Blacktail Deer Plateau weld the gates to heaven shut

whenever you have time!

the move to the plateau had not brought more prey, and aningan remained scarce. rusalka had not traded hands in some time, and yet the pack was stagnating, silent during the changes wrought by the changing land. 
her children came and went; she had not seen marisol nor reyes in months, and the pain of their loss shuttered her mother's heart. now came forth the cunning harlot that had survived after marie's abandonment; she skulked to the edge of the plateau and looked to the darkened sea.
there was nothing for her here. caiaphas' reappearance had solidified that.
and so, for the last time she hoped, erzulie tipped back her cinnamon crown and called for a parley with her pirate @Rosalyn.

always <3

While all of their childrens' disappearances weighed on her, Reyes' shook her in a way she hardly expected.  She'd come to motherhood reluctantly, and knew in her heart she'd never experience it again.  But she'd taken to her brood.  She'd allowed them a part of her, her son particularly.  To lose him so soon after finding them... and even Clementine once more.

She didn't speak on it except to confide in Erzulie the same she was feeling.  They'd both lost too much to burden one another more.

Perhaps a while ago she'd have left to search for their wayward children once more, but after last time, she refused to part from her home.  She'd remain at Erzulie's side through this and hope, as all parents did, that their children were at least happy in making their own way.  Perhaps some day they'd wander back home.

This thought was flickering across her mind as she stared eastward, watching from the plateau's edge.  With all that was happening - Caiaphas' return, the hunger - it was hard to feel at ease.  Erzulie's call broke her reverie, however, and gave her a welcome distraction.  She shook her head, then turned to go, approaching her wife with an easy lope and a questioning gaze.  She looked as if something needed said, and Rosalyn could imagine it was important.

for a long moment, erzulie did not stir as rosalyn approached. and then a long sigh wreathed from her muzzle. "caiaphas was here, non?" the harlot sighed, already knowing the answer, and knowing somehow that the fierce old crone would not be back.
"i am not happy in rusalka, rosalyn. i know dat is foolish — it is about keeping de little ones alive, not what i want. but," and finally she turned to lay her mintglow eyes upon her returned wife, "i t'ink we must go inland, and i t'ink i am done wid this place."
finally, completely, definitely — with caiaphas had gone the last passion erzulie had for the pack that had once formed in the sound.

Despite herself, Rosalyn felt a momentary tense when Erzulie asked after Caiaphas.  There was a time when her wife and the witch had seemed aligned, and she herself on the outs.  Though time had passed, and she assumed loyalties shifted, she never could quite be sure. 

She did.  I turned her away.  Unsure on how Erzulie would take that news, she laid it out plainly and simply. Alongside Raleska.  That meant something, she assumed... she hadn't been alone at least in her choice.

Rosalyn was caught by surprise with her wife's final declaration.  Despite the feeling in the air of late, she had assumed they'd remain here until at least the spring.  She bit her lip thoughtfully, but nodded.

We can manage.  Who would come?  From what she knew of nieve, she worried about the girl and the life of a lone, small band.  Traveling with her mothers would be fine for a while, but would she thrive without a pack?  Scarab concerned her less.  And... I'd like to ask Raleska.  If they were to leave, she was the only other family Rosalyn recognized here.

"i t'ink raleska should come wid us, yes," erzulie answered, though her eyes had gone vacant, staring, at the very true reality toward which she wished to take a step. the sea belonged to them, to rusalka; saltwater mingled with her blood, and she knew it was true of her children as well.
"but," the harlot went on, turning back to rosalyn, "just because i am not happy does not mean i should uproot us widout some plan of where we be goin'." they had only just begun to piece back together; with a sigh she curled herself against rosalyn's chest, reaching up to kiss beneath the pirate's chin.
"i still miss you. i do not t'ink my heart yet believes you are truly here."

Rosalyn noticed Erzulie's attention on the horizon, as her own had been before.  She herself did not turn to it again.  Once, the ocean has elicited a feeling of home.  An indescribable sense of worth, awe, power.  Beauty.  Now, she felt nothing.  There was barely a flicker of it in the tattered remnants.

I am back. she replied, softly, and gently rested her head atop Erzulie's. but I am.... tired.  She felt hollow, like the husks that used to was up on the shore.  The ones, she recalled, Scarab had enjoyed collecting so much.  She felt as if she didn't have much left of herself to give, and even the thought of relocating seemed distant.  She did not care where they ended up.  She only cared that they remained together.

But she knew that answer wasn't a good one, and she so she tried to recall anything that might help to determine a course.  Any allies, anyone she might know.  There was the blind girl she'd helped, whose family might owe a favor.  A last resort.  Outside of that... the willows were gone.  The coast was a wasteland.  The places she'd traveled had offered little.

Scarab was with a pack, yes? she said, the words coming out slow and perhaps a bit unsure.  Perhaps he made some friends there.

rosalyn was more than tired; erzulie sensed the bone-deep weariness of her wife, and was immediately ashamed of her own selfishness, so soon after the woman had returned. of course the pirate must rest, must rest the remainder of winter, if erzulie had the choice. and while the harlot longed so to leave rusalka and seek out a place for herself and for her weary family, she must not rush.
"perhaps he did. tell me," she murmured instead, seeking to turn their conversation, "when you were out looking, did you see anyt'ing that moved yo' heart?" the romantic in her burbling unfettered to the surface, she supposed, and kissed rosalyn's cheek softly as she waited.

She considered Erzulie's question, and in the end, she did not fully answer it.  It wasn't that she wished to lie, or even to avoid the conversation.  There were things in herself that went unadressed, and before she opened them up to others, she needed to first look upon them alone.  When was the last time anything had inspired the feeling she spoke of?  She couldn't recall.

Up to this point, everything for the pirate had been a chase.  She'd had goals to strive for and those distant ambitions had led much of the fire to her way.  When she'd tossed those aside, she'd not bothered to find new stars to guide herself, and therefore had left her own ship unintentionally adrift.  She had no heading anymore.

When I was looking for you, I found a child.  She was blind, and I allowed her to follow until she found a caretaker to go with.  I do not know where she was from, but if we wished to join anyone, theirs might be a place.  She didn't pause long there, because she knew how she felt the moment she was saying it.  But, honestly... I don't know that I want to join anyone.  At every turn they'd been disappointed, and it was too much to expect other strangers to be more suited to the task.  They were forever finding wolves more suited to their own priorities, their own families.  At least, on their own, they knew they could count on their own survival being paramount.

I will scout.  Perhaps we could go together, sometime.  It would be good to spend some time, and to talk about what they wanted in a new home.  Even if that decision seemed too hard of one to formulate now, she wondered if perhaps that would pass.  She just needed some time.

not surprised to hear the depth of heart possessed by her mate, but the mention of a child brought the jezebel to mind of her own. the ones that remained, the ones that had been lost.
stifling the sob that rose suddenly in her throat, erzulie nodded against rosalyn's chest. "i would like dat," she murmured softly. "an' de child, she was lucky to have you." 
like rosalyn, the gamma was world weary of following those who would only disappoint. perhaps it was time they dispersed into their own familial group, to raise their children with their own ways upon the sea.

Rosalyn knew it had been, in part, Erzulie's influence on her that forced her to take the child beneath her reluctant wing.  She had been lucky not only that the woman was there, but that also Erzulie and their children had been on her mind.  She would not have faced the coyotes otherwise.

She heard the sorrow behind her agreement and wasn't sure exactly how to temper it.  She felt it as well.  Cautiously she began, trailing her muzzle to the side in a series of gentle caresses.  It was a silent, tentative offer.

If Erzulie did not feel she was back, then let her show her.  Let her know it in other ways, and let them save more talk of the future for later.  For now she could offer a moment, some measure of intimacy and perhaps the blessing of escape.

it had been so long.
it was not that erzulie was immune to the charms of others, it was just that so long she had lived like a grizzled fishwoman with several children and no time to think, that her physical form no longer craved more than food.
with rosalyn's touch, however, she remembered quite swiftly why it was the feminine which had always lured her more. "et si les enfants nous voient?" she whispered, a bit breathlessly. had that stopped them before?  she could not recall and the thought made her grieve.

Over their time together, Rosalyn had not picked up the entirety of the language Erzulie at times slipped into, but she had learned enough.  She smiled, closing her eyes and continuing for a moment the path she traveled.  Then she paused to pull back and lay a light, soft kiss on her wife's temple.

We can find a place where they will not, she answered, opening once more to look at her.  There was an almost pleading anticipation that she felt to her as well; it had been so long since the two of them had been close as this.  But I do not think they will mind.

As she said this last bit, she rose to circle, resting close as she did in an attempt to evoke some of the familiar desire that had colored their meetings before.  Their secluded beach was too far, but the memory of it was closer than she expected.

they would not.
erzulie relaxed then, and allowed herself the pleasant luxury of being encircled by rosalyn. here a kiss and there a raking of her teeth; she turned and turned as the pirate paced round her, a low sound of mirth rising in her throat.
oh; to stretch their limbs! the harlot unfurled from her lover's embrace and lengthened stride to carry her in a playful run along the edge of the plateau, to where she might catch her breath in other ways when rosalyn had caught her.

Seeing her relax, Rosalyn could almost feel the unfurling of that tension that had hung over her; over them both.  It still amazed her just how deeply such changes in her wife could elicit the same in herself.  

There would be more to it than this.  When Erzulie ran, Rosalyn let out a playful peal of surprised laughter.  The pirate hadn't been expecting a chase but it was perfect; too long since they had done this as well.  She followed and allowed herself to stretch in an eager run, not sprinting to end the game too soon, nor allowing herself to lag behind.

and so they kept pace with one another, and the harlot felt the old familiar happiness return. even though many of her children wandered alone, even though the loa had not whispered to her of their whereabouts, she had this eve and she had her wife.
she would then allow herself to be joyous.
breathlessly, a trill of laughter, a close leap to rosalyn to kiss her pirate's face as they ran together.

Rosalyn should have felt bad, but for a brief moment, she could forget their children.  She could lose the heartache of their disappearances, her own failings as a mother, and the hardships she had wrought.  

She did not.  Instead she too allowed herself to be swept up, and as Erzulie kissed her, she swept sideways to cross her, and coming in close to run in her space.  She was not as young as her wife nor as hale anymore, so she would tire first.

divided somewhat by age, erzulie herself winded sooner than she had in some time, but was happy to circle back to her mate, eyes alight with laughter.
"we still make a good running pair," she commented, half-breathless and tousled by the cold wind.
it was good to have rosalyn returned.

going to wrap this and start us another if that's ok <3

Erzulie returned to her looking windswept and breathless, and Rosalyn immediately moved in, though she was winded as well.  We do, make a good pair in a lot of things. she returned with, and there was obviously more to it than that.

Here, in the privacy they'd found while running, they could explore one another once more.  It had been so long.