Black Morass cus i’m heartless

@Envy @Elowen Aeloria @Ione @Theissor

with elowen in tow and envy at his flank, he moves… cautiously… through the swamp. golden eyes swiveling, prodding at the undergrowth. twitching at every noise, every slightest movement.

unsettled, to say the least.

hush. a snap in the direction of envy, who is practically buzzing with excitement to have made it upon the doorstep of a pack. yet, he isn’t. his dark fur clinging quietly to elowen’s side, pressing further, closer until they stand upon the edge of claimed land.

it is there he stops. there, he lifts his head, chin tilting subtly upwards to scan for anything. the scents of the pack wolves are strong now. overwhelming. lorcan’s top lip curls, but he casts a look at envy.

he’d give it a try for her.

It is you who must introduce them. Envy wasted no time in skulking back over the borders, seeking out the last place she'd left Lorcan and Elowen before she'd snuck off, returned with an excited fire ablaze in her eyes. Quickly she had ushered them down here, walked them through swamp until they sat at the edge of clearly marked land.

In stark difference to the wary state of the other two, Envy was almost impatient for the arrival of the reverend mother and her ilk. Oh you hush. I'll call for em'. To the sky she lifted her head and called out for @Ione, something squirrely and broken sounding, but it got the message across.

reverend mother was not far when she heard the larksong's call. she answered in due time, swallowing a bundle of herbs to cradle her nausea brimming in the cavity of her throat.

when she emerged, she saw her. the larksong hubble that would become her own prize. beside her stood a pair— opposites, light and dark, that beamed with affection for one another. the reverend mother soured, but not outwardly.

she had no use for lovers.

silently, she waited for envy to introduce her friends.

elowen stood ever silent at lorcan’s side. envy had been practically brimming with excitement since she returned to them this morning, uttered something of a pack and urged them to come quickly. and they did, to find themselves in a darkened swamp.

the call rose from envy’s throat, jagged and strange, but a call all the same. elowen winced faintly at the sound, then the response came.

a woman of gray and ivory emerged from the fold, steps languid—graceful. elowen’s muscles tightened, straightening instinctively as her eyes swept over the woman, then quickly dropped to the earth beneath her paws. something about the stranger's gaze unsettled her, and she could not quite figure out why.

her tongue felt heavy, words caught somewhere in her chest. it wasn’t her place to speak anyway, she thought.

a woman approaches, who lorcan must admit, isn't too bad on the eyes. but she looks at him, and his wife, as if they are lesser. and lorcan feels the fur upon his scruff bristle, 'cus he fucking knows he isn't lesser. he's a bastard but he's a damn good one.

golden eyes slide suspiciously between the strange woman and envy. feeling his own woman press closer to him, and he responds with a nose to her forehead, a whisper only she can hear, ushering her to be calm.

she's safe with him.

he draws his head back to speak, roughly: envy? a questioning tone that said all it needed to.

Envy tip-tip-toed around everyone, crooked tail swishing through the air as she circled. Now that i have you here..

She came up behind Elowen and Lorcan, sliding through the middle of them and gesturing to each with a tilt of her head, pointed ears tickling their cheeks. Lorcan. Elowen.

Then she skulked forward again, stepping out and stepping somewhere in the middle; the line between reverend and rogue. They're good hunters. N' Scouts. Pretty sure he's not half-bad at killin' things and she's real sneaky.

Had Elowen been the one scouting ahead, perhaps she wouldn't have been seen. This meeting which wracked spines with the prickly feeling of unease, thwarted. A butterfly took to wing somewhere.

Like products, she displayed them musefully, but said little else before sitting back and letting them speak for themselves, her attention now on the intriguing woman she'd met in the morass. Confined to one spot, her paws could not help but knead the snowy earth, up down up down. Not still never still.

judging, lingering; reverend mother's eyes were relentless as she cast upon the pair. how striking they both were! she lingered faintly on the woman, pelted in creams and greys— a missed opportunity. a shame, entirely, that she'd been bound to the monogamy of a man who held such control upon her pretty head. her own husband flashed, but it was not with resentment.

but it was her muse's voice that broke through their own world. a shattered gem of perfection. she had reverend mother's attention entirely! the starling would do well under her wing, this much she knew.

she did not acknowledge the man. she did not care. they were her husband's toys, not her own. she took a graceful step forward to meet them, siding with elowen first and foremost.

a warm pleasure, she greeted, devilish smile growing to her soft cheeks. a side cast glance to lorcan for only the briefest of seconds. imperium greets you both. have your travels been amiable?

elowen’s breath caught as the woman stepped closer, her gaze heavy, nearly suffocating in its intensity. the woman’s focus landed on her, unwaveringly, and her instincts screamed to retreat. but instead, she stiffened, forcing her paws to remain rooted in place.

her mouth opened slightly, a soft breath escaping, but no words. not yet. she wasn’t sure what she had expected—cold dismissal, perhaps, or disinterest—but the smile curling at the corners of the woman's lips disarmed her. it wasn’t warmth she saw there, not really, but something else.

still, politeness took over. "yes," she murmured softly with the nod of her head. "—the swamp has its challenges, but we managed well enough."

her gaze flicked momentarily to lorcan. would he speak? or would he let her stumble her way through this? perhaps he should—it would be good for her.

the woman comes forth. like a slender, pristine snake. hissing her pleasantries in the ear of elowen, pressing close to her. lorcan does nothing, says nothing—yet. watching, waiting with a simmering discontent.

envy is buzzing. she seems... alive, for the first time in a long while. lorcan's eyes slide to the woman and he can only muster a begrudging huff. looking down at her where she presses between he and elowen, gleaming with a soft sort of pride.

elowen. he calls her name and moves, seeking to corral his wife away with a nudge of his head. he didn't want to stay here. not only did he hate the swamp, but he was quickly picking up on bad vibes. and trust, he knew bad vibes. he was bad vibes, more often than not—and so he knew he would not subject her to this environment.

whatever it was.

he looks back at envy, something quiet, maybe softer in his eyes. we are leavin', envy. but it's obvious that his we does not involve her. he wouldn't rob her of this opportunity. i'll come visit. promise.

im sorry shes a twat

Like cold water trailing down her spine, the words register in her mind through a muffled wall of sound, ringing in her ears.

Snap.

Hm? She murmured, her eyes searching his own, searching Elowen's, unsure what she's even looking for. Unaware that she was looking at them with the same look she gave the little beasties she mangled, an impassive wall of red, suddenly so distant.

Never still? She is still now, save for the subtle tremor that wracked her bones.

Leaving?

Leavingleavingleavingleavingleavingleaving? Her mind stuck on the word.

She wished he had just brought teeth to her neck, that she would've understood. Blood to stain the ends of pretty silver tufts, the sting of betrayal buried into deep punctures; he could've left another set to match the ones she already had. That, she would've understood.

But- but this? this did not- this was-

Maybe she was too used to getting what she wanted. Maybe she felt she owned some part of them both; didn't like seeing that the they'd slipped out of their chains, didn't like having her claws pried off, not so easily.

It made sense. It made a terrible sense because it had always been this way. With mama, with Verax, with Dreven- Nobody stayed. Nobody followed. Nobody wanted-

She played so good a victim she convinced herself, irrevocably, that it was always them who abandoned her. That that's what this was. Abandonment. They did not want her. That she was blameless.

She was. She was.

He said he would visit but he lied. He lied. Everybody always lied to her and she was just stupid enough that she never realized until it stared her in the face. leaving.Her nails dragged through the ground as a mixture of emotions swallowed her whole, chief among them, resentment.

So it was with renewed intensity that she uttered a response, low and rumbling on her breath T-then go. She turned her back, facing toward the beckoning darkness of the morass. If you're such a coward- Go! I don't need you to visit. A sneer painted pale features, and it was venom that touched her tonuge, desperate dismissal, because she did not know how to say goodbye.

For the fourth time, she was passed on. Another home for her to rot from the inside. She gave a passing glance to the reverend mother, as if to ask, as if to accuse; will you leave me next?

ione watched the scene unfold, the sharp edge of amusement fading from her features as envy unraveled before her. the girl’s sharp tongue lashed out, but it was the hurt beneath her words that ione saw. abandonment, rejection—old wounds torn fresh.

she moved with a measured grace, pressing close to envy, allowing the girl’s trembling form to lean against her should she need. hush, child, she murmured, low and soothing, though her eyes gleamed with something firmer—something expectant. she would not crumble here. not in front of them.

then, she turned her gaze to the strangers. cold now, the warmth she had feigned moments before absent. you have done enough, her voice carried no rage, no harshness, but there was an undeniable finality to it. leave. now.

her head lifted, watching them with an unwavering stare, daring them to linger, to defy. she would not allow envy to be made a spectacle. not here. not in her presence.

and when they were gone, when their backs were swallowed by the fog, she finally turned back to envy. steady, unyielding. you are not alone.

but she would let the girl speak first. she had earned that much.

Of course she needed it, of course she wanted it, she leaned into a pristine, marble-silver shoulder; unraveling.

She didn't look back once she'd spat her venom, wouldn't look back. Wouldn't look at them, at him. Soon they were swallowed by the fog, and their figures became memory, instead of flesh and blood. When it was quiet, she followed the reverend mother further into the abyss, breaking further as they put more distance between them.

She hoped he did visit, beneath it all.