Blackbeak Bluff i am methuselah of the tribulation

some strange loa in this place! it was not like ironsea; here the waves rose up and lashed the cliffs with a ferocity from which the bay was protected. and erzulie's form silhouetted against the dusk-dying of a long day. here the seabirds gathered, here the sky began to darken. summertime rain; she clutched at the bluffs with suddenly unsure paws, picking her way along the drenched landscape as lightning forked overhead.
shelter, sanctuary; erzulie found a miserable respite in the lee of a stunted tree, and shivered there, asking herself with no small amount of frustration why she had even come this far.

RE: i am methuselah of the tribulation - Blixen - August 11, 2018

ask and ye shall recieve :)

nomi's recovery should keep blixen firmly fastened to drageda but still she finds herself, every so often, slipping past the borders and wandering down the coast, hoping to catch a glimpse of furi or max or the other girls. the plateau is.. not that far, she knows that much, though whether they've stayed at the plateau since blix got back to drageda, she can't say for sure. knowing furi they haven't.

sigh. this is an exercise in futility and she knows it. above the storm finally gives way (she wonders if bat is somewhere watching it right now) -- heavy enough to push her to find shelter, towards the trees of the bluff. and oh, a girl: but not the ones she's looking for. "hei," the shilkru calls anyway, announcing her presence as she draws near before pausing to shake the rain from her coat, perhaps mindless of how close she stands to the stranger.

RE: i am methuselah of the tribulation - Erzulie - August 11, 2018

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.

RE: i am methuselah of the tribulation - Blixen - August 12, 2018

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.

RE: i am methuselah of the tribulation - Erzulie - August 15, 2018

erzulie wondered at the two sounds the other had made that were not a common tongue, but she herself held linguistic affectations of her own. and so the harlot did not inquire; a slow smile spread across her lips, until her gaze found the features of the girl once more. "far away, perhaps even across de sea," she teased in a voice edged with her own intrigue.
"and you are from de sea," erzulie went on, her eyes following the trajectory of the other's gesture. shaking rainwater from her honeycream ruff, the quartermaster wrapped her plume about her forelegs and shifted, inviting her companion to sit with her. "i be erzulie, of ironsea, down dat way along de coastline." she too motioned in the direction of home, but did not cease her gentle exploration of the girl's countenance.

RE: i am methuselah of the tribulation - Blixen - August 20, 2018

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).

RE: i am methuselah of the tribulation - Erzulie - August 20, 2018

it was the duty of good harlots to recognize the effect they had upon others; thus erzulie noted the girl's nerves. however, it was without businesslike mien she approached this interaction; there was a pleasure in feminine company she did not experience with usual clientele. "engel," she repeated; accented and redfurred. "an' how was dat meeting?" came her soft inquiry.
blixen — the chai-tea woman rather enjoyed its sound. "but you found me instead." the glint of her teeth against her dark mask came once; her face settled into a pleasant expression. "an' i have nevah been up dis far before. i was curious." curious too, now, about the blushing sea-rose of a girl and this friend she was attempting to find. "what be de name of your pack?"

RE: i am methuselah of the tribulation - Blixen - August 25, 2018

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.

RE: i am methuselah of the tribulation - Erzulie - August 28, 2018

a wink? how scandalous. but erzulie understood how it might be taken; she dipped her muzzle in acknowledgement of blixen's brief discomfort around engel. and it was a strange gesture to make on a mission of ambassador goodwill. "drageda." she was reminded of jarilo's inquiry, and was amused. she was a denzien of the coast; of course she would explore it. however, erzulie had not considered how far along the beach she had come until that moment.
"i am a creature of many desires; wandering is one of dem." a smile wreathed her muzzle again; she shivered momentarily against the sea-wind that crept across her dampened fur. gathering herself up, the harlot shook out her honeycream ruff and regarded blixen warmly. "what do you like to do in your alone times, fleur de sel?" she inquired, making as if to stride away from their current position; she wished the drageda girl's continued presence.

RE: i am methuselah of the tribulation - Blixen - August 30, 2018

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."

RE: i am methuselah of the tribulation - Erzulie - September 03, 2018

erzulie did not miss the mention of girlfriend, nor the fact that blixen was alone now. wondering if the mention had been meant to begin a dialogue between them about that. but she side-stepped in, moving toward the subject of what the little rose enjoyed doing.
"gardening? i am a botaniste as part of my trade." knowing the sort of small berries that grew roundabout the island was a well-thought way to soften men into more safe beings before she engaged with them. and then there was the black fleck, the coquelicot, by which such euphoria could be achieved.
a small curve of her lips; erzulie glanced toward her companion. "you say dis woman is your 'ex,' but you search for her." she arched her brow with a gentle teasing, facing before them once more to scent the air, curious but unwilling to pry.

RE: i am methuselah of the tribulation - Blixen - September 08, 2018

apologies for the wait m'dear <3

botaniste is a word she's never heard before -- french, maybe, like étoille and his strange tongue? it has the same sort of lilting melody but she can't be sure. not that it is difficult to guess what it means -- but somehow it sounds so much prettier than how she'd conceived of her labor. gardening was not about beauty to her but about ritual and meditation, a physical act to keep her tired that isn't violence-based. dalia would be a botaniste. of course this beautiful woman is a botaniste. blixen is just.. into plants.

"oh," she says, both in response to erzulie's first assertion and her question -- sheepishly she licks her lips and looks away. "she -- we -- ran into each other recently, unexpectedly. she'd left drageda, you see. i just -- i don't know, it's not like -- i just want to see her, i guess," blixen finishes lamely, ears twitched back with nervous shame. she knows -- she knows! -- it is a pathetic thing on her part, and furi would be unhappy to know of her skulking, and yet she can't help but try.

RE: i am methuselah of the tribulation - Erzulie - September 14, 2018

no worries! <3

erzulie kept her confidence as blixen spoke, letting her gaze turn and rest upon the sea-rose from time to time. a love that could not be! "so young to have ya heart broken," the harlot murmured, intuiting perhaps more from blixen's words than was there. and yet there was a delight here in the awareness that women who loved one another were not forbidden in the ways that erzulie had seen before.
"dere is still some'ting in ya heart for her," the chai-tea wolfess purled, turning her gaze forward. "but she was de one who left." a smile; a brush of lashes against the fine-boned cheek. "but she is not a man, and derefore she is worth more."