What happened to you?"
RE: dreamcatcher - Relmyna - December 26, 2016
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it was a tearstained face that vuk lifted to cicero, but her features had twisted themselves into a visage that openly seethed. she trembled in his presence, buffeted by the currents of her own rage and pain, her eyes fixed on him and yet unseeing.
so turned inward was she that the wolfess did not notice the new bearing of the odd man, even when her vision cleared and she saw him for the first time. cicero.
the same hurt that reek had once seen in vuk, the same despair that had endeared her to him on the day of their first meeting, now extended sharpened tendrils deep into her mind and brought her gaze to bear on cicero's face. "i can give myself no more to other wolves," vuk spoke, her voice low and dead, devoid of emotion or the usual malady that marked her speech. "each time that i allow another to go before me, my heart is trampled. my son ... i ..."
her voice trailed away; vuk closed her eyes tightly while she attempted to find her focus once again. "cicero. please. allow me to join your brotherhood. I want...I will do whatever I must do to join."
her eyes blazed. "and ... give me a new name. please, cicero. I do not want to be vuk anymore. I do not want to be weak any more."[/tr][/td][/table]
RE: dreamcatcher - Cicero - December 26, 2016
A crooked grin charmed Sheogorath's face as he listened to Vuk speak. It was inappropriate, perhaps, but hell if he cared — and he doubted very much that she did, either, considering how void of emotion her voice was. There was only one way to get there, and it was a step beyond all the anger and sadness. There was a certain pleasure to seeing another wolf so broken, and he idly wondered where her tastes lay.
Sheogorath hadn't forgotten that Cicero had told her his biggest secret — well, except yours truly — but he didn't feel like being careful would help either of them any. Clearly she had been looking for him. It was almost endearing how dear old Cicero had actually managed to make a friend. Was it the fragility of his confession that had made her trust him so? Or was it how void of emotion Cicero was that had pulled her in, now that she felt the same?
Nevertheless, Sheogorath frowned as she said that she wanted a new name. To no longer be Vuk... He enjoyed the power, the knowledge he could name her as he wished. His eyes sparkled with a liveliness that Cicero had lacked lately, and he asked, then: "A new name. What about your mate, then? Will you leave him behind, too?" He knew that she had not come alone, and he wondered what her thoughts were. He could not suppress a narrow grin when he asked of her — but the tone to his voice made it clear that he was very serious about this request — "... And to prove you are willing to do whatever, hmm... What if I asked you to kill him?" Terich-Mir... Probably the one of the lot that Nemesis had seen some worth in upon joining, but Sheogorath could appreciate Cicero's words with this one. Clearly, Nemesis had been very wrong about this one.
RE: dreamcatcher - Relmyna - December 26, 2016
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vuk realized with a flick of her tailtip that cicero was smirking. she had not expected this from him, and an unfamiliar anger surged powerfully within her. with brief introspection, the woman could have pointed to the moment on the ridge, wherein taggarik made his threat against her children, to be the seed of the rage that coursed through her veins now. it had been fed by her many trials, and the breaking of the dreams she had held valiantly against the crushing onslaught of her sadness and constant torment.
but now she had broken — now vuk felt a glissade of horror sweep along her spine and she split before cicero again, morphing into the weeping, tearstained woman who had first come before him. "t-terich! h-how ...h-how c-could y-you..." vuk churned out, eyes wide with terror; she glanced around wildly, until her mind calmed her, drawing her gently back beneath the grey mists, and the tyro resurfaced into what she wished to become once more.
if she did this thing, vuk would die, never to return. the wolfess knew clear as the sun would rise each morning that her husk would be the only thing left behind if she murdered terich, if she slew him beneath the bidding of cicero's tongue. her eyes rested quietly on the man for a long moment, until the she-wolf put her head to one side and whispered a rejoinder.
"if i do this thing, if i kill him, you will give me a new name." it was a musing statement, not a question, and her gaze hardened. "what else, cicero?"[/tr][/td][/table]
RE: dreamcatcher - Cicero - December 26, 2016
For a moment it seemed that he had broken the woman for good, and that nothing would make her come back. He had expected no less, to tell the truth. Why would she kill her mate, her lover, for an uncertain chance at glory? But Sheogorath knew the path of the psychopath — he knew the path of not caring for others. He did not care for anyone, not truly; the world was his playground, and he was its King. The control that he held in this world was proven once more by this pathetic display.
He would have mocked her, spat at her and laughed in her face had it stayed to that; it would be a representation of Cicero that he would spit upon, weak and feeling, a sniveling coward that cared and felt. Cicero would never ask such a cruel thing, for he believed in not harming the innocent up to some degree or another, but Sheogorath didn't care. If she wanted to sever her ties to the world out there, then this was how. He had thought her not strong enough, but as some time passed she seemed to regain her composure.
Sheogorath's eyes sparked as she asked him for a new name if she were to kill Terich-Mir. He nodded and promised, the smirk falling from his face to prove that he meant it, "I will give you a new name and make you a Brotherhood apprentice if you bring me his head." He wasn't sure if she was up to it, but there was no harm in shooting for the moon. "And once that is done, we will see about your next task so that you may become a full member of the Dark Brotherhood." Sheogorath licked his lips, curious how she would go about it. Truthfully, he felt like she could use some help, and considered offering it because he could use some blood. But then he did not, waiting to see if she would ask for his help, or if she was so determined that she would do it herself.
RE: dreamcatcher - Relmyna - December 26, 2016
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vuk drew a shuddering breath; fear and anger mingled in her eyes, replaced by the churning grey of a mind finally deadened. terich's earnest voice swam before her mind's eyes — he who had drawn her from beneath the berry bush in the rain, protected her, fed her, and taken her home. he who had buried her dead children and reared the living, who had willingly departed larksong and come to this dark place, all for her, and for seff. could she do this thing cicero asked of her? the woman fell silent, and this time the quietude stretched on as she pondered it all. she had no strength, no skill with herbs, and there remained even in her maddened heart the beat of love for terich.
but another path stretched before her now, revealed by seff's final departure, and it was the trail to the brotherhood. nausea welled in vuk — she bit back the bile and swiveled her pale ears toward cicero. in the recesses of her soul, the broken woman she still remained in some way wept within her.
"i will need help." vuk saw no reason to admit her weakness to cicero — he knew her failings, perhaps more clearly than did anyone else. "and ... it will need to be hidden from my son. forever. i will not harm him." vuk was aware she had told this spider she would do whatever was necessary, but seff was a boundary for her, firmly set. he who had been brought forth by her own body and nurtured with it would come to no harm at her hand.
"there is a final thing i must ask of you," vuk murmured, the flinty turquoise of her gaze meeting cicero's once more. she planned the destruction of all she had ever known — what was a last request?[/tr][/td][/table]
RE: dreamcatcher - Cicero - December 26, 2016
It was thrilling to Sheogorath how easily he could convince her to do his bidding, and it was exactly that power that had made him wish for the place he was in today — his rightful place. Sheogorath didn't wish to be a dark master, knowing that his weak frame would be too tempting to take down by those stronger who felt they more deserved the place, but this place served him fine. He got to do what he wanted and this feeling was more thrilling than anything else he knew.
She did ask for help, but asking for help was a step in the right direction. Would the old Vuk have asked for such a thing? And to ask for help was an admission to herself that she was going to do this thing. She also asked to keep Seff out of it, which Sheogorath was fine with. He had left, anyway, and Sheogorath did not expect he would ever return. To search for him would be a waste of resources. "Agreed," Sheogorath said with a serious tone and expression. "We should think of a plan to go about it. It should not be too hard, considering he trusts you." He could not suppress a grin, there, because he liked the rush of control it gave him to break such trust. To think one was safe, only to have that certainty ripped from underneath them. It was the ultimate control. "But it's up to you what your style is. I can provide poison, if you wish, to level the playing ground." Terich-Mir was a healthy male, and it would not be safe to go up against him alone even with the trust that she had. She could just kill him in his sleep, but even then she'd need to know exactly where to bite.
Sheogorath looked at her inquisitively as she said that there was another thing she needed to ask. "Yes?" he asked, unable to contain his curiosity, because he had expected her plea for help, but not this one.
RE: dreamcatcher - Relmyna - December 26, 2016
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vuk knew she had pleased cicero — she did not expect him to deny her next request. to his response, she gave a nod, though the sickness of dread had returned to her belly. "give me something that will make me ... stronger, cicero. more than myself." if he had nothing of the sort, then a plant to give terich would be her intention, but vuk wished to know what the man kept in his stores first.
trust. only for now, and then there would be one wolf in all the world who would trust her, and it would be seff. and, if he returned to visit her, her boy would see a changeling in the place of his mother, and would shun her. within the cage of her ribs, vuk's soul twinged painfully at the thought of her son's love for her fading from his eyes, to be replaced with aversion. hatred. but the vision faded as soon as it had come and the tyro focused her hardened gaze upon her leader.
"in under two months' time, my season will be upon me. i do not want to bear children, and i know that i would be led astray. let me go and i will shelter somewhere until it passes. then i will return to the wood." her nares flared; her inner core quaked. "unless it is you i have. i will only tolerate it then."
it was not out of love that vuk spoke so — she did not love the spider, nor did she know him. but perhaps children would solidify her within blackfeather; however, it would need to be a dark brother who fathered them, and there were no others she knew save for cicero. [/tr][/td][/table]
RE: dreamcatcher - Cicero - December 27, 2016
Sheogorath considered telling her the truth; that there was nothing to make her stronger, that she was on her own. But where was the fun in that? He considered giving her a poison to feed to him, but if he was not mistaken the man had some herbal knowledge himself. It may bring their plan more risk than boon. "I have something," he lied, and he was about to lead her away when she looked at him and told him of her season. He felt nothing thinking about it; no desire to lay with her, at least. But he felt the opportunity to further control her and twist her mind, to show her his world and to free her from the chains of Vuk at last. Bearing children would not look bad on him either.
"Maybe. I will discuss this with Nemesis and let you know what your course of action should be," he said off-handedly, conveying none of his desires to claim her for himself and his plans, perhaps even sounding like he had no interest in her. She would find out sooner or later about that. "Now, let's go to my herb cache and I will give you something to strengthen you." He would give her nothing of the sort; he would find some other plant that was useless or used for some medicinal purpose or another and he would feed her that. It didn't matter that it did nothing, for it might strengthen her resolve and her mind, if nothing else.
RE: dreamcatcher - Relmyna - December 27, 2016
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he did not answer her, speaking instead of nemesis, and vuk gave cicero a narrowed glance. but she had no reason not to trust the man, nor any to put her faith in him. he would be a means to an end for her — the securing of her place within blackfeather, and vuk would do the same for him. tipping her head catlike to one side, a slow smile spread across the tyro's face.
"let us indeed," she spoke in a purr that had never before poured from her throat
and so the tyro followed cicero, stepping to his side, as he moved toward his den to give her a bit of greenery that would ensure her task was completed — or so she believed.[/tr][/td][/table]